FTUB Daily News for Feb-27-2012, English News - Morning
News Headlines with Brief (1) What Our Readers Say | Source: Irrawaddy 25-Feb-2012 I think the NLD should get involved and publicly show solidarity with the exploited workers. It's by-election time and it would be hypocritical for an opposition party to ask people to vote for them if the party doesn't care about the fate of 99 percent of the population. Read More..... (2) Suu Kyi talks peace and Panglong on Kachin State trip | Source: KNG 25-Feb-2012 During a visit to the capital of war-torn Kachin state on Friday, Burma's famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke about peace and an unimplemented agreement which her late father, General Aung San, concluded with ethnic leaders just before the country's independence. The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was in Myitkyina as part of a National League for Democracy (NLD) campaign tour ahead of April 1 parliamentary by-elections. The first elections her party will contest since the NLD's overwhelming May 1990 victory was annulled by the military. Read More..... (3) ‘The Glass Palace’ as a Mirror of Myanmar | Source: AT 27-Feb-2012 Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace is a magnificent historical novel that begins with the demise of the Konbaung dynasty in ‘Burma’ (1885) and ends with the emergence of a democracy movement in ‘Myanmar’ symbolised by Aung San Suu Kyi (1988). First published in 2000, the novel has a renewed significance today given the revitalisation of the democracy movement in the country. Read More..... (4) Exploring for the long haul | Source: Bangkok Post 27-Feb-2012 Resource-rich Myanmar is poised to be a major contributor to Thailand's future energy needs, including gas and possibly electricity from hydropower dams planned for the years ahead. "Myanmar may account for up to 10% of our total investments in the years to come and the country would supply up to 25% of Thailand's need for natural gas," says Anon Sirisaengtaksin, the president and CEO of PTT Exploration and Production Plc. Read More..... (5) Govt to back Myanmar at UN summit | Source: Bangkok Post 27-Feb-2012 Thailand will play a more active role this year in helping Myanmar to fully engage with the international community as the formerly military-led country continues with political reforms. Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkaew said Thailand will use the 19th Session of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting in Geneva today to show its readiness to help push Myanmar's engagement. Read More..... (6) Myanmar’s exiled media lured back home by reform | Source: Burma Time 27-Feb-2012 AS censorship eases in Myanmar and the press tastes long-suppressed freedom, exiled media groups are weighing up the risks of a return to cover the dramatic changes in their country from within. Not long ago, working for one of them could result in a lengthy prison sentence if caught inside the army-dominated nation, but the past year’s political openings have turned recent pipe dreams into real ambitions. Read More..... What Our Readers Say http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23096 25-Feb-2012 For Rangoon Strikers, No End in Sight I think the NLD should get involved and publicly show solidarity with the exploited workers. It's by-election time and it would be hypocritical for an opposition party to ask people to vote for them if the party doesn't care about the fate of 99 percent of the population.—Tocharian PR Campaign Begins for Suspended Myitsone Dam It is an absolute nonsense stating that “the project has gone through scientific feasibility studies and strict examinations by both sides.” Burma, in its current state of affairs, has almost zero capability to do scientific feasibility studies and strict examinations. Chinese side’s impartiality is also questionable. There is a clear conflict of interest and the Chinese will benefit most from the project. Eventually, the Burmese people are the only ones who will bear the full blunt of ecological disasters and consequences if the project proceeds in this manner. The Burmese people’s legitimate leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has never called for abandoning the project altogether. She just called for a “suspension” and invited the involvement of professionals, including Burmese and independent foreign contracters (Chinese included) to conduct comprehensive studies. After evaluating all the pros and cons, the project may be revived if the benefits outweigh the negative impacts. But we Burmese cannot accept China bulldozing through their idea using bullying tactics. —Than Lwin 'Zay Kabar' Khin Shwe Faces Lawsuit This is Burma—a lawless country where the generals and their cronies rule and do whatever they like, never giving a thought to ordinary people like us. I can understand their greed and selfishness.The only thing that makes me angry is their shameless and repeated claims of being patriotic.What a blatant insult to the country! Maung Soe Asia Society Urges IMF, World Bank Support in Burma Is Burma in need of urgent support from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to restructure her whole financial systen including banking? The present banking system is outdated, so it's very difficult to do business in Burma. The country now has to pay back her debts to various financial institutions, so the goverment should encourage the openning of credible foreign banks from Asia, Europe, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Japan, South Korea and USA. Once microeconomic structures are reformed, that will lead to the elimination of the corrupt measures, and will uplift peoples' morals and standard of living. Farmers should be encouraged to produce more so that exports and imports are balanced, which will increase the GDP. Sooner or later unemployment can be eliminated by creating jobs in the field of foreign imvestment sectors. —Oo Maung Gyi Former NLD Member to Run as Independent Democracy flourishes when people are free to disagree. The new parliament will benefit from a freedom to oppose and to act with independence. Whilst I am supportive of Aung San Suu Kyi and the broad aims of the NLD it is great to see people with strength and conviction standing up for their own rights to disagree with party decisions and to have the right to attempt to enter parliament as independents.—Tom Turning Burma into Next Asian Tiger No Simple Task "On the plus side, the US has decided to relax its sanctions on Burma to allow the World Bank to provide some much-needed expertise.” This is a loaded statement that uncritically accepts impending neoliberal structural “reforms.” I hope, for the sake of people in Burma, that a robust discussion on the limitations and failures of the World Bank “expertise” will take place. Such reforms can easily lead to perpetuating poverty, disparity and an entrenched elite selling the myth of becoming the next Asian Tiger to the people and the international community. —Dennis Thein Sein: Reformist or Caretaker? Thank you very much Irrawaddy for sharing the human face of President U Thein Sein. A person who has a clean bill on his record on corruption, a good family life, sympathetic heart and attentive ears can be a good partner with the aspiring democratic icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi toward nation-building. Suu Kyi talks peace and Panglong on Kachin State trip http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2243:suu-kyi-talks-peace-and-panglong-on-kachin-state-trip&catid=8&Itemid=24 25-Feb-2012 During a visit to the capital of war-torn Kachin state on Friday, Burma's famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke about peace and an unimplemented agreement which her late father, General Aung San, concluded with ethnic leaders just before the country's independence. The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was in Myitkyina as part of a National League for Democracy (NLD) campaign tour ahead of April 1 parliamentary by-elections. The first elections her party will contest since the NLD's overwhelming May 1990 victory was annulled by the military. “Equal political rights between the Burman majority and ethnic nationalities will come to the country if there is a genuine peace and political solutions based on the Panglong spirit,” she told the large crowd, referring to the February 1947 agreement her father reached with leader's from the Shan, Kachin and Chin communities just months before his assassination. Speaking about the ongoing conflict in northern Burma which broke out last June when a 17-year ceasefire ended, Aung San Suu Kyi said that a new ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the central government is needed first before genuine peace can be achieved through negotiation. She added however that the root cause of the current conflict in Kachin and northern Shan states stem from the unresolved struggle for ethnic rights. For many Kachin say the failure of General Aung San's successors to follow through on the Panglong agreement, which granted certain rights and a fair amount of autonomy to the country's non-Burman nationalities, lies at the heart of the 52-year long Kachin armed uprising. Lah Nan, Vice-general Secretary No.2 of the KIO, the last major armed ethnic group fighting against the Burmese army has frequently repeated his group's desire that talks with the central government be based on the Panglong agreement not the controversial May 2008 constitution. Often referred to by its critics as the only constitution in the world that gives the army the right to officially seize power whenever it sees fit. Despite recent changes in the country including the release of many political prisoners and the loosening of some press restrictions, the mere mention of the Panglong agreement in public remains a bold gesture, thanks to a steady stream of years of military propaganda which claimed that ethnic rights would bring about the breakup of the country. Usually when Burma's most famous political dissident mentions Panglong to reporters or in speeches, she is quickly rebuked in Burma's state controlled media in an extremely undiplomatic nature. Suu Kyi and her NLD party are seeking to build with support from the mostly Christian Kachin population ahead of the coming elections in which 46 seats will be contested. Even if her party makes a strong performance during these polls, the overwhelmingly majority of seats in the both houses of parliament will remain in the hands of the military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Many observers say that Suu Kyi remains the only person in the entire country who commands the respect of a cross section of people from both the Burman majority and ethnic nationalities. Despite her national popularity however, herself described goal of building a more democratic country will be very difficult to achieve. Once in parliament the prospect that the NLD and a few like-minded opposition parties will be able reform the constitution and limit the role of the armed forces in the country's affairs remains a far off dream. Draconian rules written into May 2008 constitution require a ¾ majority to be reached before any change can be implemented, the fact that 25% of the seats in the lower house are reserved for sitting members of the army makes this extremely unlikely. In addition the solid majority that the USDP and a smaller pro military party has in parliament likely means that the generals will dominate the national budget for many years to come. ‘The Glass Palace’ as a Mirror of Myanmar http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2012/02/26/%E2%80%98-glass-palace%E2%80%99-mirror-myanmar 27-Feb-2012 Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace is a magnificent historical novel that begins with the demise of the Konbaung dynasty in ‘Burma’ (1885) and ends with the emergence of a democracy movement in ‘Myanmar’ symbolised by Aung San Suu Kyi (1988). First published in 2000, the novel has a renewed significance today given the revitalisation of the democracy movement in the country. There is of course a substantive story, other than the political saga. It is about paradoxical human characteristics like ambition, modesty, craving, generosity, intrigue, innocence, impatience and perseverance – all excellently and colourfully depicted through suitable narratives and different characters. After all, it is all about life’s ‘impermanence,’ many of the endeavours and personal relationships ending up in immense tragedies. The circumstances under which the tragedies unfold are mainly the British colonisation of India, Burma and Malaya - which dislocates the traditional cultures and introduces ‘modernity’ - and then the Second World War during which Japan invades the region with equal political ambition and ferocity. The Glass Palace is a 552 pages story separated into seven parts. The Story An orphan from Bengal, Rajkumar Raha, ends up in Mandalay (Myanmar, former Burma) at the age of eleven in a desperate effort of survival. A Chinese businessman from Singapore, Saya John, working in Burma, instils ambition in his mind and they become friends and later business partners. Saya John is a father figure to Rajkumar. Both are considered kalaa in Burma, a derogatory term for foreigners. The initial setting of the story is the Third Anglo-Burmese war in 1885 in which the King Thibaw is disgracefully disposed. The cause of war according to the story is Teak! “The English are preparing to send a fleet up the Irrawaddy. There is going to be a war,” Matthew says. “They want all the teak in Burma. The King won’t let them have it so they’re going to do away with him.” Matthew is Saya’s son. “Rajkumar gave a shout of laughter. ‘A war over wood? Who’s ever heard of such a thing?” But it is in the same Teak business that Rajkumar becomes a business magnate later. Before, as a boy, he becomes infatuated by Dolly (Sein), a ten year old palace maid of the Royal family only by glance and a chance encounter. This becomes a fateful story romantically related by the author. The King and Queen Supalayat were exiled in Ratnagiri (India) until their death in squalid conditions. The palace maids leave one by one because of the continued royal arrogance, except Dolly, a central character of the story. The family of four princesses eventually disintegrates step by step in India, some leaving back to Burma much later. This is a true and a sad story. There are two sources to the enigmatic title of the novel: The Glass Palace. One is within the story itself, which I would comment on later. Second is external, the Glass Place Chronicles, which is supposed to be a history of the Burmese dynasty with fact and fiction. Likewise, Ghosh’s novel is also a combination of ‘fact and fiction,’ nicely woven into a compelling story. A lifelong friendship develops between Dolly and Uma Dey, the wife of the Collector in Ratnagiri, Prasad Dey, a British civil servant of Indian origin. That is the only relationship that lasts. After twenty years, Rajkumar comes in search of Dolly to Ratnagiri with a marriage proposal. Uma is the go between, convincing Dolly, who was otherwise not interested in marriage. However, after marriage, she becomes a committed wife and a mother. It may appear Rajkumar also to be a ‘committed lover’ or a husband. But that is not exactly the case. He is a ‘human trafficker’ from India to Malaya, particularly to Saya John’s new rubber plantation, ‘the money trees.’ He in fact fathers a boy, simply called Ilongo, to a woman taken from India to Malaya. Dolly displeasingly tolerates and in fact supports Ilongo’s upbringing. Uma, displeased with her husband’s rather monotonous bureaucratic life wanted to go back to her parents in Bengal. Her husband, Prasad, having remorse, rather kills himself by adventuring a boat in rough seas. An ‘Indian widow,’ Uma searches escape through travel and then radical politics. Dolly’s escape route is different. It is closer to the Burmese soul. She has two sons, thus obligations. First one, Neel, is exactly like Rajkumar and the second, Dinu, is closer to her heart. It is only at the end, she decides to go to Sagaing, the famous Buddhist nunnery, where she always wanted to go. Lankasuka in Bengal is another scene of the story, the ancestral home of Uma, where she lives as a widow, doing politics, finally joining Mahatma Gandhi. She has a nephew, Arjun, who joins the army, and two nieces, Manju and Bela. Manju almost by fate meets Neel Raha and accompanies him to Rangoon after marriage. They live in Kemendine, the house of Rahas and this is where the main tragedy unfolds. Bela opts to live as a spinster after having a sex encounter with his brother’s batman on her sister’s wedding night. Major Tragedies The second setting of the story is the Second World War and the Japanese invasion of Burma and Malaya in 1942. Rajkumar, after facing a business decline, decides to ‘hoard ’ Teak after disposing all other possessions, except the Kemendine house, in a bid to regain his old glory. Neel is his faithful accomplice. They remain in Rangoon without heeding to ‘good advice’ for them to leave for India before an invasion. At the verge of a major business deal, and in fact when the timber was being loaded, the Japanese raids Rangoon. Neel is killed in the commotion by elephant trampling. Manju becomes a widow with a small daughter, Jaya. They all become refugees and flee to Bengal with immense hardships, crossing the rivers and mountains. Manju already mentally deranged, commits suicide on their way. When Rajkumar and Dolly reach Lankasuka, Uma’s house, with Jaya, they were first taken as ‘some destitutes.’ “One afternoon, her elderly gatekeeper came to tell [Uma] that there were some destitutes outside asking for her. This was only too common at that time; Bengal was in the throes of a famine, one of the worst in history.” By this time Dinu was in Malaya at Morningside estate of Saya John and family in Sungei Pattani. He came to inquire about their situation. Saya was suffering from dementia and it aggravated when his son, Matthew and his American wife, Elsa, died in a motor accident leaving their only daughter Alison rather rudderless. Dinu almost instantly attracted to Alison and in fact wanted to marry her. It was at the same time that Arjun is stationed in Malaya. A flamboyant character, Arjun seduces Alison just before going to the war front. He betrays Dinu’s friendship. Dinu is nevertheless ready to forgive and forget. The Japanese also invade Malaya and in an effort to flee to Singapore, both Alison and Saya get killed by the Japanese. Perhaps that is what Alison wanted, under the circumstances of her guilt towards Dinu. Tragedy befalls on Arjun when he decides to defect from the British army in support of the Japanese, and more in support of the Indian independence, influenced by a friend, Hardy. True to whatever he decides, he refuses to side with the British, or be neutral, even after the Indian independence is promised and the Japanese had pushed away. Hardy makes the timely change, but Arjun fights to the end. He fights finally in rural Burma (near Huay Zedi), perhaps brought there for author’s convenience for Dinu to meet! By this time, Dinu is back in Burma. Dinu retorts, “You must see that you don’t have a hope. At this, Arjun laughed. “Did we ever have a hope? He said. ‘We rebelled against an Empire that has shaped everything in our lives; coloured everything in the world as we know it. It is a huge, indelible stain which has tainted all of us. We cannot destroy it without destroying ourselves. And that, I suppose, is where I am…” Arjun later executes his own former batman and a companion, Kishan Singh, under pressure from others when Kishan tried to escape. Then the others escape! Arjun was tracked down by the British with the assistance of a deserter, one of his own men. He refuses to surrender. “It was clear that he did not want to live.” Mirror of Myanmar What is this mirror about Myanmar? a reader might ask. The story of the Royals in part one and two of the novel, titled respectively as Mandalay and Ratnagiri, mirror the story of the declining Burma. Burma before colonialism was considered a ‘golden land’ where no one was hungry. But under the British, it changed, polarising the society into different classes, the rich and the poor, and poverty and dislocation creeping in. It is not only because of the British that the political edifice crumbled. The old order could not face the new challenges, cloistered in falls pride, fear, intrigue and deception. The last King Thibaw was a weakling, perhaps not interested in power. To keep him in power, the Queen had to order the execution of dozens of potential challengers within the same royal family. The British could not create, or not interested in creating, an intermediary class like what Macaulay talked about for India: “A class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect.” Instead they used many Indians to govern Burma, especially in the army and the police. Burma in fact was governed as a part of the administration of Bengal until 1935. The Burmese were doubly humiliated. Presumably a harmonious ethnic mosaic of over a hundred of subgroups before, Burma became succumbed to anti-Indian hatred. Then it spilled over into other ethnic relations. Before The Wedding, the part three on The Money Tree mirrors the growing Burmese nationalism inspired by a new messianic variety of Buddhism. Dolly was asked “It is true that you worked in the Mandalay palace…Prepare yourself: there is soon to be another coronation. A prince has been found who will liberate Burma.” This was the Saya San rebellion in 1930 reminiscent of 1848 in Ceylon or 1857 in India. Modern nationalism emerged side by side, led by the educated Burmese. The ‘Thirty Comrades’ were the most prominent, led by Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, by the time when the war erupted. This does not mean that The Glass Place mirrors the Burmese story completely or correctly. As a novel, it is not necessary to be so either. As it is neatly argued by Pankaj Mishra (“There’ll Always Be an England in India”), The Glass Palace depicts the impact of colonialism on the middle class, particularly in India, Arjun as the main representative in the novel. Perhaps Uma is more representative of the more enlightened sections of this class with clear understanding and sympathy for the variety of Burmese nationalism. Rajkumar undoubtedly is the most lost representative. There is obviously a major weakness in The Glass Palace when it came to the post-colonial period of the Burmese story. Perhaps the part seven was a later addition or a kind of an after-thought, after the events of the great democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The author, Ghosh, obviously could not jump to the ‘current’ circumstances of the democracy movement without tracing the events of independence, the assassination of Aung San, continued unrest and rebellion, the army take over in 1962 and the simmering student unrest below all these. The entire period is sketched with a quick brush. The author himself admits, “The seed of this book was brought to India long before my own lifetime by my father and my uncle.” “But neither my father nor my uncle would have recognized the crop.” This is an indication perhaps the story was planned to be end on The [War] Front. The book in essence is a novel, but a historical one. The speed of the last part and the chapters is very evident in many instances. Look at the following in chapter forty-eight. Relating the deaths of Uma and Rajkumar, Jaya says the following. “Yes, I remember it very well. My great-aunt Uma had died <="" u=""> before you see. They were almost ninety, both of them…” Then says: “Rajkumar died of a heart attack, a month later.” Symbol of Glass Palace There is a particular perspective or viewpoint governing Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace. Apart from The Glass Palace Chronicles of the Myanmar’s history, the name derives Dinu now called U Tun Pe, names his photo studio in Yangon, after the war, The Glass Palace. As he explained to Jaya, his only brother’s daughter in 1996, “It was a favourite phrase of my mother’s…Just some things she used to say…” There was a hall called the Glass Palace in the Mandalay palace. Dolly particularly liked it. That is all she could remember. The walls were lined with ‘mirrors.’ “Everything there was crystal and gold. You could see yourself everywhere if you lay on the floor,” Dolly told Uma much later. Dolly always had this conception of reflecting on oneself like in a ‘glass palace.’ When Dolly met Uma, before the war, in then Rangoon, she told the following. “It’s hard to know where to start, Uma. You’ll remember that I wrote to you about Dinu’s illness? After it was over, I found that something had changed in me. I couldn’t go back to the life I’d led before.” “Then I heard about an old friend – we used to call her Evelyn. I heard she was in Sagaing, near Mandalay, and that she had become the head of a thi-la-shin-kyaung – what do you call it? – a Buddhist nunnery. I went to see her, and I knew at once that that was where I want to be – that this could be my life.” After the war and after a while, she in fact went to that ‘glass palace’ with her favourite son Dinu. “They walked the last few miles to Sagaing and took a ferry across the Irrawaddy. To their intense relief Sagaing was unchanged. The hills were tranquil and beautiful, dotted with thousands of pagodas. Dolly began to walk fast and then Evelyn led her in. The next day, when Dinu went to see her, her head was shaved and she was wearing a saffron robe. She looked radiant.” Dinu’s ‘glass palace’ was slightly different. It was linked to photography and politics. In the past, he was a left-wing student. He was strongly against Fascism and saw an immense danger. He considered the army or the military with hostility from the beginning. Therefore, his resistance to the army rule in Myanmar after 1962 was natural. He was impressed by the aesthetic theories of Stieglitz, Cunningham and Weston. Edward Weston was of his particular interest. Dinu, when he was depressed, adored his dark room. “He’d always been able to count on the ambiance of the dark room for reassurance; its dim red glow had been an unfailing source of comfort.” He was also amazed by the magic of photography and printing. “When you print by contact…when you lay the negative on the paper and watch them come of life…the darkness of the one becomes the light of the other.” It meant life to Dinu. Dinu continued this venture after the war and even after he was jailed in 1989. He lost his wife, Daw Thin Thin Aye in jail for tuberculosis. She was a radical writer involved in the democracy movement. She used to say: “To use the past to justify the present is bad enough – but it’s just as bad to use the present to justify the past.” When Jaya, his only niece from Neel, went in search of him in 1996 in Yangon, Dinu was having his glass palace day. “Is it a class? She asked. A lecture course? No! He laughed. They just come…every week…some are new, some have been here before. Some are students, some are artists, some have aspirations to become photographers…” This is apparently the ongoing mirror of Myanmar today. The people are reflecting, especially the young. There are many forms of awakening and many forms of reflecting. Dinu quoted Weston. “Weston reflecting on Trotsky…that new and revolutionary art forms may awaken a people or disturb their complacency or challenge old ideals with constructive prophesies.” If there is any meaning for the symbol that Amitav Ghosh has selected for his novel, The Glass Palace - that is the meaning - the revisualization. Exploring for the long haul http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/281764/exploring-for-the-long-haul 27-Feb-2012 Resource-rich Myanmar is poised to be a major contributor to Thailand's future energy needs, including gas and possibly electricity from hydropower dams planned for the years ahead. "Myanmar may account for up to 10% of our total investments in the years to come and the country would supply up to 25% of Thailand's need for natural gas," says Anon Sirisaengtaksin, the president and CEO of PTT Exploration and Production Plc. The exploration arm of Thailand's largest energy company is no stranger to Myanmar, having begun operations there in 1989. And despite Myanmar's troubled political past, internal strife and occasional conflicts that resulted in border closures, natural gas supplies from Myanmar to Thailand have never been disrupted, says Mr Anon. "There is no threat to the company's operations from the changes in the government and therefore it gives more legitimacy to the government to grant more concessions," he said at a recent seminar. In the most recent licensing round overseen by the new government, PTTEP secured more exploration blocks in the Bay of Bengal. Its Zawtika wells are likely to start producing sometime in 2013 and others such as M-3 and M-11, still in the exploration process, may take more time to be operational. The Zawtika project, which covers 12,306 square kilometres in the Gulf of Martaban, is 80% owned by PTTEP International and 20% by Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. The company currently operates three offshore and two onshore blocks while another two (Yadana and Yetagun) are joint ventures with foreign partners. "We are at the moment looking for technology for deep water, technology that is not there in Myanmar and for M-11 we need deep water of more than one kilometre," Mr Anon said. The Yadana and Yetagun blocks have been relatively successful, in contrast to the disappointment of PTTEP's first venture into Myanmar. It began work in the country on the so-called Block F in 1989 but found no gas and terminated the contract in 1997. "We returned the first block (a joint venture with Unocal) as it was unsuccessful and since then there have been a series of opportunities and more will arise in the future," Mr Anon said. PTTEP could face more competition in the future in Myanmar if its current reforms lead to the easing of sanctions imposed for two decades by western governments. No major western oil and gas company has any big presence in Myanmar except Total of France. That has left the field open to Asian players including PTTEP, Sinopec of China, Petronas of Malaysia and Essar of India. And even as the new government starts to open up the economy and welcome more foreign investment, there are signs that it will start driving a harder bargain with companies seeking to exploit its rich oil and gas reserves. As well, as the economy grows, so too will domestic energy needs. "Myanmar is now looking at greater supply for itself as there is a growing shortage of electricity and new projects now have a clause requiring that they supply part of the gas to the domestic market," said Mr Anon. He also has a few words of advice for investors who may be looking at Myanmar for the first time: Don't look at the short-term returns only, as was evident from early struggles of PTTEP, which has a long-haul outlook. "Once you go to Myanmar you have to think long-term and not hit-and-run," he said, adding that while many drawbacks remain in the country, the opportunity outweighs most of them. These opportunities for oil and gas companies exist not just in the upstream market but also downstream where there is a lack of infrastructure for petrochemical plants. Myanmar, with oil production capacity estimated in 2010 at 21,000 barrels a day and natural gas production of 11.54 billion cubic feet, still lacks facilities such as modern refineries and has a very limited processing capacity. "Myanmar needs things such as deep-water technology, which it is looking for, and downstream operations are either ageing or not sufficient to meet future needs. It is basically an overhaul of the system that needs to be undertaken," he said. Govt to back Myanmar at UN summit http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/281695/govt-to-back-myanmar-at-un-summit 27-Feb-2012 Thailand will play a more active role this year in helping Myanmar to fully engage with the international community as the formerly military-led country continues with political reforms. Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkaew said Thailand will use the 19th Session of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting in Geneva today to show its readiness to help push Myanmar's engagement. Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul will represent Thailand at the High Level Segment of the UNHRC meeting that will discuss the Myanmar issue. Mr Sihasak said the EU has in recent years dominated drafting of the UNHRC's resolutions on Myanmar. "We will try to work with the EU this year to help push for a more constructive resolution so the EU can recognise the positive development in Myanmar which will help open the doors for Myanmar to associate with the outside world," he told the Bangkok Post. Mr Sihasak said he believed that Myanmar is ready to adjust its stance to have more engagement with other countries. His resolution to help the Asean country push its positive developments is part of Thailand 's readiness to act as a bridge between Myanmar and foreign countries at the UNHRC meeting, he said. Besides the Myanmar issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Mr Surapong will underline the importance of human rights to the Thai government and the country's readiness to join the international community in taking responsibility for protecting human rights everywhere. Mr Surapong will deliver a statement underscoring Thailand 's commitment to democracy and human rights. In the statement, he will clarify what the government has done in advancing the social and human rights agenda during its seven months in office. This has included the creation of the National Women's Development Fund; public access to quality and equitable health care; the use of technology to enhance the quality of education; and the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, he said. The minister will also underline the government's support for the Truth for Reconciliation Commission. Mr Surapong will also hold bilateral talks with Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, to promote further cooperation on human rights and development issues. Myanmar’s exiled media lured back home by reform http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\02\27\story_27-2-2012_pg14_8 27-Feb-2012 AS censorship eases in Myanmar and the press tastes long-suppressed freedom, exiled media groups are weighing up the risks of a return to cover the dramatic changes in their country from within. Not long ago, working for one of them could result in a lengthy prison sentence if caught inside the army-dominated nation, but the past year’s political openings have turned recent pipe dreams into real ambitions. Exiled reporting groups want permission to return to Myanmar, also known as Burma - but only when they are sure there will be no turning back on the new regime’s radical steps towards reforms. “It is our dream to publish a publication or online magazine inside Burma. I hope it will happen soon,” said Aung Zaw, the founder of the Irrawaddy news website based in neighbouring Thailand. The journalist has just completed his first trip to Myanmar since he escaped after a popular uprising in 1988 was brutally crushed by the junta. This time, he came back charmed. “I think the authorities will consider my proposal if we want to publish inside Burma,” he said. Over the past year the government of former general Thein Sein, which took over from the junta in March, has overseen dramatic political reforms, including in the media. Censorship, already softened, will supposedly disappear. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released from house arrest in late 2010, has crept on to the front pages, while exiled media websites are no longer blocked. Even imprisoned journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a broadcasting group based in Oslo, were all released in January in a mass amnesty for political prisoners. For the exiles, what remains is the strategic question of timing. According to Aung Zaw, senior journalists have suggested to the Irrawaddy to “remain here in Thailand until 2015” to ensure the reforms are well entrenched. “Laws that restrict press freedom are still there,” so “it is too risky” for them to go back now, said Maung Maung Myint, chairman of the Burma Media Association based in Oslo, whose members are mostly exiled journalists. In Myanmar’s capital of Naypyidaw, the Ministry of Information says that the way is clear. Ye Htut, the ministry’s director general, told AFP that there was “no restriction” on the media in exile. “We only ask for fair and balanced reporting,” he said. But the new press legislation under development is limited to print media. Even if the law enters into force, “pluralism and good practices will still be missing,” noted Benjamin Ismail, head of the Asia bureau at media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Paris. In terms of press freedom, Myanmar is still ranked just 169th among 179 countries, according to an index by RSF published in January. Exiled media therefore have no choice but to take things step by step. The editor of Mizzima, a news agency based in India, told the Myanmar Times that, similar to the Irrawaddy, it was “ready to set up our office in Yangon”. As for the DVB, the first step is “legalising DVB’s operation in the country” and preventing further arrests, according to its deputy director Khin Maung Win. The government is closely linked to the previous military rulers, who “treated DVB as the enemy,” he said. Although the group is still considered illegal, the new regime has behaved differently, for example by accepting interview requests from DVB reporters. Ultimately, the exiles’ return seems inevitable if decades of military rule really are consigned to the history books. “The exiled Burmese media will simply fade away when Burma has become a truly democratic society,” said the Burma Media Association’s Maung Maung Myint. Meanwhile, international donors who are increasingly tempted to favour projects inside the country must continue to support them, he argued. DVB, which has already experienced financial problems linked to an embezzlement scandal, has only found 10 percent of its $3.5 million budget for 2012. “DVB donors are excited with the changes in Burma and like to switch their support to inside Burma, rather than outside,” said Khin Maung Win. Whatever their future role, the contributions of these experienced English speakers will be crucial for a country where the main newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, remains a dogmatic mouthpiece of the regime. “They have said that they wanted us to do some training and introduce quality standards of journalism,” said Aung Zaw. “If they are serious, I’m ready.” afp
FTUB Daily News for Feb-23-2012, English News - Evening
News Headlines with Brief (1) KNU lays out ceasefire plan, denies split | Source: DVB 23-Feb-2012 The opposition Karen National Union says it is concerned about any foreign investment in Karen state that may sweep in if it signs a ceasefire with the government, but denies there has been a split within its senior ranks over the rush to broker peace in the region. Read More….. (2) Fire tears through Burmese refugee camp | Source: DVB 23-Feb-2012 A major fire broke out on Thursday in a large Burma refugee camp in Thailand, destroying hundreds of homes, the local district chief said. The blaze, which started at around midday (0500 GMT), quickly spread around Umpiem Mai border camp which is home to thousands of refugees, Poth Ruwaranan, head of Phop Phra district in western Tak province, told AFP by telephone. Read More….. (3) Burma faces HIV and TB crisis after global funding cuts | Source: DVB 23-Feb-2012 Up to 85,000 HIV sufferers in Burma will go without life-saving treatment as donor governments slash support for global health programmes in the wake of the economic crisis. Of an estimated 9,300 people newly infected with tuberculosis (TB) each year in Burma, so far just over 300 have been receiving treatment, according to a new report by Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF). Read More….. (4) Burma's Parliament Says No To President Thein Sein | Source: Irrawaddy 23-Feb-2012 For decades in Burma, the headmen of villages and wards used to work as government informers and were usually on the payroll of those close to the military junta. Directly appointed by local authorities, these village heads have long played a key role in the state apparatus and in oppressing any form of political dissent. Read More….. (5) Shwe Mann Begins China Visit | Source: Irrawaddy 23-Feb-2012 Speaker of the Lower House Shwe Mann is leading a parliamentary delegation on a four-day official visit to China. The Burmese delegation arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening. Shwe Mann, who is also deputy chairman of Burma's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is scheduled to meet several old acquaintances at the pinnacle of the Chinese state and Communist Party, according to a source close to the Chinese embassy. Read More….. (6) DKBA Ceasefire Breaks Down | Source: Irrawaddy 23-Feb-2012 The three-month-old ceasefire agreement between the Burmese government and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has broken down as hostilities flare in Pa-an District, southern Karen State. Sources close to the DKBA said that fighting broke out on Feb. 19 following a raid on a DKBA military base by a joint force of Burmese army and border guard force (BGF) troops. The joint force allegedly seized a cache of weapons including AK-47s, AR-15 rifles and RPGs belonging to DKBA Brigade 5. Read More….. (7) Fire Destroys 1000 Refugee Homes at Thai-Burma Border | Source: Irrawaddy 23-Feb-2012 About 1000 buildings, including homes, schools and marketplaces were destroyed when a fire broke out on Thursday afternoon in Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp at the Thai-Burma border. No deaths have been reported. Eye-witnesses at the camp said the fire broke out at around midday in a house while a family was cooking over a coal fire. The blaze spread quickly around the wooden and bamboo-constructed buildings nearby, affecting Quarters 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and was not put out until 2:30 pm. Read More….. (8) Surin optimistic on Burma’s Asean chairmanship | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 Asean General-Secretary Surin Pitsuwan told Rangoon journalist on Thursday that he has a positive view of Burma’s chairmanship of the Asian grouping in 2014. However, he told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Rangoon that much remains to be done. He said he is satisfied with Burmese leaders’ preparations for the necessary facilities and infrastructure necessary to house the thousands of people who will attend the Asean summit meeting in Naypyitaw. Read More….. (9) Website car buying-selling taking off in Burma | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 The latest twist in the auto business in Rangoon is online used car buying and selling websites, which dealers say has threatened the tradition way of doing business. The government has allowed a steady steam of newer models into the country in a program to replace older models, but a result is that many buyers were not satisfied with the traditional broker-dealer method. Read More….. (10) Onward to the Arctic Circle for Burma | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 On March 12, Robert Thein, whose Burmese parents moved to Britain before he was born, will compete in the grueling 200-kilometre Husky Trek in the Arctic Circle to raise funds for Burma Campaign UK. Despite living outside the country, Thein has visited Burma many times, and he says that what he has heard and experienced has inspired him “to do something to help my people.” Read More….. (11) Suu Kyi to campaign in Kachin State | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 Aung San Suu Kyi travels to Kachin State on Thursday to meet with members of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA) and campaign in several cities. The KNCA is made up of more than 50 members including the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), businessmen and religious leaders. KNCA leaders are also trying to mediate the on-going peace talks between the Burmese government and KIO. Read More….. (12) HIV medicine crisis in Burma | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 Burma’s festering HIV-AIDs crisis has again captured the headlines, as some 85,000 HIV-infected people are at risk of not getting adequate medicine, according to aid groups. Despite the country’s political reforms, health care and medicine remain a near crisis in the country, aid groups said. Doctors Without Borders, a French humanitarian group, says two-thirds of HIV patients in Burma in need of anti-retroviral therapy cannot get it. The United Nations says between 15,000 and 20,000 people living with HIV die every year in Burma because they are not treated. Read More….. (13) Speak up or write it down | Source: Mizzima 23-Feb-2012 Shwe Mann, the speaker of the Burmese Lower House, has urged MPs to speak out for the people, and if they are afraid to speak out publicly then put it in writing. The speaker made his remarks during a meeting of the Law Affairs and Special Matters Study and Evaluation Commission at the Rangoon Region Assembly hall on Wednesday. Read More….. (14) BGF ordered to return DKBA arms | Source: Mizzmia 23-Feb-2012 The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) threatened to void its cease-fire agreement with the Burmese government this week unless its arms are returned by the Border Guard Force (BGF), which seized the weapons on Sunday. Information Department officer Saw Lone Lone told Mizzima that President Thein Sein reportedly issued an order for the BGF to return the weapons. The arms were seized from a DKBA outpost on Sunday, he said. Read More….. (15) While Tigers fielding two candidates in Shan State | Source: Shan 23-Feb-2012 The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the party that emerged third in the 2010 elections, is fielding 4 candidates, 2 in Shan State, in the April Fool’s Day by-elections to fill up the seats vacated by MPs that had been appointed as union ministers. One of them is Sai Sam Min, 53, a native of Lashio, who is running for the National Assembly seat left by Dr Sai Mawk Kham, Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), who was elected as Vice President #2. He holds a bachelor degree in law (1992) but his profession is business. Read More….. (16) Karen religious leaders join hands for unity and peace | Source: KIC 23-Feb-2012 Attending the three-day seminar were monks and reverends from different religious dominations and members of Karen community based organizations – 95 people took part. The seminar was initially organized by Interior and Religion departments of the Karen National Union and was funded by a religious organization from Japan. During the seminar, KNU officials presented their ceasefire and peace talk process and explained the current situation to the participants who openly and freely discussed the raised issues. Read More….. (17) KNU ceasefire meeting with government behind schedule | Source: KIC 23-Feb-2012 Naw Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the KNU spoke to Karen News. “We are not sure if we can meet with Burma government this [February] month. At the moment, we haven’t yet finalized our delegation for the next meeting. We might be ready to meet them March.” Ms. Sein said that the KNU has been holding meetings and discussions at every level of its administration before they will meet again with the Burma government. Read More…. KNU lays out ceasefire plan, denies split http://www.dvb.no/news/knu-lays-out-ceasefire-plan-denies-split/20375 23-Feb-2012 The opposition Karen National Union says it is concerned about any foreign investment in Karen state that may sweep in if it signs a ceasefire with the government, but denies there has been a split within its senior ranks over the rush to broker peace in the region. The group yesterday released a four-stage plan for negotiations with Naypyidaw during a press conference at its 7th Brigade base in eastern Karen state that includes “preliminary” and “durable” ceasefire stages, and ends in “political participation”. It warns that “ceasefires alone will be insufficient to bring about … lasting peace”. The event was seen as a bid by the KNU’s leadership to clarify its position after conflicting reports over the signing of a peace deal with the government in January. However the two figures believed to be at loggerheads over what happened in the meeting last month – David Tharkabaw and David Htaw – the latter of whom is thought to be keen on pushing ahead with a quick deal, were not present. Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the KNU, said there had been “no split” over the speed at which the group should push ahead with agreeing to a ceasefire, but conceded there are “different ideas and strategies” at play. In an interview with DVB, she also expressed fear that any end to the six decade-long war could be exploited by business opportunists keen to cement a stake in the region, which is rich in hydropower and mining. Investors will be eyeing with particular interest the apparent discovery of Southeast Asia’s largest goldmine, which Zipporah Sein said encroaches on KNU territory. “If development projects are set up in KNU areas and if the military sends more troops for security then there will be more human rights violations,” she warned. “That is why we only want to see development when there is peace and stability.” She said however that there had not been any substantial discussion within the group over how to ensure post-conflict investment does not harm civilians. The Burmese regime’s energy and infrastructural ventures have historically been accompanied by heavy militarisation and large-scale displacement of civilians. Zipporah Sein continued that “mega projects should wait until peace and stability”, but there is a fear that while the conflict itself may soon end in Karen state, the by-products of the government’s hunger for natural resources there could prolong the abuses suffered for decades by its inhabitants. Fire tears through Burmese refugee camp www.dvb.no/news/fire-tears-through-burmese-refugee-camp/20388 23-Feb-2012 A major fire broke out on Thursday in a large Burma refugee camp in Thailand, destroying hundreds of homes, the local district chief said. The blaze, which started at around midday (0500 GMT), quickly spread around Umpiem Mai border camp which is home to thousands of refugees, Poth Ruwaranan, head of Phop Phra district in western Tak province, told AFP by telephone. Poth said there were no reports of casualties, but Sally Thompson of the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides food and shelter at the border camps, said she had heard of children receiving burns. “It’s still raging. It’s still not under control,” Thompson told AFP. ”Patients in the clinic have been evacuated and are staying in the food warehouse.” Thompson said the number of houses damaged was more than 1,000 — “about a third of the camp” — while Poth put the figure at 300. “We believe that the fire started when they cooked. As the houses are made of bamboo and leaves, it spread too fast, especially with the hot and dry weather and strong wind,” the district chief said. The camp residents “cannot leave the camp as the regulations do not allow them, so those who lost their houses must stay with their relatives or friends inside the camp,” he added. According to the TBBC, a group of international non-governmental organisations operating along the border, as of December the Umpiem Mai camp held more than 17,000 displaced people from Burma. The 10 camps along the border held a total of about 136,000 people, who first began arriving in the 1980s. Many of the refugees have fled conflict zones in ethnic areas of Burma. Burma faces HIV and TB crisis after global funding cuts http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-faces-hiv-and-tb-crisis-after-global-funding-cuts/20379 23-Feb-2012 Up to 85,000 HIV sufferers in Burma will go without life-saving treatment as donor governments slash support for global health programmes in the wake of the economic crisis. Of an estimated 9,300 people newly infected with tuberculosis (TB) each year in Burma, so far just over 300 have been receiving treatment, according to a new report by Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF). In November, the Global Fund for Health, Tuberculosis and Malaria was forced to cancel its next round of funding after donors backtracked on a total of $2.2 billion in outstanding pledges. As a result there will be no opportunity to expand treatment for HIV/AIDS and TB until 2014. This move has hit Burma particularly hard as it is the least developed country in South-East Asia and still receives severely restricted humanitarian aid. The money was expected to provide HIV drugs for 46,500 people and help treat another 10,000 sickened by drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). “Yet again, donors have turned their backs on people living with HIV and TB in Myanmar [Burma],” said Peter Paul de Groote, Head of Mission, MSF Burma. “Everyday we at MSF are confronted with the tragic consequences of these decisions: desperately sick people and unnecessary deaths.” Between 15,000 and 20,000 people living with HIV die every year in Burma because of lack of access to lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy. TB prevalence is more than three times the global average. MSF has been forced to scale back many of its services and in some areas must reserve treatment for only its sickest patients. “For me, the worst part of my job is to have to tell people that they should be getting treatment but that we can’t give it to them. It really hurts to do this,” says an MSF worker in Burma. “MSF cannot yet provide me with ART,” explains 38-year old Maung Myint, who has HIV. “I’m only taking anti-TB treatment. But it is not enough. After two to three days I get diarrhoea again. After eating, everything is gone by diarrhoea. I have no energy.” Funding for global HIV/AIDS programmes has remained largely stagnant since 2009, leading to harsh condemnation from leading experts. “The reduction of, or failure to honour, pledged support to the Global Fund by donor governments must be understood for what it is – an abrogation of legally grounded human rights obligations,” concluded a statement by the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights last month. While Burma recently signaled that it would increase health care spending in its 2012-2013 budget, MSF insists that it will need significant international support. “This is a defining moment,” says the report. “Recent political reforms in Myanmar [Burma] have been reciprocated by greater engagement from the international community. Donors have a real opportunity, and responsibility, to build on those foundations and help address the gap between need and access to treatment for HIV and TB sufferers.” Burma's Parliament Says No To President Thein Sein http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23089 23-Feb-2012 For decades in Burma, the headmen of villages and wards used to work as government informers and were usually on the payroll of those close to the military junta. Directly appointed by local authorities, these village heads have long played a key role in the state apparatus and in oppressing any form of political dissent. But when MPs in the nominally democratic Parliament in Naypyidaw debated this week the new procedures in electing headmen, the country's reformist ex-general President Thein Sein suggested using an open vote system in a face-to-face meeting among locals because, he said, the process is cost effective, does not create unnecessary procedures, and can be done without much administrative upheaval. The presidential advice, which was stated in a letter to the Parliament, is essentially no different than the old procedures of appointing local headmen based on their presumed loyalty to the country's military rulers. However, in a majority vote of 236 out of 514 on Wednesday, both Houses of Parliament said “no” to Thein Sein by approving a secret vote. In doing so, the MPs said they are effectively trying to prevent the misuse of influence and fear of reprisal in the process—two issues which have been symbolic of the decades of military rule. “If we want want to practice a democratic system, we must employ a secret voting method in appointing public officials—from a local headman to the nation's president. These are all written laws too,” said opposition MP Thein Nyunt. The latest developments in Burma's Parliament are puzzling to many observers since a majority of legislators are former army generals while a quarter of MPs are directly appointed by the military commander-in-chief. On Wednesday, the speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, ex-general Thura Shwe Mann, openly complained about the slow progress of reforms under the new government and vowed to continue to implement his parliamentary proposal to increase the salaries of state employees—though that particular proposal was not approved by the government. The moves aroused skepticism in various quarters and led to some questioning if the former generals were creating an artificial facade of checks-and-balances; all the more so because these developments came shortly after a European Union delegation called for a stronger role for Parliament during its visit to Burma. Pe Myint, an editor at the respected People's Age journal in Rangoon, said he believed that most parliamentary officials, though former generals, are exerting influence in their new-found roles as the country's legislators. But Win Tin, a senior leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, said he viewed it as genuine discord among ex-generals, including Thein Sein and Shwe Mann, and warned it was a “bad sign” for the country. “This is a dangerous situation for the country,” he said. “Until recently, I only thought we would see the emergence of two groups ruling the country—the army and ex-army officials. Now we see they are split among themselves.” Shwe Mann Begins China Visit http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23088 23-Feb-2012 Speaker of the Lower House Shwe Mann is leading a parliamentary delegation on a four-day official visit to China. The Burmese delegation arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening. Shwe Mann, who is also deputy chairman of Burma's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is scheduled to meet several old acquaintances at the pinnacle of the Chinese state and Communist Party, according to a source close to the Chinese embassy. This is his seventh visit to Burma’s most important trade partner. The delegation is scheduled to visit Beijing and the nearby port city Tianjin. Shwe Mann and the parliamentary delegation are scheduled to meet with Wu Bangguo, second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee after President Hu Jintao. Wu is also the chairman of the standing committee of China’s rubberstamp parliament, the National People’s Congress. They will also meet Jia Qinglin, the Politburo Standing Committee’s fourth-ranking member and chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a national political advisory body. The former four-star general will also meet with China’s highest-ranking soldier, General Chen Bingde, chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army. Chen hosted Shwe Mann during his visit to Beijing in September 2010. Lastly, Shwe Mann will meet with Li Yuanchao, head of the Communist Party’s Organization Department, which oversees Party job placements and promotions. Li is widely considered an up and coming politician and expected to be promoted to higher echelons of power within the Party at the 18th National Party Congress in autumn. The Burmese general-turned-politician has maintained a regular contact with Beijing. Last year, he met with at least five high-ranking Chinese delegations visiting Burma. In April, he met with visiting Politburo grandee Jia Qinglin in Naypyidaw. Jia is widely expected to retire at the National Party Congress in autumn. “The old generation of leaders of both countries have personally created and fostered a Sino-Burmese friendship which has weathered the international and domestic changes,” Jia was quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua. In May, Shwe Mann met with visiting General Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. In June, he met with visiting Li Yuanchao. On Oct. 7, he held talks with Chinese ambassador Li Junhua to smoothen the rough waters after the suspension of the Myitsone Dam, a controversial multi-billion dollar dam construction project contracted to the Chinese company China Power Investment Corp. In November, he met with two separate Chinese delegations, both invited by the USDP. Shwe Mann told Beijing Party Secretary Liu Qi that he hoped to develop his party’s relationship with the Communist Party and thanked China “for its selfless assistance for Burma’s economic and social development,” according to a Xinhua report. He witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the USDP and the Chinese Communist Party on exchange and cooperation. On Dec. 9, Shwe Mann held a ceremony accepting the donation of computer equipment by Chinese ambassador Li for the Lower House of Parliament. They met again on Jan. 31 to discuss details of the upcoming visit to China, according to the director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies Zhao Gancheng. Shwe Mann will aim to clarify the “malign public opinion” in Burma, Zhao told the Shanghai-based Dongfang Daily. “Western public opinion has maliciously hyped a decline in Sino-Burmese relations,” Zhao said. Li hosted a farewell dinner on Wednesday for Shwe Mann. “Every time an incident occurs, China is on our side,” he said. “This visit serves to deepen our existing friendship.” DKBA Ceasefire Breaks Down http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23086 23-Feb-2012 The three-month-old ceasefire agreement between the Burmese government and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has broken down as hostilities flare in Pa-an District, southern Karen State. Sources close to the DKBA said that fighting broke out on Feb. 19 following a raid on a DKBA military base by a joint force of Burmese army and border guard force (BGF) troops. The joint force allegedly seized a cache of weapons including AK-47s, AR-15 rifles and RPGs belonging to DKBA Brigade 5. The Brigade 5 unit, led by Lt-Col Po Bi, responded later that same day with an attack on the joint force in Myaing Gyi Nyu Township in Pa-an District, killing three and injuring two soldiers. Then, after a lull in fighting but with tensions remaining high, DKBA leaders reportedly visited the Burmese army-BGF base in Pa-an on Wednesday to negotiate the return of the confiscated weapons. Brig-Gen Johnny, a commander with the main Karen rebel group, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the DKBA leaders “asked for the joint force to return their weapons, but the Tatmadaw [Burmese government forces] would not return them. That's why the DKBA declared a breakdown in the ceasefire.” A soldier belonging to the DKBA, however, said that negotiations with the Burmese authorities are continuing in Pa-an, the capital of Karen State. The DKBA's Brigade 5 is led by charismatic Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe. It launched a deadly attack against government troops in the border town of Myawaddy in November 2010 in response to government attempts to persuade it to join the BGF. However, it reached a formal ceasefire agreement in November 2011 with a government peace delegation led by negotiator Aung Thaung. The DKBA split from its mother organization, the KNLA’s political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU), in 1995. The KNU also recently signed a ceasefire agreement with the government, and plans to hold another round of talks in March. Fire Destroys 1000 Refugee Homes at Thai-Burma Border http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23084 23-Feb-2012 About 1000 buildings, including homes, schools and marketplaces were destroyed when a fire broke out on Thursday afternoon in Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp at the Thai-Burma border. No deaths have been reported. Eye-witnesses at the camp said the fire broke out at around midday in a house while a family was cooking over a coal fire. The blaze spread quickly around the wooden and bamboo-constructed buildings nearby, affecting Quarters 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and was not put out until 2:30 pm. Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone, Lawi Mon Tamoi, an ethnic Mon refugee living in Quarter 10, said, “More than 1,500 people have been made homeless. “Many of the refugees were unable to grab their belongings,” he said. “Now they have no clothes and food. They don't know what they will eat or where they will sleep tonight.” Sin Thee Yar, a school teacher in Umpiem Mai refugee camp, said that every house in Quarters 8 and 9 was destroyed. She said that there were 150 houses in Quarter 8, and 187 houses in Quarter 9. She estimated that half the homes and buildings in Quarters 6, 7 and 10 were destroyed in the blaze. She said that one child was taken to hospital after being seriously injured with burns. As the fire broke out during school hours, many parents panicked and rushed to the schoolhouses to rescue their children. “It was a chaotic scene,” said Lawi Mon Tamoi. Umpiem Mai refugee camp has more than 15,000 refugees. The camp is one of nine along the Thai-Burmese border, where about 140,000 Burmese refugees live, most of whom are ethnic Karens. Surin optimistic on Burma’s Asean chairmanship http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6645-surin-optimistic-on-burmas-asean-chairmanship.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 20:41 Nyi Thit (Mizzima) – Asean General-Secretary Surin Pitsuwan told Rangoon journalist on Thursday that he has a positive view of Burma’s chairmanship of the Asian grouping in 2014. However, he told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Rangoon that much remains to be done. He said he is satisfied with Burmese leaders’ preparations for the necessary facilities and infrastructure necessary to house the thousands of people who will attend the Asean summit meeting in Naypyitaw. Surin ended his four-day visit to Burma along with eight delegates from the secretariat office, after exploring ways for Asean to cooperate with Burma in preparing and coordinating for the event. . “Myanmar’s chair in 2014 will be a critical landmark in the history of Asean,” Surin said. “I think the government is extremely aware about the opportunities, and also they know that they have a lot of work to do – every ministry,” he said. “Our message is that we’re willing to support and share our experiences.” He said that the Asean secretariat would take senior officials from each Burmese ministry to observe the Asean Summit in Cambodia this year and in Brunei in 2013. Surin said the cooperation will also extend to Asean dialogue partners comprising the U.S., E.U., Russia, China, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. “There are about 2,000 journalists from all over the world who will attend the summit,” he said. “There are questions: does Myanmar have enough accommodations for them?” Other questions involve the state of Burma’s Internet communication network. On Wednesday, Surin met with Aung San Suu Kyi at her home. In an Asean statement, she urged the grouping to help Burma build bridges to the rest of the world. She expressed optimism that Burma could be a prosperous and advanced member of Asean with its help, despite the long and hard road ahead for reforms in Burma. Website car buying-selling taking off in Burma http://www.mizzima.com/business/6643-website-car-buying-selling-taking-off-in-burma.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 15:35 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – The latest twist in the auto business in Rangoon is online used car buying and selling websites, which dealers say has threatened the tradition way of doing business. The government has allowed a steady steam of newer models into the country in a program to replace older models, but a result is that many buyers were not satisfied with the traditional broker-dealer method. “Before I discovered some car trading websites, I had to rely on brokers and had to regularly telephone them to make single appointments to look at cars with buyers or sellers and then negotiate prices,” Aung Min Moe, a 34-year-old car broker in Rangoon told The Myanmar Times in an article published on Monday. Now Internet users are discovering what’s been known in the West for decades – shopping is quicker and more efficient online. Buyers and seller can now give a quick look at the model they’re interested in, and get a rundown on its features and price, all in minutes: no more using the often shaky telephone service and driving across town only to find that the salesperson over-hyped their cars. And of course, with a straight buyer-seller relationship, the middleman and his fee, is cut out. Now, of course, even the brokers are learning that two can play the game, and they’re putting their cars on a website to generate more business. Everyone is winning: in the West, it’s called productivity. One of the bastions of car dealing in Rangoon, the Hantharwaddy car zone, was often a frustrating place for buyers, said the newspaper. “If you wanted to buy a car and went to somewhere like Hantharwaddy you couldn’t just go up and ask the prices of the cars, even if they were right there. Instead, you had to approach brokers and ask them, which could take a long time,” Khin Win was quoted as saying. You can also thank the government for this new twist. The newspaper said that the car import substitution program gave many car buyers their first taste of online buying because they had to go the online car auction sites to find what they wanted. A spokesperson for the new myanmarcarsdb website said it had received more than 10,000 unique visitors since it was launched on January 4, with more than 328,000 views. By the second week of February, the site had 420 registered users and 180 advertisements. Onward to the Arctic Circle for Burma http://www.mizzima.com/news/breaking-and-news-brief/6642-onward-to-the-arctic-circle-for-burma.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 14:55 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – On March 12, Robert Thein, whose Burmese parents moved to Britain before he was born, will compete in the grueling 200-kilometre Husky Trek in the Arctic Circle to raise funds for Burma Campaign UK. Despite living outside the country, Thein has visited Burma many times, and he says that what he has heard and experienced has inspired him “to do something to help my people.” He is asking for donations to support his race in the Arctic Circle, as part of a Burma Campaign UK fundraising project. To make a donation that will go to support people in Burma, go to http://www.bmycharity.com/theiny. For more information about the Burma Campaign UK fundraising effort which is open to all, go to http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fundraise for ideas and support. Suu Kyi to campaign in Kachin State http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6636-suu-kyi-to-campaign-in-kachin-state.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 11:42 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Aung San Suu Kyi travels to Kachin State on Thursday to meet with members of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA) and campaign in several cities. The KNCA is made up of more than 50 members including the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), businessmen and religious leaders. KNCA leaders are also trying to mediate the on-going peace talks between the Burmese government and KIO. Suu Kyi has said that peace in ethnic regions is essential for Burma to advance economically and politically, and she has offered to mediate in the talks. Suu Kyi will fly from Rangoon to Myitkyina to deliver a speech in a stadium in Namti village in Mogaung Township, where NLD members have built a special pavilion and will provide security, said Win Bo, a Namti Township NLD member. On Friday, she will deliver a speech at Manau Stadium in Sitapu Quarter in Myitkyina. Suu Kyi will also speak in Bhamo, said campaign manager Nyan Win. She will also meet with the abbot of the Wuntho Monastery in Myitkyina, according to sources close to the abbot. Unlike other ethnic armed groups, the KIO said it would not agree on a cease-fire first, but would first discuss political issues. As a result, sporadic fighting still takes place, despite an order by the government to halt all offensives. “A cease-fire is only the political consequences,” a KIO official told Mizzima. “We will focus on political talks which will be transparent, concrete and offer a clear path, and we will discuss how to resolve these political issues.” The trip marks Suu Kyi’s third visit to Kachin State. She visited in 1989 and 2003. During her visit in 1989, she met with Duwa Zau Rip, who was involved in drafting the Panglong Agrement with General Aung San, Suu Kyi’s father. In recent weeks, Suu Kyi has campaigned in Dawei (Tavoy), Pakokku, Pathein, Kawhmu, Helgu and Pyapon. On Wednesday, seven members of the Mandalay Region NLD, including senior leader Win Mya Mya, traveled to Myitkyina via train carry clothes and 10 million kyat (about US$ 12,000) to donate to Kachin war refugees. HIV medicine crisis in Burma http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6639-hiv-medicine-crisis-in-burma.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 12:59 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – Burma’s festering HIV-AIDs crisis has again captured the headlines, as some 85,000 HIV-infected people are at risk of not getting adequate medicine, according to aid groups. Despite the country’s political reforms, health care and medicine remain a near crisis in the country, aid groups said. Doctors Without Borders, a French humanitarian group, says two-thirds of HIV patients in Burma in need of anti-retroviral therapy cannot get it. The United Nations says between 15,000 and 20,000 people living with HIV die every year in Burma because they are not treated. Doctors Without Borders warned in a recent report that the situation could grow worse as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria unexpectedly cut funding worldwide because of a drop in funding. In 2009, the U.N. estimated 240,000 people were infected with HIV and about 18,000 were dying from it annually in Burma, which has one of the world's worst health systems. Peter Paul de Groote, who heads the Doctors Without Borders’ organization in Burma, told The Associated Press his group gives antiretroviral drugs to about 23,000 people at 23 clinics nationwide, funding more than half of all HIV treatment being provided to nearly 40,000 patients. Doctors Without Borders is the largest supplier of anti-retroviral therapy in Burma. The government devotes a tiny fraction of its budget to health care. “Regardless of what is happening in the country, the people that are in need of treatment, need treatment,” de Groote said told AP. Speak up or write it down http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6638-speak-up-or-write-it-down.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 12:29 Ko Pauk and Min Thet Rangoon (Mizzima) – Shwe Mann, the speaker of the Burmese Lower House, has urged MPs to speak out for the people, and if they are afraid to speak out publicly then put it in writing. The speaker made his remarks during a meeting of the Law Affairs and Special Matters Study and Evaluation Commission at the Rangoon Region Assembly hall on Wednesday. “People are still scared. People still fear the consequences of their words. Fear is a form of corruption, so I want to urge all MPs to speak out in written form if you are still scared and to avoid acts that could lead to corruption,” Shwe Mann said. Shwe Mann, himself, spoke out boldly on February 7 in a joint session of Parliament calling for a pay raise for all government workers, in a effort to reverse the endemic corruption that pervades the government throughout the country. Government Finance and Revenue Minister Hla Tun in a speech to Parliament on February 16 opposed Shwe Mann’s motion. On Tuesday, Shwe Mann again told Parliament members: “Only projects which will be beneficial to the people should be continued [in order to] give a pay increase for the government staff by cutting government spending.” He said on Wednesday that he would stick to his pay-increase proposal and not back down, which means that the Parliament will have to vote on his motion, according to parliamentary rules. About 150 businessmen, academics, legislators from of Rangoon Region Assembly and up to 30 foreign and domestic media representatives attended his talk. Shwe Mann said that Burma needed efficient and practical laws to revamp the outdated laws and regulations that prevent the implementation of a market economy in line with international standards. “We learn that there are investors who want to invest in our country,” he said. “These potential investors have difficulties in doing business under the existing legal infrastructure. We learn that they lack trust and cannot conduct their businesses in our country. So we urgently need practical laws,” Thura Shwe Mann said. He said that at the current pace of change it’s unlikely that amendments and new laws and regulations could be completed in the current five-year term of Parliament so the pace of change must be accelerated. He singled out the 1947 Provisional Imports and Exports Act that he said is not practical and must be amended urgently. “If our country does not follow through and exercise a Parliamentary democracy and the market economy correctly and efficiently, our country and our people cannot catch up with other nations, and we will continually lag behind them,” he said. BGF ordered to return DKBA arms http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6646-bgf-ordered-to-return-dkba-arms.html Thursday, 23 February 2012 21:00 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) threatened to void its cease-fire agreement with the Burmese government this week unless its arms are returned by the Border Guard Force (BGF), which seized the weapons on Sunday. Information Department officer Saw Lone Lone told Mizzima that President Thein Sein reportedly issued an order for the BGF to return the weapons. The arms were seized from a DKBA outpost on Sunday, he said. “If we get back our arms because of this presidential order, the peace can be maintained as before,” he told Mizzima. Saw Lone Lone said that they received the information about the president’s order from former Lieutenant Colonel Saw Khin Soe, who helped broker the cease-fire deal. A joint force of the government’s BGF Battalions 1011 and 1019 seized more than 30 weapons from the DKBA’s Kalohtoolar military command center amid strained relations. To resolve the incident, DKBA Commander Major General Saw Labwe sent a delegation led by Bo Maung Lay to Pa-an on Tuesday to meet Bo Phar Nwee of the BGF and Major General Maung Maung Ohn, who commands BGF troops. In the meeting, DKBA delegates conveyed DKBA Major General Saw Labwe’s message: “What do you want, arms or peace? If you want peace, you must return the arms seized from us otherwise you will not get peace.” The DKBA also demanded that the area where Abbot Myanig Gyi Ngoo lives be designated an arms-free zone and DKBA personnel be allowed to stay in the zone to guard the influential abbot. Saw Lone Lone told Mizzima: “They replied to us that they were trying hard to resolve this crisis as soon as possible. We believe this will be resolved soon.” The DKBA and government delegations signed a cease-fire agreement at the home of the Karen State Chief Minister in Pa-an on November 3, 2011. Most DKBA troops are a breakaway faction of the Karen National Union (KNU) that separated from the KNU in 1994. They agreed to join the government’s BGF under the command of Burmese officers on August 18, 2010. While Tigers fielding two candidates in Shan State http://www.english.panglong.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4438:while-tigers-fielding-two-candidates-in-shan-state&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266 Thursday, 23 February 2012 10:20 S.H.A.N. The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the party that emerged third in the 2010 elections, is fielding 4 candidates, 2 in Shan State, in the April Fool’s Day by-elections to fill up the seats vacated by MPs that had been appointed as union ministers. One of them is Sai Sam Min, 53, a native of Lashio, who is running for the National Assembly seat left by Dr Sai Mawk Kham, Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), who was elected as Vice President #2. He holds a bachelor degree in law (1992) but his profession is business. A drugstore owned by him stands in the main market of Lashio, the capital of Shan State North. He says he is pretty much confident of winning the seat despite the fact that he is facing two formidable opponents: Dr Nang Keng Phawng Tip, USDP Sai Myint Maung, NLD The other is Sao Tha Oo, 51, who is running for the vacant People’s Assembly seat in Kalaw, Shan State South. He comes from the former princely house of Loilong Panglawng. He had received B. Com (Eco) Q, D.A. from Rangoon in 1980. His profession: agriculture and tourism. A former leading member of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), that had won the most seats in Shan State in the 1990 elections, he was detained and sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2005, together with his bosses: and Khun Tun Oo, 93 years; Sai Nyunt Lwin, 85 years. A month after the court sentence, he was freed as a state witness, which has served as a blemish in his otherwise stainless life. However, he is claiming innocence. Friends also say his early release was a trick by the then military rulers to sow a seed of mistrust among SNLD members. “The upcoming by-elections will vindicate me,” he said. SHAN is still waiting for data from Sai Myint Maung, 1990 elections winner. SHAN will also gratefully accept bio-data, leaflets and comments from other candidates from Lashio and Kalaw constituencies. Karen religious leaders join hands for unity and peace http://karennews.org/2012/02/karen-religious-leaders-join-hands-for-unity-and-peace.html/ 23-Feb-2012 Attending the three-day seminar were monks and reverends from different religious dominations and members of Karen community based organizations – 95 people took part. The seminar was initially organized by Interior and Religion departments of the Karen National Union and was funded by a religious organization from Japan. During the seminar, KNU officials presented their ceasefire and peace talk process and explained the current situation to the participants who openly and freely discussed the raised issues. Saw Hla Ngwe, joint secretary of the KNU explained to Karen News. “All Karen members of the community have their religious leaders. Our aim is to be inclusive to all in building peace and unity. Our purpose is to get all religious leaders to be involved in the process and we fulfilled our purpose.” Saw Hla Ngwe said that it is important to have religious leaders’ involvement in building unity among Karen, building unity with Burma government and more importantly, to reunite all the Karen people who are divided by religion, territory, organization and groups. At the seminar, a decision was made to form a “Karen Unity Building Group” to reunite all Karen and help bring peace to Burma. The group is composed of 11 monks and 9 reverends, while its advisory board, will be led by Ashin Wizzana and Reverend Saw Robert Htwe. Naw Bu Poe, a woman religious leader of a Baptist Christian domination who attended the seminar told Karen News. “If we can’t bring unity among ourselves, it is impossible to build unity with others. Now, we are starting our step towards building unity. Unity in diversity is the best and it is long lasting.” Ashin Wathawaka from Taung Yatetha temple from Naung Kine village in Kawkareik Township expressed his views to Karen News. “It is important for our Karen to be reunited. We’ve now founded this group and as soon as we have our mandate, we will start the implementation process and then we will try to build unity among ourselves.” In a statement issued after the religious seminar, the newly formed “Karen Unity Building Group” called for all concern parties from the KNU and Thein Sein’s government to reassure their peace process and their agreement to civilians living in conflict zones and to resolve all the ongoing confrontation between KNU and Burma army effectively and to continue their peace process with credibility. Monks from the border region and from inside Karen State – Myawaddy, Kawkareik, Hlaingbwe and Papun – attended the seminar. In the past religious seminars about Karen unity were held but this is the first time a group has been formed to implement unity among Karen. KNU ceasefire meeting with government behind schedule http://karennews.org/2012/02/knu-ceasefire-meeting-with-government-behind-schedule.html/ 23-Feb-2012 Naw Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the KNU spoke to Karen News. “We are not sure if we can meet with Burma government this [February] month. At the moment, we haven’t yet finalized our delegation for the next meeting. We might be ready to meet them March.” Ms. Sein said that the KNU has been holding meetings and discussions at every level of its administration before they will meet again with the Burma government. The KNU’s peace talk delegation met with Burma government representatives on January 12 at Hpa-an town in Karen State where the KNU had reached to an preliminary ceasefire agreement with the State level government, and agreed to meet with central level government representatives within 45 days. During the initial ceasefire period, Burma army troops have yet to withdraw from KNU controlled areas in Brigade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Burma Army also has continued to reinforce its troop numbers and to re-supply its soldiers with munitions and food supplies. The KNU doesn’t disclose any detail reasons of why they can’t meet with government within the 45 days. On February 8th to 10th , the KNU organized a two day workshop location on the border where participants included officials from KNU’s administration, army officers and leaders from Karen community based organization to discuss ‘political dialogue’. An army officer who attended the workshop spoke to Karen News. “We discuss in every detail about our 11 key points that we’ve raised to the government. The workshop is also a preparation for the coming meeting so it is useful.” The KNU has been struggling for equal right and self-determination since January 31, 1949 and has been fighting against the various Burma military regimes that have dominated Burma for more than 60-years. On January 12th, 2012 was the first time, the KNU had signed an initial ceasefire agreement.
FTUB Daily News for Feb-21-2012, English News - Morning
News Headlines with Brief (1) Burma to “seriously consider” poll monitors | Source: DVB 21-Feb-2012 Burma has promised to “seriously consider” allowing election observers for April 1 by-elections in which Aung San Suu Kyi is standing, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said today. It said Burma President Thein Sein made the pledge to visiting ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan during talks in the capital Naypyidaw. Read More..... (2) NLD says campaign restrictions lifted | Source: DVB 21-Feb-2012 Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party said Monday that the authorities had lifted campaign restrictions ahead of closely watched by-elections, just hours after it made a complaint. “They withdrew the restrictions. We can campaign freely,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s National League for Democracy party, told AFP. Read More..... (3) Development Needs Transparent Society: 88 Generation Students | Source: Irrawaddy 21-Feb-2012 Leaders of the 88 Generation Students group have urged the public and government to unite and form a transparent society as a crucial factor to achieve development in Burma. “A society with transparency will drive forward with consideration and consciousness, freedom, openness and honesty. From this, we believe the society will create the main strength to drive the development of the country,” group leader Ko Ko Gyi said in a speech in Hinthada, Irrawaddy Division, on Monday. Read More..... (4) Burma Aims to be Role Model for Media, Says Govt Official | Source: Irrawaddy 21-Feb-2012 Burma’s media will serve as a role model for the Southeast Asian region as the long-isolated country opens up, said Ye Htut, a senior official from the Ministry of Information. In an interview with The Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw, Ye Htut, the director general of the Information and Public Relations Department in the Ministry of Information, said that Burmese media freedom can now be said to be better when compared to nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Laos. Read More..... (5) Chin National Day Celebrated | Source: Irrawaddy 21-Feb-2012 A community hall in West Delhi is buzzing with Chin refugees dressed in colorful traditional costumes. Smiles light up the faces of everyone—young and old. The air is alive with traditional songs as the 64th anniversary of Chin National Day is celebrated.Several girls are busy in the corner arranging their dresses as they prepare to perform a traditional dance. Their audience, meanwhile, are busy indulging in an array of mouthwatering sweets and homemade dishes in the opposite corner. Read More..... (6) Naypyidaw 'Seriously Considers' Election Observers | Source: Irrawaddy 21-Feb-2012 Burma’s President Thein Sein has told the visiting head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) that the country may allow observers from the regional bloc to monitor by-elections in April. According to a statement released by Asean on Tuesday, Thein Sein told the grouping's secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan, that Naypyidaw “will seriously consider having observers from Asean and the Asean Secretariat during the April elections.” Read More..... (7) Burma’s Election Commission Lifts Campaign Restrictions after NLD Complaints | Source: Irrawaddy 21-Feb-2012 Burmese election authorities lifted restrictions on political campaigning on Monday in an unusually swift response to complaints by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party. The National League for Democracy (NLD) said earlier in the day that the restrictions risked making upcoming by-elections unfair. Read More..... (8) 88-generation students to visit Kachin State | Source: Mizzima 21-Feb-2012 A group of 88-generation student leaders will visit Myitkyina Township in Kachin State to attend a prayer ceremony to mark the suspension of the Myitsone Dam Project. The prayer ceremony at Tanhpre village on Friday, near the Myitsone Dam project site, is meant to express gratitude to the government, which suspended the project, and to pray that the project will not be resumed, said Mya Aye, an 88-generation student member.“We will attend because Kachin young people and Kachin community leaders invited us,” Mya Aye said. Read More..... (9) Speaker Shwe Mann again pushes for pay increase | Source: Mizzima 21-Feb-2012 After the Burmese finance minister opposed his motion to increase salaries for all government employees, Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann has again asked Parliament to raise government workers’ pay. In a message to Parliament on Tuesday, Shwe Mann said the minimum salary of government employees should be 100,000 kyat (US$ 122), Lower House MP Khaing Khin Maung Yee told Mizzima. Read More..... (10) Burma will upgrade two airports to international status | Source: Mizzima 21-Feb-2012 Burma is planning to create two more international airports, one in Bago to serve central Burma, and one at the Dawei deep-sea port project in the south, according to Civil Aviation Department officials. Both airports, which already exist, will be upgraded to international standards. Foreign investment is invited, most probably from Japan and Singapore, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. Read More..... (11) Tai Yi strike to go to arbitration court | Source: Mizzima 21-Feb-2012 The Tai Yi footwear factory strikers in a Rangoon industrial zone will take their case to the government Trade Dispute Committee arbitration court on Wednesday, Mizzima has learned. The 1,845 workers, now in the 14th day of the strike, agreed to file a suit with the Mayangon Township trade dispute committee, said their lawyer, Pho Phyu. Read More..... (12) Ban on Suu Kyi rallies is lifted | Source: Mizzima 21-Feb-2012 Within hours after the main Burmese opposition party publicly accused a government minister of hampering its campaign activities, the military-dominated government lifted a ban on rallies by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Union Election Commission (UEC) said on Monday evening a ministerial order from the sports minister restricting campaign rallies in stadiums had been lifted, after the National League for Democracy Party complained in a press conference that the campaign process was not free and fair. Read More..... (13) BA-SSA stand-off in Tachilek | Source: Shan 21-Feb-2012 The Shan State Army (SSA) South that had signed the ceasefire agreement on 2December and the Burma Army are in a state of deadlock in Monghai, northwest of Tachilek, opposite Maesai, since last week, according to Lt-Col Gawn Zeun, Commander of the SSA’s Shan State East military region. Both sides have been reinforcing and already 4 clashes have taken place since 6 February. The last one took place today Read More..... (14) Burma army burns Kachin rice harvest | Source: KNG 21-Feb-2012 More than 1,500 Kg of rice recently harvested by farmers in war-torn Kachin state were set ablaze by government troops last week in Waingmaw township on the Myitkyina-Bhamo (Manmaw) road, eyewitnesses report. Soldiers from the Meiktila-based Light Infantry Division No. 88 were seen on February 16 and 17 ransacking a series of rice paddies in Mali Yang village. The arson attack followed heavy fighting in the area between the Burmese army and troops belonging to Brigade 5 of the Kachin Independence Army. Read More..... Burma to “seriously consider” poll monitors http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-to-seriously-consider-poll-monitors/20348 21-Feb-2012 Burma has promised to “seriously consider” allowing election observers for April 1 by-elections in which Aung San Suu Kyi is standing, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said today. It said Burma President Thein Sein made the pledge to visiting ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan during talks in the capital Naypyidaw. “We will seriously consider having observers from ASEAN … during the April elections,” Thein Sein was quoted as saying. The polls, which will see Suu Kyi run for a seat in parliament for the first time, are viewed as a key test of the authorities’ commitment to budding reforms. A 2010 election which swept the army’s political allies to power was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation. The opposition cannot threaten the ruling party’s majority even if it takes all 48 available seats in the by-elections, but a Suu Kyi win would lend legitimacy to the fledgling parliament. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory in an election in 1990, but the then-ruling junta never allowed the party to take power. Suu Kyi was under house arrest at the time. She was released from her latest stint in detention a few days after the 2010 vote. The upcoming polls are being held to fill places vacated by those who have since become government and deputy ministers. NLD says campaign restrictions lifted http://www.dvb.no/news/nld-says-campaign-restrictions-lifted/20342 21-Feb-2012 Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party said Monday that the authorities had lifted campaign restrictions ahead of closely watched by-elections, just hours after it made a complaint. “They withdrew the restrictions. We can campaign freely,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s National League for Democracy party, told AFP. “It’s a very significant change. We are still hoping for fair play.” Earlier Monday the NLD had called a news conference to complain that it was being denied the use of sports grounds to hold rallies ahead of the April 1 polls, warning that the fairness of the vote was under threat. Suu Kyi, whose party boycotted a 2010 election because it thought the rules were unfair, is standing for a seat in parliament for the first time. The 2010 vote, which swept the army’s political allies to power, was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation. The democracy icon has drawn crowds of tens of thousands of cheering supporters on the campaign trail, posing a security headache for her party. Earlier this month she postponed a trip to the central city of Mandalay because her party said the venue offered by the authorities was too small. The NLD announced at the press conference that it had also been denied permission to use a venue in northern Kachin State for a planned speech by Suu Kyi later this week. But just hours later the party said it had received the green light from the election authorities. “They said that they can take care of Aung San Suu Kyi’s security in the cities… but they cannot reach the remote areas easily,” Nyan Win told AFP. Suu Kyi’s decision to stand for a seat in parliament is the latest sign of dramatic change taking place in the country after the end last year of nearly half a century of outright military rule. The regime has surprised observers with reforms including welcoming the NLD back into the political mainstream, signing ceasefire deals with ethnic minority rebels and releasing hundreds of political prisoners. The new military-backed government, which is dominated by former generals, assured visiting top EU officials last week that the vote would be democratic. The opposition cannot threaten the ruling party’s majority even if it takes all 48 available seats in the by-elections, but a Suu Kyi win would lend legitimacy to the fledgling parliament. The NLD party won a landslide victory in an election in 1990, but the then-ruling junta never allowed the party to take power. Suu Kyi was under house arrest at the time. She was released from her latest stint in detention a few days after the 2010 vote. Western nations are now considering further easing sanctions, adding to hopes of an end to decades of isolation, but controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the upcoming by-elections will be heavily scrutinised. The United States has also expressed concern about the recent brief detention of the prominent Buddhist monk Gambira, one of the leaders of a failed 2007 uprising, less than a month after he was freed from jail. Burmese state media said Sunday that Gambira faced charges of illegally occupying one monastery in Rangoon and breaking into two others. Development Needs Transparent Society: 88 Generation Students http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23072 21-Feb-2012 Leaders of the 88 Generation Students group have urged the public and government to unite and form a transparent society as a crucial factor to achieve development in Burma. “A society with transparency will drive forward with consideration and consciousness, freedom, openness and honesty. From this, we believe the society will create the main strength to drive the development of the country,” group leader Ko Ko Gyi said in a speech in Hinthada, Irrawaddy Division, on Monday. The 50-year-old explained that authorities of every government sector must throw away their fear regarding participation with the public. He added that society today has no transparency and is overwhelmed with fear, while there remains a hierarchical commend system which maintains a gap between the people and the authorities. Min Ko Naing, another 88 Generation Students leader, also urged those present to remember what unity between people could achieve—especially opposing the planned 6,000-megawatt Myitsone hydropower dam at the Irrawaddy confluence which was recently halted by the new government. He added that the Students Union is needing for a transparent society as the future of the country is in the hands of its youth, the students, and he highlighted the participation of students in every political movement in the history of Burma. “The youth and students must have ability and no fear—for example, they must have knowledge and know to point out bravely what they need in their education system, such as request to change the old syllabus which is out of date today,” said Min Ko Naing. Ko Ko Gyi is now at Thayat, Magwe Division, attending the opening ceremony of the township office of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. He is also meeting with local people and donating food for political prisoners who remain in Thayat prison. The dissident group will also take a tour to Kachin state on Feb. 23. Meanwhile, Min Ko Naing and the 88 Generation Students launch a booklet of press statements—questions and answers of their press conference in Rangoon—on Tuesday to spread the message of their mission to the Burmese people. A press release of their January meeting highlighted that they will work with political reformers and support Suu Kyi in the upcoming by-elections scheduled for April 1. Burma Aims to be Role Model for Media, Says Govt Official http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23071 21-Feb-2012 Burma’s media will serve as a role model for the Southeast Asian region as the long-isolated country opens up, said Ye Htut, a senior official from the Ministry of Information. In an interview with The Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw, Ye Htut, the director general of the Information and Public Relations Department in the Ministry of Information, said that Burmese media freedom can now be said to be better when compared to nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Laos. “In Singapore, publications cannot publish news about the opposition on their front pages. Malaysia is the same. We are now better than Singapore, Malaysia and Laos. I hope our media will become a role model within Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations],” he said. Ye Htut also said that government servants in the past were afraid to talk to the media as they were restricted, and feared for their careers. “It was not because they were afraid to talk to the press. It was because they had to be very careful about what they said. There were no guidelines or public relations training to instruct them on how to address the media,” he said. Ye Htun added that spokespersons for all respective government departments will deal with the media. “We also plan to host public relations training for civil servants from all government departments,” said Ye Htut. Asked his opinion about exile Burmese media, Ye Htut said that in the past there were misunderstandings between the government and exile media organizations. While the government misunderstood and accused exile media, the exile media also thought that the government didn’t want change and only wanted to hold on to power. “Now I think we have met in the middle. If you [exile media] write something wrong, we will inform you. And you can now ask us if you want to know something,” said Ye Htut. He said that international technicians may come to Burma to help build an infrastructure for Internet and communications. “Presently, we only have one door. They should come and open more doors for us or teach us how to open these doors by ourselves,” he said. The official said that Naypyidaw is currently discussing a media law which will probably be in place by late 2012. The Press Scrutiny and Registration Division will be phased out after that new law comes into effect, he said. However, he said that the censorship board will remain as a watchdog for media groups. It will monitor the press, solve problems and oversee violations of copyright, he said, adding that he had personally worked on drafting this media law since 2008 when he went to Europe to observe foreign media laws. “We went overseas to learn about media law starting in 2008. We took as a model the Press Complaints Commission in England. This group consults, monitors and solves disputes when plaintiffs wish to sue publications,” said Ye Htut. “We think we will call this board the ‘Media Freedom and Ethnic Promotion Committee’. It will include journalists, well-known lawmakers, and representatives from the Press Complaints Commission,” he added. Ye Htut said that Burma started to allow for media freedom in 2008 and has since permitted constructive criticism against the government. “In the past, the censors even controlled the news about celebrities,” he said. “For example, the censorship board rejected news about celebrities who had died from drugs overdoses.” Although Rangoon-based journals still have to pass through state censors, the government announced in June last year that publications and articles focusing on sports, technology, entertainment, health and children’s issues no longer had to be submitted. With the approval of Parliament, the media law will not be biased in determining who can apply to start up publications, said Ye Htut. The media law will be submitted to the Attorney General’s office where it may be amended. Then it will be sent to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [combined Houses of Parliament] for approval. Journalists and publishers will also be invited to offer ideas, he said. Chin National Day Celebrated http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23070 21-Feb-2012 A community hall in West Delhi is buzzing with Chin refugees dressed in colorful traditional costumes. Smiles light up the faces of everyone—young and old. The air is alive with traditional songs as the 64th anniversary of Chin National Day is celebrated. Several girls are busy in the corner arranging their dresses as they prepare to perform a traditional dance. Their audience, meanwhile, are busy indulging in an array of mouthwatering sweets and homemade dishes in the opposite corner. “I would be much happier if I could celebrate National Day in our Chin Land,” said Diana, a Chin refugee who now lives in New Delhi. “I feel that this environment is quite different from our land. However, we are Chin and the spirit to celebrate our national day is deep in our heart.” After Burma won independence from Britain, Chin leaders set out to inaugurate a Chin National Day. Feb. 20 was an overwhelmingly clear choice as there was a series of historical events that coincided on that date. It was on the 20th of February in 1928 that the Chin Hills Union Organization was established in Hlatui village in Kapetlet Township. And exactly 10 years later, on Feb. 20, 1938, the Chin Patriots submitted its nine proposals to the British colonial government. Then, 10 years to the day later—on Feb. 20, 1948—the General Assembly of Chin Land was held in Falam in Chin State. At the general assembly, representatives of the Chin people voted to overturn their traditional feudal system and adopt a democratic method of electing local and state leaders. The first Chin National Day was celebrated on that auspicious date in 1951 in Mindat, Chin State, and the event was attended by Burma’s first prime minister, U Nu. “We organize this special day every year so that the Chin people can get together to remember our history and to spread our valuable culture to our young people,” said Rose Zahaung, a member of the Chin Students’ Union in New Delhi. There are an estimated 20,000 ethnic Chin refugees living in New Delhi. Of course, Chin people inside Burma celebrate the anniversary, too, although it has been adapted and changed in name. “Today we celebrate Chin State Day—not National Day,” explained a resident of Hakha, the capital of Chin State. “We have many cultural traditions, but are afraid our history may disappear. It is our duty to urge the government to allow us to celebrate our National Day.” Chin National Day celebrations were modified after a new Constitution was introduced in 1974. Many Chin people express fears that this was the first step toward slowly erasing their culture. “We feel that the regime tried to abolish the ethnic identity of the Chins by taking away their rights,” said Col. Solomon Thang Ding of the Chin National Front. Over the past few decades, thousands of Chin people have fled the conflict in their homeland and taken refuge in other countries. Others have left due to economic hardship and a lack of opportunity for their children. “I would like to urge all Chin people around the world to bring back what they have learned from developed countries,” said Solomon Thang Ding. “Then we can work together in our Chin Land and better develop our society.” Naypyidaw 'Seriously Considers' Election Observers http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23069 21-Feb-2012 Burma’s President Thein Sein has told the visiting head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) that the country may allow observers from the regional bloc to monitor by-elections in April. According to a statement released by Asean on Tuesday, Thein Sein told the grouping's secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan, that Naypyidaw “will seriously consider having observers from Asean and the Asean Secretariat during the April elections.” Surin is currently leading a delegation from the Asean Secretariat on a four-day visit to Burma. Thein Sein and Surin also agreed that such a move will boost transparency, which will add to the international goodwill that Burma has attracted so far. Besides the election, the two leaders also discussed other issues. “Job creation is our top priority. We want to create as many jobs as we can, so Myanmar [Burmese] workers can work in the country, and ease the burden on our neighboring countries like Thailand and Malaysia,” Thein Sein said. He added that plans for a deep-sea port, as well as special industrial zones, are already in the pipeline to meet the objective of job creation. The Asean chief arrived in Burma on Monday to assess the country's readiness to assume the chairmanship of the regional grouping in 2014. Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, who also met Surin, said that plans and preparations are underway to make sure Burma is ready for the 2013 Southeast Asia Games, as well as chairing the Asean Meetings in 2014. He agreed with Surin that Burma can learn from the experience of other Asean members and the Asean Secretariat in hosting major events and meetings. Burma’s foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, also gave his assurances that Burma is ready and willing to cooperate with the rest of Asean in meeting its commitment to the region. But he added that the lifting of sanctions would help matters a lot more. The United States and other countries with sanctions on Burma have said that a free and fair election in April will be key to deciding how soon the punitive measures are lifted. Burma's bid for the Asean chairmanship was approved by other members of the bloc last November, at around the same time that the opposition National League for Democracy announced that it would register to contest the by-elections after boycotting a general election in November 2010. Under the previous military regime, Burma was forced to skip its turn in 2006 to chair Asean in the face of international condemnation of its record of human rights violations and lack of democratic progress. Burma’s Election Commission Lifts Campaign Restrictions after NLD Complaints http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23068 21-Feb-2012 Burmese election authorities lifted restrictions on political campaigning on Monday in an unusually swift response to complaints by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party. The National League for Democracy (NLD) said earlier in the day that the restrictions risked making upcoming by-elections unfair. The state Union Election Commission's decision to lift all restrictions was unusual. Bureaucratic wheels grind slowly even where there are no political hurdles in the country where an elected, nominally civilian government took office almost a year ago after a half-century of military rule. NLD spokesman Nyan Win had said the party was facing difficulty in getting permission to use public venues for its meetings ahead of the April 1 polls. “What we want is fair play but the restrictions have increased lately. It is very difficult to say that the upcoming by-elections could be free and fair,” Nyan Win told reporters. Later Monday, however, he said the state Union Election Commission had informed the party that “all restrictions are lifted for the organizational activities.” “There is now a flicker of hope,” Nyan Win commented. Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is running for one of the 48 parliamentary seats being contested in April. Her party overwhelmingly won a 1990 general election but the military refused to allow it to take power. The NLD boycotted a 2010 general election, saying the rules were unfair. It agreed to rejoin electoral politics last year when the new military-backed elected president, Thein Sein, began implementing democratic reforms. The government has released political prisoners and amended some election laws among other changes, while arguing that Western political and economic sanctions imposed because of the repression under the past military regime should be lifted. The US and other nations have specifically cited a fair election as a benchmark by which Thein Sein's administration will be judged. Nyan Win, also the NLD's campaign manager, had said some government organizations blocked the party's campaign activities even though the election commission had approved them. He said Sports Minister Tint Hsan had objected to the NLD's use of football fields in three constituencies—Hlegu in northern Rangoon Division, the central city of Mandalay and the Irrawaddy Delta town of Pyapon—after local election commissions had approved such meetings. Tint Hsan's son, Phyo Ko Ko Tint Hsan, is a candidate in the by-elections for the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Nyan Win also said the election commission in Mogaung Township in Kachin State had refused to allow the NLD to organize in a village called Namti on security grounds. Sporadic but sometimes fierce fighting has been waged in Kachin State between government troops and ethnic Kachin rebels, who have long sought more autonomy and have faced increased repression in the past year. “The authorities said they will not give permission for the NLD to campaign in Namti village because of security reasons. If security in the region is good enough for the government to hold elections, then it is inappropriate to ban organizational activity based on security grounds,” Nyan Win said. Nyan Win said the party would now be allowed to campaign in Namti. Suu Kyi is scheduled to visit Kachin State this Thursday and Friday on an organizational trip. 88-generation students to visit Kachin State http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6627-88-generation-students-to-visit-kachin-state.html Tuesday, 21 February 2012 21:27 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A group of 88-generation student leaders will visit Myitkyina Township in Kachin State to attend a prayer ceremony to mark the suspension of the Myitsone Dam Project. The prayer ceremony at Tanhpre village on Friday, near the Myitsone Dam project site, is meant to express gratitude to the government, which suspended the project, and to pray that the project will not be resumed, said Mya Aye, an 88-generation student member. “We will attend because Kachin young people and Kachin community leaders invited us,” Mya Aye said. Residents who had to relocate because of the project, young people from Myitkyina and community leaders will participate along with members of all major religions, said organizers. An organizer told Mizzima that 88-generation students and Rangoon journalists were invited because the two groups were involved in activities urging the government to stop the Myitsone Dam project. While in the area, they may also work to understand the plight of Kachin war refugees, said organizers. “Their visit will mean that Kachin war refugees might receive their help. They were involved in activities urging [the government] to stop the dam. I hope that they can be involved in activities to try to establish peace in Kachin State,” an organizer said. Mya Aye told Mizzima that 16 leaders of the 88-generation students group, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and Jimmy have expressed support and sympathy for the war refugees. “Our objective is not just to attend the ceremony. Although we don’t have any money or materials to give to the war refugees, we can give them mental support,” Mya Aye said. Mya Aye said the 88-generation student group is readily available to mediate between the Burmese government and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) to achieve a cease-fire and establish peace in the country. “What can we do for the KIO or the government to end the war? We are readily available to mediate. We want peace. If they want us to help mediate, we will do it,” Mya Aye said. Meanwhile, sources said that the government and KIO would hold peace talks again in China in late February. Clashes between the two armies took place last week, sources said. Also, National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi plans to campaign in Myitkyina on Thursday and Friday, sources said. On Saturday, a group of 88-generation student leaders including Min Ko Naing will go to Mandalay and on February 28, seven 88-generation student leaders including Mya Aye, will return Rangoon. On September 29, 2011, President Thein Sein ordered the controversial Myitsone Dam project suspended after widespread pubic protests against the project, which is financed by China. Speaker Shwe Mann again pushes for pay increase http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6626-speaker-shwe-mahn-again-pushes-for-pay-increase.html Tuesday, 21 February 2012 21:08 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – After the Burmese finance minister opposed his motion to increase salaries for all government employees, Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann has again asked Parliament to raise government workers’ pay. In a message to Parliament on Tuesday, Shwe Mann said the minimum salary of government employees should be 100,000 kyat (US$ 122), Lower House MP Khaing Khin Maung Yee told Mizzima. He said Shwe Mann’s message to lawmakers noted that the daily wage of workers around Naypyitaw was about 2,000 kyat (US$ 2.44) per day and skilled workers and workers with more than five years experience earned up to 5,000 kyat (US$ 6.10) per day. Shwe Mann’s statement said, “The government will be good only if the government staff is good. The salaries and wages they get should be at an appropriate and reasonable level,” Khaing Khin Maung Yee said. Shwe Mann's motion is linked to an effort to end government corruption and abuse of authority, which some observers say is at least partially the result of low pay. Shwe Mann said in a speak to Parliament that almost all government employees take "tea money" or charge for routine services as a way to supplement their salaries. Previously, Shwe Mann had introduced a motion to Parliament on February 7, saying salaries should be set at the level they were in 1959-60. But Finance and Revenue Minister Hla Tun spoke against the proposal, telling Parliament that the current budget deficit of 2,517 billion kyat (US$ 3.1 billion) would be increased to more than 6,600 billion kyat (US$ 8.1 billion) if the salaries of all government staff were increased to the 1959-60 level. Hla Tun also argued that the pay increase would create inflation, commodity prices would rise and economic instability would result if the state borrowed funds to pay for the salary increase. He said a pay increase should be considered in the 2013-14 fiscal year. He suggested increases in wages for 37,817 government workers serving in 85 remote townships where they face hardship service. MP Kyi Myint told Mizzima that if the motion is not withdrawn it must be decided by a joint session of Parliament. In other Parliament business, on February 16 Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Myint Hlaing told lawmakers that the government would continue only the Shwehlanbo River water- pumping project in Singai Township, Mandalay Region. A total of 41 similar water-pumping projects had been included in the 2012-13 budget. He said a total of 270 small-scale water- pumping projects across the country (for under 2,000 acres) would be handed over to the local governments concerned. Burma will upgrade two airports to international status http://www.mizzima.com/business/6622-burma-will-upgrade-two-airports-to-international-status.html Tuesday, 21 February 2012 15:03 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – Burma is planning to create two more international airports, one in Bago to serve central Burma, and one at the Dawei deep-sea port project in the south, according to Civil Aviation Department officials. Both airports, which already exist, will be upgraded to international standards. Foreign investment is invited, most probably from Japan and Singapore, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. The two planned airport upgrades will become the Hanthawaddy International Airport in central Bago region, about 80 kilometres from Rangoon, and the Dawei International Airport at the Dawei deep-sea port in southern Tanintharyi Region. The existing Dawei domestic airport will be upgraded to international status within three years at a cost of about US$ 4 million, officials at the Civil Aviation Department were quoted as saying. The Italian-Thai Development Public Company is now expanding the Dawei airport runway and expansion of other facilities will follow, said the news agency. At present, Burma has three international airports, and 29 regional airports; international airports are located in Rangoon, Naypyitaw and Mandalay. Construction of the Dawei deep-sea port and industrial zone with road and rail links to Thailand is now underway. The project, which is estimated to cost $13 billion, is projected to be completed in 10 years in three phases. Tai Yi strike to go to arbitration court http://www.zonketours.co.za/ Tuesday, 21 February 2012 13:29 Ko Pauk New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Tai Yi footwear factory strikers in a Rangoon industrial zone will take their case to the government Trade Dispute Committee arbitration court on Wednesday, Mizzima has learned. The 1,845 workers, now in the 14th day of the strike, agreed to file a suit with the Mayangon Township trade dispute committee, said their lawyer, Pho Phyu. The workers, mostly women from rural areas, are asking for 150 kyat (19 cents) per hour. The factory owner offered 100 kyat (13 cents) per hour, which the workers rejected. The working hours at the factory are from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Workers are also asking for an 8,000-kyat bonus for those who have no absences for one month and better working conditions. Pho Phyu said that so far the company’s management and the authorities have not harassed or threatened the workers. “The number of police in the area isn’t much,” he said. “They have 14 military personnel with 14 motorcycles, seven motorcycles on each end of the road. They didn’t bring truncheons with them on previous days, but they brought riot gear on Monday,” he said. He said that if the workers take the case to arbitration, they would not have the right to continue their strike. Most workers did not want to continue the strike until security forces broke it up, so arbitration was the best course at this point, he said. “The court will hear our complaint and see our written statements. Both parties can say what they want to argue and defend in the court. Some of these trade disputes can be resolved between employers and employees. But some of these cases are appealed to a higher court if one party can not accept the verdict,” Pho Phyu said. Pho Phyu, attorney Duwa Khun Mar Mai and other colleagues are providing legal aid in the case. The Tai Yi footwear factory is a Chinese-owned company that has faced similar labour strikes for the past three years in row. Officials with the Labour Department and officials from region and township-level labour departments met with the factory owner and a workers’ committee to try to resolve the dispute on February 13, but they could not agree on the amount of increase in hourly wages. Ban on Suu Kyi rallies is lifted http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6620-ban-on-suu-kyi-rallies-is-lifted.html Tuesday, 21 February 2012 12:11 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – Within hours after the main Burmese opposition party publicly accused a government minister of hampering its campaign activities, the military-dominated government lifted a ban on rallies by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Union Election Commission (UEC) said on Monday evening a ministerial order from the sports minister restricting campaign rallies in stadiums had been lifted, after the National League for Democracy Party complained in a press conference that the campaign process was not free and fair. Election commission officials contacted the NLD and said the ban on the use of sports stadiums and grounds, which had been denied in several instances in recent weeks, was no longer in effect. "It's a very significant change,'' campaign manager Nyan Win told Agence France Press. ''We are still hoping for fair play." In the NLD press conference on Monday, the sports minister, Tint Hsan, was named as the official responsible for the ban. He is a member of the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. The fairness of the April 1 by-election vote for 48 seats in various levels of the Parliament, mostly in the Lower House, is being studied carefully by the international community as a test of the newly elected government’s promise to hold a free and fair election. Western governments have said Suu Kyi’s judgment about the election’s fairness would be decisive in whether or not further sanctions are lifted on the military-dominated government. Campaign manager Nyan Win earlier had accused the country's biggest party, the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), of making promises of infrastructure and electricity upgrades that were tantamount to vote buying. He also said the government has prevented the NLD from holding election rallies in a village in Kachin State, citing security concerns. He said the restrictions were a threat to ree and fair elections. "So why do they hold by-elections in a constituency where they cannot ensure security?" Nyan Win asked. Suu Kyi’s campaign has attracted huge crowds and her party is expected to win many seats in Parliament, but all opposition parties combined will count for a small fraction of lawmakers. Supporters say the opposition’s power will be a matter of influence more than votes, and how successful it might be would be measured by how many USDP lawmakers support its programs. The current government is made up largely of former generals and businessmen, and Suu Kyi participation in the April 1 by-election is seen by some as a means for it to gain credibility and the lifting of Western sanctions. The U.S. and E.U. have already lifted some sanctions, but are awaiting the result of the election before removing more significant sanctions. Suu Kyi has said she trusts President Thein Sein, and believes that he is working sincerely to change the direction of the government, but much remains to be done to ensure the government is following his policies, especially at the lower-levels of government where change is slow to come. Observers note that there are hardline elements that remain protective of their power and privileges, both in the government and the military. BA-SSA stand-off in Tachilek http://www.english.panglong.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4435:ba-ssa-stand-off-in-tachilek&catid=86:war&Itemid=284 Tuesday, 21 February 2012 17:28 S.H.A.N. The Shan State Army (SSA) South that had signed the ceasefire agreement on 2December and the Burma Army are in a state of deadlock in Monghai, northwest of Tachilek, opposite Maesai, since last week, according to Lt-Col Gawn Zeun, Commander of the SSA’s Shan State East military region. “The Burma Army wants to push all our forces to the Thai-Burma border,” he said. “This is our land of birth. We cannot allow them to treat us this way.” The SSA claims that according to the agreement reached with Naypyitaw’s negotiator U Aung Min, it will operate outside the main motorroads and major towns, where Burma Army units are based. The Burma Army however argues, according to the signed agreements, the SSA is entitled to operate freely only in the Homong-Mong Hta area, opposite Maehongson and Chiangmai provinces. According to the 16 January agreement, Homong and Monghta subtownships are designated as seats of the SSA headquarters. Meeting Sao Yawdserk, SSA leader, in Chiangmai on 5 February, U Aung Min said he knew the Homong-Monghta area was not big enough to accommodate both the SSA and the thousands of civilians taking refuge near its bases. Accordingly he was looking for a suitable location. The SSA had requested that the resettlement area should be in Mongyawng township, as most of the areas along the Thai border have been occupied by the Wa people during the 1999-2001 forced relocations. “Unless something’s done, the stand-off can escalate into a pitched battle,” concluded Gawn Zeun. The SSA and Naypyitaw had earlier agreed to hold a third formal meeting but neither the date nor venue has been set. Loi Taileng, the SSA HQ, meanwhile, has lodged a formal complaint to Naypyitaw, said Yawdserk. It also included the killing of one SSA officer and his wife on 17 February while they were shopping at a village market in the Kyaukme-Hsipaw area. Burma army burns Kachin rice harvest http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2240-burma-army-burns-kachin-rice-harvest.html 21-Feb-2012 More than 1,500 Kg of rice recently harvested by farmers in war-torn Kachin state were set ablaze by government troops last week in Waingmaw township on the Myitkyina-Bhamo (Manmaw) road, eyewitnesses report. Soldiers from the Meiktila-based Light Infantry Division No. 88 were seen on February 16 and 17 ransacking a series of rice paddies in Mali Yang village. The arson attack followed heavy fighting in the area between the Burmese army and troops belonging to Brigade 5 of the Kachin Independence Army. [B]According to a local villager, the farms belonging to three separate families were destroyed, Kachin News Group has omitted the names of the individuals for their safety. The largest loss came after a storage hut housing approximately 1,050 Kg rice burned to the ground. Two families nearby lost 525 Kg and 63 Kg of rice when their farms and homes were also torched.[/B] Looting or destroying farmer's harvest is a common tactic deployed by Burma's army to carry out collective punishment in conflict zones. Recent reports released by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights show that civilians in Kachin and northern Shan state have borne the brunt of the army's nine month offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization. [B]Atrocities against civilians continue to mount in February[/B] [B]In stark contrast to the Thein Sein government's self described democratic reforms the country's armed forces continued to kill unarmed civilians this month. On February 2, troops from the Meiktila-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 113 shot an unarmed Kachin couple in Han Htet village Manje (Mansi) township in southern Manmaw (Bhamo) district.[/B] Nam Gam who was walking to his rice paddy was fatally wounded during the incident which left his wife severely injured. According to eyewitnesses Nam Gam's shooting was unprovoked. Although the conflict between the KIO and government troops saw a brief lull earlier this year, the intensity of the fighting has gradually increased over the past few weeks. Fighting has been particularly intense in northern Shan State along the proposed route of the Shwe gas pipeline project. Peace talks between the two sides which were expected to be held last week failed to occur after the Burmese government delegation objected to meeting again in China.
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