BURMA RELATED NEWS – JULY 21, 2011
Jul 21st, 2011
2011-07-21 09:58 WASHINGTON, July 20, 2011 (AFP) – The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved renewal of sanctions on Myanmar first passed in 2003 in response to alleged rights violations and failure to adopt democratic reforms.
Lawmakers adopted the measure by voice vote.
The annual legislation, which has passed easily in Congress in the past, bans the import of goods from Myanmar, including lucrative gems, and restricts visas issued to government officials in the country earlier known as Burma.
Democratic Representative Joe Crowley, a key author of the measure, said such legislation sent Myanmar’s people the message that Washington is “an ally in their struggle for human rights”
It also sends “a clear signal to others around the world that the US will not turn a blind eye to crimes against humanity,” Crowley said in a statement.
President Barack Obama earlier in May extended a separate set of sanctions that bar US investment in Myanmar.
The US Senate was expected to approve a companion measure as soon as it won approval from the chamber’s finance committee, sending the legislation to Obama to sign into law.
“We should be doing all we can to expand these sanctions into an even greater multilateral effort to support the Burmese people,” said Crowley, who accused Myanmar’s rulers of
carrying out crimes against humanity.”
“The sooner these abuses are investigated, the sooner they will end,” he said.
Commuter train service in Myanmar’s biggest city to be privatized
On Thursday July 21, 2011, 8:28 am EDT
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The main commuter rail service providing cheap transport in Myanmar’s biggest city is to be privatized, according to a notice published Thursday.
The advertisement in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper invited parties interested in operating the Yangon-based service to contact the Ministry of Railway Transportation.
The junta that took over Myanmar in 1988 liberalized its once-socialist economy, with privatization accelerating in recent years. State-owned enterprises, buildings, fuel stations and wharves were auctioned off last year.
The railway ministry operates the circular train service on a loop connecting downtown Yangon with satellite towns and suburban areas. Tickets cost 20 kyat (about 3 cents) per trip, with 21 trains running 200 loops daily to serve about 100,000 commuters.
“Ticket for the circular train are very cheap at present because our ministry subsidizes the rates,” Thein Han, deputy superintendent of the Yangon railway station, told The Associated Press.
Echoing the concerns of some commuters, he added that if the service was sold off, “tickets cannot be as cheap as they are now.”
The train, which takes 2-3 hours to complete a circuit, is also an attraction for foreign tourists interested in seeing a cross-section of Yangon city life, for which they are charged $1.
By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press – 7 hours ago
BALI, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top diplomats from Europe and Asia gather over the weekend to discuss recent flare-ups in the South China Sea, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and other issues that threaten to undermine regional security.
Hot topics:
The South China Sea. There are conflicting territorial claims over the South China Sea, which is of tremendous strategic importance to everyone, including Washington, because one-third of the world’s shipping transits through its waters. It’s also rich with fish and is believed to hold huge oil and gas reserves beneath the seabed. China — which claims the area in its entirety — has been accused in recent months of trying to intimidate Philippine and Vietnam oil exploration boats in waters that are partially claimed also by those two countries and Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. Also looming is the geostrategic competition between China and the United Sates. Both insist they stand for freedom of navigation, but there is also a military element. Washington is trying to deepen ties in the region and — as in the past — has been holding joint military training exercises with some of the smaller Southeast Asian nations, using the disputed waters and its airspace. That, obviously, heightens China’s anxiety.
North Korea. Talks aimed at ending North Korean’s nuclear weapons program have been stalled now for more than two years. But top diplomats from all six countries involved in the negotiations — the United States, China, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea — will be in attendance. That’s raised hopes for informal, sideline talks between foreign ministers from the two Koreas, as has been known to happen in the past. North Korea walked out of the six-party negotiations in 2008 to protest international criticism of a prohibited long-range rocket launch and relations with South Korea have been testy ever since. But Pyongyang — which stands to get badly needed aid and other concessions if it returns to the table — has indicated in recent months that it might be ready. Everyone is eager to see that happen.
Myanmar: Developments in Myanmar are expected to come up. It held elections late last year, officially handing power to a civilian administration after a half-century of military rule and releasing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. Critics say the changes are cosmetic and that the army will continue to hold sway. Some 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars, more than 100,000 refugees live in neighboring Thailand, and sporadic clashes have continued in the north and east between the army and ethnic militias. Myanmar’s desire to take over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014 will certainly come up. And officials will be watching closely to see if there is any indication Western governments are considering an ease-up on sanctions.
Who’s Attending:
The ASEAN Regional Forum, established in 1994, is composed of 27 countries, many of them fierce rivals in any other setting. Most closely watched will be Clinton; China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi; North Korean’s Pak Ui-Chun and Kim Sung-hwan of South Korea; Japan’s Takeaki Matsumoto; and India’s Shri S.M. Krishna and Salman Bashir of Pakistan.
By Zin Linn Jul 21, 2011 10:53PM UTC
The fighting between Burma’s armed forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) increased soon after the Kachin people abandoned new ceasefire talks with the government at Laiza on July 12 and 13.
All at once, the war has gradually broadened in three main areas in Kachin State, the Sinbo area in Mohnyin Township, Manmaw (Bhamo) District and Waingmaw Township, referring local people Kachin News Group said.
On July 16, when government troops tried to penetrate into Laiza, the KIA’s restricted area, the fighting broke out. It was the largest battle of the week, said the Kachin News Group’s reporter in Laiza.
KIA captured seven Burmese soldiers, including a captain after two days of fighting at Hka Ya, near the Kachin headquarters at Laiza, in Burma’s Northern Kachin State. The captive soldiers are from Infantry Battalion No. 21, based in Myitkyina. They were captured with 19 weapons, including two machine guns, a 60 mm mortar and the main military communication device, according to KIA officials in Laiza.
Fighting has happened in another location in Kachin State close to the Shan State border since July 16, a local resident said. A Burmese Army deputy battalion commander and three soldiers were killed during the conflict with the KIA in Manje Township, in Manmaw District, in Kachin State, KIA officials said.
The Burmese soldiers were from the Light Infantry Battalion No. 348 based in Mong Mit. They were killed during fighting with the KIA Battalion 12, led by Major Zau Gam, which is based in Manje (Mansi) Township, southern Manmaw (Bhamo) District, according to KIA officials in Laiza headquarters. The KIA also captured three guns carried by dead soldiers, KIA officials said.
A KIA soldier was killed yesterday by Burmese troops led by the dead-deputy commander, after the KIA fighter was captured with his gun, according to KIA Battalion 12.
Besides, the Burmese government has been driving a wedge into ethnic factions. The government deploys quite a lot of Kachin soldiers from pro-government militias and its Border Guard Force (BGF), in the civil war against the KIA in Kachin State and Northern Shan State, sources from Kachin militias and the BGF said.
Sixty militiamen from the Rebellion Resistance Force (RRF), based in Hkawng-lang-hpu, in Puta-O District, led by Tanggu Dang, a.k.a. Ah Dang, have been deployed to KIA strongholds near the China border, in eastern Kachin State, since June, sources close to the militia group said.
According to sources close to the Burmese Army, the Burmese government is going to start a full-blown maneuver against the minority Kachin army in the country’s north after losing recent battles.
Burmese troops are currently in action in eight townships – Mohnyin, Myitkyina, Waimaw (Waingmaw), N’mawk (Momauk), Manje (Mansi), Sumprabum, Hpakant and Danai – said KIA officials in Laiza headquarters.
The KIA’s 4th Brigade and its five battalions are based in Muse, Kutkai and Lashio In Northern Shan State. Burmese troop has been reinforcing significantly in KIA 4th Brigade’s area since early July, as said by local witnesses.
In Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, tanks and war planes are preparing for the offensive against the KIA, which has bases around Kachin State and Northern Shan State, said Myitkyina residents. Fuel, arms and ammunition have been stockpiled at the Northern Regional Military Command, according to local military observers.
According to Burmese military sources, on July 18, high level military summit was held in Naypyidaw, Burma’s capital, followed by a regional military meeting at Northern Regional Command, in Myitkyina, the next day.
The key agenda of discussion in the two meetings concentrated on the offensive against the KIA and all remaining minority armed groups which rejected transforming into the government-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF), added the sources. It was alleged that the war plan was ordered by two top military leaders, Senior General Than Shwe and Vice-Senior Maung Aye.
In hope of setting up political dialogue, the KIO signed a ceasefire agreement with the then junta on February 24, 1994 and supported the military-favored 2008 constitution.
However, no political dialogue happened in the 17-year ceasefire time and the KIO was squeezed transforming into the government-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF) before the November 7 election.
The latest series of armed clashes in Kachin state have prompted observers to believe that purposeful war in the border regions may not be avoidable.
The Thein Sein government seems to be unenthusiastic to end political and civil contradictions in ethnic regions. So, it is clear that Thein Sein government is not heading toward democracy. Instead it is attempting to colonize the ethnic states ferociously.
Bernama – 5 hours ago
KANGAR, July 21 (Bernama) — A Myanmar man was sentenced to one month prison and fined RM10,000 by the Sessions Court here today after he pleaded guilty to bribing a constable with RM20 during a roadblock in Kuala Perlis on July 19.
Judge Wan Norzanuar Wan Ahmad ordered the accused, Win Sein, 33, a labourer, who was unrepresented, the serve the jail term from July 19, the date of his arrest .
The accused, who did not have valid travel documents, had slipped RM20 into the helment of auxillary constable Ahmad Ghazali Abdul Halim at 11.25 pm on July 19 at Jalan Besar, Kuala Perlis as an inducement to allow him to pass through the road block.
By Thai News Agency
Published on July 21, 2011
Burmese soldiers on Thursday reportedly helped identify the site of Tuesday’s Thai army Black Hawk helicopter crash.
A team of 20 Thai soldiers dispatched earlier is making its way to the crash site across the thick forest terrain on foot, Army Region 1 commander Lt Gen Udomdej Sitabutr said.
However another team of 18 Thai soldiers will board a helicopter of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to land closer to the crash site.
In case of poor weather, the military will ask the Royal Irrigation Department to use rainmaking chemicals to clear the skies to allow the helicopter to fly more safely.
Meanwhile, Army chief Prayuth Chanocha said the search for the Black Hawk wreckage continued with cooperation from the Burmese authorities. Rescue workers are now moving into Burma’s dense forest two to three kilometres from the ThaiBurmese border.
They have been instructed to clear the area for a temporary helicopter pad to enable a military transport helicopter to evacuate the bodies if the wreckage is found.
He insisted that the accident occurred neither from carelessness nor from the violation of any aviation rules. If the weather is unfavourable, he said, no one can order pilots to fly. The Black Hawk helicopter took off during clear weather on Tuesday, but the accident occurred due to unexpected fluctuations in the weather.
The Thai army Black Hawk helicopter was flying to retrieve the bodies of five military personnel killed in Saturday’s helicopter crash in Kaeng Krachan National Park.
On board were eight soldiers including the pilots and one Army TV Channel 5 cameraman.
Published on July 22, 2011
A network of environmentalists and villagers based in Chiang Rai are campaigning against a power plant project in Burma, and demanding that joint developer Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) withdraw from it.
At a meeting yesterday, representatives of hilltribe people in Burma said the Bt270billion project, involving a lignitefired power plant, had forced 3,000 people out of 20 villages and put them at risk of abuses by rival minority groups.
The groups demanded that Egat withdraw from the plan to jointly develop the MaiKok project in Burma and later purchase power produced by it for 15 years. They said Egat was also planning to jointly develop another power plant in Burma, from which it would buy electricity for 25 years.
Activist Montree Janthawong said the plants would probably emit toxic fumes and discharge harmful chemicals. Despite a request for information from a Thai coalmining company taking part in the projects, he never received answers.
11:36 PM, Jul. 20, 2011 | Sein Myint’s heritage is Karen, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand. His taste in sports is pure Kentucky.
“Basketball is better,” the 9-year-old proclaimed during a debate over the merits of basketball and soccer.
Sein is among the hundreds of immigrants from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, who have settled recently in parts of the Beechmont and Southside neighborhoods.
After recording no one from Myanmar in its 2000 count, U.S. Census Bureau data released today show that nearly half the city’s 512 immigrants from Myanmar live in a neighborhood bounded by the Watterson Expressway, Southside Drive, Southland Boulevard and Strawberry Lane.
Welcome to Census Tract 56, home to the largest concentrations of Louisville’s Asians and Hispanics — the two fastest-growing minority populations, according to the census data.
This part of southern Louisville has long been a destination for refugees resettled with help from social-service agencies. The nearby Americana center on Southside Drive serves people representing nearly 80 nations and ethnic groups and provides summer and after-school programs for adults and their children.
Census counts of immigrants are often low because many may be suspicious of the questions and not respond. Catholic Charities and Kentucky Refugee Ministries have resettled more than 1,000 refugees from Myanmar in Louisville since 2000, according to data from the Kentucky Office of Refugees.
No other Louisville-area census tract comes close to having as many from Myanmar, with more than twice as many living near the Americana Community Center as in any other tract, the new figures show. Political and military turmoil in Myanmar in the past decade have led to a flood of refugees fleeing the country.
John Lazum said he left his native Myanmar in 2004 and spent six years in Malaysia before arriving in Louisville last year.
Lazum, who works for Catholic Charities, said he translates several times a week for people who speak the ethnic Kachin and Burmese languages.
“It’s safe for me and my children, my community,” he said of living in Louisville. Lazum said he was persecuted for his Catholic beliefs in Myanmar.
The concentration of refugees from Myanmar is “beneficial for them because a lot of their neighbors are Karen (pronounced kuh-REN) or a lot of their neighbors are Burmese, so they’re really strongly connected in their community,” said Kristin Burgoyne, a family coach at Americana.
But the Myanmar refugees often have no exposure to English before arriving in the United States, Burgoyne said. In some cases, their native languages are isolated to specific regions, and few local interpreters are available, she said.
Burgoyne estimates that Louisville has five interpreters who speak ethnic Karen languages.
“They’re one of the newest populations, and they haven’t been in this country for that long,” she said.
Without exposure to English, there’s a risk that immigrant groups cluster together too much and don’t move about in the wider community, said Terry Singer, dean of the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work.
As chairman of the Kentucky Refugee Ministries’ board, Singer said he urges refugees to learn English.
“The research is very clear: If you don’t learn English in this country, you’ll be poor,” he said.
Jefferson County grew nearly 7 percent during the 2000s, to 741,096, but the growth was fueled by increases in minorities that offset a loss of about 7,500 non-Hispanic whites.
The Hispanic population climbed 163 percent, while the numbers of Asians were up 71 percent.
In all, Asians and Hispanics accounted for about 37 percent of the nearly 4,300 residents in Census Tract 56. Vietnamese and Cubans were the largest subgroups, respectively.
Louisville Metro Police Lt. Kit Steimle, who works in the 4th Division, said police are working with Catholic Charities to produce a packet that includes crime-prevention tips in several languages for residents of the area.
One of the biggest issues police face is one of trust, he said.
“In their countries, the police aren’t good. We’re trying to get them to basically partner with us and trust us,” he said.
Louisville Metro Council member Dan Johnson, a Democrat whose district includes the area, said his office has worked to address the concerns of refugees and other immigrants. Some District 21 newsletters have been translated into Vietnamese, for instance.
“I’m proud of the diversity in my neighborhood,” he said.
Puducherry, Jul 21: The Civil Society here today condemned the Centre for allegedly supplying arms to the Myanmarese Military Regime and urged the government to support the Myanmar people’s movement for restoration of peace and democracy in that country.
In a memorandum forwarded to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, a copy of which was given to the press, the civil society pointed out they were shocked and outraged to learn that the Government of India had recently supplied arms and ammunitions to the ‘notorious Myanmarese Military Regime.’ They said India was a nation founded on sound democratic principles.
Time and again, the nation had proven to uphold the principles of constitutionally elected governments.
Further, as a nation committed to playing an important, if not pivotal, role in maintaining peace in the region, it is unbecoming of a responsible nation to supply arms to countries known to abuse military power.
As witnessed by United Nations and International community, democracy and human rights activists in Myanmar have been imprisoned, intimidated, tortured and put to death for demanding justice, peace, human rights and a democratic government.
Written by Htet Aung, The Irrawaddy
Thursday, 21 July 2011
There’s precious little for the poor
In a recent case that encapsulates the corrupt state of play in Burma’s courts today, Than Oo and four other farmers were returning home by motorbike late on the evening on March 21 when they were stopped at the entrance to their village in Magwe Region of central Burma by a mob of about 20 construction workers from the site of a chemical factory.
The farmers were beaten with iron bars, dragged to a building inside the site, locked inside and left overnight in a semi-conscious state. The following day, the boss of the construction site quickly filed a complaint with police, saying his employees had been subjected to verbal abuse, including “rude words,” that the farmers had thrown stones at the building site, and had punched a member of his staff. The local court threw in a charge of riding motorcycles without licenses and, after a series of hearings, the five farmers were each sentenced to terms of more than 10 years in prison.
This absurd perversion of justice would be considered ridiculous in most countries, but in Burma cases like this are part of everyday life, their existence born out of judicial corruption, nepotism, and a gangster mentality that ensures that the wealthy and powerful are immune from prosecution while the poor and the innocent are routinely flayed in public.
As in so many cases where justice has been flagrantly abused in Burma, a look behind the scenes at the background to the incident paints a clearer picture. The main player in the incident was ex-Major Win Myint, the manager at the chemical factory construction site, which is located in the suburbs of the village of Sitsayan in Kamma Township, a rice-farming community in central Burma’s arid Magwe Region.
The site is jointly operated by Myanmar Economic Holdings Co. Ltd (MEHC), a military-owned corporation, and the ubiquitous Htoo Group of Companies (HGC), which is run by Tay Za, who recently claimed to be the first billionaire in Burma.
According to the farmers’ lawyer, Aung Thein, some weeks prior to the brutal attack, Than Oo and three other farmers (though not the ones who were attacked and imprisoned) filed a lawsuit at the Kamma Township Court against Win Myint and two other officials of the MEHC for illegally confiscating some 4,000 acres of farmland for the purposes of building a factory, and of destroying their crops. Than Oo’s wife claims that the subsequent attack on the farmers was directed at her husband, and was ordered by the retired army major.
To further emphasize his power, the following day Win Myint turned the tables on the farmers and pushed through his own lawsuit. However, Win Myint’s malice went one step too far. Upon hearing about the outrageous conduct of the company’s manager, the villagers of Sitsayan crowded the courthouse to support the farmers.
Fearing retaliation, Win Myint convinced the judge at the Kamma Township Court to transfer the case to Minhla Township Court.
Ruthless retribution was sought against the accused farmers and each was given sentences of more than 10 years. For his role in the fabricated litany of crimes, Than Oo was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months.
However, the Rangoon-based veteran lawyer Aung Thein was not prepared to surrender the case. His team is part of a legal network organized by the National League for Democracy. It appealed the sentence to the district court in Minbu.
To the astonishment of everyone, they won the legal battle, and succeeded in getting the farmers’ sentences cut to just three months.
Than Oo and the four other farmers were released last week from Thatyet Prison, where they had been detained since March, and returned to their village as free men.
However, this encouraging success raises a number of questions on the impartiality of Burma’s judicial system. First, how could a township court and a district court differ so dramatically on lengths of sentence imposed for such minor crimes?
“It really is a rare success,” said Aung Thein. “However, the district court [in Minbu District] maintained the decision of the lower court [in Minhla Township] that the farmers were guilty. Nonetheless, it amended the sentences.”
And what about just rewards for Win Myint and his thugs?
“Than Oo’s wife filed a lawsuit against Win Myint, accusing him of organizing the attack,” said Aung Thein.
“But the court decided the accusation was unfounded, imposed small fines on two of the employees who were involved in the attack, and dropped the rest of the charges.”
He added: “As you all know, Burma’s judges today stand alongside the person or company that wields the power, such as MEHC and HGC, two of the most influential firms in the country.”
President Thein Sein pledged in his first presidential speech that the new government must carry out “clean and good governance.” Asked whether a reform of the judiciary should be one of the first priorities of the new administration, Aung Thein said, “Handing out the maximum sentence is such an easy job. Even a court clerk can do that.”
Taken at face value, Aung Thein’s comments and accusations highlight the immense necessity for reform in Burma’s corrupt judicial system.
In addition, the new government must move to seriously review the cases of more than 2,000 political prisoners, some of whom have been given inhumane 60- to 100-year sentences.
Another important question is: how many prisoners cannot afford to hire a lawyer or have no awareness of court proceedings and appeals systems? How many farmers similar to Than Oo are serving time for minor crimes that do not warrant the lengthy sentences handed down?
“I’d say that there is no independent judicial system in Burma,” said Aung Thein.
Thursday, July 21, 2011 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations does not put credence in claims that member nation Myanmar is secretly pursuing a nuclear-weapon program without substantial evidence to back up those assertions, the regional body’s secretary general said on Tuesday (see GSN, June 15).
“We have no valid or complete information on [those accusations],” ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan said in an interview with the Jakarta Post during the organization’s meeting this week. “I think everybody who is involved in this discussion has some part of the information and (is) making a lot of conclusions based on some assumptions. But there is no complete fact for us to draw an informed judgment.”
Burmese dissidents have made claims that the Myanmar’s military junta has covertly launched a nuclear weapons program with technical assistance from North Korea. A military defector who fled the country in 2010 brought with him documents and photographs that he asserted were evidence of the regime’s nuclear efforts. Experts, though, have been divided regarding the technical implications of the smuggled documents.
Myanmar has repeatedly denied it is seeking a nuclear deterrent. Last September, the Burmese government asserted before the International Atomic Energy Agency that the accusations against were “unfounded” and that Myanmar used atomic technology “only for peaceful developmental purposes” and would “never engage in activities related to the production and proliferation of nuclear weapons.”
Indonesian Foreign Ministry Asia-Pacific affairs Director General Hamzah Thayeb said his country, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the regional Southeast Asian body, had no way of definitely affirming the accusations against the Burmese junta. “It would mean breaching ASEAN’s principle of noninterference,” the official said.
He added that Myanmar, as an ASEAN state, was obligated to comply with the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone treaty, which prohibits the development, presence or use of nuclear arms in the region.
The Indonesian diplomat said the regional organization in working to persuade the five recognized nuclear powers — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — to sign on to the ASEAN nuclear-free zone pact. Face-to-face talks with the five powers are scheduled to take place in August (see GSN, July 18; Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta Post, July 21).
Separately, the foreign policy chiefs of the 10 ASEAN states on Thursday jointly released a statement urging a quick renewal of the six-nation negotiations aimed at shuttering North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 20).
The multinational aid-for-denuclearization talks encompass China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and the United States. Negotiations were last held in December 2008. A resumption of the talks has been held up by Seoul’s insistence, with strong support from Washington and Tokyo, that inter-Korean talks first be held on the North’s nuclear activities (Associated Press/Washington Post, July 21).
The 10 ASEAN foreign ministers on Thursday discussed the issue with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea, Kyodo News reported (Kyodo News/Breitbart.com, July 20).
“All of them are expressing that they can make some positive movement on the six-party talks,” Voice of America quoted Surin as saying of the ASEAN top diplomats. “They are all concerned about the development or the stalemate on the Korean Peninsula and they would like to see all parties exercising full effort in order to move the process, particularly the six-party talks forward” (Brian Padden, Voice of America, July 21).
Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali | Thu, 07/21/2011 10:41 AM
It seems that ASEAN continues to place faith in Myanmar despite allegations that the reclusive country is developing nuclear weapons, without any attempts to verify the allegations.
“We have no valid or complete information on that. I think everybody who is involved in this discussion has some part of the information and [is] making a lot of conclusions based on some assumptions,” ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday in an interview.
“But there is no complete fact for us to draw an informed judgment.”
Foreign Ministry director general for Asia-Pacific and African affairs and acting director general for multilateral affairs Hamzah Thayeb said Monday that it was impossible for Indonesia as the current chair of ASEAN to verify the nuclear development allegations against Myanmar.
“It would mean breaching ASEAN’s principle of noninterference,” he told the Post.
He also said all ASEAN countries, including Myanmar, were bound to the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ) agreement.
“It is a regional application, the regional umbrella agreement. We are even trying to get external powers, the nuclear powers, to sign on to our treaty, so that all member states of ASEAN have the legal application to abide by the treaty,” he said.
On Monday, ASEAN concluded four discussion points for the 2007-2012 plan of action as its member states’ common reference for future consultation with the nuclear weapon states — the US, the UK, Russia, France and China.
It is believed that the nuclear weapon states refused to sign the protocol largely due to US and French objections over the unequivocal nature of security assurances and the definitions of territory, including exclusive economic zones (EEZ). The treaty zone covers the territories, continental shelves and EEZs of the party states within the zone. China in particular objected to the treaty’s inclusion of the Southeast Asian signatories’ continental shelves and EEZs, arguing that this prejudiced its extensive claims in the South China Sea.
According to a source at the ministry, nuclear weapon states, in particular the US, objected to an ASEAN term that bans vessels carrying nuclear weapons or nuclear materials from entering EEZ of ASEAN countries, arguing that it is in violation of principles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
On May 26, navy destroyer USS McCampbell caught up with North Korean cargo vessel M/V Light, which was suspected of carrying missile technology to Myanmar, and asked to board it, The New York Times reported.
The North Koreans refused. Not wanting to force its way aboard, the US could not confirm its suspicions. Nonetheless, a few days after the US navy approached it, the North Korean vessel stopped well short of Myanmar and returned to its home port.
In a statement addressed before the 54th Annual Regular Session of the IAEA in Vienna in September 2010, the Myanmar government said the allegations were “unfounded” as Myanmar applied nuclear science and technology “only for peaceful developmental purposes and Myanmar will never engage in activities related to the production and proliferation of nuclear weapons”.
R Dutta Choudhury
GUWAHATI, July 20 – Growing influence of China on Myanmar and the coming together of the anti-talk militant groups in the neighbouring country may have serious implications in the North East region of the country in the days to come and there is urgent need for greater synergy among the police and security forces working in all the States of the region to deal with the problem.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that according to intelligence inputs, instead of assisting any individual militant group, China would be keen on helping the groups if they come together and the militants having bases in Myanmar have been given to understand that to get help from China, they would have to come into some kind of understanding.
Sources said that the reports available with the security agencies indicate that most of the hardline groups, who are not keen on talks with the Government of India at this moment, have converged in the Taga area of Myanmar and the possibility of them coming together, at least for operational purposes, cannot be ruled out.
There have been specific information about Paresh Baruah, commander in chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) taking the help of PLA cadres to indulge in acts of violence in Assam and if all the groups come together and they start receiving help from China, the region may face serious law-and-order problem in the days to come.
Official sources revealed that according to available inputs, several Manipur-based militant groups, including PLA, UNLF, PREPAK and KYKL, have come into some kind of understanding. The anti-talk faction of the ULFA, headed by Paresh Baruah, is in the Taga area in close contact with the NSCN (K) and leaders of the Manipur-based groups, while. the commander in chief of the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), IK Sangbijit along with several hardcore members of the outfit have come closer in the Taga area.
The Maoist rebel groups have already signed an agreement with the PLA of Manipur and if the Maoists join hands with the other rebel groups having bases in Myanmar, the possibility of the situation deteriorating fast cannot be ruled out.
Sources said that earlier, the militant groups of North East used to procure weapons from China and number of such weapons manufactured by the Norinko ordnance factory of China were recovered. But so far, direct involvement of any Chinese official in supplying weapons to the militants has not been established. However recently, one remote controlled improvised explosive device manufactured in China was recovered in Tinsukia by the Army, which has sent alarm bells ringing as earlier the militants used only weapons and grenades made in China and programmable time device switches manufactured in Pakistan. The recovery was made early this month following the death of a ULFA militant Naren Sonowal in Pengeri area of Tinsukia district.
English.news.cn 2011-07-21 12:42:53
YANGON, July 21 (Xinhua) — Tourism working group of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)-Economic Cooperation will hold GMS travel show in Myanmar’s ancient city of Bagan later this year for development of tourism as part of its economic cooperation in the subregion, according to tourism circle Thursday.
Six Mekong countries — China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will participate in the show, the sources said.
The 4,500-km Mekong river originates from China’s Qinghai and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam down to South China Sea near Ho Chi Minh city.
Myanmar, a member of the six-country GMS, has worked for closer economic ties together with other members of the grouping.
Tourism-related figures show that the number of tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached 106,795 in the first three months of 2011, up 24 percent from 85,519 in 2010 correspondingly.
Visitors from Thailand stood top in Myanmar’s tourist arrival, followed by those from China, France, South Korea and America.
English.news.cn 2011-07-21 11:51:44
YANGON, July 21 (Xinhua) — One new political party, the People ’s Democracy Party (PDP), has been granted by the Myanmar Union Election Commission for establishment, official media reported Thursday.
The establishment of the 16-member political party, inclusive of Dr. Than Htaik Oo, in Myanmar’s post election has brought the total number of political parties in the country to 38.
In the Nov. 7, 2010 multi-party general election held across Myanmar’s seven regions and seven ethnic states, 37 political parties including 82 independents took part and 1,154 candidates out of over 3,000 representing political parties in the contest were elected as parliamentary representatives at three levels.
Besides the 1,154 elected parliamentary representatives, 388 or 25 percent were directly nominated by the military, bringing the total of the parliamentary representatives to 1,542.
The 659 union parliament representatives (house of representatives and house of nationalities) were made up of 493 elected ones and 166 or 25 percent directly nominated military ones.
Of the 493 elected parliamentary house of representatives and house of nationalities, 388 came mainly from the majority winning Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by then Prime Minister U Thein Sein, 17 from the National Unity Party (NUP), 21 from The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), 16 from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and 12 from the National Democratic Force (NDF).
In the presidential election held at the first session of the union parliament on Feb. 4 as a follow-up of the general election, U Thein Sein won the presidency and U Tin Aung Myint Oo and Dr. Sai Mauk Kham as vice presidents. All of the three represent the USDP.
The new government, led by President U Thein Sein, assumed office on March 30, 2011.
English.news.cn 2011-07-21 19:15:35 YANGON, July 21 (Xinhua) — Myanmar and Japan will jointly promote tourism this year in the wake of a drop in tourist arrivals in Myanmar from Japan, a local media reported Thursday.
Due to the mega earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March, tourist arrivals from Japan have decreased despite its upward trend since late 2006.
Visitors from Japan stood third in Myanmar’s tourist arrivals and their travel destinations mainly cover Yangon, Bago and Bagan, said the Popular News.
Nearly 17 million Japanese travel worldwide annually, of which about 4 million travel to ASEAN countries.
According to statistics, the number of tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached over 140,000 in the first four months of 2011, up from over 109,000 in 2010 correspondingly.
Meanwhile, the tourism authorities are making efforts to promote its international tourism market in cooperation with international and domestic airlines, hotels, tour operators and travel agencies.
Myanmar’s tourism season, which falls in the open season, runs from October to April.
The Japan Times – Chinese lessons on Myanmar
By RICH MOOKERDUM
Brisbane, Australia Regarding Harsh V. Pant’s July 18 article: “India trying to woo Myanmar from China”: It should not be hard for India to woo the friendly, but fiercely independent, Burmese if it closely studies the foreign policy of the neutral Southeast Asian nation.
Since independence from Britain in 1948, Burmese governments — civilian or military — have pursued a policy of nonalignment and noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries; friendly relations with all countries; and acceptance of aid from all sources as long as the aid does not carry political preconditions. If only Western nations had a better understanding of our history, they would not be preaching democracy and free elections to the Burmese.
Why did the “free world” fail to support Burma’s democracy in the past? … The Burmese were voting in democratic elections in the late 1940s and in the ’50s. Shedding crocodile tears today is the West’s hypocrisy at its finest.
India should follow an uncomplicated strategy to forge closer ties with Burma: Do not ape some Western nations by interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. Learn from the Chinese.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
Ken Peters
Thu Jul 21 2011 A slightly-built, 59-year-old Myanmar native testified about five minutes of terror — the night Hamilton police broke down his door, jammed a handgun into his forehead, handcuffed and stomped him.
Heavily armed members of the Hamilton tactical squad were carrying out a drug raid on May 4, 2010, but they had the wrong address.
Po La Hay was cooking rice in his Sanford Avenue North apartment at about 9 p.m. when police, with guns drawn, burst into his apartment. By the time police figured out they had the wrong address, Hay had sustained cuts and scrapes to his face, three fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra. He missed five months of work as a landscaper.
Hay was the key witness Wednesday at the opening of the assault causing bodily harm trial of Hamilton police officer Ryan Tocher, who has pleaded not guilty.
Crown counsel Elliot Behar told Ontario Court Justice Paul Currie the case is about police conduct inside the small, three- bedroom apartment that the 5-foot-7, 130-pound Hay shared with two of his three children.
“This case is about the police tactical team raiding the wrong apartment,” Behar said. “Police got the apartment wrong and inside Po Lay Hay was badly beaten up. It’s about what happened inside the apartment where an excessive amount of force was used against an older, vulnerable victim.
“He was thrown to the ground hard and he was kicked and stomped while lying on the ground. It’s a case about an excessive use of force.”
Hay came to Canada in 2006 after spending 10 years in a Thailand refugee camp. He was a member of the Karen tribe that faced ongoing persecution in his native Myanmar, also known as Burma.
The complainant, who testified through a Karen-language interpreter, told court he was in his kitchen when police in dark-coloured tactical uniforms approached him.
“Two or three of them came to me and they’re shouting at me,” Hay testified, adding one officer jammed a firearm into his forehead, causing a cut.
“He pushed me down on the floor, handcuffed me and kicked me. He kicked me with his boots, two or three times at most,” he said.
“What was your reaction to the kick?” Behar asked.
“Very painful. That kick made me have difficulty breathing. It was very hard,” Hay answered.
Hay was eventually freed from the handcuffs and transported via ambulance to the St. Joseph’s hospital emergency department.
But neither Hay nor two tactical members who testified Wednesday could identify Tocher as the officer who took his boot to the complainant.
Detective Constables Chris Camalleri and Christopher Button said police were supposed to be carrying out a raid on suspected cocaine trafficker Gary Demetries, a 36-year-old black man, when they mistakenly burst into Hay’s apartment.
Both officers testified the complainant was hysterical and flailing his arms as five officers entered the kitchen to restrain him.
Camalleri and Button were assisted by tactical team member Angela Weston in attempting to handcuff Hay when he struggled to get up off the tile floor. Tocher was nearby while Sergeant Paul Henderson kept his firearm trained on Hay.
Camalleri said another officer, who he learned later was the accused, “placed his foot on the gentleman’s back to push him down and we ended up handcuffing him.”
“Did you see anyone kick this man, punch him, smack him with a firearm in the head?” defence counsel Gary Clewley asked.
“No sir,” Camalleri answered.
Button testified that at one point, Hay tried to get up off the tile floor.
“A foot was applied on his left side, his rib area. That (was meant) for him to stay down. It was not a kick, I wouldn’t refer to it as a stomp. It was like using your hand to push someone to the ground,” Button said, adding he learned later from talking to Camalleri that Tocher had applied his foot to the complainant’s left side to keep him down.
The trial continues Thursday.
By WAI MOE Thursday, July 21, 2011
Gen Khin Nyunt was once one of most powerful men in military-ruled Burma, acting as the ruling junta’s spy chief and secretary-1 and the country’s prime minister.
These days, however, the he finds himself under house arrest, reduced to requesting the release of family members and selling orchids to make ends meet, following his ouster and a purge of his intelligence officers and their colleagues seven years ago.
According to current and former Burmese official sources, the former spy chief asked senior junta leaders, Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, in early 2011 to ease restrictions on his family members, including his wife Khin Win Shwe, and allow them to engage in normal economic activities even though he himself is under house arrest.
He also asked the junta in Naypyidaw to reconsider its treatment of his two sons, Ye Naing Win and Lt-Col Zaw Naing Oo, and son-in-law Tin Htut, who have been in prison since October 2004, when the Burmese army cracked down on military intelligence officers under Khin Nyunt’s command.
Khin Nyunt’s request to the top generals via the Ministry of Home Affairs came before President Thein Sein’s new administration was formed at the end of March.
The deposed general reportedly addressed his request to his “former colleagues or comrades.”
Sources said he also told the junta leaders that now that he has turned 70, his heath is worsening day by day. He said he spends his time engaged in religious activities and wants to use his last days enjoying a “peace family life.”
But the sources said his family seems to be in dire financial straits, struggling even to send his grandchildren to school and forced to earn extra income by selling orchids grown at their residential compound on Nawaday Street in Rangoon’s Bogyoke Aung San Market.
The former No 3 in Burma’s power hierarchy from 1988 to 2004 was quoted by sources as telling the junta leaders that the family was making only a small amount of money from selling orchids, and could not even cover its expenses, which are partly supported by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Khin Nyunt’s brother-in-law Than Nyein, a former political prisoner and the chairman of the National Democratic Force, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that he didn’t know anything about the former spy chief and his family because their political paths diverged long ago.
“But my sister [Khin Win Shwe] plants orchids as a hobby,” Than Nyein said, adding that his sister hasn’t been allowed to visit their 96-year-old mother since October 2004.
According to sources, Khin Nyunt asked his former junta colleagues to grant his wife permission to make a family visit to see her mother.
Following the crackdown on Khin Nyunt and the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI) in October 2004, all property belonging to intelligence officers was seized and some relatives of senior intelligence officers were arrested and imprisoned.
In Khin Nyunt’s case, his entire family was detained, including his wife, sons, daughter and son-in-law.
Bagan Cyber Tech, a company run by Khin Nyunt’s son, Ye Naing Win, was seized, while Sunny Swe, son of intelligence officer Brig-Gen Thein Swe and a close associate of Ye Naing Win, was forced to transfer his stake in The Myanmar Times, a weekly newspaper, to the Ministry of Information.
In April 2005, Khin Nyunt and dozens of his aides, including former Foreign Minister Win Aung and former Secretary-3 Lt-Gen Win Myint, were sentenced to up to 160 years in prison on corruption charges. Win Aung died in Insein Prison in April 2009 while he was serving a long jail term.
In November 2010, a video showing Khin Nyunt being taken from his home to a guesthouse in Insein Prison soon after his ouster was leaked and appeared on the Internet. In the video, Khin Nyunt told then police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi and other officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs that since he started his detention, he had to cut his hair by himself.
When a number of imprisoned intelligence officers were released in June of this year, nearly seven years after the crackdown on Khin Nyunt and the DDSI, some Burmese observers speculated that Khin Nyunt might also be released soon.
“Seven years is not a big thing to consider. He [Khin Nyunt] has no problem with U Than Shwe and U Thein Sein,” said Phone Win, the director of a Burmese NGO, Minglar Myanmar, who ran as an independent candidate in last year’s election. “Therefore he could be released soon.”
Phone Win added the recent release of former intelligence officers seemed to based more on humanitarian considerations than anything else.
“The current rulers do not need them,” he said, ruling out the possibility that the new government might want to recruit their services.
However, a Naypyidaw source said he thought that it was unlikely that Khin Nyunt and his family would be released in the near future.
The junta leaders discussed the possible release of Khin Nyunt before the new administration came into office in late March, but the move, proposed by Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, was rejected by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, he said.
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, July 21, 2011
The Burmese government has put up wanted posters in public places in Burma’s major cities that identify seven people suspected of involvement in June bomb attacks in Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin and Naypyidaw
The posters, which include the names and photographs of the suspects, were placed in train stations, hotels and other public places in the downtown areas of cities such as Rangoon, Mandalay, the national capital Naypyidaw, and the Kachin State capital Myitkyina.
The seven suspects included three ethnic Shan: Shin Mwe Hla, Sai Sam and Sai Aik.
An official from the Special Branch Police in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the four other suspects—Amy Kyaw, Kyaw Thiha, Thet Htun and Aung Ko Ko (aka Ko Ko Naing)—are members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a Burmese armed opposition group.
However, Salai Yaw Aung, a committee member of the ABSDF, said, “None of our members have names like those mentioned by the Burmese authorities. The government probably wants to increase security forces in the cities, and they are using this announcement to do so.”
He also said that the ABSDF was not involved in any bomb blasts that hurt members of the public.
The Burmese authorities asked civilians to report any information they had about the posted suspects to local police stations or call Naypyidaw by using phone numbers such as 067 21790 and 067 24061.
In June, explosions hit Naypyidaw, the country’s second-largest city of Mandalay and the town of Pyin Oo Lwin, in the first major series of bombings since Burma’s new government took power in March.
In mid-June, Burmese and Chinese police conducted searches of ethnic Shan hotels on the Sino-Burma border, said local residents.
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, July 21, 2011 RANGOON—Although Burma’s new government led by ex-Gen Thein Sein has reduced the country’s export tax from 10 to 7 percent, the measure is unlikely to help Burmese exporters as long as the kyat continues to rise in value, according to business sources.
An official from the Myanmar Fisheries Products Producers and Exporters Association told The Irrawaddy that since the government cut the export tax by 3 percent on July 1, most exports have not increased, and some have even continued to fall.
“Exports are not recovering despite the tax reduction, because the value of the kyat is still rising. At least 50 fish-processing plants have been forced to stop their operations,” said an official from the Myanmar Fisheries Federation.
An official from the Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA) said that most businessmen remain reluctant to invest in the rice export sector as the tax cut has done little to halt the slide in overseas demand caused by the climbing Burmese currency.
“Every export sector, including rice, has been affected. We can’t export rice and the market situation is quite dry. None of the exporters can cope with the situation right now. They would definitely lose if they exported at the current exchange rate,” said the MRIA official.
While welcoming the decision to reduce the export tax, some economic researchers, traders and businessmen said the government needs to focus on other important factors to boost the country’s sagging export sector.
“The government has to fix an official currency exchange rate, and it is very important to lower the value of the kyat to a level that is appropriate for both businessmen and the government itself. But if it reduces the kyat too much, many sectors will be affected, so it has to be careful,” said a Burmese economist in Rangoon.
An executive from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) told The Irrawaddy that the government should change the exchange rate in accordance with the current market price, provide temporary tax exemptions, give out low-interest loans and amend procedures and laws that slow down business operations.
“If the kyat falls, commodity prices will increase, so it is better to fix the exchange rate at the current market price. On the other hand, the government should give businessmen a tax break, reduce bank interest rates and relax regulations that hinder businesses from seeking new markets,” said the UMFCCI official.
Some exporters suggested that a rate of around 900 kyat to the US dollar would help to revitalize the export sector.
“If one US dollar of export earning is worth between 900 and 1,000 kyat, it will be worthwhile for businessmen to export goods. Even so, it will take time for fishery products exporters to recover. If the government turns a blind eye to the current situation, the fishery sector isn’t likely to recover,” said another official from the MRIA.
The dollar fell again recently following the Burmese gems sale in Naypyidaw on July 1-13. US $1.5 billion worth of gems were sold at the event, resulting in an increase in the value of the kyat.
“The dollar dropped again right after the gems sale. One dollar was equivalent to about 800 kyat before July 13, but now it is worth just 787. I think it will decrease even more,” said a gold trader in Rangoon.
In June, the US dollar went as low as 740 kyat before recovering earlier this month.
The Rangoon-based economist predicted that the US dollar would depreciate even further, both in Burma and in the international market.
“Because of debt problems in the United States and financial crises in Europe, the dollar value will drop again, and the stock market will fall to new lows. The Burmese government should take advantage of this situation and prepare to fix an official exchange rate between the dollar and the kyat,” said the economist.
Thursday, 21 July 2011 21:22 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Artillery attacks by Burmese government troops moved close to Myawaddy on the Thai-Burmese border as they fired heavy weapons into the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) area in Karen State on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A total of 60 Burmese soldiers from the government’s Infantry Unit No. 357 and Border Guard Force Unit No. 1022, led by Lieutenant Bo Shay, fired heavy weapons into the DKBA area near “Stone Mountain,” three miles southeast of Myawaddy.
“They fired heavy weapons from the Lakkhattaung Monastery into our troop area. They fired because they were worried that we would go to the town and attack,” said Major Kawdosoe, the second in command of DKBA Battalion No. 907.
Burmese government troops started their artillery fire on Tuesday, stopped firing for a while, and resumed firing on Wednesday night.
DKBA Captain Saw San Aung said that government troops opened fire because they had hearsay reports that DKBA Major General Bo Moustache’s troops were active near Myawaddy.
Government troops warned villagers that they would fire heavy weapons and told them not to go outside their villages, Captain Saw San Aung said.
Similarly, small clashes between Kawkareik-based DKBA troops led by Colonel Kyaw Thet and government troops broke out, according to Major Kawdosoe, the second in command of DKBA Battalion No. 907.
A resident in Myawaddy said that the sound of heavy weapons could be heard in Myawaddy for two straight nights.
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:47 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The winning bidder for Pyi Myanmar Department store at Hledan Junction in Kamayut Township in Rangoon has claimed nearly 10,000 square feet more than the original bid called for, said shop owners from the department store.
The shop owners, who have been forced to leave the premises, said the original bid was for the building and if the land in the whole compound is taken into account, “the total [bid] would be eight billion,” the shop owners said.
The highest bidder, Myanmar Marketing Research & Development Company Limited, owned by Moe Kyaw, and AA Medical Product Company Limited owner Zaw Moe Khine, made a bid of 4.1 billion kyat for the building and the land in the third week of May.
“The area of the auction land of the Pyi Myanmar department store is 80 x 120 feet. Now they’ve forced the shop owners from the department store’s compound to leave and took more area,” Kyaw Zin Oo, one of the shop owners, told Mizzima. The building is eight stories high.
The area of the entire compound is 19,427.76 square feet and the area put up for auction was 9,600 square feet.
The shop owners were told to leave the compound no later than at the end of May although the shops are located outside the auction land. There were 98 shops in the Pyi Myanmar Department Store compound, which are now closed.
Myanmar Marketing Research & Development could not be contacted to respond.
The shop owners have demanded 10 million kyat (about US$ 12,000) per shop as compensation, equivalent space or a permit to open a shop in the compound during the period of Buddhist lent.
In April, the shop owners sent an appeal letter to the president and 17 governmental departments including the Rangoon Region government and the Ministry of Commerce, but there has been no response.
The building, located at the corner of Insein Road and Hledan Road in the Kamayut Township in Rangoon, was put up for auction in the second week of February 2011.
Shop owners also alleged that senior government officials are involved in the case. In the appeal letter, they urged authorities to investigate the case and take legal action against responsible officials from the Directorate of Trade, who are involved in the case.
Thursday, 21 July 2011 11:22 Ko Pauk
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A Burmese man who is now an Australian citizen claims he has committed war crimes and wants to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Now living in Brisbane, Htoo Htoo Han served as a lieutenant in military intelligence and claims to have personally killed 24 protestors in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and to have been involved in the deaths of more than 100 people, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
“My main objective is to face a trial at the ICC,” he said. “I want to talk on a par with the ICC. That’s my objective.”
However, his claims have met with skepticism from some of his friends and Burmese opposition groups in Australia, who see his story as confused and potentially benefiting the Burmese government.
“In Burma, there are real human rights violations. If his confession is a fake and proven to be a lie, the real events may be less credible and that will benefit the military,” Tin Maung Htoo, the executive director from Canadian Friends of Burma, told Mizzima.
Htoo Htoo Han, born in 1967, said that he served as a lieutenant in Military Intelligence Unit No. 6 and was assigned to work as a spy to gather information about the High School Students’ Union in the 1988 pro-democracy, where he worked as the secretary of the union.
Zeya Oo, a member of the High School Students’ Union who worked with Htoo Htoo Han in Bangkok, Thailand, and in Australia to donate money to political prisoners in Burma, told Mizzima, “As far as I know, his words are inconsistent and unbelievable. In politics, some people want to be heroes and say both true and untrue things. Some people will do both good things and bad things to be famous.”
A friend who lives in Brisbane said Htoo Htoo Han has received a medical pension for mental illness.
In response to the friend’s statement, Htoo Htoo Han said, “I was brutally beaten in the prisons [in Burma]. In Thayawaddy Prison, I was detained in all wards. In Australia, I have suffered from depression and need to take sleeping pills. And I need a counselor. But, I’m not a crazy man. I just have depression.”
Htoo Htoo Han said, “There are many ways to attract the media. If you can do strange things, they will follow you. My way is a short cut. The normal procedure is not effective. I want to use all possible ways to fight the Burmese government while Aung San Suu Kyi is living.”
Burmese activist Tin Maung Htoo said Htoo Htoo Han’s claims, if proven false, could harm the movement to organize a UN Commission of Inquiry on war crimes in Burma.
“What we say about human rights violations is true. Now because of his claims, some people may think our statements are made up,” Tin Maung Htoo said.
Despite Htoo Htoo Han’s confession of serious crimes, Australian police have not interrogated him, he said.
“So far they have not taken any action although I made a public confession. They could not take legal actions against me immediately. They may think what I said is a lie,” said Htoo Htoo Han. “Now, I’ve become well-known. So they are watching me. My telephone has been tapped. I know it because I was a former Military Intelligence official.”
Published: 21 July 2011 A column of Burmese soldiers have reportedly reached a village close to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in a sign that the group’s grip on its territory in northern Burma may be weakening.
Locals in Nalon have fled four miles to the town of Laiza, the home of the KIA, after hundreds of soldiers yesterday flooded the village. A resident of Nalon said that troops had tried to sow disquiet among the population of the village, which is made up of ethnic Shan and Kachin.
“A Burmese army column from Talawgyi, estimated to be about 50 to 100-strong, has arrived in Nalon and they are inciting division among the ethnics,” he said. “They were telling the Shan not to trust the Kachin as they were providing information [to the KIA] via mobile phones and warned them to inform the army when they see someone using a phone.”
Concerns have also mounted that additional troops were being deployed to an outpost at Lajaryang, and that an attack on Laiza is drawing close.
Another Burmese column travelling from the Kachin state capital of Myitkyina has reached Dabatyang village, around 30 miles from Laiza. The KIA has troops stationed in a village around two miles from Dabatyang, and locals there fear fighting may be imminent.
Intense clashes have erupted across areas of Kachin state over the past two months, forcing thousands of refugees to Laiza and into China. Refusals from a multitude of armed ethnic groups to become government-controlled Border Guard Forces have engulfed parts of Burma’s northern and eastern border regions in violence.
Colonel Zau Raw, commander of the KIA’s Shan state-based Battalion 4, told The Irrawaddy Magazine yesterday that the Burmese army would launch an assault on Laiza before the end of the week.
The KIA last week captured five Burmese army personnel, including two officers, following an exchange of fire between the two sides on the highway connecting Myitkyina to Bhamo, where the Kachin army has a strong presence.
The Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT) issued a statement on 19 July saying that 16,000 refugees sheltering in makeshift camps along the China-Burma border are “urgently in need of aid”.
“A humanitarian crisis is looming in Kachin State,” said KWAT spokesperson Shirley Seng. “We need concerted international pressure, particularly from China, to force the regime to implement a nationwide ceasefire before it is too late.”
The same group has documented the rape of 32 women and girls by Burmese troops since fighting began on 9 June.
By MIN LWIN
Published: 21 July 2011
Burmese army commanders have been ordered to embark on a seemingly rapacious recruitment drive that will see more than 25,000 troops added to its already formidable manpower each year.
A directive sent out by the War Office in Naypyidaw said that those among the 530-plus battalions who achieve the quota of a minimum four new soldiers per month will be rewarded with a one million kyat ($US1,300) bonus at the end of each calendar year. Those who fail are to be punished under military law.
Current estimates put the size of Burma’s army at around 400,000, a sizeable figure when considering the fact that Burma has no external enemy and has not fought a war against a foreign force since the 19th century.
But military expansion remains a priority of the central government, which announced earlier this year that a revised budget will allocate nearly a quarter of total annual spending to the army. In contrast, less than three percent will go to healthcare and education combined.
Forced recruitment has been a hallmark of military policy that sees Burma hosting one of the world’s highest numbers of child soldiers, despite use of minors made officially illegal by the government.
“There are soldiers waiting at bus terminals, train stations and ports and the youths are scared to travel alone without their family members [for fear of being forcibly recruited],” said Aye Myint, who runs the Guiding Star legal advocacy group that monitors child soldier recruitment.
Late last year the government mooted the idea of introducing a military draft that would see men and women over the age of 18 required to serve up to three years in the army or face a lengthy jail term.
Benjamin Zawacki, Burma researcher at Amnesty International, said that while no decision has yet been passed on the draft, parliament is believed to be reviewing it.
The prospect of a forced conscription raises the possibility of legalising the coercive and highly controversial measures known to be used by the Burmese army to boost troop numbers.
“Prior to the idea of a military draft, I’ve not been aware of any sort of regulation surrounding how troops are recruited,” Zawacki told DVB. “The government is ostensibly opposed to child soldiers but we know that happens on a wide scale, so while there is regulation, it’s not abided by.”
A report by Human Rights Watch in 2002 found that around 70,000 children below 18 were active in the military, making Burma one of the world’s leading recruiters of child soldiers.
Another report last week by the New York-based group said that hundreds of prison inmates had been sent to the frontline in the Burmese army’s ongoing battles against ethnic armies, where they are forced to carry equipment and act as human minesweepers.
But many individuals do join at their own behest, Zawacki says. “One of the reasons for the 400,000-strong force is the economic opportunities that being in the army offers. While pay is incredibly low, the military offers relative certainty and security.”
He added however that if the ambitious quota set down by the War Office is to be realised, then “it stands to reason they’ll have to assert some pressure on people [to join]”.