Winds of change tempt home Myanmar exiles
By Richard Sargent | AFP – 4 hrs ago

Dramatic changes sweeping through Myanmar are luring back some of the country’s millions-strong diaspora to help rebuild their impoverished homeland, in a reversal of a decades-long brain drain.

Aung Naing Oo had not set foot in the country formerly known as Burma for almost a quarter century since escaping through malaria-infested jungle into Thailand after the army brutally crushed student protests in 1988.

Emboldened by a surprising series of reforms and an invitation by the new government for exiles to return, he was one of a group of academics who recently made the previously unthinkable journey home.

He told AFP after his arrival in Yangon that he hoped their return would herald “a new era” for exiles to join the peace-building process.

“I also look at this trip as a personal reconciliation with my own country, my own whole life, trying to heal the wounds, the trauma that we have.”

Richard Horsey, an independent Myanmar analyst, said the return of the Harvard-educated academics sent a signal to other exiles or economic migrants that they could go back, taking much-needed skills with them.

“I think this is going to be really important because it is the capacity issue which is going to hold back the reforms,” he said, noting that a lack of expertise means economic reforms have so far trailed political change.

With an economy corrupted by cronyism and an education system weakened by chronic underinvestment and interference from a regime deeply suspicious of students, there has been little effort to build a skilled workforce.

Repression and lack of opportunity has created a diaspora of several million people — a significant proportion of the roughly 60 million population.

“You have this body of very well-trained young Myanmar people in Singapore, Malaysia, in Thailand and in the West who have been trained to a high standard in different areas. What does it take to get them back?” Horsey said.

A new military-backed civilian government that took power last year has surprised observers with a series of conciliatory gestures to its opponents.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is now running for parliament in April by-elections and hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, including key figures from the 1988 student movement.

Aung Naing Oo, who has spent over half his lifetime campaigning for change from outside, described the recent reforms as “some kind of miracle”.

At last able to set foot on Myanmar soil without fearing arrest, even if only for a short visit this time, he plans to hold talks with government figures, activists and the private sector.

Some of his colleagues at the Vahu Development Institute (VDI) — a Thailand-based think-tank on development, economic reform and governance — are now moving back to Myanmar for good.

The changes afoot have sparked hopes for an end to sanctions and the start of an economic revival after decades of isolation and mismanagement.

Following a visit last month, the International Monetary Fund said Myanmar could become “the next economic frontier in Asia”, with its rich natural resources, young labour force and strategic position between India and China.

But the challenge of turning potential into reality is significant for a nation with a chronic lack of infrastructure and economic imbalances including an informal exchange rate almost 100 times better than the official one.

“We have a lot of challenges…. The problem is that even though there is some capacity within the government they lack exposure and they are stymied by the old bureaucratic culture,” said Aung Naing Oo.

Meanwhile investors are clamouring for a toe-hold and firms are bracing themselves for stiff competition to hire skilled workers.

“Experienced local workers will have many job opportunities,” said Win Aung, president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The government has sent some signals to the diaspora — ditching a 10 percent income tax for overseas workers and formalising a remittance system. But there has yet to be a comprehensive outreach effort.

In Singapore, where Myanmar students can receive a partial grant in exchange for an undertaking to work in the country for several years after graduation, there are glimmers of optimism about returning.

Business management student San May Thu, 21, who said young expatriates avidly followed changes at home on Facebook and other websites, hoped they would go back to serve the country.

“I think there is a great future for Burma,” she added.

For the older generation it may be harder to return, with many married and permanently settled.

There are also subtler questions of identity. Aung Naing Oo said he was not sure he would feel comfortable wearing the traditional longyi — a sort of sarong — after two decades in western clothes.

Ahead of the trip he said he was preparing to confront a country made strange by a quarter century absence — but still home.

“People have warned me already — as soon as you get out of the airport you find yourself in a strange world. You hear the voices that are so familiar and you realise you are Burmese to the core.”

Insight: As Myanmar opens, China alliance starts to fray
By a Reuters staff reporter | Reuters – 15 hrs ago

MANDALAY, Myanmar- When officials first turned up demanding Chen Ching-feng remove the Chinese sign above her clothing shop in Myanmar’s biggest northern city, she ignored them.

“When they came back a few days later and asked why the Chinese was still there, I said I had been busy,” the ethnic Chinese resident of Mandalay said, speaking in Mandarin.

“They made me take them down immediately and sign an undertaking not to put them back.”

Other ethnic Chinese shop-owners report similar requests, though enforcement is patchy.

Government officials in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, say there is no official ban on Chinese advertisements, but demands to pull them down in Mandalay, a city dominated by Chinese merchants, illustrate mounting unease over Beijing’s expanding influence.

As Myanmar pursues dramatic reforms, its relationship with China — the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest investor and second-biggest trade partner — is changing. In some cases, long-festering resentment is flaring into the open.

During decades of isolation, the former Burma relied on China as its closest diplomatic and military ally. Wide-reaching Western sanctions put in place after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 forced Myanmar to deepen economic ties with China.

But as Myanmar embarks on the road back to democracy, a once-muffled debate about China’s role is growing louder. The reforms are also taking place as the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China has sharpened since the Obama administration’s “pivot” toward Asia after preoccupation with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the past decade.

HISTORICAL FRICTIONS

China’s expanding economic influence was never that popular anyway in a country historically suspicious of foreign powers — memories linger of Beijing’s alleged support for the Communist Party of Burma in the 1960s and ’70s. China has its grievances, too. Clashes between Myanmar soldiers and various insurgent groups dotting the border with China have killed innocent Chinese and sent refugees streaming across the frontier.

“The government has tried to ban foreign influences before. It seems to be happening again,” said Hu Chieh-chi, a restaurateur in Mandalay, who is an ethnic Chinese and a Myanmar citizen, just like clothes store owner Chen.

A two-hour drive away, a grass-roots campaign is forming to halt China’s most strategic investment in Myanmar: twin pipelines that will stretch from the Bay of Bengal to China’s energy-hungry western provinces, bringing oil and natural gas to one of China’s most undeveloped regions.

In interviews with Reuters, the activists say they were emboldened by Myanmar’s surprise decision on September 30 to shelve the $3.6 billion Chinese-funded Myitsone dam under public pressure. U.S. officials told Reuters that responsiveness to a public demand was a crucial factor in Washington’s historic rapprochement with Myanmar late last year.

Much is at stake. Myanmar provides populous and landlocked southwestern China a crucial outlet to the sea. A friendly Myanmar helps reassure Beijing, which is increasingly worried about being “encircled” by the United States and its allies, from Japan to Australia and India.

TALE OF TWO PIPELINES

From his home overlooking a colonial-era golf course, Kyaw Thiha is clear about what he sees holding back reforms: China.

“This is a democracy. The Chinese ordering us around is not democratic,” said the former political prisoner who will contest an April 1 parliamentary by-election as a candidate for the opposition National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The soft-spoken university history tutor, jailed during the failed 1988 uprising, wants the government to stop the 790-km (490-mile) pipeline project that will cut across the country, including near his town in the old British hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin.

Human rights groups say the pipelines will displace thousands, damage livelihoods of farmers and fishermen, and benefit China more than Myanmar, where power outages are chronic.

To Beijing, the pipelines are a vital energy security asset that will reduce its reliance on shipping through the narrow choke-point of the Malacca Strait. Thousands of Chinese workers have been enlisted to build them.

“We want parliament to stop the pipeline. It was not given permission by the people,” Kyaw Thiha said in an interview.

A year ago, such talk was dangerous in a country whose critics were regularly locked up by generals who had ruled since a 1962 coup. But reforms led by a year-old nominally civilian government have begun to unwind years of authoritarianism and self-imposed isolation.

The government has relaxed some media censorship, allowed trade unions, begun peace talks with ethnic rebels, freed hundreds of dissidents and showed signs of pulling back from the powerful economic and political orbit of China. It was rewarded in December when Hillary Clinton made the first visit to the country by a U.S. secretary of state since 1955.

GRIEVANCES ON THE INTERNET

Myanmar Energy Minister Than Htay acknowledged public concerns over the pipelines but said they would be completed on schedule next year.

“We solved each and every problem along that pipeline route, and we give compensation for land use much more than previously,” he said in a recent interview. “I consider all the potential issues that will be raised by the anti-government groups. I see every day on the Internet many groups raise the problems and the issues to disturb our project.”

For many in Myanmar, the pipelines embody all that is rotten about China’s influence: environmental destruction, land grabs, cronyism and accusations of corruption.

Thant Lwin is one of many farmers who simmer with resentment when asked about them. Chinese bulldozers have sliced his rice-paddy field in half to make way for the pipeline and service road in his small village.

“We are facing real hardship because of the Chinese,” he said from his farm in the countryside near Pyin Oo Lwin, known in colonial times as Maymyo.

“I would be extremely happy if the pipeline gets canceled. But I don’t think that will happen,” he said. “It is not a matter of hating China. I can only accept the situation. I have no power.

Most people are scared to talk out against the project as it is a government project.”

Venerable Candobhasa, a Buddhist monk whose land was bisected by one pipeline outside of Pyin Oo Lwin, scoffed at claims that the project, led by China National Petroleum Corp, parent of PetroChina Co Ltd, would bring much-needed money and development to affected villages.

“These are our natural resources. We should keep it for ourselves to help us develop, not sell it to China. We don’t have enough power,” he said, sitting cross-legged on a sparse floor in his monastery.

“The government does not share the money from the pipeline with us. We want to know where it has gone.”

Others appear to be almost chafing for a confrontation with China.

“China is going to be shocked as we alone among the Southeast Asia countries are going to stand up to them,” said Khon Ja, a human rights campaigner from northern Myanmar who likes showing visitors a map on her computer outlining exactly why Myanmar is coveted by China, detailing potential road and rail links that could connect southwestern China to the world.

“We have lots of natural resources, are in a very strategic location, and have a long border with China, more than 2,000 km,” she said in a Yangon café.

MYANMAR NEEDS CHINA, TOO

China’s pervasive influence will not be easy to roll back.

Though rich in natural resources, Myanmar is one of Asia’s poorest countries. Its new entrepreneurs need the booming border trade and China’s investment money. And the army needs China’s help in ending the unrest along their shared border.

China and its companies pledged more than $14 billion of investment in Myanmar’s 2010/11 (April-March) fiscal year, taking total foreign direct investment pledges to $20 billion from $300 million a year before, according to official data.

“Myanmar really cannot afford to damage its good relations with China,” said Lin Xixing, a Myanmar expert at Guangzhou’s Jinan University.

Ethnic Chinese are not the only ones who have prospered from China’s largesse.

In Lashio, a town four hours by car from the Chinese border, the matriarch of a large Indian family beamed with pride as she showed a reporter her large, well-appointed house, and then presented a faded picture of a thatched shack where they lived a decade ago.

She explains the change with a single word: “China.”

“They give us very good business,” she said of her auto repair shop. “Lots of trucks go to trade with China. We repair them. Business is very good.”

Lashio’s markets heave with Chinese-made goods, and Chinese is the dominant language of commerce thanks to decades of Chinese immigration, mostly from neighbouring Yunnan province.

With almost no industry of its own, even the most basic goods are usually imported in Myanmar from China or Thailand — from laundry powder to soy sauce. Competing local products are often more expensive.

A large bottle of China’s Dali brand beer costs 500-600 kyat in Lashio, for instance, more than half the price of a similar bottle of Myanmar brew. China’s massive economy of scale and well-oiled logistics mean its products can easily overwhelm their local rivals.

CHINA’S SUPPLY TRAINS

On Lashio’s main road to China, trucks rumble by all day. Those from China are packed with refrigerators, televisions, and other consumer goods. Those leaving are clogged with timber, bags of cheap coal and other resources. Smugglers run drugs, jade, and gems into China and beyond.

Many wonder whether this will change if Western sanctions are lifted. Could trade with Europe and the United States elbow out China?

That’s unlikely, said Aung Zaw Win, who builds machinery in Mandalay and who does most of his business with China and Chinese people.

“China will remain an important market for us. China has well-established supply chains and infrastructure. We cannot substitute for them within the space of only a few years,” he said from his office in central Mandalay.

But he is making preparations just in case. An American diplomat stopped by recently to ask Zaw Win about the impact of sanctions on his business. A Japanese company inquired about doing business together.

“I am ready for the sanctions to go. I am building a new factory to export to the United States and Europe. I cannot buy directly some U.S.-made components. I have to go to China and get them from street vendors.”

His friend, Sein Win, believes the market will decide who is better for business in Myanmar: China, Europe or the United States.

“Everyone knows that U.S. and European products are expensive compared with those made in China. Market forces will talk and we will still trade with China as Chinese goods are cheap,” he said in pitch-perfect Mandarin.

Manoj Vohra, an Asia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in Singapore, agrees that easing sanctions won’t make much of a difference initially. “We’re not going to see an huge flow of investments by American and European companies immediately, so Myanmar’s dependence on China as a regional ally for economic development and investment will continue.”

However, shoddy treatment of local workers by Chinese companies has caused “huge resentment and discontent,” said Vohra, who thought stiffer competition from Western countries would eventually encourage China to “make the deal sweeter” when doing business on Myanmar. Post-Myitsone, he added, the message to Chinese investors had changed slightly: “Yes, we welcome you — but you have to do more.”

WAVES OF IMMIGRANTS

Chinese have been a formidable presence in Myanmar for centuries.

Immigration swelled during British colonial rule from 1842 to 1948. The end of China’s civil war in 1949 brought another wave of migrants. When Chinese Communists expelled the Kuomintang, many fled to Myanmar and Thailand, and then fought with the Burmese government before settling in Taiwan.

Those who stayed behind faced brutal discrimination under the rule of General Ne Win who barred ethnic Chinese and other foreigners from owning land, banned Chinese-language education and stoked anti-Chinese violence.

In Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, memories are still vivid of bloody anti-Chinese riots in 1967. Deadly flames engulfed a school. Chinese shops were looted.

“It was a terrible time. Everything changed for us after then,” said shop owner Wu Yan-shun, whose father arrived in Yangon in 1949. Wu fears the recent political changes could weaken the government’s ties with China, making him and other Chinese vulnerable.

“You can’t rule out that some of the anger people feel against the Chinese will be turned on us again. Relations with China are not so bad now. That could change as Myanmar opens up and there is more debate about ties with China and its influence here.”

Backlashes against Chinese have flared before in Southeast Asia, most notably in Malaysia in 1969 and in Indonesia in 1998 before the fall of former President Suharto.

Perhaps with this in mind, the Chinese community in Yangon seems strangely un-Chinese, especially when compared with other Southeast Asian cities. Its “Chinatown” has almost no Chinese restaurants, no Chinese pop music blaring from shops, few Chinese bookstores and limited use of the Chinese script.

There are no government-approved Chinese schools, unlike in Malaysia or Thailand. The city has a few privately run “bu xi ban,” a Taiwanese expression meaning “cram” school, but are actually just language academies.

Teacher Lin Lee, 30, born in northern Myanmar to Chinese parents, said it was hard just to get text books.

“The government is very strict about imports of Chinese text books,” she said from her classroom above an old shop-house. “We have to use photocopies. We ask people who are going to China to try and sneak back in a few copies of new books.”

Many feel deeply attached to Myanmar.

“I have made great efforts to get on with my neighbours,” said Tsai Tun-heng, the owner of a cluttered convenience store. “If anyone comes to burn down my store I want them to know that they will also be destroying the Burmese-owned businesses all around me.”

In Mandalay, the ban on Chinese advertising also revived memories of anti-Chinese violence during the Ne Win-era.

It also recalls a similar ban on Chinese signage and publications in Indonesia that remained in effect for years after an abortive 1965 coup blamed on the China-backed Indonesian Communist Party. Myanmar’s new government has sent officials to Indonesia to study its road to democracy.

“What can you do about it? It’s their country,” said café owner Liu Kui-you, a Myanmar citizen who can trace his ancestry to Yunnan province.

Bein Nei Tha, a Burmese motorbike dealership worker, laughed when asked why his company also comes under the ban, despite having no Chinese ownership and had previously used just a few small Chinese characters next to an otherwise English-only sign.

“It seems a little silly,” he said. “I suppose the government wants to limit foreign influence, but then why leave the English?”

UPDATE 1-Thai Ratchaburi sets 2012 CAPEX, sees Myanmar expansion
Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:50am EST
* To spend 8 bln baht on investments this year
* Looks for investment opportunities beyond Dawei
* Still to decide on a fuel type for Myanmar power project (Adds quotes, details, share prices)
By Pisit Changplayngam and Ploy Ten Kate

BANGKOK, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl, Thailand’s top private power producer, has set an investment budget of 8 billion baht ($260 million) for 2012 and is looking for opportunities to invest in Myanmar in addition to the Dawei project, its top executive said on Tuesday.

The company is still looking at fuel types after Myanmar’s government halted construction of a 4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the area on Jan. 10, citing environmental concerns, President Noppol Milinthanggoon told reporters.

“We are still studying all the possibilities with the Dawei project,” Noppol said.

“Ultimately, the clarity will have to come from Italian-Thai and the Myanmar government, with an agreement by them,” he said, referring to Italian-Development Pcl, which is leading the Dawei project.

In late 2010, Italian-Thai signed an $8 billion contract with Myanmar for a port and related infrastructure in Dawei in the Tanintharyi region in Myanmar’s south.

Noppol said Ratchaburi was looking for additional investment opportunities in other cities in Myanmar, including the capital, Naypyitaw, and Yangon, where electricity demand is rising.

“Myanmar is entering a phase of internationalisation. This has opened up many doors of opportunities for us to go in and invest,” Noppol said.

The company has set aside an 8 billion baht investment budget this year, mostly for the development and maintenance of 13 existing power plants and new projects, including takeover deals, Noppol said.

Ratchaburi, like other major Thai utilities, is looking for merger and acquisition targets in Australia, Laos and other neighbouring countries, which are short of power, and it would focus more on alternative power sources and related businesses in 2012.

“Ideally, our aim is to invest at least 25 percent in each project that we’re interested in,” Noppol said.

Ratchaburi expected to add 300 megawatts to its installed capacity of 5,131 MW by the end of 2012. New capacity would come from two solar energy plants and its RATCH-Australia Corporation Ltd in Australia.

In May, Ratchaburi bought a majority stake in Australian power station owner Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund . Transfield has been renamed RATCH-Australia Corp Ltd.
Ratchaburi is 45 percent-owned by state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the country’s sole power buyer.

On Tuesday, the company reported a 7.4 percent fall in 2011 net earnings due to a slowdown in demand resulting from floods in the fourth quarter.

The utility told the exchange it would sell up to $500 million in bonds, using the funds for loan repayments, electricity generation-related investments and working capital.

EU should respond rapidly to Myanmar reforms: top EU official
Martin Petty, Reuters February 14, 2012, 7:48 am

YANGON (Reuters) – The European Union should respond fast to changes under way in Myanmar driven by a former military junta leader and “key reformer” committed to democracy and boosting the country’s economy, a top EU official said on Monday.

European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said President Thein Sein gave clear confirmation reforms would continue in Myanmar and an 11-month-old civilian government stacked with former generals appeared to have changed its tack from the days of iron-fisted military rule.

The EU is keen to ease sanctions it placed on Myanmar for the former junta’s atrocious human rights record, but needs more than just assurances of reforms in order to convince all 27 members states to lift the embargoes, he said.

“The president is a key reformer, he is part of the changes … I got clear confirmation the president is fully committed to the reforms,” Piebalgs, the most senior EU official to meet Myanmar’s civilian rulers, told Reuters in an interview after his landmark visit to the capital Naypyitaw.

“Evolution is possible,” he said. “There’s a possibility that people transform their thinking, they become more open, they see the challenges the country faces and they would like to lead the real change … so it’s important to notice that this is not the same country.”

Thein Sein, the former junta’s fourth-in-command, has overseen a series of changes that have stunned the international community, including the release of an estimated 650 political prisoners and ceasefire deals with ethnic rebel groups in its push to get Western sanctions removed.

Piebalgs came to Myanmar for a three-day visit to announced a new 150 million euro ($198 million) development package that would support health and education but said it would have little impact on an underdeveloped country that faced high expectations from its people and urgently needed to stimulate its economy.

A further easing of EU sanctions, which started last month with suspension of travel bans on top government officials, would allow Myanmar tariff-free access to European markets under its “Everything But Arms” initiative, which could create jobs and be a major boost the economy, he said.

‘ACT RAPIDLY’

It was therefore crucial the EU to moved fast in responding to the changes, he said.

“I don’t have the power to speak for 27 countries that should agree on this, but I clearly said (to the government) that if the (reform) process continues then sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible,” he said.

“I will try to convince (member states) of this positive change and the need to act rapidly,” he said. “If the process is moving in the right direction, you should not lose momentum when you can make the most positive influence to the country.

“If you don’t respond, you lose opportunities that you would like to take to support democracy, human rights and prosperity.”

A key litmus test of the government’s sincerity will be the holding of free and fair by-elections on April 1, which take place just weeks ahead of the EU’s annual sanctions review.

The parliamentary polls will be contested by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party that boycotted the 2010 vote but was urged by Thein Sein to join Myanmar’s fledgling democratic system.

Piebalgs said Suu Kyi was Myanmar’s biggest strength and her participation in politics was crucial, because the country had a “lot of vulnerabilities.”

Myanmar’s economy was still fragile, he said, and wealth from its oil, gas, timber and gemstones needed to be shared evenly among its 60 million people, many of which live in poverty. Ceasefires with armed ethnic groups needed to hold and the government should be to be open to criticism and scrutiny.

Piebalgs said he expected European businesses would not race to get into Myanmar because of its long-standing stigma and reputation for political risks and once sanctions were removed, it was up to the government and member states to encourage investors and win their confidence.

“They will not come by themselves because they’ll say ‘how stable is this change?’,” he said.

“I believe this country has big enough opportunities and has a lot of wealth potential, but at the same time, companies will be extremely conservative and that’s where I’m a bit afraid we will lose time. Investments could make a difference.”

Europe Online Magazine – EU development commissioner “fairly optimistic” about Myanmar
Europe 14.02.2012
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Yangon (dpa) – The European Union‘s development commissioner ended a visit to Myanmar on a “fairly optimistic” note on Tuesday, but cautioned that the lifting of economic sanctions on the once pariah regime would hinge on certain conditions.

“I am fairly optimistic for the future,” said Andris Piebalgs, the EU Development Commissioner, at the end of the three-day visit.

Piebalgs met with President Thein Sein, House Speaker Shwe Mann and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit, which he used to confirm the EU‘s pledge of a 150 million euro development aid package over the next three years and to assess the regime‘s reforms.

The EU is scheduled to consider lifting its economic sanctions on Myanmar in April.

“The conduct of the by-elections on April 1 and the release of political prisoners will influence the outcome,” Piebalgs said.

Shwe Mann told Piebalgs that more political prisoners may be freed. The release of all political prisoners is one condition for normalizing relations with the West.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy are contesting an April 1 by-election.

The EU envoy‘s visit was a response to several reforms that Thein Sein has initiated since coming to power in March.

The former army general and member of the junta that ruled Myanmar for two decades has taken a progressive tack since winning the November 2010 election.

He began political dialogue with Suu Kyi and has paved the way for her party members to stand for parliament seats.

The government has also freed about 600 political prisoners, although hundreds more remain, and signed ceasefires with six ethnic minority insurgencies.

EU foreign ministers last month decided to lift visa bans on Myanmar‘s leaders. But sanctions remain on dozens of members of the former military regime.

The EU also bans investments in state-owned enterprises and has embargoes against arm exports to the country, as well as imports of hardwood, gems and precious metal.

The bloc is also planning to open an office in Yangon, where currently only the four biggest EU members – Germany, France, Britain and Italy – have embassies.

EU pledges more aid for Myanmar reforms
Published: Feb. 14, 2012 at 6:29 AM

YANGON, Myanmar, Feb. 14 (UPI) — The European Union says it is pledging more development aid to Myanmar since its military rulers began “unprecedented” moves toward democratic reforms.

EU Development Commissioner Andris Piedalgs arrived in Yangon Sunday with an agenda that included a $200 million aid package “to support democratic reforms and inclusive development in the country.”

“The European Union welcomes the unprecedented developments taking place in the country on core values of the EU — democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” Piedalgs said on the eve of his weekend departure.

Meetings with Myanmar President Thein Sein and senior government ministers — as well as with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi — would allow the EU to get a firmer grasp on fast-moving reforms happening in the long-reclusive nation, Piedalgs said.

Suu Kyi is running for a seat in scheduled April 1 parliamentary by-elections, which the EU and the United States regard as a key test of the recent political reforms.

“Continued political progress could lead to a further easing or lifting of restrictive measures by the end of April,” an EU statement said.

About two-thirds of the new aid package is expected to be committed this year with the rest coming in 2013.

As well as aiming to “strengthen civil society actors,” the funding will be used to “finance initiatives in the areas of climate change and forestry” and to “support capacity-building for improved planning, environmental governance and statistics.”

EU foreign ministers last month moved to recognize Myanmar’s political reforms by agreeing to ease travel restrictions on senior government officials, including the suspension of visa bans on Sein and his Cabinet members, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Piedalgs said another aim of the trip would be to assess the humanitarian situation with a visit to an EU-funded health clinic.

“The momentum of change in Myanmar is impressive and the EU recognizes the need to do all it can to support the country at this time,” he said. “More dialogue will help better policies to emerge, more money for development cooperation will promote economic and social development and help reduce poverty.”

Myanmar’s grinding poverty presents huge problems for efforts aimed at reducing childhood mortality, the EU says. Among children under age 5, there are high rates of death caused by pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, as well as endemic tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The EU is already contributing $23.7 million to Myanmar through the multi-donor Three Diseases Fund — launched following the withdrawal of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria from Myanmar in 2005.

That program “reaches out to those who are most at risk of any of these three diseases, particularly those living in remote and hard-to-reach areas with limited or no access to public health services.”

Officials say 1.7 million confirmed and probable cases of malaria have been treated in Myanmar, while 160,000 new cases of pulmonary TB have been detected and 19,000 people living with HIV have received antiretroviral treatment.

Overall, the European Commission has provided $230 million in development assistance to Myanmar since 1996.

Myanmar praised for settling ethnic issues
Published: Feb. 14, 2012 at 9:38 AM

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, Feb. 14 (UPI) — Negotiated political settlements with ethnic groups in Myanmar are a “key ingredient” to long-term national stability, an EU official said.

EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs is wrapping up a tour of Myanmar with an appointment to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of the country’s upcoming by-elections.

Western governments have praised Myanmar’s move toward democracy. Piebalgs, during a news conference, said he was “impressed” with the pace of reforms.

“I took note of the significant progress in negotiating peace settlements with ethnic groups, a key ingredient for stability and prosperity,” he said.

In mid-January, a truce was signed between government officials and the rebel Karen National Union in territory near the Thai border.

Piebalgs added he received assurances from Myanmar’s leaders that more prisoners of conscious would be considered for release.

“The EU wants to support the momentum for change, in response to progress,” he said.

Suu Kyi, a former long-time political prisoner and who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is to run in the by-elections set for April. Her National League for Democracy won an election in the 1990s but the results weren’t recognized by the country’s military leaders.

Myanmar National sent to the gallows for drug trafficking
Bernama Media – 8 hours ago

KUANTAN, Feb 14 (Bernama) — A Myanmar national was sentenced to death by hanging by the High Court here today after he was found guilty of drug trafficking.

Justice Datuk Mariana Yahya, when handing down the sentence, said the prosecution had succeeded in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubts.

It was the accused himself who went to discuss the drug deal with an under-cover policeman before the arrest was made, she added.

Sayat Ahmad Nazir Ahmad, 29, from Arakan, Myanmar, was found in possession of 12.98gm of heroin and 13.66gm of monoacetylmorphine when detained at a petrol station at Jalan Pintasan Kuantan about 8.30pm on March 9 last year.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fadzli Mahmud prosecuted, while lawyer Muhammad Hishyam Abdul Rahim represented Sayat Ahmad.

February 14, 2012 17:29 PM
Myanmar Found Bludgeoned To Death Following Quarrel With Husband

NIBONG TEBAL, Feb 14 (Bernama) — A Myanmar was found bludgeoned to death following a quarrel with her husband at their quarters in a construction site near Taman Jawi here yesterday.

The police, who were alerted to the killing, found the body of Aye Win, 37, on the floor about 5.40pm.

Penang CID deputy chief ACP Mohd Nasir Salleh said today, the victim had sustained head injuries believed to have been caused by a blunt object.

He said the police had sought the 43-year-old husband to facilitate investigations into the murder.

The body was sent to the Sungai Bakap Hospital.

Channel NewsAsia – S’pore eyes more links with Myanmar
Posted: 14 February 2012 1850 hrs

SINGAPORE: Minister for Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam said Singapore hopes to develop more links with Myanmar as the country opens up economically and politically.

Mr Shanmugam was responding to queries on Tuesday in Parliament about the state of bilateral relations with Myanmar and whether ASEAN has set progress targets for Myanmar before it takes over the chair of ASEAN in 2014.

He said Singapore and Myanmar enjoy good and long standing bilateral relations and welcomes Myanmar’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.

He added ASEAN has never set any pre-conditions of progress targets for any ASEAN chairmanship.

Instead, ASEAN has taken the position that Myanmar be allowed to follow the seven-step road map it has set for itself, and that the chairmanship presents an opportunity for Myanmar to build on its current momentum.

“As ASEAN chair, Myanmar would be the external face of ASEAN. It will not only have to defend its own interest and record, but also ASEAN’s interests,” Mr Shanmugam said.

“Myanmar will also have to reassure our external partners that under its chairmanship, ASEAN will continue to make progress towards an ASEAN community in 2015.

“The world will be watching. Given the stakes, I am confident that Myanmar will work hard to make its ASEAN chairmanship an success. Singapore will work with Myanmar to ensure successful outcomes under its 2014 chairmanship.”

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
IDSA – COMMENT: Myanmar and the United States: On a Reconciliatory Path?
Rahul Mishra
February 14, 2012

On February 6, the United States waived some sanctions allowing Myanmar to work with the World Bank and other international financial organisations.1 This is yet another step taken by the US to reconcile differences with Myanmar and came in response to the reformist actions taken by the Thein Sein government.

That the US (and the West) is re-engaging Myanmar is evident from more than a dozen high-profile visits to Naypyidaw by leaders from across the world in the past few months. Moreover, within a few weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s historic November 2011 visit, the first such high profile visit in 54 years, the US restored diplomatic ties with Myanmar. Incidentally, the US never cut-off ties with Myanmar as it did with countries such as Iran and North Korea; it had simply downgraded relations with Myanmar in 1990.2
In the meantime, a number of US officials paid visits to Naypyidaw as a follow-up to Hillary Clinton’s visit, encouraging the Sein government to carry on with the reform process.

Congressman Joe Crowley, US special envoy for Burma Derek Mitchell and Luis Cdebaca of the State Department are prominent names in the list. Incidentally, Joe Crowley was the first member of the US House of Representatives in more than 12 years to visit Myanmar. A pro-democracy advocate, Crowley has in the past sponsored bills authorizing sanctions against Myanmar including a 2008 measure that stopped gems from Myanmar entering the United States via third countries.3 Clearly, the US decision to restore ties has come in response to the Sein government’s release of hundreds of political prisoners, a move that was hailed by Barack Obama as ‘a substantial step forward for democratic reform.’4

Though at a nascent stage, the signs of a rapprochement between Myanmar and the US were apparent even during President Obama’s November 2010 Tokyo visit. Obama had then said that the US would welcome the Myanmar government’s initiatives to restore democracy and steps such as the unconditional release of political prisoners. Although the signs of a transformation in Myanmar were missing at that time, the Sein government did subsequently release hundreds of political prisoners and even the torchbearer of the democratic movement – Aung San Suu Kyi. In fact, Hillary Clinton’s visit had indicated the possibility of the US wooing the military backed Sein government and securing political manoeuvring space for Suu Kyi. It appears that the US has realised that sanctions were not effective in bringing Myanmar on to the democratic path. Additionally, anxiety over a possible North Korea- Myanmar axis may also have played a part in America’s changed stance.

Although the November 2010 elections were vehemently criticised by the US and other Western countries, yet the formation of a military-backed ‘nominally’ civilian government proved to be a turning point with the Sein government initiating steps towards providing greater freedom and rights to its people. Among other things, it has allowed people to hold peaceful protest marches. The strengthening of provincial legislatures also showcases the piecemeal changes being set in motion. In addition, workers have been granted the right to form unions.5 In the meantime, the US has been active in networking with pro-democracy Myanmarese leaders based in the West. The US seems to be working on the idea that given Myanmar’s lack of experience with democracy and its weak institutional mechanisms, any sudden military intervention or people’s movement supported by external powers might not yield the desired results.

The issue that demands attention at this juncture is: whether Myanmar itself wants to reach out to the international community? The answer is, perhaps yes. Many believe that the Myitsone dam issue in Kachin state has created friction between China and Myanmar, though both countries have been denying it at the official level. Thein Sein suspended the US $ 3.6 billion dam construction project due to massive local protests. The project, deferred until 2015, was meant to supply cheap electricity to southern China. According to a report published in the Economist:

‘the Myitsone was to be the largest, and at about 150 metres (458 feet), one of the highest in the world. If completed, the dam’s reservoir would flood an area the size of Singapore and drive more than 10,000 people, mainly from the Kachin ethnic group, from their ancestral lands. The area straddles territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of Myanmar’s myriad insurgencies. Last May the KIO warned China that building the dam would lead to “civil war”.’6

Unwilling to ignore popular protests, the Sein government suspended the project. According to reports, China tried to intervene in the matter citing potential economic losses and damage to the robust bilateral ties between the two countries. Chinese officials also registered their protest on the matter. Some even went to the extent of saying that, ‘It is impossible that the investor move the hydropower projects out of Myanmar … If the Myanmar people are at risk, the investment by the investor is at risk as well. The investor and the Myanmar people are both stakeholders in dam construction.’ 7 But the Sein government refused to pay heed to such complaints.

Over the years, Myanmar had become over-dependant on China, to the extent of being labelled a ‘satellite state’ of China. Indications are that Myanmar wants to interact with the world on its own accord so as to lessen its dependence on China. According to a study carried out within Myanmar, the country’s “reliance on China as a diplomatic ally and economic patron has created a “national emergency” which threatens the country’s independence.”8 In addition, China’s close ties with the United Wa State Army, Myanmar’s main drug-trafficking militia, has not gone unnoticed by the authorities in Naypyidaw.9 China has been monopolising Myanmar’s markets to such an extent that local traders have been left high and dry. Also, the Chinese hunger for natural resources has, to a certain extent, ignited resource nationalism among the Myanmarese. It is also believed that China has kept Myanmar insulated in order to reap the benefits of its resources alone. Cautioning China about its shortsighted approach, Thant Myint-U, in his book Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia: Where China Meets India, rightly points out that ‘Chinese interests are served in the short term but in the longer term anti-Chinese sentiment increases; the opportunity for a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship, so important to Burma, is lost’.10

Myanmar’s relations with ASEAN and India have proved beyond doubt that Naypyidaw has been striving to craft a balanced foreign policy, which enables the country to not become excessively dependent on a particular country. Inching closer to the US seems to be a part of that strategy. The Sein government is taking all possible measures to acquire US support, the most crucial being the release of Suu Kyi who has in turn agreed to contest the by-election scheduled for April 2012. This is considered a step in granting legitimacy to the Sein government and the election process in Myanmar.11 In another positive sign, even the ethnic minority leaders have been reaching out to the US, India and members of the European Union for developmental investment in remote areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Kachin ethnic minority leader Daw Bauk Gyar and others indicates that. For its part, the Sein government has shown signs of adopting a reconciliatory approach towards the country’s ethnic minorities. In order to end incessant ethnic clashes in various parts of the country, the Sein government has signed 11 ceasefire agreements including the January 2012 agreement with the Karens, and those signed with the Shan and Kachin rebel groups in December 2011, and that with the New Mon State Party on February 1.12 For instance, the deal with the Mons permits them to celebrate their national day, which had been prohibited for the past 15 years.13 These moves clearly demonstrate that the Sein government is keen to make peace with the country’s ethnic minorities. Bringing ethnic minority leaders into the political mainstream is also likely to strengthen the democratic process in Myanmar, even though Suu Kyi is likely to remain the main reference point for the further development of democracy in the near future.

The US has acknowledged these changes in swiftly changing Myanmar and has been taking into account the suggestions made by Myanmar’s neighbours including India and the member countries of ASEAN. India has consistently conveyed to the US the fact that sanctions had not worked in most cases and might not work in Myanmar as well and that therefore a policy change was required. Driven by this belief, India has been building bridges with Myanmar through trade, investment and regular high-level visits by political and military delegations.

As far as the sanctions are concerned, the US (and the West) is not likely to lift all the sanctions before the April elections. However, the process of easing sanctions has begun and it is being done through various means. Japan and France have expressed their willingness to provide financial aid to Myanmar, as is the World Bank. Moreover, Australia, a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific, announced on January 9, 2012, that it would remove sanctions on former ministers to acknowledge Myanmar’s recent steps towards reform.14 It has also been reported that the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs is likely to announce a new EUR 150 million ($200 million) assistance package to support democratic reforms during his ongoing visit to Naypyidaw between February 12 and 14, 2012.15

Although a lot needs to be done to ensure that Myanmar becomes a fully functioning democracy, the budding shoots of democratic recovery are surely encouraging. The Sein government deserves a word of appreciation on the count that its acceptability, both domestically and globally, is increasing. The current trajectory of developments is likely to lead to the point where the US and the Sein led government find ways to resolve outstanding points of contention between them, leading to Myanmar moving further along the path of greater political freedom, better human rights and good governance.

1. For details, please see ‘Myanmar: Government Panel Approves Opposition Leader’s Run for Parliament’, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/world/asia/myanmar-panel-approves-aung…, Accessed on February 8, 2012.
2. After the then ambassador Burton Levin’s retirement in September 1990, the US never sent a new ambassador.
3. For details, see ‘Key US lawmaker heads to Myanmar to assess reform pace’, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_754158.html Accessed on January 11, 2012.
4. See ‘US and Burma to Swap ambassadors in ‘substantial step for reform’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/13/us-burma-swap-ambassadors-re…, Accessed on February 6, 2012.
5. See, ‘Road Ahead for Myanmar’, The Indian Express, January 23, 2012.
6. ‘Myanmar’s surprising government: Dammed if they don’t’, The Economist, October 4, 2011.
7. ‘China presses Myanmar on stalled dam’, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB07Ae01.html, Accessed on February 8, 2012.
8. Cited in Bertil Lintner, ‘The Master plan for Myanmar’, http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB10Ae01.html, accessed February 10, 2012. The study, published in 2004 under the title ‘A Study of Myanmar-U.S. Relations’, was written by Lt. Col. Aung Kyaw Hla. Hla, according to Bertil Lintner, can either be a researcher at the Myanmar’s Defence Services Academy or a codename used by a military think-tank.
9. ibid.
10. Myint-U, Thant (2011), Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia- Where China Meets India, (Faber and Faber Limited: London), p. 325.
11. For details, see ‘Suu Kyi confirms bid for parliament seat’, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Briefly-World–Suu-Kyi-confirms-bid-fo…, Accessed on January 11, 2012.
12. Please see, ‘Myanmar Civil Society Delegation Visits Clinton’, http://www.rttnews.com/1816415/myanmar-civil-society-delegation-visits-c… Accessed on 10 February 2012.
13. For details, please see, ‘Myanmar’s Mons allowed to mark national day’, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/02/201228145322572206.html Accessed on 8 February 2012.
14. For details, please see ‘Australia Relaxes Sanctions on Ex-Burmese Ministers’,
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/australia-relaxes-sanctions-on-ex-…, Accessed on January 10, 2012.
15. ‘EU Announces EUR 150 Million Aid to Support Myanmar Reforms’, http://www.rttnews.com/1816664/eu-announces-eur150-million-aid-to-suppor…, Accessed on February 9, 2012.

AsiaOne – Myanmar sanctions unhelpful for ASEAN as whole: Shanmugam
Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012

SINGAPORE – Speaking in parliament today on Singapore’s position and bilateral relations with Myanmar, Minister for Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam called for the lifting of sanctions against Myanmar, as it will be in the best interest of both the country and ASEAN as a whole.

He said he has spoken to various US congressmen on ASEAN’s position that the sanctions may not be the best way to deal with the situation in Myanmar.

“When we do talk about the ASEAN Community in 2015, creating a centre of 600 million people, creating physical and social connectivities, obviously sanctions against any particular member is not the most helpful,” he said.

He also said the two countries enjoy good and long standing bilateral relations, and that Singapore hopes to develop more links with Myanmar as the country opens up economically and politically.

On the issue of Myanmar’s upcoming ASEAN Chairmanship in 2014, Mr Shanmugam said Singapore welcomes Myanmar’s Chairmanship, and that ASEAN has never set any specific preconditions for any ASEAN Chairmanship.

Instead of setting “progress targets” for assuming Chairmanship, Mr Shanmugam said ASEAN has taken the position that Myanmar should be allowed to follow the seven step roadmap it has set for itself.

The Chairmanship presents an opportunity for Myanmar to build on its current momentum of progress, and that as ASEAN Chair, Myanmar will have to defend both its country’s and ASEAN’s interests, he added.

Mr Shanmugam cautioned that Myanmar will also have to reassure ASEAN’s external partners that under its Chairmanship, ASEAN will continue to make progress towards an ASEAN Community in 2015 and said that “the world will be watching.”

However, he expressed confidence that Myanmar will work hard to make its ASEAN Chairmanship a success and that Singapore will work with Myanmar towards this end.

GMA News – DFA chief assures Pinoys in Myanmar on remittance, air links
February 14, 2012 9:31am

Filipinos stand to benefit from remittance and air service links now in the works between the Philippines and Myanmar, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

In a statement posted on its website on Monday, the DFA said Secretary Albert del Rosario made the assurance during a meeting with the Filipino community there last Feb. 8.

“Secretary del Rosario pledged to work on the remittances and air service links which will benefit both countries,” the DFA said.

He was responding to Dr. Melgabar Capistrano, president of the community’s association Pilipinas.mm, who raised the issue with him.

During his welcome message, Capistrano briefed del Rosario on the general situation of the Filipinos in Myanmar, their interests and concerns, including the possibility of sending remittances to the Philippines, and resumption of direct air links.

The DFA said the Filipino Community in Myanmar has about 362 professionals working with the United Nations and in non-government organizations (NGOs).

It added the 362 Filipinos also include teachers, managers, engineers, architects, supervisors, entertainers and spouses of Myanmar nationals.

About 100 Filipinos welcomed Del Rosario at a community dinner held at the Philippine Embassy in Yangon.

He was formally introduced to the community by Ambassador Ma. Hellen De La Vega.

Del Rosario highlighted the three pillars of Philippine foreign policy, focusing on the promotion and protection of overseas Filipinos.

He emphasized the positive role of the Filipino community at this particular time in the country’s history when socio-economic development and reforms are underway.

Also, he expressed appreciation for the Filipino community’s assistance and support to the victims of natural disasters in the Philippines.

Catholic.net – Catholic student helps relieve children’s suffering in Myanmar
About 2,000 children between 10 and 18 are imprisoned in Nahawsan.
by Kevin J. Jones | Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Feb 12, 2012 / 06:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Conditions in a Myanmar children’s prison are causing major suffering and malnutrition among its young prisoners, says a Burmese Catholic student working to make a difference.

Chan Thawng, a student at Austria’s International Theological Institute, recently told the school of his visit to the Children’s Prison in Nahawsan, Kawh Hmuu Township. He said about 2,000 children between 10 and 18 are imprisoned there, where they are divided into groups of 500.

“Many children are put into prison because they are thieves, or because they killed their neighbors’ (animals) as their parents cannot give them enough food. They are hungry and they steal and become thieves and they are put into prison,” said Thawng. “I am so sad to see them.”

Thawng, the founder of two charities in the country, reported that he and his co-workers had sought to visit the prison for over a year, but a local authority allowed him to secretly visit the imprisoned boys in October 2011.

“The government does not give them enough food in prison and they are thin and malnourished. We went and gave them food: rice, meat and chicken, potato, breads, and sweets.”

The visitors donated books, pens and pencils for the children’s basic education. They also shared the  message of Christianity with them and encouraged them by singing Gospel songs.

His group is now trying to visit the other children in prison and to visit the women’s prison.

Many young girls and women are imprisoned because of prostitution, which they take up because they are impoverished and cannot get jobs.

“Some young girls are asked by their parents to become prostitutes, as that is the only way they can get money for food,” Thawng said.

He prayed that God will help the suffering children and suffering young girls “more and more,” he told the International Theological Institute.

The institute, a Catholic school of theology, grants degrees from the Holy See for the study of theology and for specialized studies on marriage and the family. The institute says it aims to be a “living experience of the Church universal” and a place of exchange between diverse cultures. Its students come from around the world.

The Greek Fathers and Thomas Aquinas serve as the institute’s central points of reference, appealing to both the Eastern and Western traditions of the Church.

Thawng said he went to study at the institute because of the many divorces in his country, even among Christian families. “I see the number of suffering children increase day after day. It is not easy to find a happy family, especially in villages.” He thinks his studies will help him solve these problems. Since his deceased father was Catholic and his mother is Protestant, Thawng reported, he had “grown up between two beliefs.” His studies will help him learn more about Catholic doctrine, he said.

Thawng began the Shelter for Suffering People and New Eden Education Help after his summer holiday journeys in Myanmar when he traveled from village to village to speak about the Word of God. “In many villages, I saw that there were no Christians, no school, and the children were poor and uneducated. Often there were no toilets and the villagers would take a bath once a week without soap.” In some villages with schools, children were too poor to attend.

Thawng himself comes from a “very poor family” and his father died when he was ten. “As the only son of a widow, I had to overcome many difficulties and problems in order to study and graduate. When I was seventeen years old, I heard God’s call and followed Him,” he said. “I could not go on living without sharing the Gospel with others.”

The Huffington Post UK – Burma Should Honour Freedom’s Martyrs and Revive the Spirit of Panglong
Benedict Rogers, Posted: 14/02/2012 12:32

Four years ago today, gunmen under orders from Burma’s dictatorship came to a house in Thailand in broad daylight and shot dead a man as he sat on his veranda.

The man who was assassinated was the General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, one of the most prominent spokesmen for Burma’s ethnic nationalities.

Just three days before his assassination, I had spent half a day with Padoh Mahn Sha. I knew him well, and always visited him whenever I was on the Thai-Burmese border. His children are friends of mine. I had met some young men whom he was sheltering, who had escaped from the Burma Army into which they had been forcibly conscripted as child soldiers. I had lunch with Padoh Mahn Sha and other Karen leaders, and sat on the very same veranda where the assassins struck three days later.

The murder of Mahn Sha illustrates the lengths to which Burma’s regime has been prepared to go to silence its opponents. It dealt a severe blow not only to the Karen people, one of Burma’s largest people groups, but to all the ethnic nationalities and the democracy movement as a whole. While devoted to his people and proud of his Karen identity, Mahn Sha was a man who saw the bigger picture, drew people together and built bridges to others who shared his cause. An Animist among a predominantly Christian Karen leadership in a majority Buddhist people, a Pwo Karen from the Delta among Sgaw Karen from the hills, a principled man with a pragmatic outlook able to chart a course between so-called ‘hard-liners’ and those wanting to engage the regime, he developed strong links with other ethnic nationals and Burma’s democracy movement, and became a respected and articulate international spokesman.

Four years after his assassination, his killers have never been caught. The situation in the country, however, has changed. For the first time in more than 20 years there is at least the possibility of real change, although there is still a very long way to go. Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for years under house arrest, is now contesting parliamentary by-elections along with her colleagues in the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 48 seats. It is likely many of them will win, giving them a presence in parliament which will not change the country overnight, but may begin to influence governance for the better. The regime has negotiated preliminary ceasefire agreements with several of the ethnic armed groups, including the KNU, who have been fighting a civil war for sixty five years.

Despite the change in atmosphere in Burma in the past six months, there remain some fundamental challenges which are key to lasting peace.

The first is the need for a political process to accompany ceasefire negotiations. Until a meaningful, inclusive nationwide dialogue between the regime, the ethnic nationalities and the democracy movement takes place, ceasefires will result in an absence of fighting rather than a true peace. Ultimately, only a political solution that satisfies the desires of the ethnic nationalities and is acceptable to all the people of Burma will end decades of civil war.

That solution must include equal rights for all the people, respect for the ethnic, cultural and religious identity of the different nationalities that make up Burma, and a degree of autonomy and self-determination for each ethnic group, within a united, federal, democratic nation. Federalism has long been misunderstood by the military, who fear it equals secession. In reality, they need only to look at the models of the United States or Germany to see that federalism is the way to strengthen the unity of the nation. “Unity in diversity” should be the principle in people’s minds.

Such a political settlement must be accompanied by reform of the military, repeal of unjust legislation and amendment of the constitution, so that there are institutional safeguards to ensure that peace and progress is embedded and cannot easily be reversed. The rule of law is central to Burma’s reform.

Burma’s military has a track record of appalling human rights violations, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity: rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, the destruction of villages, homes and crops, the use of human minesweepers and child soldiers, torture and extrajudicial killings. These crimes continue today.

Last month I visited the Kachin people on the China-Burma border, where 55,000 have been displaced in a new offensive launched by the regime’s army. For 17 years, a ceasefire existed between the regime and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which, contrary to its name, is fighting for autonomy and equal rights within a united Burma, not separation. In June 2011, the regime broke the ceasefire when the KIO refused to surrender their arms and join a border guard force under the Burma Army’s control, and the conflict escalated.

The Burma Army is attacking civilians, who are not party to the war. I met a woman whose husband had been shot dead as he stood in his paddy field, and another woman whose husband’s arms and legs were chopped off before he was shot. I met a 12 year-old boy whose mother was killed as she tried to pack up her house. “My grandfather fought in the Second World War, and he said even the Japanese were not as cruel as the Burma Army,” one Kachin man told me. “I am very disappointed with all this torture and killing. I want the whole world to know about this inhumane behaviour.”

Yet there are causes for cautious optimism. That the regime is even engaging with Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing prominent political prisoners and talking peace with the ethnic nationalities is a sign that years of international pressure may have had some effect. The Generals have seen what happened to Egypt’s Mubarak and Libya’s Gadaffi, and have decided they do not want to suffer the same fate. Their calculation is that a gradual transition, guaranteeing their security, is preferable than a violent popular uprising.

And they are fortunate that the mood of many of their opponents is gracious. Recently released dissidents from the 88 Generation Student Movement, who have spent years in prison, told me in Rangoon that while there would be a need for justice and accountability, it must be for the purposes of truth and reconciliation rather than revenge. “We can forgive – but we must not forget,” said one.

Even the ethnic people, who have suffered so much, show a remarkable lack of bitterness. “I hope we can be brothers and sisters and love each other,” said a Kachin woman who, while pregnant, had hid for two entire days without food or water under sleeping bags as bullets flew over her and Burma Army soldiers sought her. She had overheard soldiers saying “If you see someone, just kill them”.

National reconciliation in Burma is not an impossibility, but it requires more than fine words and changes in mood. Burma’s president, Thein Sein, deserves recognition for the steps he has taken in the past six months, moving faster and more substantially than anyone expected. But he needs to go even further, release all remaining political prisoners, and secure a genuine peace with the ethnic nationalities. Democracy activists, including those recently released from prison, are now talking about working with reformers in the government. For that to happen, however, the reform process, which Thein Sein promises is “irreversible”, must deepen, addressing fundamental political, institutional and constitutional reform.

Padoh Mahn Sha embodied the spirit of Panglong, the agreement signed by ethnic nationalities with Aung San, Burma’s independence leader and Suu Kyi’s father, on 12 February, 1947. It granted the ethnic nationalities equal rights and autonomy, within a federal Burma, but after Aung San’s assassination it was never implemented. Only when Panglong, at least in spirit if not to the letter, is implemented can the legacy of both Aung San and Mahn Sha, two men assassinated for their belief in freedom, be honoured. Only then can Burma be united, and the country which was once the ‘rice bowl’ of Asia transform from least developed nation status to prosperity once more.

February 14, 2012, 10:30 PM HKT
WSJ: China Real Time Report (Weblog) – Suu Kyi Calls for Better Ties With China, U.S.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on China to see the country as more than just a place for Chinese companies to do business in a magazine interview published Monday, and said Myanmar should work in the future to forge better ties with both Beijing and Washington.

“I hope the Chinese people are able to give us more understanding,” Ms. Suu Kyi said in an interview with the Guangdong-based Southern People Weekly magazine. “We hope they have in mind the future relations of the two countries’ peoples, and can bear in mind this point when investing.”

Myanmar has placed itself in the middle of a strategic tug-of-war between China and the U.S. as it has embarked on a series of political reforms aimed at getting Western sanctions against it lifted.

Those economic sanctions helped pave the way for China to become Myanmar’s most important financial and political backer in recent years. However, aggressive resource exploitation by Chinese companies has galvanized dissident groups, and prompted government concern that wider anti-China sentiment in Myanmar could spur political unrest.

Ms. Suu Kyi has campaigned aggressively for a parliamentary seat, and her interview with the popular Southern People Weekly is a signal that the country’s next parliament could take a tougher line toward Chinese investment in the future.

The Nobel Peace Laureate has signaled reservations about Chinese investment in Myanmar before. In August, she called for a reassessment of the Myitsone hydropower project, a 6000-megawatt cascade-style hydropower station being built as a joint venture by government-run China Power Investment Corp that has been criticized over concerns about environmental damage and the displacement of minority groups. Myanmar’s government later suspended construction of the project.

In a high-profile endorsement of Naypyitaw’s political reforms, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited in December, becoming the first sitting secretary of state to do so in more than 50 years. She shared a dinner with Ms. Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most famous dissident, who spent the better part of two decades under house arrest, only to be released in late 2010.

Beijing has responded cautiously to Myanmar’s efforts to strengthen its ties with Washington. China worries deepening U.S. ties with Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines and others in the region will leave it encircled and susceptible to U.S. encroachment.

“We hope to be a friend of China. We also hope to be a friend of the U.S.,” Ms. Suu Kyi said in the interview.

Since taking power, Myanmar’s new government has released political prisoners and loosened press restrictions, among other measures aimed at making it a more attractive destination for foreign investors. Ms. Clinton earlier this month signed a waiver that will likely make it easier for the World Bank and other international institutions to provide aid to Myanmar. For now, however, the U.S. has left most of its sanctions in place.

The Atlantic – Is Burma the Next Asian Tiger Cub Economy?
By Joshua Kurlantzick
Feb 14 2012, 8:01 AM ET

With the upgrading of American diplomatic relations with Myanmar, and a wave of political reform in the country over the past year, many businesses have begun eying the Southeast Asian nation, which has a population of over 50 million people and has been essentially isolated from Western companies by U.S., Japanese, and EU sanctions. A delegation of Japanese business leaders recently visited the country, as did an American delegation. Business magnate and philanthropist George Soros also visited recently (of course, the U.S. would have to drop sanctions for investment to happen, but that is looking more likely). Asia Sentinel has provided an update on all the corporate interest in Myanmar.

I have personally heard from a number of Western businesspeople who see great potential in Myanmar – they see the sizable population, the history of British law, and the significant natural resources including offshore petroleum, and compare Myanmar today to Vietnam in the early 1990s, when that country began to seriously open up to Western investment.
But, at least right now, that comparison is seriously flawed. Myanmar is a large consumer market, but its development indicators overall are more on the level of some of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Large areas of the country have virtually no infrastructure, having been dominated by ethnic insurgencies for decades. Although the country has a history of quality education and use of English, for decades the regime essentially shut down the best universities, fearful that they would be breeding grounds for anti-government protests as they have been many times in Myanmar’s history.

This was perhaps the most destructive blow to the country’s economic future – despite some government talk of IT and computer science in recent years, in reality Myanmar is one of the least technologically advanced nations in Asia, outside North Korea. It would be very hard for a multinational to build an office of any size in Myanmar doing medium-value or high-value added work, without recruiting many Burmese exiles to come back to the country, which probably is not going to happen at this point.

A special report. See full coverage Of course, in certain industries such as natural resources, all these flaws may not matter; Oil companies have prospered in other climates inhospitable to business. But then there is another problem, which did not exist as much in Vietnam: Even in the resources industry, any Western companies coming in will start with at least a ten-year disadvantage against Chinese firms already established in Myanmar, and with shorter supply chains, more diplomatic support, and large pools of cash.

New Kerala – Myanmar: UN envoy focuses on development

New York, Feb 14 : The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Myanmar arrived in the country on Monday for a five-day visit in which he will meet with Government authorities, political parties and civil society representatives, as the Asian nation moves ahead with planned refor

The United Nations recently welcomed the decision by Myanmar’s President Thein Sein to grant amnesty and set free a significant number of prisoners of conscience, and acknowledged other reform measures, including dialogue between the Government and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Special Adviser Vijay Nambiar told participants at a conference on development and policy options in Naypyitaw, the capital, that this is a crucial time for the country as it has the opportunity to address many development issues that will shape its future.

“Since the launch of the reform agenda, we have seen progress in various areas,” Nambiar said. “The challenges ahead are many and complex. The reform agenda might be ambitious, but it is achievable,” he said, adding that participation, partnerships and solidarity – not only between Myanmar’s various sectors but also with other countries – would be key factors for success.

Nambiar also stressed the importance of Myanmar focusing on achieving the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as implementing measures that facilitate sustainable development in the country.

“Development is not sustainable unless it is equitable. In Myanmar, this entails equal access for all peoples in both central and border regions,” he said. “Investment in development is also the best prevention against social strife. Both State and society therefore have a stake in improving living standards as necessary conditions for the country’s unity and progress,” Nambiar added.

He reiterated the UN’s commitment to support Myanmar in implementing new measures and helping it “catch up with the changing world,” as stated by Sein.

“As the country builds on the steps taken so far, Myanmar should not be denied any longer the support and opportunity to serve its people better and build the economic conditions for durable peace and stability,” Nambiar said.

Ajay Chhibber, Assistant Administrator for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) echoed Nambiar’s remarks, citing the country’s recent progress in various development indicators such as health and education, and adding that these advances must be built on to keep the momentum of recent refor (IBNS)

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 2/14/2012
MSN Malaysia News – Myanmar rights body rules out conflict abuse probe

The head of Myanmar’s fledgling human rights panel on Tuesday said it would not launch probes into allegations of abuses in ethnic conflict areas to encourage regime efforts to seek an end to fighting.

Bloody battles have raged since June in Kachin State in the far north, marring the progress of a new regime that has surprised observers with positive reforms, including tentative ceasefire deals with several rebel groups.

Win Mra, the chairman of the country’s human rights commission, told journalists at a news conference in Bangkok that attempts at reconciliation were “essentially political”.

He said the panel had decided investigations into the conflict zones were “not appropriate at this present point in time”.

“With the establishment of the peace, other problems like human rights violations and atrocities supposed to be committed against ethnic groups will also recede into the background,” he said.

Last month a report by Human Rights Watch accused the Myanmar army of abuses including rape, torture and killing of civilians in ethnic minority conflict zones in 2011.

The Myanmar regime has reached peace deals with several rebel groups including in eastern Karen and Shan states, but fighting in Kachin which borders China has created uncertainty over the progress of reconciliation efforts.

President Thein Sein, a former general who came to power last year when outright military rule ended, has vowed to work towards an end to civil war that has gripped parts of Myanmar since independence in 1948.

Resolution of the conflicts is a demand of Western nations which impose sanctions on the regime.

The government has made progress on other key areas including holding talks with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been allowed to stand in an April by-election, and released hundreds of political prisoners.

Win Mra acknowledged that rights abuses continued in Myanmar despite recent changes, citing land disputes, and mistreatment by officials as major sources of grievance.

“You are right in saying that human rights problems continue because this is something that cannot be tackled within a short period of time,” he said.

“It is a process, as you would know, but I think we have started to handle this problem.”

The Irrawaddy – NLD Membership Expected to Reach Half a Million
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, February 14, 2012

With a little more than six weeks to go before parliamentary by-elections in April, Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), says that its membership is set to grow to around half a million.

Since it officially re-registered late last year after being dissolved for boycotting a general election in November 2010, the party has sold about 500,000 membership application forms, according to NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing.

“We expect everyone who bought the application forms to become a member,” said Ohn Kyaing, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday. The forms sell for 100 kyat (US $0.13) apiece.

Under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of national hero Aung San, the NLD has enjoyed enormous popularity across the country since it was founded in 1988.

Pressure from Burma’s former junta and internal divisions took their toll on the party during Suu Kyi’s years under house arrest, but her return to the national political stage a week after the 2010 election has rejuvenated the NLD.

Now that the party is actively campaigning again for the first time since it won a landslide victory in 1990—which the ruling regime subsequently ignored—it has begun to attract even greater attention from prospective members.

However, it was unclear how many of the applicants are actually current members who have been asked to rejoin the party since its return to legal status. The party has requested that all existing members submit new applications so that it can update its membership list.

Except for those who broke away from the party and founded the National Democratic Force (NDF) party to join the 2010 election, the NLD is expected to readily approve all new party membership applications.

Two NDF members of Parliament have left their party and submitted applications to rejoin the NLD. It is not certain if they will be allowed to do so.

“One of the requirements for the applicants is that they must swear allegiance to the party. I understand that the party leadership will make decisions about accepting those former party members who left the party,” said Moe Zaw Thein, an NLD youth leader organizing Suu Kyi’s party campaign trips.

But even if the party matches the one million members it claimed to have in the 1990s, that would still constitute only a small minority in a country of nearly 60 million people.

The number also pales in contrast to the 25 million members that the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claims it has.

Suu Kyi, who is herself contesting a seat in the USDP-dominated Parliament, which also sets aside 25 percent of seats for military representatives, officially kicked off her campaign last weekend, although she has been making organizing trips around the country since late January.

Party officials said she will make a campaign trip on Wednesday to Hlegu Township in Rangoon Division, where one of her party’s candidates will compete for one of 48 seats being contested.

The Irrawaddy – FEATURE: Thein Sein: Reformist or Caretaker?
By AUNG ZAW / THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, February 14, 2012

In less than one year, the new Burmese government has taken more steps towards political reform than the previous military regime took in over two decades. The man at the forefront of this process has been President Thein Sein, but the question still remains whether he is committed to concrete and meaningful progress in Burma, or is simply the public face of the old junta in its quest to retain power under the guise of a quasi-civilian government.

It is not possible to fairly assess the situation in Burma today without acknowledging the reforms enacted under Thein Sein’s guidance since he took office in March 2010. In particular, Burma has become a much more open country in terms of what the media is allowed to report and what the pro-democracy opposition and general public are allowed to do and say.

But it is also important to remember that Burma is still far from becoming a free and democratic society, that most of the leaders of the oppressive junta which previously ruled Burma are now at the top of the new government, and that Thein Sein was the prime minister and one of the leading generals in that brutal regime.

Previous junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, a master political chess player, probably counted on the fact that Thein Sein would present a kinder and gentler political face to the world. However, it should be kept in mind that the new president was until recently a career military man who was a creation of—and is therefore beholden to—the past dictator.

Thein Sein, the son of peasants from the Irrawaddy Delta, served in the armed forces from the time he graduated from the 9th intake of the Defense Services Academy (DSA) until he resigned from his post as a full general in 2010 to become the civilian front man of the new, still military-dominated, government.

As a young officer in the 1970s, he was sent to northern Burma to join the military campaign against the Chinese-backed communist insurgency. Nyunt Swe, a senior officer who led several battles during this campaign, described the then junior general staff officer as calm and disciplined on the battlefield.

Retired Lt-Gen Chit Swe, under whom Thein Sein served in the 1980s, was similarly impressed. Thein Sein was, he said, an attentive soldier who was always willing to consider all sides of a given issue. He rarely showed his emotions, and was not aggressive, arrogant or dogmatic. He was, however, completely loyal to the armed forces.

Ko Ko Hlaing, a fellow DSA graduate, also knew Thein Sein in the days when he was still a young soldier fighting communist insurgents, and spoke of him with admiration.

“I found him to be a man of discipline and honesty. He worked very hard. Everybody in our regiment was quite impressed with him. As a soldier, he always obeyed his superiors, but at the same time he did his best to act in accordance with rules and regulations,” said Ko Ko Hlaing.

Several other army officers now in their 60s and 70s also recall the young Thein Sein as a hardworking soldier who enjoyed reading and writing short stories in his spare time.

When Burma was rocked by a nationwide uprising in 1988, Thein Sein was the commander of a  battalion posted in Kalay, Sagaing Division. On one occasion, his unit captured some pro-democracy activists fleeing towards the Indian border; but in contrast to the bloody crackdown being orchestrated by his colleagues in Rangoon, he either freed the activists or handed them over to local authorities.

In 1991, Thein Sein was posted to the War Office, where he became the first general staff officer ever to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general. It was here that he had his first chance to work closely with senior military leaders, including then Gen Than Shwe and the former spy chief, Gen Khin Nyunt.

It was an interesting time to be in the War Office, as the leading generals, who were locked in an internal power struggle, vied with each other to promote loyal officers to top positions. Than Shwe’s team included Thein Sein and several other current members of Burma’s new government, including Shwe Mann, the speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Khin Aung Myint, the speaker of the Upper House, and Tin Aung Myint Oo, the first vice-president.

In 1996, Thein Sein was appointed to lead the newly established Triangle Regional Command in eastern Shan State, where he oversaw Burma’s portion of the notorious Golden Triangle area bordering Laos and Thailand. During his time in Shan State, skirmishes broke out along the Thai-Burmese border, and critics said he failed to convince several armed opposition groups to enter into ceasefire agreements with the junta. Since becoming president last year, however, his administration has actively pursued peace talks with armed groups, achieving some success despite deep-seated mistrust.

Thein Sein continued his steady rise through the ranks, eventually becoming a member of the ruling State Peace and Development Council. When Than Shwe purged Khin Nyunt and his intelligence apparatus in 2004, Thein Sein replaced him as Secretary 1, the fourth-most powerful position in the junta. At the time, he was adjutant general in the War Office, heading the office that carried out the investigation into Khin Nyunt’s alleged corruption, which served as the pretext for his ouster.

It came as a surprise to many when Thein Sein’s government freed Burma’s feared former spy chief in January along with hundreds of political prisoners. The motive behind the release of Khin Nyunt is still unknown. It could have been for humanitarian reasons, but some analysts speculate that Thein Sein wanted to recruit Khin Nyunt to reach out to Burma’s ethnic armed groups, since he was one of the architects of past ceasefire agreements.

Within three years of becoming Secretary 1, Thein Sein took over another one of Khin Nyunt’s former jobs: When Prime Minister Soe Win died of leukemia in 2007, the all-powerful Than Shwe named Thein Sein to fill the vacant position.

Abbot banned from preaching one more year
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 18:23 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The popular abbot considered a friend of opposition groups cannot give public talks anywhere in Burma, according to a new ruling issued by the state sangha authority.

The ban on Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha of Thadu Pariyatti Monastery in Kyimyindaing Township in Rangoon follows a one-year ban in 2011. The order was from the State Sangha Committee, Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha told Mizzima.

“Someone gave me a copy of the letter that says they banned me until 2013,” he said.

Because of the ban, he has cancelled sermons scheduled in Tachileik on February 11 and 12 and in Khinoo on February 13, 14 and 15.

In 2011, the abbot was banned by the state authorities for teaching things “incompatible with Buddhism,” a charge he strongly rejects.

During the first year of the ban, on December 12 the Region Sangha Committee sent the abbot a letter to calling him a ‘disobedient monk’ and ordering him to leave the Sardu Pariyatti Monastery complex for delivering speech at the Mandalay Region National League for Democracy office in September. The letter also ordered the monastery to halt all religious training conducted in the monastery, which trained hundreds of monks.

He was ordered to sign a letter confirming that he would leave from the monastery no later than February 19.

“I signed the pledge. I did as they told me. What else can I do not to be a ‘disobedient monk,’ what else can I do?” he told Mizzima.

On February 15, 16 and 17, he said he would visit Kyimyindaing and Kamayut townships to meet with supporters and receive donations.

He said he would leave Thadu Monastery on Sunday. “I’ll leave… No need to feel sorry. When the time comes, all of us have to abandon everything.”

Mizzima News – First priority is to create jobs: Suu Kyi
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 13:20 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Campaigning in Kawhmu Township in a caravan that trailed more than 200 cars and thousands of motorcycles, National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman Aung San Suu Kyi said her first priority is to create jobs for all people, young and old.

Her motorcade, nearly two miles long, took six hours to arrive at Warthinkha village on Saturday, about 40 miles from Rangoon, because of the enthusiastic crowds that lined the roadside.

In her speech at Warthinkha village, she asked people to support NLD candidates.

“The most important problem in Kawhmu Township is that people don’t have jobs,” she said. “Most degree graduates in Kawhmu Township don’t have jobs. We understand that our first responsibility is to create enough jobs for people.”

Suu Kyi said that she would need everyone’s support on a “difficult and long political journey.”

The crowds lining the streets included people from Dala, Twante, Kunchangon, and Dedaye townships. People played musical instruments to welcome her and groups presented traditional Karen dances. Suu Kyi said that she chose the poor district of Kawhmu because its population includes many Karen.

Estimates said up to 20,000 people gathered in Warthinkha village to listen to Suu Kyi’s speech. She also visited Maselseik, Nghat Aw San and other nearby villages.

On March 31, the day before the coming April 1 by-election, Suu Kyi will cast her vote in the village.

In the Kawhmu Township constituency, Suu Kyi’s main competitor is ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] candidate Dr. Soe Min, who works in the USDP charity clinic, Phyo Saydanar. During the 2010 general election, he ran a charity mobile health clinic while campaigning.

Gambira’s rapid release a sign of greater scrutiny?
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 19:13 Mizzima News

(Analysis) – It had the look of a classic right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.

The arrest of Ashin Gambira on Friday by security police and his release only a few hours later had the earmarks of a problem cited by Burmese activists over and over.  While the government’s leaders are encouraging participation of civil society in Burmese affairs, lower-level officials are exercising the same old heavy-handed tactics of repression, harassment and arrests on flimsy grounds.

Ashin Gambira, 33, was one of the leaders of the so-called Saffron Revolution, a 2007 anti-government uprising led by Buddhist monks against the then-ruling junta. He was detained shortly after a military crackdown on protesters and released Jan. 13 as part of a mass prisoner release that has been hailed as a sign of Burma new government’s willingness to make reforms.

Friday’s detention of Gambira had the dark echoes of the previous military government, which was known for whisking away opposition members in middle of the night raids on their homes or monasteries.

Gambira’s detention had immediate repercussions; signally the eyes of the world’s governments are evaluating every government action for signs of backsliding. It came at a time when many Burmese exiles are thinking of returning, but still have some doubts about the sincerity of the government, especially lower-level government workers who are often afraid of making personal decisions that differ from their past actions.

In Washington, hours after the detention and before word of Gambira’s release, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed deep U.S. concern over the detention of the monk, who remains a skeptic of the true colors of President Thein Sein’s government.

The U.S. said it wanted to see Burma live up to its words on greater freedom and tolerance: “Given the Burmese government’s stated commitment to reform and democratization, we call on Burmese authorities to protect the fundamental freedoms of all its citizens, including all of those recently released from detention,” Nuland told a news briefing.

An official from the Home Ministry said that Gambira had been “taken away” from the Yangon monastery where he was staying and brought for “questioning in relation to incidents that happened after his release.” The official, who spoke on condition on anonymity, said that Gambira and other monks had illegally entered monasteries that had been shut after the 2007 uprising.

Authorities detained Gambira after he ignored a summons to report for questioning, the official said. He said Gambira was sent back to Maggin Monastery in the evening. It had been sealed by the authorities after the 2007 protests, but was reopened that evening, he said.

Observes note that the current government still seems to be especially sensitive to two areas of Burmese society: the sangha and the media.

The state sangha authority this week issued another one-year ban on preaching by a popular abbot known for his support of opposition groups. The ban on Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha of Thadu Pariyatti Monastery in Kyimyindaing Township in Rangoon follows a one-year preaching ban in 2011. The order followed his eviction from his teaching monastery by authorities.

DVB News – Talks fail as Rangoon strikers push on
By NAY THWIN
Published: 14 February 2012

Employers have refused to budge on demands made by workers at a shoe factory in Rangoon whose strike, now in its second week, has once again drawn attention to poor labour conditions in Burma.

Officials from the government’s labour department yesterday attempted to mediate between strikers and the owners of the Taiyi shoe factory. Around 2,000 people have halted work in protest at low salaries and wages deducted during the five-day Chinese New Year holiday in January, which employees say they were forced to take against their will.

But reports suggest the workers have decreased some of their demands, including for a 175 kyat ($US0.20) per hour pay rise. They are now demanding wages of 100 kyat per hour, up from the current rate of 75 kyat, but employees have agreed to only 85 kyat. That would equate to around $US250 a year, were they to work a six-day week, but the Tai Yi owners stipulate that employees cannot work on public holidays.

Labour activist Su Su Nway, who has on several occasions visited the site of the strike in Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, said the workers may have buckled to pressure.

“I learnt today that the workers are already in a hot water – some of them had to go back home to grab money as they have been absent a lot [and not received their wages],” she said, adding that the owners had stopped free transport and so workers were forced to walk to the factory. “We are sad to see them suffering a lot,” said Su Su Nway.

Burmese President Thein Sein last year passed into law a bill granting workers freedom to strike and form labour unions, described at the time as a “massive move for the country” by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The bill brought to an end the draconian 1962 Trade Unions Act that effectively banned all trade unions in the country. Burmese workers can now legally go on strike, with the proviso that if they work in the private sector they give three days notice, and if in a public utility, 14 days.

The new law however includes severe penalties for employers who breach its regulations, including a ban on the dismissal of “a worker for his membership in a labour organisation for the exercise of organisational activities or participating in a strike in accordance with the law.”

Employers face a fine of up to 100,000 kyat ($US120) or up to a year in prison if they breach the legislation.

It is not clear whether the Tai Yi workers abided by the new regulations. The ILO has in the past spearheaded campaigns to educate Burmese about their rights, but it is questionable whether employees in low-skilled industries such as factory work are yet fully aware of the finer detail of the new bill.