Mizzima
September 2008
www.mizzima.com
"Burma
Solomon
Looking Toward the 2010
Elections
By Htet Win
page -7
Natural Gas Favours Regime,
not National Interest
By Moe Thu and Htet Win
page - 7
All the Glitters isn't Gold
By Myat Soe
page - 8
Dead-end in Burma for UN
envoy
By Larry Jagan
page - 9
Interview
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September 15- Burma’s
detained opposition leader Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi will accept fresh
food supplies on Monday, after
refusing deliveries for a month,
her party – National League for
Democracy – spokesperson said.
”She has agreed to accept
food supplies again, so
preparations are on to send food
this evening,” Nyan Win,
spokesman of the NLD told
Mizzima.
Nyan Win said, the Nobel
Peace Laureate has decided to
accept food after the ruling junta
partially granted some of her
demands including her right to
receive international news
magazines and to receive mails
from families and to allow her
aides to go out.
”She decided to accept food
again because the authorities
allowed some points of her
demands,” said Nyan Win.
But Nyan Win failed to clarify
why the Burmese democracy icon
has been refusing fresh food
supplies since mid-August.
Rather, he said, the detained
party leader had made her
demands known to the junta
authorities through her personal
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lawyer Kyi Win, who in two
months was allowed four visits to
her.
Following his fourth visit on
Thursday, Kyi Win said the
government had partially granted
some of Aung San Suu Kyi’s
demands.
In early September, rumours
began circulating that the
detained pro-democracy leader is
staging a hunger strike against
her illegal detention.
Nyan Win on Monday, said it
was not true saying, “[Aung san
Suu Kyi] told her lawyer that she
is not on hunger strike but
managed by eating a very limited
amount of food in those days.”
He added that due to the
limited food that she had to
manage with for a month, Aung
San Suu Kyi is now feeling weak
and needed rest.
”She also told her lawyer that
she wants to meet U Aung Kyi,
when she is in better health,” said
Nyan Win.
Earlier, Aung San Suu Kyi had
turned down a meeting with Aung
Kyi, the junta's liason minister, on
the ground that she is needed
rest, her lawyer Kyi Win said.
On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi
was allowed a visit by her family
doctor Tin Myo Win, who
Burmese government in
exile supports challenge to
junta’s seat at UN
Solomon
page -6
Vol.6 No. 9
Suu Kyi agrees to accept food
supplies
Focus
Vs UN
Seat"
MONTHLY JOURNAL
September 12 - Although
the Burmese government in exile
– the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma
– has not signed the credential
challenge campaign against the
junta’s membership in the United
Nations launched by other
Burmese groups, it said it
endorses the idea.
Dr. Tint Swe, Information and
Public Relations Committee
Chairman of NCGUB and Minister
at the Prime Minister’s Office
(west), told Mizzima that though
his government has not signed the
challenge campaign, it supports
the idea and welcomes any move
that challenges the legitimacy of
the ruling junta.
”The UN should not accept the
Burmese military regime as a
legitimate government of Burma,”
Dr. Tint Swe said.
He pointed out that his
government, in keeping with
diplomatic relations, is unable to
sign the credential challenge
campaign letter, but in principle,
the NCGUB agrees with any
movement that challenges the
junta’s illegitimate rule.
Burmese opposition groups
in exile led by a coalition of
political organisations – the
National Council of the Union of
Burma – and supported by
various other groups including
Burmese Members of Parliament
Union (MPU), and International
Burmese Monks Organisation or
Sasana Moli, had submitted a
petition letter to the United
Nations urging it to disqualify the
junta’s membership in the world
body.
The Burmese groups said the
junta has been illegally ruling the
country using force and has
denied handing over power to the
people’s elected government. The
groups urged the UN to instead
recognise its representative as
the permanent representative of
Burma at the UN.
” This
movement
is
An aerial view of the partially constructed super highway from
Rangoon to the new capital Naypyitaw The 204-mile highway has
been under construction for over two years by the military
engineering department and the ministry of construction. Photo:
Mizzima. Once completed the proposed eight-lane highway will shorten
travel time to four hours.)
examined her for more than four
hours.
While Dr. Tin Myo Win could
not be reached for comment, Nyan
Win said, “According to a recent
agreement [between the
government and Aung San Suu
Kyi] Tin Myo Win will be allowed
to visit her once a month.”
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent
more than 12 of the past 19 years
under house arrest. She was last
arrested in May 2003. Her lawyer
and her party members said the
Burmese law does not permit her
to be detained for more than five
consecutive years.
But the government in May
renewed her detention period
saying their interpretation of the
Burmese law allows them to
detain her up to a maximum of
six years.
Two killed nine injured in
explosion in Burma’s Pegu
division
Than Htike Oo
September 12 - Two
people were killed and nine
seriously injured when two
explosions occurred in Kyaukgyi
town in Pegu division, Burma on
Thursday evening.
The explosions, which were
believed to be caused by
landmines, occurred almost
simultaneously near a video
parlour and in front of a shop in
the centre of the town, when a
movie goer at the parlour came
out and stepped on the mine,
local residents said.
”The explosions took place
near a video parlour and at a
necessary because the junta is not
the representative of the people
of Burma,” Tint Swe said.
Michele Montas,
spokesperson for the UN general
secretary during a press
conference on Wednesday
acknowledged that the UN
nearby medicine shop. We
heard that two people died and
nine others were severely
injured in the blasts,” a local
resident told Mizzima over
telephone.
The injured were rushed to
Kyuak Gyi Township hospital.
Though armed rebel
groups, fighting the ruling
junta, are reported to be
present in Kyaugyi town, such
blasts are considered rare.
Earlier on July 14, a bomb
exploded on a passenger bus,
which was plying between
Rangoon to Kyuak Gyi town,
near Dike Oo town in Pegu
division killing one and injuring
another.
Secretary General has received
the credential challenge letter
sent by Burmese opposition
groups but said it will reviewed
and discussed by the credential
committee of the UN at the 63rd
UN general assembly meeting on
September 16.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
page 2
Inside Burma
Vol.6 No. 9
Two women run over and killed Burmese gem sales decline as tourism
slumps
by military truck
Myo Gyi
September 15 — Two women died
in Myitkyina town, Kachin state in Northern
Burma on Saturday, when a speeding
military truck hit their motorcycle. They died
on the spot, local residents said.
The military truck carrying fertilizers
hit the two women at about 4 p.m. (local
time) on University Street in Shatapru
ward, local residents said.
”The two women were returning from
the downtown area after buying clothes
when the military truck hit them,” the local
said.
Police in Myitkyina said the military
truck belongs to the supply battalion of the
Burmese Army, adding that a case has
been filed.
But local residents complained that the
authorities are delaying the process of
investigation.
University student killed in a fight
with local youth
Myint Maung
September 12 - A university student
in Mandalay’s Myingyan Township in
central Burma died on the spot during a
fight between students and local youth on
Wednesday evening.
Two university students who were
following a religious festival procession
known as Hnitkyiekshitsu (28 Gods), were
reportedly involved in a fight with local
youth on Wednesday night at around 8:30
p.m.
One of the students was stabbed with
an iron rod during the melee. Sources say
he died instantly.
”When the body was given over for
post mortem at Myingyan Hospital, a doctor
said the death resulted from being stabbed
by a sharp iron rod,” a family member of
the deceased student told Mizzima.
In the following days, Myingyan police
arrested 18 local youth for suspicion over
the death of the student, the family
member added.
The deceased student was identified
as Mangbuki, originally from the Myo Ma
quarter of Kanpalet Township in Chin state.
The family member said that burial was
scheduled for Friday.
Rising Irrawaddy floods five villages in
Sagaing Division
Phanida
September 12 – Flood waters
from the Irrawaddy River has entered and
inundated five villages in Sagaing Division
in central Burma.
The low lying villages along the bank
of Irrawaddy River, south of Mingun
Township, Thayetpinseik, Letpan, Htantaw,
Kyethaung and Ahlaung were inundated by
flood water that reaches up to the fences
of houses in the village.
“Normally, the water usually reaches
only the banyan trees at the edge of our
village. But this time, it has reached fences
in the village. It’s been four or five days
but the water is yet to recede,” a resident
from Letpan village said.
Similarly in Ye Oo, Sagaing Division,
incessant rain led to drain water
overflowing into residential areas, a local
resident said.
”The water from the drain overflowed
into the residential areas. If the dam is
unable to contain the water in heavy rain,
the water usually overflows into the town.
The town was once flooded three years
ago,” a local resident in Ye Oo said.
The Irrawaddy River has touched the
danger level in Thabaung village in
Amarapura Township, Mandalay Division.
”The water has touched the danger
level in Amarapura, Mandalay Division. I
heard that the water reached the
Thabaung village danger level also. So has
the Taungthaman Lake. The water has
reached the shoulder of the highway in our
town,” a local resident from Amarapura
said.
”There is no flood here. We are just
releasing water from the main spillway to
control the water level. We don’t release
water from canals, but from sluice gates,”
an official from the Thaphan reservoir in
Sagaing Division told Mizzima when
contacted over telephone.
On Thursday the weather report
carried in the government-owned ‘New
Light of Myanmar’ newspaper, the forecast
said there will be scattered rain in and
around Mandalay Division and Naypyitaw
and occasional thunder showers.
The Meteorology Department told
Mizzima that there will be scattered rain
in Sagaing Division when contacted over
telephone.
Huaipi
August 29 – With the decline in the
number of tourists to Burma, sales of gems
and precious stones have dipped to an all
time low, jewelry shop owners in Rangoon
said.
Gems and jewelry shops in Burma’s
business hub and former capital Rangoon
said their business has drastically dropped
since the decline of tourists to the country
since last September.
“Usually our customers are from
Thailand. Now they don’t come to Burma.
The sales has decline as the number of
visitors fall,” a manager at Rangoon’s
famous ‘Gloria’ Gems business said.
Similarly, Sun & Moon Gem Trading
House said they are facing sluggish sales
as the number of visitors coming to Burma
has declined this year. They said that they
are now targeting Asian customers instead
as their business is connected to the
tourism industry.
“The sales decline when the number
of visitors falls,” shop owner of the ‘Sun &
Moon’ told Mizzima.
Tour operators in Rangoon said the
number of tourists has drastically declined
following the September saffron revolution
but the situation is worsened by cyclone
Nargis that hit the country’s delta region
in early May.
A gem store in Rangoon’s popular
Bogyoke market, which has regular
customers at home and abroad, said “Our
business was affected badly after Cyclone
Nargis lashed Burma. Many gem stores are
facing dwindling sales due to a decline in
visitors to Burma.”
Topping the disasters, the United
States Senate unanimously passed a law
banning import of gems from Burma on
July 22. The law bans importing Burmese
jade and rubies to US either directly or
through third countries.
However, notwithstanding the US
sanction and the disasters, Burma’s ruling
junta said it is all set to hold a mid-year
gem auction in October at the Gem &
Jewelry Museum in Rangoon’s Kabaye
Street.
An official at the ‘Myanmar Gem
Trading’ said the auction will be held from
October 4 to October 16 and invitations
have been sent to all Burmese missions
abroad.
“The embassies around the world are
informed through letters, who then inform
potential buyers and companies,” said the
official.
The official added that the auction will
include sales of gem stones such as rubies,
jades, pearl and sapphires.
Burma’s military government annually
hold three auctions of gems and jewelry
and each show, according to the
government, fetches at least USD 100
million. But the last auction in June, the
regime said, has earned more than USD
120 million.
“The auction held in June-July was an
extraordinary show. And another regular
show will be held in January,” said the
official.
FEC trading sluggish
Zar Ni
September 1 – Though the ‘Foreign
Exchange Certificate’ (FEC) price has risen
to Kyat 1,160 per unit, trading in FEC is
sluggish.
Foreign exchange traders and users
prefer US dollar than the FEC.
The current price of FEC is Kyat 1,140
to 1,160 per unit and in USD it is Kyat 1.254
in the grey market. Though the nature of
the market is ‘grey’, the trading of foreign
exchange can be openly done in the grey
market.
“We ourselves do not want FEC as it
is difficult to resell. Most of the buyers
prefer green back (USD) than government
issued FEC. Though the price is rising, the
trading of FEC is sluggish in the market,” a
wholesale FE trader said.
FEC can be used only in Burma so
users prefer to get international hard
currency like the USD.
“Only businessmen who use FEC are
now trading in FEC in the market,” he
added.
The government has started a new
scheme in fuel sales by selling fuel at the
rate of four FEC per gallon since August
22. But most of the consumers prefer to
buy the fuel in Kyat, the Burmese currency.
“If we can buy fuel with Kyats, we will
buy with Kyats. Why should we buy with
FEC? Where can we find this currency? We
are not permitted to keep foreign currency
here,” a vehicle owner from Rangoon said.
Till early last month, the price of USD
was Kyat 1,215 and FEC was Kyat 850 per
unit.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Inside Burma
page 3
Vol.6 No. 9
Police prosecutes ‘Flower News’ journal 88 generation activist Nilar Thein
arrested
reporter
Nam Davies
September 3 – Chief Reporter Saw
Myint Than of the ‘Flower News’ journal
was prosecuted by the Kyauktada
Township police for reporting the double
murder case.
The Rangoon Division Police
Department Chief Win Maung lodged a first
information report (FIR) against him in the
Kyauktada Police station under the
‘Unlawful Associations Act’ and the
‘Electronic Communication Law’.
He faces up to one year in prison for
each case if found guilty, a Home Ministry
source said.
The Kyauktada Township police station
declined to provide further details. The
township police stations in Rangoon
Division have been barred recently from
giving out news and information on crimes
committed.
The Rangoon Division Police office
summoned Saw Myint Than and gave him
a dressing down for reporting the double
murder which was published in last week’s
issue of the ‘Flower News’ journal.
The source from the Home Ministry
said the police accused him later of
defaming the police department by
despatching the news to a news agency in
exile.
Earlier, the township police stations
could give out information on crime to
domestic reporters but now the Home
Ministry has issued a circular authorizing
only the Rangoon Division Police
headquarters to release news of crime to
the media.
Incidentally, the news of the double
murder which appeared in this journal had
been passed by the ‘Press Scrutiny Board’
(Censor Board) under the Ministry of
Information.
Explosion in Rangoon bus injures two
Than Htike Oo
September 11- Prominent woman
activist Nilar Thein, who went into hiding
one year ago, was hunted down and
arrested on Wednesday.
An 88 generation student, who
requested not to be named, told Mizzima
that Nilar Thein was arrested by Burmese
security forces on Wednesday evening
while going to visit fellow activist Ant Bwe
Kyaw’s mother in Rangoon’s Yan Kin
Township.
“It is confirmed that she was arrested
while going to visit the mother of Ant Bwe
Kyaw,” the 88 generation student, who is
also on the run from the junta, told
Mizzima.
However, it is still unclear how Nilar
Thein was arrested and where she is being
detained.
But, the 88 student said it is possible
that Nilar Thein was arrested on her way
to see Ant Bwe Kyaw’s mother, who resides
alone and is reportedly in ill health.
Nilar Thein went into hiding as the
junta brutally cracked down on protestors
in Rangoon and other cities last August
and September, leaving her young baby
with family members.
Nilar Thein’s husband, Kyaw Min Yu,
also a member of the 88 generation
students, was arrested on August 21, 2007
along with 12 colleagues, including
prominent student leader Min Ko Naing as
well as Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zeya, and Mya Aye.
On August 19, 2007, Kyaw Min Yu’s
group held the first peaceful march in
protest against the sharp rise in fuel prices.
The protest, which was joined by over 400
people, later ignited nation-wide protests
that grew into the largest demonstrations
in the country since the 1988 student-led
anti-government protests.
In November 2007, Nilar Thein’s
female colleague Suu Suu Nwe, a
champion for labor rights, was arrested
for her involvement in a September
protest.
Nilar Thein’s arrest came amidst the
junta’s new campaign against activists in
a step to prevent renewed protests in the
days leading up to the anniversary of last
year’s Saffron Revolution.
Nilar Thein had earlier served two
terms of imprisonment in Insein and
Tharrawaddy prisons for her involvement
in political activities.
In March, she along with two of her
colleagues—Suu Suu Nwe and Phyu Phyu
Thin —were named recipients of the Czech
Republic’s Homo Homini award for their
promotion of democracy, human rights and
nonviolent solutions in Burma’s political
conflicts.
Student Warriors lambast junta over
false accusations
Than Htike Oo
mizzima
Than Htike Oo
September 9 - At least two
passengers were grievously injured on
Tuesday when an explosion occurred in a
public bus near Rangoon’s popular Hledan
junction, an eyewitness said.
The explosion took place at about 11
a.m. on Tuesday and severely injured the
handyman of the bus and an old man, an
eyewitness, who talked to Mizzima over
telephone said.
”When I arrived at the spot, the bus
was on fire and most of it had been
charred. The handyman of the bus was
severely injured. Blood was all over his
legs,” the eyewitness said.
Minutes later, a fire brigade truck from
the Sanchuang Township arrived on the
spot and doused the fire, the Sanchaung
fire department told Mizzima.
“We don’t know how it happened. We
rushed to the spot as soon as we were
informed and put out the fire. Details of
how the explosion occurred can only be
explained by our senior officers,” a fire
fighter at the Sanchuang fire department
said.
According to the eyewitness, who
claimed to have spoken to one of the
passengers on the bus, there were only
three passengers beside the driver and the
handyman.
The bus was plying on the Sule-Insein
route no 45, when the blast occurred.
”I talked to a school teacher who was
on the bus and she said ‘the bus was
stopping at a traffic point, when suddenly
I heard an explosion in the rear. I then ran
out of the bus to escape not knowing what
it was,’ “the eyewitness said quoting her.
With all the people from the bus taken
away in a taxi by authorities, it was not
immediately possible to confirm the cause
of the explosion.
The eyewitness, however, said the
explosion could have occurred in the gas
tank of the bus. The bus had just returned
from a workshop after repairs.
The bus, according to him, was heading
towards Insein Township after repairs at
a workshop, and was unable to pick up
many passengers as is normally done.
The Kamayut Township police station,
under whose jurisdiction the explosion site
falls, was not immediately reachable for
comments.
An official at the Rangoon general
hospital in Latha Township, confirmed that
two patients in need of emergency
operations had just arrived at the hospital,
but she declined to provide further details.
Authorities in Rangoon, as of 2004, had
ordered public commuter buses to change
from the old petrol run engines to
Compressed Natural Gas propelled
engines.
September 10 - An armed
student rebel group – Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors (VBSW) – on Wednesday
slammed the ruling junta for accusing
opposition members and human rights
activists of a bomb blast in Rangoon in early
July.
VBSW, a group claiming to operate in
Rangoon, in a statement reiterated that
they were behind the blast at the
government-backed civilian organization,
Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA), office in Rangoon’s
suburban township of Shwepyithar on July
1.
The group also lambasted the junta
for arresting members of the National
League for Democracy and Human Rights
Defenders and Promoters network (HRDP)
for charges against the blast.
Despite claiming responsibility for the
blast, the junta was unable to arrest its
members, said the VBSW, adding that
accusing and arresting members of the
NLD and HRPD is an act intended to defame
Burma’s main opposition party, which
maintains a policy of non-violence.
“Lying in front of the press and
arresting those believed to have
connection with us and torturing them in
concentration camps will only prompt more
blasts across the country,” the VBSW said
in their statement, circulated through email
among the Burmese community.
Burma’s Police Chief, Brigadier General
Khin Yi, during a rare press conference on
Sunday accused members of the NLD and
HRDP leader Myint Aye of plotting bomb
blasts, including the blast in Shwepyithar.
Since July, the junta has arrested
several youth members of the NLD, HRDP
leader Myint Aye and other activists for
allegedly planting bombs.
“Arresting members of the NLD and
human rights activists will not subdue the
people’s resistance against the military but
will only increase the level of resistance,”
the group asserted.
The VBSW, a group which cannot be
reached by either email or phone, on July
2 claimed responsibility for the blast at the
Shwepyithar USDA office as well as for a
previous blast near the ABC restaurant in
downtown Rangoon in April.
Both of the blasts, however, did not
cause any human casualties, only
damaging vehicles and furniture.
Meanwhile, the junta has stepped up
efforts to crackdown on opposition
activists, on Monday arresting four activists
from Yenan Chaung township of Magwe in
Central Burma and interrogating them over
the recent bomb blasts.
However, the four activists, two of
which are from the NLD, were later
released after hours of interrogation.
Tint Lwin, one of the activists
interrogated, told Mizzima over telephone
that they were mainly asked whether they
possess any explosives and plan to carry
out any blasts or demonstrations.
Observers say the increased arrests
of activists within the past two months
could be an effort by the junta to curb any
form of activities that might result in a
repetition of last year’s September
protests.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Regional
page 4
Vol.6 No. 9
Suu Kyi supporters lambast Gambari Gambari meets Indonesian President –
and Samak
ASEAN divided
Photo-AP
mizzima
Huaipi
September 2- Burmese prodemocracy activists in New Delhi staged
protests against Thailand’s Prime Minister
Samak Sundaravej’s careless remark on
Aung San Suu Kyi as being used by
Western nations.
Samak after meeting with UN special
envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari on August
25, told reporters in Bangkok that European
nations are using Aung San Suu Kyi as a
tool and that serious discussion on political
reform in Burma could take place only if
she is left out.
Protestors on Monday condemned
Samak for his comments on Aung San Suu
Kyi and the junta’s act to disgrace her
image.
Led by the All Burma Students League,
the protestors also condemned the
Burmese government officials for shouting
in front of Aung San Suu Kyi’s residents
during Gambari’s visit to the country.
Two of Gambari’s aides along with
Burmese officials during the special envoy’s
visit shouted in front of Aung San Suu Kyi’s,
saying, “Mr. Gambari wants to meet you”.
”We condemn this act. It is an insult
to her dignity by calling and shouting her
name through a megaphone in front of her
house. The United Nations officials did not
respect even their official positions by
doing this,” said Kyaw Than, president of
All Burma Students League.
Gambari visited Burma from 18 August
to 23 August but failed to meet Aung San
Suu Kyi as she reportedly refused. While
the reason for her refusal to meet the UN
envoy is still unclear, her supporters
speculated that it was a strong expression
of her disappointment with the UN envoy.
New Zealand- ASEAN free-trade, ‘slow
motion disaster’ for workers: Left Party
Mungpi
August 29 - A left-wing political
party of New Zealand on Friday said the
country’s free trade deal with ASEAN,
which has military-ruled Burma as a
member, is a ‘disgrace’ and a ‘slow motion
disaster’ for workers in New Zealand and
in Burma.
The Alliance Party, which has
maintained a stand against free trade
deals, said entering into free trade with
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
which has Burma as its member, is
particularly worse as the agreement would
mean economically integrating New
Zealand with the Burmese military regime.
Victor Billot, spokesperson of the
Alliance Party, said the free trade deal is
not going to benefit the people of New
Zealand and Burma, but it will only further
strengthen military dictatorship in Burma.
“We are already against free trade…
but in this particular case we think it is
even more serious because we are talking
about economically integrating our country
with a dictatorship such as Burma,” Billot
told Mizzima over telephone.
The statement by The Alliance Party
came after New Zealand on Thursday
announced its successful free-trade
negotiation with the 10-member ASEAN,
which will allow elimination of tariffs on
New Zealand’s meat and dairy exports to
ASEAN nations.
ASEAN economies - Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR,
Burma and Cambodia – which represent a
market of more than 575 million people,
is the third largest trading partner of New
Zealand.
However, Billot said free-trade will only
benefit the Burmese military junta while
its citizens continue to suffer under their
rule. Besides, free-trade will threaten the
job security of the people in New Zealand.
“Free trade here will mean choice New
Zealand products being served on the
tables of the fascist junta of Myanmar,
while we get cheap products produced by
slave labour in Myanmar [Burma]
destroying jobs in New Zealand. This is
what Labour and National regard as a winwin situation under free trade,” the Alliance
Party said in a statement.
Billot said New Zealand traditionally
fosters strong support for movements
against dictatorships and had strongly
supported the South African movement
against the apartheid government.
“While we make a huge noise about
Zimbabwe and the Mugabe regime, on the
other hand we are moving further down
the path of integrating our economy with
dictatorships closer home like Myanmar
[Burma],” Billot said.
August 27 : United Nations Special
Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, today
concluded a meeting with the President of
Indonesia concerning his ongoing efforts
toward brokering a political solution to the
fractured country.
United Nations Special Envoy to Burma,
Ibrahim Gambari, today concluded a
meeting with the President of Indonesia
concerning his ongoing efforts toward
brokering a political solution to the
fractured country.
Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesian
presidential spokesperson Dino Patti Djalal
told reporters that Gambari refused to
divulge details of his visit last week to
Burma, maintaining that he must first brief
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
According to Dino, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudyohono
informed the Special Envoy of Indonesia’s
desire that he increase the frequency of
his visits to Burma in the run-up to the 2010
general elections, as this would assist in
enhancing Burma’s credibility in the view
of the international community.
Also, with Gambari having failed yet
again to meet with the top leaders of the
junta, Dino added that, “The President also
promised to maintain correspondence with
Myanmar’s Senior General Shwe.”
However, Gambari has recently
received mixed messages from ASEAN
members Indonesia and Thailand as to
what Burma’s political landscape – and
specifically the 2010 general elections –
should look like going forward.
Meeting yesterday with Indonesian
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, the
Special Envoy was again apprised of
Indonesia’s belief that opposition and
National League for Democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi must be involved in the
2010 general elections.
Yet, Thai Prime Minister Samak
Sundaravej, in meeting with Gambari
ahead of the latter’s stop in Jakarta, was
quite clear in his remarks to the Special
Envoy that insistence on the inclusion of
Aung San Suu Kyi only hinders the process,
referring to the opposition leader as a
“political tool” of the West.
Instead, Samak advised the Special
Envoy on Monday that the international
community “should talk about how to bring
democracy to Burma and focus on the
constitution and the elections,’’ instead of
focusing on the incorporation of the Nobel
Laureate into the process.
It is expected that Gambari will discuss
his latest trip to Burma with Ban during a
stopover in Italy in the upcoming days.
As for ASEAN, with Burma continuing
to loom as decisive as ever, the ten nation
consortium is poised to hold its summit this
December in Bangkok, as Thailand
currently holds the chair.
Burmese FM Nyan Win to arrive New
Delhi for BIMTEC meet
Mungpi
August 28 - Burma’s Foreign
Minister Nyan Win will arrive in New Delhi
on Thursday evening to attend the foreign
ministers meet of the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
Nyan Win, will join foreign ministers
from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri
Lanka and Thailand at the one-day
BIMSTEC ministerial meet on Friday, an
official of the Indian Ministry of External
Affairs said.
”He will arrive this evening
[Thursday]… I am not sure when he is
scheduled to leave,” the official told
Mizzima over telephone.
The 10th ministerial meet, according
to the official, will focus on issues relating
to terrorism, transport, energy, tourism,
trade and investment.
The meeting might also discuss a
proposed pact to combat terrorism, which
will include intelligence sharing, the official
said.
While it is not clear whether Nyan Win
will extend his trip for bilateral meetings
with Indian leaders, both countries in
recent years have exchanged visits and
signed business deals.
In April, Burma’s number two persona
in the military hierarchy Vice Snr. Gen
Maung Aye during his visit to India signed
several business agreements including the
USD 100 million Kaladan Multi-project with
Indian leaders.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Regional & World
Suu Kyi 38th most powerful woman in
world
August 29 : Burma’s democratic
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the
38th most powerful woman in the world,
according to Forbes magazine.
The annual listing, which incorporates
factors such as media mentions, financial
clout and job title, sees the Burmese Nobel
Laureate come in as the 12th most powerful
female politician.
In an accompanying article which
asked various female personalities who
their top three choices would be, Vogue
editor Joan Juliet Buck ranked Aung San
Suu Kyi first, “because she’s a living martyr
under house arrest.”
As alluded to in the brief biography of
Suu Kyi which accompanies her selection,
the ranking is very much a reflection of
the media attention afforded Burma over
recent months, especially with regard to
Cyclone Nargis.
However, her status is also a reflection
of the magazine’s preferred job title for
the embattled National League for
Democracy leader, that of “deposed prime
minister.”
United States Senator and former
presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, received the highest ‘media’ score,
and finished just ahead of Suu Kyi at
number 28 in the poll.
Current U.S. First Lady and staunch
supporter of the detained Nobel Laureate,
Laura Bush, is listed 44th by Forbes.
Release of the rankings came just
ahead of the latest appeal from the United
States State Department for Burma’s
military junta to honor the calls of the
United Nations Security Council Presidential
Statement of last October, which demands
a time bound dialogue between the
government, Suu Kyi and other opposition
elements, as well as a general release of
all political prisoners.
” The United States is deeply
disappointed that once again the Burmese
regime has failed to cooperate with UN
Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari’s efforts
to promote political dialogue and progress,”
reads yesterday’s statement from State
Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert
Wood. Gambari had visited Burma for six
days last week.
”Improved relations between Burma
and the international community depend
on the Burmese regime taking concrete
and sincere steps in this direction,”
concludes the media release in reference
to the needs of an inclusive dialogue
process and the release of political
prisoners.
For the 2006 and 2007 Forbes surveys,
Suu Kyi placed 47th and 71st, respectively.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
again topped the list for the third year
running.
Burma’s opposition urges UN to take
stronger action
Solomon
September 8 - Two umbrella
groups of Burmese opposition political
parties on Monday called on the United
Nations to enforce a stronger mission and
enforce General Assembly resolutions on
the military-ruled country.
The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA),
a group representing several ethnic
nationalities, and the veteran Politician
Colleagues of Myanmar (VCP), in a letter
urge the UN Secretary General, the five
permanent Security Council members,\
and Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, to
take stronger initiatives to resolve Burma’s
political deadlock.
“We want the UN to follow exactly what
it has decided in the General Assembly
from 1994 to 2007,” Nai Ngwe Thein,
Secretariat of UNA told Mizzima.
Both the groups expressed
disappointment over UN Special Envoy
Ibrahim Gambari’s mission to Burma,
saying his mission has thus far failed to
bring any kind of change.
In the letter, the groups also expressed
their frustration over the UN’s failure to
urge the Burmese military junta to abide
by the Security Council’s resolution of 1110-2007 that calls on the release of all
political prisoners and the kick-starting of
a tripartite dialogue between the junta,
democratic forces led by Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi and ethnic groups.
“In all of his visits, the UN Special
Envoy Ibrahim Gambari failed to implement
the UN’s decisions,” said Nai Ngwe Thein.
“We urge the UN to assign someone
that can effectively carry out the UN mission
on Burma in the future. Whoever it is needs
to ensure the effectiveness of their
mission,” Nai Ngwe Thein added.
He added that Gambari, during his last
visit, was only meeting with junta-backed
organizations such as the Union Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA),
while failing to meet key political parties
including ethnic groups.
UNA, in the statement, also expressed
its frustration of Gambari for talking on
behalf of the junta about the upcoming 2010
general election.
The 2010 election is the fifth step of
the junta’s seven-step roadmap to
democracy, which critics say will provide
the junta’s continued rule with a veneer of
legitimacy.
“UN Envoy Ismail Razali [Gambari’s
predecessor] and Gambari both have failed
to fulfill what is expected of them despite
their many attempts,” said Captain Min
Lwin, spokesperson for the VPC-Myanmar.
He added that they would like to see
the reformation of Burma under the UN’s
initiative and hope that a future UN Special
Envoy will be more capable of implementing
UN resolutions.
Min Lwin added, Gambari’s mission is
doubtful now, as he has gone astray of UN
resolutions on the country.
However, the UN General Assembly
President, on September 4, reiterated his
continuing support of Gambari as Special
Envoy to Burma and encouraged the military
government to work closely with him.
“All Burmese people believe he
[Gambari] will make some kind of change,
but practically speaking he has done the
opposite of what was hoped,” Min Lwin
remarked.
“We also hope and believe that the UN
Security Council and other international
communities will do the right thing
regarding Burma,” he concluded.
page 5
Vol.6 No. 9
ENC reiterates call for tripartite
dialogue
Than Htike Oo
September 1 – The Ethnic
Nationalities Council (ENC) has said that a
political dialogue between Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, ethnic leaders and the military
regime is crucial for Burma.
On the conclusion of the 5th Congress
of the ENC held on the Thai-Burma border
for five days starting on August 26, it
reiterated its call for a tripartite dialogue
and rejected the junta’s declared 2010
general elections.
”In the current political situation, we
need to resolve the political crisis by
political means so we badly need this
tripartite dialogue. Under such
circumstances, we must focus on
dialogue,” Saw David Taw, spokesman of
ENC told Mizzima.
” The junta’s constitution is
undemocratic and all the powers are
vested and concentrated in the hands of
the President and Commander-in-Chief.
We cannot accept this. At the same time,
the would-be government under this
constitution cannot implement democratic
norms and practices. So we cannot accept
the 2010 general election either,” he said.
It is learnt that 55 representatives
from political parties, women, youth and
other civil societies from seven ethnic
States attended the congress.
The ENC statement on ‘SPDC’s
planned 2010 general election’ issued on
August 28 urged the junta to hold political
tripartite talks with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and ethnic leaders which must lead to legal
and a de jure government of the Union of
Burma.
The congress urged the 1990 election
winning parties to continue their struggle
against the junta’s roadmap as the 2010
general election is part of it.
The congress also called for ‘MultiParty Talk’ on the Burma issue including
involving neighbouring countries under the
aegis of UN to resolve the political,
economic and social crisis in Burma by
bringing the ruling SPDC (junta) to the
dialogue table.
”The opinion and stance of Burma’s
neigbours, India and China, are different
from the international community. The
consultation and coordination involving
these neighbouring countries can bring
Burma close to a solution. UN’s intervention
and mediation is not encouraging.
The UN envoy could do nothing. And
China and Russia always exercise their veto
rights at the UN Security Council on Burma
resolutions. So we are exploring another
tangible solution by coordinating with
neighbouring countries especially China in
seeking a solution which will be acceptable
to China and these neigbouring countries
before putting the Burma issue again at
the UNSC,” U David Taw said.
On the UN’s role on the Burma issue,
he said, “It is very simple, the UN has no
formidable force and no one pays respect
to it. That is very clear. So the junta won’t
heed whatever resolutions the UN adopts
and presents to them because China is
standing firmly behind them. So we
adopted this line”, he added.
The UN special envoy Mr. Ibrahim
Gambari recently concluded his six-day visit
to Burma for political reforms in the
country but the opposition forces were not
encouraged or pleased with this visit and
criticized him for just advocating the junta’s
planned 2010 general elections.
Gambari to brief Security Council
today
September 11-United Nations
Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari,
is poised to meet with Security Council
members Thursday morning in New York,
according to the office of the Secretary
General.
In a Wednesday press conference at
the U.N. in New York, spokesperson Michele
Montas informed reporters that Gambari
was due to meet with the Security Council
the following morning, after which it is
expected he will hold his own press
conference regarding his ongoing efforts
in Burma.
Gambari’s mission has recently been
decried “a waste of time” by the opposition
National League for Democracy, and critics
have been further frustrated by the lack
of communication from the Special Envoy
in the weeks following his visit.
Also yesterday, Montas clarified the
position of the international body with
respect to a petition from elements within
Burma’s democratic opposition to unseat
the junta’s representative at the U.N.
Though addressing their plea to the
Secretary General, Montas pointed out that
the Secretary General does not deal with
such matters, the correct forum for such
a review being the General Assembly’s
Credentials Committee.
“The Secretary-General can only
convey this letter to Members of the
General Assembly,” Montas said of the
missive from the opposition camp. “As you
know, the matter of credentials is
something that is handled by the General
Assembly.”
The Credentials Committee will
convene following the opening of the 63rd
seating of the General Assembly – due to
commence on September 16th.
China, Russia and the United States
were joined on the committee last year by
Angola, Chile, Namibia, Singapore,
Suriname and Switzerland. A new slate of
nine members is to be appointed at the
onset of this year’s General Assembly
meeting.
Gambari left Burma on August 23rd,
after which he met with leaders in Thailand
and Indonesia before briefing Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon in Turin, Italy. He has
previously met with, and received the
support of, the President of the General
Assembly.
The
Mizzima Journal
Opinion
September 2008
The
Mizzima Journal
Editorial
August 2008
Burma seat should be questioned
When the United Nations considers the petition to strip Burma’s junta of their
seat in the international body’s General Assembly, the United Nations should act on
the appeal as an opportunity to jumpstart a flailing mediation process.
While commitment to a process is important, as oft repeated by United Nations
representatives, such a commitment needs to be confirmed following the adoption
of a correct process. Leaving the seat of Burma vacant at the General Assembly is
a step along the correct process, a process that is intended to address both the
political stalemate as well as the livelihood of the general population.
The current United Nations approach, adherence to the moribund “roadmap to
democracy” as proposed by the governing generals, holds out no hope that Burma’s
ills will be fundamentally addressed. Any process adopted by the United Nations
must realistically be assessed to be in agreement with the goals of the body –
including, in the case of Burma, a meaningful political dialogue and a cessation to
rights abuses incurred by Burma’s general populace. Supporting the junta’s 2010
general election plan, the next step in the “seven-step roadmap,” singularly affirms
a junta-outlined process and ignores the responsibilities of the United Nations to
the country.
One responsibility of the United Nations in Burma, often lost amidst a
bombardment of political gambits, is to help in alleviating the pervasive poverty
across much of the country. An argument for the need to do whatever is possible to
address the country’s endemic economic crisis should meet with more immediate
broad-based support than any wide ranging political affirmation. And here, depriving
the Burmese regime of their seat in the General Assembly can be an effective tool
at the disposal of the United Nations to pressure the generals to the negotiating
table and into reforms in how the country is managed.
Talks to bandage the gaping wounds of the Burmese body politic would likely
be heated and lengthy, but while such a process of political dialogue is being
convened there is no reason for the daily plight of the Burmese population to be
held hostage to the exchange.
To assist in expediting a dialogue between the junta, opposition parties and the
United Nations, the removal of the junta’s representative should thus be undertaken
for reasons stressing the importance of how a state’s authority apparatus interacts
with and affects the general populace – as opposed to fixating upon the 1990
election results.
This is an important distinction to make, as Naypyitaw would
surely be confounded, and treat with ridicule, a United Nations ruling stripping it of
its place in the General Assembly and based on a call of respect for democratic
norms; not with supporters of the regime – and far from democratic stalwarts –
such as Russia and China likely to be seated on the Credentials Committee. Yet the
point can be made to Burma’s generals, by stressing the importance of how power
is exercised, that they cannot simply expect to hide behind the international protection
or obstruction of the powerful illiberal governments of today. Legitimacy must be
clearly articulated to also derive from how power is perceived to be exercised.
However, such an emphasis on the nature of a government’s functioning does
not ignore the political crisis holding the country in limbo. A vacant seat in the
General Assembly, far from assigning good and bad labels to the sides in the conflict,
simply acknowledges that there is a conflict which must be addressed. An empty
seat thus provides both a reason and a forum for dialogue between disparate
parties to the countries prolonged political crisis. This would be a valuable asset in
the United Nation’s continued involvement in Burma, as the body’s current endeavors
are sorely in need of further and alternative channels of interaction between
competing Burmese voices.
Stripping the junta of representation in the General Assembly can thus be inferred
as an effective tool to be utilized in reinforcing the United Nation’s effort in helping
to mediate a solution to the Burmese conflagration. The message would be clear:
any Burmese authority desiring to be recognized as legitimate by the international
community must understand that how power is exercised is just as, if not more,
pivotal than from where the power is deemed to originate.
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page 6
Vol.6 No. 9
Free funeral service organization needs
help
(Interview with Free Funeral Service–Rangoon Chairman U Kyaw Thu)
Free Funereal Service (Rangoon), led by famous actor U Kyaw Thu, needs
emergency assistance for both their free funeral and free medical care services. At
present, U Kyaw Thu sometimes personally drives a hearse.
The organization provides hundreds of free funeral services monthly and its free
medical clinic receives over 150 patients daily. But the organization has to shift to a
new building by July of next year. Thus, it badly needs about 120 million kyat (U.S.
$100,000) for the construction of a new building.
Nem Davies from Mizzima contacted and interviewed U Kyaw Thu to learn more
details related to the charity’s current predicament.
Q: We heard that your ‘Thukha’ free clinic has to shift to a new location
by July next year from its current base at Thingangyun monastery.
A: Yes, the abbot of the Thingangyun monastery asked us to move our free clinic
from his place. We must shift it to a plot in North Dagon Township by the 31st of July
2009 – within one year. We must build new buildings there.The two acre plot is big
enough to accommodate our clinic. The plot was given by the government and we have
built fencing around it. However, currently the plot is awash with plastic waste dumping.
And we need money for the construction of our new building.
Q: Why did they ask you to shift to another place?
A: The abbot needs more space for his teaching of novice monks as he is expanding
his learning monastic institution. So he asked us to shift to another place.
Q: How long have you been there running your free funeral service?
A: Since January 2001.
Q: What is your emergency need?
A: We urgently need donations for the construction of the new building. The new
building will house an office, donation centre and free clinic – because we also have to
shift our ‘Thuka’ free clinic. We need spaces for all these services. We must have a
building to run all these free services.
Q: What is the estimate of the cost of constructing this new building?
A: The office building alone will cost 120 million kyat (U.S. $100,000). We must
have a building. After that, I hope we can get a building for our clinic too. Then needy
patients can again come to us for treatment.Many domestic donors are giving donations
to us. They are donating for specific purposes, say for free funeral services or the free
clinic. But most people have yet to learn that we need donations for the construction of
a new building as well. We are trying to pass this information to the donors. We use
donations for the specific purpose a donor requests. We don’t use donations for free
funeral services in the free clinic. Because of this, we have difficulty in coping with our
current predicament. We have no money for the new building.
Q: Aren’t you collecting donations for the building?
A: We are starting soon. We are now preparing to post this information on websites.
Q: How many people come to your free charity clinic daily?
A: A lot of patients come to our clinic, about 150-200 daily, from morning to night.
We provide free treatment including free ultrasound checkups. We have eye-care
specialists, physiatrists, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists – to name but
some.
Q: What is the background of your free funeral service.
A: We started with only 12-15 executive members. We followed the steps taken by
the pioneer organization in this field, ‘Byamaso’ in Mandalay. My wife’s aunt is a member
of that organization and she wanted to establish a similar organization in Rangoon. At
the same time (famous film director) uncle U Thu Kha encouraged us to establish such
an organization in Rangoon. We started to meet at the residence of U Thu Kha and
began the service by pooling money together.
U Thu Kha told us his experiences while he was taking treatment at a hospital. A
poor and aged lady was taking treatment at the same hospital and some of her relatives
came and to see her occasionally. These family members and relatives stopped visiting
her when the doctor attending her case told them that her condition was hopeless and
to take her back home. So, the hospital had to bury her when she eventually died. Her
family members could not afford to feed her, look after her and to bear her medical
expenses. Then U Thu Kha said that we, as Buddhists, must establish an organization
for these poor and needy people as other faiths do. That is how our service came into
existence.
Q: What troubles have you had?
A: Some people phoned us to come and collect a dead body just to have some fun
at their friends’ expense. We would later find out that we were fooled only when we
saw that the person is alive. Now, we ask our clients for a death certificate and other
related documents issued by the Health Department. We send our people only after
receiving these documents.At present, we provide services for 40-50 corpses daily
free of charge and regardless of social and financial status.
Q: What is the most difficult work that you have encountered in your
experience with this charity?
A: The most difficult thing is the superstitions existing among the people. For
example, we must exit a residential area from the right side if we entered the area
from the right side. Otherwise, people will think that the people on the left side will die
soon. However we can better cope with these problems now, as people are gaining
emancipation from old customs and superstitions.
Q: Can you say your free funeral service has made progress during these
years?
A: Yes, we can say that. It has made great progress during these years. In January
2001, we only serviced 40 dead bodies, but by January of this year the number had
increased to 1,052 dead bodies that our organization provided service for. We have
seen great progress in terms of assistance and services we can provide.
Q: What will be the challenges for your organization going forward?
A: We cannot foresee the challenges which are lying ahead. We cannot see the
future. So we practice as our abbot ‘Yaw Saysadaw’ preaches. We are doing good
deeds so that we can realize a destiny in accordance with our deeds.
Q: How many people are working at your free clinic?
A: We have two senior nurses and four junior nurses at our clinic. All the doctors
at our clinic are providing their services voluntarily and free of charge. This is their
charity work, volunteer work, and we aren’t required to pay a single penny to them.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Even though the operational strength
of the political opposition has been
significantly impaired by the military
government, they still – albeit on condition
that the junta does not cheat in the polling
– have a chance to win the forthcoming
multiparty elections scheduled for 2010.
But the country is desperately in need
of many more democratically-minded
politicians to move the country forward at
a manageable pace. This fact is
compounded by the current detention of
most leading nationalist, and opposition,
politicians.
However, opposition political parties
can rest assured that they would gain the
majority of public support in the coming
election, even if they are opposed by
figures hand-picked from organizations
such as the junta-inspired Union Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA).
”That [an opposition victory in the 2010
voting] would not be primarily because the
general public likes the opposition parties,
but largely because the public is so fed up
with the military government and its
prescriptions such as the USDA, which is
led by the likes of Industry (1) Minister Aung
Thaung and Information Minister Brigadier
General Kyaw Hsan, who are senior
executives with USDA,” said a political
observer and a leading businessman who
maintains a close relationship with topranking military personnel.
But why is the public so fed up with
the current state? Reasons include the
government’s suppression of opposition
protests in late 2007 that saw 30 people
killed – including some monks – and the
government’s negligence to the
widespread devastation inflicted by last
May’s Cyclone Nargis – which resulted in
138,000 potential deaths and displaced an
estimated 2 million others.
“Because of the late September 2007
movement, the political influence of monks
has become significant – whether of
conscious design or not,” the observer
explained.
Another major factor in the public’s
discontent is that the junta’s power thirst
has led to the country’s prolonged
economic hardship, causing the increased
suffering of 50 million people over the
course of the past three decades.
In this scenario, what the public and
page 7
Opinion
the political opposition need is a single,
nationalist political party to replace the
military government forever.
To solidify the position of nationalist
politicians, domestic opponents and
international pressure must be steadfastly
unified in order to push the military
government to release political prisoners,
including Aung San Suu Kyi. Prominent
international actors in this endeavor must
include ASEAN, the UN and China. The
military government has no choice but to
move if and when its giant neighbor –
China – presses it to do so.
“In this regard, China’s genuine
attitude toward Myanmar’s greater
openness is widely expected. Still, China
seems to be satisfied with Myanmar’s
present progress, which favors the first to
exploit the country for its own economic
interests,” analyzed a Rangoon-based
lawyer.
Yet the lawyer further cautioned that
while the military government itself has not
proven efficient in guiding the country in a
positive direction, they are too selfcentered to give space for those who –
regardless of being outside or inside Burma
– support the country’s real progress.
Also, ASEAN, the UN, and China could
encourage the junta to open a dialogue
with opposition groups. Dialogue is the best
way. However, because of the limited
number
of
capable
political
representatives, there would be an influx
of political opportunists into Burma’s
already unstable political environment –
especially in the lead-up to the 2010
elections.
In this scenario, there could exist after
the election a new government with similar
traits as to the present military regime.
The new government, though, would be
hamstrung by the inclusion of young
persons who are chiefly concerned about
financial clout and not necessarily politically
mature – and definitely most of whom are
not nationalists but opportunists probably
coming from celebrity and business circles.
The less the number of nationalist
politicians that contest the election, the
more those in favor of entrenching military
rule win.
”The forthcoming election, the fifth
step of Myanmar’s political roadmap, is
expected to be accomplished,” said a senior
pro-government figure and representative
at the National Convention, which laid
down the principles to a new draft
constitution ensuring the military’s control
over any elected government.
”The military government seems to
have already calculated that the formation
of an inefficient government would lead
Vol.6 No. 9
to yet another military coup, although it
would be rule-based this time,” the
National Convention representative
recently said, referring to a clause that
the president must transfer power to the
Commander-in-Chief during a state of
emergency.
If this situation is to be avoided, and
the 2010 elections are to be a step in the
right direction, some fundamental changes
must first come to Burma.
Conditions, currently, to support a free
and fair election are still not inadequate.
To overcome this obstacle, local media will
have to be empowered so as to permit
them to inform the people of their choices
and to raise awareness about how
important their polls are in the removal of
the military government and road to
democracy.
There are now many people who keep
themselves away from politics although
they may be interested in politics. It is
correct to say that Burmese people live in
a land of fear, which the military has
created. To overcome this fear, they must
have the capacity to listen to the radio, to
read newspapers – especially those of
informed external media outlets – and to
actively partake in the coming political
events of the country.
Natural gas favours regime, not national interest
Moe Thu and Htet Win
While Burma’s economy is largely
pushed forward by the sale of its natural
gas reserves, the military regime has failed
to develop gas related industries though
there is potential demand for gas
consumption in several different sectors.
In the fiscal year 2007-2008, Burma
earned US$ 2.56 billion, 40 percent of its
total export revenue from gas.
Major natural gas finds off the Arakan
off-shore in 2004 by South Korea’s
Daewoo International and more recent
discoveries in the Gulf of Mottama by
Thailand’s PTTEP have put Burma’s energy
sector in the international spotlight.
Development of Burma’s oil and gas
fields draws more foreign investment than
any other sector of the Burmese economy,
although some economists have voiced
concerns that the rush for gas comes as
other sectors fall behind those of regional
competitors.
On March 27, a report by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) said sales of
natural gas were creating growing trade
surpluses and a valuable buffer for Burma,
but warned that national economic reliance
on the export market puts the country’s
economy at risk should global gas prices
fall.
However, using the gas primarily to
support domestic industries rather than
exports would be the best way to
supplement long-term economic growth –
including job creation, experts said.
Areas that could benefit most from
Burma’s gas reserves include the
agricultural and industrial sectors, which,
for instance, could use the gas to power
fertiliser or cement factories.
”If we build fertiliser plants we can
produce it for our domestic use and sell
our surplus abroad,” a Rangoon-based
academic said, noting that such a move
was consistent with import substitution
policies, inexhaustibly pursued by the
military regime with its inconsistent
economic policies.
Only a third of Burma farmers use
fertiliser, while the country currently
produces just 200,000 tonnes of the 1.6
million tonnes of fertiliser it consumes
annually, according to the recent data
available from the Union of Myanmar
Federation of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry.
The military government, which is well
aware of the high demand for gas to be
used to generate electricity for a wide
range of industries, including
manufacturing, however fail to utilize the
gas.
Manufacturing industries, which need
constant supply of energy, is the most
favourable for job-creation even
compared to agriculture, which is so-called
the economic backbone of Burma, for the
many young rural people who are
increasingly migrating to urban centres in
search of jobs.
The lack of consistent and sufficient
supply of electricity has been one of the
major set-backs to the Burmese economy
and use of its natural gas and income from
its sales to set up power plants, could be
an immediate and first step to solve the
electricity needs of manufacturing
industries.
Gas power stations in Burma constitute
40 per cent of the total annual generation,
while hydropower contributes 50 per cent,
steam turbines 9 per cent and diesel
engine one per cent, the Ministry of Electric
Power No (1) figures indicated.
Though the country has an abundance
of gas reserve and enjoys sale of natural
gas, a recent Asian Development Bank
(ADB) report on Burma’s economy
indicated that the best use of the resources
is important for the country’s long-term
development.
The report said gas export, if properly
utilized, will provide an opportunity to
embark on structural reforms, including
exchange rate unification, fiscal
consolidation,
and
agricultural
liberalization, and to redirect public
spending for development of social and
physical infrastructures.
”In view of the importance of
agriculture and its impact on poverty,
strengthening the sector should be a key
goal,” the report said.
Another possible benefit from natural
gas is establishing natural gas revenue
funds in the country, which will then help
in developing the economy and stabilizing
of commodity prices.
”Resources like natural gas are
exhaustible. It will be good if we set up a
fund with the income from gas sale for our
generation and the economy,” said a
Rangoon-based economist.
Though Burma’s trade volume saw an
increase due to the export of natural gas,
it does not, however, imply that natural
gas is a catalyst for long-term economic
Continued on Page 8
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
In 2001, the UN Human Rights
Rapporteur, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, asked
ASEAN and the UN to help promote an all
inclusive, accountable, transparent and
democratic transition in Burma. When the
United Nations Security Council held an
informal briefing on the situation in Burma
for the first time, in December 2006,
delegates again urged Burmese authorities
to resume dialogue with representatives
from all ethnic and political opposition
parties in Burma. And after the Saffron
Revolution last fall it became even more
urgent to hold a political dialogue between
the military, pro-democracy forces and the
ethnic leaders in Burma.
However, to this date, Burma’s
authoritarian regime justifies its hold on
absolute power by declaring their political
opponents as enemies of the state. The
Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) is determined
to remain strong; believing any weakness
within the military will create opportunities
for ethnic rebellion and secession – even
though there is little evidence to suggest
that most of Burma’s minorities are trying
to break away from the state.
Now, Burma has reached a point
where international involvement is greatly
needed to achieve peace in the country.
The military is struggling under the burden
of an over-extended army and is failing the
economy. The time is now ripe for a
stronger and more effective international
diplomatic intervention.
The United Nations and its envoys
have been busy since the Burmese
government began cracking down on
peaceful demonstrators after the Saffron
uprising. But almost a year later, the
military continues its oppressive rule, and
instead of getting better, the lives of
Burmese people have become worse
under increased government abuses and
deteriorating living conditions.
Protest leaders and monks from the
recent mass demonstrations, including Su
Su Nway and Ashin Gambira, were
imprisoned even while Pinheiro was in
Burma. The United Nations has responded
to Burma’s crisis by issuing press
statements of regret and sorrow at the
continuing large scale violent oppression
inside the country.
After fourteen years, the junta
persists in pushing through its seven-step
roadmap to democracy, which, according
to student leader Min Ko Naing, will give
members of the military an unfair
advantage over ordinary citizens in the
quest of political power; and without a free
and fair political system to guarantee peace
and prosperity, Burma’s legacy of violence
and bloodshed will continue.
After the Saffron Revolution last
September, and in spite of the efforts by
the UN Secretary General and his Envoy,
the Burmese regime not only refused to
meet with political opposition and the ethnic
leaders but instead continued imprisoning
revered monks, 88 generation student
leaders, NLD leaders – including both U Tin
Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi – and ethnic
leaders like Khun Htun Oo.
Michael Vatikiotis, a regional
Continued From 7
development of Burma, which still has an
agro-based economy. And experts said
existing gas reserves are not big enough
to rely on like the countries in Middle East
and Russia.
This kind of fund will help sustainable
economic development of the country as
the country can invest the money from the
fund in promising businesses and
industries to acquire revenue and cope with
the devaluation of the funds due to inflation.
Opinion
page 8
Vol.6 No. 9
representative of the Henry Dunant Center
for Humanitarian Dialogue, said that the
recent constitutional referendum in Burma
is more bad news for the international
community’s determined effort to
encourage a peaceful political transition in
the country.
While the mass demonstration was
gaining momentum last September,
ASEAN’s Secretary General, Ong Keng
Yong, said on September 23rd that he was
not sure what ASEAN Foreign Ministers
could do, and only hoped that Burmese
authorities would find a way to handle the
situation in a peaceful manner. But instead
of moving toward political change, the
regime continues to severely punish those
who refuse to endorse the army’s political
road map. Even as Burma was struck by
powerful Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s military
continued its vicious campaign against
peaceful monks, political opposition
members and helpless ethnic villagers –
ever tightening its grip on power.
During the months following the
Saffron Revolution, Ibrahim Gambari, the
UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to
Burma, met with Aung San Suu Kyi about
three times to exchange necessary views.
But there has not been any progress
and the military regime does not seem to
have a real interest in pursuing a genuine
dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi or any
other element within the opposition. Even
Charles Petrie, the top UN diplomat, was
thrown out of Burma for speaking the truth
about the human rights situation inside the
country.
After three meetings between
Gambari and Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s
political prisoners are still not free, political
parties are still not allowed to peacefully
function and basic human rights are still
brazenly violated. Thus the time has now
come for the UN Secretary General and
his Envoy to report to the world that their
efforts have been a failure.
Even a veneer of cooperation is no
more, since the meetings between the
junta’s liaison, Deputy Labor Minister Aung
Kyi, and Aung San Suu Kyi have also
stopped. Further, by absenting herself from
the latest meeting with Gambari, Aung San
Suu Kyi may be protesting that a passive
response by the UN alone is not enough to
save Burma.
The Burmese military has not only
treated their own people with cold-blooded
brutality, they have also responded with
contempt to the international community’s
call for genuine political reconciliation in
Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi’s protest is a
reminder that the international community
should no longer remain indifferent to the
Burmese government’s continuing violence
against the people in Burma.
During his latest trip, groups
introduced by the regime to Gambari as
representatives of 88 generation students
and the NLD were only military sanctioned
gangs operating under the auspices of the
junta and lacked credibility with the
opposition. Some of those introduced to
Gambari were family members and
subordinates of the ruling junta, not the
legitimate representatives of the people.
The Burmese regime continues to
mock the world by continuing its policy of
ethnic cleansing while engaging with the
United Nations. After brutally suppressing
the people’s uprising, the Burmese regime
simply broke promises made to the UN to
hold an all-inclusive political reconciliation
process. Instead they continue their brutal
ways to reward those who committed
atrocities against their monks and people.
It is now possible to believe that the
top most powerful generals, Than Shwe,
Maung Aye and their cronies, resemble
Saddam Hussein’s ruling clique in Iraq.
In order to satisfy the whim of the
ruling elites in power, even high ranking
military leaders are routinely purged. Some
of the senior military members who have
been punished in the past included Major
General Tin U, Major General Khin Nyunt,
Lieutenant General Ye Myint, Lieutenant
General Aung Htwe, Lieutenant General
Kyaw Win and Lieutenant General Khin
Maung Than. They were forced to resign,
imprisoned, or even executed.
It is widely believed inside Burma that
personal greed of the top two generals,
Than Shwe and Maung Aye, is responsible
for obliterating Burma’s chance for peace.
It is speculated that as long as Than
Shwe, Maung Aye and their cronies are in
power, finding an honorable way out of the
increasingly volatile situation in Burma may
be impossible; and without peace there will
be no hope for the return of prosperity.
While the world’s most important
leaders continue to sleep on Burma’s
tragedy, one gentle and graceful lady called
Laura Bush has stood up for the people of
Burma. Her legacy as First Lady of the
United States may not necessarily be only
of political correctness. Her legacy may
also include her decisiveness in standing
up for the people who needed her most
when the world’s most powerful men were
reluctant.
The recent portraits of her with
Burmese refugees should put all those
men in the United Nations and the ASEAN
to shame. They should learn from her the
right way of constructive engagement by
standing up for the brave people of Burma
instead of enriching the military dictators.
All that glitters is not gold, even after
the Olympics; for the shine from medals
alone will not erase the horrible truth about
powerful nations like China and how they
supply weapons to the genocidal
government in Burma. How much can
dangling gold medals be worth compared
to real courage, sacrifice and human
dignity? After all, a material world devoid
of human hearts is not really worth living
in, no matter how many gold medals you
can count.
There is no more time to dance
around the issue. It is time for Gambari to
face the music and report to the world
about the hard reality inside Burma.
Setting up gas revenue funds can help
stabilize commodity prices and to keep
inflation at bay. Burma, in a little over five
years has witnessed skyrocketing of
commodity prices, and seen soaring
inflation rates.
Setting up funds from petroleum sales
has been practiced in the countries such
as Norway, Kuwait, Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan with the aim of increasing
transparency and better governance, the
very things the Burmese military regime
does not want.
However, some economists feel it is
impossible to set up a gas revenue fund
as earning from the natural gas sale
cannot match the earning from oil sales in
oil-rich countries, citing as a concrete
example that Burma has no longer oil
revenue.
Putting it bluntly, it is the government,
in the first place, that continues to fail
creating a ‘business environment
conducive to investment growth’ –
regardless of economic sanctions against
the country.
It is apparent that the military
government has left out the role of
business or economic experts, who are
crucial to pave the way for reform
measures leading to in such a business
climate.
But the saddest fact is that the military
leaders are happy with cronyism, a scale
which they could manage and a cause
which continues fundamentally to
backpedal the country’s economy.
The Generals still pursue cronyism in
economic affairs even as they continue to
ignore the interest of the people by failing
to take up economic reforms.
Therefore, gas in Burma can only
entrench the power of the military junta,
as long as the policy makers fail to come
up with measures to best utilize it.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
The UN’s special envoy to Burma,
Ibrahim Gambari’s current mission to help
break the political deadlock between the
military junta and the detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be
heading towards complete failure.
His efforts to establish a dialogue
between the sides has collapsed and he is
expected to leave on Friday empty-handed.
Even Aung San Suu Kyi — the charismatic,
leader of National League for Democracy
or NLD— has refused to see him so far
during this trip, although he met her on all
his previous visits.
Nevertheless, he also failed to meet
any senior members of the country’s ruling
State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC). His failure to accomplish anything
at all during this visit now raises serious
doubts about his future role, and the UN’s
mediation efforts in Burma as a whole.
Mr. Gambari has had a busy schedule
– meeting many people nominated by the
regime to brief him — but so far has been
unable to meet any senior representatives
of the regime. Instead he has been left
kicking his heels in Rangoon.
The senior leaders, including the top
general Than Shwe – who are all
ensconced in their new capital Naypyidaw
some 400 kilometres north of the old
capital— have been keen to keep him at
arms length, and insisted he could meet
everyone he needed to in Rangoon. The
key meeting he wanted though, with the
opposition icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, has also
not taken place yet and is unlikely too
according to sources inside Burma.
The UN envoy originally planned to
meet her at the State Guesthouse on
Wednesday, but she did not show up,
according to NLD sources in Rangoon —
although UN officials in Burma contacted
by Mizzima declined to confirm a meeting
had been scheduled. “Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi is refusing to see the UN envoy before
he sees a senior representative of the
SPDC,” an opposition source close to the
detained leader told Mizzima on condition
of anonymity.
She feels there is no point in meeting
Mr Gambari at the moment, as he has
nothing from the Generals to report or
offer, he said. “She definitely won’t see him
if he does not meet a top member of the
regime,” he said.
Many members of the pro-democracy
movement in Burma no longer trust the
UN envoy and feel it is no longer in their
interests to co-operate with the process.
For many Asian diplomats though her
actions are an affront. “It’s un-Asian to let
the envoy wait in vain for her to show up,”
said a Japanese diplomat, who closely
follows Burma.
“It seems unusually rude, to the extent
that it gives the impression of being
insensitive.” It will only serve to further
undermine Mr. Gambari’s credibility and
strengthen the regime’s belief that she is
ill-tempered and uncompromising, the
diplomat added.
On the other hand, some diplomats
believe it may actually boost Mr. Gambari’s
Opinion
hopes of seeing Than Shwe, or another
senior member of the SPDC. She may also
be concerned at the protocol implications
of meeting the UN envoy – as leader of
the opposition, while he is only allowed to
see junior members of the government.
“My hunch is that having stood him up
once, she has made her point, and will
agree to see him before the end of his visit,”
said a Rangoon-based western diplomat.
This is former Nigerian foreign
minister’s fourth trip to Burma since the
brutal crack-down on the massive Buddhist
monk-led protests a year ago and six visits
to Burma since he replaced the previous
envoy Ismail Razali more than three years
ago.
In November last year, he smuggled
out and made public a letter from the
opposition leader that appealed to the
country’s military leaders to put aside their
differences with her and to work together
on national reconciliation for the sake of
the whole country. This infuriated the
regime, who denounced her claims in the
state media for weeks afterwards.
So far on this trip Mr. Gambari has met
only lower-ranking officials from the junta,
including the foreign affairs minister Nyan
Win and the information minister Brig. Gen.
Kyaw Hsan. On Thursday, he also met the
minister in charge of liaising with Aung San
Suu Kyi — the labour minister Aung Kyi —
who held several round of talks with the
NLD leader after last October 2007, but has
not seen her since January.
On Wednesday, Mr. Gambari was
wheeled around meeting many small
political parties that are all likely to contest
the elections planned for 2010. Most of
them were pro-government groups,
including the dreaded Union Solidarity and
Development Association which is expect
to form at least three different political
parties by the end of this year to contest
the forthcoming elections.
He was only allowed a 20-minute
meeting with five NLD leaders from the
central executive committee – including
Chairman Aung Shwe and Secretary U
Lwin. Vice President U Tin Oo and
Secretary-General Aung San Suu Kyi of
course were absent – as they are both
being detained under house arrest. It was
a very inconclusive meeting, according to
a NLD member who was present.
“He did say he had recommended that
the government release all political
prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi –
and urged them to make sure the 2010
elections are open and fair — but refused
to talk about the 1990 election result,” he
said. The NLD overwhelmingly won those
elections by a land-slide but were never
allowed to form a government.
The international community,
especially China has exerted substantial
pressure behind the scenes on the junta
to allow the UN envoy to visit the country.
He originally wanted to return to Burma
before the referendum that was held in
May, despite the devastation caused by the
Cyclone Nargis to Rangoon and the fertile
and densely populated Irrawaddy Delta to
the west of the former capital.
“The regime’s only interest in allowing
Gambari back is to try to get him to endorse
their roadmap,” said Win Min, an
independent Burmese academic based in
Chiang Mai.
“They have forced the new constitution
through a sham referendum, and now they
are planning elections that are likely to be
less than fair or free. They’re not interested
in anything else. They have no intentions
of changing their minds or making
oncessions to the international community
– let alone starting a genuine political
dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and other
democratic or ethnic forces.”
Mr. Gambari’s priorities on this mission
were to try to kick-start talks between the
two sides, press for the release of all
political prisoners, including Aung San Suu
Kyi, and discuss the junta’s roadmap and
the planned elections in 2010.
The UN envoy did in fact raise all these
issues with the government during his
meeting with the information minister
Kyaw Hsan earlier this week – but no
response has yet been forthcoming. At
least he did not get a ticking off this time –
as he did when he met the government’s
spokesman last time.
General Kyaw Hsan accused him of
being ignorant, insensitive and irrelevant
page 9
Vol.6 No. 9
to Burma’s future. The envoy’s offer to
provide international observers for the
referendum on a new constitution was also
roundly rebuffed.
Although Mr. Gambari may have
avoided a dressing down this time, the
regime obviously has no less contempt for
him than previously – but this time the
strategy seems to be to try to educate him
so that he will accept the regime’s Road
Map to ‘disciplined democracy’.
On Thursday the regime pressed with
its efforts to convince him with a long
meeting with the Chairman of the
referendum commission. But the junta are
unlikely to get any joy from Mr. Gambari
on this score.
“Individual governments are free to
endorse or reject the roadmap,” Mr.
Gambari told Mizzima in an exclusive
interview prior to his last trip to Burma in
March.
“The UN’s responsibility is to uphold
international norms and standards, which
countries apply in very different ways from
one situation to another. It is not for the
UN to take a position on the issue, beyond
reporting objectively the views and
concerns of all parties, which I have done
and will continue to do,” he added.
This time though Mr. Gambari is also
reportedly trying to prepare the ground for
the forthcoming visit of the UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-Moon later this year. He has
passed a letter onto Than Shwe from the
UN chief, according to diplomats in
Rangoon.
The planned visit, pencilled in for
December, according to senior UN officials
in New York, remains tentative. “The SG
has also indicated his intention to return
to Myanmar (Burma), when conditions are
right, to continue his dialogue with the
Myanmar leadership,” a senior UN
spokesperson, Marie Okabe told journalists
earlier this week.
That means Mr. Gambari being able
to continue his role in providing a channel
of communication between the junta
leaders and the pro-democracy opposition.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Inside Burma
page 10
Vol.6 No. 9
Ad industry in a spot over Mayor’s order Old problems to revisit new gas pipeline
August 28 : Chaos laced with loss
of revenue prevails following a new order
by Rangoon’s Mayor where outdoor
advertising companies are being forced to
remove all advertising hoardings that have
‘provocative’ pictures.
Rangoon’s City Mayor Brig. Gen Aung
Thein Linn at a meeting on Tuesday told
advertising companies to remove all
‘provocative’ outdoor advertising, including
billboards, causing panic among
advertising firms.
A proprietor of Burma’s leading
advertising company told Mizzima that the
Mayor gave a deadline of a week to replace
all outdoor advertisements that have
indecent pictures as it is against Burmese
tradition and culture.
According to the proprietor, who
requested anonymity for fear of reprisal,
the Mayor’s order has to do with removing
all pictures that reveals much of women’s
bodies, women dressed in night gowns,
and sensual postures of couples.
“The Mayor showed us pictures of
some of the billboards with a projector and
told us to replace them,” the proprietor
said.
The Mayor’s presentation included
pictures of model Moe Hay Ko in black
leather shorts revealing her cleavage that
is used in Rangoon’s famous lottery shop,
Moe Yan Shwe Lamin, the proprietor said.
It also included Nivea’s body lotion
advertisement in which a woman in a miniskirt reveals much of her back as well as
other parts of her torso, he added.
The Mayor was silent on compensating
the companies for the removal and
replacement of pictures and designs on
outdoor hoardings.
Burma’s amateur advertising industry,
according to proprietors and marketing
executives, has been struggling to survive
amidst the agonizing procedures of getting
permission from the Yangon City
Development Committee, a civic body that
oversees development of the city.
Advertising companies, before they
can set up outdoor advertising such as
billboards or light boxes, have to seek
permission from the YCDC, which then
checks and scrutinizes the contents of the
advertisement before granting permission.
A marketing executive in Rangoon
said, in order to obtain permission
smoothly the palms of officials at the YCDC
have to be greased heavily. And most
businesses maintain a relationship, where
they regularly pay the officials, to operate
smoothly.
But the latest hurdle, according to
another advertising business proprietor,
impacts not only the advertising firms but
the client companies that are advertising
as it will require re-designing of the
advertisements.
“As for us, we will not charge clients
anything but incur all the expenses
ourselves because they will be incurring
expenses while redesigning the
advertisements,” said the proprietor.
He added that the new order entails
taking pictures of outdoor advertisements
and submitting it to the YCDC for fresh
scrutiny.
“We will have to change whatever the
YCDC finds unacceptable,” he added.
A marketing executive of another
advertising company said her company will
bear all the expenses relating to the
removal and change of the billboards,
while the advertisers will incur expenses
relating to changing the design or redesigning the advertisement.
“This means a loss for both, but we
have to give priority to the clients because
relationship with them is important,” she
added.
Township police stations told not to
release crime information
September 2– Burmese junta
authorities in former capital Rangoon have
stopped township police stations from
disseminating information on crimes since
the end of August, sources said.
The new instruction to township level
police stations says reporters and
journalists will not be able to obtain
information from the police station but will
have to approach Divisional Police
headquarters, according to the source.
The media community said the new
restriction came after Rangoon Divisional
Police headquarters summoned Chief
Reporter Saw Myint Than of Pauktaw from
the Rangoon based weekly ‘Flowers News
Journal’ and took him to task for reporting
the murder of a couple in Thingankyun.
”The restriction is mainly on murder
cases. Now the township police stations
refer to divisional police headquarters when
reporters ask them about information on
crime,” a Rangoon based reporter, who
wished not to be named, said.
Earlier, government departments
occasionally invited reporters and released
information but now these departments
will also stop the practice, the source
added.
The new restrictions come as
residents of Rangoon face rising crimes
including murders in recent months.
The source said the murder in Green
Bank in March, where five people were
killed, is still shrouded in mysterious as
the police failed to find any clues regarding
the murder case.
Though Police Chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi
reportedly told the ‘The Voice’ weekly
journal in its June 26 issue that he will
have something to tell reporters as soon
as possible after cracking the case, no
further information has been released so
far.
September 2 -The spectre of severe
environmental and ecological imbalance,
forced labour and displacement of villagers,
looms over Karen State and Taninsarim
Division with the construction of the third
Thai-Burmese gas pipeline to begin soon.
An engineer close to Thailand’s PTTEP
said construction of the new gas pipeline
is expected to begin in the coming dry
season. The pipeline will transport natural
gas from the newly discovered gas project
in M-9 block in Mattaban Gulf of Burma to
Thailand.
But a Rangoon-based observer said
there would be hundreds of thousands of
villagers who will be displaced again and
there will be massive deforestation along
with pronounced forced labour to pave the
way for the construction of the new
pipeline.
”Like in similar infrastructure
developments done earlier, the military
government and interested partners such
as the Thai state-own PTTEP are
committing horrific human rights abuses
on the population,” said the observer, who
requested anonymity.
The 65-kilometre new pipeline is being
built along the two existing Yadana and
Yetagun gas pipelines.
The proposed natural gas pipeline will
carry 300 mmcfd, of which 240 mmcfd will
be transported to Thailand and the rest
60 mmcfd will be for domestic
consumption, according to a PTTEP
announcement released during the end of
July.
The observer’s concerns echoes
human rights activist’s claims of rampant
human rights abuses including forced
labour, forced relocation and
environmental devastation on earlier
pipelines sites constructed to export gas
from the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields.
The M-9 block, located about 300
kilometres south of Rangoon, is one of
Burma’s latest discovery of natural gas
reserves by the PTTEP in early 2007.
The company is expected to spend
about US$1 billion to develop the M-9 gas
field and will begin production in 2011 or
2012 for both domestic use and export to
Thailand.
PTTEP is also the operator and sole
shareholder of five potential offshore oil
and gas blocks in Burma’s M3, M4, M7, M9
and M11, which are all located in the Gulf
of Mattaban.
PTTEP is currently buying about 1,000
million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd)
from Myanmar’s Yadana and Yetagun gas
field along pipelines to Thailand.
According to data from the Ministry of
National Planning and Economic
Development, Myanmar exported natural
gas valued at US$ 2.56 billion in the fiscal
year 2007-2008, which ended on March
31. Gas sales were the single largest
source of foreign exchange for the military
regime.
Restaurants and shops ordered to close
early in Rangoon
September 3 - In a move which
defies explanation Burmese military junta
authorities in the country’s commercial hub
Rangoon have ordered all shops including
restaurants and roadside teashops, to
close by 11 p.m. shop owners said.
Shop-owners said local township
authorities since last week have been
visiting every shop and told owners to down
their shutters by 11 p.m.
”We have to request customers to
leave, because we were told to do so by
the township authorities,” the in-charge of
a popular restaurant in Bahan township,
told Mizzima.
Similarly, another famous restaurant
near the Bandola Park in Pabedan
Township said, “Authorities came to our
shop and told us to close at the latest by
11 p.m. They have informed all the shops
around here.”
Earlier, authorities had occasionally
asked shops and restaurants to close early
on particular days, such as days when
class XI students complete their final
examinations, fearing that the youths might
over-enjoy themselves at shops and
restaurants.
But this time, the shop owners said,
authorities had ordered all the shops and
did not part with any information as to
when they can go back to normal business.
”Earlier, authorities would ask us to
close on days when school students
completed their examinations. But this time
it has been a week since we were told to
close early,” a tea shop owner in Tharketha
township said.
A beer pub owner in Ahlone Township
said, “Earlier, whenever they [authorities]
asked us to close early, we were made to
sign, but we reopened the next day
according to our regular schedule. But this
time they have not fixed any dates.”
However, shop owners said authorities
did not give any reasons or explanation on
why they are being asked to close early.
Besides, though authorities will come
again to talk to shop owners that flout the
order, so far authorities have not taken any
action against them, a restaurant owner
in Hledan of Kamayut Township.
”So far no action has been taken but if
authorities find shops open till late, they
would come and talk to the shop owners,”
he added.
He added that following the new order,
customers have decreased and only a few
people are seen roaming on the streets.
The night life of Rangoon witnesses
several teashops as well as beer bars
open till late, with some remaining open
for 24 hours.
The
Mizzima Journal
September 2008
Inside Burma
Gambira produced in court, 88
generation vows to continue struggle
Phanida
September 4 – Gambira, the monk
who led anti-government protests and was
forcibly disrobed in prison after arrest, was
produced in court in Insein prison today
but his defence counsel was not allowed
to enter the court room.
The Special Branch of the police and
prison authorities blocked the defence
counsel’s way to the court room inside
Insein prison of the Rangoon West District
Court.
”I submitted a petition on behalf of my
client demanding to allow him to wear his
robe in accordance with the existing Burma
Jail Manual. The court fixed today to hear
the arguments of both sides. But they didn’t
let me enter the court room today,”
defence counsel U Pho Phyu said.
Aung Thein, Khin Maung Shein, Nyi Nyi
Hlaing and Pho Phyu are acting as defence
lawyers for their client Gambira.”
”The defence counsel was not allowed
to enter the court room on the date fixed
for hearing his argument seeking
permission to let the accused wear his
saffron robe. It is contrary to section 340
of Criminal Procedural Code (access to
lawyer), section 40 of Prisons Act (access
to lawyer in prison). Therefore the accused
Ashin Gambira is losing his prisoner’s right,”
a lawyer said. Ashin is a prefix for monks
in Buddhist majority Burma.
In another high profile political case,
35 accused from among 88 Gen Students
including its top leaders were produced in
court yesterday inside Insein prison. The
next hearing is on September 9.
They were arrested and tried for
joining anti-government protests by
marching in a procession, popularly known
as the September saffron revolution,
against rising fuel and commodity prices.
Opposition sources said that No. 1 leader
of the 88 Gen Students Ko Min Ko Naing
warned the authorities that they would
fight and face the consequences if their
demands are not met by the authorities.
The 88 Gen Students demanded that
they be tried in open court in keeping with
internationally conceded norms, allow
media access to the court proceedings and
not to handcuff them in court.
The judges’ responded saying they
would consider not handcuffing them
during court hearings, after consulting and
coordinating with the concerned
administrative officials.
Censor Board tightens screws
September 16– Local journalists are
up in arms over censorship but can do little
but unanimously voice that they are facing
severe censorship at a time when the
Chief of the Censor Board is on tour.
Journalists attached to periodicals said
that censorship has became more severe
while the director of the notorious ‘Press
Scrutiny Board’ popularly known as ‘Literary
Kempetai’, Maj. Tint Swe, is out of station.
A monthly magazine editor said the
Deputy-Director Maj. Aung Kyaw Oo
imposed stricter restrictions on magazines
and journals to avoid unnecessary mistakes
which can put him in trouble.
”He censors many more news and
articles whenever Maj. Tint Swe is on
official tour. We are pained when we see
these censored manuscripts. He seems not
to want to take responsibility and tries to
avoid trouble,” he said.
He also requested not to quote him in
reporting news arguing that the junta is
watching domestic journalists and
imposing tighter restrictions on them.
The print media in Burma is incurring
heavy losses due to the overcautious and
stricter censorship. The publishers of print
media in Burma have to submit their draft
printed copy to the censor board. They
have to remove the censored articles,
news and re-typeset it again for the final
copy and have to submit it for final approval.
Only after these stages have been crossed
the publishers can distribute their papers
and magazines in the market.
Mizzima learnt that the Censor Board
wanted removed about half of the 80
domestic news items from a weekly journal
at the draft copy stage.
”The Director could be approached for
reconsideration of censored news and
articles after slight modifications. We
cannot do this with the new person,” a
weekly journal editor said.
In news censorship, a directive was
issued to delete all news covering
government ministries and departments
without interviewing the responsible
person of the departments concerned.
”He’s been in this office for about four
months. He is tough. He has no literary or
journalistic background. But Maj. Tint Swe
has a background in journalism. He
behaves sympathetically and has some
attachment with journalists,” a magazine
editor said.
The censorship chief is a writer of
junta’s propaganda material and he is
known to use the pen name Ye Yint Tint
Swe.
Maj. Tint Swe is still in Naypyitaw (the
new capital) attending the departmental
monthly coordination meeting at the
Information Ministry even after the press
conference has been held. The domestic
journalists are facing these difficulties for
a week after he left to attend the press
conference.
Literary magazines such as Mahaythi,
Cherry, Ahtwe Ahmyin, Nwe Ni, Sabephyu
are severely hit by the strict censorship.
The circulation of these monthly magazines
page 11
Vol.6 No. 9
88 Gen students on trial inside prison
Phanida
August 29 – A total of 35 student
leaders of the 88 Generation Students
were produced for trial inside Rangoon’s
notorious Insein prison for the first time
on Wednesday.
The student leaders, who were
arrested and detained since August last
year, have been continuously remanded on
different charges under various sections.
“The hearing has not yet started. The
accused have been brought to court. This
is the time they are being produced in
court,” lawyer Aung Thein, who has been
following the case closely, said.
Aung Thein said, the student leaders
have demanded for a free and open trial,
according to international standards,
allowing media to be present at the court,
and requested not to handcuff them during
the court proceedings.
“On Wednesday, I visited the prison
and came back at about noon. Then I heard
that over 30 accused were brought to court
at about 3 p.m. the same day. Their judicial
remand is due on that day,” a family
member of Ko Ko Gyi, one of the student
leaders, said.
Reportedly, lawyers Kyi Win, Nyan Win
and Aung Thein will act as the defence
counsels for most of these student leaders.
Besides, a few other lawyers will also
defend Saw Myo Min Hlaing a.k.a. James,
Nyan Lin and Min Han from among the 88
Gen students, another lawyer Pho Phyu
said.
The 35 accused that were produce
before the court today were student
leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Pyone
Cho, Jimmy, Mya Aye, Min Zeya, Aunt Phwe
Kyaw, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe, Panneik Tun, Thet
Zaw, Nyan Lin Tun and Zaw Zaw Min. All
them were arrested in August 2007, after
marching in protest against the sudden hike
in fuel and commodity prices.
has declined significantly.
A monthly magazine which had a
previous circulation of over 10,000 copies
is now selling 7,000 copies and a magazine
with an earlier circulation of 3,000 copies
is now selling at just below 1,000 copies.
”The censor board badly cuts and
deletes widely read popular articles and it
is hardly readable with so many deletions
and omissions. On the other hand, the
people cannot afford to buy these
magazines as the prices are rising, in an
already bad economic situation,” a veteran
magazine editor who wished not to be
named said.
As the market for the monthly literary
magazines shrink they are relying more on
“I learnt that there are even women
and 28 men among the 35 accused brought
to court on Wednesday. We will know in
detail on Monday,” a man who visited the
prison said.
The 88 Gen students were remanded
with a new case under section 17(1) of
the Unlawful Associations Act last July. The
student leaders were remanded under
section 17/20 of the Printers and Publishers
Act and later they were remanded with
new cases under Law No. 5/96
(Endangering National Convention),
section 33(a) of the Electronic Act.
If convicted, the student leaders will
face up to three years in prison under
section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations
Act, five to 15 years in prison under
‘Endangering the National Convention Law’
(Law No. 5/96) and five to 15 years under
section 33(a) of the Electronic Law, another
advocate Khin Maung Shein, who also
follow on the case, said.
Min Ko Naing and 13 other student
leaders had spent at least 10 years in
prison in their previous prison terms.
Meanwhile, Burma’s prominent
comedian Thura a.k.a. Zarganar and
Reverend abbot Ashin Gambira were also
produced before the court on Thursday
inside the Insein prison but the trial was
fixed for September 4, as the judges fail
to turn up, Khin Maung Shein said.
“The judges had a meeting yesterday
and could not hear the case. So comedian
Zarganar cracked jokes in court all day and
they were taken back in the evening,” a
friend of Zarganar, who was present at the
court, said.
Nyan Win, spokesperson of Burma’s
main opposition party – National League
for Democracy – said, “This is a continuous
crackdown on political activists and the
NLD. It is clear that they are continuing
with their repression.”
advertisement revenue to cover production
costs.
”Future magazines might rely on
advertisement revenue which will be an
alternative source of income. The market
is shrinking in Burma day by day for
magazines with only literary content,” he
said.
In this competitive and difficult
situation faced by the Burmese journalistic
fraternity, the authorities are imposing
stricter restrictions, monitoring journalists
and there are less news and official prees
releases.
(Rangoon based Mizzima
undercover reporter wrote this news
with additional inputs by Nam Davies)
The
Mizzima Journal
page 12
September 2008
Vol.6 No. 9
Junta sets new target for overseas job
placement
Nem Davies
September 10– Burma’s
Ministry of Labor has set a new
target for overseas employment
agencies, looking for each
registered agency to place 300
Burmese workers abroad per
year, according to placement
agencies.
While the Ministry earlier set
the target at just 100 positions for
each agency, the new instruction,
given in April, is causing panic
among overseas placement
agencies, as the Ministry also
warned that failing to reach the
new target could result in a delay
or the inability to renew their
company license.
“If we are short of just a few
placements to meet the target,
there should not be much
problem, but if we are far short
of the target our license could be
revoked,” commented an official
at a Rangoon-based overseas
employment agency.
While there are at least 200
registered overseas job
placement agencies, the number
of people seeking overseas jobs
through such agencies is on the
rise, as there are fewer and fewer
job opportunities in the domestic
labor market.
An agency on Rangoon’s
Shwe Bon Tha Street said that it
is difficult to meet the target set
by the government, since finding
jobs overseas for 300 people is
not easy and because they have
to compete with unregistered
brokers and agencies.
“It’s very difficult to meet the
target of 300 jobs per year. There
are many others working in this
business. It’s hard to compete
with unregistered brokers and
agencies. They have no overhead
expenses such as staff salary,
internet usage, office rent, taxes
and rates paid to the government
like we do. We have to spend
more than these unregistered
brokers,” said an official from a
registered placement agency.
Overseas job placement
agencies typically demand a down
payment from clients, but now
they are asking for only half as
much in advance as they used to
for their services.
Of the many countries that
Burmese find themselves working
in, Thailand, Malaysia and
Singapore are the most common
destinations, according to job
placement agencies.
Magwe Division activists sentenced to
long prison terms
Phanida
September12Four
‘National League for Democracy’
(NLD)
members
from
Yenanchaung, Chauk and Magwe
of Magwe Division and seven
people from Pakokku arrested in
connection with the September
unrest last year were sentenced
to various prison terms ranging
from two to nine years by Judge
Daw Soe Soe Khet.
The accused were produced
in court on Wednesday inside
Theyet prison where the 11
activists are being held and
sentenced.
Yenanchaung NLD Organizing
Committee member Thar Cho,
Chauk NLD Youth Wing member
Tun Tun Nyein and Magwe
Township NLD Secretary Myint
Oo were charged under section
505(b) of the Penal Code
(inducing crime against public
tranquility) and sentenced to two
years in jail and another 6 months
prison term for joining an unlawful
assembly under section 143 of the
Penal Code.
These prison terms will run
concurrently. Tuition teacher Htay
Win from Natmauk was sentenced
to two years’ prison term under
section 505(b) of the Penal Code
(inducing crime against public
tranquility).
“I felt it is unfair as he is
innocent. He was just following
protesting monks while they were
marching in procession. He is my
eldest son. I feel extremely sorry
to hear the sentence. Please don’t
neglect and ignore my son,”
mother of Tun Tun Nyein said.
“He was sentenced to two
and-a-half years in prison. He
took part in the September
unrest. We have been in and out
of the prison since 1988. So this
is not much different for us,” Ko
Kyaw San Oo, younger brother of
Thar Cho, said.
Common people Nay La, Thar
Aung a.k.a. Nyunt Shwe, Sein
Linn, Khin Maung Win, Pho Ni,
Nyein Chan who were taken away
from their homes on September
7 last year for questioning were
sentenced to two years in prison
and Thant Shin was sentenced to
nine years respectively by the
judge.
Thant Shin was sentenced to
seven in prison under section 5(j)
of the ‘Emergency Provisions Act’,
two years in prison under section
147 of the Penal Code (rioting).
Other people were charged and
sentenced under sections 147 and
143 of the Penal Code. Pho Ni and
Ko Nyein Chan were sentenced
under section 6(1) of the Public
Property Protection Act.
“They were sentenced for
serious crimes that they didn’t
commit. They fought for truth and
justice. I feel sorry to hear that
they were sentenced to such
harsh prison terms for crimes
they did not commit,” Zar Ni, a
colleague of the persons, who
fled from Burma, said.
Arakan University student Parents lodge
complaint to PM Thein Sein
Phanida
September 12 – Parents of
Arakan State University students
have sent a complaint letter to the
Burmese Prime Minister Thein
Sein on September 7 requested
him to intervene in the meddling
of educational affairs in colleges
and universities in Arakan State
by men in uniform.
Military officer’s in-charge of
student’s discipline debarred 13
students on grounds of low
attendance (below 75 per cent).
Again 60 students from the
Technical University were denied
admission to their classes
because they were late. The
parents of these students sent a
letter of complaint letter to the
PM.
A local grocery shop owner
from Sittwe said, “Yes, I heard
about this. The students could not
attend their classes. Some are
debarred from their studies on
account of low attendance. Yes,
they did submit a petition”.
The letter was sent to the PM
Thein Sein and copies were sent
to Student Affairs Department of
Universities and Colleges, Youth
and Student Affairs Departments
at home and abroad, news
agencies at home and abroad, ‘All
Burma Federation of Students
Union’, and Student Unions.
The letter said “the
authorities are disturbing peaceful
pursuance of study by demoting
and transferring Sittwe Computer
College Principal Daw Soe Hay
Mar to Taungoo Computer
University with the position of
Assistant Lecturer without giving
any reason, denying 13 students
from sitting for their examinations
and rusticating 60 students from
the Technical University”.
A woman student close to the
student who was debarred for
low attendance said, “I know a
person from ‘Government
Technical College’ (GTC) who was
debarred from school for low
attendance. This student went
back to his home town after being
expelled”.
It is learnt that every
university and college student
strongly resentment the men in
uniform who take disciplinary
action against the students. The
military officers are systematically
flexing their muscle by expelling
especially self-reliant students,
from their schools.
Most of the students hail from
Sittwe, Tungup, Sandoway,
Kyaukphyu, Ramree, Mrauk-Oo,
Kyauktaw, Buthidaung and
Maungdaw Townships and are
pursuing their studies in Sittwe,
a local resident from Sittwe said.
U.N. shares opposition’s
frustration over pace of reforms
September 12-Nearly three weeks after leaving Burma,
United Nations Special Envoy to Burma – Ibrahim Gambari – met
with reporters at the U.N.’s headquarters in New York, making
sure to convey the message that he shares the opposition’s
frustration over the lack of progress in addressing the country’s
political ills.
Following a closed-door meeting with the 15-nation Security
Council, Gambari told reporters, “There may be a sense of
frustration, of course, which we all share about the pace of
change in the country.”
The Special Envoy also acknowledged that his latest efforts,
roundly criticized by Burma’s democratic opposition, failed to
meet both his and the U.N.’s goals.
”[T]he tangible results of my last visit fell below expectations,”
remarked Gambari without any further clarification.
Echoing the sentiments of his Special Envoy, U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon also informed the New York gaggle, “On
Myanmar, I am as concerned as you are, and as frustrated as
everybody else…We have not seen the political progress I had
hoped for.”
“It is imperative for the Government of Myanmar at this
point to deliver substantive results in responsive to our key
concerns and suggestions, particularly with regard to the release
of political prisoners and the resumption of dialogue between
the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” elaborated Ban.
When asked whether he knew the impetus for National
League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s refusal to meet
with him in August, Gambari said no reason for her position had
been conveyed to him.
”To be honest with you, I don’t know because this is not
consistent with her previous relation to me,” was the Special
Envoy’s curt assessment of the affair.
After the briefing by Mr. Gambari, United States Ambassador
to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, said the Burmese junta is failing to
live up to its international expectations. He also reaffirmed the
United States’ insistence that all political prisoners must be freed
and a substantive dialogue enacted without delay.
”It is our judgment that more pressure needs to be applied
on the regime, since on both of these issues the obstacle is the
policies of the regime,” Khalilzad commented following the closeddoor briefing. “We have had a lively discussion, there are some
differences of view as to what adjustment is needed, but there
is no question that the efforts so far have not produced any
significant concrete results.”
Secretary General Ban did provide a glimpse into the general
assessment of the United Nations in conflict stricken countries
when he responded to a question regarding Lebanon, a country’s
whose political turmoil he also referred to as frustrating.
”Any peace process is desirable,” summarized Ban of the
ensnared national dialogue process in the Mediterranean country.
Further hinting at the primacy the U.N. places on engagement
and the notion of process, Ban informed those assembled, “I
would like not to characterize Mr. Gambari’s visit as a failure. If
you talk about failure, then, if we stop making progress through
all possible diplomatic means, that should be viewed as a failure.”
Today, the Secretary General is poised to convene a meeting
of the ‘Friends of Burma,’ a consortium of international actors
deemed to have interest and/or influence in the impoverished
country. The group consists of India, Thailand, Indonesia,
Singapore, Vietnam, the United States, the United Kingdom,
France, Russia, China, Australia, Norway, Japan, South Korea
and the EU presidency.
N e w s G r o u p
Publisher and Editor In-Chief
Soe Myint
Flat No. 1, 63 C,
Ibrahimpur Road,
Jadhavpur, Kolkata - 700032,
India.
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