BURMA RELATED NEWS – SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
Sep 14th, 2011
By Soe Than Win | AFP News – 8 hours ago
A new US envoy to Myanmar ended his first visit to the country by urging “genuine and concrete” reforms by the army-backed regime and said Washington would respond “in kind”.
Derek Mitchell, who was appointed as the first US coordinator for policy on Myanmar last month, on Wednesday said the Southeast Asian nation should begin by releasing political prisoners, ending ethnic conflicts and reaching out to critics.
Mitchell urged Myanmar to “prove the sceptics wrong” as he prepared to leave the country after a visit that included talks with ministers of the new nominally-civilian government and opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I noted that progress on these issues will be essential to progress in the bilateral relationship, and that if the government takes genuine and concrete action, the United States will respond in kind,” he told reporters at Yangon airport.
Mitchell, who was on his first official visit to the country as part of Washington’s strategy of engagement, did not directly mention the wide ranging sanctions imposed against Myanmar by the US.
But he said he had discussed American “policy approaches” with Suu Kyi and her party.
Mitchell called for the release of the approximately 2,000 political detainees and voiced fears over “serious human rights violations, including against women and children” linked to hostilities in ethnic minority areas.
The envoy also said the US was concerned about the “lack of transparency” in Myanmar’s military dealings with North Korea.
US diplomatic memos released last year by WikiLeaks said Washington has suspected for years that Myanmar ran a secret nuclear program supported by Pyongyang.
In May, a US Navy destroyer intercepted a North Korean cargo ship in the South China Sea suspected of carrying missiles or other weapons, that may have been destined for Myanmar, and made it turn back.
Mitchell’s post was created in 2008 when US Congress, under then-president George W. Bush, approved a law that tightened sanctions against Myanmar, but the position was not filled at the time due to a political dispute.
After taking power in 2009, President Barack Obama’s administration changed tack, concluding that the measures aimed at isolating Myanmar had been ineffective.
Myanmar’s government has recently appeared to be seeking to improve its image by reaching out to critics such as Suu Kyi, who last month met President Thein Sein, a former general, for the first time.
The Nobel peace prize winner was released from seven straight years of house arrest by the junta days after controversial November elections.
By Kelly Macnamara | AFP News – 11 hours ago
Thousands of men from Myanmar and Cambodia set sail on Thai fishing boats every day, but many are unwilling seafarers — slaves forced to work in brutal conditions under threat of death.
The day Hla Myint saw the sea for the first time was when traffickers delivered him, after a week’s trek through the jungle from Myanmar, to a ship on Thailand’s coast.
He said it was the beginning of seven months of “hell”, during which there were beatings “every day, every hour”.
His is one of a multitude of stories of slavery in Thailand’s multi-million dollar fishing industry, which campaigners say relies on forced labour to provide seafood for restaurants and supermarkets around the world.
Hla Myint decided to escape — throwing himself into choppy waters and clinging to a life buoy for five hours before reaching land — after seeing his captain kill a crewmate.
The man, who had been caught trying to escape, was savagely beaten and tortured in front of the rest of the fishermen.
“Later they took him to the back of the ship, stood him on the edge and shot him in the head. My heart pounded so hard when I saw that,” said Hla Myint, whose name AFP has changed to protect his identity.
Now he works with a local aid group helping others to flee.
He told his story to AFP during a dash to rescue four young Myanmar men hiding in bushes near the coastal town of Rayong, just hours after they broke out of a locked room and ran for their lives.
“They threatened that if we tried to run away, one bullet cost only 25 baht ($0.83),” said Myo Oo, 20, whose name has also been changed.
Another member of the group, a teenager clearly still petrified, described beatings with the butt of a gun.
The UN recently acknowledged Thailand’s “significant progress” in efforts to tackle trafficking, but said it needed to go further and warned that trafficking of forced labour in the fishing industry was “growing in scale”.
Sirirat Ayuwathana of Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, which is in charge of tackling trafficking in the country, said authorities were aware of the problem and planned to set up a commission to work on registering all fishing boats and crew members.
“We cannot know what happens when the boats leave the shore. The workers could be tortured or detained. The captains have total control of the boat, and they may mistreat these people,” she said.
Life on the boats is incredibly hard. Men toil for up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, only able to snatch a few moments for food and rest between hauling nets, according to a report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Some boats use “mother ships” to refuel and take on new crew to avoid returning to land and many fishermen spend months or even years trapped in waters as far away as Somalia, the IOM said.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, who wrote the report, said marine police in one Thai coastal area told him they found up to 10 bodies a month washed up on the shore.
In a 2009 study, more than half of Cambodian migrants trafficked onto Thai boats surveyed by the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) said they had seen their captains killing one of their colleagues.
But Mana Sripitak, of the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, said it was “impossible” that forced labour was used, saying migrants were willing workers.
The Thai fishing industry is a lucrative business. According to official figures, 16.95 billion baht ($565 million) worth of fish was hauled into Thailand from the sea in 2010.
China, the European Union, the United States and Japan were among the major export destinations.
There are 35,000 migrants officially registered as working on the boats, mostly from Myanmar, also known as Burma, and Cambodia. But campaigners say poor working conditions put off Thai seafarers, so captains use trafficking victims to restock their crews.
Robertson said thousands of people had been trafficked onto boats over the last decade.
“This has been essentially a lawless industry for years and within that the system of brokers and trafficking has grown up as the defacto model for a fishing boat captain… They know who to call,” he said.
He urged governments and consumers to boycott wild-caught fish from Thailand unless the industry reforms.
The US State Department has placed Thailand on a trafficking in persons “watchlist” for two years running.
It estimates there are tens of thousands of people caught in a web of trafficking across the country — in various types of forced labour and sexual exploitation.
On a recent visit to Thailand UN special rapporteur on people trafficking, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, said the country was not doing enough to curb the trade.
“The immunity of traffickers, especially the collusion with the official law enforcement agencies, is really diluting the government’s effort and efficacy of its policies and programmes to combat human trafficking,” she told AFP.
Andy Hall, a migration expert at Mahidol University, said Thailand should take responsibility for staunching the flow of trafficked labour.
“Without these people the fish don’t get caught, the products don’t get made. They are lost in a globalisation process, they are lost in an industrialisation process, it’s really scary,” he said.
Myo Oo paid a broker 1,000 baht ($33) to take him into Thailand, hoping to find factory work for himself and his 16-year-old brother in Bangkok, where his two sisters already live.
After five days in the jungle, the brothers were crammed into a truck and driven to Rayong, where they were separated. Barely more than a boy himself, Myo Oo fears for his teenage brother and is doubtful of his chances in trying to flee the boats.
He said they knew they would face challenges in Thailand, “but in reality it is much more difficult. I never expected I would have to be so worried about my life”.
But he was reluctant to be identified by Thai authorities, who would inevitably deport him, and determined to try again to find work.
Once in Bangkok, Myo Oo and the others slipped away, carrying little but the clothes on their backs and hope for a better life.
Posted: Sep 13, 2011 11:22 PM PDT
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The new U.S. special representative to Myanmar says America plans to keep its sanctions on the military-dominated country. But Derek Mitchell concluded his first visit by saying Washington will respond positively if the new, nominally civilian government makes genuine reforms.
Mitchell said Wednesday in Yangon that he found heightened expectations for change, though many remain skeptical the government is commited to democracy.
He met with pro-democracy icon and former prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi during his six-day trip.
Mitchell said he asked officials to free about 2,000 remaining political prisoners, have dialogue with the opposition and investigate human rights abuses. He also raised conerns about Myanmar’s military relationship with North Korea.
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on September 14, 2011
The Burmese government, which includes a few civilian faces now, has been sending signals to the international community that it is preparing to introduce changes and move the country towards what many would like to see – democracy and reconciliation.
This meeting was anything but normal, since it sent many strong signals that changes had finally been set in motion in a country that has been ruled by a military regime for a long time, diplomats said.
The government, which replaced the junta in March, obviously has some good intentions now that it has officially released a picture of Thein Sein and Suu Kyi standing next to each other with a portrait of the Nobel laureate’s father, General Aung San, in the background.
The picture indicated that the national hero and his daughter were now being recognised by the Burmese society. “We hope to see the portrait of General Aung San replace General Than Shwe’s photograph at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok,” a diplomat said.
Yet, though the junta’s paramount leader Senior General Than Shwe has moved out of the administrative ranks, many observers still wonder about his real role. Some say that the recent selection of Than Shwe’s personal assistant Maj-General Soe Shein as the military intelligence chief was a clear reflection of junta leader’s true power.
Yet, many believe that President Thein Sein, who previously served as prime minister in Than Shwe’s administration, is independent enough to carry out “reforms”. A European diplomat said that Thein Sein has made it very clear that he advocated reform and wanted to engage with the international community.
The Burmese government has started implementing measures to tackle economic difficulties due to the appreciation of the kyat currency. In addition, it has reportedly set up a national human-rights committee.
Over and above that, the country welcomed many envoys from the West, including United States Senator John McCain in June and United Nations special rapporteur on human rights Tomas Quintana in August. Kristalina Georgieva, European commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response was in Burma last week, while US special envoy and policy coordinator Derek Mitchell is there this week. All of these envoys have met President Thein Sein, senior government officials and, of course, Suu Kyi to discuss their concerns, including political development and reconciliation.
While saying they are not justifying the legitimacy of a government that might still be backed by military leaders, many countries in the West are hoping that the new set of leaders will bring about some changes. They have set a few benchmarks for “positive developments”, including the release of political prisoners, a political role for Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy and an end to conflicts with ethnic minorities before Burma can be rewarded with the lifting of sanctions, development assistance and normal relations.
The European Union already seems to be easing restrictions and in April it decided to lift the ban on visas and unfroze the assets of civilian members of the new Burmese government, including the foreign minister. Now, senior officials from the EU can also visit Burma.
It’s true, nobody has ever wanted to isolate Burma. Countries across the world have always been ready to engage with Burma, provided it shows that it is fully committed to reform, democracy, national reconciliation and respects the rights of humans.
CBC – 2 hours 9 minutes ago
Luc Besson is known for producing action thrillers like Nikita, The Professional and The Fifth Element, and he also penned the children’s fantasy series that began with Arthur and the Minimoys, but he explores new territory in The Lady, his portrait of Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
With Burmese friends giving him a thumbs-up for the new drama, Besson noted that he’s “never felt so proud” of a film.
The French director, screenwriter and producer sat down with CBC/Radio-Canada during the Toronto International Film Festival — where The Lady is being showcased as a gala — to discuss actress Michelle Yeoh’s portrayal of Suu Kyi and how he’d like to see the movie become the most popular “undercover film” in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
Published: 14/09/2011 at 10:53 AM
Online news:
National army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday morning left on a visit to Burma to introduce himself and strengthen military ties between the two countries, reports said.
Gen Prayuth said he will also discuss cooperation between both countries in preventing drugs from being smuggled into Thailand, which is a major government policy.
He said the Burmese government has been providing full support for Thailand in its efforts to suppress drug trafficking.
Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN | Sep 14, 2011, 04.30AM IST
NEW DELHI: In a boost for Indian security concerns, the Myanmar army launched a second offensive on Sunday in Sagaing province against various Indian militant groups, including ULFA, who have their bases there.
Until Monday, there were reports of firing, said sources. Around 250 cadres of about 10 north-eastern militant groups, including Ulfa’s anti-talk faction, Nagaland’s NSCN, Manipur’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Prepak and UNLF, were present in camps at Sagaing in north Myanmar bordering India.
Sources said the militant outfits have sent about 200 armed cadres as reinforcement to Myanmar.
Shambhu Singh, joint secretary (north-east) of the home ministry, said, “We haven’t received any official information from the Myanmar government. We are not sure if there is any casualty or arrests.”
The Myanmar army launched its first attack on September 7. There are reports that Ulfa’s mobile headquarters at Sagaing was destroyed in the attack. Other N-E militant outfits also shared the facility.
Unconfirmed reports said Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah and S S Khaplang, the former chief of NSCN (K), managed to escape unhurt.
Baruah is believed to hiding somewhere in Myanmar. Besides Sagaing, Ulfa has three other camps in Myanmar.
To prove he was still alive and active, ULFA released a photograph of Baruah, which shows him squatting with a wireless communication device in his right hand and a gun in his left, wearing chappals and blue socks.
Some officials said the attack was the fallout of the mounting pressure on Myanmar by India. At several high-level meetings with Myanmar this year, Indian officials have urged its neighbour to flush out the India rebel outfits operating from its soil.
Despite the fact that Myanmar has been taking action against Indian insurgents in their territory, their continued presence there has made some Indian officials sceptical about the operations. “The Myanmar army had attacked north-east militant camps several times before. But, after some time the militants were again allowed to operate,” said an official.
In 2003, Bhutan’s Operation All Clear had dealt a body blow to Ulfa. The Royal Bhutan Army had destroyed at least 14 Ulfa camps in a military operation in Bhutan’s Samdrup Jongkhar.
A statement issued last Thursday by Ulfa faction led by Baruah said India has been urging all its neighbours to attack and destroy the outfit in return for money. “It is well known that India had given Bhutan Rs 1,000 crore in aid for the military operation,” the statement said. India also gave Bangladesh Rs $ 1 billion loan to act against Ulfa. “We have learnt that India has offered Rs 1,000 crore, if Myanmar can kill Ulfa commander-in-chief and other leaders,” it added.
Updated September 14, 2011 21:20:03
China, Burma, and North Korea have all been named among the world’s eight worst violators of religious rights.
The US State Department’s International Religious Freedom report for the second half of 2010 also lists Vietnam, Pakistan and Afghanistan as among ten countries where it is closely monitoring religious freedom.
Presenter: Bill Bainbridge
Speaker: Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Washington DC
Listen: Windows Media (http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/stories/m2029453.asx)
POSNER: Well, we have a law passed by Congress that requires that to designate countries that are consistent egregious violators of religious freedom and unfortunately these eight countries satisfy that test.
BAINBRIDGE: And so what are some of the examples of that. I mean are we talking about with China, are we talking about the Falungong?
POSNER: Well, the China situation is multifaceted. There is a longstanding pattern of religious persecution and discrimination of communities like the Tibetan Buddhist monk, the Kirti monks. The Kirti Monastery, rather, was raided earlier this year, 300 monks were detained. There’s a range of issues with the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang area and then there’s the problem the Christian community have and others who are unregistered. The government only registers five centrally controlled churches and there are literally thousands of unregistered religious groups that are not allowed to practise their religion freely. So there’s a range of things that are going on there.
BAINBRIDGE: And we’ve seen countries move in and out of the list over the years, but what kind of impact does it have. Do you have a sense that countries worry one way or another whether they’re on this list?
POSNER: It’s interesting to me how much countries care, how much governments care about this. They approach us before the report comes out, before we make these designations. If they’re on the list, they’re immediately trying to figure out what are the things they need to do to get off the list. So one of the things that makes me think this process is worthwhile is the time and energy governments spend trying to figure out how to avoid being named. It gives us an opportunity really to work with those governments, to try to figure out how to address the problems.
BAINBRIDGE: Now the Republican, Ed Royce, has criticised the report for leaving out Vietnam or leaving Vietnam off the eight worst offenders. He said this was a grave mistake. Is it a mistake?
POSNER: I don’t think it is. We’ve said about Vietnam, our eyes are wide open. We know there are problems, it’s a mixed record. The government has continued to be very slow in registering again same issue of unregistered churches and religious institutions, especially in the northwest Highlands. There’s also persecution against key religious figures like Father Ly who was picked up again this year, serving a long sentence for calling for political freedom. That’s all on the negative side, but on the positive side the government has begun to register some of these churches that they didn’t do for a long time. The government is willing to engage with us and others and is beginning to show signs of recognising that the Chinese model really is not the right model for them. So what we said is we’re concerned about Vietnam, we’re going to continue to raise these issues, but for this year, for this period at least, we’re going to keep them off the list and try to work with them to address these issues.
BAINBRIDGE: If we turn to Indonesia now, and I know that this falls outside the time frame of this particular report. But on July 12, this year, people convicted of mob violence, targeting members of the minority Ahmadiya sect were given sentences from just three to six months of imprisonment, despite some of the Ahmadiya members being killed in those attacks. How concerned are you about those sentences, those low sentences?
POSNER: We are concerned, and in fact we mentioned that in a kind of update. This report covers only the last six months or 2010, but we talked about things that have happened in the intervening period and that those light sentences concern us. We are particularly concerned about the Ahmadiya community, several hundred thousand people in Indonesia that have been discriminated against for a long time. Again, Indonesia for me, is a kind of mixed picture, because the government there has really promoted pluralism and diversity on the one hand and even acted in some ways as a kind of regional leader within ASEAN in trying to promote those values, but at the same time, some government actions and some government inaction, like these light sentences gives us reason for concern.
BAINBRIDGE: So does Indonesia get off a bit lightly in the report then? I mean those things you just mentioned, but also constant attacks on Christian churches in Indonesia?
POSNER: Yes, Indonesia as President Obama said when he visited last November. We want to be working with that government, because they have and the president has expressed a desire to promote tolerance, promote pluralism, promote diversity and promote a climate where different religions can flourish. That’s great rhetoric and there’s a lot of kind of energy around things like the Bali democracy forum. We want to encourage that, but at the same time, we’ve got to keep our eye on the ball and that means that these sorts of discrimination that we’re talking about, whether it’s the Ahmadiyas or the Christian community. We’ve got to continue to press for a better performance.
BAINBRIDGE: So you’re report also mentions Europe and in particular the ban on headscarves in France. The French argue that they’re simply enforcing the separation of church and state. Why shouldn’t they be able to do that to protect their secular institutions?
POSNER: Well, this is always a conversation that creates controversy between us and the Europeans. We have a very strong view and I think it’s really the universal view of human rights that we ought to lean over pretty far backwards to allow people to express their religious preferences and their religious customs and institutions and we ought to try, the government ought to stay out of the way. We do believe in separation of church and state or religion and state, but there has to be a neutrality there and not an undermining of deeply felt religious traditions. And so for the Muslim community, I think in Europe, there’s a sense that a) they’re be discriminated on on a range of other fronts, education, employment etc and this ban on headscarves is another manifestation of the kind of discomfort they feel in those societies. To me, it’s a tough issue, but I’m pretty firmly committed that we ought to be bending over backwards to allow people to express their non-violent expression of religion.
BAINBRIDGE: And just finally Michael Posner, you mention the issue of the separation of church and state. It’s also an issue in the United States with moves in Okalahoma to ban Sharia law and court challenges to that going on at the moment. What would you say is the state of religious freedom in the US at the moment?
POSNER: I think for all there is, there is enough of a tradition here of both free expression of religion and again the separation of church and state. It’s in our constitution, there’s a long history that goes along with it. That doesn’t mean everybody’s happy with it and as you rightly say there are people in our society who would like to in effect change that tradition and say certain practices, especially by Muslim Americans ought to be restricted. Our administration doesn’t support that. We believe that part of the strength of sustainable democracy is its adherence to principles of pluralism and religious freedom and so I don’t think those things are serious threats, but they certainly have reared their heads in the last ten years.
English.news.cn 2011-09-14 19:54:14
YANGON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — South Korea will help Myanmar build a disease research laboratory dealing with communicable diseases such as malaria, TB and hepatitis, Myanmar’s Health Department said Wednesday.
According to a recent agreement signed between Myanmar’s Medical Research Department and the South Korean Embassy in Yangon, the four-year project will be funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), with 3 million U.S. dollars.
Researchers from South Korea will provide help with research of the infectious diseases.
Myanmar and South Korea have been cooperating in the health sector. Their bilateral cooperation program covers medical research, upgrading laboratories in Myanmar, sending health staff to South Korea to study special medical subjects and providing healthcare to the people in Myanmar by South Korean medical teams.
The KOICA has stationed in Myanmar since 1991, extending the technical expertise and equipment needed for social service organizations as well as training in related fields.
English.news.cn 2011-09-14 20:22:54
YANGON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — Myanmar claimed on Wednesday that the country has been free from Blue Ear Disease, which once spread in the nation for about half a year since February, according to the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department Wednesday.
As the disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) disease, infected pigs, the price of pork in the market dropped then.
Blue ear disease once spread as far as six regions, namely Mandalay, Nay Phi Taw, Magway, Ayeyawaddy, Bago and Yangon.
According to then report, about 5,500 pigs were infected and 2, 000 died of the disease.
There is a total of 9.3 million pigs in the country.
The blue ear disease was the second of its kind that hit Myanmar so far this year after avian influenza (H5N1) which struck Rakhine state’s Sittway, Sagaing region’s Tantsle township in the first two months of this year.
Thousands of chickens, suspected of carrying virulent avian influenza, were then wiped out following the discovery of their unusual death.
Myanmar was first struck by bird flu H5N1 in 2006.
Aloke Tikku and Jayanth Jacob, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 14, 2011
Last Updated: 21:12 IST(14/9/2011)
Myanmar’s military action against insurgent camps in Sagaing province last week may have been aimed at sending a message to New Delhi that India’s security concerns were being addressed, rather than wipe out camps of insurgent groups such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
Last week, Myanmar sent two heavily-armed army battalions into the dense forests of Sagaing province 800 km north of the capital, Yangon, and attacked two insurgent camps, including the one where Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua was holed up.
The Ulfa faction led by Paresh Barua and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) are among the eight insurgent groups that have bases in Myanmar. Barua escaped unhurt, possibly helped by a tip-off about the impending attack, a government official said.
According to communication intercepted by intelligence agencies, Ulfa had about 200 cadres in and around the camp and sent another 200-250 cadres to cross the border into Myanmar.
A security official said the military operation had been on for the last few days but wondered why they were not picking any information about casualties of any side. Or why Myanmar did not inform them about the operation and “request for steps to move Indian forces closer to the border to block gaps,” he asked.
The military action was in response to rising concerns in New Delhi about the ease with which insurgent groups were able to operate out of Myanmar. This has particularly been a sore point with Delhi, particularly since other eastern neighbours – Bhutan in 2003 and later Bangladesh in 2010 – had shut their doors on insurgent outfits.
Most of the insurgent groups had moved into Myanmar, from where some of them not only access arms from China but also are believed to have come in contact with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.
Myanmar shares 1,643 km land boundary with India’s four northeastern states.
India would like Myanmar to address its security concerns as China partakes in the economic development of that nation in a bigger way.
Officials concede one reason why the army in Myanmar doesn’t go all the way on India’s security concerns was that India has not invested in developing security ties.
New Delhi intends to address this gap by proposing interactions between the army and police forces at different levels during President Thein Sein’s State visit to India in October.
Sep, 14 2011
(Burma) – A Mon human rights group accused a cement company of confiscating land belonging to villagers without paying the owners adequate compensation for their land.
Burma’s state run Kyaymon, newspaper reported last week that two more cement companies will be built near Kaw Pa Naw village in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State.
The two private companies; John Company and PAC Link Trading Company, will receive grants from the government’s Industrial Minister Department. The two companies will build two cement-making plants in Kyaikmayaw Township, will each have a daily capacity of making a 1,000 tonnes.
According to the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), local villagers have complained that their farms and plantations around the proposed industrial sites have been taken and the company has not offered villagers acceptable compensation.
Nai Aue Mon, coordinator with HURFOM said that villagers lands are been taken against their will and the compensation being offered falls short of market value.
“As far as we are aware, an acre of land is being compensated at an average of 350,000 Kyat [approximately half of its true value] and not everyone will get that. If we compare with the current price of land, villagers will suffer a big loss.”
Nai Aue Mon explained that villagers in the area have lost as much as 800 acres of farm lands.
Local villagers were also reported in the Irrawaddy saying that 600 acres of paddy and 140 acres of rubber plantations were appropriated by the John Cement Company.
At the time of writing cement companies granted concessions by the government include Max Myanmar, Htoo, Kanbawzat, Shwedaung, G-4, Asia World, Jade Land, IGE, Yuzana, Hsan Lin International, Myanmar Kaungton, Myanmar Naing, YIG, Shan Yo Ma Inn Mine, Min Anawyahta, Ngwe Ye Pale, Tun Thwin Mining, Than Taw Myat and PAC Link Trading.
Currently, there are 14 cement plants up and running in Burma and initially were operated by private companies such as Max Myanmar, Htoo, Kanbawzat, Shwetaung and G-4.
Burma’s cements supply is mainly imported from Thailand. According to the state run newspaper Kyaymon, cement will also be produce not only by state companies, but by private companies given government concessions to build cement making-plants in areas where raw materials are easily accessible such as in Shan State, the Madalay region and Mon State.
‘Civilian’ Govt Eases Iron Grip
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Sep 14, 2011 (IPS) – With Burma’s quasi-civilian government relaxing the iron grip on power maintained for half-a century by military juntas, the big question is: How real is the change?
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Southeast Asian nation’s most prominent political dissident, appears convinced. “The past situation is the past. The current situation is the current one and there has been some progress,” the 66-year-old told reporters on Monday.
Suu Kyi wants a line drawn in the sand between the nearly 50 years of military oppression and the current government of President Thein Sein, a former general and junta leader.
Following a meeting on Monday with Derek Mitchell, the U.S. government’s special envoy for Burma, the Nobel Peace laureate added: “Due to the situation, (the U.S. delegation) is also interested and so we exchanged our perspectives.”
Suu Kyi, who was only freed from over seven years under house arrest in November last year, had an equally significant meeting on Sunday with the family of Min Ko Naing, Burma’s best known political prisoner, in Rangoon.
“It was a visit to offer moral courage to Min Ko Naing’s family and for him also,” Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), told IPS in a telephone interview from the Thai-Burma border.
The plight of 48-year-old Min Ko Naing, condemned to a 65-year jail term, has come to symbolise the country’s political prisoners who have paid a heavy price for dissidence. Currently, there are 1,996 political prisoners in 44 prisons and labour camps, according to AAPP.
The few but noticeable political concessions, in a country frequently condemned for human rights violations since a military coup in 1962, started in July when the Thein Sein administration permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit three prisons.
ICRC’s visit, to improve water and sanitation conditions, came six years after being denied access to political prisoners.
In August, Suu Kyi figured in the thaw between the former generals who doffed their uniforms for mufti in March and the anti-military opposition rallying around the banned National League for Democracy (NLD), which she heads.
On Aug. 19, she had her first face-to-face meeting with Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, the remote administrative capital in central Burma. The next day, she attended a meeting on alleviating poverty in the country, also known as Myanmar.
“Suu Kyi was quite encouraged by the level of openness at the conference and she wants to support the poverty alleviation efforts,” Zaw Oo, a Burmese economist who attended the meeting, told IPS. “It is one area where she and the government share a common interest without many ideological or political differences.” Thein Sein is also receiving credit for turning the spotlight on poverty, a scourge in a country rich in natural resources, including natural gas, which the earned the country eight billion dollars from export to Thailand from 2000 to 2008.
The former strongmen who reportedly profited from the windfall kept under wraps the fact of 19 million people – or 33 percent of the population – living below the poverty line.
Burma is currently ranked 138 out of 182 nations in the human development index of the United Nations.
“Giving such a high priority to poverty alleviation and economic development was unprecedented,” said Zaw Oo. “The government, recognising the problem and the challenges it faces, also held discussions that were open, with even ministers being challenged by members of the audience.”
The hint of reform in Burma under Thein Sein – who was chosen in late March by a national parliament elected in a controversial November poll, including blatant military interference – is winning international applause.
The European Union (EU) which has criticised the junta for years, and imposed sanctions on it, has responded positively. “I see an opportunity for more openness in Myanmar,” said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for international cooperation and humanitarian aid.
“I was encouraged by the authorities’ willingness to expand humanitarian access to more areas of Myanmar,” she told journalists here on Sunday following a two-day humanitarian mission. “The atmosphere in the country is different. We know there are agents for change.” The EU olive branch follows concessions announced after a pro-reform speech by the Burmese president soon after he assumed office. European ministers are now allowed to visit Burma and visa restrictions on Burmese officials, including the country’s foreign minister, have been lifted.
But, that is small comfort for victims of Burmese military oppression like Bo Kyi, a political prisoner for over a decade.
“The government has to release political prisoners and end human rights abuse across the country,” he says. “This change is only to ease international pressure and improve image.”
11:30 PM, Sep. 13, 2011 |
The China-Burma-India Veterans group will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in the private dining room at Coco’s, 78-375 Varner Road, Palm Desert — located near Washington Street, north of the I-10 freeway.
Organizer Earle Weichman invites CBI vets to bring their stories and any photos or artifacts to share with the group.
The group usually meets the third Thursday of each month.
Akira Moretto | September 14, 2011
During the late 1950s early 1960s, Rangoon, the capital of the young Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, was one of the most important commercial and cultural centers in Southeast Asia.
During those years Rangoon was a thriving city generating a relatively large number of university graduates ranging from doctors to engineers, some of whom still work across Asia today. In 1961, Burma’s Maha Thray Sithu U Thant became secretary general of the United Nations as well as the first non-Westerner ever to head a large international organization.
The advent of military rule in 1962 set Burma on a path of political and social experimentation that created both economic instability as well as structural rigidity. These features continue to characterize the economy of present-day Burma.
The political objectives of the “Burmese way to socialism” were not that different from what most countries in developing Asia aspired toward: freedom from the colonial rule and colonial enterprises that dominated their economies; non-alliance in the polarized cold war politics of the 1950s and 1960s; social equality and justice; national unity; and a larger say in international institutions and in international trading arrangements.
However, like Burma, they were to learn much from both from their own history as well as the combined development experience of their Asian neighbors. The socialist-military experiment of the 1960s came at a high price. Burma changed from being one of Asia’s most prosperous growing countries to one of the worst performing economies of the region.
Although Burma is the largest country in Indochina and a country rich in natural resources, from this moment onward the nation showed signs of a dangerous downward spiral, visible through more widespread poverty, ossified structures of production dependent on tiny, low-technology agriculture and other, equally backward, industries.
Nationalization of large segments of the economy such as land and trade led to both a decline in agricultural exports and the departure of business-savvy Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs.
Economic decline robbed the state of the ability to keep ethnic tensions in check through economic development and social assistance. Military solutions rather than campaigns to win hearts and minds continued to characterize the governance of sub-national regions.
As a result of antigovernment demonstrations in the late 1980s and the failure of Burmese socialism, the country embarked on a process of market reforms that led to the creation of new private businesses.
The reforms included liberalizing foreign direct investment, tax incentives to attract foreign funds, mostly in oil and gas, mining and tourism, all sectors that still today represent the nation’s main source of income.
Despite this, however, the overall distribution of wealth did not change much, and the majority of people remained employed in low-skilled and low-paid agricultural jobs.
Moreover, the government’s ability to provide social protection and support for its lower-income families is limited by the fact that government revenue constitutes just 6 percent of estimated gross domestic product.
Although many today still see Burma as isolated politically, economically and geographically, the country’s prospects should not be underestimated either in the wider framework of emerging Asia or in the context of political changes under way in Burma today.
Unavoidably the country remains a place where China meets with India, a region that — as The Economist reports — within an 1,100-kilometer radius is home to more than 600 million people stretching from Thailand and Laos in the east to India, China, Bangladesh and Bhutan in the west.
This fact on its own poses a series of important questions for Burma, given that the country is in the midst of a fast-growing region, surrounded by neighbors that are rapidly transforming the structure of their economies by making concrete efforts to improve the quality of their growth.
Never before has the country attracted as much international attention as it does today. This has been partially due to internal changes occurring within the country and partially due to developments in the region.
The rise of China and India as major economic players in the region, combined with the desire by Asean countries to implement greater regional connectivity, has been redefining the international relationships among countries in East Asia.
Nobody has ever doubted the economic potential of Burma, mostly due to its historical and geographic importance in Southeast Asia. Yet as the country slowly opens up, the most fundamental question remains: Can the country flourish and realize its potential, implementing sound economic development strategies that combine poverty eradication and sustainability?
Although this might seem difficult, it is not impossible, and the development experience of emerging Asia demonstrates success stories in India, China, South Korea and even Indonesia. Emerging economies of Asia, in fact, have not always been prosperous, and several of them have experienced similar development paths that include civil wars, ethnic strife, economic failures and unsustainable economic policies.
In this context, what is most important is that various Asian countries have, sooner of later, eventually looked at where they stood in their development and examined how to take advantage of evolving political and economic environments. This stock taking, combined with various cooperation strategies, has made Asia what it is today: one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
These developments are occurring across the Burmese border and are becoming questions that the country cannot continue to ignore. Clearly, the end of the cold war, the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the 2008 global financial crisis have created global changes and provided much experience on how reform can lead to sustained economic gains.
One of the main issues for Burma today is understanding how to benefit from these changes and take advantage of the changing policy environment while adapting to the economic and institutional reforms of Asia. It also needs to build on the experience of other neighbors in implementing reforms for sustaining wealth in the long run.
There are signs the new government in Burma is looking at new development options for economic growth. This is seen in several high-profile consultations with experts and government departments conducted in recent months, beginning with a discussion on rural development and poverty reduction.
Informed observers talk of the government’s desire to normalize relations with international financial institutions and the donor community, and to end economic sanctions. This process of loosening military control, learning from neighboring countries and moving forward with Asean integration might provide the trigger that will enable Burma to undertake structural reforms.
It is time to give Burma the benefit of the doubt. Who would have thought that India could shed its Hindu rate of growth, or China its predilection for worrying about the color of cats catching mice? But they did, and Burma surely can too.
Akira Moretto is deputy head of research at Strategic Asia Indonesia, a consultancy promoting cooperation among Asian countries.
Simon Roughneen, Journalist
Posted: 9/13/11 09:07 PM ET
BANGKOK – It isn’t easy working as a journalist under Burma’s military rulers. The army has run the country since 1962, and although there were elections in November 2010 – the first in two decades – the army’s party won easily and the new Government is headed by Thein Sein, a former General and Prime Minister under the ancien regime.
On the face of it, the new man in charge is trying to ‘do reform’. He recently met with Aung San Suu Kyi – the extra-parliamentary opposition leader and now subject of a Luc Besson-directed film ‘The Lady’ – who in turn praised Thein Sein. To some, the new President is cautious ‘reformist’, apparently battling against ‘hardliners’ elsewhere in the Burmese Government. Still others, however, see this apparent contest as theatre, more control freakery by the military strongman behind the scenes, Than Shwe. A Senior-General in the army, he took power in 1992, and ccording to US diplomatic cables from the Rangoon embassy, ‘all roads lead to Than Shwe’ when it comes to figuring out Burma’s opaque power structures.
Reform talk aside, Burma still holds almost 2000 political prisoners, which the Government describes as mere criminals. Among their number are hundreds of Buddhist monks, and over 20 journalists. Just before Thein Sein’s April speech lauding the ‘4th estate’, a correspondent for Democratic Voice of Burma was sentenced to 13 years in jail, the seventeenth DVB reporter to be locked up.
Burma has a growing private-owned media sector, but it must run content by Government (read army) censors, who can cut and reject content as they see fit. In another token-looking gesture, the Burmese authorities loosened the censor rules a bit, removing non-news, non-political content from their workload.
According to Shawn Crispin, southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the ‘relaxations’ are meaningless. “If the new regime was serious about press freedom, it would dissolve its censorship department altogether and allow the private media to play the watchdog role it does in real democracies.”
In a hint at who is really running the show in the ‘new’ Burma, Crispin concluded that “I doubt Thein Sein’s military minders have the stomach for that.”
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Wednesday, September 14, 2011
BANGKOK—Burma’s increasing amphetamine production is contributing to the worldwide rise of synthetic drug use, with the Mekong River now a key route for drug trafficking from the Golden Triangle, a drug-producing region in the Burma, Laos and Thailand borderlands.
Burma is the prime source for the growing use of amphetamines across Southeast Asia in particular, with 133 million pills seized by police in 2010, up from 94 million the previous year and 32 million in 2008.
In February 2010, Laos authorities made a single seizure of 21.8 million pills, which was “believed to have originated from Myanmar [Burma]” and was “evidently headed for Thailand,” according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which added that “the majority of the methamphetamine pills found in the country is sourced from Myanmar.”
The findings were published in the 2011 Global ATS Report, compiled by the UNODC, which “is mandated to assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism” and provides research and technical assistance on these issues to countries around the world.
Earlier in 2011 the UNODC pointed to an increase in opium production in Burma, “where cultivation rose by some 20 per cent from 2009.” This means that as of 2010, Burma was producing 12 percent of the world’s total opium output.
Synthetic, non plant-based drugs such as ecstasy and metamphetamines—part of the ‘Amphetamine Type Stimulants’ (ATS) category of narcotic—are now the second-most consumed drug in the world, behind cannabis and ahead of heroin and cocaine. In several Asian countries, ATS are the “primary illicit drug threat,” exceeding cannabis, with a fourfold increase in ATS seizures by police over the 2008-2010 period.
Southeast Asia and Burma are at the center of this upsurge. According to the UNODC, “metamphetamine pills, which are manufactured in the Shan state of Myanmar, are trafficked along new routes to Thailand, China and Lao PDR.” The report adds that there are “indications of new routes to the western part of Myanmar” for trafficking on to South Asia, with rising ATS use in India and Bangladesh.
“Over the past five years, ATS manufacture has spread to new regions,” according to the report. Countries that were once transit points for the drugs—such as Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia-—are now emerging as producers, while countries such as Vietnam are showing “significant increases in use since 2008.”
However China, Burma and the Philippines remain the main ATS manufacturing countries in Asia, and overall, East and Southeast Asia were the site of half the world’s ATS seizures by police.
“ATS appeal to users because they are thought to boost work performance,” said Gary Lewis, a UNODC representative in Asia, who was speaking at a Bangkok press conference to launch the ATS report. He added that the perceived health risks and social stigma associated with amphetamine use is lower than with plant-based drugs that are smoked or injected.
On the supply side, ATS are a low-investment, high profit sector, with production possible anywhere and therefore close to point of sale. ATS production can be quickly dismantled and relocated should law enforcement agency pressure arise, and the substances can be made using an array of starting materials, or “precursors,” which in turn can be made from a precursor chemical if necessary.
The findings come after Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last Sunday announced a plan to eradicate 80 percent of drug use and drug trafficking within one year, sparking concerns about a regression to policies utilized by her brother and Prime Minister predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra. As part of his controversial 2003 “War on Drugs,” over 2500 people were killed, many extra-judicially, in a crackdown later cited as part-justification by Thaksin’s domestic political opponents for their campaign to have him removed from office.
Last Wednesday, a Thai military checkpoint sought to intercept a truck near the northern town of Chiang Rai, acting on an apparent tip-off that the vehicle was transporting drugs smuggled across the nearby border from Burma. The truck evaded capture, it seems, and was later found abandoned along with a consignment of 95kg of crystal methamphetamine and 3.4 kg of heroin.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
At the invitation of Burmese businessman Zaw Zaw, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday afternoon attended an international football match between Burma and Laos at Thuwanna Stadium in Rangoon.
Zaw Zaw is the chairman of the Myanmar Football Federation and the Myanmar Tennis Federation. He is also the managing director of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, which is blacklisted by Western sanctions.
The match was an under-19 game, part of the Asean Football Federation U-19 Championship 2011 from Sept. 8 – 21, which Burma is hosting for the first time.
The compettition involves all 10 members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Teams are divided into two qualifying leagues—Group A: Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia; and Group B: Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam and Brunei.
The Burmese authorities have provided security for Suu Kyi, according to Kyaw Soe Naing, one of her personal security guards. During the match, Suu Kyi sat next to Zaw Zaw, he added.
A Rangoon-based journalist said that Suu Kyi earlier told reporters that she was invited to go and watch the football competition by Zaw Zaw, and that she was looking forward to it because she liked football.
Zaw Zaw also invited Suu Kyi in August to an economic workshop in Naypyidaw. He is believed to be very close to Nay Shwe Thway Aung, the grandson of former junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
By SAI ZOM HSENG Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A Rangoon court on Wednesday added 10 years to the sentence of Burmese photographer Sithu Zeya on charges of violating the country’s draconian Electronics Act.
Sithu Zeya had originally been sentenced in May 2010 to eight years in prison for violating the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act, accused of having contact with illegal organizations, as well as a charge of violating the Immigration Act.
The 21-year-old photographer was arrested on April 15 last year and detained in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison after photographing the aftermath of the bomb blasts that shook the traditional New Year’s water festival in Rangoon, killing 10 people and injuring 170.
During interrogation, Sithu Zeya reportedly admitted his former relationship with an official from the exile media organization Democratic Voice of Burma, and that he attended media training in Thailand. These confessions were presented by the plaintiff to the court.
In January, The Irrawaddy reported that, while in Insein, Sithu Zeya had been held for a number of days in kennels normally used for housing the prison’s security dogs for not paying respect to the prison guards.
His father Maung Maung Zeya is the son of the well-known late writer Saya Linyone. Muang Maung Zeya was arrested at his home on April 16, 2010, and was also detained in Insein Prison. According to his lawyers, Maung Maung Zeya was charged with violating the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act for contacts he made with the exile government in Thailand. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on April 1 this year, the day after President Thein Sein assumed office.
Another long-term casualty of Burma’s severe judicial system is Nay Myo Zin who worked as a volunteer for a blood donor group affiliated with the opposition National League for Democracy. Nay Myo Zin was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, accused of breaking the Electronic Transactions Act, Article 33(a), at the end of August.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011 14:55 Salai Z T Lian
(Commentary) – The Burmese people are sensitive about the Irrawaddy River. They believe it is the heart of Burma because it contributes so many resources, and they want to keep it as natural as possible.
That’s why most Burmese want the government to abandon its planned dam projects, especially the Myitsone Dam hydropower project which will have a capacity of 6,000 megawatts near the Maykha-Malikha confluence in northern Burma where the Irrawaddy River originates. There is a big disagreement between the government and the people. The government wants to continue it, but the people don’t want it.
The government knows the people are concerned. However, it seems determined to carry on with the project. One reason to continue the project could be the contracts it has already signed which can cost it millions of dollars if the project is cancelled or suspended.
It is an environmental issue, but it could lead to anti-government protests. You’ll recall a student, Phone Maw, was shot to death and the 8888 uprising surged, and the fuel rise stirred up the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Concern over the Irrawaddy River could cause the Burmese people to unite in one voice: Save the Irrawaddy! If their burning desire for democracy and freedom is added to their concerns, it could bring change to Burma. At least, for now, the government should reconsider the Irrawaddy River-Myitsone Dam project.
Environmentalists, journalists, politicians, activists and artists, not to mention Aung San Suu Kyi, have voiced their concerns. Also, Tun Lwin, the well-known, retired Burmese meteorologist, has said that he opposes the project. However, the government has ignored their concerns and the people are considering what to do next.
At a recent press conference, No. 1 Power Minister Zaw Min declared that nothing would stop them from carrying on the project. Actually, it is a risky step, and they will likely face protests on the streets sooner or later.
The government must choose: the benefits of the dam project or face the people’s protests.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011 20:18 Aye Lea
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The U.S. special representative to Burma says that as a first step to seek national reconciliation in Burma, the government needs to establish a mechanism for investigating reported human rights abuses in ethnic areas.
A press release issued on Wednesday by U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma Ambassador Derek J. Mitchell said: “I affirmed the importance of establishing a legitimate and credible mechanism for investigating reported abuses in ethnic areas as a first step toward building trust and promoting national reconciliation through accountability.” The statement was released at the end his five-day visit.
Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, has called for a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. 16 countries including the U.S have supported his proposal. Under the circumstances, the U.S. special representative urged the government to establish a credible mechanism by themselves for investigating human rights violations.
Mitchell said that he was reminded consistently during his visit that Suu Kyi remains deeply important to the citizens of the country, Burman and ethnic minorities alike, and that any credible reform effort must include her participation.
Moreover, Mitchell’s statement said that he raised concerns regarding the detention of approximately 2,000 political prisoners and continued hostilities in ethnic minority areas accompanied by reports of serious human rights violations, including against women and children.
In the statement, Mitchell also expressed his concern about the lack of transparency in the government’s military relationship with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Shortly before he left Burma, Mitchell said in a press conference that he urged the government to adhere to all of its obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions related to nuclear proliferation.
Mitchell said in his statement: “I responded that the United States recognized and welcomed recent gestures from Naypyitaw, such as President Thein Sein’s meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission, public emphasis on dialogue with ethnic minority groups in the interest of national reconciliation and moderate easing of media censorship.”
In his press conference, Mitchell said that he noted that many within the international community remain skeptical about the government’s commitment, and he urged Burmese authorities to prove the skeptics wrong.
In his statement, Mitchell said he urged the government to take concrete actions in a timely fashion to demonstrate its sincerity and genuine commitment to reform and national reconciliation, including by releasing all political prisoners unconditionally, engaging in meaningful outreach to the political opposition, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and engaging in dialogue rather than armed conflicts with ethnic minority groups.
In Naypyitaw, he met with Union Parliament Speaker Khin Aung Myint; People’s Parliament Speaker Thura Shwe Mann; Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin; Labor and Social Welfare Minister Aung Kyi; Border Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Thein Htay; Information Minister Kyaw Hsan; and the Union Solidarity and Development Party Secretary Htay Oo, according to the statement.
He also met with a cross section of opposition MPs, including representatives from ethnic minority regions, the statement said.
On Sunday, Mitchell visited charity organizations the Free Funeral Services Society led by former actor Kyaw Thu, the Thukha Charity Clinic, and the South Dagon Township HIV/AIDS salvation centre led by Phyu Phyu Thin.
On Monday, he met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I was encouraged by and pleased with the quality and openness of the exchanges, and the constructive and respectful tone of each interaction I had,” he said.
“During these meetings, my government interlocutors repeatedly stated that this country had opened a new chapter to a civilian-led democratic governing structure and expressed that they were sincerely committed to reform in the interest of human rights, democracy, development, and national reconciliation,” he said, according to his press statement.
“Being my initial visit, my primary goal was to introduce myself, listen to local perspectives, and establish relationships that I will build on as I proceed to fulfill my mandate and responsibilities for managing the U.S. Burma policy,” Mitchell said.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011 21:17 Thea Forbes
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the Voice of America (VOA) Burmese service on Tuesday that the transition to the current government is not enough.
“‘It’s not enough to have a transition to a democratic government, what we need are for democratic institutions to take firm root in this country, and I would like to be able to help in this process,” Suu Kyi told VOA.
VOA’s Burmese service correspondent, Khin Soe Win entered Burma with a journalist visa, and interviewed Suu Kyi in Rangoon on Tuesday, a rare opportunity granted to the news agency.
The back page of the Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar has listed VOA as one of the news agencies “sowing hatred amongst the nation” for many years, along with the BBC and the Democratic Voice of Burma.
In the TV interview, Suu Kyi told VOA that freeing political prisoners in Burma and the fight for a real democracy were inextricable. “I don’t think you can separate different elements of the process towards democracy…the release of political prisoners is one of the aims of trying to democratize our country – that there may be no political prisoners.”
She also said that it was a personal choice for Burmese exiles to return to Burma under the current government. For those who were interested in taking part in the political process of the country, she said: “They’ve got to decide whether they want to take part in the political process in the way in which it is possible to do here in Burma, or in the way in which they have been moving throughout these years abroad. Certainly, conditions will not be the same in Burma as abroad.”
Asked when she thought would be the appropriate time for Western sanctions to be lifted from the country, Suu Kyi said, “I think when the reasons for which sanctions were instituted in the first place indicate that real change has taken place and that it is time for a new approach.”
In a recent documentary released by Al Jazeera’s “101 East,” Suu Kyi said, “Sanctions were instituted for political reasons… a lot of people shout and scream about the fact that sanctions are making life tougher for the people of Burma, and this is not the case at all.”
The Obama administration in the United States renewed its policy of targeted economic sanctions on Burma in May this year, citing lack of progress and continued repression of the democratic opposition as its motives. In keeping with the Obama administration’s policy of building upon US dialogue and engagement with the government in Burma, special envoy to Burma and policy coordinator Derek J. Mitchell was appointed in August this year.
Visiting Burma for the first time in his position as coordinator this week, Mitchell said he saw prospects of progress in gradual change in Burma, NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing told Mizzima earlier this week.
Citing Burma’s more than 2,000 political prisoners, the need to investigate widespread human rights abuses and concern over Burma’s military relationship with North Korea, Mitchell said, “Progress on these issues will be essential to progress in the bilateral relationship…If the government takes genuine and concrete action, the United States will respond in kind,” Reuters reported on Wednesday.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 14 September 2011
Burma’s rulers and elite are believed to vent their dislike of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi through “constant” discussion of sexual innuendo concerning the Nobel laureate, leaked US diplomatic cables report.
The cable quotes a “well connected” businessman who says that figures at the “highest level” of government “can’t stand” Suu Kyi and therefore frequently engage in the practice.
“It is clear GOB [Government of Burma] leaders will simply not accept ASSK [Aung San Suu Kyi] having any leading role in Burmese politics,” the 23 September 2009 dispatch continues.
The US embassy source is named as Khin Maung Win, owner of MSP Limited, purportedly a construction company that does contract work for the government and its cronies. At the time it was seeking to become the US engineering firm Caterpillar’s operator in Burma, via its Indian subsidiary.
The animosity towards Suu Kyi on a political level will come as no surprise, although the puerile nature of Burma’s rulers will remain a worry given the cast list appears to have changed little since the cable was sent. At the time President Thein Sein, who met for the first time with Suu Kyi recently, was prime minister and thus operated at the “highest levels” in Naypyidaw, while the government’s top figures today all held senior positions in the former ruling junta.
The cable, which perhaps reflects the opposition leader’s current predicament on the sidelines of Burma’s political arena, adds: “At most, the senior leadership might allow ASSK to have some sort of ‘parallel’ role, but with no actual political say in governance.”
The reference to innuendo is reminiscent of the former Hong Kong consul general, Ye Myint Aung, who in 2009, when US citizen John Yettaw broke into Suu Kyi’s house, suggested that he was her “boyfriend”. This, and other remarks, such as the racially-charged accusation that the Rohingya ethnic minority were “ugly as ogres”, prefixed Ye Myint Aung’s posting to the role of UN spokesperson in Geneva for the new regime.
Khin Ohmar, of the Women’s League of Burma (WLB), states that this reflects a deep-rooted cultural “chauvinism” amongst Burma’s rulers, who fear the popular democratic icon and who lack any form of popular support themselves.
Moreover, the taboo of a Burmese woman marrying a foreigner is, Ohmar feels, used “regularly” to attempt to undermine her position.
This may be reflected in an allegation of academic Dr Maung Zarni, who told DVB that spies in former spy chief and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt’s Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI) even wanted to plant hidden cameras in Suu Kyi’s residence in an attempt to defame her. This was overruled by Khin Nyunt.
Zarni also said that “sexist slurs” are used by the government “in order to destroy their critics.”
The cable also says that “nobody in the elites,” including in the business community, “would support [Suu Kyi]“, perhaps reflecting perhaps the source’s more personal opinions.
It finishes however with the US Charges d’Affaires Larry Dinger’s personal summary of the source. “His regime-oriented, anti-ASSK perspective on politics is indicative of a number of private-sector beneficiaries of the current system … We expect many, especially the poor and disenfranchised, have a very different perspective.”
Published: 14 September 2011
Government soldiers in Burma’s northeastern Shan state have reportedly pillaged villages and assaulted inhabitants following a heavy clash with the opposition Shan State Army (SSA).
Troops from the SSA ambushed a column of Burmese soldiers in Mongshu township in eastern Shan state on 11 September, leaving three dead and eight wounded. The SSA says the subsequent attack on residents of Namsaing village in Mongshu is a commonplace occurrence.
“Whenever there is a clash, they enter the nearest village and arrest villagers, beat them up and interrogate them. And they also take food and provisions from the village,” said Major Sai La, spokesperson of the SSA’s political wing, the Shan State Progressive Party.
The two sides have been engaged in heavy fighting since March this year following a refusal by the SSA’s northern faction to become a government-controlled Border Guard Force.
A clash erupted on 8 September in the state’s northern district of Mong Yai, reportedly leaving one government soldier dead. Casualties for the SSA have not been reported.
Villagers have also reportedly been assaulted in an effort to extract information about the SSA. In Mong Yai’s Wanpon village, inhabitants were ordered to give out the names of villagers working in paddy fields; those found working in the fields who were not among the list would be threatened with death, locals reported.
The Burmese government has long been accused of war crimes in its effort to eliminate the country’s myriad armed opposition groups.
On several occasions this year troops have razed villages in the country’s border regions as part of the Four Cuts strategy, which looks to sever lines of civilian support and communication for ethnic armies.
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 14 September 2011
A former MP and human rights defender for local Karen people in Thailand, Mr Thatkamol Ob-om was murdered late last week, allegedly because of his work on behalf of the Karen community.
Mr Thatkamol was shot dead on 9 September. At the time he was preparing a report to the Thai King on the basic rights of the Karen people in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petchaburi Province, said Wut Boonlert, leader of Petchaburi Province’s Karen environmental protection congress. It is not known yet who killed him.
Wut Boonlert suspected that Mr Thatkhamol was killed for publicising the burning down of Karen homes and the loss of their basic rights, to highlight their plight to the Thai people through the media.
On 8 September, Mr Thatkhamol went to a seminar in Bangkok with 8 Karen and called a press conference, Boonlert said.
At the conference, he said that Karen people have been settling down in the forests for hundreds of years before the laws were imposed and that they are Thai citizens, not illegal immigrants coming from Burma and that they have been conserving the jungles by practicing sustainable rotational slash-and-burn cultivation.
If they are to be relocated, relevant compensations must be given to them and that they should not be forcibly removed (from their ancestral homes), Mr Thatkhamol reportedly said.
A notice which claims Mr Thatkhamol was an ‘agitator’ and banning him from entering the National Park was put up at the entrance of the park by the order the chief warden of the park, Boonlert said.
Mr Thatkhamol Om-bon is known amongst royal circles and respected by the Thai public.
Other activists working for Karen people whose homes were burnt down and who are losing their basic rights are being intimidated, members of rights groups in Thailand said.
The park’s chief warden claimed in the media that the Karen’s homes were burnt down and forcibly moved out of the jungles because they destroyed the jungles and were growing opium poppy.