WASHINGTON — The
United States has urged Burma to allow local and international monitors at
April 1 by-elections, seen as an important step in the country's democratic
transition.
The party of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be contesting all 48 seats up for
grabs. Free and fair conduct of the vote will be key in any US decision on
easing tough economic and political sanctions.
Assistant Secretary
of State Michael Posner, the top US diplomat specializing on human rights
issues, said Thursday the results of the by-elections would not alter the
balance of Burma’s military-dominated Parliament, but were a “way-station” in
the democratic transition, leading up to fresh national elections in 2015.
He said the US has
discussed with Burma’s government the need for monitoring the by-elections.
“We have had those
discussions. We very much hope that the process will be open to both local
monitors and to those coming from outside,” Posner told a seminar at the
National Endowment for Democracy in Washington.
The current
Parliament was convened after 2010 elections that were boycotted by Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) because it deemed the rules governing the
vote as unfair. The government refused to allow independent monitoring of the
election and there were reports of coercion of voters and discrimination
against opposition parties. Voting was canceled in some ethnic minority areas.
The government of
President Thein Sein has since amended the electoral rules, paving the way for
the NLD and Suu Kyi herself to register for the April 1 vote for seats vacated
by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet or other posts.
Suu Kyi last week
made a political trip to the southern city of Tavoy (also known as Dawei),
attracting thousands of supporters. Such an appearance would have been
unthinkable a year ago. But her party on Thursday said she had postponed a trip
to the central city of Mandalay, because she could not obtain permission to
hold a political gathering at a football stadium there.
However the vote
turns out, the NLD will not be able to make major inroads into the military's
vast parliamentary majority. But the result could signal whether it retains the
popularity it enjoyed in the last national elections in 1990, when it won more
than 80 percent of the seats nationwide. The military did not honor the result.
Under the current
constitution, approved in a highly criticized 2008 referendum, the military is
guaranteed a quarter of the 440 seats in the lower house, and 224 in the upper
house. The main pro-military party won 80 percent of the remaining seats.
Assessing Burma’s
reforms to date, Posner credited Thein Sein's government with changing course
after years of repression and international isolation. Posner cited the
releases of hundreds of political prisoners, the opening up of the political
process, and the loosening of controls on media and labor unions.
But he said there
are still hundreds of political prisoners, and violence has worsened in the
ethnic conflict in the northern Kachin State, including reports of attacks on
women and children.
The United States urged
Burma to address what it called worsened ethnic violence and to accept
international monitors to ensure the fairness of closely watched upcoming
by-elections.
A US official reiterated
that President Barack Obama’s administration wanted better ties with the
country formerly known as Burma and praised recent moves by the government
including the release of hundreds of political prisoners.
“Yet at the same time
violence in the Kachin state has worsened with reports of serious human rights
abuses and violations of international humanitarian law,” said Michael Posner,
the assistant secretary of state for human rights.
“Ultimately the ethnic
violence is rooted in political causes and it will require negotiated political
solutions on both sides to address the underlying grievances,” he said at the
National Endowment for Democracy.
Burma’s nominally
civilian government, which took over last year, has reached ceasefires with
Shan and Karen rebels in an effort to end ethnic bloodshed that has gripped
parts of the country since independence in 1948.
But bloody battles have
taken place since June in Kachin state in the far north. Human Rights Watch in
a recent report said that Burma’s army raped, tortured and killed civilians in
ethnic minority conflict zones last year.
President Thein Sein has
surprised even many critics by undertaking reforms and talks with minorities
and the opposition. Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is optimistic enough that
she is seeking a seat in parliament in April 1 by-elections.
Posner said that the
United States has spoken to Burma about letting in monitors to ensure an “open
and fair election.”
“We have had those
discussions and very much hope that the process will be open both to local
monitors and to those coming from outside,” Posner said.
US senators who recently
visited Burma including John McCain also said that they asked Thein Sein to
accept monitors but had not received a commitment.
Suu Kyi’s National League
for Democracy swept elections in 1990 but military rulers ignored the results
and confined the Nobel Peace Prize winner to house arrest for most of the
ensuing two decades.
Posner said it was
unrealistic to expect Burma’s reforms to advance without a hitch.
“When ossified societies
begin to loosen up, the process is neither linear nor smooth. That is why this
administration is committed to a long-term engagement, one that both continues
to push for reform and change while at the same time offering encouragement and
support,” Posner said.
The Obama administration
last month said it would move to restore full diplomatic relations with Burma
for the first time in three decades. It has also voiced openness to ease its
sweeping sanctions in return for more progress.
Bauk Gyar, an activist
from Kachin state who is running in the by-elections, said at the National
Endowment for Democracy event in Washington that it was premature to lift
sanctions.
“If you look at it right
now, even in the different ethnic areas all the companies are run by the
government. Therefore if you open the road to people coming and doing business,
the ethnic people will have to suffer more than before,” she said.
Appearing at the same
event, Zarganar — Burma’s most famous comedian who was freed in the recent
amnesty — said that he did not want to take a stance on the controversial issue
of lifting sanctions.
But he said: “[Due to]
the sanctions from American or from Europe, our government changed their
mindset. I don’t like sanctions, but according to the strategic thinking, it’s
a very good instrument.”
Establishing peace in
ethnic areas will be the most difficult challenge looking ahead in Burmese
politics, a high U.S. human rights official said on Tuesday.
Michael Posner, the
assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, in a speech
to the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, said the “most important and most
difficult remaining challenge is the need to end violence in ethnic minority
areas and to advance an inclusive, meaningful dialogue leading towards genuine
national reconciliation.”
Ultimately the ethnic
violence in Burma is rooted in political causes, he said, and it will require
extensive negotiated political solutions on both sides to address the
underlying grievances.
“In the coming months and
years we must steel ourselves for challenges that will inevitably come with
this transition,” he said.
“Over the years, it’s my
observation that when ossified societies begin to loosen up, the process is
neither smooth nor linear.”
He said that “where Burma
goes from here will depend on the political will of its leaders and the
willingness of the government’s opponents to engage. And this political will
needs to flow from two directions – from the top down, and from the bottom up.”
Posner said President
Thein Sein and his advisors have created “a kind of top-down reform process.”
“To make Burma a home for
all of its people requires broad, grassroots engagement by the widest possible
range of politically active citizens,” he said.
Diverse civil groups in
all areas will need to push for structural changes from the bottom up, “at the
same time as the political leadership works to push reform from the top down.”
He said the project of
reforming the system from within is immense. “It will require both political
will from the top down and dynamism from the bottom up. Those who have profited
from power in every country are often resistant to sharing it, and thus a
backlash is always possible.”
The move to democracy
will take time and much effort, he said, and the U.S. will “seize the
opportunities to support the people, and especially politically active civil
society, to pursue real, sustainable reforms from within.”
Ultimately, he said he
was optimisitic because of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “Her country is
fortunate to have a leader of her principles and her caliber to inspire and
guide it through these tumultuous times,” he said.
Australia's foreign minister Kevin Rudd says he is planning
to visit Burma in the coming months to encourage moves towards a
fully-democratic Burma.
Mr Rudd travelled to Burma last year and met with
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Presenter: Cheri Mangrai (Khin Mar Win)
Speaker: Kevin Rudd, Australia's foreign minister
RUDD: Well, the Australian government and through the
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs we've been maintaining a long dialogue
with Aung San Suu Kyi and we also observed developments in Burma, following the
elections at the end of 2010 and the formation of the civilian government. We
recognised there were many criticisms in the way in which that government was
formed, but we formed a judgement, together with our consultations with Aung
San Suu Kyi, that it was worth taking the risk of going in, talking directly to
the government and to President Thein Sein as I did. We believe that that was
the right thing to do, that the government of President Thein Sein was keen to
make a change in policy direction, we reflected that to other countries around
the world and we're pleased that so far, so far that change in policy direction
seems to be continuing towards a more democratic Burma.
MANGRAI: And you've said that it's a historic opportunity
and that you are ready to help every step of the way. What are your plans?
RUDD: Well, we believe it is a historic opportunity, because
Burma for so long has been under one form of military rule or another.
Therefore when the president of the country and the Burmese people reach out
for international assistance to support them, we should respond. What of the
practical steps, well first and foremost what Australia has done in recent years
is increased our bilateral development assistance to Burma, we're currently
Burma's second largest donor and we're looking towards doing more with the
country in the coming year.
MANGRAI: Yes, in what sort of way?
RUDD: Well for example, one of the things that we are
supporting is a program called LIFT, Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund
Program. This is an important area in the country's dry zone and in areas in
which we originally started funding after Cyclone Nargis. In fact, Aung San Suu
Kyi visited yesterday these projects with our Ambassador to Burma, Bronte
Moules. This is an important area of dealing with the one quarter of Burma
which now has people, one quarter of the Burmese population still living below
the poverty line. Another area, of course, is commercial engagement,
encouraging Australian firms to become more active in Burma and I had
discussions with the Burmese Industry Minister on that recently at the World
Economic Forum.
MANGRAI: Have you got to visit Myanmar again in the near future?
RUDD: Yes, I'd like to visit Myanmar again in the period
ahead. For example, in the months ahead, I will probably seek to go in again to
look at the progress in our development assistance cooperation, look at what we
can now do with Australian firms in Burma in order to boost economic activity
within the country and on top of that, review progress, not just with Aung San
Suu Kyi, but also with other leaders of the democratic parties. We're also
looking most particularly at the outcome of the nationwide by-elections to be
held on the 1st April, for 48 constituency seats in the Burmese parliament.
MANGRAI: So will the Australian government be reconsidering
its stance on calling the country Burma and not Myanmar?
RUDD: We will continue to monitor that and try to conform
with the appropriate national and international practice. As you know this is a
hotly contested question. Our general practice is to refer to the country as
Burma in the international debate and Myanmar when we are within the country
with respect to the wishes of the government. But let us review international
practice on this and we'll maintain an open mind.
MANGRAI: The Australian Ambassador, Bronte Moules, recently
visited the Australian projects, together with Aung San Suu Kyi, but we have
not been able to get access to her. Is there an effective media gag on the
Australian diplomats in Myanmar?
RUDD: Of course not, that's something for Radio Australia to
sort out with our Australian ambassadors. We have full confidence in our
ambassador's ability to speak on these matters, but I'm glad to have the
opportunity to speak on Radio Australia myself. Objectives, a democratic Burma,
one which is fully engaged with ASEAN, fully engaged with the international
community, one where we see economic development, the lifting of a quarter of
its population out of poverty, that is still in poverty, and one which is fully
engaged with the economies of the region.
MANGRAI: One last question Mr. Rudd. How would China think
about the latest Burma's move towards democracy, would Burma turn into a battle
ground between the West and China?
RUDD: Well, China's historical position on these questions
is that they respect the internal sovereignty of other countries, nay the
policy of mutual monitor interference. Therefore if the Burmese people through
their government under President Thein Sein democratised the matter in which is
now being considered, then I'm confident China will respect the decision of its
neighbours to do so. It has other neighbours, like Mongolia, it has other
neighbours like the Republic of Korea and in Kazakhstan and elsewhere where
democracies flourish and I don't think this would present a problem for China
as well.
TO Burma or not to Burma? That is the question for Foreign
Minister Kevin Rudd, who has signalled Australia may finally recognise the
South-East Asian nation's name change to Myanmar.
Burma's military rulers announced the switch way back in
1989 but while the United Nations and many countries accepted the change,
Australia, the US and the UK did not.
But with hopes high that the country's current democratic
reform process is genuine, Mr Rudd says that might change.
"We will continue to monitor that and try to conform
with the appropriate national and international practice," Mr Rudd told
Radio Australia today.
"As you know, this is a hotly contested question.
"Our general practice is to refer to the country as
Burma in the international debate and Myanmar when we are within the country
with respect to the wishes of the government.
"But let us review international practice on this and
we'll maintain an open mind."
Mr Rudd has also foreshadowed intentions to return to Burma
in the coming months. Last June, Mr Rudd became the first Western foreign
minister to visit the country in many years.
"I will probably seek to go in again to look at the
progress in our development assistance cooperation, look at what we can now do
with Australian firms in Burma in order to boost economic activity within the
country," he said.
"And on top of that, review progress, not just with
(opposition leader and leading democracy champion) Aung San Suu Kyi, but also
with other leaders of the democratic parties."
Mr Rudd this month announced that Australia was easing its
sanctions against Burma's military-backed government as an acknowledgement it
had taken important steps towards democracy.
The government remained in contact with Suu Kyi and others
on Australia's sanctions policy and the political developments in the country,
he said.
Suu Kyi was freed from seven years of house arrest in November
2010 and a nominally civilian government replaced the long-ruling military
junta in March last year, but the Burmese parliament is still composed mainly
of military figures and the ruling army-backed party.
Aung San Suu Kyi praised the work of DFID in Burma
during a high-profile visit to a UK-funded project on Tuesday.
Following a request to see British aid in action, DFID Burma
took her to see a project we are funding to help change the lives of
more than 5,000 families in the country.
Tens of thousands of people lined the route that she
travelled, cheering, throwing flowers and holding up banners saying ‘Our Hero,
Our Leader’. The visit – her first to see development work in the country
since her release.
Speaking after the visit, ‘The Lady’ said she was
pleased to see the progress that was being made in the villages she had visited
and talked of the need to meet the basic needs such as water in the area, as
well as to empower communities to lead their own development.
Welcoming the visit, International Development Secretary
Andrew Mitchell said:
"It was an honour to meet Aung San Suu Kyi during my
visit to Burma last November. I'm delighted she has visited a DFID supported
project to see at first hand the real difference British aid is making to
people's lives.
"I look forward to continuing to work closely with Aung
San Suu Kyi and all those working for further reform in Burma to ensure our aid
delivers the best possible results."
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited two villages in Myaing Township
where British aid is supporting local NGOs to develop the rural economy and
empower communities.
She saw how work that the UK is supporting through
a multidonor livelihoods fund had improved basic infrastructure and provided
community-managed credit and training to improve agricultural techniques.
Building growth and raising incomes in the rural areas of
Burma – where 70% of Burmese live and where agriculture still lags behind other
countries in the region – is a key focus of DFID's work in Burma.
Specific results UK aid will deliver include giving 110,000
more women access to financial services to help them buy food, send their
children to school and meet their medical needs and supporting 92,000 people to
increase the amount of food they are able to produce to eat or sell.
Villagers showed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi how aid had helped
provide water taps for every village household, seeds and tools to plant home
gardens and support and training for other local initiatives. Daw Suu Kyi also
met with women members of a self-help group, who showed how they had invested
their own and project resources to improve conditions in the village.
YANGON -- The Myanmar authorities will grant foreign
companies to build overpass and subway in the country under the
build-operate-transfer system, local media reported Thursday.
Full foreign investment in the proposed project is expected,
a high ranking official with the Ministry of Rail Transportation was quoted by
the Popular News as saying.
According to the report, four countries -- China, Russia,
Japan and South Korea are seeking for investment in the projects which are
outlined as overpass in Yangon, subway to link Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, and
bullet-type railway to link Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay.
Under a plan of Yangon municipal authorities, first ever
overpasses are to be built in some traffic junctions in a move to ease traffic
jam. They are at Hledan, Shwegondaing, Tarmwe and Bayintnaung traffic junctions
where traffic congestion usually occurs due to large traffic volume almost all
day round.
Moreover, Myanmar is drafting a concept plan to upgrade the
backward former capital city of Yangon to a city of having modern urban
characteristics.
A total of 25 papers related to the 30-year Yangon Concept
Plan (Vision 2040) were discussed in a workshop held in September last year
involving the participation of the government's housing authorities, municipal
authorities, port authorities, Myanmar Engineering Society, Myanmar Architect
Society, Ministry of Science and Technology consultants scholars, Yangon
Institute of Economics, the environment conservation authorities and the Yangon
Electricity Supply Board.
The 30-year plan includes upgrading Yangon in such various
sectors as transport, communication, electricity supply and water supply.
The fund for the project will be sought from local private
enterprises and banks or through foreign investment.
At present, Yangon Port extension project is underway to
increase foreign vessel berthing capacity and freight handling capacity.
With a population of over 6 million and area of 795 square
kilometers, the Yangon city is demarcated by 45 townships, of which 33 represent
the municipal area.
According to the road transport administration, the number
of motor vehicles of various types operating in Myanmar reached 2.34 million as
of October 2011, up from 2.29 million in the previous year correspondingly.
Of the total, 1.918 million are motor cycles, while 283,460
are passenger cars, 65,373 trucks and 21,211 buses.
The official body
that governs Buddhist monastic affairs in Burma has restored the status of
three monks who were released from prison last month after serving more than
four years behind bars for their involvement in the 2007 Saffron Revolution.
The state-controlled
Maha Nayaka Sangha Council made the decision on Wednesday after the three
monks, who were among dozens detained for taking part in massive demonstrations
in September 2007, applied for official recognition of their status on Jan. 27.
The monks said they
made the request as a preliminary step toward reopening their monasteries,
which have been closed since their arrest.
“I applied for
permission to reopen my monastery yesterday after the council officially
recognized my status as a monk,” said U Pandavansa, speaking to The Irrawaddy
on Thursday.
The three
monks—including U Indaka, the abbot of Maggin Monastery in Rangoon's
Thingangyun Township, one of the focal points of the 2007 protests—were told
that the monasteries could be reopened within a week.
Recently several
monks were reprimanded by local authorities for entering the padlocked Maggin
Monastery.
U Gambira, another
prominent monk who was released on Jan. 13 along with hundreds of other
political prisoners, said he hasn't responded yet to a notification from the
Maha Nayaka Sangha Council informing him that he needs to officially restore
his monastic status, although he said may do so after Feb. 3.
“We are monks. We
were arrested illegally,” he said, speaking to The Irrawaddy. He added
that he would accept the council's decisions if they are “fair according to the
rules of Buddhism.”
Meanwhile, a planned
ordination ceremony for around 20 other formerly imprisoned monks at Magwe
Monastery in Rangoon was called off after the Maha Nayaka Sangha Council
expressed concern that the event would be too politicized.
Chiang Mai– More
than 700 acres of farmland in Taunggyi in southern Shan State have been marked
off with stakes and banners by authorities, leading to local farmers’ fears
that their land will be confiscated.
About 120 farmers signed an appeal letter sent to the
president’s office in Naypyitaw, the Agriculture Ministry and the Shan State
government on Monday, asking the government to project their property.
The letter said, “We humbly ask you to protect our farmland
which is the lifeline of our livelihood.” The farmers grow wheat, garlic,
strawberry and pigeon pea on their land.
Farmers said they noticed stone pillars with “cantonment
area” markings on about 600 acres of farmland around Pin Ngo village on January
6.
Khun Kham Kao of Taunggyi, who helps farmers with land
problems, told Mizzima
that the farmers don’t know who was behind the markers on their land. In
addition, police officers from Naypyitaw planted red banners on 170 acres of
farmland in Pin Ngo village in December 2011, allegedly to be used for building
a police academy, said Khun Kham Kao.
In a related case of land confiscation in the area in 2007,
about 18 acres owned by local farmers were forcibly seized by the Hopin Hotel
in Khaung Taing village in Nyaungshwe District in southern Shan State, local
residents said.
At that time, farmers sent appeal letters to the state
government and International Labour Organization, but they have yet to hear
back from the authorities, attorney Khin Moe Moe of Taunggyi told Mizzima.
Regarding the forcible seizure of farmland, Upper House MP
Aung Zin of Pazuntaung constituency asked a question in Parliament in 2010,
“Does the government have a plan to resolve cases of forcible seizure of
farmland owned by farmers for building factories and for implementing
agricultural projects?”
Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Htay Oo answered, saying,
“Generally farmland is not seized but in some cases minimal acreage has been
seized when state projects have to be implemented.”
A total of 54 refugees stranded on the open sea off North
Aceh were rescued by Acehnese fishermen on Wednesday.
The rescued people are all from the Burmese Muslim ethnic minority
Rohingya, and are thought to have been en route to seek asylum in Australia
when the motor on their wooden vessel broke down.
Jamali, a leader of a fishermen’s association in North
Aceh’s Dewantara subdistrict, took part in the rescue, which was undertaken at
about 2 p.m.
“Fishermen from Krueng Geukueh succeeded in evacuating the
Rohingya from one wooden boat, which was damaged and its motor dead,” Jamali
told journalists.
Once safely ashore, the asylum seekers were taken to nearby
Blukat Teubai village, where they were accommodated in the annex of a mosque.
Dozens of villagers donated food and drink to the exhausted
seafarers.
“Their condition was very concerning. A number of them were
very weak from dehydration and hunger,” Jamali said. He added that the
villagers intended to move them soon to the Krueng Geukueh port area.
Jamali said the Rohingya were lucky to have been spotted by
fishermen who were working about 12 kilometers offshore.
“They saw a vessel full of passengers, just being washed
back and forth on the waves. The boat’s passengers were calling out for help,
food and water,” he said.
It was difficult for the rescuers and villagers to
communicate with the refugees, with gestures being their only means of making
themselves understood.
The police chief of North Aceh, Farid Bachtiar Efendi, could
not be reached to confirm details of the rescue or provide information on
authorities’ plans to deal with the 54 foreigners.
This is the fourth time that Rohingya refugees have been
rescued in Acehnese waters.
On Jan. 7, 2009, a boat carrying 194 Rohingya was stranded
near Sabang, and a month later, on Feb. 3, a further 198 were found in the
waters off Idi Rayeuk in East Aceh. On Feb. 16 last year, a vessel carrying 129
Rohingya refugees was found near Laweueng in Aceh Besar.
The Rohingya leave Burma because of economic and political
pressure, with those who take to the seas usually setting out for Australia or
Malaysia.
If they are rescued in Indonesian waters, the Rohingya are
normally processed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to
determine their status. The UN agency then looks for a third-party nation
willing to accept them.
There are 11 designated countries for refugee resettlement,
but acceptance depends on recipient countries’ annual quotas.
The Burmese army has
continued to carry out unprovoked attacks on civilians in Karen state,
including the shelling last week of a camp housing internally displaced persons
(IDPs), despite an agreement on 12 January to end hostilities.
Although there has been a
significant reduction in fighting, several incidents of violence and pillage of
food supplies were recorded by the humanitarian group Free Burma Rangers (FBR)
over the past three weeks.
On 24 January, troops
from Battalion 351 and Battalion 60 fired mortars into Ler Doh IDP camp in
Nyaunglebin district, western Karen state. Staff from FBR, which carries out
relief efforts in Burma’s border regions, witnessed more than 40 army trucks
carrying supplies to Nyaunglebin last week, suggesting a bolstering of forces
in the area.
“Two days ago in the
mountains, we could hear the Burma Army shelling towards Karen villages as they
advanced to supply their camps,” FBR staff reported from the field. Sporadic
clashes between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and government forces
also took place.
A pastor interviewed by
their team explained: “Last week the Burma army told us, ‘Now there is change
in Burma, if you contact the Karen National Union [the KNLA’s political wing],
you will be severely punished’.”
Another church leader
said, “We have been forced to move three times. The Burma army just told some
of us that we could go back home, but when we asked about proof in writing,
there was none.”
But FBR say they also
witnessed an encounter in which Karen troops and the Burmese army chatted and
shook hands on the road. The Burmese troops are reported to have said, “You can
go back to your farms and villages now” to which the Karen troops responded,
“We cannot go back to our homes until you leave your camps and this area.”
Earlier this month, the
Karen National Union (KNU) and the Burmese government signed a historic
ceasefire agreement, immediately calling for a halt to hostilities on both
sides. The deal has been received with caution by many who see Burma’s
democratic reforms as a largely cosmetic effort to woo Western governments.
“This is very initial
stage in the ceasefire process,” David Thackabaw, vice president of the KNU,
told DVB. “There are many steps we still have to take to reach our final goal
of establishing a real democracy.”
Human rights activists
argue that even should the ceasefire hold, there will likely be a shift towards
different types of human rights violations in the border regions, rather than a
drastic reduction.
“If the ceasefire ends
conflict, then we would expect to see abuses coming from armed
conflict to change,” said Matt Finch from the Karen Human Rights Group
(KHRG). “But the abuses stemming from militarisation and development of natural
resource extraction are unlikely to change, because the ceasefire has nothing
to do with the root causes of those abuses.”
Since his inauguration in
March last year, President Thein Sein has placed economic development at the
heart of Burma’s policy agenda. In many rural areas, including Karen state,
this has led to more large-scale industrial developments, including hydropower
dams, mining operations and road constructions. Rights groups have reported
associated abuses, including evictions, forced labour, coercion and violence as
commonplace. Engrained abuses of power by the military and poor accountability
mechanisms are cited as significant obstacles to progress.
“In many areas land
grabbing is becoming the main problem,” Kweh Say, from Burma Issues, warned.
“This could get even worse after the ceasefire, because there are no
preparations on either side for restoring or resettling displaced villagers.”
He warned that ending sanctions against natural resource investment was likely
to aggravate these abuses further.
Human rights abuses are
but some of the contentious issues that still need to be addressed in the
coming rounds of talks between the government and ethnic armies, along with
securing a nationwide ceasefire, de-militarisation and amending the
controversial 2008 constitution, popularly slated as undemocratic.
A top Karen National Union leader appeared in court
yesterday on charges of unlawful association and treason, only three weeks
after the Burmese government agreed to a ceasefire with its long-time foe.
Mahn Nyein Maung was brought to a courtroom inside the
compounds of Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison where hundreds of political
prisoners have been tried over the years. If found guilty of treason, he faces
a possible death sentence or life imprisonment.
His lawyer, Kyi Myint, said that judges yesterday heard two
prosecution statements, including one from a police investigator. Both charges
stem from his role in the KNU, which has been battling the Burmese government
for more than six decades – originally the group was fighting for an
independent state, although it now calls for a federalised Burma.
A tentative ceasefire agreement on 12 January appears not to
have helped Mahn Nyein Maung’s case – the treason charges were brought only recently,
after he had already been
in detention for seven months on immigration charges. It was only during
his time in Insein prison that police discovered he was a KNU member.
His lawyer said the main evidence used by the prosecution
was documents they discovered on the internet, something he claims does not
qualify as concrete proof of his guilt.
“We questioned the court over whether they would accept in a
trial if we submitted material from the internet as evidence against [the
government],” Kyi Myint said. “At the end of the hearing, the court decided to
throw out the [internet material] as evidence – that is exceptional.”
Mahn Nyein Maung has already spent time in prison on the
Coco Islands, 300 kilometres south of Rangoon in the Andaman Sea. After nearly
a decade in jail on the islands, he and another prisoner managed to escape on
rafts, but were apprehended on the Burmese mainland and thrown back in jail.
The government has been warned that the trial could derail
fragile peace talks with the KNU, which appear to be on tenterhooks in the wake
of renewed attacks by Burmese troops in Karen state last week.
Although death sentences are still awarded by courts in
Burma, no one has been formally executed for a number of years. Two
whistleblowers sentenced
to death in January 2010 for leaking details of secretive senior-level
governmental visits to North Korea and Russia remain in prison.
LAIZA, Burma— Three
soldiers from the Burmese Army were killed and five injured on Wednesday, after
a six hour battle between government forces and members of the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA) took place near Sinbo in central Kachin State, local
villagers told the Kachin News Group.
The casualties occurred
when a group of about fifty government soldiers from Infantry Battalion No. 141
traded gunfire with the Kachin resistance in an area located between Lawt Awng
village and Nlung Shala Hka stream. The KIA troops involved in the clash
were from the 2nd Brigade's Battalion 5, KIA sources report.
Earlier Wednesday morning
in eastern Kachin state, a KIA officer Lt. Maran Brang Nan was killed in an
ambush by government soldiers near Sama village in Waingmaw township.
Prior to Wednesday,
fighting between government forces and the KIA had reduced significantly in
Kachin state for about ten days. The lull in fighting came after
representatives from both the government and the KIA's political wing the
Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) met in China. Fighting has
continued however, in areas of Northern Shan state set to be used for the Shwe
gas project's twin oil and gas pipelines.
According to KIO
officials based at the group's Laiza headquarters, both government and KIO
representatives will likely meet again for another round of talks the second
week of February.
Although Burma's
President Thein Sein has twice publicly claimed during the past two month to
have ordered the Burmese army to halt its offensive against the Kachin, the KIA
says there has been no reduction in government forces in the conflict area.
New Delhi – The Burmese government has yet to extend a peace
talk offer to the Zomi Re-unification Organization (ZRO), which is fighting for
ethnic Zomi national autonomy.
The government has offered peace talks to the Chin National
Front and the Arakan Liberation Party, which also operate on the
India-Burma-Bangladesh border, but they have not yet extended such an offer to
the ZRO, Min Thang, an official in its New Delhi office, told Mizzima.
Explaining the lack of an offer, he said, “We don’t
attack” Burma in an armed struggle for ethnic rights. “We are supporting
the objectives of the NLD from India by supporting Aung San Suu Kyi on her
democratic path,” he said.
The Manipur State-based ZRO was formed in the Pha Pyin
region under the control of the Kachin Independence Organization in 1993. It
says it has a 1,000-man army, which is led by current chairman Pu Thang
Lian Pau.
Thang Lian Pau is a former secretary of the Zomi National
Congress and is also an MP-elect from the 1990 general election.
Zomi nationals live in Tamu, Kalay, the Kabaw valley and
Chin State in Burma, India and Bangladesh.
“We bear arms for our security,” said Min Thang. “We fight
through nonviolent means also, but we think nonviolence means is not workable
so we hold arms for self-defense and for accomplishing our goal of Zomi
re-unification.”
At the a meeting with ZRO officials on December 17, 2010,
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said he appreciated ZRO efforts to maintain
regional peace for democracy in Burma, according to a statement issued by the
ZRO Information and Public Relations Department.
Min Thuta – The 65th Mon
National Day ceremony will be legally and openly held this coming Wednesday 8th
of February in Rangoon after over a decade of bans and restrictions. The
ceremony will be begin at 5pm in Public Park in Dagon Township, Rangoon as
reported by the Myanmar state run newspaper, The Mirror.
“The celebration for the
50th Golden Jubilee Mon National Day in Pa-Done-Mar Theater was the last time
[that we celebrated the Mon National Day]. After that the ceremony of flagging
[Mon national flag] and other enjoyable ceremonies haven’t been allowed to
cerebrated in Rangoon,” said Nai Soe Kyi secretary of Mon National Day
Celebrating Committee (Rangoon).
As previously reported by
IMNA, restrictions from by the military government were beginning to lift in
2009 when the first Mon National Day celebrations were held in Rangoon since
the 1995 ceasefire agreement between New Mon State Party and the government.
“Shops of traditional
foods and handicrafts, entertainment [consisting] of Mon traditional dances and
modern music, and a short play about [Mon Queen] Shin Saw Pu ascending the
throne will be included [in the ceremony],” continued Nai Soe Kyi.
Prior to 2009 there were
heavy restrictions on distributing Mon National Day advertisements and the
government strongly discouraged ethnic displays of nationalism. However, in
2009 a banner announcing Mon National Day was permitted to hang in the Mon Community
hall in Rangoon. Celebrations in ethnic villages were also permitted for the
first time, though they had previously been observed in Mon State.
“Mon National Day of this
year is the most significant one. Every authority in the past didn’t award the
permission (of celebrating Mon National Day) even though we have been
struggling for cerebration; however, the permission of cerebrating Mon National
Day has been awarded only in the era of this government,” said Min Min Nwe, the
contact person of Mon National Day Cerebrating Committee (Center).
In 2008, Mon National Day
celebrations were still banned outright in the capital, Rangoon. Irrawaddy News
reported that large numbers flocked to the Moulmein, capital city of Mon State,
to observe the day instead.
The 65th Mon National Day
Celebrating Committee for Rangoon the events is led by Chairman Nai Phae Tin,
Vice-chairman (1) Nai Saw Oo, Vice-chairman (2) Mi Kon Chit Chit, Vice-chairman
(3) Mi Kyin Than, Secretary Nai Soe Kyi and Joint-secretary Min Raja.
The chief minister of Mon
State will give a speech at Mon State Hall in Moulmein where large Mon National
Day celebrations will also occur. The chief minister of Karen State will also
give a speech at the central stage of Kaw Bain Village, according to Min Min
news.
The Mon National Day
Celebrating Committee Center consists of township-leveled Mon National Day
cerebrating committees in the Rangoon and Pague Divisions, and Mon and Karen
States.
The number of Burmese
refugees arriving in Yunnan Province in China increased dramatically in January,
according to relief workers in camps. As the weather turns colder, the camps
are experiencing a shortage of bedding, food, shelter and medical supplies,
said one aid worker.
He told Radio Free Asia
(RFA) he went to one camp with 5,000 people in it. “I've heard that there are
more than 10 camps in the area,” he was quoted as saying in an article
published on Monday on the station’s news website. “There are camps in Nujiang,
Ruili, and Longchuan as well.”
Asked if the Red Cross
was helping with the relief effort, he said: “So far all the work has been done
by Christian organizations inside China and efforts from nongovernment
voluntary groups who are concerned with such things.”
The U.S.-based ChinaAid
said that the situation is rapidly worsening, and warned of a potential
humanitarian crisis in the area.
“Right now there are at
least 25,000 refugees on the Chinese side of the border, the majority of them
from the Jingpo ethnic group with Burmese nationality,” ChinaAid founder Bob Fu
told RFA. He called on the international community to push for access to the
area along the Sino-Burmese border and to donate basic supplies.
RFA, in calls to the
Yingjiang County government civil affairs bureau, said it was not able to
confirm the statements of a refugee crisis.
“I don't know about
this,” a Chinese official was quoted as saying. “If I, a county government
official, don't know about it, then how would the local people know about it?”
In a statement on its
website, ChinaAid, a Christian-based NGO, said the situation in Kachin State in
Burma would also get worse due to cold weather.
“With a shortage of warm
clothes, nutritional foods, and medicines, the chance for the spread of
epidemic diseases is high,” it said, warning that the Sino-Burmese border
“could become the site of a humanitarian crisis.”
ChinaAid said clashes
have been concentrated since January 1 in an area about 90 kilometers [56
miles] from China’s Yingjiang County and 170 kilometers from the border city of
Ruili, both in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
A statement said that
around 25,000 of an estimated 40,000 refugees displaced along the border area
had crossed unofficially into Yunnan.
On the Burmese side of
the border, the Kachin Independence Army is believed to have put some 21,000
refugees in the Burmese border city of Laiza and 4,000 in the region of Maija
Yang.
It said at least 1,500
people are still hiding in nearby forests, while more than 6,000 have taken
temporary refuge in schools, churches and villages in recent months.
Rangoon – Aung San Suu Kyi has postponed her second major
campaign trip, this time to Mandalay, after officials said a football stadium
would be closed “for government inspection.”
The trip will be rescheduled, National League for Democracy
(NLD) spokesman Ohn Kyaing told Mizzima.
“The Election Commission gave [her] a permit to give a
speech. The Bahtoo Stadium is owned by the Myanmar Football Federation.
Earlier, they verbally agreed that if the commission gave a permit, they would
rent the stadium. But, shortly before the designated time, they said that top
officials would inspect the stadium and so they could not rent it,” he said.
The law requires a political party to apply for a permit seven days before an
event is held. The NLD applied 10 days prior to the event.
The NLD tried to book the Mandalay Mountain and the Shan
Stadium, according to Ohn Kyaing, who is running for a seat in Parliament from
the Mandalay area. For the Mandalay Mountain stadium “we applied for permission
to the Chief Minister. But, we didn’t receive any reply.”
The Shan Stadium was available, he said, but it was finally
deemed too small to hold the large turnout that is expected when Suu Kyi speaks
during her first campaign trip to Mandalay, the country’s second largest city.
Thousands of supporters greeted Suu Kyi when she
visited the Dawei industrial zone area in southern Burma on January 29.
On Tuesday, she traveled outside Rangoon to Myaing Township,
Magway Region, to observe poverty alleviation program and she also visited the
Nyaung-U and Pakokku area during her one-day trip.
The NLD is contesting in 48 seats in Parliament in the April
1 by-election.
A hearing in the
case of a Kachin woman who was allegedly abducted by Burmese soldiers more than
three months ago will be held at the Union Supreme Court in Naypyidaw on Feb.
9, according to a lawyer for the woman's family.
Mar Khar, the
complainant’s lawyer, told The Irrawaddy that Maru Lun Daung, the husband
of Swan Lut Rwei Gyar, and a defendant from the Burmese army's Light Infantry
Battalion (LIB) 321 will testify at the hearing.
On Jan. 26, Lun
Daung submitted a formal complaint to the Supreme Court asking for an
investigation into the disappearance of his wife, who was arrested on Oct. 28
by three soldiers from LIB 321, based on Lwe Long mountain in Kachin State. The
court set the hearing date the following day.
“Of course, someone
from the battalion has to come. The court has already sent a summons,” said Mar
Khar.
Under Chapter 8,
Article 378 of Burma's 2008 Constitution, the Supreme Court of the Union has
the power to issue writs of habeas corpus, through which a prisoner can be
released from unlawful detention.
Lun Daung told The Irrawaddy
that he and his father-in-law were also arrested together with Rwei Gyar while
they were working in a corn plantation. Soldiers from LIB 321 accused them of
being members of the Kachin Independence Army, he said.
He added that
although he and his father-in-law managed to escape the same day, his wife was
still held by the soldiers.
“Rwei Gyar’s child
is only 15 months old. The baby is now being taken care of by grandparents,”
said Mar Khar.
Besides Lun Daung,
relatives of two other alleged abductees have also reportedly submitted similar
complaints to the Union Supreme Court.
Bran Seng and Zaw Seng
were arrested by Infantry Battalion 37 on Dec. 1 and Jan. 5, respectively, the
lawyer said.
Teddim township people
will oppose the opening of a Chin National Front (CNF) license office,
following an agreement between the Chin state government and the CNF delegation
in the first week of January.
The license office of the
Chin state government agreed to open a CNF license office in three places
in Chin state such as Matupi, Than Tlang and Teddim town after negotiations
between the CNF and Chin state government last month.
Signatures from the
public were being collected to oppose the move to open a CNF license office in
Teddim town by some local youth groups, said a leader of a local youth group.
“We do not dislike CNF
members but its party members have been unruly. So, the local people think that
there will be more trouble for local people if they set up an office inside,”
said a youth leader.
The signatures were being
collected in Teddim, Ton Zang, Chin state, Kalemyo of Sagaing division and
Rangoon, the former capital of Burma, where Zomi people stay.
The Zogam Post reported
that the statement with signatures will be posted on a website for Zomi people
to sign from abroad.
Collection of the CNF
license office opposition signatures was completed from around 50 villages in
Teddim Township. The signatures will be submitted to Mr. Thein Sein, the
President of the new Burmese government and Mr. Hung Ngai, Chief Minister of
Chin state next month.
“I got the information
from Voice of Zomi. I said that so many people have been affected in the
revolution period. The military government arrested many innocent people and
put them in jail on long term sentences. Some local people were tortured and
killed in the state. It happed in various places, said Mr. Paul Sitha, Joint
Secretary General (1).
He added that The CNF was
collecting taxes from Chin people since 1990. “We collected at the Chin state
level till 2008. We did not exclude any place or area or township at that time.
Teddim and Ton Zang people should look at national unity. Negotiations should
be across the table to solve a problem instead of going for confrontation,”
said Mr. Pual Sitha.
The nine-point agreement
was signed in Hakha the capital of Chin state last month by CNF, which included
that CNF liaison offices will be opened in Matupi, Than Tlang and Tiddim in the
south, north and the middle of Chin State, respectively and then the Chin state
government will meet the peace delegation. The CNF also agreed to cooperate in
eradicating illegal poppy cultivation, drug business and drug smuggling in
northern Chin State. Khonumthung news
Low salaries and poor working conditions have prompted
workers for the Thai state-owned PTT energy company to go on strike in Tavoy
[Dawei], the southern Burmese town currently being transformed into a massive
industrial complex.
Around 60 labourers are dissatisfied at the $US5-a-day wages
they are receiving, and complain that other companies involved in the project
are paying their employees nearly double that.
Now in its fourth day, the strike threatens to draw further
attention to the controversy surrounding the Tavoy venture, which upon
completion in 2019 will become Southeast Asia’s largest industrial complex, and
threatens to displace up to 30,000 people.
The workers say that on top of the low salary, they are
required to work from dawn until dusk and are often denied meal breaks.
“About two weeks before our protest, the company gave us a
contract to sign which demands we work 12 hours a day, seven days a week,” said
one of the strikers. “There’s no benefit for us in that – only they [PTT]
profit.”
He continued that PTT had not responded to a complaint
lodged with its socioeconomic department, and 58 people began a strike on
Tuesday. That number has now dwindled, but has had a nominal impact: PTT
employees on Tuesday “promised a pay rise”, although the worker lamented that
nothing had yet happened.
The group had been working on the Kanpauk gas pipeline
project, one of a smorgasbord of features being developed for the industrial
site, which will house petrochemical plants, steel mills and plastics
factories, as well as a giant deep-sea port.
Plans for a 4,000 MW coal-fired power station were scrapped
by the Burmese government in a shock move last month that drew the ire
of Thailand, which had expected to receive around 3,400 MW of the output.
The project is led by the Thai construction giant Ital-Thai,
but draws on migrant labour from across the region. One protestor said the
mixture of different nationalities had created friction. “There aren’t enough
water purifiers and the Chinese people point at things with their feet and not
with a finger,” he said, referring to a practice considered rude in Burma.
The development is rapidly turning this quiet stretch of
coastline in Tenasserim division into a vast construction site, with local
campaigners fearing substantial environmental damage. But the government has
attempted to portray the project as a signifier of its potential to become a
key economic and strategic player in the region, given its geographical
position as a gateway to ASEAN economies.
A public war of
words has broken out in Burma between a private company and government
officials over the company’s plans to sell a phone card at a price as low as
5,000 kyat (US $ 6)—100 times cheaper than those currently on the market.
The conflict started
in early January when Shwe Pyi Tagon Co Ltd (SPT), a telephone company in
Rangoon, announced that beginning in March it would sell 1 million 3G SIM Cards
for only kyat 5,000, pending government approval.
Currently, inside
Burma it costs an average of $500 to buy a reliable SIM card. So when news of
SPT’s intentions was reported in local journals, it was enthusiastically
welcomed by many Burmese people, who have been paying much higher prices for
phone cards than people in neighboring Thailand.
This week, however,
the Burmese Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs (MPT), which has
long monopolized the telecommunication sector in Burma, ran statements in
state-run newspapers roundly rejecting the private company's scheme to sell
cheap phone cards.
The MPT statement
said that it was “absolutely impossible at this time because it takes a
considerable amount of time to establish a thorough communications network and
the proposal is not in accordance with the existing laws.”
Despite this, SPT
issued a statement on Tuesday assuring the public that it has the necessary
technology to implement its plan and thus would continue to proceed with
efforts to sell a cheap phone card to any Burmese citizens who show their
national identity card.
The statement quoted
reformist President Thein Sein, who said in a speech last April that government
departments must strive to reduce basic expenses for businesses in areas such
as telephone lines, electricity and office buildings, as well as transaction
costs, because it was eventually public consumers who had to bear the burden of
such costs.
SPT also said that
the company has informed the MPT of its desire to work as a second mobile
network operator in the country, fully relying on its own technology, but to
cooperate with the government department regarding its business model.
“We try to provide
the cheapest telephone service so that everyone can use a mobile phone,” said
Lwin Naing Oo, the managing director of the company in a Tuesday press
conference in Rangoon, where the SPT statement was issued.
MPT’s vague citation
of “existing laws” may have been an allusion to “security concerns,” which was
a predominant factor in decisions by the previous military regime to reject
private enterprise proposals, but which has now become a hurdle for
entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of government economic reforms.
Cheap phone cards
sold by SPT would deal a heavy blow not only to the MPT’s business interests,
but also to other mobile phone operators controlled by cronies close to ex-army
generals currently serving in Burma’s quasi-civilian government.
MPT and Htoo Trading
Co Ltd, a conglomerate owned by US-sanctioned Burmese tycoon Tay Za, are
currently selling prepaid phone cards that cost $20-50 dollars.
Early last year,
Central Marketing and Elite, both subsidiaries of Htoo Trading Company, entered
into a joint venture with the MPT to sell handsets and one-use phone cards.
As a result,
allegations have surfaced that MPT officials are resisting SPT’s cheap SIM card
proposal because of business dealings they may have with Tay Za’s companies.
Burma’s current
Constitution states that the national government shall prevent acts that harm
the public interest through monopolization or manipulation of prices by an
individual or group with intent to endanger fair competition in economic
activities, and an anti-trust bill was proposed in Parliament last year by an
opposition party.
Whether or not SPT’s
plan to sell cheap phone cards is allowed to proceed will provide an indication
of whether the new government can create a fair economic playing field that
encourages new domestic businesses and foreign investment.
In another sign of Thailand companies moving into
neighboring Burma, Siam City Cement Plc (SCCC) is looking at building a cement
plant in Burma.
Managing director Philippe Arto said the company already has
contacts and is studying potential investment locations throughout the country,
according to an article in the Bangkok Post published on Thursday.
"For SCCC, we see the real potential and are positive
about Burma. We have to act fast to grow our business there," he told the
newspaper.
SCCC was chosen as one of the prospective cement companies
to be involved in the Dawei deep-sea port industrial project, according to an
article published late last year. SCCC Executive Vice President Chantana
Sukumanont confirmed that SCCC had already carried out a feasibility study to
determine if a cement plant in Burma would yield favourable results.
Arto was quoted as saying he was concerned, however, about
“regulations and exchange rates.”
Chantana said SCCC is also looking at acquiring other assets
in Burma.
Chiang Mai – The Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA)
has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s National Logistics
Agency to sell 200,000 tons of rice to Indonesia this year.
The agreement was signed in Rangoon on January 28 at a
ceremony that included Deputy Minister for Commerce Dr. Pwint San and
Indonesia's Ambassador to Burma, Sebastianus Sumarsono.
Indonesia has mainly relied on Thailand, Vietnam and India
for rice imports, but in 2011 a severe flood damaged paddy fields in Thailand
and Vietnam, causing Indonesia to buy Burmese rice, according to the MRIA.
“The rice to be exported to Indonesia is Elmahta Rice [25
points]. If the rice has 75 points, it’ll be good quality. Now the rice [25
points] is broken rice,” MRIA deputy chairman Sein Win Hlaing told Mizzima.
Indonesia imports around 2 million tons of rice per year.
In 2011, the Burmese rice crop was damaged because of
flooding in the Irrawaddy Region, Bago (Pegu) Region, Mon State and Arakan
State, causing Burma’s production to decrease 10 percent, according to
estimates by MRIA. Burma’s average rice production is 17 million tons a year.
MRIA said that Burma would give first priority to the local
rice demand and the stability of local rice prices.
“If we don’t have a rice reserve for our country and have
signed agreements with foreign countries to sell the rice, the rice price in
the local market will increase sharply. So we will keep enough rice in reserve
for our country’s need. Only after it’s sure that we have enough rice, would we
export excess rice to foreign countries,” Sein Win Hlaing said.
MRIA and the Burmese government will cooperate to buy brown
rice reserves from farmers at a price of 3,300 kyat (about US$ 4.50) per
Burmese bushel of rice [40.91 liter]. In late January, the government allocated
10 billion kyat to buy brown rice for reserve.
Burma’s local demand for rice is 15 million tons per year,
officials said. The current price of Pawsan Rice is 800 kyat per basket [0.26
liter], the same price as in 2011, according to rice shops in the Bayintnaung
wholesale center.
Because of bad weather and insects, farmers have encountered
difficulties this year. Farmers received agricultural loans from the Union of
Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited at an interest rate of 2 percent, but because
of bad weather and insects, paddy fields were damaged and many farmers could
not repay their loans, said farmers in Dedaye Township.
“Paddy fields were spoiled by flood in the rainy season. Now
paddy fields [under irrigation] were hit by heavy rain this winter like the
previous year, and the quality of brown rice will be bad. Moreover, insects
spoiled some rice crops. We will financially lose,” a farmer in Noutpyandoe
Village told Mizzima.
Most Burmese rice is exported to west African
countries. Bangladesh and the Philippines also import Burmese rice. In
2010, about 800,000 tons of Burmese rice was exported; in 2011, just 700,000
tons was exported, according to MRIA.
According to MRIA records, there are 20.43 million acres of
paddy fields in Burma; 17.27 million acres are productive in the rainy season
and 3.16 million acres are productive in the summer.
MEMBERS of Myanmar’s elite are frequent visitors to
Singapore for all sorts of reasons. They come to shop, to pay anxious visits to
their bank deposits and their doctors, to put their children into school, to
gamble at the world’s biggest casino and to ogle a vision of globalised
prosperity. Thein Sein, the president, came this week with a big delegation,
for the signing of and agreement on co-operation in areas from tourism to the
law and to thank Singapore for its loyal support over the years. But he came
mainly to take a bow.
Like a prize-winning schoolboy who vindicates his maligned
teachers, he makes everybody feel good. A former general, he is Myanmar’s first
civilian president for half a century. He has led a startling liberalisation.
Most notably, the political system is now open to Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader
of the opposition, and her party. She is to contest a by-election in early
April and, soon afterwards, Thein Sein implied last month, may find herself in
his cabinet.
After long years of repressive military rule, this is huge
progress, and has been welcomed by world leaders. Singapore—and by extension
Myanmar’s other partners in the Association of South-East Asian Nations—is keen
to take the credit for an effective policy of engagement. Speaking this week at
the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kishore Mahbubani, a former Singaporean
diplomat and now a writer on international affairs, boasted that “the gradual
‘drip-drip-drip’ diplomacy eventually yielded results.”
This week it naturally suited the Burmese delegation to
accept this argument and to thank Singapore for continuing to trade with and
invest in Myanmar even when its generals were shunned by the West. Yet an
equally convincing case can be made that the real impetus behind reform was the
desire to see Western sanctions lifted.
The debate is academic. It is a diplomatic win-win, where
all parties can claim they were right. The same is true of the whole
liberalisation process. Freed political prisoners and the democratic opposition
have won, but so have the leaders of the former junta, whose wealth and freedom
are not, as yet, under threat. On the campaign trail, Miss Suu Kyi has already
started to raise some difficult issues—such as Myanmar’s constitution, which
enshrines a decisive role for the army and may only be changed with its
consent. It would be nice if democracy were a win-win proposition. Sadly, even
Myanmar cannot escape its need for losers.
India implemented a Look East Policy (LEP) in the early
nineties, aimed at strengthening relations with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states. In keeping with its bid for a leadership
role in Asia and beyond, India seeks greater integration with ASEAN and is
striving to create an Asian Economic Community. Looking back, it can be said
that the Policy has been moderately successful. India’s relations with ASEAN
and its member states have developed significantly over the years. The
India–ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, signed in 2009 and operationalised in 2010,
has been a tangible outcome of India’s LEP.
The key highlights of the LEP include:
·India has summit-level relations with ASEAN, is
a full dialogue partner in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and is a member of
the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM+). The next India–ASEAN Commemorative
Summit will be held in New Delhi in 2012.
·India is a founding member of the East Asia
Summit (EAS).
·India and ASEAN have an FTA in operation.
·India–ASEAN trade has been increasing in recent
years at a fast rate. According to Government of India (GoI) data, India’s trade
with ASEAN in 2010–11 was US$ 57.9 billion; of this, exports accounted for US$
27.3 billion, and imports accounted for US$ 30.6 billion. Trade with ASEAN
constitutes about 10 per cent of India’s global trade.
·Indian investments in the ASEAN countries are
increasing.
·More and more Indian professionals are working
in ASEAN countries.
·ASEAN welcomes cultural engagement with India.
As part of this, the international Nalanda University is being set up in Bihar.
While these are positive developments, what are the
prospects for India–ASEAN relations over the next 20 years? Undoubtedly, the
past two decades of LEP have provided the foundation for rapid growth of
India–ASEAN relations in the next 20 years. Yet, a critical and objective
analysis of the LEP would show that its full potential has not yet been
realised.
·Connectivity between India and the ASEAN region
is still poor.
·The trade is below potential, especially if seen
in comparison with ASEAN’s trade with China or Japan.
·Investments in each others’ economies remain
low.
·People-to-people contacts remain at a low level.
Visa restrictions continue to prevail, and tourism is below par.
·BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral and Technical Cooperation) and MGC (Mekong-Ganga Cooperation)
are performing much below their potential.
·New areas of cooperation have not been tapped.
India should invest in capacity building, strengthening of democratic
institutions and engagement with civil society. The potential of cooperation in
health, education and tourism also need to be utilised.
·ASEAN counties are not yet comfortable with the
idea of enhancing cooperation in defence and security areas due to the China
factor.
·Cooperation on counter-terrorism has not reached
a critical mass.
·Flagship projects like the Nalanda University
have made slow progress.
A major lacuna in India’s LEP has been the absence of deep
engagement with Myanmar, which is not only India’s neighbour—sharing a land
border with India—but also a gateway for India to ASEAN. Closer engagement with
Myanmar will give a boost to India’s LEP.
Another key impediment has been the relative lack of
development in India’s North-East region. The North-East must be made an
integral part of India’s LEP as both a key driver and a staging post for the
Policy.
This will require, first and foremost, the settlement of the
continuing insurgencies in the region as it would take care of many of India’s
security concerns. It must be noted that considerable progress has been made in
this regard in recent years. The recent improvement in India–Bangladesh
relations has had a major security benefit for India in terms of winding down
of the ULFA insurgency. Similarly, improving ties with Myanmar will help India
in dealing with the Naga and Manipur insurgencies. Economic and social
development in the region will also pay security dividends for India.
The North-East region has the potential to become a
manufacturing hub for engaging with neighbouring Bangladesh, Myanmar, and ASEAN
in general. For this, the North-East needs to be connected more densely with
Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the ASEAN region beyond. This will require building
infrastructure—roads, railway lines, river transport, airports, tourism
infrastructure, border check-posts, educational, and health infrastructure,
etc.—in the North-East on an urgent basis. The GoI needs to invest big sums in
the region in order to make LEP a success. Moreover, linking the North-East to
Myanmar and Bangladesh will help in the development of the region and address the
issue of poverty.
Myanmar’s Role in India’s Look East Policy
The transition to democracy in Myanmar is a development of
great significance for Indo–Myanmar relations. It will also impact the region
as a whole. Since March 2011, when a civilian government came to power and
political and economic reforms were subsequently initiated by President Thein
Sein, Myanmar’s isolation is gradually receding. The US and the European Union
are also contemplating engagement with Myanmar. Given its geo-strategic location
and natural resources, Myanmar is on the verge of a major take-off.
President Thein Sein visited India in October 2011 and the
Myanmar Foreign Minister, Wanna Maung Lwin, paid a visit in January 2012.
India’s External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, also visited Myanmar in 2011.
Thus, there is mutual interest in taking bilateral ties forward. A key
challenge for India is fast-tracking its relations with Myanmar as that will
boost its Look East initiative.
The current state of Indo-Myanmar relations appears healthy.
Both countries have set a target of doubling bilateral trade to $3 billion by
2015. According to information provided by the GoI to Parliament, India has
offered assistance to Myanmar
“for road development projects to
build physical connectivity with Myanmar. These include up-gradation of the
Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyoa road (about 160 km) in Myanmar across the border from
Manipur; Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, which envisages
development of road and inland waterways from Sittwe port in Myanmar to
Mizoram; upgradation of Rhi-Tiddim Road (about 60 km) in Myanmar adjoining
Mizoram; and some segments of Trilateral Highway Project (about 1,360 km)
connecting Moreh (Manipur, India) to Mae Sot (Thailand) through Myanmar.”
The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the
Rhi-Tiddim project, once completed, will transform India’ North-East and the
bordering Myanmar regions.
President Thein Sein’s visit to India in October 2011, when
he was accompanied by a number of cabinet ministers, was a landmark event that
sought to transform India-Myanmar relations. A number of agreements were signed
during the visit, including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the
up-gradation of the Yangon Children's Hospital and Sittwe General Hospital, and
a programme of Cooperation in Science & Technology for the period
2012–2015. India has already extended lines of credit worth $300 million for
the development of railways, transport, power transmission lines, oil refinery,
and OFC link, etc., to Myanmar. During the visit, India announced the extension
of a new concessional facility of a $500 million line of credit to Myanmar for
specific projects, including irrigation projects. The Indian Prime Minister
announced that India would extend technical and financial support for the
following new projects: setting up of an Advanced Centre for Agricultural
Research and Education (ACARE) in Yezin, and a Rice Bio Park at a farm in Nay
Pyi Taw. The Prime Minister also announced India’s support to Myanmar for setting
up an Information Technology Institute in Mandalay and a second Industrial
Training Centre at Myingyan with technical support from HMTI.
Energy security and the power sector are important areas for
mutual cooperation. During President Thein Sein’s visit, it was agreed to
enhance cooperation in the area of oil and natural gas. In this context,
Myanmar welcomed the substantial investments made by Indian companies,
including GAIL, ESSAR, ONGC, among others, in off-shore and on-shore blocks,
and the construction of natural gas pipelines. Myanmar agreed to encourage
further investments by Indian companies, both public and private, in its oil
and natural gas sectors.
During the visit, the two sides reiterated their commitment
to cooperate in the implementation of the Tamanthi and Shwezaye projects on the
Chindwin River Basin in Myanmar. While the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the
Tamanthi project by NHPC has been submitted, the final updated DPR for Shwezaye
will be available in March 2012. While designing these projects, India must
factor in their impact on the local population and environment. It is essential
to take their views into account.
Indo–Myanmar cooperation in the past has been marred by
delays and uncertainty. These delays have cost India productive cooperation in
the hydrocarbon sector, where China has been the gainer. Undoubtedly, there is
far greater potential in Indo–Myanmar relations than the few projects India has
undertaken so far. These projects should be competed at the earliest but more needs
to be done.
The following steps can be considered by the GoI:
·India should enhance its investments in Myanmar
and set up a much larger sum of, say, $5 billion for investment in Myanmar’s
economic and social projects in the form of grants and soft loans. This
investment should be made in building critical infrastructure in Myanmar,
infrastructure enhancing connectivity between India and Myanmar, and also in
trilateral projects between India, Myanmar, and Thailand.
·People-to-people contacts between India and
Myanmar should be enhanced rapidly through liberalisation of the visa regime,
educational and cultural cooperation, border areas development, and the
development of tourism infrastructure.
·Security cooperation between the two countries
should be upgraded by establishing information sharing, joint patrolling of the
borders, and cooperation on border management.
·Indian investments in Myanmar should be
increased in the areas identified by the latter, particularly in minerals,
energy, and agriculture.
·India and Myanmar should enhance cooperation in
maritime security.
·India should share the benefits of its science
and technology with Myanmar. A 10-year programme of science and technology
cooperation should be established and implemented.
·India should share its experience in
strengthening democratic institutions with Myanmar.
·The two counties should coordinate their
approaches on the issue of cooperation in BIMSTEC, ARF, EAS, and ADMM+, etc.
·Myanmar has a significant Indian diaspora, which
is well integrated in the local society. The diaspora can play an important
role in strengthening India–Myanmar relations.
·The existing Joint Committee at the Commerce
Ministry level should be elevated to a Joint Economic Commission to take a
holistic and comprehensive view of the bilateral economic relationship. A
business forum consisting of businessmen on both sides can also be set up.
High-level mechanisms of officials should be set up to focus on greater
connectivity between India and Myanmar.
·An MoU for defence cooperation between the two
sides should be considered.
·The two sides should consider signing a cultural
exchange programme.
·Given the affinity between Myanmar and India’s
north-eastern states, cooperation agreements to promote closer cultural and
trade affinity between the two sides should be considered.
As Myanmar opens up to the outside world, India can aid it
immensely in nurturing its nascent democracy. The two neighbours have a
historic opportunity to come close to each other once again and transform their
bilateral relations as well as the larger region. Myanmar is rich in natural
resources, and consistent and long-standing cooperation with India will help it
develop its true potential. For India, cooperation with Myanmar will help
transform the North-East, bolster its LEP, and help it emerge as a major Asian
power.
The author is the Director General, IDSA, New Delhi. This
presentation was made at an International Conference on “Myanmar : Bridging
South and Southeast Asia" held at Jamia Milia Islamia University, New
Delhi on 30-31 January 2012.The views expressed in this article are personal.
On a state visit to
Singapore with a delegation of ministers and businesspeople earlier this week,
Burmese President Thein Sein made his most explicit commitment to democratic
reform and an overhaul of the country’s moribund economy and government
infrastructure.
“We want democracy to
thrive. I wish to assure you that I shall endeavor to establish a healthy
democracy in Myanmar,” he said, referring to the country by its alternate name.
“We want a brighter future for our people.” He asked the international
community to support Burma’s reform path, noting that the transition is fraught
with challenges.
Singapore, whose
government-linked companies as well as private ones have invested heavily for
years in Burma, obviously intends to play a major role in the country’s
development. Thein Sein was in the island republic to sign a Singapore-Burma
Technical Cooperation Agreement to cover technical assistance and training for
the legal, banking, finance, trade, tourism and urban planning sectors.
Singapore will also
provide English-language, technical and vocational education in an effort to
help Burma emerge from decades of isolation and under-investment in manpower.
All through 2011, Burma
took measures to release political prisoners, legalize its main opposition
party and relax controls on media. These are all part of a package of reforms
known as the “road map to democracy.” Skeptics are beginning to hope that this
time it is real.
A top Burmese Information
Ministry official recently said that he was enthusiastic about the pace of
reform, saying that the country’s overhaul of human rights and the democratic
process could well leave the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) behind. The official cited Singapore and Malaysia as questioning—half
in jest—why the country was in such a hurry.
As has been widely
reported, Aung San Suu Kyi has re-registered her National League for Democracy
(NLD). The NLD expects to contest April 1 by-elections for 48 seats that fell
vacant when lawmakers were elevated to ministerial positions. Of the 48, 40 are
for the 420-strong lower house, six for the upper house and two for regional
assemblies.
While the number of
constituencies the NLD is contesting seems small, it does set an important
marker for representative democracy.
When queried about the
wisdom of participating in a political framework defined by the military and
stacked with regime proxies, the 66-year old Nobel Peace Price laureate was
amazingly upbeat.
“Elements in the
government genuinely desire reform ... if we wait only for solid guarantees, we
can never proceed,” she told reporters. “We have to take risks. We need the
courage to face a future that is really not known to us.”
Even if the NLD wins all
the 40 lower house seats it contests in April, it would still barely wield 9.5
percent of the influence in Parliament. Suu Kyi’s sharp challenge to the
recently cobbled Constitution may seem quixotic, but she carries
disproportionate moral authority within the country and internationally. If and
when she gets into Parliament, she would be the voice of the people despite the
tiny share of the seats that is projected. Some say the president may offer her
a senior government role.
On her first campaign
tour to the coastal region of Tavoy (also known as Dawei), 615 km south of
Rangoon last Sunday, Suu Kyi called for changes to the Constitution, which was
put together to ensure the power of the military. The document reserves 25
percent of seats for the military, allows it to appoint cabinet ministers, to
unilaterally declare a state of emergency and run many critical government
functions.
Tavoy is where
environmental activists protested successfully against the construction of a
4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant that the president surprisingly canceled.
Another 400 megawatt power plant is still on the drawing board as the region
has been designated for major industrial projects including a deep-sea port,
steel mill and petrochemical plant. Infrastructure of railways and highways are
also planned to connect to Thailand.
“There are certain laws
that are obstacles to the freedom of the people. We will strive to abolish
these laws within the framework of parliament,” Suu Kyi told reporters. She has
also called for transparency and accountability of government and wants an end
to the military harassment of ethnic minorities.
The internal warring in
Burma since 1948 has drained government finances, diverting budgets to military
spending without resolution.
It has also led to abuses
in the field and increasing disaffection among minorities. The alienation has
allowed warlords in the provinces to build their own private armies to resist
government forces and give cover for smuggling of timber, gemstones and heroin.
As the provinces are rich
in natural resources, there is great economic incentive for the central
government to seek access and control. Until there is an agreed platform to
share benefits, resources will remain unharvested for development while all
sides waste time on armed skirmishes. The people are caught in the middle.
The Lady, as Suu Kyi is
affectionately known, has been consistent in not seeking the overthrow of the
regime that disenfranchised her party. She advocates meaningful dialogue but
insists on the continuation of economic sanctions by Western governments and
international bodies like the United Nations.
Her insistence on
blocking Western aid and trade has upset many local NGOs starved of funding for
much-needed basic medical, rural agriculture and education programs. The sanctions
have also delayed vital investment in infrastructure, hitting ordinary people
the most.
She must be aware of the
daily hardships suffered by Burma citizens but is keenly conscious that
allowing premature withdrawal of economic sanctions will not push the democracy
agenda forward but only prolong military rule. She opted to focus on democratic
reform and getting the military back to barracks.
Suu Kyi’s unwavering
stand may finally have convinced the junta that rehabilitating her could unlock
desperately needed foreign investment, expertise, technology, aid and trade.
Thein Sein surprised
citizens and political observers when he invited her to his official residence
for a meeting on Aug. 19. He discussed the 7-point road map to democracy with
her and pledged “step-by-step” progress, suggesting positive cooperation as the
way forward.
Suu Kyi was then invited
to the government-sponsored conference on macro-economic reforms where she was
accorded VVIP status. The change of attitude was evident in the welcoming
smiles of the generals and bureaucrats—many jostling for photo ops with her.
Another 600 NLD and other
opposition members have been released from prisons. The government says there
are no more “political prisoners” in detention, but many dissidents have been
charged with “criminal activity” as defined by the military.
Suu Kyi’s meeting with
the president was reported on front pages with pictures. The routine vitriolic
commentary against her and her party has disappeared from the state press. Her
portraits are openly displayed and sold on the streets along with T-shirts and
NLD flags.
The Lady has taken the
generals at their word. She has placed her trust in the “road map to democracy”
at enormous risk to herself and her supporters. Asean’s strategy of
“constructive engagement” seems to be finally yielding positive results, while
the West’s sanctions add urgency.
Burma is due to assume
the chairmanship of Asean in 2014. The world hopes to welcome the country as a
responsible member of the international community before then.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that
allows guest writers to have their say. Please click
here if you are interested in contributing.
The Myanmar delegation to the United Nations in Geneva
complained last year that some members failed to show due diplomatic respect by
referring to their country as Burma rather than Myanmar. Now most diplomats and
news publications refer to the country as Myanmar as a reward the regime's
recent so-called reforms. But is this respect justified and are long-time
Myanmar observers now suffering from selective amnesia?
Last year, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, recently
released from years of house arrest, remotely addressed the annual World
Economic Forum in Davos "on behalf of the 55 million
people of Burma who have largely been left behind". Suu Kyi, who has long
supported Western sanctions imposed against her country's military regime,
appealed to international participants to promote Burma's genuine
democratization, human development and economic growth.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party a week later
detailed the kinds of policies needed to promote positive change and rebutted
claims that Western sanctions were only detrimental to Burma's people, not
leadership. The party argued that "criticism of sanctions served to divert
attention from the main problems plaguing the country" which it listed as
blatant cronyism, corruption, and the military regime's refusal to release
their iron-clad grip on power.
It also argued that the legislative assemblies formed out of
the 2010 elections, which the NLD did not contest and hence was subsequently
banned, are totally dominated at both the national and regional levels by the
combined body of the military's Union Solidarity Development Party and the
non-elected military representatives who account for 25% of all legislative
seats. Moves to designate these assemblies as the country's only political
forum reduced democratization in Burma to a "parody", the NLD said.
A year later, optimistic reports of positive change flow
freely from the country. President Thein Sein has portrayed himself as a leader
who sincerely wants to improve citizens' livelihoods, alleviate poverty and
include the NLD in the political process. He has formed a new Human Rights
Commission, opened previously closed doors to international diplomats and their
corporate sponsors, and relaxed laws to promote more international investment
and development.
The timing has been impeccable. International corporations,
many nervous over Europe's debt crisis and America's sustained sluggishness,
are eager to find fresh new places for their funds and Burma is suddenly
emerging as a possible destination. As the chairman of the Singapore-based
Rogers Holdings told Bloomberg Television last November, "If you can find
ways to invest in Myanmar you will be very, very rich over the next 20, 30, 40
years."
China and Thailand currently account for more than 70% of
total investment in Burma, but as the executive vice president of the Stock
Exchange of Thailand recently said, "Every Western company complaining
about sanctions is looking around. The more the merrier ... There are vast
opportunities in Myanmar."
Following those words, a high-level American business
delegation that will include Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is due to visit the
country in February in the latest sign of strengthening US ties with the
long-isolated, military-run country. European businesses are known to be
interested in various sectors, including natural resources and infrastructure,
the President of the Thai-German Chamber of Commerce recently said while
opening the new European-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Business Center in Bangkok.
There are commercial reasons to be optimistic. Myanmar is
developing a US$8.6 billion port and industrial complex at the coastal town of
Dawei which is designed to cover an area 16 times bigger than Thailand's
largest manufacturing park. Thanet Sorat, head of the Federation of Thai
Industries, said recently "What makes Dawei interesting is Myanmar itself.
It was closed for so long and now the government is more open. Thai companies
see many opportunities there due to cheap labor costs and many natural
resources."
However, the government's and military's continued rights
abuses in the same region are less widely publicized. The Human Rights Foundation
of Monland (HRFM) recently reported widespread violations against citizens in
Dawei's Tenasserim Division. In fishing villages along its coastal areas, the
Navy's administrative unit extorts monthly household fees, commandeers
fishermen's boats and drivers to transport staff and troops, demands rations
from the local population, and forces people to act as security guards,
according to HRFM.
Last year, the same navy unit allegedly confiscated over
1,000 acres [405 hectares] of rubber and perennial fruit plantations from local
farmers. None of the agrarians were compensated for their lost lands. Over
3,000 more acres of rubber plantations have been surveyed for confiscation,
according to reports. Many local authorities now make money by granting permission
to displaced former land owners to work as cheap labor on their confiscated
plantations for a monthly fee.
The recently released 38-page Burmese language book, Forced
Expropriations of Farmland and Partial Victories, published by the Farmers
Rights Defenders Network, also tells the story of villagers' struggle against
army-backed companies taking their land for industrial development.
To date the new National Human Rights Commission, run by the
Home Ministry, has not investigated any of these claims. "There is no real
change and development yet in spite of the government's claim. This is because
the abuses that locals in the region face are committed by local military men,
who do not seem to care and respect the government's order and power,"
remarked a local former school teacher quoted in the HRFM report.
Cosmetic change
So are the positive changes supposedly taking place in Burma
more cosmetic than substantive? And does Thein Sein's nominally civilian,
military-backed government deserve the international recognition and rewards it
has recently and may in future receive, including the lifting of economic and
financial sanctions?
One condition for removing Western sanctions has been the
release of political prisoners. Those who have been released by recent
presidential pardons committed no crimes yet at any time may be sent back into
prison to complete their sentences if they do anything deemed as improper by
authorities. Significantly, the amnesties have not been based on any law but
rather the whim of the leader.
Over 1,000 political prisoners still remain imprisoned,
according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Burma (AAPPB). The real number is unknown. No independent review of prisons,
prison labor camps, and agricultural production camps have been allowed since
2005 when the International Commission of the Red Cross was denied access.
Despite all the talk of reforms, none of the arbitrary laws
and regulations that have been used to crush dissent have been changed. And
there remain many unanswered but highly pertinent questions that Western
governments looking to engage Thein Sein's supposedly reformist regime should
be asking.
For instance, where are products of agricultural prison
labor camps being sold? What compensation schemes are in place for
government-confiscated lands, crops, and resources? Where is the discussion of
land ownership and rights, particularly at a time foreign investors look to
establish presences in the country?
To be sure, Suu Kyi's announcement that the NLD will
re-enter politics confers a degree of legitimacy on President Thein Sein and
his nominally elected parliamentary government. Her endorsement of what so far
has been a limited democratization process has attracted eager corporate
interest but little improvement in civil liberties and human rights - the
reasons economic sanctions were imposed in the first place.
All laws passed since 1988, when the military slaughtered
over 3,000 pro-democracy demonstrators, have been passed through executive
decrees rather than legislative processes. There is no independent judiciary.
There is no rule of law. The 2008 Constitution, rammed through in a sham
referendum, is designed to ensure continued domination of the military regime.
Anyone who speaks out against the regime still risks being thrown into prison.
The press is still pre-censored. Change has been marginal, at best.
Despite the pretensions to democracy, Thein Sein's
government still depends on one of the largest armed forces in Southeast Asia
for its survival. With no serious prospect of a foreign invasion, this standing
force remains solely to control the population. A culture of impunity has long
existed in Burma, where government officials and military personnel have gone wholly
unpunished for a litany of widely documented abuses.
The 2008 constitution perpetuates that culture of impunity
by giving blanket amnesty for serious crimes committed by former junta members,
including former leader Senior General Than Shwe. It also denies victims the
right to remedy for past violations as the military still hold disproportionate
influence over Thein Sein's government. Authorities continue to restrict access
to mechanisms of citizen complaint while harassing and taking legal action against
those who have dared to challenge the military's authority over civilian
affairs.
NLD stalwart Win Tin, who was held as a prisoner of
conscience for 19 years, has said he sees "no difference, no change"
with the new government. He has argued that the newly established Human Rights
Commission is similar to the previous ineffectual ones set up by past military
regimes. "There is no change. If you go to the countryside you find poor
people who are facing violations of their human rights," Win Tin said.
Win Tin's is the voice of moral authority few Western
governments and corporations want to hear these days. But the long, hard fought
struggle for freedom and justice in Burma continues and truth speakers should
be supported rather than ignored. While the West blindly supports Thein Sein's
shallow democratic transition, it increasingly runs the rising risk of being on
the wrong side of Burma's history.
Nancy Hudson-Rodd is a human geographer and honorary
senior research fellow at the Edith Cowan University in Australia.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that
allows guest writers to have their say. Please click
here if you are interested in contributing. Articles submitted for
this section allow our readers to express their opinions and do not necessarily
meet the same editorial standards of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
YANGON, Myanmar—As the volume rises inside Myanmar for the
U.S. and Europe to lift strict sanctions, some noise is also coming from an
unlikely quarter: a local underground rock band.
Garage rockers Side Effect took to the Internet last year to
rustle up enough money to release their debut album without relying on the
conservative record labels that dominate the music scene here among the
crumbling, mildewed buildings of Myanmar's commercial and artistic hub.
Inspired by the do-it-yourself drive of the 1970s punk-rock
movement and the success of modern, Internet-savvy groups such as Britain's
Arctic Monkeys, who used the Web to build a large following before even signing
a recording contract, the band raised more than $2,000 in donations through
California-based fund-raising site IndieGoGo, which provides a platform for
film students, aspiring athletes and the like to generate funds they need to
follow their dreams.
In January, though, IndieGoGo refunded donors from the U.S.
and elsewhere their money, leaving the band high and dry. The reason: The
fund-raising site couldn't send the band the money or else risk breaking U.S.
sanctions on Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"Frankly, I didn't think those sanctions would affect
normal people like us," said Darko C., the band's 30-year-old singer and
guitarist. "We're just a group of indie rockers trying to release our
debut record. The sanctions ruined our gateway to rock the world."
His frustration reflects the problems many Myanmar businesses
are facing as the country's leaders steadily build on a series of political and
economic overhauls designed to bring this former military dictatorship into the
mainstream of Asia's booming economies. Transactions here are largely based in
cash and require businesspeople and even ordinary citizens to lug around
unwieldy bales of Myanmar kyats—the unofficial exchange rate: about 775 kyats
per dollar.
The commercial capital Yangon, meanwhile, is only just
beginning to see its first automated-teller machines thanks in part to the
county's international isolation.
Then there are the sanctions themselves. Government advisers
say that rather than encouraging overhauls, they pushed Myanmar into an
unhealthy dependence on countries that didn't care about the human-rights
situation, especially China. "This wasn't a good situation for us,"
said a government adviser, Nay Zin Latt.
Many political leaders here, including members of opposition
icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, now believe Myanmar, after
handing control to a civilian government and launching a program to release
political prisoners, has done enough for Washington and Brussels to drop
sanctions.
The European Union last month agreed to roll back some
sanctions against Myanmar, suspending visa bans against senior government
officials. Western governments, though, are pressing for more overhauls before
ending sanctions, now a powerful lever after Myanmar's new government began to
wean itself off Chinese investment.
During a landmark visit to Myanmar late last year, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said that even one political prisoner was one too
many. Sen. John McCain said last month that the U.S. should wait until at least
April, when Ms. Suu Kyi runs for Parliament in a special election, before
taking further action.
"Let's not rush into judgments we may regret later
on," said Sen. McCain, an influential figure in helping set the U.S.'s
policy of enticing Myanmar and other Asian countries out from China's shadow.
What riles Darko C. and other people in Myanmar most is that
the sanctions have done relatively little to harm the people they supposedly
target: Top army leaders and the powerful tycoons who got rich during the old
military regime.
Some local business magnates specifically named on a U.S.
sanctions list, such as Zaw Zaw and Tay Za, concede that sanctions actually
helped grow their businesses because they prevented foreign firms competing for
local contracts. Now that President Thein Sein is accelerating the pace of
change, Mr. Zaw Zaw in particular says he is reconfiguring his businesses in
order to order to lure foreign investors if sanctions are eventually relaxed.
Now Side Effect is wondering whether to wait for sanctions
to be dropped in their entirety before trying to put out its debut record,
"Rainy Night Dreams."
Darko C.—who uses his stage name— was inspired to pick up a
guitar after hearing Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's energetic, ragged playing.
The band's songs are also reminiscent of New York City's the Strokes, and are a
departure from the stadium-rocking ballads or melodic all-girl bands that
usually sell in Myanmar.
"That's the sound people expect, and it's hard to break
through by writing our own songs about our own lives," Darko C. said.
That means raising funds for the new record themselves—from
overseas if need be— is an important principle for the band. "We don't
want to compromise our independence and our rights to own the tracks by
aligning with a local company to release it," he said.
The Internet, and IndieGoGo, appeared to be an ideal way of
enabling the band to release their record.
"It's a shame when international diplomacy gets in the
way of artistic expression, as in this case," IndieGoGo chief executive
Slava Rubin said by telephone. He said IndieGoGo's hands are effectively tied
by the U.S. sanctions, adding that if the Obama administration is serious about
helping entrepreneurs at home and encouraging political change in Myanmar, it
should make it easier for the company to help raise money for Side Effect and
other causes.
Darko C. is a little more succinct. "It stinks,"
he said. "Our album is ready for the world to hear, but we have no money
to put it out."
Every week, Burma – in ways big and small – continues to
open its doors to the outside world. It still has a long and difficult way to
go but already trends
are emerging that outline a future for a country that has spent the
last half-century winning comparisons with North Korea.
Among the most important factors within those trends is
Thailand.
Relations between Bangkok and its neighbors – Cambodia,
Laos, Malaysia and Burma – are often stressed. Border disputes, Islamic
militancy and transnational crimes like drug running and ethnic conflict are
among the festering issues that dog diplomacy from all sides of the political
divide.
But throughout recent decades, Thailand has provided access
and resources that for years linked Cambodia and Laos to the outside world. Its
ties with Malaysia helped restrict the influence of hot-head mullahs and counter
Islamic extremism. With Burma, Thailand is ideally placed.
Morten Pedersen, a Burma analyst with the University of New
South Wales in Australia, says Burma’s next development phase was likely to be
the new special economic zones on the border with Thailand.
Investment is sorely needed in infrastructure; roads, ports
dams, electricity and access to clean water and sewage. But areas like food,
health and education are also in dire need of funds.
Thai corporations lining up for expansion into Burma include
PTT, PTT Exploration & Production, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating
Holding and Hemaraj Land & Development.
From Japan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo, have
lined up.
Importantly, Toyota Motor Corp has also expressed an
interest in building a production base at Dawei as part of a broader strategy
to reduce costs, but with potential friction elsewhere in its corporate empire.
Toyota suffered heavy losses in Thailand during the recent
floods and backing the move is the Japanese government, which has indicated it
will help bankroll the Dawei project, although it would also like to
restructure debt currently held by Burma’s military leaders.
This wasn’t what Australian unions and government want to
hear.
They were recently angered by Toyota’s decision to cut back
on production at its Melbourne plant. The company’s reasoning was based
on a persistently high Australia dollar, which made exports of locally made
vehicles too expensive for export.
However, this didn’t stop Toyota management from accepting
$100 million in Australian government subsidies over the previous four years,
given to safeguard jobs. Despite this, Toyota cut 350 Australian jobs while
planning a Burmese expansion and a
debt restructuring for Burmese generals, which would hardly endear the
company to a long-standing and loyal market in Australia.
Travel and tourism are other obvious industries for Thai
development. One up-market travel agent, Khiri Travel, is offering boutique
holidays out of Bangkok, a tour of Burma in a private and luxurious jet for
$8,500 a head for four days and three nights and sold as “one of the greatest
little holidays in Asia.”
Khiri’s lofty clients are a long way from the business and
politics on the ground that authorities in Naypyidaw seem bent on attracting
into Burma, which is resource rich with a population of about 60 million. The
potential size of Burma’s economy is comparable with Thailand and Vietnam.
Pederson says from a developmental perspective, Foreign
Direct Investments (FDI) will increase and broaden and be a key issue in the
coming years.
“Burma obviously has the potential to be the next frontier –
like Cambodia and Thailand were earlier,” Pederson says. “However, I would be
careful about comparisons beyond that. Economics in the early days of
development seems to me to be mainly about politics.”
The politics and significance of Dawei weren’t lost on
Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who chose the impoverished town to
stage a recent political rally in the lead-up to April 1 by-elections, which
her National League for Democracy will contest.
In
Dawei they cheered, lined the streets by the thousands and lavished Suu Kyi
with flowers, chanting; “Long Live Aung San Suu Kyi.” It was the type of
reception that opposition leaders in Vietnam, Laos and Singapore can only dream
about.
Burma and Dawei lie in the middle of a regional strategic
corridor that will link Vietnam and China to Burma through Bangkok. This
corridor will gain increasing importance within the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations which is aiming to become a fully integrated economic
community by 2015. The Dawei Special Economic Zone is expected to become
an ASEAN hub.
ASEAN’s 2015 goal is for a stable, prosperous and united
economy capable of competing with the likes of China through the free flow of
goods, services, investments and capital based on a single market.
Such ambitious goals might be impossible to achieve without
Burma opening up.
Burma will also provide strategic access into India, putting
Thailand at the crossroads of regional trade with Burma and India to the west,
Cambodia and Vietnam to the east and Laos and China to the north.
Gavin Greenwood, a risk consultant with Hong Kong-based
Allan & Associates who has followed Burma since the early 1970s, says the
country is one of the few frontier countries left that has serious economic
potential through enormous resources and access to a large market.
A surge of interest from international companies keen to
asses Burma’s potential as a market and a source for raw materials and low cost
labor should be expected, he says.
“This transitional period will produce difficulties and
challenges on both sides as the still introverted regime confronts the
realities of dealing with accountancy-driven, profit-orientated foreigners.
Managing expectations and reducing commercial risks will now form the core of
political analysis,” he says.
Chief among those new expectations and commercial realities
is Thailand, and for the time being at least, all roads in and out of Burma
will lead to its eastern neighbor’s door.
India’s two-decade-old ‘Look East’ policy has enhanced New
Delhi’s influence in every major capital in East and Southeast Asia with one
notable exception: Burma. But the tide could be turning.
Long considered a country stubbornly entrenched in China’s
sphere of authoritarian influence, the military dictatorship in Rangoon has
gone out of its way to distance itself from Beijing, convince the region that
meaningful political reforms are underway, and reach out to democratic capitals
still critical of the regime. This is good news for the Burmese people — a chance
for New Delhi to regain lost ground with its neighbour, and confirmation that
Chinese authoritarian statecraft is not as impressive as it appears.
Burma remains the most ostracised country in Asia outside
North Korea. The US and the EU have imposed robust economic sanctions regime
against Burma since the junta’s brutal crackdown on protests in 1988. From
1990s onwards, China emerged as Burma’s most dependable ally — moving well
ahead of India in the competition for influence in Rangoon. Indeed, China is
now the largest investor and second-largest trading partner of Burma (after
Thailand) and the primary supplier of military equipment to the Tatmadaw
(Myanmar Armed Forces). Beijing provides diplomatic and political cover for the
Tatmadaw, for example, by consistently vetoing American plans to investigate
allegations of civilian repression through UN agencies. Without Chinese
economic assistance, the dysfunctional Burmese economy would have probably
completely collapsed, endangering the continued rule of the junta. It is no
wonder that Burma is sometimes dismissed as a Chinese ‘economic colony’ and
even the unofficial 23rd province of China.
When President Thein Sein took office last March, few
expected much change from the emergence of a so-called ‘civilian’ government.
But as far as its foreign outreach policy is concerned, changes have been
significant. The president suspended the $3.6 billion Chinese-funded Myitsone
Dam project on the northern mouth of the Irrawaddy River, which was to send 90%
of power generated to Yunnan Province in China for the next 50 years. In an
unexpected move, Rangoon has welcomed several American senior officials over
the past few months. These include secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former
presidential candidate John McCain and former vice-presidential candidate Joe
Lieberman.
Significantly, Clinton was granted an audience with Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is considered by India and the West to
be the legitimate leader of Burma on account of her election victory in 1990.
Rangoon has approved meetings between Suu Kyi and Thai prime minister Yingluck
Shinawatra, and British foreign secretary William Hague. Importantly, she has
been cleared to run for parliamentary elections in April 2012.
To be sure, Burma is of strategic importance to China
because it’s superbly positioned above the Andaman Sea, which leads into the
shipping chokepoint of the Malacca Straits. Transport routes through Burma will
also offer southern Chinese provinces alternatives to relying solely on
American patrolled maritime routes through Southeast Asia. But like in African
countries such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, Algeria and Nigeria, China is also
interested in the resources of its southern neighbour: oil, gas, minerals,
timber and hydropower generation.
The majority of Chinese investment is in these sectors, and
by State-owned-enterprises (SOE). And as is often the case with Chinese SOE
activity in poor countries ruled by authoritarian, corrupt and incompetent
regimes, the pact between Beijing and political elites running these regimes
offer little by way of economic, employment or social return to local
populations.
Slowly but inevitably, Burma’s leaders are discovering that
Chinese authoritarian largesse has a price. ‘No strings attached’ economic aid
and political cover offered are an extension of Chinese foreign policy and
Beijing expects attractive strategic and economic returns. In contrast, the
more stringent conditions-based aid preferred by democratic countries and
institutions such as the World Bank is beginning to appear more attractive.
New Delhi’s interests in Burma are not always consistent
with those belonging to Washington and Brussels. Although committed to
democracy domestically, India formally discounts deepening democratic fraternity
and values as a pillar of its foreign policy. But New Delhi is now joined with
the West in wanting to break the authoritarian nexus and reducing Rangoon’s
comprehensive reliance on Beijing. The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and president Sein last October is promising for bilateral relations but
also more evidence that Burma is reaching out to democratic powers in order to
find alternative pathways toward further development not based on becoming a de
facto ‘Chinese colony’.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that genuinely free and fair
elections will soon be seen in Burma. But it should help put to bed the
self-defeating argument making the rounds in democratic capitals, including New
Delhi, that authoritarian powers like China are far more efficient and
successful at statecraft than their democratic rivals.
( John Lee is a research fellow at the Centre for
Independent Studies, Sydney, and the Hudson Institute, Washington DC )
