BURMA RELATED NEWS – JANUARY 24, 2012
Jan 24th, 2012
23 Jan 2012 17:09 BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Myanmar and its army are continuing a “systematic repression” of citizens, namely in ethnic areas with ongoing conflicts, despite the government’s promise of reform and its ceasefire agreements with some ethnic armed groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
The military also continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of anti-personnel landmines and child soldiers, and through beatings and pillaging property, the rights group said in its annual report.
“The Burmese military continues to be responsible for abuses against civilians in conflict areas, including forced labour, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, the use of ‘human shields,’ and indiscriminate attacks on civilians,” the report said.
Fighting in Karen State in eastern Myanmar following the November 2010 elections displaced some 20,000 people, the report said, while ongoing clashes in Kachin State in northern Myanmar have pushed tens of thousands of ethnic Kachins across the border to China.
According to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, almost half a million people in eastern Myanmar are internally displaced due to armed conflict. There are hundreds of thousands more in refugees in camps in Thailand and Bangladesh.
“Sexual violence against women and girls (by the military) remains a serious problem and perpetrators are rarely brought to justice,” the report also said.
“Local women’s rights groups (in Kachin state) reported high levels of sexual violence with more than 35 women and girls raped in the first two months of the fighting alone,” it added.
The report said ethnic armed groups also committed serious rights abuses, including recruiting child solders, carrying out extrajudicial executions and using antipersonnel landmines around civilians.
This January, after the report was written, Myanmar’s government signed a ceasefire agreement with the Karen ethnic armed group, raising hopes one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies may be nearing its end.
Talks with the Kachin Independence Organisation have yet to bear fruit. Fighting has continued, despite Myanmar’s President Thein Sein’s public call for the army to stop its offensive against the Kachin rebels.
Myanmar’s new nominally civilian government, which came to power in March 2011 after half a century of iron-fisted military rule, is still filled with former and current military officers, HRW said.
And while more media freedom, changes to labour laws and amendments to political party registration rules “are encouraging on paper, it remains to be seen how they will be implemented and the level of social participation,” HRW said.
The government has impressed its critics in the West with such reforms, however, and the United States and European Union recently signalled their willingness to review sanctions against the Myanmar government.
From Nasir Habib, CNN
updated 12:30 AM EST, Tue January 24, 2012
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will leave for Myanmar on Tuesday to discuss economic ties with the country and to visit longtime democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.
During his two-day trip, Zardari will speak with Myanmar President Thein Sein about promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, according to a statement from Zardari spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
The two sides will also consider ways to promote cooperation in oil and gas sector, the statement said.
Zardari will also visit Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in Yangoon, Babar said.
Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta since 1962, but the generals are loosening their grip on the country after coming under criticism for their human rights record and as the economy suffered from economic sanctions.
Sein, a former general, became president in March 2011 after elections that were criticized by democracy activists. But his rapid introduction of reforms has raised hopes of a lasting improvement in civil liberties within the country.
PTI | 04:01 PM,Jan 24,2012 New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Seeking deeper bilateral ties in strategic areas between Myanmar and India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said New Delhi’s security interests are “intertwined” with that of Nay Pyi Taw.
“We have traditional and civilisational relationship with Myanmar. Our trade links have been very ancient and our security interest are intertwined with Myanmar,” Krishna said while welcoming Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin here.
His comments came in the backdrop of the “17th National Level Meeting to Strengthen Border Issues” between the two countries that was concluded at Nay Pyi Taw last week. In a statement issued by the Union Home Ministry today, it said both sides discussed in detail security related issues like presence of Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) along Indo-Myanmar border, exchange of intelligence information and arms smuggling.
Home Secretary R K Singh, who led the Indian delegation mentioned about IIGs camps and training facilities in Myanmar and sought Myanmar’s cooperation in dealing with the IIG’s activities. On his part Lwin, who is here on an official visit, said it was a pleasure and honour for him to come here.
“We have a very historic and long tradition of bilateral relations between our two countries. “I look forward to future bilateral discussions about the strengthening and enhancing the existing bilateral relations in the field of political, security, social and economic development of the two countries,” he said.
Incidentally, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will embark on a two-day official visit to Myanmar today where he will call on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hold talks with the country’s top leadership.
By ANI | ANI – 9 hours ago New Delhi, Jan 24 (ANI): India and Myanmar have expressed commitment to strengthen cooperation in border issues.
The two sides stressed this at a meeting held in Nay Phi Taw last week. The Indian delegation was led by Home Secretary R.K. Singh, Home Secretary and the Myanmar delegation was led by Deputy Home Minister Brigadier-General Kyaw Zan Myint.
Recalling the traditionally close relationship between both nations, leaders of India and Myanmar delegation expressed commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in economic and developmental areas, closer people to people contact and maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border.
In the delegation level meeting, Singh gave an overview of the main areas of concern to India and expressed hope that these could be discussed in the spirit of trust and friendship between India and Myanmar.
Both sides discussed in detail security related issues like presence of Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) along Indo-Myanmar border, exchange of intelligence information and arms smuggling.
Singh mentioned about IIGs camps and training facilities in Myanmar and sought Myanmar’s cooperation in dealing with the IIG’s activities. He especially mentioned that Indian Insurgent Groups are planning large scale disturbances in the forthcoming elections in 2012 in Manipur.
The two sides agreed to maintain closer interaction between the nodal points and respective commanding officers of border guarding forces of the two countries for sharing real time intelligence.
Both sides also expressed satisfaction at the meetings of the Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) at DC/SP level at Moreh/Tamu and Zowakhatar/Rhi to discuss measures for combating arms smuggling, drug trafficking , smuggling of wild life parts and other issues and it was decided that BLO meetings be held more frequently.
Both the sides expressed satisfaction over decline in drug trafficking and agreed to regular interaction between drug control agencies of both countries at DG level and DDG level to eliminate the menace of drug trafficking.
India offered training and any other support that Myanmar may require to combat drug trafficking. They also discussed illegal wildlife trafficking, tourism cooperation, training of
Myanmar security forces in India and repatriation issues of Myanmar fishermen in Indian prisons and Indian prisoners in Myanmar. India offered all possible support to assist Myanmar in its pursuit for better connectivity and overall development .
Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 24th January, 2012 (IANS)
With Myanmar fast moving towards democratisation, India Tuesday welcomed the national reconciliation initiated by President Thein Sein’s government.
At a meeting between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and visiting Myanmar Minister for Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Luin here, India also pledged continued support to infrastructural development in the neighbouring country, considered as its gateway to south east Asia.
Wunna Maung Luin, who arrived here Sunday, also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the day, apart from holding one-on-one talks with Krishna Tuesday.
During the delegation level talks, Krishna conveyed to his counterpart India’s support for Myanmar to “continue playing” its due role in the comity of nations.
Giving details of the talks, India’s ministry of external affairs Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the two sides “positively” assessed the development in bilateral relations after the landmark state visit of Thein Sein to India in October last year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had during Thein Sein’s visit announced a $500 million line-of-credit to Myanmar for a slew of development projects, including irrigation, apart from offering help to further strengthen the democratic transition.
“India welcomed the steps being taken by the government of Myanmar towards national reconciliation and democratic transition. India also expressed its support for Myanmar to continue playing its due role among the comity of nations,” the spokesperson said.
Myanmar’s civilian government under Thein Sein took over a year ago after elections held in November 2010 in which opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party did not participate.
After her release from house arrest and the recent reconciliation talks with the government, Suu Kyi is now slated to contest the parliamentary polls as a candidate of her National League for Democracy in April this year.
“Both sides discussed measures to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, including in the areas of trade and commerce, security, agriculture, health, culture, science and technology, human resource development and capacity building,” Akbaruddin said.
Krishna and his delegation also reiterated India’s “continued support for infrastructure development and cooperation projects” for the benefit of the people of Myanmar.
India’s ONGC Videsh, GAIL and Essar are involved several oil projects in Myanmar, apart from India funding the Kaladan multi-modal transport corridor from its east coast, through Myanmar, to its northeastern states.
All these efforts have come at a time when China’s involvement in Myanmar’s economic and infrastructure projects have increased in recent years.
The two foreign ministers underlined the significance of such projects which could improve connectivity between India and the other countries of south east Asia through Myanmar, an energy-rich nation where India is involved in oil exploration projects.
Wunna Maung Luin will deliver a lecture on ‘Myanmar: A Country in Transition to Democracy’ at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) in Sapru House Wednesday.
Just before the delegation-level talks with his Myanmarese counterpart, Krishna told reporters that India would “like to enlarge our relationship into various spheres” and that New Delhi values and will provide highest importance to the bilateral relations with Nay Pyi Taw.
Krishna also noted that he was among the first foreign ministers of any country to visit Myanmar after a civilian government took over early 2011.
“We have traditional and civilisational relationship with Myanmar. Our trade links have been very ancient and our security interests are intertwined with Myanmar,” he added.
Wunna Maung Luin, in his remarks, said Indian and Myanmar have “a very historic and a long tradition” of bilateral relations and looked forward to “strengthening and enhancing the existing bilateral relations in the field of political, security and social and economic development”.
Press Information Bureau (press release) – 17TH National Level Meeting Between India and Myanmar Resolves to Strengthen Cooperation in Border Issues.
24-January, 2012 12:36 IST
The 17th National Level Meeting between India and Myanmar concluded at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar last week. The Indian delegation was led by Shri R.K. Singh, Home Secretary and the Myanmar delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Kyaw Zan Myint, Deputy Union Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Recalling the traditionally close relationship between India and Myanmar, the leaders of India and Myanmar delegation sed commitment to further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in economic and developmental areas, closer people to people contact and maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border.
In the delegation level meeting, Home Secretary gave an overview of the main areas of concern to India and expressed hope that these could be discussed in the spirit of trust and friendship between India and Myanmar. Both sides discussed in detail security related issues like presence of Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) along Indo-Myanmar border, exchange of intelligence information and arms smuggling. The leader of Indian delegation mentioned about IIGs camps and training facilities in Myanmar and sought Myanmar’s cooperation in dealing with the IIG’s activities. Home Secretary especially mentioned that Indian Insurgent Groups are planning large scale disturbances in the forthcoming elections in 2012 in Manipur. The leader of Myanmar delegation assured that Myanmar would never allow insurgents to use its territory to engage in any hostile activities against its neighbour India.
The two sides agreed to maintain closer interaction between the nodal points and respective commanding officers of border guarding forces of the two countries for sharing real time intelligence. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the meetings of the Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) at DC/SP level at Moreh/Tamu and Zowakhatar/Rhi to discuss measures for combating arms smuggling, drug trafficking , smuggling of wild life parts and other issues and it was decided that BLO meetings be held more frequently. It was agreed to establish a new BLO at Ukhrul (India)- Somra (Myanmar). The Indian leader agreed to provide the requisite communication facilities for the additional BLO and Commanding officers level interactions at the border.
In order to trace the recipients of the arms smuggling in India, the leader of Indian delegation requested Myanmar to share interrogation reports of arms smugglers arrested by Myanmar security forces. The leader of the Myanmar delegation agreed to share these reports with India.
Both the sides expressed satisfaction over decline in drug trafficking and agreed to regular interaction between drug control agencies of both countries at DG level and DDG level to eliminate the menace of drug trafficking. India offered training and any other support that Myanmar may require to combat drug trafficking. Theyalso discussed illegal wildlife trafficking, tourism cooperation, training of Myanmar security forces in India and repatriation issues of Myanmar Fishermen in Indian Prisons and Indian Prisoners in Myanmar. India offered all possible support to assist Myanmar in its pursuit for better connectivity and overall development .
The Indian delegation also called on the Myanmar Minister of Home Affairs and the first Vice President, Myanmar. The leader of the Indian delegation flagged the main issues and sought their guidance and support.
Published: Jan. 24, 2012 at 7:30 AM
BRUSSELS, Jan. 24 (UPI) — European Union foreign ministers, recognizing Myanmar’s political reforms, agreed to ease travel restrictions on its senior government officials.
The EU action would suspend the visa ban on Myanmar’s president, vice presidents, Cabinet members and parliamentary speaker, CNN reported Tuesday.
The EU foreign ministers, who met in Brussels, recognized the “remarkable program of political reform” by Myanmar’s new military-backed civilian government.
The reforms have included the release of hundreds of political and other prisoners, the freeing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest and allowing her and her party to participate in the April parliamentary by-elections and agreeing to pursue peace efforts with ethnic rebel groups.
The United States, also recognizing the reforms, has announced plans to exchange ambassadors with Myanmar.
The new government in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, came to power after elections in November 2010, replacing decades of military rule.
EU foreign ministers said the suspension of he visa ban against Myanmar President Thein Sein and other officials is “a first step” that could lead to further easing of restrictions as Myanmar introduces more reforms.
Today @ 10:33
By Philip Ebels
BRUSSELS – EU foreign ministers have agreed to ease sanctions on Burma following the junta’s recent moves towards democracy. But a report by Human Rights Watch published the same day warns of continued abuse.
The ministers’s communique welcomed “the remarkable programme of political reform” and specified that, “as a first step, restrictive measures [such as visa bans] concerning the president, the vice-Presidents, cabinet members and the speakers of the two houses of parliament should be suspended.”
They said further reform “would lead to the further easing or lifting of the restrictive measures” to be decided by the end of April.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton noted that the “remarkable transition” in Burma had led her to conduct “a full review” of her policy towards the country. She said she is planning to travel to Rangoon in April, after what could be the country’s first free elections since a military coup stifled democracy in 1962.
The EU sanctions involve asset freezes and travel restrictions on just a few short of 500 individuals and twice as many companies and institutions. They also involve an arms embargo and specific trade bans.
The decision to ease the curbs comes after the election of a civilian government in March last year, even though it is largely comprised of ex-military personell. Burma recently also released an estimated 1,000 political prisoners, engaged in peace talks with ethnic insurgents and allowed the opposition NLD, led by dissident Ang San Suu Kyi, to register as a political party.
But as remarkable as the reforms may sound, they have “failed to seriously address the still dire human rights situation in the country” according to Human Rights Watch in its latest World Report.
Over the course of 2011, “there was no measurable decline in serious abuses,” the New-York-based NGO’s Elaine Pearson said.
Alongside the prisoner releases “Burma continued to imprison hundreds for peaceful acts of free expression” the report notes.
The Burmese military – it says – “continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, beatings, abusive forced labor, antipersonnel landmines, and pillaging of property.”
Korea Times – Seoul to bolster ties with Myanmar
North Korea will be squeezed further as hard cash earnings will decrease
By Kang Hyun-kyung
A foreign ministry official returned to Seoul last week after winding up a trip to Myanmar to establish a deputy minister-level policy channel, signaling South Korea is stepping up diplomatic efforts to strengthen ties with the resource-rich country.
During the three-day trip, the official had a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart to discuss details of setting up the high-level policy consultation meeting on a regular basis.
The talks came nearly a month after President Thein Sein of Myanmar vowed to sever military ties with North Korea during talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Dec. 1 during her trip to the Southeast Asian country.
Josh Kurlantzick, a fellow for Southeast Asia of Washington-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations, told The Korea Times Tuesday that South Korea can benefit from ties with Myanmar not only in trade but also in security.
“Clearly, South Korea has a lot to gain,” he said. “Myanmar is an important source of information on North Korea and the South Korean government, along with the United States, needs to push the reformist Myanmar government to reveal what their relationship with North Korea has entailed, including missiles, nuclear issues, possible currency fraud and drugs.”
Kurlantzick called on South Korea to try to gain insight into North Korea’s illicit activities through released political prisoners in Myanmar. “South Korea would want to speak with many of the Myanmar military intelligence men who are being released from prison and have a lot to say about North Korea.”
Since taking office in April last year, President Sein has released hundreds of political prisoners, declared cease-fires with ethnic groups and launched political reform.
These efforts have led the international community, including South Korea and the United States, to respond positively to the new government there.
In December, the government announced it would resume a loans program to the resources-rich nation.
It had suspended the programs since 2005 due to human rights abuse.
During talks held in Seoul in December, cabinet ministers of the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in exploring natural resources in Myanmar.
Nearly 100 South Korean firms are operating in the Southeast Asian country. Bilateral trade hit nearly $600 million in 2011. The trade volume is a lot smaller than that of Indonesia or Vietnam, but industry experts are optimistic that it will surge in the near future as the country has a great deal of potential.
Hopes are high that sanctions imposed on Myanmar will be lifted soon, after Clinton visited the country last year for the first time in 56 years after John Foster Dulles visited the country in 1955.
On Jan. 13, Clinton said the United States was ready to start the process of exchanging ambassadors with Myanmar.
Some international investors view the country, endowed with oil, natural gas and other natural resources, as the next Vietnam. They are flocking to the Southeast Asian country to see business opportunities there.
But some are cautious about the prospects, saying the long-isolated country has little infrastructure for growth and therefore this will make it difficult for the economy to take off in the near future.
‘Myanmar effect’
South Korea-Myanmar ties are expected to deal a blow to North Korea as it will suffer dwindling earnings from its illicit transactions with the Southeast Asian nation.
Myanmar is one of a few North Korean allies and the North has reportedly earned hard cash through the illicit trading of arms.
In 2008, a local media outlet, The Irrawaddy, reported specifics of North Korea-Myanmar military cooperation.
According to the media, a military delegation led by Gen. Shwe Mann, flew secretly to North Korea in November 2008 and met chief of the army Gen. Kim Kyok-sik.
“The two sides agreed to terms of cooperation on several military initiatives, including radar and jamming units, air defense systems and a computer-controlled command center,” it said.
“The delegation also visited North Korean SCUD missile factories which are located underground. The two countries signed an agreement under which North Korea will help in the construction of military facilities for missiles, aircraft and warships.”
Analysts say Myanmar will face increasing pressure from the international community to cut ties with North Korea or make them transparent as the nation tries to attract more foreign investment.
The Financial Times – Rush to reform Myanmar creates ‘Burma burn-out’
By Gwen Robinson in Yangon As Myanmar’s rapid reform programme propels it from pariah to emerging market status, a new phrase has cropped up in conversations in tea shops in the city of Yangon: “Burma burn-out”.
The phrase is used, only half-jokingly, by diplomats and expatriates to describe how the recent explosion of reformist fervour is stretching the government’s painfully limited capabilities almost beyond breaking point. But there is a more serious point – a growing concern that Myanmar’s reformers might not be able to do everything they want to do or that the international community is demanding of them.
Not long ago, a single regulatory reform might have taken a year or more to implement in Myanmar, previously known as Burma. Now, a new policy can emerge in a matter of days. “This is a government in a hurry and it wants everything done yesterday,” said a Yangon-based diplomat.
Judging by official communications, Myanmar’s bureaucrats appear to be working seven days a week. Emails come at odd times of day and night. Announcements can emerge at dawn. Government meetings take place even at midnight.
“There is indeed a danger that people will burn out. That’s why they need help,” said David Lipman, the European Union’s ambassador to Myanmar. “This is a government crying out for help in capacity-building, at every level?.?.?.?they want to do so many things. The real problem is implementation.”
A long-time expat businessman explains how a “tiny handful” of people are trying to make enormous changes on all fronts. “There are probably no more than 20 to 30 competent people in this government who can do this stuff – and they’re definitely not getting any sleep. They’re trying to negotiate with ethnic rebels, draw up everything from land reform to financial regulation and liaise with western organisations – while fighting a rearguard action from people who benefited from the status quo.”
Indeed, says an American aid worker, “there are a few who know how to run things and then there’s the rest, who’ve never been trained in anything, who sit around waiting for orders, who have come up in a bureaucratic dictatorship system where initiative is punished, not rewarded. And that’s the system supposedly overseeing this incredible change.”
Myanmar clearly lacks the institutions needed to support and deepen the democratisation process and implement planned reforms, warns Susanne Kempel, a European aid consultant. “Decades of neglect of the public sector, a poor education system and inadequate training of civil servants [have] created a void in capacity – which might just be the biggest obstacle to reform in the country.”
The crisis in capacity is not just confined to the bureaucracy. From diplomats and business executives to aid workers and tourism industry representatives, all involved in Myanmar’s push to open up risk “burn-out syndrome”. Hotels are running at near 100 per cent occupancy, aid organisations – multilateral and non-governmental – are coming to seek potential projects and business people are flooding in to assess opportunities.
It is what Phil Robertson, who has worked on Myanmar issues for two decades and now heads Human Rights Watch in Thailand, calls the “ultimate gold rush”.
“We’re not just talking about the Burmese. This is the moment when diplomats can make their name, when aid groups can set up and have big input; it’s the place where careers are going to be made – it’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone with capacity or ability to be on the front line; if you’re a local NGO with any track record, every donor in the world is going to be banging on your door with money; if you have a couple of old houses, you can fix them up and rent to foreigners. And if you’re Burmese and in business, you’re looking like a potential joint venture partner for foreign companies.”
On a policy level, the government may be trying to do too much, too fast, say diplomats. Many warn that the hectic pace is resulting in flawed policies, draft legislation riddled with loopholes and ad hoc decisions.
One example is the government’s abrupt cancellation of mega-projects, including the decision last September to suspend a $3.6bn Chinese dam project at Myitsone in the north, and the recent move to cancel a Thai, coal-fired power plant at Dawei in the south-east.
While such decisions may reflect a new desire to “listen to the people’s voices”, as President Thein Sein has said, there has been no explanation or consultation with the companies concerned.
Another concern is new legislation, for example, proposed laws to reform land use. These were “written in haste and without proper consultation with key stakeholders including land experts, and fail to provide adequate guarantees for millions of small farmers”, says a consultant to international NGOs.
“So many momentous things are happening there’s no room to pause,” says one young western diplomat. “You have to grab the moment; the trouble is, people are going to burn out”.
By Joseph Santolan
24 January 2012 US Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman concluded a week-long tour of the Philippines, Vietnam and Burma on January 20, meeting with heads of state and opposition leaders. Each stop was a calculated and marked escalation of US military and political machinations against China in the region.
Every meeting saw the assertion of the interests of US imperialism against its geopolitical rival China. McCain and Lieberman repeatedly stressed Washington’s stake in the vital waterways and oil resources of the South China Sea. Seven countries have claims to the disputed waters, with the most heated confrontations recently occurring between the Philippines and Vietnam, on the one side, and China, on the other.
McCain is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Forces committee and Lieberman a committee member. While not part of the Obama administration, their speeches and discussions carry significant weight with regional powers.
In the Philippines, the senators met with President Benigno Aquino, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. They made arrangements for bilateral maritime security talks to occur in Washington on January 26 and for meetings to take place between del Rosario and Secretary of State Clinton, Gazmin and Secretary of Defense Panetta, and for a meeting in the White House between President Obama and Aquino in May.
During their press conference at the US embassy in Manila, the Senators consistently referred to the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea. This shift in nomenclature was legislated in the Philippines in June 2011, and was a provocative step designed to support the Philippines’ claim to the disputed waters and to stoke nationalist fervor over the conflict. McCain and Lieberman’s adoption of this name is tantamount to an acknowledgement of the validity of the Philippines claim.
McCain went an extra step. The January 19 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted McCain during his press conference as calling for US involvement in the South China Sea to “go further.” The US should let other countries know “which claims the US accepts, which ones we do not, and what actions we are prepared to support.” This is an aggressive escalation of Washington’s involvement in the region.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement at the ASEAN summit in 2010 that the US had a “national interest” in the South China Sea and was “back in Asia to stay” was regarded as a bombshell. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi described Clinton’s remarks as “virtually an attack on China.” Prior to Clinton’s declaration, Washington had taken no official position on the South China Sea. Clinton’s statement laid the foundation for Washington to offer to ‘mediate’ between the rival claimants—a move bitterly opposed by Beijing.
While declaring the US had a ‘national interest’ in the South China Sea, the Obama administration maintained that did not have a position regarding the rival claims to the disputed waters. De facto, however, Washington’s stance encouraged Vietnam and the Philippines to more aggressively assert their claims against China.
McCain is now calling for Washington to indicate which claims it regards as valid, which it thinks are not, and how it would be prepared to enforce these claims. The only possible outcome would be for Washington to insist that Beijing reduce or eliminate its claims in the South China Sea.
On January 19, immediately after McCain and Lieberman’s visit, Philippine Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, head of the Philippine Western Command, announced that the United States and the Philippines would conduct war games in March. US and Philippine marines, he stated, would storm an oil rig off the coast of Palawan. These are waters claimed by both the Philippines and China. Repeated official statements that China is not the target of these joint training exercises strain credulity to breaking point.
Responding to the announcement, the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency stated, “One can’t help but raise questions about the real intentions behind Washington’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.”
McCain announced that the United States would be supplying the Philippines with two new warships in the coming months, in addition to the one supplied last year.
McCain’s visit to Vietnam was equally provocative. Washington has had an arms embargo on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam since 1984. During a visit to Vietnam in August 2011, US Senator Jim Webb, also a member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, called for the lifting of the embargo. McCain and Lieberman began to lay out the concrete steps whereby this lifting could occur and the US could begin supplying Vietnam with weapons.
Lieberman announced that Vietnam had presented a “long laundry list of weaponry” that it wished to acquire from the US, especially anti-aircraft systems. He said: “There are certain weapons systems that the Vietnamese would like to buy from us or receive from us, and we’d like to be able to transfer those systems to them …But it’s not going to happen unless they improve their human rights record.”
Lieberman’s statement makes clear that in exchange for Hanoi making token gestures at ‘improving their human rights record,’ Washington would lift its arms embargo. That this announcement came not just from Lieberman but from McCain, a former US POW in Vietnam, seems calculated to make the announcement palatable to the American public.
Lieberman and McCain carried out a similar agenda in Burma. They held a photo op with recently released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, where McCain announced that the United States would lift its economic sanctions against Burma if the Burmese government conducted “fair and free” by-elections in March. This move is part of Washington’s campaign to wean Burma away from its economic and political ties with China.
The thawing of relations with Burma accelerated in late 2011 with the abrupt cancellation by the Burmese government of a joint dam project with China. When the Burmese junta released some political prisoners, Clinton pointed to this as the evidence that Washington might soon begin lifting economic sanctions. As Burma moves away from China’s political and military orbit, Washington is looking for a justification for restored economic and political ties. McCain’s announcement indicates that the March by-elections may be used as that justification.
Neither McCain nor Lieberman are political allies of President Obama. That McCain, a leading Republican and former presidential candidate, is carrying forward the claims of Washington in the region indicates that the Obama ‘pivot to Asia’ is a move supported by the US ruling elite as a whole. McCain and Lieberman’s visit is yet another step in the renewed assertion of the interests of US imperialism in the region.
Asia Transpacific Journeys Has Been the Myanmar Travel Experts for Over 20 Years
Press Release: Asia Transpacific Journeys – 22 hours ago BOULDER, CO–(Marketwire -01/23/12)- With Myanmar (Burma) undergoing dramatic political changes and opening up to the outside world, Boulder-based Asia Transpacific Journeys is introducing two new trips to the Southeast Asian jewel, in addition to its signature tour that it has run for over 20 years.
“A new era of openness and optimism is dawning in Burma, akin to what Europe experienced at the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,” says Marilyn Downing Staff, founder of Asia Transpacific Journeys, who pioneered trips to Burma in the ’80s. “Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi announced she will run for a seat in parliament, which is a great indicator of Burma’s monumental change,” says Ms. Staff.
A beautiful traditional culture remains almost untouched by modern influences. Exquisite temples, crumbling pagodas and pristine islands await discovery. The lovely rural countryside is home to some of the most welcoming people in Asia. Fabulous restored colonial villas and boutique hotels in traditional style dot the land.
Asia Transpacific Journeys Tours to Burma
Burma — Land of the Golden Pagoda has been their signature tour for over 20 years. The perennial bestseller is an in-depth immersion into a remote and exotic land, melding classic sights with seldom-seen destinations.
Burma and Bhutan — Tradition and Transformation travels to Asia’s two most isolated countries for an extraordinary immersion into their ancient traditions and current transformations.
On Burma’s Frontiers will be hot off the press, a new trip for late 2012. It goes where no tour operator has gone before, to extremely remote destinations, visits tribal villages, and takes a luxurious cruise on a remote section of the Irrawaddy River.
Asia Transpacific Journeys is considered the expert on tourism in Myanmar. They have run tours to Myanmar for the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and both Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler magazine have awarded them the “Top Travel Specialist” honors for Myanmar, recognizing their local connections and in-depth knowledge.
Jan. 24, 2012 Labutta, Delta, Myanmar
Maung Maung Myo Chan/ANN staff Members of southern Myanmar’s farming and fishing communities are learning to prevent and treat hypertension, diabetes and other disease.
A four-day health expo conducted by the church’s Health Ministries and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Myanmar recently drew more than 1,500 attendees and was a first for the Adventist Church in the Irrawaddy Delta region.
Church officials there report that efforts paid off and community members flocked to hear health lectures and receive free medical screenings and consultations. Staff discovered that while 60 percent of those screened had been diagnosed with hypertension, few understood what high blood pressure is or how to treat it.
Local authorities, who were at first reluctant to let the church host a health expo, changed their minds after observing community members leave with newfound health and lifestyle knowledge, church leaders said.
“[The authorities] started to understand the program,” said Dr. Htwe Lay, Adventist Health Ministries director for Myanmar. “Not only did they fully support the health program, they also asked us to conduct more of this in other neighboring areas in the future.”
Comprised of nearly 700 villages, Myanmar’s Labutta region was the country’s hardest hit region when Cyclone Nargis made landfall in 2008. ADRA Myanmar has been active in the region since then, implementing rehabilitation and development projects and addressing health, livelihoods, water hygiene, sanitation and food security concerns.
The region is largely Buddhist, but church leaders hope the health outreach finds traction in the community. Lay said he hopes “the Adventist message will be reached through the health message.”
English.news.cn 2012-01-24 11:07:32 YANGON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) — Myanmar has warned against drug-resistant malaria virus which was first found in border areas of Thailand and Cambodia and later in some regions of the Greater Mekong Subregion basin, especially in border regions linked with eastern areas of Myanmar, according to Tuesday’s official media.
“If the situation gets worsen, it would heavily deter the progress of anti-malaria campaign worldwide,” Myanmar Health Minister Dr Pe Thet Khin was quoted by the New Light of Myanmar as saying.
“The ultimate goal of Artemisinin Resistance Containment Plan is to prevent the spread of artemisinin resistance not only in Myanmar but also to countries sharing border with it, at least to hinder the spread of artemisinin resistance significantly,” he told a related symposium in Nay Pyi Taw Monday.
Malaria represents one of the diseases Myanmar needs to fight as top priority for it remains as public health issue in Myanmar like South Asian and South East Asian nations as India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Timor Leste.
According to the minister, malaria is rooted in 284 townships out of 330 in Myanmar and is frequently seen in rural and border areas.
A total of 68 percent of the whole population resides in areas vulnerable to malaria and migrant workers are mostly affected.
According to statistics of the health department, 650,000 people in Myanmar suffered from malaria, of whom 788 died in 2010.
English.news.cn 2012-01-24 21:49:17
YANGON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) — Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari met in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday evening shortly after the latter arrived on a two-day official visit to Myanmar, reported the state-run media.
The report did not disclose the details about their meeting.
Zardari will fly to Yangon on Wednesday to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, top leader of the opposition National League for Democracy ( NLD), at the latter’s residence, according to the party sources.
Myanmar official statistics showed that Myanmar’s export to Pakistan stood 19.4 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2010- 11.
Malaysia Star – Developer of Myanmar’s Dawei megaproject seeks funding BANGKOK, Jan 23 (Reuters) The clay model of Myanmar’s ambitious Dawei deepsea port and special economic zone sprawls across a long table on the 43rd floor of the headquarters of ItalianThai Development Pcl. Glossy posters hail it as the “new global gateway of IndoChina”.
But moving ahead with the first phase of the project is proving slow, despite the dramatic reforms sweeping Myanmar and the gradual lifting in Western sanctions as the former British colony emerges from half a century of isolation a prospect underlined on Monday by plans by the European Union to ease some punitive measures.
In a rare interview, a senior executive at ItalianThai Development outlined on Monday the company’s farreaching plans for a project that would transform the wild scrubland of southern Myanmar into Southeast Asia’s largest industrial complex.
In a country where a third of its 60 million people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day, Dawei is striking in its ambition.
Superhighways, steel mills, power plants, shipyards, refineries, pulp and paper mills and a petrochemical complex are part of the $50 billion project, as are two golf courses and a holiday resort all strategically nestled between rising powers India, China and Southeast Asia with a port on the Andaman Sea.
The company hopes to secure $8.5 billion by yearend to finance infrastructure and utilities under the first phase of the project, and is confident it will find partners, but it also acknowledges that convincing investors remains tough, particularly given Myanmar’s low level of infrastructure, visa restrictions and urgent need for currency reforms.
Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of Dawei Development Co Ltd, controlled by ItalianThai, told Reuters the first phase of construction roads, a telecoms network, utilities and a port would be completed within threeandahalf years, along with a power plant, but it remains unclear what energy source the plant would use.
Myanmar’s government abruptly halted construction of a 4,000 megawatt coalfired power plant on Jan. 10, citing environmental concerns.
Somchet said its power plant partner, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl, would decide on fuel type within three months, including the possibility of using natural gas funneled to the site on a 50 km (31 mile) pipeline from fields within Myanmar.
In the year to date, ItalianThai shares have underperformed those of its peers and the overall market due to uncertainty over the Myanmar project. The stock closed down 1.16 percent on Monday, while the broader market rose 0.37 percent.
ItalianThai has an “Analyst Revision Score” of 10, far lower than Ch Karnchang’s 32 and SinoThai Engineering’s 66. This is a StarMine model that ranks stocks according to changes in analyst sentiment, with 100 representing the highest rank.
“DOOR THAT IS OPENING”
“We think this project is visionary. It is a door that is opening Myanmar. At the same time, Myanmar has to open this door,” he said.
As Myanmar embarks on its most dramatic political changes since a 1962 military coup in what was then Burma, megaprojects like the 250 sq km (97 sq mi) Dawei Special Economic Zone hint at a rapid acceleration in both investment and development.
But Somchet also illustrated some of the challenges that vex investors in Myanmar.
While they have completed construction of a road that will link Dawei to Bangkok 250 km to the east, the border is not fully open due to disputes between Myanmar and Thailand over its exact demarcation.
Construction of the highway was delayed last year by ethnic Karen rebels who have since signed a preliminary peace deal with the government.
Customs facilities still need to be built.
Somchet is confident all that will be resolved. And while the road on the Myanmar side is not yet paved, he expects that, too, to be completed in about three years, creating a stable route for transport cargo that has been sent to Dawei from the Middle East and Africa for shipping to Bangkok and beyond in Southeast Asia,
bypassing the lengthy and congested Strait of Malacca. Other challenges include Myanmar’s dual exchange rate.
While the currency is pegged at six kyat to a dollar, it changes hands unofficially at rates more than 120 times higher, forcing the government to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
ItalianThai is looking for partners for the various parts of the project and the main ones are likely to come from China, Japan and South Korea, he said.
A quarter of Dawei Development is now held by Max Myanmar Group, owned by Burmese tycoon Zaw Zaw, whose close ties to the Myanmar government put him on the U.S. targeted sanctions list in 2009.
A Nov. 15, 2007, U.S. diplomatic cable described Zaw Zaw as an “up and coming crony”.
That might have been a problem last year, when some potential partners, according to Somchet, were reluctant to express their interest in the project publicly for fear of upsetting business allies in the United States.
But since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Myanmar in December, the mood has changed dramatically, he said.
Although he has had no major expressions of interest in the project by Western investors, potential Asian partners are decidedly more open.
Somchet said he met recently with Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano, for instance.
ItalianThai hopes Dawei could be a location for Japanese firms to build parts to be used at car manufacturing plants in neighbouring Thailand, among other uses.
An investment roadshow in South Korea is scheduled for late February.
Thailand’s top lender, Bangkok Bank, is advising on the power project and Siam Commercial Bank on the whole project.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 11:14:00 AM PHUKET: Many Burmese residents of Phuket are expected to head north to Phang Nga on Sunday for the first-ever Myanmar Concert 2012, part of the annual Phang Nga Red Cross Festival.
Performers will include R Zar Ni, Zaw Paing, Wai Su Khine Thein, Yae Lay, Yae Bakar Win and Chan Chan. Posters publicizing the event have been put up at various locations across Phuket Town.
The festival is now underway nightly in front of the old Provincial Hall in Phang Nga Town.
The grand prize in this year’s charity raffle is gold jewelry valued at 500,000 baht.
Efforts to hold a similar concert in Phuket over the years have never materialized.
In 2007, a plan to stage a similar concert at Saphan Hin for Burmese received a lukewarm reception from the provincial government.
Worapoj Ratthasima, a vice governor at the time, said the event would need to be organized in accordance with all provincial regulations imposed on migrant workers – including a curfew that forbids them to leave their place of residence after 8pm without their employer.
Estimates put the number of Burmese living in Phuket as high as 200,000, a Senate panel meeting in Phuket revealed last year.
This figure includes Mons, Karens and other ethnic groups from lands under the control of the Burmese junta.
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Speaking at a ceremony held in their honor, two recently released leaders of the 88 Generation Students group told their supporters in Pegu on Tuesday that they welcome recent political changes in Burma, but hope for more far-reaching reforms in the future.
Echoing National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s oft-repeated refrain, former student activist Min Ko Naing—widely regarded as second only to Suu Kyi in terms of his political influence in Burma’s pro-democracy movement—emphasized the need for a return to rule of law in the country after half a century of military rule.
“Without the rule of law, there is no security. Citizens can be arrested at any time, and they never know when there will be a knock on their door in the middle of the night,” he said, speaking at an event in Pegu that was also attended by his long-time colleague, Ko Ko Gyi.
The two leaders, who were among hundreds of political prisoners freed under a presidential order on Jan. 13, also applauded the cooperation they have received from local authorities since their release.
Citing their press conference in Rangoon last weekend, which they held with permission from Rangoon Division authorities, they said they are now ready to cooperate with any level of government to achieve further progress.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Ko Ko Gyi said the fact that plainclothes Special Branch officers and local traffic police facilitated their trip to Pegu, about 80 km northeast of Rangoon, was another sign of the more cooperative relationship that is possible between dissidents and the authorities.
The trip to Pegu—their first outside of Rangoon Division since their release from prison less than two weeks ago—was made at the invitation of local supporters and political groups, including the NLD and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, an officially outlawed group that reformed in 2007 at the height of the Buddhist monk-led Saffron Revolution.
“You are our witnesses when we say that we are willing to work with the authorities without hesitation,” Ko Ko Gyi told an audience of about 500 people on Tuesday, adding that he hoped to see more “meaningful change” in the months ahead.
Referring to his recent status as a political prisoner, he said: “We don’t want to be prisoners of the past or prisoners of doubt. We want to look forward to a beautiful future.”
However, in a grim reminder of the dark shadow that abuses of power continue to cast over the country, the two returned to Rangoon immediately after the ceremony in Pegu to attend the funeral of another former political prisoner who died on Sunday.
Thet Nwe, 54, was also among the prisoners released on Jan. 13. Relatives say he died nine days later of complications from a medical condition that went untreated while he was in prison, where he was serving a life sentence for high treason. His health problems were believed to stem from torture he received while under interrogation.
After the funeral, the two former student leaders were expected to meet with Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon. It will be the first time since the late 1980s that all three—who emerged as leaders of Burma’s nascent pro-democracy movement during a nationwide uprising in 1988—have been able to meet.
The Irrawaddy – Nine Years Sleeping on a Cold Concrete Floor
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A number of Burma’s political prisoners who were recently released told The Irrawaddy that conditions inside the prisons were deplorable until 1999 when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) became involved. Many, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the physical environment and said that conditions varied in prisons across the country.
The Irrawaddy reporter Lin Thant spoke to Ko Ko Gyi, the well-known 88 Generation Students Group leader about conditions and his personal experiences inside Mong Hsat Prison, which is situated in a remote location in eastern Shan State.
Ko Ko Gyi was arrested together with his colleagues in 2007 after his involvement in peaceful protests. For his role in the demonstrations, he was handed a 65 and a half year prison sentence.
Having spent nearly 20 years inside, and having done time in Insein, Maubin, Keng Tong and Mong Hsat prisons, Ko Ko Gyi is well qualified to talk about Burma’s prison system.
He was released on Jan. 13 under a presidential amnesty.
Question: Based on your personal experience, please tell us the conditions in the different prisons you were detained.
Answer: The prison conditions were quite bad when we were imprisoned for the first time. What I mean is that we were beaten and maltreated and regularly sent to the guard dogs’ cells. We were not allowed to read and anyone caught with a piece of paper was given a severe punishment.
However, after the ICRC’s visits to prisons, conditions began to change gradually. For instance, I had to sleep on a cold concrete floor for about nine years until the Red Cross came to inspect the jail. After their visit I was allocated a bed. Also, toilets that had manual flushing were installed, and we were permitted to read books, newspapers and journals.
Q: Were there any situations that did not improve?
A: A political prisoner could previously receive a remission on his or her sentence like other inmates. However, after the changes took place in 1997, he no longer qualified for a remission of his sentence. It was a very bad practice. In prison, we can generally calculate that we have the right to get a pardon on one-third of our sentence in accordance with the jail manual. It means that if a political prisoner was given a 15-year term he should be released after serving 10 years. The issue caused a rift between the political prisoners and the prison authorities. On one hand, the government said there are no prisoners in Burma, but on the other hand our rights were systematically abused. That was the worst thing.
Another issue was that during our second time of imprisonment we were sent to remote prisons, intentionally creating a situation where our families could not contact or visit us regularly. A fortnightly prison visit creates an outlet for frustration for a political prisoner. By having an opportunity to meet and talk with family members a political prisoner can release his/her stress that has been bottled up for the past 14 days.
For example, I was in Mong Hsat prison for over three years, during which time my family visited me only three times. And I would say that I was a bit luckier than many others. There were those whose families could not even afford to come and see them even one time.
So, whether intentional or not, transferring political prisoners to remote prisons was a mental torture for them. While physical conditions in different prisons were improving, psychological torture continued.
Q: How about health care in prison?
A: Even an ordinary citizen has to pay everything for health care under the motto za-yeik-hmya-pay-kyan-mar-yay [Share expenses for health]. But it is worse for a prisoner.
Especially in small towns in remote areas, local residents don’t receive adequate health care. For instance, there is neither an X-ray machine nor an eye-doctor nor a dentist.
Therefore, inevitably, there was no prison doctor on hand.
We tried to be prepared and keep medicines for fever and other routine diseases that often affected us during seasonal changes, but we found it very difficult to get treatment for serious problems.
Q: What do you want to say to the government about health care for every political prisoner?
A: First of all, political prisoners shouldn’t have been given those sentences because of their involvement in political activism. While under incarceration they had to live under poor conditions without proper medical treatment, and their families lost the right to take care of their loved ones. This is not something that should happen. The government should be responsible and take effective care of every prisoner’s health.
Q: What do you think is needed to improve the overall condition of prisons, including health care, administration and relations?
A: There is not an equal status in the administration of every prison. It depends on the local authorities, the police information unit dealing with each respective prison, etc.
There is no law firmly enacted in Burma with regard to political prisoners. The country really needs a law that recognizes them and their rights, and also states responsibilities of authorities.
By WAI MOE / THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Peace in Kachin State could take three years to bring to fruition despite the Burmese government’s recent policy of engaging in talks with ethnic armed groups, claims Naypyidaw’s chief negotiator.
Government Minister Aung Thaung, who is head of the peace delegation, told leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) during negotiations in the Chinese border town of Ruili on Wednesday and Thursday that a lasting truce could not be achieved quickly.
Aung Thaung’s plan includes three steps— a ceasefire and reposition of both sides’ troops, development of the region and all-inclusive talks for finding a political resolution to the crisis.
This means that peace with the KIO—the only major armed group still fighting the government since a 17-year ceasefire agreement broke down on June 9—would only be achieved after Burma becomes chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2014 and just ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Throughout seven months of fresh armed conflict in northern Burma, the KIO and local human rights groups have reported that around 50,000 Kachin villagers fled their home to escape the fighting and associated human rights abuses.
“Although the government’s military operations in Kachin State have now decreased, the armed conflicts here have continued,” KIO Joint-Secretary La Nan told The Irrawaddy on Monday.
“Even during talks between the KIO and the government delegation led by U Aung Thaung, government troops launched offensives on two of our bases,” he added.
La Nan said that this assault on Thursday jeopardized the peace process between the KIO and government.
“We complained about the attacks to U Aung Thaung and his delegation during talks on Thursday. He [Aung Thaung] told us that he would raise the issue when he was back in Naypyidaw,” La Nan said.
The KIO official revealed that they hope to hold another session of talks with the government delegation in February although the precise date has not yet been set.
Ending all hostilities in Burma’s ethnic areas alongside the release of political prisoners and free and fair in elections are the three criteria cited by the international community to achieve political development in the Southeast Asian nation.
The United States has also called for the ending of ethnic armed conflicts before it can lift sanctions on Burma.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi brought up the ongoing Kachin conflict during her recent interview with the Washington Post and said it was a key issue for US officials to achieve a policy shift.
“There should be an end to all hostilities in the ethnic areas. There has been a ceasefire with the KNU [Karen National Union] but not yet with the KIA [Kachin Independence Army—the KIO's military wing]. That is a big problem for the country,” Suu Kyi said.
“The situation in the Kachin [State] is a major problem. If we are to have a genuinely peaceful nation, we will have to resolve these problems politically, not militarily,” she added.
Although Suu Kyi and ethnic groups have called for the resolution of conflicts politically, observers believe Aung Thaung’s recent statement that peace might take three years has thrown Naypyidaw’s commitment to resolving the conflict into doubt.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 21:27 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A hearing for former political prisoner Nay Myo Zin who is charged with taking illegal items into Insein Prison while he was an inmate was held on Tuesday. The court is likely to deliver a verdict soon, sources said.
Nay Myo Zin, a former Burmese Army captain, was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Electronics Act in August 2011. He was released from prison on January 12 in the presidential amnesty.
Insein Prison authorities have now charged him with taking illegal items into the prison including T-shirts bearing General Aung San’s portrait and key ring holders bearing Aung San Suu Kyi’s photograph.
“I have to testify today,” Nay Myo Zin told Mizzima. “The judge asked me who gave the T-shirts to me when I went to the hospital and with what intention did I take the shirts into the prison. I was asked where I kept the shirts and whether I filled out a search form.”
Nay Myo Zin said that when he was admitted to Kyimyindaing Hospital in Rangoon to receive medical treatment on August 23, 2011, members of a National League for Democracy blood donation group came to visit him and gave him various items. When he was discharged from the hospital, he showed the items to prison security officials and then took them into the prison.
Nay Myo Zin took two T-shirts bearing General Aung San’s portrait, six key ring holders bearing General Aung San and Aung San Suu Kyi’s photographs, three photos of Aung San Suu Kyi, two badges with the text, “General Aung San is the father of the army,” 15 stickers with General Aung San’s photograph and a Newsweek journal that contained a picture of a meeting of Burmese President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nay Myo Zin said his trial reflects the split nature of the newly formed government at this time. While President Thein Sein is instituting reforms, lower-level staff still follow the former junta’s attitudes and customs, he said.
“They may be worried that they could be held accountable. Or maybe their superior officials failed to revoke the 20-year old attitudes in which General Aung San’s picture was not allowed, so they do it based on the old attitudes,” Nay Myo Zin said.
On January 27, Nay Myo Zin’s lawyer Hla Myin will present his defense. A verdict could be handed down by the end of the month.
Nay Myo Zin, 36, is a former Burmese army captain; he served for 10 years. He resigned from the army in 2005. He actively took part in an NLD-affiliated blood donation and social group.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 21:03 Mark Farmaner (Commentary) – When Burmese President Thein Sein came to power there was a lot of speculation that he would just be a puppet, with Than Shwe following the Ne Win model of pulling strings behind the scenes. But if anyone has been pulling strings behind the scenes, even if not literally, it has been Khin Nyunt.
The agenda followed by Thein Sein appears so eerily similar to initiatives by Khin Nyunt, the ousted intelligence chief and prime minister, that they could be using the same blueprint. The difference now is that Than Shwe isn’t there to block its implementation.
Khin Nyunt wanted an end to Burma’s pariah status. He wanted Burma to become a more modern and powerful country, taking its rightful place in the region and the world.
To do this, he understood that there would have to be some kind of accommodation with Aung San Suu Kyi. He understood that the horrific human rights abuses committed in ethnic states was damaging to Burma’s reputation, and that the conflict needed to be ended.
That is not to say he was a true reformer, far from it. As U.S. diplomatic cable from August 2005, released by Wikileaks, revealed, “The hypothesis being that the disgraced prime minister was a moderate or a reformer who lost out to the hard-liners in a power struggle … General Khin Nyunt was a hard-liner, albeit a more polished and approachable one. He was a pragmatist who cultivated foreign countries and a purported dialogue with the opposition simply as a means to mollify the international community and perpetuate the regime’s absolute control.”
This is the man who ran Burma’s torture chambers. He knew about horrific abuses taking place such as the use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese Army, but denied it. He defended the dictatorship internationally, and was effective in doing so.
Thein Sein has a similar track record of direct links to human rights abuses and defending the dictatorship on the international stage. He was twice named by the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Burma for ordering his troops to commit human rights abuses while he was a regional commander in Shan State. He mastered skills in delaying and duping the international community while representing the regime on a committee to tackle the use of child soldiers, and later became the international face of the dictatorship, as Khin Nyunt had done, in the role of prime minister.
The similarities between the political approaches of Khin Nyunt and Thein Sein were evident from the moment Thein Sein became president. Thein Sein’s headline-grabbing inaugural speech to Parliament had echoes of the language used by Khin Nyunt. There was a more open acknowledgement of problems that existed and promises that action would be taken to address them.
Khin Nyunt expended political capital negotiating with Aung San Suu Kyi to bring her and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), into the National Convention. Indeed, it is thought an agreement was almost in place before he was arrested and placed under house arrest.
Thein Sein has also done the same, reaching agreement for the NLD to enter Parliament.
Khin Nyunt also negotiated cease-fire agreements with armed ethnic political parties, as Thein Sein has belatedly started to do after first breaking three cease-fires. In another similarity, negotiations addressing the political issues at the root cause of the conflict have also been put off until a later date. In the case of the round of cease-fire agreements made 20 years ago, that later date never arrived.
In 2003, Khun Nyunt announced the seven-stage roadmap which would lead to the drafting of a new constitution and elections. This was widely seen at the time as designed to head off proposed international sanctions following the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi following the Depayin Massacre. Thein Sein chaired the National Convention drafting the principles of that Constitution, and led the pro-military party into the elections.
Khin Nyunt also knew the value of engaging with the international community. Like Thein Sein, and in stark contrast to Than Shwe who often claimed to be “too busy,” he is much more willing to meet diplomats and visiting ministers.
This was a tactic that Khin Nyunt found highly effective. Many diplomats and U.N. officials based in Burma fell under his spell, just as many appear to have fallen under the spell of Thein Sein now.
There are undoubtedly similarities in approach between Thein Sein and Khin Nyunt. The big question: is the end goal the same? Khin Nyunt’s end goal wasn’t democracy and human rights. It was about taking off the rough edges off the dictatorship in order to get sanctions lifted and international legitimacy.
Thein Sein has gone further than Khun Nyunt was able to go. However, despite some very welcome developments, it is noticeable that so far no repressive laws have been repealed, and no power relinquished at all. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, President Thein Sein pointedly refused to make a commitment to repeal censorship laws instead saying; ‘The media needs to take responsibility and proper actions. Media freedom will be based on the accountability they have.”
If Thein Sein wants to show he is a real reformer, he needs to go beyond “Plan Khin Nyunt” and implement deeper reforms, such as repealing repressive laws and bringing in new laws which guarantee the rule of law and a democratic society.
So far, however, it just looks like Khin Nyunt’s plan, which along with his new freedom, gives Khin Nyunt more than one reason to be happy.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 12:38 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – An urban research and development institute has been opened jointly by the Burmese government and the United Nations, in a sign of greater U.N. involvement in Burma’s rapidly changing government.
Burmese Minister of Construction Khin Maung Myint, and U.N. officials opened the Urban Research and Development Institute (URDI), established with UN-HABITAT support, which will undertake research conduct training programmes on urban planning and management that will include fostering urban-rural interaction.
In his opening remarks, Khin Maung Myint, expressed his hope that the newly opened URDI will assist the government’s endeavors of building a new, modern and developed nation.
UN-HABITAT Myanmar plans to undertake projects in 2012 involved in urban poverty reduction, urban planning and development, urban-rural linkages, research, training and capacity building, land governance, local governance and leadership training and capacity development.
Published: 24 January 2012 Norway’s foreign minister will head to Burma soon to continue to push for reform in the country, and says the changing landscape there could turn looming Norwegian investment into a constructive force that can integrate Burma into the global economy.
The government in Norway announced last week that it would drop sanctions on Burma, although it continues to align itself with remaining EU sanctions on the country. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told DVB in an interview that the country would now push for “normal relations” with Naypyidaw.
This will include “investment, jobs, welfare … [and] integration of Myanmar [Burma] into the international economy,” he said, adding that “Norwegian companies should start preparing for that”.
The decision last week makes Norway the first western country to individually drop sanctions on Burma, a move that has drawn accusations that Oslo has responded prematurely to developments in the country – ironically, it was also one of the first states to open its doors to Burmese refugees, and awarded Aung San Suu Kyi the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
But throughout the years in which it supported the pro-democracy movement, Norway came under fire from campaigners who alleged that its state-owned investment body, the Norwegian Pension Fund, held shares in energy companies operating in Burma, including Total and Chevron, and had invested up to $US5 billion in the country’s oil and gas sectors.
Støre said that Norwegian officials would soon hold a roundtable on responsible investment in the country. He believes that Burma, which has long relied on close ties with China and other neighbouring countries to keep its economy afloat, needed “free and fair” investment from a range of players, and expressed hope that a review of EU sanctions in Burma would be followed by a normalisation of Burma’s relations with member states.
The government under President Thein Sein has moved to break with the Machiavellian policies of past regimes in a bid to convince the EU and US that the time is ripe to drop punitive economic measures. Reforms have included the passing of a law permitting peaceful protest, and a decision to allow Suu Kyi to compete in April by-elections.
Støre said it is important that these development are not reversed, particularly the progress made in brokering ceasefires with ethnic armies.
“[After the ceasefire agreement] you enter into a very fragile phase of anchoring that ceasefire into something that can be [the] end of conflict – but [the] end of conflict is the beginning of something very difficult, which is development, participation, social programmes, welfare programmes.
“Many experiences show us that the ceasefire may not be the most difficult thing, but to make development work in an equitable and fair way and to have justice prevail, that is the complicated part.”
Norway acted as a mediator in negotiations that brought to an end a lengthy civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers rebel group. Could it play the same role in Burma?
“If the [armed] groups and government can benefit from third party assistance then I think we would be ready to consider that,” he said, cautioning however that Norway would not “impose ourselves on a situation like that”.
By KO HTWE
Published: 24 January 2012
Burma’s government-formed rights commission says a recent report spotlighting ongoing abuses by the Burmese army is “unreasonable” and fails to acknowledge progress in the country over the past nine months.
Human Rights Watch said in its annual global report yesterday that troops “[continue] to violate international humanitarian law through the use of anti-personnel landmines, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, beatings, and pillaging of property”. The group said it stands in sharp contrast to various political and media reforms enacted by the government.
The report however homed in on human rights violations without emphasising the fact that the Thein Sein administration has radically broke with the policies of the former ruling junta, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said.
“I think it’s unreasonable to make a broad report on the whole of 2011 – you have to look at the year as it progressed from March [when the government came to power],” said Sitt Myaing, secretary of the NHRC.
The body, which consists of 15 former ambassadors, government officials and academics, dispatched survey teams to Kachin state last year to study the needs of civilians displaced by heavy fighting.
“We don’t want to deny the mental, physical and economic suffering of civilians – there is always a collateral damage in armed conflicts – and that people had been killed or injured,” Sitt Myaing said. “But we will only know the truth behind this if we observe carefully which group caused this.”
He claims one clear sign of improvement was the formation of the NHRC last year, which is tasked with handling complaints from Burmese of rights abuses committed by government authorities.
While Human Rights Watch’s Burma researcher, David Mathieson, conceded that positive steps had been taken by the government recently, he warned that glaring problems are not being adequately addressed.
“One of the most important things the government can do – and there have been signals from President Thein Sein that he will do this – is to rein in the military. The culture of abuse against civilians has to end,” he told DVB.
Similar caution surrounds the release of high-profile political prisoners earlier this month. Mathieson said that a monitoring mechanism led by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should be introduced to allow inspectors to visit Burmese prisoners “and determine once and for all which prisoners are political prisoners that were sentenced under very politicised laws”.
According to Sitt Myaing, however, the NHRC has visited a number of prisons and found that conditions in at least two, Insein in Rangoon and Myitkyina prison in Kachin state, “have improved”.
By ELLIOTT PRASSE-FREEMAN
Published: 24 January 2012
This is the second in a three-part essay examining recent developments in Burma. Tomorrow, Resisting a neoliberal sweep of Burma…
In conversations, message boards, and Op-Eds, opponents deny that current events could signify progress or ‘real’ transformation. Burma’s inadequate legal institutions – the flawed constitution, the lack of judiciary independence, its prison system – allegedly foreclose any possible change. Aided by misguided or reckless international legal ‘experts’ and advocates, these arguments insist that politics necessarily derives from the legal architecture. Law transforms from an instrument into an end in itself; erased in the process is what vision legal reform might effect. Indeed, many in the opposition seem almost incapable of thinking through governance and politics, instead mumbling “free all political prisoners, redo 2008 constitution” like a way of warding off evil spirits.
Janet Benshoof, of legal advocacy group Global Justice Centre, perfectly encapsulates this blindness. In a recent DVB article she claims to peel away the veneer of amelioration by highlighting the legal foundations of an indefinite military rule: “This bold attempt to establish a permanent ‘law free zone’ for the military has escaped the notice of the global community… The military’s stranglehold over Burma is impervious to political reform given its constitutional basis.”
Benshoof continues by arguing that this would preclude any democratically-elected Burmese leader from preventing anything from genocide and nuclear proliferation to international trade violations. From this, despite Burma’s prima facie absence of nuclear capabilities, Benshoof presents Burma as a clear and present danger to the world, and asserts that Burma has abdicated its right to claim participation in a community of “civilised nations.” Those civilised nations, Benshoof concludes, have an “intransgressible legal duty of non-recognition,” citing – along with thousands of Burma commentators over the years – the messianic precedent of South Africa: the Security Council could makeBurma crack in the same way.
The key move in Benshoof’s piece, consistent with the ideological work of centuries of imperialists before her, is to draw a clear and definite line between “civilised” and “non-civilised” social systems. The Rule of Law, she suggests, is the sacred object that separates the two, with civilised nations guided by impartial laws while the non-civilised are allowed to run wild. But as the political theorist Walter Benjamin aptly put it during the Nazi rise to power, “every story of civilization is also a story of barbarism.” By way of elaboration, Benjamin elsewhere noted the “something rotten” at the very core of law, insisting on the violence that must suffuse law to guarantee it, always lurking beneath all ostensibly “civilised” political-legal systems.
Were he still commenting today, Benjamin likely would not simply highlight the US’ tragic Global War on Terror, where the spectacular unraveling of its vaunted constitution has been so egregious and transparent that it can be evoked in iconic signifiers: “Guantanamo”, “extraordinary rendition”, and so on. Benjamin might fixate, rather, on the everyday violations of law that are buried in the interstices of the legal regime, hidden beneath its spectacular and exceptional moments. For instance, while the US’ barely-veiled drone bombing program (outside the law even though it is a political fact) acts as particularly stark example, we need only to examine the quotidian functioning of American justice to notice how it violates itself at every step: the police actively decide whom to arrest (acting as Benjamin put it, as a spectral force between enforcing and creating law); the technically extra-legal plea bargain coerces false confessions of under-resourced defendants; jury nullification is a legally-guaranteed institution that allows juries to disregard the law in favor of public opinion, and yet an advocate who has worked to educate juries about this right has been federally indicted; once incarcerated, the widespread rape of inmates in US prisons is not a part of their sentences and yet continues unabated. The irreconcilable tension between these violations and our systems’ pretensions allow us to come back to Benjamin: “the state of exception… has become the norm.”
A tired response to this is the scream, “If you think Burma and America are the same, you are crazy! In Burma you wouldn’t even be free to write this article!”. This I happily concede; the US and Burma are certainly not the same – especially surrounding political dissent. But there are some similarities between the two regarding how they improvise and violate their own laws, and comparing and contrasting this helps us understand Burma’s current political situation.
Juxtaposing Obama’s US and Thein Sein’s Burma, we see the latter’s allegedly irreconcilably lawless system as similar to America’s in important ways. What prevents US security forces from rounding up ‘average’ (read: white bourgeois) citizens and violating their ‘rights’ is not something wholly inscribed in law. Other factors, particularly an assemblage of social values that animate the legal system, make such an action (at least under ‘normal circumstances’) simply unthinkable. And while laws can produce realities consistent with their explicit rules – as feedback loops produce a given statute as common sense – the law’s power does not come from within itself; its explicit and implicit violations show us that the law is empty, a vessel that society can invest with symbolic capital.
Hence, Burma’s citizens have not found it odd to watch their politically-active countrymen imprisoned for violations of ludicrous laws. The society’s cultural, political, and symbolic realities have filled laws with a different common sense, one that makes oppositional politics dangerous. How would ‘reform’ change this in itself? It would not if it were to mean simply writing another piece of legislation.
Where then does this leave us in assessing the current reforms? Two strategies emerge: first, work through the systems that exist, while maintaining that they are deeply flawed. ‘Reform’ is a strategy and a process that cleaves open space to oppose from within, which allows reformers to remain un-captured by the system in which they are participating. If reformers forget this, and think reform is an end, they will forever be reacting to government backsliding, rather than proactively pushing their own vision.
To illustrate, what separates supposedly durable reforms from the ‘superficial’ is the point at which one arbitrarily draws the line: is there evidence to show that today’s political system has escaped capture by the military, as opposed to instrumentalising military control? What of the fact that even now, after the supposedly irrevocably flawed constitutional referendum and election, military-appointed MPs are interacting with civilian representatives? The sheer fact that military representatives have not always voted as a block – even in this early stage – suggests that they are at least somewhat un-captured. Can they be re-captured? Of course, just as political prisoners can be re-imprisoned. The state could do that, because the state controls the monopoly of violence and the ability to make decisions that exceed the laws, whatever those laws happen to be. The arguments for a ‘good’ constitution as an end seem similarly problematic – we are still dealing with the same inherent problem of the exceptional violence of the state. Unless the opposition demonstrates fidelity to an ethos of political anarchism, a noble goal, they will have to maneuver within a space in which they will never be safe, sure, or soundly grounded.
Second, the flawed constitution gives the opposition an excuse and a reason to start doing creative politics outside of legal-juridical or official political channels, which in turn can bring politics back down to where people live and die. There are alternative ways to communicate this politics – canvassing, outreach, guerilla art, newspapers, periodicals, radio, and internet. Radio contains still-untapped potential: a program called “Everyday Burmese Lives” could highlight the struggles of Burmese people, outline the ways that these struggles constitute governance challenges, and then follow up by outlining concrete policies that combine state and local solutions: increased access to credit for farmers, community ownership of forests, transparent revenues of oil and gas projects directed to health and education, and so on.
These two strategies can act to mutually reinforce each other: any ‘reform’ will likely take on meaning only when practiced. This can change collective common sense, infusing ‘reform’ with social meaning.
Elliott Prasse-Freeman is Founding Research Associate Fellow, HR+SM Program, and Advisory Board Member, Sexuality, Gender, and HR Program at Harvard Kennedy School. He spent five years working in international development for various agencies—from the UN to international NGOs—where he directed projects in Burma, India, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia.