(1) NLD spokesperson’s trial begins in Naypyidaw : Source : DVB 27-Jun-12 The National League for Democracy’s spokesperson and campaign committee manager Nyan Win stood in trial yesterday over alleged false claims he issued concerning voter fraud in April’s by-elections. Read More--- (2) ‘No Assistance’ for Kachin Refugees : Source : RFA 2012-06-26 A new report condemns China’s inadequate response to ethnic refugees fleeing fighting in Burma.The Chinese government has flouted international law by failing to provide adequate food, water, and protection to thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden areas in northern Burma, a human rights group said Read More--- (3) Political solution necessary to fight drugs: report : Source : DVB 27-Jun-12 Shan Drug Watch published its 2012 annual report yesterday urging a political solution with armed ethnic groups in Burma. Read More--- (4) Trafficked migrants arrested in Mae Sot : Source : DVB 27-Jun-12 Police arrested 30 Burmese migrants who illegally crossed into Mae Sot yesterday, while they were in the process of being trafficked to Bangkok and central Thailand. Read More--- (5) Suu Kyi kicks off three day French tour : Source : DVB 27-Jun-12 President Francois Hollande told Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday that France would do everything possible to back the country’s democratic transition, as she visited Paris for the last leg of a landmark European tour. Read More--- (6) Peace committee holds talks with exile groups in Bangkok : Source : DVB 26-Jun-12 The government’s Peace Making Work Committee led by Railway Minister Aung Min met with Burmese opposition groups based in Thailand yesterday in Bangkok. Read More--- (7) China guilty of systemic abuse of Kachin refugees: HRW : Source : DVB 26-Jun-12 The Chinese government is guilty of systematic human rights violations against Kachin refugees fleeing violence in Burma, including the denial of vital humanitarian assistance and forced repatriation, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned. Read More--- (8) Thein Sein to discuss Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh : Source : DVB 26-Jun-12 The leaders of Burma and Bangladesh will discuss the issue of Rohingya refugees and related unrest near their shared border next month, Bangladesh’s ambassador in Rangoon said Monday. Read More--- (9) US Envoy Urges Continued Engagement with Burma : Source : VOA 27-Jun-12 CAPITOL HILL - U.S. engagement with Burma has been fruitful and should continue, said Derek Mitchell, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the first U.S. ambassador to Burma since the early 1990s. Mitchell testified Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering his nomination. Read More--- (10) Nearly 2,000 Displaced by Flooding in Myitkyina : Source : Irrwaddy 27-Jun-12 Up to 2,000 people have been forced to flee severe flooding in parts of Myitkyina after several days of heavy rain in northern Burma caused water levels on the Irrawaddy River to rise dramatically. Read More--- (11) Suu Kyi calls for more democracy and development : Source : Mizzima Wednesday, 27 June 2012 11:44 Mizzima News French President Francois Hollande told Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi upon here arrival on Tuesday that France supported “all actors” in Burma’s rapid democratic reforms, and Suu Kyi repeated her European tour themes that development cannot be substituted for democracy. Read More--- (12) Kachin Peace Remains Elusive : Source : Irrawaddy 27-Jun-12 Despite some positive results from peace talks between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government, the situation on the ground does not appear to be easing, with conflict ongoing and skirmishes reported in several locations on a near-daily basis. Read More--- (13) Indonesia cement company plans Burma plant : Source : Mizzima Wednesday, 27 June 2012 16:45 Mizzima News An Indonesian company will build a US$ 159 million cement plant in Burma with up to 1 million tonnes capacity a year, officials announced on Tuesday. Read More--- (14) No Removal of Sanctions, Only Suspension: US : Source : Irrawaddy 27-Jun-12 Asserting that its policy toward Burma is a “step-by-step” process, the US on Tuesday ruled out complete removal of economic sanctions against this Southeast Asian country, noting that based on the progress made by the new government, it finds it appropriate to only suspend these sanctions. Read More--- (15) Expats Cite Optimism in ‘New Burma’ : Source : Irrawaddy 27-Jun-12 Last August, President Thein Sein put out a call appealing to the thousands of Burmese nationals living in exile to come home. He asked that they use the skills and education developed abroad to support the country’s political and economic re-awakening—so ending the ‘brain drain” that has plagued Burma for decades. Read More--- (16) Burma Minister checks into Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic : Source : Karen 27-Jun-12 The Burma government’s peace-talk delegation led by Railway Minister U Aung Min, today made an early morning visit to Dr Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. Read More--- (17) Opium, heroin and “ice” flowing out of Burma : Source : Mizzima Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:44 Mizzima News The fight against narcotics faces increasing challenges amid a bumper poppy harvest in Burma this year, Chinese officials said on Tuesday, which marked International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Read More--- (18) 78 dead in sectarian violence: gov’t figures : Source : Mizzima Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:30 Mizzima News A total of 78 people were killed in the bloody sectarian violence in Burma's Rakhine State from May 28 to June 24, according to government figures released on Tuesday. The widespread killings grew out of revenge killings in the murder and rape of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men on May 28. Read More--- (19) Yawdserk “hopes” Naypyitaw will stop using drugs as political game : Source : Panglong Wednesday, 27 June 2012 15:02 S.H.A.N. Lt-Gen Yawdserk, interviewed on the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking, 26 June, said as long as Naypyitaw is handle, the drug problem as a political game, the problem will not be resolved. Read More--- (20) Human Rights Watch says Kachin refugees in China face dire situation : Source : Kachin 27-Jun-12 The US NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Tuesday criticizing China for forcibly sending hundreds of Kachin refugees back to Kachin and northern Shan state where fighting is taking place. Read More--- (21) Senators press US on Myanmar petroleum investment : Source : Google 28-Jun-12 WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican and a Democratic senators and American businesses are pressing the U.S. government to allow investment by oil and gas companies in Myanmar as the U.S moves to suspend economic sanctions against that country. Read More--- (22) Myanmar's Suu Kyi honoured in Paris near end of Europe tour : Source : Channelnews 27-Jun-12 PARIS: Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, nearing the end of her triumphant Europe tour in France, accepted another award on Wednesday as she became an honorary citizen of Paris. Read More--- (23) US senators press for Myanmar oil investment : Source : News 28-Jun-12 US senators said they planned to move quickly to confirm the first US ambassador to Myanmar in two decades, as they pushed to allow investment in the country's oil and gas sector. Read More--- (24) Burmese government continue to arrest IDPs fleeing from conflict areas : Source : Kachin 25-Jun-12 A warden from the Jan Mai Kawng Baptist Church camp has been arrested by Myitkyina-based Military Affairs Security Unit who is investigating a bomb attack.There are about 700 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camp. Read More--- NLD spokesperson’s trial begins in Naypyidaw 27-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/nld-spokesperson%E2%80%99s-trial-begins-in-naypyidaw/22656 The National League for Democracy’s spokesperson and campaign committee manager Nyan Win stood in trial yesterday over alleged false claims he issued concerning voter fraud in April’s by-elections. On Tuesday, Zabuthiri township’s court in Naypyidaw commenced the legal proceedings and judges heard the prosecutor’s opening arguments. “[The court] heard the prosecutors’ accounts today, but set the next [court date] for July 6th,” said Nyan Win’s lawyer Kyaw Ho. “U Nyan Win was sued for allegedly providing false information that ballots were waxed. We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. We argued that he didn’t provide any false information.” During the April by-elections, the NLD’s spokesperson claimed ballots had been tampered with at a polling station in Pubbathiri. After investigating the allegation, the Union Election Commission announced on 9 May that the NLD’s complaints were a ‘sham’ and filed charges against Nyan Win. The UEC’s director Thaung Hlaing filed suit against the NLD’s Nyan Win under section 182 of the penal code: for providing false information to a public servant and for making a claim in a press conference during the 1 April by-elections that ballot-tickets in several polling stations were coated in wax. If found guilty, Nyan Win could be imprisoned for up to six months or fined. ‘No Assistance’ for Kachin Refugees 2012-06-26 http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/refugees-06262012165817.html A new report condemns China’s inadequate response to ethnic refugees fleeing fighting in Burma.The Chinese government has flouted international law by failing to provide adequate food, water, and protection to thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden areas in northern Burma, a human rights group said Tuesday. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at least 7,000 to 10,000 refugees had fled across the border to China since clashes between the military and rebels in northern Burma’s Kachin state broke out last June. The refugees lack access to food, potable water, and healthcare and have not received enough assistance from China, HRW said in the report, titled “Isolated in Yunnan.” “What we found is a group of refugees in a desperate situation, who have received no humanitarian assistance from the Chinese government since they started arrived in Yunnan in June 2011,” HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said at a press conference in Bangkok. “China has not permitted major humanitarian agencies … to assist these refugees either,” he said, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN agency that coordinates refugee crisis response worldwide. Local nongovernmental organizations and religious groups have been supporting the refugees, but are strained far beyond capacity, the group said. Forced to return The report accused China of turning some 300 refugees away at the border, in some cases forcing them to return to conflict zones in Burma. “The Chinese government has generally tolerated Kachin refugees staying in Yunnan, but now needs to meet its international legal obligations to ensure refugees are not returned and that their basic needs are met,” said Sophie Richardson, HRW’s China director. “China has no legitimate reason to push them back to Burma or to leave them without food and shelter.” Chinese authorities have also subjected Kachin refugees to roadside drug testing, arbitrary fines, and prolonged and abusive detention, all without due process or judicial oversight, the group said. HRW’s Robertson urged China to stick to its international commitments to assist refugees. “China is a party to the 1951 Refugees Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as other international human rights treaties that require China to not only recognize refugees, but also to provide protection to these refugees, and to also cooperate with UNHCR in its operation of its refugee protection mandate,” he said. Beijing rejected the allegations, disputing the refugee status of the Burmese and dismissing the notion that the government has not provided aid. “Since early this year, there have been military conflicts between [Burma’s] military government and armed ethnic groups. Some of the [Burmese] have come to China because of safety issues. They are not refugees,” said Hong Lei, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Moreover, they will return to Myanmar [Burma] as soon as the conflicts end. China has been providing humanitarian aid to those people during their time in China,” he said, using another name for Burma. Regional violence Fighting in northern Burma between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Burmese military forces has created a regional humanitarian crisis, displacing an estimated 75,000 people. Both sides have been implicated in the use of landmines and child soldiers, in violation of international rules. A 17-year ceasefire agreement ended in June of last year when Burmese forces moved in to close a KIA militia camp, rekindling the conflict. Tens of thousands have been displaced since then. The conflict has intensified in recent months, with stepped-up attacks from both sides. The KIA killed four government officials in April and blasted multiple rail lines, and government forces reportedly shelled several KIA bases in a recent helicopter attack. The KIA represents a Kachin ethnic minority centered in the northern Kachin state that is fighting the Burmese regime for greater autonomy. Political solution necessary to fight drugs: report 27-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/political-solution-necessary-to-fight-drugs-report/22650 Shan Drug Watch published its 2012 annual report yesterday urging a political solution with armed ethnic groups in Burma. In the report, the narcotics watchdog argues that a political solution would more effectively curb drug production than eradication programmes, which is currently being pushed by the Burmese government. The SDW, which is run by Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, held a press conference in Chiang Mai on 26 June – the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking – to launch the report. The document – Political Settlement: A win-win solution for all – said despite 13 years of implementing eradication programmes drug output from the region is still soaring. In 1999, the then ruling junta launched a 15-year plan that aimed to permanently eliminate drugs from Burma. However with two years left, 18 out of 20 of the townships that had been targeted for opium elimination continue to cultivate the drug. “Numerous People’s Militia Forces (PMF), set up by the Burma Army to assist in their operations against rebel forces, have become key players in the drug trade, both heroin and ATS [amphetamine-type stimulants]” stated the report. “Yet government complicity in the tangled drug problem is being conveniently ignored by the international community as it embraces Burma’s new administration.” The SDW said opium cultivation and production in Burma surged in the 2011-2012 growing season and is continuing to increase despite high-level of arrests of leading drug kingpins, such as Naw Kham in eastern Shan State’s Golden Triangle area who served in a government-backed milita on the Thai-Burma border. “It’s time to end the vicious cycle of new druglords emerging and being scapegoated over and again. The political root causes of the drug problem must be tackled,” said Khuensai Jaiyen, principal author of the Shan Drug Watch report. “If the government can accept these wishes [from ethnic opposition groups] then they’ll have reach to a political settlement and will no longer be enemies with each other, which will then facilitate the rule of law. Once this happens, they should be able to solve the drug problems.” According to the World Drug Report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime yesterday, Burma remains the world’s second largest producer of opium behind Afghanistan. In Burma “potential opium production increased from 580 tons in 2010 to 610 in 2011” – an increase of 14 percent, reported the UNODC. Trafficked migrants arrested in Mae Sot 27-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/trafficked-migrants-arrested-in-mae-sot/22646 Police arrested 30 Burmese migrants who illegally crossed into Mae Sot yesterday, while they were in the process of being trafficked to Bangkok and central Thailand. The Burmese nationals comprised of 15 men and 15 women, had allegedly paid human traffickers around 10,000 Baht each to hide them in a truck carrying pumpkins that was en route to central Thailand and Bangkok. The migrants were arrested by police at a traffic checkpoint on the outskirts of Mae Sot town. According to a Thai police officer, the migrants were found hiding underneath the pumpkins. The two Thai nationals driving the truck were arrested and later admitted that they’d been paid 10,000 Baht per person from the traffickers who were supposed to pick up the migrants at undisclosed locations in central Thailand. Experts estimate that there may be as many as three million migrants from Burma working in Thailand, who provide crucial low-cost labour to the kingdom’s economy. However, Burmese migrants often face regular exploitation, including extortion, workplace abuse and poor wages and lack of access to justice. During Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Thailand in late May, the opposition leader promised to address the treatment of Burmese migrants during her meetings with Thai officials and said she was committed to improving conditions in Burma so that migrants could return home in the future. Suu Kyi kicks off three day French tour 27-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/suu-kyi-kicks-off-three-day-french-tour/22642 President Francois Hollande told Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday that France would do everything possible to back the country’s democratic transition, as she visited Paris for the last leg of a landmark European tour. Hollande told the pro-democracy icon that France will support “all actors” in Burma’s reforms and that Paris was ready to welcome reformist President Thein Sein if he wanted to visit. Suu Kyi meanwhile called for investment in her country’s struggling economy, but not at the expense of democratic reforms. “I reaffirm here that France will support all the actors in [Burma]‘s democratic transition and will do everything possible with… the European Union so that this process goes to the end,” Hollande said at a joint press conference with Suu Kyi in the Elysee Palace. Asked about Thein Sein, who Britain last week invited to visit, Hollande said: “If he wants to come, he will come.” Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, 67, came to France after warm welcomes in Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Britain and was treated with honours normally accorded a head of state, including a dinner with Hollande and other top officials. Suu Kyi was freed from nearly two decades of house arrest in November 2010 and became a lawmaker earlier this year as part of a gradual transition towards democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. She has used the European tour to call for transparent investment in Burma. “We need democracy as well as economic development,” she said. “Development cannot be a substitute for democracy, it must be used to strengthen the foundations of democracy.” Suu Kyi said “financial transparency in the extractive industries and in fact business in general” were essential to investment. She said efforts still needed to be made to convince the Burmese regime of the need for democratic reforms but that Sein seemed sincere. “I believe that the president is sincere and I believe that he is an honest but I cannot speak for everybody in the government,” she said. “I don’t think we can say it (reform) is irreversible until such time as the army is committed to that.” Wearing a green dress, pink shawl and yellow flowers in her hair, Suu Kyi was earlier greeted by well wishers as she arrived in Paris by train from Britain. “It’s a very great joy… Seeing her here, free, it’s historic,” Pierre Martial, the head of the France Aung San Suu Kyi association, told AFP at the Paris train station. “She is a fantastic role model. She made horror and dictatorship retreat through non-violence, it is very rare,” he said. During her three-day visit Suu Kyi will also meet Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and other top political leaders, as well as members of the local Burmese community and her supporters in human rights groups. Martial said her visit to France was motivated by a desire to thank her supporters in the country. “France is a symbol in the hearts of many” in Burma, he said. “It remains the country of human rights and it is a country that was very mobilised for her.” “Aung San Suu Kyi wanted to truly thank all those who helped her during these long years of repression.” She enjoyed strong support among rights groups in France and was the subject of 2011 French-English film biography, “The Lady”, directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson and starring Michelle Yeoh. Suu Kyi launched her European tour on 13 June in Switzerland and arrived in France from Britain, her home for years until she returned to fight for democracy in Burma, leaving her children and her English husband behind. On 16 June in Oslo she finally delivered her Nobel Peace Prize speech, 21 years after winning the award while under house arrest, pledging to keep up her struggle for democracy. Suu Kyi’s trip to Europe has been clouded by violence in western Burma where dozens have been killed and an estimated 90,000 people have fled clashes between Arakanese and the stateless Rohingya. Asked about the violence, Suu Kyi said democratic reform was essential to resolving civil conflicts. “We will need time to bring true harmony between the Muslims and the Buddhists,” she said. “What is most important at the moment is that we should establish rule of law,” she said. “We need to make sure that these citizenship laws are in line with international standards.” Peace committee holds talks with exile groups in Bangkok 26-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/peace-committee-holds-talks-with-exile-groups-in-bangkok/22636 The government’s Peace Making Work Committee led by Railway Minister Aung Min met with Burmese opposition groups based in Thailand yesterday in Bangkok. The committee’s delegation headed by Aung Min arrived in Bangkok yesterday morning and met with representatives from the Democratic Party for a New Society — a political party founded in 1988 by university students. The DPNS had the second largest member-base after Aung Sann Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. Many of the members were high school and university students who went into exile in 1991. The party is currently listed as an unlawful association in Burma. The DNPS’s chairman Aung Moe Zaw said Minister Aung Min promised to work to get the group’s name removed from the unlawful association list and would help facilitate a safe return for all the DPNS members to Burma. “Some of us were accused of criminal charges individually – I have been a legal fugitive since 1990 and we want those charges cleared as well,” said Aung Moe Zaw. “We expressed our wish to go back to Burma and work there as a [legitimate] political party – [the committee] said this is possible and they would try as much as they can.” The government’s delegation recommend the DNPS’s members to write a letter concerning their requests their wishes and the peace committee would speak with the president about the issues. The Burmese Immigration and Population Minister Khin Yi and Hla Maung Shwe, vice-president of Myanmar Egress and Tin Win, Burma’s ambassador in Thailand, also attended the meeting. This was the second round of talks between the peace committee and the DNPS. On Sunday Aung Min and the committee met with members of Generation Wave at Myanmar Egress’s office in Rangoon. Generation Wave formed in 2007 during the Saffron Revolution and were in exile in Thailand but returned to Burma earlier this year. The government delegation in Thailand is also scheduled to meet with representatives from the Karen National Union, the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), the Forum for Democracy in Burma and the All-Burma Students Democratic Front today. China guilty of systemic abuse of Kachin refugees: HRW 26-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/thein-sein-to-discuss-rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh/22625 The Chinese government is guilty of systematic human rights violations against Kachin refugees fleeing violence in Burma, including the denial of vital humanitarian assistance and forced repatriation, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned. Up to 10,000 Kachins live in squalid, makeshift camps in Yunnan province without access to the legal protection or humanitarian aid prescribed by international refugee law, while fighting rages between Burmese troops and Kachin rebels across the border. “Some Kachin refugee families have returned to Burma from Yunnan because of pressure from Chinese authorities or the lack of adequate humanitarian aid,” said the report. “There they are exposed to ongoing fighting, hostile Burmese army forces, and landmines that have been widely laid by both the Burmese army and the KIA [Kachin Independence Army].” The Chinese government has authorised a small number of local NGOs and church groups to operate along the border, but continues to block international aid or monitors from entering the region and refuses to recognise any of the refugees. As recently as May 2012, a government spokesperson dismissed the Kachin population as “border residents” who “come to visit friends and relatives.” According to the report, refugees “remain in dire need of shelter, food, safe water and sanitation, non-food items, and health care.” It further accuses the government of exploiting Kachins through discriminatory and abusive practices. “Most children have no access to schools. In search of income, adults seek day labor and are vulnerable to exploitation by local employers,” warned the report. “Other Kachin refugees have been subject to arbitrary roadside drug testing, arbitrary fines, and prolonged and abusive detention by the Chinese authorities, all without due process or judicial oversight.” As a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, HRW is adamant that China must do more. “The Chinese government has generally tolerated Kachin refugees staying in Yunnan, but now needs to meet its international legal obligations to ensure refugees are not returned and that their basic needs are met,” said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. “China has no legitimate reason to push them back to Burma or to leave them without food and shelter.” HRW has documented at least two bouts of refugees being refused entry or forced to return from China in June and November last year. “My aunt in Namhka tried to enter the China side in Nawngtaw,” explains an ethnic Lisu woman. “They all had passports but were turned away…[Chinese authorities] told them they are Burmese citizens and because of that they couldn’t enter.” The threat of refoulement has led to widespread fear among displaced Kachins, whose villages have often been razed to the ground by Burmese troops. “I don’t feel secure here at all because we are still on the border and too close to the Burma side,” a 25-year old refugee told HRW. “I worry as the fighting continues, if the Chinese don’t accept us, where will we go? Where can we live?” The KIA’s refugee committee (IRRC) recently told DVB that until late April residents in Laiza regularly witnessed Chinese soldiers at the official border gate express open hostility to Kachins crossing the border. “In the past when the situation got intense the soldiers at the border would practice pushing people away at the border using shields and sticks,” said Salang Kaba Doi Pyi Sa, head of the IRRC. “It was clearly to show that they would not accept refugees crossing into China.” Since then Kachin officials and local Chinese authorities have informally discussed the possibility of resettling refugees into camps in Yunnan province. But as of yet no progress has been made and it remains unclear whether these plans have received sanction from Beijing, notorious for its silence – and some say tacit complicity – in the Kachin conflict. In March, the Burmese army is reported to have crossed the border and executed a Chinese citizen, but even this elicited a measured response. “We thought that this time the Chinese government would be angry,” May Li Aung from humanitarian NGO Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN) told DVB. “But instead they brought food rations to the Burmese soldiers.” Local aid groups have continuously expressed concern about China’s recalcitrance as funding cuts precipitate a growing food and humanitarian crisis in the camps. All humanitarian supplies for displaced Kachins inside Burma must be smuggled across the border, while local authorities “look the other way.” “The Chinese government is not only legally obligated, but fully capable of temporarily protecting Kachin refugees and meeting their basic needs,” Richardson said. Violence between rebels and Burmese troops flared in June 2011 over a disputed territory near a Chinese-backed hydropower dam, ending a 17-year ceasefire. The Kachin Independence Organization cites concerns about large-scale development projects – largely dominated by Chinese economic interests – as a primary obstacle to durable peace. Thein Sein to discuss Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh 26-Jun-12 http://www.dvb.no/news/thein-sein-to-discuss-rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh/22625 The leaders of Burma and Bangladesh will discuss the issue of Rohingya refugees and related unrest near their shared border next month, Bangladesh’s ambassador in Rangoon said Monday. The topic will be on the agenda when Burmese President Thein Sein travels to Bangladesh from July 15-17 to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Major General Anup Kumar Chakma told AFP. “It is expected the Myanmar refugee issue will be discussed with more seriousness this time,” he said. “Bangladesh supports all actions (and) measures that are being taken by Myanmar to restore normalcy in [Arakan] State as early as possible.” Burmese government officials said they were unable to confirm the planned trip. Burma’s Arakan state, bordering Bangladesh, has been rocked by rioting, arson and a cycle of revenge attacks involving Arakanese and Rohingya communities this month, prompting growing international concern. More than 80 people have been killed in the violence, with sporadic outbreaks of violence still occurring, according to the Burmeses government, which has placed the whole of Arakan state under emergency rule. “The overall situation in Sittwe district is under control although the curfew is still in force,” he said by telephone. In recent weeks Bangladesh has turned away hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing the violence in Burma despite pressure from the US and rights groups to grant them refuge. The impoverished South Asian country is already home to a Rohingya refugee population estimated at 300,000. Speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by Burma’s government and many Burmese, prompting many to attempt to flee to third countries in rickety boats. US Envoy Urges Continued Engagement with Burma 27-Jun-12 http://www.voanews.com/content/us-envoy-urges-continued-engagement-with-burma/1262833.html CAPITOL HILL - U.S. engagement with Burma has been fruitful and should continue, said Derek Mitchell, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the first U.S. ambassador to Burma since the early 1990s. Mitchell testified Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering his nomination. Speaking on Capitol Hill, Mitchell paid tribute to political and economic reforms in Burma long advocated by the United States. “As the Burmese government has taken steps over the past year, so, too, has the United States, in an action-for-action approach," he said. "Each action we have taken in recent months has had as its purpose to benefit the Burmese people and strengthen reform and reformers within the system. This engagement should continue and expand.” The United States has eased some sanctions against Burma after it embarked on a process of liberalization, highlighted by this year’s landmark parliamentary elections. Democratic Senator James Webb of Virginia marveled at how far Burma has come since he visited the country in 2009. “The country was locked in isolation, keeping its government, military and people from exposure to the international community," Webb said. "Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest. Numerous other activists remained imprisoned. Conflicts with ethnic minority groups continued and challenged the unity of the country. The prospects for reform, opening up, and economic development looked bleak," he said. "Yet during that visit, one could clearly see the promise of a different future.” Webb said that promise has become reality, describing recent events in Burma as an “historic turning point." The senator advocated a level-headed U.S. policy going forward. “This is a country whose political system remains a challenge, but where positive conduct calls for reciprocal gestures," he said. "We should never take our concerns about political freedoms or individual rights off the table. We should make these concerns central to our engagement with all countries, including Burma. But we should also be promoting economic progress to sustain the political reforms that have taken place," he added. Derek Mitchell said he and the State Department have “no illusions” about the challenges that lie ahead in Burma. “As Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton has observed, reform is not irreversible," Mitchell warned. "And continued democratic change is not inevitable. We remain deeply concerned about the continued detention of hundreds of political prisoners and the conditions placed on those previously released, lack of the rule of law, and the constitutional role of the military in the nation’s affairs. Human-rights abuses, including military impunity, continue, particularly in ethnic minority areas,” he said. Mitchell currently serves as the State Department’s special coordinator for Burma policy. He has also worked for the U.S. Defense Department. Should he be approved by the Foreign Relations Committee, Mitchell’s nomination would then be submitted for a vote by the full Senate. Nearly 2,000 Displaced by Flooding in Myitkyina 27-Jun-12 http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/7887 Up to 2,000 people have been forced to flee severe flooding in parts of Myitkyina after several days of heavy rain in northern Burma caused water levels on the Irrawaddy River to rise dramatically. The flooding began two days ago in five quarters of the Kachin State capital, including Myit Thit Gyi, Rambu and Sitarpu. According to local sources, people living in those areas have taken shelter in monasteries, schools and churches in the city. “Around 1,500 to 2,000 people are staying in temporary shelters because of the flooding,” Kyaw Thiha, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy from Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. There are about 500 people staying at the Aung Zaeya Monastery alone, while many others are staying at churches or with relatives, he added. Two high schools and most primary schools in the affected areas have been closed, and electricity has also been cut. Some who fled said that they brought enough food to meet their needs for a few days, but worry that it might not last if the water doesn’t recede soon. Many others, however, are in immediate need of assistance. “The refugees don’t have enough food, clean drinking water and sanitation,” said Kyaw Thiha. He added that water levels have remained stable since this morning. Myitkyina was also heavily flooded in 1979 and 2004. Suu Kyi calls for more democracy and development Wednesday, 27 June 2012 11:44 Mizzima News http://www.mizzima.com/news/world/7397-suu-kyi-calls-for-more-democracy-and-development.html French President Francois Hollande told Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi upon here arrival on Tuesday that France supported “all actors” in Burma’s rapid democratic reforms, and Suu Kyi repeated her European tour themes that development cannot be substituted for democracy. At a joint press conference, she said, “We need democracy as well as economic development. Development cannot be a substitute for democracy, it must be used to strengthen the foundations of democracy.” She said “financial transparency in the extractive industries and in fact business in general” were essential to investment in Burma, a country that has lived for decades under military rule with little focus on transparency and development. She said more efforts are needed to convince officials in the newly elected ruling government of the need for democratic reforms. She said Burmese President Thein Sein seemed sincere in his rapid moves to institute reforms in the financial system, land ownership, banking, foreign investment, workers’ rights, health and to bring peace and national reconciliation to the Burmese people. “I believe that the president is sincere, and I believe that he is honest, but I cannot speak for everybody in the government,” she said. “I don't think we can say it [reform] is irreversible until such time as the army is committed to that.” Hollande said Thein Sein is welcome to visit France if he wishes. Asked about the recent sectarian violence in Burma that has claimed at least 60 lives, Suu kyi said the rule of law was needed in Burma. “We will need time to bring true harmony between the Muslims and the Buddhists,” she said, adding that citizenship laws must be “in line with international standards.” The minority Rohingya population, who are Muslim, are denied citizenship rights in Burma. Up to 90,000 refugees have been displaced in the unrest, according to some unofficial sources in the area. Suu Kyi, who is susceptible to air sickness, arrived in Paris on Tuesday by train from Britain. “It's a very great joy... Seeing her here, free, it's historic,” Pierre Martial, the head of a French Aung San Suu Kyi association, told Agence France Presse at the Paris train station. “She made horror and dictatorship retreat through non-violence; it is very rare,” he said. During her four-day visit, Suu Kyi will also meet Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and other top political leaders, as well as members of the local Myanmar community, supporters in human rights groups and speak to students at The University of Sorbonne. Suu Kyi launched her European tour on June 13 in Switzerland, where she spoke to the International Labour Organization before flying to Oslo, where she received the Nobel Peace Prize award, which had been given to her 21 years ago while she was under house arrest in Burma. She then flew to Dublin to receive an award from Amnesty International and from there to Britain, her home for years, where she received an honorary degree at Oxford University and later addressed a joint session of Parliament. Her reception across Europe has been compared with that given to a head of state. The leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi won a parliament seat this year in April. She will attend her first parliamentary session in July. Kachin Peace Remains Elusive 27-Jun-12 http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/7877 Despite some positive results from peace talks between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government, the situation on the ground does not appear to be easing, with conflict ongoing and skirmishes reported in several locations on a near-daily basis. The KIO said on Wednesday that government troops have launched military offensives this week against Kachin positions close to the group’s headquarters at Laiza on the Sino-Burmese border. Several other flashpoints were reported in northern Shan State where the KIO maintains bases. “The government troops resumed military activities around our headquarters,” said a KIO spokesperson. “They attacked using artillery and mortar shells.” High-ranking representatives from both sides have sat several times for negotiations in recent months, the latest round being on June 20 when a government delegation led led by Aung Min met with Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Vice-Chief of Staff Maj-Gen Sumlut Gun Maw in the town of Maijayang in Kachin State. The upshot of that meeting was a direct order from Naypyidaw to effectively “legitimize” the KIO by informally repealing Article 17/1, which prohibits the association of citizens with illegal organizations. Kachin mediator Hseng Aung, who was present at the talks, told The Irrawaddy that the KIO delegation had specifically requested that Article 17/1 be revoked at the Maijayang round, and that they had been asked to submit a list of political prisoners they expected to be released as a result of the agreement. Hseng Aung also said that Aung Min had laid out a map detailing the government’s proposal for the relocation of military bases to sites where both armies would be farther apart. The KIO said it would study the plan, and proposed reconvening talks at an unspecified time and place in the near future. But Col James Lum Dau, the KIO deputy chief of foreign affairs, told The Irrawaddy that despite the upbeat mood following the June 20 meeting, clashes have broken out between the sides almost every day, and that the Burmese army is focusing its efforts against KIA Brigades 4 and 5, in northern Shan State and near Laiza, respectively. James Lum Dau said that a KIA unit ambushed a Burmese army battalion in northern Shan State recently, resulting in at least eight deaths on the government side. He said that, in response, the Burmese army has intensified attacks against not only on KIA positions, but also against Kachin civilians. “The government troops have shot at farmers working in their paddy fields,” he said. “Two Kachin civilians were killed recently. One was a farmer and one was a Chinese man.” Fighting between the KIA and the Burmese army resumed on June 19 last year after an 18-year ceasefire. Some 60,000 Kachin villagers have been displaced as a result of the conflict, many of whom are currently taking refuge at camps on the Chinese side of the border. New York-based Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday that some 10,000 Kachin refugees in Yunnan Province are at risk of being forced to return to the conflict zone. It urged the Chinese authorities to provide temporary protection to the refugees and permit the United Nations and humanitarian agencies free access to them. Naypyidaw has recently reported that it has reached peace agreements with 10 ethnic rebel groups, and insists that the KIO is the only major armed ethnic group that hasn’t agreed to a ceasefire. Indonesia cement company plans Burma plant Wednesday, 27 June 2012 16:45 Mizzima News http://www.mizzima.com/business/7405-indonesia-cement-company-plans-burma-plant.html An Indonesian company will build a US$ 159 million cement plant in Burma with up to 1 million tonnes capacity a year, officials announced on Tuesday. PT Semen Gresik, Indonesia's biggest cement maker, will build the plant next year, chief executive Dwi Soetjipto said, according to domestic Indonesia media. “We will set up a joint-venture with a local partner to build a factory with a capacity of 600,000-1 million tonnes a year.” he said, based on anticipated demands for infrastructure as foreign companies move into Burma in the coming years. On Februrary 2, Mizzima reported that Siam City Cement Plc (SCCC) of Thailand was looking at building a cement plant in Burma. Managing director Philippe Arto said the company already had contacts and is studying potential investment locations throughout the country. “For SCCC, we see the real potential and are positive about Burma. We have to act fast to grow our business there,” he local media. SCCC was chosen as one of the prospective cement companies to be involved in the Dawei deep-sea port industrial project, according to an article published late last year. SCCC Executive Vice President Chantana Sukumanont confirmed that SCCC had already carried out a feasibility study to determine if a cement plant in Burma would yield favorable results. Arto was quoted as saying he was concerned, however, about “regulations and exchange rates.” Burma floated the exchange rate of the kyat last month, in a move designed to make foreign investment easier, and it is in the process of modernizing its financial system after years of neglect. Chantana said SCCC is also looking at acquiring other assets in Burma. No Removal of Sanctions, Only Suspension: US 27-Jun-12 http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/7791 Asserting that its policy toward Burma is a “step-by-step” process, the US on Tuesday ruled out complete removal of economic sanctions against this Southeast Asian country, noting that based on the progress made by the new government, it finds it appropriate to only suspend these sanctions. “This is a step-by-step process, and there’s quite a road to go, as I think our Burmese guests would agree with,” the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily news conference where in the audience were some invited guests—a delegation of advisors from the Office of the Presidency in Burma. The delegation is currently visiting the United States at the invitation of the Asia Society and the US Institute of Peace. “I think, as our Burmese visitors know better than anyone, we have been encouraging the kind of opening and reform that we are now seeing in Burma for many months,” she said. Referring to a question regarding US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the first US foreign minister to visit Burma since the 1950s, Nuland responded: “She said then that we would match action with action. “So as Burma has gone forward with free, fair, parliamentary elections, has taken steps on the border, has begun to talk about opening its economy, we’ve tried to match those steps. We’ve had the naming of an ambassador,” she said. “We’ve had the beginning of suspension of sanctions. We’re working now on being able to license our companies for investment, for trade, etcetera. But as we’ve said, these are suspensions,” she noted. “These are not erasing of sanctions because our continued progress is contingent on Burma’s own continued progress in terms of democratic reform, economic opening, peace and security, national reconciliation, and good human rights standards throughout the country,” Nuland said. Responding to a question on the Rohingya crisis in Burma, the spokesperson said the US has been urging Bangladesh to assume its international responsibilities. “We have had contacts with both governments. As you know, we have been urging Bangladesh to open its border to treat refugees properly. We’ve been supportive and encouraging of the UN’s Special Envoy, who, I understand, is now … working with the Burmese government, working with the Rohingya to try to have a dialogue about grievances, to try to settle issues peacefully. And also, as I understand it, the UN’s envoy will be traveling to Bangladesh,” she said. “I think the fact that they [Bangladesh and Burma] are in dialogue with the Burmese is a good thing. But again, we’d like to see that border open,” she said. Meanwhile the United Nations announced that the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, will witness the signing of an agreement on Thursday in Burma to release children from the country’s armed forces. The new action plan sets out concrete and time-bound activities to ensure the separation of underage recruits from the army children and to prevent further recruitment. While in Burma, Coomaraswamy will meet with Burmese President Thein Sein, government ministers, UN agencies, civil society and the diplomatic community, a UN spokesman said. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday will hold a full committee confirmation hearing on the nomination of Derek Mitchell as US ambassador to Burma. Expats Cite Optimism in ‘New Burma’ 27-Jun-12 http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/7780 Last August, President Thein Sein put out a call appealing to the thousands of Burmese nationals living in exile to come home. He asked that they use the skills and education developed abroad to support the country’s political and economic re-awakening—so ending the ‘brain drain” that has plagued Burma for decades. But exiles were not the only ones targeted—foreign expatriates, encouraged by the lifting of sanctions on the military-dominated nation or simply by opportunities that no longer seem possible in the West, have also descended on the country in droves. While some are businessmen and women racing to leverage their first-mover’s advantage in an untapped and resource-rich market, others are aid workers, physicians and skilled professionals hoping to lend an expert hand as the country rebuilds. Regardless of their motives, this talent infusion can be felt around the country, particularly in the former capital of Rangoon, injecting new life, energy and something akin to revelry. The city’s Strand Hotel has long been a bastion for wealthy foreigners. The mood during the Friday night happy-hour is almost festive as both new and seasoned expats loosen their ties over half-priced drinks. Tony Picon, originally from London, has spent much of the past two years in Rangoon as a research director for Colliers International, where he says rentals are topping US $60 per square meter compared with just $25 in Bangkok—a startling disparity only expected to grow. “Everyone wants to get into ‘new Myanmar,’” he says, describing the recently reformed country as better-connected, relatively untapped and increasingly business-friendly. As one of the “last frontiers” in Asia, and possibly the world, he believes Burma will soon throw off all remaining vestiges of its previous antiquation, which saw people pay for property in cash for the lack of a workable banking system. Picon says he came to Rangoon at exactly the right time and hopes to leverage his first mover’s advantage as Burma’s real estate market continues to mushroom. Of course, hurdles remain to doing business even in the age of new Burma and probably will for some time. Picon recalls frustratingly slowly email systems and local clients who do not always grasp his vision. One of the bigger challenges may be the shortage of accommodation available to expats, since finding units was tricky even before the country warmed to foreign investment. Another factor will be restoring and maintaining old colonial buildings to make Rangoon habitable without losing its distinctive heritage. Despite these quandaries, Picon is optimistic Burma’s number has finally come up. “The country’s location is its advantage,” he says, referring to its enviable position between global superpowers China and India. Indeed, some experts compare the country to Vietnam. This is not just because both are former pariah states with similarly sized populations, but also because Vietnam’s economy took off in the mid-90s upon repairing relations with the West—just as post-sanctions Burma may be poised to do now. Some expats such as Paul, who lived in Rangoon for around five years from the early 2000s, are returning to find a changed city, at least in certain regards. “Some things have changed, and others are the same,” he says, explaining that WiFi and growing internet connectivity are new developments as well as a general increase in living costs. The biggest difference might be the whiff of optimism in the air, he says, with a distinctive new atmosphere he describes as “cautiously optimistic.” But since the pollution, poverty and power cuts remain, Paul hopes to spearhead some social and environmental initiatives as soon as he gets resettled. “We might miss some things about the old Myanmar in a few years,” he says, speaking of the many development projects planned that may erase some of the charms that make Burma special. “But if the changes are creating new jobs and lessening poverty, then that is a good thing.” Nancy has also just returned to Rangoon after an absence of several years and is collaborating on a new project to provide practical work experience to Burmese students seeking a career in finance—a sector so woeful many once preferred to store kyat under their mattress rather than a local bank. “[The students] are at a disadvantage because the banking system in this country has been nonexistent for so many years,” she says, describing her project as offering Burmese banks the opportunity to send promising young people abroad to develop their skills at a competitive rate. Naturally, as Rangoon International Airport sees record arrivals, many expats work in tourism. Richard Mayhew, the general manager of Mandalay Hill Resort, a luxury hotel at the base of Mandalay Hill, has lived and worked in Burma for the past decade and saw more tourists than ever last season. Another hospitality executive revealed that 200,000 tourists came to Burma this season while 600,000 are expected next year. Similarly, a large number of expats in Burma run travel agencies that cater to tourists from their home countries. Nor is the Strand the only place where expats gather to talk shop. The 50th Street Bar & Grill, a Western-style sports pub just a few streets east, sees a similar energy while Burmese bands croon Western covers in the background. Here we meet Dr. Steven Siegal, an orthopedic surgeon from San Francisco on a “first pass trip” to determine the different ways US physicians can engage with Burmese doctors and medical institutions. While his project is in its early stages, Siegal feels optimistic after a promising discussion with the director of a Burmese medical institution, which included some frank talk about the challenges and potential of the sector. Calling this “a special time for Burma,” and certainly more conducive to such ventures than his first visit 13 years ago, Siegal plans to share his newfound knowledge with colleagues at home, round up funding and hopefully visiting again as early as October to lay the groundwork for long-term education and training programs. But not everyone is so optimistic. One foreign aid worker, who has lived on-and-off in Rangoon for the past decade, says nothing has changed on the ground for normal people and the promises of reform remain just that—promises. She gives the example of a recent conference held in the city where different ministers and government officials publically laid out their plans to develop a much-maligned sector. “People came away from the conference saying, ‘oh they’re so nice!’” she says, recalling the reactions of some of the newer expats to government proposals. “It’s not that they’ve ever been jerks face-to-face,” she says of the generals, describing politeness as key to most Burmese interactions. “They’re nice, polite Asian gentlemen,” she says, “who say one thing and do another.” “The newer [expats] took every word at face value. The long time foreign aid workers and the Burmese were considerably less impressed.” Her advice? Optimism is well and good, but the bad times were too recent to be totally forgotten. Burma Minister checks into Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic 27-Jun-12 karennews.org/2012/06/burma-minister-checks-into-dr-cynthias-mae-tao-clinic.html/ The Burma government’s peace-talk delegation led by Railway Minister U Aung Min, today made an early morning visit to Dr Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. U Aung Min’s 6am visit followed-up on his yesterday meet with the Karen National Union and Dr. Cynthia Maung, the Minister said today’s visit was to get a first hand look at the work the Mae Tao Clinic does – treating as many as 145,000 people from Burma each year. Dr. Cynthia told Karen News that the Clinic sees many international organizations and government representatives, including members of the Thai government. who visited the clinic but for Burma government it is their first time. Dr Cynthia said this was the first visit by the Burma government and she hoped that the Minister’s visit would improve the much needed health services on the border. “There are many issues that we need to work on together for the long term benefit of the people. Health, education, children right issues and they are all very broad issues that need to be urgently addressed. But first, we need to see how the ceasefire and peace building process works. We cannot just look at the health care factor in isolation.” Minister U Aung Min told Karen News that he had brought with him a message from President Thein Sein encouraging people based on the border to return to their country. “I came here and talked to individual academics, political organizations and other people about the President’s instruction. I will meet [a total] of fourteen groups. I encourage all those who live along the border to go back to the country to work in the country, as the [political] system is changing in our country.” U Aung Min said that this was his fifth trip to the Thai-Burma border and it is in accordance with President Thein Sein’s plan to explain about the country situation to individual and groups on the border. He also pointed out that it was up to each individual or group to accept or reject his offer. Naw Sophia, the program manager at the In-patient reproductive health department said. “It is good they [U Aung Min and his group] came and see with their eyes the real situation that we are facing each day. We welcome them to come back and see the situation if they want to learn more.” During the visit, Aung Min and his delegation were given a tour of the Clinic’s reproductive health In-patient department, general In-patient ward and the eye department. Dr. Cynthia later briefed the Minister and his group about general situation at the clinic and health and education for migrant workers and refugees on the borderline. Minister U Aung Min donated 150,000 Baht to the Clinic and U Khin Ye, the Immigration Minister gave children in the In-patient department an envelope of money. Dr. Cynthia presented the government delegation a book documenting the Clinics work along the border. Burma Minister U Aung Min and his nine-member group met with Dr. Cynthia Maung, The Karen National Union and the All Burma Student Democratic Front during their Mae Sot trip. Opium, heroin and “ice” flowing out of Burma Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:44 Mizzima News http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/7401-opium-heroin-and-ice-flowing-out-of-burma.html The fight against narcotics faces increasing challenges amid a bumper poppy harvest in Burma this year, Chinese officials said on Tuesday, which marked International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Burma’s poppy growing area increased to 44,867 hectares this year, up 41 percent year-on-year, based on figures from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, said an article in China Daily, the official Chinese newspaper. Apart from being the world’s No. 2 producer of opium, behind Afganistan, northern Burma is also a major producer of methamphetamine, commonly referred to as “ice,” coming into China and Southeast Asia countries. China seized 7.9 metric tons of “ice” coming from northern Burma last year, up 62 per cent on the previous year. It accounted for 55 percent of all methamphetamine seized in China, said police officials. Smuggled drugs in the area mainly come the Golden Triangle, one of the world's major drug producing regions that overlaps the mountains of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, and the Golden Crescent region, which includes mountain valleys of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In response, China has established a case-by-case cooperation mechanism with Burma, officials said. Four police liaison offices have also been set up in border areas to facilitate investigations. China and Burma have arrested and repatriated about 60 fugitives since 2009, including drug lords, according to figures by the ministry. On Tuesday, authorities in southwest China's Yunnan Province reported detaining 167 suspects in drug-related crimes and seized 528 tonnes of precursor chemicals used to make illegal drugs in the province last year. A Yunnan provincial anti-narcotics office said border towns have become a key channel for smuggling drugs into and out of the province, and there are many underground narcotic manufacturing workshops just outside the border. In related news, Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong released a document on Tuesday outlining his vision of combating drug abuse and cultivation, local media reported. Thammavong focused on seven steps to tackle the drug problem in Laos, the Vientiane Times reported, such as raising awareness, providing opium growers with alternative cash crops, rehabilitating addicts, fostering grass- roots political and rural anti-drug campaigns, setting up provincial funds financing anti-drug programs, improving drug inspection and control organizations, and increased cooperation with international organizations. In 2006, the article said, Laos had almost totally eradicated opium poppy cultivation, reducing the cultivation area by 94 percent from 27,000 hectares to just 1,500 hectares. Addiction rates dropped 80 percent from 63,000 people to 12,000, the article said. However, from 2007 to 2011 there was a 173 percent increase from 1, 500 hectares to 4,100 hectares, the article said, while other illegal substances are increasingly being produced and trafficked in Laos, such as amphetamine type substances (ATS), pseudoephedrine, heroin and marijuana. Pseudoephedrine is an important precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine. In 2010 24.5 million ATS tablets were seized, and a further six million tablets were seized in the first half of this year in Laos, officials said. High levels of seizure give little indication of the amount on average being trafficked, however. 78 dead in sectarian violence: gov’t figures Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:30 Mizzima News http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/7400-78-burmese-dead-in-sectarian-violence-govt-figures.html A total of 78 people were killed in the bloody sectarian violence in Burma's Rakhine State from May 28 to June 24, according to government figures released on Tuesday. The widespread killings grew out of revenge killings in the murder and rape of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men on May 28. A total of 3,158 residential and business structures were destroyed by arson. The violent rampages forced Buddhist and Muslims to seek safety in temples, mosques, schools and government facilities. In the post-violence period, a total of 37 refugee camps were established for a total of 31,884 refugees, according to official statistics. Other sources say as many as 90,000 people may be in need of aid or assistance, including food, shelter and medicine. Meanwhile, relief aid and donations are pouring into the state. United Nations agencies and international nongovernmental organizations are setting up aid programs for the refugees in the riot-hit state. The U.N. said it foresees a three-month relief effort in the area. Over the past week, nearly 1,000 displaced people were sent back to respective villages in Maungtaw Township as a move by the local government after it claimed restoration of peace and stability to the area. Many refugees say they are still afraid of violence in the area. A declaration of emergency in the state and the imposition of curfew in six townships including Maungtaw and Sittway, the capital of the state, has been in force since June 10. President Thein Sein appeared on nationwide television during the peak of the violence calling for calm and religious tolerance in the country. He said the country does not have a good record of respecting all religions. The majority of Burmese consider the Rohingya population of Rakhine State to be foreign intruders and call them “Bengali,” even though many have lived there for generations. The government denies Rohingya citizenship. Aung San Suu Kyi has called for the government to clarify its citizenship laws. President Thein Sein will go to Bangladesh on July 15 to meet with government officials to disucss the refugee problem. As many as 200,000 undocumented Rohingya have sought shelter in Bangladesh over the past decades, officials said. Bangladesh said it does not have the resources to aid the Rohingya on its territory. Yawdserk “hopes” Naypyitaw will stop using drugs as political game Wednesday, 27 June 2012 15:02 S.H.A.N. http://www.english.panglong.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4755:yawdserk-hopes-naypyitaw-will-stop-using-drugs-as-political-game&catid=89:drugs&Itemid=286 Lt-Gen Yawdserk, interviewed on the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking, 26 June, said as long as Naypyitaw is handle, the drug problem as a political game, the problem will not be resolved. “It’s time drugs equal rebels accusations are stopped,” he told SHAN. He was speaking to SHAN two days after the Thai government presented him and the Shan State Army (SSA) with a Gold Eagle Award for cooperation in the campaign against drugs. The award given by Gen Pichitr Kullavanich, Privy Councilor in Bangkok, was received by the SSA representative Sai Aye on 23 June. The group had also submitted a drug eradication project to the Burmese government on 19 May. Its representatives also met the government-run Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) earlier this month to work out the details. However, no concrete agreement has reached so far. “We are pressed for time,” he said. “If we wait too long, it’ll be too late to do anything. At the same time, no single agency can deal with the problem on its own. We need cooperation from all to do it.” Cooperation from all armed groups are also necessary. “It’s time we show the world we can survive without drugs,” he said. Naypyitaw has set 2014, two years from now, as its target date for drug eradication. So far, most of its targeted townships in Shan, Kachin, Chin and Kayah states as well as non-targeted townships in Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe are also also growing poppies, according to Shan Drug Watch 2012 report published by SHAN yesterday. Human Rights Watch says Kachin refugees in China face dire situation 27-Jun-12 http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2333-human-rights-watch-says-kachin-refugees-in-china-face-dire-situation.html The US NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Tuesday criticizing China for forcibly sending hundreds of Kachin refugees back to Kachin and northern Shan state where fighting is taking place. Human Rights Watch also said that many refugees who remain in the southern part of China's Yunnan region have poor access to food water and shelter and remain at grave risk of being forcibly returned to a war zone. In an introduction to the report Sophie Richardson HRW's China director described the grim situation the refugees face. “Many Kachin refugees have already endured terrible abuses and war in Burma, only to settle into a life of dire struggle in Yunnan,” she said. “Until it is safe for the Kachin to return home, the Chinese government has a responsibility to ensure their safety and well-being,” she added. Though the majority of the estimated 10,000 refugees who have fled to China from Kachin and northern Shan states are ethnic Kachin, those displaced also include Shan, Sino-Burmese and Palaung ethnic minorities. Members of the Burman ethnic majority have also been affected by the conflict and forced to move. Chinese towns and cities located along the Burmese border for many years have already had large populations of undocumented migrants from Burma. Many displaced Kachin refugees have taken shelter among these migrant communities while others have set up temporary shelters in farming and forested areas located just inside the Sino-Burma border. Woman's rights activists warn that many young female refugees who have taken refuge in China are at risk of being forced into the border areas booming sex industry or could fall victim to being trafficked into a forced marriage with a Chinese man. Due to China's notorious one child policy there is a serious shortage of brides in China and many Chinese men resort to using a broker to buy a spouse from northern Burma. Often the brides are unwilling participants in the process but have little chance of escape. Senators press US on Myanmar petroleum investment 28-Jun-12 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmywA0mNvb-iBNLA9p4F8w5UAFKw?docId=0f84ad22295c44ac93d5a26a82b73d65 WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican and a Democratic senators and American businesses are pressing the U.S. government to allow investment by oil and gas companies in Myanmar as the U.S moves to suspend economic sanctions against that country. Democrat Jim Webb and Republican James Inhofe made the appeal at a confirmation hearing Wednesday for the first U.S. ambassador to the military-dominated country in 22 years. The Obama administration announced last month its plan to ease the sanctions to reward the military-dominated government for democratic reforms. The ambassador nominee, Derek Mitchell, said the administration is still deliberating the details of a general license that would facilitate U.S. investment. He said no sectors of Myanmar's economy would be excluded, but voiced concerns about transparency and corruption in a Myanmar state enterprise that the petroleum industry would need to partner with. Over the past year, Mitchell led Washington's efforts to engage the country also known as Burma after decades of diplomatic isolation, a policy that has won bipartisan support. His appointment is widely expected to receive Senate approval, and Webb said that would likely happen this week. Despite Myanmar's swift shift away from authoritarian rule — for which Mitchell credited President Thein Sein's "extraordinary vision and leadership" — the country faces tough challenges. Activists are concerned that new foreign investment could entrench Myanmar's military-linked business elite, and ethnic violence continues unchecked in some regions. Communal clashes in the western state of Rakhine have left scores dead since late May. Mitchell voiced concern over military impunity in ethnic minority regions, and the armed forces unique constitutional position — which guarantees them a quarter of parliamentary seats and an effective veto on constitutional amendments. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has reconciled with the government after years of persecution and house arrest, has welcomed responsible foreign investment, but has urged foreign governments against allowing companies to do joint ventures with the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise until it improves its transparency and accountability. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Wednesday that would amount to a "de facto investment ban" in that sector — the impoverished country's main source of foreign revenue. The chamber, which represents 3 million businesses, criticized the U.S. government for not moving faster to issue the general license since announcing May 17 it would allow U.S. investment. The chamber also cautioned against the imposition of "burdensome reporting requirements" on U.S. companies. Human rights groups are calling for strict standards of social corporate responsibility and wants the administration to make them legally binding. Myanmar's Suu Kyi honoured in Paris near end of Europe tour 27-Jun-12 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1210302/1/.html PARIS: Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, nearing the end of her triumphant Europe tour in France, accepted another award on Wednesday as she became an honorary citizen of Paris. "You are a woman of peace and love, and this is why Paris also loves you," said mayor Bertrand Delanoehe, hailing her "tenacity" and "unshakeable faith" in her campaign for democracy in the country formerly called Burma. The Nobel Peace laureate - who spent almost two decades under house arrest for her freedom struggle - has been cheered by crowds and leaders on her five-nation tour, her first visit to Europe in a quarter-century. In France, she was treated with honours normally reserved for a head of state, dining at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday with President Francois Hollande, who pledged support for her country's transition towards democracy. Myanmar was for decades ruled by an iron-fisted junta, but a reformist government under ex-general President Thein Sein has freed political prisoners and allowed Suu Kyi's party back into mainstream politics. Suu Kyi, 67, has in the past two weeks visited Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Britain and now France, receiving rock star welcomes along the way. The trip allowed her to finally give her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo, and to thank groups and institutions from the Rafto Foundation and Amnesty International to Oxford University for awards they have given her. On Wednesday, she received her 2004 honorary citizen of Paris certificate and met with the Paris mayor, Delanoe. City Hall once honoured Suu Kyi by hanging a huge portrait of her outside the building in 2007. Reading a statement in French in city hall's sumptuous Salon des Arcades, Suu Kyi hailed "the deep attachment of Paris to justice and freedom". "I was surprised and happy that Paris supported my cause with such vigour," she said. Suu Kyi has enjoyed strong support among rights groups in France and was the subject of a 2011 French-English film biography, "The Lady", directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson and starring Michelle Yeoh. Speaking later to representatives of rights groups, Suu Kyi told political prisoners around the world not to give up their fight. "You must not let go of your principles. If you respect yourself you do not give up your fight," she told the gathering on a barge on the River Seine in the heart of Paris. Among those in attendance were Yevgenia Tymoshenko, the daughter of jailed former Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko, and Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of the imprisoned former businessman and famed foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Suu Kyi was also to meet Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the second day of her three-day visit to France, where she travelled from London. On Tuesday Hollande said France gave its full backing to the transition efforts in Myanmar, and said Paris was ready to welcome Thein Sein, who also received an invitation from former colonial ruler Britain last week. Major Western powers have rolled back or suspended long-standing sanctions against Myanmar, a resource-rich but deeply impoverished country. Suu Kyi has on her tour called for human rights-friendly investment. "We need democracy as well as economic development," she said on Tuesday. "Development cannot be a substitute for democracy, it must be used to strengthen the foundations of democracy." Suu Kyi said "financial transparency in the extractive industries and in fact business in general" were essential to investment. She also said efforts were still needed to convince the former regime of the need for democratic reforms, but that Thein Sein seemed sincere. "I believe that the president is sincere and I believe that he is honest, but I cannot speak for everybody in the government," she said. "I don't think we can say it (reform) is irreversible until such time as the army is committed to that." Hollande also said on Tuesday that French oil giant Total - whose operations in Myanmar have been criticised - is respecting all environmental and labour laws in Myanmar, but told Suu Kyi to call him if any complaints arose. Total's presence in Myanmar has been contested by human rights activists, who accuse the firm of enriching the former ruling junta. "Today this company's practices have changed and are respectful of human rights and must also respect environmental and social norms," said Hollande. "If it ever happens that they don't respect (regulations), Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi will be able to call me anytime so we can put things in order." US senators press for Myanmar oil investment 28-Jun-12 http://news.yahoo.com/us-senators-press-myanmar-oil-investment-202740125--finance.html;_ylt=A2KJNTsYv.tPHx8ASHPQtDMD US senators said they planned to move quickly to confirm the first US ambassador to Myanmar in two decades, as they pushed to allow investment in the country's oil and gas sector. President Barack Obama on May 17 nominated Derek Mitchell, a veteran US policymaker on Asia, as ambassador to the country after dramatic reforms including the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament. At a hearing on the nomination, senators across party lines voiced support for Mitchell. Senator Jim Webb, who heads a subcommittee on East Asia, said he hoped to complete Mitchell's confirmation by the end of the week. But senators pressed the Obama administration to allow investment by US energy companies as part of its loosening of sanctions on Myanmar, voicing fear that US companies would lose out to foreign competitors. Senator James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma and champion of the fossil fuel industry, said he heard rumors that the administration will exclude oil firms from new rules allowing US investment in the country formerly known as Burma. "This or any other 'carve-out strategy' would be a strategic mistake," Inhofe told the hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I believe that US companies including the oil and gas companies can play a positive role in the effort by demonstrating high standards of responsibility, responsible business conduct and transparency -- including respect for human rights in Burma," Inhofe said. Human rights groups have long charged that the oil and gas industry fuels abuses inside Myanmar, with villagers allegedly forced into labor and the powerful military seizing the revenue to support its operations. Suu Kyi, paying a historic tour of Europe, said in Geneva on June 14 that foreign firms should not partner with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise until her country signs up to international standards such as the IMF code on transparency. In a rare note of discord with Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who is widely respected in Washington, Webb said that the United States "does not require countries to endorse this code or other standards as a prerequisite for US investment." Webb, a longtime advocate of engagement with Myanmar, said that other countries as diverse as China and New Zealand have also not signed the code. Mitchell said that the administration had not made a decision on oil and gas investment in Myanmar but reiterated concerns about the state-owned company. US engagement with Myanmar must benefit reform and ensure "that we are contributing to the highest values and that we model the type of behavior that we like to see," Mitchell said. Not all US lawmakers are enthusiastic about oil and gas investment, with some members of the House of Representatives saying that Myanmar's reforms are overblown. Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that any further removal of sanctions needed to be "handled in a thoughtful, step-by-step process that is contingent upon continued progress." Mitchell, testifying before the committee, warned that reform in Myanmar "is not irreversible" and raised concerns that "hundreds of political prisoners" remained locked up. He also expressed worries about human rights in ethnic minority areas, pointing to recent violence between Buddhists and Muslims in western Rakhine state that has left more than 80 people dead. "Recent sectarian violence in Rakhine State demonstrates the divisiveness in Burma cultivated over many decades, if not centuries, that will need to be overcome to realize lasting peace and national reconciliation in the country," Mitchell said. But he praised President Thein Sein, a general turned civilian who took office last year, as a "remarkable figure." "We should never forget to recognize his extraordinary vision and leadership and the many reformist steps he and his partners in government have taken over the past year," Mitchell said. Burmese government continue to arrest IDPs fleeing from conflict areas 25-Jun-12 http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2334-burmese-government-continue-to-arrest-idps-fleeing-from-conflict-areas.html A warden from the Jan Mai Kawng Baptist Church camp has been arrested by Myitkyina-based Military Affairs Security Unit who is investigating a bomb attack.There are about 700 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camp. According to the camp’s IDP committee, agents from the MAS and several police from a local police station arrested Lahtaw Brang Shawng, at 9 pm on June 17. It’s alleged he fled from the area where a bomb attack took place in Kachin Independence Army (KIA) controlled territories. “They arrested him under suspicion of being part of the bomb attack. They said he will be released if found not guilty” said Maran Labung, a camp leader.But the camp committee is concerned he’s being tortured at the police station. “They didn’t have evidence to prove he was connected to the bombing when they arrested him. I went to the MAS office in Myitkyina the night of his arrest. They placed in a private room. I don’t know what they did to him,” said one camp leader. According to a camp resident, when Lahtaw Brang Shawng was arrested the police said he would be released within a day if he is not guilty. So far he has not been released and no-one knows where he is now being detained. “We thought Lahtaw Brang Shawng was still being detained at MAS office but the police said he wasn’t there anymore. No-one can tell us where he is. We will continue trying to discover his whereabouts. We are also preparing a letter to the president”, he told KNG. Lahtaw Brang Shawng, 29, has three children. He’s from Npawn Village in Waingmaw Township the site of where the conflict between Kachin Independent Army (KIA) and Burmese military began, over one-year ago (June 9). Before his arrest, Lahtaw Brang Shawng, who has three-children, was living at Jan Mai Kawng for nearly a year.His family is worried about him because he doesn’t speak much Burmese. “He hasn’t done anything,” said mother in law, Hpauje Htu.“He works hard as a daily worker to support the family.” The Burmese government has been arresting many people who have fled from KIA-controlled territories since the conflict began. They using the Act 17/1, which forbids any contact with an illegal association or trying to pin them to bomb attacks. According to their family members once under arrest they are tortured. Often they don’t why they were arrested or even where they are being detained. As these kinds of arrests happen more frequently IDPs living in government controlled areas are worried about their security. Manam Tu was arrested from Jan Mai Kawng camp last May 28. Since then the family members have not been able to see him but they suspect he’s being tortured.
FTUB Daily News for Mar-1-2012, English News - Morning
News Headlines with Brief (1) ‘No chance of Than Shwe returning’: aide | Source: DVB 29-Feb-2012 Burma’s former junta strongman has no role in the government, having “totally resigned from politics”, an advisor to President Thein Sein claims amid lingering uncertainty over the status of the hermetic one-time leader. Ko Ko Hlaing told Thai newspaper The Nation in a lengthy interview this week that Than Shwe “is not like Deng Xiao Ping of China or Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore”, who both continued to pull the strings well after their proclaimed retirement. “He doesn’t want to be involved in this new set-up.” Read More..... (2) Villagers on trial for resisting relocation | Source: DVB 29-Feb-2012 A trial is underway for villagers who have refused a government order to relocate from their homes close to Burma’s capital. Members of around 20 households now face up to three months in prison, having turned down offers of 200,000 kyat ($US235) per family to relocate after the order was given in October 2011. Read More..... (3) Humour still weapon of protest in Burma | Source: DVB 29-Feb-2012 After years of lampooning the junta, Burma’s Moustache Brothers aren’t ready to stop poking fun at the regime yet, despite dramatic changes that mean laughter is no longer such a risky business. With nothing more than their sharp wit, the sexagenarian members of one of the long-isolated country’s most famous comedy troupes are perhaps among the bravest dissidents to have stood up to the generals. Read More..... (4) Attempt to ban Suu Kyi from polls rejected | Source: DVB 29-Feb-2012 Attempts by a candidate of a newly-formed political party in Burma to ensure opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi does not compete in looming by-elections have failed. The country’s election body rejected proposals from Tin Yi that the Nobel laureate should be blocked from a parliamentary bid and instead confirmed her as a candidate. Read More..... (5) Deportation threat for 1m Burma migrants | Source: DVB 29-Feb-2012 Up to one million Burmese migrants face deportation if they fail to complete Thailand’s national verification procedure by 14 June, human rights campaigners warn, with the stateless Rohingya seen as particularly vulnerable. The deadline for migrants to complete the government’s national verification process was originally set for 28 February 2010, but extended for two years after pushback from global human rights activists. Read More..... (6) Is Suu Kyi Heading for a Cabinet Position? | Source: Irrawaddy 29-Feb-2012 As Burma's political parties enter the final month of campaigning ahead of April 1 by-elections, speculation is growing among observers inside the country that National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be given a cabinet seat. Read More..... (7) No Saying No to Rehab in KIA Territory | Source: Irrawaddy 29-Feb-2012 After 10 minutes talking about her arrest and detention by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ma Su Su wells up and a single tear dissolves a line through the cream-colored thanaka on her right cheek. “I miss my children, yes, I do, a lot,” she says. For the past three months, she has been sharing a 10 x 10 foot cell with seven other women, since being caught carrying 40,000 yuan (US $6,350) worth of methamphetamines from China into Laiza, the capital of KIA-held territory in northern Burma. Read More..... (8) MPs to Debate President's Office $750m Budget | Source: Irrawaddy 29-Feb-2012 The proposed US $750 million budget of the President's Office for the 2012-2013 fiscal year will be discussed at the Union Parliament next week amid criticism of planned expenses in all sectors of governance. The agenda includes the budget plan for President's Office expenses for the next fiscal year along with the budget separation among government ministries and expenses for Union level government and State/Division level governments. Read More..... (9) Full Support for Ex-Spy Chief's Social Work: MP | Source: Irrawaddy 29-Feb-2012 Khin Shwe, the chairman of Zaykabar Company and a member of Burma’s Lower House of Parliament, said he will fully support former Burmese Premier Khin Nyunt’s social work as the ex-spy chief acted in the interests of the country while in power. After being freed on Jan. 13, Khin Nyunt, in his 70s, founded his own social charity group called the “Shwe Hmaw Won Foundation.” It provides financial support to education, health and social community initiatives. Read More..... (10) Burma Relaxes Grip on Media, Vows End to Censors | Source: Irrawaddy 29-Feb-2012 It was a newspaper article that just months ago, Burma’s draconian state censors never would have approved. It told how prison authorities crudely attempted to cure a scabies outbreak by wiping down naked inmates with medicine-laden brooms—a demeaning act that revealed the poverty of the nation's prisons and the decrepit state of its health-care system. Read More..... (11) Ruling soon in footwear strike in Rangoon | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 Thursday is the expected date for a ruling by the labour arbitration court in the Tai Yi footwear factory strike in the Hlaingthaya industrial zone in Rangoon. The court took testimony and information from both parties on Wednesday at the Hlaingthaya Township Labour Office. “The Trade dispute arbitration court chairman Saw Soe Tint said that the verdict would likely be given tomorrow. So we are looking forward to the ruling and keeping our fingers crossed. We do hope we will get a ruling in our favour,” said Pho Phyu, a lawyer for the workers. Read More..... (12) Winka village hit by large fire | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 Fire broke out at Winka village southeast of Three Pagoda Pass on the Thai-Burmese border on Tuesday. Damage was estimated at US$ 2 million. The fire broke out during the Winka village pagoda festival, and the area was crowded with visitors. Witnesses said shop owners did not have time to carry goods from their stores. Read More..... (13) Relocated villagers at Burmese dam site cannot return home | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 The Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State has been suspended, but Tanhpre villagers who were forced to relocate have been ordered to sign a pledge not to return to their villages. On Saturday, the head of Myitkyina District told Tanhpre villagers not to try to return home and had them sign a pledge, according to a resident. A resident said, “The district head came and held a meeting. He said although there is possibility that we can work in farming again in the Tanhpre village area, we must not live there. The next day, the authorities went from house to house in the village and forced us to sign the pledge.” Read More..... (14) China’s charity role along Burmese pipelines route praised | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 China’s role in the creation of the Sino-Burma oil and natural gas pipelines was praised by Burma’s vice president this week, particularly China’s charity contributions in the project areas. Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo praised China’s cooperation with Burma while touring Kyaukphyu on Made Island in Rakhine State with Chinese and local officials, according to an article by the Xinhua news agency published this week. Read More..... (15) Burma’s gem show set for March | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 Naypyitaw will host the 49th Myanmar Gem Emporium in early March, and hope that sales trump last year’s shows which raised more than US$ 4 billion. Successful gem show sales were held in March and July, but the show in November was cancelled. Officials gave no reason, but traders said the cancellation was because of lack of payment by some foreign gem buyers. Read More..... (16) Rival’s effort to disqualify Suu Kyi fails | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 A candidate running against Aung San Suu Kyi in the Kawhmu constituency has failed in his attempt to prove she has permanent residence status in Britain and had also failed to pay taxes to Burma. The Rangoon Region Election Commission on Tuesday dismissed his effort and approved her candidacy, officially removing the last threat to her election to Parliament from Rangoon Region. Read More..... (17) TV staff told not to get excited about Suu Kyi’s studio visit | Source: Mizzima 29-Feb-2012 Aung San Suu Kyi will receive a business-like reception when she goes to the Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) studios to record an NLD campaign speech in March. TV staff told Mizzima that Director General Thein Aung ordered people working in the offices and studios not to make a big deal out of her visit, in spite of the great anticipation, curiosity and eagerness of the workers to meet the national democratic icon. Read More..... (18) Kokang wants to join ceasefire talks | Source: Shan 29-Feb-2012 The Kokang force, officially known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), that went into exile in 2009 following the occupation of Kokang on the Sino-Burmese border, told SHAN it is ready to open “reconciliation talks” with Naypyitaw. The source, who requests anonymity, is a close relative of Peng Jiasheng, 81, the supreme leader of the MNDAA. “We are willing to put the past behind and look to the future,” he said. “We therefore want to stand together with other ethnic brethrens and open reconciliation talks with the Burmese government.” Read More..... (19) Fire at Sangkhlaburi Bodh Gaya Temple causes about 70 million Baht in damages | Source: Mon 29-Feb-2012 The row of shops of Bodh Gaya Temple in Wan-Ka Village, Sangkhlaburi Township, near Three Pagodas Pass at the Thai-Burma border caught on fire at about 8 pm Tuesday and all the shops turned into ash within half an hour. Thirty-six shops were damaged and the damage was estimated at 70 millions Thai Baht by local authorities at the emergency meeting held in the Wi-wai-karama Monastery of Wan-Ka Village, after the fire was put out. Read More..... (20) NMSP reopens Moulmein liaison office | Source: Mon 29-Feb-2012 Among the domestic New Mon State Party (NMSP) liaison offices that had been closed in the past, the Moulmein office was reopened on February 26, 2012. Lieutenant Colonel B’nyair Chan Non (Nai Ba Khine) will temporarily carry out his duties in the NMSP office located in Ngan Tae Ward, Moulmein. Read More..... (21) Thai AirAsia eyes Myanmar capital | Source: TTrweekly 29-Feb-2012 BANGKOK, 29 February 2012: Low-cost Thai AirAsia says it will start a service to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw by year-end and add around five destinations during the first half of the year from three bases in Thailand. Thai AirAsia CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld confirmed new services to Chongqing and Chennai, 23 March. So far, the airline has announced five new destinations for the first half of the year; of which two are domestic — Trang (15 Janaury), Nakhon Phanom (15 February). The others are regional flights starting with Colombo and Sri Lanka, (1 March). Read More..... (22) Myanmar poll could be last sanctions hurdle: Eu | Source: DailyTime 29-Feb-2012 Upcoming by-elections in Myanmar could be the last hurdle towards the lifting most European Union sanctions, providing the polls are free and fair and endorsed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kui, EU parliamentarians said on Wednesday. But the sanctions, which like US embargoes contributed to Myanmar’s years of economic isolation, should be lifted incrementally to retain leverage with the civilian government behind unprecedented reforms in its first year in office, parliamentarians told Reuters. Read More..... (23) In Myanmar, hopes for an art renaissance | Source: Yahoo 1-Mar-2012 have a breezy simplicity. Broad, colourful strokes and exaggerated figures, often in silhouette, capture an isolated country steeped in Buddhist culture but blighted by years of military rule. But selling them has been anything but simple. For two decades, sanctions imposed in response to human rights abuses kept tourism to a trickle, and those who visited found a country run on cash, not credit. Expensive paintings rarely sold. Cheap ones did. That kept a lid on prices. Read More..... (24) Myanmar bushfires spread into the North | Source: Bangkok Post 1-Mar-2012 Bushfires in Myanmar have fanned out into Thailand, spreading into parts of the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak and raising concerns over rising haze in the northern provinces. Thailand's forest fire control centre has mobilised officials to stop the fires from spreading further after hundreds of rai of forest area in the Thung Yai Naresuan compound reportedly caught fire. Read More..... ‘No chance of Than Shwe returning’: aide http://www.dvb.no/news/%E2%80%98no-chance-of-than-shwe-returning%E2%80%99-aide/20507 29-Feb-2012 Burma’s former junta strongman has no role in the government, having “totally resigned from politics”, an advisor to President Thein Sein claims amid lingering uncertainty over the status of the hermetic one-time leader. Ko Ko Hlaing told Thai newspaper The Nation in a lengthy interview this week that Than Shwe “is not like Deng Xiao Ping of China or Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore”, who both continued to pull the strings well after their proclaimed retirement. “He doesn’t want to be involved in this new set-up.” The 79-year-old last year officially stepped down after nearly two decades in power to make way for the nominally civilian administration of Thein Sein, whose Union Solidarity and Development Party swept the November 2010 elections. Little has been heard from him since, although questions have remained about his influence on government policy. The issue garnered heightened attention in December last year when it emerged that he had met with former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra during a secretive trip to Burma. That visit was seen as laying the groundwork for a subsequent visit by Thaksin’s sister and current Thai premier, Yingluck Shinawatra. Speculation centred on whether Thaksin, who had developed strong business-driven relations with the former ruling junta in Burma, had sought Than Shwe’s approval for Yingluck to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. If true, then it would appear to support claims that he still wields clout within the government. Than Shwe’s iron-fisted rule over Burma had been dominated by efforts to snuff out the political opposition, which culminated in May 2003 when junta-backed thugs made what appeared to have been an assassination attempt on Suu Kyi in the town of Depayin. She survived, but around 70 of her supporters were beaten to death. According to the Asian Legal Resource Centre, the incident amounted to crimes against humanity – the group claims that government authorities had prior knowledge of the incident, had deliberately lured people to the site of the attack, and that police had quickly rounded up and arrested survivors in the aftermath. During his 19 years in power Than Shwe rarely left Burma, and when he did it was only to countries with close ties to the junta. Long believed to have been afraid of an indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity, he remained a reclusive figure throughout his rule, and has now all but disappeared from view. Ko Ko Hlaing dismissed questions about Than Shwe’s fear of a trial, should Suu Kyi eventually win office: “[Burma] is a Buddhist country. Forgiveness is our principle,” he said, adding that the opposition icon carried the same sentiment. The majority of western governments who had backed calls for a UN probe into abuses committed by the regime appear to have backtracked since Thein Sein unleashed a slew of ostensibly democratic reforms after coming to power in March last year. Although many see the nascent developments as paving the way for democratic transition, Ko Ko Hlaing conceded that the army will retain formidable influence for the foreseeable future. “The military tried very hard to keep the country intact at the peak of the Cold War between the Eastern and Western blocs. We also had to protect our territorial integrity. It was a very hard time for the Myanmar [Burma] army,” he told The Nation. “This experience has always haunted the military leaders. “That’s why the Myanmar military wants to have a role in the political arena, not to dominate the political stage but to take part as an element – as a balancing sector.” Villagers on trial for resisting relocation http://www.dvb.no/news/villagers-on-trial-for-resisting-relocation/20503 29-Feb-2012 A trial is underway for villagers who have refused a government order to relocate from their homes close to Burma’s capital. Members of around 20 households now face up to three months in prison, having turned down offers of 200,000 kyat ($US235) per family to relocate after the order was given in October 2011. The land is being eyed for a government project, although it is not clear what exactly – a resident of Meethwaypho Kone village in Lewe township, around five miles south of Naypyidaw, said it was rumoured to be some sort of gem project. Around a third of the nearly 150 households in the village were offered a plot of land in addition to the financial compensation, but that left 100 or so with nowhere to go. “How can we survive on 200,000 kyat and where can we buy land with that amount? We refused to move because we really have nowhere to go,” said Chit Ko Ko. “As we have nowhere to live or nothing to make a living with, we will just let ourselves be sued. We are living with the prospect of trial and imprisonment.” The group also claims no lawyer has been willing to take on the case, and they have been forced to defend themselves. The families have already appeared in court four times and pleaded not guilty. The issue of land rights in Burma is a sensitive one: existing laws do little to prevent confiscation by government-aligned figures, and that looks set to continue if a bill currently being debated in parliament comes into force. The Land Act will effectively allow powerful tycoons to monopolise arable land and force off small-scale farmers and landowners. Humour still weapon of protest in Burma http://www.dvb.no/news/humour-still-weapon-of-protest-in-burma/20499 29-Feb-2012 After years of lampooning the junta, Burma’s Moustache Brothers aren’t ready to stop poking fun at the regime yet, despite dramatic changes that mean laughter is no longer such a risky business. With nothing more than their sharp wit, the sexagenarian members of one of the long-isolated country’s most famous comedy troupes are perhaps among the bravest dissidents to have stood up to the generals. And they pull no punches when it comes to the new army-backed government that took power last year after almost half a century of outright military rule ended in the country. “It’s old wine in a different bottle,” said Par Par Lay, 64, also known as “Brother Number One”. Officially banned and blacklisted, the act counts pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi among its fans, but these days they perform in English to growing numbers of foreign tourists at their nightly show in their home city Mandalay. With the regime embarking on a series of dramatic reforms, the satirists hope one day to be able to take their act on the road, and enlighten the poor about the political situation. For now, however, Par Par Lay, his younger brother Lu Maw and their leathery faced cousin Lu Zaw are contented to be able to tell the world about their country through laughter. Lu Maw, a wiry 62-year-old whose broken English is peppered with mismatched idioms, elicited nervous laughter by admonishing the crowd at a recent show to be quiet because government agents were nearby. “We are blacklisted, jail birds, and illegals you know, so you are also here illegally,” he told a young American woman in the front row before breaking into a grin. “But don’t worry, the government loves tourists because they want your dollars.” At another point in the show Par Par Lay asked the crowd if they wanted to see an authentic Burmese act. Within seconds, he was wearing a balaclava helmet over his moustachioed face and sporting a hand gun as he gingerly mimicked a thief breaking into a home. “That’s how they are, like Jesse James, Ali Baba, like bandits,” Lu Maw said on the microphone, alluding to the military to scattered laughter from the crowd. The trio used to lead one of Burma’s most popular traditional comedy acts. But their colourful show took a political turn when they fell foul of the authorities in 1996 for making fun of the junta during a performance at Aung San Suu Kyi’s house in Rangoon to mark Independence Day. Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw were arrested and sentenced to seven years imprisonment, sparking worldwide appeals for their release. They were sent to a labour camp and freed in 2001. The experience might have crushed any ordinary comedian, but not Par Par Lay and his gang, who emerged from the bitter experience even more emboldened and daring in their attacks on the government. Par Par Lay was detained again in 2007 during a crackdown on the “Saffron Revolution” pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks, but released after about a month. The brothers are still officially banned from performing publicly, but they have found a way to continue their act by staging it for tourists in the family’s cramped garage in Mandalay. The regime is not the only butt of their humour — their jokes also target the West, and in particular the United States, which recently upgraded diplomatic relations with the Southeast Asian nation. Feigning seriousness, Lu Maw wondered aloud why US-led coalition forces had not sent unmanned drones to Burma, whose military he said had been involved in some of the world’s most atrocious rights abuses. “Burma is the same as Libya, Egypt, Somalia or Syria. But they all have oil,” Lu Maw said with a naughty wink. “Ah, but they [the West] don’t know what we have — we have opium and heroin too.” After the one-hour show, the brothers personally thanked every visitor and sold them souvenirs. They said the money would go to helping those political prisoners still languishing in jail, despite a series of mass pardons that have seen hundreds of others walk free under the new reformist government. Par Par Lay said he was confident Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party would do well in parliamentary by-elections set for 1 April, but he called for a close watch on the ballots. “She will win, everybody knows that,” he said. “But 1 April, the day of election, is also April Fool’s Day. We hope it’s not going to be a joke.” Attempt to ban Suu Kyi from polls rejected http://www.dvb.no/news/attempt-to-oust-suu-kyi-rejected/20494 29-Feb-2012 Attempts by a candidate of a newly-formed political party in Burma to ensure opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi does not compete in looming by-elections have failed. The country’s election body rejected proposals from Tin Yi that the Nobel laureate should be blocked from a parliamentary bid and instead confirmed her as a candidate. The Unity and Peace Party (UPP) candidate, who is running against Suu Kyi in Kawhmu constituency, claimed earlier this month that she had received international funding and had contravened an election law that bans anyone who is “entitled to enjoy the rights and privileges of a subject of a foreign government or a citizen of a foreign country” from running for parliament. But in a rare siding with the opposition, the government-backed Union Election Commission (UEC) threw the complaint out. Nyan Win, spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), said that the district UEC subsequently gave her the official nod for the polls. The case has sparked tension among a 10-member bloc of parties that includes the UPP and the National Democratic Force (NDF), which was formed by senior NLD members aggrieved at the party’s boycott of the 2010 elections. Khin Maung Swe, leader of the NDF, was quick to distance himself from the complaint. “The protest of a candidate of a party which is among our 10 parties makes us feel very uncomfortable,” he said. “We have issued a statement so that the public knows the NDF doesn’t share this view.” Tin Yi however is due to lodge an appeal with the UEC. According to the Myanmar Times, the official list of candidates competing in Kawhmu, a township south of Rangoon, will not be released until the appeal is decided upon. Parties are campaigning for 48 seats vacated when MPs took up positions in the cabinet shortly after the new government came to power. Already however there have been several accusations of attempted sabotage, including the bizarre incident in which universities in two towns – Pathein and Mandalay – demanded students sit exams with little notice on the same days that San Suu Kyi was due to visit to rally support. Officials also blocked the 66-year-old from speaking at the Pyarpon town football stadium in Irrawaddy division last week, and forced her to move to a less prominent location. Shwe Mann, the powerful parliamentary speaker and third-in-command in the former junta, has already pledged however that the April polls will be free and fair. Deportation threat for 1m Burma migrants http://www.dvb.no/news/deportation-threat-for-1m-burma-migrants/20490 29-Feb-2012 Up to one million Burmese migrants face deportation if they fail to complete Thailand’s national verification procedure by 14 June, human rights campaigners warn, with the stateless Rohingya seen as particularly vulnerable. The deadline for migrants to complete the government’s national verification process was originally set for 28 February 2010, but extended for two years after pushback from global human rights activists. After sustained campaigning, migrants now have until June this year to register, but rights groups warn that a substantial portion of Burmese living in Thailand will fail to meet the latest deadline. With the process requiring migrants to confirm their national identities through their home countries, huge uncertainty looms for migrants from the ethnic Rohingya population of Burma who are denied citizenship by the Burmese government. Despite attempts to set up in-country verification centres, numbers of migrants may still have return to Burma to confirm their identification via border crossings, where extortion by officials is common. Human Rights Watch says that the latest delay only signals the weakness of the “overly bureaucratic and expensive” process as well as Thailand’s need for cheap labour, rather than any sincere recognition of migrant rights. “The process is long, overly complicated, and expensive,” Phil Robertson, the group’s deputy Asia director, told DVB. “Thai and Burma government negotiators have agreed at last to finally open more nationality verification centres in Thailand for Burmese, but many of these centres are still on the borders, requiring long and expensive trips by workers to apply.” Up to three million migrants from Burma are thought to be working in Thailand. Despite providing crucial low-cost labour for the developing economy, these workers face regular exploitation, including extortion, workplace abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking and poor wages. This is all compounded by a lack of access to justice and remedial processes. There is also concern that growing pressure for national verification in the lead up to the June deadline could leave those without documents even more vulnerable. Critics have panned the Thai government for failing to tackle abuse among the migrant population in a meaningful way and some fear that the ongoing democratic reforms in Burma will make the Thai government even less inclined to protect Burmese migrant workers. Earlier this week, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan called for Thailand to shift towards a skill-based economy in anticipation of Burmese labourers returning home. “While the need to improve the migrant registration system is still there to ensure basic human rights are respected, Thailand has to look at medium- and long-term strategies as Myanmar [Burma] is moving in a labour-intensive direction,” Surin said. Activists insist that it is far too early to make assumptions about the new pseudo-civilian Burmese government, especially when pressing migrants to hand over comprehensive background information to the authorities. “Even though now Burma has seen a little improvement, it is only some areas,” says Toom Hawk Harn, a spokesperson for the Thailand-based Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation. “The changes we have seen are only cosmetic. And for the migrant worker nothing has changed. The living wage is the same.” A recent report by the Burma Women’s Union also suggests that migration is likely to increase in areas directly affected by natural resource development, often as a result of forced eviction. Is Suu Kyi Heading for a Cabinet Position? http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23125 29-Feb-2012 As Burma's political parties enter the final month of campaigning ahead of April 1 by-elections, speculation is growing among observers inside the country that National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be given a cabinet seat. Although only 48 seats are up for grabs—40 in the Lower House, six in the Upper House and two in regional assemblies—out of a total of more than 1,000, Suu Kyi's immense popularity and longstanding status as the leader of the democratic opposition should, by many people's reckoning, earn her a ministerial post. Since officially kicking off her party's campaign about a month ago, Suu Kyi has drawn enthusiastic crowds of thousands eager to see the woman known to most Burmese simply as “the Lady”—or, even more affectionately, “Aunty Suu.” In addition to visiting Kawhmu, the impoverished Irrawaddy Delta constituency she hopes to represent in Parliament, Suu Kyi has stumped for NLD candidates in the southern port town of Tavoy—set to be transformed into a massive industrial site by Thai investors—and Myitkyina, in the far north and close to an ongoing conflict between Burmese government forces and ethnic Kachin insurgents. In both locations, and in others she has visited, she has made it clear that this is no ordinary election, raising themes that range from the country's economic prospects to the need for reconciliation among ethnic groups, democratic forces and the military. Her central message on the need to restore democratic norms to a country long ruled by the military—one that she has voiced consistently since rising to prominence more than two decades ago—has been well received by the public, and so far hasn't drawn the ire of authorities. It is widely believed that at least some in the nominally civilian government that came to power last year are in favor of co-opting Suu Kyi's domestic popularity and global name recognition, but it is far from sure that this will translate into giving her a high-profile position close to the president, retired general Thein Sein. In journalistic circles in Rangoon, Burma's largest and most commercially important city, many are betting that Suu Kyi will be asked to head the health or education ministries. Both would be a good fit—she has often emphasized the need to dramatically increase the government's commitment to the basic needs of citizens—but neither would be particularly high-powered. Some have even suggested that Suu Kyi could be given an official role in helping to end ethnic conflict. But this is seen as less likely, given the military's well-known distrust of any effort to bring ethnic and democratic forces closer together. Still others say that the government could create a completely new position for Suu Kyi, such as minister in charge of coordinating international aid, to take advantage of her standing in the international community as an icon of democratic values. But this, too, is a long shot. It is also entirely possible that the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will do everything in its power to marginalize Suu Kyi in Parliament, if it is unable to prevent her reaching there in the first place. The NLD and the USDP have a long and acrimonious history together. As the latest incarnation of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), created by former dictator Snr-Gen Than Shwe to mobilize mass support for military rule, the USDP is closely linked to a long campaign to eliminate the NLD. The USDA's systematic harassment of the party that won Burma's 1990 election—dealing a humiliating blow to the then ruling junta's efforts to legitimize its hold on power—culminated in its suspected involvement in the 2003 Depayin massacre, which saw many of Suu Kyi's supporters murdered by pro-regime thugs. Even if a repeat of this infamous incident seems unlikely now, many dissidents fear that once Suu Kyi is in Naypyidaw, she will have little time or energy to act as the driving force within her party or as the leading figure of the pro-democracy movement. Worse still, they fear that Suu Kyi will suffer the fate that ultimately befalls all politicians—failing to live up to the expectations of the electorate. Considering that her campaign promises include doing her utmost to amend Burma's military-drafted Constitution and creating a genuine federal union in Burma with rights for all ethnic people, she will certainly have her work cut out for her, whatever job she ultimately gets when she goes to Naypyidaw. No Saying No to Rehab in KIA Territory http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23124 29-Feb-2012 After 10 minutes talking about her arrest and detention by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ma Su Su wells up and a single tear dissolves a line through the cream-colored thanaka on her right cheek. “I miss my children, yes, I do, a lot,” she says. For the past three months, she has been sharing a 10 x 10 foot cell with seven other women, since being caught carrying 40,000 yuan (US $6,350) worth of methamphetamines from China into Laiza, the capital of KIA-held territory in northern Burma. A 15-meter wide river separates the two countries, making clandestine crossings relatively easy for those of a mind to do so. But Ma Su Su, an ethnic Burman from Bhamo in Kachin State, did not know that the KIA keeps a close eye out for drug smugglers at crossing points. “I was promised 500,000 kyat [$625] to carry the pills to Laiza,” she says. “I usually only earn 2,000 kyat [$2.50] per day in Bhamo.” Ma Su Su's cell is crowded and spartan: There are no beds, just floor mats, and two of the women there have babies staying with them in the grim-looking room. Three other women turn toward the two small windows at the back of the cell, refusing to pose for photographs or answer questions. The cell is part of a KIA compound in which the armed group—which runs a de facto mini-state scattered across a patchwork of territory close to the China border—says it seeks to “reeducate and rehabilitate the drug carriers and drug users,” according to Capt. Hfaw Daw Gampa, who runs the facility. “We have 112 people here at the moment,” he says. “Most of the people here are men and are drug users, rather than carriers, and 56 of the people here were referred to us by their families, while the others we arrested.” Most people stay three to six months at the center, he says, the duration of the stay depending on the extent of the addiction or the amount of narcotics found on the trafficker or mule. One of the women in the cell was arrested by the KIO that same morning. Asa Bu, 30, says she is not a regular drug user. “I was just playing, I got it from my friends,” she claims. (Like Ma Su Su and the other detainees at the center, she asked that her name be changed to protect her identity.) She is worried about how her family will react when they find out she has been caught with 3 grams of heroin and several dozen amphetamine pills. “They don't know yet. I just was brought here a couple of hours ago,” she says sheepishly. “I suppose the officers will call them soon.” Standing next to Asa Bu is Seng Mi, age 34, cradling a 10-month-old baby. She acknowledges she was “more or less addicted” to heroin, but claims that she is “OK now,” five weeks into her detention at the drug center and after being given five days worth of methadone after she arrived. “I didn't take any drugs while I was pregnant,” she says. Since the facility opened on Oct. 1, 2010, 843 people have passed through, only 92 of them female, according to Hfaw Daw Gampa. He and other KIA officials at the facility roll out some seized heroin and yabaa—slang for methamphetamines—that they say was seized from recent detainees. “The drugs come from Shan State, from militias linked to the army there,” they say. “It then is sent here through China.” Opium cultivation in Burma—the world's second-biggest source country after Afghanistan—has doubled since 2006, with much of the increase coming from Shan State, south of Kachin, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Ethnic opposition activists blame militias linked to the Burmese army for the increase in production, pointing to the election to Burma's Parliament of known drug lords running under the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which has almost 80 percent of house seats in Burma's legislature. But the KIA also has concerns about drugs produced on its own soil. “We have eradicated all opium growing here, around Laiza,” says the captain, before conceding that the KIA's opium eradication policy has not taken effect across all of its territory. “Perhaps 6,000 acres of opium is still grown by farmers, but we are hoping to end this. We have paid out about 70,000 dollars in compensation, and want farmers to grow other cash crops,” he says, pointing to a noticeboard covered with photographs of KIA soldiers destroying opium plantations. KIA officials murmur conspiratorial analyses of the extent of drug addiction elsewhere in Kachin State, in areas controlled by the government. “Our intelligence estimates that 70 percent of the students at Myitkina University are addicted to drugs,” says one staff member at the facility, requesting anonymity. MPs to Debate President's Office $750m Budget http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23122 29-Feb-2012 The proposed US $750 million budget of the President's Office for the 2012-2013 fiscal year will be discussed at the Union Parliament next week amid criticism of planned expenses in all sectors of governance. The agenda includes the budget plan for President's Office expenses for the next fiscal year along with the budget separation among government ministries and expenses for Union level government and State/Division level governments. The proposed budget of the President's Office has been highlighted by Members of Parliament as it has “requested 611.05 billion kyat ($750 million) for special development funding,” while the office does not have to spend on infrastructure apart from administration, said Dr Aye Maung, a respected member of the Upper House of Parliament who represents Burma’s Arakanese ethnic minority. Thein Nyunt, a member of the Lower House of Parliament, said MPs will discuss the matter in detail and systematically plan the budget as the office spent billions of kyat last year. This includes the controversial implementation of a Myanmar Industrial Development Committee project under the Ministry of Industry, which he claims does not abide by the 2008 Constitution. “If [the President's Office budget] does not abide by the law, we will have to object,” added Thein Nyunt. Moreover, the imbalanced budget separation between the Union and State/Division levels of government is also a hot topic amongst MPs. Currently 94 percent of the planned fiscal year budget is estimated for the former and just six percent for the latter. MP Aye Maung said, “The budget estimation should be 75 percent for Union level government and 25 or 20 percent for State/Division level government in order to be balanced.” In next week's meeting of Parliament, discussions will also focus on the budget reduction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation as well as a proposed increase in funding for the Ministry of Electric Power-2. MPs claim there are unnecessary national projects such as building sport stadiums and infrastructures for technology colleges within the President's Office budget plan. In this third session of the Burmese Parliament which began last month, the current annual additional budget and the national project budget are also being discussed. The government recently declared that Burma has a national debt of around $12 billion. Full Support for Ex-Spy Chief's Social Work: MP http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23121 29-Feb-2012 Khin Shwe, the chairman of Zaykabar Company and a member of Burma’s Lower House of Parliament, said he will fully support former Burmese Premier Khin Nyunt’s social work as the ex-spy chief acted in the interests of the country while in power. After being freed on Jan. 13, Khin Nyunt, in his 70s, founded his own social charity group called the “Shwe Hmaw Won Foundation.” It provides financial support to education, health and social community initiatives. Khin Nyunt, also a former Burmese military spy chief, accepted the role as patron of Mya Yeik Nyo—a charitable foundation run by Khin Shwe, one of Burma’s richest men who is on the US sanction list. Khin Shwe told The Irrawaddy that he supports Khin Nyunt in return for his work in the national interest while in power. Khin Nyunt was forced to step down in 2004 after allegations of corruption by former military junta chief Sen-Gen Than Shwe. Khin Nyunt was infamous for punishing political dissidents while in power. He was also a key figure who ordered the oppression of political activists during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and sentenced many to many years in prison. “He [Khin Nyunt] was left with nothing. All of his assets were seized. He had to struggle by planting flowers to make his living while he was under house arrest,” said Khin Shwe. “It is not suitable for him to struggle like this for his living. So, I will support him as much as I can,” he added. But Khin Shwe denied reports that he has offered a US $5,000-a-month job to Khin Nyunt as patron of the Mya Yeik Nyo foundation. “We don’t limit the salary for [Khin Nyunt]. We will support him for all that he needs,” he said. Khin Shwe is accused of being a crony of the ex-military government as he gained a number of business privileges with regards construction, hotels and tourism during the military regime. He remains close to Burmese generals. Khin Shwe explained that he will support Khin Nyunt for his social works as the former prime minister is a senior figure who has done many good deeds for Burma. But the MP gave assurances that he does not support Khin Nyunt for personal reasons. After Khin Nyunt was released from house arrest in January, he told reporters that he would not get involved in politics but focus on social work. While he was in power, Khin Nyunt was also successful in dealing with ethnic armed groups and reached ceasefire agreements with 17 rebel armies. Burma Relaxes Grip on Media, Vows End to Censors http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23119 29-Feb-2012 It was a newspaper article that just months ago, Burma’s draconian state censors never would have approved. It told how prison authorities crudely attempted to cure a scabies outbreak by wiping down naked inmates with medicine-laden brooms—a demeaning act that revealed the poverty of the nation's prisons and the decrepit state of its health-care system. “In the past it would've been a very dangerous thing to publish,” said Zaw Thet Htwe, who wrote the story and was a political prisoner himself until last month. “It wasn't allowed.” But in a sign of just how much is changing in this long-oppressed nation, it was allowed. The article was not only published this month in the Health Journal, a Rangoon-based weekly, but it hit the streets without having to be reviewed first by the government's infamous censorship body, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department. Journalists have been jailed, beaten and blacklisted for decades in Burma, and the government continues to censor reporting about politics and other subjects it deems sensitive. But since last year, when the nation's long-entrenched military junta stepped down, censorship has ended on subjects such as health, entertainment, fashion and sports, and reporters are testing the limited freedom that has begun to emerge. Today, images of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, once a highly taboo figure, routinely appear on the front pages of everything except state-controlled media. And the days of buying foreign publications, only to find sensitive stories cut out, are over. “It's much more relaxed,” said Thiha Saw, chief editor of a news weekly called Open News, who said he's now able to write freely about fires, murders and natural disasters—all prohibited at various times in the past. The government has gone even further, promising to abolish censorship altogether once the Parliament approves a new media law later this year. The legislation, currently being drafted, would effectively allow Burma’s independent press to publish on a daily basis for the first time in decades. As recently as last fall, the future of journalism seemed grim in this Southeast Asian nation, which is also known as Burma. Reporters were still subjected to routine state surveillance, phone taps and censorship so intense that many were forced to work anonymously, undercover. In January, Reporters Without Borders ranked the country a lowly 169 out of 179 nations in its annual press freedom survey. Few expected much change when the junta ceded power last March. The new government, dominated by a clique of retired officers, had risen to power in an election widely considered neither free nor fair. But in an inaugural speech, President Thein Sein promised sweeping democratic reform, and vowed to “respect the role of the media, the fourth estate.” In June, the government quietly began removing blocks on once-banned foreign news websites. It also began allowing international newspapers and magazines to be sold without sensitive sections cut out. Exiled reporters, for decades among the country's most fervent critics, have been allowed to return and report freely, along with once-blacklisted correspondents from foreign news organizations, including The Associated Press. “Things are moving in the right direction,” the Committee to Protect Journalist's Southeast Asia representative, Shawn W. Crispin, said Tuesday in Bangkok. But he added, “The reforms we've seen are just scratching the surface. By any objective measure, Burma's media is still among the most repressed in the world.” Nine reporters have been freed this year, but three remain behind bars, he said. While “publications have been allowed to put Suu Kyi on the cover and report some of the things she says ... there are plenty of areas the press is not allowed to venture into, including any critical reporting of the ongoing conflict” between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the army in the north. Thiha Saw, the Open News editor, said a team of around 50 government censors still spikes about 10 percent of the content in his 30-page journal each week. But even that is progress. In the past, he said, censors were not averse to scrapping entire editions. “We don't really expect freedom of expression in a few months or a few years,” the bespectacled journalist told the AP in an interview in his small Rangoon office, where a poster of Suu Kyi hangs on the wall. Censorship has been in place in Burma one way or another since a 1962 military coup, he said, and “we still have a long, long way to go.” Now, writing about peace talks between the government and ethnic rebels is OK, Thiha Saw said, but stories about fighting between them are not. Ruling soon in footwear strike in Rangoon http://www.mizzima.com/business/6676-ruling-soon-in-footwear-strike-in-rangoon.html 29-Feb-2012 Thursday is the expected date for a ruling by the labour arbitration court in the Tai Yi footwear factory strike in the Hlaingthaya industrial zone in Rangoon. “The Trade dispute arbitration court chairman Saw Soe Tint said that the verdict would likely be given tomorrow. So we are looking forward to the ruling and keeping our fingers crossed. We do hope we will get a ruling in our favour,” said Pho Phyu, a lawyer for the workers. A delegation of workers and company managers and accountants testified during the proceedings. The workers are asking for a basic pay rate of 150 kyat (US$ 19 cents) per hour, a bonus of 8,000 kyat for those who have no absences during the month and a better working environment. 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. A total of 1,311 workers went on strike. The government revised the Labour Law on October 11, 2011, which would enable workers to form trade unions, but the necessary rules and regulations for the law have not yet been drafted. Workers hope to form a trade union after the law is promulgated. “When we can form a free trade union, we can make our demands more easily,” Tai Yi footwear factory strike leader Moe Wei said. According to the Labour Law, to form a trade union at least 30 workers must organize, and they must have the support of at least 10 per cent of the work force concerned. The trade unions would be divided into basic level, township level, state and region level and central level at the All Burma Labour Affairs Association. If workers wanted to stage a strike and demonstration under the direction of the labour union concerned, they must inform the arbitration committee of their planned strike date and venue and number of participants at least 14 days before a strike. In the offence and punishment chapter, the law stipulates that if the law is violated, a person could receive up to one-year imprisonment or a fine of up to 100,000 kyat (US$ 122) or both. Winka village hit by large fire http://www.mizzima.com/news/breaking-and-news-brief/6677-winka-village-hit-by-large-fire.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 20:13 Kun Chan (Mizzima) – Fire broke out at Winka village southeast of Three Pagoda Pass on the Thai-Burmese border on Tuesday. Damage was estimated at US$ 2 million. The fire broke out during the Winka village pagoda festival, and the area was crowded with visitors. itnesses said shop owners did not have time to carry goods from their stores. The fired destroyed a large number of homes and shops that cater to tourists and foreign visitors. The fire is believed to have started in an electrical short circuit. Fire engines from Sangklaburi, about two kilometres from Winka village, responded. It took about four ours to extinguish the blaze. During Winka village’s annual pagoda festival there are boxing matches, Mon and Burmese traditional dance shows, performing arts and Thai music shows. The village specializes in tourist and ethnic items. The village has about 1,500 houses. The area is well known for Thailand’s longest wooden bridge, and a replica of India’s Bodh Gaya temple. Relocated villagers at Burmese dam site cannot return home http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6674-relocated-villagers-at-dam-site-cannot-return-home.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 17:16 Zaw Shan New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State has been suspended, but Tanhpre villagers who were forced to relocate have been ordered to sign a pledge not to return to their villages. On Saturday, the head of Myitkyina District told Tanhpre villagers not to try to return home and had them sign a pledge, according to a resident. A resident said, “The district head came and held a meeting. He said although there is possibility that we can work in farming again in the Tanhpre village area, we must not live there. The next day, the authorities went from house to house in the village and forced us to sign the pledge.” The day before, a group of Tanhpre villagers organized a prayer ceremony related to the suspension of the Myitsone Dam project. Invited writers, scholars and 88-Generation students attended the prayer ceremony as invited guests, because they had campaigned to have the dam cancelled. Some speakers said that if the authorities try to restart work on the dam, they would again work to have it cancelled. The next day, the authorities ordered villagers not to return to Tanhpre village. “The three villages beside the Malikha River were bulldozed for the project,” a Tanhpre villager said. “But, as for the Tanhpre Village, they bulldozed only along the river, so we can do hillside farming again. Villagers from other villages also want to return to their village if possible.” About 1,100 people lived in 187 houses in Tanhpre village, located about 26 miles from Myitkyina. Most of the villagers do farming, gardening or provide services for tourists. The Myitsone Dam project site is located at an edge of Tanhpre village. In 2010, companies that were carrying out the project built a new village, Aungmyintha, 10 miles from the villages, to house relocated villagers. Four families in Tanhpre refused to move to Aungmyintha and are still living in the village. The soil in the new village is not suitable for growing crops, residents said, and the new houses were built with poor quality wood. The Chinese workers on the Myitsone project are still living in the workers’ quarters located south of Aungmyintha village. Workers with a Burmese company, Asia World, are also living in the same area, according to residents. In September 2011, the dam project was postponed by an order issued by President Thein Sein. China’s charity role along Burmese pipelines route praised http://www.mizzima.com/business/6673-chinas-charity-role-along-burmese-pipelines-route-praised.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 15:56 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – China’s role in the creation of the Sino-Burma oil and natural gas pipelines was praised by Burma’s vice president this week, particularly China’s charity contributions in the project areas. Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo praised China’s cooperation with Burma while touring Kyaukphyu on Made Island in Rakhine State with Chinese and local officials, according to an article by the Xinhua news agency published this week. Tin Aung Myint Oo thanked the Chinese companies for donating cash and material for health and education projects along the pipeline route. Zhang Jialin, president of the South-East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline (SEAOP), briefed Tin Aung Myint Oo on the progress of the oil and natural gas pipeline project and the China National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) charity undertakings in the project areas. The CNPC funds the pipeline project. He said in 2011, related companies donated a total of US$ 4 million to build 45 schools and 24 hospitals and clinics, while also improving the healthcare environment for 800,000 people. He said the charity work also involved digging “tube” wells that provide water for 2,490 people, according to Xinhua. Made Island, situated in western Burma in Rakhine State, is the starting point for the crude oil pipeline. The starting point for the natural gas pipeline is on Ramree on the west coast. The oil and natural gas pipelines run parallel through Burma and enter into China at Ruili, Yunnan Province. The crude oil pipeline extends onshore 771 kilometers, while the natural gas pipeline stretches 793 kilometers. Tin Aung Myint Oo stressed China’s continued support for people along the pipeline area. He also said that the project would consider providing support for Rakhine State's electric power network to relieve a regional power shortage. Burma’s gem show set for March http://www.mizzima.com/business/6672-burmas-gem-show-set-for-march.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 15:08 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – Naypyitaw will host the 49th Myanmar Gem Emporium in early March, and hope that sales trump last year’s shows which raised more than US$ 4 billion. Successful gem show sales were held in March and July, but the show in November was cancelled. Officials gave no reason, but traders said the cancellation was because of lack of payment by some foreign gem buyers. Organized by the Ministry of Mines, the 49th Myanmar Gems Emporium will be held at the Mani Yadana Jade Hall from March 9 to 18 with pre-view dates on March 6 to 8. A total of 15,000 lots of gems will be displayed at the emporium, officials said. The gem emporium held in March 2011 drew 1,600 gem traders from abroad. The buyers were mostly from China, Hong Kong and Taipei. Burma, is a well-known producer of gems, and boasts rubies, diamonds, cat's eyes, emeralds, topaz, pearls, sapphires, coral and a variety of garnet tinged with yellow. The authorities designate the proceeds from the sale of gems at the emporium as legal export earning to encourage the private sector to develop the gem industry. Regarding the show cancellation in November 2000, a gem trader told Mizzima, “For gems sold in the previous gem emporium, less than half of the money has come in. Some of the traders in foreign countries have not made full payment.” In May, the Chinese government increased the tax on gems from Burma from 10 percent to 30 percent, and the demand from Chinese traders fell, traders said. In the gem emporium, buyers must make a partial payment upon purchase and make the total payment within three months. A record value of US$ 2.8 billion in gems was sold during the emporium held in March. In the July emporium, US$ 1.5 billion in gems were sold. Traders said China’s gem traders couldn’t buy Burmese gems at competitive prices because of the increased tax rate. Moreover, because of the strong kyat, gem traders said they are placed at a disadvantage. “There is no gem market as large as China’s gem market. We have to rely on it. We cannot rely on other markets. If they [China] do not buy, the jade trade will be dull,” said a gem-mining businessman in Mandalay. In Burma’s gem emporiums, jade is the most purchased item. On average, a total of about 5,000 gem traders from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Korea visit the gem emporiums each year. Most of the visitors are Chinese. Since 1964, the Ministry of Mines has held a gem emporium each year. From 1992 to 2003, two gem emporiums were held each year. Since 2004, three gem emporiums are held annually. The first gem emporiums were held in the Inya Lake Hotel in Rangoon. Since 1993, emporiums were held in Rangoon at the gem museum on Kabaaye Pagoda Road and the Convention Center on Min Dhama Road. Starting in November 2010, the Mani Yadanar Hall in Naypyitaw has hosted the gem emporiums. Rival’s effort to disqualify Suu Kyi fails http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6670-rivals-effort-to-disqualify-suu-kyi-fails.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 13:03 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A candidate running against Aung San Suu Kyi in the Kawhmu constituency has failed in his attempt to prove she has permanent residence status in Britain and had also failed to pay taxes to Burma. The Rangoon Region Election Commission on Tuesday dismissed his effort and approved her candidacy, officially removing the last threat to her election to Parliament from Rangoon Region. Rangoon Region Election Commission chairman Ko Ko told Mizzima the challenge by Tin Yi of the Unity and Peace Party failed because he had no credible evidence that she had permanent resident status in Britain or that she had made bank deposits in foreign banks, or she had failed to pay taxes to the Burmese embassy when she lived in New Delhi. Section 121 (f) of the 2008 Constitution states that a person who is entitled to enjoy the rights and privileges of a subject of a foreign government or a citizen of a foreign country shall not be entitled to be an electoral candidate. Ko Ko told Mizzima, “He needed to file reliable evidence. He should have had the required documents from the relevant embassy to prove that she failed to pay taxes and needed to submit those documents. He just copied an article from an old journal and wrote baseless allegations that he had heard.” Tin Yi first submitted his objection to the South Rangoon District Election Commission, but the commission rejected his request on January 11. Suu Kyi’s two rivals in the constituency are Union Solidarity and Development Party candidate Dr. Soe Min, and UPP candidate Tin Yi. To contest in the Kawhmu Township constituency, Suu Ky registered in Warthinkha village, which is dominated by a Karen population. “I chose that village because it is a village of Karen people. I will become closer to them, that’s why I chose the township,” Suu Kyi told the media. TV staff told not to get excited about Suu Kyi’s studio visit http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6669-tv-staff-told-not-to-get-excited-about-suu-kyis-studio-visit.html Wednesday, 29 February 2012 12:05 Kyaw Kha Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Aung San Suu Kyi will receive a business-like reception when she goes to the Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) studios to record an NLD campaign speech in March. TV staff told Mizzima that Director General Thein Aung ordered people working in the offices and studios not to make a big deal out of her visit, in spite of the great anticipation, curiosity and eagerness of the workers to meet the national democratic icon. The staff was assembled in a special meeting on Friday in Naypyitaw and the director general issued his instructions. “Aung San Suu Kyi will come to our office,” said a staff member. “Our DG told us not to welcome and greet her on that day, and we should remain at our jobs,” a MRTV staff member told Mizzima. The Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on February 17 that 17 political parties including the NLD could create a campaign speech, which would be broadcast on state radio and television. Suu Kyi’s election campaign speech will be telecast and broadcast by MRTV on March 14. She will arrive at MRTV studios in Naypyitaw two days in advance to record the speech. Most MRTV staff wanted to give her a big welcome. “We have never seen her before live,” said the staff member. “We have seen her only on the Internet and the pictures in the weekly journals. First we thought we would get a chance to welcome her when she comes, but we have to follow the DG’s instructions. “The camera crew is lucky: they can see her. They can see her up close, but we will not have an opportunity to see her even from a distance.” Suu Kyi has encountered numerous obstacles from state authorities during her campaign trips across the country. On February 14, NLD officials held a press conference to discuss various incidents, including the NLD’s failure to find a large venue in Mandalay to hold a mass rally on February 4 and 5, after various authorities rejected NLD requests for venues. The NLD had to postpone the planned Mandalay campaign tour and reschedule it for early March. It also applied to hold a mass rally in a sports area in Pyapon in Irrawaddy Region on February 17, but the Ministry of Sports refused permission. The rally was held on a sand dune on the outskirts of Pyapon, where an estimated 40,000 people heard Suu Kyi speak. The sports ministry also refused access to a football ground in Hlegu Township in Rangoon Region on February 15. After publicity, the UEC overruled the ministry decision and permission was granted to hold a rally on the sports field. High-level Burmese officials have repeatedly said that the April 1 election would be free and fair, but numerous incidents have shown that the NLD is fighting a battle just to get its message out to the public. Kokang wants to join ceasefire talks http://www.english.panglong.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4452:kokang-wants-to-join-ceasefire-talks&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266 Wednesday, 29 February 2012 18:31 S.H.A.N. The Kokang force, officially known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), that went into exile in 2009 following the occupation of Kokang on the Sino-Burmese border, told SHAN it is ready to open “reconciliation talks” with Naypyitaw. The source, who requests anonymity, is a close relative of Peng Jiasheng, 81, the supreme leader of the MNDAA. “We are willing to put the past behind and look to the future,” he said. “We therefore want to stand together with other ethnic brethrens and open reconciliation talks with the Burmese government.” One of the obstacles toward this end may be the lawsuit filed by the police force against 4 of its top leaders: Peng Jiasheng, Peng Jiafu, Peng Daxun (Peng Deren) and Peng Dali. It had charged that the 4 had been operating a factory which was producing and selling arms and ammunition illegally. The result was the Burma Army offensive on 8 August 2009 against the MNDAA, that had since 1989 concluded a ceasefire agreement. The group claimed that it was merely an excuse to attack Kokang that had refused to become part of the Tatmadaw (National defense forces) without the guarantee of political autonomy. “The government should remove unwarranted charges against our leaders,” he said. “Full autonomy in internal affairs principle enshrined in the Panglong Agreement must also be respected.” Since 2009, the MNDAA has been regrouped and reorganized under the leadership of Peng Deren, 55, with assistance from “fraternal organizations”, obviously meaning Wa and Mongla. So far, Naypyitaw has signed initial ceasefire agreements with 9 movements, of which 4 are from Shan State: United Wa State Army (UWSA), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) and Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA). It has also agreed to hold talks with the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of 11 movements, which include 4 other groups from Shan State: Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), PaO National Liberation Organization (PNLO) and Wa National Organization (WNO). As for another Shan State group, Kayan New Land Party (KNLP), one of its leaders told SHAN: “There has been no negotiations with us. We were told in 2009. that we had been officially recognized as a (Burma Army-run) local militia group. That was all.” Fire at Sangkhlaburi Bodh Gaya Temple causes about 70 million Baht in damages http://monnews.org/?p=3739 29-Feb-2012 IMNA – The row of shops of Bodh Gaya Temple in Wan-Ka Village, Sangkhlaburi Township, near Three Pagodas Pass at the Thai-Burma border caught on fire at about 8 pm Tuesday and all the shops turned into ash within half an hour. Thirty-six shops were damaged and the damage was estimated at 70 millions Thai Baht by local authorities at the emergency meeting held in the Wi-wai-karama Monastery of Wan-Ka Village, after the fire was put out. Valuable textiles or clothes, ethnic costumes, handicrafts, silver and bronze wares related to Buddha images, many kinds of musical instruments, art materials made of timber, ironwood and gum-kino and other small furniture made by artisans in Burma were lost. “The cause of the fire is not known yet. The fire immediately spread and everything caught on fire within seconds. The fire engines could not reach the location in time and even people nearby couldnot help as the fire occurred suddenly,” Mon Monk, Hong Sar Raja, the Abbot of Three Pagodas Pass Monastery, who was a witness said. The event also coincided with the second night of the traditional festival of the local Bodh Gaya Temple. The shops were closed at that time and the field where the festival was cerebrated was becoming crowded. “This is the first fire during my 30-years in Wan-Ka Village. The row of shops caught on fire very fast, not lasting for even half an hour. That’s incredible,”the village headman of Win-Ka Village said. The traditional festival of Wan-Ka Bodh Gaya Temple is cerebrated annually on the 5th, 6th and 7th waxing days of the Ta-Bound Month of the Burmese/Mon calendar and is crowded with Mon and Burmese traditional music and dance groups, Mon culture shows, entertainment by local students, boxing shows and Mon and Thai music bands. Wan-Ka Village has about 1,500 houses and has mostly been inhabited by ethnic Mons who were born in Burma but have been granted documents to officially live in Thailand. NMSP reopens Moulmein liaison office http://monnews.org/?p=3734 29-Feb-2012 Ja-Loon Htaw – Among the domestic New Mon State Party (NMSP) liaison offices that had been closed in the past, the Moulmein office was reopened on February 26, 2012. Lieutenant Colonel B’nyair Chan Non (Nai Ba Khine) will temporarily carry out his duties in the NMSP office located in Ngan Tae Ward, Moulmein. Lieutenant Colonel B’nyair Chan Non said, “Now I am carrying out liaison duties in the Moulmein office. At the coming Central Committee Meeting, it will be decided who will be appointed to serve in the newly-opened liaison offices.” A day after NMSP and Burmese government representatives singed a peace agreement, the Moulmein liaison office was reopened, according to Peace Agent Nai Tin Aung. “All of the NMSP’s closed liaison offices will be reopened. It was also decided and agreed to open new offices. Traveling will be easier as the liaison offices can operate,” continued Nai Tin Aung. The new ceasefire agreement allows offices to be opened in areas where the NMSP is active, including Moulmein, Thanbyuzayat ,Ye, and Three Pagodas Pass Townships, the towns of Mudon and Kyaikmayaw, Zin Kyaik Village (Paung Township), Ra-Phuu Village (Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division), and the town of Myeik, according to peace agents. After previously signing a ceasefire agreement with the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in the mid-nineties, the NMSP was allowed to open liaison offices in four places. When the NMSP refused government orders to transform its troops into Border Guard Forces (BGF), all NMSP liaison offices in metropolitan areas were closed in April 2010. Thai AirAsia eyes Myanmar capital http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/02/thai-airasia-eyes-myanmar-capital/ 29-Feb-2012 BANGKOK, 29 February 2012: Low-cost Thai AirAsia says it will start a service to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw by year-end and add around five destinations during the first half of the year from three bases in Thailand. Thai AirAsia CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld confirmed new services to Chongqing and Chennai, 23 March. So far, the airline has announced five new destinations for the first half of the year; of which two are domestic — Trang (15 Janaury), Nakhon Phanom (15 February). The others are regional flights starting with Colombo and Sri Lanka, (1 March). Other regional services are planned from its bases in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai during the second half of the year. Mr Tassapon said the airline should add around the same numbers of destinations as in the first half of the year, but declined to name them except to say one was to Naypyidaw, the new capital city of Myanmar. “We are in the process of acquiring permission to operate flights to Naypyidaw..The service should be able to commence this year,” he said. Naypyidaw International Airport opened in December 2011, capable of handling up to 3.5 million passengers a year, although at present the only services are domestic flights from Yangon, Mandalay and Heho. “It (Naypyidaw) is the administrative centre of government so there will be a growing demand for direct travel as the country opens to investors,” added Mr Tassapon. He is also looking at destinations in India and China, but has reduced the flight time radius to 3.5 hours due to high fuel costs. “Longer range flights are not feasible as long as fuel costs remain high,” he said. Before the airline set the limit at four hours, but due to rising fuel costs it was forced to end its services to Delhi and Mumbai. “The fuel price will remain volatile and we cannot just simply resume when the price drops or cancel with it rises.” Airlines serving India are subject to a substantial aviation fuel tax of around 23%, which is crippling the country’s domestic airlines and was a factor in Kingfisher’s current financial troubles. “We are looking at Mekong Region secondary cities,” commented Mr Tassapon who identified Danang, Nha Trang and Hue in Vietnam; Sihanoukville in Cambodia; Mandalay in Myanmar and Pakse in Laos as having potential. Also, there have been requests to fly to Kunming, Hong Kong and Macau from its Chiang Mai base and to Indian cities such as Chennai and Bangalore from Phuket. Phuket is now a popular destination for Indian weddings. This year Thai AirAsia will add three more A320s to be delivered in addition to the two that arrived earlier in the year. The airline targets 8 million passengers by the end of this year. Last year, it flew 6.8 million passengers, slightly off its 7 million target. Myanmar poll could be last sanctions hurdle: Eu http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\01\story_1-3-2012_pg14_2 29-Feb-2012 YANGON: Upcoming by-elections in Myanmar could be the last hurdle towards the lifting most European Union sanctions, providing the polls are free and fair and endorsed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kui, EU parliamentarians said on Wednesday. But the sanctions, which like US embargoes contributed to Myanmar’s years of economic isolation, should be lifted incrementally to retain leverage with the civilian government behind unprecedented reforms in its first year in office, parliamentarians told Reuters. EU representatives and foreign ministers have in recent months told Myanmar’s rulers that transparent April 1 polls, which Nobel laureate Suu Kyi will contest, would strengthen their case for having more embargoes lifted. “There are no more real hurdles,” said Robert Goebbels, a European parliamentarian from Luxembourg. “The (European) ministers of foreign affairs are scheduled to meet in April and I would bet that they will lift the sanctions gradually, especially if Aung San Suu Kyi is elected.” Goebbels was referring to the European Union’s annual review of sanctions, known in Brussels as “restrictive measures”, which expire in April, when they will be either renewed, lifted or re-calibrated. EU foreign ministers started the process of lifting sanctions on January 23 when they temporarily suspended travel bans on top officials and the president, in response to the release of more than 300 political prisoners 10 days earlier. A delegation of 11 European legislators made their first to Myanmar and this week met top members of parliament and government officials, including the reform-minded president and former junta general, Thein Sein. Werner Langen, of Germany, who led the delegation, felt the leadership’s commitment to reforms was real and said his group had been assured the polls would be free and fair. “The result of these by-elections, whether they are free and fair, will determine whether the sanctions can really be lifted in April, as is the intention at the moment,” he added. The by-elections include some for seats in the lower house of parliament which is dominated by a pro-military party, set up under the auspices of the former ruling junta, which swept a November 2009 election amid opposition complaints of rigging. In recent months, Myanmar’s leaders have started engaging with Suu Kyi, whom the former regime kept in detention for a total of 15 years since 1989. Hundreds of other political prisoners have been freed and ceasefire agreements have been struck with most of the country’s ethnic minority rebel groups. The government has showed extraordinary signs of openness in also easing media censorship and legalising protests. Some of the lawmakers feel it is time to reward the administration by scaling back some of the embargoes. “We can give those who are the rulers of Myanmar now the benefit of the doubt. But it’s too early to say: cancel all the sanctions,” said Ivo Belet, of Belgium. “Phasing out the sanctions is a good model, and use the (remaining) sanctions as a sort of instrument of pressure to make them move in the right direction.” Conflict with ethnic minority rebels in Kachin State in the north of the country is going on despite a presidential order for the army to end the offensive. Some analysts say the conflict poses the biggest obstacle to a more comprehensive lifting of Western sanctions. Another hurdle is the lengthy procedures required in Brussels to lift the trade and economic embargoes. Some diplomats say the European Union should expedite this, to prevent Myanmar’s progress from slowing, or even being reversed. The European Union has sought to further engagement with Myanmar by opening a representative office in the country and dramatically boosting its development aid. It unveiled a 150 million euro ($198 million), two-year aid package last month worth almost as much as the 173 million euros it has given Myanmar since 1996. Belet said he thought financial restrictions should be among the first economic sanctions to be eased because of Myanmar’s need for an overhaul of its economy. “It’s really important that foreign banks and that international financing systems can start up,” he said. “That’s the first and most basic element in order to get an international, open economy. reuters In Myanmar, hopes for an art renaissance http://news.yahoo.com/myanmar-hopes-art-renaissance-010456634.html 1-Mar-2012 have a breezy simplicity. Broad, colourful strokes and exaggerated figures, often in silhouette, capture an isolated country steeped in Buddhist culture but blighted by years of military rule. But selling them has been anything but simple. For two decades, sanctions imposed in response to human rights abuses kept tourism to a trickle, and those who visited found a country run on cash, not credit. Expensive paintings rarely sold. Cheap ones did. That kept a lid on prices. As Myanmar pursues reforms that may soon convince the United States and Europe to lift sanctions, Nyein Chan Su and other artists hope to emerge from the shadows. Prices, many expect, will rise. International gallery owners from New York to Hong Kong are already scouting for talent. "Once sanctions come down, we can show our work more and have a chance to earn more money," said Nyein Chan Su, 38, a founding member of Yangon's Studio Square, a cramped gallery shared by four friends from art school on the second floor in the back of an apartment complex in Myanmar's biggest city. A walk through his studio illustrates the problems. No single piece of art sells for more than $1,000, and most go for about half that, despite a roster of top contemporary artists. Compare that with Vietnam. Before the United States lifted sanctions in 1994, few Vietnamese paintings sold for more than $1,000. Today, its top artists can fetch 10 times that or more. Prices have already started to rise for Myanmar's most successful artist, Min Wae Aung, known for expansive canvasses of golden-robed monks, often shaded by pink rattan umbrellas and set against gold backdrops. "This one is $9,000," said Ma Thit, a manager at New Treasure Art Gallery, pointing to a portrait of four monks walking in sandals. Six years ago, she said, similar Min Wae Aung paintings sold for $6,000. "It goes up every two years or so, and there has been an increase in interest recently." But Min Wae Aung is the exception in a country where most artists have thrived in obscurity with limited resources, often in fear of state censors rooting out political messages in every song, book, cartoon and piece of art. He gained prominence in the 1990s with shows in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries that maintained ties with Myanmar while the West shunned the country following repeated human rights violations, including a 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protests that killed thousands. After 1998, when the Singapore Art Museum added his painting "Golden Monks" to its Southeast Asia collection, some U.S. and European galleries began to show his work. "WE ARE WAITING" But few artists come anywhere close to Min Wae Aung's stature. At New Treasure, one of Yangon's largest galleries, the average price is just $350 for pieces by other artists, said Ma Thit. "The tourists only usually bring a little bit of cash, and we only accept cash due to restrictions in using credit due to sanctions, so the price hasn't changed in years for most artists," she said. She smiles when asked if her prices would rise if sanctions were lifted? "Of course. We are waiting. The artists are waiting." Before 1993, the country of 60 million people only had two diploma schools of fine arts, one in Yangon and the other in Mandalay. A National University of Arts and Culture was founded in 1993, expanding traditional arts education in the former British colony, also known as Burma. "We found that there was a huge reservoir of artists, many many artists of very good quality," said Sidney Cowell, owner of Asia Fine Art Gallery in Hong Kong. "The work with Myanmar, with Burmese artists is clean, is original and it's untainted. We haven't come across any copying. We haven't come across anything but fine art." Buddhist themes dominate many works. Tartie, an artist who goes by one name, for instance, depicts murals and stone carvings from pagodas and temples built between the 9th and 13th centuries in the ancient central city of Bagan where Burmese Buddhism first flourished. But he employs a graphic art-style that resembles modern illustration. "There are two major things that influence my art," he wrote of his work. "One of them is modern art and the other is Myanmar traditional line drawing that has existed throughout the ages. I learned modern art through books and line drawings through mural paintings, lacquer-ware and stone carvings." Overt political art is rare but that, too, is changing following a series of reforms since last year that ended nearly half-century of direct military rule. A legislature stacked with former generals has surprised skeptics by loosening its grip on censorship and other social controls. Bans on prominent news web sites have been lifted, including some run by government critics. A law that would do away with direct political censorship is being drafted. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose name was seldom spoken in public during her years of house arrest, now regularly appears in public, her face often emblazoned on magazine covers. "BIG OPENING" "This is an opening, and it's a big opening," said Richard Streiter, founder of ArtAsia NYC, a New York gallery that deals in Burmese art. "The door has swung open that was closed for decades, for many decades." Streiter, a former dean of the Pratt Institute, a private art college in New York, bought nine paintings of Suu Kyi on his latest visit to Yangon -- and one of her father, assassinated independence hero General Aung San. "What would have been controversial even only a year ago is no longer problematic," he said. But some artists such as Nyein Chan Su at Studio Square say it would take time for people to freely express themselves. "We have been under this system for over 30 years. We don't know whether the government has given us freedom or not. We are still psychologically in this system," he said. Rather than paint realistic portraits of Myanmar's troubled streets or impoverished countryside, his works "give the taste of escaping from the real outside world", he said. "There is a deep rooted mindset in the Myanmar people because of the difficult years we have had in our government," he said. "We need to erase this image. The government must change the paradigm and only then will we change." Myanmar bushfires spread into the North http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/282252/myanmar-bushfires-spread-into-the-north 29-Feb-2012 Bushfires in Myanmar have fanned out into Thailand, spreading into parts of the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak and raising concerns over rising haze in the northern provinces. Thailand's forest fire control centre has mobilised officials to stop the fires from spreading further after hundreds of rai of forest area in the Thung Yai Naresuan compound reportedly caught fire. Authorities, including border patrol police, were told to stay alert around the clock to prevent any severe damage to the national World Heritage forest, which covers pristine areas in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak and Kanchanaburi and in adjacent Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Uthai Thani. Tak governor Suriya Prasatbandit has also asked Myawaddy, a border town opposite Tak, to help curb the fire after Myanmar officials earlier reportedly failed to control it. The forest fire, which erupted in a teak forest, is believed to have resulted from Myanmar farmers burning stumps of rice and corn near the forest, and poachers who set fires in the forest to hunt animals. The fire spewed out huge amounts of smoke covering wide areas including Tak's Umphang district, where part of the Thung Yai Naresuan is situated. The smoke is adding to the ongoing haze in the North where particle levels are still beyond safety limits in many provinces. The haze, made up of particulate matters less than 10 micrometres (PM10) in diameter, come mainly from weed burning and bushfires. Chiang Rai is still reporting the highest level of PM10 with 213 microgrammes per cubic metre, recorded yesterday, above the acceptable standard of 120ug/cu/m, the Pollution Control Department said. Other provinces with harmful levels of PM10 are Phayao, parts of Lampang, Phrae and Nan. Phayao, where fine dust hit 191.08ug/cu/m, is also facing deforestation as wildlife officials found trees on about 100 rai of land in the Mae Yom forest reserve, which is the watershed for the Yom River, had been cut and burned.
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