BURMA RELATED NEWS – FEBRUARY 01, 2011
Feb 1st, 2011
Straits Times – Suu Kyi tells Egypt protesters: ‘We’re all with you’
LONDON – MYANMAR democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi told anti-regime protesters in Egypt on Tuesday that ‘we’re all with you’, as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Cairo.
In a live question and answer session on BBC World Service radio, the Nobel peace laureate, who has fought the military regime in Myanmar for decades, said she was ‘very interested’ in the situation and urged protesters to stay strong.
‘It’s necessary to keep cool heads and strong hearts and not ever to lose hope and to keep on going,’ she said, in response to a caller from Cairo who asked her advice as he faced a ‘very scary moment of transition’ in Egypt.
She added: ‘And I would want you to know that we’re all with you – that people all over the world who want freedom, somehow or the other feel connected to other people who are struggling for freedom.’
Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a 1990 election in a landslide but the result was never recognised by Myanmar’s military regime and she has spent most of the past 20 years in detention. She was released from her latest period of house arrest in November, less than a week after a widely criticised election that cemented the military regime’s decades-long grip on power.
Continuing on Egypt, Ms Suu Kyi said: ‘I think it’s normal that people should after some years get tired of authoritarian regimes. And I think what the Egyptian situation has proved is that people nowadays have much better means of getting in touch with each other and arranging mass public demonstrations such as they have done in Egypt.’
By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press – 2 hrs 38 mins ago NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s first parliament in more than two decades nominated five vice-presidential candidates Tuesday, one of whom will become president and lead the new military-dominated government.
The army has held power in Myanmar since 1962 and is now essentially handpicking the country’s president: Through its own delegates in parliament and their civilian allies, it holds an 80 percent majority in the new legislature, so the new leader is certain to be a top member of the outgoing junta.
The most prominent nominee among five vying for the three vice president’s seats is Thein Sein, a general who served as prime minister in the outgoing ruling junta and also heads the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which won a huge majority in last November’s general election.
Thein Sein’s seniority makes him the most likely pick for the top post, but a second top military figure, Lt. Gen. Tin Aung Myint Oo, who was also a senior member of the junta, is another candidate, said a person familiar with the proceedings who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to release the information.
State radio confirmed that the lower and upper houses each nominated two candidates, but did not mention Tin Aung Myint Oo, whose name was put forward by the bloc of military appointees in parliament. One-quarter of the seats in each chamber are reserved for military appointees.
Three of the candidates are members of ethnic minorities, and one is certain to be chosen for a VP job. That inclusion is an important gesture because conflict with the country’s substantial ethnic groups who seek greater autonomy has long posed a threat to national stability.
Although there appears to be little popular interest in parliament’s opening — the widespread perception that the military cheated in last November’s general election dashed many hopes for true change — the general public is curious as to who may become head of state.
“I am not interested in the opening of parliament but I am a little curious to know who will be the country’s first president. It could be one of the military leaders,” said a worker at a hotel in Naypyitaw. He spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid unwanted official attention for speaking to a journalist.
The party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which won elections in 1990 that the junta refused to honor, boycotted last November’s vote and is without representation in the new legislature.
No matter who becomes president, Senior Gen. Than Shwe — the head of the junta — is expected to remain a dominant force in the country.
Speaking on a radio call-in show on the BBC World Service, Suu Kyi was asked whether the prospect of a figure other than Than Shwe becoming the country’s chief executive boded well for Myanamr.
“I don’t know because it depends on who’s going to be in charge of the army,” she replied. “Whoever is in charge of the army is going to have the power as much, if not more, than the president himself.”
By Aung Hla Tun – Tue Feb 1, 4:07 am ET
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) – Myanmar’s reclusive paramount leader Than Shwe is not among a list of presidential candidates to be nominated by parliament, lawmakers said on Tuesday, signaling an end to his 18 years of direct rule.
The country’s new parliament is expected to vote on Thursday to elect the country’s first civilian president after nearly half a century of military rule.
Assembly members told Reuters that the 78-year-old military strongman’s name was not among five candidates for the post.
But the top general is unlikely to fade away. He is expected to either remain in charge of the powerful military or to take a significant behind-the-scenes political role in the resource-rich country formerly known as Burma.
Most expect the presidency to go to the current prime minister, Thein Sein, the military junta’s fourth in command, indicating a continuation of the status quo.
The appointment of a president is a priority for Myanmar’s first elected parliament in half a century as it convenes this week in the capital, Naypyitaw, following the first elections in two decades on November 7, a poll widely criticized as a sham.
The names of candidates were given to Reuters by members of the senate, lower house and from among military-appointed parliamentarians on condition their names be withheld because they could faced jail if found to have spoken to the media.
Pro-democracy forces have little voice in the process. Both the lower and upper houses are dominated by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a proxy for the military government which swept the election.
A lower house representative said a committee comprised of its members had agreed to nominate Thein Sein, or an ethnic Karen politician, Saw Thein Aung.
An army-appointed assembly member said the junta’s fifth-in-command, Tin Aung Myint Oo, would be nominated.
A senate legislator said members of the house had agreed on two presidential candidates — either Aye Maung, leader of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, or Sai Mo Kham, a member of the army-backed USDP.
It was not known whether Than Shwe’s long-time deputy, Maung Aye, would play a future role. The junta’s third-in-command, Thura Shwe Mann, was elected lower house speaker on Monday.
The candidate with most votes from three special legislative committees will become president for a five-year term and the two unsuccessful nominees will serve as vice-presidents.
Mon Jan 31, 10:22 pm ET
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) – Its name translates as “Abode of Kings,” but it is far from clear whether Myanmar’s new capital and its gleaming new parliamentary complex can return the reclusive state to its former glory.
Bestowed with manicured, heavily watered lawns and forbidding stone walls, Myanmar’s five-year-old capital, Naypyitaw, bears no resemblance to the rest of the country, one of Asia’s poorest, or to nearby villages of mostly thatched wooden huts.
But as an elected parliament convened in Myanmar this week for the first time in half a century, the capital and its newly minted lawmakers are considered by some a tentative step toward opening a country that just 50 years ago was one of Southeast Asia’s most promising and wealthiest.
Once the world’s biggest rice exporter and a major energy producer, the former British colony is known now as a pariah state with a dysfunctional economy and an estimated 2,200 political activists or opposition politicians behind bars.
Whether it will ever shake that image is a matter of intense diplomatic debate, but a walk around the streets of the new capital suggests its rulers are thinking big.
The sprawling city with its two new “Hluttaws,” or legislative chambers, was built from scratch just five years ago, allowing the reclusive military rulers of the former Burma to isolate themselves some 320 km (200 miles) from the largest city and former capital, Yangon.
Naypyitaw is a maze of ministry buildings, government mansions, civil servants’ quarters and presidential palaces complete with grand Roman-style pillars — all rising from dusty, arid scrubland. At its heart is the parliamentary complex’s 31 buildings, with pagoda-style roofs.
PUZZLINGLY WIDE ROADS
Attractions include five golf courses, seven resort-style hotels, drinkable tap water, a Western-style shopping mall, a large zoo, a sprawling “water fountain garden,” lavish mansions and 24-hour electricity in a nation beset by power outages.
Restaurant and shop owners told Reuters business had improved as more laborers arrived in the city for its myriad construction projects.
Much of the work has been carried out by workers toiling in searing heat without modern equipment.
A year ago, as construction of parliament was at full steam, Reuters journalists witnessed women hauling stacks of bricks balanced upon their head at one construction site, while men cleared land with wooden-handled scythes at another.
Ox-drawn carts transported wood.
The government declines to disclose Naypyitaw’s cost but analysts and diplomatic sources say it must have cost billions of dollars, drawing criticism from aid groups over the priorities of a country facing chronic poverty and crumbling infrastructure.
Its rise reflects the strengthening diplomatic and financial muscle of Myanmar’s rulers as Southeast Asia and China tap its rich natural resources, from timber and natural gas to precious Burmese gems, despite Western sanctions imposed in response to rights abuses.
Despite its array of amenities, there’s no lively city center thronged with people, even five years after the government moved nearly all its workers there. Officials put its population at about 1 million, but that includes surrounding townships.
Its roads are puzzlingly wide, including one 20-lane boulevard, but they are largely empty. Civilian cars are rare. The city center, a roundabout where five roads meet, is populated mostly by palm trees and potted flowers.
One person the authorities are surely happy to leave in Yangon is opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate freed from detention following Myanmar’s first election in two decades in November.
Suu Kyi has yet to visit Naypyitaw and it is unclear when she will. On Friday a special appeals court rejected her attempt to reinstate her political party after it was dissolved for boycotting last year’s election.
1 hr 23 mins ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) – A moderate 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of India’s Andaman Islands Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or tsunami warnings issued.
The undersea quake hit at a depth of 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) around 192 kms southeast of Port Blair on the Andaman islands, which are located in the Bay of Bengal, at 19:39pm local time (1339 GMT), the USGS said.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there were no advisories in place.
Myanmar lies to the north of the Andaman Islands and Indonesia to the south while New Delhi is more than 2,500 kilometres away to the northwest.
The Andamans were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra that sent giant waves crashing into countries around the Indian Ocean.
The Andaman Sea area witnesses frequent earthquakes caused by the meeting of the Indian plate with the Burmese microplate along an area known as the Andaman trench.
AFP – February 1, 2011, 05:38 am
BP’s Russian arm sought new operations in states subject to western sanctions in an ongoing power struggle that clouds the subsidiary’s future, memos seen by Tuesday’s Telegraph newspaper showed.
US diplomatic cables leaked by the WikiLeaks website revealed that BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley was the subject of raids and forced out of Russia after the board of TNK-BP vetoed the exceptional proposals.
In 2008, then TNK-BP CEO Dudley told US officials that one of the company’s Russian directors pushed for exploration in states including Myanmar, Cuba, and Sudan.
TNK-BP accounts for around 25 percent of BP’s global production and was formed in 2003 when a group of Russian oligarchs, the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium, entered a deal with the British company.
The memo, sent from the US embassy in Moscow on June 20 2008, revealed Dudley’s beliefs.
“Dudley said AAR and, in particular, German Khan, had been systematically using TNK-BP resources to vet these projects,” it said.
A separate memo dated June 16 2008, which detailed a meeting between TNK-BP’s vice president for international relations, Shawn McCormick, and US officials went even further.
“The Alfa partners and in particular German Khan had been using the company’s resources to vest projects in places BP couldn’t invest, such as Kurdistan, Cuba, Burma and the like,” the cable claimed.
“When the TNK-BP board rejected these proposals, Khan would then slide them to a separate company that Alfa controlled, an arrangement that suited Khan and his Alfa partners fine.”
Dudley claimed that oligarch Khan, described as “mentally unstable” in another memo, “led the charge against TNK-BP’s foreign executives.”
Dudley also said that Kremlin agents had subjected him to “sustained harassment” before he was forced out of the country on a labour-law ruling.
The leaked cables said that Dudley “expected the attacks on him to continue in the form of law suits and the like but… believed his profile was too great for there to be any physical threat against him.”
The memos also revealed that Dudley believed the Kremlin wanted the company’s two factions to “fight each other to exhaustion, like ‘Siberian tigers,’ and then capture the survivor to create a third Russian major oil company.”
In another leaked memo, former Russian deputy energy minister Vladimir Milov said that there was also a power battle going on between Dudley and then global CEO Tony Hayward, who stepped down after the Deepwater Horizon oil leak.
Hayward is now CEO of TNK-BP in Russia.
BP recently entered an alliance with state-run energy company Rosneft for Arctic oil exploration.
In the memos, Dudley accused Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin of backing the oligarchs’ “war” against him.
A BP spokesman Monday played down the comment, saying the pair had “a strong relationship and mutual respect.”
The leak comes as BP prepared Tuesday to announce its end of year results, with the company’s first loss for two decades expected.
By Zin Linn Feb 01, 2011 9:32PM UTC
Burma or Myanmar’s new parliament elected two military men as speakers of the Upper and Lower Houses on Monday in its first session as a consequence of the November elections. The choosing of the speakers of the Upper and Lower Houses looked like a theatrical scène following a rehearsal. It was exactly the same performance under Dictator Ne Win’s totalitarian parliament during 1974-88.
Shwe Mann, the third most powerful general in the country’s junta, was voted speaker of the lower house while Khin Aung Myint, the current culture minister, was voted upper house speaker, junta’s media said.
The two houses are occupied by the military through the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 77 percent of the parliamentary seats, and 166 military-appointed Members of Parliament, who represent for 25 percent of the military quota under 2008 constitution.
Prearranged by the State Peace and Development Council, the first regular session of the People’s Parliament (Pyithu Hluttaw) was convened at the Pyithu Hluttaw Building in Naypyitaw Monday.
According to the agenda 10 of the session, the elected representatives for the People’s Parliament or Lower House took out the proposal forms from the Master of Ceremony to choose the candidate for the Speaker of the People’s Parliament (Lower House), filled in the forms and presented them to the chairman of the first regular session.
Current Prime Minister Thein Sein, an elected representative from the Zabuthiri Constituency, proposed Thura Shwe Mann of Zeyathiri Constituency for the Speaker and the current industry minister Aung Thaung of the Taungtha Constituency seconded the nomination.
Afterwards, the chairman announced the names of the candidates for the Speaker. As there were two candidates for the Speaker, the elected representatives cast secret ballots for the Speaker. Then, votes cast by the elected representatives for the two candidates were counted and declared.
Thura Shwe Mann won 376 votes while Mahn Maung Maung Nyan obtained 30 votes, and the chairman announced that Thura Shwe Mann was elected as the Speaker of the Lower House (Pyithu Hluttaw). No one was amazing as all the parliamentarians hoped the result before the secret ballot.
Thura Shwe Mann was former joint chief of staff of the Burmese Armed Forces, and third-highest ranking member of the State Peace and Development Council, after Than Shwe and Maung Aye. Shwe Mann graduated in 1969 from the Defence Services Academy, Intake 11.
According the agenda 11, the Deputy Speaker job was also put to vote in line with the rules and regulations for choosing the Speaker, said the state media
Current information minister Kyaw Hsan, a representative-elect from the Pale Constituency proposed Nanda Kyaw Swar, a representative-elect from the Dagon Constituency, for the Deputy Speaker and current science and technical minister U Thaung, an elected representative from the Kyaukse Constituency seconded the candidacy. A usual act produced by the same script-writer.
As there were three candidates for the Deputy Speaker, the elected representatives cast secrete ballots for the Deputy Speaker. Afterwards, votes cast by the representatives-elect for the three candidates were counted.
Nanda Kyaw Swar won 368 votes while Nelson (a) Hsaung Hsi obtained 45 votes and Mahn Maung Maung Nyan got 15 votes. Therefore, the chairperson of the first session of the Lower House announced that Nanda Kyaw Swar was elected as the Deputy Speaker.
Nanda Kyaw Swar is the son of Brigadier General Tin Pe, a member of the revolutionary council led by General Ne Win in 1962. Tin Pe was known as close associate of former dictator Ne Win.
Afterwards, Thura Shwe Mann and Nanda Kyaw Swar sworn in by the chairman as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and signed the statement of allegiance in front of the elected representatives.
Current agricultural minister Htay Oo, the chairperson of the first regular session of the Lower House handed over the duty to Speaker Thura Shwe Mann. Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann received the duty and extended a greeting address likely to be a ready-made wording.
According to the military’s mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar, the electing of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lower House was elected in accordance with the provisions in the Chapter-V of the Lower House Bylaws.
Meanwhile, military’s supreme boss Than Shwe is not among a list of presidential candidates to be nominated by parliament, lawmakers said on Tuesday. As said by the parliamentarians, the new parliament is predictable to vote on Thursday to select the country’s president by secret ballot following half a century of military rule.
But it is uncertain to predict Than Shwe’s role. He is likely to stay in charge of the commanding military or to stay behind-the-scenes unbending strongman.
Most analysts and observers guess the presidency nearly certain to go to the current Prime Minister, Thein Sein, the military junta’s fourth in command. The 65-year-old career soldier retired from the army in April 2010 to lead of the army-backed USDP, which claimed landslide in the poll. Thein Sein was appointed in April 2007 by the nation’s ruling military junta as interim prime minister, replacing Soe Win undertaking medical treatment. Thein Sein succeeded Soe Win on 24 October 2007 after Soe Win’s death in October 2007.
According to one analyst, it’s the same wine in the old bottle, or the military controlled government not changing fundamental policy.
Published: Jan. 31, 2011 at 3:15 PM
RANGOON, Myanmar, Jan. 31 (UPI) — The newly seated Parliament in Myanmar is making the tentative steps needed for a democratic government, the country’s leadership claims.
The military-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party was declared winner of 77 percent of the votes in November elections, which were boycotted by the party led by pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The country’s courts have refused an appeal by Suu Kyi to have her National League for Democracy party reinstated.
The military junta in the run-up to the election last year said the first vote in more than 20 years would open to the door to inclusive democracy, though the international community said the vote was riddled with fraud.
Officials loyal to Myanmar’s leader Gen. Than Shwe said the two-chamber Parliament would work on a plan for “disciplined democracy,” though London’s The Independent newspaper reports that those waiting for political transformation might be disappointed.
The newspaper notes that lawmakers must submit questions they may have to the speaker of the house 10 days before meeting for regular sessions and every form of media meant for public dissemination must be reviewed first by the country’s leaders.
Published: 1/02/2011 at 11:53 AM
Online news:
About one thousand residents of Ban Mo Ker Thai in Tak’s Phop Phra district were evacuated this morning as stray mortar shells again fell on Thai soil during fighting across the border between Burmese government troops and ethnic forces.
Chamroen Khiewja, the village headman, said he heard continuous firing on the Burmese side of the border from about 8am onward, including about 20 mortar shells exploding. Four mortar shells had landed in the village damaging several houses.
Mr Chamroen said the Burmese government forces opened fire on Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) positions.
No injuries were reported in the village but the incident prompted the evacuation of the about 1,000 residents, including some Buddhist monks.
They had taken refuge at a border checkpoint about 3km from the village, said Mr Chamroen.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
NAYPYITAW, Burma – An elected parliament convened in Burma yesterday for the first time in half a century but inspired scant enthusiasm among a sceptical public convinced it is just a smokescreen for continued military rule.
More than 600 members filled two new hluttaws, or legislative chambers, in the opening session. They are charged with choosing Burma’s first civilian president since a 1962 coup ushered in 49 unbroken years of military dictatorship.
The ruling junta has hailed the legislature as a new dawn of democracy but critics dismiss it as a charade that leaves the same authoritarian generals in control. They say the new government is just as likely to clamp down on dissent as the old one.
Lawmakers elected a chairmen and vice chairmen for each of the two chambers in the opening session, with three of the four positions going to retired soldiers, according to several parliamentarians, who asked to remain anonymous because speaking to the media was punishable by two years in prison.
The big surprise was junta number three Thura Shwe Mann, a career soldier honoured for bravery and tipped by many politicians and analysts as a possible presidential candidate, being made chairman, or speaker, of the lower house. “There was speculation among us that Thura Shwe Mann will become the president, but our party instructed us to elect him as the chairman of the lower house,” said a member of the main political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is a proxy for the military government.
The army has a reserved quota of a quarter of the seats in both chambers, as well as in regional parliaments.
That leaves parliament dominated by serving or retired soldiers loyal to junta supremo Than Shwe, who many analysts think might take the post of president.
Police patrolled roads and legislators travelled in luxury cars to the assemblies in Naypyitaw, the sprawling capital built from scratch just four years ago, where the country’s military rulers have isolated themselves some 320km from the biggest city and former capital, Yangon.
But there was barely a ripple of interest among ordinary Burmese, most of whom see the changes as purely cosmetic.
“We have no idea and no time to take the trouble to think about these useless things,” said a 38-year-old worker in Naypyitaw.
Journalists were barred from attending the session and mobile phones banned.
Three Asian countries battle H5N1 outbreaks
Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer
Jan 31, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in Japan, South Korea, and Myanmar reported fresh outbreaks of the H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, according to media reports and reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The virus hit two more farms in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture, pushing the number of recent poultry farm outbreaks in the prefecture to five, Kyodo News reported yesterday. Miyazaki ’s latest outbreaks occurred near the towns of Kawaminami and Nobeoka and prompted the culling of 96,600 chickens.
In response to the recent outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, the first since April 2009, Japan’s agriculture ministry on Jan 29 held an emergency meeting for prefectural officials, according to the Kyodo report. Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano told officials that the virus is a threat to local economies, and he urged them to do more to make sure farms are complying with biosecurity rules.
The H5N1 outbreaks have recently led to cancellations of bird-related events at least 28 facilities such as zoos and aquariums in Japan, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported today. Authorities cancelled a marathon that was scheduled to be run through a wintering area for migratory cranes and in some instances have banned the feeding of swans and other birds.
In other developments, South Korean veterinary officials reported H5N1 outbreaks at 14 more locations between Jan 17 and 25, according to a report to the OIE. Five provinces were affected: Gyeongii, Northern Jeolla, Southern Jeolla, Northern Gyeongsang, and Southern Chungcheong. Most of the outbreaks occurred at layer chicken and duck farms, but the virus also hit a quail farm and a pheasant farm.
Nearly 11,000 birds died from the disease, and about 281,700 were culled to control its spread. Poultry within 500 meters of the infected farms were also destroyed. Authorities have disinfected the farms and have intensified surveillance in a 10-kilometer radius around the farms where outbreaks occurred.
The virus reappeared in South Korean poultry in November 2010, and since then the country has reported several outbreaks. It is also battling a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in cattle.
Elsewhere, Myanmar reported the H5N1 virus at six more locations in the Sittwe district of Rakhine state, the area on the country’s west coast where the virus recently reemerged in mid January after a nearly year-long hiatus, according to a Jan 28 OIE report. All of the sites are within 1 kilometer of a recently infected site. All of the outbreaks, which started between Jan 18 and 23, involved layer poultry operations, with ducks and market poultry affected at some of the sites. Nearly 53,500 birds were culled to slow the spread of the virus.
In Thailand, a suspected H5N1 outbreak in Suphan Buri province has sparked an advisory from health officials to take precautions when coming in contact with poultry, according to
a Jan 30 report from the country’s national news bureau. Tests are under way on 100 chickens that died mysteriously. Jurin Laksanawisut, Thailand’s public health minister, said there were no reports of any human illnesses.
The country has not reported an H 5N1 outbreak since 2006, according to the report.
By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – Tue, Feb 1 11:42 AM IST
Dhaka, Feb 1 (IANS) No hilsa, not even fish will be left to catch in the Bay of Bengal, an expert has warned as the Bangladesh government prepared to issue 30 fresh licences for fishing, a media report said Tuesday.
The government will award the licences without any survey of the already dwindling reserve. Bangladesh shares the bay with neighbours India and Myanmar and several foreign trawlers from Asia-Pacific region also fish in the region.
The expert’s alarm came at a time when 44,000 fishing boats and 170 trawlers skim the bay every day with sea-floor-scraping nets that scoop up everything on the way, causing over-fishing.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government is set to overlook the warnings issued by a committee. The panel’s warning were also ignored in 2002 by then Khaleda Zia government that had issued 50 licences.
Most of those who were awarded the licences sold them for five million taka ($70,621). The licences changed many hands and those who finally began fishing paid double that amount, the Daily Star said.
Fisheries experts say the move to allow more trawlers might be disastrous because of a rapid depletion of fish stocks in the bay, home to 65 commercially important fish species and 36 shrimp species.
They warn that awarding new licences would also be disastrous for the existence of hilsa that is consumed and exported in a big way, and is considered the `national fish’ by Bangladesh.
‘What I feel is that this is a plot to destroy marine fish stocks. There will be no fish to catch. Everything will vanish in five to seven years,’ said Mohammed Abdul Kader of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries, the University of Chittagong.
‘If more trawlers are allowed for mid-water fishing, they will catch both mid-water and surface water fish thanks to the type of nets they use. It will deplete the existing stock,’ he added.
A study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Bangladesh also shows that fish resources are on the decline due to environmental degradation and other activities such as over-exploitation of in-shore fisheries.
‘It hits traditional fishermen. They are not getting adequate fish to make ends meet as industrial trawlers are moving to catch fish in low depth areas,’ Kader said.
‘If you allow mid-water trawling, hilsa will also disappear because all types of hilsa…will be caught,’ he said.
However, Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman Khan, director general of the Department of Fisheries, claimed the decvision to grant new licences came on the basis of past catch data.
‘We have seen that catches of existing trawlers are not dropping. Based on the data, the government has decided to issue new licences,’ he told the newspaper.
NewswireToday – /newswire/ – Miami, FL, United States, 02/01/2011
The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate, Old Bagan is located in the most unique Archeological Site of South East Asia, the Ancient capital of the Burmese Empire, Old Bagan and has joined the luxury Boutique Hotel Group “Epoque Hotels”.
Surrounded by more than 4000 ancient temples and Pagodas, every guest will be enchanted by the breathtaking views.
The Hotel offers 84 luxury rooms including 4 Suites. Every room is decorated with teak floors and typical Burmese furniture to reflect the ancient Burmese empire and its style.
The Hotel offers 2 dining choices, one in the French Garden and as an alternative the semi-open Ananada Restaurant.
For Relaxation after a day of Sightseeing the Hotel @ Tharabar Gate invites the guests to experience the Spa with Signature Treatments of Myanmar and Thailand.
A 24 hours Butler service compliments the pure luxury treatment this unique Hotel has to offer.
On joining Epoque Hotels Group (epoquehotels.com), the General Manager Christan-Markert Bourdon of The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate states: “ When it came down to choose a strong partner as luxury Brand, we needed to have a partner at our side that would be in line with our philosophy. We pride ourselves with individual, personalized luxury treatment, representing the incredible charming Burmese hospitality.
I believe that Epoque Hotels shares with us the same vision for the future of luxury hospitality, and therefore our choice of which brand to join was clear.
We are looking forward to a long partnership with Epoque Hotels.”
Sri Lanka and Myanmar:
Ceylon Daily News – Tourism needs expansion
Tourism between Sri Lanka and the Union of Myanmar is one of the key areas that needs to be further expanded as the travelling between Sri Lanka is mainly confined to Buddhism related travel, External Affairs Deputy Minister Neomal Perera told Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.
The Minister U Nyan Win on the sidelines of the 13th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw the Administrative Capital of the Union of Myanmar on January 20 to 22.
The Deputy Minister congratulated Myanmar for excellent arrangements that have been made for the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting and expressed his fullest cooperation for the success of the Summit. He further stressed that our bilateral relations that was raised in the historical relations and cultural ties existed from the 3rd century, linked two countries through Theravada Buddhism.
Perera also underscored the importance of enhancing greater understanding of between the two countries and cultural heritage with this year being declared as “Visit Sri Lanka” year.
”Direct air services between Sri Lanka and Myanmar is essential to succeed in this endeavour,” he said. Importance of establishment of a Sri Lanka Temple in Myanmar was also highlighted by the Deputy Minister.
Parliament is a sham in a Myanmar where military rulers trample on democracy
Published: 00:00 February 2, 2011
For the first time in more than two decades, lawmakers in Myanmar, the military-controlled state formerly known as Burma, met in parliament. Normally, such an event would be heralded as a new dawn in a nation’s history, a new chapter in Myanmar’s march, a true expression of the people’s will.
Sadly, we cannot say these words in this event.
Myanmar’s election was tightly controlled by the military junta that has trampled on the democratic will of the people for two decades.
The result is not legitimate. Opposition parties were not free to campaign, its leaders silenced or under house arrest, the voters denied their true voice.
It is a spineless attempt to add legitimacy to a morally corrupt regime. It was an opportunity to show the world that the generals who cling to power had the intention to improve Myanmar for the better.
Instead, this parliament is a sham.
By WAI MOE Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Following the opening sessions of both of the Parliamentary Houses in Naypyidaw, one thing is certain—neither of the nation’s top two generals, Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, will be President nor a Vice-president.
Perhaps it is no sad irony that Than Shwe and Muang Aye—the commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief respectively of Burma’s armed forces, the notorious Tatmadaw—are the oldest political leaders in the world. Than Shwe is now 78 while his deputy is 73.
Which law within the Tatmadaw allows these septuagenarians to remain in uniform when retirement age is officially 60?
Burmese military sources said the junta changed its retirement regulations for top military positions back in the days when late Snr-Gen Saw Maung headed the junta, then called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), from 1988-1992.
“The military chief and his deputy are not subjected to age limits in the Tatmadaw,” said Aung Lynn Htut, a former counter intelligence officer and deputy chief of the Burmese mission to the US. “Saw Maung changed the military law round about when he was 60 years old. They ordered it secretly at that time.”
Saw Maung was born in December 1928; he was therefore due to retire from the military in December 1988 according to military regulations at that time, notwithstanding the fact that this was just three months after a military coup in September 1988. However, sources said Saw Maung and his top brass, including the then deputy chief of the Tatmadaw, Than Shwe, implemented a change in retirement ages for top military positions, allowing Saw Maung to remain chief of the military.
In 1990, the junta upgraded the top military position from “general” to “senior general.” At the same time, the Chief of Staff was upgraded to Commander-in- Chief. The move marked the most significant U-turn in the military command structure since 1972.
“By 1972, the Commander-in-Chief and three Deputy Commander-in-Chief positions were renamed “Chief of Staff” and “Vice Chiefs of Staff,” Burmese military expert Maung Aung Myoe wrote in his book “Building the Tatmadaw.”
“By 1990, the Chief of Staff was upgraded to the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services with the rank of senior general, and the position of Vice-Chief of Staff (Army) was upgraded to Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defense Service cum Commander-in-Chief (Army),” he wrote.
After changing the Burma military structure, Saw Maung became the senior general and Than Shwe became vice senior general. But Saw Maung’s reign did not last long; he developed mental problems in late 1991. He was replace by Than Shwe in April 1992.
Although he was not the first person who change the retirement age for military chiefs, Than Shwe and his deputy benefited from the new regulation as soon as the junta strongman passed 60 in 1993.
However, it is not only Than Shwe and Maung Aye that benefit, but other top brass have enjoyed no age ceiling. Before the two significant military reshuffles in April and August 2010, top junta officials Gen Shwe Mann, Gen Thein Sein, Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo and Lt-Gen Tin Aung were all over 60, but still in uniform.
Thein Sein and Tin Aye were 65 when they took off their uniforms in April and August last year. Shwe Mann was 63 and Tin Aung Myint Oo was over 60, though both retired from the army in August.
Since then, all military generals—including Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the joint-Chief of Staff (Army, Navy, Air Force)—are in their mid-50s or early 50s, with the notable exception of the top two: Than Shwe and Maung Aye.
As fresher faces emerge in the Tatmadaw, it becomes increasingly clear why the two senior generals are referred to as “A-ba” or “grandfather.”
It also means that Burma’s aging dictator Than Shwe does not need to change the military command for at least five years (or one parliamentary term), dominated as it is by military officers and the junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Council.
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5, a splinter group of the DKBA, attacked the Burmese army’s strategic “Three Mountain” military outpost in Karen State on Tuesday in an effort to limit support for government troops stationed in Myawaddy.
“We attacked the outposts of Infantry Battalions No. 356 and 357, which are controlled by Military Operation Command (MOC) No. 9. We don’t know the results our attack yet. I knew that they [the Burmese Army] were not expecting our attacks and we showed that we can beat them anytime and anywhere,” said Maj Saw San Aung, an operational commander for DKBA Brigade 5. He could not confirm the number of dead and injured in the attack.
Three Mountain military outpost, located 5 kilometers from Kawkareik Township in Karen State, is the main outpost on the road to the border town of Myawaddy. Saw San Aung said that Brigade 5 attacked this outpost in order to cut Burmese military support for its troops in Myawaddy. By 1 p.m. today, he said, his forces had already withdrawn from the location.
On Monday, heavy-artillery shells fired by the Burmese troops exploded near a Thai military truck which was patrolling in Pho Pra Township, Tak Province. Two Thai soldiers who were in the truck were seriously injured and the truck was destroyed.
The injured Thai soldiers were brought to Mae Sot hospital, according to a local source. The 120 mm shells were apparently fired at the DKBA by Burmese troops at 1 a.m. On Monday morning.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Tuegsuban and Royal Thai Army Chief of Staff Gen Prayuth Jan-ocha went to Mae Sot yesterday to inspect the situation on the Thai-Burma border.
“The border issues must be solved step by step, although there are few ways to solve the problem. The first way is by discussions through the Foreign Affairs Department, the second way is by coercion and the last way is by force. The last way will affect both sides, so the best way is to solve the problem by discussing and negotiating,” Jan-ocha said when he met reporters in Mae Sot on Monday evening.
Jan-ocha also stated that Thailand will shelter the refugees who fled to Thai soil for a while, but will send them back when the situation calms down.
Though the Chief of Staff of the Thai Army answered reporters questions, the Thai Deputy Prime Minister didn’t comment.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the Royal Thai Army’s No. 3 Regional Command went to the Mae Sot hospital and met with the injured soldiers. According to a Mae Sot resident, the commander said that Thailand will investigate the incident and if necessary make a complaint to the Burmese junta.
Two Burmese refugees were also injured by 120 mm shells that exploded near Moe Kae village in Pho Pra Township on Sunday morning.
A DKBA source said that the regime’s troops are firing at least 40-50 of the 120 mm shells every day, some of which are exploding on Thai soil, but he couldn’t confirm the report of the unjured Thai soldiers. The Burmese regime routinely claims that any shells landing on Thai soil are accidental.
The skirmishes between the DKBA and the Burmese troops are still taking place mainly in the area of Kyauk Khet in Myawaddy Township. A DKBA Brigade 5 officer said that his forces only use guerilla warfare tactics to attack the regime’s troops because they don’t want to become a stable target for the Burmese troops.
“We attacked the Waw Lay outpost with mines last Sunday,” Saw San Aung said. “A Burmese army major was injured and lost his sight. Another one or two Burmese army officers were also injured by our attack.”
Two Burmese military trucks were also hit by mines in the Thin Gan Nyi Naung area in Myawaddy Township on Sunday and several soldiers were injured, according to a DKBA source.
In Thailand, about 1,000 residents of Ban Mo Ker Thai village in the Phop Phra District of Tak Province were evacuated this morning as stray mortar shells again fell on Thai soil during fighting between DKBA Brigade 5 and Burmese government troops, but no injuries were reported, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper.
Col Saw Kyaw Thet from DKBA Brigade 5 and representatives from the Karen National Union (KNU) traveled to Loi Tai Leng, where the the Shan State Army-South (SSA- South) headquarters are located. According to a DKBA source, the SSA-South has agreed to give military support to the DKBA.
The skirmishes between the regime’s troops and DKBA Brigade 5 began on November 7, 2010, the day the junta held Burma’s first election in 20 years.
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN and LALIT K. JHA Tuesday, February 1, 2011
While international media headlines focused on the “historic” opening of Parliament in Burma, international diplomatic reaction has been somewhat muted.
Since Monday’s first sitting of Burma’s Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament, little has been said by countries or international organizations that either have strong trade or diplomatic links with Burma, or by those that have been critical of the ruling junta.
Among the few to make any comment, a foreign ministry statement from Tokyo said, “The Government of Japan will closely observe the future direction of the National Assembly, including its administration, debates to be taken, as well as activities of pro-democracy movement and ethnic minority parties.”
A US statement ahead of Monday’s opening sessions was less optimistic. “The Nov. 7 parliamentary elections were neither free nor fair, so unsurprisingly it has yielded a parliament dominated by the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party, so-called USDP, and military officials,” said State Department spokesman P J Crowley.
We’re not surprised by this,” he told reporters at his daily news conference. “As we have long said, we want to see political prisoners released; we want to see an inclusive, open political process.
“We were disappointed last week that the Burmese Supreme Court had the opportunity to authorize the recognition of the National League of Democracy, as well as other democratic and ethnic opposition parties,” he said. “This would have been a good step to enter a genuine inclusive dialogue, and unfortunately, as we’ve seen recently in Burma, it was another lost opportunity.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also preferred to comment prior to the opening of Burma’s parliament. “There will be nothing to celebrate when Burma’s military-dominated Parliament meets for the first time on 31 January,” he said bluntly.
A more upbeat American comment came from Daniel Baer, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
“There’s an opportunity here to chart a more positive path and we will continue to engage to try to encourage and offer support for that,” he said. “Part of engagement is making clear our perspective that political prisoners need to be released, that the National League for Democracy needs to be allowed to register, and Aung San Suu Kyi needs to be given the space to operate.”
Baer added that the US’s recent engagement with Burma has been in the context of the Obama administration’s broader policy of principled engagement around the world. “I would put an emphasis on the principled part of that engagement which is to say yes, we’re making attempts to reach out and to try to encourage positive forward action in Burma and in other places with the understanding that things will be difficult,” he said.
“I expect that our policy of engagement will not change, but obviously times change and the topics on which we engage can change and we’ll continue to do everything we can in our engagement to pursue speedy movement toward progress,” Baer concluded.
The European Union High Representative on Foreign Policy and Security, Catherine Ashton, has not issued a statement on Burma since the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. However, in a release after the Nov. 7 elections, she said, “The EU will observe closely how accountable the new Parliament and government will be vis-à-vis the electorate; whether the new institutions will ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and contribute to a process leading towards reconciliation and democracy; and whether they will deliver better policies to improve the economic and social situation of citizens.”
This should mean that the EU will keep a close watch on how the parliament functions and how effective it will be. The EU has a Special Envoy for Burma/Myanmar, Italian Piero Fossini. However he has not spoken about Burma since March 2010. As an appointee of the previous EU foreign representative, Javier Solana, it is not clear what Fossini’s role is under the new system since the implementation of the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty.
Fossini’s job-spec includes providing support to the United Nations Secretary-General’s envoy to Burma, currently Ban Ki-moon’s Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar. However, like the United States, the UN does not at present have a full-time Burma envoy.
Other European countries that are from time to time outspoken on Burma, such as Ireland, Czech Republic, Denmark and France, did not comment on the parliament opening.
Closer to Burma, there were no statements by Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia by or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) or Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.
Burma is a member-state of Asean, currently headed by Indonesia, and Asean governments have called for Western sanctions on Burma to be dropped now that elections have facilitated to formation of a parliament.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 U Gawsita was one of the leaders of the Saffron Revolution in Burma in 2007, and was one of the first few monks who were physically beaten by the army and riot police during the first stage of the government’s brutal crackdown on the uprising. Following the crackdown, he fled Burma and has been since living in the United States. He has met with former President George W. Bush and addressed the US Congress about human rights violations in his country. He was featured in “Burma VJ,” a Hollywood-nominated movie about the Saffron Revolution.
In an interview with Irrawaddy reporter Ba Kaung, he shared his thoughts on the ongoing anti-government protests in Egypt against the Mubarak regime, and looks back at why the 2007 uprising in Burma failed.
Question: What do you make of the unfolding events in Egypt?
Answer: When I see the Egyptian army on the streets in Cairo at peace with the protesters, I felt so angry now with the Burmese soldiers. I can’t really help crying, thinking why our soldiers dared beat us and the ordinary people so cruelly. I think the army in Egypt seems to be protecting its own people.
Q: So these protests have given you a sense that the Mubarak regime will collapse?
A: Yes. Cooperation between the army and the public is the key to the downfall of these regimes, which is going to take place in Egypt, I expect. But, looking at the protests in Egypt, I am now upset with the Burmese public too. I don’t have any belief in building democracy networks or such. People must take to the streets, and only then will the regime collapse. It is no use merely shouting support for Aung San Suu Kyi and applauding her.
Q: But in Burma, people saw again and again that when they defied the regime on the streets they were gunned down or jailed for years. Do you think it would be sensible for the public to take to the streets again at this point?
A: Of course. They should follow the Egyptian people’s example. Nothing will happen if you are standing idle out of fear of shootings and arrests. Don’t you see that the people in Egypt are sacrificing their lives for the revolution?
Instead of perishing in poverty like people do these days in Burma at the hands of junta chief Than Shwe, people must take to the streets. After the lives of at least 20 people are sacrificed, Than Shwe will meet his own end.
Q: So why do you think the 2007 protests in Burma were ultimately unsuccessful?
A: First, we had no experience at all. As you know, our movement was sort of spiritual in the initial stages though it was political. When the opposition political forces failed to step in, we ourselves had to call for the forming of an interim government should no dialogue take place between us and the regime. That set off the brutal crackdown.
Q: So are you saying that the political groups failed to play their part in 2007?
A: It would be like washing your dirty laundry in the public if I said that. In retrospect, I found that many able politicians were in jail at that time. Even Daw Suu and her political colleague U Win Tin were still detained at that time. Only aging NLD politicians were not in prison. If we had Daw Suu and U Win Tin at such a critical time, change might have come about.
Q: Are you hoping for another monk-led revolution in Burma?
A: Since I am not present inside the country, I am in no position to comment on this. But there are monks inside the country who will take up such an initiative given the chance.
As for me here in the United States, I am busy struggling with my own survival rather than with my country’s affairs since the material support from the laypeople here was not as strong as it was in BurmA:
Q: We heard that monks who took asylum in the US after the 2007 crackdown have returned to the lay lives due to the difficulties of being a a monk. Why have you not done that?
A: Yes, it’s true many of my fellow Buddhist monks took off their robes because of the difficulties of life as a monks. During the first few years after I came to the US, I received financial support from the US government. But not any more. Even though it is difficult for me to pay US $800 a month for renting a house, I still wish to remain as a monk depending on the meager support of the laypeople here. However, I am waiting for the day when Burma gets democracy and I can return home.
Q: On Monday, Burma convened its first session of Parliament based on the results of last year’s election? What is your take on this news?
A: A useless and empty event. This will bring nothing meaningful to our country.
Tuesday, 01 February 2011 16:22 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Zawtika natural gas project, a joint venture by the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the state-owned PTTEP Oil Company of Thailand, opened a temporary base camp and office on January 22.
The opening ceremony of the administrative offices of the Zawtika project, which is in Block M-9 in the Gulf of Martaban offshore oilfield, was held near Kanbauk village in Yayphyu Township in Tanintharyi Division.
Energy Minister Lun Thi, the CEO of PTTEP, Anon Sirisaengtaksin, and foreign representatives attended, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a state-controlled newspaper. The camp includes residential areas, offices and meeting rooms.
PTTEP controls the oil and gas exploration concessions in M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11 in the Martaban gulf.
Thai Energy Minister Wannarat Chamnukul told The Nation newspaper, the gas reserve in the M9 Block is estimated at 1.4 trillion cubic metres and daily production will be about 300 million cubic feet. Of that, about 240 million cubic feet will be exported to Thailand daily and the remaining 60 million cubic feet will be used in Burma.
Joint production work will start in 2013 and the reserves are expected to produce gas for up to 30 years, according to the joint agreement.
PTTEP is exploring and producing oil and gas in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Australia and New Zealand.
The trade value between Thailand and Burma reached US$ 3.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal year, a 16 percent increase over the 2008-09 fiscal year, according to official figures. Most of the trade is in the energy sector.
Beginning in 1998, Burmese gas reserves in the Yadana gas fields in the Gulf of Martaban began earning Burma money from foreign oil and gas companies including PTTEP, the French company, Total, and the US company, Chevron. A report by the US-based Earth Rights International in 2010 said that as much as half of the oil and gas earnings were deposited in private accounts in Singapore and China by Burmese generals.
Meanwhile, the junta has just signed a large investment and loan agreement, The New Light of Myanmar reported on January 28. It said a loan agreement with the Export Import Bank of China and the Finance and Revenue Ministry was signed on January 27 to fund construction work on the Naypyidaw International Airport Project Phase 2.
The signing ceremony was attended by SPDC Secretary (1) Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, the National Planning and Economic Development Minister Soe Tha and Finance and Revenue Minister Hla Tun.
The loan is part of a package that SPDC Chairman Than Shwe received from Chinese President Hu Jintao during a five-day visit in September 2010, granting Burma a loan of Chinese RMB 30 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) bearing no interest.
China and Burma are cooperating on many energy projects in Burma including hydropower projects and oil and gas pipeline projects which will transport oil and gas from Rakhine State on the western Burmese coast to Yunnan Province in southwest China.
Tuesday, 01 February 2011 18:57 Jai Wan Mai
(Mizzima) – The last day of five-day football competition at the headquarters of the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) entertained a larger number of Shan children than normal this year.
One of the roles of the SSA-S is to nurture and educate the children of the Shan community and other ethnic groups in the area.
Currently, there are more than 800 children studying at Loi Tai Leng, the name of the headquarters. The children include Shan, Palaung and Pa-O, and other ethnic groups. Many are orphans–– victims of the fighting, past and present.
Along the Shan-Thai border, the SSA-S has five main bases where Shan and others take shelter. The bases are Loi Kaw Wan (near Tachilek), Loi Sam Sip (near Fang), Loi Lam (near Wieng Heng, Chiang Mai) and Loi Tai Leng and Kong Moon Mong (opposite Mae Hong Son).
Each area has schools for children where they also learn Shan, Thai, English and Burmese. Education is seen as a way to a better way of life Students who are above the primary school level take examinations at Loi Tai Leng, which offers grades 1 through 9. Students who finish school are encouraged to continue their education in Chiang Mai. After that, some may come back to work as teachers or become medical staff in various areas.
Asked about child soldiers, a teacher said, “Some students do not want to study, and they do want to become fighters. However, we don’t send children under 18 years old into the military. We have a rule, children must study and stay in school until they are 18 years old.
‘After 18 years old, they are free to choose: they may become soldiers or teachers, work in logistics or administration or work in other areas’.
The football matches are a good way to build Shan spirit among children, say teachers and organizers of the football matches.
Children from across Thailand and Burma cheered the teams and played football themselves on a dusty playground under the scorching sun.
One of the standouts was Sai Aung Leng, 9, who scored eight goals, earning the top scorer slot.
‘I want to be a Shan “Ronaldo”’, he said, ‘because he is tricky and has fast feet.
‘We have a TV at school where we can watch sports news. I remember him and like him a lot’, he said.
According to Kru Tem Kur, a referee, the children’s matches are ‘a good opportunity for kids from different places to play together and make friends. Also, they feel like they are living in the same Shan community.’
The SSA-S, under the leadership of ‘Lieutenant General’ Yawd Serk, is the only Shan armed group that is fighting the Burmese regime.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 1 February 2011
The vast majority of Burma’s airlines and airports will be privatised, local press has reported, but mystery surrounds the flag carrier Myanmar Airways International (MAI).
It was announced last year that the country’s busiest airport, Yangon (Rangoon) International, will be run by Pioneer Aerodrome Services on a 30-year lease thought to be worth in the region of $US6 million a year.
But the local Weekly Eleven journal reported an unnamed industry source as saying that “Although it was not officially announced, Myanmar Airways International was privatised to a local company”.
The Burmese junta has sold off swathes of state-owned property, including banks, ports, and high-end buildings, to private businesses, many of whom are believed to have close ties to the generals.
There has also been reported conflict over ownership of MAI by rival banks, Kanbawza and Co-operative Banks, since the privatisation move took place last year.
But DVB has learnt that MAI may also have been victim of a personal spat over ownership between the Burmese junta’s second-in-command, Maung Aye, and another director of MAI, Maung Maung Ohn.
Maung Maung Ohn is also director of the Co-operative Bank, which has recently been experiencing trouble with account holders withdrawing assets. It is unclear whether the two problems are linked, although the Co-operative Bank happened to be a lesser shareholder in MAI.
Business sources have told DVB that the spat grew when Tin Aung Myint Oo, who was last year promoted to First Secretary of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), learnt that both he and Maung Aye had a shared dislike of Maung Maung Ohn. Tin Aung Myint Oo then pressured the embattled MAI director to sell his share of the company.
One theory suggests that the spat hinged on the granting of licences to operate ground services to the powerful Burmese construction company, Asia World, by Tin Aung Myint Oo, an ally of Maung Aye and a key shareholder of the Kanbawza Bank. Rumours suggest that then Minister of Co-operatives, Khin Maung Aye, was unhappy about the unconditional nature by which Asia World was acquiring lucrative contracts.
“Naypyidaw Airport is being constructed by Asia World Company. It is also said that it will handle the operation of the airport when the construction is completed,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying in Weekly Eleven.
The alleged pressure has lead to a spectacular crash in confidence in the Co-operative Bank, with depositors pulling out their holdings in a school-yard style exercise in exclusion, and logically fearing the consequences of being on the wrong side of Maung Aye, whom commentators note is unpredictable and a serious drinker.
Last year the Co-operative Bank, which was the second largest privately-owned bank in the country, became a shareholder in MAI, but was also joined by Kanbawza bank, which reportedly took an initial 80 percent in the airline.
MAI evolved out of a purely state-run concern before its current incarnation in 1993, when it became a joint venture between the state, the Singapore-based Highsonic Enterprises and Royal Brunei Airlines.
Kanbawza Bank meanwhile was started in Shan state in eastern Burma and has been dogged by accusations of money laundering for the narcotics industry. Aung Ko Win, the bank’s founder, has known Maung Aye since his days as a commander in Shan state. Burmese academic Aung Thu Nyein notes that “Aung Ko Win was seen as a go-between between Maung Aye and Khun Hsa”, who until his death was one of Burma’s most notorious drug barons, despite being allowed a comfortable retirement by the generals in Rangoon.
Aung Ko Win is thought by author and scholar Bertil Lintner to have come from a humble background, with little or no money.
The Co-operative Bank was formed in 2004 with the merging of the three co-operative banks under the guidance of former co-operatives minister, Khin Maung Aye. Little is known however of Maung Maung Ohn.
This case comes hot on the heels of another ownership and licence war over the skies of Burma when Yangon Airways, the only airline not close to the junta, had its licence mysteriously revoked.
The debacle points to a situation in which questions will be asked about Burma’s so-called emerging private sector, when personal vendettas linked to men with guns continue to rule the roost, even in core sectors like airlines and banking.
There also appears to be a blurring of lines between the military, state and private enterprise, orchestrated by the military itself, and further evidence of a deep-rooted system of patronage, with the military pulling the strings, despite the incessant claims of privatisation.