FTUB Daily News for Nov-16-2011, English News - Morning

News Headlines with Brief (1) Karen, Mon armies make stab at peace | Source: DVB 15-Nov-2011 The opposition Karen National Union is due to meet with high-level government officials this week following the formation of a committee aimed at negotiating an end to one of the world’s most protracted conflicts. Also engaged in talks with Naypyidaw is the New Mon State Party (NMSP), which hosted government representatives yesterday at its headquarters in the eastern Burmese state. Read More..... (2) Burma gets resounding ASEAN support | Source: DVB 15-Nov-2011 Burma moved one step closer to being handed the ASEAN chair for 2014 following months of speculation over whether minist- ers would give their official endorsement to the region’s most controversial government. The Bangkok Post reported this aftern- oon that ASEAN foreign ministers had thrown their support behind Burma’s bid following a summit in Bali. Naypyidaw looks set to host the 2014 summit, which had initially been mooted for Laos before President Thein Sein put in a bid earlier this year. Read More..... (3) Monks in daring Mandalay protest | Source: DVB 15-Nov-2011 Five monks staged a rare protest in army-dominated Burma on Tuesday, witnesses said, drawing a crowd of about 500 people with calls for peace and the immediate release of political prisoners. The monks locked themselves in a building on a religious compound in the central town of Mandalay and were using loudspeakers to spell out their demands a day after an expected amnesty for political prisoners failed to materialise. Read More..... (4) New Military Chief Snubs China with Vietnam Visit | Source: Irrawaddy 15-Nov-2011 As Burma wakes up to the news it will assume the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) chair in 2014, Gen Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Vietnam on Monday for his first trip as commander-in-chief of defense—conspicuously not choosing to visit China like his predecessors. And observers believe that Burma's new position at the centre of Asean could signal a departure from its previous close relationship with Beijing in the wake of the Myitsone Dam project suspension. Read More..... (5) 7-Day News Journal apologizes to readers for hoax story about gecko | Source: Mizzima 15-Nov-2011 The 7-Day News Journal said that the information and photos about the purchase of a US $2 million gecko published in the journal was a fake story sent in by a gecko trader. The article with a headline “A 3 and ½ foot long gecko sold for 1.7 billion kyat” was published on the front cover of one the bestselling journals in Burma, on November 9. The journal apologized on its Facebook page on Tuesday and said the information was not true. Read More..... (6) Shell could return to Burma’s oil and gas sector as PTT partner | Source: Mizzima 15-Nov-2011 After an 18-year absence, Shell may return to Burma’s booming oil and gas sector, according to a report published last week in the Bangkok-based Nation newspaper. The anglo-Dutch multinational oil giant may partner with Thailand’s state-owned PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP). PTTEP is seeking to develop Burma’s M11 deep-water offshore block that PTTEP currently wholly owns. In August, PTTEP’s president and chief executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin told the Bangkok Post that PTTEP wanted a partner to assist in the development of M11 because of its challenging location. Referring to M11 Anon told the Post, “The block is located a kilometres under the sea, so we really need partners.” Read More..... (7) Police arrest owner of Myitkyina orphanage | Source: Mizzima 15-Nov-2011 The owner of a Burmese orphanage in Myitkyina in Kachin State in which 10 people died and 27 were injured in a bomb explosion on Sunday has been detained by police. Dayaung Tangoon, 48, was arrested in Katha Township in Sagaing Region and transferred to Myitkyina on Tuesday morning. When the bomb explosion took place, Dayaung Tangoon was traveling with Christian pastors, according to reports. Read More..... (8) Tourism chairman Khin Shwe calls Burmese media pessimistic | Source: Mizzima 15-Nov-2011 The Myanmar Tourism Board (MTB) chairman Khin Shwe says the Burmese media, which opposed his idea to transform the historic Ministers’ Office building where Burmese martyrs were assassinated into a hotel, displays a pessimistic attitude. The Ministers’ Office building is located in Kyauktada Township in Rangoon. Read More..... (9) Press release by the Shan Herald Agency for News | Source: Shan 15-Nov-2011 The latest Shan Drug Watch report, released today, reveals that opium cultivation and drug production have surged across Shan State in areas of government control since Burma’s 2010 election. Survey results show opium was grown during the 2010-2011 season in 45 out of 50 Shan townships controlled by government troops, while remaining ceasefire areas along the China-Shan border were opium free. Read More..... (10) Police rescue 70 Burmese sex workers | Source: Bangkok Post 15-Nov-2011 Nearly 70 Burmese women, half of them under the age of 18, have been rescued from a massage parlour in Chanthaburi's Muang district. Pol Lt Col Komvich Pathanarat, head of the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) Anti-Human Trafficking Centre, said the women are now being cared for by Social Development and Human Security Ministry officials in Chanthaburi. Read More..... Karen, Mon armies make stab at peace http://www.dvb.no/news/karen-mon-armies-make-stab-at-peace/18728 15-Nov-2011 The opposition Karen National Union is due to meet with high-level government officials this week following the formation of a committee aimed at negotiating an end to one of the world’s most protracted conflicts. Also engaged in talks with Naypyidaw is the New Mon State Party (NMSP), which hosted government representatives yesterday at its headquarters in the eastern Burmese state. Both rebel groups have been fighting the Burmese army but a concerted push for a cessation appears underway. A member of the Karen National Union (KNU) said the group’s leadership had formed a Peacemaking Committee last week with KNU deputy chairman David Takabaw as the committee chairman. It will meet with a high-level government delegation, including Railway Minister Aung Min, within a few days. The two sides held preliminary talks on 9 October in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. A number of ethnic armies who have been approached by the government in recent months had until recently stated that negotiations would only take place as part of the umbrella group of rebel forces known as United Nationalities Federal Council. That alliance however appears to be dissipating: the KNU has already struck out on its own, and the NMSP says it is ready to follow suit. “It seems like the policy is changing,” said Nai Kaung Yut, a former colonel with the NMSP who is on its peace-brokering committee. He said also that Karen officials had chosen to negotiate directly with Naypyidaw instead of the usual route through Karen state government officials. The flurry of talks follows hot on the heels of a ceasefire between the government and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) on 6 November. The two sides had been embroiled in a bitter conflict since DKBA troops attacked government positions in Myawaddy on 7 November last year, the day of Burma’s first elections in 20 years. Troops had defected from the pro-government faction of the DKBA in August last year after leader Na Kham Mwe refused to transform into a Naypyidaw-controlled Border Guard Force. Similar refusals among other ethnic armies inBurma, including the NMSP, have sparked widespread fighting this year. Burma gets resounding ASEAN support http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-gets-asean-chair-for-2014/18731 15-Nov-2011 Burma moved one step closer to being handed the ASEAN chair for 2014 following months of speculation over whether ministers would give their official endorsement to the region’s most controversial government. The Bangkok Post reported this afternoon that ASEAN foreign ministers had thrown their support behind Burma’s bid following a summit in Bali. Naypyidaw looks set to host the 2014 summit, which had initially been mooted for Laos before President Thein Sein put in a bid earlier this year. Speculation has been mounting in recent months over whether the bid would meet with success, but Burma was given a boost last week when Indonesia’s foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said he had received “an overwhelming sense” from his regional counterparts that Burma should get the revolving chairmanship. Yesterday members of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) urged leaders not to endorse the bid, and instead push for more changes in the country, which has been ruled by a nominally civilian government since March this year. It also criticised the Indonesian government for not putting enough pressure on Naypyidaw, the Jakarta Post reported. Lily Chadidjah Wahid and Dadus Sumarwanto expressed dissatisfaction with current ASEAN chair Indonesia for its lackluster support of significant change in Myanmar. “The government looks less committed to encouraging major reform,” AIPMC member Lily Chadidjah Wahid said. “Thein should release all political prisoners without reservation and pursue comprehensive reconciliation with all minorities.” Monks in daring Mandalay protest http://www.dvb.no/news/monks-in-daring-mandalay-protest/18736 15-Nov-2011 Five monks staged a rare protest in army-dominated Burma on Tuesday, witnesses said, drawing a crowd of about 500 people with calls for peace and the immediate release of political prisoners. The monks locked themselves in a building on a religious compound in the central town of Mandalay and were using loudspeakers to spell out their demands a day after an expected amnesty for political prisoners failed to materialise. The protesting monks unfurled banners in English and Burmese reading: “We want freedom”, “Free all political prisoners” and “Stop civil war now” — a reference to the decades-long conflict between the army and ethnic minorities. A Burmese government official confirmed the protest was taking place, telling AFP that the five monks were from Rangoon, not Mandalay. “Local monks are trying to negotiate with them to solve the problem,” he said. No police had arrived at the scene yet, a witness said, adding that a large group of people, including many monks, was sitting on the ground outside the compound and “listening peacefully” to the protest. The five demonstrators claimed they had enough food and water to stay inside the building for three days. Demonstrations by monks are extremely rare in the repressive state, and mass protests led by clergy in 2007 were brutally quashed, with the deaths of at least 31 people and the arrests of many monks. The release of all of the country’s prisoners of conscience, whose exact numbers remain unclear, is one of the major demands of Western nations which have imposed sanctions on Burma. Authorities had been expected to release some political detainees on Monday before President Thein Sein attends a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc later this week in Indonesia. But officials said the move was put off at short notice by the powerful National Defence and Security Council. New Military Chief Snubs China with Vietnam Visit http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22458 15-Nov-2011 As Burma wakes up to the news it will assume the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) chair in 2014, Gen Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Vietnam on Monday for his first trip as commander-in-chief of defense—conspicuously not choosing to visit China like his predecessors. And observers believe that Burma's new position at the centre of Asean could signal a departure from its previous close relationship with Beijing in the wake of the Myitsone Dam project suspension. Although there has been no detailed announcement about the trip from Naypyidaw, military observers have said that the visit was intended to cement military bilateral corporation between the two countries at the invitation of Vietnam’s National Defense Minister Gen Phung Quang Thanh. Burma’s former Commander-in-Chief Tin Oo, currently one of the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that there have not been many instances of military corporation with Vietnam. He added that the two nations merely conducted research together and Burmese commanders made a case study of the separation of North and South Vietnam. Tin Oo said, “There’s a small difficulty with China since the president declared the suspension of the Myitsone Dam. Although it is just a military delegation, they want to gain some political respect from China by showing military corporation with Vietnam.” Burma’s newly elected President Thein Sein suspended the Chinese-funded Myitsone Dam project on Sept. 30 in the face of fierce protests from local people and environmental groups. Tin Oo also speculates that “the United States is trying to engage with both the Burmese government and opposition groups like our NLD. Therefore, the delegation might also ask for suggestions regarding how to deal with the United States.” Aung Lynn Htut, a former major in Burmese intelligence who defected in 2005 while serving as deputy chief of the Burmese embassy in Washington D.C., said that although Burma and Vietnam are not military allies, there’s a historical relationship between the respective armed forces regarding defense strategy during the American-Vietnam war. Aung Lynn Htut said, “it is a significant visit because in the past the trip would be made by ministers. It seems that the Burmese Army wants a military alliance in the Southeast Asian region in order to get an alternative against China being the main source of military hardware to Burma.” Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Sino-Burmese military observer, said that the goal of the trip is more likely to be influencing Burma's relationship with China. “China might be worried when they see that a Burmese commander-in-chief went to Vietnam which has been in conflict with [Beijing] over the maritime dispute [regarding oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea]. Burma also wants to show China that they can deal with any country,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw. “They might also ask to buy some military installations from Vietnam in the future.” 7-Day News Journal apologizes to readers for hoax story about gecko http://www.mizzima.com/news/breaking-and-news-brief/6189-7-day-news-journal-apologizes-to-readers-for-hoax-story-about-gecko.html Tuesday, 15 November 2011 21:15 Te Te New Delhi (Mizzima) – The 7-Day News Journal said that the information and photos about the purchase of a US $2 million gecko published in the journal was a fake story sent in by a gecko trader. The article with a headline “A 3 and ½ foot long gecko sold for 1.7 billion kyat” was published on the front cover of one the bestselling journals in Burma, on November 9. The journal apologized on its Facebook page on Tuesday and said the information was not true. The invented story said that a gecko trader offered to buy the gecko at a price of 1 billion kyat but the seller did not sell at that price. When he returned with a higher offer, the story said the gecko had been sold to another trader for 1.7 billion kyat at Kyaukse village in Sagaing Region. The gecko trader used a picture from a Thai website. The journal said on its Facebook page that the gecko trader had sent information to the journal earlier, and he was a reliable news source, so it used the information. The journal said that it failed to cross-check the story, but it did not invent the information. When the journal published the story, there were many debates among readers and the story was popular on websites and Facebook pages. Shell could return to Burma’s oil and gas sector as PTT partner http://www.mizzima.com/business/6186-shell-could-return-to-burmas-oil-and-gas-sector-as-ptt-partner.html Tuesday, 15 November 2011 14:15 Thomas Maung Shwe (Mizzima) – After an 18-year absence, Shell may return to Burma’s booming oil and gas sector, according to a report published last week in the Bangkok-based Nation newspaper. The anglo-Dutch multinational oil giant may partner with Thailand’s state-owned PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP). PTTEP is seeking to develop Burma’s M11 deep-water offshore block that PTTEP currently wholly owns. In August, PTTEP’s president and chief executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin told the Bangkok Post that PTTEP wanted a partner to assist in the development of M11 because of its challenging location. Referring to M11 Anon told the Post, “The block is located a kilometres under the sea, so we really need partners.” The M11 block is 7,278 square kilometres in size and located South of the Irrawaddy delta in the Gulf of Martaban. If M11 proves to be a viable source of oil or gas, PTTEP and its future partners are expected to use the planned Zawtika pipeline, a project currently under construction, which will send Burmese gas to Thailand from the already proven M-9 block located just north of M11. Shell is considered a leader in deep water offshore drilling and earlier this year became involved with PTTEP and two other international firms in developing a deepwater concession off the coast of New Zealand. In October 1989, Shell became the second foreign firm to enter Burma in the post-Ne Win era when it signed an exploration agreement with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Committee (SLORC). Less than four year later in March 1993, Shell and its wholly owned Burmese subsidiary Myanmar Shell B.V suspended operations in Burma citing “disappointing exploration results" at its Apyauk onshore concession located in the Pegu Yoma region. Police arrest owner of Myitkyina orphanage http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6187-police-arrest-owner-of-myitkyina-orphanage.html Tuesday, 15 November 2011 19:33 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The owner of a Burmese orphanage in Myitkyina in Kachin State in which 10 people died and 27 were injured in a bomb explosion on Sunday has been detained by police. Dayaung Tangoon, 48, was arrested in Katha Township in Sagaing Region and transferred to Myitkyina on Tuesday morning. When the bomb explosion took place, Dayaung Tangoon was traveling with Christian pastors, according to reports. "His is locked up in legs," said a friend. "They suspect that he was conducting a bombing campaign.” The explosion at his house in Thida ward in Myitkyina in northern Burma killed two of his sons, one grandchild, four orphans and three refugees, who had fled a neighbouring town to escape the fighting between government troops and the rebel Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). A funeral service for the victims was held on Tuesday. Body parts were blown out of the house due to the powerful explosion, according to local residents, who said earlier that two men riding a motorcycle threw a parcel into the orphanage compound before the blast occurred. No one has been arrested or claimed responsibility for the explosion. Dayaung Tangoon was a mentor of the Myanmar Martial Arts Group. His wife, who was among the 27 injured, is being treated in a Myitkyina hospital. Sources said the injured were not allowed to meet visitors. A member of the Kachin Culture Organization and a teacher in a marching music band, Dayang Tangoon has received support from a well-known businessman, Yupzau Hkawng, the owner of the Jade Land Company, sources said. An article in the government-backed Myanmar Ahlin daily newspaper contained an unsubstantiated accusation linking other previous bombings in the town to Dayang Tangoon and speculated that a bomb went off inside his house-compound. The article also mentioned destructive acts by the KIO from June 2010 to November 2011. Tourism chairman Khin Shwe calls Burmese media pessimistic http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6188-tourism-chairman-khin-shwe-calls-burmese-media-pessimistic.html Tuesday, 15 November 2011 20:37 Myo Thein (Mizzima) – The Myanmar Tourism Board (MTB) chairman Khin Shwe says the Burmese media, which opposed his idea to transform the historic Ministers’ Office building where Burmese martyrs were assassinated into a hotel, displays a pessimistic attitude. The Ministers’ Office building is located in Kyauktada Township in Rangoon. Khin Shwe made his remarks at a press conference about Burmese tourism held in the Yuzana Garden Hotel in Rangoon on Tuesday. Khin Shwe, who owns of the Zaygabar Company, said local media covers news in a pessimistic way like the foreign media. “Spiteful reports depress me very much,” he said. “They [the media] cannot see the good part. It seems that they cannot recognize that the path the country is taking is good.” A member of the Upper House of Parliament and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), he also made a verbal attack on people who said they would try to protect the building from being transformed into a hotel. “I heard that some people said that they would sacrifice their lives to protect the building. They don’t need to sacrifice their lives. If those people cadged 100,000 kyat (about US $126) per person to protect the building, nobody would give it. They only want to sacrifice their lives,” Khin Shwe said. “The local journals do not have enough experience,” he said. However, he praised an article, “Which ruler will be used to measure?” about expressing different views. He passed out the article that was published in the “Monitor Journal.” The article said, “The Ministers’ Office is just an inheritance from the English and National Hero General Aung San used the building as an office just for a few months, so instead of the Burmese people maintaining it as an inheritance, English people who colonized Burma should maintain it, and if the state maintains it, it will cost a lot of money.” Khin Shwe said that he could afford to visit foreign countries such as Singapore and the U.S. and spend a lot of money. Although he could live as a millionaire in a foreign country, he said he was living and working in Burma. Press release by the Shan Herald Agency for News 15-Nov-2011 The latest Shan Drug Watch report, released today, reveals that opium cultivation and drug production have surged across Shan State in areas of government control since Burma’s 2010 election. Survey results show opium was grown during the 2010-2011 season in 45 out of 50 Shan townships controlled by government troops, while remaining ceasefire areas along the China-Shan border were opium free. The report exposes how the regime’s policies of military expansion and nurturing of “People’s Militia” forces in Shan State are fuelling the drug trade, as these forces are given the green light to deal in drugs in exchange for suppressing resistance groups. “There has been a massive increase in poppy cultivation, as well as heroin and methamphetamine production, in the regime’s militia-controlled areas,” said Khuensai Jaiyen, principal author of the Shan Drug Watch report. The report profiles seven druglords, all militia leaders, now serving as MPs for Burma’s ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party in Shan State. They had promised voters they could grow poppies freely if they were elected. “If Burma’s generals are serious about making Burma drug-free by 2014, they must stop their war-mongering and negotiate a political settlement to the civil war,” said Khuensai Jaiyen, referring to Burma’s drug-free target date, set a year before that of ASEAN. Favourable weather and intensive cultivation made last season’s opium harvest the best in years, according to farmers. In some areas, two to three crops of opium were grown during the year, and in central Shan State farmers have even started harvesting sap from the stems as well as the pods. Despite the increased availability of opium and heroin, methamphetamine or “yaba” has become the most popular drug among youth in Shan State, where the cost of a pill is as low as 1,500 kyat (US$1.7) compared to 100 baht (US$3.3) per pill across the border in Thailand. Police rescue 70 Burmese sex workers http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/266254/police-rescue-70-burmese-sex-workers 15-Nov-2011 Nearly 70 Burmese women, half of them under the age of 18, have been rescued from a massage parlour in Chanthaburi's Muang district. Pol Lt Col Komvich Pathanarat, head of the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) Anti-Human Trafficking Centre, said the women are now being cared for by Social Development and Human Security Ministry officials in Chanthaburi. He said all the women will be sent back to their homes in Burma once investigations are completed, which will take about 2-3 months. Some of the women entered the country illegally to work as prostitutes, while the others were promised legitimate work only to be forced into prostitution, Pol Lt Col Komvich said. "We found about half of them are still under age, probably not more than 18 years old. "We are now investigating how many were forced into prostitution and are gathering further evidence in order to go after those who lured them into the sex trade," he said. The DSI rescue was the result of an appeal by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women late last month asking the department to help find a 16-year-old Burmese girl, called Khon. The girl's aunt had contacted the alliance to help find her missing niece in Thailand. Pol Lt Col Komvich said the breakthrough in the search for Khon came when the alliance contacted the DSI again, informing them that she had telephoned her aunt for help, and telling her she had been lured into working in a massage parlour in Chanthaburi by a human trafficking gang. The girl told her aunt she had been forced to work as a prostitute in the massage parlour for two months and had never received any money, he said. Pol Lt Col Komvich then posed as a customer to find the girl and check whether she was really working there. The DSI then raided the place after obtaining a search wa