News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 31 December, 2010

News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 31 December, 2010
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Suu Kyi calls for reconciliation push
MYANMAR: Remittances support survival
Junta’s Drug ‘Exports’ to China Test Economic Ties
Martin reaffirms Ireland's support for Burma's pro-democracy groups
North's long struggle for peace spurs on Suu Kyi
U.S. wants more engagement with Suu Kyi
US Urges Burma to Free Political Prisoners Ahead of Independence Day
Asian ‘martyrs’ underscore poor year for human rights
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Suu Kyi calls for reconciliation push

31 December 2010 | 10:27:03 PM | Source: AAP

Burma's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi called for citizens of her country to rejuvenate their struggle for national reconciliation in 2011 in a New Year's message.

She asked the people of Burma "to struggle together with new strengths, new force and new words in the auspicious new year", in the message released by her National League for Democracy (NLD) party on Friday.

"We must struggle by establishing people's political and social networks to get national reconciliation as well as a truly united spirit," she added.

The 65-year-old was released from more than seven years' house arrest on November 13, days after Burma's widely criticised first election in 20 years, in which the junta-backed party has claimed overwhelming victory.

Suu Kyi was locked up for the poll, which her party boycotted. This led to a split in the opposition movement, with some NLD members leaving to form a new party to contest the election.

On Thursday the United States called again on Burma to free political prisoners and engage in dialogue to promote democracy, as the military-led country prepares for its 63rd independence anniversary on January 4.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1456051/Suu-Kyi-calls-for-reconciliation-push
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MYANMAR: Remittances support survival
Photo: Stacey Winston/ECHO

Remittances are lifelines for residents in Myanmar, where foreign direct investment is weak and international markets are almost non-existent
DALA THAYA, 31 December 2010 (IRIN) - Remittances to Myanmar continue to be a lifeline for communities strapped for cash and short of food throughout the country, according to researchers and migration experts.

While officially recorded remittances to Myanmar accounted for only 0.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, a 2008 university study calculated remittances were at least four times higher than the official figures.

Australia-based Macquarie University estimated average annual remittances to Myanmar from Thailand alone - US$300 million - amounted to five times the level of overall foreign direct investment in Myanmar.

“Some 96 percent of respondents [Burmese workers in Thailand] nominated [their family’s] survival as their first order priority,” said Claudia Natali, labour migration programme manager for the International Organization for Migration in Thailand, referring to the university survey.

According to the World Bank, $150 million in remittances was sent to Myanmar in 2008 through formal channels - the most recorded in over a decade.

But most migrants use an informal system called `hondi’ to transfer remittances to Myanmar, bypassing official recordkeeping.

“Persons moving irregularly across the border are entrusted to deliver agreed amounts of money from migrants in Thailand to family members in the migrants’ source community,” said Natali.

Migration

The number of Burmese migrants who entered Thailand “regularly” - with legal permission - between July 2010 and November 2010 was 702, according to the Thai government. But most Burmese migrants working in Malaysia or Thailand enter without documentation.

A memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Myanmar, which foresees mechanisms for migrants to enter and stay legally in Thailand for employment, was only implemented in July 2010.

In the Thai border town of Mae Sot, many Burmese migrants work in garment factories, while in southern Thailand they work on palm oil plantations or as fishermen.

“Those seeking work in Malaysia are usually village residents or lower middle class young men recruited formally by overseas employment agencies in Myanmar,” said Natali.

“It cost $1,300 to send my son to Malaysia,” said U Kyaw, a retired army sergeant in Myanmar’s capital, Yangon, whose pension, equivalent to 40 US cents a day, is barely enough to cover his expenses.

“I borrowed $600 from a rich relative, the agent gave us a loan of $400 and the family put the rest up,” said the 63-year-old father of three.

His youngest son Mya, who left for Malaysia to work as a day labourer in March 2010, now sends back $150-$200 a month. By contrast Thein, the eldest son, earns some $80 a month driving a bus in Yangon.

Poverty line

Once known as the “rice bowl of Asia”, Myanmar’s per capita GDP in 2009 was just over $1 a day.

Maung, the youngest of three brothers, exchanges the highly volatile Burmese currency into US dollars on the black market, where 10,000 Burmese kyats equalled $10 in December, versus the official bank exchange rate of $1,560. Over the course of a year, each brother earns on average $5 a day. “Luckily, my sister works in Malaysia. Last year she sent back $2,000,” said the 16-year-old.

After nearly 20 years of various trade and aid sanctions, the vast majority of people in Myanmar survive thanks to small-scale local businesses, according to US-based research group Asia Society.

The average citizen spends more than 70 percent of his or her income on food, according to a March 2010 Asia Society report.

The researchers calculated this was the highest proportion in Southeast Asia.

mh/pt/cb http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91498
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Junta’s Drug ‘Exports’ to China Test Economic Ties
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Dec 31, 2010 (IPS) - As military-ruled Burma prepares to unveil its new political cast, an enduring link between the junta and the country’s notorious drug lords is poised to come under the spotlight.

Among the candidates who won in the South-east Asian nation’s first election in 20 years on Nov. 7 are six well- known drug barons. They represented the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the junta’s political front, which triumphed comfortably in the poll.

The bespectacled Kyaw Myint is among this gang of six who emerged victorious in a poll clouded with questions of fraud for the estimated 1,163 seats in the national parliament and regional assemblies that were up for grabs.

The elected national and regional legislators are to begin their new role in Burma by the first week in February. The opening of the new parliament 90 days after the November poll is the sixth step in the junta’s seven-step political roadmap to create a "discipline-flourishing democracy" in Burma, or Myanmar as it is also known.

Prior to slipping into his role as a legislator, the 51- year-old Kyaw Myint was better known as a junta-backed militia chief "notorious among local people as (a) drug dealer in the Shan State North’s Namkham township," reveals the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), a media organisation run by journalists from Burma’s Shan ethnic minority.

"Many ferry crossings on the Mao-Ruli river that serves as a boundary between China and Burma are guarded by Kyaw Htwe aka (also known as) Li Yonping, younger brother of Kyaw Myint," adds SHAN.

Yet this political identity for Kyaw Myint, with the junta’s blessings, will test the growing economic bonds between Burma and its giant north-eastern neighbour China. According to official figures released by Burmese officials, China has pumped in over eight billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment this year to tap Burma’s resource- rich environment.

The investments by Chinese state-run companies in the oil and gas, hydropower and mining sectors mark a dramatic increase from what Chinese investments were five years ago – some 194 million dollars.

"Myanmar and China have grown closer over the past four years and Beijing is on the verge of displacing Thailand as the country that tops investment in Myanmar," says a South- east Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But one Burmese "export" to China has Beijing concerned, the diplomat added. "Beijing is worried at the increase in drugs flowing from Burma to its south-western Yunnan province."

U.N. officials confirm this. "Yes they (Beijing) are concerned not only with ATS (amphetamine-type stimulus) but also with heroin," says Gary Lewis, East Asia and Pacific regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The spike in the number of methamphetamine pills seized in China in 2009 underscores such worries. "In 2009, China reported total seizures of more than 40 million pills. This represented as almost six-fold increase from 6.25 million pills seized in 2008," UNODC says in a December 2010 report on the ATS trade in Burma, whose north-eastern part comes within the narcotics producing Golden Triangle region.

"The Chinese government has been reporting a sharp increase of drug trafficking into China from the Golden Triangle region by means of constantly changing drug trafficking routes and methods," states the 45-page report, ‘Myanmar – Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants’. "Reports have pointed to transnational drug syndicates attempting to sell stored drugs, with a resulting sharp increase of drug smuggled into China."

"The seizure of 3.2 tonnes of heroine and approximately the same quantity of methamphetamine in Yunnan province accounted for half of the total quantity of illicit drugs seized in China in 2009," the report adds. "Three of the self-administered regions in Myanmar are located on the border with Yunnan province. Methamphetamine pills seized in Yunnan province are – at the very least – trafficked through these Special Regions."

Burma’s rise as a major production centre of methamphetamine pills, with the drug factories located in the north-eastern Shan State, adds to its previous notoriety as a supplier of opium and heroin.

Burma’s emergence as an ATS producer followed a decision by the junta to launch a 15-year drug elimination programme in 1999. The Drug Elimination Plan (DEP) targeted the poppy fields in the north and eastern regions of the country, which accounted for 163,000 hectares under opium cultivation in the mid-1990s.

Before the DEP, Burma was known as the world’s largest producer of illicit opium, "accounting for approximately 700 metric tonnes annually between 1981 and 1987," according to UNODC. "(That dropped) to 21,600 hectares in 2006, the lowest ever recorded."

However, this 83 percent decline in poppy cultivation under the DEP has not seen a change in the cross-border trade of ATS, which follows the routes once frequented by drug caravans that moved heroin from Burma into China.

"The border is very porous and there are no markers to say where the Burmese border ends and the Chinese border begins," says an official from Thailand’s Central Narcotics Control Agency. "It is easy to move drugs from Burma’s Shan State into China’s Yunnan province in remote areas where there are no checkpoints."

"The caravans move at night. They take the drugs in backpacks," the official tells IPS on condition of anonymity. "The Chinese government is faced with a problem because the domestic market is large." (END) http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54007
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The Irish Times - Friday, December 31, 2010
Martin reaffirms Ireland's support for Burma's pro-democracy groups

MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has restated Ireland’s support for the struggle of pro-democracy groups inside Burma during a telephone conversation with recently released Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We wanted to articulate our delight at her release and convey our respect for the iconic nature of her position now in terms of democracy,” Mr Martin said last night. “She sounded relaxed and in good form. She came across as strong and very clear-minded.”

During the 25-minute conversation, which had been arranged through UN channels, Mr Martin praised the Nobel laureate’s peaceful campaign for democratic reform.

“She was very anxious that we would continue to support that aspect of her work,” he said. “She was anxious to develop closer links with Ireland, particularly on the diplomatic side, in terms of getting easier mechanisms for contact.”

He assured Ms Suu Kyi of the importance both Ireland and the EU attach to her continued freedom and personal safety following her years of arbitrary detention by the Burmese junta.

“She wanted to convey her deep thanks and appreciation to the people of Ireland for their support,” Mr Martin said.

During the conversation, Ms Suu Kyi made reference to the Burmese being referred to as “the Irish of the east” during colonial times.

Mr Martin told her of the Northern Ireland peace process. “She was anxious for good reading material on that,” he said.

Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the freedom of Dublin City in 2000. The Minister said the subject of a possible visit to Ireland was not broached in a “substantive” way during the phone call.

“We would be delighted to invite her to Ireland but obviously that would depend on her own schedule,” he added.

They also discussed recent events in Burma including the deeply flawed parliamentary elections which took place in November.

Mr Martin stressed the need for all political prisoners to be released as the first step in a process of political dialogue involving all groups in Burma.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1231/1224286545096.html
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North's long struggle for peace spurs on Suu Kyi
By ine Kerr Political Correspondent

Friday December 31 2010

THE world's most prominent political dissident joked yesterday how her people had been referred to as "the Irish of the East".

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin for 20 minutes and the pair discussed the peace process here.

Mr Martin said he had promised the celebrated pro-democracy leader that he would send her a collection of books on the North.

During their telephone conversation, Ms Suu Kyi told of how the British had sometimes called the Burmese the "Irish of the East".

"I laughed at that," said Mr Martin.

"We discussed how Northern Ireland had come a long way through the peace process and she asked about good reading materials. We are going to gather materials and send them on to her."

The Northern peace process was discussed in the context of Ms Suu Kyi telling the minister about the challenges facing the Burmese people in their struggle for democracy and human rights.

"She was very much clued into Ireland and has great affection for this country," the minister said following his conversation with the iconic leader.

Ms Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy, was first arrested in 1989.

She was detained for 15 of the past 21 years before her release from house arrest in November.

The minister said he had briefly referred to a long-standing invitation for Ms Suu Kyi to visit Ireland.

"We would love to have her here but appreciate her focus must be on Burma at the moment," the minister said.

In March 2000, the pro-democracy leader was given the Freedom of Dublin City, and later made the Freewoman of Galway in 2005.

Both Dublin City Council and Galway County Council are reissuing invitations for the Nobel Peace prize winner to visit Ireland and receive the awards.

Mr Martin said her "spirits were upbeat".

"She was very anxious to thank the Irish people for their support and continued support," Mr Martin said.

Pro-democracy and human rights groups inside Burma are facing daily harassment, intimidation and persecution, Ms Suu Kyi told the minister.

The two also discussed the flawed parliamentary elections which took place in November and the humanitarian relief efforts after the damage caused by Cyclone Giri in October.

Ms Suu Kyi has been anxious since her release to speak to countries which supported the campaign for her release and to ensure their continued support for the people of Burma.

The minister also underlined the need for the release of all political prisoners as the first step in a process of political dialogue in Burma.

Earlier this week, Ms Suu Kyi made the shortlist for the annual Tipperary International Peace Award.

- ine Kerr Political Correspondent

Irish Independent http://www.independent.ie/national-news/norths-long-struggle-for-peace-spurs-on-suu-kyi-2479588.html
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U.S. wants more engagement with Suu Kyi
Published: Dec. 30, 2010 at 1:34 PM

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Washington aims to engage the military junta in Myanmar with the aim of advancing democracy and freeing political prisoners, a spokesman said.

Myanmar had general elections in November in what the military junta said was a step toward a democratic government. International observers doubted the claims as the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party handily won the contest.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest shortly after the election.

Mark Toner, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington hopes to engage Suu Kyi and the junta leaders in 2011.

"We've sought a path of principled engagement with the Myanmar government," he told reporters during a press briefing in Washington. "We haven't had a great deal of success."

The international community following Suu Kyi's release said Myanmar could do more to address concerns about the 2,000 political prisoners behind bars in the country.

"(C)ertainly we call on the release of all of Myanmar's political prisoners and hope to work more closely with Aung San Suu Kyi and the opposition there," added Toner.

The opposition leader in a mid-December interview with Germany's Deutsche Welle said "it would help a great deal" if Europe, for its part, did more to help usher in reforms in Myanmar. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/12/30/US-wants-more-engagement-with-Suu-Kyi/UPI-39331293734057/
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US Urges Burma to Free Political Prisoners Ahead of Independence Day
VOA News 30 December 2010

The United States is calling on Burma's military rulers to free all political prisoners and engage in dialogue with opposition groups as the country prepares to mark its 63rd independence anniversary.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner issued a statement Thursday saying the Burmese government must take action to meet the aspirations of its diverse peoples and improve relations with the Obama administration. He also congratulated the people of Burma ahead of their independence day on January 4.

The Burmese military released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest last month, but only after holding a rare general election denounced by Western nations and opposition groups as a sham. Rights groups also say the Burmese military continues to detain more than 2,100 political prisoners.

Toner reiterated U.S. calls for the release of those prisoners and said the Burmese military must engage in an "inclusive and meaningful dialogue" with all citizens in pursuit of "genuine national reconciliation."

He said the United States is "unwavering" in its support of an independent, peaceful, prosperous and democratic Burma. He also said Washington looks forward to the day when the Burmese people will succeed in "peaceful efforts" to freely exercise what he called "their universal human rights."

Some information for this report was provided by AFP. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/US-Urges-Burma-to-Free-Political-Prisoners-Ahead-of-Independence-Day-112678334.html
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Friday, 31st December 2010
Focus
Asian ‘martyrs’ underscore poor year for human rights
AFP
In some of 2010’s most compelling images, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from her home after years in detention and an empty chair marked the absence of Liu Xiaobo from his Nobel prize ceremony.

Asia’s two human rights martyrs serve as compelling reminders that a region celebrated for its economic vibrancy also harbours some of the world’s most intractable and brutal regimes.

And despite outrage from foreign governments, and an increasing awareness among Asia’s billions who have embraced the internet and social media, the region’s dictatorships and corrupt regimes show no sign of bending.

“There seems to have been a downturn in respect for human rights,” said Dave Mathieson from the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. “There’s been a more sophisticated backlash against global human rights norms.”

Countries that had once argued that western notions of democracy were not in keeping with “Asian values” were now instead muting criticism by staging parodies of the democratic process, he said. “A lot of states talk about democracy and say – at least we’re holding elections, it’s progress. When of course most of them are illiberal processes that just support the status quo.”

Myanmar’s ruling generals held the impoverished country’s first elections in two decades in November, ignoring complaints that barring Suu Kyi’s opposition party rendered the ballot illegitimate.

The 65-year-old democracy icon last month walked out of her lakeside home where she has been locked up for 15 of the past 21 years, smiling and in high spirits, but her future remains precarious and at the mercy of the junta.

In Sri Lanka, January elections were held after the island’s long-running civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels ended in an onslaught that has drawn allegations of war crimes.

President Mahinda Rajapakse was re-elected by a huge margin over his opponent, former army chief Sarath Fonseka. He alleged he was the victim of massive fraud and was then promptly arrested and jailed.

Grisly new photos emerged last month of piles of dead bodies and execution-style killings allegedly taken during the final stages of the war, during which up to 30,000 ethnic Tamil civilians perished, according to several rights watchdogs.

Myanmar and Sri Lanka both count as a key ally China, whose own rights record was on display when jailed dissident Mr Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia in a ceremony Beijing attacked as “political theatre”.

China mounted a fearsome response to the Nobel committee’s decision, pressuring around 20 countries to boycott the ceremony and blacking out live broadcasts of the event by CNN and the BBC in China.

On Tuesday, Mr Liu marked his 55th birthday in a prison in northeast China, prompting renewed calls from rights groups for the Nobel laureate’s immediate release from an 11-year jail sentence for breaching anti-sedition laws.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101231/world-news/asian-martyrs-underscore-poor-year-for-human-rights