BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Suu Kyi urges world to keep eye on Myanmar
By Sebastian Smith | AFP News – 22 hours ago
Myanmar's pro-democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi urged the world Wednesday not to take its eye off her country as it enters what she said were the first small steps to freedom.
In a rare appearance via videolink from Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- to an international conference in New York, Suu Kyi said the political thaw needs close scrutiny by the outside world.

"What we really need is awareness of what is going on in our country," she told the audience of political and business leaders at the Clinton Global Initiative.

"If the world wants to help Burma, the world needs to know what's going on in Burma. You really have to follow what is going on there."

Suu Kyi, who was released by Myanmar's military rulers last November after years of house arrest, said the status quo was changing.

But "change is not always for the better and even if it is for the better, it's not always sustained," she warned. "We would like the world to keep an eye on what's happening."

Suu Kyi also had a message for India and China, the growing regional powers that she said should focus on their relations with Myanmar's people as much as its controversial government.

"We've always been good neighbors," she said, without elaborating, "but times have changed and circumstances have changed, and to continue to be good neighbors, certain policies have to change."

Smiling but looking tired, the 66-year-old Nobel peace laureate was given a standing ovation by the New York forum.

In fluent English and a quiet voice, she said that change in her country had a long way to go.

"All journeys are made step by step," she said. "To be quite honest, I didn't think when I first started out in the movement for democracy... I'd have to devote my whole life to it."

She said her participation in the videolink, as well as recent meetings with foreign journalists and talks with the government, showed an improvement.

"This is the kind of thing I could never have done," she said, "so we are making progress. But we need more."

But she downplayed comparisons with so-called Arab Spring revolts in North Africa and the Middle East, where youth-led protesters organized through social networking sites have brought down, or continue to challenge, decades-old dictatorships.

"I don't think the (social) media has quite the position here that it had in the Arab countries," she said, referring to Myanmar's tightly controlled Internet use. "In Burma, we do not have such a developed communications system."

Hardest of all, she said, would be overcoming years of enmity.

"The reconciliation bit is sometimes the most difficult of all because both sides have to be prepared to compromise and give and take."

After meeting with President Thein Sein last month, Suu Kyi said she was cautiously hopeful -- but looking for results.

"We hope that we are going to see signs of real change very soon. There had been a lot of talk about change but people want to see concrete signs," she said. "I think we are beginning to see the beginning."

Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 election but was never allowed to take office. It boycotted an election held last year, the first in two decades, and was delisted as a political party by the regime as a result.

Recently, however, the regime has adopted a more conciliatory stance toward its opponents and relaxed its grip on access to independent information, such as previously blocked news sites, including the Burmese-language service of the BBC.
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Myanmar: Country not working on nuclear arms
Myanmar envoy says his country does not have 'economic strength' to develop nuke arms
On Thursday September 22, 2011, 8:55 am EDT

VIENNA (AP) -- A senior Myanmar envoy says his country doesn't have the financial means to develop nuclear weapons and supports global nonproliferation.

There has been speculation that Myanmar may be secretly working on such weapons, with the U.S. warning two years ago of possible nuclear technology transfers to the secretive military-ruled nation from North Korea.

But Tin Win told an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting Wednesday that his country "is in no position to consider the production and use of nuclear weapons and does not have the economic strength to do so."

The Myanmar representative to the IAEA also said that his nation "is a firm supporter of ... a nuclear weapon-free world."
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22 September 2011 Last updated at 08:00 ET
BBC News - West 'should respond to Burma change', says think-tank
By Rachel Harvey BBC South East Asia Correspondent

An influential think-tank has urged Western nations to acknowledge and support what it calls the major changes taking place in Burma.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) says there is now a unique opportunity to engage with the country's relatively new civilian-led government.

But some pro-democracy campaigners remain wary of easing the pressure on the Burmese leadership.

They say they want to see concrete signs of genuine reform.

'Not assured'

The ICG says there is growing evidence that the new administration in Burma is serious about reform and Western powers should adapt their policies to reflect the new reality.

The group is calling for a proactive and engaged approach to grasp what it calls this unique opportunity.

The group has long taken the view that sanctions have failed. But there is a new urgency in the tone of its argument now.

The Burmese government has made a number of conciliatory gestures in recent weeks - easing restrictions on the media, allowing a visit by the United Nations human rights envoy and holding meetings with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But opinion is divided as to how the outside world should respond.

Some pro-democracy campaigners are urging caution, saying the steps taken by the Burmese government thus far are merely superficial.

Until or unless all political prisoners are released and a process of genuine national reconciliation is under way, they say, Western pressure and sanctions should be maintained.
Perhaps the most influential voice in this debate is that of Aung San Suu Kyi.

In her view there are signs that change is now possible in Burma, but she says "it is not yet assured". Few would disagree with that.
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The New York Times - Controversy Over Dam Fuels Rare Public Outcry in Myanmar
By THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Published: September 21, 2011

MYITSONE, MYANMAR — The massive dam under construction in this remote corner of Myanmar is generating a litany of concerns that are not uncommon to such projects: about the risks of tampering with nature, about damage to wildlife, about the displacement of villagers.

But for many people in Myanmar, also known as Burma, the fears surrounding the Myitsone dam go much deeper. It will be the first dam across the Irrawaddy River, the iconic, even mythic waterway that has given life to centuries of Burmese civilization.

Passions are high. A government minister broke down in tears at a news conference last month when asked about the dam. High-ranking officials are said to be sharply divided over the wisdom of the project.

And in an authoritarian country that has begun to experiment with looser controls on the news media, the controversy has raised the prospect of something exceedingly unusual: that public outrage might actually force the government to reconsider its plans.

The Myitsone dam will flood an area four times the size of Manhattan. Government officials who support the project say it will be an invaluable source of electricity and cash, a milestone in Myanmar’s development. Critics say it will cause irreparable damage to the Irrawaddy, the lifeline of millions of Burmese downstream.

“The people are demanding to stop the project,” said U Ludu Sein Win, a dissident writer who is one of the most outspoken critics of the dam. “If the righteous demands of the people are ignored and they continue the dam project,” he wrote in Weekly Eleven, a popular Yangon-based newspaper, “the people will defend the Irrawaddy with whatever means possible.”

Such strident criticism of a government project in the domestic media, which would have been unheard of just months ago, reflects both the passions surrounding the project and the easing of some restrictions on expression by Myanmar’s new, at least nominally civilian government, which took office in March after decades of overt military dictatorship.

The Myitsone dam, which is being built and financed by a Chinese company, has also become a lightning rod for criticism about China’s power and influence in Myanmar.

Here at the dam site, Chinese workers in orange hard hats have been tunneling, blasting and shoring up riverbanks. The site is a few kilometers downstream from what is considered the “birthplace” of the Irrawaddy — the confluence of two smaller rivers — a place that has mystical value for the Kachin ethnic group that populates the hills of northern Myanmar. (The Kachin have a substantial army that has battled with troops from the central government in recent months, underscoring the instability in the area surrounding the dam site.)

Criticism of the project has been allowed to spread through Facebook, blogs and even local newspapers, suggesting that the government itself may be divided on the issue. Last month the country’s most famous dissident, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has otherwise been cautious in her criticisms of the government since her release from house arrest last November, penned an open letter calling for the project to be reassessed.

Critics’ reasons for opposing the Myitsone project vary. Some say they are angry because the decision to begin such a huge project was made without public consultation. Others channel their frustration toward China, which plans to import 90 percent of the electricity the project generates, under financial conditions that have not been fully explained to the public.

“China has colonized Burma without shooting a gun and has sucked the life of the people of Burma with the help of the Burmese regime and its cronies,” wrote U Aung Din , a former democracy advocate who is now in exile in the United States. “Now, they are killing the Irrawaddy River as well.”

In April, four small blasts were reported at the camp in Myitsone where Chinese workers have their sleeping quarters. No one was seriously hurt.

But perhaps the greatest concern among critics of the dam is that it will further degrade a river that has played such a crucial role in Burmese history.

The Irrawaddy draws on glacial waters from the eastern extremities of the Himalayas. As it travels south, the river carries nutrients into Myanmar’s arid central region and ultimately fans out in the Irrawaddy Delta, an area of rice paddies so fertile that it once fed large parts of the British empire in Asia. Like the Mekong or the Mississippi, the river carries enormous symbolism.

“It is the most significant geographical feature of our country,” wrote Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in her letter, which also aired concerns about the dam being near an earthquake fault zone. The Irrawaddy, she wrote, is “the grand natural highway, a prolific source of food, the home of varied water flora and fauna, the supporter of traditional modes of life, the muse that has inspired countless works of prose and poetry.”

Indeed, leading poets have chimed in on the controversy, including U Maung Sein Win, who wrote a short poem called “Dead River,” which includes this passage:

Whole forests are cleared and
mountains laid bare
Sand bars emerge at the narrows
Not so far in the future, Myanmar’s people may disappear
Did we drink our own blood?
This is the frightening thought
That one day the river might be dead.

Unaccustomed to such a barrage of criticism, the government is on the defensive. The information minister, U Kyaw Hsan, wept when questioned about the project at a news conference in August. “We love the Irrawaddy,” said Mr. Kyaw Hsan, who is a retired brigadier general.

“We will protect the Irrawaddy just like other citizens would.”

The government official responsible for the dam, U Zaw Min, was adamant at a meeting this month that it would be completed. “We will never rescind it,” he said at one of the occasional news conferences that appear to be gestures by the government toward openness.

But his staunch defense of the project led to further anger.

On Saturday, at a government-sponsored seminar, Mr. Zaw Min seemed ready to offer concessions to minimize the impact of the dam and “ensure the project poses no danger.”

Those words were highlighted in bold in an account of the seminar that appeared in the state-owned newspaper The New Light of Myanmar. The dam would be built to resist a thousand-year flood and an earthquake of magnitude 8, the article said.

That was the official account of the meeting. In the Burmese-exile news media, reports said a “heated argument” over the dam had broken out between officials. Myanmar’s president, U Thein Sein, considered by many to be a moderate force in the government, was said to be against the project, according to The Irrawaddy , an online news service based in Thailand. Hard-liners were said to be pushing ahead. The accounts could not be confirmed.

Critics of the dam say it is significant that skepticism of the project extends even to the scientists who were hired by the Chinese project managers to assess it.

China Power Investment , a state-run Chinese company, signed a deal in 2007 with the Burmese government to build seven dams in northern Myanmar, including the one at Myitsone. Although not required to do so under Myanmar’s laws, China Power Investment hired scientists from China and Myanmar to assess how the dam would affect the environment. In 2009, the scientists submitted a report of nearly 900 pages that seemed to question the dam’s very premise.

“If Myanmar and Chinese sides were really concerned about environmental issues and aimed at sustainable development of the country there is no need for such a big dam,” said the report, which was written in choppy English.

Rather than build the massive Myitsone dam, the scientists’ report suggests constructing two smaller dams farther upstream. It warns ominously that the Myitsone site is “less than 100 kilometers from Myanmar’s earthquake-prone Sagaing fault line,” a distance of a bit more than 60 miles.

The report also predicts “substantial losses” in fish populations downstream, and says that more time is needed to understand how wildlife in the area would be affected. Scientists who fanned out into the nearby jungles found sun bears, leopards, elephants, many types of monkeys and red pandas, an endangered auburn-colored animal that resembles a cross between a raccoon and a bear.

The report also recommends that more research be done on the potential effects on other inhabitants of the region: people. The dam is still several years from completion, but thousands of villagers have already been resettled from their rice paddies and fishing villages into prefabricated homes. They were given, among other compensation, 21-inch television sets.

“We can’t make a living in our new place,” Aung San Myint, a father of three who now mines the riverbanks for flecks of gold, told a reporter. “There’s nothing for us there.”
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CNBC - Myanmar's Forgotten Bourse Eyes Long-Awaited Expansion
Published: Thursday, 22 Sep 2011 | 4:06 AM ET

In a quiet room in an aging office block of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, a worker scribbles on a whiteboard beneath a row of out-of-sync clocks, updating prices in what could be the world's smallest stock market.

Welcome to the Myanmar Securities Exchange, among the best-kept secrets of a repressive country hamstrung by Western sanctions and blighted by 49 years of military rule.

There's no trading floor, no flashing screens and no televisions showing financial news channels. Just eight employees who handle over-the-counter transactions and manually update share prices, using a whiteboard, a marker pen and a stencil. Every so often, a customer drops by.

Set up 15 years ago as a joint venture with Japanese broker Daiwa Securities, Myanmar's stock market has attracted just two companies — an echo of broader problems in the resource-rich country that half a century ago was among Asia's wealthiest and today is among its poorest.

But as Myanmar's new civilian government presses ahead with reforms that could lead to greater political and economic freedom, and as China pumps in billions of dollars to develop its vast energy reserves, plans are a afoot to expand the exchange.

Daiwa is working with the Tokyo Stock Exchange to establish rules and computer systems for a bigger stock market, a Daiwa spokesman said. The plan expands on Daiwa's 50-50 joint venture established in 1996 to set up the current exchange with Myanmar's Finance and Revenue Ministry.

"With the new administration, there has been growing interest in developing a financial system, so we, Daiwa and the Tokyo Stock Exchange are now in cooperation to contribute to the development of Stock Exchange system," Daiwa said in an e-mailed response to questions from Reuters.

Mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country has been one of the world's most difficult for foreign investors, restricted by sanctions, starved of capital and marred by mismanagement.

But its eight-month-old parliament is stirring hopes of reforms that could slowly open the country of 50 million people that just over 50 years ago was one of Asia's most promising, the world's biggest rice exporter and a major energy producer.

A senior official from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development said the government wanted to expand the number of listed companies as part of efforts by the 10 nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, to form an interlinked stock market by 2015.

"The emergence of a stock exchange is very important for us in bringing the country in line with the rest of ASEAN," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

"Some important laws have already been drafted. After enacting these laws, the Securities and Exchange Committee will be formed. Then there will be rapid progress," he predicted.

That ambition is one of many signs of change since the army nominally handed power to civilians after the first elections in two decades last year, a process ridiculed at the time as a sham to cement authoritarian rule under a democratic facade.

Recent overtures by the government hint at possibly deeper changes at work — from calls for peace with ethnic minority guerrilla groups to some tolerance of criticism and more communication with Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was freed last year from 15 years of house arrest.

The push to expand the bourse also underlines how competition is heating up among regional exchanges in Asia's so-called frontier markets following recent South Korean forays to help build stock exchanges in Cambodia and Laos.

Trickle of Customers

Myanmar's first stock exchange was closed in the 1960s after a military takeover. Its successor, the Myanmar Securities Exchange Centre (MSEC), is a modest operation. A trickle of customers each week buy and sell shares in two listed companies on a bourse few Burmese or foreign investors know exists.

No new companies have signed up beyond the first two: Forest Products Joint Venture Corp (FPJVC) and Myanmar Citizens Bank. Both are jointly owned by the government and private investors.

For those who got in early, returns have been generous. FPJVC sold shares between 1993 and 1996 — mainly to well-connected bureaucrats — and has delivered dividends of about 25 percent a year, more than double local bank interest rates.

"If possible, we'd like to buy some more shares of FPJVC," said Zaw Win, 76, a retired officer from the Ministry of Forests whose 15 shares bought in 1993 have more than doubled in value.

Daiwa signed a deal on April 5, 1996, to start the exchange but within a month the pact was cast into uncertainty, as the military junta began rounding up hundreds of pro-democracy supporters in a crackdown on Suu Kyi.

That sparked outcry in the West. Thousands of pro-democracy supporters rallied in Yangon. U.S. soft drink giant PepsiCo sold its stake in a Burma venture. U.S. apparel firms cancelled contracts with Burmese suppliers. The White House urged Burma to halt its "pressure tactics".

A year later, in response to widening human rights abuses, the United States imposed sanctions. The junta tightened its grip on power. Economic reforms withered.

The exchange's executive director, Soe Thein, a former official in the Finance and Revenue Ministry, assembled a small team of staff to draft laws and regulations, raise public awareness and set up a securities exchange commission to achieve his dream of a capital market within five or six years.

"But it failed to come up to our expectations," he said.

Much like neighbouring Thailand and India, which both have thriving capital markets, Myanmar has enormous potential for tourism and development, boasting rich natural resources — from gas to teakwood and gemstones.

Its new government has promised sweeping reforms — from tax reductions for exporters to micro loans for farmers, interest rate cuts on bank loans and higher returns on savings. In recent weeks it has sought input from the International Monetary Fund about unifying its official and unofficial exchange rates.

The recent gestures followed expansion of fledgling banking and telecommunications sectors and the privatisation of hundreds of state assets from late 2009, including mining firms, an airline, gas stations, cinemas, shipping companies and factories, albeit mostly to cronies of the former army regime.

But its banking system is crippled by sanctions, which most expect to stay in place until the government releases an estimated 2,100 political prisoners.

Soe Thein, however, remains optimistic.

"It takes time to set up public companies," he said.

And his little bourse may even soon face competition. South Korean bourse operator Korea Exchange said in January it had sent a delegation to Myanmar to hold preliminary talks with the government about the possibility of opening a separate exchange.

The firm is already involved in running the new Laos Securities Exchange and is setting up a long-delayed stock market in Cambodia. Both are joint ventures with the respective governments.
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THE NATION - US will continue to aid Burmese refugees: ambassador
By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE Ratchaburi
Published on September 22, 2011

The US would take some 10,000 refugees in Thailand for its resettlement programme this year and would continue assistance for those being sheltered in refugee camps until they have somewhere to go, she said.

Kenney visited a refugee camp in Ratchaburi province's Ban Tham Hin yesterday to see their living conditions and consulted with international humanitarian workers who are providing assistance for them in the camp.

Ban Tham Hin has been a long-time shelter for some 7,500-8,000 refugees from Burma. The camp is crowded due to limited space. Thai authorities cannot expand the camp area as it is surrounded by privately owned land and villages.

Thailand is sheltering some 100,000 refugees, who have fled from the conflict in Burma over the past two decades, in nine camps in four border provinces including Ratchaburi.

Conditions in their home country are very bad and they must give up everything to flee to the refugee camps. They are looked after by the international community and by Thailand, she said.

Life is the same every day. They get food distribution once a month but cannot go out of the camp to work. "They are safe but it is not a permanent lifestyle," Kenney said.

Some are eligible and willing to resettle in third countries, including the US and Australia. The US has already taken 60,000 over the past five years, she said.

"Of many refugees I talked to, the vast majority want to go home," she said.

Thailand has a plan to repatriate them home but Ambassador Kenney said Thai authorities have assured her many times the repatriation would be conducted on a voluntary basis only. "They have to go safely and with dignity," she said.

Such a return requires much work and guarantees from Burmese authorities, she said, noting that a political solution to make peace and reconciliation in the country is the first thing to be achieved.

A lot of humanitarian work, such as landmine clearance and construction of infrastructure, must be also done for them before their return. Even if a political solution was reached, they needed school and healthcare facilities, she said.

So far, there have been no signs from Burma guaranteeing the refugees could return home safely with dignity, she said.
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09/22/2011 16:04
MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Aung San Suu Kyi calls for vigilance on Myanmar’s political changes
by Yaung Ni Oo
The opposition leader confirms the beginning of change in the country, but warns that “Change is not always for the better”. For her, the international community must contribute to a solution. The United States is cautiously optimistic about the situation. After many years, some websites are unblocked but the Burmese are still focused on an important dam in Kachin state.

Yangon (AsiaNews) – “It is the beginning of the beginning,” Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said about her country’s political evolution. “Change is not always for the better,” she added. Her words take a bit the sail out of the “winds of change” described by US diplomat Kurt Campbell, who is set to meet Myanmar’s foreign minister shortly.

U Khin Aung Myint, speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw, Myanmar’s Upper House, recently said that Aung San Suu Kyi is welcome in parliament.

Myanmar, a nation in “full evolution”, is currently undergoing major changes, including a switch from military dictatorship to “civilian government” elected by parliament, which however is still linked to he country’s military leadership and influenced by international finance.

In a video link from her home in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York. Welcomed by a long applause, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) said the international community “needs to know what's going on in Burma. [. . .] What we really need is awareness of what is going,” the Nobel Prize laureate said, because, although changes are taking place, “Change is not always for the better” or “it's not always sustained”.

The situation in Burma cannot be compared to the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa, she said. In fact, the Internet and social media do not have the same presence in Burma.

Even though economic and trade sanctions remain in place, a cautious optimism about Myanmar prevails in the United States. Ahead of a crucial meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in New York, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said that “winds of change are clearly blowing through Burma”. Their extent though is not yet known. In the meantime, US officials will be holding a series of meetings with Burmese officials over the next days.

Recent signs of openness by the Myanmar government, including statements by the speaker of the country’s upper house, are an attempt to gain credibility and prestige at the international level, sources in Myanmar told AsiaNews. For the country’s leader, they are crucial if Myanmar wants to take the helm of the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s return to active politics could instead favour a second Panglong agreement with the country’s ethnic minorities, like the one signed by Aung San, Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, in 1947, which gave birth to the Union of Burma.

Meanwhile, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN and certain political blogs are now accessible after being blocked for many years.

At present, the Burmese are confident that they can hope in a better future for the first time in a long while.

Most people are focused however on the fate of the Irrawaddy River dam, which is located in Kachin territory. Environmentalists and experts believe that if it is built it could “disrupt” the local ecosystem as well as that of the entire country.
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Asia News Network - Myanmar sees the light?
News Desk, The Straits Times
Publication Date : 22-09-2011

If symbols mean something, the past month has represented a change of sorts - for the better - in Myanmar's political landscape. Last month, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met President Thein Sein for closed door talks. The fact that Ms Suu Kyi spoke to the former general and posed for pictures with him under a portrait of Aung San, Ms Suu Kyi's late father and the country's respected independence hero, is a hopeful sign. Internet users can now access the websites of international media, such as Reuters, the Bangkok Post and The Straits Times. Earlier this month, Myanmar's Lower House passed a new law that gave workers the right to form unions and assemble. As Ms Suu Kyi put it, there is still a long way to go, but these are all "positive developments".

The changes will confound Myanmar watchers who have grown tired of expecting any real changes from the governing elites in Myanmar, increasingly isolated through the years, due to sanctions and concerted pressure from the global community. Critics had slammed the November elections last year as a cover by the military to hand power nominally over to civilians. It is arguable whether this limited handover to civilians is a harbinger of lasting change, albeit at a gradual pace.

Ms Suu Kyi has at times been accused of inflexibility in dealing with the military-led junta. But no one doubts that she has Myanmar's long-term interest at heart. Speaking to Agence France-Presse recently, she showed she wasn't advocating a catastrophic collapse of the regime when she said that an Arab Spring-style uprising is not the solution to the country's problems. Arguably, the democracy icon is seeking to consolidate her tactical position so as to achieve strategic outcomes - any expressed preference for an Arab Spring in Myanmar would have drawn much ire - and unwelcome consequences - from the country's hardline generals.

That said, the nascent changes in Myanmar are tenuous and could well unravel over time. It is worth noting that Ms Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. Recently, the courts also added 10 years to the eight-year prison sentence of a journalist working for the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma. Critics have argued that the current raft of reforms are a public relations ploy by Myanmar, given its current bid to take over the Asean chair in 2014. As Ms Suu Kyi herself notes, Myanmar has reached a point where there is an opportunity for change; but that does not mean that it has changed. There is hope but patience is also called for.
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Philippine Daily Inquirer - Asean Embassies in Brasilia Celebrate Asean’s 44th Anniversary
8:39 pm | Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

The Philippine Embassy in Brasilia reported that Ambassador Eva G. Betita and the Ambassadors of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand, together with their officers and staff, hosted a whole-day cultural exposition and bazaar in celebration of the 44th Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Held on September 10 at the premises of the Malaysian Embassy, the event was well-attended by the Brazilian community as well as the diplomatic corps in Brasilia.

The participating ASEAN countries each displayed their arts, crafts and tourism and trade/investment promotion materials in exhibition booths, and presented their national costumes, music, dances and skills in the cultural program showcasing regional cultural commonality and diversity in the day-long festivity.

A bazaar that featured culinary delicacies and products provided the public the opportunity to sample the food and products of the ASEAN countries.

The Embassy used the occasion to campaign and promote the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) as the Philippines’ entry to the ongoing international search for the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

Pictures of the PPUR were prominently displayed, and Philippine products were awarded as prizes to those who correctly answered relevant questions about the underground river and other aspects of the rich Philippine cultural heritage.

Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.
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13 Myanmar illegal immigrants held
Bernama – 3 hours ago

KANGAR, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- Thirteen Myanmar illegal immigrants were caught napping, literally, in Kampung Titi Serong near here today.

Perlis Anti-Smuggling Unit (UPP) commander DSP Zakaria Abdul Rahman said the UPP personnel surprised the foreigners at an unnumbered house at about 6 am.

The immigrants, all males aged between 10 and 60, had fallen asleep due to exhaustion after their long journey of five days across the border, he said.

All of them had been handed over to the Immigration authorities, he added. Zakaria said it was believed that the Myanmar nationals had crossed the border into Malaysia near the Chuping sugarcane plantation and came to the village in two vehicles.

A 30-year-old local man hiding in a nearby chicken coop was also picked up, he said.

He said the UPP was looking for the owner of the house and the drivers of the two vehicles which the immigrants had used.
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International Crisis Group - Myanmar: Major Reform Underway
Asia Briefing N°127 22 Sep 2011

This overview is also available in Burmese(http://www.crisisgroup.be/reports/myanmar-major-reform-underway-burmese-overview.pdf)

OVERVIEW

Six months after the transition to a new, semi-civilian government, major changes are taking place in Myanmar. In the last two months, President Thein Sein has moved rapidly to begin implementing an ambitious reform agenda first set out in his March 2011 inaugural address. He is reaching out to long-time critics of the former regime, proposing that differences be put aside in order to work together for the good of the country. Aung San Suu Kyi has seized the opportunity, meeting the new leader in Nay­pyi­taw and emerging with the conviction that he wants to achieve positive change. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seems convinced that Myanmar is heading in the right direction and may soon confer upon it the leadership of the organisation for 2014. This would energise reformers inside the country with real deadlines to work toward as they push for economic and political restructuring. Western policymakers should react to the improved situation and be ready to respond to major steps forward, such as a significant release of political prisoners.

In a speech on 19 August, the president made clear that his goal is to build a modern and developed democratic nation. His initial views on what steps are needed were set out in his wide-ranging and refreshingly honest inaugural speech less than six months ago. Some observers have dismissed such talk as “just words”, but in a context of long-term political and economic stagnation they are much more than that. After 50 years of autocratic rule, they show strong signs of heralding a new kind of political leadership in Myanmar – setting a completely different tone for governance in the country and allowing discussions and initiatives that were unthinkable only a few months ago.

These words are now being put into practice. In recent weeks a series of concrete steps have been taken to begin implementing the president’s reform agenda, aimed at reinvigorating the economy, reforming national politics and improving human rights. The political will appears to exist to bring fundamental change, but success will require much more than a determined leader. Resistance can be expected from hardliners in the power structure and spoilers with a vested interest in the status quo. Weak technical and institutional capacities also impose serious constraints on a country emerging from decades of isolation and authoritarianism. It is urgent that those best placed to provide the necessary advice and assistance – the West and multilateral institutions – are allowed to step forward to provide it.

Some observers are still urging caution, putting the focus not on how much is changing but on how much has yet to change. To be sure, a successful reform process is far from guaranteed. There are many fundamental steps that still must be taken, including healing deep ethnic divisions and overcoming the legacy of decades of armed conflict – something the government has yet to fully grapple with – together with addressing adequately ongoing allegations of brutality by the armed forces; the release of political prisoners; restoration of basic civil liberties; and the further lifting of media censorship.

Western countries have indicated that they stand ready to respond to positive developments. At a very minimum, this should include a less cautious political stance and the encouragement of multilateral agencies – including the International Financial Institutions and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – to do as much as possible under their existing mandate restrictions. Similarly, member states should support the broadest interpretation of the EU Council decision on Myanmar rather than the most cautious. As Naypyitaw sets its new course, these small political steps would help to facilitate the provision of ideas that could add momentum to the reforms now underway.

There are already indications that key benchmarks many in the West have insisted on may soon be reached. Military legislators have, for example, supported an opposition motion in the lower house calling on the president to grant a general amnesty for political prisoners. If such a dramatic policy shift occurs, it would need to be reciprocated by those who earlier authorised sanctions. Failure to do so, or to shift the goalposts by replacing old demands with new ones, would undermine the credibility of these policies and diminish what little leverage the West holds. Internal progress on human rights and economic reforms that benefit the country’s citizens should be acknowledged and supported by the international community.

Crisis Group has long held the view that sanctions on Myanmar – targeted and non-targeted – are counterproductive, encouraging a siege mentality among its leadership and harming its mostly poor population. The greater the pace of change, the weaker the rationale becomes for continuing them – or adding more. Many problems remain. There is ample evidence that the army continues to employ brutal counter-insurgency strategies, and in the absence of domestic accountability, calls for an international commission will remain. But it is far from clear that such a body, even if one could be established, would be the most effective way to address abuses at this time or whether its impact would rather be to cause retrenchment in Naypyitaw.

Jakarta/Brussels, 22 September 2011
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Asian Correspondent - Anger as AIPA accepts Burma as fully-fledged member
By Zin Linn Sep 21, 2011 9:45PM UTC

The 32nd General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-32) agreed to accept the Parliament of Myanmar (Burma) as a full AIPA member, Vietnam News Agency said on Tuesday.

In his opening speech, Heng Samrin, president of the Cambodian National Assembly and President of AIPA, said Cambodia would try its best to turn the AIPA 32 General Assembly into a landmark of the AIPA process, creating constructive conditions for exchange of information and viewpoints and promoting integration.

Myanmar held general elections and formed its parliament last year. Burma attended AIPO General Assembly as a special observer annually beginning the 18th assembly held in Bali, Indonesia, from 1 to 6 September 1997. The nation became a permanent special observer at the 21st AIPO General Assembly attending annually till the 31st AIPA General Assembly, he said.

Addressing the ceremony, Khin Aung Myint, speaker of the Parliament of Myanmar, expressed gratitude to AIPA for accepting the fresh parliament of Myanmar (Burma). He promised that the parliament of Myanmar will actively join in all cooperative activities of AIPA, offering towards more development of the assembly.

AIPA-32 is being held from Sept 18 to 24 in Cambodia, with participation of the heads of all parliaments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and observers from Australia, Canada, China, the European Parliament, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.

AIPA-32 is likely to accept a series of documents on political, economic, social and women affairs, rights of migrant workers, and combating drug crime, with the purpose of building stronger teamwork and relations among ASEAN countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus – AIPMC said that they are very concerned with 32th AIPA General Assembly in Phnom Penh for its resolution regarding the human rights situation and progress on democracy in Myanmar (Burma).

A Burmese government overture to Aung San Suu Kyi however is still considered as only window dressing to win the international support rather than serious efforts to guarantee rights of the people, Ms. Agung Putri Astrid, Executive Director of AIPMC said at the press panel.

“Indeed thousands people are still in jail. The continuous violence in ethnic areas and that the solution to the conflict with the ethnic groups remains vague,” she said.

The most significant demand by the AIPMC is that Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, in his power as chairman of ASEAN, together with other ASEAN leaders, must reject Burma or Myanmar’s application to chair ASEAN in 2014.

According to AIPMC , the armed conflict in Kachin State reveals that the President Thein Sein government has not changed its habits since it was elected in a sham election in November 2010.

AIPMC also highlighted that it is accountable to the people of ASEAN and has responsibility to continuously reminding ASEAN and the government of Burma that without any improvement on the human rights situation and concrete steps to open dialog with legitimate opposition groups, there will not be a genuine democracy.

The AIPMC’s current President is Ms. Eva Kusuma Sundari, Member of the Indonesian Parliament, while Ms. Teresa Kok (Malaysia) takes responsibility as Secretary. The group’s five vice-presidents are Charles Chong (Chairperson, Singapore Caucus), Son Chhay (Chairperson, Cambodia Caucus), Lorenzo Tanada (Chairperson, Philippines Caucus), Lim Kit Siang (Chairperson, Malaysia Caucus) and Kraisak Choonhavan (Chairperson, Thailand Caucus).
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The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Attends 'Save the Irrawaddy' Art Event
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, September 22, 2011

An art exhibition held in Rangoon on Thursday morning to promote a public campaign to save the Irrawaddy River attracted about 1,000 people including well-known writers, actors, politicians, environmentalists and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 100 photographs, paintings, drawings and cartoons were exhibited at Gallery 65 on Yawmingyi Road in central Rangoon.

Ye Naing Moe, one of the organizers, said that the event also featured the launch of a book about the Irrawaddy River.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Ye Naing Moe said. “The name of the exhibition was ‘Save Ayeyarwady—The Sketch of a River’ and the name of the book is ‘An Image of a River’—it contains more than 200 photos.”

“When we travelled to the region we decided to document the scenes because we thought that people might never get a chance to see them in the future because of the Myitsone Dam, which is under construction. The public needs more information and knowledge about the Irrawaddy,” he said. “The government also needs to make the right decision with regard to the river and the dam.”

The Myitsone Dam project should not be allowed to continue without public participation in the decision-making process, said Ye Naing Moe, who is also a journalist.

If allowed to continue, the project when completed will be Burma’s second largest dam. Located in Kachin State at the source of the Irrawaddy River, the project was contracted by the Ministry of Electric Power-1 to AsiaWorld, a private Burmese company owned by Stephen Law who is blacklisted by US sanctions. The state-run China Power Investment Corporation is the main investor with rights to export all the electricity generated by the dam to China.

The dam's reservoir is expected to be completed by 2019, but thousands of people in Kachin State have already been forced to relocate.

During the exhibition, pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi addressed assembled reporters. “People need to unite if they are to achieve what they want,” she said.

All photographs and artwork were passed to the government's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division on Wednesday for approval, and three cartoons were prohibited from exhibition.

One of the cartoons belonged to Soe Thaw Tar, a well-known cartoonist in Burma. He said that his cartoon was removed from the show because it offended the government. He said its title was “Among the culprits, the historical culprit is the worst.”

Popular singer Anaga said that there are a lot of examples of civilians suffering from the consequences of dams, such as at the Mekong River and the Yangtze River. He said that people are more important than those projects.

“This exhibition is an expression via the arts,” said Anaga. “But the people who were forced to relocate, who were forced to leave their homes and who are suffering the consequences of the project also need to be able to express themselves.”
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The Irrawaddy - 'Winds of Change' in Burma, but Extent Not Known: Campbell
By LALIT K JHA Thursday, September 22, 2011

WASHINGTON — Ahead of a crucial meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in New York, a top Obama administration official said on Wednesday that indications are that winds of change are clearly blowing through Burma, but their extent is not known yet.

“I think it would be fair to say that winds of change are clearly blowing through Burma. The extent of it is still unclear, but everyone who's gone there recognizes that there are changes,” Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said.

Campbell said he and other US officials will be having a series of meetings on Burma later this week and he will be meeting with the Burmese foreign minister.

Campbell also noted that the US special envoy on Burma, Derek Mitchell, just returned from Burma, where he had “good meetings” in Naypyidaw and with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other people associated with civil society and various ethnic minority groups.

However, Campbell said, there are still extraordinarily worrisome developments there in terms of treatment of minorities. “There are a very large number of political prisoners, and there continue to be repressions on a daily basis,” he said.

“But at the same time, we've seen a few things in the last few months that were unthinkable: very high-level meetings between the new president and Aung San Suu Kyi, regular discussions about civil society, about new economic policies,” Campbell said.

These are all tentative steps that can be reversed, and it's important to be careful about them, he said. But at the same time, it's also important not to just dismiss them out of hand, he noted.

“So the United States, working with other countries, we've been in close consultation with every Southeast Asian friend, with China, with India, with Australia, with New Zealand, Japan,” he said.

“Our determined desire is to encourage the government to continue to take steps on the release of political prisoners, to abide by commitments on proliferation, to cease actions deemed illegal by the UN Security Council with respect to North Korea, and to follow through on some of the important initial interactions that the government has had with Aung San Suu Kyi and others,” Campbell said.

Observing that this is a very delicate period with respect to Burma, Campbell said the US intends to engage actively to seek clear answers about what's happening and to push for further progress and more steps on the ground.
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The Irrawaddy - KIA Free Prisoners from Labor Camp
Published on Thursday, Sep,22,2011

On Wednesday afternoon, the Kachin Independence Army raided a prison labor camp in Shan State in eastern Burma and freed a large number of convicts, according to Col. Zau Raw, the regional commander of the KIA.

The labor camp is located between Muse and Kutkai townships in Shan State, he said, adding that the raid was in response to the Burmese government forces' destruction of villages in KIA-controlled areas of Shan State earlier this month.

“There were no casualties during the raid, and we freed all the convicts last night,” said Zau Raw on Thursday.
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Gov’t personnel not willing to work in remote highlands areas
Thursday, 22 September 2011 21:55 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – MPs discussed a problem of central government health workers in the highlands of Chin State stopping work before the end of their full terms, because of claims of poor roads and insufficient pay.

The discussion in Parliament on Thursday centered around hardship service in remote areas and low pay, and stems from concerns in March when Chin Progressive Party (CPP) MP Paw Hlyan Lwin of Chin State constituency No. 9 put forward a motion to assign more doctors to Chin State.

The government’s Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee on Thursday submitted a report saying the government has assigned 22 doctors to the Chin State as its promise.

However, at the present time there are only 10 doctors in Chin State. MP Paw Hlyan Lwin urged the government to help the doctors in regard to poor roads and accommodation, according to MP Phone Myint Aung of the New National Democracy Party.

Moreover, on Wednesday, Lower House MP Zong Ting of the Union Solidarity and Development Party of the Chipwe constituency submitted a proposal “calling for a change to a suitable rate for the cost of living allowance for service personnel discharging duties in far-flung areas.”

MPs of the Nanyun constituency, Mindat constituency, Mese constituency, Khaunglanphu constituency, Htilin constituency, Hpa-pun constituency, and Tangyang constituency supported the proposal.

Regarding the proposal, Deputy Minister for Finance and Revenue Win Than said that service personnel in remote areas could submit their problems through the respective region or state government.

In regard to other employment issues, on August 31, USDP MP U Nu of Rangoon Region constituency No. 10 raised a question regarding the lack of male teachers at the basic education level.

Union Minister for Education Dr. Mya Aye replied that that the ratio of male staff in the entire academic and administrative staff of the Ministry of Education is 23 percent, and 17 percent of teachers at the basic education level are male. The Minister said that to increase the number of male teachers, the government needed to give promotions to male teachers and grant pay to teachers for over-time, which would require the approval of the central government.

On other issues, in March MP Hla Swe of Magwe Region constituency No. 12 submitted a motion “to build and repair roads that connect Rangoon and Mandalay via Gangaw District.”

On Thursday, the government’s Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee submitted a report saying that the roads had been repaired. However, MP Hla Swe said the roads have been damaged again because of water erosion and the government’s pledges have not been implemented, MP Phone Myint Aung told Mizzima.
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Mizzima News - Peace dreams
Wednesday, 21 September 2011 23:22 Hnin Pan Ein

(Commentary) – “Please don’t delay the ethnic issues in Burma. The wound of our country will worsen. It should be resolved through dialogue at the earliest time,” opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in an interview on Tuesday, the International Day of Democracy.

After hearing these words, I hoped for the democracy to be restored in our country. A ceremony for the International Democracy Day was held at our refugee camp office under the sponsorship of the United Nations. Camp officials told us about their bitter experiences in the civil war.

Many people wept while the camp officials described their experiences of brutality, persecution, genocide, the shelling of classrooms of young children by heavy weapons. The speaker couldn’t conclude his talk because of deep sadness and he made a small hand gesture before sitting down. The audience understood what he didn’t say.

During three years in this refugee camp, I can feel the suffering of the war refugees, hoping for a better future. Burmese government offensives and military operations taught them how to survive by depending on Mother Nature.

The homes of the war refugees are different from normal houses. The houses of some ethnic Karen refugees have long eaves to hide the interior of their houses. And also they have removable stairs and they can remove the stairs during the night to prevent strangers from entering their houses.

They always pack their belongings and keep them ready in the case of an emergency. They always have their dinner early at around 4 p.m. They do these things from experience. The military operations and offensives can reach their villages at any time, in any season. They keep themselves ready to flee from war like a fighting cock.

Similarly, the pro-democracy politicians and their families from urban areas have a similar fate. They have to live miserably and in anxiety because of the inhumane social system. Midnight knocks on their door could be a pretext of checking household registration, a harbinger of separation of their loved ones from their families. These unwelcomed visitors will take away their loved ones without allowing them to take anything. They just say, “He will be taken for a while for questioning.” The remaining family members have to wait for their return, without any real information. Once Thakin Zin’s wife Daw Kyi Kyi said to me, it was like ages for those taken away, but for the authorities it was just “for a while.”

The youngest daughter of Grandma Kyi Kyi, Auntie Ma Harr, once said to me that she saw her father Thakhin Zin only once when a peace parley was held.

“At that time, I was in primary school while living in Kyaukmyaung. I found my mom talking with an unknown man in an overcoat and turban, friendly and intimately when I came back from my school. Then I realized this man was my dad. My dad had to go back to the jungle in the Bago mountain range when the peace parley failed. Then I heard the tragic news about my father on the radio, the Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS). He was killed in action. People asked my mom when the religious ceremony for the death of my father would be held. My mother said, ‘Ko Zin will always be in my heart so I won’t hold a religious ceremony for the death of him.’ So (writer) grandma Ludu Daw Ahmar sent her a condolence letter when grandma Daw Kyi Kyi died, which said, ‘I have deep sorrow for her demise, such a brave and tough woman.’”

If the internal peace parley had been successful at that time, we would not have experienced such tragic incidents in our lives. The families of grandma Daw Kyi Kyi sacrificed their lives in the mountains, the Rangoon prison and Insein prison. The terrible political system gave us a new vocabulary in our life – a family of convicts.

When these prisoners of conscience were sent to the prisons far away from their homes, it made it very difficult to visit them. Their families have to struggle with high inflation and soaring commodity prices as their struggle to survive. People in our country always say, “Have a meal together at the same time to save money.” This saying shows how our people are. In our country, the political prisoners are even imprisoned at their own expense.

Unpolished rice, green gram soup with a foul smell, a small piece of fish paste, these are the type of meals provided by the government to political prisoners. They cannot survive on that food. They survive in the prison with food parcels sent by their families.

Peace is badly needed for our country, which is like a patient with a chronic disease. The new president, if he really wanted national reconciliation, would release all the political prisoners.

The new flag of our country should not be hoisted on top of the bones of ethnic people, the poor imprisoned politicians and on top of the people’s blood and tears.
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Suu Kyi invited to opening ceremony of Aung San Panglong Library
Wednesday, 21 September 2011 22:31 Mizzima News

Rangoon (Mizzima) – The Aung San Panglong Library Reading Room will open in Thingangyun Township on Friday in Rangoon to mark the 23rd anniversary of the founding of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

NLD General-Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi has been invited to attend the ceremony. Her father, Aung San, was the leader of the Burmese independence movement and was instrumental in creating the Panlong Agreement, which called for equal rights among ethnic groups.

Mya Than Htike, a library official, said the name of the library, located at No. C/248 on Laydaungkan Road J-North Quarter in Thingangyun Township, was selected by some Shan leaders.

The library is funded by private donors and will promote the reading habits of young people, said officials, as well as hold talks on literature and other subjects

In August, Suu Kyi officiated at the opening ceremonies of two Aung San Jarmon Libraries in the Pegu Region.
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DVB News - Banks get nod to trade foreign currency
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 22 September 2011

Five government approved banks in Burma will be allowed to operate foreign currency exchange bureaus by the end of this month following decades of strict rules surrounding the flow of overseas money in the country.

The government’s deputy minister of finance and revenue, Win Than, who made the announcement in a press conference, named the banks as Innwa Bank, Myanmar Oriental Bank, Kanbawza Bank, Cooperatives Bank and Myawaddy Bank, the last of which is controlled by the military.

They are all party to the new Foreign Currency Exchange Department, which is due to open on 28 September. Staff at the Myawaddy Bank are reportedly undergoing training, an employee told DVB.

A government official confirmed to Reuters that, “It has been decided to allow five private banks to open ‘Money Changer Counters’ in Yangon [Rangoon] to buy, sell and change foreign currencies mainly the euro, dollars and FEC [Foreign Exchange Certificates] to begin with.”

Details on the amount of money the banks will be allowed to exchange and what kind of documents they need are still not clear.

Economist Zaw Oo said that few people seemed to know the specifics surrounding the agreement, but that it was rumoured the banks would trade foreign currency at market rates. Speculation that they would trade at market prices was also voiced by economist Aung Thu Nyein.

Strict rules surround the use of foreign currency in Burma, with hefty penalties for those who fail to declare money when entering the country.

The local currency, the kyat, has been struck with an unusual trend of appreciation that has made it the best performing currency in Asia this year. According to chief government economic adviser, U Myint, its value has risen by 20 to 25 percent.

This has sparked inevitable havoc in the export sector, although U Myint said in a presentation to the government in Naypyidaw last month that the turbulence presented a good “opportunity” to reform the country’s multiple exchange rates.

He said the aim was to “establish a foreign exchange market in Myanmar [Burma] that meets international standards where the exchange rate is relatively stable, is market-determined, and becomes a useful tool of macroeconomic management for the Central Bank of Myanmar.”

The government is now awaiting a team of technical experts from the International Monetary Fund late next month who will advise on currency reform. The issue remains one of the government’s prime challenges, with control of the economy limited when currency exchange remains on the black market.
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DVB News - Burma ‘not ready for unions’: minister
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 22 September 2011

The current political situation in Burma makes the formation of labour, farmers’ and student unions untenable, and future efforts at organizing will be tightly monitored by the government, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told MPs yesterday.

Unions have in the past existed in Burma, but were gradually stamped out following the start of military rule in 1962. Although not illegal, a clause in the 2008 constitution states that their formation is conditioned on not being “contrary to the laws enacted for [Burma’s] security, prevalence of law and order, community peace and tranquillity, or public order and morality”. The subsequent definitions for these criteria are vague.

Kyaw Hsan said the government was concerned that unionizing would see a recurrence of the problems that occurred during Burma’s brief spell of democracy following the end of British rule in 1948, when many were formed as proxies for parties vying for political clout.

He cited the use of farmers’ unions by Burma Communist Party leaders in the 1950s to impose their control over the agriculture sector and to confiscate farmland, an issue strikingly familiar to government practice today.

As such, he suggested, Burma would have to wait until the political landscape became more stable before they could be reintroduced.

The government is also notoriously intolerant of perceived dissent, something that it fears the formation of unions could encourage. More than 30 labour activists, including eight female members of the Federation of Trade Unions Burma (FTUB), are imprisoned in Burma out of a total of nearly 2000 political prisoners.

When the time is right for their reintroduction, Kyaw Hsan said, they would need to operate under the government, and according to as yet unwritten government guidelines. An MP who wished to remain anonymous said there would likely be widespread antipathy towards this from workers.

“Limitations like this should not exist in the democratic era, and instead the government should allow the existence of independent associations,” he said, adding however that certain regulations must exist, although unions should be able to operate independently.

Other MPs have said that it begs the question of how committed the government is to following its own promises of democratic reform.
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DVB News - Govt workers close to Wa state return
Published: 22 September 2011

Civil servants who were withdrawn from the autonomous Wa state area of eastern Burma in April last year may be allowed to return following negotiations between the central government and the United Wa State Army.

The 100 or so workers had become the first victims of a breakdown in relations between Naypyidaw and the Wa army, which has consistently refused to become a government-controlled Border Guard Force.

They were pulled out the region of Shan state belonging to the UWSA at a time when an outbreak in fighting appeared possible. After months of talks, however, the situation has improved.

“We principally agreed on restoring communication, trade routes and road access for civilians,” said UWSA spokesperson Aung Myint, referring to the outcome of a meeting on 6 September between officials from both sides.

He said relations would return to the stage they were at prior to the fissure, adding that government workers may return after the next meeting between the two sides.

Also on the table was a bid to ensure relations remained cordial into the future, and that no fighting would flare. Negotiations over the reopening of liaison offices would follow.

Aung Myint said that the return of government workers to Wa state would assist in rapid development of the region. “It would be better if the workers – such as hospital staff and teachers – come back, and we hope they will come back.”

The 30,000-strong Wa army, Burma’s largest armed ethnic group, had refused to allow troops from the Burmese army to accompany Election Commission officials into their territory last year, prompting their withdrawal and adding to escalating tensions.

The two sides signed a ceasefire in 1989, and relations since then have largely remained stable.
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