The government’s formation of the Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC), which was announced on Friday, provoked criticism from journalists who claimed its formation without approval from local media can lead to complications and cannot safeguard freedom of press.

The government has announced a 20-member core press council which has been formed to protect media persons, compile journalism ethics and settle press disputes.

The council will be chaired by retired Supreme Court judge U Khin Maung Aye, and retired principal of the United Nations System Staff College Dr Aung Tun Thet and retired Myanmar Language Professor Dr Khin Aye will serve as vice chairmen.

‘’The formation of the core press council can be considered to replace Myanmar notorious censorship board, and I don’t think the council will guarantee freedom of press which have been fought by the Myanmar media for ages,’’ a veteran journalist said.

The Eleven Media Group and other journalists’ associations have issued statements that they do not believe the council can promote journalism ethics, protect journalists and safeguard freedom of press.

“The formation of the council without common consent of media can lead to complications, and restriction on the media will make a U-turn of democratisation process in the country. And enjoying immunity from criminal or civil prosecution against members of MCPC Council would be tantamount to putting them above the law,” the Eleven Media Group said in its statement.

“Some members of the council have records of breaching journalism ethics. So how could they work for journalism ethics? And some are publishers so there will be conflicts of interest in the future,” an editor of a weekly journal who asked not to be named said.

The formation of the core press council came a week after a protest by journalists to demand more press freedom. Myanmar journalists staged a protest after the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department suspended the publication of two private news journals, the Voice and Envoy, for having violated regulations. The two journals are expected to resume publication by next week.

“There are many problems as the government has callously formed the Myanmar Core Press Council and the draft press media law without revealing them to the journalists. For example, in some countries, a judge is appointed to be a chairperson of a press council. That country has a good judicial system, and the judges are respected and influential people. Here, the judicial system has been corrupted for about 40 years, and most of the judges are not in this position. It goes wrong as they’ve imitated this. There will also be problems if the press media law is (being drafted) with force. The press council should not stand with authority and order. It should stand firmly and powerfully with strong policies and the ethics and dignity of the members. Even though we cannot participate, we will not hesitate to support it if it is formed with respected people who can guarantee freedom of press. The reason why there is a conflict between the government and the news media is because of a particular government official who is drafting the press media law and wants to make a U-turn (of democratisation process),” Dr. Than Htut Aung, CEO of Eleven Media Group said.

“The government’s announced that they have formed the press council. It was formed without electing so how can the group have freedom? How can it be a group that protects us – the newsmen and media persons? We need to think about this. They do not represent the press. They are not going to work for the benefit of the press and seems as they want to control the press. Moreover, there are people in the group who are not related to the press business. I think it shouldn’t happen like this. It will be a joke to write the press ethics by them,” Veteran journalist U Ko Ko Gyi (Kyaemone) said.

The council will discharge duties until it is handed over to the Myanmar Press Council to be formed in line with the Press Media Law after it has been approved by the parliament.

The draft press media law is currently being compiled by the Ministry of Information.

Yangon – Myanmar Airways International plans to launchflights from Mandalay to Bangkok, and Gaya, India, in October, reports said Sunday.

The Mandalay-Bangkok route will include a stopover in Yangon,the national carrier’s commercial executive Aye Mra Tha told the Myanmar Times.

Thai AirAsia, a low-cost carrier, also plans an October launch fordirect flights between Bangkok and Mandalay, the main commercial hubfor upper Myanmar and a leading tourist destination.

“We will also start direct flights to Gaya, India, from Mandalayin October,” Aye Mra Tha said. Gaya is the closest airport toBodhagaya, the place where the Buddha obtained enlightenment and apopular destination for Buddhist pilgrims.

“We have four aircraft now and two more aircraft will be addedbefore the end of August. After that it will be possible to startthese two routes from October,” she said.

Myanmar has become a hot destination for tourists since the 2010general election, the first in two decades. The new government hasintroduced politcal and economic reforms that have helped it to shedits pariah status among Western democracies.

But the country faces a chronic shortage of hotels and flights toaccommodate the sudden influx of tourists

Myanmar has started discussions with foreign companies in a bid to transform its dilapidated national electricity grid, a vital component of the country’s economic reforms.

President Thein Sein earlier this year identified electricity generation and supply as a key component of a “second phase” of reforms which included providing power to 75% of the population within the next decade.

For electricity-starved Myanmar, this represents a hugely ambitious project that would require expanding generating capacity from 1,100 megawatts last year to more than 16,500 MW by 2022 at an estimated cost of up to US$20 billion. Currently, only about a quarter of Myanmar’s population of 60 million has an electricity supply, according to UN data.

“It means building a power plant with a generation capacity from 500 to 1,000 megawatts yearly,” said Thein Sein.

He identified hydropower, gas and coal plants as the main sources, adding that Myanmar would seek to import electricity in what appeared to be a major departure from the country’s recent policy on energy.

During protests in Yangon, Mandalay and other big cities in May in which people voiced their dissatisfaction with the lack of power, demonstrators criticised the government for building dams that would be used to sell electricity to other countries in the region.

In June’s policy speech, the president made regular references to the need for foreign help to overhaul its woefully inadequate power-supply sector as a host of overseas companies have visited Nay Pyi Daw to discuss potential projects.

In June, Somboom Arayaskul, the acting president of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), met with Myanmar’s minister of electric power supply, Khin Maung Soe, to discuss plans to move two Mitsubishi gas turbine generators from Thailand to Myanmar.

The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run daily, reported that Egat presented a report to the Myanmar government outlining sites for the turbines, which were not identified, and a tentative schedule for their installation.

Myanmar technicians were reportedly due in Thailand to examine the turbines ahead of their relocation. Egat did not respond to questions when contacted.

Takashi Ikeda, the regional CEO of Sojitz Corporation, held meetings with the Myanmar government on the same day as Egat, during which the Japanese company proposed installing a 500-kilowatt power grid and a sub-power station.

The Canadian company SNC-Lavalin is already consulting for the Myanmar government as part of assessments to see whether it may invest in the power supply sector.

“It is just a very high level discussion for the moment with no particular projects identified yet,” said Leslie Quinton, a company spokesman.

Meanwhile, General Electric has agreed a deal to provide power-generating equipment to a hospital in Yangon and has held talks with the government to supply portable gas turbines.

The problem for Myanmar, though, is funding this rapid and costly investment. Having spent only $3.3 billion of state funds on electricity generation and supply between 1988 and the end of the 2011 financial year in March last year, Myanmar must now invest the same amount roughly every 18 months for the next decade if it is to meet its own ambitious targets.

Thein Sein identified foreign aid and investment, likely backed by low-interest foreign loans, as the main sources of capital to fund these projects given a lack of state funds.

Whether or not Myanmar meets its targets will not only have a major bearing on economic growth, it will also affect social harmony in a country that saw widespread demonstrations in May from ordinary people fed up with routine blackouts.

Wai Muu Thwin, who was among the first protesters to join the “candlelight demonstrations” in Yangon, said that in the first week of May his apartment in the centre of the city was only receiving six hours of electricity per day. That has since risen to between 10 and 12 hours, he added.

His home, which features a flat-screen television and DVD player powered by a car battery, has only ever received round-the-clock electricity during the three-month period prior to the November 2010 election, a sign the government has used power supply as a political weapon, said Wai Muu Thwin.

It is time for the government to improve its record on supplying power, he said, not only for the people of the country, but for small businesses and the overall health of the economy.

“The government should have a Plan B,” he said. “Without electricity there is nothing we can do.”

Despite official obstacles barring most observers and aid workers from western Myanmar, two months after dozens were killed in sectarian clashes and tens of thousands of Muslims were forced from their homes into “resettlement camps,” a television crew from Britain’s Channel 4 News managed to report from the region on Tuesday.

As my colleague Thomas Fuller reported in June, Myanmar declared a state of emergency that month after violence between the Buddhist majority and a minority Muslim population known as Rohingyas swept Rakhine State, along the border with Bangladesh. The rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in May led to revenge attacks on the Rohingyas, who were blamed for the crime. In the following weeks, up to 60,000 Rohingyas were driven from their homes and a whole section of the regional capital Sittwe was burned to the ground.

The British crew managed to film at a camp for displaced Rohingyas outside Sittwe, and also interviewed Buddhists in the town who claimed, implausibly, that the Muslims had set their own homes on fire. The Buddhists also complained to the reporters that the United Nations and international aid groups are biased in favor of the Muslims.

Myanmar denies citizenship to the about 800,000 Rohingyas who live in the country, on the disputed theory that their ancestors arrived there after the start of British colonial rule in the 19th century. The government even proposed expelling them en masse last month. That has led some Rohingyas to try to find refuge across the border in Bangladesh.

According to Moshahida Sultana Ritu, an economist at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh who wrote a New York Times opinion piece on the crisis in July, fears of an influx of refugees “have aroused anti-Rohingya sentiment among some Bangladeshis, and initially Bangladesh’s government tried to force the refugees back without assisting them.”

Ms. Sultana Ritu also said Myanmar’s government used its security forces “to burn houses, kill men and evict Rohingyas from their villages.” The attack on the Rohingyas, the professor said, “is not sectarian violence; it is state-supported ethnic cleansing.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr says Australia will provide $5 million aid to help prevent the deaths of mothers and children in Burma.

Senator Carr says the money will fund a program of immunisations, paediatric and emergency pre-natal care for more than 320,000 mothers and newborns in the Asian nation.

He says Burma is one of the poorest nations in Asia, with an infant death rate 10 times higher than in Australia.

Around one in 14 Burmese children die before their fifth birthday, with the cause of death often a preventable condition like pneumonia, diarrhoea or malaria.

‘We will be working to save the lives of women and infants through immunisation and medical supplies, and through funds for better delivery rooms in remote Myanmar villages,’ Senator Carr said in a statement on Wednesday.

Senator Carr says the aid will be delivered immediately to teams from the World Health Organisation and United Nations working with mothers and newborns in around 3000 villages.

The money will go to immunisation programs to protect 140,000 expectant mothers in remote villages against tetanus and 182,000 newborns against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. Funds will also be provided to treat 60,000 women with malaria, and to train paediatricians and health clinic staff in advanced and basic newborn care.

Fort Wayne, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – Local Burmese activists are hoping the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, will be available to visit the Summit City in late September.

Suu Kyi, 67, had spent much of a quarter-century under house arrest by the Myanmar’s ruling military. In 2010 she was freed and elected to a seat in the nation’s year-old parliament.

In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to the 2010 census, the majority of the state’s roughly 7,900 Burmese are residents of either Allen or Marion counties.

Expressing ’serious concern’ over recent violence in Myanmar, Britain on Tuesday offered assistance to the trouble-torn country’s government to help end the unrest and to support an ‘inclusive political settlement’.

Foreign Secretary William Hague supported a recent statement by United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana who reportedly called for the Myanmar government to undertake a ‘credible’ investigation into the violence against Rohingiya Muslims after a recent visit there.

Quintana’s statement is seen by Myanmar’s parties as supporting the Rohingiya Muslims, and have called for his dismissal.

Hague said, “The United Kingdom, as ever, stands ready to assist the government of Burma in its efforts to develop Rakhine State, to share our knowledge and experience of tackling the many complex and long-standing issues to be overcome and, as Burma (Myanmar) continues its path towards establishing full democracy, to support an inclusive political settlement that protects the rights of all members of the local population.”

Expressing serious concern ‘about the nature and extent of the recent violence’, Hague urged the Myanmar government to resolve the crisis in accordance with international human rights law.

He said, “We join Mr Quintana in stressing the need to end the violence; to grant full and unhindered humanitarian access to the areas affected; to allow the affected communities to safely return to their homes; and to support the restitution of property that was seriously damaged or destroyed.”

Hague added, “We encourage the government to ensure that it treats the affected communities fairly and equitably and to ensure that the authorities prevent any further bloodshed.

There is also a need to seek a long term solution to the problems they face in a manner which recognises their human rights, including their right to nationality, and to take effective steps which prevents any further forced or involuntary displacement and which does not leave them permanently displaced.”

Britain, the foreign secretary said, joined Quintana in calling for the release of people who had been arbitrarily detained, irrespective of their ethnic background. Hague also expressed the need for the Myanmar government to carry out ‘an independent, fair and prompt investigation in to the violence, in particular the allegations of seriouS crimes within the communities and human rights violations by the security forces’.

Human rights groups have accused Myanmar’s security forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

The conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in western Myanmar has moved to the rural township of Kyauktaw.

Thirteen people have been killed and seven injured in Kyauktaw over the last five days, while more than 300 homes have been torched in tat-for-tat arson attacks, according to reports.

Some 3,000 people are thought to have been affected by the violence, which allegedly began when a group of Rohingya Muslims set fire to a bus depot in the heart of the township.

Kyauktaw is situated in the westerly state of Rakhine, which has witnessed widespread sectarian fighting over the past two months. However, the small township has hitherto seen little conflict.

Following the rapid escalation of violence, the authorities have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kyauktaw. Six other towns around Rakhine have already received such restrictions.

Official state figures now suggest that 90 people have died across Rakhine since the sectarian conflict began in June. A further 116 people have been injured, and over 65,000 have been displaced.

International solidarity

With the violence continuing to escalate, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has urged the international community to take action to help the Muslim minority – which it believes is being persecuted.

The Rohingya have never been granted citizenship in Myanmar (previously known as Burma), and a 1982 law excluded them from the list of officially recognised minorities. It is widely believed within the Islamic community that the Myanmar government has acquiesced in, and even actively supported, the recent violence against the Rohingya.

“We are deeply concerned about the appalling conditions of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar whose members are denied citizenship rights and are considered stateless people; a situation that requires a firm decision,” said a statement by the OIC.

In a separate development, a group of prominent Muslim Americans has gathered to launch Burma Task Force USA, a collective advocacy group which aims to highlight alleged atrocities and human rights violations against Myanmar’s Islamic population.

“We demand that those responsible for the mass rapes and mass murder of thousands of Rohingyas be charged with crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Court of Justice,” Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairperson of Burma Task Force USA, said.

The organisation also vowed to “hold [Aung San] Suu Kyi accountable” for her part in the ongoing conflict.

Suu Kyi, an internationally renowned journalist and former political prisoner, promised to support the citizenship of the Rohingya Muslims back in 2005, and has apparently held talks with Myanmar’s president, Thin Sein, since being freed from house arrest in November 2010. However she has refused to discuss the subject publicly when asked directly.

There is a part of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Burma, that people still refer to as Narzi. But if you travel there, as Channel 4 News did recently, you will not find much to look at. In fact this substantial section of town, until recently the bustling home of 10,000, no longer exists.

Instead, you will find a post-apocalyptic world of rubble and burnt-out tree trunks. Personal effects are left scattered on the ground. It seems an incongruous scene in a country that claims to be remaking itself as modern, democratic state. Spend five minutes in Narzi, however, and you start to wonder whether Burma has really changed at all.

Until a month ago, Sittwe was home, in almost even proportions, to two different ethnic groups – the Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.

It seems an incongruous scene in a country that claims to be remaking itself as modern, democratic state.

There have long been tensions between the two, and the recent violence started with an allegation that three Rohingya men had raped and killed a young Buddhist woman. After the distribution of inflammatory pamphlets, ten Muslim pilgrims were pulled out of a bus and beaten to death. The immediate consequence was chaos. Hate-filled mobs from both communities went on the rampage, burning homes and settling scores.

‘Resettlement’

Narzi and many other communities were lost in the storm. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) estimate that some 100,000 people were displaced in the fighting. The government puts the death toll at 78, a figure human rights groups call “a gross underestimate”.

In an effort to regain control, Burma’s government sent in nine military regiments to Rakhine and implemented a policy of strict separation. In Sittwe, this meant moving 60,000 Rohingya out of the city, and “resettling” them in a series of camps located some distance from the city.

We were told by humanitarian agencies that conditions in these camps were “desperate”, but access is strictly controlled, even to aid workers. Through our contacts however, we managed to reach several of these sites.

The camps were located on soggy pastures, squeezed between paddy fields. When our vehicle stopped, we were surrounded by residents desperate to communicate. The adults looked thin and many of the children were clearly malnourished. I asked a woman with three children how much food she was getting. “We’re living on rice and beans,” she said. “It’s not enough. We haven’t got blankets. When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can’t.”

Restrictions

Young men in the camp told me they were dreaming of escape. One young man told me: “I am from Sittwe, but I don’t want to stay (in the camp). I want to go to Bangladesh. We are really suffering here.”

In truth, he has few options. The Bangladeshis do not want the Rohingya – and they have long been treated with indifference and hostility in Burma. The United Nations has for some time called them “one of the most persecuted groups in the world”. They are subjected to restrictions on marriage, employment and education, and they were denied in citizenship in 1982.

We’re living on rice and beans. It’s not enough. We haven’t got blankets. When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can’t. Rohingya camp resident

Now they are in the camps, another weighty constraint has been added – they can’t leave. Sittwe is now off-limits, and it seems unlikely its former residents will be able to return.

It is the cause of great anxiety here, for few people here can support themselves. One woman told us: “We have no jobs and our kids can’t work. I use to run a shop in Sittwe, but I came here in the rain with nothing but my bare hands. No money, nothing.”

International NGOs and the United Nations are struggling to provide assistance to the camps, with their efforts hindered by a determined campaign of obstruction by local Buddhists. Aid workers have been threatened and some shipments have been blocked. Local doctors have refused to treat Rohingya and businessmen have declined to provide humanitarian organisations with services like warehouse space – crucial for the storage of food, for example.

‘Favouritism’

When we sought the views of local Buddhists, they told us that the UN and International NGOs engage in favouritism. Much sought after jobs with the agencies “always” go to the Rohingya, we were told. When I put these complaints to one NGO official, he was unapologetic however. “We go to where the need is greatest,” he said.

Burma’s government has been accused by international human rights organisations of doing little to stop the violence after the first clashes took place – and of siding with the local population when troops and military policemen were moved in. The UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Quintana, told Channel 4 News that he had received allegations of mass arrests, torture and killings and the hands of the security forces on a recent visit there.

There is much justified excitement with the reforms currently being undertaken by Burma’s new government. But the president, Thein Sein, has offered little on the issue, other than to suggest that a third country may be persuaded to take in the Rohingya. The opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has also said, and done, little. When asked about the situation by one Muslim during the initial period of violence, she replied: “Yes, I understand, but I am not the government. I can’t do anything. Only the government [can] do something.”

There are many Rohingya Muslims – like the former residents of Narzi – who would beg to differ with that.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Activists in Fort Wayne’s Burmese community are trying to arrange a visit to the city by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The group hopes that the democracy advocate from their native Myanmar will travel to Fort Wayne as part of her September trip to the United States, during which she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington.

Members of a 70-person Suu Kyi welcoming committee tell The Journal Gazette they’ve been in contact with her representatives and are working with city officials on preparations.

Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest as a political prisoner for her struggle against military rule in her homeland.

Some 4,000 Burmese live in the Fort Wayne area, one of the country’s largest concentrations.

Chairman of Planning Commission President U Thein Sein addressed second meeting of the commission at the meeting hall of the President Office on Monday in Naypyitaw, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Tuesday.

Present at the meeting were Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham, Union Ministers, the Union attorney-general, the Union auditor-general, the chairman of Union Civil Services Board, Region/ State chief ministers, chairmen of Self- Administered Division/ Zones.

In his opening speech, President U Thein Sein said that the meeting concentrated on drafting city plan, town plan and village plan as a fundamental requisite for practical implementation of reform strategies. It would also comprise city plans of Yangon and Mandalay, he said.

According to the President, such kind of plans must be drafted considering guaranteeing civilized living, adequate supply of electricity, availability of clean water, better transportation and sanitation. Additionally job opportunities must be created in all parts for improvement of all citizens, he explained.

More than six-million population of the country lives in Yangon. International airport and ports which are fabricated the country’s economic forces are in Yangon. Besides, products from upper and lower parts of the country get together in Yangon. So, Yangon is the potential mega city in Asia in future, President said.

Similarly, Mandalay is a commercial hub of the country as it has been trading with China and India. As 20 per cent of the whole population lives in Yangon and Mandalay, the two cities made 30 per cent of Gross National Product, he said.

President directed to form urbanization working committee for development of the towns. In accordance with the constitution, fiscal distribution and taxation must be carried out in Regions and States and foreign loans and aids would also be distributed equally to each Region or State, he said.

He suggested that regional governments have to strive for growth of their own area. The grassroots should be made powerful to vote for the competent village administrators who can control themselves from corruption and are ready to add the good to the village in line with the law. They are also responsible to take care of economic, education and health affairs and to ensure the rule of law, the president explained.

It was remarkable that the President has a good knowledge about the bribery which has been deep-rooted in every level of the governmental mechanism. He pressed the officials to tackle the issue seriously.

“Bribery is morally wrong and scandalous act for both official and civilian of the bribe. Deep-rooted bribery system must be stopped by way of strict actions. The practice is not only damage the dignity of the government but also the country’s reputation,” the President underlined.

He urged his senior officials to clear the paying-off practice to guarantee the clean government. He said that the heads of every society must be accountable for what their subordinates do and must deal with the bribery successfully. In addition, he emphasized that stability, social security and the rule of law are vital for development of each constituency of the country.

Burma has a big problem of corruption which deeply rooted among its bureaucrats and especially with military elites.

The recent mission of the Turkish Foreign Minister and senior officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Myanmar’s state of Rakhine – which recently experienced deadly ethnic clashes that displaced thousands of people – was welcomed today by the top United Nations envoy to the Southeast Asian country.

“Such positive steps will help support Myanmar’s ongoing process of democratization and reform,” the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General, Vijay Nambiar, said in a statement on the fact-finding visit led by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoðlu, undertaken at the invitation of the Government of Myanmar.

Recent tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine have left at least a dozen civilians dead and hundreds of homes destroyed, as well as at least 64,000 people displaced.

The Turkish delegation visited the camps of both Muslims and Buddhists displaced by the violence, where humanitarian aid provided by Turkey was distributed, representing the first such assistance accepted by Myanmar outside that provided by the UN, according to Mr. Nambiar’s statement.

“This has demonstrated the willingness of the Myanmar Government to cooperate with the international community to alleviate the suffering of its people,” Mr. Nambiar said, adding that he and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been in continuous contact with authorities on the matter.

Last week, at the end of four-day mission to Myanmar, the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, warned of the rapidly growing needs faced by over half a million internally displaced persons in the Asian nation, and called on the Government to give aid agencies access to all areas of the country.

A series of democratic reforms in Myanmar, begun last year and led by President Thein Sein, culminated in April elections in which pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a position in the lower house of parliament and which Mr. Ban, in a visit soon after, called “a historic moment.”

The Secretary of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and two members of the Commission visited Myitkyina and Waingmaw of the Kachin State from 23 to 27 July 2012 and carried out the following tasks of the Commission:- Visited 16 relief camps, met with the people of the camps and expressed words of encouragement to them.

Summoned and examined the witnesses in connection with the complaints, assumed to involve the violations of human rights in the Kachin State.

Met with the Chief Minister and the Ministers of the Kachin State Government and exchanged views on the prevailing situation in the Kachin State.

Based on the activities and the findings of the Commission team, the following recommendations are made:- on studying and examination of the camps that the Commission team visited, it was found that although over one year has elapsed, the basic needs of the peoples of the camps were able to be fulfilled as before. The departments and the organizations concerned are urged to supply additional medicines required for the provision of health care for and treatment of ailments caused by seasonal changes.

The people at the relief camps expressed that they wished to return to their villages and that land mines in the surrounding areas of the villages be cleared.

To carry out mine clearance before the resettlement work is commenced, there should be cooperation among the armed groups and the relevant domestic and foreign organizations. The villagers should be educated about land mines.

According to the statements of the witnesses made in connection with the complaints, it was found that there were certain violations of human rights of the populations of the villages by the armed groups.

Therefore, it is strongly urged not to violate human rights under any circumstances and to act in accordance with human rights standards.

According to the statements of the witnesses from the Tarlawgyi village of the Myitkyina Township, there were instances of forced recruitment of soldiders from villagers of Tarlawgyi by the KIA. It was learnt that 53 villagers of Tarlawgyi who were serving as the people’s militia of the KIA have returned to the legal fold. It is urged that no armed group should engage in forced recruitment of soldiers in any area.

it was learnt that the Tatmadaw arrested and interrogated two villagers of Tawlawgyi in early January 2012 and they were prosecuted by the authorities concerned under the existing laws. In order not to adversely affect the rights of the persons concerned, the court proceedings should be expeditiously concluded.

the Commission does not wish to make any comment on the interrogation of the suspects by security forces for security reasons and on their prosecution in accordance with the law. However, torture during the interrogation constitutes violation of human rights and must be avoided.

The Government has received encouragement and support from within and outside the country in establishing a democratic state. Similarly, the Government has made historic accomplishments in its efforts to bring about lasting peace. Under these circumstances, concerted efforts should also be made by all to establish peace in the Kachin State in accordance with the desire of the people.

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission

Burma’s Parliament is set to choose a new vice president in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, with Gen Nyan Htun, the commander-in-chief of Burma’s navy, seen as the top pick of the legislature’s military appointees.

According to tomorrow’s parliamentary schedule, the military appointees, who hold 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, will submit a list of vice-presidential candidates. The one who is chosen in a vote will swear an oath later in the day.

Journalists and military sources in Naypyidaw say that Nyan Htun is the strongest candidate for the post and that it is highly likely he will be picked as the new vice-president.

Nyan Htun is believed to be loyal to Vice Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Burma’s armed force.

On July 10, former general Myint Swe, the chief minister of Rangoon Division, was nominated to succeed outgoing Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo, who resigned from his position after being diagnosed with cancer in May.

However, Myint Swe was later disqualified after it was learned that one of his children lives in Australia and has become an Australian citizen. Under Burma’s 2008 Constitution, any Burmese national whose relatives are foreign citizens or hold foreign citizenship is not qualified to serve as president or vice-president.

Some observers have suggested that the dispute over Myint Swe’s candidacy also points to a power struggle between reformists and hardliners. Thein Sein is generally seen as a reformist, while Min Aung Hlaing is regarded as a hardliner. Myint Swe is said to be close to Thein Sein.

Other names have also been mentioned as possible candidates for the vice-presidency, including Soe Win, the vice-commander-in-chief of the armed forces; retired Lt-Gen Tin Aye, who is the chairman of the Union Election Commission; and Htay Oo, the secretary general of the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 14, 2012 |

Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA) representatives have told Information Minister Kyaw Hsan that they will not take part in the new 20-member Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC) until changes are made to its powers and obligations.

The MCPC was formed to regulate the press until the new Media Law is passed later this year, but five MJA members on the council told a meeting on Sunday that they will not take any part until amendments are made to its authority.

“MJA representatives will not take part in the interim press council unless the unacceptable points in the MCPC obligations are amended,” said an earlier statement issued on Friday. After the new Media Law is passed a permanent press council is due to be formed to oversee journalistic ethics.

Thiha Saw, a MCPC member and vice-chairman of the MJA, said, “We asked to amend eight points in the MCPC’s obligations and authorities as it now looks like it will be replacing the tasks of the censorship board.”

“We cannot perform the censorship board’s job,” he added. “It is also against international standards. The council is to protect journalists and the freedom of the press.”

The MJA said that the current regulations contradict discussions with officials from the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) from a couple of months ago.

Journalists asked to delete four points—to supervise the work of the press which is deemed detrimental to the public interests, dignity of the state and national sovereignty; to scrutinize imported publications so they conform with the national interest; exercising authority in accordance with the Evidence Act, Penal Code, Code of Civil Procedure and Tort; and MCPC members enjoying immunity from prosecution.

They also asked for other points to be reworded—that journalists must approve the draft Media Law instead of the legislation being solely compiled by the Ministry of Information; and combining sections 3 (c) and (i) to “settle disputes” regarding journalism ethics instead of “summoning, educating and taking action” over breaches.

Kyaw Hsan said that the MCPC’s activities will be postponed until the dispute with the MJA is settled, said Maung Wuntha, a MCPC member and chairman of the MJA.

“When the demanded points are changed and announced, we will join MCPC meetings,” Maung Wuntha told The Irrawaddy. However, Kyaw Hsan did not say whether their objections would be granted or turned down and there was no further discussion at the meeting about abolishing censorship in line with previously stated policy, added Maung Wuntha.

In the meantime, the PSRD informed journals on Sunday that they must continue to submit stories to the censor board as usual.

The MJA was formally established on Saturday during a nationwide journalists’ conference, a day after the formation of the MCPC was announced by the government. Five leading MJA members—Patron Khin Maung Lay, Chairman Maung Wuntha, Vice-Chairman-1 Ko Ko, Vice-Chairman-2 Thiha Saw and Foreign Relations chief Aung Hla Htun—were also named as representing one quarter of the MCPC.

The MJA also asked Kyaw Hsan to inform members in advance before any further announcements regarding the MCPC. Apart from the MJA contingent, there are 15 other MCPC members including lawyers, judges, academics and publishers appointed by the government.

Kyaw Hsan is known to be a hardliner in President Thein Sein’s administration and there are persistent rumors that he will be relieved of his cabinet post in a reshuffle to take place in the next few days.

By WILLIAM BOOT / THE IRRAWADDY| August 14, 2012 |

Burma has ambitions to try to regain its onetime stature as the world’s rice bowl when the country was by far the biggest exporter of the grain.

Back in the 1930s—before World War II wrecked the economy during the Imperial Japanese Army’s occupation—Burma shipped seven million metric tons of rice abroad annually.

In 2011, it managed 778,000 tons while neighbor Thailand now holds the export crown with 10 million tons per year.

However, Thai producers are beginning to look apprehensively over their shoulders at the possibility of their western neighbor edging back up the competition ladder as Burma begins to reform its stagnant political and economic landscape.

But experts believe this is not likely to happen for a few years yet. Many of the country’s rice farmers are saddled with rising debts while the price of their crop falls, Reuters news agency reported on Aug. 9.

In a special assessment of economic developments in Burma since the end of the stifling junta regime, Reuters noted: “Change is coming either too slowly, or in the wrong forms, to the place where the great majority of Myanmar’s people live—the farming heartland, which once led the world in rice exports before withering under half-a-century of military dictatorship.”

The report paints a rural scene barely changed in a century, with oxen still the chief muscle engine in an unmechanized, labor-intensive industry where the hand-made scythe remains principal tool.

Antiquated practices and poor quality seed are two aspects of infrastructure problems holding back rice production and bigger, higher-value exports. Inadequate and sluggish transport and decrepit milling plants still driven by 19th century steam engines also hinder growth.

Carting rice from a major production area of the Irrawaddy Delta to Rangoon—a distance of roughly 120 miles—is more expensive than shipping it from Rangoon to Singapore, Myanmar Rice Industry Association Secretary-General Ye Min Aung told Reuters.

So what would it take to get Burma’s rice business back on its commercial feet?

“The [Burma] rice sector, which has been affected by decades of extensive government controls, needs more efforts to improve the availability of credit, inputs and storage facilities,” says economist Samarendu Mohanty, chief of social sciences at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Manila.

“The port facility and financial system, which have been in complete disarray from years of international sanctions, need a major uplift if the country dreams of returning to its old glory of being a major player in the global rice market,” he added.

“[Thailand’s] stay on top may be short-lived if [Burma] and Cambodia get their act together and modernize their rice sector and reform their policies. Both these countries are endowed with fertile lands and a favorable natural environment that can expand their production and take away market share from Thailand,” the IRRI official suggested in a study of Southeast Asia’s market potential.

Mohanty praised the Burmese government’s establishment of the Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA) in 2010 by merging producers, traders and millers associations. The MRIA acts as a channel between investors, farmers and millers and is allowed to export without government involvement or interference.

But new infrastructure will require considerable investment. Building new mills or renovating existing ones could cost US $500 million alone, Ye Min Aung estimated.

And it is unclear where that kind of cash will come from. The IRRI said in a study report in July that Burma’s emergent status might benefit from a system used in Uruguay which has come from nowhere to achieve the world’s third-highest rice productivity rate—reaching eight tons per hectare in the last five years. That has happened due a “unique system that has triggered 25 percent gains.”

“The key features of the [Uruguayan] rice sector are vertical integration and transparency among farmers, millers, researchers and the government,” says the IRRI.

“The mills lend farmers up to 70 percent of the credit required for investments in machinery and other inputs, and coordinate a collective insurance scheme with farmers to protect them against crop losses.”

Other features of the Uruguayan system include close links between millers and overseas traders as wells as liaison between millers, farmers and plant-breeding scientists at the country’s research center, and a fund drawn from rice sales to finance new grain research.

“While most of the rice in Asia is consumed by the very poor, there is a rapidly growing middle class buying high-quality branded rice from supermarkets,” said Bas Bouman of the Global Rice Science Partnership who studied Uruguay for the IRRI.

“It’s possible that rice production in [Burma] could benefit from the experience of Uruguay. I consider [Burma] a virgin territory because the existing system is relatively undeveloped and comes with no baggage. If it continues to open up, it could be a great opportunity to introduce a Uruguayan-style rice system from scratch.”

But before this could be undertaken in Burma there is a far more fundamental problem threatening to bedevil rice farming in the country—land rights.

Many farmers fear that economic reforms now being pushed by the government will encourage more rather than less land grabs as big businesses seek to capitalize on new investment potential, Reuters reported.

“Two new bills—the Farmland Law and the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Bill—already face criticism from farm activists for creating more opportunities for the state to take over land,” the news agency said.

Burma’s chances for a rice renaissance are further worsened by the unfortunate timing of the country’s economic revival coinciding with a world slump in rice prices triggered by a glut as more countries export.

Top exporter Thailand saw a crash of 45 percent to just 3.45 million tons in the first six months of this year, caused in part by stiff competition from rivals Vietnam and India.

This is expected to be a short-to-medium term hitch though, with global demand for rice expected to grow by 116 million tons per annum over existing production by 2035, says the IRRI.

Meantime, although Burma may have a long climb to be among the world’s top five rice-exporting countries once again, it is already in fifth place when it comes to eating rice.

Rice is such an important staple of the Burmese diet that the average annual per person consumption is 157 kg—above Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand in Southeast Asia.

During a Union-level peacemaking committee meeting in Naypyitaw on Sunday, Vice President Sai Mauk Kham said signing cease-fire deals with ethnic groups does not create peace, and on-going negotiations are fragile and demand committment.

He urged the government peacemaking body to render assistance to the families of the peace groups to ease the transition into a stable livelihood, saying, “Only when they are empowered to participate in the country’s social, economic and political spheres, burying the hatchets, will eternal peace be established,” according to an article in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.

He said that over a 50-year period, “conflicts have wasted the time and wealth of the country.”

Burma’s failure to achieve peace is one of the reasons it fell into the status of lease-developed countries, he said.

Burma formed an 11-member central committee, headed by President Thein Sein, and a 52-member working committee, led by Sai Mauk Kham, on May 3, 2012, to negotiate with armed ethnic groups.

So far, 10 out of 11 ethnic armed groups have reached preliminary peace pacts with the government at the state or central level.

However, peace talks with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) remained deadlocked so far, and armed clashes still occur periodically with Shan and Karen armed groups, in spite of cease-fire agreements, underscoring the tenuous nature of the agreements.

Twenty-four Burmese political parties say UN special rapporteur on human rights Tomas Quintana is biased in reporting on Burma’s ethnic conflicts and have called for his removal.

In a meeting in Rangoon with UN officials, the political party leaders said Quintana was taking the sides of the Rohingyas in the two-months long community unrest in Rakhine State, according to a report by Radio Free Asia on Sunday.

At the end of his two-day fact-finding tour on Aug. 10, Quintana called for the Burmese government to undertake a “credible” investigation because he was concerned at allegations of serious human rights violations committed as part of government measures to restore law and order.

“They include the excessive use of force by security and police personnel, arbitrary arrest and detention, killings, the denial of due process guarantees, and the use of torture in places of detention,” he said in a press conference in Rangoon.

“Quintana went to Rakhine State and made an assessment that was unfair and biased toward one side,” said Than Than Nu, the general secretary of the Democratic Party of Myanmar [Burma]. A full list of the parties that attended the meeting was not immediately available.

Party representatives at the meeting with the UN’s Marianne Hagen of the UN Rangoon office also accused Quintana of calling for the Rohingya, a stateless group, to be named as one of Burma’s ethnic nationalities. Currently, the Rohingyas are stateless and not considered one of Burma’s ethnic groups by the government.

“He should be replaced with someone else,” Nu said.

As Quintana left Burma at the end of his fact-finding tour of Rakhine State, Mizzima reported that he urged Burma to undertake a credible, independent investigation into allegations of human rights violations.

“It is of fundamental importance to clearly establish what has happened in Rakhine State and to ensure accountability,” Quintana said. “Reconciliation will not be possible without this, and exaggerations and distortions will fill the vacuum to further fuel distrust and tensions between communities.”

He said the Burmese Parliament is “the most appropriate body” for the investigation.

“I believe that Parliament, as the only multi-party and multi-ethnic public institution, is the most appropriate body for the creation of such a commission and for this difficult but necessary task,” he said in a statement.

“Lessons should be learned from other countries that have experience in these processes. Assistance may be provided by the United Nations and other international organizations,” he said.

Burma considers Rohingyas to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and India even though large numbers of Rohingya have lived in Burma for generations An estimated 800,000 live in western Burma, and up to 300,000 live in Bangladesh as refugees from Burma.

The UN says Rohingyas are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

Burma has signed an agreement to conduct a study to build a natural gas-fired and combined cycle 100-megawatt power plant in Ahlone Township in Rangoon Region, official media reported on Sunday.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the electric power authority and the Toyo-Thai Corporation Public Company.

Minister of Electric Power-2 Khin Maung Soe said the company would do a feasibility study for a 100-megawatt (mw) combined cycle power plant, which would include environmental and social impact assessments, said The New Light of Myanmar, the state-run newspaper.

Burma is also interested in building power plants that can generate 1,000 mw from solar energy in Rangoon and another 200 mw plant in Mandalay, the second largest city, officials said.

Burma produced up to 9.71 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2011-12, far below the country’s basic needs, which led to regular blackouts and rationing of electrical power.

On June 4, Mizzima reported that a MoU agreement to build a 500-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Thakayta Township had been signed by the ministry in cooperation with BKB Consortium (South Korea) and Hexa International Co., Ltd and BOT/JV system. The project included two gas turbines, two head-recovery stream generators and one stream turbine.

“We know that electricity is a major challenge for our country. We have to consider five essential needs – land, electricity, roads, telecommunications and water – when foreign investors are coming. We are trying to find ways to have [create] a 24-hour electricity supply to develop our country,” Deputy Minister for Electric Power 2 Aung Than Oo said at a press conference on May 21.

Aung Than Oo said the government was inviting foreign investment in the power sector.

“We are going to build a 600 megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant with Japanese J Power Company and another 500 MW gas-fired power plant with South Korea. These plants will be built near Yangon,” he said.

The coal plant would take three or four years to complete. The gas-fired plant would be finished in a little over a year, he said.

The Ministry of Electric Power 1 is responsible for electricity production and managing hydropower projects; the Ministry of Electric Power 2 is responsible for electricity generation, distribution and sales, while the Ministry of Energy sells natural gas to foreign countries.

Phyo Wei Aung, who was controversially convicted of masterminding a bomb attack in Rangoon in 2010 but recently released from jail, has today appealed to the Supreme Court in Naypidaw to have his guilty verdict overturned.

Phyo Wei Aung, who is at the final stages of liver cancer, has consistently maintained his innocence and accused the police of torturing him into a confession.

His attorney Kyaw Ho delivered a statement before two Supreme Court justices calling for his name to be cleared.

“I testified [in the court] that the police had broken the law in order to get his confession and that the judge also failed to follow procedures to [verify] the confession so it did not qualify as evidence,” Kyaw Ho told reporters.

“I stressed that the guilty verdict, based on a sole confession [with no] additional evidence or a witness’s account, was erroneous.”

Kyaw Ho said that Pyo Wei Aung is determined to pursue the appeal, even though he was released from prison under a presidential pardon earlier this month after meeting with UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Tomas Quintana.

“[Act] 401 means he is being pardoned, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he was considered innocent of the crime [he was accused of],” his attorney said shortly after his release from prison.

Phyo Wei Aung was unable to travel to the capital for the hearing because he is receiving treatment at Rangoon’s Insein [township] Hospital for liver cancer and is paralysed from the waist down.

“He said he was unjustly treated and that punishing him would allow the real perpetrators to escape so he wanted to clear it up in the courts that he was wrongly charged for crimes he didn’t commit,” said his attorney, adding that court proceedings were likely to last one month.

In an interview with DVB, Phyo Wei Aung said he planned to hold a press conference in the hopes of finally clearing his name.

Phyo Wei Aung was accused of plotting the bombings that rocked Rangoon during the Buddhist New Year’s Water Festival in 2010 and later sentenced to death. His family claimed that authorities secured his confession through torture.

Information Minister Kyaw Hsan has been forced to postpone the formation of Burma’s new interim press council after being deluged with criticism from media organisations and journalists, according to the Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA).

“We see that some of the members of [the censorship board] were reappointed in the new council and the council’s chairman is not a familiar face in the press industry – so we don’t think this is a satisfactory change,” said Zaw Thet Htway, an editor and member of the Committee for Media Freedom.

The MJA released a statement detailing their grievances with the freshly minted council after meeting with the Information Minister on Sunday.

The 20-member Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC) was set to replace Burma’s notorious Press Securitisation and Registration Division (PSRD) until a permanent press council formed. With the interim council on hold, the PSRD is likely to resume monitoring and regulating the media sector.

“Now that the Core Press Council is [put on hold], censorship will continue to exist but we have to go along with that,” said MJA secretary Pho Yan Naing Linn.

“Unless our demands are met, the MJA representatives will not take part in the Core Press Council or the [permanent] press council.”

Eleven Media Group’s CEO Dr Than Htut Aung placed the blame on an unnamed hardliner within the Ministry of Information for curtailing press freedoms and potentially derailing the country’s democratisation process.

“The reason why there is a conflict between the government and the news media is because of a particular government official who is drafting the press media law and wants to make a U-turn (of democratisation process),” said Than Htut Aung on Eleven’s website.

The formation of the interim press council comes a week after journalists demonstrated in the streets of Rangoon against the suspension of two leading journals and calling for greater media freedom.

In May, the government said the interim council would be operational by June.

Gov’t to allow journalists to review media law

Lower House’s Sports, Culture and Public Relations Development Committee Chairman Thura Aye Myint announced in a press conference last Friday that the new media law would be presented to journalists before being submitted to parliament.

The new legislation, which is being drafted by the Ministry of Information, came under fire from members of the fourth estate, who say they have not been consulted or included in the drafting process.

Ye Htun, a member in the committee, said its chairman has decided to show the draft to media professionals before sending it on to Naypyidaw.

“One person asked us how much progress we’ve made with the media law and the committee’s chairman U Aye Myint answered that as soon as the [committee] gets a ahold of the draft, we will discuss it together and will buy some time for suggestions,” said Ye Htun.

“We [will then] discuss necessary [amendments] with the Bill Committee.”

Thet Zin, news journal editor and spokesperson of the independent Committee for Media Freedom, said media workers should have been responsible for creating the first draft of the bill.

According to the editor, the new committee is planning on boycotting the law if journalists aren’t consulted.