Thursday 29 November 2012

ေဆးေပါင္းပ်က္တဲ့ မနက္

လက္ပံေတာင္း
ေဆးေပါင္းခတဲ့ည
ေနာက္ တမနက္္မွာ
မင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္းထားတဲ့
ပဥၥလက္သမားေတြက
ဘီလူးအေၾကာင္းျပတဲ ့
နကၡတ္ ထ ခဲ့ေလသလား၊
 
လက္ပံေတာင္း
ျမေမာင္းေရာင္ ေတာင္ေျမ တ၀ုိက္ကုိ
က်ပ္တင္ကာ မီးက်ည္ ႃမႈိက္ ရက္တယ္၊
 
လက္ပံေတာင္း
နင့္ အေၾကာင္းကုိ ျပန္ကာေတြးရင္
ရန္္ ငါ ေတြ မၿပီး မျပတ္ေသးေလသမုိ႔
သံဃာေတြ မီးေလာင္တုိက္ အသြင္းခံရၿပီေပါ့
 
လက္ပံေတာင္း
ေဆးေပါင္းပ်က္တဲ့ မနက္ ခင္းမွာ
အနိဌာ အဆင္းနဲ ့ ယြင္းခဲ့ၿပီသေကာ ။     
 
ရန္ႏုိင္ထြန္း
လြတ္ေျမာက္နယ္ေျမ ၊ ကုိရီးယား
 

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

“မ်က္ႏွာဖံုးကြာက်တဲ့ တန္းေဆာင္တိုင္ည”

ဘုရား………ဘုရား…………
ဘုရားတသံေတြနဲ႔အတူ
ေျပးၾကလႊားၾကနဲ႔
တန္းေဆာင္တိုင္လျပည့္ည
သန္းေခါင္ေက်ာ္ အခါကာလမွာ
ငရဲခန္းတခု
ေခြးျမီးေကာက္ က်ည္ေတာက္စြပ္ထားတဲ့
လူမိုက္တစု ထုဆစ္ခဲ့ၾကတယ္။
တပ္ဦးက ဘုရားသား
မ႑ိဳင္က ပစၥည္းမဲ့လူတန္းစား
အေၾကာင္းတရားက ညီမွွ်ျခင္းခ်႐ံုပါ
အမွားတခုမွ မပါခဲ့ပါဘူး
အက်ိဳးတရားက
အသားေညွာ္နံ႕ေတြ
တျပည္လံုး ျပန္႔ႏွံ႕သြားတယ္။
လက္နက္ခ်င္းအားျပိဳင္ခ်ိန္မွာေတာင္
ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးခ်ိန္ခြင္လွ်ာ ညွိေနၾကေသးဆိုပဲ
လက္ဗလာနဲ႔ ျပည္သူလူထုကေတာ့
ဒီမိုကေရစီအတုေပၚမွာ
ေသြးစက္လက္နဲ႔ ပိုးလိုးပက္လက္ျဖစ္ေကာင္းတုန္း…။
ဟန္ေဆာင္ပန္ေဆာင္အျပံဳး
အေယာင္ေဆာင္မ်က္ႏွာဖံုးနဲ႔
အာဏာရွင္႐ုပ္လံုးကို
လက္ပန္းေတာင္းေတာင္က အဆံုးသတ္ေပးခဲ့တယ္။
တကယ္ေတာ့………
အမွားအယြင္းက တခုပဲရွိတာပါ။
မင္းသားေတြ ဘယ္ေလာက္ထြက္ထြက္
ျပကြက္က ဖန္တရာေတေနတယ္
အစြယ္လိုသူလည္း ဒင္းပါပဲ…..
အသြားေစခိုင္းသူလည္း ဒင္းပါပဲ….
ေလးပစ္သူလည္း ဒင္းပါပဲ….။ ။
ေမာင္ပါလ
၂၉.၁၁.၂၀၁၂


--

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

Wednesday 28 November 2012

လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ သပိတ္စခန္းကို ဓါတု လက္နက္ျဖင့္ ျဖိဳခြဲခံရ

လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ စီမံကိန္းရွိ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ားအား မီးေလာင္ေစေသာ ဓါတုပစၥည္းပါ၀င္သည့္ လက္နက္ (ဓါတုလက္နက္) ၿဖင့္ အင္အားသံုးႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရ

လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ စီမံကိန္းရွိ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ားအား မီးေလာင္ေစေသာ ဓါတုပစၥည္းပါ၀င္သည့္ လက္နက္ (ဓါတုလက္နက္) ၿဖင့္ အင္အားသံုးႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရ


မံုရြာေဆးရုံမွ ဒဏ္ရာရ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား
လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ စီမံကိန္းရွိ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ားအား မီးေလာင္ေစေသာ ဓါတုပစၥည္းပါ၀င္သည့္ လက္နက္ (ဓါတုလက္နက္) ၿဖင့္ အင္အားသံုးႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရ

ႏို၀င္ဘာလ ၁၉ ရက္ေန႔ နံနက္အေစာပိုင္းက ျဖစ္ပြားခဲ့ေသာ လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္းရွိ သပိတ္စခန္
းမ်ားအား အင္းအားသံုးၿဖိဳခြင္းရာတြင္ လံုျခံဳေရးတပ္ဖြဲ႕၀င္မ်ားမွ သပိတ္စခန္း တည္ရွိရာေနရာမ်ားသို႔ မီးေလာင္ေစေသာ ဓါတုပစၥည္းပါ၀င္သည့္ လက္နက္ (ဓါတုလက္နက္) ၿဖင့္ အင္အားသံုးႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း ယင္းျဖစ္စဥ္တြင္ ကိုယ္ေတြ႕ၾကံဳခဲ့သူမ်ား၏ ေျပာၾကားခ်က္မ်ားအရ သိရသည္။

"ကၽြန္ေတာ္တို႔က စျဖစ္တဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာ ၀မ္ေပါင္ကုမၸဏီေရွ႕မွာရွိတဲ့ ပင္မသပိတ္စခန္းမွာ ရွိေနခဲ့တာပါ။ သူတို႔က ပထမပိုင္းတုန္းက အင္းအား သံုးၿပီး ၿဖိဳခြင္းမယ္ဆိုၿပီး ေၾကညာပါတယ္။ မနက္ ၃နာရီေက်ာ္ ေလာက္မွာေတာ့ မီးသတ္ကားႏွစ္စီးက ပိုက္ေတြနဲ႔ေလး၊ငါးၾကိမ္ေလာက္ထိုးၿပီး လူစုခြဲခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ လူစုက ကြဲမသြားတဲ့အတြက္ ေနာက္ပိုင္းက်ေတာ့ မီးက်ည္ဗံုးလို႔ေခၚမလား၊ မီးေလာင္ဗံုးလို႔ေခၚမလား။ အဲဒီဗံုးေတြနဲ႔ ပစ္ကုန္ေရာ။ အဲဒီဗံုးေတြက ပစ္လိုက္တဲ့အခါ ေလေပၚမွာေပါက္ၿပီး မီးက်ည္ေတြ ျပန္က်ဲၿပီး က်လာပါတယ္။ အဲဒီမီးက်ည္က်တဲ့ ေနရာေတြအကုန္လံုး မီးေလာင္တာေတြ ျဖစ္ကုန္တယ္။ အဲဒီမီးက်ည္ထိတဲ့ သူေတြအကုန္လံုး မီးေလာင္ၿပီးေတာ့ အေရျပားေတြ လန္ကုန္တယ္။ အဲဒီဗံုးက မ်က္ရည္ယိုဗံုးမဟုတ္ဘူး။ ဗံုးက်လာတဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာ မ်က္ရည္က်တာမ်ိဳးေတြ မရွိဘူး။ မီးက်ည္က်တဲ့ေနရာ၊ ထိမွန္တဲ့သူေတြ အကုန္လံုး မီးေလာင္ကုန္တယ္။ လက္ရွိအခ်ိန္မွာေတာ့ သပိတ္စခန္းေတြမွာရွိတဲ့ သံဃာေတာ္ေတြနဲ႔ လူေတြကို ပတ္၀န္းက်င္က ဘုန္းၾကီးေက်ာင္းေတြ၊ အိမ္ေတြမွာ ေဆးကုသေနရတယ္။ ထိခိုက္တဲ့အထဲမွာ လူေတြထက္ သံဃာေတာ္ေတြက ပိုၿပီးဒဏ္ရာရၾကတာ ေတြ႕ရတယ္။ တစ္ခ်ိဳ ႔ ကို မံုရြာေဆး႐ံုကို ပို႔ေပးၿပီးေတာ့ ဒဏ္ရာျပင္းထန္သည့္ သံဃာေတာ္တစ္ပါးကို မႏၲေလးေဆး႐ံုသို႔ ပို႔ေဆာင္ခဲ့ပါတယ္" ဟု ကိုယ္ေတြ႕ၾကံဳခဲ့သူတစ္ဦးမွ ေျပာၾကားခဲ့သည္။

”စျဖစ္တာက ႏုိ၀င္ဘာလ ၂၉ ရက္ေန႔ နံနက္ ၃ နာရီအခ်ိန္မွာ စတင္ျဖစ္သြားခဲ့တာပါ။ အစဦးဆုံး မီးသတ္ပုိက္နဲ႔ မထုိးခင္မွာ ေက်ာ္ရြာဂိတ္ဆီက ေသနတ္ ၃ ခ်က္ ေဖာက္လုိက္သံၾကားလုိက္ရတယ္။ အဲဒီေနာက္မွာပဲ စေတာ့တာပါပဲ။ ပထမ မီးသတ္ပုိက္နဲ႔ သပိတ္စခန္းထဲမွာ ရွိေနတဲ့သူေတြကုိ ေရေတြနဲ႔ စဖ်န္းပါတယ္။ ၁၀ မိနစ္ေလာက္ၾကာတဲ့အခါမွာေတာ့ မီးက်ည္လုိအရာေတြနဲ႔ စပစ္တယ္။ ေနာက္မီးခုိးေတြထြက္တယ္ ေနာက္ေပါက္ကြဲတယ္။ အစကေတာ့ သပိတ္စခန္းထဲမွာ ေနရင္ အေျခအေန မဟန္ေတာ့ဘူးဆုိတာ သိပါတယ္။ အဲဒီေတာ့ သပိတ္စခန္းေတြ ပ်က္ဆီးခ်င္ ပ်က္ဆီးသြားပါေစ။ လူေတြကုိေတာ့ လြတ္ရာကုိေျပးၾကဖို႔အတြက္ ဆရာေတာ္ေတြက ေဆာ္ၾသေပးတယ္။ ဒါနဲ႔ပဲ လြတ္ရာကုိေတာင္ ၾကား၊ ေတာင္ေပၚေတြကေန ေျပးခဲ့ၾကရပါတယ္။ သံဃာအမ်ားစု ထိခုိက္ဒဏ္ရာရၾကတယ္ လူေတြလည္းအနည္းငယ္ ထိခုိက္မႈေတြရွိပါတယ္။ သံဃာတခ်ိဳ႕ကုိလည္း ရဲကားေတြအေပၚမွာ ပါသြားတာျမင္လုိက္ရပါတယ္။ အခုခ်ိန္ ထိၿဖိဳခြဲခံရတဲ့ သပိတ္အဖြဲ႕၀င္ေတြဟာ လုံၿခဳံတဲ့ေနရာမွာ ရွိေန ၾကပါတယ္”ဟု ေမာင္းတန္ဂိတ္(ေတာင္ေပၚဂိတ္) သပိတ္အဖြဲ႕၀င္တစ္ဦးက ကုိယ္ေတြ႔ႀကဳံခဲ့သည္မ်ားကုိ ေျပာျပခဲ့သည္။

ျဖစ္စဥ္ေၾကာင့္ ဒဏ္ရာရသူ အမ်ားအျပားရွိခဲ့ၿပီး အမ်ားစုမွာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ လတ္တေလာ ရရွိေထားေသာ သတင္းမ်ားအရ မံုရြာေဆး႐ံုတြင္ ေရာက္ရွိကုသခံေနရသူ ၅၀ေက်ာ္ခန္႔ရွိၿပီး အမ်ားစုမွာ မီးေလာင္ဒဏ္ရာမ်ားျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ အဆိုပါ ဒဏ္ရာရသူမ်ားထဲမွ ဒဏ္ရာအေျခအေန ျပင္းထန္သည့္ သံဃာေတာ္တစ္ပါးကို မႏၲေလးျပည္သူ႔ေဆး႐ံုၾကီးသို႔ ပို႔ေဆာင္ခဲ့ရေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။ အင္အားသံုးၿဖိဳခြင္းမႈေၾကာင့္ ဒဏ္ရာရရွိသူ ရာဂဏန္းခန္႔ရွိၿပီး အတည္မျပဳႏိုင္ေသာ သတင္းမ်ားအရ ယခုျဖစ္စဥ္ေၾကာင့္ ေသဆံုးသူမ်ားရွိၿပီး ဖမ္းဆီးထိန္းသိမ္းခံရသူမ်ားလည္း ရွိေနေၾကာင္း သိရွိရသည္။

”စစ္လက္နက္ပစၥည္းေတြထဲမွာ မီးေသနတ္ Flame Thrower ဆိုတာ ရွိတယ္။ ေပႏွစ္ဆယ္ေလာက္ထိ မီးညႊန္႔ပန္းထြက္တဲ့ ေသနတ္ မ်ဳိးေပါ့။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အဲဒီလက္နက္ အမ်ဳိးအစားက စစ္ေျမျပင္မွာေတာင္ သာမာန္လက္နက္နဲ႔ ပစ္ခတ္ၿဖိဳခြင္းလို႔ မရတဲ့ (ဥပမာ- ဘန္ကာ၊ ကတုက္က်င္း ဒါမွမဟုတ္ အေဆာက္အဦးတြင္းမွာေနရာယူထားတဲ့) ရန္သူ႔တပ္ဖြဲ႔၀င္ေတြကို ေခ်မႈန္းရာမွာသာ အသုံးျပဳပိုင္ခြင့္ရွိၿပီး ကြင္းျပင္မွာ ခ်ီတက္လာတဲ့ တပ္ဖြဲ႔ေတြကို ရင္ဆိုင္ရာမွာ အသုံးျပဳပိုင္ခြင့္ မရွိဘူး။ လူမဆန္တဲ့ လက္နက္မို႔လို႔ ဂ်ီနီဗာကြန္ဗင္းရွင္းအရ တားျမစ္ထားတယ္။ ပစ္မွတ္ေတြကို မီးေလာင္ပ်က္စီးေစတဲ့ ေနာက္ထပ္ဗုံးတမ်ဳိးက မီးစုံးဗုံး Incendiary rounds ေတြပဲ။ Napalm နပမ္းဗုံးလို႔လဲ ေခၚတယ္။ အထဲမွာဓါတုေဆးရည္ ဒါမွမဟုတ္ အမႈန္ေတြထည့္ထားၿပီး ပစ္မွတ္ေပၚမွာ စြဲကပ္ေနတဲ့ အဲဒီ ဓါတုပစၥည္းေတြ မကုန္မခ်င္း မီးေလာင္ ေစတယ္။ ဘာနဲ႔မွ ၿငိမ္းလို႔ မရဘူး။
တစ္ကိုယ္လုံး မီးစြဲေနတဲ့ ခေလးမေလး လမ္းတေလွ်ာက္ ငိုယိုေျပးထြက္လာတာကို သတင္းေထာက္ေတြ ဗီဒီယိုမွတ္တမ္းတင္လိုက္ႏိုင္လို႔ ဗီယက္နမ္စစ္မွာ ယန္းကီးေတြ ႐ႈံးပိုင္းပိုင္း လိုက္ရတာလည္း မွတ္မိၾကမွာေပါ့။ အခု ဆႏၵျပသံဃာေတာ္ေတြကို အစိုးရက မ်က္ရည္ယိုဗုံးေတြနဲ႔ ပစ္ခတ္ႏွိမ္နင္းတဲ့ ေနရာမွာလည္း မီးေလာင္ၿပီး ဒဏ္ရာရၾကတယ္လို႔ သတင္းေတြ ၾကားေနရတယ္။
မ်က္ရည္ယို ဗုံးဆိုတာက မီးေလာင္ဗုံးမွမဟုတ္ပဲ။ ဆႏၵျပအရပ္သားေတြကို ထိခိုက္အနာတရမျဖစ္ေစပဲနဲ႔ လူစုခြဲႏိုင္႐ုံ ရည္ရြယ္ တီထြင္ထားတဲ့ မီးခိုးဗုံးအမ်ဳိးအစားသာျဖစ္တယ္။ အခု အစိုးရ ရဲတပ္ဖြဲ႔ကသာ ဆႏၵျပလူထုကို မီးေလာင္ေစတဲ့ လက္နက္နဲ႔ တိုက္ခိုက္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္းမွန္ရင္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ ရာဇ၀တ္မႈအႀကီး ႀကီးတစ္ခု က်ဴးလြန္လိုက္ၿပီလို႔ပဲ ေျပာရမယ္” ဟု အမွတ္(၂) စစ္လက္နက္ပစၥည္းစက္႐ံုတြင္ တာ၀န္ထမ္းေဆာင္ခဲ့ၿပီး ယခုအခါ ျပည္ပတြင္ တိမ္းေရွာင္ေနရသူ ဗိုလ္မႈးေဟာင္း စိုင္းသိန္း၀င္းက ၄င္း၏ Facebook စာမ်က္ႏွာတြင္ ေဖာ္ျပထားသည္။

ယခုၿဖစ္စဥ္ႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ မည္သည့္ လက္ႏွက္မ်ား အသံုးၿပဳႏွိမ္နင္းခဲ့သည္ ဆိုသည္ကို သိရွိနိုင္ရန္အတြက္ ၿမန္မာနိုင္ငံ ရဲတပ္ဖြဲ႕ ရဲခ်ဳပ္ရံုးသို႕ ဆက္သြယ္ စံုစမ္းလ်က္ရွိၿပီး ၿမန္မာနို္င္ငံ ရဲခ်ဳပ္ႏွင့္ တာ၀န္ရွိသူမ်ားသည္ နိုင္ငံေတာ္ သမၼတရံုးတြင္ ယခုကိစၥႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး အစည္းအေ၀း ၿပဳလုပ္ေနေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။Eleven Media Group

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

သပိတ္မ်ားအား အၾကမ္းဖက္မၿဖိဳခြဲရန္ ဗကသ တိုက္တြန္း

ဗုဒၶဟူးေန႔၊ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၂၈ ရက္ ၂၀၁၂ ခုႏွစ္
 
ရပိုင္ခြင့္မ်ားအတြက္ ဆႏၵျပ ေတာင္းဆိုေနၾကေသာ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ားအား အၾကမ္းဖက္ ၿဖိဳခြင္းျခင္း မျပဳရန္ ဗကသမ်ား အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ႏွင့္ မံုရြာခ႐ိုင္ ေက်ာင္းသားမ်ား သမဂၢက အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားအား ေၾကညာခ်က္ ထုတ္ျပန္ တိုက္တြန္းလိုက္သည္။

မံုရြာၿမိဳ႕ အေနာက္ဖက္ကမ္းရွိ လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္းအား ရပ္စဲရန္ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ားဖြင့္၍ ဆႏၵျပ
ေနသူမ်ားအား လူစုခြဲရန္ အဂၤါေန႔က ျပည္ထဲေရးဝန္ၾကီးဌာနမွ ထုတ္ျပန္လိုက္ၿပီးေနာက္ ဗုဒၶဟူးေန႔တြင္ လူစုမကြဲ
ေသးဘဲ အင္အားမ်ား ထပ္တိုးလာကာ လံုျခံဳေရးမ်ားဘက္မွလည္း အင္အားတိုးျမႇင့္ခ်လာေနစဥ္ ယခုေၾကညာခ်က္ ထြက္ေပၚလာျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။

“အၾကမ္းဖက္ နည္းလမ္းမ်ား သံုးစြဲျခင္းျဖင့္ မွန္ကန္ေသာ ရလဒ္ ရရွိလာမည္မဟုတ္ဘဲ ပိုမိုဆိုးရြားေသာ ရလဒ္မ်ား သာ ရလိမ့္မည္ဟု မိမိတို႔ တထစ္ခ် ယံုၾကည္ပါသည္” ဟု ပါရွိၿပီး “ေအးေဆးစြာ ညွိႏိႈင္း အေျဖရွာေသာ နည္းလမ္း၊
ျပည္သူလူထု အမွန္တကယ္ လိုလားေတာင့္တေသာ ခ်ဥ္းကပ္နည္းမ်ားျဖင့္သာ ေျဖရွင္းရလိမ့္မည္” ဟု ေက်ာင္းသား
ေၾကညာခ်က္က တိုက္တြန္းထားသည္။

လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ရွိ ပင္မ သပိတ္စခန္းတြင္ သံဃာ အပါး ၄ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ႏွင့္ လူပုဂၢိဳလ္ ၂ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ ရွိေနၿပီး လံုျခံဳေရး ရဲအင္အား ၁ဝဝဝ ေက်ာ္ ရွိေနေၾကာင္း သိရွိရသည္။( မဇၥ်ိမ )

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္း သပိတ္ေမွာက္သူမ်ားအား လူစုခြဲရန္ အသံခ်ဲ႕စက္ျဖင့္ ေၾကညာ

ဗုဒၶဟူးေန႔၊ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၂၈ ရက္ ၂၀၁၂ ခုႏွစ္

လက္ပံေတာင္းေတာင္ ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္း ရပ္စဲေရးအတြက္ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ား ဖြင့္လွစ္ထားသည့္ နယ္ေျမသည္ ပုဒ္မ ၁၄၄ ထုတ္ျပန္ထား၍ ဆႏၵျပ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားႏွင့္ ျပည္သူမ်ားအား လူစုခြဲရန္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက အသံခ်ဲ႕စက္ျဖင့္ ေျပာဆိုေနၿပီး ၿခိမ္းေျခာက္မႈမ်ားလည္း ျပဳလုပ္ေနေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။

လံုျခံဳေရး ရဲဝန္ထမ္း ၁,ဝဝဝ ခန္႔ကလည္း ၎တို႔ ကိုင္ေဆာင္ထားေသာ ဒိုင္းမ်ားကို နံပါတ္တုတ္မ်ားျဖင့္ ထု႐ိုက္ကာ ညာသံေပး၍ ျခိမ္းေျခာက္မႈမ်ား ျပဳလုပ္ေၾကာင္း ပင္မသပိတ္စခန္းသို႔ ေရာက္ရွိေနသည့္ မဇိၥ်မသတင္းေထာက္ မင္းမင္း က သတင္းေပးပို႔သည္။

“ပုသိမ္-မံုရြာ ကား လမ္းမၾကီးေဘးက ဝမ္ေပါင္ကုမၸဏီထဲက ရဲေတြက သံဃာေတာ္ေတြကို ပုဒ္မ ၁၄၄ ထုတ္ထားတဲ့ နယ္ေျမျဖစ္တာေၾကာင့္ ထြက္ေပးဖို႔ေျပာတယ္။ သူတို႔ကေတာ့ သပိတ္စခန္းက သံဃာေတာ္ေတြကို ေႏွာက္ယွက္ တာမ်ိဳးမရွိဘူး။ အသံခ်ဲ႕စက္နဲ႔ ေအာ္တဲ့ အခ်ိန္မွာ ဒိုင္းေတြ ကာထားတယ္။ ဒိုင္းေတြကိုလည္း နံပါတ္တုတ္နဲ႔ ႐ိုက္တယ္။ အၾကမ္းဖက္ ျဖိဳခြင္းတာေတာ့ မရွိဘူးခင္ဗ်” ဟု ဆိုသည္။

ထိုသို႔ေၾကညာျပီးေနာက္ ပင္မ သပိတ္စခန္းသို႔ မံုရြာၿမိဳ႕မွ သံဃာေတာ္ တရာခန္႔ ထပ္မံ အားျဖည့္ ေရာက္ရွိလာျပီး ပူးေပါင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ လံုျခံဳေရး အင္အားမ်ားလည္း မေန႔ကထက္ တိုးခ်ထားေၾကာင္း ၎က ဆက္ေျပာသည္။

“သံဃာအင္အား ထပ္တိုးတာနဲ႔ဆို စုစုေပါင္း သံဃာေတာ္ ၄ဝဝ ေက်ာ္၊ လူအင္အား ၂ဝဝ ေက်ာ္။ လံုျခံဳေရး အေျခအေနက မေန႔ကထက္ ပိုျပီးေတာ့ မ်ားလာတယ္။ အင္အား တေထာင္ ေလာက္ရွိတယ္” ဟု ဆိုသည္။

ယမန္ေန႔ည သန္းေခါင္အခ်ိန္တြင္ သပိတ္စခန္းမ်ား ႐ုတ္သိမ္းရႏွင့္ မ႐ုတ္သိမ္းပါက တည္ဆဲဥပေဒျဖင့္ အေရးယူ မည္ဟု ျပည္ထဲေရးဝန္ၾကီးဌာနက သတိေပးထားေသာ္လည္း သပိတ္စခန္း ဆႏၵျပသူမ်ားက ဆက္လက္ တိုက္ပြဲဝင္ သြားမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရွိရသည္။

ထို႔ျပင္ သပိတ္ေမွာက္သူမ်ားက ေၾကညာခ်က္တေစာင္ ထုတ္ျပန္မည္ဟုလည္း သိရသည္။(မဇၥ်ိမ)

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

ျမန္မာကို Burma ဟု ေနာက္ေနာင္ မေခၚေတာ့ေၾကာင္း ကန္ ကာကြယ္ေရးဝန္ႀကီးဆို

ေအာင္ျမတ္ထြန္း | အဂၤါေန႔၊
usgensအေမရိိကန္ ကာကြယ္ေရးဝန္ႀကီးက ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအား အဂၤလိပ္လို Burma ဟု ႏႈတ္က်ဳိးေန၍ ေခၚရျခင္းျဖစ္ၿပီး ေနာက္ေနာင္ မေခၚေတာ့မည့္အေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆိုလိုက္သည္။

ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ၏ လက္ရွိ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲမႈမ်ားကိုု ႀကိဳဆိုေထာက္ခံ လိုက္ၿပီး အနာဂတ္တြင္ ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံနွင့္ ပိုမိုရင္းနွီးစြာ ဆက္ဆံသြား မည္ဟုလည္း ကန္ ကာကြယ္ေရးဝန္ၾကီး လီယြန္ ပါနတ္တာ က ဆိုသည္။

‘Burma ဆိုေသာ အသုံးႏႈန္းသည္ ဗမာလူမ်ဳိး တမ်ဳိးတည္းကိုသာ ကိုယ္စားျပဳၿပီး Myanmar ဆိုသည္မွာ တိုင္းရင္းသား အားလံုးကို ကိုယ္စားျပဳေသာ အသံုးႏႈန္း ျဖစ္၍ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံကို Myanmar ဟု ေခၚဆိုျခင္းသာ မွန္ကန္သည္’ ဟု ျမန္မာ ကာကြယ္ေရး ဝန္ႀကီး ဒုတိယ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကိီး ေဝလြင္ က ရွင္းျပခဲ့သည္။

ကန္ ကာကြယ္ေရးဝန္ၾကီးကလည္း ၎အေနႏွင့္ Burma ဟု ေခၚဆိုရျခင္းမွာ တျခား ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ မရွိေၾကာင္း
ေျဖရွင္းၿပီး ျမန္မာလူမ်ဳိးတို႔တြင္ ပါဝင္ေသာ တိုင္းရင္းသားတို႔ အေၾကာင္းကို ေသခ်ာစြာ ရွင္းလင္းေျပာၾကားေပး၍
ေက်းဇူးတင္ရွိပါေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ေနာင္တြင္ Myanmar ဟု ေျပာင္းလဲ သံုးႏႈန္းသြားမည္ဟု အာဆီယံ ထိပ္သီးအစည္းေဝးပြဲ တြင္ ေျပာၾကားခဲ့သည္။

အမ်ဳိးသားဒိီမိုအေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကမူ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံကို အဂၤလိပ္လို Burma ဟူ၍သာ ဆက္လက္ေခၚဆိုသြားမည္ဟု ႏိုဝင္ဘာလ ၂၂ ရက္ေန႔က ေျပာၾကားထားသည္။ မိမိတိုင္းျပည္၏ အမည္ နာမအား ျပည္သူမ်ားကိုယ္တိုင္ မည္သို႔ ေခၚဆိုသည္ကို ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ မက်မီအထိ ထိုသို႔သာ ဆက္လက္ ေခၚတြင္ သြားမည္ဟု ဆိုထားသည္။

လက္ရွိ ဖြဲ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒတြင္ အခန္း ၁၊ ပုဒ္မ ၂ တြင္ ႏိုင္ငံအမည္အား အဂၤလိပ္လို ‘the Republic of the Union of Myanmar’ ဟု ေခၚတြင္ရမည့္အေၾကာင္း ေရးသားထားသည္။

ႏိုင္ငံသားတိုင္းသည္ ဖြဲ႔စည္းပုံအေျခခံဥပေဒကို လိုက္နာၾကမည္ဟုပါဝင္ျပီး လႊတ္ေတာ္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္မ်ား အေနႏွင့္ ပိုမိုသိရွိရန္မွာ အျခားေသာ ျပည္သူမ်ားထက္ပင္ ပိုမို အေရးၾကီးလွသည္ဟု ဥပေဒပညာရွင္တဦးက ဆိုသည္။

အေျခခံဥပေဒကို ျပဳျပင္ႏိုင္ရန္မွာလည္း လႊတ္ေတာ္ အစည္းေဝး က်င္းပေနခ်ိန္တြင္ အၾကိတ္အနယ္ ေဆြးေႏြးျပီး လုပ္ေဆာင္ႏိုင္ရန္ လိုအပ္သလို ျပည္သူအားလံုးအတြက္ အဆင္ေျပမႈ မရွိေသာ ဥပေဒမ်ားကို ဖ်တ္သိမ္းပစ္ရန္ လိုအပ္ၿပီး ျပည္သူကို အက်ဳိးရွိေစမည့္ ဥပေဒမ်ားကိုလည္း အျမန္ဆံုးထုတ္ျပန္ႏိုင္ရန္ အေရးတၾကီး ေဆာင္ရြက္ရန္မွာ လႊတ္ေတာ္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္မ်ား၏ အဓိက လုပ္ေဆာင္ရမည့္ အေရးသာ ျဖစ္သည္ဟု အဆိုပါ ဥပေဒပညာရွင္က ဆိုသည္။

အမ်ဳိးသားဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစု NDF ပါတီမွ ဗိုလ္တစ္ေထာင္ မဲဆႏၵနယ္တြင္ အေရြးခ်ယ္ခံသူ ဦးမင္းေအာင္ က လည္း “၂ဝ၁ဝ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဆို ဖြဲ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံ ဥပေဒကို လက္ခံလို႔ ဝင္ခဲ့ၾကတာပါပဲ။ ဒီလိုပါပဲ ၂ဝ၁၂ ၾကားျဖတ္
ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဆိုတာကလည္း ဖြဲ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒကို လက္ခံလို႔ ဝင္ခဲ့ၾကသူေတြပါပဲ။ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဝင္
ႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတိီေတြနဲ႔ လႊတ္ေတာ္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ေတြဟာ ဒါကိုေတာ့ လိုက္နာၾကရန္ လိုအပ္တယ္” ဟု ဆိုသည္။

ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအား အဂၤလိပ္လို Burma ဟု လြတ္လပ္ေရးေခတ္ တေလွ်ာက္လံုး သတ္မွတ္ ေခၚေဝၚလာခဲ့ရာမွ ၁၉၈၉ ခုႏွစ္၊ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီး ေစာေမာင္ ဦးေဆာင္သည့္ နဝတ စစ္အစိုးရ လက္ထက္တြင္ Myanmar ဟု ေျပာင္းလဲပစ္ခဲ့ျခင္း
ျဖစ္သည္။ ထိုစဥ္က ျပည္သူ႔ လႊတ္ေတာ္ဟူ၍ မရွိခဲ့ဘဲ အမည္ အေတာ္မ်ားမ်ားကို စစ္အစိုးရက ေျပာင္းလဲ သတ္မွတ္ခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။

ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကလည္း ျပည္ပခရီးစဥ္မ်ားတြင္ အဂၤလိပ္လို မိန္႔ခြန္းမ်ား ေျပာရာတြင္လည္းေကာင္း၊ သတင္းေထာက္မ်ားႏွင့္ ေမးေျဖျပဳရာတြင္လည္းေကာင္း အဂၤလိပ္လို Burma ဟုသာ တသမတ္တည္း သံုးစြဲလာခဲ့ သည္။

ထိုင္းႏုိင္ငံ၊ ဘန္ေကာက္ၿမိဳ႕တြင္ က်င္းပသည့္ ကမာၻ စီးပြားေရးဖိုရမ္တြင္ Burma ဟု ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ က သံုးစြဲခဲ့၍ ထိုသို႔ မသံုးႏႈန္းရန္ ဇြန္လ ၁ ရက္ေန႔ ရက္စြဲျဖင္႔ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ေကာ္မရွင္က ပထမအႀကိမ္ အေၾကာင္းၾကား ခဲ့သည္။

ထို႔ေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို Burma ဟု သံုးႏႈန္း ေျပာဆိုျခင္း မျပဳဘဲ အေျခခံဥပေဒတြင္ ေဖာ္ျပထားသည္႔အတိုင္း
ျပည္ေထာင္စု သမၼတ ျမန္မာ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ The Republic of the Union of Myanmar (သို႔မဟုတ္) ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ Myanmar ဟုသာ ေခၚဆို သံုးႏႈန္းရန္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ေကာ္မရွင္က ဇြန္လ ၂၈ ရက္စြဲျဖင့္ ေၾကညာခ်က္တရပ္ ထပ္မံထုတ္ျပန္ သတိေပးခဲ့သည္။

မၾကာေသးမွီက ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို အလည္အပါတ္ေရာက္ရွိခဲ့ေသာ အေမရိကန္ သမၼတ ဘားရက္အိုဘားမားကလည္း
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံမဂၤလာပါဟု ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို အသိအမွတ္ျပဳ ေခၚဆိုသြားခဲ့ၿပီး မိန္႔ခြင္းေျပာၾကားရာတြင္လည္း ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ ဟုထည့္သြင္းေျပာၾကားခဲ့သည္။

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

Tuesday 27 November 2012

တိုင္းရင္းသား ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးေရး တကၠသိုလ္က ေက်ာင္းသားေတြ ျပန္လည္ စတင္ဆႏၵျပ

2012-11-26
မႏၱေလးၿမိဳ႕ကေန စစ္ကိုင္း ရြာသစ္ႀကီးကို ေျပာင္းေရႊ႕ခံရတဲ့ အတြက္ မေက်နပ္လို႔ ဆႏၵျပေနၾကတဲ့ ျပည္ေထာင္စုတိုင္းရင္းသားလူငယ္မ်ား စြမ္းရည္ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးေရး ဒီဂရီေကာလိပ္ (မႏၲေလး)က ေက်ာင္းသားေတြဟာ မေန႔ ေန႔လည္ပိုင္းက ျပန္လည္ စတင္ ဆႏၵေဖာ္ထုတ္ခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။

Photo: RFA/San Oo
စစ္ကိုင္းကေန မႏၱေလးကို လာေရာက္ဆႏၵျပေနေသာ တိုင္းရင္းသား ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးေရး တကၠသိုလ္က ေက်ာင္းသားမ်ားကို ေတြ႔ရစဥ္
သူတို႔ လိုလားခ်က္ေတြကို နယ္စပ္ေရးရာ ဒုတိယ၀န္ႀကီး ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီး သိန္းေဌးက တစ္လအတြင္း ေျဖရွင္း ေပးပါမယ္ဆိုတဲ့ ကတိေပးထားေပမယ့္ လက္ရွိေဆာင္ရြက္ေနတဲ့ အေျခအေနေတြက ေပးထားတဲ့ ကတိနဲ႔ ဆန္႔က်င္ေနတဲ့အတြက္ ျပန္လည္ဆႏၵျပရတာျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ဦးေဆာင္သူ ေက်ာင္းသားတစ္ဦးက RFA ကို ေျပာပါတယ္။
ေျပာင္းေရႊ႕ခံရတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းသားေတြဟာ ၿပီးခဲ့တဲ့ ၂၂ရက္ေန႔ ညေနပိုင္းက စစ္ကိုင္း ရြာသစ္ႀကီး ျပည္ေထာင္စု တိုင္းရင္းသားမ်ား ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးေရးတကၠသိုလ္ကေန မႏၱေလး၊ အမရပူရၿမိဳ႕နယ္ နတ္ေရကန္ ေက်းရြာမွာရွိတဲ့ ဒီဂရီ ေကာလိပ္ ေနရာကို ေျခလ်င္ ခ်ီတက္ေျပာင္းေရႊ႕လာခဲ့ၾကတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
အဲဒီေကာလိပ္ဟာ မူလက နယ္စပ္ေရးရာ ၀န္ႀကီးဌာနရဲ႕ စီမံခန္႕ခြဲမႈေအာက္မွာရွိခဲ့ၿပီး၊ အခုအခါ ပညာေရး၀န္ႀကီးဌာနလက္ေအာက္ကို လႊဲေျပာင္း ထား တယ္လို႕သိရပါတယ္။ ဆႏၵျပေက်ာင္းသားေတြကေတာ့ မႏၱေလးက ဒီဂရီေကာလိပ္မွာ တက္ေရာက္သင္ၾကားခြင့္ ရရွိတဲ့အထိ ေဆာင္ရြက္သြားမယ္လို႔ ေျပာဆုိပါတယ္။

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္နဲ႕ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကို နံပတ္တစ္ အေတြးအေခၚရွင္အျဖစ္ ေရြးခ်ယ္

2012-11-27
အေမရိကန္ ျပည္ေထာင္စု ၀ါရွင္တန္ဒီစီ အေျခစိုက္ ႏိုင္ငံျခား ေရးရာ မူ၀ါဒဆိုင္ရာ Foreign Policy မဂၢဇင္းၾကီးက ၂၀၁၂ ခုႏွစ္ရဲ့ ကမၻာ့ အေတြးအေခၚရွင္ ၁၀၀ စာရင္းမွာ နံပတ္ ၁ ထိပ္ဆံုးေနရာအတြက္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံက သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္နဲ႔ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ တို႔ကို ေရြးခ်ယ္ ေဖာ္ျပလိုက္ပါတယ္။
MRTV
၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ၾသဂုတ္လ ၁၉ ရက္ေန႔က ျမန္မာ့ဒီမုိကေရစီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ႏွင့္ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္တုိ႔ ေနျပည္ေတာ္ သမၼတ အိမ္ေတာ္မွာ ပထမဆံုးအႀကိမ္ ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့သည့္ သတင္းကုိ ျမန္မာ့႐ုပ္ျမင္သံၾကားက ထုတ္လႊင့္ခဲ့စဥ္ ျမင္ကြင္း ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
အေရွ႕ အလယ္ပိုင္းေဒသ၊ အာရပ္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အေရးေတာ္ပံု၊ တိုက္ပဲြေတြရဲ႕ ေဘးထြက္ဆိုးက်ိဳးေတြ၊ အီရန္ ႏ်ဴကလီးယား တင္းမာမႈစတဲ့ ကမၻာ့ အၾကပ္အတည္း စိန္ေခၚမႈ အေျခအေနေတြနဲ႔ ျပည့္ခဲ့တဲ့ ၂၀၁၁ ႏွစ္ကေန ၂၀၁၂ ခုႏွစ္အတြက္ ကမၻာ့ အေတြးေခၚရွင္ စာရင္း ေရြးခ်ယ္ရတာ ခက္ခဲေနခ်ိန္မွာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံက ဒီမုိကေရစီအေရး အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းမႈဟာ ဆုေရြးခ်ယ္ေရးအတြက္ အေထာက္အကူ ျဖစ္ခဲ့ပါတယ္လို႕ ေရးသားပါတယ္။
ယခုႏွစ္အတြက္ ထိပ္ဆံုးေနရာမွာ ဂုဏ္ျပဳဖို႔အတြက္ ျမန္မာ့ဒီမိုကေရစီေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ နဲ႔ စစ္အာဏာရွင္စနစ္ကေန အတိုက္အခံေတြကို လက္ကမ္းႀကိဳဆုိခဲ့တဲ့ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီးေဟာင္းတျဖစ္လဲ သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္ကို ေရြးခ်ယ္ဂုဏ္ျပဳရတာဟာ ၾကည္ႏူးစရာ ျဖစ္ရပ္တစ္ခုျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း  မဂၢဇင္းအယ္ဒီတာအဖြဲ႔က ေရးပါတယ္။
ယခုႏွစ္ အေတြးေခၚရွင္မ်ားစာရင္းမွာ နံပတ္ ၁ အျဖစ္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ဦးသိန္းစိန္၊ နံပါတ္ ၂ ေနရာ အတြက္ တူနီးရွား သမၼတ မြန္ကက္ မာဇိုးကီး Moncef Marzouki၊ နံပတ္ ၃ က အေမရိကန္သမၼတေဟာင္း Bill Clintonနဲ႔ ဇနီးျဖစ္သူ ႏိုင္ငံျခားေရး၀န္ၾကီး Hillary Clinton၊ နံပတ္ ၅ က မိုက္ကရိုေဆာ့ဖ္ တည္ေထာင္သူ Bill Gates ဇနီးျဖစ္သူ Melinda Gates ၊ နံပတ္ ၆ ေနရာ ရရိွသူကေတာ့ ပါကစၥတန္နုိင္ငံမွာ တာလီဘန္ အစြန္းေရာက္ေတြက အမ်ိဳးသမီးကေလးေတြ ပညာမသင္ရ ပိတ္ပင္တာကို ရဲရဲ၀ံ့၀ံ့ ထုတ္ေဖၚေျပာခဲ့တာေႀကာင့္ တုိက္ခိုက္ခံခဲ့ရတဲ့ အသက္ ၁၅ ႏွစ္အရြယ္ မိန္းကေလး Malala Yousafzai  ကို ေရြးခ်ယ္ ဂုဏ္ျပဳလိုက္သလို ၊ နံပတ္ ၇ ေနရာကိုေတာ့ လက္ရွိအေမရိကန္သမၼတ ဘားရက္အိုဘားမား တို႔ကို ေရြးခ်ယ္ေဖာ္ျပထားပါတယ္။

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

လက္ပန္းေတာင္းအေရး ဆႏၵျပသူ ၆ ဦးကို ဖမ္းဆီးတရားစြဲ

2012-11-27
ႏိုဝင္ဘာ ၂၆ ရက္ေန႔က ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕လယ္မွာ လက္ပန္းေတာင္းေတာင္ ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္း ရပ္ဆိုင္းပစ္ေရးအတြက္ ေတာင္းဆို ဆႏၵျပသူေတြထဲက ဦးေဆာင္သူ ၆ ဦးကို ဒီကေန႕ နုိ၀င္ဘာလ ၂၇ ရက္ေန႕မွာ တရားရံုးတင္ စစ္ေဆးျပီး အင္းစိန္အက်ဥ္းေထာင္ကို ဒီကေန႔ ပို႕လိုက္ပါတယ္။
Photo:RFA/Thiha Htun
ႏိုဝင္ဘာ ၂၆ ရက္ေန႔က လက္ပန္းေတာင္းေတာင္ ေၾကးနီစီမံကိန္း ရပ္တန္႔ေရးအတြက္ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕၊ ဆူးေလဘုရားအနီးတြင္ ဆႏၵျပေနသူတစ္ဦးကို ေတြ႕ရစဥ္။
ဆႏၵျပသူေတြထဲက ကိုရဲလင္း ၊ ကိုေဝဠဳ၊ ကိုမ်ိဳးခ်စ္ ၊ ကိုညီညီ၊ ေဒၚေနာ္အံုးလွ နဲ႔ ေဒၚရွမ္းမတုိ႕ကို  ပုဒ္မ ၁၈၊ ပုဒ္မ ၅ဝ၅(ခ)ႏွစ္ခုနဲ႔ တရားစဲြဆိုလိုက္ျပီး အင္းစိန္အက်ဥ္းေထာင္ကို ေခၚသြားတာျဖစ္ေႀကာင္း ဆႏၵေဖာ္ထုတ္ရာမွာ ပါဝင္ခဲ့သူတစ္ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့ ကိုမိုးေသြးက RFA ကုိ ေျပာပါတယ္။
တစ္ခ်ိန္တည္းမွာလည္း ေနာက္ထပ္ ၄ ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့ ကိုဟန္ဝင္းေအာင္၊ ကိုေအာင္နိင္သူ ၊ ကိုမိုးေသြး ၊ ကိုသီဟဝင္းတင္ တို႔ကို အာဏာပိုင္ေတြက လိုက္လံဖမ္းဆီးေနတယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။
ဒီကေန႔ မနက္ (၁ဝ) နာရီေလာက္က စတင္ဖမ္းဆီးခံရစဥ္က ကိုေဝဠဳ ကို RFA က အဆက္အသြယ္ရခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီအခ်ိန္ကသူေျပာတာက  သူ႔အေနနဲ႔ ပုဒ္မ ၁၈ နဲ႔သာ အေခၚခံရတာျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ ေန႔ခ်င္းေျဖရွင္းႏိုင္ျပီး ျပန္လည္လြတ္ေျမာက္လာဖို႔ ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ေၾကာင္း အခုလို ေျပာခဲ့ပါတယ္။
"ပုဒ္မ ၁၈ ဆိုတာ ကိုယ္ပိုင္ခံဝန္နဲ႔ တရားရံုးကို ရင္ဆိုင္ခြင့္ရွိပါတယ္။အရင့္အရင္ ပုဒ္မ ၁၈ နဲ႔စြဲဆိုခဲ့တဲ့ အမႈေတြကိုလည္း ကိုယ္ပိုင္ခံဝန္နဲ႕ တရားရင္ဆိုင္ေနပါတယ္။အခုလည္း ကိုယ္ပိုင္ခံဝန္နဲ႕ တရားရင္ဆိုင္ခြင့္ရွိမယ္လို႔ ထင္ပါတယ္"
ေက်ာက္တံတားရဲစခန္းနဲ႔ ပန္းဘဲတန္း ရဲစခန္းေတြကို RFA က ဆက္သြယ္ေမးျမန္းတဲ့အခါမွာ ဒီကိစၥနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး တစ္စံုတစ္ရာေျဖၾကားခြင့္မရွိဘူးလို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ အင္းစိန္ေထာင္ၾကီးခ်ဳပ္ကို ေခၚေဆာင္ခံရတဲ့ ဆႏၵျပ ဦးေဆာင္သူေတြကို လာမယ့္ဒီဇင္ဘာလ ၃ ရက္ေန႔မွာ ရံုးထုတ္မယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။
လက္ပန္းေတာင္းေတာင္ကိစၥနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး အဖမ္းခံခဲ့ရတဲ့ ၆ ဦးနဲ႔အတူ ရိွခဲ့တဲ့ မ်က္ျမင္သက္ေသတစ္ဦးကို RFA သတင္းေထာက္ ကိုေက်ာ္ေဇာဝင္းက ေတြ႕ဆံုေမးျမန္းထားပါတယ္။

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

Monday 26 November 2012

ACR News

November 25 Weekly ACR News

(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)

BURMA RELATED NEWS – November 23-25, 2012.

China's role in Southeast Asia questioned
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN | Associated Press – 16 hrs ago

BEIJING (AP) — China is finding the once friendly ground of Southeast Asia bumpy going, with anger against Chinese claims to disputed islands, once reliable ally Myanmar flirting with democracy and renewed American attention to the region.

The changing terrain for Beijing was on view this past week at a conclave of East Asian nations in Cambodia. Wen Jiabao, China's lame duck premier who usually exudes a mild, grandfatherly air, got into a sharp exchange over the contested South China Sea islands. The leaders of the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam reacted furiously when host Cambodia suggested that all sides agreed not to bring outside parties into the dispute — a reference to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama, buoyed by the first visit ever by a U.S. president to Myanmar, projected an image of a confident, friendly America, calling for a reduction in tensions and seemingly taking no sides.

Beijing is struggling to find its feet as its own power grows, but the U.S. refuses to cede influence in the region, emboldening other countries not to fall in with the Chinese line.

"The robust U.S. presence and relatively disciplined and quiet diplomacy looked strong relative to China's heavy-handed pressure," Ernest Bower, chair for Southeast Asian studies at the Council for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., wrote in a Thursday commentary.

It's a reversal over the treatment Beijing enjoyed much of the past decade as it wooed Southeast Asia with soaring trade and investment and the lure of the huge Chinese market. Looking to further those links, Wen held discussions on expanding a free trade agreement to increase China's imports from Southeast Asia.

China's economic "pull remains, but the smile has faded," said Aaron Friedberg, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.

Getting Southeast Asian diplomacy right matters to Beijing. It's an area where China historically exercised great sway. The 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian nations, or ASEAN, are home to a market of 600 million people and straddle vital shipping lanes and seas rich in fish, oil, gas and other minerals.

Beijing's influence began foundering in 2010 when its more assertive claims to islands in the South China Sea touched off anxieties among the Philippines and Vietnam, who along with Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim the islands in whole or in part.

The fracas provided an opening for the U.S., which as it wound down involvement in Iraq was re-examining the challenge posed by China. The U.S. "pivot" brought renewed diplomatic attention to the region and promises of more military resources.

Still, the friction has only increased. Beijing has become more aggressive in patrolling around the disputed islands, leading to a faceoff last summer with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal. It is sparring farther afield over other islands with Japan, heightening worries about an expansionist China. It also started issuing new passports featuring a map that shows the entire South China Sea as Chinese territory.

The tensions bubbled to the fore at an annual summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh attended by Obama.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino raised the Scarborough Shoal, prompting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to state that the islets have been "Chinese territory since ancient times and no sovereignty dispute exists." China's actions to assert its sovereignty were wholly "appropriate and necessary," Wen told the closed door meeting, according to Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying.

Wen's stern statement was "destructive and dangerous," wrote CSIS's Bower. "This is very uncertain ground, and uncertainty means the emergency of an inherent instability in the region that undermines a solid foundation for regional growth."

Chinese government-backed experts conceded a failure in execution. "Somehow, the issue was not handled very well in the meeting," said Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Southeast Asia at the Shanghai Institute for Foreign Studies.

Economic realities could still work in China's favor, experts say. Chinese imports from the region grew 29 percent last year to $146 billion, and with its economy expected to overtake America's as the world's largest in coming years, China will only grow in importance as a source of overseas investment.

The very fact that China has refused to back off — despite provoking a backlash that could hurt its long-term interests — speaks to Beijing's belief that its economic pull will ultimately convince its ASEAN neighbors that their future lies with China, not with the U.S., said Princeton's Friedberg.

"The big question, I think, is whether the ASEAN states believe that the United States actually has the resolve and the resources to follow through on the commitments that have been made in recent years. If they begin to doubt this they will have to do more to appease Beijing," Friedberg said.
***************************************************************
A look at key US sanctions against Myanmar
A glance at key elements of changing US sanctions against Myanmar
By Erika Kinetz, AP Business Writer | Associated Press – Thu, Nov 22, 2012 6:03 AM EST

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The United States is unwinding two decades of sanctions against Myanmar, as the country's reformist leadership oversees rapid-fire economic and political change. President Barack Obama's visit this week, the first by a serving U.S. president, is a sign of how far relations have come. But Washington continues to take a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, keen to retain leverage should Myanmar's reform momentum stall.

Here's a look at key elements of U.S. sanctions against Myanmar.

Why did the U.S. sanction Myanmar in the first place?

— Washington first enacted sanctions in September 1988, the month after Myanmar's military junta cracked down on peaceful protests, killing thousands. The U.S. responded to deepening human rights violations and brutal suppression of the democratic opposition by tightening sanctions.

Why has the U.S. eased sanctions?

— U.S. policy began to change after Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, took office in March 2011. As the new government released political prisoners, signed cease-fires with ethnic rebels, opened the economy and held elections that saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi take a seat in Parliament, the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations and suspended most major sanctions.

What did the U.S. sanction and which sanctions are still in force?

— Washington banned new investment, financial services, multilateral assistance, and imports. It also barred officials from getting U.S. visas and forbade deals with "crony" businessmen linked to the old regime. Restrictions on most new investment, financial services, multilateral assistance, and most imports from Myanmar have been suspended. The biggest remaining block is the list of "specially designated nationals" and companies that U.S. firms are barred from doing business with because of their alleged links to oppression and corrupt practices.

Why hasn't Washington simply done away with sanctions?

— Washington has taken a carrot and stick approach to retain leverage and reinforce good business practices. Also, they're technically hard to undo. Sanctions are governed by six federal laws and a series of executive orders, often with overlapping provisions. There are also functional bans which require specific benchmarks to be met before certain strictures are eased such as ending the use of child soldiers before arms sales are allowed.

Did sanctions work?

— The jury is out. Advocates point to change in Myanmar as evidence that sanctions encouraged reform. But a large chorus of critics says domestic factors rather than sanctions — which had little effect for two decades — are the real reason for Myanmar's spring. Critics also say sanctions have been too blunt, hurting the corrupt elite less than the common man.
***************************************************************
Questions and answers on US sanctions of Myanmar
Questions and answers about the key elements of changing US sanctions against Myanmar
By Erika Kinetz
, AP Business Writer | Associated Press – Thu, Nov 22, 2012 8:56 PM EST

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The United States is unwinding two decades of sanctions against Myanmar, as the country's reformist leadership oversees rapid-fire economic and political change. President Barack Obama's visit this week, the first by a serving U.S. president, is a sign of how far relations have come. But Washington continues to take a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, keen to retain leverage should Myanmar's reform momentum stall.

Here's a look at key elements of U.S. sanctions against Myanmar.

Why did the U.S. sanction Myanmar in the first place?

— Washington first enacted sanctions in September 1988, the month after Myanmar's military junta cracked down on peaceful protests, killing thousands. The U.S. responded to deepening human rights violations and brutal suppression of the democratic opposition by tightening sanctions.

Why has the U.S. eased sanctions?

— U.S. policy began to change after Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, took office in March 2011. As the new government released political prisoners, signed cease-fires with ethnic rebels, opened the economy and held elections that saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi take a seat in Parliament, the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations and suspended most major sanctions.

What did the U.S. sanction and which sanctions are still in force?

— Washington banned new investment, financial services, multilateral assistance, and imports. It also barred officials from getting U.S. visas and forbade deals with "crony" businessmen linked to the old regime. Restrictions on most new investment, financial services, multilateral assistance, and most imports from Myanmar have been suspended. The biggest remaining block is the list of "specially designated nationals" and companies that U.S. firms are barred from doing business with because of their alleged links to oppression and corrupt practices.

Why hasn't Washington simply done away with sanctions?

— Washington has taken a carrot and stick approach to retain leverage and reinforce good business practices. Also, they're technically hard to undo. Sanctions are governed by six federal laws and a series of executive orders, often with overlapping provisions. There are also functional bans which require specific benchmarks to be met before certain strictures are eased such as ending the use of child soldiers before arms sales are allowed.

Did sanctions work?

— The jury is out. Advocates point to change in Myanmar as evidence that sanctions encouraged reform. But a large chorus of critics says domestic factors rather than sanctions — which had little effect for two decades — are the real reason for Myanmar's spring. Critics also say sanctions have been too blunt, hurting the corrupt elite less than the common man.
***************************************************************
Second edition of Suu Kyi's book published
By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – Fri, Nov 23, 2012

Shimla, Nov 23 (IANS)

 The Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), a research institution in Shimla, has published another edition of Myanmar's pro−democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the institute's official said Friday.

"The second edition of Suu Kyi's book 'Burma and India: Some Aspects of Intellectual Life under Colonialism' has been brought out as a paperback edition and is priced at Rs.195," IIAS director Peter Ronald Desouza said in a statement.

He said the book, released by Vice President M. Hamid Ansari last week in New Delhi, is based on the manuscript Suu Kyi submitted after completion of her fellowship at the IIAS in 1987.

The book, first published in 1990, is about comparative study of intellectual life under colonialism in the two countries.

It describes the varying responses of India and Burma during British colonialism, responses which reflect the changing social structure and character of the two societies.

It also discusses the Buddhist influence from India on Burma and the inability of Burmese society to resist the colonial onslaught in contrast to India, which developed a more substantial response.

The opposition leader of Myanmar stayed at the IIAS with her husband Michael Aris, who was also a fellow, and their two sons.

"It was through the ambassador of India to Burma that Suu Kyi could be sent the re−typed and proof−read version of her book to make the necessary changes, which she did," Desouza said.

"She chose the cover design," he added.

On the request of Suu Kyi, he said, IIAS would send some copies of the book to public libraries and universities across India.

The IIAS is a premier advanced research institution in the field of humanities and social sciences and is housed in the erstwhile Viceregal Lodge, built during the viceroyship of Lord Dufferin before Independence.
***************************************************************
IAF chief Browne leads defence delegation to Myanmar
By ANI | ANI – 14 hrs ago


New Delhi, Nov.25 (ANI): The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), Air Chief Marshal N.A. K. Browne, will undertake a four-day defence cooperation visit to Myanmar from November 26 to 29.

The Chief of Air Staff will lead a five-member composite defence delegation team comprising of senior officers of the three services.

India- Myanmar share a common boundary spanning 1650 kms where relations are multifaceted and founded on historic linkages.

The Indian Prime Minister's historic visit to Myanmar after 25 years in May this year, Madam Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's recent visit and Defence Minister A.K. Antony's proposed visit early next year testify towards enhanced bilateral cooperation between the two neighbours.

This visit assumes great significance in the light of the improving bilateral association towards enhancing defence collaboration in areas of mutual interest between the two countries.

During his visit, Air Chief Marshal Browne will call on Myanmar President U Thien Sein Vice Senior Generanl Min Aung Hlang (C-in-C Defence Services) and Gen Myat Hein (C-in-C Air) with the aim of reinforcing defence ties.

He would discuss a wide range of bilateral issues on the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries and further outline areas of mutual interest as part of a broader military engagement.

The delegation is planned to visit the National Defence College where they would be briefed by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Home affairs and Economic Department.

The delegation is also planned to visit the Flying Training Base, Aircraft Production and Assembly Plant at Shante and the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Kalaw, a press release said. (ANI)
***************************************************************
Boston Globe -Eased Myanmar sanctions no gold rush for US firms
By ERIKA KINETZ,
AP Business Writer /  November 24, 2012

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Signs of a boom abound in Myanmar. Flights to Yangon are full, hotel rooms booked solid. Foreign bars are packed with well-fed Westerners in khakis and jeans, 21st century prospectors drawn to this golden frontier.

Myanmar got a further boost this week from President Barack Obama, who became the first serving U.S. president to visit the long-isolated nation, an endorsement that has not gone unnoticed by global investors. But despite America’s leadership in welcoming Myanmar back into the international community, U.S. companies have so far not signed any big deals — a situation few expect to change soon.

Washington is unwinding its web of sanctions against Myanmar, but the suspension of most legal barriers to business in this nation of 60 million is unlikely to be a gold rush for American firms. Rolling back sanctions will take time, and concerns about corruption and political blowback at home complicate efforts by U.S. companies to move in big and fast. There is confusion about what is permitted, as well as onerous new reporting requirements, and lingering doubt about whether the changes, both in Myanmar and in U.S. policy, will stick.

What’s at stake is one of the last big untapped consumer markets, as well as access to significant natural resources, including oil and gas, hydropower, timber, gems and some of the most fertile land on earth. Sandwiched between India and China —the world’s fastest growing major economies — Myanmar today has some of the world’s lowest levels of Internet and cellphone use, as well as a dearth of good roads, ports, hotels, hospitals, schools and electricity.

Underlying the debate about sanctions, which many companies would like to see lifted more decisively, are questions about what role American business should play in Southeast Asia’s poorest country. Speaking Monday at the University of Yangon, Obama said American companies must ‘‘lead by example.’’ His administration has sought to reinforce good business practices, encouraging transparency by requiring companies that invest more than $500,000 in Myanmar to report details to the State Department, which will make some of the information public. And Washington is banning U.S. firms from doing business with the country’s biggest, and most corrupt, businessmen.

Whether those strictures — which put American firms at a competitive disadvantage — will achieve their desired aim is a matter of debate, but the ideas they enshrine may prove valuable in the long run.

Thant Myint-U, an author and adviser to Myanmar’s reformist president Thein Sein, said that the biggest challenge facing Myanmar is finding a new economic model to support reform momentum.

‘‘No one knows how to fix the economy after a half century of misrule in a way that’s going to raise incomes and create jobs in the way we have to to keep the reform process on track,’’ he said. Neither of the two dominant business models in Myanmar today — alliances between crony businessmen and largely Chinese investors or leftist isolationism — offers a good path forward for the country, he said. He hopes American businesses will help forge a third way.

The United States has taken a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, renewing or expanding some strictures even as it unwinds others. While this gives the administration leverage should Myanmar’s political reform lose momentum, it creates confusion for investors.

The United States first sanctioned Myanmar in September 1988, the month after the military junta brutally cracked down on popular protests. Over the next two decades, Congress and the president responded to human rights violations and the suppression of Myanmar’s democratic opposition by expanding the network of sanctions. All told, Myanmar specific sanctions are enshrined in six federal laws and a series of executive orders, often with overlapping provisions, according to a detailed study by Asian affairs specialist Michael Martin for the Congressional Research Service. In addition, there are so-called functional bans — laws that, for example, prohibit the U.S. from providing military training and selling arms to any country deemed, like Myanmar, to use child soldiers.

Washington has been quick to respond to reform efforts in Myanmar. As Myanmar released political prisoners and held elections which saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi take a seat in Parliament, Washington suspended restrictions on new investment, financial services, multilateral assistance, and most recently, imports from Myanmar.

Now, the biggest remaining legal block for U.S. companies is a list of ‘‘specially designated nationals’’ and companies that U.S. firms are barred from doing business with because of their alleged links to violence, oppression and corrupt practices. U.S. companies complain that it’s difficult to comply with this list, given the challenges of due diligence in Myanmar and the habit of cronies to pick up aliases and create complex subsidiaries.

‘‘We’re encouraging reform in the government, we can’t encourage reform in individuals?’’ said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. He urges Washington to pare the list as fast as possible and ‘‘give these guys an incentive to integrate into the system.’’

Rather than revoke sanctions — which for some would require an act of Congress — the administration has suspended them, meaning they could be reinstated if Myanmar’s reform momentum is broken. In addition, with each step forward, Washington has taken one small step back.

Three days before Obama landed in Yangon, Washington suspended its ban on most imports, a move that’s expected to revitalize Myanmar’s garment industry. At the same time, the administration added seven companies to the list of entities U.S. firms can’t do business with. In July, when Washington suspended the ban on new investment and the provision of financial services, it also instated reporting requirements and expanded sanctions to include individuals who undermine reform, engage in human rights abuses or engage in military trade with North Korea. The White House said it was offering a clear message: ‘‘individuals who continue to engage in abusive, corrupt or destabilizing behavior going forward will not reap the rewards of reform.’’

Aside from sanctions, U.S. companies are subject to strict anti-corruption laws and reputational risk at home, should they choose the wrong business partner in Myanmar.

‘‘The country is rife with corrupt business practices which would be illegal here,’’ said Priscilla Clapp, who served as charge d ‘affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon from 1999 to 2002. ‘‘U.S. businesses are held to those rules. They have to condition their Burmese business partners to our rules. That’s not easy because you’re changing centuries of bad behavior.’’

In the meantime, companies from other countries are sweeping into Myanmar.

‘‘It’s been a vacuum for U.S. companies for a couple of decades,’’ said John Goyer, senior director for Southeast Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. ‘‘They have a lot to learn about the market and the operating environment, whereas companies from China, Thailand, Malaysia know the players, they know the environment. It’s home field advantage.’’

The U.S. is also at a disadvantage when trying to compete with companies from, for example, Japan, which can offer package deals of investment, aid and debt forgiveness padded with government money.

‘‘Companies from Asia can come in with financing packages all wrapped up as part of the deal,’’ Goyer said. In America, he added, ‘‘there’s not unlimited government backing for private companies to go in and provide ports or railways or infrastructure.’’

Anthony Nelson, associate director for Myanmar at the U.S-ASEAN Business Council, said that for many U.S. companies, Myanmar is the largest country in the world where they don’t have a presence. ‘‘That kind of thing doesn’t come along very often,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s never going to come again.’’

But even Nelson is not talking of a gold rush.

‘‘Take a look at Vietnam,’’ he said. ‘‘When we normalized relations with Vietnam, companies came in and looked around. They maybe opened representative offices, but it was 10 or 15 years before the big boom of investment from U.S. companies. When U.S. companies move, they move in a big way, but there’s time that people need to look at what they’re doing.’’
***************************************************************
NewsTalk - irn-myanmar**PA RISKS
By Katie Bradford-Crozier | NewsTalk – Fri, Nov 23, 2012

The Prime Minister is upbeat about the prospects for democracy in Myanmar.

John Key returns home this morning after a successful and surprising trip to Cambodia and Myanmar.

His brief visit has come to an end with a visit to the palatial parliamentary complex.

Construction began in 2003, which Mr Key says is a sign the country has been working on democracy for a while.

But he says any emerging democracy faces dangers.

"There are risks. There are risks that, if people perceive it's not fair; there are risks that political parties that run the country post-2015 can't hold it together and give the people what they want.

"If New Zealand wanted to wait for perfection, then we'd have to wait longer, but if it's seriously sitting here saying well look, like other countries we should be encouraging them to take the steps that they're taking, then I think we did absolutely the right thing."

A New Zealand diplomatic presence will be established in the former military dictatorship soon.

Progress was made in Cambodia on two trade deals.
***************************************************************
Los Angeles Times - In Myanmar, returning exiles show capacity for forgiveness
Thousands of dissidents and student leaders freed from prison or invited back to Myanmar, also known as Burma, are able to put aside vengeful feelings.

November 21, 2012|
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

YANGON, Myanmar — Maung Thura, a comedian known as Zarganar, is a barrel of a man, stocky with a shaved head and a deep, forceful voice that seems out of place among the fluorescent lights and office furniture of the Home media group he recently helped found.

Zarganar's biting wit and open criticism of repression in recent decades often irked Myanmar's government, which jailed him for 11 years on such charges as "public order offenses," including five spent in solitary confinement. In a joke the generals running the country didn't find particularly funny, he told of a man who traveled to India for dental work and was asked why he didn't see a dentist back home. The punch line: We have dentists in Myanmar, but no one's allowed to open their mouths.

Released in 2011 under a general amnesty, Zarganar expresses little rancor for his former captors, including those in Myanmar's civilian government prominent in the former military leadership.

"This is not a time for revenge," he said. "Otherwise, it becomes a circular motion that never ends."

Zarganar's willingness to forgive — seemingly incomprehensible to many outsiders — if not always forget, is shared by thousands of dissidents and student leaders released from prisons or invited back to Myanmar, also known as Burma, after years in exile.

This flexibility on both sides offers hope the country can move more quickly toward national reconciliation, avoiding a settling of scores and crippling divisions seen in other countries struggling to emerge from decades of totalitarian rule.

"It's amazing; I can't fully understand it," said Matt F. Smith, Southeast Asia researcher with Human Rights Watch. "It is definitely a fascinating phenomenon to see people back and showing no bitterness."

Since elections in 2010, the government has eased media restrictions, allowed once-banned opposition parties to seek office and freed pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. She has become a lawmaker.

Skeptics are quick to point out, however, that the military still essentially controls the parliament and holds many key positions.

In 2011, Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi angered some in her own party with her willingness to work with President Thein Sein, an ex-general prominent in the former ruling clique. In September, Thein Sein told reporters in New York he'd accept Suu Kyi as president if she was elected. "We are now working together," he said.

One explanation often given for this wary cooperation of former enemies after decades of repression and suffering is Buddhism, the religion followed by about 90% of Myanmar's population, with its emphasis on tolerance and forgiveness.

Buddhism's Theravada school followed here can be hard-line relative to the practice of Buddhism elsewhere: Buddhist monks here have led the campaign to deport Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, including some who have threatened to abandon their monasteries and join the army to "protect" the country by force if Muslims gain more rights. Even so, the religion has generally been seen as a calming influence.

"The Burmese are deeply religious," said Morten Pedersen, senior lecturer with the Australian Defense Force Academy. "Sure, Buddhists are responsible for killing a lot of people, but you can't just write off its importance."

Other more practical factors may also be at work. Some say government opponents learned their lesson after 1990, when they won a multiparty election and couldn't resist crowing, including a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party who suggested the generals might face a Nuremburg-style trial. Alarmed, the military refused to accept the results and instead instituted a massive crackdown.

Taking a slower, non-vindictive approach offers better odds that nascent reforms can take root, critics said, reducing the risk of a military backlash.

"If you fight directly against them, they'll shoot. We tried that in 1988," said Kyaw Yin Myint, editor of the Kumudra Journal in Yangon. "Sure, we're angry inside, we're humans. But you must be more clever."

Since 2011, Myanmar officials, concerned about the lack of qualified teachers, entrepreneurs and other professionals needed to rebuild the country, have invited back millions of exiles. That includes activists previously on government blacklists. Negotiations are also underway to repatriate about 140,000 Burmese languishing in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border.

Even as Myanmar extends a hand to returnees, some wonder how willing it is to take advantage of their expertise.

"A taxi driver in New York may have more exposure than many here," said Sein Win, chief editor of Mizzima news service, recently returned after 12 years abroad. "If the government is smart enough to use the capacity, it's there. But I'm not sure they'll listen."

Sein Win said Myanmar's understanding of how the world works is weak after years of isolation, but it's often difficult to swallow pride. "My own experience, it's best not to express your own opinion," he said. "There's a bit of xenophobia."
Among those not in a particularly forgiving mood are Myanmar's ethnic minorities, many of whom have waged armed struggles against the government for decades. Although the government recently signed cease-fire agreements with most of them, relations remain strained, distrust runs deep and social prejudice remains among majority Burmans, who make up about 70% of Myanmar's population.
A Kachin woman living in Yangon working in publishing says she's told, "Stop speaking that monkey language" by Burmese friends when she and other Kachin speak in their native tongue.
"People in the ethnic areas are justifiably upset," said Smith, the researcher with Human Rights Watch.
Though there are many good things about forgiveness, some cautioned against taking it too far.
"Buddhism tends to forgive things," said Suu Nget, a Mandalay-based writer blacklisted by the regime. "But if you get too cozy, you can forget your principles and become a traitor to your ideals."
Magnier was recently on assignment in Yangon.
***************************************************************
GlobalPost -
Myanmar's government-sanctioned Dos and Don'ts
Smile, mind your feet and stop making out in the street
Patrick Winn
November 22, 2012 23:19

As Myanmar kicks open its long-shuttered gates and welcomes in the world, it will almost certainly struggle to cope with hordes of tourists.

Most will conduct themselves pleasantly. Some will behave like insufferable pricks.

So far, the country has been spared from the worst breeds of travelers. If you want to get hammered by the beach, or prowl for prostitutes, there are much more welcoming locations in Thailand, Cambodia or the Philippines.

But, for now, Myanmar isn't a choice destination for a boozy, carefree holiday. Getting a visa requires a few bureaucratic hoops and, once you arrive, the power might short out and your taxi might break down.

In the midst of this tourist rush -- no doubt accelerated by Barack Obama's recent visit -- the government has released a "Dos and Don'ts" cartoon guide for visitors.

This is not something I expected to say about government-sanctioned instructions from Myanmar, long a propaganda and police state.

But the guide is really quite impressive.

Traditionally, the government has been loathe to endorse even remotely negative imagery from Myanmar. But this guide, assembled with the help of Germany's Hanns Seidel Foundation, touches on the country's dark side. I was surprised to see cartoonist rendering prostitutes and underground vendors of bloody elephant trunks. (Soliciting either is -- you guessed it -- a "don't.")

I was also pleased to see contributions from the clever, brash cartoonist Harn Lay, who is better known for depicting military oppression

Most of the instructions on local faux pas -- like pointing to objects with your foot --  are useful for anyone venturing to mainland Southeast Asia's Buddhist countries: Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. You might assume college-educated Westerners would know better than to visit revered temples while dressed like hobos and hookers. Or commit heinous acts of PDA in the street. But you'd be very wrong.

Now, if I may, a few bonus don'ts for tourists in Myanmar:

DON'T show up without crisp U.S. bills and no hotel reservations. Unless, of course, you want the monastic experience of sleeping in a temple and begging for food.

DON'T risk eating fish curry on the street at 1 a.m. in a state of mild intoxication. Just trust me on this one.

And, please, DON'T be this guy. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekvVWcV7hfM)[A Japanese Business man slapped a female hotel staff in Myanmar]
***************************************************************

Newswire - Gold palace can't hide Myanmar's poverty
By Laura McQuillan
| Newswire – Fri, Nov 23, 2012 6:57 AM NZDT

The road to the opulent 100-room Presidential Palace in Myanmar (Burma) is a brand new 16-lane highway - but there are very few vehicles using it.

The massive presidential complex - with its grandiose high ceilings, gold accents and gargantuan chandeliers - paints a stark contrast to the living conditions of the population, with many living on as little as 70 cents a day.

President Thein Sein, who occupies the building in the country's new, purpose-built capital of Naypyidaw, is a former military junta commander-turned-democracy pioneer.

On Thursday, he held bilateral talks with Prime Minister John Key about the country's two-year-old transition toward democracy - and New Zealand's hopes of getting its foot in the door to the blossoming South-East Asian economy.

Mr Key says he is encouraged by Myanmar's progress, and by the part New Zealand can play.

"I'm extremely confident that over the years ahead, whether it's in sectors from mining to tourism, right through to disaster recovery, sharing technology on earthquakes, there's a huge amount we can do with the people of Myanmar."

He announced Mr Sein will visit New Zealand next month, with a focus on viewing how agricultural sectors operate.

Mr Key also announced $NZ6 million in aid funding to build dairy farming capabilities in Myanmar, and $NZ1 million in aid for the Rakhine province through the United Nations World Food Programme, to assist large numbers of Myanmarese forced from their homes by ethnic clashes - emphasising that it is important all of New Zealand's aid contribution trickles down to those who need it.

Mr Sein, who rarely speaks to the media, was happy to address New Zealand journalists, reaffirming through a translator his commitment to Myanmar's transition to democracy.

While decades of sanctions from Western countries have hurt Myanmar's economy, Mr Sein says the country has adopted new foreign investment laws that are "very investor-friendly".

A day earlier, Mr Key was in the former capital of Yangon (Rangoon), where poor residents sat on the dirty kerbs selling shoes and food in front of dilapidated buildings dotted among new high-rises.

Mr Key says Myanmar is far more modern than he had expected.

"If you go a bit further out, the overt signs of poverty are much more explicit there, but here in the city it's quite remarkable."

Although Mr Key praised the country's steps toward democratisation, he also met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - a Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy activist - on Thursday, and she assured him there is a long way to go in her country.

"There is a great difference between the privileged and the great majority. The privileged are very few and they are extremely, extremely privileged. The great majority of the Burmese people are still poor," she said.
***************************************************************
The Nation - Myanmar, Thailand move ahead with Dawei project
ELEVEN MEDIA GROUP/ANN November 22, 2012 1:00 am

Myanmar and Thailand are committed to complete the Bt1.5-trillion Dawei special economic zone by 2015.

Myanmar President Thein Sein and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reached that agreement during bilateral talks on the sidelines of the 21st Asean Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

"Both leaders agreed on the completion of the Dawei deep-sea port project," said Sihasak Phuangket-keow, permanent secretary of the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry. "The Thai prime minister and businessmen are scheduled to make a study visit to the port in mid-December. The Myanmar president has invited them."

The US$50-billion complex includes a road linking Dawei to the Thai border.

The joint committees for construction of the deep-sea port held their first meeting in Thailand in November 7, initially agreeing to complete the construction by 2015.

In a statement issued after the meeting of the two leaders, both countries agreed to complete by 2015 the construction of roads, the port, industrial zones, power stations, drinking-water supply and sewage systems, telecommunication systems, express trains and other regional development measures.

Myanmar will be responsible for defence, security and administrative affairs while Thailand will render technical as-|sistance and cooperate in construction tasks, the statement said. Thailand will also be in charge of monetary movements and helping to launch businesses in the Dawei region.

The panels for construction of the deep-sea port include a Joint High-level Committee (JHC), co-chaired by Myanmar Vice President Nyan Tun and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong, and the Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) co-chaired by Myanmar Industry Minister Aye Myint and Thai PM's Office Minister Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal.

The joint committees in their first meetings discussed plans for financial supply and duty assignments for subcommittees.

Myanmar is scheduled to hold the second meeting of the JHC in March and the JCC's second meeting next month. Investors keen to invest in the Dawei project have been asked to contact the JHC.
***************************************************************

Foreign Policy - The Lady and the General
Meet the political odd couple driving democratic reform in Burma.
BY KURT M. CAMPBELL
| DECEMBER 2012

The most unlikely of political partners are driving the astonishing democratic transition in Burma. One of them is no surprise: Aung San Suu Kyi, the inspirational global icon who for recent generations has defined nonviolent struggle against oppression. The other, President Thein Sein, is an unassuming former general who rose to the senior ranks of the very military junta seen as responsible for Burma's decades of misery, but then had the courage to steer the country in a new direction. Neither sought this unusual pairing, but together they represent the most hopeful turn for Burma in half a century.

Burma before World War II served as one of the rice bowls of Asia, and its people aspired to the region's best standards of health, education, and prosperity. But the country's darker post-colonial legacies included bitter ethnic divides and an unfortunate role in the center of the neighborhood's Cold War intrigue, as the Soviet Union, China, and the United States each vied for strategic position and ideological cohorts. Following a 1962 coup, the military justified the decades of misrule to come by the need to hold the country together with whatever force necessary and resist any form of foreign domination -- real or imagined. The generals drove the country to ruin.

By 2009, there were few overt signs of any real change, but President Obama launched a tentative, exploratory effort to woo Burma out of its isolation. On my first visit, in early 2010, I met both Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein, then the prime minister as well as No. 4 in the ruling junta. The contrast between the two could not have been greater. I was permitted to meet Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon at an old Russian-built hotel, a relic of Burma's Cold War ambivalence. She was delivered to the hotel from her solitary house arrest, and we talked for three hours about her hopes for a new Burma. She was predictably inspiring, reflecting a steely determination and optimism that contrasted sharply with the stark setting, and displayed a thorough grasp of international developments that belied her nearly two decades in isolation under house arrest. She described in detail her daily ritual of listening to the BBC World Service and Voice of America as a kind of preparation for the role she could then barely imagine -- but today is playing. The regime cropped her out of a photo of my visit published in the state-run newspaper.

I met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, the remote new capital where the generals had abruptly sequestered themselves a few years earlier. Largely unresponsive to our offer for a meaningful dialogue, he and his fellow generals showed no sign of willingness to engage with Aung San Suu Kyi or implement any serious reforms. Thein Sein seemed an unlikely strongman, reserved and mild-mannered in his heavily starched olive-green uniform. But in that first meeting, with his careful military cadence and cautious manner, he gave no indication of any of the ideas of reform that have come to animate his time as president.

This past September, just three short years later, Aung San Suu Kyi stepped off a plane for her first visit to the United States in four decades, this time as a freely elected member of Burma's new parliament. She came both for a victory lap -- she was to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, among many other honors -- and to do the serious work of encouraging renewed Burmese links to and support from the international community. During her visit, Thein Sein arrived in the United States carrying a similar message, which he would deliver in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, the first by a Burmese head of state in decades, and in an official meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "The people and government of Burma have been taking tangible irreversible steps in the democratic transition and reform process," he said. While in New York, he met privately with Aung San Suu Kyi, as they had several times previously in Burma. Their partnership is an unlikely one, but the symbolism of their encounter in New York was a powerful indication of the distance they, and their country, had covered.

Their relationship began with a dinner in the spring of 2011 prepared by Thein Sein's wife in the couple's modest home and presented under a painting of Aung San, Burma's revered independence leader and the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. Warily, tentatively, the two compared shared hopes for the country's rebirth. That first meeting set the stage for the breathtaking changes in Burma following the retirement in 2011 of the junta's geriatric strongman, Than Shwe. Thein Sein's government has since released hundreds of political prisoners; eased draconian restrictions on speech, assembly, and movement; established cease-fires with most insurgent ethnic groups; and launched a wobbly electoral process that eventually allowed Aung San Suu Kyi's once-banned opposition party, the National League for Democracy, to take legislative seats, 22 years after the junta ignored the party's stunning national election victory.

Many explanations have been offered for Burma's sudden opening -- from geopolitics to unrelenting global pressure -- but I believe the personal experiences of these two remarkable individuals have much to do with it. The U.S. government and key congressional allies stood resolutely with Aung San Suu Kyi and other Burmese freedom fighters through the darkest days of their struggle, and she knew we could be counted on to help Burma when the regime finally relented.

Thein Sein arrived at the need to overturn the old order by a very different path. His role as prime minister and designated face to the outside world brought him to regional capitals that decades earlier appeared as poor cousins to cosmopolitan Rangoon but now were thriving hubs of modernity. Burma's failure must have been manifest, and its status as a pariah state, increasingly an embarrassment for many countries in Southeast Asia, would have been painful to defend.

Sustaining reform's momentum will be difficult. Much will depend on getting others to follow the courageous example of Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein in setting aside bitter enmities and deep distrust for the common good. Their shared stake in a better future led both leaders to take off a uniform -- she the mantle of international sainthood and he the insignia of the military institution that brought him to absolute power. Having done so, they can now meet on equal terms, as citizen and patriot, striving and struggling together for a new Burma. Along the way, they are inspiring us all.
***************************************************************

2012-11-26 10:30
The Korea Times - Korean banks eye expansion into Myanmar


Korean banks are pushing to make inroads into the Myanmarese market in a bid to find their new sources of income amid a saturated local market, officials said Monday.

Korea's No. 3 lender Shinhan Bank is seeking to open an office in Myanmar as early as next year, targeting to set up a unit if rules banning operations of foreign banks are eased, according to officials.

The state-run Industrial Bank of Korea said it plans to apply for permission to open an office there within this year. Currently, the Myanmarese financial authorities only allow foreign banks to create offices.

Shinhan's main rivals Woori Bank and Hana Bank have already begun to tap the Myanmarese market by setting up offices in October.

Woori Bank said it opened an office in the city of Yangon in late October with an aim to enlarge it into a branch or a wholly-owned unit in early 2014. Hana Bank also set up an office last month and has clinched a tentative deal to boost its strategic alliance with Myanmar's lender Ayeyarwady Bank.

The local banks' move came as doors for foreign investments are likely to open further in Myanmar, as the United States and the European Union are easing economic sanctions on the country.

Ending years of military dictatorship, the Southeast Asian country is carrying out democratic and economic reforms following an election in 2011.

South Korean banks' push also stemmed from their falling profits in a saturated local market. Combined earnings by 18 Korean banks amounted to 7.5 trillion won (US$6.9 billion) in the first nine months of this year, down 39 percent from a year earlier, according to the financial watchdog.

Their fourth-quarter earnings may be weaker, as the central bank's rate cuts and the economic slowdown are highly likely to squeeze their profit margin, analysts say. (Yonhap)
***************************************************************

Radio Australia - Outgoing ASEAN secretary general proud of Burma reform
Updated 26 November 2012, 12:06 AEST


The outgoing secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian nations says he is most proud of ASEAN's role in opening up the reclusive state of Burma during his term.

Dr Pitsuwan says ASEAN's role after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, in which at least 138,000 people died, was instrumental in bringing the formerly reclusive Burma into closer contact with the West. (Credit: AFP)
Video: Surin Pitsuwan reflects on his time as ASEAN Secretary General

The outgoing secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian nations says he is most proud of ASEAN's role in opening up the reclusive state of Burma during his term.

Dr Surin Pitsuwan ends his five-year term as secretary general in December, to be replaced by Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh.

He's told Australia Network's Asia Pacific Focus ASEAN's role after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, in which at least 138,000 people died, was instrumental in bringing the formerly reclusive Burma into closer contact with the West.

"We brought the world in, we brought the UN in," he said.

"Myanmar then was a different category, [a] different kind of country, [and] one of the most gratifying experiences has to be the opening up of Myanmar.

"Which I think ASEAN has contributed to by engaging them, bringing the world in, and raising the level of comfort of the leadership of Myanmar, the people of Myanmar, that the world is, after all, not very, very hostile."

Dr Pitsuwan says the emergence of ASEAN as a more significant regional player, as evidenced by the presence of the US and China, during last week's talks in Cambodia, has brought its own challenges.

"I think what we realise is we have to be a neutral broker of all these power plays, if I may use that term, between and among external powers around us," he said.

"We can't do it alone - to achieve our own objective, our own vision of one community here among us 10, we need to involve a lot of them."

The Cambodia talks were overshadowed by ongoing disputes between several regional countries and China over the sovereignty of several disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Dr Pitsuwan says the issue will continue to present challenges, but he believes the ASEAN forum is in a position to discuss them in a civil manner.

"We are still growing together," he said.

"We are still trying to integrate not only economically but in norms, in perceptions, in vision, and in the way in which we handle our differences.

"The way in which the issue was brought up was very civil, was very courteous to each other - we have our interests in the stability and security of this particular body of waters."

***************************************************************

China.org.cn - Aung San Suu Kyi warns break-off of project to lose trust
Xinhua, November 25, 2012


Myanmar's opposition leader and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday urged transparency in implementing government project and unilateral break-off of ongoing projects, local press reported Sunday.

"It needs transparency before implementing government projects and unilateral break-off of ongoing projects will lose international trust," local media Messenger quoted Aung San Suu Kyi as saying in response to the issue of Monywa-Letpadantaung copper mining project faced with interruption.

Suu Kyi, who is also chairperson of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tranquility of the House of Representatives (Lower House), told the media after Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Wai Lwin warned at the 5th session of the Lower House of deterrent to the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI) if contracts with foreign countries were broken by Myanmar without keeping promises.

Suu Kyi told the press that "Contracts have been inked with the Letpadantaung copper mining project. If unilaterally canceled, compensation must be made. If wanting to stand up as a commensurate country in the international, it must keep promise, stick to words as promised. If the country comes to be considered as loss of promise, unable to do business with the country, can cancel the business undertaking at any time, then investors can no longer take interest in investing in the country".

At the 5th session of the House of Representatives (Lower House) on Friday, a proposal was submitted by Pale constituency MP Daw Khin San Hlaing, urging the president to form an independent state- level commission to probe into the case of Monywa copper mining project.

The Monywa copper mining project comprising Latpadantaung and Kyayzintaung projects in Myanmar's northwestern Sagaing region has been undertaken by the Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd ,China's Wanbao Mining Ltd and Yang Tze Copper Ltd since early this year.

Demonstrations have been taking place intermittently this year after the project was suspended which caused big losses, said Wai Lwin.

***************************************************************

China Daily - Aung San Suu Kyi urges transparency in gov't project
Updated: 2012-11-25 13:21


YANGON - Myanmar's opposition leader and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday urged transparency in implementing government project and unilateral break-off of ongoing projects, local press reported Sunday.

"It needs transparency before implementing government projects and unilateral break-off of ongoing projects will lose international trust," local media Messenger quoted Aung San Suu Kyi as saying in response to the issue of Monywa-Letpadantaung copper mining project faced with interruption.

Suu Kyi, who is also chairperson of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tranquility of the House of Representatives (Lower House), told the media after Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Wai Lwin warned at the 5th session of the Lower House of deterrent to the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI)  if contracts with foreign countries were broken by Myanmar without keeping promises.

Suu Kyi told the press that "Contracts have been inked with the Letpadantaung copper mining project. If unilaterally canceled, compensation must be made. If wanting to stand up as a commensurate country in the international, it must keep promise, stick to words as promised. If the country comes to be considered as loss of promise, unable to do business with the country, can cancel the business undertaking at any time, then investors can no longer take interest in investing in the country".

At the 5th session of the House of Representatives (Lower House) on Friday, a proposal was submitted by Pale constituency MP Daw Khin San Hlaing, urging the president to form an independent state- level commission to probe into the case of Monywa copper mining project.

The Monywa copper mining project comprising Latpadantaung and Kyayzintaung projects  in Myanmar's northwestern Sagaing region has been undertaken by the Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd ,China's Wanbao Mining Ltd and Yang Tze Copper Ltd since early this year.

Demonstrations have been taking place intermittently this year after the project was suspended which caused big losses, said Wai Lwin.
***************************************************************
Fruitnet - NZ strengthens Burma ties
Tom Bicknell
| 26 November 2012

New Zealand is aiming for closer economic and political ties with Burma as the South East Asian nation’s economy opens up

New Zealand’s government is pushing for closer ties with Burma, both economically and politically, with the first ever visit to the country for a New Zealand prime minister last week.

Prime Minister John Key met Burmese president Thein Sein as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who he presented with a basket of gold kiwifruit and a greenstone pendant.

Burma’s slowly opening economy and 56m-strong population make the South East Asian nation a promising potential market for New Zealand exports in coming years.

The country has already attracted significant interest from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, which has appointed a Burmese country manager to develop the market.

“Myanmar has a population of around 56m people and dairy consumption per capita is expected to increase as people in Myanmar increasingly look for high quality nutrition that supports the health of their families,” Fonterra ASEAN managing director Mark Wilson said.

“In addition, Myanmar’s tourism sector is growing fast with increased investment and developing infrastructure across the country. This is driving demand for high quality foodservice products from hotels and restaurants.”

New Zealand’s fruit and vegetable exports to South East Asia have been developing well in recent years, and the potential opportunities in Burma, with the region’s second-largest population, are clear.

New Zealand’s government has recently changed how it refers to the country from Burma to Myanmar, a move the government said recognises the progress the country has made towards peace. ***************************************************************
26 November 2012

ITS International - Joint ventures planned by ITD for Myanmar Dawei project

First publishedon www.WorldHighways.com   


Joint ventures are set to be created by Italian-Thai Development (ITD) for road management and other aspects of the Dawei industrial zone and deepsea port megaproject in Myanmar.

Eight joint ventures will be formed to run roads, water, rail, industrial estates, power, telecommunications, a port, and to relocate residents of Dawei. ITD may only own a stake of 3%-5% in each investment company via Dawei Development, its affiliate.

Under the first stage of the project, which is worth US$8.50 billion, ITD has begun building a road of four lanes stretching 155km between Ban Phy Namron in Thailand's Kanchanaburi province and Dawei. Firms that have expressed interest in taking part in the project include those from South Korea, Thailand, Europe, Japan and China. The first stage will be finished in 2014 and involves utilities, an industrial estate, a port, power plants, roads and logistics.

***************************************************************

Bangkok Post - A nation at the crossroads
New book takes a cautiously optimistic view of Myanmar's opening up
Published: 26/11/2012 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Life


If you've been struck dumb by the dramatic changes that have been taking place in Myanmar since last year _ overwhelmed by the positive global responses towards the junta's reforms, and feeling a budding sense of optimism _ you may need a book like Burma: A Nation At The Crossroads, by Benedict Rogers.

Though trying to present a "holistic" introduction, Rogers _ a Christian Solidarity Worldwide human rights observer who specialises in East Asia _ challenges us with the bitter Myanmar.

Those hoping to find travel tips or hints on investment opportunities can skip it and read something else.

The abundant and vivid accounts from dissidents, activists, internally displaced people (IDPs), former political prisoners, defectors, army deserters, Buddhist monks and ethnic resistance leaders _ all those hated and treated badly by the regime _ have been compiled during the writer's 40-plus fact-finding visits to the country and its border outposts, where horrifying tales, some largely unknown to outsiders, have defined the past half-century of the country.

In this sense, the book is no doubt a good reminder of the fragile nature of the ongoing changes.

The military regime that seized power from the faltering civilian government in 1962 soon earned a reputation for its extreme dictatorship, religious and ethnic persecution, and self-isolation from the global community.

Before the nominally civilian government led by former generals came to power through the showcase election in 2010, Myanmar, once known as the "rice bowl" of Asia, had become one of the least developed nations in the world.

Decades of incompetent economic policies impoverished the country. In extreme cases, decisions were casually made only on a whim, sometimes aided by superstitious beliefs. Since 1962, the Myanmar majority has been engaged in continuous struggles for legal rights and justice. However, whenever there was a civilian protest, a bloody crackdown was the official response.

The 1988 movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi was the most organised opposition to the regime, and one which faced the most horrific crackdown.

The brutality of the Tatmadaw _ the Myanmar army _ against the Saffron Revolution ignited by the spike in fuel prices in September 2007, astonished the world when pictures of murdered monks spread through the internet and TV news. As a monk who fled to the Thai-Myanmar border told Rogers: "I did not think the soldiers would beat monks, in Burma, religion is like a parent. The military beat their parents."

Another unsettled tragedy in Myanmar is the conflict between the government and seven major ethnic groups living along the borders. According to Rogers, from 1996 to 2011, over one million people were internally displaced because of wars. Villages were burnt and robbed, women were raped, farmers were killed by exploding landmines, while children were abducted and forcibly conscripted into the army. The situation in the border camps remains bad, even appalling.

The book observes that even in ceasefire areas, attacks and human rights violation committed by the army are still common.

Among non-Myanmar groups, the Muslim Rohingyas have suffered the double sword of ethnic and religious discrimination. As "a stateless people", they face suffocating restrictions in almost every aspect of life. Thousands have fled to Bangladesh, where they are deported back since they are regarded as "Burmese". As a Rohingya refugee told Rogers: "We are trapped between a crocodile and a snake. We are treated as foreigners in Burma, but if we are foreigners, please show us which country we belong to, and we will go there."

The Rohingyas' case is not isolated. Some ethnic groups "have been fighting an armed struggle for basic human rights, for a degree of autonomy, and more recently a battle for existence", while being branded as insurgents, terrorists, rebels and even extremists by the regime.

The closed-door policy prevented the world from knowing the plight of the people. And now that the opening-up is hogging the headlines, will it sound the death knell for extreme dictatorship and ethnic persecution?

In terms of analysis, the book doesn't offer vivid depictions of important figures like former prime minister Ne Win, Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein. Rather, as Rogers writes, "it is more an activist's text than an anthropologist's study". And as a documentary work, aside from the wide-ranging, first-hand and reliable information, the author fairs quite well in sticking to a personal moral framework while respecting the complex reality: the democracy and ethnic movements have made mistakes, and there are problems that go beyond the regime.

Unlike his other two works, Burma: A Land Without Evil: Stopping The Genocide Of Burma's Karen People (Kregel Publications, 2004), and Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma's Tyrant (Silkworm Books, 2010), Rogers seems to have chosen a much gentler title for this book. But he got his supporter.

"When I met Aung San Suu Kyi in January 2012," he writes, "I told her about this book. I also told her that I had changed the title. Originally, the book was to be called Burma: A Captive Nation. She responded by commending the new title, saying that Burma truly is at a crossroads and people must shed their status as captives."

A more profound consideration of Suu Kyi _ one ostensibly shared by the author himself _ was that among people who care about Myanmar's future, it is those who are supportive of her decision to engage with the regime but are still sceptical that she values and wants to win over.

The intention is good, but reality forces us to adopt "cautious optimism" _ the focus of this book, as Roger writes, is the fact that "behind the scenes, the military is still in power".

He is not making a fuss. At the same time as US President Barack Obama's recent visit to the country conveyed global praise for the government's effective first steps of reform, Muslim-Buddhist clashes in western Myanmar have spread; as fighting continues in Kachin State, violence against civilians including raping and torture by the army continues.

Rogers also emphasises that without "institutional, legislative and constitutional reform", economic reform and opening up will only benefit those in power, while leading to further exploitation of the oppressed.

The writer, who still shuttles between Yangon and the UK, commented in a recent interview that "President Obama delivered some very clear, very powerful, and very relevant messages during his visit. It was a significant and historic visit which I hope will encourage everyone, the government, military, opposition and ethnic nationalities, to build a free, democratic and peaceful country based on unity in diversity, recognising that diversity is a strength and should be recognised and respected".
***************************************************************

Bangkok Post - Police closing net on gangs supplying 'slaves' to trawlers
Only 20 cases recorded in five years, but top cop insists human trafficking is a 'grave concern'
Published: 26/11/2012 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Police are fighting an uphill battle dealing with human traffickers who exploit vulnerable Thai and Myanmar workers.

Anti-human trafficking division police search a fishing trawler in an estuary in Samut Sakhon for any crew who might have been trafficked to work on the ship. WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

Many of the workers are promised well-paid jobs, often in the fishing industry, but are instead forced to work in slave-like conditions for months on end with little or no pay.

Officers have dealt with 20 cases of workers being abused in this way since 2007. That modest figure, however, belies the large scale of human trafficking operations going on in the country.

"The problem is a matter of grave concern," anti-human trafficking division chief Chawalit Sawaengphuet said. "We believe there are many exploited labourers who choose not to complain to police when they're back ashore."

The workers targetted by human trafficking gangs are often impoverished Thai and Myanmar men. With the promise of well-paid work, they are deceived into working in squalid conditions in often poorly-maintained trawlers for weeks or months and are threatened with violence if they resist.

But for police, it's not just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the trafficking gangs to slip up. A more active approach is needed, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said.

Officers need help from fishing industry leaders to expose the tricks used by traffickers, who disguise themselves as labour brokers, the commander said.

Some of the fishing boat owners have no idea that the so-called brokers are coercing young men into working on the boats. "They think the 'recruited' workers come willingly," he said.

Fuelling the problem is a severe labour shortage in the fishing industry. In the country's major fishing provinces such as Samut Sakhon and Ranong, many employers rush to hire whoever they can get, without bothering to run effective background checks.

Working on a fishing boat is not seen as a glamorous profession, and so is shunned by most Thais. This is contributing to the current labour crisis, Sawong Chuicharoen, president of Uan Dam fishing boat club in Samut Sakhon, said.

Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said that despite public warnings being issued informing people of the tactics used by human traffickers, the gangs remained adept at scouting potential victims.

The gangs usually recruit people who are migrating to Bangkok looking for work. They approach their targets at Hua Lamphong train station or at bus terminals, making false offers of jobs with good pay.

When people agree to the job offers, they are usually invited out for a drink and then drugged, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said.

The unconscious victims are taken to prospective employers, who are made to believe the victims had passed out from a night of heavy drinking.

When the victims wake up, they are already out at sea in a trawler, where they will remain confined and be forced to work for weeks or months.

There is no way to escape, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit, said.

In many cases, boat captains accept new deck hands without notifying the owners of the vessel, he said.

Many Myanmar nationals who were tricked into working on the boats said they were promised a hefty income for their work. By the time the realised they had been deceived, it was too late.

When they finished a stint on one boat, some of the workers were "sold" to skippers of other finishing boats, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said.

The trafficked workers said they received little or no money for their labour. Their pay often goes into refunding the brokerage fee that the trafficking gangs charged the skippers.

Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said police are not focused on arresting illegal labourers working aboard fishing boats. They are instead "asking for cooperation" from fishing boat operators to try to rein in human trafficking gangs.

Officers have been sent to the major fishing provinces to inform industry leaders of various methods employed by the gangs to lure in their victims.

Penalties can also be imposed on boat operators and skippers if they are found to be involved in any wrongdoing or fail to notify police of human trafficking.

Police must be alerted to any suspected cases of labour trafficking as soon as possible, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said.

Police are working with labour officials to set up a centre to help recruit legal crew members in Thailand's seven major fishing provinces _ Trat, Rayong, Chumphon, Songkhla, Ranong, Satun and Samut Sakhon. They believe that by finding more legal workers and solving the labour shortage crisis, demand for illegal labour will diminish and the trafficking gangs will be put out of business.

The government is also talking with Vietnam and Bangladesh to help find fishermen interested in working legally on Thai boats.

Samut Sakhon fishing association chairman Kamchon Mongkhontrilak said he agreed with this approach to solving the problem.

He said there should also be a separate centre where labour officials can give advice to employers and educate them about human trafficking networks.

This should help "cut the cycle of human trade," Mr Kamchon said.
***************************************************************

Asahi Shimbun - Japan intercepts N. Korea weapons-grade material bound for Myanmar
November 24, 2012

By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent

North Korea tried to ship materials suitable for uranium enrichment or missile development to Myanmar via China this year, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.

The shipment included about 50 metal pipes and 15 high-specification aluminum alloy bars, at least some of them offering the high strength needed in centrifuges for a nuclear weapons program.

Japan seized the items aboard a cargo vessel docked at Tokyo Port on Aug. 22, a raid which took place at the request of the United States, sources told The Asahi Shimbun.

Authorities concluded that the shipment originated in North Korea because the bars were found to be inscribed "DPRK," although investigators were unable to confirm the origin from cargo documents or from the ship's crew, the sources said.

Japan, the United States and South Korea believe Myanmar has abandoned its one-time nuclear weapons ambitions. This makes officials suspect that the aluminum alloy may have been intended for use in building missiles instead.

A South Korean government source said Myanmar may have been trying to develop short-range missiles in the event of border disputes with its neighbors.

The United States is among nations now easing sanctions against Myanmar and supporting its move toward democracy. On Nov. 19, Barack Obama, the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar, met with President Thein Sein in Yangon and requested that he sever military ties with North Korea.

The revelation of apparent continued links could hamper international reconciliation. And Pyongyang has complained of U.S. pressure on Myanmar to end relations.

It will also likely cause international criticism of Myanmar and China, which have both denied violating the U.N. ban on North Korean exports of weapons and related materials.

The cargo was to have been delivered to Soe Ming Htike, a Yangon-based construction company, which the U.S. government believes is a front for Myanmar's military procurement.

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, a company based in Dalian, China, confirmed that it had tried to send aluminum alloy to Myanmar.

"We became the cargo's owner at the request of a company," an official said. "We have learned that the cargo was seized, but we do not know why."

Japanese government officials believe North Korea acquired the aluminum alloy from China. They said North Korea is unlikely to possess the technology needed to produce such material.

At a meeting held to discuss the matter, Japanese officials from several government agencies agreed that the Chinese military—which ultimately controls its defense industry—must have approved North Korea's exporting the materials to Myanmar.

The sources said the cargo was loaded onto the 17,138-ton Wan Hai 215, a Singapore-registered cargo vessel operated by a Taiwanese shipping company, in Dalian on July 27.

On Aug. 9, the cargo was offloaded and placed aboard the 27,800-ton Wan Hai 313 in Shekou, China.

On Aug. 14, the cargo was scheduled to change ships once again in Malaysia and to reach Yangon Port the following day.

The United States learned about the cargo's possible contents and asked the Taiwanese shipping company not to carry out the transshipment in Malaysia.

The Wan Hai 313 entered Tokyo Port on Aug. 22. Officers from Tokyo Customs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and other agencies examined the cargo and found the items in question.

For the first time, Japan applied a special measures law that allows the government to inspect cargo on ships suspected of carrying weapons and related materials to and from North Korea.

Meanwhile, the discovery could force Japan, the United States and South Korea to review their nuclear nonproliferation policy.

A Japanese government source said since North Korea has no apparent difficulty procuring the necessary aluminum alloy it now likely "has acquired a large number of centrifuges."

In November 2010, North Korea showed centrifuges to U.S. experts at a nuclear facility at Yongbyon. Officials claimed there were 2,000 centrifuges, enough to produce 40 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in one year, if certain conditions are met. That amount is sufficient for one or two nuclear bombs.

The U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies suspect that North Korea is operating additional underground uranium enrichment facilities elsewhere.

"North Korea would never disclose all its cards," one South Korean government source said. "There must be other facilities."

It is difficult to monitor the activities of centrifuges with an intelligence satellite because the site needed is small compared with the large reactor needed to produce plutonium for bombs.

North Korea and Myanmar have had military ties for years.

Sources quoted Shwe Mann, speaker of Myanmar's lower house, as recently telling Japanese government officials that North Korea has yet to deliver some weapons ordered by Myanmar in the past. But, the speaker insisted, Myanmar would pursue no new weapons purchases from North Korea.

Shwe Mann's remark effectively contradicts Myanmar's official stance that it has not had any military transactions since spring 2011.

The United States and South Korea learned that Myanmar signed contracts to purchase military supplies from North Korea when Shwe Mann visited the country in November 2008 as joint chief of staff. Among facilities Shwe Mann inspected was a North Korean missile factory.

In January, a ship arrived at Yangon Port via China, carrying cargo that had been loaded in Nampho, North Korea, ordered by an organization affiliated with the Myanmar military.

"The cargo was a primary machine tool for weapons manufacture," said a diplomatic source in Yangon. "Military ties between Myanmar and North Korea have not been cut off."

North Korean military engineers have been spotted in Myanmar, as well as officials from a company that procures personal funds for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un.

The U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies have stationed personnel at airports and ports in Myanmar to monitor traffic, but North Koreans are apparently traveling by land through China, sources said.

Investigations by Japan and the United States have found that Myanmar has—at some point—imported from North Korea weapons that include mortars.

Myanmar has also informally told the United States it built underground tunnels near Naypyidaw and elsewhere with technical assistance from the North Korean military.

Japan, the United States and South Korea have refrained from disclosing details about military ties between North Korea and Myanmar.

"If we went public with that, we would thrust Myanmar closer to China and North Korea," said one Japanese government source.

Meanwhile, a Chinese government source criticized the approach of countries such as the United States toward Myanmar.

"It does not contain only niceties, such as an evaluation of the pro-democracy movement," the source said. "This is a geopolitical confrontation between China and the United States."
***************************************************************






(ဆက္ဖတ္ရန္.......)