Mon Son, IMNA
March 12, 2008 - Discrimination, lack of promotion opportunities and employment benefits in the Burmese Army has caused desertions and defection to the Karen National Union (KNU), said four deserters.
Four Burmese soldiers deserted the Infantry Battalion IB No. 410 because they were discriminated against in the military camp, said the soldiers. They could not tolerate the maltreatment so they escaped from the military camp, they added.
The four soldiers arrived at KNU brigade No. 6 wearing Burmese Army uniforms on February 26, said KNU Captain Htat Nay in Three Pagoda Pass (TPP).
According to the Captain, the defectors are from IB No. 410, Zaw Min Tun (27) military identity 309279 with a MA4+79, Corporal Soe Tie Ha (24) MI 81887 with a MA1, Corporal Zan Tun Hlang (24) MI 127495 with a MA3 and solider Tein Min Hike (25) MI 321642 with a MAG-420 and a M79.
Corporal Soe Tie Ha was arrested and recruited by the army when he was only 14 years old and has been a soldier for 10 years.
"I think the soldiers look honest, they don't seem suspicious to us. Also, we gave 30,000 kyat to each solider because they joined the KNU," KNU Army Captain Htat Nay said.
The Captain said that the soldiers joined the KNU and wanted to fight the Burmese military government. Nine Burmese soldiers defected to the KNU last year while five soldiers joined this year.
"Many Burmese soldiers have been joining the KNU; however they have not betrayed the KNU," he added.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
USDA exploits water project to recruit members
By Aye Nai
Mar 12, 2008 (DVB)–The Union Solidarity and Development Association in New Dagon township has been claiming credit for water provision in the area to coerce local ward residents into joining the USDA.
The USDA in ward 9 on the eastern side of New Dagon township has been collecting money from each household to connect underground water pipes to their houses, locals said.
But now USDA members are telling them they must join the USDA in return for having the water pipes installed.
The locals have been angered by this development, saying that the USDA’s demands for credit for the work are unreasonable when it was the ward residents who had to pay for the pipes.
Mar 12, 2008 (DVB)–The Union Solidarity and Development Association in New Dagon township has been claiming credit for water provision in the area to coerce local ward residents into joining the USDA.
The USDA in ward 9 on the eastern side of New Dagon township has been collecting money from each household to connect underground water pipes to their houses, locals said.
But now USDA members are telling them they must join the USDA in return for having the water pipes installed.
The locals have been angered by this development, saying that the USDA’s demands for credit for the work are unreasonable when it was the ward residents who had to pay for the pipes.
Junta slammed; Beijing offered slight reprieve
Mizzima News
March 12, 2008
The U.S., in a report released yesterday, has confronted Burma's generals with a 20,000 word indictment of human rights violations committed by the junta last year.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday welcomed the arrival of the Department's 2007 study into the situation of human rights around the world, which found Burma to be one of last year's most prolific abusers of people's rights.
"Burma's abysmal human rights record continued to worsen," reads the report.
"Throughout the year, the regime continued to commit extra-judicial killings and was responsible for disappearances, arbitrary and indefinite detentions, rape, and torture."
"Countries in which power was concentrated in the hands of unaccountable rulers remain the most systematic human rights violators. Here we would cite North Korea, Burma, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan," according to Jonathan Farrar, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, speaking at a press release yesterday in Washington D.C.
Describing an atmosphere of impunity for rights abusers, the study's multitude of findings includes disappearances, torture and the lack of freedom for association and press.
"The government continued to use force to prohibit all public speech critical of the regime by all persons, including by persons elected to parliament in 1990 and leaders of political parties," state the authors, a description only reconfirmed by the recently announced Referendum Law which makes publicly speaking on the referendum ahead of May's poll a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fine.
Refuting the junta's claim that there are no political prisoners in Burma, the State Department refers to eyewitness testimony to the contrary, in which politically active persons were routinely confined and "subjected to beatings and severe mistreatment by common criminals."
Democratic governance, argues the volume, is the best means for securing human rights. And the release lists three components the U.S. believes critical to just and democratic governance: 1) a free and fair electoral processes 2) accountable, representative institutions, and 3) a vibrant, independent civil society.
Unexpectedly, an argument can be made for China being the big winner of this year's annual release.
Despite a lengthy portfolio of violations in China, and the report stating that "China's overall human rights record remained poor in 2007," the Asian giant was controversially removed from the list of the world's most egregious offenders.
Instead, China finds itself in an alternative category "listed under a section dealing with authoritarian countries undergoing economic reform where the democratic political reform has not kept pace," commented Farrar.
"Some authoritarian countries that are undergoing economic reform have experienced rapid social change, but have not undertaken democratic political reform and continue to deny their citizens basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. China remains a case in point," continued the Assistant Secretary.
Also yesterday in Washington, Sean McCormack, spokesperson for the State Department, in response to a question regarding China's continued rights abuses and the 2008 Olympics, responded, "We believe the Olympics are a sporting event, but it is also an important international event at which time it can put its best face forward to the world."
The message, focusing on the athletic aspect of the Olympics, is consistent with the long-held position of the White House that the Games should be understood predominantly as a sporting event.
Burmese activists, however, remain outspoken in urging the United States to boycott the Beijing Games, as China is held to play a crucial role in financing, arming and protecting Burma's generals.
The 2007 human rights study does not link China with abuses in Burma, and even notes on one occasion an effective China-Burma joint operation in combating human trafficking.
March 12, 2008
The U.S., in a report released yesterday, has confronted Burma's generals with a 20,000 word indictment of human rights violations committed by the junta last year.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday welcomed the arrival of the Department's 2007 study into the situation of human rights around the world, which found Burma to be one of last year's most prolific abusers of people's rights.
"Burma's abysmal human rights record continued to worsen," reads the report.
"Throughout the year, the regime continued to commit extra-judicial killings and was responsible for disappearances, arbitrary and indefinite detentions, rape, and torture."
"Countries in which power was concentrated in the hands of unaccountable rulers remain the most systematic human rights violators. Here we would cite North Korea, Burma, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan," according to Jonathan Farrar, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, speaking at a press release yesterday in Washington D.C.
Describing an atmosphere of impunity for rights abusers, the study's multitude of findings includes disappearances, torture and the lack of freedom for association and press.
"The government continued to use force to prohibit all public speech critical of the regime by all persons, including by persons elected to parliament in 1990 and leaders of political parties," state the authors, a description only reconfirmed by the recently announced Referendum Law which makes publicly speaking on the referendum ahead of May's poll a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fine.
Refuting the junta's claim that there are no political prisoners in Burma, the State Department refers to eyewitness testimony to the contrary, in which politically active persons were routinely confined and "subjected to beatings and severe mistreatment by common criminals."
Democratic governance, argues the volume, is the best means for securing human rights. And the release lists three components the U.S. believes critical to just and democratic governance: 1) a free and fair electoral processes 2) accountable, representative institutions, and 3) a vibrant, independent civil society.
Unexpectedly, an argument can be made for China being the big winner of this year's annual release.
Despite a lengthy portfolio of violations in China, and the report stating that "China's overall human rights record remained poor in 2007," the Asian giant was controversially removed from the list of the world's most egregious offenders.
Instead, China finds itself in an alternative category "listed under a section dealing with authoritarian countries undergoing economic reform where the democratic political reform has not kept pace," commented Farrar.
"Some authoritarian countries that are undergoing economic reform have experienced rapid social change, but have not undertaken democratic political reform and continue to deny their citizens basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. China remains a case in point," continued the Assistant Secretary.
Also yesterday in Washington, Sean McCormack, spokesperson for the State Department, in response to a question regarding China's continued rights abuses and the 2008 Olympics, responded, "We believe the Olympics are a sporting event, but it is also an important international event at which time it can put its best face forward to the world."
The message, focusing on the athletic aspect of the Olympics, is consistent with the long-held position of the White House that the Games should be understood predominantly as a sporting event.
Burmese activists, however, remain outspoken in urging the United States to boycott the Beijing Games, as China is held to play a crucial role in financing, arming and protecting Burma's generals.
The 2007 human rights study does not link China with abuses in Burma, and even notes on one occasion an effective China-Burma joint operation in combating human trafficking.
Than Shwe rumored to be hospitalized
Mizzima News
March 12, 2008
March 12, 2008, New Delhi – Burma's Ministry of Information has brushed aside rumors that Head of State Senior General Than Shwe's health is failing and that he is currently hospitalized.
Rumors have been circulating Rangoon and among exile Burmese communities that Than Shwe's health is deteriorating and that he is receiving medical treatment at Rangoon's No. 2 Military Hospital.
A source close to the military establishment in Rangoon said, "I heard that his health has been deteriorating for about a week."
Similarly, rumors are spreading among the Burmese exile community that Than Shwe is suffering from colon cancer for which he is currently receiving treatment.
The rumor is spreading rapidly via blogs operated by Burmese bloggers both inside and outside the country.
Burmese bloggers have posted several messages claiming that Than Shwe has undergone medical treatment for colon cancer at the No. 2 Military Hospital in Rangoon.
While the information could not be independently verified, an official at the Burmese Ministry of Information dismissed the rumor, saying, "No, he is not hospitalized and he is in good health."
However Burma's military strongman has long been reported to be suffering from ill-health and several important meetings, including the junta's quarterly meetings, had been previously postponed due to speculation of his fragile condition.
March 12, 2008
March 12, 2008, New Delhi – Burma's Ministry of Information has brushed aside rumors that Head of State Senior General Than Shwe's health is failing and that he is currently hospitalized.
Rumors have been circulating Rangoon and among exile Burmese communities that Than Shwe's health is deteriorating and that he is receiving medical treatment at Rangoon's No. 2 Military Hospital.
A source close to the military establishment in Rangoon said, "I heard that his health has been deteriorating for about a week."
Similarly, rumors are spreading among the Burmese exile community that Than Shwe is suffering from colon cancer for which he is currently receiving treatment.
The rumor is spreading rapidly via blogs operated by Burmese bloggers both inside and outside the country.
Burmese bloggers have posted several messages claiming that Than Shwe has undergone medical treatment for colon cancer at the No. 2 Military Hospital in Rangoon.
While the information could not be independently verified, an official at the Burmese Ministry of Information dismissed the rumor, saying, "No, he is not hospitalized and he is in good health."
However Burma's military strongman has long been reported to be suffering from ill-health and several important meetings, including the junta's quarterly meetings, had been previously postponed due to speculation of his fragile condition.
Rangoon Division Ordered to Support Referendum
By SAW YAN NAING
March 12, 2008 - The Burmese regime is ordering local authorities in Rangoon to persuade residents to support the national referendum in May, according to informed sources in the former capital.
Local authorities in Rangoon, such as the Township Peace and Development Council and the Ward Peace and Development Council, were officially asked earlier this week by the chairman of Rangoon Division Peace and Development Council, Brig-Gen Hla Htay Win, and Home Minister Maung Oo to lobby local residents to vote “Yes” at the national referendum, said the sources.
However, it was unclear how and when the process to lobby residents would be implemented.
Meanwhile, in Rangoon and Mandalay, pro-democracy activists, including monks, have recently launched an anti-referendum campaign, distributing leaflets criticizing the referendum and urging people to vote “No” in May, according to sources.
Within the last two months, the authorities have issued temporary citizen identity cards to local residents in several townships in Rangoon and asked for their support in the upcoming referendum on the state’s draft constitution.
The temporary citizen identity cards have been issued in townships such as Hlaing Tharyar, North Dagon and Kyeemyindine in Rangoon.
Burma’s military government announced on February 9 that a national referendum would be held in May and multi-party elections in 2010.
The regime also enacted a new law calling for up to three years imprisonment and 100,000 kyat (US $91) fines for offenders who distribute statements, posters or who make speeches against the referendum. The law also bans monks and nuns from voting.
Meanwhile, Burmese authorities are campaigning residents in Kawthaung Province in southernmost Burma to vote “Yes” in May’s national referendum, said local residents.
The residents in Kawthaung said that local authorities and the Ministry of Immigration and Population have been compiling a list of voters—over 18 years old— since early March and have been trying to persuade local residents to support the national referendum.
Maung Tu, a resident in Kawthaung told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, “The authorities asked us to gather in their offices or schools and collected our names. They also asked us to vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum.”
According to Kawthaung residents, the authorities also told locals that they would only issue citizen cards to residents who vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum.
Some residents have said that they would do what the authorities asked, because they want identity cards from the authorities, said Maung Tu.
A woman in Kawthaung said, “I would vote ‘Yes’ in the national referendum if I were forcibly asked to by the authorities, because our daily survival is more important than anything else.”
She added that she expected many residents would follow the authorities’ instructions even though they were unclear about the draft constitution and the voting system.
Earlier this month, the Burmese authorities issued temporary citizen cards to ceasefire groups: the Kachin Independence Organization and its military wing, the Kachin Independence Army; the United Wa State Army; the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army; and the New Mon State Party, according to ceasefire sources.
Residents in Mandalay, Myitkyina and Arakan State also reported that local authorities there were collecting family registration information.
March 12, 2008 - The Burmese regime is ordering local authorities in Rangoon to persuade residents to support the national referendum in May, according to informed sources in the former capital.
Local authorities in Rangoon, such as the Township Peace and Development Council and the Ward Peace and Development Council, were officially asked earlier this week by the chairman of Rangoon Division Peace and Development Council, Brig-Gen Hla Htay Win, and Home Minister Maung Oo to lobby local residents to vote “Yes” at the national referendum, said the sources.
However, it was unclear how and when the process to lobby residents would be implemented.
Meanwhile, in Rangoon and Mandalay, pro-democracy activists, including monks, have recently launched an anti-referendum campaign, distributing leaflets criticizing the referendum and urging people to vote “No” in May, according to sources.
Within the last two months, the authorities have issued temporary citizen identity cards to local residents in several townships in Rangoon and asked for their support in the upcoming referendum on the state’s draft constitution.
The temporary citizen identity cards have been issued in townships such as Hlaing Tharyar, North Dagon and Kyeemyindine in Rangoon.
Burma’s military government announced on February 9 that a national referendum would be held in May and multi-party elections in 2010.
The regime also enacted a new law calling for up to three years imprisonment and 100,000 kyat (US $91) fines for offenders who distribute statements, posters or who make speeches against the referendum. The law also bans monks and nuns from voting.
Meanwhile, Burmese authorities are campaigning residents in Kawthaung Province in southernmost Burma to vote “Yes” in May’s national referendum, said local residents.
The residents in Kawthaung said that local authorities and the Ministry of Immigration and Population have been compiling a list of voters—over 18 years old— since early March and have been trying to persuade local residents to support the national referendum.
Maung Tu, a resident in Kawthaung told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, “The authorities asked us to gather in their offices or schools and collected our names. They also asked us to vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum.”
According to Kawthaung residents, the authorities also told locals that they would only issue citizen cards to residents who vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum.
Some residents have said that they would do what the authorities asked, because they want identity cards from the authorities, said Maung Tu.
A woman in Kawthaung said, “I would vote ‘Yes’ in the national referendum if I were forcibly asked to by the authorities, because our daily survival is more important than anything else.”
She added that she expected many residents would follow the authorities’ instructions even though they were unclear about the draft constitution and the voting system.
Earlier this month, the Burmese authorities issued temporary citizen cards to ceasefire groups: the Kachin Independence Organization and its military wing, the Kachin Independence Army; the United Wa State Army; the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army; and the New Mon State Party, according to ceasefire sources.
Residents in Mandalay, Myitkyina and Arakan State also reported that local authorities there were collecting family registration information.
Veteran Journalist Calls for People Power to Oust Regime
By VIOLET CHO
March 12, 2008 - Less than a week after an unsuccessful visit to Burma by UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, one of the country’s most respected journalists has made an extraordinary appeal for a “people power” uprising to end the ruling regime’s stranglehold on power.
In a recorded message addressed to Burmese both inside and outside the country, Ludu Sein Win, a prominent journalist and former political prisoner, said that he believed that force was the only way to end more than four decades of military rule.
“In the entire history of the world, there has never been a dictator who willingly gave up power once he had it firmly in his hands,” he said in his message, recorded in the former capital, Rangoon.
“And there are no countries in the world which have gained liberation though the help of the United Nations,” he added, in apparent reference to the failed efforts of the UN special envoy, who left the country on Monday after being chastised by the ruling generals for “bias” in favor of the democratic opposition.
Describing the deepening political, social and economic crisis facing the country, the sixty-eight-year-old veteran journalist warned the Burmese people that it was futile to pin their hopes for a better future on the diplomatic efforts of the international community.
“Don’t waste your time dreaming about dialogue and considering help from the UN Security Council,” he said. “We already have the power to force out the military dictatorship. That power is the force and strength of every Burmese citizen.”
In the wake of last September’s monk-led protests, which attracted worldwide attention, the time is right to launch a renewed effort to overthrow military rule, the veteran journalist insisted.
Ludu Sein Win has experienced more than his fair share of trouble at the hands of the country’s ruling dictators.
He began his distinguished career as a young reporter for the Mandalay-based left-wing newspaper, Ludu (“The People”), launched in 1946. As the publication’s Rangoon bureau chief, he was arrested at the age of 27 and sentenced without trial to 13 years in prison, during which he was tortured by the authorities. He then spent an additional two years confined on Coco Island, a penal colony located about 430 km southwest of Rangoon in the Indian Ocean.
He is one of Burma’s most outspoken advocates of independent media, and is the author of many books on the basic theory and ethics of journalism. He is also popular as a prolific writer of books on issues relating to young people.
March 12, 2008 - Less than a week after an unsuccessful visit to Burma by UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, one of the country’s most respected journalists has made an extraordinary appeal for a “people power” uprising to end the ruling regime’s stranglehold on power.
In a recorded message addressed to Burmese both inside and outside the country, Ludu Sein Win, a prominent journalist and former political prisoner, said that he believed that force was the only way to end more than four decades of military rule.
“In the entire history of the world, there has never been a dictator who willingly gave up power once he had it firmly in his hands,” he said in his message, recorded in the former capital, Rangoon.
“And there are no countries in the world which have gained liberation though the help of the United Nations,” he added, in apparent reference to the failed efforts of the UN special envoy, who left the country on Monday after being chastised by the ruling generals for “bias” in favor of the democratic opposition.
Describing the deepening political, social and economic crisis facing the country, the sixty-eight-year-old veteran journalist warned the Burmese people that it was futile to pin their hopes for a better future on the diplomatic efforts of the international community.
“Don’t waste your time dreaming about dialogue and considering help from the UN Security Council,” he said. “We already have the power to force out the military dictatorship. That power is the force and strength of every Burmese citizen.”
In the wake of last September’s monk-led protests, which attracted worldwide attention, the time is right to launch a renewed effort to overthrow military rule, the veteran journalist insisted.
Ludu Sein Win has experienced more than his fair share of trouble at the hands of the country’s ruling dictators.
He began his distinguished career as a young reporter for the Mandalay-based left-wing newspaper, Ludu (“The People”), launched in 1946. As the publication’s Rangoon bureau chief, he was arrested at the age of 27 and sentenced without trial to 13 years in prison, during which he was tortured by the authorities. He then spent an additional two years confined on Coco Island, a penal colony located about 430 km southwest of Rangoon in the Indian Ocean.
He is one of Burma’s most outspoken advocates of independent media, and is the author of many books on the basic theory and ethics of journalism. He is also popular as a prolific writer of books on issues relating to young people.
A virtual protest in a virtual Burma
Did you know amnesty.org is blocked in Burma? (source: OpenNet Initiative) Burmese surfers can't access information as freely as you can. It's a worrying thought isn't it? Full Report: http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=952
UN expert says unlawful arrests in Myanmar accelerating
March 12, 2008, GENEVA (AFP) - Some 1,850 political prisoners are behind bars as of January in Myanmar, as the government "accelerated" rather than stopped unlawful arrests, a United Nations report said Wednesday.
"Rather than stop unlawful arrests, the government had accelerated them," according to the report by UN expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, which said that initial indications by Myanmar's military junta of a willingness to address human rights abuses has "disappeared."
In the study to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Pinheiro said he continues to get reports of arrests made in relation to massive anti-government demonstrations last year -- even as a culture of impunity reigns in Myanmar.
According to information received, at least 70 individuals were arrested, with some 62 still detained since his last visit to Myanmar in November, said Pinheiro, who is ending a seven-year mandate as special rapporteur.
He also received allegations of abuse relating to the arrests, including death in custody and arrests without warrants, the study said.
The government crackdown on last year's August-September demonstrations, combined with increased military deployment in some ethnic areas have helped open "new fronts in the patterns of human rights abuses," the report said.
In economic and social sectors as well, there have been "marked signs of deterioration," said the study which also denounced "serious violations of medical neutrality."
Moreover violations of ethnic minorities, including extrajudicial killings, attacks on civilians and forced displacement continue to be reported in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayin, it said.
The report also described a culture of impunity as a key obstacle, with those perpetrating torture, forced labour, sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers often going unpunished.
Pinheiro's report is based on information from independent sources, since he has not been able to return to Myanmar for a follow-up mission since his five-day November visit.
The rapporteur urged Myanmar's junta to rapidly release all physically vulnerable political prisoners, saying it would be seen "as a good-faith gesture that would help to pave the way to democratization and reconciliation."
A separate report published by the US State Department Tuesday ranked Myanmar along with North Korea among the world's worst human rights violators.
"Rather than stop unlawful arrests, the government had accelerated them," according to the report by UN expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, which said that initial indications by Myanmar's military junta of a willingness to address human rights abuses has "disappeared."
In the study to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Pinheiro said he continues to get reports of arrests made in relation to massive anti-government demonstrations last year -- even as a culture of impunity reigns in Myanmar.
According to information received, at least 70 individuals were arrested, with some 62 still detained since his last visit to Myanmar in November, said Pinheiro, who is ending a seven-year mandate as special rapporteur.
He also received allegations of abuse relating to the arrests, including death in custody and arrests without warrants, the study said.
The government crackdown on last year's August-September demonstrations, combined with increased military deployment in some ethnic areas have helped open "new fronts in the patterns of human rights abuses," the report said.
In economic and social sectors as well, there have been "marked signs of deterioration," said the study which also denounced "serious violations of medical neutrality."
Moreover violations of ethnic minorities, including extrajudicial killings, attacks on civilians and forced displacement continue to be reported in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayin, it said.
The report also described a culture of impunity as a key obstacle, with those perpetrating torture, forced labour, sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers often going unpunished.
Pinheiro's report is based on information from independent sources, since he has not been able to return to Myanmar for a follow-up mission since his five-day November visit.
The rapporteur urged Myanmar's junta to rapidly release all physically vulnerable political prisoners, saying it would be seen "as a good-faith gesture that would help to pave the way to democratization and reconciliation."
A separate report published by the US State Department Tuesday ranked Myanmar along with North Korea among the world's worst human rights violators.
Steve's simple spiel
By Alan Howe
March 13, 2008 (Herald-Sun)- CHINA has some unpleasant friends - Burma, North Korea and Sudan spring to mind.
But their national flags will flutter as the world's athletes walk into the stadium at the start of the Beijing Olympics. Just like they did in Sydney.
Anyway, we play cricket with Zimbabwe, and we are quite happy to do business with Burma and Sudan.
We should remember that as calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games grow louder.
Steven Spielberg announced last month that he was withdrawing his services as artistic director of the Games' opening and closing ceremonies in protest at China's inaction on the genocide in Darfur.
He's been listening to that dill Mia Farrow, who had been urging the same.
You remember Mia. She once tried to adopt half of Vietnam and gave her until-then grateful kids names such as Lark Song, Summer Song and Satchel.
I'd be speaking to their newsagent and finding out why Spielberg and Farrow's papers haven't been delivered for the past 40 years.
It's taken a long time for them to find their conscience.
Where were Hollywood's big names when the Red Guards were murdering intellectuals and artists in the 1960s?
Darfur is a disaster. And the lying Sudanese Government is arming and supplying the Janjaweed militia, who are murdering non-Arabs in the west of the country.
China pretty much keeps Sudan as a satellite state while buying most of its oil. Like the West, to a lesser degree, has kept Saudi Arabia for the same purposes for many decades.
But Sudan's problems are rooted in overpopulation, starvation and endless drought and it is oversimplifying things to blame just its present, brutal regime.
China, with its great influence in that country, could do more.
Like we could have done more after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, where perhaps hundreds of thousands were killed as the brave little nation was brought murderously into line by its bigger neighbour.
The intellectually lazy Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual adviser to Australia's head of state the Queen, visited Darfur, witnessed the killings and managed not to criticise the Sudanese Government.
Perhaps Spielberg could boycott Anglican nations, refuse to show his films there and never again visit England or Australia. Wouldn't bother me.
China has a brutal streak, as any Tibetan will tell. Some Iraqis may say the same of us as we continue to insist they are ready for democracy.
And we are still fighting what became the Taliban in Afghanistan after the West armed locals to the teeth following the Soviet invasion of 1979.
Diplomacy is taking care of your strategic interests, and we do it as well as the Americans and the Chinese.
But that is not the only reason we should be wary of those who would have us boycott the Beijing Games.
China is not just the standout economy of the developing world; it has raised its people's standard of living faster than any country in living memory.
The Beijing Olympics is the new China's coming of age.
And like anyone who makes their majority, they'll have done it with regrets and mistakes. Some of them may even live with you.
Mia Farrow says China should listen to world opinion. China is one quarter of world opinion.
Freedoms will creep upon the burgeoning middle classes of the Middle Kingdom before we know it, and its 1.3 billion people need not insist on knowledge of the world -- it will arrive on their desks on computers made in their own country.
If only we could say the same.
A new post-Communist China is emerging and it looks nothing like the cruel, monolithic country built by Chairman Mao.
But while its markets have been freed, its government still seeks to control the population in ways we find distasteful.
But you can't control the thoughts of more than a billion people and if democracy appeals to them then a change is gonna come.
March 13, 2008 (Herald-Sun)- CHINA has some unpleasant friends - Burma, North Korea and Sudan spring to mind.
But their national flags will flutter as the world's athletes walk into the stadium at the start of the Beijing Olympics. Just like they did in Sydney.
Anyway, we play cricket with Zimbabwe, and we are quite happy to do business with Burma and Sudan.
We should remember that as calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games grow louder.
Steven Spielberg announced last month that he was withdrawing his services as artistic director of the Games' opening and closing ceremonies in protest at China's inaction on the genocide in Darfur.
He's been listening to that dill Mia Farrow, who had been urging the same.
You remember Mia. She once tried to adopt half of Vietnam and gave her until-then grateful kids names such as Lark Song, Summer Song and Satchel.
I'd be speaking to their newsagent and finding out why Spielberg and Farrow's papers haven't been delivered for the past 40 years.
It's taken a long time for them to find their conscience.
Where were Hollywood's big names when the Red Guards were murdering intellectuals and artists in the 1960s?
Darfur is a disaster. And the lying Sudanese Government is arming and supplying the Janjaweed militia, who are murdering non-Arabs in the west of the country.
China pretty much keeps Sudan as a satellite state while buying most of its oil. Like the West, to a lesser degree, has kept Saudi Arabia for the same purposes for many decades.
But Sudan's problems are rooted in overpopulation, starvation and endless drought and it is oversimplifying things to blame just its present, brutal regime.
China, with its great influence in that country, could do more.
Like we could have done more after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, where perhaps hundreds of thousands were killed as the brave little nation was brought murderously into line by its bigger neighbour.
The intellectually lazy Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual adviser to Australia's head of state the Queen, visited Darfur, witnessed the killings and managed not to criticise the Sudanese Government.
Perhaps Spielberg could boycott Anglican nations, refuse to show his films there and never again visit England or Australia. Wouldn't bother me.
China has a brutal streak, as any Tibetan will tell. Some Iraqis may say the same of us as we continue to insist they are ready for democracy.
And we are still fighting what became the Taliban in Afghanistan after the West armed locals to the teeth following the Soviet invasion of 1979.
Diplomacy is taking care of your strategic interests, and we do it as well as the Americans and the Chinese.
But that is not the only reason we should be wary of those who would have us boycott the Beijing Games.
China is not just the standout economy of the developing world; it has raised its people's standard of living faster than any country in living memory.
The Beijing Olympics is the new China's coming of age.
And like anyone who makes their majority, they'll have done it with regrets and mistakes. Some of them may even live with you.
Mia Farrow says China should listen to world opinion. China is one quarter of world opinion.
Freedoms will creep upon the burgeoning middle classes of the Middle Kingdom before we know it, and its 1.3 billion people need not insist on knowledge of the world -- it will arrive on their desks on computers made in their own country.
If only we could say the same.
A new post-Communist China is emerging and it looks nothing like the cruel, monolithic country built by Chairman Mao.
But while its markets have been freed, its government still seeks to control the population in ways we find distasteful.
But you can't control the thoughts of more than a billion people and if democracy appeals to them then a change is gonna come.
Myanmar biofuel effort raises doubts
By Ed Cropley
March 12, 2008 (Reuters)- PYAW GAN, Myanmar: They may look leafless and lifeless, but Kyaw Sinnt is certain that his nut trees are the key to Myanmar's chronic energy shortage.
Others are less sure, saying the junta's plan to turn the country into a biofuel plantation producing physic nuts is yet another example of the ill-conceived central planning that has crippled a once promising economy.
"Everybody can take part and it's good for the environment," Kyaw Sinnt said, standing next to a small patch of the sticklike shrubs in Pyaw Gan, a bamboo hut village typical of the parched region southwest of Mandalay.
Fortunately for Pyaw Gan's residents, the plants, also known as jatropha, are drought-resistant, and energy experts consider them a very promising source of biofuel because they do not displace food crops like sugar or corn.
In mid-2006, the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta is formally known, decreed that every farmer with 0.4 hectares, or an acre, was required to plant 200 physic nut seeds around the perimeter of the plot.
Even though farmers were required to buy the seeds from the government for 800 kyat, or 60 U.S. cents, about half a day's wages for a manual laborer, the effort has produced visible results.
Now, jatropha groves can be seen across the country, from deserted roadsides in the central plains to deforested hills near the Chinese border and in window-boxes in the heart of Yangon, the commercial capital.
A year ago, a senior Energy Ministry official was telling oil industry executives in Singapore that 2.8 million hectares of plantation would be "in full swing" by mid-2007 and that biodiesel exports would follow quickly.
Such results would represent a major turnaround for a country that imported $600 million in oil products in 2006 and slashed diesel subsidies last August, provoking the biggest anti-government protests in 19 years.
But it is not clear that the generals have kept their side of the bargain and built the refining plants necessary to turn the nuts into biodiesel. Several conglomerates with close ties to the regime have announced plans to get involved, but progress on actually producing biodiesel is not evident, either.
A government minister has even suggested that people simply grind the nuts in their own homes and then pour the resultant oily residue straight into their fuel tanks.
Some analysts have their doubts.
"How these jatropha acreages will be converted into biodiesel has not yet been determined, since Burma lacks anything like the capacity to refine physic nuts into useable fuel," said Sean Turnell of Macquarie University. "The whole episode is illustrative of a more profound and pervasive system of centralized and often irrational decision making that lies at the heart of Burmese agriculture."
There certainly does not seem to be anything remotely like a processing plant anywhere near Pyaw Gan, which is unreachable by vehicle during the wet season.
"It's a complete waste of time," said one businessman in the town of Nyaung U, who did not wish to be named for fear of recrimination. "There is no processing plant, and if there was, it would cost four times as much as normal diesel. It's all for show, just like our wonderful new irrigation channels that never have any water because they never turn the pumps on."
Doubting the junta's stated motive, ordinary Burmese have come up with their own theories. The most popular, but not necessarily the most credible, is that it is all a wordplay plan by the superstitious generals to negate the spiritual power of Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate .
In Burmese, physic nuts are roughly pronounced chay soo, which is very close to an inversion of Aung San Suu Kyi's shortened name, pronounced soo chee.
Source: International Herald Tribune
March 12, 2008 (Reuters)- PYAW GAN, Myanmar: They may look leafless and lifeless, but Kyaw Sinnt is certain that his nut trees are the key to Myanmar's chronic energy shortage.
Others are less sure, saying the junta's plan to turn the country into a biofuel plantation producing physic nuts is yet another example of the ill-conceived central planning that has crippled a once promising economy.
"Everybody can take part and it's good for the environment," Kyaw Sinnt said, standing next to a small patch of the sticklike shrubs in Pyaw Gan, a bamboo hut village typical of the parched region southwest of Mandalay.
Fortunately for Pyaw Gan's residents, the plants, also known as jatropha, are drought-resistant, and energy experts consider them a very promising source of biofuel because they do not displace food crops like sugar or corn.
In mid-2006, the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta is formally known, decreed that every farmer with 0.4 hectares, or an acre, was required to plant 200 physic nut seeds around the perimeter of the plot.
Even though farmers were required to buy the seeds from the government for 800 kyat, or 60 U.S. cents, about half a day's wages for a manual laborer, the effort has produced visible results.
Now, jatropha groves can be seen across the country, from deserted roadsides in the central plains to deforested hills near the Chinese border and in window-boxes in the heart of Yangon, the commercial capital.
A year ago, a senior Energy Ministry official was telling oil industry executives in Singapore that 2.8 million hectares of plantation would be "in full swing" by mid-2007 and that biodiesel exports would follow quickly.
Such results would represent a major turnaround for a country that imported $600 million in oil products in 2006 and slashed diesel subsidies last August, provoking the biggest anti-government protests in 19 years.
But it is not clear that the generals have kept their side of the bargain and built the refining plants necessary to turn the nuts into biodiesel. Several conglomerates with close ties to the regime have announced plans to get involved, but progress on actually producing biodiesel is not evident, either.
A government minister has even suggested that people simply grind the nuts in their own homes and then pour the resultant oily residue straight into their fuel tanks.
Some analysts have their doubts.
"How these jatropha acreages will be converted into biodiesel has not yet been determined, since Burma lacks anything like the capacity to refine physic nuts into useable fuel," said Sean Turnell of Macquarie University. "The whole episode is illustrative of a more profound and pervasive system of centralized and often irrational decision making that lies at the heart of Burmese agriculture."
There certainly does not seem to be anything remotely like a processing plant anywhere near Pyaw Gan, which is unreachable by vehicle during the wet season.
"It's a complete waste of time," said one businessman in the town of Nyaung U, who did not wish to be named for fear of recrimination. "There is no processing plant, and if there was, it would cost four times as much as normal diesel. It's all for show, just like our wonderful new irrigation channels that never have any water because they never turn the pumps on."
Doubting the junta's stated motive, ordinary Burmese have come up with their own theories. The most popular, but not necessarily the most credible, is that it is all a wordplay plan by the superstitious generals to negate the spiritual power of Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate .
In Burmese, physic nuts are roughly pronounced chay soo, which is very close to an inversion of Aung San Suu Kyi's shortened name, pronounced soo chee.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Burma's sham constitution
By Tom Fawthrop
The junta's announcement that it will put its tailor-made constitution to the vote should not deceive anyone
March 12, 2008 - Any remaining illusion that Burma's ruling junta might make any concessions to UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari (now in Rangoon), and permit some semblance of opposition participation, has been well and truly demolished by the uncompromising stand of the generals in the last few days.
The Burmese regime has firmly rejected the UN proposal for serious dialogue, and amendments to the draft constitution. Information minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, who met with Gambari on March 7, said it was "impossible to revise or rewrite" a government-drafted constitution that will be submitted to a national referendum in May. Once again, the UN envoy has been humiliated by never even getting near a senior general.
Hopes for a normalisation in Burma were triggered by the recent announcement of general election to be held in 2010. The last election was 1990.
In September 2007, there was a global outcry over the killing of Buddhist monks and other protestors, and the brutal suppression of peaceful mass demonstrations to end more than 40 years of military rule.
Western governments professed a renewed determination to use sanctions against the regime. The UN security council appointed Gambari, to promote reform and reconciliation in the wake of widespread bloodshed in the streets and temples. The UN reported 31 dead, but human rights bodies have placed death toll figures far higher.
The Buddhist monks have been stopped from marching. Many were detained last September - others shot dead by the junta's bullets. Many temples have almost been emptied of saffron-robed monks. Thousands are still in hiding, arrests continue. UN diplomacy and Asean's policy of "constructive engagement" have clearly failed to bring about any significant changes.
This new constitution is a very old saga - 14 years and six months in the making to be precise - perhaps a candidate for Guinness Book of World Records. Dating back to the 1990 general election, which was won overwhelmingly by the NLD - National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, their revered leader and Nobel laureate and still under house arrest.
The generals changed the rules, ignored the results and instead proceeded to organize the drafting of a new constitution, which began in 1993 and continued till 1996, when the NLD walked out in protest. Since then all delegates have been selected by the generals.
So what are the citizens of Burma being offered with this constitution? Certainly not civilian rule. The generals have arrogated to themselves the leading political role. According to the draft constitution, the commander in chief of the armed forces is entitled to fill 110 seats in the 440-seat parliament with appointees from the ranks of the armed forces. And in the event of a "state of emergency," the commander in chief will assume full legislative, executive and judicial powers.
It allows stringent restrictions on any activities deemed "inimical to national unity" which covers a whole gamut of criticism and dissent. Civilians will be permitted to enter parliament, but only if they show due deference to the men in uniform.
San Suu Kyi is excluded from running for the presidency by virtue of her marriage to British scholar Michael Aris. Not surprisingly, opponents of the regime have dismissed it as a sham.
Monks and the opposition are calling for a "no" vote. There are indications that the regime will try to coerce a "yes" vote by threats of punishment against those who either boycott the referendum, or vote no.
The Rangoon regime expects that once the referendum is passed, China, India and South-East Asian countries that provide Burma with vital economic investment and financial support, will accept this as evidence of a return to the rule of law. China has already endorsed the referendum as a "positive step".
Inside the Asean 10-nation grouping, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia hotly oppose western sanctions, which is understandable given their interest in extracting maximum commercial profit from resource-rich Burma. Their concern is not democracy or human rights, but the return to stability inside the country.
Burma at the beginning of the 1960s was one of southeast Asia's leaders and one of the best-educated. It was far ahead of neighbouring Thailand and Singapore. Then came the 1962 military coup and the nation was plunged into four decades of darkness.
In spite of western calls for sanctions, there are still glaring loopholes. US oil giant Chevron is exempt from US sanctions on a legal technicality (the so-called grandfather clause). French oil company Total is also spared partly thanks to Bernard Kouchner's special report in their favour, prior to becoming President Sarkozy's foreign minister.
More pressure could be brought to bear on Asean countries to opt for a tougher line on their delinquent member - Burma. The UN also has to accept that diplomacy is not going to work without some kind of sanctions. U Awbata, a dissident Buddhist monk who fled from Burma after the crackdown, says the world community should support an arms embargo.
"I would like to appeal to the international community here today to work together and urge those countries selling arms to Burma to stop them from doing so," he told a recent human rights conference in Jakarta.
Nobody should be fooled by this figleaf of sham constitutionalism that the Burmese generals are doing anything more than pursuing a strategy to parry and deflect pressure from the outside world and prolong their stay in power.
After 46 years of seeing their beautiful country reduced to one of the region's poorest, its teak forests and natural resources decimated by its neighbours, its health and education systems starved of funding, and HIV/Aids reaching epidemic proportions - surely the people of Burma deserve a break?
A constitution tailored to the needs of the junta is no solution At all. A break for the Burmese and all the ethnic minorities means nothing less than a permanent break from military rule.
The junta's announcement that it will put its tailor-made constitution to the vote should not deceive anyone
March 12, 2008 - Any remaining illusion that Burma's ruling junta might make any concessions to UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari (now in Rangoon), and permit some semblance of opposition participation, has been well and truly demolished by the uncompromising stand of the generals in the last few days.
The Burmese regime has firmly rejected the UN proposal for serious dialogue, and amendments to the draft constitution. Information minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, who met with Gambari on March 7, said it was "impossible to revise or rewrite" a government-drafted constitution that will be submitted to a national referendum in May. Once again, the UN envoy has been humiliated by never even getting near a senior general.
Hopes for a normalisation in Burma were triggered by the recent announcement of general election to be held in 2010. The last election was 1990.
In September 2007, there was a global outcry over the killing of Buddhist monks and other protestors, and the brutal suppression of peaceful mass demonstrations to end more than 40 years of military rule.
Western governments professed a renewed determination to use sanctions against the regime. The UN security council appointed Gambari, to promote reform and reconciliation in the wake of widespread bloodshed in the streets and temples. The UN reported 31 dead, but human rights bodies have placed death toll figures far higher.
The Buddhist monks have been stopped from marching. Many were detained last September - others shot dead by the junta's bullets. Many temples have almost been emptied of saffron-robed monks. Thousands are still in hiding, arrests continue. UN diplomacy and Asean's policy of "constructive engagement" have clearly failed to bring about any significant changes.
This new constitution is a very old saga - 14 years and six months in the making to be precise - perhaps a candidate for Guinness Book of World Records. Dating back to the 1990 general election, which was won overwhelmingly by the NLD - National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, their revered leader and Nobel laureate and still under house arrest.
The generals changed the rules, ignored the results and instead proceeded to organize the drafting of a new constitution, which began in 1993 and continued till 1996, when the NLD walked out in protest. Since then all delegates have been selected by the generals.
So what are the citizens of Burma being offered with this constitution? Certainly not civilian rule. The generals have arrogated to themselves the leading political role. According to the draft constitution, the commander in chief of the armed forces is entitled to fill 110 seats in the 440-seat parliament with appointees from the ranks of the armed forces. And in the event of a "state of emergency," the commander in chief will assume full legislative, executive and judicial powers.
It allows stringent restrictions on any activities deemed "inimical to national unity" which covers a whole gamut of criticism and dissent. Civilians will be permitted to enter parliament, but only if they show due deference to the men in uniform.
San Suu Kyi is excluded from running for the presidency by virtue of her marriage to British scholar Michael Aris. Not surprisingly, opponents of the regime have dismissed it as a sham.
Monks and the opposition are calling for a "no" vote. There are indications that the regime will try to coerce a "yes" vote by threats of punishment against those who either boycott the referendum, or vote no.
The Rangoon regime expects that once the referendum is passed, China, India and South-East Asian countries that provide Burma with vital economic investment and financial support, will accept this as evidence of a return to the rule of law. China has already endorsed the referendum as a "positive step".
Inside the Asean 10-nation grouping, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia hotly oppose western sanctions, which is understandable given their interest in extracting maximum commercial profit from resource-rich Burma. Their concern is not democracy or human rights, but the return to stability inside the country.
Burma at the beginning of the 1960s was one of southeast Asia's leaders and one of the best-educated. It was far ahead of neighbouring Thailand and Singapore. Then came the 1962 military coup and the nation was plunged into four decades of darkness.
In spite of western calls for sanctions, there are still glaring loopholes. US oil giant Chevron is exempt from US sanctions on a legal technicality (the so-called grandfather clause). French oil company Total is also spared partly thanks to Bernard Kouchner's special report in their favour, prior to becoming President Sarkozy's foreign minister.
More pressure could be brought to bear on Asean countries to opt for a tougher line on their delinquent member - Burma. The UN also has to accept that diplomacy is not going to work without some kind of sanctions. U Awbata, a dissident Buddhist monk who fled from Burma after the crackdown, says the world community should support an arms embargo.
"I would like to appeal to the international community here today to work together and urge those countries selling arms to Burma to stop them from doing so," he told a recent human rights conference in Jakarta.
Nobody should be fooled by this figleaf of sham constitutionalism that the Burmese generals are doing anything more than pursuing a strategy to parry and deflect pressure from the outside world and prolong their stay in power.
After 46 years of seeing their beautiful country reduced to one of the region's poorest, its teak forests and natural resources decimated by its neighbours, its health and education systems starved of funding, and HIV/Aids reaching epidemic proportions - surely the people of Burma deserve a break?
A constitution tailored to the needs of the junta is no solution At all. A break for the Burmese and all the ethnic minorities means nothing less than a permanent break from military rule.
Source: Comment is Free
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Chinese presence in Myanmar uneasy
One News TVNZ
March 12, 2008 - Few people can claim justifiably to understand the relationship between Myanmar's secretive military rulers and China, their key trading partner, arms supplier and diplomatic ally.
But if the man on the street in Mandalay is anything to go by, it will be one ranging from mistrust to resentment to outright loathing, suggesting Beijing's much-vaunted "influence" over its pariah neighbour may be smaller than imagined.
Even though the former Burma's second city is one of the few places where the economy appears to be going somewhere, thanks mainly to Chinese capital and enterprise, most locals feel they are on the wrong side of a deeply exploitative equation.
"The Chinese give us plastic, and they take our teak and gems," one senior Buddhist monk in Sagaing, a town 20 km west of Mandalay, told Reuters. "They give us one thing, but then take two."
Lu Maw, one of Mandalay's famed "Moustache Brothers" comedy trio, reflects the views of many when he says the city, now home to as many nondescript Chinese hotels as ancient Buddhist monasteries, should be renamed "Capital of Yunnan", China's nearest province.
"I don't want to discriminate against the Chinese, but..." he says, before launching into a series of jokes accusing businessmen from southwest China of making millions selling heroin or doing dodgy deals with even dodgier Burmese generals.
General xenophobia?
Whether street-level xenophobia translates into official outlook and policy is, of course, a moot point, especially when it comes to reading the minds of Myanmar's military junta, one of the world's most closed regimes.
The only clues are hearsay and anecdote, such as that of the junta's number two man Maung Aye, who has spent much of his military career fighting Beijing-backed communists, ordering shop signs to be taken down if Chinese lettering appeared above the Burmese.
But the question of anti-Chinese sentiment is an important one, given the West's almost total reliance on Beijing since September's anti-junta protests to coax the generals towards political and economic reform after 46 years of military rule.
Beijing is also acutely aware of the issue as it tries to buy billions of dollars of Myanmar natural gas - gas that most of its 53 million people think should be used to address the chronic energy shortages that sat at the heart of last year's protests.
An acquiescent and stable Myanmar is also strategically vital to Beijing's plans for an oil pipeline running from the Andaman Sea via Mandalay to Yunnan to mitigate China's reliance on crude shipments through the Strait of Malacca.
"Our policy is to encourage Chinese companies to 'go out', whether it's to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar or wherever," Yunnan Communist Party chief Bai Enpei told Reuters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament meeting this month.
"Historically in Southeast Asia there has been a problem in places where there are a lot of ethnic Chinese. But relations are gradually getting better," he said.
"We cannot just go in and earn other people's money, selling stuff and taking over projects. It must be win-win."
Kept in dark
At the height of September's crackdown, Yangon-based diplomats say China did indeed pull out all the stops to get United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari into the country.
Beyond that, the amount of pressure Beijing can bring to bear on Myanmar's recalcitrant generals is open to question.
China's curious admission last May that it had been kept in the dark about the junta's 2005 move to a new capital - and its distinctly unflattering account of the place - fuelled speculation that Beijing may not enjoy privileged access.
Some diplomats also dispute the argument that the generals should or could use the Chinese Communist Party's establishment of a free market without ceding any political control as a blueprint for reform.
"The ability of China to influence the junta is way overplayed," one Yangon-based diplomat said. "People say they should get the generals to 'do a China or a Vietnam' and relax their grip over the economy without ceding any political power.
"But they forget that it's the junta's stranglehold over every single money-making enterprise in the country which is their power," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
"They control everything, right down to the number of cars imported each year."
March 12, 2008 - Few people can claim justifiably to understand the relationship between Myanmar's secretive military rulers and China, their key trading partner, arms supplier and diplomatic ally.
But if the man on the street in Mandalay is anything to go by, it will be one ranging from mistrust to resentment to outright loathing, suggesting Beijing's much-vaunted "influence" over its pariah neighbour may be smaller than imagined.
Even though the former Burma's second city is one of the few places where the economy appears to be going somewhere, thanks mainly to Chinese capital and enterprise, most locals feel they are on the wrong side of a deeply exploitative equation.
"The Chinese give us plastic, and they take our teak and gems," one senior Buddhist monk in Sagaing, a town 20 km west of Mandalay, told Reuters. "They give us one thing, but then take two."
Lu Maw, one of Mandalay's famed "Moustache Brothers" comedy trio, reflects the views of many when he says the city, now home to as many nondescript Chinese hotels as ancient Buddhist monasteries, should be renamed "Capital of Yunnan", China's nearest province.
"I don't want to discriminate against the Chinese, but..." he says, before launching into a series of jokes accusing businessmen from southwest China of making millions selling heroin or doing dodgy deals with even dodgier Burmese generals.
General xenophobia?
Whether street-level xenophobia translates into official outlook and policy is, of course, a moot point, especially when it comes to reading the minds of Myanmar's military junta, one of the world's most closed regimes.
The only clues are hearsay and anecdote, such as that of the junta's number two man Maung Aye, who has spent much of his military career fighting Beijing-backed communists, ordering shop signs to be taken down if Chinese lettering appeared above the Burmese.
But the question of anti-Chinese sentiment is an important one, given the West's almost total reliance on Beijing since September's anti-junta protests to coax the generals towards political and economic reform after 46 years of military rule.
Beijing is also acutely aware of the issue as it tries to buy billions of dollars of Myanmar natural gas - gas that most of its 53 million people think should be used to address the chronic energy shortages that sat at the heart of last year's protests.
An acquiescent and stable Myanmar is also strategically vital to Beijing's plans for an oil pipeline running from the Andaman Sea via Mandalay to Yunnan to mitigate China's reliance on crude shipments through the Strait of Malacca.
"Our policy is to encourage Chinese companies to 'go out', whether it's to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar or wherever," Yunnan Communist Party chief Bai Enpei told Reuters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament meeting this month.
"Historically in Southeast Asia there has been a problem in places where there are a lot of ethnic Chinese. But relations are gradually getting better," he said.
"We cannot just go in and earn other people's money, selling stuff and taking over projects. It must be win-win."
Kept in dark
At the height of September's crackdown, Yangon-based diplomats say China did indeed pull out all the stops to get United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari into the country.
Beyond that, the amount of pressure Beijing can bring to bear on Myanmar's recalcitrant generals is open to question.
China's curious admission last May that it had been kept in the dark about the junta's 2005 move to a new capital - and its distinctly unflattering account of the place - fuelled speculation that Beijing may not enjoy privileged access.
Some diplomats also dispute the argument that the generals should or could use the Chinese Communist Party's establishment of a free market without ceding any political control as a blueprint for reform.
"The ability of China to influence the junta is way overplayed," one Yangon-based diplomat said. "People say they should get the generals to 'do a China or a Vietnam' and relax their grip over the economy without ceding any political power.
"But they forget that it's the junta's stranglehold over every single money-making enterprise in the country which is their power," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
"They control everything, right down to the number of cars imported each year."
Farmers forced to relocate to villages
By Naw Say Phaw
Mar 11, 2008 (DVB)–Local authorities in Rangoon division’s Hle Gu township have forced farmers who live in huts on their farmlands to relocate to villages, leaving them unable to continue tending their crops, locals said.
A Hle Gu local said about 300 farmers from Shan Tal Gyi and Ma-au villages have been ordered to move back to their villages by their village authorities, who claimed it was for security reasons.
“The authorities made the farmers to sign an acknowledgment of their relocation to the villages,” the local said.
“It said that the farmers will be responsible for the consequences if they remain on their farmlands.”
The authorities’ order to relocate will cause major difficulties for the farmers, who need to stay on their farms during the cropping season to monitor their crops.
“They need to stay on their farms to do the necessary maintenance on their crops,” the Hle Gu local said.
“The farmers were very sad after hearing the authorities’ order to move back to the villages.”
Hle Gu township authorities were unavailable for comment.
Mar 11, 2008 (DVB)–Local authorities in Rangoon division’s Hle Gu township have forced farmers who live in huts on their farmlands to relocate to villages, leaving them unable to continue tending their crops, locals said.
A Hle Gu local said about 300 farmers from Shan Tal Gyi and Ma-au villages have been ordered to move back to their villages by their village authorities, who claimed it was for security reasons.
“The authorities made the farmers to sign an acknowledgment of their relocation to the villages,” the local said.
“It said that the farmers will be responsible for the consequences if they remain on their farmlands.”
The authorities’ order to relocate will cause major difficulties for the farmers, who need to stay on their farms during the cropping season to monitor their crops.
“They need to stay on their farms to do the necessary maintenance on their crops,” the Hle Gu local said.
“The farmers were very sad after hearing the authorities’ order to move back to the villages.”
Hle Gu township authorities were unavailable for comment.
Burmese Family Escapes Bangladesh
Narinjara News
March 11, 2008 - Cox’s Bazar: A family of four escaped to Bangladesh from Burma on Monday to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR after the Burmese military authority tried to arrest them for their involvement in the Saffron Revolution, reports one of the family members.
"We have come here to avoid arrest by the authority because I was involved in the Saffron Revolution," said Ma Moe Sanda.
Ma Moe Sanda, aged 41, hails from Yan Kin Township in Rangoon and was the selling manager of a company that had close associations with high-ranking officials in the Burmese military government.
Ma Moe said, "I am Buddhist, how can I be silent without any voice over the authority's killing of the monks. So I was involved in the demonstration to protest the government authorities that killed the monks."
Ma Moe San was transferred to Sittwe from Rangoon by her employer after the Saffron Revolution ended due to her involvement in the protests.
"The company wanted to fire me from my job but this was impossible in Rangoon because there are some human rights defenders there, and the media is also more active there than any other place in Burma. The company was also afraid of damaging its reputation, to the authorities transferred me to Sittwe," Ma Moe said.
When Ma Moe arrived in Sittwe to serve at her job, the company managed to take action against her by lodging false accusations.
"I was fired from the job a few days after I arrived in Sittwe and the company authority complained to the police station with false charges against me. So I left Sittwe for Bangladesh in a machine boat to find refuge in the neighboring country," she said.
Ma Moe, who is a Burman national, came to Bangladesh with her three-year-old son, eighteen-month-old son, and her husband Hla Tun Naing.
The family is currently staying in the district border town of Cox's Bazar and they will travel to Dhaka in the next few days to apply to the UNHCR for recognition as refugees.
March 11, 2008 - Cox’s Bazar: A family of four escaped to Bangladesh from Burma on Monday to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR after the Burmese military authority tried to arrest them for their involvement in the Saffron Revolution, reports one of the family members.
"We have come here to avoid arrest by the authority because I was involved in the Saffron Revolution," said Ma Moe Sanda.
Ma Moe Sanda, aged 41, hails from Yan Kin Township in Rangoon and was the selling manager of a company that had close associations with high-ranking officials in the Burmese military government.
Ma Moe said, "I am Buddhist, how can I be silent without any voice over the authority's killing of the monks. So I was involved in the demonstration to protest the government authorities that killed the monks."
Ma Moe San was transferred to Sittwe from Rangoon by her employer after the Saffron Revolution ended due to her involvement in the protests.
"The company wanted to fire me from my job but this was impossible in Rangoon because there are some human rights defenders there, and the media is also more active there than any other place in Burma. The company was also afraid of damaging its reputation, to the authorities transferred me to Sittwe," Ma Moe said.
When Ma Moe arrived in Sittwe to serve at her job, the company managed to take action against her by lodging false accusations.
"I was fired from the job a few days after I arrived in Sittwe and the company authority complained to the police station with false charges against me. So I left Sittwe for Bangladesh in a machine boat to find refuge in the neighboring country," she said.
Ma Moe, who is a Burman national, came to Bangladesh with her three-year-old son, eighteen-month-old son, and her husband Hla Tun Naing.
The family is currently staying in the district border town of Cox's Bazar and they will travel to Dhaka in the next few days to apply to the UNHCR for recognition as refugees.
Burma’s Generals Drunk on Political Power
By KYAW ZWA MOE
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
The United Nations has offered the Burmese junta a political cocktail that could have
given the embattled country a way out of its political deadlock.
The ingredients were simple: The UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, urged the junta to allow opposition groups a role in creating a draft constitution, allow independent monitors to observe a constitutional referendum and offer an inclusive, fair election representing all political views.
The junta declined.
In fact, the generals have already brewed up their own political cocktail and are offering it to the Burmese people in the constitutional referendum in May:
—A rigged draft constitution designed to enshrine the military as rulers in a “democratic” Burma.
—No guarantees to a fair and inclusive election in 2010 and the power to nullify the constitution at any time.
The Burmese people know the junta’s political cocktail is poison.
“It is impossible to review or rewrite the constitution which was drawn up with the participation of delegates from all walks of life,” Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan told Gambari on Friday in Rangoon, according to the state-run media.
What he failed to mention was that all the delegates were handpicked by the junta. Pro-democracy and ethnic opposition groups were not allowed to participate.
The military government also rebuffed the idea of independent poll observers as an infringement on “state sovereignty.”
The junta took the gloves off on Gambari’s last visit, telling him coldly that he was biased in favor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years and is barred from running in the election.
Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that Burma has no political prisoners and that Suu Kyi was detained because she tried to disrupt the stability of the country. Actually, there are about 1,800 political prisoners in Burma.
The minister also criticized Gambari for his trips to other countries to seek support for political reform in Burma.
“Sadly, you went beyond your mandate,” he was told. “Hence, the majority of people are criticizing it as a biased act.”
Finally, in effect dismissing Gambari’s future usefullness, Kyaw Hsan said that if Gambari continued to encourage the junta to meet Western calls for reform, “We are concerned that your task of offering impartial advice may be undermined.”
Gambari departed Burma on Monday and will soon brief UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Whatever that briefing says, one thing is clear: the generals are in a state of denial.
In fact, Gambari’s mission is over diplomatically. The junta has stacked the political deck. Domestic events will have to play themselves out now—for good or bad.
In reality, the UN has no further role to play in Burma. There’s no hope of reconciliation talks; no hope for broader political participation by the people. Sadly, there may be no hope of avoiding another civil uprising and more bloodshed and arrests.
You can see the sad state of events in Burma as the ending of an era going back to the 1988 uprising, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) played such an important role. The NLD won the 1990 elections by a landslide, nullified by the generals. The NLD leadership has run out of energy and failed to come up with a new political vision.
So far, the NLD has failed to take a clear stand on the constitutional referendum and elections, perhaps partly because it doesn’t even know if it will be allowed to participate in the election.
In the 2007 uprising, the Burmese people, in effect, became the leaders of the political opposition, guided by a dedicated group of activist monks from across the country.
The Burmese people seem to sense that it’s up to them now. The tragedy is that if they express any critical views about the draft constitution, the elections or the regime, they may be imprisoned. Without any means to influence the junta, there are really only two options: political protests and courage.
The constitutional referendum in May could be a flash point. Will the people feel they have been allowed to cast their votes freely and fairly?
Any attempt by the junta or its affiliated political and civic groups to steal the referendum will spark a clash between the military and the people more dangerous than the 2007 uprising.
If the election is free and fair, the Burmese people will reject the junta’s poisonous political cocktail, knowing it will poison their national pride and be a death sentence for Burma’s future generations.
The generals are clearly living in self-denial, drunk on their own power, in total denial of even the most basic principles of fairness and democracy.
But like all drunks, there will come a day—perhaps in May—when they may be awakened by the Burmese people and forced to face reality.
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
The United Nations has offered the Burmese junta a political cocktail that could have
given the embattled country a way out of its political deadlock.
The ingredients were simple: The UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, urged the junta to allow opposition groups a role in creating a draft constitution, allow independent monitors to observe a constitutional referendum and offer an inclusive, fair election representing all political views.
The junta declined.
In fact, the generals have already brewed up their own political cocktail and are offering it to the Burmese people in the constitutional referendum in May:
—A rigged draft constitution designed to enshrine the military as rulers in a “democratic” Burma.
—No guarantees to a fair and inclusive election in 2010 and the power to nullify the constitution at any time.
The Burmese people know the junta’s political cocktail is poison.
“It is impossible to review or rewrite the constitution which was drawn up with the participation of delegates from all walks of life,” Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan told Gambari on Friday in Rangoon, according to the state-run media.
What he failed to mention was that all the delegates were handpicked by the junta. Pro-democracy and ethnic opposition groups were not allowed to participate.
The military government also rebuffed the idea of independent poll observers as an infringement on “state sovereignty.”
The junta took the gloves off on Gambari’s last visit, telling him coldly that he was biased in favor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years and is barred from running in the election.
Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that Burma has no political prisoners and that Suu Kyi was detained because she tried to disrupt the stability of the country. Actually, there are about 1,800 political prisoners in Burma.
The minister also criticized Gambari for his trips to other countries to seek support for political reform in Burma.
“Sadly, you went beyond your mandate,” he was told. “Hence, the majority of people are criticizing it as a biased act.”
Finally, in effect dismissing Gambari’s future usefullness, Kyaw Hsan said that if Gambari continued to encourage the junta to meet Western calls for reform, “We are concerned that your task of offering impartial advice may be undermined.”
Gambari departed Burma on Monday and will soon brief UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Whatever that briefing says, one thing is clear: the generals are in a state of denial.
In fact, Gambari’s mission is over diplomatically. The junta has stacked the political deck. Domestic events will have to play themselves out now—for good or bad.
In reality, the UN has no further role to play in Burma. There’s no hope of reconciliation talks; no hope for broader political participation by the people. Sadly, there may be no hope of avoiding another civil uprising and more bloodshed and arrests.
You can see the sad state of events in Burma as the ending of an era going back to the 1988 uprising, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) played such an important role. The NLD won the 1990 elections by a landslide, nullified by the generals. The NLD leadership has run out of energy and failed to come up with a new political vision.
So far, the NLD has failed to take a clear stand on the constitutional referendum and elections, perhaps partly because it doesn’t even know if it will be allowed to participate in the election.
In the 2007 uprising, the Burmese people, in effect, became the leaders of the political opposition, guided by a dedicated group of activist monks from across the country.
The Burmese people seem to sense that it’s up to them now. The tragedy is that if they express any critical views about the draft constitution, the elections or the regime, they may be imprisoned. Without any means to influence the junta, there are really only two options: political protests and courage.
The constitutional referendum in May could be a flash point. Will the people feel they have been allowed to cast their votes freely and fairly?
Any attempt by the junta or its affiliated political and civic groups to steal the referendum will spark a clash between the military and the people more dangerous than the 2007 uprising.
If the election is free and fair, the Burmese people will reject the junta’s poisonous political cocktail, knowing it will poison their national pride and be a death sentence for Burma’s future generations.
The generals are clearly living in self-denial, drunk on their own power, in total denial of even the most basic principles of fairness and democracy.
But like all drunks, there will come a day—perhaps in May—when they may be awakened by the Burmese people and forced to face reality.
Bush Says US Will Not Abandon Burma
By LALIT K JHA
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
President George W Bush said on Monday the United States would continue to work till the “tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores.”
Bush, addressing a meeting honoring Women’s History Month at the White House with his wife, Laura Bush, said, “America honors women like Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.”
Praising Suu Kyi for her courage and commitment to the people of Burma, Bush said: “Her only crime was to lead a political party that enjoys the overwhelming support of the Burmese people. During the long and lonely years of Daw Suu Kyi's imprisonment, the people of Burma have suffered with her.” Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.
“Her courage and her writings have inspired millions, and in so doing, have put fear to the hearts of the leaders of the Burmese junta,” Bush said.
Bush noted that the military regime has called a referendum in May to ratify a dangerously flawed constitution—one that bars Suu Kyi from running for political office.
Bush said: “Aung San Suu Kyi has said to the American people: ‘Please use your liberty to promote ours.’ We're doing all we can, and we will continue to do so until the tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores and frees this good, strong woman.”
The US has imposed a series of economic sanctions against the military junta in the last seven months.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also praised the Burmese leader on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
“We acknowledge the bravery of Aung Sung Suu Kyi in Burma,” Rice said.
Along with Suu Kyi, Bush also honored the wife of jailed Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin, Irina Kozulin, who died of cancer last month; and ailing Cuban dissident Marta Beatrmz Roque Cabello.
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
President George W Bush said on Monday the United States would continue to work till the “tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores.”
Bush, addressing a meeting honoring Women’s History Month at the White House with his wife, Laura Bush, said, “America honors women like Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.”
Praising Suu Kyi for her courage and commitment to the people of Burma, Bush said: “Her only crime was to lead a political party that enjoys the overwhelming support of the Burmese people. During the long and lonely years of Daw Suu Kyi's imprisonment, the people of Burma have suffered with her.” Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.
“Her courage and her writings have inspired millions, and in so doing, have put fear to the hearts of the leaders of the Burmese junta,” Bush said.
Bush noted that the military regime has called a referendum in May to ratify a dangerously flawed constitution—one that bars Suu Kyi from running for political office.
Bush said: “Aung San Suu Kyi has said to the American people: ‘Please use your liberty to promote ours.’ We're doing all we can, and we will continue to do so until the tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores and frees this good, strong woman.”
The US has imposed a series of economic sanctions against the military junta in the last seven months.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also praised the Burmese leader on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
“We acknowledge the bravery of Aung Sung Suu Kyi in Burma,” Rice said.
Along with Suu Kyi, Bush also honored the wife of jailed Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin, Irina Kozulin, who died of cancer last month; and ailing Cuban dissident Marta Beatrmz Roque Cabello.
Is Mon Leader Negotiating Disarmament?
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
March 11, 2008 - The army chief of the ethnic Mon ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), has recently engaged in disarmament talks with the Burmese military government, according to Mon sources.
Gen Aung Naing was supposedly visiting Rangoon for medical treatment, said a Mon source close to the NMSP who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. However, it is believed that Aung Naing was holding meetings with junta officials.
The source added that Gen Aung Naing is an influential leader in the NMSP, but doesn’t agree with the political stand his party has taken against the junta’s planned referendum in May.
The military government announced a referendum on its draft constitution in May, followed by national elections in 2010.
Gen Aung Naing, aged 67, became the leader of the Mon National Liberation Army, the military wing of the NMSP, in 2006.
One of his close colleagues quoted him as saying, “We were weak, so we cannot fight the military government with guns. The political issues can only be solved through talks at the table.”
Nai ong Ma-nge, a spokesperson for the NMSP, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “He told us he was going to Rangoon for health reasons. However, we lost communication with him on February 4. We don’t know where he is. We heard some rumors among the Mon community that he is secretly negotiating disarmament with the Burmese government, but we can’t confirm it.”
Nai Santhorn, the chairman of the Mon Unity League (MUL), based in Thailand, said: “He may be looking out for himself. The government may give him some incentive—that would be the main reason for him to give up arms.”
There are 32 central committee members in the NMSP. Within the executive committee, there are eight members including Gen Aung Naing. He joined the NMSP in 1967. His family lives in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand.
Mon political analysts are worried that the party could be weakened if such an important key player gave up arms and that it could impact the unity of the party and its army.
The NMSP signed a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1995. In spite of this, there have been no political advancements in over a decade and the regime has continued a campaign of human rights abuses in Mon State.
In 2003, the party attended a national constitutional convention held by the regime, but left after a proposal to federalize Burma was rejected. Later the party simply sent observers to the convention.
The group released a statement against the junta’s referendum in early March, citing fears that the process would strengthen the regime by giving it the veneer of democracy without resulting in any actual changes.
www.irrawaddy.org
March 11, 2008 - The army chief of the ethnic Mon ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), has recently engaged in disarmament talks with the Burmese military government, according to Mon sources.
Gen Aung Naing was supposedly visiting Rangoon for medical treatment, said a Mon source close to the NMSP who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. However, it is believed that Aung Naing was holding meetings with junta officials.
The source added that Gen Aung Naing is an influential leader in the NMSP, but doesn’t agree with the political stand his party has taken against the junta’s planned referendum in May.
The military government announced a referendum on its draft constitution in May, followed by national elections in 2010.
Gen Aung Naing, aged 67, became the leader of the Mon National Liberation Army, the military wing of the NMSP, in 2006.
One of his close colleagues quoted him as saying, “We were weak, so we cannot fight the military government with guns. The political issues can only be solved through talks at the table.”
Nai ong Ma-nge, a spokesperson for the NMSP, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “He told us he was going to Rangoon for health reasons. However, we lost communication with him on February 4. We don’t know where he is. We heard some rumors among the Mon community that he is secretly negotiating disarmament with the Burmese government, but we can’t confirm it.”
Nai Santhorn, the chairman of the Mon Unity League (MUL), based in Thailand, said: “He may be looking out for himself. The government may give him some incentive—that would be the main reason for him to give up arms.”
There are 32 central committee members in the NMSP. Within the executive committee, there are eight members including Gen Aung Naing. He joined the NMSP in 1967. His family lives in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand.
Mon political analysts are worried that the party could be weakened if such an important key player gave up arms and that it could impact the unity of the party and its army.
The NMSP signed a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1995. In spite of this, there have been no political advancements in over a decade and the regime has continued a campaign of human rights abuses in Mon State.
In 2003, the party attended a national constitutional convention held by the regime, but left after a proposal to federalize Burma was rejected. Later the party simply sent observers to the convention.
The group released a statement against the junta’s referendum in early March, citing fears that the process would strengthen the regime by giving it the veneer of democracy without resulting in any actual changes.
Observers Split over Junta’s Constitution
By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
March 11, 2008 - The majority of Burmese people, whether at home or abroad, regard the military government’s constitution as a door shut in the face of national reconciliation. However, views vary on how to approach the current political situation.
In a confidential e-mail distributed among Burma observers and recently obtained by The Irrawaddy, Dr Nay Win Maung, publisher of Living Color magazine and The Voice weekly in Rangoon, wrote that the crucial decision for Aung San Suu Kyi is whether to offer Snr-Gen Than Shwe a way out of the deadlock.
By Suu Kyi saying no to the referendum, it shows a lack of willingness to let Than Shwe escape—it’s somehow like boxing him “into the corner,” wrote Nay Win Maung in the email message on February 23.
“Again, this may lead to another political deadlock,” he warned.
Nay Win Maung belongs to the so-called “Third Force” in Burma—a group founded during the International Burma Studies (IBS) conference in Singapore in mid-2006 that is neither pro-junta nor pro-opposition. The group includes Dr Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. They advocate engagement and a business-friendly policy with the junta, and are anti-sanctions.
He also said that regardless of whatever the outcome of the referendum, it was certain that the constitution would ultimately be rectified.
This takes us “back to square one,” said Nay Win Maung. Everyone should understand that Than Shwe will not accept any deal, or way out, offered by Suu Kyi or her party, the National League for Democracy.
“This time Burmese people should be smart enough and set their emotions aside, so as not to [create] another deadlock,” he said.
Nay Win Maung did offer six suggestions to Suu Kyi and the NLD. He urged Suu Kyi to endorse the constitution. He also requested the NLD to focus on the election, essentially to make sure the NLD are not “disenfranchised.”
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should provide a goodwill gesture in [giving Than Shwe a way out] by saying yes to the constitution,” he said.
In his fourth suggestion he said that in order to ensure a free and fair election and a strong opposition, the NLD must declare that they are only going to contest half of the seats in both chambers—in a way, sending a signal to the regime that their objective is to be merely the opposition.
He also suggested that Suu Kyi “learn to differentiate between genuine opposition politics and confrontational politics,” so she can build a shadow government.
In his final comment, Nay Win Maung said that Suu Kyi could strengthen her organization while serving in the opposition for five years.
Nay Win Maung’s e-mail was sent to several prominent politicians, including ethnic leaders in exile.
Nay Win Maung was not available for comment when The Irrawaddy called his office on Tuesday.
Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political commentator living in exile, told The Irrawaddy that this approach is an option to break through the deadlock in the country.
“We have to stop living in the past,” he said. “It only prolongs the deadlock and conflict.”
Meanwhile, Win Min, a Burmese political analyst in Thailand, said that Suu Kyi and the NLD should endorse the constitution on the condition that the generals lift the ban on Suu Kyi from running in the upcoming election. He said that even if the NLD is prepared to act as opposition, the junta may still not tolerate having a strong opposition in the country.
Win Min also said that although the constitution is the junta’s own draft, other parties will get 75 percent of the people’s parliament. “The junta wants to be ‘old wine in a new bottle’; then they will legitimize their repression of the Burmese people. If the junta wants the opposition to endorse their rule, they must compromise for national reconciliation,” he said.
One of the secretaries of the National Council of the Union of Burma, Aung Moe Zaw, said, “Some experts think endorsing the constitution is better than nothing. But people will not see it like this. People want to see a long-term guarantee for their future—real democracy and freedom.”
“If the NLD endorses this unjust constitution, people in Burma will object,” he added. “People will go their own way.”
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
March 11, 2008 - The majority of Burmese people, whether at home or abroad, regard the military government’s constitution as a door shut in the face of national reconciliation. However, views vary on how to approach the current political situation.
In a confidential e-mail distributed among Burma observers and recently obtained by The Irrawaddy, Dr Nay Win Maung, publisher of Living Color magazine and The Voice weekly in Rangoon, wrote that the crucial decision for Aung San Suu Kyi is whether to offer Snr-Gen Than Shwe a way out of the deadlock.
By Suu Kyi saying no to the referendum, it shows a lack of willingness to let Than Shwe escape—it’s somehow like boxing him “into the corner,” wrote Nay Win Maung in the email message on February 23.
“Again, this may lead to another political deadlock,” he warned.
Nay Win Maung belongs to the so-called “Third Force” in Burma—a group founded during the International Burma Studies (IBS) conference in Singapore in mid-2006 that is neither pro-junta nor pro-opposition. The group includes Dr Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. They advocate engagement and a business-friendly policy with the junta, and are anti-sanctions.
He also said that regardless of whatever the outcome of the referendum, it was certain that the constitution would ultimately be rectified.
This takes us “back to square one,” said Nay Win Maung. Everyone should understand that Than Shwe will not accept any deal, or way out, offered by Suu Kyi or her party, the National League for Democracy.
“This time Burmese people should be smart enough and set their emotions aside, so as not to [create] another deadlock,” he said.
Nay Win Maung did offer six suggestions to Suu Kyi and the NLD. He urged Suu Kyi to endorse the constitution. He also requested the NLD to focus on the election, essentially to make sure the NLD are not “disenfranchised.”
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should provide a goodwill gesture in [giving Than Shwe a way out] by saying yes to the constitution,” he said.
In his fourth suggestion he said that in order to ensure a free and fair election and a strong opposition, the NLD must declare that they are only going to contest half of the seats in both chambers—in a way, sending a signal to the regime that their objective is to be merely the opposition.
He also suggested that Suu Kyi “learn to differentiate between genuine opposition politics and confrontational politics,” so she can build a shadow government.
In his final comment, Nay Win Maung said that Suu Kyi could strengthen her organization while serving in the opposition for five years.
Nay Win Maung’s e-mail was sent to several prominent politicians, including ethnic leaders in exile.
Nay Win Maung was not available for comment when The Irrawaddy called his office on Tuesday.
Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political commentator living in exile, told The Irrawaddy that this approach is an option to break through the deadlock in the country.
“We have to stop living in the past,” he said. “It only prolongs the deadlock and conflict.”
Meanwhile, Win Min, a Burmese political analyst in Thailand, said that Suu Kyi and the NLD should endorse the constitution on the condition that the generals lift the ban on Suu Kyi from running in the upcoming election. He said that even if the NLD is prepared to act as opposition, the junta may still not tolerate having a strong opposition in the country.
Win Min also said that although the constitution is the junta’s own draft, other parties will get 75 percent of the people’s parliament. “The junta wants to be ‘old wine in a new bottle’; then they will legitimize their repression of the Burmese people. If the junta wants the opposition to endorse their rule, they must compromise for national reconciliation,” he said.
One of the secretaries of the National Council of the Union of Burma, Aung Moe Zaw, said, “Some experts think endorsing the constitution is better than nothing. But people will not see it like this. People want to see a long-term guarantee for their future—real democracy and freedom.”
“If the NLD endorses this unjust constitution, people in Burma will object,” he added. “People will go their own way.”
India, Burma conclude secretary level talks
Mizzima News
March 11, 2008 - New Delhi - In yet another sign of warming up to each other in terms of bilateral relations, India and Burma on Monday concluded a secretary level talk in New Delhi.
Both India and Burma, during the 14th National Level Meeting, agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas of security and border management along the common border.
The Burmese delegation to the meeting was led by Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brig. General Phone Swe and the Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary, Shri Madhukar Gupta.
During the meeting, both sides discussed various issues of mutual concern including security, drug trafficking and border management, according to a press statement released by Indian Ministry of Home Affairs.
India and Burma have regularly held bilateral meetings on various levels including head of the state meetings, since the visit by Burmese head of state and military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe to New Delhi in October 2004.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Burma's second military strongman Vice Snr. General Maung Aye will visit New Delhi in the first week of April to sign an agreement with India to build a multi-modal transport project in western Burma.
Sources at the MEA said India will invest a US $ 100 million for the Kaladan multimodal project, while Burma will contribute US $ 10 million and free land.
Despite criticism by the west, particularly the US and EU, which has imposed stern financial and economic sanctions on the Burmese junta, India continues to engage the Burmese generals under the banner of its 'Look East policy' and 'national interest'.
March 11, 2008 - New Delhi - In yet another sign of warming up to each other in terms of bilateral relations, India and Burma on Monday concluded a secretary level talk in New Delhi.
Both India and Burma, during the 14th National Level Meeting, agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas of security and border management along the common border.
The Burmese delegation to the meeting was led by Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brig. General Phone Swe and the Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary, Shri Madhukar Gupta.
During the meeting, both sides discussed various issues of mutual concern including security, drug trafficking and border management, according to a press statement released by Indian Ministry of Home Affairs.
India and Burma have regularly held bilateral meetings on various levels including head of the state meetings, since the visit by Burmese head of state and military supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe to New Delhi in October 2004.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Burma's second military strongman Vice Snr. General Maung Aye will visit New Delhi in the first week of April to sign an agreement with India to build a multi-modal transport project in western Burma.
Sources at the MEA said India will invest a US $ 100 million for the Kaladan multimodal project, while Burma will contribute US $ 10 million and free land.
Despite criticism by the west, particularly the US and EU, which has imposed stern financial and economic sanctions on the Burmese junta, India continues to engage the Burmese generals under the banner of its 'Look East policy' and 'national interest'.
Junta to make propaganda film on draft constitution
Mizzima News
March 11, 2008 - Burma's Information Ministry is toying with the idea of making a propaganda film on the process of drafting the constitution, which will enshrine the military's role in Burma's future, a reliable source said.
Several prominent Burmese film stars are likely to play the characters, and the junta is trying to find actors and actresses to star in the film. The movie will reflect the junta's stand and obduracy in rejecting suggestions by the international community.
While it is still not clear who will direct and star in the movie, sources in the Burmese film industry explained the obvious script of the film.
The film, apparently, will be circulated among villagers of a typical Burmese village, which has no chiefs for a period of time. The villagers, however, found themselves being intruded upon by neighbouring villages, when they plan to choose a Chief to rule over them.
Despite advices and suggestions by neighbouring villagers on how they should chose their Chiefs and the criteria they set for a Chief, the villagers have their own way in choosing their chief.
While the film has no direct mention of the referendum and its draft constitution, it draws parallels with the junta's constitution, which was drafted by the junta with its hand-picked delegates. The junta in its draft constitution has ensured that the military automatically obtains 25 percent of seats in parliament, allowing the military and its back-ups to be included at the decision making level in all ministries.
The constitution further draws a line for the civilian government not to interfere in military expenditure but keeps a provision for the military to stage a coup anytime it deems necessary.
"The crux of the movie is that the villagers are saying 'this is our village, and we will choose in whatever way we want'. And the military is saying the same 'this is the country I am ruling, and I will rule as I like," a source in the Burmese film industry said.
Sources said, the film will be completed in March and will be aired in May by state-owned televisions – Myanmar TV and Myawaddy.
Burma's ruling junta has rejected the United Nations suggestions to implement a process of national reconciliation by kicking starting a tripartite dialogue, where the military, the Burmese opposition led by detained Nobel peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of ethnic nationalities should participate.
The junta, besides rejecting the international community's suggestions, has announced that it will hold a referendum on its draft constitution in May and general elections in 2010 as part of its planned roadmap to democracy.
Despite an overwhelming victory by Burma's opposition party – the National League for Democracy – in the last general elections in 1990, the ruling junta has refused to honour the results and has prolonged its rule.
March 11, 2008 - Burma's Information Ministry is toying with the idea of making a propaganda film on the process of drafting the constitution, which will enshrine the military's role in Burma's future, a reliable source said.
Several prominent Burmese film stars are likely to play the characters, and the junta is trying to find actors and actresses to star in the film. The movie will reflect the junta's stand and obduracy in rejecting suggestions by the international community.
While it is still not clear who will direct and star in the movie, sources in the Burmese film industry explained the obvious script of the film.
The film, apparently, will be circulated among villagers of a typical Burmese village, which has no chiefs for a period of time. The villagers, however, found themselves being intruded upon by neighbouring villages, when they plan to choose a Chief to rule over them.
Despite advices and suggestions by neighbouring villagers on how they should chose their Chiefs and the criteria they set for a Chief, the villagers have their own way in choosing their chief.
While the film has no direct mention of the referendum and its draft constitution, it draws parallels with the junta's constitution, which was drafted by the junta with its hand-picked delegates. The junta in its draft constitution has ensured that the military automatically obtains 25 percent of seats in parliament, allowing the military and its back-ups to be included at the decision making level in all ministries.
The constitution further draws a line for the civilian government not to interfere in military expenditure but keeps a provision for the military to stage a coup anytime it deems necessary.
"The crux of the movie is that the villagers are saying 'this is our village, and we will choose in whatever way we want'. And the military is saying the same 'this is the country I am ruling, and I will rule as I like," a source in the Burmese film industry said.
Sources said, the film will be completed in March and will be aired in May by state-owned televisions – Myanmar TV and Myawaddy.
Burma's ruling junta has rejected the United Nations suggestions to implement a process of national reconciliation by kicking starting a tripartite dialogue, where the military, the Burmese opposition led by detained Nobel peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of ethnic nationalities should participate.
The junta, besides rejecting the international community's suggestions, has announced that it will hold a referendum on its draft constitution in May and general elections in 2010 as part of its planned roadmap to democracy.
Despite an overwhelming victory by Burma's opposition party – the National League for Democracy – in the last general elections in 1990, the ruling junta has refused to honour the results and has prolonged its rule.
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