Boston Globe – Myanmar says nuclear program will be peaceful
IANS – Myanmar invites India to invest in infrastructure, power
Bangkok Post – Myanmar-Kachin war escalates
Bangkok Post – Biofuel plant for Myanmar
The Nation – Index Creative Village focus turns to Myanmar
The Yomiuri Shimbun – Intl economic meet in Myanmar set for Jan.
Asian Tribune – Burma: State-owned Newspapers wait for ‘Editorial Independence’ next year
The Star Online – 20 cycle their bikes to bring cheer to Myanmar refugee kids
Canada.com – Burma was the highlight of an exhilarating, often troubling year on the road
The Statesman – Myanmar President takes ‘nostalgic’ break
Press TV – Iranian MPs heading to Myanmar to visit Rohingya Muslims
The Irrawaddy – Despite Ceasefire, Sexual Violence Continues in Shan State: Women’s Group
The Irrawaddy – Tourists Duped by ‘Waw’ Chair Service
Mizzima News – Night and Day in Chinatown
Mizzima News – Yingluck ‘promised’ 3-month extension on migrant NV process, says minister
Mizzima News – Indian business elite host dinner for Thein Sein
DVB News – Delegates from student army meet with former comrades
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Boston Globe – Myanmar says nuclear program will be peaceful
AP /  December 22, 2012

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s military chief says the country plans to use nuclear technology for medical, research and energy purposes but will not develop atomic weapons, a statement that came a month after the government said it would declare any nuclear material in the country.

State media on Saturday reported the comments made by the armed forces commander at the graduation ceremony for the military’s Medical Academy.

‘‘In modern medical treatment, nuclear medicine is effectively used to treat cancer with radioactive isotopes and radioactive therapy,’’ Vice Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing told the graduating class on Friday at a ceremony on Yangon.

‘‘The military will not develop nuclear technology to produce weapons of mass destruction but will conduct studies and experiments for peaceful purposes in accordance with international standards to use in the medical sector, in laboratory research for science and in the electrical energy sector,’’ the Myanmar-language state-owned Myanma Ahlin reported. English language dailies did not carry the comments.

There has long been speculation, bolstered by reports from defectors, that Myanmar may be secretly developing a nuclear program of some sort with the help of North Korea.

The reformist government of President Thein Sein last month announced it would sign an international agreement that would require it to declare all nuclear facilities and materials. Although it would be up to Myanmar to decide what to declare, it could provide some answers concerning its acquisition of dual-use machinery and its military cooperation with Pyongyang that the U.S. and other nations regard as suspect.

Thein Sein’s agreement to allow more scrutiny by U.N. nuclear inspectors was viewed as a willingness to go beyond democratic reforms that have improved relations with Washington, which culminated in a visit by President Barack Obama last month, the first by a U.S. president to the country also known as Burma.

Myanmar’s previous military government persistently denied embarking on a nuclear program, decrying such allegations as groundless and politically motivated.

Wracked by corruption and mismanagement from a half-century of military rule, the country’s health care is in shambles and ranks among the worst in the world.

Wealthy cancer patients fly to neighboring countries like Thailand and Singapore for treatment, while others wait months for treatment in Myanmar.

The new government has increased the budget for health and has also vowed to seek foreign help in expanding the country’s power industry, which is in such a sorry state that blackouts and limited service are common and have prompted public protests.
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IANS – Myanmar invites India to invest in infrastructure, power
By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – Sat, Dec 22, 2012

Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS) Myanmar offers great opportunities for Indian business community to invest in infrastructure and power projects, visiting Myanmar President U. Thein Sein said here Friday.

In a closed-door session, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) late Friday, President Sein invited Indian businesses to also explore options in agriculture.

“The India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project, which will be extended to Laos and Cambodia with the assistance of the Indian government, will truly enhance regional connectivity and trade,” Sein said.

He urged the captains of Indian industry to invest in Myanmar’s energy sector and pointed out the huge deposits of oil and gas in the south Asian country.

Reciprocating Sein’s call, CII president Adi Godrej proposed a five-point agenda to strengthen India-Myanmar business relations.

“I propose enhancing connectivity in culture and commerce between the two countries; promoting integration and synergy in power and railway sectors; appropriate banking arrangements to foster trade and investment; enhancing bilateral engagement in trade protection, co-operation and collaboration in industries like tourism and software; and inviting managers from Myanmar to Indian industry’s centres of excellence,” Godrej said.

The Myanmar-India trade has been steadily increasing.

India stands as the fourth-largest trading partner with Myanmar with a trade volume of $1347.40 in 2011-12, according to CII.

In 2011-12, Myanmar’s exports to India were $1,046 million, a 20 percent increase over the previous year.

In the same period, Indian exports to Myanmar stood at$324.5 million, an increase of 66.5 percent over the previous year.

Myanmar exports agriculture and forest products to India and imports metal ores and products, medicines, transport equipment, machines and machinery parts and electrical appliances.

Myanmar has introduced tax reforms and took initiatives to make its banking system more customer-friendly.

Among those present at the meeting included S. Ramadorai, advisor to Prime Minister on skill development and vice-chairman of Tata Consultancy Services; B. Muthuraman, vice-chairman of Tata Steel; Arun Nanda, director of Mahindra & Mahindra; Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors; and Ganesh Natarajan, chief executive officer of Zensar Technologies.
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Bangkok Post – Myanmar-Kachin war escalates
Published: 23/12/2012 at 01:34 PM
Online news:

YANGON _ Fighting between ethnic Kachin rebels and the Myanmar army has intensified, causing increased hardship and fear at camps set up to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting, reports said Sunday.

The Myanmar Times quoted rebel sources saying that clashes occurred south of the Kachin Independence Army’s stronghold at Laiza, and near the town of Pangwa in the northern Kachin state near the China-Burma border.

“Day by day the fighting is continuing,” said U Myint Thane, joint general secretary of the National Council of the Union of Burma, based in Thailand. “It has disappointed all of us.”

Fighting in the Kachin state has frustrated efforts by the reform government of President Thein Sein to end the ethnic strife that has plagued the country since independence from Britain in 1948.

Kachin rebel leaders have blamed hardline officers of the army for mounting new offensives in the state.

“We’ve had reports that there are over 400 (Myanmar army) troops near Laiza and more than 500 near Pangwa,” Myin Thane said.

Fighting has occurred every day since Dec 13, with the military deploying helicopter gunships and heavy artillery against the Kachin rebels, according to rebel sources.

The paper quoted an official of the aid group Kachin Baptist Convention as saying he was concerned that refugees in camps near Pangwa would have to leave if the fighting got any closer.

“The people are afraid because the fighting is happening near their camps,” he said.
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Bangkok Post – Biofuel plant for Myanmar
Published: 24/12/2012 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

The MAI-listed Universal Adsorbents & Chemicals Plc (UAC) plans to invest in a new 800-million-baht alternative biofuel energy project in Myanmar expected to start operating in 2014.

The biodiesel plant of Bangchak Biofuel Co Ltd, a 70:30 joint venture between Bangchak Petroleum Plc and UAC, in Ayutthaya province has a daily capacity of 300,000 litres.

Chief executive Kitti Jivacate said the company will enter the project with a Myanmar partner that will own a 20% stake.

The biofuel plant will be located on Myanmar’s Song island near Thailand’s Ranong province. The project will use palm oil as its raw material.

The proposed local partner is one of the biggest business groups in Myanmar, and a contract will be signed next year.

The project will start by 2014, with the electricity output sold in both Myanmar and Thailand.

UAC previously announced its investment in two water-treatment projects in Myanmar through its UAC Hydro Tech Co subsidiary.

One is valued at 300 million baht and planned for Mandalay, while a 600-million-baht facility will be in Yangon. Both will be built next year and start receiving revenue in 2014, with 300-400 million baht annually expected.

UAC will also open a representative office in Myanmar to supply chemical and power plant equipment.

The company expects revenue growth of 20% next year thanks partly to revenue realised from its compressed biomethane gas project.

After 2013, annual revenue should double, half of it generated from alternative energy.

Mr Kitti said the operating net profit will also improve, as the company will receive tax privileges from two new power plants located in industrial zones in Sukhothai and Chiang Mai provinces.

UAC plans to double its paid-up capital to 500 million baht in the next three years to serve its major investment plan.

For the first nine months of this year, UAC achieved sales of 625 million baht, down by 5.34% year-on-year, for a net profit of 103 million, up by 31.6%.

UAC shares on Friday closed on the MAI at 7.65 baht, down 15 satang, in trade worth 14.6 million baht.
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The Nation – Index Creative Village focus turns to Myanmar
ONRAVEE TANGMEESANG
SPECIAL TO THE NATION December 24, 2012 1:00 am

Index Creative Village aims to lift the standards of the event-organising industry in Myanmar, seek more business opportunities in Vietnam and expand to other Indochina countries in the future.

The company has already established a presence in Myanmar as Myanmar Index Creative Village. MICV, together with its local partner Forever Group, recently launched a Bt35-million project to organise Myanmar’s first-ever New Year’s countdown.

“Index Creative Village wants not only to organise events but also to educate people on forming international standard events,” co-CEO Kriangkrai Kanjanapoki said at a press briefing.

The Myanmar operation’s service scope will be similar, from events, exhibitions and conferences to marketing activities. Equipment rental, construction, exhibition and research will also be available there.

Myanmar Index Creative Village started up in the beginning of this year by focusing 70-80 per cent on events for the private sector and 20-30 per cent on government-supported projects.

The countdown is not the first event MICV has undertaken in Myanmar. It has already held two big events – Myanmar Academy Award 2011 and Union Day 2012.

Since it has been in Myanmar for awhile, MICV shared its experience in setting up a business in the country for a Thai company, saying challenges remain.

“Business registration is not easy due to changes in laws and regulations. People also still lack know-how, so getting the same standard is quite difficult,” Narindej Thaveesangpanich, Asean director at Index Creative Village, told The Nation.

Problems of electricity shortages and stage construction are |considered hurdles for event organisers.

Yet, there are several factors that could lead to success in doing business in Myanmar.

“Being the first mover, we gained a lot of experience and a lot of benefit as well,” he said.

Other factors are choosing the right business partner, nurturing connections and training local staff.

The main rivals in this region for MICV are companies from Singapore. However, for the Myanmar market, Thailand has an advantage in being Myanmar’s neighbour.

“Logistics-wise, we can ship equipment from Thailand to Myanmar by using land connectivity,” he said.

In Vietnam, Index Creative Village with its partner formed TVM Index in June. The service offered in Vietnam is only event management.

“Unlike Myanmar, the market in Vietnam is quite ready. We don’t invest there,” he said.

More creativity and international standards are the keys for the Vietnam market.

Myanmar and Vietnam offer huge opportunities, with the event industry in Myanmar expected to grow 20 per cent per year and in Vietnam 10 per cent per year. However, the market in Thailand will be stable next year.

The company’s turnover for this year is Bt2.8 billion.

As the Asean Economic Community set to be in full implementation in 2015, Index Creative Village sees Thailand as the head of this industry in upper Asean.

“The model for us is to look at the market as a region with Thailand as a hub of creativity in upper Asean. Besides Myanmar and Vietnam, we plan to expand to other countries in Asean by considering land connectivity as a priority ” he added.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun – Intl economic meet in Myanmar set for Jan.
(Dec. 24, 2012)
Jiji Press

An international conference to discuss support for economic development in Myanmar will take place in Naypidaw on Jan. 19-20, a senior Foreign Ministry official has announced.

Ministerial-level officials from Japan and other countries are expected to attend the two-day meeting, where the Myanmar government will explain its economic development plans.

Myanmar officials will discuss a legal framework and other necessary matters with other participants, the official said Friday.

Japan will decide on its delegation after the launch this week of its new government led by the Liberal Democratic Party.

As interest in Myanmar is growing in the international community, Japan will take appropriate action, the ministry official said.
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Asian Tribune – Burma: State-owned Newspapers wait for ‘Editorial Independence’ next year
Mon, 2012-12-24 00:46 — editor
By – Zin Linn

Burma’s state-owned newspapers are taking up the change with attempts to modify themselves in the direction of restructuring as ‘Public Service Media’. As a result, the Government of Burma (Myanmar) has formed the five-member Governing Body in order to transform the three dailies – Myanma Alin, Kyemon and the New Light of Myanmar – currently run by the Ministry of Information into Public Service Media (PSM) under Notification No 72/2012 dated 18-10-2012, the state-run media said on 20 October.

Ye Tint, retired Chief Editor of the Kyemon Daily, is the chairman of the Governing Body and the secretary is Kyaw Soe, Managing Director of News and Periodicals Enterprise. Three other members are Ye Myint Pe (retired Chief Editor of Myanma Alin Daily), Ye Naing Moe (Journalism Expert) and Kyaw Zaw Naing (Legal Expert) respectively.
On 20 December, correspondents from The New Light of Myanmar observed the initiative of PSM by interviewing the governing body’s chairman Ye Tint and members Ye Myint Pe and Kyaw Zaw Naing.

Firstly, one of the correspondents asked about opinion on the comment an MP recently made at the parliament that the democratic government needn’t run the state-owned newspapers anymore.

Chairman of the Governing Body explained that the people used to call the Government-owned newspaper as the government controlled daily. However, it is undeniable that some democratic countries have their own papers or government mouthpieces. If the newspapers are being transformed into public service newspapers, they would cover the desires of the people, he said. ‘Public Service Media’ (PSM) has to speak on behalf of the people in favor of reforms with due transparency. To contribute to the welfare of the people is the most important and any newspaper that fails to meet the people’s demands would fall, he added.

Another question is about the policies and work plans of the governing body to improve “form and content” of the newspapers.

The content is a general matter, Ye Tint answered. The government spends its money to improve the ‘form’ in the long run providing journalism courses to have ability over reporting. The Governing Body would urge the newspapermen to commit their job while the body has been fulfilling the capability in reporting, he explained. The courses cover both journalism basics and legal matters in which the journalists are weak, he said. The Governing Body has plans to open School of Journalism, he added.

Another interesting question was what kinds of changes for switching government-owned newspapers into Public Service Media.

Chairman Ye Tint mentioned the Notification No. 72/2012 of the Union Government dated 18-10-2012 states that the newspapers would be transformed into Public Service Media (PSM). All the news stories must represent all the citizens, it says. According to the governing body’s work plans, ‘prestige and profit’ would be the main concern, Ye Tint said. He also said that the PSM will be granted ‘editorial independence’ as well as ‘financial independence’ later.

According to a Government Notification No. 72/2012, the Governing Body will put into service essential policies and programmes, draw necessary ethics and principles for the newspapers and supervise the task for realization of principles of Public Service Media so as to transform Myanma Alin, Kyemon and The New Light of Myanmar to public service media outlets.

As he explained more details, the chief editors, deputy-chief editors and editors who are included in the executive board would be guaranteed to take advantage of ‘editorial independence’. Gradual transformation of Myanma Alinn and Kyemon into PSMs will be completed by August 2013 while The New Light of Myanmar will be run under a joint venture, he said.

He continued explanations that information on guiding principle will be provided in details. PSMs will publish scholastic articles as well. Depending on the value of the news, further news will be edited as necessary. PSMs will be created as genuine Fourth Estate through the public opinion and the newspapers will carry constructive criticisms against Three Estates. The policies of the government will be revealed in more eye-catching style of inscription. The size of the newspapers will be modified to the international-standard dimension.

Kyaw Zaw Naing answered the query concerning journalism trainings to improve the “form and content”, rather than teaching theories. He said that theory is important. Journalists need to learn theories to know ‘codes of ethics’ and ‘codes of conduct’ of each newspaper. They need to know ethics to avoid possible risks. Code of Ethic is concerned with everyone and Code of Conduct with each newspaper house, he said.

In the legal perspective, today’s newspapers cover many news items that could be prosecuted, he said. The journalists need to know law as necessary knowledge. For example, the person who is not found guilty by a court cannot be mentioned as a “culprit”. The law does not favour the unknowing error, Kyaw Zaw Naing clarified.

He also clarified the main task of PSM as to inform the public about the government policy. However, it may be tough changing overnight the old practice. The governing body is to work as a mechanism for the change. The governing body is an organization helping the newspapers smoothly transform into public service newspaper. The governing body does not represent the people, but it is the people-oriented organization, Kyaw Zaw Naing who is a legal professional said during the interview with journalists from The New Light of Myanmar.

One of the new five-member Governing Body, Ye Naing Moe told AFP in October that the new governing body will slowly replace the information ministry in overseeing the state press.

“The ministry will gradually step back and we will fill the vacuum in the future. They will even sell some shares, although not all,” he told AFP. “I don’t think we will have 100 per cent independence, but I hope we can have enough to push through this transformation.”
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Sunday December 23, 2012
The Star Online – 20 cycle their bikes to bring cheer to Myanmar refugee kids
By JOSEPH KAOS Jr, joekaosjr@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: While some people may not be feeling too charitable during this season of giving, a group of cycling enthusiasts pedalled some 16km just to raise funds for refugee children.

Twenty cyclists from the Van’s Urban Bicycle Co community rode from Section 16, Petaling Jaya, heading for the United Learning Centre, a school for Myanmar refugee children, in Jalan Imbi.

The group raised about RM5,000 from their community members, which was used to buy essentials such as rice, powdered milk, stationery, clothes and blankets for the school’s students.
Easy does it: Cyclist Wan Amril Nurman (in yellow jersey), 36, giving a Myanmar child a ride on his bicycle. Easy does it: Cyclist Wan Amril Nurman (in yellow jersey), 36, giving a Myanmar child a ride on his bicycle.

“We felt we needed to help these unfortunate children. Some of their parents are away working, at far places, while some of them are abandoned.

“We came here to bring them food and cheer them up while their parents are away,” said Vanessa Cheah, the founder of Van’s Urban Bicycle.

About 30 students were present at the school and they were treated to breakfast.

The children, aged between four and 16, also had a fun time as they were given free rides on the bicycles within the school area.

“This is the first time our group organised a charity ride like this. It is really amazing to see children so happy. It is, after all, a time for giving,” said Cheah.

The school’s founder Jonathan Tanhla thanked the group.

“We appreciate all the people who have come and helped us in our cause,” said Tanhla, who established the school in 2008.

The children, who are mostly of the Chin ethnicity from Myanmar, are taught English, Mathematics, Science and Bahasa Malaysia.

The Chin people face persecution for ethnic and religious reasons in Myanmar. Many have fled and sought asylum in countries such as Malaysia.
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Canada.com – Burma was the highlight of an exhilarating, often troubling year on the road
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News December 22, 2012

My year began last January in Australia, which at the time was in the middle of an unprecedented, energy-driven economic boom that has tapered off a bit since. My year ended in the political chaos and gloom that reigns these days in Egypt.

It was my good fortune to also visit many places after Australia and before Egypt. I made several long journeys across Russia; spent one month in London observing what were arguably the most joyous summer Olympics ever; had a fascinating few weeks tracing India’s economic rise and its hiccups; made my first trip to Burma, which was as beguiling, complex and impoverished as I had been lead to believe; and took a far-ranging visit from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. With the exception of Norway and Sweden, the continent is in a gloomy funk of slow decline caused by grotesquely over-generous social programs and by other government misspending.

Other than Hong Kong, I didn’t get to China in 2012, but I felt its growing reach in many countries. Filipinos are jumpy about Beijing’s bellicosity in the South China. So are the Japanese although they are in a much better position to do something about it and the Australians, who have busily cementing even stronger military ties with the U.S., just in case.

Burma, which has long been open to trade with China, now must decide just how to balance that with stronger ties with the West.

Even in Europe, China is a player everywhere because it owns so much of the debt, as well as important parcels of land. All of this is causing backlash against the emerging superpower.

I have been to Syria many times but not as it descended into hell this year. Still, I could feel the effects of Syria’s distress in Jordan, which is reluctant home of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, and where some of the rebel groups opposing Bashar Assad’s tottering regime get supplies and ammunition and do a lot of their intriguing. Syria’s fate is also of immense interest to Moscow, which looks like it backed the wrong horse by sticking with Assad.

What has always impressed in Australia, and what impressed me again last January, is how Australians are much more mature and confident than Canadians are. Although Canada is a bit richer and has a more diverse economy, the sense of optimism that prevails in Oz is clearly something that Canadians could learn from.

Australia already has the kind of focused, pragmatic immigration policy that the Harper government recently claimed to aspire to. Australia also seems more pragmatic in confronting how it has treated its aboriginal peoples and not simply willing to kill them with kindnesses has so often been the knee-jerk philosophy in Canada.

The no-nonsense approach to properly funding the military Down Under can be seen in how there was little obsessing over the purchase of many more F-35 fighters than Canada might get. Oh, that that was so in Ottawa.

One of the big lessons of 2012 was to be careful what you wish for. The West has been pushing Russia for 20 years to embrace democracy. Yet every election gives Vladimir Putin and his cronies a chest-thumping majority that they use to further consolidate a democratic dictatorship that would be totally unfamiliar to Canadians.

Although Egypt’s democracy is much newer and the election results and their consequences not quite so certain, the same disturbing trend can be noticed there. That is, democracies often give their support to intolerant leaders.

In the case of Egypt’s Arab Spring, it has been brewing up an Islamist-dominated democracy whose ideas most westerners find abhorrent. Russia is much further along in the process and has minted a democratic dictatorship that would be totally unfamiliar to Canadians.

Many journalists distorted the issue of who was on top in Russia and in Egypt in 2012 by eagerly seeking out young, western-oriented men and women street protesters who told us their notions about freedom and justice. However, in so doing these supposedly sage observers ignored or undersold the wishes of the strong but mostly silent Russian majority who adore Putin and don’t really care about democracy and Egypt’s pro-Islamist majority who plan to use democracy to thwart or limit freedoms of expression and religion, to say nothing of the rights of women.

The place I visited this year where an emerging democracy may actually give the West a new friend and ally and where the western media did not distort or obscure the truth on the ground in order to give it a western-friendly spin was Burma.

As U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit in November, where he was treated like a genuine hero, demonstrated, Myanmar, as its current quasi-civilian leadership calls the country, appears to be looking westward rather than to China. The immense popularity and dignity of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is already a marvel to behold. Driving the fabled imperial road from Rangoon to Mandalay was the highlight of an exhilarating, often troubling year.
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The Statesman – Myanmar President takes ‘nostalgic’ break
22 December 2012
statesman news service

MUMBAI, 22 DEC: Myanmar’s president Mr Thein Sein took a three-hour break from his busy one-day stay in the city this morning to visit the palace of erstwhile emperor of his country, Thibaw who had died in exile at Ratnagiri of Konkan region during the British Raj in 1916. As a state government guest, he was taken by a chopper to the Thibaw Palace where Mr Sein and his ministerial council members paid tribute to Burma’s last ruler who was sent into exile in 1885 with his wife Supayalat and daughters. The royal family was barred from venturing out of the Palace.

Mr Sein said he was satisfied by the visit and had some good words for the local administration for their excellent upkeep of the Palace. He said this after visiting a museum dedicated to the memory of the erstwhile emperor. Thibaw was defeated in the third Anglo-Burmese War, which ended his rule in 1885. He was sent into isolated confinement by the Britishers’ but extended protocols due to a head of the state. The king was lodged in a big mansion which was later turned into the Thibaw Palace. It is now a heritage monument. Burma became independent on 4 January 1948.

The Myanmar president spoke of taking better care of Delhi’s last emperor3Bahadur Shah Zafar’s monument who also died in exile in Burma in 1862. Bahadur Shah was put behind bars after his ouster from Delhi’s throne. Mr Sein, the first Myanmar president to visit Mumbai, emphasised on building a stronger commerce and cultural bond between two countries.

On Friday, Mr Sein held a private meeting with industrialists under the aegis of the Confederation of Indian Industries or CII where he made a fervent appeal for people to invest in Myanmar. He said laws were being changed in keeping with the changing trade environment in the region. Mr Sein said the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway would be extended to Laos and Cambodia to bring these regional countries closer as trade partners. He returned to Myanmar on 22 December.
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Press TV – Iranian MPs heading to Myanmar to visit Rohingya Muslims
Sun Dec 23, 2012 1:33AM GMT

A senior Iranian legislator says a parliamentary delegation will visit Myanmar in early 2013 to study the situation of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims and violence against the minority in the Southeast Asian country.

“Preliminary agreements have been reached for the visit of the Iranian parliamentary delegation to Myanmar,” MP Mansour Haqiqatpour told the Fars News Agency on Saturday.

Haqiqatpour, who is the deputy chairman of the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, stated that officials of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the country’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS), and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) will accompany the Iranian MPs during their visit to Myanmar.

Some 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement.

The Myanmar government has so far refused to extricate the stateless Rohingyas in the western state of Rakhine from their citizenship limbo, despite international pressure to give them a legal status. Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since it achieved independence in 1948.

Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by Buddhist extremists.

Buddhist extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar Army forces allegedly provided the extremist Buddhists containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee.

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmarese military for its persecution of the Rohingyas.

Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremist Buddhists.
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Despite Ceasefire, Sexual Violence Continues in Shan State: Women’s Group
By SAMANTHA MICHAELS / THE IRRAWADDY| December 22, 2012 |

For decades, mothers and daughters in Burma’s border areas have lived on high alert. While ethnic rebels in their homelands fought bloody wars with government troops, women of all ages were vulnerable to human rights abuses, including rape and other sexual violence, if caught by government soldiers.

Now, nearly a year after Naypyidaw signed ceasefire deals with rebels in several states, and despite reforms undertaken by President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government, little has changed on the ground for them, local sources say.

In Burma’s northeastern Shan State, which attracted international attention a decade ago after a prominent women’s group documented systematic sexual violence by government soldiers there, women say they continue to live in fear.

“The villagers and women continue to complain about sexual violence being committed by the [government’s] Burma Army,” Charm Tong, a co-founder of the women’s group, the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), told The Irrawaddy on Friday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, after a recent trip to Burma.

The government agreed to a ceasefire with Shan rebels in January this year, but dozens of clashes were reported in the following months and the region remains highly militarized today.

“Even though a ceasefire was signed, there’s still fighting,” a housewife in the northern town of Namtu told The Irrawaddy, speaking anonymously because she feared for her safety. “When fighting breaks out, villagers flee their homes and hide in the jungle … Rape cases are still happening.”

Continued Militarization

The government’s army began operating in Shan State in the 1950s, as ethnic rebels fought for greater autonomy and basic rights. Under the country’s former military junta, which handed power to Thein Sein in March last year, government soldiers used anti-insurgency campaigns to target civilians, hoping to stop villagers from joining the rebel forces.

SWAN, a network of Shan women in Burma and Thailand that was formed in 1999 to combat violence against women and children, rose to international prominence a decade ago when it published a report alleging that sexual violence was part of the military’s strategy to demoralize ethnic rebels and terrorize local communities.

Co-authored by the Shan Human Rights Foundation, the “License to Rape” report documented 173 cases of rape and other sexual violence, involving more than 600 women and children, at the hands of Burmese soldiers in the state between 1996 and 2001.

Rape was condoned by military authorities, the report said, alleging that 83 percent of cases were committed by military officers. Of all 173 cases, it said, only one perpetrator was punished by a commanding officer.

The regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said nearly all of these cases were fabricated, according to reports by The Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN).

Since 2002, SWAN has received more than 300 more complaints of rape committed by government soldiers, Charm Tong told The Irrawaddy on Friday. More women have likely been affected, she said, because multiple women are often attacked in a single case of gang rape.

Since January this year, when the government signed a ceasefire with Shan rebels, she said SWAN had received more than 10 reports of rape, including two reports while they were in Rangoon for three days late last month.

Those figures are likely vast underestimates, she added.

“In some cases, authorities have given villagers money to keep them from reporting instances of sexual violence—to make the cases disappear,” she said.

SWAN cofounder Ying Harn Fah said the cultural stigma toward rape kept many women quiet, as did fears that coming forward would result in repercussions from the military.

Some of the group’s Thailand-based members traveled for nearly three weeks to 11 towns and cities in Shan State this month and noted lasting militarization.

“The [Burma Army] battalions were everywhere,” Ying Harn Fah said. “In every township.”

In addition to fighting ethnic rebels, government soldiers are providing security for a project with high economic value: the Chinese-backed Shwe Gas and Oil Pipeline, which is being built to transport oil from the Bay of Bengal off Burma’s western coast to China’s southwestern Yunnan Province, across the border from Shan State.

While visiting Hsipaw Township, where the pipeline runs, Charm Tong said some people expressed concerns that increased militarization would mean more human rights abuses. During a prayer ceremony with more than 300 farmers, monks and lawmakers to protest against the pipeline, a mother told SWAN she was worried her daughter’s safety would be threatened if more Burma Army soldiers arrived to secure the pipeline.

“Communities are living in fear,” Charm Tong said, adding that villagers forced off their land for the project were especially vulnerable to rights abuses.

She said SWAN also met with women from Kachin State, who also reported sexual violence by government soldiers in the past year.

Kachin State, in Burma’s far north, has seen heavy fighting after a ceasefire broke down in June last year, with more than 100,000 people displaced in the conflict since then.

Little Room for Recourse

As Burma transitions from military rule, SWAN says some legislators from Shan State have tried discussing human rights abuses in Parliament.

“But even if they raise their voices in Parliament, it’s little help,” Charm Tong said, adding that ethnic groups lacked adequate representation in the legislature, where 25 percent of seats are reserved for unelected military representatives.

Sai Thurein Oo, a lawmaker from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, said lawmakers who tried discussing sexual violence in the past have been criticized for falsely attacking the military.

He added that Shan lawmakers had been unable discuss the problem in Parliament this year due to continued fighting on the ground.

“We can’t raise the human rights issue to Parliament because it’s hard to access the conflict zones where these rights abuses are reported,” so it’s hard to come up with data about the situation, he said.

“We can’t say there is fully peace in Shan State because fighting between the government troops and Shan rebels is still happening,” he said, adding that reports of forced labor, rape and other rights abuses continued to surface on the frontlines.

The government’s chief peace negotiator, Minister Aung Min, reportedly discredited SWAN’s 2002 report about rape in a recent interview with Radio Free Asia, according to SHAN.

“‘License to Rape’ was written after hearing things with one ear,” the peace negotiator said in the Nov. 26 interview, as quoted by the Thailand-based Shan news agency. “Now that they are hearing things with both ears, I hope they will learn the way things really happen.”

Charm Tong said many people in Shan State were offended by the minister’s statement.

“When our people heard about his comment—people who know what’s happening on the ground, who have suffered from these abuses—they were upset,” she said. “It’s disgraceful to say something like this to our people. It’s their blood and tears and lives he’s talking about.”

Charm Tong urged political dialogue between the government and Shan representatives, as well as a withdrawal of troops from the state.

“As a first step, end militarization,” she said. “If fighting continues, so will abuses.”

She also called on state officials to prosecute military soldiers accused of rights abuses.

“Rapists should be brought to justice,” she said. “That’s something very basic that the government can do for the people.”
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The Irrawaddy – Tourists Duped by ‘Waw’ Chair Service
By STEVE TICKNER / THE IRRAWADDY| December 22, 2012 |

While the Golden Rock of Kyaiktiyo remains a tourist attraction to rival Rangoon’s illustrious Shwedagon Pagoda, this Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mon State has become a source of immense frustration for foreign tourists who complain of being ripped off and forced into an ethnically dubious practice.

Just four hours drive south of the former capital, the eight-meter pagoda is perched upon a gold leaf-adorned granite boulder that has been visited by devout Burmese for centuries.

According to local legend, the precariously placed rock is held in position by a single strand of the Buddha’s hair, and devotees view this miraculous balancing act as inspirational enough to bolster their Buddhist beliefs.

Yet there is one aspect associated with visiting the prestigious pagoda that has been riling international tourists and threatens to jeopardise Burma’s burgeoning tourist industry that has been revitalized by this year’s program of political and social reform.

The process of reaching the pagoda begins at the small village of Kinpun, a short distance past the township of Kyaikto, where both pilgrims and tourists are loaded, more than 40 at a time, onto small trucks fitted with impossibly narrow benches.

However, the foreigners—predominately a mix of Western and Southeast Asian tourists—are subtly segregated into different trucks before setting off on the winding mountain road. This system involves some 140 vehicles and is ostensibly used due to the narrow nature of the track and the lack of parking at the Yathaytaung “base camp” by the village of Kamon Chaung.

At this point trucks with Burmese nationals continue up the steep hill to the pagoda, while foreign tourists are ordered off and forced to engage the help of “Waw” carriers. This involves four porters transporting visitors in a chair strapped between bamboo poles at a cost of around 20,000 kyat (US $25) per person.

“On arrival at the base camp I was ordered off the truck which was about to continue the journey to the pagoda,” said one irate Australian visitor. “I refused and was then told that this was necessary as the road trip was ‘too dangerous’ for foreigners.

“I replied that if it was safe enough for the Burmese then it was certainly safe enough for me. It was soon made clear that the truck would be going nowhere until I was no longer on it.”

Interviews with more than a dozen Western tourists conducted by The Irrawaddy at Kyaiktiyo revealed a deep level of unease regarding being carried in a fashion which conjured mental images of subservient Asians being forced to dote on their colonial “masters.”

“The carrier providers are confident that good business can be had from the tourists who are for the most part older people in retirement or in less than perfect physical health, and also presumably affluent enough to pay,” added the Australian tourist.

Observers fear that Burma’s nascent but growing tourism industry could suffer unless steps are taken to ensure the ethical and responsible treatment of all visitors regardless of nationality.
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Mizzima News – Night and Day in Chinatown
Sunday, 23 December 2012 09:51 Xiao Ting Shirley

(SPECIAL FEATURE) – The Burmese call it “Tayote Tan,” and it is located in downtown Rangoon, west of the Sule Pagoda. This bustling exciting neighborhood lies in a square bordered by Shwe Daung Dan Street to the west and Shwe Dagon Pagoda Road to the east, Maha Bandoola Road to the north and Strand Road to the south. Occupying about a fifth of the city’s downtown area and packed with some 150,000 people, Chinatown is part of Rangoon’s core and a must-see attraction for tourists.

The old underworld

“I was having my morning tea when they barged in, swinging iron bars and smashing everything in the teashop,” said Zhao Zhenheng, the Secretary of the Hung Mun Ghee Kung Tong of Burma, a secret society descended from the “Tiandihui”, also known as the “Chinese Freemasons” or “Hung Mun”, an international organization originally established back in Qing Dynasty China as an all-men fraternity promoting Chinese values, customs and the ideals of democracy. He was recalling how Rangoon’s Chinatown used to be many years ago.

The old man, now in the autumn of his life, was at the time a little boy during the British rule of the 1930s. He is a Chinese-Burmese, born in northern Burma to parents who were immigrants from Guangdong. He lived almost his entire life in Rangoon.

In Zhao’s childhood memories, the old Chinatown was a combination of opium dens, brothels and gambling houses. Gangs were everywhere; triads rampaged. The jumbled communities and clan associations frequently fought for territory.

“There were two major factions, the Jian De and He Sheng,” said Zhao. “He Sheng is a lodge descended from the Hung Mun which aimed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty while Jian De regards themselves as adherents of the Qing Dynasty. So they could not stop fighting with each other within Chinatown.”

The groups were strictly and spatially divided. The headquarters of the Jian De was on Bo Ywe Road while He Sheng based themselves on 24th Street. Blood and death were always lurking in shadows.

Besides the disputes inside the Hung Mun, there were also regional conflicts and political differences among the associations and communities. The Hokkien lived along Strand Road while the Cantonese congregated along Maha Bandoola Road. Some of them were pro-communist “Reds” while the supporters of the Kuomintang were the “Whites”.

The battles lasted for decades—until a military coup by Gen. Ne Win in 1962.

“Everything turned underground,” said Zhao. “And then faded out.”

Nationalization policies in 1966 and furious anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon in 1967 compelled tens and thousands of Chinese and Chinese descendents to leave Burma. All Chinese community activities, schools and newspapers were banned.

“You could not see a single Chinese language sign or billboard in Chinatown. Many Chinese were afraid to admit their nationality,” said Zhao. “The Chinese-Burmese only talked in Burmese.”

But a shared anguish can be a bridge of reconciliation.

The Jian De and He Sheng—foes for so many generations—gradually made peace with each other during the era of the military junta. In the last 10 years, many have deepened their business cooperation, especially among the younger generation.

“They now sit down to drink tea together,” smiled Zhao. “The young generation thinks it’s pointless to keep on fighting. Teamwork is more important.”

When the former military junta finally ceded power to Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government, the Chinese communities and clan associations resurfaced like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. These communities are typically represented by consanguinity, regional networking and industry connections. The gangs of the olden days have evolved into a political party called the Ghee Kung Tong of Burma, mainly functioning as business associations and charity groups.

“He Sheng is now a party. We mainly engage in philanthropy to help our members,” said Huang Quan Xiang, the vice-chairman of He Sheng Corporation.

Among the estimated 100 communities are the big four: the Jian De Association now located on Latha Street; the He Sheng Corporation on 24th Street; the pro- communist Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Pagoda Road; and the pro-Kuomintang Myanmar Overseas Young Chinese League which can be found on Shwe Taung Dan Street.

“Now there is no separation of Reds and Whites,” said Zhao. “They just help each other, creating more business and better charity.”

A market that never closes

Chinatown in Rangoon, like most cities where the Chinese have created a distinctive quarter, offers a refreshing contrast to local culture.

The area centered along Maha Bandoola Road (Chinese call it “Guangdong Road”), is packed with restaurants, bakeries, mini-markets, food stalls, fruit vendors, grocery stores, cyber cafés and gold shops.

There is a tradition that Hokkien mainly engage in tea and produce imported from China, while most of the Cantonese operate restaurants and the construction industry. They nickname each other the “short sleeves” and “long sleeves” respectively.

“Most of the gold shops are run by the Cantonese, especially the Teochew,” said Ms. Mei, a third generation Chinese-Burmese who originally immigrated from Guangdong Province, speaking at her newly opened gold shop on Maha Bandoola Road. “There are some Hokkien and Burmese here, but only a few.”

This is the third gold shop her family has owned in Chinatown.

The Mei family has made quite a fortune from the gold business, she confides. Her grandfather was successful with their first gold shop on 22rd street in 1936. After years of saving, the Mei family opened its second gold shop in 2000 and now a third one in 2012.

“The gold business drags in good money,” said Mei. “Both the Chinese and Burmese have a habit of saving gold, because they are so afraid of the capricious police under the former military government. Only gold can hedge against inflation.”

But money is not that easy to save.

“The rent has soared dramatically in the last three years,” said Mr. Shi, a textiles businessman from Jiangsu Province. “An apartment three meters wide and fifteen meters long used to cost around 5,000 RMB (US $800) per month. But now it’s almost double.”

When night falls

The appearance of Chinatown at night is much different from during the day. As the last rays of light fade from the sky, Chinatown transforms like a beautiful woman lifting her veil. The vibrant street-life positively throngs with food stalls and fruit vendors. The Chinese restaurants on 19th Street, known as “Myanmar Lan Kwai Fong”, suddenly all turn into barbecue bars, serving skewered meats, vegetables, steaming dishes and cold beers. Customers can enjoy Chinese-Burmese style cuisine, accompanied by singers with guitars long into the wee hours.

This is the only night market (sometimes referred to as Sekhantha Night Market) in Rangoon. The market never closes, they say, even during the curfew of the Saffron Revolution.

A fading culture?

“There are great changes in Chinatown,” said Huang Wenzhang, a veteran teacher at Myanmar Confucius School who has been teaching Mandarin for almost 30 years. “The most significant change is that Chinatown is no longer an exclusive zone for Chinese.”

Burmese poured into Chinatown after the nationalization (anti-Chinese) riots in Rangoon in the late 1960s—spurred by fears that Chinese were about to “import” the Cultural Revolution—that left hundreds of Chinese dead and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Burma.

“All Chinese schools were closed. All Chinese newspapers were shut down”, said Huang, who said her primary school principal was killed in the riots. “The Chinese-Burmese were afraid of being recognized as Chinese. The young generation stopped learning their language. They Burmanized.”

Now local Burmese and pockets of Indians can be founded across Chinatown. Following China’s style of business acumen, they too have started up businesses in this quarter.

“There were never any Chinese signs around the streets, not until recent years,” said Huang.

There are two major temples in Rangoon’s Chinatown, the Cantonese Guan Ying temple and the Hokkien Keng Hock Keong. They are traditional venues for major Chinese festivals and religious celebrations. The two temples provide elderly Chinese (over 70 years of age) and the unemployed with a monthly subsidy of roughly $8, and some bonus “lucky money” at spring festivals.

But although the Chinese here were once tightly bound by blood, business and religion, the same cannot be said today. As more and more Chinese become wealthy they move away from rambling Chinatown to new modern suburbs. Chinatown’s cohesion is simply not as powerful as before.

Nowadays Chinatown is full of people dressed in traditional Burmese longyi, drinking tea and chatting with Burmese. You can hardly tell who are Burmese, who are Chinese and who are mixed.

It is not unusual to find younger Chinese unable to speak a Chinese language, unlike their parents and grandparents.

“The young [Chinese] people today are not interested in learning their native language or joining these outdated organizations,” said Li Piaoxing, the Chief Secretary of the Myanmar Overseas Young Chinese League, a pro-Kuomintang organization with ties to Taiwan.

“We are worried about the destiny of the old Chinese societies. They may wither away in 10 years,” said Li, pointing out that the membership of their group is now less than 100.

“And we also worry about our children’s future,” said Li. “No language, no nation.”
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Mizzima News – Yingluck ‘promised’ 3-month extension on migrant NV process, says minister
Saturday, 22 December 2012 14:50 THE BANGKOK POST

Myanmar’s Labour Ministry has urged its Thai counterpart to extend nationality verification (NV) for migrant workers, claiming that Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had promised it during her visit to the neighbouring country.

Myo Aung, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Labour, insisted that the Thai premier had vowed to extend NV for three months during her visit to Dawei.

Ms Yingluck travelled to Myanmar [Burma] on Monday to address the cooperation on the Dawei deep-sea port project.

Myo Aung raised the issue Friday during the “Thai-Myanmar Technical Meeting” with Pravit Khiengpol, director-general of the Department of Employment, at the Pullman Hotel in Bangkok.

The process must be carried on so that Myanmar workers can undergo NV and have their rights protected in the same way as Thai employees, he added.

Myo Aung also urged Thai authorities to speed up the NV process so that most or all migrant workers will be able to proceed with it.

Mr Pravit, however, insisted the NV process had definitely ended on Dec 14.

He said that migrant workers who failed to undergo the process will be considered illegal. They must be apprehended and deported, he added.

However, Mr Pravit said the ministry is considering a new legal channel for importing labour under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which Thailand has signed with neighbouring countries.

The MoU will allow migrant workers to enter Thailand through legal channels in order to meet specific skills shortages and employers’ demands.

Mr Pravit said the method will pave the way for Thai employers to bring in migrant workers in line with the MoU.

Employers who want to hire migrant workers in future must lodge their requests following the MoU procedure, he added.

Yesterday’s [Friday’s] meeting also agreed to enable Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap and his Myanmar counterpart Myint Thein, who will meet today, to jointly decide whether NV or the MoU should be implemented, he said.

According to Mr Pavit, more than 300,000 migrant workers are expected to be deported now the NV deadline has ended. Of those facing deportation, 150,000 are Cambodians, 99,000 are Lao and 60,000 are from Myanmar.
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Mizzima News – Indian business elite host dinner for Thein Sein
Friday, 21 December 2012 18:29 Ko Pauk

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) led by Chairman Adi Godrej will host a closed-door dinner in Mumbai on Friday night for visiting Burmese President Thein Sein who is currently in India to attend an India-ASEAN summit in New Delhi.

“Businessmen and industrialists want to meet the Burmese President during his visit,” Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Ba Hla Aye from the Burmese Embassy in New Delhi told Mizzima.

“They sought permission to see him in Delhi but it could not be granted because of his tight schedule,” he said. “Then they requested again to host him for dinner when he visits Mumbai. Various businessmen, entrepreneurs and industrialists have been invited, but this is not an occasion for business negotiations. This is just an informal dinner.”

The CII hosted the Indian Trade Fair in Burma in October 2011 when more than 60 Indian companies participated.

As a “least developed country” as recognized by the UN, Burma is entitled to special preference status, the Indian government said in 2010. Burma also enjoys privileged rights in a Free Trade Agreement signed between India and ASEAN in 2009.

The current trade value between India and Burma is US $1.5 billion. The most common commodities traded are pulses and beans, timber, iron and iron materials, small machinery and equipment, and pharmaceuticals.

At the fourth joint trade committee meeting held in New Delhi in September this year, both countries agreed to raise bilateral trade twofold by 2015.
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DVB News – Delegates from student army meet with former comrades
Published: 20 December 2012

The All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) delegation visiting Burma met with representatives from the 88 Generation Students in Rangoon to discuss political strategies and hosting a potential convention in the reforming country.

“It was a cordial meeting with our brothers and comrades. This morning, we shared experiences with each other and discussed [ways] to cooperate more,” said 88 Generation Students’ Htay Kywe.

“Considering the current political situation, there’s a lot in common between us. We had a long discussion about bringing peace in ethnic regions – what the ethnic people want and also the demands from the UNFC [The United Nationalities Federal Council].”

The two sides also tossed around the idea of hosting a convention for the country’s democratic and ethnic organisations to discuss peace building in the war-torn nation.

The delegation is scheduled to meet with the Democratic Party for New Society, which was formed in 1990 by student activists and led by the future ABSDF chairman Moe Thee Zun before he fled the country and took the reigns of the student armed struggle against the military government.

The nine-member delegation arrived in Burma yesterday for a study tour to assess the country’s ongoing political reforms.

The delegation, led by the ABSDF’s chairperson Than Ke, is also set to travel to Naypyidaw during their two-week trip to talk with government officials. The representatives will also reunite with friends and families, whom they’ve been separated from for more than two decades.

The ABSDF is still recognised by the Burmese government as an unlawful association, while members of the student army continue to engage in skirmishes alongside the Kachin Independence Army as the allied forces fight against government troops in Kachin state.

The delegation from the armed group previously met with the government’s Peace Making Committee on three separate occasions this year.

The ABSDF was formed by university students who took up arms against the Burmese government after the 1988 uprising and following crackdown.

At its peak in the 1990s, the student army had about 10,000 members, and waged a guerrilla campaign against government forces largely from the mountains of Karen state and the Kachin highlands.

The ABSDF’s state visit comes as several exiled groups venture back into Burma to meet with non-state actors and government officials.

Thailand-based activist group the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) wrapped up their seven-day tour of the country earlier this week.

The group’s General Secretary Tin Tin Nyo said there are no current plans for the organisation to return to Burma and register. The WLB said it would continue to manage its operations out of Thailand for the time being.
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