BURMA RELATED NEWS – DECEMBER 14, 2010
Dec 14th, 2010
By PANYAPAT PIYATHAMSAWAT, Associated Press – Tue Dec 14, 6:31 am ET
BANGKOK (AP) – A recently built dam in southern China is hurting the livelihoods of thousands of villagers downstream in Myanmar, environmental activists said Tuesday in the latest complaint about management of Southeast Asian rivers that cross national boundaries.
Two groups associated with Myanmar’s Shan ethnic minority said in a new report that the hydropower dam on the Longjiang River in China’s Yunnan province causes changes in the river’s level that hinder traders dependent on water transport.
Groups in several countries have criticized China’s construction of dams on the Mekong River and other waterways because of their impact on downstream communities. Beijing has rejected charges that its dams are to blame.
The report, “High and Dry,” by the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization and the Shan Women’s Action Network, said local trade and transport on the river in northern Myanmar near a border trade crossing with China has been severely affected by unpredictable daily changes in the water level since the completion in mid-2010 of the 360-foot- (110-meter-) tall Longjiang Dam about 19 miles (30 kilometers) upstream.
The report estimated that some 16,000 villagers — ferry operators and the traders and services that depend on them — have had their incomes decline drastically, as boats face both grounding and flooding.
“The Longjiang dam represents an example of what we are facing,” said Premrudee Daoroung of the Bangkok-based, nonprofit Foundation for Ecological Recovery, speaking at a press conference. “First, the issue of the ecosystem of the river needs to be considered. What happens upstream can have an immediate affect on downstream people. ”
The reports said it was encouraging that “Chinese government officials have begun to publicly state their commitment to the ecological integrity of transnational rivers and to developing the Mekong River for the ‘mutual benefit’ of all countries along the river.”
But it also called for Chinese authorities “to investigate and mitigate the disruptive impacts of the dam” and to make cross-border impact assessments for any future dams built in China.
In April, China strongly rejected claims that its dam-building policies are environmentally harmful. It held a one-day meeting with leaders of the four Mekong Basin nations — Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to address climate change and other challenges to the health of the Mekong River.
The meeting in Thailand of the member-nations of the Mekong River Commission, along with China and Myanmar — through which flow the upstream reaches of the river — came as the Mekong’s water levels were at their lowest in nearly 20 years.
The commission’s scientists said this year’s low flow and consequent drought could be attributed to an early end to the 2009 wet season and low rainfall during the monsoons.
2 hrs 3 mins ago
BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union parliament has criticized Cuba for not allowing a dissident protester to travel to collect its biggest human rights award.
EU Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said Tuesday that Guillermo Farinas, whose 134-day hunger strike helped draw attention to the plight of Cuban political dissidents, would be represented by an empty chair at the midweek ceremony to award the Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought.
Joseph Daul, a member of the European parliament from France, says his absence “means that nothing has changed in Cuba.”
Previous winners of the prize include Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. It was awarded twice before to Cubans: in 2002 to pro-democracy activist Oswaldo Paya and in 2005 to a dissident group, Ladies in White.
Mon Dec 13, 2:08 pm ET GENEVA (AFP) – The UN human rights expert on Myanmar on Monday urged the military regime to release about 2,200 remaining prisoners of conscience, a month after the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, made his appeal following the death of a 50-year-old Buddhist monk in captivity on Wednesday.
“He is the 145th prisoner of conscience to die in prison since 1988,” Quitana said in a statement.
“One month after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?s release, I call upon the Government of Myanmar to release the remaining prisoners of conscience, currently estimated to be at least 2,202, many of whom are right now suffering serious health problems from the harsh conditions of their detention,” he added.
“A release would be a very strong signal that the new government of Myanmar intends to uphold these fundamental freedoms and would be welcomed by both people inside and outside the country.”
The monk, U Naymeinda, was arrested for distributing leaflets supporting a pro-democracy demonstration in 1999 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died after being trasferred to Moulmein prison, far from his family, according to Quintana.
He also expressed concern about reports that several prisoners in Insein prison were suffering from malnutrition-related diseases and tuberculosis.
Quintana said the government had indicated before elections last month that it might release some detainees, but no prisoners of conscience were freed.
The UN expert called on the regime to release them before the new parliament debates changes to national laws.
Myanmar held its first election in two decades on November 7, which was widely criticised by democracy activists and Western governments because of severe restrictions on opponents and voting conditions.
Mon Dec 13, 1:58 pm ET
VIENNA (AFP) – Poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia jumped 22 percent in 2010, exacerbating the region’s relentless rise in opium production in recent years, the UN’s drugs agency said on Monday.
The amount of land used for poppy cultivation increased in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, the three main producers, with Laos alone reporting a 58 percent jump, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its annual report.
It marked the fourth consecutive year in which poppy cultivation had increased, but the level remains below the peak years in the 1990s, the report said.
“In addition, and despite the fact that governments have increase their eradication efforts, we estimate that potential opium production in 2010 has increased by approximately 75 per cent when compared with 2009,” said Yuri Fedotov, the agency’s director.
“This has occurred largely as a result of two combined factors: more area under cultivation and higher yields,” he said.
The value of the region’s opium production rose from 119 million dollars to 219 million dollars, due to rising prices, the report said.
“Poverty and instability are two of the drivers which push farmers to grow — or sometimes return to growing — illicit crops,” said Fedetov.
By Sui-Lee Wee and Henry Foy – Tue Dec 14, 6:42 am ET
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The leaders of India and China meet this week to try to boost trade and soothe tensions between two nations accounting for more than a third of humanity and crucial for driving global economic growth.
Wen Jiabao’s three-day visit from Wednesday is the first by a Chinese premier in four years. He will be accompanied by more than 400 business leaders.
“Economic ties constitute literally the bedrock of our relations… Both sides are keen to further enhance mutually beneficial trade and are looking at new initiatives,” said an Indian foreign ministry spokesman.
China’s ambassador to India said he was hopeful that free trade talks could start, but there is some skepticism in New Delhi that Beijing may only want to dump cheap manufactured goods on India’s booming $1.3 trillion economy.
While the two are often lumped together as emerging world powers, China’s GDP is four times bigger than India’s and its infrastructure outshines India’s dilapidated roads and ports, a factor that makes New Delhi wary of Beijing’s growing might.
“Relations are very fragile, very easy to be damaged and very difficult to repair. Therefore they need special care in the information age.” China’s envoy to India, Zhang Yan, told reporters in New Delhi.
While India and China have cooperated on global issues such as climate change, they have clashed over China’s close relationship with Pakistan and fears of Chinese spying. A longstanding border dispute also divides them.
India fears China wants to restrict its global reach by possibly opposing its bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat or encircling the Indian Ocean region with projects from Pakistan to Myanmar.
But India knows it must engage China as both nations exert their global clout. Wen’s trip comes a month after U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron also visited India this year.
Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said on Monday that everything would be up for discussion during the December 15-17 visit to New Delhi.
Wen then travels straight to Pakistan, India’s nuclear armed rival, for another two nights.
“No issues are off the table,” Hu told reporters in Beijing on Monday, adding the visit was to expand bilateral trade, increase cooperation and promote regional peace and stability.
China and India plan to sign a series of business deals, including one agreed in October for Shanghai Electric Group Co to sell power equipment and related services worth $8.3
billion to India’s Reliance Power.
India has sought to diversify its trade basket, but raw materials and other low-end commodities such as iron ore still make up about 60 percent of its exports to China.
In contrast, manufactured goods — from trinkets to turbines — form the bulk of Chinese exports.
Nirmal Ghosh The Straits Times
Publication Date : 14-12-2010
Increasing production of amphetamines and cultivation of opium in Burma have serious implications for human security, United Nations experts warned Monday (December 13).
Releasing new reports on amphetamines in Burma and opium in Burma and Laos, Gary Lewis, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative for East Asia and the Pacific, said local and global criminal networks were facilitating a rising wave of drugs from Burma.
Seizures of methamphetamines had risen sharply. Opium cultivation, once on the decline, has shown a “relentless rise” in recent years, the UNODC noted.
Opium production in Burma has increased by 76 per cent since last year. The country’s share in global production is now 16 per cent, up from 5 per cent last year.
While opium production is rising and opium derivatives remain widely used in Burma, methamphetamine production is accelerating at a much faster pace.
In addition to trafficking routes from eastern Burma, there are signs of a new route westwards through Rakhine state to South Asia, the reports said.
Methamphetamine makers were finding new ways to procure ‘precursor’ chemicals and ingredients needed to make the pills that have found a large and growing market in the region.
Last year, more than 93 million methamphetamine pills were seized in Burma, Thailand and China, thrice more than in 2008.
Also, 23 million – 95 per cent of all pills seized in Burma – were seized in Shan state, where some areas are inaccessible to government forces.
Precursors were being smuggled into Burma from China, India and Thailand – lately in the form of medicines containing ephedrine or pseudo-ephedrine, a key ingredient in the pills.
The pills are easily made and transported, and as such a source of quick and easy money for manufacturers. In contrast, opium cultivation is driven by poverty.
Since 2006, the price of opium in Thailand and Laos has been rising steeply. The price in Burma has also risen, but slower. It is an incentive for poor farmers to cultivate opium.
The UNODC urged renewed focus on development from market access to microcredit to help poor farmers shift to other crops.
The Online NewsHour – Secret Documents Add to Suspicions About Myanmar’s Nuclear Aspirations
By: Sarah C. Sullivan
Secret cables from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, released by the web site WikiLeaks, have added to long-standing suspicions about Myanmar’s nuclear ambitions and its alleged covert cooperation with North Korea.
Though not definitive, as the relationship has been difficult to prove, the cables add new evidence of a series of links between Myanmar, also known as Burma, and nuclear-aspiring North Korea, that have been rumored for several years.
One cable from September 2008 reports “a Burmese civilian met with members of USDAO (U.S. US Defense Attaché Office) Rangoon and offered to sell Uranium-238.” (The embassy bought it.) Another from 2004 quotes a Burmese officer saying that he had witnessed North Korean technicians helping to construct an underground facility in the foothills more than 300 miles northwest of Rangoon.
While the leaked documents report nuclear intentions, the cable’s author notes that it does not confirm North Korean cooperation. “This account is perhaps best considered alongside other information of various origins indicating the Burmese and North Koreans are up to something,” the cable says.
David Steinberg, a professor at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service specializing on Burma-Myanmar, North Korea and U.S. policy in Asia, said the cables generally do not reveal any new information, but rather confirm what people already knew.
“North Koreans have provided military equipment, no question about it,” he said. “[Burma] does have uranium deposits in the country naturally. Whether they are being exploited is the question, but there are places that are fenced off that may be sights for uranium excavation.”
As the Washington Post reports, Myanmar has largely dismissed the reports of its nuclear intentions that are based mainly on “information from defectors, intercepted materials and analysis of satellite photos,” the article says.
The Rangoon cables also offer other insights. One from January 2008 reported that China, Burma’s most powerful ally, was growing impatient with the small, secluded nation. “Chinese Fed Up,” a subhead reads.
Steinberg explained that this is a legitimate concern. China has the same policy for both North Korea and Myanmar, he explained: “Stability on the border, economic development across the border and no refugees.”
The cables could raise questions about the U.S. policy in the region, he said. After nearly 20 years of a U.S. policy that advocated for regime change, the Obama administration has eased diplomatic isolation of Myanmar’s military junta.
“As long as we talk about regime change they are going to resist,” Steinberg said. “We have to accept the government. (The U.S. does not have an ambassador there). We don’t have to like it, but we do have to recognize the government.”
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
There have been many adjustments for Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to make since she was released from house arrest.
She has been able to hold meetings with colleagues, speak to foreign diplomats and oversee renovations to her party’s crumbling offices.
Now she is also getting used to being a pet owner. Kim Aris, the younger of Ms Suu Kyi’s two sons, bought her a small brown puppy before he left Burma after a two-week visit to see his mother for the first time in a decade. He told reporters it was “May May’s pet”, using the Burmese word for mother.
One of Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Kyi Win, said he had been at her lakeside house in Rangoon when he had seen the new pet. “It’s a nice little dog,” he said.
Tuesday 14th December, 10:29 AM JST
TOKYO — About 150 government officials as well as business and academic representatives from Japan and the five Mekong nations of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam met Tuesday in Tokyo to discuss such issues as infrastructure development, logistics and distribution in the Southeast Asian region.
The forum, designed to promote public-private cooperation as agreed upon by Japanese and Mekong leaders during their meeting in Tokyo in November last year, also covers cooperation in areas including energy development, support of small- and medium-sized enterprises and tourism.
At the outset of the one-day meeting, Hisashi Tokunaga, parliamentary vice foreign minister, said, ‘‘In recent years, with a view to helping close development gaps and reinforce integration within the ASEAN region, Japan has placed particular importance on its cooperation with the Mekong region.’‘
The five Mekong states belong to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Tokunaga said Japan has ‘‘actively backed the improvement of hard and soft infrastructure’’ in the Mekong region, saying that not only physical connectivity but institutional arrangements and the training of personnel to operate infrastructure are also important.
He also explained Japan’s recent efforts to boost exports of its infrastructure systems by making arrangements to meet the needs of recipient countries through the integration of promising Japanese technologies.
Thai-Myanmar Border Situation Returns To Normal, Says Thai Army
BANGKOK, Dec 14 (Bernama) — The Thai-Myanmar border situations have returned to normal, Thai News Agency reported Tuesday, citing 1st Army Region Commander Lieutenant General Udomdet Seetabutr.
“The situations along the Thai-Myanmar border did not pose a concern for the time being, although there had been battles between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic troops near the Three Pagodas border pass recently,” he told reporters before leaving for the 9th Infantry Division in the western Kanchanaburi province, bordering Myanmar.
He added that the situations already returned to normal, and Myanmar already re-opened its border pass for Thai people.
However, he said, the army will still monitor the situations closely, and if there is any risk, the army will issue a warning to the people who regularly use the Three Pagodas border pass.
The Commander said he would give moral support to soldiers, border patrol police and paramilitary rangers deployed in the area as the officers had worked hard to ensure security as ordered.
Daily Times – ANALYSIS: Aung San Suu Kyi: a tribute —Ishtiaq Ahmed
Aung San Suu Kyi is a shining beacon of hope and virtue for all those who seek democracy by peaceful means and through the forgiveness of enemies. She herself said in a recent interview that she bore her tormentors no ill will, and that she hoped the military men of Myanmar would resume their rightful role as “heroes” of the country
In these dreary and dismal days when Pakistan seems to be sinking into the quagmire of religious extremism and terrorism, and the government seems helpless to act against such destructive forces, it is some relief to note that a beacon of hope still burns on the eastern border of our subcontinent. On November 13, 2010, the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released after long years of house arrest and political isolation by the ruling military junta.
Her father, Aung San, was the founder of modern Myanmar. He negotiated with the British for the independence of his country but was assassinated in 1947 by his opponents. Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the time. She spent many years abroad, first with her mother who was an ambassador and later when she studied at Oxford and worked at the UN in New York. With her English husband, Michael Aris, a specialist in Buddhist culture, she raised a family living in Bhutan and Japan.
Her entry into politics was largely accidental. In 1988, when she was visiting Myanmar to call upon her ailing mother, the then military junta fell from power. As a result, there were mass demonstrations against military rule, but another set of generals took over. She addressed a pro-democracy public meeting in the capital city of Rangoon. That catapulted her into the leadership of the democratic movement. From that time onwards, there was no turning back.
In 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 59 percent of the national votes and 81 percent (392 of 485) of the seats in the Burmese parliament. The military junta, thoroughly corrupt and oppressive, however, refused to recognise the result and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. From July 20, 1989 onwards, she remained in that situation for almost 15 of the next 21 years. In current times, her incarceration is therefore the second longest after that of the legendary South African anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela. During this period, her husband fell ill with cancer and died in England. He had been refused permission to visit her by the generals, and she herself decided not to leave the country to visit him, afraid that the generals would not allow her to return. Measure by this the sacrifice that this couple made for the sake of the Burmese people.
The popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar has never been in doubt. She developed a line of resistance that can be called Gandhian, peaceful but principled and unyielding before the brute might of the state. Her Buddhist background helped her get through long years of isolation with dignity and patience. She rejected several overtures from the military rulers to share power with them. The world responded to her situation by conferring upon her several awards among which the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 is the most prestigious.
Such support certainly played an important part in compelling the military to release her when her latest term of house arrest (on a trumped-up charge) finally expired earlier this year. However, before she was released, the junta had arranged an election in which a party enjoying its blessings supposedly won 80 percent of the votes. It remains to be seen if this will suffice to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from gaining her rightful place at the helm of politics through the democratic process.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a shining beacon of hope and virtue for all those who seek democracy by peaceful means and through the forgiveness of enemies. She herself said in a recent interview that she bore her tormentors no ill will, and that she hoped the military men of Myanmar would resume their rightful role as “heroes” of the country. By this, she no doubt meant that they should give power back peacefully to the people and return to defending the country, as well as aiding in its economic development. Let us hope we shall one day see her in her proper place as the leader of a free and peaceful Myanmar.
Can we in Pakistan learn something from her? The answer must be a definite yes. The most important thing to note should be that peaceful resistance to tyranny and brute force can be very effective. This she has amply demonstrated by suffering in isolation, away from her children and other family members. On the few occasions the world saw her on television waving to her supporters waiting outside her house, her smile was enough to indicate that she remained undeterred and unbroken.
The second thing we can learn from the Burmese democracy champion is that the pursuit of power alone should not be the reason for being in politics. Had Aung San Suu Kyi wanted she could have been in power a long time ago by entering into a shady deal with the military junta. In Pakistan, unfortunately, our leaders will do anything just to get into power. Ultimately, such politics are myopic and self-defeating. It is possible that she may have to wait a long time before she can come to power. It is even possible that she may never achieve this and the generals may again put her under house arrest or much worse. However, I have no doubt that she has already served her people very well by remaining steadfast to her principles, and thus incorruptible.
The third thing to be learnt is subject to her coming into power. The military junta has been systematically oppressing ethnic and religious minorities. I know this because a student at the National University of Singapore is writing her PhD thesis under my supervision on the forced expulsion of the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Most of them have taken refuge in Bangladesh while others have fled to Thailand, Malaysia and even beyond. The Rohingyas are not the only group that the military persecutes. Several other minority groups also suffer because of the narrow, exclusivist nationalism of the military regime. I know that not only the pro-democracy Burmese majority but also the ethnic and religious minorities in that country look up to Aung San Suu Kyi for leadership to restore the peaceful, pluralist type of society that Myanmar always was. She is a beacon of hope for democracy, human rights and minority rights.
The writer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com
16:01, December 14, 2010
The 10th annual Myanmar-China border trade fair, originally scheduled to be launched in December of this year, has been put off until an unspecified date in next February, a local weekly reported Tuesday, quoting merchants doing border trade.
This year’s Myanmar-China border trade fair was set to be held in Myanmar’s Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone under an arrangement that such fair is held annually and alternately in the two countries’ border towns since 2001.
Muse stands as Myanmar’ biggest border trade point out of 11 with neighboring countries, where 70 percent of Myanmar’s border trade are carried out.
In the border trade fair participated by companies and enterprises from both countries, Myanmar usually exhibits its agricultural produces and marine products, gems and jade, traditional handicrafts, traditional medicine and furniture.
Last year’s Myanmar-China border trade fair took place at the International Convention Center in Jiegao, southwest China’s Yunnan province from Dec. 2 to 6, 2009.
According to official statistics, bilateral trade between China and Myanmar hit 2.907 billion U.S dollars in 2009-10, of which China’s export to Myanmar stood 2.26 billion dollars, while its import from Myanmar represented 646 million dollars.
China remains as Myanmar’s third largest trading partner.
by Staff Writers
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 14, 2010 In some of 2010’s most compelling images, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from her home after years in detention and an empty chair marked the absence of Liu Xiaobo from his Nobel prize ceremony.
Asia’s two human rights martyrs serve as compelling reminders that a region which is celebrated for its economic vibrancy also harbours some of the world’s most intractable and brutal regimes.
And despite outrage from foreign governments, and an increasing awareness among Asia’s billions who have embraced the Internet and social media, the region’s dictatorships and corrupt regimes show no sign of bending.
“There seems to have been a downturn in respect for human rights,” said Dave Mathieson from the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. “There’s been a more sophisticated backlash against global human rights norms.”
Countries that had once argued that western notions of democracy are not in keeping with “Asian values” are now instead muting criticism by staging parodies of the democratic process, he said.
“A lot of states talk about democracy and say — at least we’re holding elections, it’s progress. When of course most of them are illiberal processes that just support the status quo.”
Myanmar’s ruling generals held the impoverished country’s first elections in two decades in November, ignoring complaints that barring Suu Kyi’s opposition party rendered the ballot illegitimate.
The 65-year-old democracy icon last month walked out of her lakeside home where she has been locked up for 15 of the past 21 years, smiling and in high spirits, but her future remains precarious and at the mercy of the junta.
In Sri Lanka, January elections were held after the island’s long-running civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels ended in an onslaught that has drawn allegations of war crimes.
President Mahinda Rajapakse was re-elected by a huge margin over his opponent, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, who alleged he was the victim of massive fraud and was then promptly arrested and jailed.
Grisly new photos emerged last month of piles of dead bodies and execution-style killings allegedly taken during the final stages of the war, during which up to 30,000 ethnic Tamil civilians perished, according to several rights watchdogs.
Myanmar and Sri Lanka both count as a key ally China, whose own rights record was on display when jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia in a ceremony China attacked as “political theatre”.
Beijing mounted a fearsome response to the Nobel committee’s decision, pressuring around 20 countries to boycott last week’s ceremony and blacking out live broadcasts of the event by CNN and the BBC in China.
Asia Society executive vice-president Jamie Metzl in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal accused China of underpinning some of the worst behaviour on the globe.
“Wherever human rights are massively abused today, China is the main protector of the abusing government,” he said, pointing to regimes in Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Iran.
“Because China helps protect these regimes — and often benefits commercially, in the form of deals for natural resources — international efforts to protect human rights generally have no net effect on the abusing regime’s actions.”
Metzl said that while “China’s rapid rise has had many positive implications”, it had also derailed a half-century of global efforts to codify and enforce the principles of universal human rights.
“Those unlucky souls around the world who find their rights massively abused by their own governments can, thanks largely to China, expect little or no help from foreign states.”
The Asian Human Rights Commission in an annual report urged regional nations to meet the rising aspirations of their people, and improve “the protection mechanisms for civil rights and economic, social and cultural rights”.
For many ordinary people this is not just a political debate, but a day-to-day struggle against police brutality, violence against women, poverty, religious discrimination and inadequate justice systems.
“All throughout Asia there are clear signs of the people being more aware of their rights and they are making great efforts to improve the enjoyment of their rights,” the commission said.
“The hope for a better future lies in these initiatives by the people themselves. However, the government response to these initiatives is wholly inadequate.”
By KO HTWE Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Farmers in Hpakant Township in Burma’s northern Kachin State complain that the Yuzana Company continues to seize and destroy their land without paying compensation.
Six hundred farmers were evicted from their land between 2006 and 2008 without full compensation and displaced to areas far from their original homes. Many complain that Yuzana continues to seize their new land.
The state granted 1,338 acres of the originally seized property to the Yuzana Company, which is reported to need the land for the cultivation of sugar cane and tapioca.
The seized land lies in the area of the Hugawng Valley, in the western part of Kachin State, near the Indian border and close to the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve.
A group of 148 farmers filed a lawsuit against the land seizure in August, but Yuzana persuaded them to drop the case in return for payments of 80,000 kyat ($80) per acre each to a maximum of 500 evicted farmers. However, many farmers are still waiting for the compensation.
A Myitkyina court rejected a lawsuit against the Yuzana company chairman, but said it would allow a case to be brought against the director of Yuzana, whose name was not revealed.
While the court proceedings drag on, the land seizures continue, complain the farmers. One complainant, Wineyawye, said he had visited the court sessions eight times so far and couldn’t afford to attend any more. Other farmers say they also don’t have the money to travel regularly to Myitkyina to attend the court proceedings.
One farmer, Andy, told The Irrawaddy that after taking seven acres of his land Yuzana destroyed a further tract he was cultivating.
“Half of my plantations have now been bulldozed,” he said. “I have trouble now making a living.”
Bauk Ja, leader of one farmers’ group, said farmers would face greater problems in the future as Yuzana continued to seize their land.
Lamung Zen, who lost 50 acres, said Yuzana failed to inform farmers about the areas of land the company intended to seize.
Wineyawye said he was now reduced to taking odd jobs to support his family after Yuzana seized 13 acres of their land. “We have no grassland now for our cows,” he said.
The Yuzana company is owned by Htay Myint, who is on the US sanctions blacklist because of his close ties to the junta generals. He won his Tenasserim Division constituency for the regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in last month’s general election.
The Yuzana company was granted 200,000 acres in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in 2006 to establish tapioca and sugar cane plantation, according to a report by the Kachin Development Networking Group.
By ASHLEY SOUTH Monday, December 13, 2010
On Nov. 7, Burma went to the polls for the first time since May 1990. The previous elections were won by a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). However, the military regime, which has ruled the country in one form or another since 1962, refused to hand over power. The generals chose instead to initiate a drawn-out constitution-drafting process, which culminated in a charter consolidating the military’s leading role in politics, and guaranteeing the army 25 percent of seats in parliament.
Unsurprisingly, many independent parties refused to contest the polls—a boycott which was led by the NLD and overseas-based activists. Nevertheless, 37 political parties did compete, including a handful of independent candidates and some two dozen non-government-aligned parties. These opposition parties were not so naive as to believe the polls would be free and fair, but they did hope that the military regime would be confident enough in controlling the overall outcome to allow some independent voices to be elected.
Non-government parties contesting the elections have a long-term strategy of slowly expanding the amount of space available to civilian political networks in order to incrementally change the balance of power in Burma. Many regarded the 2010 election as a ‘dry run’, in order to build capacities, and prepare for the next polls, due to be held sometime in 2015.
In the absence of the NLD, two main urban-based, national-level opposition parties sought to gain support among citizens opposed to continued military rule. In addition, some two dozen parties ran on behalf of the country’s diverse ethnic minority communities, who make up about 30 percent of the population. Some of these parties sought to position themselves as members of a “third force,” between the government and existing opposition groups, such as the NLD. They received a great deal of criticism for participating in the elections.
The turnout on Nov. 7 seems to have been somewhere between half and two-thirds of registered voters. It seemed by late that evening that many non-government parties had done remarkably well. However, in numerous instances, vote counting was interrupted once it became apparent that pro-government candidates were losing.
When the official results were announced over the following days, it became apparent that many non-government candidates had been beaten to the finish line by their pro-government opponents, largely due to a massive influx of “advanced votes” which were introduced late in the day. In some cases, the number of recorded votes exceeded the total population of registered voters, indicating that election officials panicked when they realized that pro-military candidates were not about to win, and stuffed the ballot boxes.
In the week after the elections, many non-government candidates and their supporters were deeply frustrated. However, the post-election scenario is not entirely gloomy.
The pro-government Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) won 874 of the 1,140 seats declared by the end of November, giving them firm control of the two national-level assemblies. However, even after taking into account the 25 percent of seats reserved for the military, pro-government parties will not have a stranglehold on all of the ethnic State assemblies. In fact, a number of ethnic nationality parties did rather well in the elections. The party with the third-largest number of seats (57) is the Shan Nationalities Democracy Party, with Rakhine, Mon, Chin, Pa-O and Karen parties also doing well. In many cases, these small parties gained clusters of seats in their ethnic homelands, providing them with regional power bases.
It is yet to be seen how the dynamics of electoral power will be played out. Under the 2008 constitution, the two national and 14 State/ Regional assemblies elected in November will be convened in February, to choose a president under an electoral college system. Between now and then, those few independent candidates elected will have to choose their positions. Differences may yet emerge between semi-civilian USDP candidates, and the military blocs in each of the assemblies. In particular, there is likely to be jockeying for power among a number of recently retired senior military officers, not all of whom are comfortable with relinquishing their uniforms for the uncertainties of electoral politics.
The government has recently announced measures restricting certain freedoms of speech in parliament. Nevertheless, ethnic nationality parties in several of the State assemblies should be able to scrutinize, and sometimes even block, some legislation. Furthermore, in the ethnic States, many USDP candidates come from minority communities, and enjoy long-standing relationships with members of ethnic nationality parties. Therefore, some interesting cross-party alliances may emerge.
Furthermore, the creation of greater political “space,” at least at the local level, is likely to facilitate the further development of civil society networks within and between ethnic nationality communities, the emergence of which over the past decade-plus has been one of the few positive stories in an otherwise bleak political scene in Burma.
An important indicator will be whether, and to what degree, ethnic nationality candidates will be pressured or co-opted into following the USDP/ military line, or whether in some cases they will use the space created by their election to give voice for their communities and to gain access to improved services for their electorates. Of course, such opportunities are not without their potential pitfalls: successful candidates are likely to be tempted by the fruits of office.
With the military continuing to dominate national-level politics, observers should therefore look to the ethnic nationality parties as agents of progressive—albeit, modest—change in Burma. Whether they can succeed in this incremental approach will depend in large part on whether junta supremo Than Shwe feels confident enough in his control of the political process to allow some concessions.
The military’s position will depend in large part on its success in dealing with Aung San Suu Kyi who was released from her most recent bout of house arrest just a few days after the elections. Although the NLD is a shadow of its former self, “The Lady” still enjoys enormous support and respect throughout Burma and beyond. It is yet to be seen whether she will make common cause with non-government candidates elected on Nov. 7. Also unsure is the degree of cooperation, if any, that can be expected between Suu Kyi and the military authorities.
Relationships between Suu Kyi and the government could become quite confrontational, quite quickly. In this case, the military is unlikely to allow even semi-independent voices in the elected assemblies to have much autonomy. Members of some ethnic nationality parties have already indicated their willingness to work with Suu Kyi. If such alliances coalesce, this could lead to a new phase of zero-sum political conflict in Burma.
Another key factor is how relationships will play out between the government and Burma’s several dozen armed ethnic groups. The Karen and other armed ethnic groups still have the capacity to undermie stability in the border areas. Their continued insurgency is testimony to widespread frustration regarding the lack of political progress in Burma, among (but not limited to) ethnic minority communities.
Border-based insurgency has been in decline for some years, with most armed ethnic groups being marginalized in relation to major developments in Burma over the past decade.
Nevertheless, insurgency may be prolonged a while longer if some of those armed ethnic groups which agreed cease-fires with the government in the 1990s join forces with the remaining non-cease-fire groups. A recently announced military alliance between several of the main cease-fire and non-cease-fire groups sent an aggressive signal to the government. The situation is very tense, and the current tense stand-off could escalate into all-out conflict at any time. Nevertheless, few of the cease-fire groups want to return to war, if they can avoid it—and the government is only likely to launch a direct attack on these militias if Snr-Gen Than Shwe feels he is losing control of the political process.
The multi-faceted political situation in Burma is at a particularly interesting and important juncture. However, that makes it awfully difficult to call the shots.
Ashley South is an independent writer and consultant specializing in humanitarian and political issues in Burma and Southeast Asia.
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Four ethnic armed groups have discussed the possibility of deepening cooperation and mutual support at a meeting in Mongla, the Burmese-Chinese border town in Eastern Shan State, which lies in the area controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).
The meeting, during last week’s Shan New Year, was attended by representatives from the NDAA, the Shan State Army-North, Shan State Army-South and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
Saengjuen Sarawin, deputy editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), who also attended the meeting, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “The representatives analyzed the country’s current situation, reviewed what they have done in the last 20 years and discussed their future plans.”
An officer based at the UWSA headquarters in Panghsang told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday the meeting had been “just a normal discussion with the other ethnic armed groups. We haven’t made any decision yet but we do intend to support each other because we all are ethnics. We have been oppressed by the same government.”
The UWSA, the NDAA, and the Shan State Army-North are among the armed ethnic groups which are resisting regime pressure on them to join its Border Guard Force (BGF) .
Sarawin said the BGF issue had caused the armed ethnic groups to “wake up” and understand that they had to depend on each other.
As part of its campaign of pressure on the NDAA and another armed group, the Kachin Independence Army, the regime interrupted cross-border trade at Mongla by closing the checkpoints located on the Mongla-Keng Tung highway in Shan State. This highway is the main trading route in Shan State and is an important thoroughfare for goods between Burma, China and Thailand.
A local source said that the NDAA could still derive income from casinos, rubber production, border pass fees, a magnesium mine and vehicle taxes.
The Mongla meeting also discussed last year’s attack by Burmese government troops on NNDAA forces in the Kokang region of the Sino-Burmese.
NDDA leader Peng Jia Xiang said about 200 civilians had been killed in the two-day battle, three of them Chinese civilians who died in artillery fire from government troops. The clashes sent 30,000 refugees into China, where Chinese authorities spent 10 million yuan (about US $1.4 million) in providing humanitarian assistance to them.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 09:40 Phanida
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Twenty-nine cases involving alleged electoral fraud committed by the Union Solidarity and Development Party are being held up in trial courts, the chairman of a pro-junta party said yesterday.
Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP) party chairman Aye Lwin leads the pro-junta political party also run by the 88 Generation Students (Union of Myanmar). The group is supported by State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, the junta’s name for itself) Industry Minister No. 1 Aung Thaung, but it has denied seeking financial help from the junta.
“Police have investigated these cases. They told us all case files had been forwarded [to trial courts] last week. But they haven’t received any replies yet,” Aye Lwin told Mizzima yesterday.
The cases concerned comprise 12 cases filed in Pyi district, west Pegu Division, two cases in Sagaing Division, one case in Magway Division and 14 cases in Rangoon Division.
Police investigated USDP members, ward-level authorities and poll-station chiefs last month over the cases, scrutiny that have been completed for a reported two weeks.
Aye Lwin said the alleged fraud entailed irregularities in compilation of electoral rolls, vote counting and the compiling of absentee votes.
Though the cases are registered at police stations, complaints will also be lodged with the junta’s electoral watchdog, the Union Election Commission (UEC), Aye Lwin said.
A complaint against a winning candidate can be lodged with the UEC up to 60 days from the polling date, which would be January 6. Each complaint submitted to the UEC must be accompanied with a non-refundable one-million-kyat deposit (US$1,111).
If the accused is found guilty, a one-year prison term, 100,000 kyat fine or both is meted out as punishment. However, if the complaint is determined to be frivolous, the complainant is sentenced to a three-year prison term, 300,000 kyat fine or both, as per electoral laws.
According to a city official in July, Rangoon City Development Committee banned collection of donations to all individuals and organisations after the 88 Generation Students and Youths (Union of Myanmar) and Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP) parties canvassed market-goers for funds at Yadana Theingi market North Okkalapa Township.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 09:22 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Contact has been lost with 23 Burmese crewmen of Liberian-flagged container ship MSC Panama, hijacked by Somali pirates on Friday, according to the Myanmar Overseas Seafarers’ Association yesterday.
“The [shipping management] company can’t contact the Somali pirates. We are waiting for the report of the Rangoon branch office of the company,” Htay Aung, a central executive committee member of association, said.
Two armed boats with a total of five pirates on board hijacked the MSC Panama as it was en route from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Beira in Mozambique, using rocket-propelled grenades during the attack that occurred 80 nautical miles (92 miles) east of the Tanzanian-Mozambican border, EU Naval Force Somalia, the European Union’s anti-piracy taskforce, reported on its website.
The container ship of 26,288 deadweight tonnage (which includes the weight of the crew, passengers, cargo, fuel, ballast, drinking water and stores) was operated by Ship Management Services in Coral Gables, Florida, in the United States, fronting for registered owner, the Eurus Berlin company, based in New York, the Ecoterra piracy website reported.
Similarly, early this year, Norwegian vessel UBT Ocean, crewed by 21 Burmese, was hijacked by pirates off Somalia. The vessel was released in July after the pirates received US$3.5 million, a company source said.
“Now, seamen are afraid to go into that area,” Htay Aung said.
The Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, with the Suez Canal, form the main shipping gateway between the East and West.
Operating in the Gulf and an expanding area of the Indian Ocean, Somali pirates hold more than 500 crew members from more than 20 ships. Hostages and ships have been held for months and released only for multi-million-dollar ransoms, according to the Associated Press.
“Somalia has been mired in anarchy since 1991, enabling piracy to thrive off its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts. A multinational force patrols the seas, but the vast distances and pirates’ ability to attack further offshore mean hijackings have continued,” AP said yesterday.
This extreme southerly attack in the Somali Basin was a further example of the constantly expanding area of Somali pirate activity, EU Navfor said.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 14 December 2010 The death last week of an elderly monk serving his twelfth year of a 20-year sentence has prompted a top UN official to call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
Ashin Nameinda (also known as U Myo Min) died on 8 December. He had been suffering mouth ulcers and thus was unable to eat, but according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners–Burma (AAPP), was not given adequate treatment.
The 50-year-old had been sentenced for distributing leaflets to encourage protests in September 1999, and becomes the 146th political prisoner to die in detention. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s special rapporteur for Burma, followed the news of Ashin Nameinda’s death and the release last month of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi with calls for the junta to release the remaining 2,200-plus political prisoners in Burma.
“One month after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release, I call upon the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to release the remaining prisoners of conscience, currently estimated to be at least 2,202, many of whom are right now suffering serious health problems from the harsh conditions of their detention,” he told AFP.
Around 142 of the imprisoned monks, activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians are in poor health, AAPP claim. Conditions inside Burma’s 44 prisons are notoriously poor, and inmates are regularly required to bribe prison doctors in order to receive treatment. Torture is widespread, particularly for political prisoners.
Despite recent elections that the ruling junta promised would usher in an era of civilian rule, there has been no suggestion that political prisoners will be released.
“A release would be a very strong signal that the new government of Myanmar intends to uphold these fundamental freedoms and would be welcomed by both people inside and outside the country.”
Despite the reverence with which Burma holds its monastic community, monks currently account for 256 of Burma’s 2,202 political prisoners. One monk, U Nanda Vathu, is serving a 71-year sentence, while nearly two dozen of those detained are serving sentences of 20 years or more.
Quintana, who has called for the UN to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, was denied a visa to visit the country in August. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said shortly after that he was frustrated that the junta had been “unresponsive” to his attempts to trigger dialogue and engagement.
By HTET AUNG KYAW
Published: 14 December 2010
A lawsuit is being filed against Burma’s election authority by the opposition National Democratic Force as anger over the controversial polls continues.
The party, which won 16 seats in the 7 November vote, is accusing the Election Commission of failing to prosecute ballot station officials who allegedly cast bogus votes.
Thein Nyunt Zaw, an NDF candidate in Rangoon division, said that some officials in Rangoon’s Thongwa ninth ward had also cast votes “on behalf of others”, a claim that has been echoed elsewhere in Burma.
Allegations of fraud have hounded the Burmese generals since the elections, which were won in landslide victory by the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
One of the main controversies leading up to the polls centred on the collection of advance votes. While the government is legally allowed to order advance votes from Burmese living abroad, or those who are unable to reach polling booths on the day, reports of widespread coercion of Burmese nationals prior to the day emerged.
A number of opposition parties who had observers at ballot stations during the counting process claimed that any initial lead taken by them was reversed after the advance votes were factored in. It is not clear however how many of the total lodged votes were done in advance.
The USDP meanwhile has filed a complaint against Tin Tin Mar, a candidate for the opposition Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM) party, which won only three seats, compared to the USDP’s 873.
According to DPM general secretary, Than Than Nu, the USDP is accusing Tin Tin Mar of vote-buying, following her victory over a USDP candidate in the Mandalay division constituency they competed in.
“She was subpoenaed by the election commission in Naypyidaw so she will have to go there on 29 December to give an explanation,” Than Than Nu said. She added that a letter sent to the party by the Election Commission alleged that a DPM member canvassing for Tin Tin Mar had promised voters 1,500 kyat ($US1.50) in exchange for the vote.
Meanwhile one independent election candidate in Mandalay’s Chanmyatharzi township is preparing to sue his USDP rival and current health minister, Dr Kyaw Myint, over alleged foul play and collection of advance votes. Kyaw Myint won his constituency.
The junta announced last week that 76 percent of the more than 29 million eligible voters had cast ballots for the elections, the country’s first in 20 years.