ျပည္ပႏိုင္ငံမ်ားမွ ကားအစီးေရ ၁၄၀၀ ေက်ာ္သည္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသို႔ ဒုတိယအသုတ္အျဖစ္ ဒီဇင္ဘာ ၄ ရက္တြင္ ေရာက္ရွိမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ျမန္မာ့ဆိပ္ကမ္း အာဏာပိုင္ဌာနမွ သိရသည္။ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၄၀ အထက္ ကားမ်ားအား ၉၅ မုိဒယ္အထက္ကားမ်ားႏွင့္ လဲလွယ္ေရး အစီအစဥ္အျဖစ္ ကားမ်ားမွာယူတင္သြင္းခဲ့ရာ ဒုတိယအသုတ္ အျဖစ္ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ႏုိင္ငံႏွင့္ တရုတ္ႏိုင္ငံမ်ားမွ ကားမ်ား အဆုိပါရက္တြင္ ေရာက္ရွိမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ “ဂ်ပန္ကေန ကားစီးေရ ၄၀၀ ေက်ာ္ေလာက္ ေရာက္လာမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ တရုတ္ႏိုင္ငံကေတာ့ ကား ၁၀၀၀ နီးပါးေရာက္ဖုိ႔ ရွိပါတယ္။ သူတို႔ကိုလဲ လုိအပ္တဲ့ စာရြက္စာတမ္းေတြ ျပည့္စံုရင္ မၾကာမီမွာဘဲ ထုတ္ေပးသြားမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္” ဟု ျမန္မာ့ဆိပ္ကမ္းအာဏာပိုင္ဌာန အဆင့္ျမင့္အရာရွိတစ္ဦးက ေျပာသည္။ ဂ်ပန္ႏိုင္ငံမွ ကားစီးေရ ၄၀၀ ေက်ာ္အား MINDORO သေဘာၤျဖင့္ သယ္ေဆာင္လာမည္ျဖစ္ၿပီး တရုတ္ႏိုင္ငံမွ ကားစီးေရ ၁၀၀၀ အား Chang Yu သေဘာၤျဖင့္ သယ္ေဆာင္လာမည္ျဖစ္ကာ ရန္ကုန္ဆိပ္ကမ္းသို႔ ဒီဇင္ဘာ ၄ ရက္ႏွင့္ ၅ ရက္တုိ႔တြင္ ဆက္တုိက္ေရာက္ရွိမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ “ပထမအသုတ္အေနနဲ႔ တင္သြင္းလာတဲ့ ကားေတြထဲကေန အစီး ၁၀၀ ေက်ာ္ေလာက္ ထုတ္ေပးၿပီးပါၿပီ။ ေလး၊ ငါးစီးေလာက္ပဲထုတ္ဖုိ႔ က်န္ေနပါေသးတယ္” ဟု ယင္းက ဆက္လက္ေျပာသည္။ ပထမအသုတ္အျဖစ္ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံမွ တင္သြင္းလာသည့္ ကားအစီးေရ ၁၁၀ အား ႏိုဝင္ဘာ ၅ ရက္တြင္ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕သုိ႔ အုိးရွင္းဘလူး ကားကယ္ရီယာ သေဘာၤျဖင့္ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕ ဆူးေလအမွတ္(၆) တံတားသို႔ ေရာက္ရွိလာၿပီး အေကာက္ခြန္ဦးစီးဌာနက မုိဒယ္မွန္ကန္မႈရွိ မရွိ စိစစ္ၿပီး ႏိုဝင္ဘာ ၈ ရက္မွ စတင္ကာ ထုတ္ေပးခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ ယာဥ္ပိုင္ရွင္မ်ားအေနျဖင့္ ျပည္ပႏိုင္ငံမ်ားမွ ကားတင္သြင္းခြင့္ျပဳရာတြင္ ကယ္ရီယာမ်ားျဖင့္ တင္သြင္းမႈမ်ားအျပင္ တခ်ိဳ႕ယာဥ္ပိုင္ရွင္မ်ားအေနျဖင့္ မိမိတုိ႔တင္သြင္းလုိသည့္ ကားမ်ားကို ကားကုန္ေသတၱာမ်ားျဖင့္ သယ္ေဆာင္မႈမ်ားလည္း ျပဳလုပ္ေၾကာင္း ၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ဒီဇင္ဘာ ၇ ရက္ေန႔ထုတ္ ရန္ကုန္တုိင္း(မ္) ဂ်ာနယ္တြင္ ေဖာ္ျပထားပါသည္။
Burma Flag
ေတာ္လွန္ေရးသီခ်င္းမ်ား(Politics Song)
Wednesday 30 November 2011
ျပည္ပႏိုင္ငံမ်ားမွ ကားအစီးေရ ၁၄၀၀ ေက်ာ္ ဒုတိယအသုတ္ ထပ္မံေရာက္ရွိမည္
ဟီလာရီ ကလင္တန္ ေနျပည္ေတာ္သုိ႔ ေရာက္ရိွ
30/11/2011
အေမရိကန္ ႏုိင္ငံျခားေရး ၀န္ႀကီး မစၥ ဟီလာရီ ကလင္တန္သည္ ယေန႔ ညေနပုိင္းတြင္ ေနျပည္ေတာ္သုိ႔ ေရာက္ရွိလာသည္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသုိ႔ အေမရိကန္ ႏိုင္ငံျခားေရး ၀န္ႀကီး တဦး ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၅၆ ႏွစ္ အတြင္း ပထမဆုံး အႀကိမ္ လာေရာက္ျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
မစၥကလင္တန္ႏွင့္ အဖြဲ႔သည္ ၾကာသပေတးေန႔တြင္ သမၼတဦးသိန္းစိန္၊ ျပည္သူ႔ လႊတ္ေတာ္ ဥကၠ႒ ဦးေရႊမန္း၊ အမ်ိဳးသား လႊတ္ေတာ္ ဥကၠ႒ ဦးခင္ေအာင္ျမင့္၊ ႏုိင္ငံျခားေရး ၀န္ႀကီး ဦး၀ဏၰေမာင္လြင္ တုိ႔ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ဆုံမည္ဟု သိရသည္။
သမၼတ၏ ႏုိင္ငံေရး အႀကံေပး ဦးကုိကုိလႈိင္က “ဒီခရီးစဥ္က အေမရိကန္- ျမန္မာဆက္ဆံေရးမွာ သမုိင္းတခုပဲ၊ ဘက္ေပါင္းစုံတုိး တက္မယ္လုိ႔ ျမင္တယ္” ဟု ဆုိသည္။
ေနျပည္ေတာ္ေရာက္ မစၥ ဟီလာရီကလင္တန္(ဓာတ္ပံု - ဧရာဝတီ)
အစုိးရက ႏုိင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသားမ်ားကုိ ဆက္လႊတ္ေပးမည္ဟု ဦးကုိကုိလႈိင္က ဆက္ေျပာသည္။
ႏိုင္ငံျခားေရး ၀န္ႀကီးသည္ ခရီးစဥ္အတြင္း ျမန္မာ့ ႏုိင္ငံေရး အေျခအေန၊ နယ္စပ္ေဒသတြင္ ျဖစ္ပြားေနသည့္ တုိက္ပြဲမ်ား၊ လူအခြင့္အေရးခ်ိဳးေဖာက္မႈ ကိစၥရပ္မ်ားကုိ ေဆြးေႏြးမည္ ျဖစ္သည္။
သုိ႔ေသာ္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံအေပၚ ထားရွိသည့္ အေမရိကန္ႏုိင္ငံ၏ စီးပြားေရး ပိတ္ဆုိ႔မႈ ရုတ္သိမ္းေရးႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး ေဆြးေႏြးမည္ မဟုတ္ဟု မစၥကလင္တန္က ယခု ခရီးစဥ္ မတုိင္မီကတည္းက ေျပာဆုိထားခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း အနာဂတ္ ႏွစ္ႏုိင္ငံ ကုန္သြယ္ေရး၊ သံတမန္ ဆက္ဆံေရး တုိးျမွင့္ရန္ ေဆြးေႏြးႏုိင္ေၾကာင္း ေလ့လာသူမ်ားက သုံးသပ္ေနၾကသည္။
သမၼတအုိဘားမားကလည္း ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံတြင္ လက္ရွိျဖစ္ေပၚေနေသာ ေျပာင္းလဲမႈမ်ားကုိ အသိ အမွတ္ ျပဳေၾကာင္း၊ သုိ႔ေသာ္ နယ္စပ္ တုိင္းရင္းသား ေဒသ တုိက္ပြဲမ်ား၊ ႏုိင္ငံေရး အက်ဥ္းသားမ်ားကိစၥ၊ ေျမာက္ကုိရီးယားႏွင့္ ျမန္မာ ဆက္စပ္မႈ စသည္တုိ႔မွာ စုိးရိမ္စရာ အေျခအေန ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း မၾကာေသးမီက ေၾကညာခ်က္ ထုတ္ျပန္ခဲ့သည္။
မစၥကလင္တန္ လာေရာက္ခ်ိန္ႏွင့္ တုိက္ဆုိင္စြာ မီးရထား ၀န္ႀကီး ဦးေအာင္မင္း ေခါင္းေဆာင္သည့္ အစုိးရ၏ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး ကုိယ္စားလွယ္ အဖြဲ႔သည့္ ကခ်င္ လြတ္လပ္ေရး တပ္မေတာ္(KIA)ႏွင့္ တရုတ္ႏုိင္ငံ ေရႊလီၿမိဳ႕တြင္ ယမန္ေန႔က ေတြ႔ဆုံၿပီး ကခ်င္ေဒသတြင္ ျဖစ္ပြားေနေသာ စစ္ပဲြမ်ားအေရးႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္ျပီး ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ေသးသည္။
KIA ဒု စစ္ဦးစီးခ်ဳပ္ ဗုိလ္မႉးခ်ဳပ္ ဂြမ္ေမာ္က “မစၥကလင္တန္ အေနနဲ႔ ဒီမုိကေရစီအေရးနဲ႔ တုိင္းရင္းသား အေရးကုိ ေျဖရွင္းဖုိ႔ လုိတယ္ ဆုိတာကုိေတာ့ ျမန္မာ အစုိးရကုိ ရွင္းရွင္းလင္းလင္း ေျပာျပေစခ်င္တယ္” ဟု ဧရာ၀တီသုိ႔ ေျပာသည္။
ခရီးစဥ္အတြင္း ျမန္မာ့ ဒီမုိကေရစီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္၊ ႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီမ်ား၊ လူမႈအဖြဲ႔အစည္းမ်ား၊ ႏုိင္ငံေရး အက်ဥ္းသားေဟာင္းမ်ားႏွင့္လည္း ေတြ႔ဆုံမည္ ျဖစ္သည္။
အေမရိကန္ ျမန္မာဆက္ဆံေရးသည္ မင္းတုန္းမင္း လက္ထက္မွ စတင္သည္ဟု ေျပာဆုိ ႏုိင္ေသာ္လည္း ၁၉၄၈ ခုႏွစ္ လြတ္လပ္ေရးရၿပီး ဖဆပလ အစုိးရလက္ထက္တြင္ ပုိမုိ နီးကပ္စြာ ဆက္ဆံခဲ့သည္ကုိ ေတြ႔ရသည္။
လြတ္လပ္ေရးရၿပီးေခတ္တြင္ အားေကာင္းလာသည့္ ဗမာျပည္ ကြန္ျမဴနစ္ပါတီႏွင့္ တျခားေသာ လက္၀ဲ ပါတီမ်ားကုိ ဆန္႔က်င္ႏုိင္ရန္ အတြက္ ၀န္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ဦးႏု ေခါင္းေဆာင္သည့္ ဖဆပလအစုိးရႏွင့္ အေမရိကန္အစုိးရတုိ႔ ပုိမုိနီးကပ္စြာ ဆက္ဆံခဲ့ၿပီး အာရွေဖာင္ေဒးရွင္း၊ ဖုိ႔ဒ္ ေဖာင္ေဒးရွင္း စသည့္ အေမရိကန္ႏုိင္ငံ၏ စီးပြားေရး လူမႈေရး အကူအညီမ်ားကုိ လက္ခံခဲ့သည္။
၁၉၅၂ ခုႏွစ္ အေမရိကန္ ဒုသမၼတ ရစ္ခ်တ္နစ္ဆင္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသုိ႔ လာေရာက္ လည္ပတ္ခဲ့ၿပီး ၀န္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ဦးႏု အေမရိကန္သုိ႔ အျပန္အလွန္ သြားေရာက္ လည္ပတ္ခဲ့သည္ အထိ ဆက္ဆံေရး တုိးတက္ခဲ့သည္။
သုိ႔ေသာ္ ၁၉၅၀ ျပည့္ႏွစ္ခန္႔တြင္ ရွမ္းျပည္နယ္သို႔ က်ဴးေက်ာ္ ၀င္ေရာက္လာသည့္ တရုတ္ျဖဴ ကူမင္တန္ တပ္မ်ားကုိ အေမရိကန္အစုိးရက ကူညီေသာအခါတြင္ ႏွစ္ႏုိင္ငံ ဆက္ဆံေရး အနည္းငယ္ ယုိယြင္းခဲ့သည္။ သုိ႔ေသာ္လည္း ႏွစ္ႏုိင္ငံ စစ္တပ္ခ်င္း ဆက္ဆံေရးမွာမူ ၁၉၈၈ ခုႏွစ္မတုိင္မီအထိ ဆက္လက္ ရိွေနခဲ့သည္။
တပ္မေတာ္ စိတ္ဓာတ္ စစ္ဆင္ေရး ဌာနကုိ ဦးေဆာင္ ဖြဲ႔စည္းခဲ့သည့္ ဗုိလ္မႉးခ်ဳပ္ ေမာင္ေမာင္ လက္ထက္တြင္ အေမရိကန္ စစ္တပ္ ႏွင့္ သာမက အေမရိကန္ ေထာက္လွမ္းေရးအဖဲြ႔ CIA ႏွင့္ပါ အနီးကပ္ ဆက္ဆံခဲ့သည္။
၁၉၆၀ ျပည့္ႏွစ္ တ၀ုိက္ ဗုိလ္မႉးခ်ဳပ္ေမာင္ေမာင္ ရာထူးမွ အနားေပးခံခဲ့ရၿပီး ေနာက္ပုိင္းတြင္လည္း ျမန္မာ့တပ္မေတာ္ အရာရွိမ်ားကုိ အေမရိကန္ စစ္တကၠသုိလ္မ်ားႏွင့္ စစ္သင္တန္းမ်ားသုိ႔ ဆက္လက္ ေစလႊတ္ခဲ့သည္။
ကာကြယ္ေရး ဦးစီးခ်ဳပ္ေဟာင္း ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီး သူရေက်ာ္ထင္ အပါအ၀င္ ဒု ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီး ထြန္းၾကည္၊ ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ ဉာဏ္လင္း၊ ေထာက္လွမ္းေရး ညြန္ၾကားေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ေဟာင္း ဗုိလ္မႉးႀကီး ေအာင္ကုိး တုိ႔သည္ အေမရိကန္ စစ္တကၠသုိလ္မ်ားတြင္ တက္ေရာက္ခဲ့သည့္ ထင္ရွားသည့္ စစ္ဘက္ အရာရွိႀကီးမ်ား ျဖစ္သည္။
၁၉၆၆ ခုႏွစ္ အာဏာသိမ္း ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီးေန၀င္း အေမရိကန္သုိ႔ သြားေရာက္ကာ သမၼတ ဂြ်န္ဆင္ ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း ေနာက္ပုိင္း ႏွစ္ႏုိင္ငံ ဆက္ဆံေရး ေအးစက္သြားခဲ့သည္။ သုိ႔ေသာ္လည္း ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံက မူးယစ္ေဆး၀ါး ႏွိမ္နင္းမႈအစီအစဥ္မ်ားအတြက္ အေမရိကန္၏ အကူအညီမ်ားကုိ လက္ခံခဲ့သည္။
၁၉၈၈ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ စစ္တပ္ အာဏာသိမ္းၿပီး ဒီမုိကေရစီ လႈပ္ရွားမႈမ်ားကုိ အဆက္မျပတ္ ႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့ျခင္း၊ လူအခြင့္ အေရးခ်ိဳး ေဖာက္ျခင္းမ်ားေၾကာင့္ သံတမန္ဆက္ဆံေရးမွာ အနိမ့္ဆုံးအဆင့္အထိ က်ဆင္းခဲ့သည္။(ဧရာဝတီ)
Saturday 26 November 2011
Friday 25 November 2011
ေရွ႕ ၂၅ ႏွစ္ကာလ အေရွ႕ေတာင္အာရွမွာ ျမန္မာ စီးပြားေရး ထိပ္တန္းႏုိင္ငံ ျဖစ္လာႏိုင္
2011-11-24
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံဟာ လာမဲ့ ၂၅ ႏွစ္ကာလအတြင္း အေရွ႕ေတာင္အာရွမွာ စီးပြားေရး ထိပ္ တန္းႏိုင္ငံ ျဖစ္လာမယ္လုိ႔ သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္ရဲ႕ ႏုိင္ငံေရးအၾကံေပးေဒါက္တာေနဇင္
လတ္က အာရ္အက္ဖ္ေအကုိ ေျပာပါတယ္။
၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၁၈ ရက္ေန႔ အင္ဒုိနီးရွားႏုိင္ငံ ဘာလီကြ်န္း အာဆီယံ ထိပ္သီး
ညီလာခံတြင္ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့အာရွအသံ ျမန္မာပုိင္း အစီအစဥ္ႏွင့္ သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္၏
ႏုိင္ငံေရးအၾကံေပး ေဒါက္တာ ေနဇင္လတ္ ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့စဥ္။
ျမႇင့္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ေနၿပီျဖစ္လုိ႔ လက္ရွိ အရွိန္အဟုန္အတုိင္း ဆက္ေဆာင္ရြက္သြားရင္ အေရွ႕ေတာင္အာရွမွာ အဆင့္တစ္က သုံးအတြင္း စီးပြားေရး ထိပ္တန္းႏုိင္ငံျဖစ္လာႏုိင္
ေၾကာင္း အင္ဒုိနီးရွားႏုိင္ငံ ဘာလီကြ်န္းမွာ ၿပီးခဲ့တဲ့ သီတင္းပတ္ကုန္က က်င္းပခဲ့တ့ဲ အာဆီယံ ထိပ္သီးညီလာခံ ကာလအတြင္း အာရ္အက္ဖ္ေအနဲ႔ သီးသန္႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုရာမွာ
ေျပာၾကားခဲ့တာပါ။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကုိ အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြက ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ စီးပြားေရး ပိတ္ဆုိ႔ထားခဲ့တာ
ေၾကာင့္ ႏုိင္ငံျခား ရင္းႏွီးျမွဳပ္ႏွံမႈက႑ ထိခုိက္ နစ္နာခဲ့ရတဲ့အျပင္ေငြေၾကးအကူအ
ညီ၊ စီမံခန္႔ခြဲမႈ၊ နည္းပညာ၊ ေစ်းကြက္၊ လူဝင္မႈ စတဲ့ က႑ရပ္ေတြမွာလည္းဆံုး႐ႈံးမႈ ရွိခဲ့တယ္လုိ႔ ေဒါက္တာ ေနဇင္လတ္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
အခုအခါမွာေတာ့ အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြရဲ႕ စီးပြားေရး ဒဏ္ခတ္မႈ ႐ုပ္သိမ္းေရးအပါ
အဝင္ အကူအညီေတြ ျပန္လည္ရရွိဖုိ႔ လမ္းစပြင့္လာၿပီ ျဖစ္တာေၾကာင့္ျမန္မာႏုိင္
ငံဟာ လာမယ့္ ၁၀ စုႏွစ္အတြင္း ကမၻာ့အဆင္းရဲဆံုး တတိယႏုိင္ငံအဆင့္ကေန
ဒုတိယႏုိင္ငံ အဆင့္ကုိ ႐ုန္းထြက္ႏုိင္ေတာ့မယ္လုိ႔ ေဒါက္တာေနဇင္လတ္ကေျပာ
ပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံဟာ အာရွတုိက္မွာ သဘာဝ အရင္းအျမစ္၊ လူသား အရင္းအျမစ္ေပါ
မ်ားႂကြယ္ဝေပမဲ့စစ္အာဏာရွင္ စနစ္ေအာက္မွာ မွားယြင္းတဲ့ စီမံခန္႔ခြဲ မႈေတြ
ေၾကာင့္၁၉၈၇ ခုမွာ ကမၻာ့အဆင္းရဲဆံုး ႏုိင္ငံတစ္ခုအျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္ခံခဲ့ရပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာနုိင္ငံ ေရနံနဲ႔သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔ တူးေဖာ္ေရး ေဈးၿပိဳင္ေခၚ
2011-11-24
ျမန္မာနုိင္ငံ ေရနံနဲ႔ သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔ တူးေဖာ္ေရး လုပ္ကြက္အသစ္ေတြ အတြက္ တင္ဒါစနစ္နဲ႔ ေစ်းၿပဳိင္ေခၚရာမွာ တ႐ုတ္နဲ႔ အေနာက္နုိင္ငံ ကုမၸဏီႀကီးေတြက စိတ္မဝင္စားၾကဘဲ အိႏိၵယ၊ ထိုင္းနဲ႔ မေလးရွား ကုမၸဏီေတြသာ စိတ္ဝင္စားတာ ေတြ႔ရတယ္လို႔ ရိုက္တာ သတင္းမွာ ဒီကေန႔ ေဖာ္ျပပါတယ္။
ရခိုင္ျပည္နယ္မွ သဘာဝ ဓာတ္ေငြ႕မ်ားကို တ႐ုတ္ႏိုင္ငံ ယူနန္ျပည္နယ္အထိ ပို႔ေဆာင္မည့္ ေ႐ႊ သဘာဝ ဓာတ္ေငြ႕ ပိုက္လိုင္း စီမံကိန္းအတြက္ ေက်ာက္ျဖဴၿမိဳ႕အနီးတြင္ စက္ယႏၲရားႀကီးမ်ားျဖင့္ လုပ္ကိုင္ေနပံု ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ (Photo: Shwe Gas Movement)
ဒါ့အျပင္ အေနာက္နုိင္ငံ နာမည္ႀကီး ကုမၸဏီေတြျဖစ္တဲ့ Total ကုမၸဏီ၊ ႐ုရွနုိင္ငံက Gazprom နဲ႔ Royal Dutch Shell ကုမၸဏီေတြကလည္း အခုလုပ္ကြက္အသစ္ေတြမွာ ၀င္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မွာ မဟုတ္ဘူးလို႔ ဆိုပါတယ္။အခုအသစ္ေခၚယူတဲ့ လုပ္ကြက္ေတြက သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔နဲ႔ ေရနံ ထြက္ရိွမယ့္ပမာဏ ေလ့လာခ်က္အရ ထြက္ရိွႏုိင္မႈကုိ အားမရတာေၾကာင့္ တ႐ုတ္ကုမၸဏီႀကီးေတြ မပါဝင္တာလို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ အေနာက္နုိင္ငံ ကုမၸဏီႀကီးေတြကေတာ့ ရင္းႏီွးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံလိုေပမယ့္ ျမန္မာနုိင္ငံက ဒီမုိကေရစီ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲေရး အေျခအေနကို ေစာင့္ၾကည့္ဖို႔ လိုအပ္ေနေသးတယ္လို႔ ေျပာေႀကာင္း သိရပါတယ္။
လက္ရိွ ျမန္မာအစိုးရက ကမ္းလွမ္းထားတဲ့ ကုန္းတြင္းနဲ႔ကမ္းလြန္ လုပ္ကြက္ အသစ္ ၁၈ ခုမွာ အဓိက ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံမွာကေတာ့ မေလးရွားနိုင္ငံက Petronas၊ ထိုင္းနုိင္ငံက PTT နဲ႔ အိႏိၵယနုိုင္ငံက ONGC Videsh ကုမၸဏီေတြပါ။ျမန္မာအစိုးရ ေရနံနဲ႔ သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔ စာရင္းအရ ကုန္းတြင္းနဲ႔ ကမ္းလြန္ ေရနံထြက္ရိွမယ့္ ပမာဏက ကုန္းတြင္းပိုင္းမွာ ပီပါေပါင္း ၁၁၅ သန္းနဲ႔ ကမ္းလြန္ပမာဏက ပီပါသန္းေပါင္း ၁၀၀ ရိွတယ္လို႔ ဆိုပါတယ္။ ဒါ့အျပင္ ကုန္းတြင္းပိုင္းမွာ ရိွေနတဲ့ သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔ ပမာဏက ကုဗေပ ၄၀၀ ဘီလီယမ္ ရိွၿပီး ကမ္းလြန္မွာေတာ့ ကုဗေပ ၁၆ တရီလီယမ္ ရိွမယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။
သီလ၀ါၿမိဳ႕ျပစီမံကိန္းေၾကာင့္ သံလ်င္ ေျမေစ်းတက္
24/Nov/2011/ မစုျမတ္မြန္
ရန္ကုန္တိုင္း၊ သံလ်င္ သီလဝါဆိပ္ကမ္းနဲ႔ ဆက္ေနတဲ့ေနရာမွာ ေတာင္ကိုရီးယားနိုင္ငံက ေဒၚလာ သန္း ၅,၀၀၀ ဖိုးလာေရာက္ရင္းႏွီးမယ့္ စီမံကိန္းေတြေၾကာင့္ အဲဒီေနရာေတြမွာ ေျမေစ်းေတြ အရင္ကထက္ ၁၀ ဆေလာက္ တက္သြားပါတယ္။ ေစ်းေတြ ေခါင္ခိုက္ေနေပမဲ့ ေျမကြက္ဝယ္ဖုိ႔ စိတ္ဝင္စားသူေတြကလည္း အမ်ားအျပားရွိေနတယ္လို႔ လုပ္ငန္းရွင္တေယာက္က ေျပာျပပါတယ္။ ဒီေတာ့ ဘယ္လို စီမံကိန္းေတြလုပ္မွာမို႔ ဘယ္လိုလူေတြက ေျမေတြ လိုက္ဝယ္ေနၾကတာပါလဲ။ ဒီလို ႀကီးက်ယ္တဲ့ ႏိုင္ငံျခားက စီမံကိန္းႀကီးေတြ ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံမွာ ေနာက္ထပ္ ဘယ္ေလာက္ရွိလာနိုင္မလဲ ဆိုတာကို စံုစမ္းထားတဲ့ ဘန္ေကာက္႐ံုးက မစုျမတ္မြန္က တင္ျပေပးထားပါတယ္။
ေတာင္ကိုရီးယားနိုင္ငံက HANA International Inc ကေနၿပီး ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕နဲ႔ မေဝးတဲ့ သီလဝါ အထူး စီးပြားေရးဇုန္မွာ ျမန္မာနဲ႔ ကိုရီးယားေပါင္းၿပီး (Myanko) ျမန္ကိုဆိုတဲ့ စီးပြားေရး ၿမိဳ႕ေတာ္သစ္ တည္ေဆာက္သြားဖို႔ ရွိေနခ်ိန္မွာ ေျမေစ်းေတြ အဆမတန္တက္သြားခဲ့တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သီလဝါ အထူးစီးပြားေရးဇုန္မွာ အဆင့္ျမင့္ အိမ္ယာစီမံကိန္း၊ စက္မႈဇုန္စီမံကိန္း၊ သဘာဝပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ကို ကာကြယ္ထိမ္းသိမ္းမဲ့ အစိမ္းေရာင္ စီမံကိန္း၊ အဆင့္ျမင့္ဆိပ္ကမ္း စီမံကိန္း စ တဲ့ဘက္စံုဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးေရး စီမံကိန္းေတြ လုပ္ဖုိ႔ရွိေနတာေၾကာင့္ အဲဒီေနရာမွာ ေျမေစ်းေတြတက္သြားတာလို႔ လုပ္ငန္းရွင္ တေယာက္က VOA ကို ေျပာျပပါတယ္။
“အခုတက္တာကေတာ့ အကုန္ပဲ၊ အိမ္ၿခံေျမေတြလည္းတက္သြားတယ္။ လူေတြေနတဲ့ ေျမေတြလည္း တက္သြားတယ္။ အရင္က အဲဒီမွာ ဖလန္းဆိုတဲ့ ရပ္ကြက္ေလးရွိတယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႔က ၄၀-၆၀ တကြက္ကို လြန္ခဲ့တဲ့ ၃ လက ၅၉ သိန္းပဲ ရွိတယ္။ လမ္းမႀကီးေဘးမွာ။ အခုက သိန္း ၅၅၀ ျဖစ္သြားၿပီ”
သီလဝါဆိပ္ကမ္းနဲ႔ ကပ္ေနတဲ့ေနရာမွာ သီလဝါ အထူးစီးပြားေရးဇုန္အျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္လိုက္တဲ့ သီလဝါဟာ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕ရဲ႕ ေတာင္ပိုင္း ၁၅ မိုင္ေလာက္မွာတည္ရွိၿပီး သြားေရးလာေရးလည္း လြယ္ကူလွတဲ့အတြက္ စီးပြားေရးအတြက္ အင္မတန္ အခ်က္အျခာက်တဲ့ ေနရာျဖစ္လာနိုင္ပါတယ္။ ေလာေလာဆယ္မွာ ရန္ကုန္ဘက္ ကေန သံလ်င္ဘက္ကုိ ဒါေၾကာင့္ စီးပြားေရးသမားေတြက ေျမေတြကို အလုအယက္ဝယ္ဖုိ႔ ႀကိဳးစားေနၾကတာျဖစ္ပါတယ္တဲ့။
“အရင္တုန္းကဆိုရင္ သြားရင္ကားက တစီး ၂ စီးပဲရွိတယ္။ အခုကေတာ့ ပဲြေတာ္ႀကီးလိုပဲ။ ျမန္မာျပည္အႏွံ႔ႏွံ႔ကေနလာၿပီး investment လုပ္မယ့္သူေတြ အကုန္လံုးလာၿပီးေတာ့ လက္ဦးမႈယူၾကတာေပါ့။ အမ်ားဆံုးေတြ႔ရတာေတာ့ တ႐ုတ္လူမ်ဳိးေတြလည္း ေတြ႔ရပါတယ္။ တခ်ဳိ႕လုပ္ငန္းရွင္ေတြလည္း သူတို႔ ဒီမွာလာၿပီးေတာ့ လက္ဦးမႈယူထားတာေပါ့ေနာ္။ ဒီေနရာႀကီးက တခ်ိန္မွာ တကယ္ကို ဖံြ႔ၿဖိဳးမယ့္ ေနရာႀကီးျဖစ္ေတာ့မွာကို”
ျပည္ပက ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံသူေတြကို စြဲေဆာင္ေအာင္လို႔ဆုိတဲ့ သီလဝါစက္မႈဇုန္နဲ႔ဆိုင္တဲ့ ဥပေဒတခုကို အစိုးရက ထုတ္ျပန္လိုက္ၿပီးတဲ့ေနာက္မွာ ခုလို ေတာင္ကိုရီးယားနိုင္ငံက Hana ကုမၸဏီက ေဒၚလာ ၅ ဘီလ်ံ ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံၿပီး ေခတ္မီၿမိဳ႕သစ္ တည္ဖို႔အတြက္ ျမန္မာအစိုးရနဲ႔ ညႇိႏႈိင္းေဆြးေႏြးေနၾကတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံ ေတာင္ပိုင္းမွာလည္း အထူးစီးပြားေရဇုံအျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္ထားတဲ့ ေနရာမွာ Italian Thai ကုမၸဏီက ေဒၚလာ ၈ ဘီလွ်ံ ရင္းႏွီးမယ့္ ထားဝယ္ေရနက္ဆိပ္ကမ္း စီမံကိန္းႀကီးကို ေဆာက္ရြက္ေနပါတယ္။
ထားဝယ္ေရနက္ ဆိပ္ကမ္း စီမံကိန္းႀကီးေၾကာင့္လည္း အဲဒီဘက္မွာ ေျမေစ်းေတြ အဆမတန္ တက္ခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အစိုးရက အေျပာင္းအလဲေတြ စတင္လုပ္ေနၿပီလို႔ နိုင္ငံတကာက လက္ခံစျပဳေနၿပီမို႔ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံထဲမွာ ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံခ်င္သူေတြက သင့္ေတာ္မယ့္ အခ်ိန္ကို ေစာင့္ေနၾကတယ္လို႔ ျမန္မာ့အေရး ေလ့လာသူတခ်ဳိ႕က ေျပာၾကပါတယ္။
စီးပြားေရး ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲမႈေတြ လုပ္ေနတဲ့ ကာလမွာ ကုန္သြယ္ေရးဆိုင္ရာ အထူးအခြင့္အေရးေတြ ေပးထားတဲ့ အထူးစီးပြားေရးဇုန္ဆိုင္ရာ ဥပေဒသစ္ကလည္း ျမန္မာနိင္ငံမွာ လာေရာက္ ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံသူေတြအတြက္ မ်က္စိက်စရာျဖစ္တယ္လို႔ စီးပြားေရး ပညာရွင္ ေဒါက္တာေဇာ္ဦးက ေျပာပါတယ္။
“အရင္ကလို ျပည္ပပို႔ကုန္လုပ္တဲ့ကိစၥေတြမွာ သိပ္ၿပီးခက္ခက္ခဲခဲနဲ႔ ၾကန္႔ၾကာမႈေတြ မရွိဘဲနဲ႔ ဒီဇုန္ထဲမွာ လာၿပီးေတာ့ ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံတဲ့သူ မွန္သမွ်ဟာ ဒီဇုန္ကေန အျပင္ကို တုိက္႐ိုက္ ဆက္သြယ္ႏိုင္မယ္၊ ပို႔ကုန္ေတြပို႔ႏိုင္မယ္။ ေနာက္ၿပီးေတာ့ ဒီဇုန္ေတြဟာ အခုနေျပာသလို ဒီ လမ္းပန္းဆက္သြယ္ေရး အခ်က္အျခာေကာင္းၿပီးေတာ့ ေရ၊ မီး၊ ပါဝါ စတဲ့ အေျခခံအေဆာက္အဦးေတြကပါ တိတိက်က် အစိုးရက ဖန္တီးေပးထားမွာ ျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ေၾကာင့္မို႔လို႔ ဒီဇုန္ထဲမွာလာၿပီးေတာ့ စက္႐ံုလုပ္လုိက္ရင္ အေနအထားက အရင္ကလို ေရရမွာလား၊ မီးရမွာလား၊ ပါဝါကို ဘယ္လိုဆဲြရမွာလဲ၊ ဖုန္းက ဘယ္ကေနယူရမွာလဲဆိုတဲ့ ေနာက္ထပ္ ဆင့္ပြားလုပ္ရမယ့္ ကိစၥေတြအားလံုးကို စိတ္ပူေနစရာမလိုဘူးေလ။ ဒီဇုန္ထဲကေန တိုက္႐ိုက္လုပ္သြားႏိုင္တယ္ဆိုတဲ့ အခြင့္အလန္းေတြကိုလည္း တိုးခ်ဲ႕ေဆာင္ရြက္ေပးထားမယ္ဆိုတဲ့ ကတိကဝတ္ေတြလည္း ရွိေနတယ္ေပါ့ေလ။ ဆိုေတာ့-အဓိက ကေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔ဟာ တႏိုင္ငံလံုးအတိုင္းအတာနဲ႔ စီးပြားေရးဝန္းက်င္ေကာင္းတခုကို မဖန္တီးႏိုင္ခင္ စပ္ၾကားမွာ အနည္းဆံုးေတာ့ ဒီစီးပြားေရးဇုန္ေတြမွာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ အစိုးရကေန သတ္သတ္မွတ္မွတ္နဲ႔ ေဆာင္ရြက္ေပးထားမယ္ဆိုတဲ့ ကတိကဝတ္မ်ဳိးကို ဒီဥပေဒက ျပဌာန္းေပးထားတယ္လို႔ နားလည္လို႔ရပါတယ္”
စီးပြားေရးႀကီး တခုလံုးကို ေကာင္းမြန္ေအာင္ မလုပ္နိုင္ခင္ အခ်ိန္မွာ ႏိုင္ငံျခားရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံသူေတြကို ဖိတ္ေခၚနိုင္ေအာင္ အထူးစီးပြားေရးဇုန္ေတြ အစိုးရက လုပ္ေနတဲ့ တခ်ိန္တည္းမွာလည္း တနို္င္ငံလံုး စီးပြားေရး ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲမႈေတြ လုပ္သြားဖို႔ လိုတယ္လို႔ စီးပြားေရး ပညာရွင္ ေဒါက္တာေဇာ္ဦးက သံုးသပ္ပါတယ္။
“တခ်ဳိ႕ေသာ စီးပြားေရးရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံမႈေတြဟာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံေစ်းကြက္အတြင္းမွာ ဝင္ေရာက္ လုပ္ကိုင္ႏိုင္ဖို႔ ဆိုတဲ့ ကိစၥကိုလည္း စိတ္ဝင္စားမႈေတြ ရွိေနပါတယ္။ သူတို႔သည္ စီးပြားေရးဇုန္ထဲမွာပဲ လာေရာက္လုပ္တာမဟုတ္ဘဲနဲ႔ တႏိုင္ငံလံုးကို အက်ဳိးရွိေစမယ့္ စီးပြားေရးလုပ္ကိုင္မႈမ်ဳိးလည္း သူတို႔မွာ စဥ္းစားမႈေတြ ရွိေနတာ ရွိပါတယ္”
ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံမွာ စက္မႈလက္မႈ လုပ္ငန္းေတြကို ပုဂၢလိကပိုင္ လုပ္ခြင့္ေပးထားတဲ့ စီးပြားေရးဇုန္ေပါင္း ၂၀ ေလာက္ရွိၿပီး ဘက္စံု အဆင့္ျမင့္ စီမံကိန္းေတြအတြက္ နိုင္ငံတကာက ေဒၚလာသန္း ေထာင္ခ်ီ လာေရာက္ ရင္းႏွီးျမႇဳပ္ႏွံမယ့္ အထူးစီးပြားေရးဇုန္ကေတာ့ ေလာေလာဆယ္ ထားဝယ္နဲ႔ သီလဝါ ၂ ခုပဲ ရွိပါတယ္ရွင္။
NLD ဦးေဆာင္အဖဲြ႔သစ္
NLD ဦးေဆာင္အဖဲြ႔သစ္တြင္ အမ်ဳိးသမီးအင္အား ထက္၀က္ ပါ၀င္....NLD ၏ အနာဂတ္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္အဖဲြ႔....
(၁၉၉၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြတြင္ ေရြးခ်ယ္ခံရဖူးသူမ်ား၏ အမည္ကုိ ( ၾကယ္ပြင့္ ) ျပထားသည္။)
၁။ သူရဦးတင္ဦး
၂။ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္
၃။ ဦးဝင္းတင္
၄။ ဦးဉာဏ္၀င္း (မြန္) *
၅။ ဦးဟံသာျမင့္ (ရန္ကုန္) *
၆။ ဦးဝင္းျမင့္ (ဧရာ၀တီ) *
၇။ ေဒါက္တာ ေဒၚေမဝင္းျမင့္ (ရန္ကုန္တုိင္း) *
၈။ ဦးမီလာရွီဆိုင္း (ကခ်င္)
၉။ နန္းခင္ေထြးျမင့္ (ကရင္) *
၁၀။ ဦးေဇာ္ပြဲ (ခ်င္း)
၁၁။ ေဒၚခင္သန္းလိႈင္ (စစ္ကိုင္း)
၁၂။ ေဒၚအုန္းၾကည္ (မႏၱေလး)
၁၃။ ေဒၚခင္ေစာေဌး (မေကြး)
၁၄။ ေဒၚခင္ေဌးၾကြယ္ (မြန္) *
၁၅။ ေဒၚသန္းေဌး (ရွမ္း)
၁၆။ ေဒၚခင္မိုးမိုး (ရွမ္း)
၁၇။ ဦးေက်ာ္ခင္ (ရွမ္း)
၁၈။ ေဒၚလွလွမိုး (ပဲခူး) *
၁၉။ ဦးလွမင္း (တနသၤာရီ) *
၂၀။ ကိုမ်ိဳးညႊန္႔ (လူငယ္လုပ္ငန္းအဖဲြ႔)
၂၁။ ေဒၚခင္ေစာမူ (အမ်ိဳးသမီးလုပ္ငန္းအဖဲြ႔)
ခ်င္းအမ်ဳိးသားတပ္ဦး CNF နဲ႔ အစိုးရ ကုိယ္စားလွယ္ေတြ ေဆြးေႏြးမယ္
2011-11-23
ဦးသိန္းစိန္ အစိုးရဟာ တိုင္းရင္းသား လက္နက္ကုိင္ တပ္ဖြဲ႔ တခ်ဳိ႕နဲ႔သာ အပစ္အခတ္ ရပ္စဲၿပီး ကခ်င္ လြတ္ေျမာက္ေရး တပ္ဖြဲ႕ KIA ကို ေခ်ာင္ပိတ္တိုက္တာမ်ဳိး မျဖစ္ေစလိုေၾကာင္္း ခ်င္းအမ်ဳိးသား တပ္ဦး CNF က အာရ္အက္ဖ္ေအ ကို ေျပာပါတယ္။
ဘာသာေရး ဖိႏွိပ္မႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံမွ ထြက္ေျပးလာၿပီး အိႏၵိယႏိုင္ငံ၊ နယူးေဒလီၿမိဳ႕တြင္ ခိုလံႈေနထိုင္ေနေသာ ခ်င္းတိုင္းရင္းသား သားအမိႏွစ္ဦးကို ခရစ္ေတာ္ လက္ဝါးကပ္တိုင္ပံု ခ်ိတ္ဆြဲထားသည့္ လူေနခန္းတခုတြင္ ေတြ႕ရပံု ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ (Photo: AFP)
Thursday 24 November 2011
Tuesday 22 November 2011
ျမန္မာသေဘၤာသားမ်ား အလုပ္လုပ္ကုိင္ေနေသာ ကုိရီးယားသေဘၤာ နစ္ျမဳပ္
22/Nov/2011
ကုိလူခ်စ္(ကုိရီးယား)
ႏုိဝင္ဘာ ၂၁ရက္ေန႔ ကုိရီးယားစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္ ညေန ၄နာရီခန္႔တြင္ ကုိရီးယား သေဘၤာ
ကုမၸဏီတခု ျဖစ္ေသာ PANSTAR SHIPPING CO,LTD ပုိင္ တန္ခ်ိန္ ၁ေသာင္း
၅ေထာင္ဆန္႔ BRIGHT RUBY အမည္ရွိ ကုန္တင္သေဘၤာသည္ ေတာင္တရုတ္ပင္
လယ္တြင္ နစ္ျမဳပ္မႈျဖစ္ပြားခဲ့သည္။မေလးရွားႏုိင္ငံမွ ကုန္စည္မ်ား တင္ေဆာင္ၿပီး
တရုတ္ႏုိင္ငံသုိ႔ ခုတ္ေမာင္းေနစဥ္ ေဟာင္ေကာင္ဆိပ္ကမ္းႏွင့္ ကီလုိမီတာ ၃၅ဝခန္႔
အကြာအေဝးတြင္ နစ္ျမဳပ္ခဲ့ျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။
ထုိသေဘၤာတြင္ ကုိရီးယားႏုိင္ငံသား ၉ဦး ႏွင့္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသား ၁၂ဦး စုစုေပါင္း ၂၁ဦး
စီးနင္းလုိက္ပါခဲ့ၿပီး ထုိအနက္မွ ကုိရီးယားနုိင္ငံသား၄ဦးႏွင့္ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသား၈ဦးတုိ႔အား
ကယ္ဆယ္ႏုိင္ခဲ့ၾကၿပီး၊ကုိရီးယား၅ဦးႏွင့္ျမန္မာ၄ဦးတုိ႔မွာမူ ေပ်ာက္ဆုံးေနဆဲျဖစ္သည္။
သေဘၤာနစ္ျမဳပ္ရျခင္းအေၾကာင္းမွာမူ လက္ရွိအခ်ိန္ထိသိရွိႏုိင္ျခင္းမရွိေသးေပ။ေပ်ာက္
ဆုံးေနဆဲ သေဘၤာသား၉ဦးအား ေဟာင္ေကာင္ႏုိင္ငံမွရဟတ္ယာဥ္မ်ားႏွင့္ထုိသေဘၤာ
နစ္ျမဳပ္သည့္ ေနရာဝန္းက်င္ရွိသေဘၤာမ်ားျဖင့္ ပူးေပါင္းကာအပူတျပင္းရွာေဖြလွ်က္ရွိ
ေၾကာင္း သိရပါသည္။
ယခု နစ္ျမဳပ္သြားေသာ BRIGHT RUBY ကုန္တင္သေဘၤာသည္ ၂ဝဝ၈ခုႏွစ္
စက္တင္ဘာလက ဆုိမာလီးယားပင္လယ္ဓါးျပမ်ား၏ျပန္္ေပးဆြဲျခင္းခံခဲ့ရၿပီး၊ျပန္္
လည္လြတ္ေျမာက္လာသည့္ သေဘၤာျဖစ္သည္။PANSTAR SHIPPING CO,LTD
တြင္ျမန္မာသေဘၤာသား၆၇ဦး အလုပ္လုပ္ကုိင္လွ်က္ရွိသည္။
ကုိရီးယားသတင္း႒ာနမ်ား၏ထုတ္လႊင့္ခ်က္အားဆီေလ်ာ္ေအာင္ဘာသာျပန္ဆုိပါသည္။
Monday 21 November 2011
အေဝးေရာက္ ညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစုိးရ ဆက္ရွိဖို႔ မလုိေတာ့ေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္းေျပာ
2011-11-20
ဒီကေန႔ ျမန္မာျပည္တြင္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးျဖစ္စဥ္ တိုးတက္ေျပာင္းလဲမႈေတြအရ ျပည္ပေရာက္ အမ်ဳိးသား ညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစိုးရအဖြဲ႔ NCGUB အေနနဲ႔ ဆက္လက္ ရပ္တည္စရာ မလိုေတာ့ေၾကာင္း ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္းက ေျပာပါတယ္။
အေမရိကန္ျပည္ေထာင္စု ဝါရွင္တန္ ဒီစီၿမိဳ႕ေတာ္တြင္ ျပဳလုပ္သည့္ ဆႏၵျပပြဲတခုတြင္ ျပည္ေထာင္စုျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ အမ်ိဳးသားၫြန္႔ေပါင္းအစိုးရ (NCGUB) ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္း မိန္႔ခြန္း ေျပာၾကားေနစဥ္။
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္က လာမယ့္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲေတြမွာ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မယ္လို႔ ေၾကညာလိုက္တဲ့အတြက္ ၿပီးခဲ့တဲ့ ၁၉၉ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲအႏိုင္ရ NLD လႊတ္ေတာ္အမတ္ေတြနဲ႔ ဖြဲ႔စည္းထားတဲ့ ျပည္ပေရာက္ အမ်ဳိးသား ညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစိုးရ NCGUB ဟာ ဆက္လက္ ရပ္တည္စရာ မလိုအပ္ေတာ့ဘူးလို႔ ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္းက သူ႔အျမင္ကို ေျပာျပပါတယ္။
“ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကိုယ္တိုင္က ေျပာတာေတာ့ လာမယ့္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲမွာ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မယ္။ လာမယ့္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲကုိမွ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္တဲ့ေနာက္ေတာ့ ၁၉၉ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲရလာဒ္ကို ဆက္ၿပီးေတာ့ ျဖစ္ရမယ္ဆုိတဲ့ ပံုစံမ်ိဳး လုပ္လုိ႔ မရဘူးေပါ့။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ အေနနဲ႔ကေတာ့ NLD နဲ႔ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ လာမယ့္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲမွာ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မယ္ ဆုိရင္ေတာ့၊ တကယ္လည္း စၿပီး ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ၿပီ ဆုိရင္ေတာ့ အေဝးေရာက္ညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစုိးရ NCGUB အေနနဲ႔ ဆက္လက္ၿပီးေတာ့ တည္ရွိဖို႔လိုမယ္လို႔ မထင္ဘူး”
ဒါေပမယ့္ လုပ္ထုံးလုပ္နည္းအရ ျပည္ပေရာက္ ၁၉၉ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ အႏုိင္ရ အမတ္ေတြနဲ႔ ဖြဲ႔စည္းထားတဲ့ MPU ေခၚ လႊတ္ေတာ္အမတ္မ်ား သမဂၢ ကေန NCGUB အမ်ဳိးသားညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစိုးရ အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ေတြကို ေရြးခ်ယ္ထားတာျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ MPU အဖြဲ႔ကသာ ဆုံးျဖတ္ရမွာ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္းက ေျပာပါတယ္။
အေဝးေရာက္ ညြန္႔ေပါင္းအစိုးရ NCGUB အဖြဲ႔ကို ေပါက္ေခါင္းၿမိဳ႕နယ္ လႊတ္ေတာ္ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ေဒါက္တာစိန္ဝင္း ဦးေဆာင္ၿပီး ၁၉၉ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲအႏိုင္ရ အမတ္ေတြနဲ႔ ကရင္အမ်ဳိးသား အစည္းအရုံး KNU ဌာနခ်ဳပ္ရွိရာ မာနယ္ပေလာစခန္းမွာ တိုင္းရင္းသား လက္နက္ကိုင္ အဖြဲ႔ေတြရဲ႕ ေထာက္ခံမႈနဲ႔ ၁၉၉ဝ ခုႏွစ္ ဒီဇင္ဘာလ ၁၈ ရက္ေန႔က ဖြဲ႔စည္းခဲ့တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။(RFA)
Sunday 20 November 2011
၉၁နွစ္ျပည့္ အမ်ဳိးသားေအာင္ပြဲေန႔ အခမ္းအနားကို အမ်ဳိးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္တြင္ျပဳလုပ္
20-11-2011
ခရစ္ႏွစ္ ၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္၊ ႏို၀င္ဘာလ (၂၀)ရက္၊ ျမန္မာသကၠရာဇ္ ၁၃၇၃ ခု တန္ေဆာင္
မုန္းလျပည့္ေက်ာ္ (၁၀)ရက္ တနဂၤေႏြေန႔တြင္ က်ေရာက္ေသာ(၉၁)ႏွစ္ျပည့္အမ်ိဳးသား
ေအာင္ပြဲေန႔အထိမ္းအမွတ္အခမ္းအနားကုိ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕၊ဗဟန္းၿမိဳ႕နယ္၊ေရႊဂုံတိုင္လမ္းရွိအ
မ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ရုံးခ်ဳပ္တြင္ ျပဳလုပ္က်င္းပခဲ့ပါသည္။
အဆိုပါအခမ္းအနားသုိ႔ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမႈး ေဒၚ
ေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္၊အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ဗဟုိအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္ေကာ္မတီ၀င္မ်ား၊ ျပည္နယ္ႏွင့္
တိုင္းအသီးသီးမွပါတီ၀င္ကုိယ္စားလွယ္မ်ားႏွင့္ျပည္တြင္း၊ျပည္ပမွသတင္းမီဒီယာမ်ား
တက္ေရာက္ခဲ့ၾကပါသည္။
အခမ္းအနားကုိနံနက္(၁၀)နာရီအခ်ိန္တြင္စတင္ဖြင့္လွစ္ခဲ့ၿပီး အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရး
မႈး ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္မွ အဖြင့္အမွာစကားေျပာၾကားခဲ့ၿပီးေနာက္ ကဗ်ာဆရာႀကီး
ကုိေလး(အင္း၀ဂုဏ္ရည္)ႏွင့္ ဒါရိုက္တာ၊စာေရးဆရာႀကီးဆရာေမာင္မိုးသူတို႔မွအမ်ိဳး
သားေန႔အထိမ္း အမွတ္စာေပမ်ားကုိ ေဟာေျပာသြားခဲ့ပါသည္။(လူထုေအာ္သံ)
Saturday 19 November 2011
မေလးရွားတြင္ ခ်င္းအမ်ဳိးသားတစ္ဦးအသတ္ခံရ
November 20th, 2011 |
ယခု လ ၁၆ ရက္ေန႕ညေန ၅ နာရီခန္႕က မေလးရွားႏုိင္ငံကြာလာလမ္ပူ ၿမိဳ႕၊ Cameroon high land တြင္ ေနထုိင္ေသာ ခ်င္းလူငယ္တဦးအား ရန္ကုန္တုိင္း ေမွာ္ဘီၿမိဳ႕ဇာတိျဖစ္သူ ထိန္လင္းဆုိသူက ဓါးျဖင့္ အေသ ထုိးသတ္လုိက္သည္ဟု သိရသည္။
အသတ္ခံသူသည္ ခ်င္းျပည္နယ္၊ မင္းတပ္ၿမိဳ႕ေန ဦး ထိန္းေခါလိန္း ႏွင့္ ေဒၚ လိန္းေခါနမ္၏သား ကီးေလာဟာျဖစ္ၿပီး မေလးရွားႏုိင္ငံတြင္ ဒုကၡအျဖစ္ေနထုိင္အလုပ္လုပ္ေနသူျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
“ အူေတြ ထြက္တဲ့ အထိ ဓါးနဲ႕ ထုိးတယ္၊ လူနာကုိ ေဆးရုံေခၚသြားၾကေပမဲ့ ၁၇ ရက္ေန႕ ညေန ၁နာရီမွာ ဆုံးသြားတယ္ ဘာျဖစ္လုိ႕ ထုိးသတ္တယ္ဆုိတာ မသိရေသးဘူး”ဟု မလးရွားေရာက္ ခ်င္း စည္းကမ္းထိန္းသိမ္းေရးေကာ္မီတီ (Chin Disciplinary Affairs Committee ဥကၠဌ လာလ္းရွန္ေမြးက ေျပာသည္။
တရားခံ ထိန္လင္းကုိ Chin Community ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားျဖစ္ၾကသည့္ Billy Tong Bung, Thang Lian, Pathang တုိ႕က သူငွားသည့္ ေနအိမ္သုိ႕ သြားေရာက္ဖမ္းဆီးၿပီး ရဲလက္ထက္ အပ္လုိက္ေၾကာင္း ထပ္မံသိရသည္။
ေသဆုံးသူ ႏွင့္ တရားခံ ထိန္လင္းသည္ အတူတူ အလုပ္လုပ္သူမ်ားျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း၊ ရန္ၿငိဳးရန္စ ရွိခဲ့ဘူးသူမ်ားျဖစ္နုိင္ေၾကာင္း ေျပာၾကသည္။
အခု ကိစၥနဲ႕ ပါတ္သက္ၿပီး မေလးရွားရွိ UNHCR ကလည္း အတတ္ႏိုင္ဆုံး အကူအညီေပး ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း မေလးရွား ႏိုင္ငံရွိ ခ်င္းဒုကၵသည္တဦးထံမွ သိရွိရသည္။
NLD ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဝင္မည့္ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ ႀကိဳဆိုၾက
မ်ဳိးသန္႔ | ေသာၾကာေန႔၊ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၁၈ ရက္ ၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္
ဗဟိုဦးစီးေကာ္မတီ အစည္းအေဝးပြဲတြင္ ပါတီမွတ္ပံုတင္ရန္ႏွင့္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဝင္ရန္ သေဘာတူဆံုးျဖတ္ၿပီးေနာက္ အမ်ဳိးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္႐ုံးအတြင္းမွ ျပန္လည္ထြက္ခြာစဥ္ ေစာင့္ဆိုင္းေနသူမ်ားကို ႏႈတ္ဆက္ေနသည့္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကို ေတြ႔ျမင္ရစဥ္။။ ဓာတ္ပံု- မဇၩိမ
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမုိကေရစီ အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ NLD ျပန္လည္ မွတ္ပံုတင္ကာ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဝင္သည္ကို ၿပိဳင္ဘက္ေဟာင္းမ်ားႏွင့္ မိတ္ေဆြမ်ားက ႀကိဳဆိုလုိက္ၿပီး NLD ႏွင့္ ပူးေပါင္းရန္ ဆႏၵရွိေၾကာင္း အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစု NDF ၏ မူဝါဒေရးရာေကာ္မတီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြက ေျပာသည္။
NLD ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေဟာင္းျဖစ္ခဲ့သူ ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြက “က်ေနာ္တို႔ကေတာ့ လက္တြဲလုပ္သြားဖို႔ အဆင္သင့္ပါပဲ။ အတြဲခံမယ့္ လူကသာ အတြဲခံဖို႔ လိုပါတယ္။ ေပါင္းခ်င္တယ္ဆိုရင္ က်ေနာ္တို႔က ျငင္းစရာ အေၾကာင္း မရွိပါဘူး။
ေဒၚစုက ဟိုလုိ လုပ္ခ်င္ပါတယ္ ဒီလုိ လုပ္ခ်င္ပါတယ္ ဆိုရင္လည္း က်ေနာ္တို႔က လက္ကမ္းဖို႔ အသင့္ပါပဲ။” ဟု ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြက မဇၩိမကို ေျပာသည္။
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ ျမန္မာ့ႏုိင္ငံေရး၏ မီး႐ႈးတန္ေဆာင္ဟု ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြက ၫႊန္းဆိုလုိက္ၿပီး ေဒၚစု ကိုယ္တိုင္ လႊတ္ေတာ္အတြင္း ဝင္ေရာက္လာပါက ျပည္သူအတြက္ အက်ဳိးျပဳ ဥပေဒမ်ား ျပ႒ာန္းႏိုင္မည္ဟု ယံုၾကည္ျခင္းေၾကာင့္ ေထာက္ခံရျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္ဟုလည္း ဆိုသည္။
“လႊတ္ေတာ္ထဲမွာ ျပည္သူအတြက္ အက်ဳိးျပဳမယ့္ ဥပေဒေတြကို ဖန္တီးႏိုင္မယ္လို႔ က်ေနာ္ ယံုၾကည္တဲ့အတြက္ NLD မွတ္ပံုတင္မယ္ ဆိုတာကိုလည္း ေထာက္ခံပါတယ္။ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဝင္မယ္ဆိုတာကိုလည္း အျပည့္အဝ ေထာက္ခံ ပါတယ္။” ဟု ဦခင္ေမာင္ေဆြက ေျပာသည္။
ယင္းအျပင္ ၁၉၉၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ကာလအတြင္း ၿပိဳင္ဘက္ျဖစ္ခဲ့သည့္ တိုင္းရင္းသား စည္းလံုးညီၫြတ္ေရးပါတီ (တစည) ကလည္း NLD ပါတီမွတ္ပံုတင္ကာ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဝင္သည္ကို ေထာက္ခံလိုက္ၿပီး အမ်ဳိးသား ျပန္လည္ သင့္ျမတ္ေရးအတြက္ ေျခလွမ္းတခုဟု တစည ပါတီ၏ ေျပာခြင့္ရ ဦးဟန္ေရႊက ေျပာသည္။
“က်ေနာ္တို႔အေနနဲ႔ အားလံုး လက္ခံပါတယ္။ ေနာက္တခုက တမ်ဳိးသားလံုး ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရေပါ့။ ဒီကိစၥဟာ လည္း ေျခလွမ္းတခုအေနနဲ႔ က်ေနာ္ျမင္ရပါတယ္။” ဦးဟန္ေရႊက မဇၩိမကိုေျပာသည္။
ယင္းအျပင္ ၈၈ မ်ဳိးဆက္ ေက်ာင္းသားလူငယ္မ်ားအဖြဲ႔မွ ကိုတိုးေက်ာ္လႈိင္ကလည္း အမ်ဳိးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္၏ မွတ္ပံုတင္ေရး ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကို ေထာက္ခံလုိက္ၿပီး ျပည္သူအမ်ားစု၏ ဆႏၵျဖစ္သည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
“NLD ရဲ႕ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္က NLD အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ အမ်ားစုရဲ႕ သေဘာထားအေပၚမွာ အေျခခံတယ္လို႔ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ယံုၾကည္ ပါတယ္။ သူတို႔ သယ္ေဆာင္လာတဲ့ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကလည္း သူတို႔ေဒသမွာရွိတဲ့ ျပည္သူေတြရဲ႕ လိုလားခ်က္ကို ထင္ဟပ္ထားတယ္လို႔ က်ေနာ္တို႔ယံုၾကည္ပါတယ္။” ဟု မဇၩိမကို ေျပာသည္။
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ မွတ္ပံုတင္၍ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဝင္ရန္ ေသာၾကာေန႔ နံနက္ ၁၀ နာရီတြင္ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕ ပါတီ႐ံုးခ်ဳပ္တြင္ ျပည္နယ္ႏွင့္တိုင္း ဗဟိုဦးစီးအဖြဲ႔ဝင္ ၁၀၆ ဦးမွ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ခ်ခဲ့ဲျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္ဟု ပါတီေျပာခြင့္ရ ပုဂၢိဳလ္ ဦးအုန္းႀကိဳင္က ေျပာသည္။ခ်င္းမိုင္(မဇၩိမ)
BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Obama sending Clinton to repressive Myanmar
By BEN FELLER and ERICA WERNER | AP – 2 hrs 53 mins ago
BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Seizing an opportunity for historic progress in repressive Myanmar, President Barack Obama is dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the long-isolated nation next month in an attempt to accelerate fledgling reforms.
The move is the most dramatic sign yet of an evolving relationship between the United States and Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has suffered under brutal military rule for decades. Obama said Friday there had been "flickers of progress" since new civilian leadership took power in March.
"If Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said as he announced Clinton's trip while on a diplomatic mission to southeast Asia.
Clinton will be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years.
In exploring a breakthrough engagement with Myanmar, Obama first sought assurances of support from democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. She spent 15 years under house arrest by the nation's former military dictators but is now in talks with the civilian government about reforming the country.
The two spoke by phone on Thursday night while Obama was flying to Bali on Air Force One.
By sending in his chief diplomat, Obama is taking a calculated political risk in a place where repression is still common. He warned that if the country fails to commit to a true opening of its society, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But he said that the current environment is a rare opening that could help millions of people "and that possibility is too important to ignore."
Myanmar is subject to wide-ranging trade, economic and political sanctions from the U.S. and other Western nations, enforced in response to brutal crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters in 1988 and 2007 and its refusal to hand power to Suu Kyi's party after the 1990 elections.
Clinton said that while there may be an opening for a democracy push in Myanmar, the U.S. was proceeding cautiously.
"We're not ending sanctions. We're not making any abrupt changes," she said during an interview with Fox News. "We have to do some more fact-finding and that's part of my trip."
Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, welcomed news of Clinton's visit.
"It is time for the U.S. to make such a high-level visit. This is going to be a very crucial visit," Win said.
Senior Obama administration officials said the U.S. wants to see a number of actions from Myanmar, including the release of more political prisoners; serious internal domestic
diplomacy between the government and ethnic groups, some of which have been in civil war for decades; and further assurances with regards to interactions with North Korea.
The administration's policy toward Myanmar has focused on punishments and incentives to get the country's former military rulers to improve dire human rights conditions. The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Myanmar but made clear it was open to better relations if the situation changed.
Myanmar's nominally civilian government has declared its intention to liberalize the hardline policies of the junta that preceded it. It has taken some initial steps, such as easing censorship, legalizing labor unions, suspending an unpopular, China-backed dam project, and working with Suu Kyi.
Officials said Clinton would travel to Myanmar Dec. 1, making stops in Yangon and Naypyitaw.
A U.S. opening with Myanmar would also contribute to Obama's goals of rebalancing power in the region, as Burma's military leaders for long had close ties to China.
Beijing has poured billions of dollars of investment into Myanmar to operate mines, extract timber and build oil and gas pipelines. China has also been a staunch supporter of the country's politically isolated government and is Myanmar's second-biggest trading partner after Thailand.
Administration officials stressed that the new engagement with Myanmar was not about China. They said the Obama administration consulted with China about the move and said they expected China to be supportive. They argued that China wants to see a stable Burma on its borders, so that it doesn't risk problems with refugees or other results of political instability.
Human rights groups welcomed Obama's announcement as an opportunity to compel further reforms.
"We've been arguing a long time that political engagement and political pressure are not mutually exclusive," Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Southeast Asia researcher, told The Associated Press, adding that Clinton "should not miss the opportunity in this historic visit to pressure the government and speak very clearly that the human rights violations taking place there need to stop."
Elaine Pearson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the Burmese government must realize that a visit by Clinton "puts them on notice, not lets them off the hook for their continually atrocious human rights record."
Obama was to see Burma's president during the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, that brought him to Bali. The two have met before, at an ASEAN meeting in Singapore, when Thein Sein was prime minister.
ASEAN announced Friday that Myanmar would chair the regional bloc in 2014, a significant perch that Myanmar was forced to skip in 2006 because of intense criticism of its rights record.
Obama attended a meeting Friday afternoon with the heads of ASEAN, whose 10 members include host Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The group will expand for the East Asia Summit, a forum that also counts China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the U.S. as members.
The president held one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the summit with leaders from Indonesia, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. Administration officials said Obama discussed the issue of Myanmar in his meetings with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Earlier, in a move promoting American trade, Obama presided over a deal that will send Boeing planes to an Indonesian company and create jobs back home, underscoring the value of the lucrative Asia-Pacific market to a president needing some good economic news.
Obama stood watch as executives of Boeing and Lion Air, a private carrier in Indonesia, signed a deal that amounts to Boeing's largest commercial plane order. Lion Air ordered 230 airplanes, and the White House said it would support tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.
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Suu Kyi's party to register for Myanmar elections
By AYE AYE WIN | AP – 29 mins ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's main opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi decided Friday to rejoin politics and register for future elections, signaling its confidence in recent reforms by the military-aligned government.
The National League for Democracy party "has unanimously decided to reregister as a political party ... and will run in the elections," it said in a statement issued at the end of a meeting of senior members from across the country.
Some joyous members broke into a dance as the announcement was made.
"What we are doing now involves a lot of risk but it is time to take the risk because in politics there is no 100 percent assurance of success," Suu Kyi told them.
Earlier, member after member, including Suu Kyi, spoke out in favor of joining the political arena because of reforms initiated by the nominally civilian but military-aligned government, which have drawn cautious approval from even its most bitter critic, the United States.
President Barack Obama announced Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would visit early next month — the first such trip in more than a half-century — after what he said were "flickers of progress" in Myanmar.
The NLD refused to register last year because of a restriction that would have prevented Suu Kyi from running. The restriction was lifted this year by the new government that took office following the November 2010 elections held by the long-ruling military junta as part of its promise to restore democracy and relinquish power.
"Personally I am for re-registration," Suu Kyi said in her speech to the delegates at the party headquarters in Yangon.
Any party that registers itself is required to run for at least three seats in the still-unscheduled by-elections for 48 vacant seats in Parliament. The legislature comprises 224 members in the upper house and 440 members in the lower house.
"Instead of participating in three seats in the by-elections, I would prefer to take part in all seats," Suu Kyi said. It would be the first electoral test of the NLD's popularity — and that of Suu Kyi — in more than two decades.
It is likely that Suu Kyi would run for office, said NLD spokesman Nyan Win. He said the party will file registration papers with the Election Commission in the capital, Naypyitaw, "as soon as possible."
"Some party members are concerned that my dignity will be affected if I run for the election," Suu Kyi told her colleagues. "If one is engaged in politics, one has to do what is necessary. If I feel that I should take part in elections, I will participate."
She cautioned that "the road ahead is full of difficulties and the road to democracy is endless."
The NLD's refusal to register last year was mainly because of an election law that required political parties to expel members who have been incarcerated. The clause appeared to target Suu Kyi, who was then under house arrest by the military regime. The NLD subsequently boycotted the elections.
However, Myanmar's new civilian government, headed by a former army officer who was prime minister in the junta, has shown a willingness to deal with Suu Kyi. It also has lifted some restrictions on the Internet, legalized unions and scrapped an unpopular dam project.
Bringing Suu Kyi's party back into the fold would give the government greater legitimacy at home and abroad.
"The NLD has to reregister if the party wants to join the political arena. The political climate has changed compared to 2010 and we have to make a practical decision," said Aung Myo, an NLD member from Sagaing region.
The NLD overwhelmingly won a 1990 general election, but the junta refused to honor the results. The military regime kept Suu Kyi under house arrest during different periods for a total of 15 years. She was released just after last year's elections and is now free to move about and meet people. The government also continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners although there are moves to free many of them.The party's decision Friday to re-enter the election fray was met with qualified support from some exiled pro-democracy activists.
Soe Aung, a spokesman for the Thailand-based Forum for Democracy in Burma, said it is more important that a dialogue between Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein continues.
He said such talks should seek substantive results, such as the release of all political prisoners and an end to army attacks in ethnic minority areas, where the government has long battled groups seeking greater autonomy.
He warned that Thein Sein may not have enough power to combat others in Myanmar's ruling circles who oppose reforms, and it was uncertain whether Suu Kyi's party can achieve change in Parliament, where the military and its allies hold a large majority.
Maung Zarni, a longtime exiled activist who is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, cautioned that the pro-military tilt in Parliament "doesn't give much room for political maneuverings."
Suu Kyi told her colleagues that the party will continue to work for the release of political prisoners, the end of ethnic strife and a strengthening of the rule of law.
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Obama opens door to new U.S. ties with Myanmar
By Laura MacInnis and Caren Ban | Reuters – 10 hrs ago
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he saw "flickers of progress" in Myanmar, pledged to send his secretary of state to the isolated country and promised new ties if it pursued democratic reforms.
Obama, on the Indonesian island of Bali to attend a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said he had spoken for the first time with Nobel laureate and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He said he was sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next month to the country, also known as Burma.
He said the release of political prisoners and loosening of media restrictions, as well as Suu Kyi's release last year from house arrest, were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years."
"We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said.
Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on Myanmar, now ruled by a civilian government after an election last year held with the main purpose of handing over power after nearly five decades of military rule.
Many Western governments have expressed doubts that the new civilian authority is committed to democratic change and has embarked on a different path from its military predecessors.
Obama warned that if Myanmar did not move toward more openness, it would "continue to face sanctions and isolation."
A U.S. official said Obama had spoken to Suu Kyi from Air Force One on his way to Indonesia on Thursday evening.
They reviewed progress made in Myanmar since her release last year and Obama said she supported more American engagement in the isolated Southeast Asian nation.
In an address to the Australian parliament on Thursday, Obama said Myanmar had opened a dialogue on reform, but had to do more to improve human rights.
Myanmar's new civilian rulers released about 230 political prisoners last month and a senior official from the country's home ministry said Wednesday that authorities were ready to proceed with further releases of activists.
Southeast Asian nations endorsed Myanmar Thursday for the chairmanship of its regional grouping in 2014, gambling that the isolated country can stick to reforms begun this year that could lead it out of half a century of isolation.
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Japan steps closer to full-fledged aid to Myanmar
By Yoko Nishikawa
NUSA DUA, Indonesia | Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:28am EST
(Reuters) - Japan told Myanmar on Friday that it wants to soon start working-level talks that could lead to the resumption of full-fledged development aid, following reforms in the long-isolated country.
However, Japan also urged Myanmar to release more political prisoners to continue a series of changes since the army nominally handed over power in March to civilians after the first elections in two decades.
Japan froze new official development assistance (ODA) to the country in 2003, while continuing humanitarian aid. In June, it lifted its ban on new ODA, but has fallen short of resuming full-fledged aid for infrastructure projects.
At a bilateral meeting with President Thein Sein in Indonesia, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda welcomed Myanmar's recent reforms toward democracy, including Friday's decision by the party of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to contest upcoming by-elections.
"At the same time, Prime Minister Noda expressed hope for the release of more political prisoners (in Myanmar)," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito told reporters.
Japan has distanced itself from the policy of Western powers, which have imposed tough sanctions on Myanmar, and from that of China, which has pumped billions of dollars into the country. It prefers engagement and dialogue to push for democracy in the country.
President Thein Sein told Noda that Myanmar hoped for Japan's ODA assistance for infrastructure projects, but Japan's premier stopped short of promising specific aid at the summit, he added.
Recent overtures by Myanmar's new civilian government have included calls for peace with ethnic minority groups and the release of about 230 political prisoners and reaching out to Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate freed last year from 15 years of detention.
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Time Magazine - For the First Time in More Than 50 Years, a U.S. Secretary of State Is Set to Visit Burma
Posted by Hannah Beech Friday, November 18, 2011 at 4:47 am
This year, the leaders of Burma, once one of the most hermetic countries on earth, have unleashed a charm campaign on the world. The efforts, ranging from diplomatic globe-trotting to a raft of economic and political reforms designed to impress foreign governments, are now bearing fruit. On Nov. 18, U.S. President Barack Obama announced{http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2099793,00.html} that Hillary Clinton would visit the impoverished nation on December 1. The visit will be the first by a U.S. Secretary of State to Burma in more than five decades. Not even North Korea has been so diplomatically isolated.
Ever since a clutch of generals grabbed power in 1962, Burma, also known as Myanmar, has languished as other parts of Asia have raced ahead. Burma's economy has been hobbled both by the rapaciousness and incompetence of its military leaders{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2005867,00.html} (along with their attendant cronies) and, to a much lesser degree, the bite of Western-led sanctions{http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/03/29/why-burmas-sanctions-debate-doesnt-really-matter/}. But the past 12 months have brought remarkable change to a nation once preserved in a horrible amber. Last November, Burma held its first elections in two decades. Although the polls were hardly free and fair, a nominally civilian government took office in March. Skeptics assumed the new leadership, some of whom were generals who had expressly retired to take on their civilian roles, would serve as a fig-leaf for the military, which kept many plum posts for itself. Instead, aspects of the economy have been liberalized, opposition politicians have been allowed a platform and press freedoms have widened. “We want to seize what could be an historic opportunity for progress,” said Obama during his trip to Indonesia{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2099185,00.html} where he announced Clinton's upcoming visit, “and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America.”
In finalizing his decision to send such a high-level representative to one of the world's few remaining pariah states, Obama spoke on Nov. 17 with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2040197,00.html}. Burma's longtime democracy advocate was released from house arrest last year, after spending most of the previous two decades locked up by the junta. Suu Kyi's continuing support of international sanctions are one key reason that western governments have not rolled them back, even as burgeoning trade with neighbors like China have made the financial restrictions less relevant.
Clinton's upcoming trip is just one sign that foreign countries are cheering on Burma's tentative reforms. The same day as Obama's announcement, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed that Burma would be allowed to chair the regional bloc in 2014. The last time the country came up for such consideration back in 2006, members of the regional grouping—hardly the most vocal champions of human rights—blanched. Burma skipped its turn.
Also on Friday, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) announced that it would re-register as a political party, so it could be part of the official political process and contest coming by-elections. Back in 1990, the NLD won Burma's last polls, which the ruling junta then ignored. NLD elders decided to sit out last year's balloting, which resulted in the party's automatic dissolution according to government rules. Why remove itself? Members of the NLD argued that their beloved leader Suu Kyi was still under house arrest and unable to contest the polls. All indications pointed toward a sham election and fraudulent result. The NLD was right in that parties associated with the junta won the polls with suspiciously big margins. At first, parliament looked like it was straining even to reach the level a rubber-stamp body.
But since this spring, real debate and news has occasionally erupted in the sterile halls of the grand parliament building constructed in Naypyidaw{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1808623,00.html}, Burma's surreal new capital. (In one instance, the country's new Prime Minister Thein Sein, after weeks of back-and-forth in the national assembly, announced this fall that he was suspending construction of a Chinese-backed dam that would send most of its electricity over the border to China.) “No one expected it, but there is actually politics to cover in Burma,” says one Burmese journalist. The media, although still very censored and under constant threat that its reporters might be thrown into jail, can now print things—pictures of Suu Kyi, snippets of political debate, discussion of the ethnic insurgencies flaring up north—unimaginable even a year ago. Exile news websites that were once blocked are currently freely available.
(More from Time.com: Photographs of Burma's struggle for democracy{http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1665535,00.html}.)
Also importantly, Suu Kyi is now free{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2032108,00.html}, having been released a few days after the flawed polls last year. Changes in electoral regulations mean that the woman who should have been P.M. following the 1990 polls could conceivably run for in future by-elections—although electoral shenanigans could still stifle any potential victory. In recent months, the veteran democracy activist, who had an icy relationship with former junta leader Than Shwe, has been able to meet repeatedly with high-ranking Burmese leaders. She has freely criticized the government without repercussion. Posters of the woman known affectionately in Burma simply as “the Lady” are openly on sale in markets. Small protests have occurred in major cities without being met by gunfire, as was the tragic conclusion in 2007 when the military fired{http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1676563,00.html} on Buddhist monks and other unarmed demonstrators.
There is always the possibility that the current era of openness will be cut short by infighting between hardline and reformist leadership factions, just as happened during another brief political dawn at the turn of this century. Some exile groups, in particular, warn foreigners not to be taken in by the generals' (or retired generals') promises of further change. They fret that the Burmese government merely craves international respect—and access to fancy vacation spots in Europe and the U.S. now inaccessible because of Western sanctions on specific Burmese leaders and cronies. Once Burma's leaders get what they want from the global community, these analysts say, the political situation will chill anew.
Certainly, Burma, even after this year's changes, is still a terribly repressed place. Despite much-vaunted prisoner amnesties, thousands of political prisoners still languish in some of the world's most horrendous jails. Skirmishes between ethnic armies and the Burmese army have turned parts of the country's north into battlefields. Ethnic groups accuse Burmese soldiers of mass rape and forced recruitment. The government continues to spend many times more on its military than health and education combined. An influx of Asian investment, most notably from neighbors China and Thailand, hasn't done much to change the lives of Burma's citizens, one-third of whom subsist below the poverty line.
But even acknowledging all this, there is also a feeling that things are truly changing, that this is about more than just some generals' wish to jaunt off to a Western travel spot currently closed off to them. Burma's economy has been mismanaged for so long—one previous military ruler denominated the currency by nine because it was his favorite number—that, clearly, something had to be done. And even though investment is pouring in from China, Burma's military members, many of whom fought Chinese-backed Communist insurgents for decades, are growing wary of their northern neighbor's looming shadow. Besides, Burma's leaders can get a lot more for the country's plentiful natural resources if there are some Western bidders involved. That means convincing the U.S and others to ease their sanctions. Clearly that's a key factor spurring the Burmese government's recent international engagement.
Finally, here's something else for the outside world to consider: Burma's last, ever so slight moment of glasnost may have been foiled in part because its architects were unable to get international support for their reforms. This time around, it's clear that Obama and Clinton don't want the same thing to happen again. The U.S. President on Friday hailed “flickers of progress” in Burma, even as he cautioned that much more must be done. Embers of reform must be encouraged before they light up a country that has been darkened for so long.(More from Time.com: 'Aug San Suu Kyi: Burma's First Lady of Freedom.'{http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2040197,00.html})
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18 November 2011 Last updated at 11:04 ET
BBC News - Suu Kyi's NLD democracy party to rejoin Burma politics
The party of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has agreed to re-enter the political process and contest parliamentary elections.
On Friday her National League for Democracy said it would register to run in the as yet unscheduled by-elections.
The party boycotted the last polls in November 2010, the first in 20 years.
Meanwhile the US is to send Hillary Clinton to Burma next month, amid what President Barack Obama called "flickers of progress" in the nation.
Mr Obama spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi before deciding to send Mrs Clinton, who will be the first US secretary of state to visit in 50 years.
BBC South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says the developments are being seen as endorsements of the steps taken by the military-backed but civilian-led government towards political reform.
'Unanimous decision'
The announcement followed a meeting of 100 senior NLD leaders in Rangoon.
David Loyn BBC International Development Correspondent, Rangoon
Burma's NLD have decided to re-register as a party, although all of their disagreements with the government have not been resolved.
They have also agreed to put up candidates in all 48 seats up for by-election early next year, and Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to be among them.
Obstacles to them rejoining the political process had included the continued holding of political prisoners, government demands that any candidate should back the 2008 constitution, and the government's refusal to admit that the 1990 election was stolen from the NLD.
They have seen some movement in all three areas - and are assured by a promise made to Aung San Suu Kyi by reformist President Thein Sein that all political prisoners will be released soon.
They are also encouraged by a recent article in a state newspaper by the Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann "recognising" the victory of the NLD in the 1990 election.
"We unanimously decide that the National League for Democracy (NLD) will register according to party registration laws, and we will take part in the coming by-elections," a party statement said.
It boycotted the previous polls because of election laws that banned Aung San Suu Kyi - a former political prisoner - from running.
But this regulation has since been dropped, and Aung San Suu Kyi said she now wanted the party to contest all 48 seats left vacant in parliament by the appointment of ministers.
A spokesman for the NLD said it was likely that Aung San Suu Kyi would run for office. And the pro-democracy leader herself said she would do what she thought was necessary.
"If I think I should take part in the election, I will. Some people are worried that taking part could harm my dignity. Frankly, if you do politics, you should not be thinking about your dignity," AFP news agency quoted her as saying.
"I stand for the re-registration of the NLD party. I would like to work effectively towards amending the constitution. So we have to do what we need to do."
The NLD won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. Aung San Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest but was freed a year ago by the new government.
Since then it has entered into dialogue with her and freed some - but by no means all - political prisoners.
Aung San Suu Kyi has given a cautious welcome to the moves, but says more progress is needed.
Mr Obama echoed her view in comments at a regional summit in Bali.
"Last night, I spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi directly and confirmed she supports American engagement to move this process forward," he said.
During her visit, Mrs Clinton would "explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition in Burma", he said.
"That possibility will depend on the Burmese government taking more concrete action. If Burma fails to move down the path of reform it will continue to face sanctions and isolation,"
he said.
The US maintains economic sanctions and travel bans against members of the former junta.
The announcement came a day after leaders of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) agreed that Burma could chair the regional bloc in 2014.
Burma was passed over for its turn at the rotating presidency last time because of its human rights record.
But Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said member states believed Burma had made significant progress towards democracy.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi to run in next elections
By the CNN Wire Staff
November 18, 2011 -- Updated 1435 GMT (2235 HKT)
(CNN) -- Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will participate in the next elections, Nyan Win, the spokesman for her National League for Democracy, said Friday.
Her National League for Democracy announced earlier Friday that it planned to re-register as a political party and participate in all future parliamentary elections.
The NLD won more than 80% of the legislative seats in 1990, the first free elections in the country in nearly 30 years, but the ruling military junta refused to recognize the results.
The elections, as yet unscheduled, are by-elections to fill 48 seats left vacant in parliament by the appointment of ministers in the new government. The last national elections were held in November 2010 and were the first in 20 years.
The junta declared a landslide victory in those elections, but critics worldwide dismissed the voting as a sham.
Suu Kyi and her party had boycotted the vote, faulting the junta. The military regime had enacted a law forcing the NLD to choose between honoring Suu Kyi as its leader and risking the party being declared illegal, or ejecting Suu Kyi from the party and being able to participate in the vote.
Suu Kyi is immensely popular in Myanmar, also known as Burma. She was released a year ago after spending 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest for her unending opposition to authoritarian rule in her native country.
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Aung San Suu Kyi, a tenacious fighter for democracy
By Moni Basu and Dan Rivers, CNN
November 18, 2011 -- Updated 1544 GMT (2344 HKT)
(CNN) -- She is small but only in physical stature. Aung San Suu Kyi is the very embodiment of Myanmar's long struggle for democracy.
The 66-year-old human rights icon defied Myanmar's authoritarian military junta with her quiet demeanor and grace when she spent 15 of 21 years under house arrest for her unending opposition to authoritarian rule in Myanmar.
By the time she was freed in November 2010, she had become, perhaps, the world's most recognizable political prisoner. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
Over the past year, Suu Kyi has met repeatedly with Myanmar's President Thein Sein and the country's minister for labor and for social welfare, relief and resettlement, Aung Kyi.
Now, she will participate in Myanmar's next elections, Nyan Win, the spokesman for her National League for Democracy, said Friday. Her National League for Democracy announced earlier Friday that it planned to re-register as a political party and participate in all future parliamentary elections.
During her captivity, she lived quietly by herself at her disintegrating Inya Lake villa in Yangon (the former capital, also known as Rangoon), accompanied solely by two maids.
She had little outside human contact except for visits from her doctor.
Sometimes, though, she was able to speak over the wall of her compound to her supporters, never once tiring of her crusade to break down the tyranny of dictatorship in her beloved homeland of Burma, the alternate name for Myanmar.
Known as the "lady" in Myanmar, Suu Kyi has been compared to former South African President Nelson Mandela, who spent a chunk of his life in jail for fighting apartheid.
In an interview with CNN several years ago, Suu Kyi, in fact, likened Myanmar's plight to South Africa's former brutal race-based system.
"It's a form of apartheid," she said. "In Africa, it was apartheid based on color. Here, it is apartheid based on ideas. It is as though those who want democracy are somehow of an alien inferior breed and this is not so."
The daughter of Gen. Aung San, a hero of Burmese independence, Suu Kyi spent much of her early life abroad, going to school in India and at Oxford University in England.
She never sought political office. Rather, leadership was bestowed upon her when she returned home in 1988 after her mother suffered a stroke.
During her visit, a student uprising erupted and spotlighted her as a symbol of freedom. When Suu Kyi's mother died the next year, Suu Kyi vowed that just as her parents had served the people of Burma, so, too, would she.
In her first public speech, she stood before a crowd of several hundred thousand people with her husband, Michael Aris, and her two sons and called for a democratic government.
"The present crisis is the concern of the entire nation," she said. "I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on. This national crisis could, in fact, be called the second struggle for independence."
She won over the Burmese people. One of them was Nyo Ohn Myint, who participated in the 1988 protests as a college professor and now serves as one of the leaders in Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
"She is more than her father's daughter," he told CNN. "She has proven that she can bring together the Burmese people."
In 1989, the military regime threw her in jail. But even with Suu Kyi sitting behind bars, her party won the elections the following year by a landslide, gaining 82 percent of the seats in parliament.
The regime ignored the results of the vote and Senior Gen. Than Shwe continued to impose numerous terms of house arrest on her. Suu Kyi, meanwhile, became the recipient of several human rights prizes and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Over the years, Suu Kyi repeatedly challenged the junta and discouraged foreign investment in Myanmar. In one incident in 1998, soldiers prevented her from leaving Yangon. But Suu Kyi refused to turn back and was detained in her minivan for almost two weeks. The ordeal left her severely dehydrated, but was typical of her almost stubborn determination.
Myint described her as energetic but humble. And a good listener.
"That's a skill I barely see in other people," Myint said.
She has remained a devoted Buddhist who from the beginning admired the principles on non-violence and civil disobedience espoused by India's Mahatma Gandhi, Myint said.
Over the years, Suu Kyi has made clear her devotion to bringing democracy to Myanmar. She has spoken of her separation from her loved ones as the sacrifice she chose to make for the freedom of her country.
Her dying husband petitioned the Myanmar authorities to allow him to visit his wife. He had last seen her in 1995, but his request was rejected.
Instead, the junta encouraged Suu Kyi to join her family abroad. But she said she knew that if she left, she would never be allowed to return. Aris died of prostate cancer in March 1999.
Even before they were married, Suu Kyi had penned a letter to Aris professing her love of country.
"I only ask one thing," she wrote, "that should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them."
Myint recalled calling her to express his condolences after Aris died in 1999. Suu Kyi was calm on the phone for the four-minute conversation but Myint could tell her heart was breaking.
"Maybe we are good at politics," Suu Kyi told Myint. "But we are bad at family matters."
Suu Kyi tried to break the monotony of her life by playing her piano, another passion in her life, according to the independent Irrawaddy magazine.
But in time, the piano warped and Suu Kyi turned to painting to fill the void, the magazine reported. One day, maybe, people will see her canvases.
Suu Kyi has also asked her lawyers to bring her books in English and French.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz had been allowed to present her with his book "Globalization and Its Discontent."
In 2007, people defiantly took to the streets to protest rising fuel costs. The demonstrations were seen as a direct challenge to the authority of the government.
The regime answered with a brutal crackdown. Suu Kyi's detention was extended again and again. She appeared gaunt -- and unhappy.
Even when Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar in May 2008, Suu Kyi was not allowed to leave her house, though trees were crashing down all around her.
The following year, Myanmar was again propelled into the headlines by a bizarre incident involving an American, John Yettaw, who improvised flippers to swim Inya Lake to Suu
Kyi's compound. He said he had received a message from God to do so. Yettaw was arrested, and Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with harboring Yettaw, and was punished with another 18 months of house arrest.
Some believe that Suu Kyi's stubborn defiance has become an obstacle to progress in Myanmar. But her followers remain ardent in their admiration. She has clung to her dream of democracy, peace and freedom for Myanmar's 50 million impoverished people, they say.
Those simple ideals have greatly complicated one woman's life.
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The Independent - The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi By Peter Popham
Lucy Popescu, Friday 18 November 2011
In Freedom from Fear, first published in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi wrote: "It is not power that corrupts but fear... in any society where fear is rife, corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched." Sadly, Burma's military junta retains its grip on power through fraudulent means and intimidation.
In his accessible and impeccably researched biography of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Peter Popham gives a clear-sighted appraisal of how the regime's brutal methods have produced this crippling state of fear. Key events include the 1988 violent crackdown on student-led protests and the equally bloody suppression of the monks' 2007 "Saffron Revolution".
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in the 1990 election but the military refused to recognise their right to rule, and responded by imprisoning party members and supporters. Suu Kyi was herself under house arrest at the time. During this unimaginably painful period of isolation, she fell back on her Buddhist faith and meditation. But there were also physical consequences – she had to sell her furniture to pay for food, becoming so weak from malnutrition that her hair started to fall out, and she developed spondylosis.
Her father, Aung San, the independence hero of Burma, was assassinated in 1947 when she was two years old. Suu Kyi has remained steadfastly loyal to his memory. Before she married the Oxford academic Michael Aris, Suu Kyi sent him a letter in which she famously wrote: "I only ask one thing, that should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them."
Popham tackles early on the controversy surrounding Suu Kyi's decision to sacrifice her husband and family for her political commitment to a nation. "Suu was acutely aware of the suffering of her people long before she returned to live there: of the poverty forced on the inhabitants of this naturally rich land by the idiocy of its rulers, on the stunting of bodies and minds by criminal economic and social policies."
He suggests that her decision to remain in Burma and forfeit a comfortable life with her husband and children was moral, rather than political. Choosing to stay earned Suu Kyi "an unwavering place in the hearts of tens of millions of Burmese". This came at a terrible cost. In 1999 she was unable to bid farewell to Aris, who was dying of prostate cancer. The regime callously refused to grant him a visa and Suu Kyi knew that, if she left Burma, she would be unable to protect her colleagues and would never be allowed to return.
As well as exploring her formative years, from her childhood in Rangoon, schooling in Delhi and her time in Oxford as a student and later housewife, Popham offers a coherent analysis of Burma's history. He highlights Suu Kyi's many qualities but is never overawed. He suggests that the NLD failed to capitalise on their victory and that some decisions were ill-advised – the vehemence with which she condemned General Ne Win led to her detention.
Throughout, he underlines Suu Kyi's moral authority and suggests that her non-violent approach has not only influenced Burmese society but has also helped to shape non-violent resistance globally. Suu Kyi is now free but her release was timed to deflect attention from the sham elections in November 2010. Popham's stance is admirably compassionate.
This is a poignant account of Suu Kyi's life and her efforts to establish democracy in Burma. It also serves as a powerful indictment of the corruption and fear that has paralysed a once-prosperous nation.
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Posted at 11:43 AM ET, 11/18/2011
The Washington Post - In Burma trip, exiles see chance to free prisoners
By William Wan
A Burmese prisoner was released from the Insein central prison in Rangoon last month. (Soe Than Win — AFP/Getty Images) When Burma declared last month it would release more than 6,000 prisoners, it was seen as a possible sign that a major shift could be underway there. President Obama, in announcing Friday that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would be traveling to the country, cited the prisoner release as an important step toward reform.
But the reality is that only an estimated 200 of those released turned out to be political prisoners. None of the most prominent opposition leaders were among them.
For Burmese exiles and pro-democracy groups, that means Clinton’s trip is an opportunity to push the ruling junta to do more before she even arrives.
“It will be the only way to justify such a high-level official,” said Aung Din, director of U.S. Campaign for Burma and a former Burmese prisoner.
Obama said that the United States remains concerned about Burma’s closed political system, as well as its treatment of political prisoners and minorities. For that reason, among others, the announcement of Clinton’s upcoming trip came as a surprise to the close-knit Burma community in Washington. Some worry it may be coming too soon.
“It gives them prestige, legitimacy, implies in part that this is a reformist government when there’s still such a long way to go,” said Mike Mitchell, a Washington-based activist who has worked with the Burmese democracy movement for more than 20 years. “This isn’t a revolution like in Tunisia or Egypt. This has been a series of small steps forward by a regime that up until seven months ago was one of the most ostracized in the world and for good reason.”
Many interpreted the visit as being part of the Obama administration’s new pivot toward Asia and an effort to counterbalance China’s rising power and influence in the region.
Burma has long relied on China as its key ally, but in recent months has shown signs of anxiety over the relationship. Some of its recent moves — most notably its suspension of an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project — have seemed to signal that the junta is willing to warm to the West.
“There’s a lot of negative sentiment against China among the Burmese people and government,” said Aung Din. “There is anxiety about how much China will push back or demand concessions because of the cancellation of the dam, and how it will behave going into the future.”
The visit by Clinton could be a chance to capitalize on that emerging rift.
“A lot of this has to do with China, and they need to be careful how that’s perceived,” said Michael Green, a former senior official on the National Security Council. “We can’t get sucked into a cynical approach of playing power balance games as China now does. We can’t be seen as putting that ahead of our values on human rights and democracy. And the other danger is if others in the region like India or Japan misinterpret this as a sign that it’s now okay to turn on the spigots of aid to Burma.”
Burma has previously shown signs of reform, only to backtrack, Green and others noted. The fact that Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi endorsed Clinton’s visit indicates there may be a real chance that this time could be different.
But the proof will be in what tangible actions Burma is willing to deliver with Clinton’s visit — actions like the release of more political prisoners.
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NOVEMBER 17, 2011, 11:45 P.M. ET
Wall Street Journal - Myanmar's Hidden Capital Comes Into View
By PATRICK BARTA
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar—Whatever happens with Myanmar's latest tentative thaw with the outside world, one thing is clear after seeing this remote and rarely visited capital: Myanmar's leaders are thinking big.
This may be fortuitous: Thursday's decision at a regional summit in Indonesia to let Myanmar assume the chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014 all but ensures that Naypyitaw will take on a higher profile. The position, which Myanmar sought as a way to raise its international standing, involves hosting a lengthy series of diplomatic summits and could draw thousands of foreign visitors to the city.
Take a look at Myanmar's new capital, Naypyitaw. The city used to be largely off limits to Western visitors, but it's opening up as Myanmar's leaders look for more acceptance from the outside world. WSJ's Patrick Barta reports.
On a government-authorized tour this week of the shiny new city—built over the past decade to replace Myanmar's former colonial-era capital of Yangon, and mostly off-limits to Westerners in previous years—a Wall Street Journal reporter and photographer found numerous signs the country's leaders see Myanmar as a major player in Asia despite years of tough economic sanctions from the West, and expect it to be more open in the years ahead.
A massive new airport is under construction with space to handle rows of international jets. The government is adding two new stadiums to help host regional sporting competitions, while developers are building sprawling new hotel complexes.
There's a gigantic new Myanmar International Convention Center—built next to empty fields, and funded by China—as well as a vast domed exhibition hall that looks like a flying saucer (and is roughly the size of a typical American college basketball arena) for international gem sales. Trade in Myanmar's famous precious stones is blocked in the U.S. because of the country's human-rights record, but that hasn't stopped Myanmar, which just sells more of them to China and other parts of Asia.
Western journalists who visited the city before typically did so undercover, shooting furtive photographs and keeping a low profile to avoid detection and possible deportation.
The Wall Street Journal visit on Tuesday, however, was approved by authorities after they agreed to a request from the newspaper to interview government officials about the country's latest reform process, which has included relaxations on the media and the release of hundreds of political prisoners after decades of harsh military rule.
The Wall Street Journal journalists were picked up by government employees at the city's current airport, in a low-slung building surrounded by rice paddies, and told they had "free time" and could see whatever they wanted. For the most part, the cheerful guides made good on their promise, providing a multihour tour of the vast city—which reportedly spreads over hundreds of square miles—that included stops at a shopping mall, some hotels, a "big box" hypermarket and a series of government apartment blocks, though not the parliament.
The sweep of the master-planned city, which is divided into different zones for hotels, residences and government buildings, dwarfs its inhabitants, many of whom seemed a bit bewildered by its size and lack of street life. Traffic police stood under the shade of trees along long roads with no traffic, watching ox carts poke by in fields in the distance.
Several of the six- and eight-lane highways were largely empty except for bicycles, motorbikes and occasional cars, at times resembling empty parade grounds. Chalky dirt roads radiate out from the highways, leading to villages of stilt houses or across rice fields.
Despite the country's crushing poverty—it is one of the poorest in Asia—the city's dozen or so giant roundabouts included neatly-tended potted flowers and landscaped grass, while sprinkler systems watered green areas nearby. The hotel zone included about 30 projects, including a 67-room Hotel Amara "urban resort," with an executive wing with space for corporate seminars.
The guides assigned to The Wall Street Journal were stopped by police at a checkpoint for the city's main attraction—a towering golden pagoda on a hill overlooking Naypyitaw—and told cameras were not allowed on the site. But after a phone call to officials sponsoring the visit, the way was cleared.
Government employees took photos of the visitors as they toured the impressive structure, which includes a sacred Buddha tooth relic from China, and a brief account of the reporters' visit to the site appeared the next day in the government mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar. A brigadier general encouraged the journalists to return.
After a meeting with the country's information and culture minister and other officials, in a large government block hidden behind scrubs and jungle, the reporters were escorted back to the airport, with a brief stop for sodas and conversation at a café near the airport.
Naypyitaw was ridiculed by the international media and many foreign diplomats when it was first unveiled a few years ago. It was routinely described as a "jungle" retreat some 300 kilometers from Yangon or "fortified compound" by international news reporters, who suggested it was built to satisfy the astrological whims of the country's eccentric former military regime, or to insulate its leaders from a feared American invasion—as well as from its own people—with reports of a vast network of underground bunkers. Most diplomats refused to move there.
But observers of Myanmar affairs have also argued the city was designed by the country's leaders to make a clean break from Yangon's crumbling infrastructure and colonial legacy–it was known as Rangoon to the British—and recast the country in a more modern mold.
Win Myint, a former government planner who helped design the city, and now works as a private consultant in Yangon, said government leaders had a clear vision when they set about conceptualizing Naypyitaw in the early parts of the last decade. They wanted to avoid the ills of other Asian capitals, like the infamous gridlock of nearby Bangkok, and wanted enough room to handle as many as a million inhabitants (it currently is believed to have less than half that).
Designers visited and studied other capitals and government administrative centers, he said, including Malaysia's master-planned Putrajaya just south of Kuala Lumpur, which they concluded was too close to the big city, giving it too much traffic.
"If you have no clue, you just conclude, these people are crazy," Mr. Win Myint said.
"Of course maybe there were some mistakes, but we tried" to make good decisions, he said.
He said he thinks Naypyitaw will likely grow into its big footprint—as other once-new capitals like Washington, D.C., did— once the new airport is finished and more businesses move in, possibly to support the jade industry.
A few outdoor cafés and street vendors have popped up near government apartment blocks, along with karaoke bars.
Myanmar has abandoned grand plans before. After launching a series of reforms in the 1990s to loosen the state's grip over the economy, it sought to encourage more visitors and built a large international airport in Mandalay to turn the fabled central Myanmar city into an international hub.
But economic sanctions and other problems helped kill those schemes, and large portions of the airport in otherwise-empty countryside outside of Mandalay fell into disuse.
Naypyitaw, as well, could turn out to be a giant, and costly, white elephant. One visitor interviewed on Tuesday, a Chinese diplomat who had traveled from Yangon on business, said he thought it was boring and a bit befuddling. "You just stay at your hotel or go to the pagoda," he said.
"But it's a young city," he added. "There still is construction everywhere— maybe in ten years, it will be a very big city."
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ABC News - Obama Pivots to Engage Myanmar, Sees Reforms Too Important to Ignore
By Jon Garcia | ABC News Blogs – 10 hrs ago
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the United States will engage with the government of Myanmar after seeing “flickers of progress in these last several weeks … on the path toward reform.”
Secy. Clinton will be the first Secretary of State to visit the country in more than half a century when she travels to Burma next month.
Clinton’s trip “will explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition in Burma and begin a new chapter between our countries,” Obama said. “That possibility will depend upon the Burmese government taking more concrete action. If Burma fails to move down the path of reform it will continue to face sanctions and isolation.
“But if it seizes this moment then reconciliation can prevail and millions of people may get to live with greater measure of freedom, prosperity and dignity. And that possibility is too important to ignore.
“The persecution of democratic reformers, the brutality shown toward ethnic minorities and the concentration of power in the few military leaders has challenged our conscience and isolated Burma from the United States and much of the world,” Obama told reporters covering his trip to Bali, Indonesia for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference. The U.S. government refers to the country by its former name, before it was changed by the new regime.
The United States has imposed trade and monetary sanctions against Myanmar over the last decade in response to the oppression, and has openly supported Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest until late last year.
“For decades Americans have been deeply concerned about the denial of basic human rights for the Burmese people,” he said. But now “the government has released some political prisoners, media restrictions have been relaxed and legislation has been approved that could open the political environment. So taken together, these are the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we’ve seen in years,” he said.
Those steps, he said, offer an opening for a change in relations.
“We want to seize what could be an historic opportunity for progress. And make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform it could forge a new relationship with the United States of America,” he said, though he warned that there is much more to be done.
Specifically those steps included releasing more than 100 political prisoners in October, passing new laws that would potentially allow Aung San Suu Kyi’s party to run in elections, allow trade unions, unblocking some websites, and allowing access to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, a senior administration official said.
Before making the announcement, Obama called Aung San Suu Kyi from aboard Air Force One to confirm her support for the U.S. opening the dialogue. During the 20-minute call, she and Obama discussed the reconciliation process, and putting an end to the violence. She strongly supported Clinton’s upcoming visit, the official said. She even asked Obama about how his dog Bo was doing and told him she had a dog too.
“We’ve decided to take this step to respond to the positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America’s commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values,” Obama said.
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EUbusiness - EU hails 'courageous' comeback of Suu Kyi party in Myanmar
18 November 2011, 16:32 CET
(BRUSSELS) - EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton welcomed the "courageous" return of Myanmar's opposition party to the political arena on Friday as another sign of "great hope" in the military-dominated nation.
"I am delighted at the announcement by the National League for Democracy (NLD) that they are going to join forthcoming by-elections in Myanmar," Ashton said.
"This is a courageous and welcome decision. Fair and transparent elections leading to a wider representation of the people in the Burmese parliament will be a key step towards making national reconciliation a reality," she said.
The European Union's foreign policy chief congratulated the government and parliament for passing amendments to the law, enabling the party of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to re-register as a political party and contest coming by-elections.
"The continuing positive developments in Myanmar are a source of great hope and encouragement," Ashton said. "I look forward to them continuing, including a further substantial release of political prisoners."
The United States and European countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar over its human rights record, including the imprisonment of about 2,000 political detainees, about 200 of whom were freed last month.
The EU has launched a "substantial review" of its policy towards Myanmar, Ashton said.
"The European Union will want to accompany Myanmar on the path it is taking, both with political and economic engagement. I am looking forward to discussing all this directly with Myanmar interlocutors," she said.
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Monsters and Critics - EU hints at lifting Myanmar sanctions after opposition ends boycott
Nov 18, 2011, 15:06 GMT
Brussels - The European Union hinted Friday it may lift sanctions on Myanmar after its main opposition party decided it would end a boycott on parliamentary elections by registering for a by-election early next year.
'I am delighted at the announcement by the National League for Democracy (NLD),' EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. 'This is a courageous and welcome decision.'
'The EU has always stated that it will respond to positive events in the country. The restrictive measures have already been partly modified this year. A more substantial review of EU policy is already underway,' Ashton added.
The NLD is led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest on November 13. In a further gesture towards the opposition, authorities this year also released hundreds of dissidents from prison.
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GMA News - US, Europe, Japan welcome 'progress' in Myanmar
Laura MacInnis, Caren Behan, David Brunnstrom, and Yoko Nishikawa, Reuters
11/18/2011 | 10:50 PM
NUSA DUA, Indonesia - US President Barack Obama said on Friday he saw "flickers of progress" in Myanmar, dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a historic visit that could draw the country out of half a century of global isolation.
Obama, in Indonesia for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said he had spoken for the first time withMyanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who told him she supported more US engagement with the country also known as Burma.
In another indication of change in Myanmar, Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, re-registered on Friday to contest a series of by-elections for vacant parliamentary seats. This follows amendments to electoral laws and brings Suu Kyi a step closer to returning to politics.
Obama said the release of political prisoners, relaxing of media restrictions and signs of legislative change in recent weeks were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years".
Clinton's two-day visit from Dec. 1 would be the first by a US Secretary of State since a 1962 military coup ushered in 50 years of unbroken military rule that ended in March when a nominally civilian parliament was established.
Since then, the new government has called for peace with ethnic minority groups, displayed some tolerance of criticism, suspended an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project, freed about 230 political prisoners and reached out to Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate freed last year from 15 years of detention.
"We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burmacontinues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said.
"If Burma fails to move down the path of reform, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But if it seizes this moment, then reconciliation can prevail," Obama said.
Human rights
Many Western governments have expressed caution that more must be done for Myanmar's reforms to be considered credible. As early as Oct. 17, for instance, Derek Mitchell, special US envoy forMyanmar, said there were "credible reports" of continuing human rights abuses against women and children.
Clinton is scheduled to meet Suu Kyi and visit Yangon and the capital Naypyitaw. She will "explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition in Burma and begin a new chapter between our countries", Obama said.
Myanmar welcomed the visit.
"It's a very good sign," Ko Ko Hlaing, chief political adviser to Myanmar's president, told Reuters. "I think it is a significant turn in US policy towards Myanmar ... people in Myanmar will welcome, cheer Hillary Clinton because for a time in history, they have never seen a secretary of state."
With sanctions blocking Western investments, China has emerged as Myanmar's biggest ally, investing in infrastructure, hydropower dams and twin oil-and-gas pipelines to help feed southern China's growing energy needs.
Bilateral trade rose more than half last year to $4.4 billion, and China's investment in Myanmarreached $12.3 billion in 2010, according to Chinese figures, with a strong focus on natural resources and energy.
But the relationship has been strained, with a long history of resentment of China among the Burmese population and fierce public opposition to a Chinese-built dam at Myitsone that prompted Myanmar President Thein Sein to shelve the project last month, a move that stunned Beijing.
A U.S. official said the Obama administration "fully expects" China to welcome US engagement withMyanmar and the United States would consult China closely on its engagement with the Southeast Asian country.
China is wary of greater US influence in the region, especially in countries on its border, as Myanmaris, but the US decision to engage with Myanmar should not be seen as an attempt to contain China, the US official said, adding that a stable Myanmar was in China's interests.
"It's about Burma, not about China," the official said.
When Obama took office in 2009, he made reaching out to American adversaries a signature part of his foreign policy approach. That included an effort early to engage with Iran.
But the administration took a cautious approach on Myanmar because of its human rights record. Obama requested a policy review on Myanmar, paving the way for the recent diplomacy.
US officials said that Obama spoke to Suu Kyi during his flight on Thursday from Australia to Bali.
The 20-minute call was the first time they had talked and he told her he had long admired her democratic struggle. They described it as a meaningful but friendly conversation in which Suu Kyi also asked about Obama's family dog.
He asked for her ideas on how to approach her country.
"She encouraged the president to make clear to Burma's leaders that the U.S. will be willing to work with them if they are in fact demonstrating that they are willing to work with the world and her," one US official said.
Obama is not scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Thein Sein but will see him in Bali at a East Asia Summit.
Southeast Asian nations endorsed Myanmar on Thursday for the chairmanship of its regional grouping in 2014, gambling that the country can stick to reforms begun this year. The United States respected that decision, a US official said.
BRUSSELS - The European Union said on Friday a decision by the party ofMyanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to take part in upcoming by-elections was "encouraging", and said a review of its policy toward the reclusive Asian nation was under way.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Myanmar to release more dissidents, but said it was already looking at whether reforms there could justify a further easing of sanctions.
"We hope that these elections are conducted in a fair and transparent manner. This would be yet another step towards national conciliation," spokesman Michael Mann said.
Mann hailed the "encouraging, positive developments" in the country and expressed hope they would continue, "including a further substantial release of political prisoners."
"The EU has always stated that it will respond to positive events in the country. The restrictive measures have already been partly modified in April," he said, referring to EU sanctions. "A more substantial review of EU policy is already under way."
Ashton sent her top foreign policy adviser to Myanmar earlier this year, and the EU slightly eased sanctions in April by suspending enforcement of travel bans and asset freezes on 24 civilian government officials to encourage reform.
The new government has called for peace with minority groups, displayed some tolerance of criticism, suspended an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project, freed about 230 political prisoners and somewhat improved relations with Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who was freed last year after 15 years of detention.
However, large numbers of political prisoners remain and EU officials have said they would wait to see how many were actually freed, when judging the government's sincerity.
One EU diplomat said his country was still taking a wait-and-see attitude. "Although the military government has given way to a so-called civilian government, it still seems that this may be window-dressing and we would like to see some results."
NUSA DUA - Japan told Myanmar on Friday that it wants to soon start working-level talks that could lead to the resumption of full-fledged development aid, following reforms in the long-isolated country.
However, Japan also urged Myanmar to release more political prisoners to continue a series of changes since the army nominally handed over power in March to civilians after the first elections in two decades.
Japan froze new official development assistance (ODA) to the country in 2003, while continuing humanitarian aid. In June, it lifted its ban on new ODA, but has fallen short of resuming full-fledged aid for infrastructure projects.
At a bilateral meeting with President Thein Sein in Indonesia, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Nodawelcomed Myanmar's recent reforms towards democracy, including Friday's decision by the party of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to contest upcoming by-elections.
"At the same time, Prime Minister Noda expressed hope for the release of more political prisoners (inMyanmar)," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito told reporters.
Japan has distanced itself from the policy of Western powers, which have imposed tough sanctions onMyanmar, and from that of China, which has pumped billions of dollars into the country. It prefers engagement and dialogue to push for democracy in the country.
President Thein Sein told Noda that Myanmar hoped for Japan's ODA assistance for infrastructure projects, but Japan's premier stopped short of promising specific aid at the summit, he added.
Recent overtures by Myanmar's new civilian government have included calls for peace with ethnic minority groups and the release of about 230 political prisoners and reaching out to Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate freed last year from 15 years of detention.
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EUROPEAN UNION - Statement by High Representative Catherine Ashton on the decision of NLD to re-register as a political party in Myanmar (Burma)
Brussels, 18 November 2011
A 460/11
Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, made today the following statement:
"I am delighted at the announcement by the National League for Democracy (NLD) that they are going to join forthcoming by-elections in Myanmar (Burma). This is a courageous and welcome decision. Fair and transparent elections leading to a wider representation of the people in the Burmese Parliament will be a key step towards making national reconciliation a reality. My congratulations go also to the Government and the Parliament for passing the amendments to the law which have enabled the NLD's decision.
The continuing positive developments in Myanmar are a source of great hope and encouragement. I look forward to them continuing, including a further substantial release of political prisoners. The European Union will want to accompany Myanmar on the path it is taking, both with political and economic engagement. I am looking forward to discussing all this directly with Myanmar interlocutors.
The EU has always stated that it will respond to positive events in the country. The restrictive measures have already been partly modified this year. A more substantial review of EU policy is already under way."
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CHENNAI, November 18, 2011
The Hindu - After a decade, Suu Kyi accepts award
Special Correspondent
Nearly a decade after it was conferred, a prestigious United Nations award for promoting peace and tolerance has finally been presented to its winner, Myanmarese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms. Suu Kyi was chosen for the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence in 2002, but it is only now that the Myanmar government has allowed her to accept the award carrying a prize of $1,00,000.
On November 16—the United Nations Day of Tolerance — UNESCO arranged a video conference with Ms. Suu Kyi for handing over a cheque for the amount, while announcing the awardees of the 2011 UNESCO- Madanjeet Singh Prize.
In a video message of congratulations on her acceptance of the prize amount in Yangon (Myanmar), Mr. Madanjeet Singh, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the prize, pointed to the initiative of the South Asia Foundation (SAF) in establishing a UNESCO Madanjeet Singh institute of excellence in the proposed Nalanda University, on the lines of the 12 institutions established in the eight SAARC countries.
He requested Ms. Suu Kyi to become the Chief Patron of the Madanjeet Singh institute of excellence that would be devoted to Theravada studies, modelled on a similar institute set up in Kashmir for studies of Sufi-Bhakti-Rishi culture.
Special tribute
UNESCO has also decided that during the award ceremony slated at its Paris headquarters for December 9, a special tribute would be paid to the Nobel Peace Laureate along with the presentation of video messages by Ms. Suu Kyi and Mr. Madanjeet Singh.
Other eminent personalities expected to attend the ceremony include French diplomat and human rights activist Stéphane Hessel, laureate of the UNESCO-Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former Secretary-General of the U.N..
Turkish philosopher Ioanna Kuçuradi, the Chairperson of the International Jury of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize, and the two laureates for 2011, Anarkali Honaryar and Khaled Abu Awwad, will take the floor during the event.
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The Irrawaddy - China-US Rivalry Overshadows Bali Summit
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Friday, November 18, 2011
BANGKOK—Burma's Government has been granted its wish to hold the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) chair in 2014, but the weekend's Asia-Pacific summits in Bali will be dominated by a growing US-China rivalry.
US President Barack Obama flew into Bali on Thursday night—the first time an American President will attend an Asean/East Asian summit—and, in what China will surely take as a provocation, is likely to bring up the simmering South China Sea dispute.
Vietnam and the Philippines have sought backing not only from the US in their confrontations with China over ownership of islands in the sea, but also from Japan and India. All told, seven countries have claims of some sort on the mineral and fishery-rich waterway, and China's uncompromising stance to date has set its neighbors on edge, offering the US a chance to step in.
In Bangkok last month, Kurt Campbell, the senior-ranking U.S official covering Asia, pledged that the US would shift resources and attention from the Middle East and South Asia to the Asia-Pacific region. However, the US has work to do, in Southeast Asia at least. According to a paper by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C.
think-tank, the US dropped from being Asean’s largest trading partner to fourth, a swing compounded as China went from ninth to first over the same time-period.
New US plans to launch a free trade bloc known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) seem explicitly designed to counter China's growing economic weight in the region. The same proposal could prove a useful re-election peg for Obama next year, a buffer against Republican party accusations that he has been slack on boosting US trade links and has failed to stand-up to Beijing.
And while still-sanctioned Burma, with its mothballed economy and infrastructure, is a long way from joining any US-led free trade grouping, Burma hosting an Asean summit in 2014 is now a done deal. If Obama is re-elected, therefore, he will likely visit Burma at least once in 2014 for the summit.
On Friday, the US president announced that he will send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Burma next month—for the first visit to the country by a US secretary of state since military rule was first imposed nearly 50 years ago.
The internationally-backed reputation-laundering of a once-pariah state will facilitate US economic and political relationship-building in Burma and—Washington hopes—will lay the groundwork for an attempted roll-back of China's economic influence there, at least to the extent that Burma does not become a signed sealed and delivered Chinese vassal.
Two days after Burma's foreign minister met with American officials in the U.S., Burma's President Thein Sein announced —to international astonishment—the suspension of the US $3.6 billion China-funded Myitsone Dam project in northern Burma. By causing China to lose face in such a public and abrupt manner, and demonstrate that it is not yet the Chinese vassal some depict it to be, the Burmese government thinks it has done its bit to entice the US to “engage” more. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Thursday, Burma’s Information Minister Kway Hsan hinted at what the Burmese government wants next from the Americans by blaming US sanctions for hindering development in Burma and forcing the country to rely on Chinese investment.
That said, it seems that the US is not yet ready to relax sanctions, suggesting that the Burmese need to undertake additional reforms before topping the bar in Washington's eyes. Speaking in Australia on Thursday morning, Obama said that "Some political prisoners have been released. The government has begun a dialogue. Still, violations of human rights persist. So we will continue to speak clearly about the steps that must be taken for the government of Burma to have a better relationship with the United States."
One country that is not yet sure of its Asean approval is Timor-Leste, which submitted a revised membership application to the current Asean chair and former occupier Indonesia on Tuesday.
Previously, Timor Leste’s application had always faced rejection from Singapore, which argued that the country would hinder Asean’s moves toward an EU-style “community” by 2015. This week, Indonesia's ever-quotable foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said that “Asean ministers welcome Timor Leste’s application. We have formed a working group to review the roadmap Timor Leste will take to become a member based on the Asean Declaration,” though it is not clear whether Singapore's misgivings have been overcome.
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The Irrawaddy - More Daylight Between China and Burma
By ASIA SENTINEL Friday, November 18, 2011
Last Monday, Burma’s new defense chief, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, arrived in Vietnam for his first trip abroad —conspicuously not choosing to visit China as his predecessors always have. That is the latest thumb in the eye for Beijing, from a government that literally owes its existence to China.
The snub follows the decision in late September to cancel the US$3.6 billion Myitsone Dam, which was designed to produce 3,600 to 6,000 megawatts of power, 80 percent of which was to be delivered to China. The dam was under preliminary construction by the state-owned China Power Investment Corp.
Those are dramatic developments in relations between the two countries and they have not gone unnoticed in Washington, DC. Some sources speculated that the Burmese military might be seeking a defense arrangement of some sort with the Vietnamese, China’s most vocal adversary in Southeast Asia.
“Burma's been getting a lot of attention lately, for a number of reasons: internal politics and possible liberalization; the protests against the Chinese dam, and Burma's geostrategic relations with both China and India,” said a US intelligence official in an email. “I think the (Min Aung Hlaing) trip is a conscious effort on Burma's part to engage in a bit of light
hedging. I've also seen a surge in scholarship on Burma lately, mostly for the India-China issue.”
Both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have taken notice of the change, with Obama noting in a speech in Australia that some political prisoners have been released, but that more must be, and cautioning that violations of human rights still persist.
The decision in Naypyidaw, Burma’s northern capital, to put a bit of space between the two countries is at least a lull in relations with the Chinese ,which have grown increasingly closer since the west imposed an embargo in 1988 after a bloody crackdown against protesters that took hundreds of lives. In a wider sense, it is a demonstration of just how tenuous China’s so-called soft power really is. In that, Burma is seemingly at one with other small nationsl on China's flanks, which have become increasingly unsettled as Chinese Authorities have declared no dissent would be tolerated on such issues as hegemony over the South China Sea and other "core interests."
China became by far Burma’s most important supplier of military goods as well as a major supplier of consumer and capital goods as well in the wake of the 1988 western embargoes, which have been increasingly tightened (and increasingly broken by Thailand and other countries eager for Burma's natural resources). Major pipelines snake across the entire country from the Bay of Bengal side of the country, delivering oil and gas to China despite the fact that an estimated 70 percent of Burma is without electricity. Chinese money from the purchase of vast amounts of natural resources is regarded as having propped up the junta that preceded the current government, providing the funds that have modernized the Burmese army and air force.
All of that has antagonized Burmese citizens, who complain that they are being colonized by their neighbor.
It is clear that Burma is seeking to step back from China at the same time it is opening to the wider world. Just this week, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations formally named Burma to head the 10-member regional organization at an Asean summit in Bali.
But how far it can step back without rippling the scales of the Chinese dragon remains to be seen.
“I think the Burmese are hedging their bets: don't put all the eggs in the PRC basket,” a China-watcher told Asia Sentinel. “Beijing can be a tough taskmaster. The Chinese look upon Burma as kind of a satellite state and the Burmese earned their displeasure by nixing the dam project a while ago.”
Nonetheless, as they have opened to the world in the wake of plainly rigged elections a year ago, the government in Naypyidaw has reached out to the United States and a growing number of other countries as a counterbalance. That has been matched by eager regional powers that would prefer to pry Burma somewhat out of China’s embrace, partly because of the vast resources of oil, gas and other natural resources in the largely undeveloped country.
As Toshihira Toda pointed out in a recent paper on the imbalance in trade, Burma’s imports from China have vastly outpaced its exports.
While exports to China increased nearly seven-fold between the 1990s and 2006, its imports from China increase by nearly 10 times, resulting in a what Toda described as a “huge” trade deficit of US$1.098 billion, 2.4 times larger than its total trade surplus in the same year.
“The Burmese have long realized that they have heavily depended on China - so we will see a major shift in coming years,” said Aung Zaw, the publisher of Irrawaddy, a Chiang Mai, Thailand-based independent publication. “Burma will find partners in the West (the US) to counter China's growing clout. But it has to be careful, and I think it will be delicate and sophisticated diplomacy. Since Burma has formed a strategic relationship with China this year, Burma cannot afford to upset the big brother. The issue of Myitsone is still unsettling and Beijing is obviously upset.”
In reality, Toda writes, Sino–Burmese relations “have undergone a series of ups and downs and China has occasionally posed a real threat to (Burma’s) security, such as the incursion of defeated Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang or KMT) troops into the northern Shan State in 1949, overt and covert Chinese support for the Burmese Communist Party’s insurgency against Rangoon up until 1988 and confrontations between Burmese and resident overseas Chinese, including militant Maoist students in 1967. Indeed, the (Burmese) leadership, always extremely sensitive about the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, had long observed strict neutrality during the Cold War, avoiding obtaining military and economic aid from the superpowers.”
Although there has been no detailed announcement about Min Aung Hlaing’s to Vietnam, military observers told The Irrawaddy that the visit was intended to cement military bilateral corporation between the two countries at the invitation of Vietnam’s National Defense Minister Gen Phung Quang Thanh.
Burma’s former Commander-in-Chief Tin Oo, currently one of the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that there have not been many instances of military cooperation with Vietnam. He added that the two nations merely conducted research together and Burmese commanders made a case study of the separation of North and South Vietnam.
Tin Oo said, “There’s a small difficulty with China since the president declared the suspension of the Myitsone Dam. Although it is just a military delegation, they want to gain some political respect from China by showing military cooperation with Vietnam.”
Tin Oo also speculated that “the United States is trying to engage with both the Burmese government and opposition groups like our NLD. Therefore, the delegation might also ask for suggestions regarding how to deal with the United States.”
Aung Lynn Htut, a former major in Burmese intelligence who defected in 2005 while serving as deputy chief of the Burmese embassy in Washington D.C., said that although Burma and Vietnam are not military allies, there’s a historical relationship between the respective armed forces regarding defense strategy during the American-Vietnam war.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Sino-Burmese military observer, said that the goal of the trip is more likely to be influencing Burma's relationship with China.
“China might be worried when they see that a Burmese commander-in-chief went to Vietnam which has been in conflict with [Beijing] over the maritime dispute [regarding oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea]. Burma also wants to show China that they can deal with any country,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw. “They might also ask to buy some military installations from Vietnam in the future.”
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The Irrawaddy - Obama Seeks Greater US Role in East Asia
By BEN FELLER, AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT Friday, November 18, 2011
BALI, Indonesia (AP)—US President Barack Obama will appeal on Friday to nations large and small for help with America's security agenda, anxious to build some regional political balance to the rising might of China. He will try to prod for some progress over the hotly contested South China Sea, one of the most vital shipping channels in the world.
Obama's Asia-Pacific tour has now brought him home twice—first to Hawaii, where he was born, and now to the Indonesia, a nation of thousands of islands where he spent years as a boy. His stop in Bali is driven by his promise to be the first American president to take part in the East Asian Summit, a forum he wants to elevate as a force friendly to American interests.
Obama arrived in this resort island late on Thursday from Australia, where he announced a new military presence and sent Beijing a message that America "is all in" across the Asia-Pacific. The White House is determined to show that American leadership here, far from home, is wanted after a decade in which wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominated attention.
The United States needs help from the region, too—both in bolstering the stalled American economy and in cooperating over threats from piracy to nuclear proliferation.
With an eye on the American public's interests, Obama begins his agenda in Bali by hailing commercial pacts his aides say could support more than 120,000 jobs.
He will preside over the announcement of the sale of Boeing 737s to Lion Air, which could reach US $35 billion, one of the largest trade deals between the United States and Indonesia.
More broadly, Obama's presence is meant to try to lift up the regional power structures here and insert the American voice more than ever.
He will attend a meeting with the heads of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean), whose 10 members include host Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The group will expand for the East Asia Summit, a forum that also counts China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the US as members.
Obama will also use the summit sidelines to meet with leaders such as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with whom the president has developed a close relationship. Obama made a point to meet with Singh in Bali as part of his mission to devote attention to India, which the administration wants to play a larger role in Asia as the world's largest democracy.
Looming over everything, as is usual with a presidential to this part of the world, is China. Its economy and military growth give it growing clout on the world stage.
The United States has no territorial claim but an enormous stake over the South China Sea, where disputes run deep.
Four Asean member states—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam —lay claims to the region believed to be rich in oil. China and its rival Taiwan are the other claimants.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a declaration with her counterpart from the Philippines this week calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those over the South China Sea. China wants them to negotiate one-to-one and chafes at any US involvement.
The summit talks will be judged in part over whether any progress in made in resolving the maritime disputes.
US officials are quick to note the importance of the South China Sea, where $1.2 trillion in US trade moves annually, according to Adm. Robert Willard, head of the US Pacific Command.
Briefing reporters traveling with Obama this week, Willard called it "a vital interest to the region, a national interest to the United States, an area that carries an immense amount of
commerce and an area in which we must maintain maritime security and peace and not see disruptions as a consequence of contested areas."
Leaders of smaller Asian states are increasingly alarmed over China's claims to maritime passage and rich oil reserves in the South China Sea.
The big news of Obama's trip so far was the establishment of a marine presence in northern Australia to give the US more power in the region and ability to respond to crises.
On Thursday, China was muted in its public response, saying only that more robust American ties to Australia should not harm other countries. "China has no opposition to the development of normal state-to-state relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing. "We also hope that when developing normal state-to-state relations, one should take into consideration the interests of other countries as well as the whole region and the peace and stability of the region."
Behind the scenes, however, the more assertive US policy toward China was setting Beijing on edge.
The government's Xinhua News Agency said the US feels threatened by China's rise and influence in Southeast Asia and said Obama's goal was "pinning down and containing China and counterbalancing China's development."
Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.
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Burma’s NLD decision to campaign welcomed
Friday, 18 November 2011 21:24 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s opposition political parties including the National Unity Party [NUP], a former rival of the NLD, welcomed the NLD decision to re-register as a party and contest in the next by-election.
Khin Maung Swe, the leader of the policy affairs committee of National Democratic Force (NDF), said recently that his party wants to cooperate with the NLD in Parliament.
A former NLD central executive committee member, he said, “We are ready to cooperate. All we need is that they want to work together, too. If they want to cooperate with us, there is no reason we should refuse. Whatever Daw Suu [Aung San Suu Kyi] wants to do, we are ready to lend her a hand.”
Khin Maung Swe used a metaphor that Aung San Suu Kyi is the burning torch of Burmese politics. He said that he supported Suu Kyi because he believed that if she is in the Parliament, useful laws would be approved and enacted.
NUP spokesman Han Shwe said that the NLD registration was “the first step for national reconciliation.”
Toe Kyaw Hlaing of the 88-generation students group said the decision reflected the desire of the Burmese people.
“We believe that the NLD’s decision is based on the desires of most of the NLD members,” Toe Kyaw Hlaing said.
The NLD central committee meeting was held on Friday at NLD headquarters in Rangoon to decide whether the NLD would register or not. In the meeting, 106 central committee members from states and regions across the country unanimously decided to register, according to NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing.
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Information Ministry launches ‘Naypyitaw Times Journal’
Friday, 18 November 2011 21:14 Phanida
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Information Ministry on Friday launched a new weekly journal called the “Naypyitaw Times.”
Myo Tun, the chief editor of Sarpay Beikman, will be the chief editor of the “Naypyitaw Times,” and Saw Lin Aung, a former editor of Rangoon Media Group, will serve as executive editor.
Twenty-five correspondents will staff the journal. The headquarters is located in the Sarpay Beikman building at the corner of 37th Road and Merchant Road in Kyauktada Township in Rangoon. The journal will be distributed across the country.
“Our journal is like other private news journals. We want to create a market. We will talk about policy, and we will be similar to [private] news journals,” a member of the editorial team said on the condition of anonymity.
“I think that they want to report about the government’s actions. It seems the officials want the people to know about their actions now, because the journal was allowed to publish an interview with the Information Minister. No other journal could publish an interview with the minister,” the editor told Mizzima.
During the British colonial era in Burma in 1937, a Burmese man, Tun Shwe, and his colleagues founded the “Nagani” publishing house and published books on anti-expansionism and anti-fascism. After Burma achieved independence, the publishing house was renamed “Sarpay Beikman.” Later, successive Burmese governments took control, and today the Information Ministry operates it.
The debut issue marks the 91st anniversary of Burma’s National Day on November 20, and contains special articles and interviews about National Day, a local editor told Mizzima. He said the journal featured a story about Burma’s last ruler, King Hsipaw, and the day he was arrested by British authorities.
“The journal wants to reveal the information banned in Ne Win’s era,” he told Mizzima.
The first issue also contains news articles, poems, international news in translation and pop news. The journal will be distributed on Sundays.
The Information Ministry’s Sarpay Beikman has set up a fund for the journal. Like other news journals, it is required to pass articles through censors prior to publication. The price of the journal is 500 kyat (about US $0.75).
The debut issue also includes a five-page translation of a Wall Street Journal interview with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan by Patrick Barta of the Southeast Asian office of the Wall Street Journal.
The Information Ministry is currently publishing three daily newspapers including the “New Light of Myanmar,” “The Mirror” and “Myawaddy.” A total of more than 300,000 newspapers are distributed daily.
Under Burmese censorship rules enacted in June, there are two categories of publications. Group 1 includes 82 publications, which don’t need to pass articles through censors prior to publication, but must submit copies after publication. Group 2 includes 94 publications, which must pass articles through censors prior to publication.
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Obama talks to Aung San Suu Kyi
Friday, 18 November 2011 12:35 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – U.S. President Barack Obama talked to Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by phone on Thursday to confirm that she supported U.S. engagement to encourage the Burmese government’s steps toward democratic reform.
ABC news correspondent Jake Tapper reported that after Suu Kyi reiterated her support, Obama on Friday asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to travel to Burma in December to explore how the U.S. can support further progress. Clinton will be the first American Secretary of State to visit Burma in more than 50 years.
Tapper said a senior administration official said that Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi “reviewed the progress that has been made in Burma, including her release, her dialogue with the government, the release of some political prisoners, and legislation that could open the political system further. It was important to the President that she welcomed this deeper engagement by the US. This was their first conversation.”
The official said there is “much more that must be done in Burma, and the U.S. has ongoing concerns about Burma’s human rights record, treatment of ethnic minorities, and closed society. They will need to go further with reforms to have a new relationship with the U.S.”
Clinton will explore what the U.S. can do to support progress on political reform, human rights and national reconciliation.
Recently, a procession of high-level U.S. diplomats have arrived in Naypyitaw, Burma’s capital, to meet with the country’s political leaders, who are dominated by former generals. One U.S. official met with Burma’s commander in chief, in a move seen as perhaps opening the way for some form of military cooperation.
Burma is being courted by neighboring countries, especially China, India and Thailand, who seek to gain access to its vast oil, gas and mineral resources.
On Thursday in Indonesia, Burma was awarded the chairmanship of Asean for 2014, a move that brings the country into the mainstream of Asian politics.
Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy, is widely expected to announce on Friday that it will re-register as a political party in order to take part in the coming by-election and contest for some of the 48 open seats in Parliament.
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DVB News - Shell mustn’t ‘pre-empt’ Burma sanctions: UK
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 18 November 2011
Andrew Mitchell, the first cabinet-level EU minister to visit Burma, has warned foreign companies not to “pre-empt” a cessation of EU sanctions on Burma in light of rumours that
Royal Dutch Shell will enter the country’s lucrative extractive sector.
The UK’s international development secretary left Burma yesterday evening after his first visit to the country, in which he saw “clear and immutable changes”. Western nations, he said, would be “big-hearted and generous” to the Burmese leadership if it continues on its current trajectory, notably releasing all political prisoners.
But he reserved stern words for the Anglo-Dutch energy giant, whom reports suggest is looking to partner Thailand’s state-owned PTT Exploration in attempting to develop an offshore gas block off Burma’s southern coast.
Shell already works with PTTE in gas and oil fields in New Zealand, and Thailand’s Nation newspaper said the two companies were “in talks” regarding “interesting countries for Shell [which] also includes Burma”, whose energy reserves are drawing increasing attraction from regional neighbours and the US and EU.
The M-11 block in question lies just south of the Irrawaddy delta in the Gulf of Martaban, close to the M-9 block which is also owned by PTTE. Plans are being made to connect these to Thailand via the Zawtika pipeline, which is currently under construction.
Shell is seen as a world leader in deep sea exploration and production (E&P), a capability that PTTE requires to develop M-11, which they own outright. This could see Shell buy a stake in the block.
The oil giant is the fifth largest company on earth and operational in 90 countries, but would become the first major western energy multinational to re-enter Burma since sanctions were enacted in the 1990s. US oil company Chevron and France’s Total have maintained a controversial presence in the country despite the economic blockade.
With several western companies pressing to enter Burma, trade delegations from EU states including Austria and Sweden have over the past year discreetly made exploratory trips.
Mitchell said however that the country’s oil and gas sector was specifically designated as off-limits by EU sanctions, along with timber, gems, jade and arms. The EU carried sanctions over for another year in April but did ease travel restrictions on some senior members of the government, such as foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
As well as meetings with President Thein Sein and parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, Mitchell also held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday at one of the NLD’s 18 free schools for deprived children, an experience the Conservative party minister described as “emotional”.
The UK government has been given much greater access to ministers in Naypyidaw, say diplomats, while the Conservative government of David Cameron has promised to instruct ambassadors to push for British business in their respective countries.
Controversy has surrounded the UK’s foreign trade with questionable regimes however, with British-made weapons discovered to have been used in the brutal suppression of popular protests in Bahrain this year.
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DVB news - Min Ko Naing moved to Burma’s Insein jail
By MIN LWIN
Published: 18 November 2011
Min Ko Naing, the jailed student leader who played a pivotal role in the 1988 and 2007 uprisings in Burma, has been moved from his cell in the remote Kengtung prison toRangoon’s notorious Insein jail.
It follows similar transfers of other renowned political prisoners in the country in recent days as speculation mounts that the government will announce an amnesty of high-profile inmates.
Rumours are circulating Rangoon however that Min Ko Naing will be redirected from Insein to another jail. If true, it suggests he may not be included in the release, which had been originally mooted for Monday this week.
Also included in prison transfers in recent days are Shan leader Khun Htun Oo and prominent monk Ashin Gambira. Both have been relocated from jails near to the China border to ones closer to home.
Rights groups say the sentencing of inmates to lengthy terms in prisons far removed from their families is tantamount to psychological torture, an issue compounded by the fact that visiting relatives are often a prisoner’s chief source of medicine.
Gambira’s sister told DVB last week that she feared the 32-year-old was in mental and physical decline following bouts of torture and maltreatment since his sentencing in 2008. He is said to be suffering from fits.
Min Ko Naing was arrested along with other 88 Generation Students’ leaders in August 2007 for staging protests against a hike in fuel prices that developed into the infamous September 2007 uprising. He is serving a 65-year sentence.
His group, known as the 88 Generation Students, earlier this month announced that it may seek official status as a political or philanthropic organisation.
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