BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Clinton urges 'concrete actions' by Myanmar on rights
(AFP) – 17 hours ago
SAN FRANCISCO — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged Myanmar to take "concrete actions" to improve human rights, voicing concerns about the new government's record despite its outreach.

Clinton, addressing a joint news conference after talks with Australian leaders, said that the new US coordinator on Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, had "productive meetings" on his first visit to the country this week.

But she added: "Frankly, we have serious questions and concerns across a wide range of issues."

She said that the military-backed government in the country formerly known as Burma continued to hold some 2,000 political prisoners and to mistreat ethnic minorities and the media.

"I would urge the Burmese government to follow its words and commitments with concrete actions that lead to genuine reform, national reconciliation and respect for human rights," Clinton said.

Myanmar's then military rulers last year held rare elections and later nominally handed over power to civilians. The opposition and the United States branded the moves as a sham meant to cement the military's control.

But the government has also taken gestures including releasing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who had spent most of the previous two decades under house arrest.

President Barack Obama's administration in 2009 opened a dialogue with Myanmar, concluding that the previous policy of seeking to isolate the regime has failed. But the United States has said it will only lift sanctions once it sees progress.
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Myanmar authorities unblock some banned websites
(AP) – 9 hours ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's new government has stopped blocking some foreign websites such as the BBC and YouTube in a gesture toward openness that is tempered by remaining harsh laws that still keep readers of such sites at risk of arrest.

Once-banned websites that were opened this week for viewing include the Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corp., as well the Democratic Voice of Burma, Radio Free Asia and the video file sharing site YouTube.

The unannounced move is the latest step taken by the Southeast Asian nation's new leaders to boost hope, however faint, that authoritarian rule here could finally be easing. The country's long-standing military government handed over power to a nominally civilian regime earlier this year.

Since authorities introduced the Internet here about a decade ago, Myanmar — also known as Burma — has aggressively monitored online activities and routinely blocked websites seen as critical to the government.

It has also punished journalists with harsh jail terms; the Democratic Voice of Burma says around 25 journalists are currently detained in Myanmar, 17 of them its own.

Many news websites have been blocked since 2007, when the military junta launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, but local Internet users have been able to circumvent the ban by using proxy servers.

Wai Phyo, chief editor of a prominent private Weekly Eleven news journal, welcomed the government move, saying it would allow journalists to be of "greater service to the people."

However, Shawn W. Crispin, Southeast Asia Representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, warned that the opening could be a double-edged sword.

"There are still regulations on the books that will allow authorities to arrest and charge anyone who dares to access these sites in Burma's highly regulated and strictly policed public Internet cafes," Crispin told The Associated Press on Friday in Bangkok. "These sites may now be available in Burma, but Internet users risk arrest and even prison for accessing them."

Crispin said that less that 0.3 percent of the population in Myanmar has access to the media. Allowing them full Internet access "is hardly a noteworthy move toward more press freedom," he said.

"Until Burma's military-backed regime stops pre-censoring the local media and releases all the journalists it holds behind bars, Burma will remain one of the most restricted media environments in the world," he said.

This week, journalist Sithu Zeya of the Norway-based news broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma was sentenced to a 10-year-prison term for circulating material online that could "damage tranquillity and unity in the government" under the country's Electronic Act, Reporters Without Borders said.

Sithu Zeya had already been sentenced in 2010 to eight years behind bars after he was caught photographing the aftermath of a grenade attack in the country's main city of Yangon.

This week, the new U.S. special representative to Myanmar ended a brief visit to Myanmar, saying America plans to keep its sanctions on the military-dominated country for now, but Washington will respond positively if the new civilian government makes genuine reforms.

President Thein Sein said in his inaugural address in March that the role of the media should be respected. In August, three state-run newspapers stopped running back-page slogans blasting the foreign media for the first time in years.
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The Labour Party - Douglas Alexander calls on Government to campaign for Burma inquiry
16 September 2011

Douglas Alexander MP, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, has called on the Government to work with other EU members to campaign for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma:

“The Burmese Government must end the continuing grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the targeting of civilians in conflict areas

“The international community has been strong in condemning the repeated abuses of human rights in Burma. But even at this late hour Britain must work to seek international agreement to establish a UN Commission of Inquiry into accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.

“In Brussels and New York, British diplomats can and must make every effort to win justice for the victims of human rights abuses in Burma.”
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Proactive Investors Australia - Interra Resources: YNG 3240 completed in Myanmar, 133 barrels of oil per day
Friday, September 16, 2011 by John Phillips

Interra Resources' (ASX: ITR) jointly controlled entity Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc. (Goldpetrol), has completed infill development well YNG 3240 as an oil producer.

Drilling commenced at the onshore will in August 2011, which is located in the Yenangyaung oil field in Myanmar.

The well was drilled to total depth of 476 metres (1,570 feet) and was completed using a pre-perforated liner, which was open in the bore hole to the targeted L900FT through 1600FT reservoirs over an interval of 250 metres (825 feet).

These reservoirs produce from five surrounding wells in the same fault block.

Interra said following four days of production testing by pump, the well has stabilised at 133 barrels of oil per day and establishes it as the current best onshore oil producer in Myanmar.

Myanmar onshore interests

Interra has a 60% interest in the Improved Petroleum Recovery Contract of the Yenangyaung field and also owns 60% of Goldpetrol which is the operator of the field.

YNG 3240 is the third successful development well to be completed this year in the Yenangyaung field and fifth overall in the 2011 Myanmar drilling campaign.

The well was drilled using Goldpetrol’s Cooper LTO 350 rig and employing a relatively simple completion plan.

As such, costs were comparatively low and Interra’s share of the drilling costs was funded from current cash assets.
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Spero News - As Myanmar undergoes an economic revolution, the International Monetary Fund comes calling
Myanmar is going through many changes, including new visa rules, the first trade unions, an expanding mobile phone network and better infrastructures. But the main change is the strength of the local currency, the kyat, against the US dollar. Next month, IMF officials are coming to help stabilise ...
Thursday, September 15, 2011
By Asia News

Yangon – Myanmar is a nation “on the go”. In recent weeks, it has experienced many changes: new visa rules for foreigners, the birth of the first trade unions, higher costs for domestic flights, more and better infrastructures and mobile phones, but especially a stronger kyat against the US dollar with major consequences for the local economy and the cost of living. In fact, the local currency has gained 30 per cent against the greenback, which is now traded at 700 per dollar against a 1,000 a year ago. Such changes are the result of the end of the military regime, replaced by a “civilian” government appointed by a parliament, albeit one still controlled by the armed forces, and the influence of international financial circles.

The government’s decision this month to impose a 10 per cent tax on domestic flights has caused grumbling among tourist operators. Yet, a small sign of the country’s modernisation comes from the establishment of professional organisations and trade unions, which have already begun labour action to increase wages.

Visa rules have also changed, but foreigners still need one to enter the country. In fact, since the summer, they must now enter and exit from the same border post. Thus, anyone arriving at Yangon’s international airport from abroad must leave the same way and can no longer cross the border with Thailand.

The government has invested heavily in infrastructure, building important motorways that connected the capital Naypyidaw to the country’s other cities like Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan. Once off-limits, the capital itself is now a tourist destination.

Visitors will be able to use local phone cards by paying a US$ 50 deposit, plus a US$ 2 daily fee. Foreign and international cards are not compatible with Myanmar rules.

The biggest change however is the rise of the Kyat. Over the past year, it has gained 30 per cent against the US dollar. That is more than 200 kyat in the last two months.
President Thein Sein warns that a strong currency could penalise exports and negatively affect the economy, but a crisis could force Myanmar’s rulers to introduce long awaited political, social and financial reforms.

The cost of services, including restaurants and transports, are rising as well. A hike in hotel prices is also possible.

The inflow of foreign capital and the growth of investments into a hitherto backward country sitting on the edge of Asia’s geopolitical fault lines is pushing up costs and revaluing the national currency.

Myanmar has great potential because of its energy resources (oil and gas) and mineral wealth (precious metals) as well as cheap labour, which is still primarily employed in agriculture.

At the same time, prices are rising in the real estate market as well, as local investors sell their dollars to buy kyats.

In October, for the first time, officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit the country to help local authorities stabilise the currency and prices.

This is a toll task for a government still tied to the old military regime, but one that is increasingly necessary if Myanmar is to face the challenges of a new and modern market economy. The country formerly known as Burma is indeed a nation “on the go”.
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Human Rights Watch - Burma: Free Political Prisoners to Show Commitment to Reform
Petition to Burmese President Calls for Prisoner Release
September 13, 2011

International acclaim for the Burmese government’s reform measures has not yet been matched by action. The release of the nearly 2,000 political prisoners would be a telling indicator of the government’s sincerity.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The Burmese government should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Burma to demonstrate a genuine commitment to its touted reform process, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 13, 2011, Human Rights Watch sent a petition of more than 3,000 signatures to President Thein Sein from individuals calling for the release of the approximately 2,000 political prisoners in the country.

“International acclaim for the Burmese government’s reform measures has not yet been matched by action,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The release of the nearly 2,000 political prisoners would be a telling indicator of the government’s sincerity.”

Despite longstanding calls by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many governments around the world, there have been no significant releases of long-term political prisoners in Burma since 2005. The secretary-general’s latest report on Burma, dated August 5, 2011, states that, “The detention of all remaining political prisoners will continue to overshadow and undermine any confidence in the Government’s efforts.” A May 16, “amnesty,” which reduced all criminal sentences by one year, released only an estimated 77 political prisoners.

In August, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, conducted his first fact-finding mission in the country since February 2010. While noting the seemingly positive signs of change stemming from his official meetings, Quintana stressed that the release of political prisoners is a “central and necessary step towards national reconciliation.”

At Insein prison in Rangoon, Quintana interviewed political prisoners who recounted “testimonies of prolonged sleep and food deprivation during interrogation, beatings, and the burning of bodily parts, including genital organs,” and other forms of torture and ill-treatment. In all meetings with international interlocutors, Burmese officials continued to deny that it holds political prisoners and that all those incarcerated are common criminals. However, following Quintana’s visit, several members of Burma’s Lower House of Parliament proposed a general amnesty for all political prisoners.

The day after Quintana’s visit, a closed court in Rangoon sentenced a former Burmese army officer, Nay Myo Zin, to 10 years in prison under the Electronic Transactions Act for criticizing the government’s national reconciliation efforts. Critics of the government continue to be arbitrarily arrested and face ill-treatment under interrogation.

“New government or not, the Burmese authorities are still jailing people for peaceful speech,” said Pearson. “If this government wants to improve its democratic credentials then it should listen to those in parliament urging the release of all political prisoners.”

The Burmese government has embarked on a campaign of reform since March that promises progressive economic and social policies, efforts to stamp out corruption, and the formation of a National Human Rights Commission. It has engaged in positive rhetoric on promoting human rights including an informal call for exiled political dissidents to return and promises of embarking on peace talks with ethnic groups. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi held her first meeting with President Thein Sein in August, and the government has hosted visits by senior United Nations and European Union officials. The newly confirmed US special envoy and policy coordinator on Burma, Derek Mitchell, is currently in Burma meeting with government and opposition figures.

Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and concerned countries to call on the Burmese government to match its rhetoric with action and start by releasing all political prisoners. Copies of Human Rights Watch’s petition will also be sent to the UN, ASEAN, the US, the EU, China, and India.

“Despite some promises from the government, the human rights of the Burmese people have not improved at all,” Pearson said. “The bar is so low on Burma that small gestures are confused with genuine action. Releasing political prisoners is a key place to start.”

Background information

Human Rights Watch’s campaign “Behind Bars: Free Burma's Political Prisoners” seeks to secure the release of all political detainees in Burma, now estimated at 2,000, a number that effectively doubled since 2007. Some of the prominent activists highlighted in the campaign and who continue to serve lengthy sentences include:

Zargana, Burma’s most famous comedian, who is serving a 35-year sentence for criticizing the military government’s slow response to Cyclone Nargis;

U Gambira, a 32-year-old monk who was one of the leaders of the peaceful protests of August and September 2007 and is now serving a 63-year sentence;

Su Su Nway, afemale labor rights activist serving an eight-and-a-half-year sentence after raising a banner criticizing Burma's government at the hotel of a visiting UN special envoy;

Min Ko Naing, a former student leader serving a 65-year sentence; and Nay Phone Latt, a 30-year-old blogger who used his blog to spread news about the 2007 protests and was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The nearly 2,000 prisoners still incarcerated include an estimated 348 members of the National League for Democracy, 222 Buddhist monks involved in the 2007 peaceful protests, 310 ethnic nationality activists, and 38 members of the 88 Generation Students group. Despite some claims that media restrictions have loosened since the 2010 elections, Burma continues to imprison some 23 journalists, including 17 reporters or video-journalists of the Democratic Voice of Burma.
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Times of India - Paresh Baruah's men take shelter in Myanmar's jungles to evade army
TNN | Sep 16, 2011, 08.11AM IST

GUWAHATI: Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah has reportedly pulled out his men from the camps in Myanmar and pushed them into the jungles as the neighbouring country's army continues to maintain a position close to the unified camp at Taga, also called Eastern Nagaland by the NSCN(K).

Security sources said the Myanmar army has not fired at or destroyed the camps of the Indian militants and confirmed that the Ulfa leader has not been hurt as reported earlier.

"The Myanmar army has not launched any operation so far and is only carrying out area domination exercises. They have done this in the past, too, with their symbolic presence close to the unified camp of the Indian militant groups. The Myanmar army has full knowledge of the presence of the militants' camps," a top security source told TOI.

The source added, "The militants have deserted their camps and have taken shelter inside the jungles as the Myanmar army is holding its position there for a week now. However, they are not making any offensives."

Security agencies also intercepted Paresh Baruah's calls made from his satellite phone to his cadres in the state, giving them instructions related to collection of extortion money.

"He has made several calls from his sat phone in the past 24 hours. Though the conversations are mostly cryptic, some parts have been deciphered as instructions related to extortion," the source said.

However, Indian agencies are not sure whether Baruah is still holed up in Myanmar or has traveled to the neighbouring Yunan province in China.

"Paresh Baruah ses a satellite phone and so the place of origin cannot be determined correctly. But, what we have gathered from the nature of their telephonic conversations is that is the no harm has come to the militants from the Myanmar army," the source said.

Ulfa has about 80 to 90 members at the unified camp at Taga and about a dozen in three other smaller camps called the Arakan base, Naga base and the 28{+t} {+h} battalion headquarters in the neighbouring country

The unified camp also houses members of the NSCN(K) and Manipur outfits PLA, UNLF, PREPAK and KYKL.
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Jakarta Globe - Walking Out on China: When There’s No Option to Leave, It’s Time to Say Goodbye
Liao Yiwu | September 16, 2011

Yunnan Province, in southwestern China, has long been the exit point for Chinese who yearn for a new life outside the country. There, one can sneak out of China by land, passing through pristine forests, or one can go by water, floating all the way down the Lancang River until it becomes the Mekong, which meanders into Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

So each time I set foot there, in a land where red soil gleams in the sun, I get restless; my imagination runs wild. After all, having been imprisoned for four years after I wrote a poem that condemned the Chinese government’s brutal suppression of student protesters in 1989, I had been denied permission to leave China 16 times.

I felt very tempted. It doesn’t matter if you have a passport or visa. All that counts is the amount of cash in your pocket. You toss your cell phone, cut off communications with the outside world and sneak into a village, where you can easily locate a peasant or a smuggler willing to help you. After settling on the right price, you are led out of China on a secret path.

Until earlier this year, I had resisted the urge to escape. Instead, I chose to stay in China, continuing to document the lives of those occupying the bottom rung of society. Then, democratic protests swept across the Arab world, and posts began appearing on the Internet calling for similar street protests in China. In February and March, there were peaceful gatherings at busy commercial and tourist centers in dozens of cities every Sunday afternoon. The government panicked, staging a concerted show of force nationwide. Soldiers changed into civilian clothes and patrolled the streets with guns, arresting anyone they deemed suspicious.

Meanwhile, any reference to Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution (and even the word jasmine) was censored in text messages and on search engines. The police rounded up human rights lawyers, writers and artists. The democracy activist Liu Xianbin, who had served nine years in prison for helping to form the China Democratic Party, was given a new sentence of 10 years. The artist Ai Weiwei vanished in April and has lived under close government surveillance since his release in mid-June.

An old-fashioned writer, I seldom surf the Web, and the Arab Spring simply passed me by. Staying on the sidelines did not spare me police harassment, though. When public security officers learned that my books would be published in Germany, Taiwan and the United States, they began phoning and visiting me frequently.

In March, my police handlers stationed themselves outside my apartment to monitor my daily activities. “Publishing in the West is a violation of Chinese law,” they told me. “The prison memoir tarnishes the reputation of China’s prison system and ‘God Is Red’ distorts the party’s policy on religion and promotes underground churches,” they would tell me.

Then an invitation from Salman Rushdie arrived, asking me to attend the PEN World Voices Festival in New York. I immediately contacted the local authorities to apply for permission to leave China, and booked my plane ticket. However, the day before my scheduled departure, a police officer called me to “have tea,” informing me that my request had been denied. If I insisted on going to the airport, the officer told me, they would make me disappear, just like Ai Weiwei.

For a writer, especially one who aspires to bear witness to what is happening in China, freedom of speech and publication mean more than life itself. My good friend, the Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, has paid a hefty price for his writings and political activism. I did not want to follow his path. I had no intention of going back to prison. I was also unwilling to be treated as a “symbol of freedom” by people outside the tall prison walls.

Only by escaping this colossal and invisible prison called China could I write and publish freely. I have the responsibility to let the world know about the real China hidden behind the illusion of an economic boom — a China indifferent to ordinary people’s simmering resentment.

I kept my plan to myself. I didn’t follow my usual routine of asking my police handlers for permission. Instead, I packed some clothes, my Chinese flute, a Tibetan singing bowl and two of my prized books, “The Records of the Grand Historian” and the “I Ching.” Then I left home while the police were not watching, and traveled to Yunnan. Even though it was sweltering there, I felt like a rat in winter, lying still to save my energy. I spent most of my time with street people. I knew that if I dug around, I could eventually find an exit.

With my passport and valid visas from Germany, the United States and Vietnam, I began to move. I shut off my cellphone after making brief contacts with my friends in the West, who had collaborated on the plan. Several days later, I reached a small border town, where I could see Vietnam across a fast-flowing river. My local helper said I could pay someone to secretly ferry me across, but I declined. I chose to leave through the border checkpoint on the bridge.

Before the escape, my helper had put me up at a hotel near the border. Amid intermittent showers, I floated in and out of dreams and awoke nervously to the sound of a knock on the door, only to see a prostitute shivering in the rain and asking for shelter. Although sympathetic, I was in no position to help.

At 10 a.m. on July 2, I walked 100 meters to the border post, fully prepared for the worst, but a miracle occurred. The officer checked my papers, stared at me momentarily and then stamped my passport. Without stopping, I traveled to Hanoi and boarded a flight to Poland and then to Germany. As I walked out of Tegel airport in Berlin on the morning of July 6, my German editor, Peter Sillem, greeted me. “My God, my God,” he exclaimed. He was deeply moved and could not believe that I was actually in Germany. Outside the airport, the air was fresh and I felt free.

After I settled in, I called my family and girlfriend, who were questioned by the authorities. News about my escape spread fast. A painter friend told me that he had gone to visit Ai Weiwei, who is still closely watched. When my friend mentioned that I had mysteriously landed in Germany, Old Ai’s eyes widened. He howled with disbelief, “Really? Really? Really?”

The New York Times

Liao Yiwu is the author of “God Is Red” and “The Corpse Walker.” This essay was translated by Wen Huang from the Chinese.
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Forbes - Burma Opens for Business
Simon Montlake, 09.13.11, 12:00 PM EDT
Forbes Asia Magazine dated September 26, 2011

It was 1997, and U Moe Kyaw, a U.K.-raised entrepreneur with a rasping London accent, was in demand. On busy nights he went table to table at restaurants in Rangoon to greet clients of his advertising firm, a joint venture with Bates Worldwide. Like his foreign visitors (who knew him as Peter, the Cockney adman), he was convinced that isolated, military-run Burma (Myanmar) was finally open for business.

Not so fast. Reverting to type, Burma's ruling junta swiftly purged its ranks and clamped down on foreign companies and opposition groups. U.S. lawmakers and prodemocracy campaigners quickened the pace with tougher sanctions and consumer boycotts of Western companies in Burma. The final blow was Asia's financial crisis, which sidelined promarket reformers.

Peter's multinational clients drifted away, and the shutters came down. Millions of Burmese voted with their feet, migrating overseas to work. "When I came back in 1989, I thought that in one generation we would be like Thailand. Now I think it's going to be two generations at least," he says.

It usually pays to be bearish on Burma. But a flurry of initiatives by a new, semi-elected government has raised hopes of a fresh start. Since taking power in March, it has begun tackling barriers to economic growth, such as commodity import cartels and restrictive investment and labor laws. President Thein Sein, a retired general, has pledged to support local entrepreneurship and to attract foreign investors to special economic zones. He's also tapped independent thinkers as economic advisors and appointed businessmen as ministers. In much of Asia this would be mainstream politics. In Burma it's almost a Tea Party movement. Even the political standoff that has defined Burma on the world stage--the Lady versus the Generals--appears to have eased with a warm presidential reception on Aug. 19 for Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader. "Things have moved surprisingly quickly," says a European diplomat. A veteran foreign aid worker concurs: "The political conversation has changed."

Burma's political history is strewn with false starts and reversals. The question on everyone's lips is whether this time is different. Skeptics say Thein Sein has yet to deliver on his reformist rhetoric and faces resistance from political hardliners and conservative bureaucrats, as well as rent-seeking tycoons who thrived under the dictatorship.

This uncertainty, as much as sanctions and boycotts, prevents many Western firms from taking the plunge, says Luc de Waegh, founder of West Indochina, a consultancy in Singapore. "The business environment isn't friendly to foreign investors yet. It's challenging to do business there," he says. Asian manufacturers have also been deterred by high costs for inputs and dilapidated infrastructure, despite a cheap labor pool. Only Burma's natural resources have attracted significant investment, led by China, though this has proven controversial.

Still, some Western executives are keen to size up a potential market of 54 million people with an estimated GDP of $43 billion. Tourist arrivals rose 23% in the first half of 2011, and not all were vacationers. "The big guys from the big companies are going there for tourism and business curiosity. It's like the last frontier," says De Waegh, who used to run British American Tobacco's Burma operations. Under political pressure at home, BAT exited in 2003.

Burmese businessmen are girding for a return of multinational brands and a more open economy. For Sai Sam Htun, CEO of Loi Hein, a beverage company based in Rangoon, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge. His company has a dominant share of bottled-water and energy-drink markets, and has spare capacity in its factories. It has set a target for $100 million in annual sales as a trigger for a potential IPO, a first for a private company (he declines to give current revenues).

Dr. Sam--a physician-turned-entrepreneur--knows that his local brands would be severely tested by direct competition from the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi if sanctions were lifted. "We try to visualize two, three, four years down the road. When all the big guys come in, how should we prepare?" he asks.

This isn't blue-sky thinking: Western consumer brands are busy dusting off their marketing plans for Burma. Many of their products are already distributed via Thailand and Singapore, as a visit to Rangoon's new malls reveals. And while U.S. law forbids all investments, European sanctions don't apply to sodas, shampoos and sauces.

Dr. Sam says he may seek a foreign partner who wants to enter the beverage market. "If we have to join or be bought by a foreign company, I think we have no choice," he says.

He's also begun to diversify his business, which he founded in 1992 after a stint overseas. He owns Yadanadon Football Club, the current champions of Burma's soccer league, and is develop ing an upscale condominium project in a Rangoon suburb. "We have to open the door, correct our politics and normalize relations with all the countries in the world, including the West," he tells FORBES ASIA.

Born into a merchant family in Shan State, near the Chi nese border, Dr. Sam spent 15 years working as a doctor at public hospitals. He left Burma before a failed uprising in 1988 against military rule. When he returned he began trading plywood and timber, using his savings of $20,000 to set up Loi Hein, which is named after his father. In 1994 he switched to manufacturing and distribution after the junta began leasing state-run factories to private operators. "I brought in new ma chinery, new packaging and branding. That's where I made money for myself," he recalls.

By 2003 Loi Hein was ready to expand. It built a modern factory outside Rangoon, the commercial capital, and launched Alpine bottled water, which now has 65% market share, according to Dr. Sam. He also licensed Shark, an energy drink from Thailand, and added carbonated sodas. Most of his plants are now fully private, including a former state-owned bottling factory in Mandalay, the second-largest city, and the company's payroll has swelled to nearly 2,000 workers.

But 2011 has brought an unwelcome jolt for Burmese entrepreneurs: a currency appreciation of 25% against the dollar that has squeezed exporters and depressed farm prices. The government has cut export taxes and agreed to overhaul a Socialistera foreign-exchange system with multiple rates. For now commodity traders are stuck with currency volatility and crops that can't compete on global markets. "They're caught between a rock and a hard place," says a foreign economist.

In an opaque, rumor-driven economy, it's unclear exactly why the currency, the kyat, has spiked so dramatically since January. Most observers point to a flood of dollars for priva tizations and gem auctions, as well as speculation on real estate and other assets. Burmese allege that Chinese in vestors are snapping up prime sites in major cities, using bribes and local partners to evade bans on foreign owner ship of land.

"People are paying stupid prices for property," says adman Peter, who is now managing director of Myanmar Marketing Research Development. He names a new mall in Mandalay that is selling ground-floor stores for $1,430 per square foot. "Stupid and insane prices," he laughs.

This combination of asset inflation and economic stagna tion may reveal the "resource curse" that some economists say is Burma's greatest challenge. Annual natural gas ex ports to Thailand are already worth $2.5 billion, and Chi nese investment in new energy projects could bring in vastly more revenues. Other lucrative exports are timber and gems, mostly cut and shipped for processing in other countries. These natural resource exports tend to enrich a narrow elite without boosting investment in domestic in dustries. Artificially inflated prices for imported goods such as cars and telephones further deter manufacturers. "It's the reverse of supply-side economics," says a Burmese investor.

Some companies did very well under military rule. Burmese conglomerates run by cronies of the regime dominate much of the private economy, including mining, banking, construction, aviation and tourism. Some corpo rate owners and their families are under Western sanctions, including travel and financial service bans, though such measures have failed to dampen their businesses and may have made them stronger, since medium-size companies had to bear higher overheads due to general sanctions.

Dr. Sam isn't on any sanctions list. "I just returned from Switzerland," he says. His ownership of a club in a soccer league thick with cronyrun teams may raise eyebrows, not least because the regime allegedly awarded mining conces sions to compliant club owners, according to a leaked 2009 U.S. cable. Dr. Sam says that his invitation came from Zaw Zaw, a friend (and sanctioned crony) who chairs the league, and that Yadanabon so far has earned trophies but no prof its. Burmese state television doesn't pay clubs for the right to broadcast games.

It falls to the new government to overhaul a sclerotic econ omy that is riddled with corruption. It has to do this without the support of the World Bank and other development agen cies. The IMF is sending a technical team in October to advise on exchangerate reform, but the U.S. vetoes multilateral loans to Burma on political grounds. Economic observers say the IMF mission gives political cover to the president to adjust the exchange rate. But it still leaves his promarket faction largely on its own as it tries to reverse five decades of poorly executed development. "We're whistling in the dark," says a well-placed Burmese observer.

Lifting sanctions may be the key to unlocking Burma's po tential. But Western opinion, which hardened after the 2007 military crackdown on monkled protests, is unlikely to shift until Aung San Suu Kyi calls for an end to sanctions. Many Burmese recognize the futility of a policy that has left their country poor and isolated, though they also blame the gener als for mismanaging an economy rich in natural resources.

Western powers should also consider their own geopoliti cal interests when sanctions come up for renewal, says a Burmese businessman. "China has embedded itself in our infrastructure and the extractive industries. It's almost too late--the West has lost," he says.
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Guardian Unlimited - Dr Cynthia, the Burmese refugee whose clinic treats 150,000 patients a year
Doctor who went into self exile 23 years ago continues her struggle against the military junta
Esmer Golluoglu in Mae Sot
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 September 2011 09.11 EDT

Cynthia Maung at her Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, where she treats 150,000 Burmese a year. Photograph: David Longstreath/AP

She is Burma's most famous doctor, yet Cynthia Maung – or Dr Cynthia, as she is known locally – has not lived there for 20 years. She can't: she's a political refugee from the military junta .

Like the 150,000 patients she treats every year, Maung has been in self-exile in the Thai frontier town of Mae Soton on the Burmese border.

So it is down a muddy alley, that Maung treats – for free – both those Burmese living in the many border refugee camps and nationals who risk death and arrest to illegally cross the border and get paracetamol, give birth or undergo cataract surgery.

There are no TVs, no food trolleys, no vials of anti-bacterial hand gel at Maung's Mae Tao clinic. Instead, there are makeshift spittoons for the blood-orange betel nut Burmese men pack into their mouths, woodblock hospital beds with flower-embossed plastic laminate for sheets, and stray dogs wandering among the concrete wards.

It's a step-up from the rickety barn that once housed the clinic, which today treats everything from diabetes and post-traumatic stress disorder to cancer and epilepsy. But malaria and diarrhoea are the most common - yet easily preventable - complaints, Maung says.

"The Burmese government wants power, not health, [because] people who are sick or suffering they can control more," she says, referring to the fact that Burma spends 3% of its gross domestic product on healthcare but 40% on its military.

Its government has historically branded Maung an insurgent and terrorist but, ironically, Burmese army personnel and government officials are among her patients.

Everyone here, it seems, is a victim of the regime – and its decades-long civil war between government militias and various ethnic groups.

"There's no hospital where I come from – it's rebel territory five hours away in the jungle," says an ethnic Karen paddy farmer as he awaits a clinic-made prosthetic leg after his own was blown off by a landmine. "Dr Cynthia is our only option."

An ethnic Karen herself, Maung fled Burma by foot over 10 long nights in 1988, then 28. Armed with just a shoulder bag full of limited medical tools — among them a stethoscope, thermometer and two pairs of forceps — she expected to stay just three months on the border, where she, and thousands of other political dissidents of the '88 uprising, could "continue the struggle".

"Now it's been 23 years," she says with a shrug, and the struggle is ongoing.

Maung used to sterilise her equipment in a rice cooker. Two decades on, her donor-funded clinic runs an annual budget of 100m baht (£2m) and is staffed by nearly 700 doctors, medics, nurses and volunteers.

Many of Maung's former students have left Mae Tao to practice in Burma and "backpack medics" regularly cut through dense jungle to help the hundreds of thousands in Burma's most inaccessible areas.

While the Burmese government has done its best to deter her, killing and arresting her medics and burning all but one of six field clinics, Maung has stretched funds to found schools, orphanages and safe houses on the Thai border, even though her activities are illegal in Thailand.

Maung's own statelessness – as well as the Thai government's recent threat to close the border camps, potentially pitching hundreds of thousands of refugees back across the river – is a reminder that theirs is a desperate situation without a clear end in sight.

But the 51-year-old is ever hopeful. "No camp should ever be forever," she says. "Luckily many civil society groups working [on the border] in education, healthcare and policy development are helping to build a real future for Burma."
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The Irrawaddy - Burma’s Burning Issue—The Myitsone Dam Project
By WAI MOE Friday, September 16, 2011

Burmese government officials, including Minister of Electric Power-1 ex- Col Zaw Min, are scheduled to hold a workshop to assess hydropower projects with scholars, researchers and NGO staffers in Naypyidaw on Saturday amid criticism and protests against the controversial Myitsone hydropower project, which is financed by China.

Ahead the workshop, Zaw Min vowed to go on the Myitsone Dam at the source of the Irrawaddy River.

“We will go on with the project. We will never go back,” Zaw Min told reporters in Naypyidaw on Sept.10.

He rejected any international involvement in the issue, saying: “The issue is not related to the UN, but our country. Getting electric power is in our national interest. We will resolve
other issues later.”

Zaw Min is described by observers as one of the former junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s right-hand men. Former intelligence officers, including Aung Lynn Htut , a counter intelligence officer and Burma’s former deputy chief of mission to Washington, alleged that he was involved in the summary executions of more than 80 civilians, including children and women, on Christie Island, southern Burma, in 1998.

Other parties. such as Information and Culture Minister and ex Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan and Minister of Industrial Development, as well as Border Affairs Minister, Lt-Gen Thein Htay, have been defending the Myitsone projects at press conference and parliamentary secessions.

“Myitsone is a important energy project for the economic development of the State as it will be able to generate about 18,000 MW,” Thein Htay said in parliament on Wednesday, adding that the project is equal to “about 20 nuclear reactors.”

The first official MoU between Zaw Min’s Ministry of Electric Power-1 and the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation was signed in 2007 and included provisions for AsiaWorld Co Ltd, owned by Steven Law, also known as Tun Myint Naing, one of the US-sanctioned cronies and son of Lo Hsing Han, a well-known drug lord.

Burma and China again signed an agreement on Myitsone and its six sister dams projects in December 2009 during Chinese Vice-president Xi Jinping’s visit to the country, including a plan to upgrade Myitsone's capacity from 3600 MW to 6000 MW.

Previously the project was scheduled to be operational by 2017. However, a new timetable lists the opening for 2018.

According to a CPI press release in June: “With a total installed capacity of 6,000 MW, Myitsone Hydropower Station (8×750MW) is a cascade hydropower station with the largest installed capacity in the upstream of Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] River and is expected to start operation in 2018.”

Myitsone is CPI’s largest hydropower projects ahead of the Jishixia Hydropower Project and Chipi Hydropower Project in China.

After signing with Burma, the CPI assigned a Burmese NGO, the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) to conduct an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report in October 2009, just a few months before the upgrading of the project.

The report warned that the dam runs great risks due to its location less than 100 km from the Sagaing earthquake fault line, as well as affecting deforestation and the erosion of lands. The EIA said the dam would not cope with major floods which would inundate the Kachin capital of Myitkyina.

The report recommended two smaller dams north of the current site. However, both Burmese and Chinese stakeholders in the project ignored the EIA report and its recommendations. CPI reportedly forced researchers to remain silent on the issue.

Although the EIA report was kept confidential for two years, it was leaked to scholars, researchers and environment activists in recent months, reportedly by Chinese scholars who disagree with the project.

Concerned Burmese intellectuals and activists have launched some civic activities such as distributing information about the projects, holding public talks, and sending petitions to President Thein Sein.

“Save the Irrawaddy” campaigners have said that one of major concerns regarding the project is the danger to the Irrawaddy River, which is the main artery of Burma's civilization, economy and ecosystem as it flows through the heart of the country, serving millions of livelihoods, from Kachin State to the Indian Ocean.

Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) is the National Heritage of all national people,.” said Than Htut Aung, the CEO of Eleven Media Group. “We have a responsibility to protect our national interest. We must steer clear of untoward accidents and problems that will otherwise arise in the future.”

On Sept.10, a talk on the Myitsone project was held in Rangoon with about 400 people in attendance. During the talk, Dr Tun Lwin, the former director-general of Burma's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said he was anti the project because it would cause changes to the country's climate, cyclones and water level fluctuations.

Win Myo Thu, the managing director of the Economically Progressive Ecosystem Development (EcoDev) in Rangoon, said, “My individual point of view is that I oppose the project.

However, the project is already under construction, so we must balance economic benefits with environmental impacts.”

“There is no doubt that it [the dam] will damage the environment. Another question is whether the dam will really benefit the economy [of Burma],” he added.

The disagreement on the Myitsone Project extends to the ruling hierarchy. At a press conference in Naypyidaw, ex Maj-Gen Htay Oo, the general secretary of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and former minister for agriculture and irrigation, said it would be better that if experts discussed the impacts of dam projects.

“Sometimes the projects produce benefits, sometimes flooding,” he said.

With a 3,600-MW capacity, the Myitsone project original projected cost of US $ 3.6 billion is likely to double since its capacity has been upgraded to 6,000 MW.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, foreign direct investment (FDI) to Burma was $20 billion in the 2010/11 fiscal year, a massive jump compared to the $329.6 million in 2009/10. This year's figure includes a massive $8.2 billion invested in the power sector.

According to an official document signed by Burmese and Chinese officials, 10 percent of profits from the project will be distributed as broker fees, while the other 70 percent goes to China, and 20 percent to the Burmese military.

Top benefactors are alleged to include Snr-Gen Than Shwe, First Vice-president ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, and Zaw Min.

“The project is complicated with vested interests,” said Aung Thu Nyein, a senior associate with the Thailand-based Vahu Development Institute. “Former junta members, Chinese and a few cronies.

“It is a symbol of the military recklessly pillaging the natural resources of the country,” he said.

Despite increasing campaigns against the Myitsone dam, CPI, and its Burmese counterparts, the Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Asia World, work on the project resumed in late August after it had been suspended in June due to security reasons amid armed conflicts in Kachin State between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army.
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The Irrawaddy - KNU Leader’s Whereabouts Still Unknown
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, September 16, 2011

Family members and colleagues have raised concerns over the disappearance nearly two months ago of Karen rebel leader Mahn Nyein Maung who achieved fame and notoriety for his extraordinary attempt to escape from Burma's most notorious penal colony.

Currently, rumors have spread around Rangoon that Mahn Nyein Maung is being detained at a interrogation cell under tight security in Rangoon’s Insein Prison. No one is allowed to talk to or visit him, according to a source close to both Insein Prison and the KNU.

Mahn Nyein Maung, a leading member of the Karen National Union (KNU) and a central committee member of the ethnic armed alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), disappeared at China’s Kunming Airport in late July.

His family and other sources on the Sino-Burmese border said that Mahn Nyein Maung was picked up in July by immigration officials in the Yunnanese capital after being sent back from Bangkok where he was denied entry. It was reported that he was then deported from China to Burma.

Mahn Nyein Maung’s close friend, Maung Kyaw Mahn, said that one of the KNU leader's daughters phoned him from USA and asked about her father’s whereabouts. She wanted to know where her father is and wanted to campaign for an amnesty for him, he said.

“She wants to campaign for his safe release,” said Maung Kyaw Mahn. “Even if it turns out that her father has been detained by the Burmese security forces, she wants to ensure that they do not kill him.”

He said that Mahn Nyein Maung’s daughter has already written a letter of appeal to the US government asking for help in securing her father's release.

Despite earlier reports that Mahn Nyein Maung had been deported to Burma, sources close to Chinese and Burmese intelligence, however, said that he is reportedly now at a safe place close to the Sino-Burmese border.

The sources said Mahn Nyein Maung had earlier traveled to Yunnan from his home in Thailand to observe first-hand the armed conflict between ethnic armed groups and government troops near the border.

One of the sources said that the authorities in Yunnan insisted that Mahn Nyein Maung buy an air ticket with his own money for a flight to Rangoon. However, he allegedly disappeared while being kept at a hotel before his flight to Rangoon.

More than one month after his disappearance and it was reported that he was in hands of Burmese intelligence officials. However, the government neither disclosed his whereabouts nor denied his arrest.

The KNU leadership announced that Mahn Nyein Maung had disappeared two months ago, and that he had not informed the KNU central committee members about any trip to China. Sources close to the KNU intelligence officials said the KNU also believed that Mahn Nyein Maung was arrested by the Burmese authorities.

Sources close to the Kunming authorities, however, said that Mahn Nyein Maung is more likely staying at the Sino-Burmese border, probably in an area controlled by an ethnic militia in the Wa region of eastern Shan State or in northern Burma.

When asked, Aung Myint of United Wa State Army told The Irrawaddy that he does not know the whereabouts of Mahn Nyein Maung.

When the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) heard that Mahn Nyein Maung had been picked up in Kunming in late July, they contacted the Chinese authorities—only to be told that the Karen leader had already been deported to Burma, according to sources close to the KIA.

The UNFC has also stated that Mahn Nyein Maung did not declare to the organization any intention to travel to China.

Mahn Nyein Maung was a former underground activist inside Burma. In 1960, he was arrested and sent to the Coco Islands, an infamous detention center for political prisoners located about 300 km off the Burmese mainland in the Indian Ocean.

Mahn Nyein Maung and two other political prisoners, Mahn Aung Kyi and Aung Ngwe, managed to escape from the island by floating across the Indian Ocean clutching driftwood.

However, they were rearrested when they reached the Burmese mainland. It was the only known escape from the prison, known as “Burma's Devil's Island.”

Due to his extraordinary escape from the prison at Coco Island, Mahn Nyein Maung was sometimes described as “Burma’s Papillon” after the famous French prisoner Henri Charrière who escaped a penal colony in French Guyana. Like Charrière, Mahn Aung Kyi wrote and published a book about his experiences inside the brutal prison at Coco Island and his subsequent escape.
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The Irrawaddy - Campbell to Meet Burma FM in New York
By LALIT K JHA Friday, September 16, 2011

Apparently encouraged by the visit to Burma of diplomat Derek Mitchell, the Obama administration said it will hold talks with Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in New York next week on the sidelines of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A US State Department official (who requested anonymity) said that Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell will be meeting the visiting Burmese Foreign Minister in New York next week.

“So there are definitely things that we want to follow up on and explore with them, but we still have some real concerns around issues associated with the treatment of minorities, and issues associated with the treatment of women,” the official said.

“There’s a dialogue that’s emerging between Aung San Suu Kyi and the leadership,” he continued. “There are clear winds of change blowing through Burma. We are trying to get a sense of how strong those winds are, whether it’s possible to substantially improve our relationship.”
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Up to 9,000 people affected by flooding in Taungoo
Friday, 16 September 2011 21:02 Zwe Khant

New Delhi (Mizzima) – A devastating third flood has hit Taungoo township of Burma over the last week, forcing more than 9,000 flood victims to seek refuge in nearby monasteries, bus stations and other areas.

According to residents, six quarters along the east bank of the Sittaung River in Taungoo, Bago Division, 170 miles north of Rangoon, are flooded.

Residents speculated that the water levels of the Swachaung Dam, Pathi Dam and Khabaung Dam exceeded their danger levels, and the authorities opened the dams’ water gates without warning them.

“The number of flood victims has increased. At least 300 flood victims are now taking refuge in camps, pagodas and monasteries. At most about 600 victims. The total of the people affected is 9,000 to 10,000,” a resident told Mizzima.

Flood victims have sought shelter at Lawkoattara Pagoda, Shwegugyi Pagoda in Htihlaing, and at a bus terminal. There are around 20 camps for flood victims in the area.

Seven schools have flooded and are closed, according to Sein Tun of Taungoo.

This is the third flood of the rainy season in Taungoo. Although many donors provided aid relief in the previous flood, so far only the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has donated 450 bags of rice this time, according to residents.

“We made bamboo rafts. Some people inflated three or four car inner tubes and then put wood on the inner tubes and used them to travel over the water,” Sein Tun said.

The water level of the Sittaung River is still above its danger level.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has forecast that Burma would have unseasonable heavy rainfall, and there could be floods in October and November.
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Director of Hydro Power Implementation talks about Myitsone Dam
Friday, 16 September 2011 19:33 Mizzima News

(Interview) – When No. 1 Electrical Power Minister Zaw Min told the media that the government would continue the Myitsone Dam project on the Irrawaddy River, he added that Burma was currently using 1,500 megawatts of electricity and it was more than enough.

On the other hand, No. 2 Electrical Power Ministry Minister Khin Maung Soe told the Burmese Parliament that there are more than 60,000 villages in Burma but only about 2,000 villages use electricity. Among the 58,000 villages that cannot use electricity, one is the hometown of the director of the Department of Hydro Power Implementation.

Mizzima correspondent Ko Pauk talked with the director, Tin Win, about why power cuts have occurred in large cities in Burma and why villages don’t have electricity?

Q. What are your views on the Myitsone Dam project? What are the pros and cons?

A. The project will bring many benefits to Burma. We will be able to use more electrical power. As a consequence, road communications will be better. Bigger bridges can be built. I think a poor country needs them [roads and bridges].

Q. A few days ago, the minister said that Burma is currently using 1,500 megawatts of electricity, and that when the dams produce more than that, the extra amount will be sold to foreign countries. He said the electricity [to be generated by Myitsone Dam] is not likely to be used in Burma.

A. Now, in some cases, we have to buy electricity from foreign countries. In Burma, electricity is insufficient. There are many problems. In Rangoon, power cuts frequently occur. When I was given a transfer to this department, it was trying to provide more electricity. It’s impossible that we can produce enough electricity. We have many faults in the power grid system and the lines. There is a No. 2 Electrical Power Ministry. It takes the responsibility for the lines. Some villages cannot get electricity because of a lack of a proper grid system. To set up a grid system for the whole country, money is essential.

Even the price of an electricity meter [measures the electric energy consumed] is thousands of kyat, so it is very expensive [for Burmese]. For instance, my hometown has a power line. But, it cannot get electricity because it cannot buy a transformer. Villagers need to buy transformers with their own money. The price of a transformer for a village is at least 500,000 kyat (about US$ 600). It is a poor village, so it cannot afford to buy a transformer. The problem of a lack of electricity is not just because of the capacity of generating electricity. This is also related to finances. I have been to foreign countries once or twice. They are brightly lit.

Q. Why do some cities that have a wiring system and transformers still encounter difficulties getting electricity?

A. I think because of a “line fault.” If a [electric] line has “faults,” the nation must spend at least 10 million kyat [to fix it]. Grids and electrical equipment in the whole country are burned and broken daily. So, the first reason for power blackouts is poverty and also we cannot afford to fix “line faults.” The second reason is lack of technology. Capacitors for instance; we don’t have the devices and technology. I think the price of the device is several millions [kyat]. We’ve suffered the consequences of poverty. However much a poor family earns, they may need to repair the roof of their house. The next day, when they earn money, they may need to buy a slipper. The next day, rice may run out in their home. The next day they may need to buy vegetables or meat to make curry. [The root of the problem] is insufficient money. The country’s insufficient finances lead to terrible consequences.

Q. Why do you think the Myitsone Dam project draws so much controversy?

A. Too much [condemnation] is just people pretending [they know the facts]. At most 10 people in our entire office can access the Internet. And they access the Internet because the Internet service is free of charge. So, it’s very unlikely that people in the quarters can spend money to access the Internet. So we cannot say it that they really understand the issue.

Q. Many local journals also condemn the project.

A. I think that this is related to a political agenda. This is not a normal occurrence. If they have good will, we must accept them. But these articles are not understood by ordinary people. Even we cannot understand [many articles], so how can ordinary people understand them? This is like the story of six blind men and an elephant. The blind men touch an elephant and describe what it is like; some touch just the ear, some touch only legs, so the comments are different. So they will never reach reality.

Q. Don’t you think that the government should disclose details of the project to the public – to reveal what an elephant is really like?

A. The government has to keep some secrets. There is no question raised in Parliament that the government cannot answer. There are only questions that the government should not answer. If the government answered some questions, the plan or some interest could be damaged. In comparison with military strategy, if [the enemy] knows [your] strategy in advance, you’ll have a disadvantage. I am talking about ordinary people. For experts, they can observe relevant departments like ours and discuss things. Scholars should talk with scholars; like responding knife versus knife and spear versus spear.

Q. Don’t you think that the government should make known how the dam will affect the environment, the river and the people?

A. I think experts should come to discuss with experts. Ordinary people will not be able to consider such things. They may want to know just whether they can eat; whether they can drink; whether they will get electricity and whether they will be healthy. Only the experts will know the possible effects like a doctor [knows about diseases]. Some patients die because of doctor’s medical treatment. Some medicines have side effects. For instance, some cough medicine can cure cough, but the person may fall asleep after he is taking cough medicine, so his work can be delayed.

Q. Journals have to report about all the things that people should know.

A. Yes, [they] should write. But, [they] should consider everything well before they write so that their articles are not poisonous [do harm]. I think [journals] should be neutral.
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Release ABFSU political prisoner with cancer: NGO
Friday, 16 September 2011 17:09 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B) has urged the Burmese government to release Zaw Lin Tun, a leading member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, who suffers from stomach cancer and is serving a 20-year prison term.

Currently detained in Insein Prison in Rangoon, Zaw Lin Tun has been imprisoned since September 2003. He suffers from stomach cancer, hepatitis, kidney stones and a heart condition, and he is not able to walk properly, according to an AAPP-B statement released on Friday.

“Since July, his health began to fail. But, he was not sent to a hospital outside the prison until September 1. Insein Township Hospital gave him a medical check up and found he had stomach cancer,” the statement said.

Zaw Lin Tun was arrested for reorganizing the All Burma Federation of Students Union (ABFSU), a student underground group, and sentenced to 20 years in prison under the Emergency Provisions Act, Unlawful Association Act and Immigration Act.

On September 9, U Htay, a friend, made an appeal to President Thein Sein for his release on humanitarian grounds, but there has been no reply, according to the statement.

There are about 2,000 political prisoners in jails across Burma. In Insein Prison, there are 164 political prisoners who are in poor health, according to the AAPP-B.
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DVB News - Farmers protest land confiscation plan
By NAY THWIN
Published: 16 September 2011

Almost 200 farmers protested in Irrawaddy Division’s capital town Bassein yesterday against a possible government plan to confiscate their land near Ngwesaung beach resort.

Starting in 2000, the government’s Myanmar Fisheries Department has been confiscating farmland, between Ngwesaung and another beach resort town Chaungtha, belonging to local villagers without compensation. The farmers staged the protest yesterday after learning from the Land Registry Department that a further 800 acres of land was being earmarked for appropriation.

“Previously, they confiscated about three acres of land and now about 800 more are being tipped for confiscation. We are still allowed to work on the land for now but we are worried for the future,” said one of the protesting farmers, too scared to give his name.

“We are only requesting the authorities cancel the plan,” he added.

At 10am yesterday morning, the protesters began marching across Bassein town to the Regional [Division] Minister’s office and handed over a letter demanding their land be removed from the confiscation list.

The protesters said the letter was accepted by officials at the minister’s office and also given a promise that the minister would pay a field-visit to their villages in about three days to investigate the matter.

Myint Naing, member of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network, who went along with the farmers on the protesters said, “I hope and believe that the farmers will be able to get their land back because it was confiscated unfairly and I hope that truth will win.”

The protest was watched and photographed by government security officers in civilian clothing but no harassment was reported.
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