Burma Flag
ေတာ္လွန္ေရးသီခ်င္းမ်ား(Politics Song)
Thursday 31 January 2013
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JANUARY 30, 2013
Myanmar regime mouthpiece seeks private partner
AFP January 31, 2013, 2:31 am
YANGON (AFP) - The New Light of Myanmar, the fiery
mouthpiece of the former junta, is seeking a private partner as the country's
reformist government loosens its grip on state media, an official said
Wednesday.
While details remain vague, the move raises the
possibility that the government could cede at least some editorial control over
the English-language daily, which for years railed against hostile opposition
and foreign forces.
"We have agreed with the (information) ministry to
invite interested persons for the tender of running the New Light of Myanmar
English version," a member of the Public Service Media Governing Body told
AFP on condition of anonymity.
"It will not be possible for the ministry to run a
daily paper efficiently in terms of human resources. We could expect it to
become a quality paper," said the member of the body, set up in October
when Myanmar's three state newspapers announced a plan to transform into
"public service media".
The New Light has already toned down its rhetoric
considerably since decades of military rule ended in early 2011.
Gone are the old slogans lambasting foreign media such as
the BBC for "killer broadcasts" and "sowing hatred", along
with phrases such as "Anarchy begets anarchy, not democracy".
Instead the publication now includes copious amounts of
Hollywood gossip.
The Myanmar Times weekly, which has voiced hopes of going
daily, is interested in teaming up with the New Light, according to its
co-founder, Australian Ross Dunkley.
"It's a great opportunity at this moment to help
reshape the state press in this country," he said.
Since taking office last year, President Thein Sein has
overseen a number of dramatic moves in Myanmar such as the release of hundreds
of political prisoners and the election of democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi
to parliament.
In August the regime announced the end of pre-publication
censorship, previously applied to everything from newspapers to song lyrics and
even fairy tales. Private journals will also be allowed to publish daily from
April 1.
Thanks to the "dramatic changes", Myanmar rose
to 151st out of 179 in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, an improvement of 18
places, the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on
Wednesday.
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Japan canceling $3.58 billion in Myanmar debt
Japan to write off $3.58
billion in Myanmar debt to encourage reforms
Associated Press – 12 hours
ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Japan says it is canceling 326.3
billion yen ($3.58 billion) in debt owed by Myanmar to encourage reforms.
A Japanese Embassy statement Wednesday says the move is
intended to help Myanmar's efforts in democratization, national reconciliation
and economic and social reform.
Myanmar accumulated $8.4 billion in foreign debt during
the socialist regime of the late Gen. Ne Win from 1962 to 1988, and $2.61
billion under the military junta that took over in 1988. An elected government
took power in 2011.
The World Bank announced Sunday that the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation, Japan's overseas development bank, will provide a
bridge loan to Myanmar to cover outstanding debt to the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank totaling about $900 million. That will allow them to
provide new development loans.
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Bangkok Post - Myanmar robber tries to rape woman
Published: 30 Jan 2013 at
21.09
Online news:
A Myanmarese man was arrested in Pattaya on charges of
attempting to steal a 50-year-old woman's purse and attempting to rape her,
police said on Wednesday.
Pol Capt Wissanu Chaiyasuwan, deputy chief of Pattaya
Police, said the suspect was named as Jamie (surname not given).
The victim, Sujittra Penthep, said the man was riding a
bicycle towards her and snatched her purse in Chon Buri's Banglamung district.
Ms Sujittra said the suspected purse snatcher then
dragged her to a forest nearby and used a knife to threaten her.
She said she pleaded for her life and continuously
screamed until villagers heard her and rescued her on time.
Police said Jamie illegally entered Thailand and
struggled to speak Thai.
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MP: Myanmar needs more reforms
Published: Jan. 30, 2013 at
12:17 PM
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A lawmaker in Myanmar
welcomed the lifting of a ban on public gatherings but said more was needed
from a government keen on political reform.
Myanmar President Thein Sein lifted a 25-year-old ban on
public gatherings in the latest political reform. Myanmar has received
international praise for reforms that began with general elections in 2010.
Parliamentarian Thein Nyunt was quoted by The Irrawaddy,
a Myanmar newspaper published in Thailand, as saying the latest decision lifted
a "burden on civilians."
"I welcomed that they abolished such an unnecessary
order," he said.
The government decided to lift the ban after ruling the
martial order wasn't in line with the country's constitution.
The lawmaker, however, said the government needed to do
more, however. He said the government was still restricting "the free flow
of information" on the Internet.
Human Rights Watch pressed Myanmar's government on
demonstrations early this month when charges were filed against nine activists
for protesting in September without a government permit.
Phil Robertson, director of Asia programs at Human Rights
Watch, said the government needs a "mental reset" in order to
re-assess its stance on democracy given recent political reforms.
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PR Newswire - Digicel Submits Expression Of Interest In
Myanmar
Press Release: Digicel Group
– 13 hours ago
YANGON, Myanmar, Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With
current mobile penetration well below 10% in Myanmar, Digicel is interested in
rolling out a world-class mobile telecommunications network and has submitted
an expression of interest to the Government of Myanmar.
Digicel has been successful in driving mobile penetration
in a number of underserved countries across the globe, most notably in Haiti
where mobile penetration was just 5% prior to Digicel's 2006 launch and now
stands at approximately 50%.
Digicel is already one year into a two year sponsorship
of the Myanmar Football Federation and recently made a commitment to Special
Olympics Myanmar which will see Digicel supporting all of the organisation's
preparations and fund raising activities as it readies its athletes for the
World Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2015. This is the first time in its
history that Special Olympics Myanmar has received corporate support and is an
extension of Digicel's commitment to support the organisation in all of the markets
where Digicel operates.
Digicel Group CEO, Colm Delves, comments, "Digicel
is known across the globe for being much more than a telecommunications
company. Wherever we do business, we ensure that the people of that country
benefit from our presence and significant investments in infrastructure. There
is so much potential in Myanmar and, by offering first class and first world
communications services that enable the people of Myanmar to achieve
extraordinary things in their day to day lives - and supporting individuals and
communities - we can help them as they affect positive change."
ABOUT DIGICEL
After 11 years of operation, Digicel Group Limited has
over 13 million customers across its 31 markets in the Caribbean, Central
America and the Pacific. Total investment to date stands at over US$4.5 billion
worldwide. The company is renowned for delivering best value, best service and
best network.
Digicel is the lead sponsor of Caribbean, Central
American and Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams
throughout these regions. Digicel sponsors the West Indies cricket team and is
also the title sponsor of the Digicel Caribbean Cup. In the Pacific, Digicel is
the proud sponsor of several national rugby teams and also sponsors the Vanuatu
cricket team.
Digicel also runs a host of community-based initiatives
across its markets and has set up Digicel Foundations in Jamaica, Haiti and
Papua New Guinea which focus on educational, cultural and social development
programmes.
Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more information.
***********************************************************
New York Times - Myanmar Police Used Phosphorus on
Protesters, Lawyers Say
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: January 30, 2013
BANGKOK — A group of lawyers investigating a violent
crackdown in Myanmar in November that left Buddhist monks and villagers with
serious burns contends that the police used white phosphorus, a munition
normally reserved for warfare, to disperse protesters.
The suppression of a protest outside a controversial
copper mine in central Myanmar on Nov. 29 shocked the Burmese public after
images of critically injured monks circulated across the country. It also gave
rise to fears that the civilian government of President Thein Sein, which came
to power in 2011, was using the same repressive methods as the military
governments that preceded it.
Burmese lawyers and an American human rights lawyer
gathered material at the site of the protest, including a metal canister that
protesters said was fired by the police. It was brought to a private laboratory
in Bangkok, which found that residue in it contained high levels of phosphorus.
Access to the canister and a copy of the laboratory report were provided to a
reporter.
“We are confident that they used a munition that
contained phosphorus,” said U Thein Than Oo, the head of the legal committee of
the Upper Burma Lawyers Network, which helped investigate. “They wanted to warn
the entire population not to protest. They wanted to intimidate the people.”
White phosphorus has many uses in war — as a smoke screen
or incendiary weapon — but is rarely if ever used by police forces.
Reached on Wednesday, Zaw Htay, a director in the office
of Mr. Thein Sein, declined to comment on what kind of weapon was used. “I
can’t say,” he said. “I can’t answer.”
John Hart, a senior researcher at the Chemical Weapons
Program of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said by e-mail
that although white phosphorus was not considered a chemical weapon under a
1993 international convention, it was banned from uses that “cause death or
other harm through the toxic properties of the chemical.”
One of the monks injured at the protest, Ashin
Tikhanyana, 64, has burns over 40 percent of his body and was flown to Bangkok
by the government because Myanmar does not have the facilities to treat such a
serious case.
Two months after the crackdown, Mr. Tikhanyana remains in
intensive care. In an interview on Wednesday in his hospital room, Mr.
Tikhanyana described the moment that the police came to disperse the crowds
before dawn on Nov. 29.
“I saw a fireball beside me, and I started to burn,” he
said. “I was rolling on the ground to try to put it out.”
Dr. Chatchai Pruksapong, a burn specialist treating Mr.
Tikhanyana, said it appeared that the monk was seared with something “severely
flammable.”
Mr. Tikhanyana’s wounds are similar to those Dr. Chatchai
said he saw on soldiers injured by bomb blasts in Thailand’s southern
insurgency.
“Tear gas would definitely not cause this kind of deep
wound,” Dr. Chatchai said.
Myanmar government officials were initially quoted in the
local news media as saying that police officers had thrown “smoke bombs” at
protesters.
The canister found at the protest site appeared to have
“smoke” stenciled on it and looks similar in appearance to smoke hand grenades
once manufactured by the United States, said a security expert and former
colonel in a European army who asked to remain anonymous because he has dealings
in Myanmar. Such smoke grenades emit burning particles within a radius of about
55 feet, he said.
Roger Normand, the American human rights lawyer who
helped investigate the crackdown, said a report from the lawyers would be
released in the next few days.
Mr. Normand arranged to have the canister brought to the
Bangkok laboratory, which is run by ALS, an Australian company that specializes
in testing samples for their chemical content.
In an interview, Mr. Normand said it was “unheard-of” for
highly volatile and dangerous weapons to be used by police forces. “This raises
serious questions about who in the military chain of command could have given
the order to use these weapons,” he said.
The report prepared by Mr. Normand and the Burmese
lawyers has been submitted to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and
opposition leader, who was appointed by the government soon after the crackdown
to lead a separate, official commission of inquiry. The precise mandate of the
commission is unclear, as is the timing of the release of the commission’s
findings.
The government initially announced that the commission
would report its work on Dec. 31, but that was delayed by a month. It may be
further delayed because Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is on a five-day visit to South
Korea.
The controversy over the copper mine centers on the
government’s effort to relocate villagers in order to expand the mine, which is
co-owned by a Chinese company and the Burmese military. The government ordered
the dispersal of protesters after several months of intermittent
demonstrations. The controversy received widespread coverage in the Myanmar
media partly because land rights have become a major issue as the country opens
up to the world.
But it is a measure of the villagers’ resolve that even
after the violent crackdown they say they are refusing to back down. Aye Net, a
villager who has helped lead the protest movement, said Wednesday by telephone
that villagers were calling for “justice for all those wounded in the
crackdown.”
“And we still want the total abolition of the project,”
she said.
Wai Moe contributed reporting from Yangon, Myanmar, and
Poypiti Amatatham from Bangkok.
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Sin Chew Jit Poh - Myanmar bucks slide in Asia media
freedom: RSF
Foreign 2013-01-30 14:10
BANGKOK, Jan 30, 2013 (AFP) - Myanmar's "paper
revolution" has brought a sharp improvement in freedom of information in
the former pariah state, bucking a general deterioration across much of Asia, a
report said on Wednesday.
Thanks to "dramatic changes", Myanmar rose to
151st out of 179 in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, an improvement of 18
places, according to Reporters Without Borders.
"There are no longer any journalists or cyber
dissidents in the jails of the old military dictatorship," RSF (Reporters
Sans Frontieres) said.
In August, Myanmar announced the end of pre-publication
censorship that was a hallmark of decades of military rule which finished in
2011.
"Legislative reform has only just begun but the
steps already taken by the government in favour of the media, such as an end to
prior censorship and the permitted return of media organisations from exile,
are significant steps towards genuine freedom of information," RSF said.
The blossoming of media freedom stands in stark contrast
to worsening repression elsewhere in Asia, according to the Paris-based media
watchdog.
Japan suffered an "alarming fall" from 22nd to
53rd place because of censorship of news related to the nuclear accident at a
tsunami-stricken power plant in Fukushima, the report said.
North Korea (178th), China (173rd), Vietnam (172nd) and
Laos (168th) also languish near the bottom of the table as they "refuse to
grant their citizens the freedom to be informed", RSF said.
"Kim Jong-Un's arrival at the head of the Hermit
Kingdom has not in any way changed the regime's absolute control of news and
information," it noted, referring to state control by Pyongyang.
Malaysia fell 23 places to 145th, its lowest-ever,
"because access to information is becoming more and more limited".
The Indian subcontinent also saw a sharp deterioration,
with journalists around the region facing the threat of violence.
In India (140th), "the authorities insist on
censoring the Web and imposing more and more taboos, while violence against
journalists goes unpunished and the regions of Kashmir and Chhattisgarh become
increasingly isolated".
After the "Arab springs" and other protest movements
that brought many changes in the index in 2012, this year "marks a return
to a more usual configuration", according to the report.
Turkmenistan (177th) and Eritrea (179th) joined North
Korea again at the bottom of the table, along with Syria (176th), Somalia
(175th) and Iran (174th), while Finland, the Netherlands and Norway retained
the top three ranks.
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e27 - Telecom operators see high potential in Myanmar,
which recently opened for foreign investment
By Winnie Nelson
| e27 – Wed, Jan 30, 2013
In response to the Myanmar government’s recent plan to
invite foreign investors into the country, four operators have shown interest
in bidding for two national mobile licences in Myanmar. These four operators
include Singaporean operators SingTel and ST Telemedia, Malaysia’s Axiata and
Nordic group Telenor.
Following such vigour, four licences will be issued by
June. According to the government, each will run for 20 years with options to renew,
and a draft telecommunications law will be put before the Myanmar parliament
during the first half of 2013. These foreign investments aim to boost mobile
coverage up to 80% by 2016. Myanmar currently has around 5.5 million
subscribers which make up a mobile penetration of 9%.
According to Axiata, which sees high mobile market value
in Myanmar, it is a logical and interesting market while representing a
strategic market due to its high growth potential. SingTel wants to maintain an
interest in investment opportunities in under-penetrated markets such as
Myanmar, whereas a Telenor spokesman said that they are well-positioned to
contribute in developing a successful mobile industry in Myanmar. To date,
Myanmar’s mobile sector has been controlled by the state-owned Myanmar Posts
and Telecommunications.
According to consulting firm Thura Swiss Ltd., foreign
investors are allowed to set up a hundred percent foreign-owned company or a
joint venture with a Myanmar partner. As a result, Taiwan handset vendor HTC is
also looking to tap into the country and this could help drive the company’s
growth in the medium term. To attract local buyers, HTC has developed a new
input system for Burmese characters. Not only that, Thura Swiss also mentioned
that if more licenses are issued, this could lead to higher competition among
carriers, thus providing free SIM cards for users (which currently cost US$100
each). As a result, this creates a higher demand for mobile phones.
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Fuseworks - Otago partners with University of Medicine in
Myanmar
By Fuseworks Ltd. Jan 30 02:32pm
The University of Otago has signed an agreement with the
University of Medicine in Myanmar (also known as Burma) to collaborate on
research, training, and capacity building in areas including infectious
disease.
Myanmar is the second largest country in Southeast Asia
and home to more than 60 million people. In 2008 Myanmar embarked on a process
of reforms towards a liberal democracy, a mixed economy, and reconciliation.
These developments have opened opportunities for increased engagement with
international partners, including with New Zealand. Based in Yangon, the
University of Medicine is Myanmar’s oldest medical school. University of
Medicine plays a major role in the training of medical doctors and allied
health sciences professionals.
The Rector of University of Medicine, Professor Than Cho,
says "we are delighted to be embarking on this new relationship with
colleagues at the University of Otago.
"International partnerships help to strengthen our
ability to address pressing national health needs. Much can be achieved by
collaboration between the oldest and most distinguished universities in Myanmar
and New Zealand."
University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene
Hayne welcomed the initiative saying that universities have a duty to assist in
reducing such health disparities worldwide through research, education, and
service.
"I am excited that Otago is able to contribute to
international progress by partnering with a major provider of health education,
research, and service in Myanmar," Professor Hayne says.
Professor John Crump, McKinlay Professor of Global Health
and Co-Director, Centre for International Health, says substantial, long-term
collaborations with institutions in low-resource settings are the fundamental
building blocks of global health initiatives by universities based in developed
countries.
"These form the basis for meaningful exchange and
activities in the areas of research, teaching, and service with a range of
benefits for both partners," he says.
The collaboration between the University of Medicine and
the University of Otago will have an initial focus on research, training, and
capacity building on infectious diseases and medical microbiology. However, it
is anticipated that the relationship will expand over time to engage with a
range of disciplines across the institutions both within and beyond the health
sciences.
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ABC Online - Australia and Burma sign development
agreement
Posted 2 hours 53 minutes ago
Australia and Burma's governments have signed an
agreement that will allow aid to be delivered through a direct relationship, as
the country pushes forward with political, economic and social reforms.
The Memorandum of Understanding on development cooperation
is the first to be signed between Burma and a western nation.
The agreement comes as Australia announced this week it
will inject $15 million into education programs that it hopes will reach
160,000 children.
Director General of Australia's official aid agency
AusAID, Peter Baxter, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia there is "an
enormous window of opportunity" to get behind Burma's reforms.
"What this MoU does is set the platform for an
ongoing dialogue with the government about its reform priorities," Mr
Baxter said.
"Sixty years of isolation and military rule has
meant the systems of government in Myanmar are very undeveloped and so...we
will be very cautious about how we put money through government systems."
Mr Baxter says the Australian government has committed to
increasing its program in Burma to $100 million by 2015.
Audio: Director General of AusAid, Peter Baxter, speaks
to Connect Asia (ABC News)
Australia and the United Kingdom this week opened a joint
office in Naypyidaw, which they say will allow them to work more closely with
Burma's government.
Mr Baxter says Australian authorities are pressing
Burma's government to resolve the ongoing conflict between government troops
and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels.
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Wednesday 30 January 2013
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JANUARY 28-29, 2013
JANUARY 28-29, 2013
Myanmar abolishes order banning public gatherings
In latest reform, Myanmar
ends ban on public gatherings 25 years after military ordered it
Associated Press – 10 hrs ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's new reformist government has
abolished a 25-year-old ban on public gatherings of more than five people,
state media reported Tuesday, ending a much-criticized order issued in 1988 on
the day a military junta took power after crushing nationwide pro-democracy
protests.
The state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported Tuesday
that Order No 2/88 was abolished as it was not in line with a section of the
constitution that says existing laws should remain valid as long as are not
contrary to the constitution, which guarantees basic rights such as freedom of
expression.
The order had been applied selectively as a tool to crush
dissent against the military regimes that held sway until the elected
government of President Thein Sein took office in 2011. His administration has
instituted political liberalization, including the revocation of strict
censorship.
The order had declared "Gathering or marching in
processions and delivering speeches on the streets by a group of 5 or more
people are banned." The junta used many catch-all or vaguely defined
orders and laws as a means of suppressing dissent, and courts generally handed
out stiff sentences, sending thousands of political prisoners into jails around
the country. Most have been freed under amnesties promulgated by Thein Sein.
In December 2011, a "Peaceful Assembly Law" was
implemented specifically allowing public protests. However, permission must be
obtained in advance, without which organizers are subject to penalties
including prison terms. Several people have been arrested under the statute.
Exercise of the new-won freedoms has tested the patience
of the authorities. Last year, sensationalistic photos and stories in the press
threatened to exacerbate already deep tensions triggered by violent clashes
between two separate ethnic communities in western Myanmar.
A defense ministry statement published in state newspaper
Tuesday blamed unspecified embassies, organizations and media of releasing news
and announcements that could cause misunderstanding of the military and the
government in connection with fighting against guerrillas of the Kachin ethnic
minority in the north.
The press release carried in Myanma Ahlin daily said the
embassies and media had made one-sided reports of the army's activities that
failed to mention destructive acts carried out by the Kachin Independence Army,
and its attacks on government convoys carrying food supplies to bases.
It said the army was carrying out its duty to ensure the
people's safety and smooth and secure transportation, and "has inevitably
launched military operations in self-defense." It added that the military
reiterated its commitment to fostering eternal peace and national unity with
ethnic minorities including the Kachin.
The release did not mention any specific organization,
but the foreign ministry last week issued a statement rejecting a U.S. embassy
statement of concern over government military activities.
The same issue of the newspaper reported that two
villagers were injured when their motorcycle hit a land mine planted by the
Kachin, and stated that the guerrillas had burned down a jade company building
in same area.
The Kachin, like Myanmar's other ethnic minorities, have
long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They reached a peace
agreement with the previous military regime in 1994 but a cease-fire agreement
broke down in June 2011 after the Kachin refused to abandon a strategic base
near a hydropower plant that is a joint venture with a Chinese company.
The conflict has forced about 100,000 Kachin from their
homes since then, and many are in camps near the Kachin headquarters in Laiza
near the Chinese border.
***************************************************************
Suu Kyi meets South Korea's first female leader
2 women with tragic family
histories: Myanmar's Suu Kyi meets South Korea's incoming leader
By Sam Kim, Associated Press | Associated Press – 10 hrs ago
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Both women lost their fathers to
gunshots. Both also overcame that tragedy and rose to political prominence in
countries where men dominate decision-making, buoyed in part by the legacies of
their fathers.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader whose 2010
release from house arrest signaled the beginning of Myanmar's transition from
decades of military rule, met Tuesday in Seoul with Park Geun-hye, who takes
office next month as South Korea's first female president. Details were not
immediately available.
The meeting between two of the most prominent women in
Asia spotlights a tragic coincidence in their family history: Suu Kyi's father,
Gen. Aung San, was killed by assassins in 1947 while Park's, President Park
Chung-hee, was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.
Both women have benefited from their late fathers'
reputations. Even as she has blazed her own political trail, the 67-year-old
Suu Kyi represents to many of the voters who sent her to parliament last year a
link with her father, a legendary independence hero. Park, who is 60, enjoys
strong support among older South Koreans with memories of the rapid economic
growth during her father's rule.
Suu Kyi's trajectory, however, has been one of a
dissident, while Park has built a political career as a ruling party lawmaker
owing much to her father, a dictator who took power in a 1961 coup and ruled
South Korea with an iron fist until he was killed 18 years later.
"Park carries family baggage that sets her away from
the image of the pro-democracy movement, while Suu Kyi stands on the other side
as an icon of democracy," said Lee Shin-hwa, a professor of political
studies at Korea University in Seoul.
Democracy has firmly taken root in South Korea since the
death of Park's father and a peaceful transfer of power more than a decade
later. Myanmar, with a reformist government in place but the military still in
the background, is nurturing a fragile democracy.
The meeting between Suu Kyi and Park will be the latest
in a series of high-profile exchanges between their countries, including
reciprocal visits last year by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and
Myanmar's President Thein Sein, both heading delegations keen on bolstering
economic cooperation. Thein Sein also promised Lee in May that his country
would no longer purchase arms from North Korea, a foreign policy shift welcomed
by Seoul.
Lee's visit was the first by a South Korean leader since
1983, when North Korean agents bombed a delegation visiting Myanmar, killing 17
South Koreans and four others but missing then-President Chun Doo-hwan.
During her five-day trip, Suu Kyi is scheduled to attend
the opening of the Special Olympics, a biennial global event that South Korea
is hosting in the alpine town of Pyeongchang for the first time, organizers of
her trip say. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate will then receive a human
rights award in the city of Gwangju, where a 1980 uprising was crushed with
deadly force by the then-military government.
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Bharti Airtel bids for Myanmar licence - sources
Reuters – 10 hrs ago
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd(NSI:BHARTIARTL),
India's top mobile phone operator, has bid for a telecoms licence in Myanmar as
part of plans to expand in overseas markets, two sources with direct knowledge
of the matter said.
The Myanmar government earlier this month invited
expressions of interest for two mobile phone licences - a first step towards
increasing mobile penetration from 5-10 percent to 80 percent in three years.
The deadline for submitting bids was last Friday.
"We are always open to opportunities provided there
is a strategic fit and the market offers significant potential," Bharti
Airtel said in a statement, without confirming or denying that it has bid for a
licence.
The world's fourth-biggest mobile phone operator by
number of subscribers, Bharti also operates in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in
South Asia and 17 African countries.
**************************************************************
Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over
rights
By Paul Eckert
| Reuters – 1 hr 54 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen
Guangcheng urged the United States on Tuesday not to let business concerns
prevent it from pressing China over human rights, saying America must never
"offer the smallest compromise" on its principles.
Chen is a self-taught legal advocate whose escape from
house arrest last April and subsequent refuge in the U.S. Embassy embarrassed
China and led to a diplomatic tussle that ended with him leaving China to study
in New York.
He used a speech at a human rights award ceremony in
Washington to call on the world to hold China to account for repression and to
urge ordinary Chinese to look to the example of Myanmar as they struggle to win
their rights.
"I sincerely hope that everyone - petitioners, human
rights workers, civil rights groups, national governments and especially the
United States government - will come together to encourage progress in human
rights," said Chen.
"There should be no compromise, even if there are
large business interests at stake - dignity, freedom and justice are more
important," he said in translated remarks read in English by actor and
Tibet advocate Richard Gere.
Chen received the 2012 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize,
named after a California congressman who was the only Holocaust survivor to
serve in the U.S. Congress. Lantos died in 2008.
The activist, now studying law at New York University,
said he felt a "profound resonance in my heart" with Lantos from
their shared experience escaping persecution and dictatorship.
"We must not only remember the atrocities of the
fascists, but also recognize that today authoritarianism is firmly entrenched,
and that the barbarism of the authoritarian system is the greatest threat to
civilized societies," said Chen.
Chen endured 19 months of harsh house arrest in his home
village in Shandong province before his escape, but said his family members and
contacts continued to suffer. Chen's nephew Chen Kegui was jailed for 3 years
after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into his home after
Chen's escape.
"Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have
been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for
questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our
conversations have been about," he said.
CHINESE PEOPLE "MAIN ACTORS"
The United States bore a special responsibility to uphold
and promote its basic founding principles, despite economic weakness that has
prompted some deference to fast-growing power China over human rights in recent
years, he said.
While "it is clearly difficult to shift attention
away from issues of finance and the economy, remember that placing undue value
on material life will cause a deficit in spiritual life," said Chen.
"You must establish a long-term plan for human
rights and not compromise on it, ever," he added.
China rejects outside criticism of its human rights
record as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs.
Chen, whose dramatic escape last year won him a wide
following on China's social media networks, said ordinary Chinese must be the
"main actors" in achieving their rights.
"Democracy, freedom and justice don't just happen.
We must strive for them through action," he said.
"Last year, Myanmar lifted the ban on political
parties, and last Friday it abolished media censorship. What the people in
Myanmar do, we can do, too," said Chen.
The New Hampshire-based Lantos Foundation for Human
Rights and Justice has given previous annual awards to the Tibetan spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama, Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel, and Paul
Rusesabagina, a Rwandan hotel manager who hid and protected more 1,200 refugees
during Rwanda's genocide.
**************************************************************
AFP - Wine making takes root in long-isolated Myanmar
by Kelly Macnamara
| Agence-France Presse – 20 hours ago
Myanmar may be best known for its decades of junta rule,
but behind the bamboo curtain maverick entrepreneurs have toiled for years to
put the nation on the map for the quality of its wine.
Vines cascade down terraces overlooking the vast mirror
of Inle Lake in northeastern Myanmar, an unlikely setting for a budding wine
industry tempting the tastebuds of tourists now flocking to the country as it
opens up.
"Everybody is surprised to see a vineyard here in
the middle of Myanmar with all this modern equipment," said Francois
Raynal, winemaker at the Red Mountain estate in Shan State.
The vineyard, which produces roughly 120,000 bottles a
year that fetch about 10,000 kyat ($11) apiece, has itself become a draw for foreigners
intrigued that vines could grow in the tropical country.
Many visitors are Europeans with a "strong wine
culture" who want to try the local tipple, said Raynal, a Frenchman who
has worked at the winery for a decade.
Myanmar's wine pioneer was German Bert Morsbach, who
spearheaded the country's original vineyard, Aythaya, after a colourful career
in Southeast Asia.
He began working in Myanmar from 1989 exporting organic
basmati rice, but turned to vines after the business was confiscated by a
government minister.
In 1998 he planted 4,000 vines imported from France in
eastern Karenni state, but a simmering insurgency between the army and ethnic
rebels flared in the area and the government forbade him from tending his vineyard.
"That was my first experience with wine. Then 'I
said I like it here, so much that I will give it another chance with another
region up there in Shan State,'" Morsbach told AFP.
The challenges of wine growing in Myanmar are not just
related to its complex political history.
Although it is known for its fertile soil, the country's
tropical climate and relatively short days during the June-July peak budding
period mean only a few grape types are able to thrive.
"Fungus is our biggest enemy. Greenhouse conditions
here mean it often grows much better than grapes," said Hans Leiendecker,
the German director of wine operations at Aythaya, which expected to sell
100,000 bottles in 2012 and double that number this year.
Shan State's clouded hills give the vineyard an elevation
of around 1,100 metres (3,600 feet) above sea level, meaning the vines enjoy
cooler temperatures than in other tropical areas.
"It's cold and that produces the nice aromas,"
Leiendecker said.
Consumers, however, seem to have more of a thirst for red
wines and Aythaya has found that Shiraz grows well. It is also testing German
Dornfelder, Tempranillo and Chianti.
Myanmar's winemakers have by necessity been "very
experimental" and could develop well in the coming years, following in the
footsteps of China, Thailand and India, said Denis Gastin, an Australia-based
writer specialising in Asian wine.
He said the success of Myanmar's trailblazing vineyards
has encouraged a number of smaller operations to bud -- a situation likely to please
hoteliers clamouring for local wines.
"We are happy to present a product from our own
land. Also it is a quality product. It is fantastic wine," said Yin Myo
Su, who runs the upmarket Inle Princess hotel.
"I hope we won't be limited to two vineyards -- we
could have 20," she said.
Myanmar's international image has seen dramatic
improvement as it emerges from decades of military rule, with President Thein
Sein taking office in 2011 and overseeing dramatic political reforms including
the election of democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.
Foreigners have enthusiastically flooded in, filling
hotels to capacity.
Red Mountain, owned by a Myanmar businessman, sells its
wine predominantly at the country's tourist hot spots like Yangon, Mandalay and
the ancient temple complex of Bagan.
But rival Aythaya's vineyard and restaurant is close to
the bustling Shan state capital Taunggyi where the majority of custom is from
locals, including wealthy businessmen.
The long-term nature of the business -- the number of
bottles produced depends on crops planted several years before -- means that
even if tourism soars, it will take years before it flows through into
production.
But is the wine good?
Gastin tested the Red Mountain range at a tropical wine
symposium last year and was "pretty impressed".
"I was quite shocked about the Sauvignon Blanc and
Pinot Noir, I thought they were really very very good," he said.
At Red Mountain, Swiss vineyard owner Serge Heymoz -- who
was visiting the estate while on holiday -- also gave the wine the seal of
approval.
"It is very interesting indeed, but let's be clear
-- interesting in a good way," he said.
A woman works in a vineyard at the Red Mountain estate
near Inle Lake in Myanmar's eastern Shan State on August 4, 2012. Myanmar may
be best known for its decades of junta rule, but behind the bamboo curtain
maverick entrepreneurs have toiled for years to put the nation on the map for
the quality of its wine.
Workers fill wine barrels at the Red Mountain estate near
Inle Lake in Myanmar's eastern Shan State on August 4, 2012. The vineyard,
which produces roughly 120,000 bottles a year, has itself become a draw for
foreigners intrigued that vines could grow in the tropical country.
Workers walks past a vineyard at the Red Mountain estate
in Shan State, Myanmar on August 5, 2012. Although it is known for its fertile
soil, the country's tropical climate and relatively short days during the
June-July budding period mean only a few grape types are able to thrive.
A worker walks through a vineyard at the Red Mountain
estate near Inle Lake in Myanmar's Shan State on August 6, 2012. Shan State's
clouded hills give the vineyard an elevation of around 1,100 metres above sea
level, meaning the vines enjoy cooler temperatures than in other tropical
areas.
**************************************************************
AFP - Troops shoot one dead in west Myanmar: govt
official
AFP News – 12 hours ago
One person was shot dead by Myanmar troops in a
confrontation with Muslim villagers in the violence-hit western state of
Rakhine, a government official said Tuesday.
The incident happened on Monday in an area home to a
large population of Rohingya Muslims, who are considered by Myanmar officials
as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and often referred to as Bengalis.
"About 20 Bengalis tried to attack soldiers. A
person was wounded when soldiers fired warning shots," said the official,
who did not want to be named, adding that the person died on the way to
hospital.
The circumstances of the incident were unclear, but local
government spokesman Win Myaing said a confrontation occurred when forest
department officials tried to visit the area for an inspection.
Buddhist-Muslim clashes have left at least 180 people
dead in Rakhine since June. More than 110,000 people, mostly Rohingya, have
been displaced and thousands have fled by boat overseas, mostly heading for
Malaysia.
In August New York-based Human Rights Watch accused
Myanmar security forces of opening fire on Rohingya with live ammunition.
Myanmar denies citizenship to its roughly 800,000
Rohingya, who are described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority
groups in the world.
**************************************************************
AFP - Thailand to turn away Myanmar boat people: official
AFP News – Tue, Jan 29, 2013
Thailand will turn away any more Rohingya boat people
from neighbouring Myanmar who try to land on its shores, a top official said
Monday after an influx of refugees fleeing sectarian unrest.
"The Thai navy from now on will be stricter with
them and will no longer allow them to land," National Security Council
secretary-general Paradorn Pattanathabutr told AFP.
"If we find them, we will provide them with food,
water and necessities so they can go to their destinations," he added.
An explosion of tensions between Buddhist and Muslim
communities in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has triggered
a huge exodus of Muslim Rohingya, mostly heading for Malaysia.
More than 1,000 have been detained by Thailand after
landing on its shores.
Paradorn said the existing detainees would be allowed to
stay in Thailand for six months at immigration centres or local police stations
while the government works with the UN refugee agency to find third countries
willing to accept them.
The tougher stance comes a week after Thai authorities
said they were investigating allegations that army officials were involved in
the trafficking of Rohingya boat people.
Described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority
groups in the world, Rohingya have for years trickled abroad to neighbouring
Bangladesh and, increasingly, to Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya
as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.
The UN estimates that about 13,000 boat people fled
Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2012, with some dying during the perilous sea voyage.
Thailand has been criticised in the past for pushing Rohingya back out to sea.
**************************************************************
Korea JoongAng Daily - Two ‘daughters of the East’ meet
for first time
Jan 30,2013
President-elect Park Geun-hye yesterday met Myanmar’s
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and promised to work with her to make their
countries, Asia and the world “freer and happier.”
The Nobel Peace laureate arrived here Monday for a
five-day visit to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Special
Olympics World Winter Games.
In their meeting at Park’s office, the president-elect
congratulated Suu Kyi for her and her party’s victories in last year’s
by-elections.
“I think it was an important first step for Burma’s
democratization,” Park said.
Suu Kyi replied that she sees it as an auspicious sign
for her country’s future.
During their exchange, both Park and Suu Kyi referred to
Myanmar as Burma.
“I am paying my respect for your deep and long-time
sacrifices for your homeland’s democracy,” Park told Suu Kyi. “I also
understand very well what it is like to give up happiness as an individual and
live a life by having the nation as my family. I hope we can work together to
make a freer and happier Korea and Burma, Asia and the world.”
Suu Kyi said the peace and prosperity she works for are
not just for Myanmar but for the world.
Park said she has paid special attention to the latest
efforts of Myanmar to improve its relationships with Western countries
including the United States. Korea has also joined the international efforts to
improve Myanmar’s situation, Park noted.
Park stressed that Korea will start its term as a
nonpermanent member on the United Nations Security Council this year and
promised further cooperation between the two countries in the international
arena.
The two women leaders share some similarities having both
followed their fathers into politics. Park, 60, is a daughter of former
military ruler Park Chung Hee, credited for Korea’s economic development but
criticized for his authoritarian rule.
Suu Kyi, 67, is a daughter of General Aung San, a
revolutionary known as the Father of modern-day Myanmar. He was praised for his
role in the country’s independence from British colonial rule.
Both Park and Suu Kyi lost their fathers in
assassinations.
Earlier in the morning, Suu Kyi met with President Lee
Myung-bak. It was their second meeting since Lee visited her in Myanmar last
May.
Suu Kyi also met with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and went
to Pyeongchang to attend the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World
Winter Games yesterday.
She will attend the Global Development Summit on the
sidelines of the sports event in Pyeongchang today and visit Gwangju, a
symbolic city of Korea’s democratization, tomorrow.
On her last day in Korea, Suu Kyi will pay a visit to Lee
Hee-ho, widow of former President Kim Dae-jung.
**************************************************************
Tech in Asia - The World’s Largest Barcamp is in Myanmar
By Anh-Minh Do
| Tech in Asia – 5 hrs ago
Barcamp Yangon 2013
Barcamp Yangon 2013 From facebook.com/barcampyangon.
Myanmar has made some stunning changes in the past two years. And this is the
backdrop to BarcampYangon’s explosive growth into one of Asia’s largest tech
conferences and by far the biggest Barcamp in the world. At over 6,400
participants on January 19 and 20 this year, BarcampYangon not only dwarfs
every barcamp in the region but even exceeds last year’s number by over one
thousand attendees.
Myanmar is now the envy of every barcamper in Asia.
Barcamps are free-to-attend locally organized “unconferences” where
participants are allowed to present about anything they want. Speakers and
presenters can be anyone. Organizers are only required to take care of
promotion, logistics, and infrastructure for the event while attendees
proactively present and choose their own content. I spoke to Nang Nyi, one of
the 32 main organizers of BarcampYangon who gave me the growth numbers starting
with the first one in 2010.
year participants
2010 1,700
2011 2,700
2012 4,000
2013 6,400
In 2012, BarcampYangon was already the biggest barcamp in
the world. Even Myanmar’s national hero, Aung San Suu Kyi, attended. The
Myanmarese government’s Ministry of Communication gave full support and
provided internet for the whole two days. barcamp-yangon-2013 This year, with a
2,400 jump in the numbers, BarcampYangon’s biggest partners include Dell and
the local AGB Bank. Nang broke down the key numbers for us:
This year, just as every year, we had about 100
volunteers managing all the participants. We had 13 rooms for speakers with 59
topics presented on the first day and 70 topics presented on the second day.
The most popular topics this year were Unicode and Ubuntu.
The most popular topics, Unicode and Ubuntu, indicate a
strong interest in bringing the Burmese language into software and a penchant
for open source software. IT institutions are very supportive of such
developments as Nang explains:
BarcampYangon’s scale and size has been supported by the
Myanmar ICT (MICT) park, a compound and training center for IT companies
similar to the IT Zone in Yangon, since the start. MICT houses the Myanmar
Computer Professional Association (MCPA) whose executive members are also in
the Barcamp organizing team.
As of late 2012, internet penetration in Myanmar has
floated just above two percent (roughly 1.2 million), with less than one
million people on Facebook. This means the online community is particularly
intimate and close-knit. There are also few tech-related events in Myanmar, so
BarcampYangon is one of its kind in the country. Finally, I had to ask Nang
what motivated her team to organize Barcamp? She answers:
Well, the average age of the participants is 20 to 35
years old. It is a young crowd. I want to open the eyes of the Myanmar youth to
give them the habit of sharing. I also want to improve their soft skills like
presentation, networking, and social skills.
I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely going next
year. For those of you who might want to attend but don’t speak Burmese, don’t
worry, the organizing team even has a translation team for English speakers.
You can support BarcampYangon by liking it on Facebook here.
***************************************************************
SingTel and Axiata Among 4 Telcos Keen to Enter Myanmar
By Steven Millward
| Tech in Asia – 14 hrs ago
Bloomberg reports that at least four major telecoms firms
are vying to be granted licenses to operate in the newly opened up Myanmar
market. Singapore’s SingTel (SGX:T48) and Telemedia are in contention, along
with Malaysia’s Axiata (MYX:6888), and Norway’s Telenor (NASDAQ:TELNY - News).
Two licenses are up for grabs as Myanmar aims to get
phone coverage in 80 percent of the country by 2016. (Hat-tip to
SGentrepreneurs for spotting this).
The post SingTel and Axiata Among 4 Telcos Keen to Enter
Myanmar appeared first on Tech in Asia.
***************************************************************
Myanmar’s SEAG Preparations Assailed
Manila Bulletin – 15 hours
ago
Host Myanmar is poised to turn the Southeast Asian Games
into a stomping ground for its athletes when the biennial sports conclave is
held there in December.
According to a New York Times report, SEAG nations are
protesting the way Myanmar is conducting its preparations.
"Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand,
which all intend to participate in what are known as the SEA Games, have sent
separate letters to Myanmar protesting the way the event is being organized,
according to Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha, the president of the National Olympic
Committee of Thailand," wrote Thomas Fuller in a report datelined Bangkok.
"These games are supposed to bring unity, but they
are causing divisions instead," General Yuthasak told the Thai media
recently.
"The main complaint is that Myanmar, formerly Burma,
has stacked the competition with obscure sports that Myanmar's athletes have a
good chance of winning," said the NYT report.
Sports leaders of SEAG member nations are currently
attending a council meeting in the main hub of Naypyidaw in an effort to
determine what sports will be played and know the number of events that will be
staged.
The Thai delegation, obviously the most outspoken of the
foreign contingent, said that Myanmar wants to field 14 non-traditional sports
instead of the usual eight that is allowed under the rules.
"Nine out of the 14 are martial arts," he said,
struggling to describe them. "They are - well, I can't even remember their
names," Charoen Wattanasin of the Thai Olympic Committee protested.
"One is called chinlone, a traditional Burmese game
that mixes dancelike acrobatic movements with what might be described as soccer
juggling skills. There is no opposing team, and competitors are scored in a manner
similar to those in gymnastics," wrote Fuller.
Myanmar is even planning to drop tennis and table-tennis,
two sports that have been played since the SEAG began in 1959. Even badminton
is said to be being axed, according to Thai and Filipino officials.
The Philippine delegation is headed by Philippine Olympic
Committee chief Jose 'Peping' Cojuangco and includes first VP Joey Romasanta
and second VP Jeff Tamayo.
"If they continue to push through this proposal,
it's worthless to hold the games," Thailand's Wattanasin said.
***************************************************************
Business Standard - Airtel among global telcos queuing
for Myanmar licence
Press Trust Of India / New
Delhi Jan 30, 2013, 00:10 IST
Bharti Airtel has bid for a telecom licence in Myanmar,
as India's biggest private telecom company looks to expand its foreign
operations.
A host of other global players, including Norway's
Telenor and Malaysia's Axiata, have also given bids in for a licence to provide
mobile telephony services in Myanmar. "We are always open to
opportunities, provided there is a strategic fit and the market offers
significant potential," a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said.
Besides India, billionaire Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel
already offers services in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as 17 countries in
Africa.
To increase telephone and internet accessibility, Myanmar
has recently opened the door for foreign firms to enter its market.
Myanmar has launched tenders for two nationwide
telecommunications service licences, to be awarded in the first half of this
year.
The ministry has said it wants both domestic and overseas
operators to compete in the sector. Asked about its participation, Telenor
Group said it had submitted its expression of interest to participate in the
process of awarding a licence to provide mobile telephony services in Myanmar.
"Myanmar is located in a region with a strong
Telenor Group presence, where we have 15 years of experience from similar
markets. We believe that we are well-positioned to contribute in developing a
successful mobile industry in Myanmar," a Telenor spokesperson said.
The recent move by the country’s communications ministry
is part of a plan to expand telephone penetration between to 75 and 80 per cent
by 2016, from the current level of around 10 per cent.
"The government of Myanmar has asked all interested
parties to submit an expression of interest by January 25 and Axiata has done
so. Like many others telcos, it is a logical and interesting market to consider
investing in. It represents a strategic market given its high growth
potential," an Axiata Group spokesperson said.
Global telecom firms are eyeing Myanmar after a number of
international sanctions were eased in response to political reforms under a
quasi-civilian government that took power in 2011.
***************************************************************
Bangkok Post - EDITORIAL: Easy money for Myanmar
Published: 30 Jan 2013 at
00.00
Newspaper section: News
Myanmar announced this week it has convinced banks and
international aid givers to make deals that clear away debts and open the
country to potentially profitable business. Other countries will pay off
billions of dollars owed to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank
(ADB). In return, Myanmar effectively gets a clean rating and a new line of
credit. The international agencies and foreign businesses get a massive new
opportunity to invest in Myanmar.
It seems a sweet deal all around. But the backroom deals
that led to Monday's surprise announcement were free of all accountability. The
governments that finance aid loans and projects concluded the agreements in
secret. The government of Myanmar, while basking in the praise of its public
acceptance of some democratic reform, was not even asked about mass abuses of
the past, some of which are continuing.
It has become popular to refer to Myanmar as if 60 years
of military dictatorship ended at a pen stroke and a general election. There
are the bad days of tyranny by the Myanmar military, and then there is the new
time, when political prisoners are freed and an elected parliament meets. It
would be nice if this simplistic view of Myanmar were true. Unfortunately, the
new regime under President Thein Sein still has a long way to go before his
reforms result in a democratic and accountable Myanmar.
The programmes that encourage investment in
post-dictatorship Myanmar are generally a good thing. The people of Myanmar,
brutalised, beaten down and impoverished for three generations, will be helped
by a new opportunity to join in building their country. But there is little
that is positive about this week's debt forgiveness.
First, there was no examination of the conditions that
allowed the military dictators to build a debt that clearly went against the
interests of Myanmar and its people. The World Bank, ADB, Japan and Norway in
particular did not try to study the past, to help to ensure it is never
repeated.
More germane and pertinent is the lack of any guarantee,
even a simple statement by the Myanmar government that it intends to end abuses
that are ongoing. The aid agencies did not mention the continuing acquiescence
of Myanmar in the international drug trade. And there was no mention of
undoubted abuses of minorities by Thein Sein and his government _ abuses
carried out as a matter of national policy.
Certainly, Myanmar deserves support in ascending from its
dark days into the world community. But Myanmar's friends missed a golden
opportunity to hold the government to standards.
Drug trafficking affects Thailand directly. So does abuse
of Rohingya Muslims. Military attacks on Kachin, including aerial bombardments,
hardly speak of national reconciliation.
Forgiving Myanmar its billions of dollars of debt built
up by the military dictators is defensible only if there is accountability.
Blind and greedy international lenders poured loans on a cruel regime. Starting
new loans without any mention of continuing problems effectively makes such
abuses acceptable by the Myanmar government and the international community.
***************************************************************
Bangkok Post - Myanmar taxi drivers get car discount
Published: 29 Jan 2013 at
15.47
Online news:
Myanmar’s Ministry of Commerce plans to assist taxi
drivers in buying their own cars at discounted prices.
A battered old Toyota Corolla taxi plys the streets of
Yangon in this file photo from July 2011. (Photo by Adam Renton)
The ministry has announced that it will sell vehicles to
taxi drivers at less than the market price through a hire-purchase scheme.
“Taxis owned by the Ministry of Commerce will be sold at
60% of the market price through a hire-purchase system,” a ministry official
was quoted by Mizzima.
The official said that the aim is to allow drivers to
eventually own their own vehicles.
Most taxis in Myanmar’s capital Yangon were relics from
the 1960s and 1970s until government liberalisation began in 2011. As economic
sanctions have been lifted and buying a new vehicle has become easier in
Myanmar, many of these Japanese-made vehicles have been replaced by Chery QQ
compacts from China.
***************************************************************
Bangkok Post - Asean must take anti-WMD pact seriously
Published: 30 Jan 2013 at
00.00
Newspaper section: News
On Nov 18, 2012, during US President Barack Obama's visit
to Thailand, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced that Thailand would
join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Thailand is the fifth of the
10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to join the
PSI, after Singapore (2004), the Philippines (2005), Brunei Darussalam (2008),
and Cambodia (2008); the non-participating countries are Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
USPresident Barack Obama,accompanied by Prime Minister
Yingluck Shinawatra, inspects an honour guard while on an official visit to
Thailand inNovember last year duringwhich Thailand pledged to enter the
Proliferation Security Initiative.
It will have taken nearly 10 years to convince half of
Asean's member states to join the PSI. Is the glass half full or half empty?
The PSI emerged in 2003 in response to an incident that
exposed serious gaps in the nonproliferation regime. In November 2002, at a US
request, Spanish authorities interdicted a Cambodian ship, the So San, on its
voyage from North Korea to Yemen and discovered Scud missiles and other items
hidden under bags of cement. Ultimately, however, the ship was allowed to
proceed with its cargo because trans-shipment of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD)-related items was not criminalised under international law, and there
were limited legal grounds for seizure.
The So San incident set in motion the process that led to
the PSI. US officials approached likeminded states to develop a framework for
action and US President George W. Bush announced the PSI in Poland on May 31,
2003, along with its other initial participants: Australia, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
These states met over several months to determine how the PSI would operate,
ultimately publishing a Statement of Interdiction Principles and encouraging
other states to participate in the initiative.
The PSI is a political agreement among states promising
to take action, individually or collectively, to interdict WMD shipments over
land, in the air, or at sea to and from states and non-state actors of
proliferation concern. Because the goal was to react quickly to an urgent
problem, its initial participants sought to facilitate interdictions not by
creating new laws, but by working through existing domestic and international
legal frameworks to enhance intelligence sharing and increase coordination of
military and law enforcement assets. That is also why the PSI does not define
the "rules of the road" for interdiction and leaves it up to the
participating countries to decide how to do so _ to maximise flexibility.
Many states, notably some prominent members of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), were sceptical of the PSI. They were critical of
"coalitions of the willing" and its focus on "counterproliferation",
seeing them as evidence of the Bush administration's disregard for formal
multilateral arms control instruments and preference for military tools to
respond to WMD threats. Such misgivings were perhaps understandable: the PSI
was promulgated within months of the invasion of Iraq, which was launched
without a clear mandate from the United Nations and where the search for WMD
came to naught. Furthermore, some legal authorities concluded that the PSI was
at odds with the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Seas, or UNCLOS.
Over time, however, the PSI has gained traction in the
international community. It has been credited with a number of successful
interdictions, such as that of the well-publicised BBC China in October 2003, a
German-owned ship that transported centrifuge parts procured through the A Q
Khan proliferation network to Libya. It has also led to important international
legal developments to facilitate interdictions, and its model has been adopted
to craft new initiatives, such as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear
Terrorism, or GICNT. Significantly, President Obama's intention to make the PSI
"a durable international institution" has helped turn it into more of
a mainstream policy instrument. The fact that all PSI operations to date have
been conducted in accordance with international law has also helped mute
criticism of the initiative.
Thus, participation in the PSI has grown from its 11
founding states to 102 today. A number of factors nudged states toward the PSI.
In Asean, however, the governments that have endorsed it seem to have done so
primarily as a concession to the United States: while Asean states worry about
proliferation and acts of WMD terrorism, they have lower threat perceptions
than the United States, which emphasises nonproliferation, nuclear security,
and counterproliferation measures. Asean states have more pressing priorities
(development and nation-building, notably) and believe that these measures
carry considerable costs. But this can be outweighed by a visible US commitment
to the bilateral relationship, such as a presidential visit (as in the case of
Thailand) or promises for US capacity building: both Brunei and the Philippines
have looked at the PSI as an instrument to enhance maritime security, for instance.
In the nonproliferation and nuclear security domains,
Asean states have made similar concessions to Washington. Although it had been
in the works for some time, it is probably not a coincidence that Malaysia
passed its Strategic Trade Bill (which considerably strengthens export controls
of WMD items) just a few days before the Obama-led April 2010 Nuclear Security
Summit in Washington. Similarly, in November 2012, it looked like President
Thein Sein of Myanmar felt the need to reward Mr Obama's historic visit to his
country by pledging to sign an Additional Protocol (AP) with the International
Atomic Energy Agency and allow nuclear inspectors on its territory _ a step
that the international community had urged Myanmar to take for years.
All of this might be viewed as successes for US diplomacy
in Southeast Asia. The results have thus far been impressive. As long as
Thailand, a US ally, remained outside the PSI, Washington's attempts to
persuade other Asean countries to join the pact looked suspect; that obstacle
has been eliminated. Likewise, while sharp-eyed legalists note that Malaysia
has still not endorsed the PSI, Malaysia's export control laws complicate the
trans-shipment of sensitive dual-use materials to countries of proliferation
concern. And if Myanmar's conclusion of an AP materialises, it will go a long
way toward addressing concerns over its nuclear activities, including its
dealings with North Korea. In sum, these developments suggest that the glass is
half full.
Not so fast. Political declarations of intent are one
thing, bureaucratic implementation is another. As long as action against WMD
threats is seen as a concession to the United States, or as an agenda foisted
upon the region by Washington, meaningful steps toward implementation are likely
to be few and far between. At the very least, such steps will depend on
constant prodding from Washington. Significantly, while implementation of
nonproliferation and nuclear security measures is (more) visible and
measurable, that is not the case of counterproliferation initiatives like the
PSI, which calls for independent, often secretive operations in a non-binding
fashion. This means that states can pick and choose when to conduct PSI
operations or, worse, they can choose to join the initiative and then free
ride. Proper implementation of the PSI, therefore, requires strong buy-in from
regional states. It requires them to see the inherent value of proactively
countering WMD threats, and thus must go beyond mere promises of endorsement
made in the belief that they will help to bolster their relations with the US
or build capacities.
What, then, should be done to promote the PSI in Asean?
For starters, it would be useful for states other than the United States to
advertise its merits so that it is no longer seen as something of interest just
to Washington.
US Asian allies, notably Australia, Japan, and South
Korea, should do more to encourage Asean states to endorse the PSI; to avoid
being seen as acting on behalf of Washington (as "deputy sheriffs"),
they should be engaging Asean as a whole, not as individual countries. Over the
longer term, support and advocacy for the PSI should come from a more diverse
range of countries. As much as it might seem farfetched today, efforts to get
Chinese, Indian and even Indonesian endorsements should be redoubled; they
would be powerful examples and incentives for other regional states to follow
suit.
The promotion of the PSI would also be enhanced if Asean
officials and security experts pushed harder for its adoption and thorough
implementation, both at the national and regional levels. Championing PSI is
more likely to succeed if pressure comes from within, not from outside of
Asean. This can be encouraged through regional threat assessment studies
conducted in partnership with Western states and others to raise awareness not
only of WMD threats in Asean (a reality often underestimated by regional
governments), but also of the PSI's value to address these threats. Such joint
studies would help show that all states are vulnerable to WMD threats and that
it is thus important that they join forces to combat them, notably through the
PSI. Significantly, these studies may also help to dispel concerns that the PSI
is supposedly (and uselessly) bending, if not breaking, international law.
Although the PSI has gained traction over the past
decade, the number of states signing up should not be equated to the number of
states convinced of its usefulness.
The glass is half empty, not half full. More convincing
is needed for the PSI to operate at its fullest. It is an urgent endeavour
because proliferation and acts of WMD terrorism are serious threats to peace
and security, including in Southeast Asia.
David Santoro is a senior fellow for nonproliferation and
disarmament at the Pacific Forum CSIS and Shahriman Lockman is a senior analyst
at the Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia.
This article originally appeared in the Pacific Forum CSIS Pacnet series.
***************************************************************
The DONG-A ILBO - Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar`s shining
hope
JANUARY 30, 2013 05:04
Aung San Suu Kyi, who made her first visit to South Korea
a few days ago, has been called the symbol of Myanmar`s democratic movement,
"steel orchid" and the female Nelson Mandela. When her biopic
"The Lady" was released last year, the movie`s title also became
another nickname for Suu Kyi. She suffered misfortune for more than two
decades, enduring house arrest by her country`s ruling junta for 24 years. She
also had to make her acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize 21 years after
getting it. But Suu Kyi bounced back up like a roly poly to emerge as a symbol
of democracy for both her people and the world. No nickname can sufficiently
capture her turbulent life.
Myanmarese who live in South Korea cried in joy when
meeting Suu Kyi. Myanmarese living in Korea can be divided into three
categories: political refugees, migrant workers who sent money to their
families in Myanmar, and students. Earning worldwide admiration and respect,
Suu Kyi must have provided a huge boost of encouragement to Myanmarese living
in Korea during her visit to South Korea. Nay Tun Naing, head of the National
League for Democracy`s Korea branch, called her trip a historical event.
The opposition party`s victory in Myanmar`s general
elections in 1988 appeared to sign an end to the military dictatorship. But the
junta nullified the election results. Despite ample natural resources, the
Southeast Asian country declined into the world`s poorest country due to
crippling international sanctions. The winds of change blew after Thein Sein
was inaugurated as president in 2011. Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest and
joined her parliament last year through by-elections. Her visit to Korea was
helped by Yangon`s new policy of "breaking away from isolation."
After meeting President Lee Myung-bak and President-elect Park Geun-hye on
Tuesday, she will go to Gwangju Wednesday to make a speech on the Gwangju Human
Rights Award she received nine years ago.
The outlook for Myanmar`s democratic activists remains
bleak despite Suu Kyi`s efforts. Maung Zaw, who escaped to South Korea in 1994,
said, "We still have a long way to go." In meeting U.S. President
Barack Obama in November last year, Suu Kyi cautioned against rash
expectations, saying the political reforms of the junta could become a mirage
of success. Zaw said genuine democratization will come only after
constitutional revision. Adopted in 2008, the Myanmar constitution stipulates
that 25 percent of parliament be comprised of soldiers. Opposition parties and
democratic activists also want a law that excludes Myanmarese married to
foreigners or related people from presidential candidates should be abolished.
Nevertheless, hope is rising that the dictatorship will ultimately succumb to
democracy. When will North Korea have such a democratic activist?
Editorial Writer Bhang Hyeong-nam (hnbhang@donga.com)
***************************************************************
Oilprice.com - In Race for Burmese Energy, China has a
Commanding Lead
By John Daly | Tue, 29 January 2013 23:10 | 0
Since Burma’s junta in March 2001 allowed a nominally
civilian government led by President Thein Sein, who had previously served as a
general and then prime minister under the junta, Western governments and energy
companies have been flocking to the previously isolated country. U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton made a landmark visit to Burma in December 2011, and
the newly re-elected President Obama followed suit in November 2012,
underlining Burma's return to the world stage.
Burma’s (also known as Myanmar after the junta changed
the country’s name in 1989, a fact that the U.S. State Department declines to
recognize) reemergence on the global energy stage is still so recent that the
U.S. government’s Energy Information Agency has yet to issue a “Country
Analysis Brief” on the nation.
But all that has changed with the arrival of “democracy,”
prior to which the only Western company willing to brave dealing with the junta
and worldwide opprobrium was France’s Total, which had been in Burma since
1992, pre-dating international sanctions, operating the Yadana gas field. In a
sign of how times have changed, according to Minister Than Htay, at the
September 2012 2nd Myanmar Oil, Gas and Power conference “Many multinational
petroleum companies including Shell, BP, BG ConocoPhillips, Chevron and many
others showed great enthusiasm to invest and keen interest to conduct upstream
petroleum exploration in Myanmar’s petroleum sector.”
Related article: Does 2013 Herald an Oil Supply Crisis?
Why might China have an edge in Burma? For a start, as
recently as last August the U.S. State Department’s “Background Notes, “U.S.
Relations With Burma,” Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Fact Sheet
noted, “The United States continues to maintain a ban on all imports from
Burma…” a number of which were only lifted prior to Obama’s visit. Besides the
U.S., the EU and Canada also imposed economic sanctions on Burma, leaving among
the major economies only China, India and South Korea to make significant
investments in the country.
China is the biggest foreign investor in Burma with
pledges that exceeded $14 billion in the financial year ending in March 2011,
according to official data, which is underwriting several multi-billion dollar
pipeline projects among other things.
The crown jewel of China’s infrastructure investment
projects are twin oil and natural gas 684 mile-long pipelines, running from
Burma’s offshore Shwe natural gas fields, discovered in 2004, via Kyaukpyu port
to enter China at Ruili in Yunnan province. The oil pipeline, estimated to cost
$1.5 billion, can transit 22 million tons annually, while the $1.04 billion
natural gas pipeline will shift 12 billion cubic meters per year. Three years
after the Shwe field was discovered the Chinese National Petroleum Company was
awarded a 30 year agreement to develop it.
Related article: The Energy Industry is Not Safe in North
Africa
Needless to say Washington, even while sanctioning the
Burmese junta, watched Beijing’s growing investment with concern, particularly
those with a “dual purpose” military use. Among the projects rattling the
Pentagon are China’s investment in constructing deep-water port facilities
capable of berthing warships at Kyaukpyu on the northwestern coast of Yanbye
Island on Combermere Bay in the Bay of Bengal, site of the tandem pipelines,
while Chinese engineers dredge Burma's Irrawaddy River to give China a usable
waterway connecting Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal. The pipelines have a
strategic purpose, as they will allow Chinese maritime shipments of Middle East
to transit the Indian Ocean instead of the riskier Strait of Malacca, where 82
percent of Chinese oil imports currently travel.
And oh, since the 1990s, Burma has been one of the top
three recipients of Chinese arms exports.
So, as Western executives jet back from energy
conferences in Burma, pondering the secrets of Chinese success there, they
might consider the following trio of possibilities. One, no hectoring human
rights lectures of pesky sanctions. Two, arms sales and three, big cash upfront
for projects.
No so difficult to understand, really.
By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com
***************************************************************
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