BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Myanmar to allow private banks to trade foreign currencies
YANGON, Sept 19 | Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:55am EDT
(Reuters) - As part of currency reforms, Myanmar's new government has allowed some private banks to trade foreign currencies in the commercial city Yangon, a state official said on Monday.

"It has been decided to allow five private banks to open 'Money Changer Counters' in Yangon to buy, sell and change foreign currencies, mainly the euro, dollars and FEC (Foreign Exchange Certificates) to begin with," said an official at the Ministry of Finance and Revenue.

He said five counters will be opened by five private banks at the former exchange centre in Theinbyu Street, Botahtaung Township, downtown Yangon. There are about two dozen banks including about half a dozen state-owned and joint-venture banks in Myanmar.

Despite Western sanctions, investment money has flooded into the country because of its abundant mineral resources and the repatriation of funds by wealthy Burmese buying up state assets last year in a pre-election sell-off.
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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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Channel NewsAsia - Myanmar army allies' clout on show at new parliament
Posted: 19 September 2011 1344 hrs

NAYPYIDAW: Imposing bronze lions, the symbol of the ruling party, guard the entrance to Myanmar's fledgling parliament in a sign of its domination by the military and its political allies.

The palatial building in the heart of Naypyidaw, a purpose-built capital constructed just five years ago, is the showpiece of a "roadmap to democracy" promised by the general who ruled for decades.

Inside the vast maze of marble-floored corridors, chandeliers and air-conditioned chambers, a sign proclaims: "People's expectations, parliament's implementation."

Yet a quarter of the seats were reserved for the military even before landmark elections last year, and the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) holds about 80 percent of the remainder.

"Here we have no opposition party. All are colleagues. For us there is no opposition," USDP Secretary General Htay Oo told a rare news conference at the parliament, which opened in January.

"If we have a common position we can cooperate. Inside the parliament we have no opposition. Outside also we don't have any opposition," he added.

Hundreds of lawmakers, mostly male, one-quarter in military uniform and many others wearing the USDP's lion emblem, hold long question and answer sessions on topics ranging from healthcare to Chinese energy projects.

Parliament also recently passed a motion in support of a prisoner amnesty -- an indication, the ruling party says, that the wheels of democracy are in motion.

Demands for the release of Myanmar's more than 2,000 political prisoners have long been a top issue for Western nations who impose sanctions on the regime.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party has no voice in parliament because it boycotted last year's ballot, largely because of rules that would have forced it to expel imprisoned members.

As a result it was delisted as a political party by the regime, which in June warned the NLD to halt what it described as illegal activities.

The democracy icon told AFP in an interview in Yangon that she still "very much" believed it was the right decision not to take part in the vote, which was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation.

"One wouldn't expect the people to support a party that they did not see as honest and honourable," she said. "So I do not think we could register our party in such a way as to lose the trust and support of the people."

In a move that could potentially pave the way for the NLD's return to the official political arena, presidential adviser Ko Ko Hlaing said the law that prevents prisoners from being party members could be revised.

Suu Kyi, however, appeared doubtful about whether the new legislature was making a difference.

"There have been certain members of parliament tabling motions and making speeches, but I don't think yet there has been anything coming out of the parliament that in any way changes the life of the people," she said.

The NLD's boycott led to a split in the opposition, with a splinter group breaking away to form a new party, the National Democratic Force (NDF), which has a handful of seats in the new parliament.

NDF party leader Khin Maung Swe told AFP that Myanmar was in a period of transition.

"We don't have to expect fully fledged democracy right now. Whether we like it or not, we have to accept that kind of parliament," he said.

Outside of the new legislature though, there are signs of more significant political change afoot.

Suu Kyi last month met President Thein Sein, one of the former generals who kept her locked up for most of the past two decades, in talks behind closed doors at his official residence.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose party won 1990 elections by a landslide but was never allowed to take power, says she believes the new leader is genuine in his desire to bring about democratic change.

Thein Sein even posed for pictures with the democracy icon under a portrait of her late father, the widely respected national independence hero Aung San.

It was a symbolic backdrop for the highest level talks between the new government and Suu Kyi since her release from seven straight years of house arrest in November by the regime of then dictator Than Shwe.

"There are old faces in the political arena, but the game is changing," said Ko Ko Hlaing, Thein Sein's chief political adviser.

"The previous government was a military regime. The system was top down, a very centralised and command system. Now we have got, to a certain extent, a functioning democratic system," he told AFP.

Although some see Thein Sein as a frontman for the military, others perceive him as a moderate ready to bring reform to the impoverished country.

"The president has good intentions to get constructive change," said the NDF's Khin Maung Swe, but added that Thein Sein faced many hurdles including a rumoured power struggle in his cabinet.

And until there are concrete signs of change, such as the release of political prisoners, many are wary that the government's conciliatory gestures may be little more than just that.

"There have been a number of encouraging moves of rapprochement," said a Western diplomat in Yangon.

"But everybody is weighed down by history and can see that every time in the past when there have been signs of a rapprochement it hasn't happened. Everyone has a healthy dose of scepticism."
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The Nation - PTT wants piece of $4 bn Burma power project
By Nalin Viboonchart
Published on September 19, 2011

PTT wants to co-invest with Italian-Thai Development (ITD) in a 3,000 MW coal-fired power plant supplying Burma's Dawei deep-sea port and industrial estate, according to a PTT source.

The investment value of the plant is expected to be as high as US$4 billion (Bt120 billion). PTT envisions the project being divided into three phases. ITD and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) are negotiating a Power Purchase Agreement for the coal-fired plant, the source said.

Other power-plant operators including Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding and Electricity Generating Plc are also interested in investing in the mega-project.

"PTT is always looking to invest in the power-plant business, reinforcing our aim to diversify into this area. We're investing in the Xayaburi hydro-electricity power plant in Laos. The project in Dawei is another one that is on our radar screen. We would like to take part in this project," the source said.

If PTT's plan to invest in the project pans out, it will likely invest in a related coal-mining project, as the plant will need many millions of tonnes of coal per year to generate electricity. The coal-fired power plant will generate electricity for sale to the Dawei's industrial estate and deep-sea port, as well as to Egat, the source said.

In the middle of this year, ITD announced it was looking for partners to invest in the Dawei mega-project, for which the Burmese government granted it a 75-year concession. ITD has embarked on a road show to China, Japan, South Korea, India and other countries in search of strategic partners. Total investment in the Dawei project is around $8 billion.

Besides the industrial estate, deep-sea port and coal-fired power plant, cement, paper and steel plants are also planned for Dawei.
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September 18, 2011
VOA News - UN Chief Meets with Burmese Minister at General Assembly

The United Nations Secretary General has met with Burma's Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting in New York.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon told Wunna Maung Lwin Sunday that he recognized the significance of recent developments in the country, but that the Burmese Government should step up its reform efforts. He also reiterated the UN’s commitment to help the country address its political and developmental challenges.

Burma's pro-military government on Thursday lifted a long-standing ban on several prominent news web sites, including the Voice of America, Reuters news agency and the British Broadcasting Corporation. It also for the first time allowed the public to celebrate the United Nations'-designated "International Day of Democracy."

Mr. Ban reiterated his call for the early release of political prisoners still held by Burma. There are currently more than 2,100 political prisoners in jails across the country, including monks, students, elected members of parliament and lawyers.

Recent overtures by the new government toward the country's pro-democracy opposition and a host of Western governments have stirred widespread speculation about democratic reform in Burma, which has been ruled by military generals since the early 1960s.

Since taking office earlier this year, the new government has called for peace with armed ethnic separatists and met with several foreign delegations. President Thein Sein met with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time in August, and both parties later described the meeting as friendly.
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September 19, 2011
VOA News - Building Boom Causes Asian Sand Smugglers to Expand
Luke Hunt | Kuala Lumpur

Singapore's decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation's coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand. In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving up the price and encouraging the smuggling of useable land-fill.

It used to be that sand dredgers had only to travel to nearby Indonesia to get sand for use in Singapore construction projects. But the Indonesian government banned exports after activists and locals complained about disappearing islands and ruined riverbeds. Vietnam and Malaysia have enacted similar curbs on the practice. In Cambodia, officials have curtailed dredging and suspended sales as they assess the environmental damage caused by sand mining.

Environmentalists say this is forcing miners to search elsewhere in the region and driving the practice of sand smuggling in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Burma.

George Boden is a campaigner for the London-based environmental group Global Witness, which reported on sand mining in Cambodia earlier this year.

“In fact some of the sand trade has also moved on from Cambodia, and Burma has now become a major source. And it’s our understanding - and for sand it’s quite possible - that Singapore is also looking beyond Cambodia for other countries in the region to fulfill its needs,” he said.

Singapore has expanded its physical borders by 22 percent over the past half century by filling in the surrounding sea with sand. Analysts say new reclamation projects will require enormous quantities of sea-sand. The tiny island-state also needs salt-free river sand for construction.

Gavin Greenwood is a security analyst for the Hong Kong-based firm Allan & Associates and has followed this issue for many years. He says that demand is proving lucrative for nearby countries.

“Freshwater sand is far superior for construction purposes than sea sand, simply because sea sand is, by its nature, with the salt in it ... highly corrosive. And to make it usable for construction you should have to wash it to get as much of the salt out as possible," he said. "Much of the reclamation in, shall we say, Singapore will be supporting large buildings with a huge amount of piling which is concrete, steel and so forth. So if you can get river sand or earth or crushed rock or a combination of all three, you’re saving yourself a great deal of money and future problems.”

Government bans in nearby countries have complicated life for Singapore builders. The government requires sand to be authorized with the correct paperwork, signifying it was legally obtained.

Companies such as Rangoon-based Bholat General Services and Philippine operator Mecca MFG tout themselves openly on the Internet, offering customers access to large quantities of sand that have been approved by the Singapore government.

Other companies offering sand from Burma include Bangkok International and Myanmar Asia Glory Trading. A spokesman for Asia Glory said river sand was being mined from the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers. The spokesman said while operations have been halted during the rainy season, sand mining and exports would resume in November.

A Mecca MFG spokesman said there are three large areas in the Philippines suitable for sand mining - primarily around Mount Pinatubo in Luzon, where clean river sand is available in abundance.

Similar offers for sand are made by Thai, Cambodian and Vietnamese companies.

Environmentalists say the practice causes widespread ecological damage to rivers, depletes fish stocks and substantially reduces the livelihoods of villagers who lead a subsistence lifestyle. The money involved also makes regulation difficult.

In Cambodia, some companies have flouted a government suspension of dredging. Activists claim that smuggling continues despite government bans in Indonesia, as well as in the east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo.

S.M. Murthu is a council member of the Malaysian Nature Society and an adviser to the Environmental Protection Association in Sabah. He says the smuggling of sand into Singapore is continuing from around Southeast Asia, where laws are not enforced due to corruption.
“Smuggling is with the knowledge of certain authorities because nowadays ... in Southeast Asia, everything has a price. It’s illegal, so there are certain people who are paid to keep their eyes shut. They solve the problem that way,” he noted.

A year ago, 34 Malaysian civil servants were arrested for accepting bribes and sexual favors in relation to illicit sand sales. At that time, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed up to 700 trucks a day were loaded with sand which was then smuggled across the border into Singapore.

Muthu says that brisk smuggling pace continues today. He says he has previously investigated complaints of illegal sand mining that resulted in villages being swept away, only to be told by Malaysian authorities this was not the case.

“I have seen houses already in the water. I have seen houses perched along the bankside, just waiting to sink into the rivers. It’s quite bad because these people do not care," Muthu said. "We have laws, but they are only on paper; in terms of practical enforcement it’s almost nil. They are all political statements at the end of the day. They just give into those who are looking for cheap sand.”

George Boden’s report for Global Witness prompted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to suspend dredging while his government assessed the ecological damage to the Tatai River. However, fishermen still complain that sand mining has not ceased. Boden wants international donors, who contribute heavily to the country’s annual budget, to pressure the Cambodian government to act against smugglers and illegal dredging.

“Certainly some dredging is still taking place and that really falls far short of the recommendations that we made in our report. Things we were really calling for is a proper regulatory environment, transparency over how the resources are allocated and the revenue that is collected," Boden stated. "And also proper environmental and social safeguards to ensure that the dredging is carried out in such a way that it is not massively damaging.”

Singapore’s land reclamation also has broader political ramifications because the trade in sand antagonizes relations between Singapore and its neighbors. Indonesia and Malaysia fear constant land reclamation means Singapore is now encroaching into their territorial waters.

Security analyst Greenwood is urging Singapore to protect its reputation in Southeast Asian as an environmental role model, by enacting stronger safeguards against the illegal mining.

“Singapore’s contention is that it’s legal from its end because it requires various certification and so forth from the various countries it buys from. The real problem is how valid would those certifications be in a broader legal context, and how damaging this whole thing is to Singapore from a diplomatic and reputational position and context," Greenwood said. "Singapore is very defensive and protective of its reputation as a serious country with rule of law and a strong environmental record.”

Singapore plans to add tens of square kilometers of additional land to its borders in the next 20 years. That growth will maintain a strong demand for sand imports and could threaten more areas of Southeast Asia where weak regulation and official corruption allow damaging mining to continue.
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Sydney Morning Herald - Uprising unwise, cautions Suu Kyi
Lindsay Murdoch, South-east Asia Correspondent, Bangkok
September 20, 2011

PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Aung San Suu Kyi has warned against an ''Arab-style'' uprising in Burma and praised signs of ''positive developments'' by her country's military-dominated government.

''There's still quite a way to go but I think there have been positive developments,'' Ms Suu Kyi said in Rangoon, amid speculation the country's Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, will announce further reforms during the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

Ms Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy was denied power after winning elections in 1990, said revolutions such as the one in Libya will drag on for years and create many problems.

''The kind of changes that we want [will] take time to come about … and I would rather that we managed to achieve change through peaceful means, through negotiation,'' she told Agence France-Presse.

Ms Suu Kyi has said little publicly about talks she held recently with Burma's leaders, including President Thein Sein, a former general, but her latest comments have raised hopes the government is sincere about implementing genuine political reforms after almost half a century of military rule.

''We do have many, many things in common in regards to what we would like to see for the country,'' said Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent almost 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

Many foreign diplomats and human rights groups are sceptical about the government's intentions after generals have reneged on past promises.

The government is seeking to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014 and wants economic sanctions lifted.

It has lifted bans on websites and allowed more foreigners, including a small group of journalists, to visit.

Rights groups say Burma's military has this year intensified attacks and abuses on ethnic groups in the country's border areas, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Last week a Rangoon court sentenced a 21-year-old Burmese photographer to 18 years' jail for taking a photo of the aftermath of a 2010 bomb.

Although 66-year-old Ms Suu Kyi is closely watched by plain-clothed agents who photograph her visitors, the government is allowing her to speak publicly, including a rousing speech last week to mark the International Day of Democracy.

Asked about her political ambitions, Ms Suu Kyi said it was too soon to say whether she would contest the country's next elections that are due in 2015.
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Rural school adapts to population with little English
By Sally Holland
updated 9:26 AM EST, Mon September 19, 2011

Columbus Junction, Iowa (CNN) -- This rural community in the southeast corner of Iowa is one of the last places you would expect to find a large number of students who don't speak English, yet English language learners have had a huge effect on the schools there, according to Columbus Community Schools Superintendent Rich Bridenstine.

Nationally, 9% of students in the U.S. are considered to have limited proficiency in English, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. About 11% of those students
attend school in rural settings like Columbus Junction. A quarter of the Columbus Community School students are English language learners, a large enough number to have an impact on the classrooms.

Bridenstine sees a difference between a child who can speak general English and one who has the academic English skills required to get through school.

"The English language learners don't have vocabularies big enough to learn at the rate and speed they need to -- that their native English-speaking counterparts do," Bridenstine said.

Columbus Community Schools is a majority-minority school district that pulls in students from Columbus Junction and four other nearby communities. Bridenstine says 66% of the 895 students are Hispanic and 31% are white.

The largest employer in Columbus Junction is a Tyson Fresh Meats pork processing plant, which employs a high number of Hispanics, and more recently some Burmese. The children of those employees attend the schools there.

"Many of our young people come to us academically behind. Their vocabularies are very limited," Bridenstine said. "Their parents often don't have high school educations either."
English language learners put a strain on school systems, according to Elena Silva of Education Sector, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

"Teachers across the board are not trained or well-prepared for this population," she said. "We need a population of teachers that are prepared to teach students who are in the process of developing their language skills."

Rural schools in particular have difficulty with English language learners, according to Silva.

"They simply don't have the resources, training, funding and infrastructure to support English language learners," she said.

The ELL students also have different cultural experiences, so teachers in Columbus Junction have adapted by teaching more background.

"It's taking what you know about a subject as a teacher and not presupposing that other kids have the same background that you think they should have," Bridenstine said.

To help with the language skills, the teachers in Columbus Junction are encouraged to have students explain what they have learned to a student partner using English.

"We are making gains, but it isn't enough with what No Child Left Behind is requiring of us," Bridenstine said.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools are required to reach 100% proficiency in math and English by the year 2014.

The immigrants do provide some definite advantages, according to Bridenstine.

"The immediate benefit is financial. Without our Hispanics and coming Burmese, we would be a school district probably around 300 or 400, looking at consolidation," he said.

Columbus is currently the largest school district in its county.

"We are blessed with a tapestry of diversity and there are a lot of people in the community that treasure that," Bridenstine added.
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19 September 2011 Last updated at 11:03 ET
BBC News - Burma begins swap scheme for cars over 40 years old

Owners of some of Burma's most antiquated cars have been queuing in Rangoon to exchange their old vehicles for permits to import newer models.

The government programme started with cars more than 40 years old - a common sight on Burma's streets, where people complain they frequently break down.

Until now, only the military and their associates were given import licences.

The price of old cars has risen sharply, as speculators try to buy them up to profit from import opportunities.

There are 10,000 vehicles at least 40 years old registered with the transport department, and more than 8,000 more aged between 30 and 40 years, state media reported.

The government plan aims to clear the roads of vehicles that "use too much fuel, cause accidents and traffic jams, and pollute the air," the Myanmar Times said.

The newer, imported cars must have been manufactured after 1995 and cost no more than $3,500 (£2,200).

They will be imported from Thailand, Japan, China, South Korea and Malaysia, officials said.

The deal also includes Burma's ageing transport system, which still relies on buses built between 20 and 40 years ago.

Car owners started queuing on Sunday in order to take part in the government swap scheme, eyewitnesses said.

One participant told the BBC Burmese service that there were about 200 people at the road transport office when he arrived to hand over his old car.
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19 September 2011 Last updated at 05:42 ET
BBC London - Devon man's photographs of Victorian Burma in auction

A volume of photographs of Burma taken by a Devon-born Victorian photographer are being put up for auction in London.

The 112 pictures, which were taken by Linnaeus Tripe in 1855, include scenes of Amarapura, the capital of upper Burma, Irrawaddy and Rangoon.

Mr Tripe, born in Devonport in 1822, was an Army officer who spent most of his career in India.

The volume, due to be sold in October, was expected to fetch between £70,000 and £90,000, auctioneers Bonhams said.

Mr Tripe recorded the Burmese buildings and landscapes over a 36-day period in June 1855.

His photographs were assembled into 50 sets of 120 images each.

'Astounding results'

Bonhams said the pictures were expected to fetch such a high price because very few complete or near complete sets were believed to have survived.

It added: "Tripe was an intrepid man and a true pioneer. The photographs in this volume were taken under very taxing conditions.

"Tripe himself was suffering from illness and the weather was bad.

"Instead of taking four months he'd set aside for the task, he had to achieve everything in 36 days.

"The results are astounding, it added.

The seller lives in the USA. The auction is due to take place on 4 October.
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International Relations and Security Network
ISN - Burma/Myanmar: The Triangulation of Strategic Interests
19 September 2011
US policy on Myanmar continues to be focused primarily on democracy and human rights, important but not normally the sole elements of foreign policy. Other states have chosen a more successful economic approach.
By David I Steinberg for Pacific Forum CSIS

A decade ago, in February 2001, Georgetown University sponsored in Washington a conference “Burma/Myanmar: Nexus on the Bay of Bengal.” It was designed to encourage the new Bush administration to consider the strategic importance of that country as an element of US foreign policy. Although well attended by some 150 influential people, it did not accomplish its goal of drawing policy attention to the importance of the pivotal location of that sad country. US policy continued, and still continues, to be focused primarily on democracy and human rights, important but not normally the sole elements of foreign policy. Myanmar is now the focus of three strategic thrusts that will profoundly affect the region and the Burmese people.

Although Washington ignored strategic issues in any public dialogue on Myanmar, China had a decade earlier begun a drive with astonishing vigor to ensure that its varied interests in Myanmar were pursued. After billions of dollars of Chinese military and economic support and tens of billions of dollars in investment and infrastructure development, in 2011 on a state visit to Beijing by the new president of Myanmar, Thein Sein, China declared that the two countries had a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” a term never before used in the Burmese connection, and indicating the importance of Myanmar to China and China’s paramount role in Myanmar.

India had earlier recognized that extensive Chinese penetration of Myanmar was not in India’s national interest, and about 1993 reversed its highly negative policy toward the military regime in Myanmar both to ameliorate Chinese influence and, later, also to foster through Myanmar transport routes bringing economic assistance to support the tranquility and development of its rebellious Northeast India region, which borders Myanmar and parts of which are still disputed with China.

Two legs of the strategic tripod were thus in place. More recently, the third leg has appeared. This is the major $8.6 billion Italian-Thai development project in Dawei (Tavoy) in eastern Myanmar close to the Thai border. This will be a major industrial development zone with many heavy industries. In addition to three seaports and roads, fertilizer, petrochemical, and labor-intensive factories are planned in this special economic zone. The framework agreement was signed in November 2010, and financing is to be completed in December 2011. The former prime minister of Thailand noted that such construction could not be built in Thailand because of environmental concerns. Myanmar, however, seems to be fair game. The interests in this development are not simply Thai. They involve Singapore as well, and more recently, the possibility of Japanese participation.

Japan has continuously been concerned about its economic role in Myanmar, and was close to its former ruler, General Ne Win. With his retirement and later senility and Japan’s economic doldrums, Japan lost its cardinal influence in Myanmar to rising China. But a China, strengthened by a strategic economic and policy relationship with Myanmar, is not in Japan’s national interest, as a retired Japanese general quietly noted.

So we are witnessing the development of set of diverse but targeted strategic interests centered on Myanmar. Although these interests may be competitive, their careful manipulation by the Burmese authorities has provided and will continue to provide massive support to the government of Myanmar. In 1988, when the military replaced the previous military socialist government, Burma had foreign exchange reserves of some $30 million. These reserves today are in the neighborhood of some $5 billion largely from the sale of natural gas to Thailand. When two Chinese pipelines for Middle Eastern and African crude oil and Burmese offshore natural gas come on stream in the next two years, the resources available to the Burmese government will vastly increase. When the Dawei project begins to be productive, revenue will further expand.

How these extensive resources will be used, and whether effectively for the benefit of the diverse Burmese peoples, are important questions. For the US to continue to call for isolation of that country seems patently counterproductive to the reality of the present and the prognosis for the future. In the public discourse in a democracy like the US, to ignore the vital interests of major Asian states in Myanmar and continue to foster Western and US economic isolation raises serious questions of the relevance of US policy to that vital region, and to longer-range US national interests.

In the 1950s, Burmese Prime Minister U Nu said that Burma was a tender gourd surrounded by barbed cacti, and thus a Burmese neutral foreign policy was necessary. With the Cold War over, Myanmar has embraced its prickly neighbors – but to what effect on the well-being of the Burmese people and regional security?
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TMC Net - Myanmar signs agreements to develop mobile phones

YANGON, Sep 18, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Myanmar telecommunications authorities have reached some agreements with foreign and local private companies on purchase of GSM mobile communication devices for extending installation of such mobile phone lines, official sources said on Monday.

The agreements were signed between the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs and such companies based in Yangon as ZTE Corporation Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd of China.

Myanmar is carrying out extended installation of GSM mobile phone project, inviting participation of the private sector on a wider scale to enable the public to have access to mobile phones at a reasonable price and create job opportunities for the people.

According to the ministry, a one-stop information call center, Yatanarpon, in Yangon is being established. The center is set up to store information needed for all-round sectors of the country at a single place and to exchange information internationally, providing services for enquiry about daily changing and developing situation of education, health, social and communication sectors.

Statistics show that there are 590,000 landlines installed across Myanmar.
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Zee News - Ban discusses global issues with world leaders
Last Updated: Monday, September 19, 2011, 10:18

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday discussed issues such as the Middle East peace process and the global economic situation with several world leaders who arrived here for high-level meetings at the annual UN General Assembly debate here.

Ban met Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Naser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe of Congo and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece Stavros Lambrinidis.

In his meeting with Al-Sabah, Ban reviewed developments in the region, including the Middle East peace process, the evolving situation in Syria and ties between Kuwait and Iraq.

Ban's discussion with Lwin focussed on the need for the Myanmar government to step up its reform efforts in order to bring about an inclusive transition in the country.

The UN Secretary General reiterated his call for the early release of the remaining political prisoners.

Ban and Lambrinidis discussed the UN-backed talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus, as well as the status of the negotiations facilitated by the world body between Athens and Skopje to resolve the long-running dispute over the official name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Preparations for the upcoming senatorial election in Congo, the refugee situation and other peace and security developments in the Central Africa sub-region were among the issues Moon discussed with Ikouebe.
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Hindustan Times - NE experiences strongest earthquake in 20 years
Press Trust Of India
Shillong, September 19, 2011
Last Updated: 00:20 IST(19/9/2011)

The earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale, which hit the east and north east (NE) region, was the biggest in 20 years, officials said.

Records of Central Seismological Observatory here showed increasing seismic activity in the region. A total 34 quakes of light and moderate intensity were felt in the region in 2009. The area witnessed 26 earthquakes each in 2008 and 2007, while it was 23 in 2006, the data showed.

On February 4 this year, a quake of 6.4 magnitude with its epicentre in the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur shook the region. An earthquake of similar intensity (6.8) had rocked the northeast on August 6, 1988.

On October 11, 2000 a quake of 6.0 intensity was felt in the region, while on September 21, 2009, another measuring 6.2 had claimed six lives in neighbouring Bhutan, where it was epicentred.

The north eastern region had experienced some of world's worst quakes like the Shillong quake and the Assam quake of 1950 both measuring around 8.5.
An earthquake in 1897 in Shillong plateau had left 1,542 people dead.

Foreigners rescue

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) rescued 15 foreign tourists and 150 villagers from various parts of north Sikkim which was badly affected in this evening's earthquake.

The rescued have been moved to the ITBP battalion's headquarter in Mangan, about 20 km from Gangtok, official sources said.

Around 400 ITBP personnel and four medical teams at Pegong are carrying search and rescue operations, while 300 BSF men each from Siliguri and Guwahati along with doctors and para-medical staff have been rushed to affected areas.

Sources said the search and rescue operations are getting hampered because there is no electricity in the area.

The force's also lost two of its buildings. "Two buildings have collapsed though there has been no casualty. The officers mess too has been hit. The road outside the battalion headquarters has cracked," they said.
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Moneycontrol - Clinton's philanthropic summit to push for jobs
Published on Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 17:30 | Source : Reuters
Updated at Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 09:02

Former US President Bill Clinton will push corporations and non-profit groups at his philanthropic summit this week to create jobs as the US unemployment hovers at 9.1% and poor nations worry that the economic crisis will stall their labor growth.

More than 1,200 people, including more than 50 heads of state such as US President Barack Obama, business leaders, humanitarians and celebrities are due to attend the seventh annual Clinton Global Initiative, which starts a three-day run on Tuesday.

This year the meeting will focus on three areas -- creating jobs, sustainable consumption and programs for women and girls.

To attend Clinton's summit in New York City, commitments must be made to tackle the focus issues and if a company or individual does not keep their pledge, they cannot return.

Clinton, president from 1993 to 2001, told Reuters in an interview there needed to be a global focus on creating jobs as there were several wealthy countries suffering like the United States with high unemployment.

"And there are a lot of developing countries that are afraid the global economic crisis is going to stop them from creating sufficient employment to continue to grow," Clinton said.

"Everyone understands that we don't have any control over what the EU decides to do about Greece or whether America decides to clean up its housing debt more quickly or all those sorts of things but that there are lots of things that can be done everywhere to create more employment," he said.

Road to recovery

The United States is on the brink of another recession while the European Union is battling a sovereign debt crisis that includes Greece struggling to stave off default.

In an effort to jump-start the stalled US economy and cut unemployment, Obama introduced a plan to create jobs earlier this month. It is crucial to Obama's re-election for 2012, which are largely tied to the state of the economy.

Clinton expects Obama to speak about his $447 billion jobs plan when he addresses the summit on Wednesday. He believes the proposal "will create a couple of million jobs now and could set us on the road to recovery."

"It's going to be very difficult for us to return to full employment and dramatically robust growth until we find a way to unlock the capital reserves in the USD 2 trillion in corporate money ... that is not being invested now and the more than USD 2 trillion that banks have in cash reserves," Clinton said.

Clinton said creating jobs would be the key theme throughout this year's summit. Other highlights include a conversation with Nobel laureate and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who will be appearing via video link from Myanmar. Suu Kyi was freed by the Myanmar government last year after 15 years of house arrest.

Her appearance, Clinton said, would "remind us that a certain amount of political liberty and personal mobility is necessary to give girls and women equal chances in the world ... and that is a precondition of broad-based economic growth in a lot of these developing countries."

300 million helped

Clinton said his wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, also may speak about US initiatives to help women and girls around the world.

Clinton's summit was borne out of his frustration while president at attending conferences that were more talk than action. When the initiative began, corporations tended to show up and write checks to fund humanitarian programs. Now many see philanthropy in terms of investment opportunities.

"What I really am trying to do is to develop models of doing business in a way that makes CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) less necessary but we're not there yet," Clinton said, adding that he wants it to be standard practice for public, private and non-profit sectors to work together to tackle social and economic challenges.

Since the initiative started, more than 2,000 pledges have been made valued at more than USD 63 billion and they have improved the lives of more than 300 million people in 180 countries.
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09/19/2011 17:54
MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Apostolic delegate to Myanmar visits Mandalay archdiocese
by Yaung Ni Oo
The pontifical representative celebrated Mass in Sacred Heart Cathedral. Love is at the centre of human life, he told the faithful. During his stay, he spent time at a seminary and announced a new visit at the beginning of next year. The bishop of Myitkyina called for peace in Kachin state where the refugee situation is getting worse because of clashes between the military and rebel troops.

Mandalay (AsiaNews) – This morning in Mandalay, the Apostolic Delegate for Myanmar, Mgr Giovanni d'Aniello, celebrated a Mass in the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. At the end of the service, he met the bishop of Myitkyina, Mgr Francis Daw Tang, together with priests and ordinary believers.

The pontifical representative’s visit to the local community lasted a while. This gave him an opportunity to stress the importance of love in human life and its role from a Christian perspective.

The prelate also visited a small town, an hour from Mandalay, where dined with a group of faithful from the archdiocese.

Mgr D’Aniello finally thanked the Christian community for their “warm welcome”, announcing a new visit to the archdiocese of Mandalay at the start of next year.

In recent days, the bishop of Myitkyina appealed to Christians to work in favour of peace, urging them to pray for the country’s leaders as well as the people displaced by clashes (on the northern border with China) between the Burmese military and Kachin rebels.

Mgr Francis spoke last 14 September during the annual feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, at Ahlam Cross, on top of Mount Inkhine, in Kachin state.

Recently, the area, which is home to about 100,000 Catholics, has become the scene of open warfare between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military.

Dozens of people have been killed since fighting broke out on 9 June. Despite attempts at mediation, tensions remain high.

Local sources said that the situation in refugee camps is steadily worsening with people running out of food and money or getting sick.

In order to help the development of the Kachin people, the Catholic Church has come up with various educational projects. The first involves nursing schools to train staff for the cities as well as remote areas.

The Church has also built schools run by priests but affiliated with the state school system.

Each parish in Myitkyina has also its own hostels and boarding houses that provide food and lodging along with a religious education and catechism.

The Church subsidises promising but needy students through scholarships in university and vocational schools.
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The Interpreter - Through Chinese eyes: Tang Qifang
by Peter Martin & David Cohen - 6 September 2011 8:58AM

Interview with Tang Qifang, Southeast Asia specialist at the foreign ministry-affiliated China Institute of International Studies by Peter Martin and David Cohen. Peter and David are conducting a series of interviews with Chinese academics and journalists, using reader-submitted questions.

From Alejandro: Do you think China will be forced to send soldiers to potential hotspots to protect their investments in foreign countries, such as hydroelectric dams in Burma? Would they send military forces or would they be willing to lose investments rather than fall into a 'US war' trap?

I don't think so. In 2009 there was a very bad conflict between ethnic groups and the then-military government of Myanmar, right along the border with China. During the period of that conflict, a lot of Chinese people lost their investments, and their shops, their factories, because that area is very near to the China-Myanmar border. There were about 30-40 thousand Chinese immigrants and overseas Chinese in that area, and they had to flee back to China, so that's a very bad condition for Chinese people and the Chinese government. But although it is very near to the Chinese border, China never thought about sending any troops to help them. We just helped them on the Chinese side, helped our people to come back.

So I think from this example you can see the viewpoint of China: no interference in other countries' domestic affairs. Especially with Burma — you know that when this principle was brought out in 1955, it was during the talk between Chairman Mao and the leader of Burma. So that I think see that we can see that China won't do that.
From Ocean: What role do ethnic Chinese populations in Southeast Asian countries play in China's relations with Southeast Asia?

In the past, that used to be a very sensitive topic, to talk about ethnic Chinese, especially in Malaysia, because the Malaysian Communist Party in the 1960s and 70s, and we can see that there were some misunderstandings or some not very pleasant happenings, and these kinds of stories had an impact on the relationship between China and Malaysia and Indonesia at this time. But now that we can see that in the last 20 or 30 years, ethnic Chinese became rich in Southeast Asia.

In 1949, when Communist China was founded, there was a clear policy toward ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia: the Chinese government encouraged them to join the nationality of the local country, because China didn't recognize dual nationality. I think this kind of principle is very good, but later, after the 1970s, overseas Chinese began to find that there are many good opportunities for businesses in China.

Martin/Cohen: You said before that China encouraged Chinese people to leave Myanmar during the 2009 conflict. Could that include ethnic Chinese citizens of Myanmar in a future conflict?

If something like 1998 happened, I think that's possible. There's a very big difference between immigrants and overseas Chinese — if they have Chinese nationality, China of course has the responsibility to protect them, but if they choose the nationality of the local country, they are not Chinese people, they are ethnic Chinese, and the Chinese government should respect their personal choice. But if they want to choose Chinese mainland as a place to be protected, of course we should respect their choice. I think if they choose to ask for protection from mainland China, I think mainland China will try its best to help them.

From Alexander: In light of the level and the type of language used in Chinese press statements, words such as 'indisputable sovereignty' and 'core interests', does China consider its territorial dispute in the South China Sea to be a domestic issue?

To some extent, because all the parties claim it is their sea, China takes it as a domestic issue, but the fact is that now it has become an international conflict between China and the ASEAN countries. So it is not only a domestic issue. Considering the way Deng Xiaoping offered to put aside the sovereignty conflict and to focus on cooperation and development in the South China Sea, I think that's a sign that China doesn't only consider it as a domestic issue.

From Linda: how does China assess Indonesia's current trajectory in the international arena? How would China hope to see Indonesia's role develop in Southeast Asia and further afield?

Indonesia is the biggest country in Southeast Asia, and it has always wanted to take a key role in the region. But the leadership of the ASEAN countries is not really held by any certain country. Although Indonesia is very big and very important, not only in Southeast Asia, but in the Asia-Pacific region, but so far it hasn't managed to take as important a role as it wants to. Maybe that's why Indonesia is very eager to make active communications not only in Southeast Asia but also in other areas of international cooperation, and we can see that especially in climate change, where Indonesia takes a very active role.

From Ho Yi Jian: Could you describe the state of Southeast Asian expertise in China?

In China, frankly speaking, I don't think there's enough expertise in Southeast Asia is to support the corporations and the government. There are specialists in Southeast Asian languages, for example, in the foreign languages universities, but most of them only specialize in language. There is also very important expertise in the provinces near to Southeast Asian countries, like Guangxi province, and Yunnan province, and Guizhou province, because they have the advantage of communication. Of course, there are some military institutes, but they are secret. They're very powerful, but we don't know what they are doing. Even I don't know. They do very good research, but we cannot share them.

Just last month I attended an academic conference, and someone said that Southeast Asian countries are not as important to China as in the past, that China is not just a power in East Asia, but also in the Asia Pacific, so it should focus on dealing with other big powers, like the US, like Japan, even countries in Latin America. I will never agree with this kind of analysis — I think your closest neighbors should be your closest friends.

From Nicholas Farrelly of New Mandala: In 2011, longstanding ceasefire agreements are crumbling across Burma. The resumption of hostilities in the Shan and Kachin States has seen particularly heavy fighting already. What is China's role in these re-ignited border wars? Does the Chinese Government have the capacity to broker permanent peace in those deeply troubled areas? If it does, why has it remained so apparently reluctant to get involved?

This conflict, of course, is not a new one, and has very deep roots in history and tradition. We can see that especially since 2009 the military government has been trying to get more control over these areas. They want to control the local military powers, the local troops, so there has been a very big conflict. Of course, they managed to get rid of the powers of some of them, but other groups like the Kachin are still there.

I am not really an expert on the military, but I think that to some extent China has influence on the military government, especially in the area near the China-Myanmar border, but in other areas, like the area between Myanmar and India, I don't think China has any space to talk about that.

But because China cares about the security of its immigrants and investment, I think China will try its best to ask the government of Myanmar to keep the peace. But because of the balanced diplomacy of the Myanmar Government, they are also in touch with India and the US, so I don't think China has a very powerful influence.

From Khmerization: China has invested heavily in the Cambodian economy, but is also heavily involved in the destruction of Cambodian environment through its hydro-electric dam-building and deforestation. Do you think that Chinese investments are good for Cambodia or harmful to Cambodia in the long run? Do you think that, due to China's economic powerhouse, China can help power Cambodia into economic prosperity? Finally, Chinese leadership have tremendous political leverage over the Cambodian leadership, as strong as the political leverage they had with the Khmer Rouge leadership in the 1970s. With this kind of political influence, is there a risk that Cambodia could plunge into similar situation like during the Khmer Rouge regime?

Since the comprehensive free trade agreement took effect last year, more and more investment has been pouring into Cambodia, especially from the government and agricultural sector and things like that. So some things are happening which are bad for the environment of the Mekong river countries. You mentioned deforestation, which is not only bad for downstream countries, but also for China itself. As far the water problem, China and mother Mekong countries are cooperating and sharing these limited resources, but the problem should be sharing a limited resource, but finding ways to make more water resources.

So what China can do is to protect the environment and the resources of the river, is to keep the forest. But the Chinese Government cannot stop illegal logging inside China, and Chinese resources are not enough, so people are going outside China for them. I think that investment is necessary to support development, but the problem is what kind of development. Development could be just like what China did in the last three decades, depending only on human resources and consuming natural resources. I think we should try to help them avoid this kind of development.

I think an undeveloped country is just one that hasn't developed yet, so they have more opportunities than developed countries. They have access to more modern technology, so I think countries that want to make investments should think about what kind of welfare it can bring to the local country and the local environment. If development is just like what China did in the last three decades, well...you have the financial wealth, but you completely destroyed the environment. We have to make sure Cambodia doesn't develop like that.
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Korea JoongAng Daily - Rigging resource development
Sept 20,2011

Much-publicized projects to develop overseas resources have reentered the spotlight, but this time due to the whiff of corruption. Exploitation is suspected in contracts with local governments and companies to mine diamonds in Cameroon and develop gas fields in Myanmar.

Despite denials of foul play, the way that Korean companies win such contracts is often murky and vulnerable to charges of influence peddling by the Korean government on the pretext of promoting the development of overseas resources.

The Cameroon project looks to all intents and purposes like a typical case of stock-price rigging. C&K Mining announced late last year that it discovered potential diamond reserves in Cameroon and won a license from the government to explore these. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade subsequently issued a statement touting the deal as a successful example of private-public collaboration.

A high-level government official reportedly visited Cameroon to support the deal, which led C&K’s stock price to more than quintuple. As company executives later sold their shares and pocketed hundreds of millions of won, the government effectively helped them line their pockets.

The Myanmar gas project is equally suspect. Even though a government-led investigation decided the plan was not feasible, a private consortium went ahead earlier this year and won its bid. The same high-level government official was involved in the process, and the company founder had, coincidentally, raised huge corporate funds to support President Lee Myung-bak during his election campaign.

Neither project has so far lived up to the hype or made any significant progress so far.

We have to question the ulterior motives behind such projects. South Korea lacks natural resources of its own and needs to seek out developments overseas to guarantee stable and cheaper supplies. But does it seem fitting for government officials to get involved in these projects and use their influence and networks to win licenses for private companies? Overseas developments that are hyped as lucrative cash cows are often large scams, and the two cited projects seem to fit this description.

Authorities at the Financial Supervisory Service and the Blue House are known to have had doubts about the diamond deal, but they have not taken any action. Prosecutors should investigate the suspicions, especially if senior-level officials are involved.
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Asian Tribune - Burma must be vigilant to avoid the disastrous dam on Irrawaddy River
Mon, 2011-09-19 00:52 — editor
By - Zin Linn

It was as early as October 2009, the Thailand-based Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) published a report – “Resisting the Flood” – highlighting the implementation of the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River. The report demanded a halt to the project that is sponsored by the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), its main investor and contractor.

The dam project creates unwelcome impacts like social, environmental, livelihood, cultural and security problems for tens of thousands of people in the Kachin State. The report states that more than 15,000 people in 60 villages around the dam sites are being forcibly relocated without proper resettlement plans by the Burmese military regime. These individuals have lost their means of livelihood such as farming, fishing and collection of non-timber forest products.

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, sent an open letter to Chinese President, Hu Jintao, in March this year, urging a halt to the Irrawaddy Myitson Dam construction, because it will lead to civil war in the country. However, the Chinese communist government has refused the KIO request.

The 500-foot dam has been under construction at the confluence of the Mali Hka River and N’Mai Hka River, 27 miles north of the Kachin capital of Myitkyina. Construction at Myitsone began December 21, 2009, led by China’s state owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) in cooperation with Burma’s Asia World Company (AWC) and the Burmese government’s No. 1 Ministry of Electric Power. Remarkably, AWC owner is former drug lord, Lo Hsing Han. It will cost 3.6 billion dollars and most of the 6000 MW of electricity produced will be sold out to China.

As a result, the KIO warned CPI employees not to enter its area in the dam construction sites north of the Mali-N’mai Rivers. The reason was that the Burmese government discontinued the 1994 ceasefire on 1 September, 2010.

KDNG said that the dam construction is against the choice of local people and violates China’s own dam construction guidelines as well as international standards. Burma’s military junta ordered over a thousand civilians from Tang Hpre, the main village at the dam site, before the end of May 2010.

There was an environmental impact assessment on the Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network website which was conducted by a team of Burmese and Chinese scientists. The 945-page “environmental impact assessment,” fully funded by China’s CPI Corporation and conducted by a team of Burmese and Chinese scientists, recommends that the Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam not proceed. “There is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Irrawaddy River” says the assessment.

Several complaint letters concerning construction of the Myitsone dam have been sent to the Burmese and Chinese governments by local people, the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA) and the KIO. However, no action has been taken to tackle the worries expressed by the Kachin community.

KIO have waged revolutionary warfare for self-determination in their state. Since 9 June, skirmishing spread out between the KIA and the government’s troops. The warfare was interrelated to the outsized developmental projects being built by China.

Recently, on 17 September, Workshop No (3/2011) of the Ministry of Electric Power No (1) on Impact of Hydropower Projects on the Irrawaddy River and natural environment was held at the ministry in Naypyitaw.

Union Ministers, deputy ministers, People Parliament and National Parliament representatives, departmental heads, resource persons, entrepreneurs, journalists and guests attended the workshop, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

In his address, Union Minister for Electric Power No (1) Zaw Min explained the purpose of organizing the seminar and introduced six papers that would be read out. He also invited suggestions and discussions over the papers. Chairman Dr Htin Hla of Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) read out the paper on impact on natural and social environments. CPI Chairman Mr Li Guanghua, read on Irrawaddy basin hydropower projects are strategic selection for Myanmar (Burma) electric power industry.

On 10 September (Saturday), Union Minister for Electric Power No (1) Zaw Min said in a meeting with media, the government will carry on construction of the Myitsone Dam on the Irrawaddy River despite severe denigration and environmental and communal risks, some Rangoon-based journals spotlighted.

Zaw Min also challenged the people that the government will not withdraw the project because of any objection.

During the 17 September seminar, the “natural environment report” was made by 250 scholars from six organizations including BANCA. The report will be submitted to the newly reconstituted Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry. It is said that future works depend on the environment report of the ECF Ministry and study report of the engineer group.

According to the report of CPI Company, the structures in Myitsone project will be designed and built systematically to have the resistance of the worst flood in 1000 years and the earthquake of eight Richter Scales. But, as stated by some critics, CPI’s estimation is merely an illogical presumption. No futurist can foretell such a thousand-year calculation.

In his closing address, Union Minister Zaw Min said that, the government has not yet decided to stop the Myitsone dam projects. Zaw Min said at one point: “Impact of Myitsone Project on environment and safety was a hot topic among people. However, hydro-power projects along Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy) river were worthwhile to increase production of power for domestic use and industrial development.”

So, the seminar seemed to be a time-buying method that held against the desire of the people. If the parliament and the government unwisely decided to carry on the massive dam, the people would not tolerate any more.

Hence, local civil societies, as well as watchdog groups around the world, have to keep serious awareness to prevent the continuation of the Myitsone dam project which will tragically spoil the nation’s promising future.
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The Irrawaddy - Myitsone Controversy Sparks Discord in Naypyidaw
By WAI MOE Monday, September 19, 2011

The Burmese government hosted a workshop on Saturday in Naypyidaw to discuss the impact of hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River, with ministers, NGOs and Chinese investment interests represented. However, far from being a carefully orchestrated seminar conducted by the government to sanction the controversial project, the debate turned into heated argument.

According to sources in the capital, no decision was reached on whether to suspend the Myitsone hydropower project. They said several government ministers differed on the pros and cons of the project, and that the issue may be brought before parliament.

Notably, President Thein Sein and other high-ranking ministers were seen to oppose the project.

“President U Thein Sein needs the support of more than 400 members of parliament to change the proposal,” said a senior journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There are some good signals as several ministers openly aired their concerns about this project.

“The Chinese looked pretty uncomfortable at the workshop on Saturday,” he added, referring to a delegation sent by the dam's main investor, China Power Investment Corporation (CPI).

A diplomatic source in Rangoon said shortly after the new administration came into office in March, rumors began spreading about internal conflicts between hardliners and reformists.

At the workshop, Minister for Industry-1 and Industry-2 ex-vice admiral Soe Thein, who is also Burma’s industrial development committee chairman, openly called for a review of the terms of the contract, and spoke about accountability.

He said the project has to be reviewed from a social, an economic and a defensive point of view.

“The project has to be reviewed and members of parliament must be informed,” he said. “CPI currently has control over the EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment]—this is not the right way to proceed.

“We need to seek cooperation with experts, we need to debate and review the issue for the national interest,” he said.

Burma’s state-newspapers on Sunday did not report Soe Thein’s speech at the workshop in detail.

Speaking at the workshop, Win Tun, the minister for environmental conservation and forestry, said, “If the negative impacts of the project outweigh the positive, the environmental problems could affect not only us but also future generations.”

Burma's state media reported largely on Minister of Electric Power-1 Zaw Min who stated that even though further assessments will be made, the project will go ahead regardless.

Zaw Min also vowed he would continue working for the implementation of energy projects as per his remit within the government.

On Sept.10, he also slammed the anti-Myitsone protests as “a disease.”

Sources said an ongoing internal disagreement has evolved over Myitsone and other issues between so-called hardliners led by First Vice-president ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo alongside Information and Culture Minister ex Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Finance Minister ex Maj-Gen Hla Tun, Upper House speaker ex Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint, against the “reformers”: Thein Sein, Lower House speaker ex Gen Shwe Mann, Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and a few others.

Tin Aung Myint Oo is known to be well connected with Chinese investors and Chinese tycoons in Burma, and he has long handled foreign investments and trade in an official capacity.

On Friday in Naypyidaw, Tin Aung Myint Oo met Zhao Deyi, the president of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) which has a massive investment in the Yunnan to Kyaukpyu rail project.

“Vice president U Tin Aung Myint Oo may not dare to oppose the president on the issue of this hydro dam,” said an official for an environmental NGO in Rangoon. “I am sure that U Thein Sein will oppose the dam because he is a serious environmentalist.”

However, he downplayed that the internal disagreement will be threatening to the regime in Naypyidaw by saying: “It is a good strategy of the military not to act like politicians. They show splits in opinion, but they cooperate behind our backs.”
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The Irrawaddy - Fighting Continues in Kachin State
By KO HTWE Monday, September 19, 2011

As Naypyidaw ends its efforts to push the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and its ally, the Mongla Army, to join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military command, fighting between government troops and another ethnic militia, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), continues.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the KIA clashed with troops from Infantry Battalion 37 and Light Infantry Battalion 438 in Winemaw Township, according to La Nan, the joint-secretary of the KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

“We are fighting now to prevent them sending reinforcements to the frontier areas for military operations,” said La Nan, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday. “If we don't, they will gather strength and launch an attack on us.”

The fighting left two KIA soldiers dead and three others injured, said La Nan. There were no casualty figures for the Burmese side, but KIA troops who seized weapons after the attack said they saw around six dead bodies.

A ceasefire agreement between the KIA and the Burmese Army signed in 1994 broke down earlier this year over government demands that the former ceasefire group dismantle its army and join the BGF scheme.

In an effort to get the UWSA and Mongla Army to preserve their ceasefire agreements, the government has reportedly dropped its demands that they become part of the BGF plan.

The KIO says is trying to reach a new ceasefire agreement with the government based on the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which guaranteed ethnic minorities greater autonomy as part of a federal union.

To this end, it is also trying to arrange a political dialogue through the United Nationalities Federal Council, a newly formed umbrella group representing 12 ethnic armies. However, the government says the group is one-sided and uncooperative, and continues to insist on dealing with each army individually.

Earlier this month, Burmese state-run media alleged that a top KIA leaders engaged in a deadly shootout over differing views on ceasefire negotiations with the government. However, the KIO denied the reports and accused the government of fabricating rumors to undermine the group.

The KIO has also alleged that government troops are targeting civilians in its offensives against the KIA, usually singling out ethnic Kachin villages for retribution.

“If they [government troops] suffer a lot of casualties, government troops turn on the villagers in the area,” said La Nan.

Meanwhile, nearly 35 villagers and 10 monks from Moung Nine village in Shan State were reportedly taken prisoner by government troops on Sunday for use as human shields, according to Shan State Army (SSA) spokesperson Maj Sai Hla.

The government has also sent more troops to Kyesi Township in Shan State to be deployed near the SSA headquarters, said Sai Hla.

“Government troops have also blocked the entrance and exits of Wan Hai,” said Sai Hla, adding that small skirmishes have been taking place in Mong Shu, Hsipaw and Tang Yan townships.
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The Irrawaddy - Security Tightened at Chinese Embassy
By SAI ZOM HSENG Monday, September 19, 2011

Security was beefed up in front of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon on Monday morning after a rumor spread that it was to be the venue of a protest calling for a halt to construction
on the Myitsone Dam project on the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State.

However, according to a Rangoon-based journalist, there were no signs of protesters—only riot police and reporters.

“Trucks full of riot police arrived in front of the embassy in the morning,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They took up defensive stances.”

Sources in Rangoon said that a rumor had spread among both local people and the foreign Burmese community that some local groups had organized a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy, calling for the Chinese authorities to put a stop to the Myitsone megadam because China is the main investor in the project, which is located in Kachin State.

Many people, including famous writers, scholars and politicians, are currently demanding a stop to the project because of its social and environmental impacts.

Several groups claim that the megadam project violates the 2008 constitution, pointing to Chapter 1, Article 45 which says “The Union shall protect and conserve the natural environment.

On Sept 10., Burmese Union Minister and Minister of Electric Power-1 Zaw Min said that the government will continue the construction on the Myitsone Dam.

At a press briefing in Naypyidaw on Sept. 10, Zaw Min said the government is building the dam in the national interest and intends to complete its construction.

“There are a few bad things, such as there will be no place for biodiversity and the people will be displaced by the reservoirs, etc,” he said. “But we have to compare this with the national benefits which we will get from the project. After we take away those bad things, the project will definitely affect positively some 50-60 million people in the country.”

But at a workshop in Naypyidaw on Saturday titled “Impact of the Hydropower Project on the Irrawaddy River,” Zaw Min said, “The change of environment and its impact will be studied while implementing the project and operating plants as it is changing constantly. The project will proceed in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.”

Construction on the dam commenced in 2009. If and when completed, the dam will produce some 6,000 megawatts of electricity. Burma’s Ministry of Electric Power-1 has contracted Asia World, a private Burmese company owned by US-sanctioned Stephen Law, and the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) to construct the dam. The dam's reservoir is expected to be completed by 2019, but thousands of people in Kachin State have already been forced to relocate.

Meanwhile, The Economist, a London-based weekly news magazine, said in June that China has a large stake in Burma, and is the country’s leading foreign investor. Myitsone is one of many hydropower, mining and infrastructure projects there, it reported.

“China, for its part, worries about the security of its investments and people,” The Economist reported. “In the past it has leaned on Myanmar’s leaders to prevent fighting between the army and the ethnic insurgencies. When conflict broke out in 2009 with the Kokang, an ethnic-Han-Chinese minority, 37,000 people fled to China, provoking sharp criticism of the Burmese junta.”

According to data by The Economist, between one to two million Chinese citizens are living in northern Burma working in the jade and gems trade.
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Burma’s budget deficit over US$ 2.7 billion in 2011-12 fiscal year
Monday, 19 September 2011 22:10 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s budget has been in the red for five years in a row now and during the current 2011-12 fiscal year, the deficit will be more than 2.3 trillion kyat (US$ 2.7 billion), the Public Accounts Committee told the Burmese Upper House of Parliament on Monday.

Upper House Public Accounts Committee chairman San Pye told lawmakers that the deficit is a combination of central government, states and regional government deficits.

The secretary of the Public Accounts Committee of the Lower House, Maung Toe, told Mizzima that the deficit for the central government budget for the current budget year is 2,201.45 billion kyat while the deficit for regional and state governments is 170.495 billion kyat.

The Upper House will hold deliberations on the report on Tuesday.

Moreover, state-owned industries are also in the red. The losses for the state-owned Zayawaddy and Bilin sugar mills alone was more than 500 million kyat annually, No. 2 Industrial Minister Soe Thein told Parliament on Monday. The minister didn’t make clear which fiscal years accounted for the losses at the two factories.

Burma’s fiscal year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31.

MP Phone Myint Aung of the New National Democracy Party told Mizzima: “Previously these budget figures were not disclosed to the public, and we didn’t know about these deficits. Now the Public Accounts Committee disclosed the figures showing a huge deficit, and we realize it as reality now. So we have been cheated in the past 20 years. But now it is exposed. They are now showing all of their losses and deficits in their budgets.”

In a leaked US diplomatic cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon to the State Department in Washington in May 2009, a diplomat said that Burma had a budget deficit which was caused by weakness in revenue collection, inefficiency of state-owned enterprises and government staff, uncontrolled lavish spending by the government and huge spending in unproductive sectors such as defence and construction.
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Former Indian ambassadors discuss Indo-Burma relations in New Delhi
Monday, 19 September 2011 23:03 Ko Pauk

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Former Indian ambassadors to Burma, former generals from the Indian Navy and Army, scholars and other experts held a close-door meeting to discuss Indian foreign policy towards Burma at a meeting in Chanakya Puri, New Delhi, on Monday.

The group concluded that India’s foreign policy should be framed and adopted in accordance with the current world order and with the alignments of neigbouring countries.

“India changed its Burma policy in 1992. Most of the conclusions said that the current policy would not work for the benefit of the country judging from the results it has produced during these years,” said Dr. Tint Swe, a National League for Democracy MP who was elected in the 1990 general election, and who attended the meeting.

The Burmese ambassador to India, H.E. Zin Yaw, was scheduled to deliver the keynote address, but he didn’t turn up at the meeting.

Well-known journalist Bertil Lintner of Chiang Mai, Thailand, submitted a paper titled “Political Reconciliation: Reality or Chimera?” “He said in the paper that the changes [in Burma] were not yet believable and concluded with the line that they were not irreversible,” said Tint Swe.

The meeting, titled “Myanmar in Transition: Asian Perspectives,” was sponsored and by the Vivekananda International Foundation.

About 30 people attended including former Indian ambassadors to Burma Ranjit Gupta, Rajiv Sikri, Kanwal Sibal, Rajiv Bhatia and Bhaskar Mitra.

Tint Swe said that the meeting allowed the participants to openly and frankly discuss Indo-Burma relations, and that serving Indian bureaucrats and senior foreign policy makers usually paid attention to the views of experienced former ambassadors.

India in recent years has been extending economic cooperation to Burma, particularly in areas of infrastructure and trade.

The Confederation of Indian Industry has organized a business delegation to go to Burma on November 9-12 that will focus on sectors including agriculture, food processing, automotive, biotechnology, drugs and pharmaceuticals, education, mining and mining equipment, information technology, infrastructure, forestry, gems and jewelry, power, telecom, textiles and tourism.

India has been focusing on extending its economic influence as part of it “Look East” policy, which observers say is designed to counter some of China’s influence in the region.
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Guerrilla radio in the mist
Monday, 19 September 2011 18:06 Thea Forbes

Loi Taleng, Shan State (Mizzima) – Sai Sang walks up the muddy trail through the mist cloaking the Shan mountains to the hut that houses the transmitter for Tai Freedom Radio.

The “resistance” radio station at Loi Taleng finally emerged from a period of unintended hibernation early this September after broadcasting went silent for almost three months. The radio mast perched on the mountain was damaged by a powerful storm in June, and Shan soldiers have just finished repairing it. Heavy rain and clogging mud slow down operations in the rainy season.

Tai Freedom Radio provides a beacon for the Shan people in this region of Shan State in Burma. It is the radio broadcasting operation for the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political wing of the Shan State Army (or SSA).

It is early September and rains and low-lying clouds shroud life in a claustrophobic swirl of mist. Tai Freedom Radio was established in 2002, and it has a team of more than 10 broadcasters, and transmits news on fighting and current affairs to people living in the area surrounding Loi Taleng, the SSA headquarters.

It also broadcasts the Four Noble Principles and the Six Policies of the RCSS to citizens in Shan state in the Shan (Tai Yai) language. This is the epicentre of the rallying cry for freedom from the RCSS.

Is Tai Freedom Radio ethno-nationalist propaganda? Or is it Shan news for Shan people? It’s both, according to Sai Sang, 27, who has been a broadcaster at the station for three years.

“The most important thing about Tai Freedom Radio is to get real information to the civilians so that they will know the real situation,” he said. “The SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) wants to close their eyes and ears to knowledge. The SPDC wants the ethnic people to have no abilities or knowledge.”

The SPDC may have been dissolved and elections held, but Sai Sang believes that the Burmese government is still dominated by former military generals, pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

“We want to make the citizens understand about our policies, and to understand about the SPDC and what they are doing; the reality and the falsehoods,” he said.

In 2010, the RCSS’s Information and Communications departments joined forces. From a village in central Shan State, Sai Sang came and spent eight months training as a soldier in the SSA before working in the communications department of the RCSS.

Clandestine radio has long been an important apparatus for revolutionaries. “Radio Rebelde,” the broadcasting station set up by Ernesto Che Guevara in 1958 (and which still operates today) to transmit the aims of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement to the Cuban people, was even used strategically to transmit some tactical military instructions over the airwaves. Tactical broadcasts reportedly became just as popular as ordinary programmes and made the local Cuban population feel closer to the movement. Here in Loi Taleng, however, megaphone politics are somewhat different. The consequences for Shan civilians caught listening to Tai Freedom Radio by the Burmese government authorities could be severe.

Sai Sang says that they can broadcast to an area of about 50 kilometres around Loi Taleng, a relatively small area. The head of the Information and Communications department told Mizzima that plans for Tai Freedom Radio to be broadcast on the Internet in October are underway, which although it has the potential to vastly increase the number of Shan listeners who live outside of Burma, is unlikely to have a significant effect in Shan State where access to the Internet is limited.

Broadcasting news from the RCSS in Shan language is Sai Sang’s way of fighting the central Burmese government’s monopoly on the dissemination of knowledge, he told Mizzima. It is also his platform for forging a strengthened unity among the different ethnic groups in Shan State, and Shan people scattered across Asia.

Aside from the call for an independent Shan state, one of the RCSS’s policies that Sai Sang broadcasts is to seek for unity among the nationalities and equal rights for all ethnic groups of which there are some 15 different groups in Shan State.

“Our Shan people are in China, India, we have many millions of Shan, but we cannot know about our culture, and in other places, about their cultures,” he said. “If we have a broadcast on the radio, it will create more friendship and more unity. It's very powerful for us.”

He said that citizens in Shan state are forced to lose their Shan identity by having to listen to propaganda via the Burmese state-run newspapers and radio. As well as transmitting the RCSS’s policies, his work at Tai Freedom Radio involves broadcasting programmes created by the RCSS on Shan history, culture and health.

The dissemination of the RCSS’s policies over Tai Freedom Radio is essential to create unity amongst Shan, said Sai Sang.

He recalled when he was a child in his village, listening to the radio meant listening to broadcasts in Burmese. He wants to help keep the Shan ethnic identity alive via Tai Freedom Radio.

“I wanted to take up this job, because it's from my heart. Before, when I was younger, I couldn't hear Shan on the radio, and so I really wanted to work.”

The radio station is the RCSS’s embodiment of what its sees as its right to self-determination in the fight against what they say is the government’s attempt to destroy the identities of ethnic minorities in Burma. It is also the platform for the political rhetoric that they hope will be accepted into the hearts of Shan people and unifies them in their fight for Shan independence.

Tensions are high and feelings are strong. Some soldiers in Loi Taleng resent the word “rebel,” because it implies their position outside of nation-state central control is invalid, the Foreign Affairs Secretary of the RCSS told Mizzima.

“I don't want to be called a ‘rebel’; we call it ‘resistance’. Resistance is better,” he said. “We have a country, we lost our power; we lost our power to occupy our country. Now the Burmese regime, or the SPDC, they are invaders in our country… We have to fight back until they get out of our country, and then we can occupy our motherland. We have to be leaders. We need to lead by ourselves, not by other people, coming to be our leaders. This is our right, our land.”

Fighting between Shan troops and the Burmese army has escalated since the contentious elections were held in November 2010.

The Burmese Army broke a 22-year-old cease-fire with the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) on March 13, by capturing their second largest base, Nam Lao.

Fighting has continued since. SSA-N joined with the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) to form the SSA on May 21 this year.

The suffering from continued conflict in the area is hard on the civilian population. Seemingly, not by coincidence, Burmese government forces have launched attacks in SSA-N territories that lie in the projected route for the large oil and gas pipeline project that will traverse Burma from the Indian Ocean to China and is due for completion in 2013.

Since recent fighting between the Burmese Army and the SSA in the SSA North territories, up to 30,000 villagers have fled their homes, Mizzima reported on August 17.

The Shan Women’s Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Group released a joint statement on August 10 calling for humanitarian aid for Shan war refugees. Both groups have also accused the Burmese army of committing acts of rape during their recent offensives in Shan state. Other abuses by the Burmese Army in Shan State recently documented have included shelling of civilians, forced relocation and labour, arbitrary detention, the use of torture, the use of civilians as porters and “human shields” and arbitrary execution.

Sai Sang says he strives to transmit the truth about the conflict and human rights abuses that are occurring in Shan State. He also wants to create unity among the Shan people and a sense of ethnic identity.

The radio mast is erected again as of early September and clandestine broadcasts are on the air. Sai Sang is back on the airwaves.
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