BURMA RELATED NEWS – AUGUST 09, 2011
Aug 9th, 2011
The Jakarta Post – Region’s lawmakers oppose Myanmar bid to chair ASEAN
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 08/09/2011 7:00 AM The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) expressed on Monday its strong opposition to the nomination of Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2014, arguing that the reclusive country has not improved its poor track-record on human rights.
The lawmakers urged Indonesia, the grouping’s current chair, to use its lobby to persuade other ASEAN countries to force Myanmar drop its bid until the military regime respected democracy and human rights.
On the sidelines of the celebration of ASEAN’s 44th anniversary in Jakarta on Monday, AIPMC president Eva Kusuma Sundari said the caucus had launched their opposition to Myanmar’s bid in protest of human rights abuses in the country, demanding President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono show Indonesia’s commitment to human rights and democracy by persuading others not to support Myanmar.
“The President should be firm in rejecting the nomination of Myanmar as chair of ASEAN in 2014, mainly because of the rampant abuse of the Myanmarese for 23 years,” she said in a press conference.
According to her, various forms of violence and other severe forms of human rights violations have taken place in that country, to which other ASEAN countries have turned a blind eye in respect of ASEAN’s non-interference principle in the internal affairs of member states.
Upon entering the globalization era and the free trade era, ASEAN members can no longer stick to the non-interference principle; instead, they should take diplomatic steps, and even impose sanctions, to push for change in the country, she said.
Krisbiantoro, a staff member with the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said Indonesia would face criticism, and its human rights record severely questioned by other countries and global human rights organizations, if the President accepts Myanmar’s nomination.
“As the chair of ASEAN, Indonesia has the power to lobby other ASEAN countries to press Myanmar to respect universal human rights and build a better democracy there,” he said.
ASEAN leaders will decide during their meeting in Bali this November whether to support Myanmar’s intention to chair the grouping in 2014, instead of 2016 as already scheduled.
WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 8, 2011 1:09pm EDT
Aug 8 (Reuters) – IMF officials will travel to Myanmar in the second half of October to help unify its foreign exchange system and lift restrictions on international transactions, an IMF spokeswoman said on Monday.
“We have received a request from the authorities to help them prepare to modernize their exchange rate system and lift restrictions on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions,” IMF spokeswoman Gita Bhatt said.
The country’s new civilian government has promised economic development and pro-business reforms. Dollars are pouring into Myanmar’s largely opaque economy as foreign investors try to tap its vast resources, with gas by far its most lucrative export commodity.
The country has a multiple exchange rate system, which consists of an official exchange rate and several informal parallel rates. Different rates are used for different types of transactions.
A paper by IMF economists in 2008 said the system created distortions, was opaque and costly. It argued that unifying the different rates would help Myanmar benefit from a more efficient allocation of resources.
Tuesday9/8/2011August, 2011, 12:25 AM Doha Time
Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi rejected the military-promulgated constitution Monday, after attending a ceremony marking the country’s 1988 uprising.
“We still do not accept the 2008 constitution,” said Suu Kyi, who gave robes and food to over 100 Buddhist monks at Sadu monastery in Yangon, to commemorate the anniversary of the democracy uprising that began on August 8, 1988, which is remembered in Myanmar as “the 8888 uprising”.
The 2008 charter cemented the military’s control over any elected government by reserving a quarter of all seats in parliament to military-appointees, sufficient to veto any legislation. Yangon’s 1988 mass protests led to the resignation of former military strongman Ne Win.
Published: 9/08/2011 at 04:05 PM
Online news:
Soldiers of the 3rd Naval Area arrested 55 Burmese people on Tuesday for illegal entry after they they were spotted trying to sneak into the country.
The 55 comprised 43 men, 9 women and three children.
Lieutenant Commander Kongkrit Kongying, commander of HTMS Kamronsin, said the Burmese were aboard a long-tail boat in the Andaman Sea.
The boat was first spotted west of Phayam island off Ranong about 3am heading in a southerly direction and was ordered to stop for a search. All of the Burmese people aboard had no travel or official documents.
The long-tail boat operator jumped overboard and managed to escape, Lt-Cmdr Kongrit said.
The Burmese said they were from Burma’s Kawthaung town and heading to Khang Khao island in Suk Samran district of Ranong.
From Khang Khao island they would have been taken on a speed boat to land in Khura Buri district of Phangnga province before separately proceeding to Phuket, Phangnga, Bangkok and Ranong, and would then be allocated to their employers, he said.
Published: Aug. 9, 2011 at 6:12 AM
CANBERRA, Australia, Aug. 9 (UPI) — Australia’s High Court dealt a blow the country’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers who arrived by boat to Malaysia for processing.
The court put a temporary stop on the first group, which the government was getting ready to send overseas last weekend.
Lawyers for the group of 16 refugees argued the plan is illegal and judges ruled there was a “sufficiently serious question” over the legality. The court ordered a stop to the plan until a hearing this month to further consider the case.
Justice Kenneth Hayne was visibly irritated when Solicitor General Stephen Gageler appeared ill-prepared with his paperwork, a report in The Age newspaper said.
”It’s unsatisfactory that this matter proceed in this half-baked manner,” the judge said.
Australia is ready to start sending as many as 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia over the next four years under the controversial swap deal announced in May and signed in Kuala Lumpur last month.
In return, Australia will take 4,000 bona fide mostly Myanmar refugees from Malaysia.
The Australian government of Julia Gillard, as previous governments, is wrestling with an annual influx of thousands of boat people. Australia’s Department of Immigration said 134 boats carrying 6,535 people arrived in 2010.
The vast majority of the asylum seekers in Australia arrive in unseaworthy boats after a journey of thousands of miles and after paying human traffickers for the passage. Gillard said she hopes that the deal with Malaysia will send a message to would-be asylum seekers that their voyage would be fruitless.
But even before the court ruling, Gillard was facing heavy political fallout from opposition parties over the agreement’s details and the estimated cost of financing the deportations.
Human rights activists and political critics say refugees are often mistreated in Malaysia, which hasn’t signed the U.N. Refugee Convention, even though the Malaysian government promised at the signing of the deal that it would abide by international standards for the care of the refugees, including allowing them to work in certain cases.
At the signing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia is committed to treating the new arrivals with dignity. People smuggling is a “vile trade” and “the UNHCR will be there to monitor and safeguard the standards that we have set,” he said.
Despite the setback, Australia’s Immigration Minister Chris Bowen was adamant the government had a strong legal case.
”Nobody should doubt our resolve” to deliver on an agreement to send asylum seekers to Malaysia, Bowen told national media. “I’m confident that when the full bench considers the case the injunction will be lifted, the transfer will occur and the arrangement will be implemented.”
David Manne of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Center in Melbourne is acting for the first group of asylum seekers, 42 in all, including six unaccompanied children.
Manne said he is challenging the transfer on human rights grounds. The immigration ministry can’t guarantee Malaysia will provide adequate assessment procedures, protections and human rights for the asylum seekers.
Manne also said Australia’s immigration minister is failing in his obligations as guardian of asylum-seeking children, a divisive issue even among pro-deportation people.
Australia has backtracked partially on its hard-line policy of sending young asylum seekers to Malaysia.
The government previously said there would be no exemption for unaccompanied minors arriving illegally in Australian by boat. As with adult asylum seekers, the children will be sent to Malaysia to be kept in detention centers until their refugee claim is assessed.
Bowen said otherwise it would encourage people smugglers in Asia to put children on unseaworthy boats beside often dozens of desperate people who have paid thousands of dollars for the journey.
“I don’t want unaccompanied minors, I don’t want children getting on boats to come to Australia thinking or knowing that there is some sort of exemption in place,” Bowen told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in June.
But a week later and under mounting pressure from human rights groups and biting criticism from members of Parliament, including from his own party, he said the government would look at the case for sending unaccompanied children to Malaysia on a “case-by-case basis.”
“I said I didn’t agree with a blanket exemption for children,” he said. “Of course, what we would do is make sure that each case is considered. For example, you might deal with a 14-year-old girl differently to a male who claims to be a minor.”
Tue, 2011-08-09 00:41 — editor London, 09 August, (Asiantribune.com): Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today renews its call for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, as the people of Burma mark the twenty-third anniversary of the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protestors on 8 August, 1988 in which at least 3,000 people were killed.
CSW has written to European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers, urging them to work to secure the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry in this year’s UN General Assembly resolution on Burma, as recommended by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana. In particular, CSW joins other campaign groups in calling on Germany not to oppose this initiative. A protest will be taking place at the German Embassy in London today.
In 1988 a major movement for democracy developed in which Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as the leader, although thousands were killed in several massacres unleashed by Ne Win’s military regime. Since 1988, the situation in Burma has deteriorated further.
In 1990, elections were overwhelmingly won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), but the junta refused to recognise the results, and most of those elected were imprisoned or exiled.
Twenty years later, in November, 2010, the regime held a new round of heavily rigged sham elections, and in the past nine months the human rights and humanitarian crisis has continued.
On 9 June the regime ended a 17-year cease-fire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), resulting in the displacement of over 20,000 civilians, and the rape of at least 32 women and girls. Of the cases of rape, at least 13 victims were then killed.
At least 16 countries have expressed support for a Commission of Inquiry, including 12 EU member states as well as the United States, Canada and Australia. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly expressed her support, particularly when she addressed the US Congress by video link in June, and it has been recommended by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma.
In its letter to EU Foreign Ministers, CSW writes, “Since 1992, the UN General Assembly has been calling on the regime in Burma to respect the Geneva Conventions. Since 1997, the UN General Assembly has made 18 calls for inquiries. In its 20 resolutions, the General Assembly has detailed at least 15 possible categories of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime in Burma. Recent resolutions have described the regime’s human rights abuses as “major and repeated violations of international humanitarian law … As the UN Special Rapporteur has concluded, ‘failing to act on accountability in Myanmar will embolden the perpetrators of international crimes and further postpone long-overdue justice.’ A Commission of Inquiry is not only necessary if the UN General Assembly’s authority and credibility are to be upheld, it may also serve to prevent future human rights violations in Burma, and may well contribute towards establishing a meaningful dialogue between the regime, the democracy movement, the ethnic nationalities and the international community. It is a vital step towards national reconciliation.”
CSW’s East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers said, “For over half a century Burma has been ruled by brutal military regimes, and for the past twenty-three years the suffering of the people of Burma has intensified further. The UN General Assembly has called for an end to the culture of impunity in Burma on numerous occasions. If the regime is allowed to continue violating international law with no consequence, what message does that send to dictators around the world? The European Union has a responsibility to abide by its own principles and ensure that an inquiry is carried out. As an influential member of the EU, Germany has a special responsibility to ensure that war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by a brutal military dictatorship are not allowed to go unchecked. Today’s focus on Germany in particular, and our call for EU member states to support a Commission of Inquiry, is particularly appropriate as we remember the massacre of 3,000 civilians twenty-three years ago. It is surely now time to investigate the regime’s crimes.”
8:16 PM, Aug. 8, 2011 |
Springfield police and an accident reconstructionist from the Calhoun County Sheriff Department are investigating the rollover crash Saturday that killed Nang-Za Mang, 20, of Grand Rapids, a native of Myanmar.
Springfield Public Safety Officers said Mang was thrown from a westbound vehicle which crashed at the intersection of Dickman Road and Avenue A. Police estimated the speed of the car at about 100 mph before the crash.
Police said Monday the driver of the car, Tun Mang, 21, of Springfield, and another passenger, Khup Zam-Liam, 18, received minor injuries. Police said speed and alcohol were probably factors in the crash and the accident remains under investigation. Once completed, a report will be sent to the Calhoun County Prosecutor for review.
The Star Online – Report shows rise in restrictions on religion WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly a third of the world’s population lives in countries where it is becoming more difficult to freely practice religion, a private U.S. research group reported on Tuesday.
The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life said government restrictions and public hostility involving religion grew in some of the most populous countries from mid-2006 to mid-2009.
“During the three-year period covered by the study, the extent of violence and abuse related to religion increased in more places than it decreased,” according to the report “Rising Restrictions on Religion.”
Only about one percent of the world lives in countries that saw more religious tolerance during those years, it said.
The Pew Center review of 198 countries found those deemed restrictive or hostile in the previous report were growing even more so, while the opposite was found for those with more religious tolerance.
A substantial rise in public hostility toward religious groups was seen in China, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam and Britain, while government restrictions rose substantially in Egypt and France.
The Pew Center looked at laws or other government policies aimed to ban particular faiths, limit preaching, give preference to particular religions or prohibit conversions. To measure hostility, it looked at sectarian violence, harassment over religious attire and other types of intimidation.
The countries most restrictive or hostile toward certain religions included India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Iran, China, Myanmar, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, Nigeria and Bangladesh — although most of these did not show much change in the three years.
People were killed, physically abused, detained, imprisoned, displaced from their homes, or had their property destroyed for religious reasons by governments in 101 countries in the year ending mid-2009, compared to 91 a year earlier, the report said. Such violence rose in more countries than it declined over the three years.
Mob violence involving religion occurred in 52 countries as of mid-2009, compared to 38 a year earlier. Religious hatred or bias led to violence by private citizens groups in 142 countries, nearly three-quarters of the 198 included in the study, and about the same as of mid-2008.
“Religion-related terrorist groups were active in 74 countries,” and violence was seen in half of these, in the year through mid-2009, the Pew Center said.
Christians and Muslims, the world’s two largest religious groups, were harassed in the most countries. Other religions also saw harassment, but Jews, who make up less than one percent of the world’s population, saw restrictions or harassment in 75 countries.
In five European countries — Britain, Denmark, Russia, Sweden and Bulgaria — religious tension focused on the rapidly growing Muslim population, but there was some rising anti-Semitism and antagonism toward minorities such as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Brunei Times
Tuesday, Aug 09, 2011
On August 8, 1967 the “Bangkok Declaration” gave birth to Asean the Association of Southeast Asian Nations an organisation that would unite five countries in a joint effort to promote economic co-operation and the welfare of their peoples.
This five-member grouping of Southeast Asian countries comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand would over the span of 44 years grow to become a strong-linked geo-political and economic organisation of countries occupying the prosperous Southeast Asia region. Since then, its membership has expanded to include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Asean is a geo-political and economic organisation of 10 countries located in the Southeast Asia region covering 4.46 million sqm with a population of approximately 600 million people. Its combined nominal GDP had grown to US$1.8 trillion in 2010. As a single entity, Asean would rank as the ninth largest economy in the world.
Bearing that in mind, it’s time to reminisce about the four foreign ministers and a deputy prime minister who represented their respective countries in signing the Asean Declaration 44 years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.
Without the founding fathers’ contributions and determination, Asean would never have come into existence.
Adam Malik
Adam Malik was born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia on July 22, 1917. Adam was an autodidact. Before he became the third Vice President of Indonesia, he was a politician, journalist, senior diplomat, minister of culture, minister of trade, minister of economy and legislator. His diplomatic career started when Acting President of Indonesia Soeharto officially chose him as foreign minister in 1967. When Soeharto was officially elected as the Indonesian president, he then appointed Adam as minister of foreign affairs in 1968 . As foreign minister, he insisted that Asean should only be about economic, not military cooperation.
He was also Indonesian ambassador to Soviet Union and the 26th President of the United Nations General Assembly (1971-1972). In 1977, Malik was elected as the Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). In March 1978, he was chosen by Soeharto as Vice President (1978-1983). He received the Dag Hammarskjold Award from the United Nations (1982) and was recognised as an Indonesian national hero. On September 5, 1984, Adam Malik died of liver cancer in Bandung, West Java.
Narciso R Ramos
Narciso Ramos was born on November 11, 1900 in Asingan, Pangasinan, the Philippines. He studied journalism and law. Ramos later embarked into becoming a journalist, lawyer, human right activist, legislator and diplomat. His career in foreign service commenced when President Roxas called him to establish the Philippines’s foreign service and organise the first Philippine embassy in Washington DC, after the country regained independence, 1946.
He was Philippine ambassador to Argentina (1949-1952) and the first head of the Philippine mission in New Delhi and Taipei (1956). He then was appointed foreign secretary by President Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1968). Besides signing the Asean Declaration in 1967, he also endeavoured to remould Philippine friendship with the United States by signing the Ramos-Rusk Agreement, which decreased the tenure of the RP-US military bases agreement by 25 years and allowed the crucial changes in the Military Bases Accord on January 7, 1979.
He was also involved in re-establishing the Asia Pacific Council (ASPAC). He was asked to lead the Asian Exchange Center in Taipei (1982-1985). On February 3, 1986, he died of stroke. His first son of three children, Fidel V Ramos, was 12th Philippine President (1992-1998).
For his foreign service, he was bestowed the Order of Sikatuna Award (rank of Datu) and the Legion of Honour award (rank of commander) and the Bronze Medal of Valour for his services as a guerrilla during World War Two.
S Rajaratnam
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam was one of the founding fathers of independent Singapore when it achieved self-government in 1959 and later independence in 1965. Born on February 25, 1915 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, he was a politician, journalist, minister of culture, minister of manpower, minister of foreign affairs, deputy prime minister and senior minister. He studied law and journalism in London. After returning to Singapore in 1948, he became a journalist and joined The Straits Times in 1954. His career as a diplomat began when he was appointed as the first foreign minister in 1965.
Rajaratnam helped Singapore gain entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1970. He built up the Foreign Service, establishing diplomatic links with other countries and secure international recognition of the new nation’s sovereignty. Rajaratnam retired in 1988. He then served at the Institute of South East Asian Studies as a Distinguished Senior Fellow (1988-1997). In 1994, Rajaratnam was diagnosed with dementia and was unable to move or talk by 2001. On February 22, 2006, he died of heart failure.
Thanat Khoman
Thanat Khoman was born in 1914 in Bangkok into a Sino-Thai family. He studied law in France and entered his country’s diplomatic service in 1940. He was ambassador to US in Washington, DC (1957) and served as Thailand’s foreign minister (1959-1971). His major contribution was in promoting regional reconciliation and cooperation.
He played a key role in mediating between Indonesia and Malaysia in the mid-1960s; the choice of Bangkok as the venue for the founding meeting of Asean in August 1967. After stepping down as a technocratic foreign minister, he entered politics and became the leader of the Democrat Party between 1979 and 1982 and a deputy prime minister between 1980 and 1982, after which he retired from public life.
Tun Abdul Razak
Tun Abdul Razak Hussein Al-Haj was born on March 11, 1922 in Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia. He was Prime Minister of Malaysia (1970-1976) and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister (1957-1970). Previously he was a lawyer and politician (UMNO, 1953-1976).
Upon his return to Malaysia, he joined the Malayan Civil Service. His political activities in UMNO led him to be Pahang’s Chief Minister at the age of 33, Education Minister (1955) and the Minister of Rural Development (1959). In January 14, 1976, he died of leukaemia while seeking medical treatment in London. He was posthumously granted the title “Father of Development”. Abdul Razak’s eldest son, Najib Tun Razak, became the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia on April 3, 2009.
Korea Times – Myanmar workers: voices of hope in Korea
This is the second in a five-part series that concentrates on residents in Korea from four separate countries: Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. These discussions illustrate some aspects of the issues, what has been done to address them with recommendations for future action.
By Alice Hyuna Park
For thousands of Myanmar workers who chose to leave their homes to find jobs abroad, South Korea was one of the most popular destinations ? a symbol of hope for their futures. Korea’s peaceful transition from a military dictatorship to a democracy, along with its unprecedented economic boom, reassured them that Korea would be more welcoming, as Myanmar might share a similar history.
When these workers entered Korea, they encountered discrimination from the Korean people as well as human rights abuses from employers. Unlike their colleagues from other Southeast Asian countries, Myanmar workers had to make a choice between staying in Korea under unfavorable working conditions and returning to military rule and high unemployment in Myanmar.
Eventually, many chose to remain in Korea and apply for political asylum via active participation in pro-democracy groups such as the Democratic Voice of Burma and Burma Action Korea, as the historically labor-unfriendly Korean government granted political asylum more easily than requests for permanent resident status for workers. Myanmar, in particular, has a 42-percent approval rate compared to 10 percent for other nationals.
At the same time, Myanmar workers have been lobbying for better labor conditions and rights for foreign workers through migrant workers’ rights groups such as Migrant Workers’ Television (MWTV).
While many leaders of the Migrants’ Trade Union (MTU) have been deported, it has been easy for Myanmar workers, who have received political asylum to maintain their leadership roles. Nevertheless, there are still hundreds of Myanmar workers who remain illegal due to restrictive Korean employment laws.
Myanmar workers make up less than 2 percent of the 239,179 foreign workers currently holding legal, nonprofessional jobs in Korea. As of June, there are 4,000 Myanmar workers in Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS), half of whom are here as trainees and interns, subject to less pay and even more unstable working conditions.
This year, the first Myanmar workers to come to Korea under the EPS in 2008 will finish their third and final year in Korea. According to reports from MWTV, approximately 40 percent of all EPS workers are expected to remain in Korea as undocumented workers.
Prior to the EPS, the only way that Myanmar workers could legally enter Korea was through local brokers. These brokers were often affiliated with the Myanmar administration, and charged astronomical rates. Others overstayed their travel visas and chose to work illegally.
The EPS theoretically allows for a more democratic process, allowing people who have passed the EPS-KLT, the Korean language test, an opportunity to work in Korea. The Ministry of Employment and Labor website proudly announced that the EPS for foreign workers won first place at the 2011 U.N. Public Service Awards “in recognition of its fair, transparent, and migrant and business-friendly recruit system.”
The EPS, which began in 2007-08 for Myanmar, is indeed a successful model for fair recruitment but still lacks finesse when it comes to the details for working conditions and contracts.
According to the ministry, the sudden rise in demand for foreign workers in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), combined with the end of the first EPS cycle, has also resulted in a steep climb in illegal residents, from 24 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in April.
While praise for the EPS comes from Korean employers who now have access to a wide pool of Korean-speaking foreign employees, criticisms of the program come from foreign workers themselves, who make up the core of the program yet have little input when it comes to their workers’ rights.
Korea’s aging population is evidence that foreign labor is a necessity for the future. With the revision of the immigration laws and the establishment of a new concentrated immigration office, the Korean government is making headway in improving and expanding the EPS.
A counseling center for migrant workers was opened a few weeks ago in Ansan, south of Seoul, providing help in 10 different languages. More recently, the ministry amended employment laws to extend the application period for re-employment under the EPS.
Now that the EPS is beyond the initial stages, it needs to move beyond recruitment policies to allow for a sustainable program for the growing number of foreign workers, possibly including permanent resident status as well as legalization of migrant workers’ labor unions.
By opening dialogue and collaborating with both the migrant workers and their employers to find the best solutions, Korea can truly become a stage for the dreams of thousands of migrant workers.
Alice Hyuna Park is a senior at Swarthmore College, majoring in educational studies and Asian studies. Readers can reach her at alicehpark11@gmail.com.
August 09, 2011
During the first quarter of the current fiscal year more than 80 per cent of all shipments of both teak and other hardwoods from ocean ports in Myanmar went to India. Less than 20 per cent was shipped by sea to China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Records of the cross border timber trade with China are not available. India is by far the most important market for both teak and hardwoods from Myanmar.
About 70% of non-teak hardwood shipments last year went to India, followed by Bangladesh, China and Vietnam and about 80 % of teak went to India, the remaining 20% was shipped to Thailand, China and Vietnam.
Appreciation of the Kyat wipes out gains from export tax reduction
The government’s decision to reduce the export tax by 3 per cent beginning this month (July 2011) has been welcomed by the private sector. However, exporters feel that the reduction should be much more than 3 per cent. Opinions differ concerning how much the reduction should be.
The local timber industry says the export tax on processed added value wood products should be minimal. Some argue that if the government wants to tax timber exports then the levy should be on log exports. They argue that this would reduce sales of logs and help the development of the value added sector in the country.
Despite the reduction of 3 percent the exporters claim they have gained little since the Myanmar Kyat has appreciated about 20 percent against the US dollar within one year. The state owned newspaper, the Mirror Daily, has reported that during a meeting with the executive committee of the Myanmar Bankers Association the Union Finance Minister reportedly said that arrangements are underway to determine exchange rates for the Myanmar kyat that are stable as well as beneficial for the country.
Until concrete and viable results emerge, the business circle is said to be facing difficulties adjusting to the new exchange rate.
Created: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:07:39 GMT-0700
Murali Krishnan
Last Updated: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 14:15:00 +1000
Thousands of refugees who fled Christian persecution in Burma’s Chin state are demanding legal protection in India and religious freedom back home.
The United Nations high commissioner for refugees estimates there are more than 80,000 Burmese refugees living in India – a majority of Chin ethnicity.
This week, on the 23rd anniversary of a Burmese nationwide uprising for democracy, they reiterated their demand for justice and respect.
Hundreds of Chins attend a church in Vikaspuri in west Delhi, in a district where many of them took shelter after fleeing persecution in Burma.
Pastor
Muan Kim, secretary of the Burma Centre for Delhi, told Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific program: “I belong to the Christian community and my uncle (was) a pastor. And they have a missionary in the Chin state, southern part of Burma, in my home town, Plewa.
“In 1998, it was in January . . . along with him is are (sic) 18 people. They were arrested on 16th and on 19th they killed all, including my uncle.”
The Burmese military sees practice of any religion other than the majority Buddhism as a key cause behind demands for more autonomy in the country.
More than 90 per cent of the 500,000 people in Chin State are Christian. Unless Christians hand control of religious activities to the government, they are seen as an enemy.
Tint Swe, an MP of the National League for Democracy and an associate of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, says there is no hope of the Chins going back.
“All of them are Christians,” he said.
But despite having fled Burma, many of the refugees in India live in squalid conditions.
Families cannot send their children to schools or colleges. Although the Indian government generally tolerates the presence of Burmese refugees, it does not afford them any legal protection, leaving them vulnerable to harassment and discrimination.
Meal
Many among the refugees have no means to earn their living and barely manage a square meal a day.
Theng Te, a representative of the Chin Refugee Committee, says it was estimated in 2006 that there were about 1,500 refugees. Now, according to UNHCR, it is 16,000.
Besides Delhi, there are more than 70,000 Chin refugees in India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram, which borders the Chin state. None of them have identity cards.
Thang Lian Pau, secretary of the Zomi Christian Community, who also fled the Chin state, said: “It is really sad that we have been caught between a rock and a hard place. And there is no help coming at all. In India, everyday life is a struggle.
“And if we decide to go back we know for sure that we will be arrested and even killed. What do we do?”
Aug 9th 2011, 11:38 by S.M. | BANGKOK
IN MOST global indices, Myanmar languishes near the bottom. Not so its currency: the kyat (pronounced “chat”) is Asia’s best-performing currency, up 20% over the past year. A
flood of hot money chasing property, gems and state assets, coupled with buoyant oil and gas prices, has seen the once-lowly kyat rocket. On the streets of Yangon a dollar now fetches 790 kyat, down from 1,000 or so a year ago.
A weak dollar is partly to blame. But that is scant consolation to traders priced out of overseas markets. They have been reduced to dumping products on the local market. As a result, agricultural prices have nosedived, forcing farmers to take on more debt, while Myanmar’s tiny industrial sector slashes jobs as fast as it can. Tour agencies are struggling to stay afloat. Even some military cronies are complaining about their bottom line. “Everybody is getting hammered,” says an aid worker.
For Myanmar’s semi-civilian government, which formally succeeded a military junta in April, the mighty kyat has become a major test. So far, it appears to be failing. A recent cut in export tariffs from 10% to 7% is merely palliative. Business lobbies have called for more aggressive action by Myanmar’s central bank to manage the kyat. But the bank is hamstrung by a dual-currency system in which the kyat’s official exchange rate is fixed at six to the dollar. Other exchange rates apply for government and state-enterprise financing.
Private companies, and everyone else, rely on the black market. Reformers argue that doing away with this convoluted system would make it easier to manage the currency.
Economic advisers to the new general-turned-president, Thein Sein, have made the case for currency reform. But the president appears increasingly consumed by a turf war in Nyapyidaw, the capital, with the vice-president, Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is widely seen as a spoiler for political and economic reforms. In recent months, Thein Sein has raised state pensions and brainstormed ways to tackle poverty. Pushing for bold action on the currency, however, is likely to run afoul of “conservative interests”, says Thant Myint-U, a historian. Some generals may even be smitten by the idea of a strong currency.
The price of inaction on the exchange rate could be high, if economic hardship leads to unrest. But a dash to fix a sclerotic monetary system carries its own risks, made worse by an opaque economy with iffy banks. Central banks frequently turn to the IMF and other multilateral lenders for help with such technical tasks and for standby liquidity support. But Western sanctions on Myanmar rule out that option. So the speculators may reckon that the kyat’s bull run has further to go. And then, warns a foreign businessman, “it could all collapse.”
By LALIT K JHA Monday, August 8, 2011
WASHINGTON — Even after the formation of a new government following last year’s general election, further reform in Burma is needed before the US can lift sanctions on the country, a key US lawmaker has said.
“Sadly, Mr. Speaker, the regime in Burma has not made the necessary progress to justify lifting the restriction,” Californian Congresswoman Laura Richardson said in her speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives on Friday.
Speaking in favor of House Resolution No 66, which if passed would extend US sanctions on Burma for another year, Richardson argued that in light of continuing human rights abuses in the country, lifting economic sanctions at this time would send the wrong signal to the Burmese regime, the international community, and, most importantly, to dissidents working to bring real democratic change to their country.
Introduced by Congressman Joseph Crowley, the resolution is co-sponsored by as many as 11 lawmakers. Similar legislation is also being considered in the Senate. “I support this resolution because it is consistent with our humanitarian and democratic values against forced labor,” said Richardson.
“As Americans, we must not only sustain these values in our country, but we must act globally and deter other countries from tolerating or employing practices that have no place in a civilized society, such as forcing innocent men, women, and children to work under harsh and slave-like labor conditions,” she argued.
“For this reason, it is critical that we renew the import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003,” she said.
Reviewing the reasons for the sanctions, Richardson noted that in 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won the overwhelming number of parliamentary seats (82 percent) in a multiparty election held by the Burmese junta.
However, she said, the military regime refused to honor the election results, and imprisoned both democracy activists and elected members of parliament, including Suu Kyi.
No further elections took place for the next 20 years, until the regime held a vote last year on Nov 7 as part of its “road map to democracy,” said Richardson.
The NLD “refused to participate over concerns that the electoral process was fraudulent, concerns that were confirmed by the United Nations and most Western countries, which noted widespread fraud, voter intimidation and cheating throughout the country,” she said.
Since then, the congresswoman argued, the Burmese regime has continued its campaign of suppression and persecution against political opponents, dissidents and other minority populations.
“This shameful conduct has resulted in the internal displacement of more than 600,000 people and forced more than 130,000 persons to live in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Additionally, during this time the [Burmese] regime has been protecting drug traffickers and forcing residents into slave labor,” she said.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently listed Burma as the fifth largest source country of refugees in 2010, with 415,700 refugees.
By SAW YAN NAING Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Leaders of ethnic armed groups remain doubtful after Burma Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo claimed Naypyidaw would welcome peace talks with minorities fighting the government.
During his visit to see flood victims in Mon State capital Moulmein, southern Burma, Tin Aung Myint Oo—one of two vice-presidents of Burma—said the government would always try to make peace with ethnic armed groups who were willing to cooperate, according to state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar on Monday.
But ethnic armed leaders claim that fighting in the countryside between government troops and minority groups happens almost every day, especially in Karen, Kachin and Shan states despite Naypyidaw’s statement.
Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), said, “If the government really offers talks to solve the political deadlock, it is the right thing. And it is what we always wanted.”
“But if the talks do not aim to solve political problems, it is not going to happen,” she added.
However, ethnic armed groups will currently talk with the government under the leadership of an ethnic armed alliance, the United Nationalities Federation Council, rather than group-by-group as in the past.
The remaining ethnic armed groups that have not reached a peace agreement with the government are the KNU, Shan State Army (SSA), Karenni National Progressive Party and New Mon State Party.
The two ethnic groups of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army recently broke their ceasefire agreement with the government and are currently involved in violent clashes.
Tensions between the government and KIO’s military wing, the Kachin Independence Army, remain ever since serious battles broke down its ceasefire agreement on June 9.
La Nan, joint-secretary of the KIO, said that he thinks Tin Aung Myint Oo’s comment is just a propaganda statement which has arisen due to international pressure on Burma.
“[The Burmese government] wants to show that they are trying to hold peace talks with ethnic armed groups. They want to show that they are in the process [of getting a ceasefire],“ said La Nan.
Burma is currently being urged by opposition groups and the international community to make tangible progress countering human rights abuses and ethnic violence.
Some 23 Burmese parliament representatives have voiced support for the government’s peace efforts, calling on people who want a ceasefire to work with goodwill in the interest of the nation and stay away from actions that may break up the nation.
In June, the US raised concerns over Burma’s bid to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc, citing the renewed violence in Kachin State and other regions of the country. The US State Department called on Naypyidaw to bring an end to hostilities.
Maj Sai Lao Hseng, a spokesperson for the SSA, said that he welcomed the statement made by Tin Aung Myint Oo, but still maintained deep doubts.
“The government should contact ethnic armed groups officially if it really wants to open peace talks,” added Sai Lao Hseng.
The KNU also said that members of Asean, especially Thailand, should persuade Burma to talk with minority groups to solve political problems and maintain a nationwide peace.
Since 1989, under an initiative by former junta spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt, the regime held separate talks with many ethnic armed groups and signed individual ceasefire agreements with 17 of them.
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The construction of the Myitsone dam by a Chinese company in Kachin State in northern Burma will have no negative impact on the flow of the Burma’s largest river, the Irrawaddy, nor on the lives and livelihoods of the local population, Burma’s state-run claimed on Tuesday.
The comment came amid mounting criticism by environmental rights groups that the dam project located at the source of the Irrawaddy River will cause serious social and environmental problems for local people living both upstream and also far downstream, even as far away as the coastal areas of Burma.
Started in 2009, the 6,000 megawatt Irrawaddy Myitsone dam will only utilize 7.6 percent of the flow waters of the Irrawaddy; hence the dam project will have “no adverse effects whatever on the agriculture, businesses and social work,”a commentary in Myanma Alin newspaper claimed, adding that the project will create job opportunities for locals.
Environmental groups say the project will not only disrupt transportation of nutrients to the Irrawaddy delta, the provider of nearly 60 percent of Burma’s rice, but will also submerge historical churches, temples and cultural heritage sites that are central to Kachin identity and history.
But the state media countered that the river’s water flow would not be significantly affected, and that the water storage by the dam will only cause the water level to increase “1.5 feet higher than normal downstream the river in the dry season.”
Under contract to China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) in partnership with Burma’s Electricity Ministry of Electric Power-1 and private firm AsiaWorld, the dam will create a reservoir the size of New York and is expected to be completed by 2019. It has already displaced thousands of people in Kachin State.
The dam site is located within the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rainforest region, which is recognized as one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots and a global conservation priority. If completed, the project is expected to inundate approximately 766 square kilometers of this pristine rainforest.
According to Burma Rivers Network, CPI has ignored its own environmental assessment, conducted in 2009 by Burmese and Chinese scientists who warned that the majority of local people oppose construction of the dams and have called for the consultation and consent of affected peoples. The findings of the environmental assessment were never made public.
The armed ethnic minority group Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has expressed its objection to the project to both the Burmese and Chinese governments. The KIA is currently engaged in armed clashes with Burmese government forces, which started in June near another Chinese-built hydropower plant in Kachin State.
The power plant—which generates electricity for China’s Yunnan Province—has ceased to operate since the armed clashes. In an interview with The Irrawaddy, the KIA’s deputy military chief Gun Maw said that the KIA is completely against the Myitsone dam project although it is open to negotiations with Chinese and Burmese governments over other dam projects in Kachin State.
Asked if the KIA will attack the ongoing dam project in the future, Gun Maw said, “We will not attack it. But just as China’s hydropower plants near the fighting have been forced to a halt, so also will the same happen to the Myitsone dam project.”
Tuesday, 09 August 2011 18:29 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The relationship between Burma and North Korea continues on a steady keel if the North Korean-flagged vessel Tu Man Gang being loaded in Rangoon port is anything to go by.
According to an official source, Burma will export rice to Communist North Korea and the ship is being loaded with bags of rice. Mizzima could not obtain independent verification.
Using a loan-contract system, Burma is selling 160,000 bags of Burma’s low-quality (25 per cent broken) rice to North Korea.
The loading of rice bags has already started after the Tu Man Gang docked at Sule Wharf on Monday, according to sources.
An undercover Mizzima correspondent in Rangoon saw the Tu Man Gang and said: “The ship seems to be uploading goods because of her load line. Trucks covered with tarpaulin were also parked on the shore, though I could see no movement of goods. All the trucks have civilian number plates.”
According to a source, the rice bags were sold by Myanmar Economic Holdings or a military-owned economic unit.
North Korea has been a regular buyer of Burmese rice since 1993, and the last time a North Korean ship docked in Rangoon harbour was in December 2010.
North Korea is reported to be suffering from food scarcity but imports of food from China appear healthy. The North Korean-China trade volume reached US$ 1.96 billion ($812 million export and $1.148 in imports) so far this year, from January to May. This is double the amount from the same period last year.
Trade dependence on China went up with exports increasing 217 per cent while imports increased by 58 per cent.
Out of the total import of $1.148 billion, food imports such as rice and corn only reached 4 per cent at $46 million. The volume of imports is comparable to the same period last year, with a slight boost from 113,000 tons to 119,000 tons.
According to the Chinese Maritime Custom Service, personal items for the North Korean elite such as alcohol and tobacco was valued at about $10 million for the same period.
Tuesday, 09 August 2011 21:54 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) has illegally detained some farmers in Irrawaddy Region who could not repay agricultural loans and released them only after they paid off the loan, according to the farmers.
Local authorities and UMEHL officials detained dozens of farmers from Inndu, Gonetan, Hmawbizu, Hmawai, Noutpyandoe and Kada villages in Dedaye Township and some villages in Kyaiklat Township in Pyapon District in Irrawaddy Region, sources said.
The farmers were forcibly held in a warehouse at the Noutpyandoe 100-ton rice mill owned by the UMEHL, according to some farmers who were released after they repaid the debt.
During last year’s rainy season, the UMEHL granted farmers agricultural loans at a two percent interest rate, but some farmers could not repay the loan, sources said.
On August 1, the UMEHL summoned the farmers who owed money, saying that village heads would hold a meeting in the warehouse of the Noutpyandoe rice mill. When the farmers arrived at the warehouse, the doors were locked and UMEHL officials said that only farmers who could repay the loan would be released.
A farmer from Noutpyandoe village who owns more than 20 acres said he received a 2 million kyat (about US$ 2,499) loan at 2 percent interest rate and he was detained because he could not pay off the loan. His family had to pawn his farm to raise the money to pay off the loan, he said.
Initially, about 100 farmers were detained. As of Tuesday, about 30 male farmers and six female farmers had not been released, said a farmer from Inndu, who was released. Most of the farmers who were released had to pawn or sell buffaloes, cows or farms to repay the loan, he said.
“Some families had to sell their property urgently to ransom the farmers,” the farmer said.
UMEHL staff guarded the warehouse and the families of the detainees had to send in food, said farmers who were released.
A Pegu-based lawyer, Aye Myint, who is a farmer-rights activist, said that UMEHL did not have the right to detain the farmers and holding them hostage was against the law. If someone is held for more than three days, a person could be charged under section 343 of the penal code, he said.
“They’ve misused their positions and influence and arrested the farmers. The farmers were afraid and they’ve suffered. That is illegal detention,” Aye Myint told Mizzima. He said if they want farmers to repay the loans, the company could file a civil suit.
A resident of Inndu village said that village heads had summoned some farmers who had not repaid their loans but who were not detained and told them if they did not repay the loans in time, the UMEHL staff and the police would arrest them.
She said many farmers could not repay the loans because their crops were spoiled by bad weather.
“According to the bonds, we must pay rice [in the husk] grown in summer. But, the colour of the rice turned yellow because of the rain. So, it was not accepted. Similarly, because of the rain we lost the rice grown in winter. So we could not pay off the loans,” she told Mizzima.
She said that her husband tried to borrow money to pay off the UMEHL loan, but the interest rates were very high.
Tuesday, 09 August 2011 21:31 Zwe Khant
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Local residents and monks have launched a protest against the demolition of a Burmese monastery in Bodh Gaya, India, for not having a building permit.
Protesters gathered at the Bodh Gaya post office and marched to the Maha Aungmye Monastery, where the authorities have already partially demolished some buildings.
A Burmese monk said about 200 people including 15 monks from Magadh University, Burmese monks, about 10 Tibetan monks and Indian residents joined the protest.
The municipal department has demolished portions of the top floors and marked other buildings in Maha Aungmye Monastery for destruction.
Previously, permits for building in Bodh Gaya were handled by the Gaya Regional Development Authority until it was handed over to a five-man municipal body. According to the Bodh Gaya city master plan adopted in 2006, the authority stopped issuing building permits for Buddhist religious buildings and no building was allowed to be built around Bodh Gaya more than 30-feet high.
“They demolished the side of a portico, but didn’t demolish the eastern side where the pagoda exists. They demolished two hand railings in the staircase on that side, not too much. Then they told the monastery to bring a “Stay Order” from the Bihar State High Court along with a request letter,” Abbot Zawana of Maha Aungmye Monastery told Mizzima.
The request letter for staying the demolition must be sent to the local authority by August 11.
Maha Aungmye Monastery was built in 2001, and it applied for a permit from the government department in 2006 but it has not received a reply, sources said. It reapplied for a permit in 2008 but still has not received a permit.
“International Buddhist organizations in Bodh Gaya joined us in the protest. All monasteries here closed yesterday in protest of the demolition and the local people joined us,” the abbot said.
The monastery has informed the state government minister about the incident and will send letters to other departments concerned, state legislatures and commissioners. The Burmese embassy in India was also notified.
There are more than 200 buildings without permits in Bodh Gaya, which were built with the understanding of local authorities, sources said.
Published: 9 August 2011
The Burmese Army in southern Shan State are distributing rice to the local population, caught up in fighting between government troops and ethnic armed group, the Shan State Army, in Kehsi Mensi township.
A local villager in Kehsi told DVB they were amazed to have received aid from the Burmese Army, as they had never received assistance before. They were also surprised because in the past their livestock had been stolen by government troops, who had previously been stationed in their villages and had forced them to flee their homes.
“[The Burmese Army] delivered 50 bags of rice to the monastery in Kehpun village and notified headmen from nearby villages to come get their quota; 11 bags for Nammaw village, three for Khontun, 15 for Namho and 18 for Wanmeit village,” said the villager, under condition of anonymity.
“The area has experienced a lot of fighting in the past but this is the first time we have been given [aid] by the Burmese Army.
“Residents from about 20 villages in the area had to flee their homes during fighting last month when Burmese troops arrived and stationed in their villages and stole their firewood, soap and ate their chickens. So this is very strange for them to see the army distributing rice for them.”
Fighting between the Burmese Army and the SSA has been intense since July 7 when 10 Burmese Army battalions surrounded northern SSA faction’s Wanhai headquarters in central Shan State’s Mongshu district. The Shan rebels accused Burmese forces of using fighter jets in the assault. Around 1000 of the local population in the area were forced to flee their villages as a result of the fighting, while local schools were shut down after government teachers also fled the area.
At the beginning of this month, the Burmese Army withdrew about half of its troops from Wanhai. However, they left behind some 500 soldiers from six battalions who are keeping their positions. Local villagers began returning to their homes following the partial withdrawal. They said government school teachers are also back in the villages gathering their students to reopen schools.
By AYE NAI
Published: 8 August 2011
The administration of new Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has said that its campaign promise to raise the country’s minimum wage could be realised by October, but any hope for an improvement to salaries for migrant workers remains tentative.
Yingluck, who was officially named premier on Friday last week and who is expected to announce her cabinet within days, said that the country’s minimum wage will rise to 300 Thai baht, almost doubling the current average of 160 baht.
Jarupong Ruangsuwan, secretary-general of Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party, told NNT news recently that the first stage of the policy to raise salaries for public sector workers will be carried out within three months, and the remaining by early next year.
Opposition politicians attacked the policy with claims that it would create a pull factor for more migrants to choose Thailand as their destination for work. More than four million migrants are believed to be working in Thailand, around 80 percent of which are Burmese.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce has also said that it will put pressure on the country’s garment industry, which relies heavily on cheap migrant labour, while denting the prospects for future foreign investment in the country.
Despite existing legislation, however, migrant workers regularly report that they are paid less than the minimum wage, begging the question of whether any improvement to salaries will reach them.
Ko Aye, a Burmese community worker who assists migrants in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that while the policy “sounds very delightful for migrant workers”, they are rarely paid the current minimum wage.
He added that more companies may look to exploit the lax enforcement of labour laws surrounded migrants, the majority of whom work in low-skilled industries and often do not
enjoy the same workplace conditions as their Thai counterparts.
In April this year a police raid on a garment factory in Bangkok discovered 60 Burmese migrants who had been locked inside, some for up to eight months, and forced to work.
The majority of these had been forced to work on average 16 hours a day and were paid only 200 Thai baht ($US7) a month, something not uncommon in reports given by migrant workers.
A survey carried out recently by the International Labour Organisation exposed high levels of animosity among Thais of migrants. Of 1000 people questioned, 84 percent believed that unauthorised migrants have broken the law, while the majority also say that even authorised migrants “cannot expect the same working conditions as nationals when carrying out the same job”.
In another report last year, the ILO accused the Thai government of breaching international law in its denial of work accident compensation for migrants, despite high rates of workplace injury.