Myanmar's Suu Kyi makes first parliament speech
Associated Press – Wed, Jul 25, 2012
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi used her first speech in parliament Wednesday to call for laws protecting the rights of the country's impoverished ethnic minorities.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy crusader won her first seat in Myanmar's parliament in a historic April by-election that was seen as a key step in the country's transformation from military rule to fledgling democracy.
Suu Kyi stood from her seat toward the back of Myanmar's parliament to call for an end to discrimination against ethnic minorities as part of the "emergence of a genuine democratic country."
"Based on the spirit of equality, mutual respect and understanding," she said, "I would like to urge all lawmakers to enact necessary laws or amend laws to protect the rights of ethnic nationalities."
Suu Kyi's comments came in support of a motion by a ruling-party lawmaker from the ethnic Shan state on upholding ethnic minority rights. She referred to soaring poverty rates in Chin, Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, noting that protecting minority rights required more than just maintaining ethnic languages and cultures.
"The high poverty rates in ethnic states clearly indicate that development in ethnic regions is not satisfactory — and ethnic conflicts in these regions have not ceased," she said during her brief speech.
Suu Kyi did not mention last month's communal violence in western Myanmar between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas that left at least 78 people dead and prompted a government crackdown in the region.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has faced rare criticism from rights groups for not offering stronger support for the Rohingya, who are considered by most in Myanmar to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are not one of the recognized ethnic groups of Myanmar.
The United Nations says there are about 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar and considers them to be among the most persecuted people in the world.
Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement has long been loosely allied with most of the country's dozen or so major ethnic minority groups, who, like her opposition party, also faced repression under the previous military regime.
Many of the ethnic groups fought bitter civil wars for greater autonomy, some of which lasted decades.
Since taking office last year, President Thein Sein has rolled back many of the repressive actions of the military regimes that preceded him. His military-allied government has reached cease-fires with several ethnic rebel groups, but fighting has continued with Kachin rebels that threatens the ongoing reform and reconciliation process. Rights groups say an estimated 10,000 have been displaced in northern Kachin state.
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Aung San Suu Kyi calls for laws to protect minorities in first speech to Myanmar parliament
By The Associated Press | Associated Press – Wed, Jul 25, 2012
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi used her first speech in parliament Wednesday to call for laws protecting the rights of the country's impoverished ethnic minorities.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy crusader won her first seat in Myanmar's parliament in a historic April byelection that was seen as a key step in the country's transformation from military rule to fledgling democracy.
Suu Kyi stood from her seat toward the back of Myanmar's parliament to call for an end to discrimination against ethnic minorities as part of the "emergence of a genuine democratic country."
"Based on the spirit of equality, mutual respect and understanding," she said, "I would like to urge all lawmakers to enact necessary laws or amend laws to protect the rights of ethnic nationalities."
Suu Kyi's comments came in support of a motion by a ruling-party lawmaker from the ethnic Shan state on upholding ethnic minority rights. She referred to soaring poverty rates in Chin, Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, noting that protecting minority rights required more than just maintaining ethnic languages and cultures.
"The high poverty rates in ethnic states clearly indicate that development in ethnic regions is not satisfactory — and ethnic conflicts in these regions have not ceased," she said during her brief speech.
Suu Kyi did not mention last month's communal violence in western Myanmar between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas that left at least 78 people dead and prompted a government crackdown in the region.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has faced rare criticism from rights groups for not offering stronger support for the Rohingya, who are considered by most in Myanmar to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are not one of the recognized ethnic groups of Myanmar.
The United Nations says there are about 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar and considers them to be among the most persecuted people in the world.
Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement has long been loosely allied with most of the country's dozen or so major ethnic minority groups, who, like her opposition party, also faced repression under the previous military regime.
Many of the ethnic groups fought bitter civil wars for greater autonomy, some of which lasted decades.
Since taking office last year, President Thein Sein has rolled back many of the repressive actions of the military regimes that preceded him. His military-allied government has reached cease-fires with several ethnic rebel groups, but fighting has continued with Kachin rebels that threatens the ongoing reform and reconciliation process. Rights groups say an estimated 10,000 have been displaced in northern Kachin state.
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Myanmar sentences 92 Thai nationals to jail terms
By AYE AYE WIN | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A court in southern Myanmar has sentenced 92 Thai nationals to three and a half years in prison for entering the country illegally to grow crops, a government official said Wednesday.
The verdicts were issued Tuesday in Kawthuang, a town on Myanmar's southern tip, a senior Immigration Ministry official said. He declined to be identified because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry confirmed the verdicts and said Thai diplomats in Myanmar were putting in a request to visit the detainees.
"Certainly everything has to follow the court's proceedings in Myanmar, but we will try to see if we can appeal or how we can mitigate the sentences," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi told The Associated Press.
The Thais were arrested during a military operation in early July for illegally entering the country. Myanmar state media reported that the farmers were attempting to grow rubber trees on 1,500 acres of land, and some of them were armed with automatic rifles and grenades. Thai media reported that some members of the group were attempting to grow marijuana.
So far the case has not affected bilateral relations. Last week, Myanmar President Thein Sein ended a three-day visit to Thailand with an agreement to boost economic cooperation between the two neighbors. During his trip, Thein Sein told Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra he would look into seeking measures to help but said the case had to make its way through the court system.
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Trade Minister to travel to Myanmar to open up trade, investment opportunities
By Adam Miller, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – 21 hours ago
TORONTO - After years of imposing tough sanctions, Canada announced a push Wednesday to open up economic relations with Myanmar, saying International Trade Minister Ed Fast and a delegation of business leaders would travel to the strategically-placed Southeast Asian nation in September.
Fast will be the first cabinet minister to visit the country since trade sanctions were eased at the end of April and Canada announced it would open an embassy in the capital, Rangoon, in recognition of Myanmar's moves to improve human rights and democracy.
But despite Ottawa's optimism over a trade relationship, some pro-democracy and human rights groups are warning that the country formerly known as Burma is still facing serious human rights issues
Fast tried to counter those concerns by saying he remained committed to helping the country on its path to reform and modernization as Canada pursued an open relationship with the region.
"The reason we're engaging is because the trade and investment ground in Burma is shifting," he said. "Slowly but surely, the circumstances, the investment climate and the business environment is changing and we would like to see that change continue."
Fast added that Canadians have long supported Myanmar's "struggle for democracy and freedom."
Fast made his announcement after participating in a closed-door round table meeting in Toronto with numerous Canadian firms who he said are "eager" to do business in the country.
Firms at the meeting included Research In Motion (TSX:RIM.TO - News), SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC.TO - News), Bombardier (TSX:BBD-B.TO - News) and consulting firms Nextep Strategy Inc., Prudential Consulting Inc. and Deloitte.
"After almost three generations of relative isolation, Burma is in desperate need of improvements to its infrastructure," Fast said. "With continued economic reforms and a path towards openness, I am encouraged by these recent developments."
But Tin Maung Htoo, director of the Ottawa-based non-governmental organization Canadian Friends of Burma, said Canadian investors should be wary of entering certain investment sectors in Myanmar.
"I'm still cautious in terms of investment, especially in the extractive areas in Burma like mining and others like oil and gas," he said.
"Burma's environmental laws are not fully (functional) and in many instances not in compliance with international standards because of a lack of mechanisms, implementation processes and community participation."
Maung Htoo also said investment decisions in Myanmar are often made by high-level government and military officials, and former military leaders, without adequate consultation with affected communities.
"They are mainly focused on profit and in the past we've seen that when it gets monopolized by the military cronies, there wasn't any transparency ... of how they generated their income from all of these natural resources."
Amnesty International also said foreign investors need to be aware of human rights violations occurring in Myanmar.
It released a report earlier this month that outlined rampant violence against ethnic minority Muslim groups along the country's border areas, specifically in the western coastal region of Rakhine State, six weeks after a state of emergency was declared in the area.
The report included allegations of physical abuse, rape, destruction of property and unlawful killings carried out by both Rakhine Buddhists and Myanmar security forces against the Muslim groups.
Amnesty researcher Benjamin Zawacki said in an interview from Bangkok on Wednesday that the situation had improved in recent days, but the reforms in Myanmar that are applauded by the international community have largely neglected the country's ethnic and religious minorities.
"Clearly there's been a political and economic opening up in the country and that's obviously what the minister's visit speaks to," he said. "Unfortunately that opening up has not extended to the ethnic minority areas and the situation in Rakhine state is simply the latest and most dramatic example of that."
Zawacki said it may be possible to promote social and cultural rights through more economic initiatives, but urged the international community to push for Myanmar to better its human rights record.
"Countries, including Canada, should very much raise their voices and apply political pressure for the security forces of Myanmar to cease these human rights violations," he said.
"We don't feel like investing in a country and pressuring a country to improve its human rights record are mutually exclusive."
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Thailand, Myanmar back ambitious port project
AFP – Mon, Jul 23, 2012
Thailand and Myanmar pledged on Monday to press ahead with a multi-billion-dollar deep sea port project and to open new border crossings during summit talks focused on strengthening economic ties.
The Dawei development on Myanmar's southern Andaman coast is a key part of the impoverished country's plans to transform its economy, giving neighbours such as Thailand an outlet to the Indian Ocean and markets to the West.
But the project -- led by Thai industrial giant Ital-Thai -- has faced resistance from local villagers and there have been signs of funding troubles.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of a special economic zone for Dawei, with Thailand agreeing to provide assistance in areas including security, infrastructure and logistics.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters after talks with visiting President Thein Sein on a twice-postponed trip to Bangkok that the two nations would set up ministerial-level contacts to address related issues.
"In our talks, I reaffirmed the commitment of the Thai government to push forward with this cooperation with Myanmar in regard to the development of the Dawei deep sea port to have concrete progress," Yingluck said.
The Dawei project would include a 250 square kilometre (100 square mile) industrial area with a steel mill, petrochemical plant and oil refinery. The Thai developer insists all is going to plan.
It is among a number of ambitious foreign-funded projects which started before the long-ruling junta handed over power last year to a new quasi-civilian government whose ranks are filled with former generals.
But doubts about the port development grew after Myanmar's government earlier this year blocked a 4,000-megawatt coal-fired plant that was to be built at Dawei.
On Sunday Thein Sein inspected the Laem Chabang deep-sea port on Thailand's Gulf Coast, which is to be connected by road to Dawei, shortening the current sea route around the Malay Peninsula.
The two leaders also agreed to open three new border crossings between the two countries -- in Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Kanchanaburi -- in addition to three existing official checkpoints.
Thein Sein described the talks as "friendly" and said he had thanked Thailand for its support and "reiterated our determination to continue our reforms".
Thailand and other Asian nations forged close economic ties with Myanmar during years of Western sanctions against the former pariah that are now beginning to be rolled back in response to dramatic political reforms.
Thein Sein delayed a visit to Thailand in May that clashed with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's appearance at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok, in her first overseas excursion in more than two decades.
The Myanmar leader again postponed the trip in early June.
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Myanmar VP still waiting for approval: officials
AFP – Wed, Jul 25, 2012
Myanmar lawmakers are scrutinising the qualifications of a retired general nominated to become vice president, officials said Wednesday, amid uncertainty about whether he meets the rules.
Yangon chief minister Myint Swe was selected two weeks ago by the soldiers who hold one quarter of the seats in Myanmar's parliament to replace another hardline army vice president.
"We are examining his qualifications. We cannot give details yet," Htay Oo, the head of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and a member of an electoral college that will elect the vice president, told AFP.
Officials declined to comment on reports that Myint Swe's son-in-law is an Australian citizen, which under the constitution would appear to disqualify him from becoming a vice president.
The same provision is a barrier to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi taking a top leadership role in the country, and her party has vowed to campaign to completely redraw the charter, which was written by the former junta.
Myanmar's army is standing by its nominee, according to one of the military representatives.
"He's the only one we nominated. We haven't changed the name or person yet. The result will come out in the coming days," he said.
The nomination of a new vice president followed the announcement that the previous incumbent Tin Aung Myint Oo, a renowned hardliner closely linked to former junta chief Than Shwe, had retired because of health reasons.
Myint Swe, who is an MP for the army-backed ruling party in Yangon, is seen as a marginally more moderate figure than his predecessor, although he also has close links to Myanmar's former strongman.
Since taking office last year, Myanmar's President Thein Sein, also a former general, has overseen a series of dramatic reforms such as the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of Suu Kyi to parliament.
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Suu Kyi urges Myanmar MPs to back minority rights
By Hla Hla Htay | AFP – Wed, Jul 25, 2012
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for laws to protect the rights of the strife-torn nation's myriad ethnic minorities in her maiden speech to the fledgling parliament.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner won a seat in the legislature in landmark April by-elections, marking a dramatic transformation from a longtime political prisoner to a key figure in the budding reform process.
The veteran activist used her first short address to lawmakers to support a motion by a ruling-party MP on upholding ethnic minority rights.
"To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities," she said.
Protecting ethnic rights required more than just maintaining languages and culture, she added, noting that minority groups suffer above-average poverty rates.
"Furthermore, the flames of war are not completely extinguished," she said.
Ongoing fighting in Kachin state in the north has displaced tens of thousands of people and cast a shadow over the government's efforts to reach ceasefire agreements with the country's various armed ethnic minority groups.
Meanwhile recent clashes between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless in Rakhine state in the west.
Myanmar's government considers the Rohingya to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.
Suu Kyi has disappointed some rights campaigners by not offering stronger support to Myanmar's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, described by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
She did not mention the violence in Rakhine in her address.
Experts say the issue is a political minefield for Suu Kyi as she tries to build her credentials as a unity figure who can represent Myanmar's various minority groups as well as pro-democracy activists among the majority Burmans.
Civil war has plagued parts of the country formerly known as Burma since it won independence from Britain in 1948, and many members of ethnic minority groups are suspicious of the Burmans, including Suu Kyi.
The 67-year-old's entry into mainstream politics is one of the most visible signs of change under a new reformist government which took power last year under President Thein Sein, a former general.
Thein Sein has overseen a series of dramatic reforms, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners, currency market liberalisation and ceasefire deals with several armed rebel groups.
An end to the conflicts and alleged rights abuses involving government troops is a key demand of Western nations, which are starting to roll back sanctions imposed over Myanmar's human rights record during military rule.
Delivering a Nobel prize acceptance speech two decades in the making in Oslo last month, Suu Kyi said she and her party "stand ready and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation".
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Pakistani Taliban threaten Myanmar over Rohingya
AFP – 11 hrs ago
The Pakistani Taliban Thursday threatened to attack Myanmar to avenge crimes against the Muslim Rohingya, unless Pakistan halts all relations with the government and shuts its embassy in Islamabad.
In a rare statement focused on the plight of Muslims abroad, the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban ( TTP) group sought to present itself as a defender of Muslim men and women in Myanmar, saying "we will take revenge of your blood".
Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan demanded that the Pakistani government halt all relations with Myanmar and close down its embassy in Islamabad.
"Otherwise we will not only attack Burmese interests anywhere but will also attack the Pakistani fellows of Burma one by one," he said in a statement.
The Myanmar embassy in Islamabad was not immediately reachable for comment.
The TTP frequently claims attacks on security forces in Pakistan but its ability to wage violence in countries further afield has been questioned.
But US officials say there is evidence the group was behind a failed 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square in New York, for which Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was jailed for life.
TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud has also been charged in the United States over the killings of seven CIA agents who died when a Jordanian Al-Qaeda double agent blew himself up at a US base in Afghanistan in December 2009.
Recent clashes in western Myanmar between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.
Last week, Amnesty International said hundreds of people, mostly men and boys, have been detained in sweeps of areas heavily populated by the Rohingya, with almost all held incommunicado and some ill-treated.
Most arrests appear to have been "arbitrary and discriminatory" and Amnesty said there were "credible reports" of abuses -- including rape, destruction of property and unlawful killings -- by both Rakhine Buddhists and the security forces.
Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
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Europe oil firms to participate in Myanmar oil tender
By Randy Fabi | Reuters – Wed, Jul 25, 2012
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - European oil firms will participate in Myanmar's first oil exploration tender since the easing of Western sanctions, but U.S. companies might wait for more concrete reforms, the head of a local oil firm said.
The tender will be the first opportunity in at least 15 years for U.S. oil firms to participate in Myanmar's energy sector after Washington relaxed sanctions this month to allow for new investment in the country, which is quickly emerging from nearly half a century of military rule.
Myanmar, one of the world's first oil producers, has opened up to the outside world with astonishing speed since a civilian government took office last year -- releasing hundreds of political prisoners, permitting greater media freedom, legalizing protests and undertaking peace talks with ethnic rebel groups.
"Europe are definitely interested and will participate in the next round. The United States is showing interest but I do not know what type of vehicle they will use to get in," Ken Tun, the chief executive of Myanmar's Parami Energy, said during a visit to Singapore.
Western oil firms were conspicuously absent from last year's energy tender, Myanmar's biggest, with only Switzerland's Geopetrol winning the rights to explore one onshore block out of 18 offered. Asian companies took the rest.
Myanmar is expected to offer six new onshore blocks in the 2012 tender and re-offer nine or 10 blocks from last year's offer, Tun said. The government has yet to confirm details.
"For the next round, I'm targeting two to three blocks. As a local operator, I can do that," said the 38-year-old executive.
Parami Energy, one of only a few privately-owned oil and gas firms in Myanmar, will team up with Vietnamese-Russian oil venture Vietsovpetro to bid for blocks.
The two companies agreed this week that Parami would take a 51 percent stake and be the operator in any block awarded to them, Tun said. Vietsovpetro is a joint venture between state oil and gas group Petrovietnam and Russia's Zarubezhneft.
WESTERN INTEREST
Tun said Parami was also in separate talks with a Western oil major to team up on a bid for at least one additional block. He declined to elaborate on those discussions.
Despite Myanmar's rapid reforms, Western oil firms may hesitate to jump into a country Transparency International ranks as one of the world's most corrupt.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi last month urged foreign investors not to form joint ventures with the state-owned energy company until it improves its business practices.
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise holds a majority stake in all onshore and offshore blocks, which means all energy firms investing in Myanmar become partners with the state-run company.
U.S. companies, including oil firms, also face new rules from Washington that require them to submit annual reports on issues such as human rights, workers' rights and environmental stewardship if they invest more than $500,000 in Myanmar.
Foreign firms must also set up joint ventures with local companies before investing in Myanmar's oil and gas industry.
There are only a handful of domestic privately-owned oil and gas exploration companies, led by MPRL E&P and Silver Wave.
Parami, which started as a cement business in 2004, is a newcomer to the oil and gas industry and holds a minority stake in an onshore block recently awarded to India's Jubilant Energy .
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No timetable for easing import ban on Myanmar: U.S. official
By Doug Palmer | Reuters – Mon, Jul 23, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is encouraged by economic and political reforms underway in Myanmar but needs to see further progress before easing a long-time ban on U.S. imports from the resource-rich Asian country, a top U.S. official said on Monday.
Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats, who along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently met with Myanmar's President Thein Sein, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies he was optimistic the long-isolated country intended to stay on the path of reform
"In the meeting with Secretary Clinton, (Thein Sein) was very clear that he wanted to do things to improve the living standards of his people ... He was very direct, and I think very persuasive and credible," Hormats said.
President Barack Obama 's administration has already eased some sanctions on Myanmar, also known by its colonial name of Burma, this month to allow U.S. companies to invest and provide financial services in the country as it emerges from nearly a half century of authoritarian rule.
U.S. lawmakers have been generally supportive of the administration's handling of the issue. They are expected to vote in coming days to renew a ban on imports from Myanmar for three years, along with authority for the White House to waive that if the country continues to make reforms.
Other U.S. sanctions include a ban on jewelry made with rubies and jade mined in Myanmar and a requirement the United States oppose loans to the country from lending institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Hormats said the United States was prepared to lift more of its sanctions in response to further moves by Myanmar, such as the freeing of more political prisoners.
But he declined to speculate how quickly the import ban could be lifted, even in the best-case scenario.
Ending the U.S. import ban would provide a badly needed source of employment in a relatively poor country suffering from a roughly 25 percent unemployment rate.
The United States imported $356.4 million of clothing and other goods from Myanmar in 2002, the last full year before the import ban was imposed.
Imports fell to $275.7 million in 2003 and have been zero in most years since then.
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MYANMAR: No more child soldiers?
KACHIN STATE, 25 July 2012 (IRIN) - A captured government soldier in a military compound in Kachin, Myanmar’s most northerly state, recalls the night his “tuk-tuk” three-wheeler taxi ran out of fuel, but rather than being given the assistance he expected, he was forced to join the army. He was 15 at the time.
“I was walking into town to get petrol and a man on the road offered to help me out and give me a meal.” Instead, Thet Naing* was guided to a military office in the government-controlled city of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin. He was served a plate of beans and rice, issued with a fake birth certificate and ordered to enlist in the army. “The soldiers threatened to kill me if I tried to escape - so I signed up,” he said.
After four months of training, Thet Naing became a member of Myanmar Battalion 121 and was sent to the front lines to fight against the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) until his capture in 2011.
The KIA is the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization, which wants greater autonomy and improved recognition for the ethnic group it represents. The KIA plans to release Thet Naing.
A new plan
Cases of forced enlistment and falsifying ID records are well documented in Myanmar, which is why a government plan to halt the recruitment of child soldiers, while discharging those under the age of 18, is being welcomed.
A UN task force - headed by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and including international NGOs World Vision and Save the Children - signed a joint Action Plan with Myanmar’s Ministry of Defence on 27 June.
The 18-month plan sets a timetable and measurable actions for the release and reintegration of children associated with government armed forces, and the prevention of further recruitment.
“This is an ambitious plan agreed by the Government and the United Nations to deal with this long-standing issue, and the international community must support it. This is a testament - but also a test - of Myanmar’s engagement for children, and I hope to see it through,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
“Little is yet known, in terms of concrete numbers, of [people aged] under 18 working in the armed forces, therefore the scale of discharge, release and reintegration (DRR) will only become clear after the initial identification and registration process takes place,” Ramesh Shrestha, the UNICEF country representative in Myanmar, told IRIN.
In 2011, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported to Human Rights Watch (HRW) that it had received 236 complaints of underage forced recruitment, and that 57 child soldiers had been released or discharged in response to ILO complaints.
But with an army of 400,000 soldiers and hundreds of bases across a country larger than France, the task of obtaining accurate numbers is daunting. Shrestha stressed the need for UN access to monitor the identification, registration and release of child soldiers in order to draw up a more specific record.
Transparency
“There are concerns about the government's commitment to providing unfettered access to all military facilities, including detention centres where child soldier deserters await trial, and [also] to ethnic areas… [so as] to monitor the use of child soldiers by non-state armies,” said Matthew Smith, a HRW researcher in Myanmar.
The UN also recognizes that besides the Burmese military, seven ethnic armies in Myanmar are also using child soldiers - the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, the Shan State Army-South, the United Wa State Army, the Karen National Liberation Army, the Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council the Karenni army, and the KIA. Some of these have signed ceasefire agreements with the government.
“In ethnic areas it is common to find child soldiers who volunteer for a variety of nationalistic reasons, or families who hand over troubled children to the ethnic army in hopes the child will gain discipline,” said HRW's Smith. “Neither type of recruitment is excusable or defensible, and both are violations of international law.”
Under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 18 is the minimum age set for the participation of children in armed conflict.
“The government of Myanmar has agreed in their joint action plan that they will facilitate access to ceasefire groups, and we are hopeful that in the near future that we will be able to start the parallel processes with the ceasefire groups,” said Steve Marshall, Liaison Officer for ILO in Myanmar.
UNICEF hopes that added safeguards will help. “The CTFMR [ Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting ] will also receive 'alerts' on continuing underage recruitment, which it will share with the government and army to better enable… [them] to address anything that may slip through the cracks, and ensure that the procedures under the plan are indeed working as they should,” Shrestha said.
A committed effort lies ahead if Myanmar’s armed forces are to be delisted from the UN Secretary-General’s Report on parties to conflict committing grave violations against children by 2014.
HRW's Smith said, “The real test will be if the army is willing to give full access to the UN and hold soldiers and officers accountable for falsifying documents, and for other crimes related to the recruitment of child soldiers.”
*Name has been changed
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Bloomberg - Pioneer Weighs Myanmar Plant as Kyat Cuts Costs: Southeast Asia
By Yumi Teso and Lilian Karunungan - Jul 25, 2012 9:18 PM PT
Why Foreign Firms are Investing in Myanmar
Myanmar’s kyat, which is weakening at the fastest pace among Asian currencies, is making the former dictatorship look more attractive to companies seeking to shift production.
The currency dropped 1.7 percent in the past month to about 871 per dollar, more than other exchange rates in the region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, reducing labor costs in a country where manufacturers can employ six workers for the price of one in Guangzhou, China. Myanmar adopted a managed float in April, scrapping a 35-year peg, to rein in a surge in black-market rates that was hurting exporters.
Lower expenses are a key selling point as President Thein Sein seeks investments to create jobs after a political opening that saw former prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi join parliament, prompting the U.S. and the European Union to ease sanctions. Coca-Cola Co., Honda Motor Co. and Pioneer Corp. (6773) have said since the peg ended that they are considering business ventures in the nation of 64 million people that remains among Asia’s poorest.
“Most of the exporters, especially in the labor-intensive garment industry, wish the currency to be weak, around 900,” Maung Maung Lay, vice president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry in Yangon, said in an interview on July 23. “The government is trying their level best to make that happen,” he said, adding the central bank’s capacity to influence the exchange rate remains limited. Most employers now pay workers in kyat rather than dollars, he said.
Black-Market Rally
The central bank set the kyat’s reference rate at 873 today, compared with 871 yesterday, according to its website. That level is 6.3 percent weaker than the first daily fixing on April 2. In the past month, Indonesia’s rupiah fell 0.4 percent and China’s yuan declined 0.3 percent, while Malaysia’s ringgit advanced 0.7 percent and Thailand’s baht rose 0.4 percent. The Indian rupee climbed 1.7 percent.
Before adopting the managed float system for the kyat, companies relied on a black-market rate that appreciated from 1,300 in 2006 to about 800 earlier this year. The official rate of 6.4, pegged to the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights, was available only to state-owned companies and no longer exists.
“The country’s cheaper costs, including labor and the foreign-exchange rate, are among elements the company is looking at in choosing a place for a production base,” Hiromitsu Kimura, a spokesman for Pioneer Corp., said in an interview on July 17. The Kanagawa, Japan-based firm makes car-navigation systems and audio equipment.
Universal Robina
Universal Robina Corp. (URC) , the Philippines’ largest snackfood maker, will open a factory in Myanmar that will complement its Thai operations in selling into the local market, President Lance Gokongwei said in an e-mail yesterday.
Laborers in Myanmar’s manufacturing industries earned an average monthly salary of about 50,437 kyat ($58) last year, compared with 2,257 yuan ($353) in China’s Guangzhou, 2,297,038 dong ($110) in Hanoi and 8,544 baht ($270) in Bangkok, according to data provided by the Japan External Trade Organization on its website. A falling currency makes Myanmar wages and goods cheaper for foreign companies and overseas buyers.
Some firms are waiting for infrastructure costs to come down before putting cash into Myanmar. Garment makers are concerned about inadequacies of electricity, transportation and telephone networks, according to Willie Fung, chairman of the world’s largest bra-maker Top Form International Ltd. (333)
‘Sketchy’ Answers
About a quarter of Myanmar’s people live in poverty, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of employment and about three in four people don’t have access to electricity, the Asian Development Bank said in a report last month. Myanmar has about 18 vehicles for every 1,000 people, compared with 250 in Indonesia and 370 in Thailand, according to the ADB.
“While the government officials we spoke to all seemed determined to revamp the economy of the country by bringing in foreign investments as the catalyst, their answers to many of our questions were sketchy,” Fung wrote in an e-mail after participating in a trade delegation to Myanmar last month.
Myanmar is also attractive to manufacturers that want to diversify geographic risks, according to Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd.
“Putting all your eggs in one basket may not be the best thing,” he said in an interview yesterday. “Myanmar makes sense given that there have been concerted efforts made to bring in foreign investments.”
New Investment Law
Myanmar may have a new investment law as early as September if a joint session of parliament approves the bill, Kan Zaw, deputy minister of National Planning & Economic Development, said on July 11. The draft law allows investors to lease land for 50 years, with the possibility of two 10-year extensions, he said, adding that foreign companies will be guaranteed a level playing field with local businesses.
Thein Sein has targeted annual growth of 7.7 percent until 2016 as he focuses on the economy after freeing political prisoners and loosening media restrictions since taking power in March last year. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who won a parliamentary seat in April by-elections after 15 years under house arrest, last month called for investments that create jobs to avoid a “time bomb” of youth unemployment.
President Barack Obama eased sanctions against Myanmar this month, authorizing U.S. companies to invest in the Southeast Asian nation for the first time in about 15 years. The European Union had suspended restrictions in April.
Exports from the Southeast Asian nation increased 19 percent in fiscal year ended March 2011, according to the Japan External Trade Organization, citing Myanmar government data. Thailand accounted for 33 percent of the total, followed by Hong Kong at 21 percent, China at 14 percent and India at 10 percent.
‘Hungry for Jobs’
With the second-largest land area in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia, Myanmar’s resources include rubber and natural gas, as well as deposits of gold, copper and gemstones. Gross domestic product is projected to increase 6 percent this fiscal year, compared with 5.5 percent in 2011-2012, according to an IMF estimate. Myanmar’s fiscal year begins in April.
“The workers are very hard working and hungry for jobs,” said Willy Lin, chairman of the Textile Council of Hong Kong Ltd., an umbrella group for most of the city’s garment manufacturers. “In a year or so, we will see a lot more investment to the country.”
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Asia News Network - Myanmar to privatise oil refineries
Business Desk
Eleven Media Group
Publication Date : 25-07-2012
The Myanmar government will privatise state-owned oil refineries, according to Directorate of Energy under Ministry of Energy.
Oil refinery in Thanlyin (Syrian) Township will be the first facility under this denationalisation scheme.
“Oil refineries are very old. Although the exploration of crude oil and natural gas has increased, refining processes are declining. Oil refinery in Thanlyin will be privatised first,” an official from the Directorate of Energy said.
Three oil refineries in Myanmar are Thanlyin oil refinery, Mann Thanpayarkan oil refinery and Chauk oil refinery, which can produce 7,500 barrels of oil and 11,000 barrels of light oil per day. The privatisation of Thanlyin oil refinery has been announced this year.
Although the government plans to hand over this oil facility as a joint-venture to foreign and local business firms, local entrepreneurs may not have enough experience, capital or technology to manage an oil refinery, the official said.
Myanmar has targeted to extract 7,156.6 thousand crude oil in 2012-2013 fiscal year— 3,435.6 thousand from inland blocks and 3,721 thousand from offshore blocks.
It is also expected that more crude oil could be extracted from offshore block of Thanintharyi, and more oil blocks will be developed in Magwe, Bago and Ayeyawady regions in 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Moreover, Ministry of Energy is cooperating with the Asean Council on Petroleum (ASCOPE) to share technologies and equipment for oil and gas exploration, production, refining and commercial sectors.
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Channel NewsAsia - Max Myanmar Group proposes S$70m reverse takeover of Aussino
By Sim Ping Khuan | Posted: 25 July 2012 2249 hrs
SINGAPORE: Myanmar business group Max Myanmar has announced a S$70 million proposed reverse takeover of Singapore-listed Aussino Group.
Aussino said the move could see it transform from a bed linen maker into an operator of petrol kiosks in Myanmar.
Under the agreement, Aussino will acquire the entire issued share capital of Max Strategic Investments (MSI), an investment holding company incorporated in Singapore, from Max Myanmar Group (MMG).
After the acquisition, MSI plans to operate petrol kiosks by buying over Max Myanmar's energy business unit.
Max Myanmar currently operates 21 petrol kiosks across various cities in Myanmar, including Naypyidaw, Yangon and Mandalay.
In exchange, Aussino will issue about 219 million new consolidated shares to MMG at 32 Singapore cents each.
Aussino says the deal is aimed at tapping into the high growth potential of the energy sector in Myanmar.
It expects Myanmar's energy sector to flourish as the country pushes ahead its economic and political reforms, and as Western powers ease their sanctions on Myanmar.
Anthony Lim, chairman and CEO of Aussino Group, said: "We believe that the acquisition of Max Strategic Investments, which operates the petrol kiosks and the energy sector in Myanmar, will give Aussino shareholders value. We believe that the value of the company will be greatly enhanced."
For the financial year ended March 31, 2012, MSI has reported a revenue of S$93.2 million and a net profit of S$5.2 million.
PrimePartners, a boutique advisory and asset management firm, has been appointed to assist Aussino to get the necessary regulatory approval needed for the deal to be completed.
However, there remains some doubt as to whether the deal could be completed.
Max Myanmar is currently headed by Myanmar businessman Zaw Zaw, who is on the US government's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list because of his business ties with former Myanmar military leader Than Shwe.
Individuals and organizations on the SDN list are not allowed to conduct business dealings with US citizens and permanent residents.
Singapore does not impose sanctions on Myanmar.
"We will have to conduct a very rigorous due diligence exercise on MSI, including its controlling shareholders," Mark Liew, managing director of corporate finance at PrimePartners, said.
"But simply because the promoter, Zaw Zaw, is on the (SDN) list, it does not disqualify MSI from doing its listing in Singapore. It is an issue that we will have to address, but we don't think that it is an issue that cannot be addressed."
PrimePartners says the process to acquire all the necessary regulatory approval for the deal to go through is estimated to take about six to eight months.
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Thailand News.Net - Dawei SEZ project MoU signed by Myanmar and Thailand
Thailand News.Net Tuesday 24th July, 2012
BANGKOK Thailand and Myanmar pledged to go ahead with the multi-billion-dollar Dawei deep sea port project on Myanmar's southern Andaman coast and to open new border crossings during summit talks focused on boosting economic ties.
Visiting Myanmarese President Thein Sein signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the development of a special economic zone for Dawei.
Shinawatra and Thein Sein told a joint news conference they had agreed to connect the strategically located Dawei Economic Zone with industrial areas along Thailand's eastern seaboard, including the Laem Chabang deep sea port.
They said ministers from both sides would start regular meetings from August on the issue.
The $50 billion Dawei project led by Italian-Thai Development Pcl in southern Myanmar could help the government to revive a battered economy by attracting foreign investment previously held back by years of sanctions.
The deep-sea port, which would cost $2.5 billion, is due for completion in 2018. It is estimated to bring in goods to be transported by rail or road from the Indian Ocean along a corridor that runs past Bangkok to its eastern seaboard.
The 250 sq km Dawei complex is to include steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and power plants.
"In our talks, I reaffirmed the commitment of the Thai government to push forward with this cooperation with Myanmar in regard to the development of the Dawei deep sea port to have concrete progress," Yingluck said.
Myanmar President Thein Sein and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra signed three memorandums of understanding during the president's first trip to Thailand since he took office in 2010.
One of the agreements is a pledge of the Thai government to help the Myanmar government prepare for its role when it assumes the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014.
The deep sea port will benefit Myanmar's rice export industry. But the Dawei port is too far away from the Irrawaddy river basin, which contains Myanmar's rich farm land. Yingluck also pledged support for the Burmese rice industry, but did not offer specifics.
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The Nation - Govt says only so much it can do for 92 held in Myanmar
ANAPAT DEECHUAY,
PANYA THIEWSANGWAL,
BOONLEUN PROMPRATHANKUL
THE NATION July 27, 2012 1:00 am
Authorities are seeking ways to assist 92 Thais sentenced to jail terms for illegal entry and encroaching on forestland in Myanmar.
They however admitted the extent of any such aid would be up to the local authorities and would have to wait for the completion of initial legal procedures.
The 92 Thais were each sentenced to three years and six months in prison.
Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday that the Thai Embassy had dispatched officials to Koh Song, where the 92 Thais are imprisoned, to monitor the situation.
He said the embassy would contact the Myanmar Foreign Affairs Ministry for information in preparation to provide aid once the case is submitted to the central administration.
The minister said assisting those Thais who were not involved in smuggling drugs or war weapons would be easier. Myanmar President Thein Sein had assured Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that he would look into this case after initial legal proceedings were complete, Surapong said.
Defence Minister ACM Sukampol Suwannathat yesterday admitted that the extent of any aid provided by the Thai side would be up to Myanmar, because the 92 Thais had encroached on forestland and some had reportedly used war weapons to fight off Myanmar soldiers and grow narcotic plants.
Relatives of the detainees urged Thai authorities to contact their Myanmar counterparts to seek the return of assets seized from the Thais.
Noy Wongdee, a resident of Ranong's La Oon district, said many relatives of the 92 Thais accepted that their loved ones would have to serve time behind bars in Myanmar, as ordered by the court.
However, they hoped the two countries' good relations would encourage Myanmar officials to reduce the punishment. She also urged Thai authorities to contact their Myanmar counterparts to seek the return of 50 seized pieces of equipment including backhoes, tractors, pick-up trucks and motorcycles, as well as some gardening tools, because the families on this side of the border could make use of the assets in farming.
Worried that the Myanmar authorities would destroy the seized vehicles and tools, relatives of the 92 Thais living in Surat Thani, Krabi, Ranong and Chumphon planned to gather to demand Thai authorities help retrieve the items.
The commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment Task Force, Colonel Pornsak Pulsawat, speaking as head of the Township Border Committee in Ranong, said officials would first focus on trying to secure the release and return of the 92, before dealing with the return of the seized equipment.
Pornsak insisted there was still hope for the Thais because President Thein Sein would look into the possibility of pardons for them, adding that he couldn't confirm a rumour that Myanmar would release the first batch of Thais on August 12.
He said the court verdict so far covered only charges of illegal entry and forestland encroachment; investigation of other charges like those relating to war weapons and drugs was ongoing and no one knew how long that would take.
Thai Army officials from the Rattana Rangsan Camp in Ranong yesterday visited and provided some goods to Kra Buri district resident Da Waothong, whose husband Boonchuay and son Decha were arrested and jailed by Myanmar.
She said Boonchuay and Decha took goods via long-tailed boat to shops in the encroached-upon area in exchange for Bt2,000-Bt3,000 per trip, but were among the 92 Thais arrested on July 4. She said she was very worried about the men, who are the family's breadwinners, and urged the government to push Myanmar to release them.
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Govt wants to take over migrant labour
THE NATION July 27, 2012 1:00 am
The December 14 deadline for registration of illegal migrant workers will not be extended, because Thailand wants to change the system, with workers only being brought here via government-to-government contracts in the long run, Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap said yesterday.
The minister cited agreements discussed in a meeting with President Thein Sein during his visit to Bangkok this week, saying Myanmar workers would be brought here via state agreements. The deals would last for two years but not exceed four years.
In regard to the deadline to register "illegals", he said it had been extended many times but December 14 would be the final date.
Phadermchai said Thein Sein specifically asked for help from Thai authorities to make it easier for Myanmar workers to send money home, as well as getting skills and career training, plus better welfare, and protection from abuse by employers.
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Brisbane Times - Burmese refugees find new hope and work in the west
Date July 27, 2012
MORE than a dozen Burmese refugees who failed to find steady work in Sydney have done what many other long-term unemployed refuse to do: go west.
After three years of unsuccessfully looking for steady work in Sydney, refugee Gay Htoo Paw from the Burmese Karen community travelled to Western Australia in search of work, first to Perth and then to Albany, where he landed a job at an abattoir owned by Fletcher International Exports.
Before moving to Australia, Mr Paw and his family spent 10 years in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Burma, struggling to find enough food to feed his family.
So when the Herald asked Mr Paw if the decision to move his family of six 3290 kilometres west in search of work, he shrugged it off. ''It was nothing,'' said Mr Paw.
Since Mr Paw made the move, another five Karen families have followed his lead, with more than a dozen young Karen men and women finding work at the abattoir.
Mr Paw and other members of the community paid for the move themselves.
In contrast, only 559 unemployed people out of a possible 4000 have taken advantage of the federal government's $29 million pilot scheme, Connecting People with Jobs. It provides a subsidy of as much as $9000 to help workers from areas of high unemployment to move to mining and agricultural areas which desperately need workers.
The Karen community has proved a surprising source of labour for the Albany abattoir's general manager, Greg Cross, who thought he'd tried everything over the years to recruit workers.
For a couple of years, labour shortages were so bad that the plant could only work one shift. Now he says skilled workers are being poached by industries who serve the mining industry.
When asked if he'd employ more Karen refugees like Mr Paw, Mr Cross said: ''Crikey, yeah, I've got to.''
Mr Cross said it was hard to get people to move. ''People say a lot of Australians won't get off their bums and have a go, but that's changed a bit,'' he said.
''I don't think it is as bad as it was two decades ago. But the hardest part is relocating. WA is a long way from the eastern states.''
The Karen workers were ''tremendous workers'', said Mr Cross, who said they'd integrated extremely well, quickly establishing community gardens in Albany.
Because most of the Karen are farmers, they were highly motivated to move from Sydney to towns where they could grow their traditional vegetables, said Gary Cachia, a community development officer at the NSW Service for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors.
He said many found their lives in Sydney's south-west suburbs harder than when they were in refugee camps. They couldn't afford the rent, the cost of living was high, and they couldn't grow their own food.
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Jul 27, 2012
Asia Times Online - Islamic militants take aim at Myanmar
By Jacob Zenn
After decades of isolation under military rule, Myanmar is opening to foreign investment and forms of democracy for the first time in a generation. The reform process, however, is now being attended by unanticipated consequences and influences, both internally and from abroad, that could undermine the country's new trend towards openness.
Recent sectarian fighting between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar's western Rakhine State has caught the attention of militant Islamists in South and Southeast Asia. Since May, the amount of jihadi propaganda directed towards Myanmar, a country previously unknown in the world of jihadi antagonists, has surged as perhaps thousands of Muslim Rohingyas have been forced to flee the country.
Tensions between the ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine populations
in Rakhine State were mostly kept under wraps under Myanmar's previous ruling military junta. Violence erupted on May 28 after an ethnic Rakhine woman was raped and murdered allegedly by three Rohingyas in Rakhine State, and the government was unprepared for the inter-ethnic violence that soon transpired.
A cycle of violence between the two groups has since resulted in widespread arson attacks and hundreds of murders. Perhaps thousands of the 800,000 Rohingyas living in Rakhine State have recently fled to Bangladesh, which many Myanmar citizens claim is the Rohingyas' true homeland.
The violence occurs at a time of growing regional instability in the pivot area where South and Southeast Asia meet, namely the areas along the Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India's Assamese borders. At the same that Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines clashed in Myanmar, fighting erupted between Muslims and Hindus in India's Assam State.
Since mid-July, more than 30 people have been killed and 150,000 displaced in Assam as riots devolved into open conflict between indigenous tribes such as the Bodos and Muslim settlers in the state's Kokrajhar and Chirang districts. As in Myanmar where the Rohingyas are considered illegal Bangladeshi settlers, the Muslims targeted in Assam are accused of being ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has the highest population density of any country and is woefully ill-equipped to deal with an influx of refugees from Myanmar and India. Bangladesh is home to a population of 160 million people in a country the size of the US State of Iowa, which in contrast has a population of only three million people.
Bangladesh also has its own homegrown problems with Muslim extremist groups, including the Hizb ut-Tahrir, which authorities banned in 2009. The head of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), Yasin Bhatkal, is believed to be hiding in Dhaka and Chittagong, Bangladesh's two largest cities, allegedly with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency.
The Bangladesh government now runs the risk of being perceived by militant Islamists as selling out fellow Muslims, a sentiment expressed in a recent surge of jihadi propaganda condemning it for not doing enough to help the inrush of refugee Rohingyas.
As is often the case with jihadi statements, the videos and essays propagated by militant Islamists about recent events in Myanmar are more rhetoric than substance. Playing up the victimhood narrative, they apparently hope to incite the global Muslim community, or ummah, and win new recruits to their wider cause against enemy "infidel" governments and countries.
While secular Bangladesh has been a target of Islamists for years, Myanmar is apparently a new member of the "infidel" club of countries that propagandists threaten in response to its treatment of the Rohingyas. Given the Myanmar military's ongoing challenges of trying to pacify internal insurgencies, including a major unresolved conflict in northern Kachin State, it is likely unprepared to raise its counter-terrorism capabilities to prevent a possible retributive plot against the country.
The most recent militant statement to target Myanmar came from Lebanon's Hezbollah, which on July 23 said in an official statement:
"The regime-owned killing machine relentlessly works on striking Muslims in different regions, with Rohingya at the forefront...This is a new racial purification trend against Muslims."
On July 20, the Taliban released a more vitriolic statement saying:
The Muslims of [Myanmar] have been facing such oppression and savagery for the past two months never previously witnessed in the history of mankind.
Mercilessly burning children, women and men like toasting sheep on fire is not only against every known law but something no man with any conscious can ever accept but unfortunately the Muslims of [Myanmar] are targets of such a gross crime. Not only that, but they are also being expelled from their lands, forcefully ejected from their homes, their wealth is being usurped and their honor looted while the whole world turns a blind eye to their plight.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, besides considering this crime a black scar on the history of mankind, calls on the government of [Myanmar] to immediately put a stop to this savagery and barbarism and halt such heart rending historical violations against humans and humanity. They should realize that this is not only a crime against the Muslims of [Myanmar] but against all humankind and especially an unforgivable crime against the entire Muslim world…[1]
On July 16, The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), the European propaganda arm in support of al Qadea and other radical Islamic organizations, issued a recent question and answer essay called "The Genocide against the Muslims in [Myanmar]" on the jihadist website al Fidaa:
Why did this genocide begin? The Buddhist Rakhine killers placed the dead body [of the raped and killed Rakhine woman] near a Muslim village without any knowledge of the murder. The Buddhist Rakhine and Burmese (Myanmar) authority accused Muslims of killing the woman. As a result, three innocent Muslim youths were arrested. One was beaten to death, and the other two were sentenced to death by the court. The government has shown the world that they created a fake issue to instigate a real event against Muslims.
How did this genocide start and what happened afterwards? On June 3, 2012, eight Muslim pilgrims along with one escort, one bus helper, and one woman were killed by a Rakhine mob in Taungup township in southern Arakan [Rakhine] State. Five others escaped the massacre…The gang of Rakhine terrorists stopped the bus, which had the license plate 7 (Ga) 7868, at an immigration gate, and called, "Come down all, if there are any foreigners," while holding lethal weapons…Then, they started to beat the Muslim pilgrims and dragged them from the bus to the road, where an organized gang of more than 300 Rakhine terrorists beat the Muslims until they died. The gang had been standing at the immigration gate, but no authorities came out to stop the massacre. [2]
These messages and interpretations of events are starting to cause regional ripple effects. On July 13, 300 members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) in Indonesia threatened to storm the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. One protest leader said over a loudspeaker: "If embassy officials refuse to talk with us, I demand all of you break into the building and turn it upside down … Allahu Akbar … Every drop of blood that is shed from a Muslim must be paid back. Nothing is free in this world … FPI is ready to wage jihad … Go to Myanmar and carry out jihad for your Muslim brothers."
On July 6, the al-Faruq Foundation for Media Production released an Arabic-language video called "Solidarity With Our Muslim Brothers in Arakan (The Tragedy of [Myanmar])" on the Ansar al-Mujahideen Forum. The propaganda film includes a historical narrative focusing on Muslim victimhood played over images of brutalized Rohingyas, although some of the images appear not to have come from the recent violence. The video's narrative includes a passage that says:
They steal the money of the Muslims and they steal their crops and they prohibit the Muslims from communicating with people from other countries. They also prevent the marriages of Muslims and they put a lot of obstacles in the way of Muslim marriages. This is not all as there is a lot of injustice that you can't even imagine and all forms of torture. So where are the defenders of the human rights in the 20th century and where the people who fight for freedom and democracy. This awful silence indicates the acceptance and supporting of this because it is Muslim blood that is being shed and since it is a Muslim blood, then the blood is cheap like the blood of Muslims of 'Arakan', Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya and everywhere else.
These and other statements have put the Rohingyas' plight on the radar of many Islamist militant groups. While their propaganda is directed at militants from all regions, some of the groups who have issued statements on Myanmar are clearly trying to recruit disenfranchised Rohingyas to their radical causes.
They have a potential galvanizing figure. One ethnic Rohingya, Abu Zar al-Burmi, is believed to be the mufti, or religious scholar, for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Without roots in any nation, as Rohingyas are not allowed citizenship in Myanmar or Bangladesh, al-Burmi has promoted the creation of a global Muslim community which exists without respect to international borders.
The growing inter-religious fighting and spillover humanitarian crises in Rakhine and Assam States is exerting new pressures on Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India. As the violence spirals and governments fail to restore order and dispense of justice for crimes committed, the situation could quickly become a new regional, if not international, security dilemma.
For their part, Islamist militants have shown they are prepared to exploit the plight of the Rohingyas for their own radical purposes, while neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh have demonstrated they are able to manage the crisis at a local or national level. Should the crisis escalate and become an effective recruiting tool for transnational Islamist militant groups, the international community will one way or another eventually be dragged into the mire.
Notes:
1. Statement of Islamic Emirate regarding the bloody tragedy of the Muslims of Burma, July 20, 2012.
2. The Genocide Against the Muslims in Burma, Jihadology, July 16, 2012.
3. Solidarity With Our Muslim Brothers in Arakan (The Tragedy of Burma), Jihadology, July 6, 2012.
Jacob Zenn is a political risk analyst and legal adviser based in Washington, D.C., who focuses on militant groups in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Nigeria. He can be reached at zopensource123@gmail.com.
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Jul 26, 2012
Asia Times Online - Law without order in Myanmar
By Kim Jolliffe
CHIANG MAI - With most Western economic sanctions against Myanmar now lifted, concerns are rising that the country's decrepit and politicized legal system is ill-equipped to deal with the expected influx of international business and investment.
President Thein Sein, speaking to US business executives in Cambodia this month, invited foreign corporations to invest in his until now highly isolated country, one of Asia's poorest and historically mismanaged. His sales pitch emphasized that out-of-date laws on trade and investment are in the process of being replaced with legislation that aims to welcome and protect foreign investment.
New legislation is essential to foster a more stable and outward-oriented business environment, but is perhaps more critically needed to protect the private interests of Myanmar's impoverished and repressed population. As the Aung San Suu Kyi-led opposition has long argued, legal and judicial reform are crucial to a successful transition from military to democratic rule.
Suu Kyi, at the London School of Economics in June, said "The progress [she hopes] to make with regard to democratization and reform relies... on understanding and acceptance of the importance of rule of law." She emphasized reforms will depend on both "procedure and substance", including a fundamental overhaul of laws, law enforcement agencies and courts.
Myanmar's legal framework, drawing on many colonial-era laws held over from British rule, is by any modern measure in a dire state. That owes to both poor legislation and an entrenched culture of "bribery and chaos" within the Myanmar police force, according to M Zaw Bowm, a former police lieutenant who deserted and fled Myanmar last year.
In recent decades, Myanmar's police have been used "only as tool of the military, and when [the officers] had time, for [their own] survival," he said in an interview. That abuse of power, M Zaw Bowm said, has left the institution in tatters.
International legal experts largely agree. Emerlynne Gil, a member of the International Commission of Jurists who has conducted research on Myanmar's judiciary and legal profession since May, said, "The legal profession has not fared well under years of military rule in Burma/Myanmar [and] has lost its integrity and credibility. Lawyers are viewed either as complicit in the corruption of the legal system or as political activists who face extreme hardships and challenges as they pursue their cases before the courts."
In order to rebuild trust in government and instill confidence in the electorate to engage in the democratic process, legal protection of civil liberties and human rights will be key. The United States, European Union and other Western countries imposed their respective sanctions against Myanmar in response to the previous military junta's abysmal human-rights record, both in fighting conflicts against ethnic insurgencies and suppressing dissent among the civilian population.
On the commercial front, foreign companies will require assurances that their capital commitments are protected by laws administered by independent and competent courts. To ensure Thein Sein's legal and other reforms are not easily reversed with a change in government, legal experts say reforms need to be enshrined in legislation that is not readily amended or overturned.
That may be easier said than done, however. According to the 2008 Constitution, all pre-existing laws - essentially a collection of outdated and repressive legal codes from the colonial era with other equally draconian laws tagged on by successive military regimes - remain in place with the caveat that they can be amended or repealed by either the executive or parliament.
Charged with the task of reviewing these existing laws is a governmental body known as the Studying, Examining and Reviewing Commission on Legal Affairs and Special Cases. With 156 laws put in place by the previous General Than Shwe regime alone, largely in line with its own political objectives and desire to maintain unchallenged power, this is no small task.
Among the oppressive laws still in place are severe restrictions on association, communication, criticism of the government, and rights to obtain official information. These laws are not only based on outdated forms of governance but are also written so broadly that authorities have been able to persistently exploit them for their own interests at the expense of the Myanmar people.
According to Hkun Awng, an ethnic Kachin youth activist studying law in London who questioned Suu Kyi at the recent LSE event, Myanmar politicians are placing too much emphasis on the rule of law and not enough on the content of the laws themselves.
He believes that Suu Kyi's legal reform policies reflect a "conventional understanding of the law that everyone [should be] equal before the law, no one [should] be punished unless a clear breach of the law is proved and, and no one [should be] above the law ... rather than questioning the making of law and their absurd impacts on different social groups."
Arbitrary abuses
A recent case in point: on July 7, at least 16 Myanmar student activists were arrested in the lead up to the 50-year anniversary of a military crackdown on students at Rangoon University, a date the opposition has typically tried to commemorate. The activists were without explanation released the following day, with authorities saying only that their arrests had been a "misunderstanding".
Whether the arrests were an attempt to quell potential protests, or a rash move made by the police that was then blocked by higher authorities to maintain the government's reformist image, the event highlighted the ongoing abuse of basic civil liberties at a grass roots level. Similar complaints have been raised about the government's continued human rights abuses associated with its counter-insurgency campaign against ethnic Kachin rebels and its inability or unwillingness to protect the rights of Muslim minorities amid recent sectarian rioting in Rakhine State.
Despite the built-in obstructions to democratic reforms represented by anachronistic laws and regulations, little has been accomplished so far by the Studying, Examining and Reviewing Commission on Legal Affairs and Special Cases to repeal or amend them.
Jannelle Saffin, an Australian parliamentarian who has two decades of experience commentating, advising and teaching on Myanmar Law, has in the past year discussed the need for legal reforms with many of the country's leading politicians and judges. She believes the process should be driven by the country's independent lawyers, who have been quiet over the past year compared with more vocal "politicians, journalists, economists, and business people."
In a letter sent to many of the country's lawyers and government actors, Saffin raised the need for an independent law reform commission that could "articulate a reform programme that contains short, medium and long term legal and judicial reforms."
The letter also called for the creation of an independent bar association (the existing Myanmar Bar Council is headed by the Attorney General and is made up entirely of government employees) and for lawyers to issue "public statements calling for the immediate repeal of some of [Myanmar's] most outmoded and draconian laws".
Over-arching reforms to existing business-related legislation will be crucial to establishing a functioning market economy. However, this is another area where the country's independent lawyers have so far failed to challenge the status quo. While one of Myanmar's leading corporate lawyers, Advocate of the Supreme Court U Min Sein, has argued that "the legal system is quite adequate" and that suitable "laws and procedures are already in existence," interviews with private businesspeople suggest otherwise.
Without trust in the courts and government, Myanmar's asset holders are particularly conservative when it comes to investing in business or even depositing money in commercial or government banks. As a result, vast amounts of wealth are hoarded in property, stashes of US dollars, jewelry and other valuables, a misallocation of resources that has stifled growth and created market pricing distortions.
Foreign investors and companies have been equally apprehensive about entering Myanmar's unpredictable economy, with the legal system often cited as a significant deterrent.
"Both local and foreign companies try to stay away from the courts," said Romain Caillaud, managing director for Myanmar of the corporate advisory firm Vriens & Partners. Jared Bissinger, a consultant at the same company that has surveyed Myanmar's private sector said "many firms try to avoid the legal system as a means of settling commercial disputes and instead try to work these out bilaterally ... [An] independent judiciary is definitely one of the business environment factors that firms consider, so it would affect the decision making of foreign investors."
Of all the areas of needed legislative reform, those pertaining to the economy have generated the most discussion in the new parliament. In June, the government announced delays to the implementation of separate foreign investment and Special Economic Zone laws, both of which are expected to encourage new waves of FDI. The laws have been criticized by some lawmakers and civil society groups for potentially opening the way to foreign capital exploitation.
They have argued that new laws are needed not only to create a more attractive business environment, but must also protect the country from unscrupulous foreign firms, especially in the areas of natural resources, land, and agro-business.
The draft foreign investment law will essentially allow foreign investors to buy, sell and collateralize leases for land similar to the system employed in Thailand and Vietnam. It also offers income tax exemption of services and goods for five years for new foreign enterprises and a year exempt of all taxes on profits.
While the latter two provisions have sparked fears of exploitative companies entering the country to make a quick buck without providing sustainable employment or technological and managerial transfers, the former one on land leases some believe could threaten the livelihoods of farmers, which make up an estimated 90% of Myanmar's 53 million population.
In conjunction with the so-called Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law, subsistence and small holding farmers are at great risk of losing rights to their lands, many used by local communities for generations. The land law passed in March this year legitimizes state acquisition of land deemed as "vacant" by the government for agribusiness and other purposes.
Similar land legislation that has been in place since the colonial era has allowed for the state to seize hundreds of thousands of acres in Kachin and Shan States alone. These seized lands have often been handed over to foreign agribusiness firms, many owned by Chinese investors. Many of these lands were not only in use by local farmers before they were taken over by the state, they were also where the agrarians and their families lived.
Jilted justice
More democratic laws and legislation will ultimately depend on their fair and effective implementation by law-abiding police and impartial courts, experts say. In Myanmar, both the police and courts have for decades been kept intentionally weak and under the control of successive military rulers. According to M Zaw Bowm, the former police official who spent 10 years in the force, "The military government never trusted the police force so they put a lot of military men in [powerful positions] to control it."
"Our main job was to watch the opposition... [The government] has no real plan for building a good police force. This is due to improper training and as a result of the military government's oppression. The police are taught all the legal codes and they usually understand them but they do not prioritize respecting the law - they generally only look out for themselves, only for their survival, their income and their wealth. They want a lot."
He claims that the police and courts would often work together in taking bribes to clear someone for almost any crime short of murder. "A lot of bribes come in from rape cases, especially," he said. "If someone is raped, then we [would] arrest him. But if the culprit pays a price, then he will be let go."
Some, however, believe the country is ready to turn the page on its corrupt past. "Corruption is the cancer of the society," said Min Sein, who at the same time believes there are many signs that reform is taking root. "The stand taken by the President in particular and the cabinet as a whole is that 'no one is above the law' and [so] the courts are being urged to pass judgments according to the law."
"The main challenge that the police and the courts will face," Min Sein said, "will be to overcome the remnants of the belief in some people that authority and/or money can solve everything and that the law can be ignored."
Unlike other members of the former corrupt junta, Thein Sein is believed to have stayed comparatively clean. In contrast, Upper House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, in many respects Myanmar's second most influential government figure, has long been criticized for giving preferential official treatment to his son Aung Thet Mann's private company, Ayer Shwe Wah. Nonetheless, Thura Shwe Mann has been vocal on the need to curb corruption. He is currently spearheading new anti-graft legislation and has called in parliament for a significant raise in servicemen's salaries.
According to M Zaw Bowm, pay raises hold the key to stamping out corruption in the police force. "Bribery took place because the police force had a very low budget. A lot of police stations, needed repairs that we could not afford and there is no regular system for salaries ... Starting salaries were about 15,000 kyat (US$17) every six days or sometimes 10 days or two weeks, but you need over 100,000 kyat per month just for food and living costs in Yangon ... and we get no public healthcare or anything like that ... If there is no improvement of salaries and no economic change and then they make a new law, they will just have to put everyone in jail."
Rebuilding Myanmar's courts and law enforcement agencies will be an arduous task, one where external assistance and support is being welcomed. As Suu Kyi said during her recent speech in London, while the military will not allow civil society or the opposition to work with them directly, she believes they "could do a lot of work with regard to the courts of justice and the police forces", adding that "the international community could help by offering proper training for the police officers."
According to U Min Sein, capacity building is the most pressing need to help Myanmar's lawyers and the courts deal with the anticipated influx of international investors and corporations now that US and EU sanctions have been eased. "The key area that needs to be strengthened would be to train the judges in company law and international commercial practices," he said. "We have been under closed doors for a long time and these things have been outside of the scope of the judicial system."
Kim Jolliffe is a research and analysis consultant focusing on politics, security and humanitarian issues in Myanmar .
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The Independent - Burma's monks call for Muslim community to be shunned
The Buddhists have reportedly tried to block humanitarian aid getting to ethnic group
Hanna Hindstrom
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Monks who played a vital role in Burma's recent struggle for democracy have been accused of fuelling ethnic tensions in the country by calling on people to shun a Muslim community that has suffered decades of abuse.
In a move that has shocked many observers, some monks' organisations have issued pamphlets telling people not to associate with the Rohingya community, and have blocked humanitarian assistance from reaching them. One leaflet described the Rohingya as "cruel by nature" and claimed it had "plans to exterminate" other ethnic groups.
The outburst against the Rohingya, often described as one of the world's most oppressed groups, comes after weeks of ethnic violence in the Rakhine state in the west of Burma that has left more than 80 dead and up to 100,000 people living in a situation described as "desperate" by humanitarian organisations. As state-sanctioned abuses against the Muslim community continue, Burma's president Thein Sein – credited by the international community for ushering in a series of democratic reforms in the country and releasing political prisoners such as Aung San Suu Kyi – has urged neighbouring Bangladesh to take in the Rohingya.
"In recent days, monks have emerged in a leading role to enforce denial of humanitarian assistance to Muslims, in support of policy statements by politicians," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan project, a regional NGO. "A member of a humanitarian agency in Sittwe told me that some monks were posted near Muslim displacement camps, checking on and turning away people they suspected would visit for assistance."
The Young Monks' Association of Sittwe and Mrauk Oo Monks' Association have both released statements in recent days urging locals not to associate with the group. Displaced Rohingya have been housed in over-crowded camps away from the Rakhine population – where a health and malnutrition crisis is said to be escalating – as political leaders move to segregate and expel the 800,000-strong minority from Burma. Earlier this month, Thein Sein attempted to hand over the group to the UN refugee agency.
Aid workers report ongoing threats and interference by local nationalist and religious groups. Some monasteries in Maungdaw and Sittwe sheltering displaced Rakhine people have openly refused to accept international aid, alleging that it is "biased" in favour of the Rohingya. Monks have traditionally played a critical role in helping vulnerable citizens, stepping in to care for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 after the military junta rejected international assistance.
Many have been shocked by the response of the monks and members of the democracy movement to the recent violence, which erupted after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, allegedly by three Muslims, unleashed long-standing ethnic tensions.
Monks' leader Ashin Htawara recently encouraged the government to send the group "back to their native land" at an event in London hosted by the anti-Rohingya Burma Democratic Concern. Ko Ko Gyi, a democracy activist with the 88 Generation Students group and a former political prisoner, said: "The Rohingya are not a Burmese ethnic group. The root cause of the violence… comes from across the border." Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said: "We were shocked to have [Ashin Htawara] propose to us that there should be what amounts to concentration camps for the Rohingya."
Ms Suu Kyi has also been criticised for failing to speak out. Amal de Chickera of the London-based Equal Rights Trust, said: "You have these moral figures, whose voices do matter. It's extremely disappointing and in the end it can be very damaging."
The Rohingya have lived in Burma for centuries, but in 1982, the then military ruler Ne Win stripped them of their citizenship. Thousands fled to Bangladesh where they live in pitiful camps. Foreign media are still denied access to the conflict region, where a state of emergency was declared last month, and ten aid workers were arrested without explanation.
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UN Special Rapporteur To Report On Human Rights In Myanmar After Visit Next Week
7/26/2012 2:33 AM ET
( RTTNews) - U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar will visit that South Asian country next week to assess the situation and report it to the General Assembly.
"We are continuing to witness significant progress on reforms, which I hope will culminate in the creation of a peaceful and vibrant democracy that respects human rights and upholds the rule of law," Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana said on Wednesday.
"At the same time, Myanmar is confronted with ongoing human rights challenges, including in relation to the recent violence in Rakhine state, as well as continuing armed conflict, particularly in Kachin state. My visit to the country will help me to assess these developments and challenges for the purpose of my upcoming report to the General Assembly," he added.
Quintana's six-day visit, at the invitation of the Myanmar government, begins on Monday.
The independent expert, designated by the U.N. Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Myanmar, will meet with government officials, Members of Parliament, the National Human Rights Commission, and civil society in Naypyitaw and Yangon. He has also requested visits to the states of Rakhine and Kachin.
On the conclusion of his mission on August 4, Quintana will present preliminary observations at a press conference at Yangon International Airport. His full report on the visit will be presented to the 67th session of the General Assembly, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a press release.
Quintana was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2008. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity.
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The Irrawaddy - Farmers Block Tractor to Protest Land Grabs
By ZARNI MANN / THE IRRAWADDY| July 26, 2012 |
Three farmers from Mandalay Division, whose land has been confiscated, lay in front of a tractor belonging to the accused company on Wednesday in order to halt work and highlight their claims.
The farmers, from Oh Pyun Kan Village of Wundwin Township, Meikhtila District, accuse Kaungkin Company of illegally seizing land that has been in their families for generations and pledged to fight until death to win back what was stolen.
“As they saw the tractor start working on their lands, Kyaw Win, Thein Aung and U Toke Kyee ran to it and suddenly lay down in front of the tractor, saying, ‘This is our lands, If you want to continue, go over us and kill us first,’” an eyewitness told The Irrawaddy.
According to those present, the tractor drivers stopped their engines and left the scene despite telephone orders from the company’s management to continue work and ignore the farmers.
The protestors said they took action as Kaungkin Company started to work on the confiscated land despite time being set aside by the local authorities for negotiations between the farmers and the company.
“As the authorities requested that no action be taken during negotiation time, we are staying in place, waiting for the result. But [the company] started fencing the lands and harrowed the fields with tractors,” said a farmer.
According to the farmers, Kaungkin Company broke a promise which was given during prior negotiations that they would leave the lands vacant for the time being.
“We cannot accept this kind of action,” added the farmer. “That’s why we proceeded with work on those lands, planting cotton, sesame and sunflower seeds, as they left the area.”
Farmers from four townships—Meikhtila, Hajlaing, Wundwin and Tazi—who had a total of around 300 acres of land confiscated between them, worked their old fields for three days earlier this month to raise awareness of their complaints.
“We do not know how to do anything but farm work. Since we lost our land which was inherited from our grandparents, how can we survive? We would like to request the president to help us,” said Htay Htay Myint, a farmer from Wundwin.
Ever since the 1963 Land Acquisition Act, which nationalized ownership of all land across the country, confiscation practices have be widespread for various reasons—including project construction, expansion of urban areas, establishment of industrial zones and building army bases.
The current administration under reformist President Thein Sein, which appears to allow citizens greater freedom to express grievances, has repeatedly met with farmers demanding the return of confiscated land.
However, some protesting farmers and those who help them are currently facing legal action for trespassing and defamation, while others have been threatened by the local authorities during their protests.
“Due to neglect from both authorities and confiscator companies on compensation, farmers across the country are suffering. Suing or threatening the farmers is not a good way to solve the problem but will worsen the situation,” said Myint Myint Aye, of the Public Affairs Network in Meiktila, who helps the farmers.
Meanwhile, a discussion of the issue took place in Burma’s Lower House of Parliament this week after Tin Htut, the MP for Zalun Township in Irrawaddy Division, requested an investigation of confiscated farmlands and a fair solution for victims.
A special new committee of MPs to investigate illegal land confiscation is expected to be agreed by MPs on Thursday.
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The Irrawaddy - Activists Demand Transparency for Dawei
By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| July 26, 2012 |
Transparency and accountability are crucial to ensure the Dawei (Tavoy) deep-sea port project in southern Burma does not adversely affect local people or the environment, claim human rights activists.
The US $8.6 billion project has been on shaky ground recently with Naypyidaw blocking a coal-fueled power plant in January and major investor Max Myanmar pulling out earlier this month, but the signing of three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between Thailand and Burma has put the scheme firmly back on track.
The agreements took place when Burmese President Thein Sein met Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok this week, but people living around Dawei have complained that their views are still not being take into account.
“To have transparency and accountability are very important. It is not a matter of national security to let us know what is happening,” Thant Zin, a coordinator for the Dawei Development Association (DDA), told The Irrawaddy at a conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Thursday.
“Even in our small organization, we let people know what we are doing. The Dawei project is huge and it is going to displace 30,000 people where they build the special economic zone. The government should let us know what is in the agreement.”
Photos of the natural landscape, beaches and wildlife were shown at the conference which was attended by more than 300 people. Activists also posted photos of the devastation caused by the scheme and how much the environment was due to suffer from construction work.
“If our president respects our people, he will not destroy our livelihoods and environment,” said Ko Lay Lwin, another coordinator of DDA. Development should mean helping the prospects of local people first rather setting up a foreign-backed project that will ruin their livelihoods, he added.
Activists said that instead of allowing Italian-Thai Development (ITD), Thailand’s largest construction firm, to build Dawei, the Burmese government should implement a local project instead.
Residents also complained that Dawei is a project which Thailand would not permit on its own soil. The scheme is due to contain a huge petrochemicals center similar to the controversial Map Ta Phut plant, in Thailand’s Rayong Province, which exploded in May claiming 12 lives.
“We feel like Map Ta Phut is a toilet from Thailand that came to settle in our Dawei,” said Ko Lay Lwin.
ITD intends to construct a special economic zone by Nabuledaw village in Dawei as part if the megaproject which involves displacing local people from 50,536 acres of land.
“Without Nabuledaw, there will be no Dawei. This is how the people are feeling,” said Ko Lay Lwin. “If the project forces people to leave their homes, there will be a strong reaction.”
Activists called on the Burmese government to talk directly to local people about the project and warned that tempers were becoming frayed over the unfair compensation being offered by the local authorities for land being used.
“There is no reason to blame local people if some violence came out or they attack the project as the government has no transparency or accountability,” said Thant Zin.
ITD is not offering equal compensation to local people affected by the construction work, according to rights activists. While Karen people on the east side of the project were reportedly paid 300,000 kyat ($340) per rubber tree lost, those who stay on the west side only receive 150,000 kyat ($170).
ITD was first granted a 75-year concession to use land for Dawei in a deal struck with the Burmese government in 2008. Thailand then approved a 33.1 billion baht ($1.1 billion) budget for infrastructure to link up with the project in May.
However, things have not all gone smoothly as ITD was already thought to be struggling to find financial backing for the 250-square-kilometre complex that was planned to include a deep-sea port, steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and power plants. These financial woes were exacerbated by the loss of Max Myanmar which was due to contribute 25 percent of capital, with 50 percent coming from ITD.
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The Irrawaddy - Asian Elephant Trafficking a Threat to Species
By THE IRRAWADDY| July 26, 2012 |
Between 50 and 100 Asian elephant calves and young female elephants are illegally smuggled from Burma to Thailand every year and sold to tourist-driven camps, according to a UK film-maker and a leading campaigner against the abuse of elephants.
In addition, they say, many elephants die while being trafficked through the mountainous jungle, and the issue threatens the future of the species.
Joanna Cary-Elwes, the campaign manger at London-based NGO Elephant Family, said that, according to its investigation, about 40 calves have been traded across the border from Burma into Thai camps in the past six months.
Elephants in Burma are traditionally used for logging and carrying materials in the rice industry. In conflict zones, many die or become disabled after stepping on landmines.
Elephant campaigners say that, after being smuggled to Thailand, the pachyderms end up being used for trekking, in festivals, as attractions in so-called wildlife parks, and for riding at tourist destinations in Thailand.
A new film by Ecologist Film Unit (EFU) in the UK, in association with Link TV and Elephant Family, alleges that the hunting and capturing of wild elephants often involves the slaughter of mothers and other protective family members with automatic weapons. Caught calves are then often subjected to a brutal “breaking-in” process where they are tied up, confined, starved, beaten and tortured in order to “break their spirits,” said EFU.
“In Thailand, they use knifes, axes and sticks to beat them … and anything that causes the elephants pain and makes them afraid of people. So, a lot of them died,” Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, the founder of Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, was quoted as saying.
The EFU estimated that only one in three survive this inhumane “domestication” process.
The elephant campaigners also called on the Thai authorities to launch a fresh crackdown on elephant smuggling ahead of the next Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Thailand in March 2013.
As many as one million British tourists visit Thailand’s tourist camps each year, it is estimated, leading to claims that they are unwittingly fueling this devastating trade, according to an EFU report.
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Mizzima News - HFMD affecting children in Southeast Asia
Thursday, 26 July 2012 13:57 Mizzima News
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreaks have affected children in Asia in recent months, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The disease is usually not life threatening and can be cured within 7 to 10 days without complications.
The hardest hit has been China with more than 1.2 million cases and over 350 deaths. Medical authorities in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam have all reported cases mostly among children under the 10 years of age, said The Voice of America in an article on Thursday.
“We are seeing slightly high number of cases this year than has been the average in the past [in Thailand],” Dr. Brent Burkholder, the World Health Organization's acting country representative in Thailand told VOA. "But we’re also seeing that in other countries in Southeast Asia. Singapore, Vietnam, and others have also reported that they are seeing more cases a bit higher than previously. So it’s not quite clear yet exactly why this might be. Sometimes it’s just increased reporting and sometimes it’s the cyclical nature of the viruses.”
Cambodia earlier this month reported up to 60 children dying from a "mysterious" disease. Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Health and the WHO later issued a joint statement confirming hand, foot, and mouth disease claimed the lives of 54 children, said VOA.
Researchers believe that poor treatment is not the only reason for the virus’ increased lethality.
“These are viruses that pretty much circulate. These are viruses primarily. Kids pick them up,” said Vit Suwanvanichkij, a research associate with the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Most of the time its really non-specific viral illness with a fever, may be some diarrhea, gastrointestinal bug and it goes away. [But] this year might have more attention to it because probably it’s more severe - it’s more concerning. ”
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has reported over 13,160 cases this year, the highest rate in over five years. In 2011, there were 18,000 cases for the whole year and six deaths. So far, one Thai child has died. Authorities said some 60 schools across the country have reported outbreaks and some schools have been closed to halt the spread.
Medical authorities said the virus would probably remain active at least for another several weeks before the latest outbreaks across the region subside.
Authorities say HFMD usually begins with low grade fever and general tiredness. The throat feels sore and painful. Tiny red spots, like a rash then appear on the inside of the mouth (on the tongue, gums and cheeks), palms of the hands, fingers, soles of the feet, toes or buttocks. Children and adolescents are most commonly affected; infection is rare in adults. Chances of infection are high in the summer and early fall. Anywhere that groups of children interact, like daycare centers, parks and nursery schools are potential grounds for infection.
HFMD is moderately infectious. It can spread from one person to another through direct contact with discharge from the nose and throat, saliva, infected stools, or fluid from a blister.
Most people who develop the illness recover in 7 to 10 days with a minimum or no medical intervention.
There is no specific treatment for HFMD. Medication may be given for relief from symptoms like fever and aches. Symptomatic relief may be given by both acetaminophen, a fever reducer, and topical anesthetics to minimize pain due to ulcers.
Patients should consult with a doctor before treating themselves.
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Mizzima News - UN human rights expert asks to visit strife-torn Arakan State
Thursday, 26 July 2012 14:54 Mizzima News
The UN expert on human rights in Burma will visit the country for four days starting on Tuesday, at the invitation of the government.
UN human rights expert for Burma, Tomas Quintana, speaks at a press conference in Rangoon in this file photograph. Photo: MizzimaSpecial Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana will tour the country, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a statement on Wedneday.
Quintana has requested to visit Arakan (Rakhine) State and Kachin State and will report his findings to the UN's Human Rights Council, OHCHR said.
However, it was unclear if Quintana would be given permission to visit Arakan State in western Burma where widespread sectarian violence has claimed up to 78 lives and where thousands of homes and businesses were burned in June. There are reports of continued unrest in the area, and human rights groups have called for an independent investigation by a credible group.
In a statement released by OHCHR, Quintana cited “ongoing human rights challenges, including ... recent violence in Rakhine state, as well as continuing armed conflict, particularly in Kachin State.”
Quintana will meet with government officials, politicians, the National Human Rights Commission and civil society groups in Naypyitaw and Rangoon, according to the Geneva-based agency.
He said that there has been “significant progress on reforms (in Myanmar), which I hope will culminate in the creation of a peaceful and vibrant democracy that respects human rights and upholds the rule of law”.
A press conference is planned at Rangoon International Airport at the end of his mission on August 4.
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Mizzima News - Suu Kyi broadens debate in first Parliament speech
Thursday, 26 July 2012 12:35 Mizzima News
Aung San Suu Kyi joined other Burmese lawmakers in calling for laws guaranteeing the rights of ethnic minorities on Wednesday, addressing her fellow members of Parliament for the first time in a short speech. However, showing her debating skills, she went beyond the narrow dimension of the law under debate and introduced broaders issues.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during to the Lower House of Parliament in Naypyitaw on July 25, 2012. Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling Parliament. Photo: AFP
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during to the Lower House of Parliament in Naypyitaw on July 25, 2012. Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling Parliament. Photo: AFP
She told Lower House members that laws should be made to ensure ethnic rights were guaranteed “based on equality, mutual respect and confidence for the emergence of a genuine democratic union.”
She spoke in support of legislation offered by a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is limited in scope, largely calling for the right to maintain ethnic languages and cultures.
“I would like to urge all lawmakers to enact necessary laws or amend laws to protect the rights of ethnic nationalities,” she said.
Suu Kyi mentioned a report by the Asian Development Bank which said minorities are the worst affected by poverty. She referred to soaring poverty rates in Chin, Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, noting that protecting minority rights required more than just maintaining ethnic cultures.
“Furthermore, the flames of war are not completely extinguished,” she said. “Therefore, it can be seen that protecting the rights of the ethnic minorities is more broad-based than preserving languages and cultures.”
“The high poverty rates in ethnic states clearly indicate that development in ethnic regions is not satisfactory – and ethnic conflicts in these regions have not ceased,” she told lawmakers during her brief speech.
Her remarks signaled a “significant departure” in traditional calls for reform, Sean Turnell, a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Australia, told Voice of America.
He called her speech to fellow lawmakers “a moment in history” and said using that moment to discuss ethnic minorities, poverty and the civil war was particularly significant.
“If there is one unifying figure, it’s Aung San Suu Kyi. So in some ways, she’s the right person to talk about this particularly intractable problem,” he said.
Turnell noted that lawmakers often talk about the importance of economic reform in the country, but they generally leave the ethnic minorities out of the discussion.
“They are very often off the radar when we look at the big multilateral lenders, when we’re talking about firms going in to invest and so on," he said. “Very often the consideration for the differences and the terrible deprivation that is there for many ethnic minority areas is not just a political one. There’s also an economic dimension.”
Because many of Burma’s ethnic groups live along the Thai and Chinese borders, key trading areas rich in natural resources, Suu Kyi turned a seemingly safe domestic issue [a law on ethnic language and culture] into a global economic one.
Observers said Suu Kyi also showed savvy political instincts. She did not mention the sectarian violence in western Arakan State between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas that recently left at least 78 people dead, prompting a government crackdown in the region and more than 50,000 refugees or displaced persons. Doing so would have been seen as an attack on the ruling government and blurred her points about poverty, ethnic groups and the economy.
In ethnic regions, cease-fires have been agreed to with all but one ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Army, and several groups have entered into discussions with the government on terms for political agreements. Economy development is a central theme of the talks, but as yet there has been no countrywide program clearly aimed at minority areas.
Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, has been aligned with ethnic groups for decades, and Suu Kyi has called for a national conference of all ethnic groups to sort out fundamental rights issues and their relationship to the Union government.
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DVB News - Karenni army opens liaison offices
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 26 July 2012
Following a union-level ceasefire agreement, the Karenni National Progressive Party opened its first liaison office in the Karenni state capital of Loikaw yesterday.
The KNPP and government Peace Making Committee signed a multi-pronged deal on 9 June that allows for the opening of liaison offices in several Karenni state towns to increase communication between the group and the government.
The KNPP’s coordinator at the newly opened office in Loikaw’s Aw-U-Khu ward Khu Daniel said the group aims to cooperate with Burmese authorities to maintain the ceasefire and promote the on-going peace process.
“We will continue our work based on the 20 points discussed [with the government] – we have many future plans; regarding the military issues and social development,” said Khu Daniel.
“Now we can officially communicate with the government and it will allow the people to voice their concerns.”
The group’s Central Committee members, Kareeni state’s government Chief Minister Khin Maung Oo and government officials attended the ceremony to mark the opening of the offices.
Khu Daniel said the group plans to open liaison offices in Karenni state’s Shadaw and Hpasawng townships.
While the government has signed a raft of agreements with several of the countries armed groups, the ceasefires haven’t been able to guarantee an end to violence. Similar deals have failed to stop government troops from engaging with rebel armies in northern and southern Shan state as fighting continues in the country’s far north after a 17-year ceasefire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army collapsed in June 2011.
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DVB News - Fighting continues in Kachin state as talks stall
By AYE NAI
Published: 25 July 2012
Clashes between the Kachin Independence Army and Burmese military continue to erupt, while the armed ethnic group and government’s Peace Making Committee have yet to agree on a location to hold peace talks.
Following three unofficial meetings between KIA representatives and the Peace Making Work Committee vice-chairman Railway minister Aung Min, the government’s team proposed to hold a meeting with deputy commander-in-chief of the military lieutenant general Soe Win in Bhamo, Kachin state.
The KIA turned down the proposal citing that the group wasn’t comfortable meeting in the township, which is located in government territory and about 200 kilometers south of the state capital Myitkyina.
The armed group’s delegates then suggested meeting in Parangon village, two miles from the border town of Lweje in the south-eastern part of the state.
“We proposed to meet in Parangon village – we showed the location to the peace brokers –it was agreed on by U Aung Min. We had already finished constructing the buildings to facilitate the meeting as well so we wish to hold the unofficial meeting there,” said said La Nan.
“After we reach some level of agreement, we’ll go [to meet] anywhere.”
The offer was later axed by the government who recommended meeting in the Shan state border town of Muse across from Ruili, China.
The KIA dismissed the location and put Ruili on the table as a potential destination for the talks and is still waiting for the government’s response.
According to the KIA, there have been 83 clashes with government forces this month as of 24 July.
La Nan said talks with the Burmese government have gone smoothly in the past; however disagreements concerning demarcation have prevented the negotiations from progressing.
“Demarcation is an important issue. The [Burmese Army] forces are still increasing – they have been reinforcing troops in [KIA] brigade-4 region around Bhamo. As long as they keep increasing their activity, the talks will bear no fruit,” said La Nan
Lt general Soe Win was the former commander of the Burmese Army’s Northern Regional Military Command based in Kachin state, which oversees a majority of the campaign being levied against the KIA.
The army’s second in command is the acting vice-chairman of the Peace Making Work Committee alongside Aung Min. The duo helped broker a deal with the Shan State Army-South in May; however, the deputy commander-in-chief has been unable to reign in his troops in Shan state.
After a ceasefire broke down in June 2011, the KIA and Burmese troops have been involved in intense fighting that has displaced tens of thousands of people and tarnished the country’s ‘reform’ process.
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DVB News - Taliban calls on Pakistan to sever relations with Burma
By AFP
Published: 26 July 2012
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Thursday threatened to attack Burma to avenge crimes against the Muslim Rohingya, unless Pakistan halts all relations with the government and shuts its embassy in Islamabad.
In a rare statement focused on the plight of Muslims abroad, the umbrella TTP group sought to present itself as a defender of Muslim men and women in Burma, saying “we will take revenge of your blood”.
Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan demanded that the Pakistani government halt all relations with Burma and close down its embassy in Islamabad.
“Otherwise we will not only attack Burmese interests anywhere but will also attack the Pakistani fellows of Burma one by one,” he said in a statement.
The Burmese embassy in Islamabad was not immediately reachable for comment.
The TTP frequently claims attacks on security forces in Pakistan but its ability to wage violence in countries further afield has been questioned.
But US officials say there is evidence the group was behind a failed 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square in New York, for which Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was jailed for life.
TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud has also been charged in the United States over the killings of seven CIA agents who died when a Jordanian al Qaeda double agent blew himself up at a US base in Afghanistan in December 2009.
Recent clashes in western Burma between Buddhist ethnic Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.
Last week, Amnesty International said hundreds of people, mostly men and boys, have been detained in sweeps of areas heavily populated by the Rohingya, with almost all held incommunicado and some ill-treated.
Most arrests appear to have been “arbitrary and discriminatory” and Amnesty said there were “credible reports” of abuses – including rape, destruction of property and unlawful killings – by both Arakanese residents and the security forces.
Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
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ေတာ္လွန္ေရးသီခ်င္းမ်ား(Politics Song)
Saturday 28 July 2012
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JULY 23-26, 2012
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