Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Chinese denied KNG claimed
BDD
Chinese authorities denied that Chinese government has allowed the Burmese-KDA joint forces to cross the Chinese border and attack the KIA forces from behind, sources close to Chinese authorities in Yunnan.
KIO leaders worried after KNG reported that KIO stronghold was tended to attack by Burmese troops from Chinese soil. Sino-Burma border has no fence nor natural fence but just making border marks in early 1950s.
During 1981 civil war, Burmese troops crossed the border and attacked the KIO positions and KIO lost many causalities in terms of Chinese local authorities allowed the Burmese army to cross the border.
However, this time, Kachin News Agency broke this rumor while Burmese troops approaching Lizar, KIO capital which next to the Sino-Burma border. According to the KIO, Burmese government has reinforced more than 3000 combat troops from 77 and 33 light infantry regiments for approaching Lizar.
Source: BDD
Chinese authorities denied that Chinese government has allowed the Burmese-KDA joint forces to cross the Chinese border and attack the KIA forces from behind, sources close to Chinese authorities in Yunnan.
KIO leaders worried after KNG reported that KIO stronghold was tended to attack by Burmese troops from Chinese soil. Sino-Burma border has no fence nor natural fence but just making border marks in early 1950s.
During 1981 civil war, Burmese troops crossed the border and attacked the KIO positions and KIO lost many causalities in terms of Chinese local authorities allowed the Burmese army to cross the border.
However, this time, Kachin News Agency broke this rumor while Burmese troops approaching Lizar, KIO capital which next to the Sino-Burma border. According to the KIO, Burmese government has reinforced more than 3000 combat troops from 77 and 33 light infantry regiments for approaching Lizar.
Source: BDD
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Monday for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The court also approved warrants for Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutors allege they were involved in the killing of protesters who rose up in February against Gadhafi's 41-year rule.
The dictator has "absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control" over Libya's state apparatus and its security forces, presiding judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said in reading out the ruling.
She added that both Gaddafi and Saif al-Islam "conceived and orchestrated a plan to deter and quell by all means the civilian demonstrations" against the regime and that al-Senussi used his position of command to have attacks carried out.
Meanwhile, rebels trying to oust Gadhafi said their forces had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of the capital Tripoli. (Agencies)
Source: Bangkok Post
The dictator has "absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control" over Libya's state apparatus and its security forces, presiding judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said in reading out the ruling.
She added that both Gaddafi and Saif al-Islam "conceived and orchestrated a plan to deter and quell by all means the civilian demonstrations" against the regime and that al-Senussi used his position of command to have attacks carried out.
Meanwhile, rebels trying to oust Gadhafi said their forces had advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of the capital Tripoli. (Agencies)
Source: Bangkok Post
Australian foreign minister to visit Burma
Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd is scheduled to visit Burma from 30 June to 2 July.
He will travel to both Rangoon and Nay Phi Daw to meet members of the new Burmese Government and leaders across the political spectrum, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
During the meetings, he will reiterate Australia's long-standing calls for genuine progress towards national reconciliation and democratic reform. His trip will further assist Australia in making informed assessments on how it can best support reform and economic development in Burma.
Australian overseas development assistance to Burma has significantly increased in the past two years - from $29.1 million in 2009-10 to $47.6 million in 2011-12, and is on track to reach $50 million by 2012-13.
Source: The Nation
He will travel to both Rangoon and Nay Phi Daw to meet members of the new Burmese Government and leaders across the political spectrum, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
During the meetings, he will reiterate Australia's long-standing calls for genuine progress towards national reconciliation and democratic reform. His trip will further assist Australia in making informed assessments on how it can best support reform and economic development in Burma.
Australian overseas development assistance to Burma has significantly increased in the past two years - from $29.1 million in 2009-10 to $47.6 million in 2011-12, and is on track to reach $50 million by 2012-13.
Source: The Nation
Monday, June 27, 2011
Racial Riots: Mob clashes between Chinese and local Burmese at the gem market in Mandalay AND the regime's balancing act
Dr Zarni
Word is that there was a clash between the Burmese and Chinese (not
sure local-born Chinese) or Yunnanese Chinese who bought their
citizenship from the regime at Mandalay's gem market - known as kyauk
wai today.
Dr Zarni
"According to DVB reporter, as many as 1,000 people got involved in
the fighting. The voice journal in Rgn and Mizzima reporter in
Thailand have confirmed independently.
No details has been known yet! The market is situated at Junction
of38th and 86th Streets. Some see the incident as a government's
maneuver to divert the public attention!"
The Chinese model of exploitation differs significantly from, say,
that of the British Raj in Burma. Therefore the local reaction to the
new imperialism being hatched there is going to be different. The Raj
built three-layer economy where the locals were virtually squeezed out
of it. Oil production, rice economy, service, etc. - the British
banks in London (like Lloyds TSB) was one of the major financers
while the Indian (Tamil/Chettyers) moneylenders served as a
retailer/retail loan sharks. Indian labor (close to 200,000 males)
was subsidized and imported by the British administration. In
contrast, the Chinese "model" in Burma today involves creating a
symbiosis wherein the relationship brings mutual benefits between
Beijing's national ruling clique (and its economic affiliates) and the
commercial elites, labor force, and security and admin elites in
Yunnan, the southern most and economically 'backward' province of
China.
The result is straight forward. The Burmese regime is provided by
Beijing with international protection from anything binding or
significant. Economically, billions of dollars of direct investment
and interest free loans go to the regime's coffer. The regime in
return looks the other way when the country is flooded with the
massive Chinese private capital, labor and enterpreneurs, as well as
virtually all consumer goods. At the macro-level, Burma is being
turned into a Chinese vessel state. ( No Burmese nationalist has ever
stomached the idea - and fought the Han Chinese fiercely whenever the
latter attempted to bully or invade the country. )
Here unlike the Raj - both in its Calcutta outpost and in London -
the Chinese have two extra-advantages: the geographic advantage (as
hundreds of thousands of laborers and small-time traders, who expect
to make a fortune in Burma) just go across the border into neighboring
Kachin and other minority states, and local Chinese networks through
Chinese traders associations and their twins, local Chinese temple
trustees who historically serve as the helper of first resort based on
racial solidarity.
The bulk of the local elites are pushed out of their traditional
residential neighborhoods, businesses, etc.
The result is a sea of popular hatred towards both the Chinese and the
"Myanmarese" generals who the locals consider nothing more than
despicable pimps doing Beijing's bidding in exchange for protection
and money.
This is a rather significant development that will have massive
societal consequences.
zarni
Word is that there was a clash between the Burmese and Chinese (not
sure local-born Chinese) or Yunnanese Chinese who bought their
citizenship from the regime at Mandalay's gem market - known as kyauk
wai today.
Dr Zarni
"According to DVB reporter, as many as 1,000 people got involved in
the fighting. The voice journal in Rgn and Mizzima reporter in
Thailand have confirmed independently.
No details has been known yet! The market is situated at Junction
of38th and 86th Streets. Some see the incident as a government's
maneuver to divert the public attention!"
The Chinese model of exploitation differs significantly from, say,
that of the British Raj in Burma. Therefore the local reaction to the
new imperialism being hatched there is going to be different. The Raj
built three-layer economy where the locals were virtually squeezed out
of it. Oil production, rice economy, service, etc. - the British
banks in London (like Lloyds TSB) was one of the major financers
while the Indian (Tamil/Chettyers) moneylenders served as a
retailer/retail loan sharks. Indian labor (close to 200,000 males)
was subsidized and imported by the British administration. In
contrast, the Chinese "model" in Burma today involves creating a
symbiosis wherein the relationship brings mutual benefits between
Beijing's national ruling clique (and its economic affiliates) and the
commercial elites, labor force, and security and admin elites in
Yunnan, the southern most and economically 'backward' province of
China.
The result is straight forward. The Burmese regime is provided by
Beijing with international protection from anything binding or
significant. Economically, billions of dollars of direct investment
and interest free loans go to the regime's coffer. The regime in
return looks the other way when the country is flooded with the
massive Chinese private capital, labor and enterpreneurs, as well as
virtually all consumer goods. At the macro-level, Burma is being
turned into a Chinese vessel state. ( No Burmese nationalist has ever
stomached the idea - and fought the Han Chinese fiercely whenever the
latter attempted to bully or invade the country. )
Here unlike the Raj - both in its Calcutta outpost and in London -
the Chinese have two extra-advantages: the geographic advantage (as
hundreds of thousands of laborers and small-time traders, who expect
to make a fortune in Burma) just go across the border into neighboring
Kachin and other minority states, and local Chinese networks through
Chinese traders associations and their twins, local Chinese temple
trustees who historically serve as the helper of first resort based on
racial solidarity.
The bulk of the local elites are pushed out of their traditional
residential neighborhoods, businesses, etc.
The result is a sea of popular hatred towards both the Chinese and the
"Myanmarese" generals who the locals consider nothing more than
despicable pimps doing Beijing's bidding in exchange for protection
and money.
This is a rather significant development that will have massive
societal consequences.
zarni
Saturday, June 25, 2011
2 blasts rock Myanmar's two main cities, no casualties
YANGON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- No casualties were claimed for bomb blasts which rocked two main cities of Myanmar -- Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw respectively on Friday noon, according to eyewitnesses and official sources.
The authorities are investigating the cause of the incidents.
The two bomb blasts took place at some intervals of time at a jeep parking near the Zay Cho Market in Mandalay city and in a house near the Tha Pyay Gone Market in Nay Pyi Taw around 11:30 a. m. (local times).
The house was slightly damaged with roof broken, while the car was destroyed.
The bomb blasts were the third in a series over the past two months with the first blowing up a carriage of an express passenger train on Yangon-Mandalay route near Nay Pyi Taw on May 18, in which two people including a woman were killed, while nine others were injured.
The second blast happened at a toilet at the Myoma Market in Nay Pyi Taw on June 10, injuring three people including a woman.
Both of the two bombers in the two previous incidents have been reportedly found out by the authorities. The bomber who launched the attack on the train was exposed as Kyaw Di, who admitted the task was assigned by the anti-government ethnic armed group of Kayin National Union (KNU), while the latter bomber was Aung Ko Latt, who confessed that he had received a sum of three million Kyats (about 4,000 U.S. dollars) from the KNU for the attack.
Source: Xinhua
The authorities are investigating the cause of the incidents.
The two bomb blasts took place at some intervals of time at a jeep parking near the Zay Cho Market in Mandalay city and in a house near the Tha Pyay Gone Market in Nay Pyi Taw around 11:30 a. m. (local times).
The house was slightly damaged with roof broken, while the car was destroyed.
The bomb blasts were the third in a series over the past two months with the first blowing up a carriage of an express passenger train on Yangon-Mandalay route near Nay Pyi Taw on May 18, in which two people including a woman were killed, while nine others were injured.
The second blast happened at a toilet at the Myoma Market in Nay Pyi Taw on June 10, injuring three people including a woman.
Both of the two bombers in the two previous incidents have been reportedly found out by the authorities. The bomber who launched the attack on the train was exposed as Kyaw Di, who admitted the task was assigned by the anti-government ethnic armed group of Kayin National Union (KNU), while the latter bomber was Aung Ko Latt, who confessed that he had received a sum of three million Kyats (about 4,000 U.S. dollars) from the KNU for the attack.
Source: Xinhua
Friday, June 24, 2011
ၿပင္ဦးလြင္ၿမိဳ႕ ရပ္ကြက္ၾကီး ၃ အကြက္အမွတ္ ၄ရွိ ေနအိမ္တစ္ခုတြင္ ဗံုးေပါက္ကြဲမႈ ျဖစ္ပြားျပီးေနာက္ ျမင္ကြင္းအား ေတြ႕ရစဥ္
မႏၱေလးေစ်းခိ်ဳဟိုတယ္ေရွ႕တြင္ ျဖစ္ပြားခဲ့ေသာ ေပါက္ကြဲမႈျဖစ္စဥ္ကို ေတြ႕ရစဥ္
ေနျပည္ေတာ္ သေျပကုန္းရပ္ကြက္ ငုဝါလမ္းရွိ အိမ္တစ္အိမ္၌ ျဖစ္ပြားခဲ့ေသာ ေပါက္ကြဲမႈျဖစ္စဥ္ကို ေတြ႕ရစဥ္
Source: Eleven Media Group
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Myanmar reiterates it opens door of peace to dissidents
YANGON, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media Saturday said the government would open door of peace to dissidents, referring to a recent armed clashes between the government forces and the ethnic armed group of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) based in northernmost Kachin state bordering China.
The New Light of Myanmar cited the attitude of the government as saying that "It would open the door of peace to welcome those who are holding different views if they wish to cooperate with the government in mutually concerned cases for the interest of the nation and the people and run for election in compliance with democratic practice to justly gain power".
"The only objective of the Tatmadaw (armed forces) in launching attacks on KIA is just to protect its members and an important hydropower project of the nation without even a single intention of aggression and oppression," clarified the official report.
The report added the government forces had to inevitably attack the KIA just to rescue its officers detained by the KIA and to protect the high-cost Tarpein hydropower project being implemented with the Chinese side.
According to the report, in mid-April, the KIA made threats to stop quarry work on the east bank of the Malikha river, entering Lahsa hydropower project site and threatening Chinese staff to move to the west bank of the river within two days and to withdraw the extended camps from the east bank as soon as possible.
On June 8, two government military officers, who went to KIA camp for negotiation, were detained by the KIA which also opened fire at the government forces who were marching to the Tarpein hydropower project site.
After heavy weapon fire exchange, the two military officers were rescued the next day, the report said, adding that although the government forces informed the KIA to withdraw from its camp near the power project site within two days, the KIA rejected to follow by launching heavy weapon fire at the plant from its Dunbon outpost and blowing up pylons carrying cables connecting the plant and the Bhamo district.
The clashes led to the occupation of the camp by the government forces on June 12.
As a follow-up of the fighting between the two sides, from June 14 to 16, the KIA blew up 25 bridges including bailey, concrete and wooden ones which are key transportation route to Kachin state, the report disclosed.
The Tarpein hydropower project is a heavily-invested joint venture project between Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Company of China, according to the report.
Of the two-phase 400-megawatt project, the first phase of the 240-megawatt (mw) Tarpein-1 hydropower plant comprising four 60-mw generators has been completed yielding power at 1,065 million kilowatt-hours yearly. The remaining 160-megawatt plant project is underway.
Source: Xinhua
The New Light of Myanmar cited the attitude of the government as saying that "It would open the door of peace to welcome those who are holding different views if they wish to cooperate with the government in mutually concerned cases for the interest of the nation and the people and run for election in compliance with democratic practice to justly gain power".
"The only objective of the Tatmadaw (armed forces) in launching attacks on KIA is just to protect its members and an important hydropower project of the nation without even a single intention of aggression and oppression," clarified the official report.
The report added the government forces had to inevitably attack the KIA just to rescue its officers detained by the KIA and to protect the high-cost Tarpein hydropower project being implemented with the Chinese side.
According to the report, in mid-April, the KIA made threats to stop quarry work on the east bank of the Malikha river, entering Lahsa hydropower project site and threatening Chinese staff to move to the west bank of the river within two days and to withdraw the extended camps from the east bank as soon as possible.
On June 8, two government military officers, who went to KIA camp for negotiation, were detained by the KIA which also opened fire at the government forces who were marching to the Tarpein hydropower project site.
After heavy weapon fire exchange, the two military officers were rescued the next day, the report said, adding that although the government forces informed the KIA to withdraw from its camp near the power project site within two days, the KIA rejected to follow by launching heavy weapon fire at the plant from its Dunbon outpost and blowing up pylons carrying cables connecting the plant and the Bhamo district.
The clashes led to the occupation of the camp by the government forces on June 12.
As a follow-up of the fighting between the two sides, from June 14 to 16, the KIA blew up 25 bridges including bailey, concrete and wooden ones which are key transportation route to Kachin state, the report disclosed.
The Tarpein hydropower project is a heavily-invested joint venture project between Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Company of China, according to the report.
Of the two-phase 400-megawatt project, the first phase of the 240-megawatt (mw) Tarpein-1 hydropower plant comprising four 60-mw generators has been completed yielding power at 1,065 million kilowatt-hours yearly. The remaining 160-megawatt plant project is underway.
Source: Xinhua
စစ္ေဘးကုိ လြတ္ရာသုို႕ မေရွာင္သိမ္းႏုိင္းေသာ ဒြန္ဘုံုးေက်းရြာရွိ မိသားစု (၃) စု ကုိ နအဖ စစ္တပ္က ဖမ္းဆီးနွိပ္စက္ျပီး သတ္ျဖတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ အေၾကာင္း သတင္းရရွိ။ ကေလးသူငယ္မ်ားကုိ အရင္ပစ္သတ္လုိက္ျပီး မိန္းမသားမ်ားကုိ မဒိန္းက်င့္ သတ္ျဖတ္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း ႏွင့္ ေယာက်ၤားမ်ားကုိ ေပၚတာ ထမ္းရမ္းေခၚေဆာင္သြားေၾကာင္း သတင္းရရွိပါသည္။
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Myanmar to upgrade Yangon airport to int'l level: official media
YANGON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is implementing a plan to extend and upgrade Yangon International Airport to one capable of handling 3.8 million passengers a year and providing full service necessary to be an international airport, official media reported Sunday.
The plan is partly aimed at promoting international relations and the economic sector, said the New Light of Myanmar.
"Yangon International Airport can handle 2.7 million passengers a year, now its passenger arrival is reckoned at over 2 million a year and it will reach its highest capacity before long," Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo said in his tour to the airport Saturday.
Myanmar's domestic air transport capacity has risen 40 times, having been able to transport an average of 800,000 passengers by local flights yearly, an increase from over 20,000 in the past.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers of overseas flights has now reached 700,000 a year.
There are six domestic airlines in Myanmar including one state- owned, which is the Myanmar Airways, and five private-runs -- Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways, Air Bagan, Asian Wings and Kanbawza.
There is also another Myanmar international airline, the Myanmar Airways International, flying solely some foreign flights.
There are 13 foreign airlines flying Yangon which comprise Air China, China Southern Airline, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Mandarin, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline, Thai Air Asia and Vietnam Airlines.
Myanmar became a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1948.
Source: Xinhua
The plan is partly aimed at promoting international relations and the economic sector, said the New Light of Myanmar.
"Yangon International Airport can handle 2.7 million passengers a year, now its passenger arrival is reckoned at over 2 million a year and it will reach its highest capacity before long," Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo said in his tour to the airport Saturday.
Myanmar's domestic air transport capacity has risen 40 times, having been able to transport an average of 800,000 passengers by local flights yearly, an increase from over 20,000 in the past.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers of overseas flights has now reached 700,000 a year.
There are six domestic airlines in Myanmar including one state- owned, which is the Myanmar Airways, and five private-runs -- Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways, Air Bagan, Asian Wings and Kanbawza.
There is also another Myanmar international airline, the Myanmar Airways International, flying solely some foreign flights.
There are 13 foreign airlines flying Yangon which comprise Air China, China Southern Airline, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Mandarin, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline, Thai Air Asia and Vietnam Airlines.
Myanmar became a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1948.
Source: Xinhua
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Burma must not be allowed to fail'
By John Heilprin,
The Associated Press
GENEVA - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday her nation yearns for justice and progress, and the international community must help lift its workers' grim conditions.
"Burma must not be allowed to fail and the world must not be allowed to fail Burma," the 65-year-old Nobel laureate told a U.N. labour conference by videolink, using the Southeast Asian country's former name.
The pro-democracy icon, freed last November after spending much of the past 20 years under house arrest, said her nation once seemed the most likely success story in southeast Asia but "has fallen behind almost all the other nations in the region."
Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy. She led her National League for Democracy to victory in 1990 elections, but the military junta that led the government refused to recognize the results.
The former junta changed the nation's name to Myanmar, but many democracy supporters and Suu Kyi still call it Burma.
After elections in November that were swept by a party close to the ruling junta, military leaders turned over control to a nominally civilian government in March.
In recent months Suu Kyi has been turning to videolinks and other means to get her message out, fearing — as she has for years — that if she were to leave the country she might not get back in.
Suu Kyi, seeking to revive her party, said its members and other groups and people struggling for political change created a "people's network" six months ago to focus on social and humanitarian projects that spread democracy and human rights.
"The growth, rapid beyond our expectations, of this network is evidence of the indivisibility of social, economic and political concerns, and of the hunger of our people for a society secured by acceptable norms of social justice joined to political and economic progress," she said.
Suu Kyi also addressed the International Labor Organization's involvement in Myanmar.
In February, the military government extended an agreement allowing the ILO to investigate complaints from inside the country of forced labour.
A 2007 agreement with the country's labour ministry allows the ILO maintain an office in Myanmar enabling victims of forced labour to seek redress. The government says it is trying to eliminate the practice.
At the time of the original agreement, Myanmar faced international sanctions because the ILO — the U.N.'s labour agency — had accused Myanmar since 1998 of using forced labour to aid the military and build roads and other projects. In a November 2009 report, it said it was "deeply concerned" that the country continues to imprison people who have complained of forced labour.
"We look to the ILO to expand its activities in Burma to help usher in an era of broad-based social justice in our country," Suu Kyi said. "We are particularly concerned that our workers should be enabled to form trade unions, concerned with the highest international standards as soon as possible. Labor rights are integral to the triumphant development of a nation."
Source: Yahoo News
The Associated Press
GENEVA - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday her nation yearns for justice and progress, and the international community must help lift its workers' grim conditions.
"Burma must not be allowed to fail and the world must not be allowed to fail Burma," the 65-year-old Nobel laureate told a U.N. labour conference by videolink, using the Southeast Asian country's former name.
The pro-democracy icon, freed last November after spending much of the past 20 years under house arrest, said her nation once seemed the most likely success story in southeast Asia but "has fallen behind almost all the other nations in the region."
Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy. She led her National League for Democracy to victory in 1990 elections, but the military junta that led the government refused to recognize the results.
The former junta changed the nation's name to Myanmar, but many democracy supporters and Suu Kyi still call it Burma.
After elections in November that were swept by a party close to the ruling junta, military leaders turned over control to a nominally civilian government in March.
In recent months Suu Kyi has been turning to videolinks and other means to get her message out, fearing — as she has for years — that if she were to leave the country she might not get back in.
Suu Kyi, seeking to revive her party, said its members and other groups and people struggling for political change created a "people's network" six months ago to focus on social and humanitarian projects that spread democracy and human rights.
"The growth, rapid beyond our expectations, of this network is evidence of the indivisibility of social, economic and political concerns, and of the hunger of our people for a society secured by acceptable norms of social justice joined to political and economic progress," she said.
Suu Kyi also addressed the International Labor Organization's involvement in Myanmar.
In February, the military government extended an agreement allowing the ILO to investigate complaints from inside the country of forced labour.
A 2007 agreement with the country's labour ministry allows the ILO maintain an office in Myanmar enabling victims of forced labour to seek redress. The government says it is trying to eliminate the practice.
At the time of the original agreement, Myanmar faced international sanctions because the ILO — the U.N.'s labour agency — had accused Myanmar since 1998 of using forced labour to aid the military and build roads and other projects. In a November 2009 report, it said it was "deeply concerned" that the country continues to imprison people who have complained of forced labour.
"We look to the ILO to expand its activities in Burma to help usher in an era of broad-based social justice in our country," Suu Kyi said. "We are particularly concerned that our workers should be enabled to form trade unions, concerned with the highest international standards as soon as possible. Labor rights are integral to the triumphant development of a nation."
Source: Yahoo News
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thailand must prepare for big changes in the labour markets
By Nophakhun Limsamarnphun
nophakhun@nationgroup.com
Published on June 11, 2011
The next government will have to lay down a more consistent policy on migrant workers in Thailand, while preparing Thai professionals for new job opportunities in other Asean countries.
On migrant workers, the registration policy has been on and off over the past 12 years. It will be re-instated again this month after being suspended.
Thailand has more than three million migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, but the government officially says the number is just two million, including about one million registered. Most come from Burma. A smaller number come from Laos and Cambodia.
In the past 12 years, Thailand has improved its education system and expanded its coverage. Coupled with a declining birth rate, the country has faced a growing shortage of low and unskilled workers, as more Thais have elected not to take up such jobs in agriculture, fisheries, and construction.
According to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), Thais lost an estimated 3.8 million unskilled and low-skilled jobs to migrant workers over the past 12 years.
These migrants have become a major source of cheap labour as their salaries are usually about one-third of Thais, based on the prevailing minimum wages. Workers from Burma get about Bt2,000 per month compared to about Bt6,000 for Thais.
As a result, businesses and industries have warned that the next government will have to be cautious in boosting the minimum wage, which currently averages Bt180 per day.
The Democrat Party has pledged to boost the minimum wage by 25 per cent in two years, bringing the Bangkok wage to about Bt250 per day from the present Bt217. Pheu Thai has said it will boost the Bangkok minimum wage to Bt300 per day.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) say they will go out of business if wages are raised to these levels quickly.
The next government will also have to bear in mind that Thailand's overall productivity is negatively affected by a rising number of unskilled migrant workers. A TDRI study shows that productivity falls one percentage point when there is a one-percent increase in migrant workers' share of the total workforce. Given that there is no policy on training and educating migrants, competitiveness will be further eroded if the number of uneducated workers continues to rise.
On the plus side, migrant workers have helped boost Thailand's GDP by 1 per cent, up from about 0.5 per cent a decade ago.
The next government will also have to prepare for the Asean Economic Community in 2015, when there will be a freer flow of skilled labour within the 10-country regional grouping.
In the first stage, this will cover seven occupations: doctors, nurses, architects, engineers, auditors, accountants, and surveyors. Thais in these fields will have to have necessary linguistic skills to benefit from the AEC.
Proficiency in Thai and English may not be enough, as they should also learn at least one Asean language in order to work in neighbouring countries.
There will be both opportunities and threats, as the country may lose specialists to more developed neighbours such as Singapore or Malaysia due to higher salaries.
Thai and other regional governments also have to agree to an Asean qualification framework on these professions so that the same standards can be applied to Asean citizens.
Overall, Asean has 5.7 million migrant workers, with Malaysia and Thailand being net importers of unskilled labour. Indonesia and Burma are major sources of unskilled migrant workers, which are not yet covered by the AEC.
Overall, the next government will have to improve the management of undocumented migrant workers by ensuring registration and other policies are consistent, while taking steps to prepare Thais to tap overseas employment opportunities in the AEC.
Source: The Nation
nophakhun@nationgroup.com
Published on June 11, 2011
The next government will have to lay down a more consistent policy on migrant workers in Thailand, while preparing Thai professionals for new job opportunities in other Asean countries.
On migrant workers, the registration policy has been on and off over the past 12 years. It will be re-instated again this month after being suspended.
Thailand has more than three million migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, but the government officially says the number is just two million, including about one million registered. Most come from Burma. A smaller number come from Laos and Cambodia.
In the past 12 years, Thailand has improved its education system and expanded its coverage. Coupled with a declining birth rate, the country has faced a growing shortage of low and unskilled workers, as more Thais have elected not to take up such jobs in agriculture, fisheries, and construction.
According to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), Thais lost an estimated 3.8 million unskilled and low-skilled jobs to migrant workers over the past 12 years.
These migrants have become a major source of cheap labour as their salaries are usually about one-third of Thais, based on the prevailing minimum wages. Workers from Burma get about Bt2,000 per month compared to about Bt6,000 for Thais.
As a result, businesses and industries have warned that the next government will have to be cautious in boosting the minimum wage, which currently averages Bt180 per day.
The Democrat Party has pledged to boost the minimum wage by 25 per cent in two years, bringing the Bangkok wage to about Bt250 per day from the present Bt217. Pheu Thai has said it will boost the Bangkok minimum wage to Bt300 per day.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) say they will go out of business if wages are raised to these levels quickly.
The next government will also have to bear in mind that Thailand's overall productivity is negatively affected by a rising number of unskilled migrant workers. A TDRI study shows that productivity falls one percentage point when there is a one-percent increase in migrant workers' share of the total workforce. Given that there is no policy on training and educating migrants, competitiveness will be further eroded if the number of uneducated workers continues to rise.
On the plus side, migrant workers have helped boost Thailand's GDP by 1 per cent, up from about 0.5 per cent a decade ago.
The next government will also have to prepare for the Asean Economic Community in 2015, when there will be a freer flow of skilled labour within the 10-country regional grouping.
In the first stage, this will cover seven occupations: doctors, nurses, architects, engineers, auditors, accountants, and surveyors. Thais in these fields will have to have necessary linguistic skills to benefit from the AEC.
Proficiency in Thai and English may not be enough, as they should also learn at least one Asean language in order to work in neighbouring countries.
There will be both opportunities and threats, as the country may lose specialists to more developed neighbours such as Singapore or Malaysia due to higher salaries.
Thai and other regional governments also have to agree to an Asean qualification framework on these professions so that the same standards can be applied to Asean citizens.
Overall, Asean has 5.7 million migrant workers, with Malaysia and Thailand being net importers of unskilled labour. Indonesia and Burma are major sources of unskilled migrant workers, which are not yet covered by the AEC.
Overall, the next government will have to improve the management of undocumented migrant workers by ensuring registration and other policies are consistent, while taking steps to prepare Thais to tap overseas employment opportunities in the AEC.
Source: The Nation
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Myanmar reforms investment commission to boost foreign investment
YANGON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has reformed its Investment Commission as part of its efforts to draw more foreign investment into the country, local media reported Wednesday.
The 16-member Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) was re- established in response to the call of President U Thein Sein for facilitating foreign investors to come to Myanmar for the purpose, said the Myanmar Newsweek.
To promote foreign investment, the MIC will cooperate mainly with China, India, and other Asian countries, the report said.
Official statistics show that total foreign investment in Myanmar has hit 36.05 billion U.S. dollars by April this year since 1988 when Myanmar opened to such investment.
Of the total foreign investment coming from 31 countries and regions, China stands in the first place with 9.603 billion dollars, followed by Thailand with 9.568 billion dollars, China's Hong Kong 6.308 billion dollars, South Korea 2.930 billion dollars, Britain 2.659 billion dollars and Singapore 1.818 billion dollars, according to the figures of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Sectorwise investment as of the date is shown as 14.5 billion dollars in electric power, 13.8 billion dollars in oil and gas, 2. 8 billion dollars in mining, 1.7 billion dollars in manufacturing and 1 billion dollars in hotels and tourism.
However, a latest-released Chinese official statistics reveal that Chinese investment in Myanmar has soared to 12.32 billion dollars so far.
Myanmar promulgated its Foreign Investment Law in November 1988 and the MIC was formed in 1994.
Source: Xinhua
The 16-member Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) was re- established in response to the call of President U Thein Sein for facilitating foreign investors to come to Myanmar for the purpose, said the Myanmar Newsweek.
To promote foreign investment, the MIC will cooperate mainly with China, India, and other Asian countries, the report said.
Official statistics show that total foreign investment in Myanmar has hit 36.05 billion U.S. dollars by April this year since 1988 when Myanmar opened to such investment.
Of the total foreign investment coming from 31 countries and regions, China stands in the first place with 9.603 billion dollars, followed by Thailand with 9.568 billion dollars, China's Hong Kong 6.308 billion dollars, South Korea 2.930 billion dollars, Britain 2.659 billion dollars and Singapore 1.818 billion dollars, according to the figures of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Sectorwise investment as of the date is shown as 14.5 billion dollars in electric power, 13.8 billion dollars in oil and gas, 2. 8 billion dollars in mining, 1.7 billion dollars in manufacturing and 1 billion dollars in hotels and tourism.
However, a latest-released Chinese official statistics reveal that Chinese investment in Myanmar has soared to 12.32 billion dollars so far.
Myanmar promulgated its Foreign Investment Law in November 1988 and the MIC was formed in 1994.
Source: Xinhua
Saturday, June 11, 2011
အားလံုးမဂၤလာပါ။ ဒီပြဲကို လာေရာက္ခ်ီးျမႇင့္တဲ့အတြက္ အားလံုးကိုေက်းဇူး အထူးတင္ပါတယ္။ ဒီႏွစ္ ၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ဟာ ၁ ဂဏန္းေတြအတြက္ ထူးျခားတဲ့ ႏွစ္တစ္ႏွစ္ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ၁-၁-၁၁၊ ၁၁-၁-၁၁၊ ၁-၁၁-၁၁၊ ၁၁-၁၁-၁၁ ၁ ဂဏန္းေတြ ႀကီးစိုးတဲ့ႏွစ္မွာ Eleven Media Group ရဲ႕ ၁၁ ႏွစ္ျပည့္ အခမ္းအနား လုပ္ခြင့္ရတဲ့အတြက္ ကြၽန္ေတာ့္အေနနဲ႔မ်ားစြာ ဂုဏ္ယူမိပါတယ္။ ဒီပြဲကိုတက္ေရာက္လာၾကတဲ့သူေတြဟာ Eleven Media Group ရဲ႕မိသားစုေတြ၊ ခင္မင္ရင္းႏွီးသူေတြအျပင္ Eleven Media Group ကိုနည္းမ်ဳိးစံုနဲ႔ အကူအညီေပးခဲ့ၾကတဲ့သူေတြ၊ သက္ဆိုင္ရာ ႏိုင္ငံေရး၊ စီးပြားေရး၊ လူမႈေရး၊ က်န္းမာေရး၊ စာေပ၊ အႏုပညာနဲ႔ သတင္းမီဒီယာ နယ္ပယ္အသီးသီးမွာ မိမိတို႔ရဲ႕ အရည္အခ်င္းနဲ႔ လုပ္ေဆာင္မႈမ်ားနဲ႔ပတ္သက္ၿပီး လူအမ်ားအတြက္ ေလးစားဂုဏ္ယူေလာက္တဲ့ အရည္အခ်င္း၊ စိတ္ေနစိတ္ထား၊ လုပ္ေဆာင္မႈေတြရွိသူေတြကို ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ေရြးခ်ယ္ ဖိတ္ၾကားခဲ့တာပဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ၁၁ ႏွစ္ျပည့္ေျမာက္ပြဲလို႔ ဆိုရေပမယ့္ တကယ္ေတာ့ ၾကြေရာက္ခ်ီးျမႇင့္သူေတြရဲ႕ လုပ္ေဆာင္မႈေတြ၊ သူတို႔ရဲ႕ စိတ္ထားသေဘာထားေတြ၊ သူတို႔ရဲ႕အတိတ္၊ အနာဂတ္၊ ပစၥပၸဳန္မွာရွိေနတဲ့ သူတို႔ရဲ႕စြမ္းေဆာင္ႏိုင္မႈေတြကို ဂုဏ္ယူ အသိအမွတ္ျပဳတဲ့အေနနဲ႔ ကြၽန္ေတာ္ဖိတ္ၾကားၿပီး ျပဳလုပ္တဲ့ပြဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အခုတက္ေရာက္လာၾကတဲ့သူေတြဟာ သက္ဆိုင္ရာနယ္ပယ္ အသီးသီးမွာ အမွန္တကယ္ေအာင္ျမင္ၿပီးေတာ့ အခ်ိန္ရွားပါးတဲ့ၾကားက ဒီပြဲကိုတက္ေရာက္ခဲ့တဲ့အတြက္ အားလံုးကို အထူးပဲေက်းဇူးတင္ရွိပါတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ Eleven Media Group ရဲ႕ ေရွ႕လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္နဲ႔ပတ္သက္ၿပီး ကြၽန္ေတာ္ရွင္းျပခ်င္ပါတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ဟာ သတင္းစာထုတ္ဖို႔အဆင္သင့္ ျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ ဒီမိုကေရစီႏိုင္ငံတစ္ႏိုင္ငံ၊ (သို႔မဟုတ္) ဒီမိုကေရစီမရတဲ့ ဗီယက္နမ္လိုႏိုင္ငံမ်ဳိးမွာေတာင္ ပုဂၢလိကသတင္းစာရွိပါတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ သတင္းစာထုတ္လုိ႔မရတဲ့အခါမွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔အေနနဲ႔ ႏိုင္ငံရဲ႕လက္ရွိအေျခအေန၊ ျဖတ္သန္းလာတဲ့ အေၾကာင္းအရာ၊ လက္ရွိစာဖတ္ပရိသတ္ေတြရဲ႕ endurance နဲ႔ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔အေနနဲ႔ အေနာက္ႏိုင္ငံလိုပဲ၊ ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံလိုပဲျဖစ္ျဖစ္ ဒီလိုလြတ္လပ္မႈမ်ဳိးကိုေတာ့ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ခ်က္ျခင္းေတာင္းဆိုေနတာေတာ့ မဟုတ္ပါဘူး။ သီးျခားဆန္တဲ့ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္မႈအနည္းငယ္ရွိတဲ့ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္မႈရွိတဲ့ သတင္းမီဒီယာလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္မ်ဳိးကို ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ေတာင္းဆိုေနတာပဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဒါမွသာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏိုင္ငံရဲ႕ လက္ရွိေရေျမသဘာ၀၊ ေလာေလာဆယ္ျဖစ္ပ်က္ေနတဲ့ လုိက္ေလ်ာညီေထြရွိမွာပဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္သတင္းစာအျပင္ ဒုတိယအလုပ္က ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔အေနနဲ့ News Channel တစ္ခုျပဳလုပ္ႏိုင္တဲ့ အရည္အေသြး ႏွစ္ႏွစ္အတြင္းမွာရွိေနပါတယ္။ လြတ္လပ္ၿပီး တာ၀န္ယူတတ္တဲ့ သတင္းမီဒီယာတစ္ခုဟာ ႏိုင္ငံအတြက္ေရာ၊ ျပည္သူလူထုအတြက္ေရာ တိုင္းျပည္ရဲ႕ အနာဂတ္အတြက္ပါ ဘယ္လိုလုပ္ေဆာင္မလဲဆိုတာ သက္ေသျပၿပီးျဖစ္သလို ထပ္မံသက္ေသျပဖို႔အတြက္လဲ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ News Media ကိုခ်ဲ႕ထြင္လိုပါတယ္။ အေရးအႀကီးဆံုး ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ရဲ႕ ေရွ႕လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ကိုေျပာရမယ္ဆိုရင္ ေနာက္ ၃ ႏွစ္ ၄ ႏွစ္အၾကာမွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ တစ္ဦးတည္း ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ကုမၸဏီတစ္ခုတည္း ပိုင္ဆိုင္ထားတဲ့ ေနရာကေန အမ်ားျပည္သူပိုင္ဆိုင္တဲ့ လုပ္ငန္းအျဖစ္ publicize လုပ္ပစ္မယ္လို႔ဆိုတာကို ဒီေနရာကေန ကတိျပဳေျပာၾကားလိုပါတယ္။ ဒီလိုလုပ္ရတဲ့ အေၾကာင္းအရင္းက ဒီအာင္ျမင္မႈေတြ၊ ဒီေငြေၾကးေတြမရခင္က ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ လူသံုးေယာက္နဲ႔ပဲစခဲ့တာပါ။ ဒီေအာင္ျမင္မႈေတြ၊ ဒီေငြေၾကးေတြ ရရွိခဲ့မယ္လို႔လဲ မထင္ခဲ့ပါဘူး။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္စီးပြားေရးလုပ္ခဲ့တယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္စီးပြားေရးနဲ႔ ေငြရွာခဲ့တယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ဒီလုပ္ငန္းနဲ႔ေငြအမ်ားႀကီးရလာမယ္လုိ႔လဲ မေမွ်ာ္လင့္ပါဘူး။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ ဒီလုပ္ငန္းနဲ႔ပတ္သက္ရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ပိုင္ဆိုင္တာဟာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တစ္ေယာက္တည္းပိုင္ဆိုင္တယ္လို႔ ဒါမွမဟုတ္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔အဖြဲ႔ပဲ ပိုင္ဆိုင္တယ္လို႔ မသတ္မွတ္ပါဘူး။ ဒါဟာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ဆီမွာရွိေနတဲ့ ျပည္သူလူထု ဒါမွမဟုတ္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ကိုအားေပးတဲ့ ပရိသတ္၊ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ႏိုင္ငံက ပိုင္ဆိုင္သင့္တဲ့ News Media တစ္ခုျဖစ္သင့္တယ္လို႔ ယူဆတဲ့အတြက္ publicize အမ်ားပိုင္ကုမၸဏီအျဖစ္ ေျပာင္းလဲသြားဖို႔ အစီအစဥ္ ရွိတယ္လို႔ဆိုတာကို ဒီေနရာက အာမခံေျပာၾကားလိုပါတယ္။ ႏိုင္ငံတစ္ႏိုင္ငံရဲ႕ ေျပာင္းလဲမႈဟာ မ႑ိဳင္ႀကီး သံုးရပ္အေရးပါသလို စတုတၴမ႑ိဳင္အနနဲ႔ အေရးပါတယ္ဆိုတာကို Eleven Media Group အေနနဲ႔ အခိုင္အမာသက္ေသျပႏိုင္ပါတယ္။ အခု ၾကြေရာက္လာတဲ့ ပုဂၢဳိလ္အားလံုးဟာ သက္ဆိုင္ရာနယ္ပယ္ အသီးသီးမွာ မိမိတို႔အရည္အခ်င္းနဲ႔ မိမိတို႔ရဲ႕ လုပ္ေဆာင္ခဲ့မႈေတြ၊ မိမိတို့ရဲ႔စိတ္ေနသေဘာထားေတြ၊ မိမိတို႔ရဲ႕ စြန္႔လႊတ္အနစ္နာခံ ကိုယ္က်ဳိးစြန္႔ခဲ့မႈေတြနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး မွတ္ေက်ာက္တင္ႏိုင္ခဲ့သူေတြျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဒီမွတ္ေက်ာက္ တင္ႏိုင္တဲ့သူေတြဟာ တိုင္းျပည္ကို တကယ္ခ်စ္ျမတ္ႏိုးၿပီး အမ်ားျပည္သူ အက်ဳိးစီးပြားကို အမွန္တကယ္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ႏိုင္မယ့္သူေတြလို႔လည္း ကြၽန္ေတာ္ယံုၾကည္ပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္လဲ ဖိတ္စာမွာကို ဂုဏ္ယူေလးစားစြာနဲ႔ ဖိတ္ၾကားခဲ့တာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အဓိကတင္ျပခ်င္တာကေတာ့ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏိုင္ငံမွာ ေနာက္လာမယ့္ အႏွစ္ ၂၀၊ ၃၀ အတြင္း အဓိကရင္ဆိုင္ႏိုင္ရမယ့္ ျပႆနာႏွစ္ခုနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီးတင္ျပခ်င္ပါတယ္။ နံပါတ္ ၁ ျပႆနာကေတာ့ Human Resources ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာနိမ့္က်ခဲ့ တဲ့ ပညာေရးနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏိုင္ငံမွာ Human Resource ျပႆနာျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ စီးပြားေရးလုပ္ငန္းရွင္ေတြ၊ ဌာနဆိုင္ရာအႀကီးအကဲ ေတြသိမွာပါ။ ကိုယ္အင္တာဗ်ဴးလုပ္ရင္ အင္တာဗ်ဴးလုပ္ရမယ့္ အရည္အေသြးမီတဲ့ ပုဂၢဳိလ္ဘယ္ႏွေယာက္မ်ားရပါသလဲ။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ သတင္းမီဒီယာမွာကို အိမ္နီးနားခ်င္းႏိုင္ငံ ငါးႏိုင္ငံကိုေတာင္မသိတဲ့သူေတြ အမ်ားႀကီးျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္းအသက္ ဘယ္ေလာက္မွာ က်ဆံုးသြားလဲ ဆိုတာမေျပာႏိုင္တဲ့သူေတြ အမ်ားႀကီးျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ ဒါလက္ေတြ႔ႀကံဳေနရတဲ့ သတင္းေထာက္ေလာကမွာကို ဒီေလာက္ျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ ဒီလုပ္ငန္းဆိုင္ရာ မကြၽမ္းက်င္မႈေတြက နယ္ပယ္အသီးသီးမွာျပန္႔ေနပါတယ္။ တကယ္ကြၽမ္းက်င္တဲ့သူ၊ တကယ္ထူးခြၽန္တဲ့သူ ဘယ္ေရာက္ကုန္လဲ။ တကယ္ အလုပ္လုပ္ႏိုင္တဲ့သူ တကယ္အလုပ္လုပ္ႏိုင္တဲ႕ Working Force ေတြဘယ္ေရာက္ကုန္လဲ။ အခုလယ္ေတြထဲမွာ လုပ္သားရွားပါးတဲ့ျပႆနာေတြ႔ေနၿပီ။ အလုပ္ၾကမ္းသမားရွားပါးတဲ့ ျပႆနာေတြ႔ေနၿပီး ေတာရြာေတြမွာ တကယ္အလုပ္လုပ္ႏိုင္တဲ့အရြယ္ေကာင္းေတြမရွိေတာ့ဘူး။ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၀ ေက်ာ္ ၃၀ အတြင္းမွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏိုင္ငံဟာ လူဦးေရေလးသန္းရဲ႕ေျခာက္သန္းၾကား ႏိုင္ငံျခားကို ေရာက္ေနၿပီး တခ်ဳိ႕က ႏိုင္ငံေရးေၾကာင့္ျဖစ္ျဖစ္၊ ပညာေရးေၾကာင့္ ျဖစ္ျဖစ္၊ စီးပြားေရးေၾကာင့္ ျဖစ္ျဖစ္ ႏိုင္ငံကို စြန္႔ခြာသြားၾကတယ္။ ဒီျပႆနာဟာ ေသးတယ္လို႔ဆိုရေပမယ့္ တကယ္ႏိုင္ငံကို ႀကီးပြားဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေအာင္ ေဆာင္ရြက္မယ္ဆိုရင္ ဒီျပႆနာဟာ အရမ္းႀကီးပါတယ္။ ႏိုင္ငံျခားကို ေရာက္ေနတဲ့သူေတြ မျပန္လာဘဲနဲ႔ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏိုင္ငံ ဟာ ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္တဲ့ ႏိုင္ငံတစ္ခု ထူေထာင္ႏိုင္ဖို႔ မလြယ္ပါဘူး။ ဥပမာ- နမူနာအားျဖင့္ ဗီယက္နမ္ႏိုင္ငံဟာ သူတို႔ႏိုင္ငံက ထြက္သြားတဲ့သူေတြ ျပန္လာႏိုင္ေအာင္ အေျခအေနေကာင္းေတြ၊ ႏိုင္ငံေရး၊ စီးပြားေရး အေျခအေနေကာင္းေတြ ဖန္တီးေပးတဲ့အတြက္ ဗီယက္နမ္ႏိုင္ငံက လွ်င္ျမန္စြာ တိုးတက္လာခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္မို႔လုိ႔ ဒီမွာရွိတဲ့ ပညာေရးစနစ္ကို ျမႇင့္တင္႐ုံတင္မကဘဲ ႏုိင္ငံျခားမွာရွိေနတဲ့ အေၾကာင္းေၾကာင္းေၾကာင့္ ထြက္သြားတဲ့သူေတြ ျပန္လာႏုိင္ေအာင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ႏုိင္ငံေရး၊ စီးပြားေရး၊ လူမႈေရး အေျခအေနေကာင္းေတြ ဖန္တီးေပး ဖို႔လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ဒီႏုိင္ငံကို မလႊဲမေရွာင္သာဘဲ ထြက္ခြာသြားရေပမယ့္ ျပန္လာခ်င္တဲ့သူေတြဟာ သူတို႔ဆီမွာ ၉၅ ရာခုိင္ႏႈန္းေလာက္ ရွိေနပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္မို႔လို႔ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ Human Resources ျပႆနာကို ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၀၊ ၃၀ အတြင္းမွာ တက္လာမယ့္ ျပႆနာကို ေျဖရွင္းဖုိ႔အတြက္ ၀ိုင္း၀န္း အေျဖရွာစဥ္းစားရပါမယ္။ ဒုတိယအခ်က္ကေတာ့ ကမၻာ့သမုိင္းကိုၾကည့္ရင္ သမုိင္းအစဥ္အလာအားျဖင့္ ႏုိင္ငံႀကီးေတြ အင္အားႀကီးလာရင္Super Power ျဖစ္လာရင္ သမုိင္းမွာ ႏုိင္ငံငယ္ေတြ စေတးခံရပါတယ္။ ၁၉ ရာစုႏွစ္မွာ ဥေရာပမွာ စက္မႈေတာ္လွန္ေရး ျဖစ္တယ္။ စက္မႈေတာ္လွန္ေရး အက်ဳိးဆက္ေၾကာင့္ အဂၤလန္တို႔ ျပင္သစ္တုိ႔ အရမ္းခ်မ္းသာလာၾကတယ္။ ကိုလိုနီခ်ဲ႕တယ္။ အာဖရိကရဲ႕ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ အာရွႏုိင္ငံေတြ စေတးခံရတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ကြၽန္ျဖစ္ခဲ့တယ္။ ၂၀ ရာစုႏွစ္က်ေတာ့ Super Powerအျဖစ္ ဆိုဗီယက္ရဲ႕ အေမရိကန္တို႔ ျဖစ္လာတယ္။ သူတို႔ၾကားမွာ ေတာင္ဗီယက္နမ္၊ ေျမာက္ ဗီယက္နမ္၊ ေတာင္ကိုရီးယား၊ ေျမာက္ကိုရီးယား၊ အေရွ႕ ဂ်ာမနီ၊ အေနာက္ ဂ်ာမနီ၊ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံေတာင္ အဖ်ားခတ္ခံရတယ္လို႔ ကြန္ျမဴနစ္၊ ဆိုရွယ္လစ္၊ အကြဲအျပဲရဲ႕ ျပည္တြင္းစစ္က ႏွစ္သက္ၾကာရွည္ခဲ့တယ္။ ၂၁ ရာစုမွာ Super Power ျဖစ္မွာဘယ္သူလဲဆိုတာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔အားလံုး သိၿပီးသားျဖစ္မွာပါ။ Super Power ျဖစ္လာမယ့္ ႏိုင္ငံတစ္ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕အနီးနားမွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ကိုယ္ခံအားမရွိဘဲနဲ႔ ရပ္တည္လို႔ မရႏုိင္ပါဘူး။ ေငြေၾကး အရမ္းခ်မ္းသာလာၿပီးေတာ့ အင္အားႀကီးမားတဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံတစ္ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕အနားမွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ရဲ႕ဆင္းရဲတဲ့ ျပည္သူေတြက ဘယ္လိုမွခုခံႏုိင္စြမ္းမရွိပါဘူး။ လူကုန္ကူးခံရတယ္။ ေရာင္းစားခံရတယ္။ ဒါေတြအားလံုးဟာ စီမံခ်က္ရဲ႕လည္း လုပ္လို႔မရပါဘူး။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံမွာ ကိုယ္ခံအား တကယ္ရွိမွပဲ လုပ္ေဆာင္လို႔ရမွာပါ။ ဒီလိုကိုယ္ခံအား လုပ္ေဆာင္မႈမရွိဘူးဆိုရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံဟာ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၀၊ ၃၀ ေတာင္ မၾကာပါဘူး။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ အေျခအေနေတြ ဆိုးရြားသြားႏုိင္ပါတယ္။ ေငြေၾကးတစ္ခုတည္းတင္ မဟုတ္ဘဲနဲ႔ ေယာက်္ား၊ မိန္းမ အခ်ဳိးအစားကြာဟမႈေၾကာင့္ တစ္ႏွစ္ကို သတို႔သမီး သန္း ၂၀ လိုအပ္တဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံတစ္ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕ေဘးမွာ ရပ္တည္ေနထိုင္ရတာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔အတြက္ အႏၱရာယ္အမ်ားႀကီးရွိပါတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕ Energy အားလံုးကို ေရာင္းစားၿပီးေတာ့ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ ဘယ္လိုစက္မႈ ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေအာင္ လုပ္ေဆာင္မွာလဲ။ ဒီလိုေျပာရျခင္း အေၾကာင္းရင္းက ႏွစ္ႏုိင္ငံဆက္ဆံေရး ပ်က္ျပားေစလိုတဲ့ ဆႏၵမရွိပါဘူး။ လူမ်ဳိးေရးမုန္းတီးမႈလည္းမရွိပါဘူး။ ကိုယ့္ႏုိင္ငံကိုကာကြယ္လိုတဲ့ဆႏၵ၊ ကိုယ့္ႏုိင္ငံကို အဓြန္႔ရွည္ တည္တံ့လိုတဲ့ဆႏၵ၊ ကိုယ္ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕ လြတ္လပ္ေရး တည္တံ့ခိုင္ျမဲလိုတဲ့ ဆႏၵပဲရွိပါတယ္။ ဒီအႏၱရာယ္ကို ကာကြယ္ဖုိ႔အတြက္ တစ္ခုတည္းေသာ လုပ္ေဆာင္ႏုိင္တဲ့အရာဟာ ဒီႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕ ဆက္ဆံေရး ပ်က္ျပားသြားတဲ့ မုန္းတီးစိတ္ျဖစ္ဖုိ႔ မဟုတ္ပါဘူး။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ဟာ ႏုိင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအ၀ိုင္းထဲကို ျပန္လည္၀င္ေရာက္ဖုိ႔ပဲ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ႏုိင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအ၀ိုင္းျဖစ္တဲ့ အာဆီယံ၊ အေနာက္အုပ္စုႏုိင္ငံေတြရဲ႕ မဆက္ဆံဘဲနဲ႔ ေနထုိင္ခဲ့မယ္ဆုိရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံ အေျခအေန ဆိုးရြားသြားႏုိင္ပါတယ္။ ဥပမာ တျခားမၾကည့္ပါနဲ႔ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္ကိစၥ၊ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္ရဲ႕ ပတ္သတ္လို႔ရွိရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ဟာ ပညာရွင္ေတြ မဟုတ္တဲ့အတြက္ ပညာရွင္တြ ထပ္မံတြက္ခ်က္ဖုိ႔ လိုတာကေတာ့ ဒီလိုဆက္လက္ၿပီး လုပ္ေဆာင္မယ္ဆိုရင္ ေနာင္အႏွစ္ ၂၀၊ ၃၀ မွာ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္၀ကြၽန္းေပၚ ပေပ်ာက္သြားမယ္။ ပင္လယ္ေရမ်က္နာျပင္ဟာ ေနာင္အႏွစ္ ၂၀၊ ၃၀ မွာ တစ္ေပတက္မယ္။ ျမစ္ေခ်ာင္းေတြေကာ လာမယ္။ စပါးစိုက္ဧကေတြ ေလ်ာ့လာမယ္။ ေရခ်ဳိရရွိမႈေတြ ေလ်ာ့လာမယ္။ စပါးေတြဟာ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္၀ကြၽန္းေပၚမွာ မထြက္ႏုိင္ေတာ့ဘူး။ ဒီျပႆနာကို ဘယ္လိုရွင္းမလဲ၊ ျမစ္၀ါျမစ္ရဲ႕ အဓိကျမစ္ႀကီးေတြမွာ ဆည္ႀကီးေတြ တည္ေဆာက္တဲ့အတြက္ ဒါေတာင္မွ ဥေရာပက ပညာရွင္ေတြ ေခၚေဆာက္တာေတာင္ သူတို႔ Problem ျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ ၿမိဳ႕ႀကီးေတြ ေရလႊမ္းတယ္။ မႏၱေလးၿမိဳ႕ေရလႊမ္းရင္ ဘယ္လိုလုပ္မလဲ။ မႏၱေလးၿမိဳ႕ဟာ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္ေရျပင္အထက္ စိုးရိမ္ေရအမွတ္က ႏွစ္ေပပဲရွိတယ္။ ဒီလိုျပႆနာမ်ဳိးေတြကို Transparency ရွိရွိ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ေရကာတာေဆာက္တယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ႏုိင္ငံအတြက္ ဘယ္ေလာက္ အက်ဳိးအျမတ္ရွိမလဲ။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ေရရွည္ ဘယ္ေလာက္ဆံုး႐ႈံးသြားမလဲ။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ဒါေတြ တြက္ခ်က္ဖို႔ လိုပါတယ္။ ဒါေတြဟာ ၾကည့္လိုက္ရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံဟာ အင္အားႀကီးႏိုင္ငံရဲ႕ ပူးတြဲယွဥ္ေနထုိင္တဲ့အခါ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔ ဘယ္လိုလုပ္ေဆာင္ရမယ္၊ ဘယ္လိုကာကြယ္ရမယ္၊ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ လြတ္လပ္ေရးကို ဘယ္လိုထိန္းသိမ္း ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ရမလဲဆိုတာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕ ဂုဏ္သိကၡာကို ဘယ္လိုထိန္းသိမ္း ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ရမလဲဆိုတာ ထင္ရွားပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္မို႔ ႏုိင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအ၀ုိင္းကို ၀င္ေရာက္ေတာ့မယ္ဆုိရင္ ႏုိင္ငံတကာစံႏႈန္းေတြရဲ႕ ညီညြတ္ေအာင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ လုပ္ေဆာင္ရပါမယ္။ ႏုိင္ငံတကာစံႏႈန္းေတြရဲ႕ ၀င္ေရာက္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ဖုိ႔ဆိုရင္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တုိ႔အေနနဲ႔ ညီညြတ္မႈက သိပ္အေရးႀကီးပါတယ္။ အမ်ဳိးသား စည္းလံုးညီညြတ္ေရးအရ ျပန္လည္တည္ေဆာက္ဖုိ႔က အမွန္တကယ္အေရးႀကီးတဲ့ အခန္းက႑ကို ေရာက္ရွိေနပါၿပီ။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ အမ်ဳိးသားစည္းလံုးညီၫြတ္ေရးကို လုပ္ေဆာင္ႏိုင္မယ့္ အရာအားလံုး ကို လုပ္ေဆာင္ၿပီးေတာ့ ႏုိင္ငံကို ဖြံ႔ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေအာင္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ဖုိ႔ လာတဲ့သူေတြေရာ၊ အစိုးရေရာ၊ သက္ဆုိင္ရာ အတုိက္အခံ အဖြဲ႔အစည္းေတြကိုေရာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္ဒီေနရာက တိုက္တြန္းပါတယ္။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ႏုိင္ငံရဲ႕အနာဂတ္ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ရဲ႕ သားသမီးေျမးျမစ္ေတြရဲ႕ အနာဂတ္အတြက္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ဖုိ႔ တုိက္တြန္းပါတယ္။ ေနာက္ဆံုး နိဂံုးခ်ဳပ္အေနနဲ႔ ေျပာရရင္ တ႐ုတ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ႀကီး တိန္႔ေရွာင္ဖိန္ ေျပာတဲ့ စကားတစ္ခြန္းလိုပါပဲ။ ‘ျပတင္းတံခါးေတြ ကိုဖြင့္ထားလိုက္ပါ၊ သန္႔ရွင္းတဲ့ေလရဲ႕အတူ ျခင္ေတြ၊ ပိုးမႊားေတြ ၀င္လာပါလိမ့္မယ္’။ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ဒီေနရာမွာ တိန္႔ေရွာင္ဖိန္စကားကို ထပ္ျဖည့္စြက္ ၿပီးေျပာရရင္ ပိတ္ထားတာၾကာၿပီ ျဖစ္တဲ့တံခါးကို ဖြင့္မယ္ဆိုရင္ ေလေကာင္းေလသန္႔ နဲ႔အတူ ျခင္၊ ယင္၊ ပိုးမႊားေတြ၀င္မယ္။ ဒါမွမဟုတ္ဘဲ မပိတ္ဘဲနဲ႔ ဖြင့္လိုက္ပိတ္လိုက္ လုပ္မယ္။ ဒါမွမဟုတ္ နည္းနည္းေလးပဲ ဖြင့္မယ္ဆိုရင္ေတာ့ ေလေကာင္းေလသန္႔မရဘဲ ျခင္၊ ယင္။ ပိုးမႊားေတြပဲ ၀င္လာပါလိမ့္မယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္မို႔လို႔ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္အစိုးရကိုလည္း တုိက္တြန္းခ်င္တာက တံခါးကို ရဲရဲတင္းတင္း ဖြင့္လိုက္ပါ။ ႏုိင္ငံအတြက္ ျဖစ္လာမယ့္ ျပႆနာေတြ အားလံုးကို ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ ဒီေနရာကေန ရဲရဲႀကီး ကာကြယ္သြားမွာပါ။ ရဲရဲတင္းတင္း ဖြင့္တဲ့တံခါးေတြရဲ႕ေနာက္ကြယ္မွာ ကြၽန္ေတာ္တို႔ အစိုးရကိုအားလံုး ကူညီသြားဖုိ႔ အဆင္သင့္ရွိေနတယ္ဆိုတာ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္အစိုးရကို ေျပာၾကားရင္း နိဂံုးခ်ဳပ္ပါတယ္။
Suu Kyi to deliver BBC lectures
Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver two BBC lectures on the struggle against authoritarian regimes, eight months after her release from house arrest, the broadcaster said Friday.
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks in 2010. She will deliver two BBC lectures on the struggle against authoritarian regimes, eight months after her release from house arrest, the broadcaster said
The addresses have been pre-recorded in Burma and form part of the 2011 Reith Lectures, a major annual event in the BBC calendar which honours the first head of the broadcaster, John Reith.
"To be speaking to you through the BBC has a very special meaning for me. It means that once again I am officially a free person," said Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi in a statement released by the BBC.
"When I was officially 'unfree', that is to say when I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me -- I listened."
Her first lecture, to be broadcast on June 28, looks at dissent in Burma and the second, to be broadcast on July 5, explores how freedom can be won with reference to the pro-democracy movements sweeping the Middle East.
Suu Kyi was released on November 13 following her latest stint of house arrest, which lasted seven years, and shortly after the country's first elections in 20 years.
Oxford-educated Suu Kyi swept the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election win in 1990, but the military regime never accepted the result and she spent much of the past two decades a prisoner in her own home.
Her party boycotted the November 7 elections, saying the rules were unfair. Suu Kyi was excluded from the vote which was won by the military's political proxies.
Power is now held by a nominally civilian but army-backed government.
In her comments released on Friday, Suu Kyi said that listening to the BBC while she was under house arrest gave her "a kind of freedom, the freedom of reaching out to other human minds.
"Of course it was not the same as a personal exchange but it was a form of human contact."
She added: "Even though I cannot be with you in person, I am so grateful for this opportunity to exercise my right to human contact by sharing with you my thoughts on what freedom means to me and others across the world who are still in the sad state of what I would call ? unfreedom'."
Source: Bangkok Post
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks in 2010. She will deliver two BBC lectures on the struggle against authoritarian regimes, eight months after her release from house arrest, the broadcaster said
The addresses have been pre-recorded in Burma and form part of the 2011 Reith Lectures, a major annual event in the BBC calendar which honours the first head of the broadcaster, John Reith.
"To be speaking to you through the BBC has a very special meaning for me. It means that once again I am officially a free person," said Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi in a statement released by the BBC.
"When I was officially 'unfree', that is to say when I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me -- I listened."
Her first lecture, to be broadcast on June 28, looks at dissent in Burma and the second, to be broadcast on July 5, explores how freedom can be won with reference to the pro-democracy movements sweeping the Middle East.
Suu Kyi was released on November 13 following her latest stint of house arrest, which lasted seven years, and shortly after the country's first elections in 20 years.
Oxford-educated Suu Kyi swept the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election win in 1990, but the military regime never accepted the result and she spent much of the past two decades a prisoner in her own home.
Her party boycotted the November 7 elections, saying the rules were unfair. Suu Kyi was excluded from the vote which was won by the military's political proxies.
Power is now held by a nominally civilian but army-backed government.
In her comments released on Friday, Suu Kyi said that listening to the BBC while she was under house arrest gave her "a kind of freedom, the freedom of reaching out to other human minds.
"Of course it was not the same as a personal exchange but it was a form of human contact."
She added: "Even though I cannot be with you in person, I am so grateful for this opportunity to exercise my right to human contact by sharing with you my thoughts on what freedom means to me and others across the world who are still in the sad state of what I would call ? unfreedom'."
Source: Bangkok Post
Friday, June 10, 2011
EDITORIAL Burma has not earned the right to more respect
By The Nation
Published on June 10, 2011
The generals continue to rule with a puppet parliament, and the world is uncoordinated in its application of pressure for genuine reform
US Senator John McCain went to Burma recently and made headlines for several days. That was good for him, and he highlighted what needs to be done in the recalcitrant, pariah state. He was succinct in reiterating that Burma under the new "civilian leader", President Thien Sien, must do much more before normalisation of diplomatic ties with the US and other Western nations can occur. Evolutionary change, he added, is inescapable, and it would be in Burma's interest to recognise that fact.
Since the "Arab Spring" began earlier this year, many politicians, near and far, have compared the dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa with the situation in Southeast Asia. Some say that what has happened, and is happening, in the Middle East and North Africa could very well take place here.
That may be a bit dramatic. The political environment in Burma is quite different, but its citizens are suffering the same kind of political oppression. Burma has powerful neighbours to help and provide the assistance it needs, and mitigate whatever pressure comes from abroad.
There is also a lack of unity when it comes to the international approach to Burma. Divergent viewpoints and approaches enable the generals in their hideout in Naypyidaw to engage outsiders the way they want.
It is interesting that the international community has not learned a single lesson from the Burmese crisis since 1988. That helps explain why Burma will not change under the current circumstances. After all, why should the junta leaders change, when they have followed their own plans so efficiently?
From the Burmese rulers' point of view, the country is now officially led by a civilian government. But most outside observers view this with scepticism. Obviously with a new government, several Western countries have sufficient excuse to initiate moves to help Burma, despite the ongoing human rights violations there, on the pretext of helping the Burmese people. These countries are mostly interested in the country's abundant energy resources.
Rightly so, Burma has played its cards well, hedging powers against each other, knowing full well the international community will never consolidate its willpower because there are too many other crises to deal with around the world.
Of late, Burma has cleverly has succeeded in convincing the West - especially some of the EU and Scandinavian countries - that it is better to help the Burmese people inside the country than those exiled around the world. This is a cunning scheme hatched by Naypyidaw that will affect the exiled Burmese community.
In addition, the country's military leaders are sidelining the main opposition party leader, Aung Saan Suu Kyi, reiterating that she is stubborn and non-cooperative. These Western countries are eager to follow Nayphidaw because they want to get their footprints in Burma as soon as possible.
The time has come for the international powers - namely the US, EU and Asean - to work more closely together. Burma is the proposed Asean chair in 2014, and it will serve as a benchmark, possibly a black stain, for the regional grouping whether the regime that has been so cruel and inhumane to its own people will be given legitimacy in the international arena.
Substantial changes must come first, otherwise Burma will have to wait. To argue that the new government needs to consolidate its power before any meaningful change is possible is a bit naive. Burma's strongman, General Than Shwe, is still a very powerful figure, deciding major moves. Without a common approach by other countries, the Burmese military leaders, under the cover of an "elected" parliament, will continue their reign of terror.
Source: The Nation
Published on June 10, 2011
The generals continue to rule with a puppet parliament, and the world is uncoordinated in its application of pressure for genuine reform
US Senator John McCain went to Burma recently and made headlines for several days. That was good for him, and he highlighted what needs to be done in the recalcitrant, pariah state. He was succinct in reiterating that Burma under the new "civilian leader", President Thien Sien, must do much more before normalisation of diplomatic ties with the US and other Western nations can occur. Evolutionary change, he added, is inescapable, and it would be in Burma's interest to recognise that fact.
Since the "Arab Spring" began earlier this year, many politicians, near and far, have compared the dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa with the situation in Southeast Asia. Some say that what has happened, and is happening, in the Middle East and North Africa could very well take place here.
That may be a bit dramatic. The political environment in Burma is quite different, but its citizens are suffering the same kind of political oppression. Burma has powerful neighbours to help and provide the assistance it needs, and mitigate whatever pressure comes from abroad.
There is also a lack of unity when it comes to the international approach to Burma. Divergent viewpoints and approaches enable the generals in their hideout in Naypyidaw to engage outsiders the way they want.
It is interesting that the international community has not learned a single lesson from the Burmese crisis since 1988. That helps explain why Burma will not change under the current circumstances. After all, why should the junta leaders change, when they have followed their own plans so efficiently?
From the Burmese rulers' point of view, the country is now officially led by a civilian government. But most outside observers view this with scepticism. Obviously with a new government, several Western countries have sufficient excuse to initiate moves to help Burma, despite the ongoing human rights violations there, on the pretext of helping the Burmese people. These countries are mostly interested in the country's abundant energy resources.
Rightly so, Burma has played its cards well, hedging powers against each other, knowing full well the international community will never consolidate its willpower because there are too many other crises to deal with around the world.
Of late, Burma has cleverly has succeeded in convincing the West - especially some of the EU and Scandinavian countries - that it is better to help the Burmese people inside the country than those exiled around the world. This is a cunning scheme hatched by Naypyidaw that will affect the exiled Burmese community.
In addition, the country's military leaders are sidelining the main opposition party leader, Aung Saan Suu Kyi, reiterating that she is stubborn and non-cooperative. These Western countries are eager to follow Nayphidaw because they want to get their footprints in Burma as soon as possible.
The time has come for the international powers - namely the US, EU and Asean - to work more closely together. Burma is the proposed Asean chair in 2014, and it will serve as a benchmark, possibly a black stain, for the regional grouping whether the regime that has been so cruel and inhumane to its own people will be given legitimacy in the international arena.
Substantial changes must come first, otherwise Burma will have to wait. To argue that the new government needs to consolidate its power before any meaningful change is possible is a bit naive. Burma's strongman, General Than Shwe, is still a very powerful figure, deciding major moves. Without a common approach by other countries, the Burmese military leaders, under the cover of an "elected" parliament, will continue their reign of terror.
Source: The Nation
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Myanmar president meets with senior Chinese official
Burmese newspapers and media did not carry President meeting
NAY PYI TAW, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Thein Sein on Thursday met with visiting Chinese leader Li Yuanchao, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China ( CPC) Central Committee, at the President's Office in Nay Pyi Taw.
Myanmar president U Thein Sein shakes hands with visiting Li Yuanchao, head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, in Myanmar, June 2, 2011. (Xinhua/Wu Ang),
Li also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of the deep "paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship of the peoples of China and Myanmar as well as the achievement in strengthening the two countries' relations in the past 61 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relationship.
Holding that development of China-Myanmar relations is the unshakable foreign policy of the CPC and the Chinese government, Li expressed China's wishes to actively implement, together with the Myanmar side, the important common consent reached between leaders of the two countries during a recent visit to China by Myanmar President U Thein Sein.
He said China also wishes to strengthen friendly exchange at different levels, expand the exchange and cooperation in respective sectors, push ahead the exchange of administrative experience of the ruling parties of the two countries and continuously consolidate and develop the two countries' all-sided strategic cooperative partnership.
Li appraised Myanmar's achievement in boosting national development, pledging that China would as always respect and support Myanmar's choice of path of development in accordance with its domestic status and believing that under the leadership of the Myanmar president, Myanmar would be able to make greater achievement on the road of national development and construction.
At the meeting, U Thein Sein expressed delight over his recent successful visit to China and the upgrade of the two countries relations to overall strategic cooperative partnership.
U Thein Sein said Myanmar would like to maintain the trend of high-level exchange, strengthen pragmatic cooperation in sectors such as economy and trade, transport, energy and agriculture, enhance the cooperation within the framework of cooperation in the region and subregion, and consolidate the two countries' traditional friendship.
He reaffirmed that Myanmar would continuously abide by the one- China policy, firmly support China's stance in safeguarding the core interest.
After the meeting, Li and Myanmar's Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo witnessed a signing ceremony of cooperation accords between the two countries.
On the same day, Li also met with U Shwe Mann, Speaker of Myanmar's Parliamentary House of Representatives and Vice Chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and USDP Secretary-General U Htay Oo separately. The two sides exchanged in- depth views over the development of the relations between the two countries and the two parties.
Li and U Htay Oo also attended the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the CPC and the USDP on exchange and cooperation.
Li, heading a CPC delegation, arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a good-will visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the USDP.
Source: Xinhua
NAY PYI TAW, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Thein Sein on Thursday met with visiting Chinese leader Li Yuanchao, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China ( CPC) Central Committee, at the President's Office in Nay Pyi Taw.
Myanmar president U Thein Sein shakes hands with visiting Li Yuanchao, head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, in Myanmar, June 2, 2011. (Xinhua/Wu Ang),
Li also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of the deep "paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship of the peoples of China and Myanmar as well as the achievement in strengthening the two countries' relations in the past 61 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relationship.
Holding that development of China-Myanmar relations is the unshakable foreign policy of the CPC and the Chinese government, Li expressed China's wishes to actively implement, together with the Myanmar side, the important common consent reached between leaders of the two countries during a recent visit to China by Myanmar President U Thein Sein.
He said China also wishes to strengthen friendly exchange at different levels, expand the exchange and cooperation in respective sectors, push ahead the exchange of administrative experience of the ruling parties of the two countries and continuously consolidate and develop the two countries' all-sided strategic cooperative partnership.
Li appraised Myanmar's achievement in boosting national development, pledging that China would as always respect and support Myanmar's choice of path of development in accordance with its domestic status and believing that under the leadership of the Myanmar president, Myanmar would be able to make greater achievement on the road of national development and construction.
At the meeting, U Thein Sein expressed delight over his recent successful visit to China and the upgrade of the two countries relations to overall strategic cooperative partnership.
U Thein Sein said Myanmar would like to maintain the trend of high-level exchange, strengthen pragmatic cooperation in sectors such as economy and trade, transport, energy and agriculture, enhance the cooperation within the framework of cooperation in the region and subregion, and consolidate the two countries' traditional friendship.
He reaffirmed that Myanmar would continuously abide by the one- China policy, firmly support China's stance in safeguarding the core interest.
After the meeting, Li and Myanmar's Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo witnessed a signing ceremony of cooperation accords between the two countries.
On the same day, Li also met with U Shwe Mann, Speaker of Myanmar's Parliamentary House of Representatives and Vice Chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and USDP Secretary-General U Htay Oo separately. The two sides exchanged in- depth views over the development of the relations between the two countries and the two parties.
Li and U Htay Oo also attended the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the CPC and the USDP on exchange and cooperation.
Li, heading a CPC delegation, arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a good-will visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the USDP.
Source: Xinhua
Myanmar reforms investment commission to boost foreign investment
YANGON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has reformed its Investment Commission as part of its efforts to draw more foreign investment into the country, local media reported Wednesday.
The 16-member Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) was re- established in response to the call of President U Thein Sein for facilitating foreign investors to come to Myanmar for the purpose, said the Myanmar Newsweek.
To promote foreign investment, the MIC will cooperate mainly with China, India, and other Asian countries, the report said.
Official statistics show that total foreign investment in Myanmar has hit 36.05 billion U.S. dollars by April this year since 1988 when Myanmar opened to such investment.
Of the total foreign investment coming from 31 countries and regions, China stands in the first place with 9.603 billion dollars, followed by Thailand with 9.568 billion dollars, China's Hong Kong 6.308 billion dollars, South Korea 2.930 billion dollars, Britain 2.659 billion dollars and Singapore 1.818 billion dollars, according to the figures of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Sectorwise investment as of the date is shown as 14.5 billion dollars in electric power, 13.8 billion dollars in oil and gas, 2. 8 billion dollars in mining, 1.7 billion dollars in manufacturing and 1 billion dollars in hotels and tourism.
However, a latest-released Chinese official statistics reveal that Chinese investment in Myanmar has soared to 12.32 billion dollars so far.
Myanmar promulgated its Foreign Investment Law in November 1988 and the MIC was formed in 1994.
Source: Xinhua
The 16-member Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) was re- established in response to the call of President U Thein Sein for facilitating foreign investors to come to Myanmar for the purpose, said the Myanmar Newsweek.
To promote foreign investment, the MIC will cooperate mainly with China, India, and other Asian countries, the report said.
Official statistics show that total foreign investment in Myanmar has hit 36.05 billion U.S. dollars by April this year since 1988 when Myanmar opened to such investment.
Of the total foreign investment coming from 31 countries and regions, China stands in the first place with 9.603 billion dollars, followed by Thailand with 9.568 billion dollars, China's Hong Kong 6.308 billion dollars, South Korea 2.930 billion dollars, Britain 2.659 billion dollars and Singapore 1.818 billion dollars, according to the figures of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Sectorwise investment as of the date is shown as 14.5 billion dollars in electric power, 13.8 billion dollars in oil and gas, 2. 8 billion dollars in mining, 1.7 billion dollars in manufacturing and 1 billion dollars in hotels and tourism.
However, a latest-released Chinese official statistics reveal that Chinese investment in Myanmar has soared to 12.32 billion dollars so far.
Myanmar promulgated its Foreign Investment Law in November 1988 and the MIC was formed in 1994.
Source: Xinhua
Thailand: Pressure mounts on Yingluck Perjury claim 'a smear tactic'; may be illegal
The Office of the Attorney-General says it will act strictly according to law if it finds enough evidence to proceed in a perjury case against Pheu Thai party list candidate Yingluck Shinawatra.
Deputy Attorney-General Waiyawut Lortrakul said yesterday it was not the duty of the public prosecution to handle the case immediately.
He was speaking after Kaewsun Atibhodhi, a former member of the disbanded Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), and Tul Sitthisomwong, leader of the anti-red shirt Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land, prepare to ask all relevant agencies to follow up on the cases related to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's 46 billion baht assets seizure case.
The perjury case against Ms Yingluck is related to the assets seizure case, in which Ms Yingluck, Thaksin's youngest sister, testified as a defence witness.
The assets seizure case is among many cases brought against Thaksin by the defunct ASC. All of them have been transferred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
Mr Waiyawut said the NACC should take up the perjury case first.
He said any cases related to the assets seizure case should be sent to and handled by investigators.
The Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land met the Department of Special Investigation's chief Tharit Pengdit last Friday to ask the DSI to check into the allegations against Ms Yingluck. The group will lodge a complaint against Ms Yingluck on June 21.
"If the case is eventually referred to the OAG for indictment, we are ready to do our duty," Mr Waiyawut said.
Mr Kaewsun and Mr Tul yesterday filed a petition with a Senate committee on monitoring corruption and promotion of good governance, asking the committee to follow up the four cases related to an order by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to seize 46-billion-baht from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Sumol Sutwiriyawat, deputy chairman of the Senate committee, received the petition.
In the petition, the Senate committee has been asked to follow up on the work of the NACC, the OAG, and the Securities and Exchange Commission involving four cases related to the Supreme Court's order to seize Thaksin's assets.
In the Thaksin assets seizure case, the Supreme Court ruled that Thaksin and his ex-wife Potjaman na Pombejra concealed their Shin Corp shares and controlled the shares through proxies - their adult children and other relatives including Yingluck Shinawatra, the No.1 Pheu Thai party list candidate, who held 20 million baht in shares on Thaksin's behalf.
Of the four related cases, the first was on Thaksin's false statement given to the NACC; the second on false statements given by Thaksin's ex-wife, children and relatives to the SEC; the third on Shin Corp's false transaction reports to the SEC; and the fourth on Thaksin's alleged abuse of power to enrich Shin Corp.
Mr Kaewsun said he wanted the Senate committee to ask the NACC, SEC and OAG how much progress had been made in the four cases.
Meanwhile, Ms Yingluck said yesterday that she was ready to testify to clear up the allegation of perjury related to the court's seizure of 46.37 billion baht of her brother Thaksin's assets.
She said she was prepared to come under public scrutiny over the matter.
"I am ready to clear the accusation under the rule of law. I will exercise patience and will provide all facts to the general public," she said after making merit at Wat Phra That Phanom in Nakhon Phanom yesterday morning.
She is campaigning today in the northeastern province.
Ms Yingluck was responding to the announcement by Mr Kaewsan that he would launch a signature campaign at Thammasat University on June 18 to ask people to file complaints against her over charges of perjury related to the case.
Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the move by Mr Kaewsun to launch a signature campaign on Facebook and at Thammasat University on June 18 to ask people to file complaints against Ms Yingluck over charges of perjury is intended to dissuade voters from voting for Pheu Thai in the July 3 general election.
Mr Prompong said Mr Kaewsun's action could violate the election law, prompting Pheu Thai to file a complaint against him with the Crime Suppression Division and to ask the Election Commission to look into the matter today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday criticised supporters of the red shirt movement for trying to disrupt vote campaigns by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
On Monday, red shirt supporters heckled Mr Abhisit during his campaigning by raising the issue of the 92 people, most of them red shirts, who were killed in the clashes between red shirts and the military in April and May last year.
Mr Suthep said well-organised efforts had been made to distort the information.
Source: Bangkok Post
Deputy Attorney-General Waiyawut Lortrakul said yesterday it was not the duty of the public prosecution to handle the case immediately.
He was speaking after Kaewsun Atibhodhi, a former member of the disbanded Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), and Tul Sitthisomwong, leader of the anti-red shirt Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land, prepare to ask all relevant agencies to follow up on the cases related to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's 46 billion baht assets seizure case.
The perjury case against Ms Yingluck is related to the assets seizure case, in which Ms Yingluck, Thaksin's youngest sister, testified as a defence witness.
The assets seizure case is among many cases brought against Thaksin by the defunct ASC. All of them have been transferred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
Mr Waiyawut said the NACC should take up the perjury case first.
He said any cases related to the assets seizure case should be sent to and handled by investigators.
The Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land met the Department of Special Investigation's chief Tharit Pengdit last Friday to ask the DSI to check into the allegations against Ms Yingluck. The group will lodge a complaint against Ms Yingluck on June 21.
"If the case is eventually referred to the OAG for indictment, we are ready to do our duty," Mr Waiyawut said.
Mr Kaewsun and Mr Tul yesterday filed a petition with a Senate committee on monitoring corruption and promotion of good governance, asking the committee to follow up the four cases related to an order by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to seize 46-billion-baht from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Sumol Sutwiriyawat, deputy chairman of the Senate committee, received the petition.
In the petition, the Senate committee has been asked to follow up on the work of the NACC, the OAG, and the Securities and Exchange Commission involving four cases related to the Supreme Court's order to seize Thaksin's assets.
In the Thaksin assets seizure case, the Supreme Court ruled that Thaksin and his ex-wife Potjaman na Pombejra concealed their Shin Corp shares and controlled the shares through proxies - their adult children and other relatives including Yingluck Shinawatra, the No.1 Pheu Thai party list candidate, who held 20 million baht in shares on Thaksin's behalf.
Of the four related cases, the first was on Thaksin's false statement given to the NACC; the second on false statements given by Thaksin's ex-wife, children and relatives to the SEC; the third on Shin Corp's false transaction reports to the SEC; and the fourth on Thaksin's alleged abuse of power to enrich Shin Corp.
Mr Kaewsun said he wanted the Senate committee to ask the NACC, SEC and OAG how much progress had been made in the four cases.
Meanwhile, Ms Yingluck said yesterday that she was ready to testify to clear up the allegation of perjury related to the court's seizure of 46.37 billion baht of her brother Thaksin's assets.
She said she was prepared to come under public scrutiny over the matter.
"I am ready to clear the accusation under the rule of law. I will exercise patience and will provide all facts to the general public," she said after making merit at Wat Phra That Phanom in Nakhon Phanom yesterday morning.
She is campaigning today in the northeastern province.
Ms Yingluck was responding to the announcement by Mr Kaewsan that he would launch a signature campaign at Thammasat University on June 18 to ask people to file complaints against her over charges of perjury related to the case.
Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the move by Mr Kaewsun to launch a signature campaign on Facebook and at Thammasat University on June 18 to ask people to file complaints against Ms Yingluck over charges of perjury is intended to dissuade voters from voting for Pheu Thai in the July 3 general election.
Mr Prompong said Mr Kaewsun's action could violate the election law, prompting Pheu Thai to file a complaint against him with the Crime Suppression Division and to ask the Election Commission to look into the matter today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday criticised supporters of the red shirt movement for trying to disrupt vote campaigns by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
On Monday, red shirt supporters heckled Mr Abhisit during his campaigning by raising the issue of the 92 people, most of them red shirts, who were killed in the clashes between red shirts and the military in April and May last year.
Mr Suthep said well-organised efforts had been made to distort the information.
Source: Bangkok Post
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Dissident Plans a More Active Role in Myanmar
World Briefing | Asia
By KEVIN DREW
HONG KONG — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the most high-profile dissident in Myanmar, signaled on Monday that she would be seeking to broaden her audience in her country since being released from house arrest.
Speaking from Myanmar via a live video link to an audience at the University of Hong Kong, she confirmed that she would begin traveling outside of Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar and its economic capital, a move that may test boundaries imposed on her since her release in November.
In 2003, during a period free from detention, Mrs. Aung San Suu Ky toured the country, drawing increasingly large crowds, and on one trip, a band of men attacked her convoy in what some people believed was an assassination attempt. She was then sent back to house arrest.
On Monday she also urged the international community to reach out to the opposition movement in Myanmar by using modern communications technology.
In the months since her release from house arrest, Mrs. Aung San Suu Ky, recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has used video links and other means to connect with students and activists in Europe and North America.
“We can help each other now — we now have the ability,” she said after being asked how people outside of Myanmar could an engage with her and other pro-democracy activists inside her country.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi would not specify when or where she would travel, or even the purpose of her trips. But she pointedly noted on Monday that the government had not provided assurances of her safety and that she had made it clear that she expected the authorities to ensure her security.
“It is the duty of the government to provide assurances,” she said.
Some Burmese dissidents have been hoping that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi would take a more active political role.
Her supporters, while acknowledging the range of opinions within the democracy movement in Myanmar, described her decision to travel around the country as a natural progression.
“She is the leader of the democracy network, and that includes addressing issues such as social welfare, political prisoners, farmers’ rights and civil rights lawyers,” said Aung Din, executive director of the United States Campaign for Burma, a lobbying group. “She is the leader of a broader civil society movement.”
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the elections in November were advertised as a “road map to democracy.” In March, a civilian government was installed under President Thein Sein, but analysts say little has changed inside Myanmar since the elections.
The new government has done little to end abuses across Myanmar, said Tomás Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
Speaking by telephone, Mr. Quintana listed several areas in which the new government failed to make any significant progress, noting land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement of people, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against women.
“These problems remain widespread and unaddressed,” said Mr. Quintana, who in May visited Thailand for a week to speak with refugees from Myanmar.
The Myanmar government has refused entry to Mr. Quintana.
He said he was preparing a report to present to the U.N. General Assembly this year.
Likewise, little progress has been made to confront what has been described as rampant corruption of the Myanmar economy.
It has been “a little disappointing,” Sean Turnell, professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, said of the new government’s response to initiating economic reforms. The military remains by far the largest expenditure in Myanmar, at about 25 percent of the budget, he said.
“That is causing all sorts of distortion to the economy, and creating a very serious budget deficit,” he said. “But the government’s response to budget deficits has been to print more money, which has led to the highest rate of inflation in Southeast Asia.”
Mr. Turnell said, for example, that he had expected the government to address the gap between the official exchange and market rates of Myanmar’s currency, the largest such gap in the world. The official exchange rate is 6 kyat to the U.S. dollar, while on the market, a dollar exchanges for 350 kyat, Mr. Turnell said. No action has been taken, he said.
“Economic reform is really going to run up against vested interests,“ he said, pointing to a relatively few number of oligarchs who command most of the business enterprises in Myanmar.
The address on Monday by Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi was preceded by a videotaped speech from her. In it, she emphasized the need for education and described people as “learners and nonlearners.”
When asked later how she would describe the military establishment in Myanmar, she said, “I would say they are not very fast learners.”
When asked by a student how she has managed to maintain her conviction in principles, she was blunt: “Discipline. That’s how I managed to live in isolation and keep my faith.”
Under house arrest for 15 of 21 years before her release in November, she spoke on Monday of maintaining simplicity in her daily life.
“I’ve learned to be happy with small things,” she said. “You have to learn to be happy with small things.”
When asked by a female student at Hong Kong University about the role of women in politics in Myanmar, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi said many women were playing roles inside her party, the National League for Democracy.
Then she smiled, adding “sometimes I think they are more helpful than men.”
Source: New York Times
By KEVIN DREW
HONG KONG — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the most high-profile dissident in Myanmar, signaled on Monday that she would be seeking to broaden her audience in her country since being released from house arrest.
Speaking from Myanmar via a live video link to an audience at the University of Hong Kong, she confirmed that she would begin traveling outside of Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar and its economic capital, a move that may test boundaries imposed on her since her release in November.
In 2003, during a period free from detention, Mrs. Aung San Suu Ky toured the country, drawing increasingly large crowds, and on one trip, a band of men attacked her convoy in what some people believed was an assassination attempt. She was then sent back to house arrest.
On Monday she also urged the international community to reach out to the opposition movement in Myanmar by using modern communications technology.
In the months since her release from house arrest, Mrs. Aung San Suu Ky, recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has used video links and other means to connect with students and activists in Europe and North America.
“We can help each other now — we now have the ability,” she said after being asked how people outside of Myanmar could an engage with her and other pro-democracy activists inside her country.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi would not specify when or where she would travel, or even the purpose of her trips. But she pointedly noted on Monday that the government had not provided assurances of her safety and that she had made it clear that she expected the authorities to ensure her security.
“It is the duty of the government to provide assurances,” she said.
Some Burmese dissidents have been hoping that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi would take a more active political role.
Her supporters, while acknowledging the range of opinions within the democracy movement in Myanmar, described her decision to travel around the country as a natural progression.
“She is the leader of the democracy network, and that includes addressing issues such as social welfare, political prisoners, farmers’ rights and civil rights lawyers,” said Aung Din, executive director of the United States Campaign for Burma, a lobbying group. “She is the leader of a broader civil society movement.”
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the elections in November were advertised as a “road map to democracy.” In March, a civilian government was installed under President Thein Sein, but analysts say little has changed inside Myanmar since the elections.
The new government has done little to end abuses across Myanmar, said Tomás Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
Speaking by telephone, Mr. Quintana listed several areas in which the new government failed to make any significant progress, noting land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement of people, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against women.
“These problems remain widespread and unaddressed,” said Mr. Quintana, who in May visited Thailand for a week to speak with refugees from Myanmar.
The Myanmar government has refused entry to Mr. Quintana.
He said he was preparing a report to present to the U.N. General Assembly this year.
Likewise, little progress has been made to confront what has been described as rampant corruption of the Myanmar economy.
It has been “a little disappointing,” Sean Turnell, professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, said of the new government’s response to initiating economic reforms. The military remains by far the largest expenditure in Myanmar, at about 25 percent of the budget, he said.
“That is causing all sorts of distortion to the economy, and creating a very serious budget deficit,” he said. “But the government’s response to budget deficits has been to print more money, which has led to the highest rate of inflation in Southeast Asia.”
Mr. Turnell said, for example, that he had expected the government to address the gap between the official exchange and market rates of Myanmar’s currency, the largest such gap in the world. The official exchange rate is 6 kyat to the U.S. dollar, while on the market, a dollar exchanges for 350 kyat, Mr. Turnell said. No action has been taken, he said.
“Economic reform is really going to run up against vested interests,“ he said, pointing to a relatively few number of oligarchs who command most of the business enterprises in Myanmar.
The address on Monday by Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi was preceded by a videotaped speech from her. In it, she emphasized the need for education and described people as “learners and nonlearners.”
When asked later how she would describe the military establishment in Myanmar, she said, “I would say they are not very fast learners.”
When asked by a student how she has managed to maintain her conviction in principles, she was blunt: “Discipline. That’s how I managed to live in isolation and keep my faith.”
Under house arrest for 15 of 21 years before her release in November, she spoke on Monday of maintaining simplicity in her daily life.
“I’ve learned to be happy with small things,” she said. “You have to learn to be happy with small things.”
When asked by a female student at Hong Kong University about the role of women in politics in Myanmar, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi said many women were playing roles inside her party, the National League for Democracy.
Then she smiled, adding “sometimes I think they are more helpful than men.”
Source: New York Times
Monday, June 6, 2011
Cambodian PM denies agreement with ex-Thai deputy army chief
PHNOM PENH, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday he has never agreed with Gen. Wichit Yathip, the former Thai deputy army chief, on troop withdrawal from the disputed border area next to the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
Thai media reported that Gen. Wichit Yathip said that before the border clashes between the two countries broke out in February, he had talked with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the premier suggested a three-point solution.
They agreed that both countries should withdraw troops from the (disputed) area and jointly manage the 4.6-square kilometer overlapping border area.
Hun Sen acknowledged that he met with Wichit during wedding of the son of Cambodian defense minister Tea Banh in Phnom Penh.
"Wichit Yathip just paid a short courtesy call on me and we had not discussed anything concerning the Thai-claimed overlapping area near the temple because Cambodia has never known where the 4. 6-square kilometer area is," he said at the graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration. "I don't know where he has these remarks from."
"Wichit should clarify on his remarks, or he would lose his value," said the premier.
Hun Sen said that if Cambodia agreed to these points, there would be no Cambodia's complaints to international bodies.
The premier made the remarks after the Bangkok Post online newspaper reported that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday Cambodia should withdraw all border dispute cases from international bodies and return to talks with Thailand.
The deadly conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over border dispute has flared up since Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was awarded the World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.
Source: Xinhua
Thai media reported that Gen. Wichit Yathip said that before the border clashes between the two countries broke out in February, he had talked with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the premier suggested a three-point solution.
They agreed that both countries should withdraw troops from the (disputed) area and jointly manage the 4.6-square kilometer overlapping border area.
Hun Sen acknowledged that he met with Wichit during wedding of the son of Cambodian defense minister Tea Banh in Phnom Penh.
"Wichit Yathip just paid a short courtesy call on me and we had not discussed anything concerning the Thai-claimed overlapping area near the temple because Cambodia has never known where the 4. 6-square kilometer area is," he said at the graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration. "I don't know where he has these remarks from."
"Wichit should clarify on his remarks, or he would lose his value," said the premier.
Hun Sen said that if Cambodia agreed to these points, there would be no Cambodia's complaints to international bodies.
The premier made the remarks after the Bangkok Post online newspaper reported that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday Cambodia should withdraw all border dispute cases from international bodies and return to talks with Thailand.
The deadly conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over border dispute has flared up since Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was awarded the World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.
Source: Xinhua
China-ASEAN trade to top 300 bln U.S. dollars this year: official
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Trade value between China and ASEAN nations is expected to top 300 billion U.S. dollars this year as the Free Trade Area (FTA) continues to offer boosts, said Xu Ningning, the executive secretary general of China-ASEAN Business Council.
The FTA, which started operation since the beginning of last year, has boosted economic exchanges between China and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states, Xu said Sunday at a forum in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.
The estimated amount will be higher than the 292.8 billion U.S. dollars registered between the two sides in 2010, up 37.5 percent from a year earlier.
Customs data showed that in the first four months of this year, trade value between China and ASEAN nations rose 26.5 percent year-on-year to 110.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Under the FTA accord, the average tariff on goods from ASEAN countries to China is cut down to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.
By 2015, the policy of zero-tariff rate for 90 percent of Chinese goods is expected to extend to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua
The FTA, which started operation since the beginning of last year, has boosted economic exchanges between China and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states, Xu said Sunday at a forum in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.
The estimated amount will be higher than the 292.8 billion U.S. dollars registered between the two sides in 2010, up 37.5 percent from a year earlier.
Customs data showed that in the first four months of this year, trade value between China and ASEAN nations rose 26.5 percent year-on-year to 110.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Under the FTA accord, the average tariff on goods from ASEAN countries to China is cut down to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.
By 2015, the policy of zero-tariff rate for 90 percent of Chinese goods is expected to extend to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Middle East: Wounded Yemeni president in Saudi Arabia
Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh is in Riyadh for medical treatment, after he was injured in an attack on his compound on Friday, the Saudi royal court said in a statement.
"The Yemeni president has arrived along with officials and citizens who had received different injuries for treatment in Saudi Arabia," the royal court said on Sunday.
Friday's rocket attack on Saleh's presidential palace in the capital Sanaa marked a major escalation in the four-month-long uprising against his 33-year rule.
Pro-democracy protesters in Yemen celebrated on Sunday following news of the president's departure.
Source: Aljazeera
"The Yemeni president has arrived along with officials and citizens who had received different injuries for treatment in Saudi Arabia," the royal court said on Sunday.
Friday's rocket attack on Saleh's presidential palace in the capital Sanaa marked a major escalation in the four-month-long uprising against his 33-year rule.
Pro-democracy protesters in Yemen celebrated on Sunday following news of the president's departure.
Source: Aljazeera
Thailand: Poll: Yingluck improves in many aspects
The latest Abac Poll revealed that Yingluck Shinawatra, the No 1 Pheu Thai paty list candidate, has won more support from the people in many aspects in the third survey, compared to the first survey.
However, when compared to Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader, Ms Yingluck was still behind the caretaker prime minister on several aspects, said Abac Poll director Noppadol Kannikar.
The poll was conducted between May 30-June 4 on 2,210 people in Bangkok, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Kanchanaburi, Suphan Buri, Chon Buri, Phayao, Phetchabun, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, Surin, Buri Ram, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Krabi, Narathiwat and Songkhla.
The poll results revealed that Ms Yingluck received more support in many aspects, compared to the the first survey.
The support for Ms Yingluck went up from 9.7% to 31.6% in terms of patience and control of emotion; from 13% to 37.4% in politeness; from 11.3% to 29.3% in acceptance from within the country and abroad; from 9.8% to 32.4% in her being a role model; from 13.1% to 34.2% in hospitality; and from 12.9% to 32.5 in leadership.
However, Mr Abhisit was still more acceptable than Ms Yingluck in many aspects. The support for Mr Abhisit, compared to that for Ms Yingluck, was 47.7% to 32.5% in terms of leadership; 43.3% to 29.5% in political ethics; and 43.1% to 34.3% in charisma.
Source: Bangkok Post
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Senior Chinese official attends China-Myanmar "Brightness Action" program
YANGON, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Visiting senior Chinese official Li Yuanchao, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended a China-Myanmar " Brightness Action" program here Friday, which is aimed to offer free surgical treatment for cataract patients in Myanmar.
Li, also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, visited the Myodaw medical center a learned about the post-operation result of the surgeries.
Li said the program brings hope for cataract patients and conveys Chinese people's sincerity and kindness to the Myanmar people.
He hoped that the medical staff of the two sides can work closely to contribute more to the friendship of the two peoples.
A total of 260 Myanmar cataract patients are receiving free medical treatment under the program jointly organized by the China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
The Chinese medical team has been conducting a week-long surgical treatment on cataract patients in Yangon since May 31 under the "Brightness Action" program for the first time.
In the afternoon, Li also visited No.1 State High School in Yangon, where he met with teachers and students and donated some teaching materials and athletic equipment.
Li, heading a CPC delegation, arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a good-will visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the USDP.
Source: Xinhua
Li, also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, visited the Myodaw medical center a learned about the post-operation result of the surgeries.
Li said the program brings hope for cataract patients and conveys Chinese people's sincerity and kindness to the Myanmar people.
He hoped that the medical staff of the two sides can work closely to contribute more to the friendship of the two peoples.
A total of 260 Myanmar cataract patients are receiving free medical treatment under the program jointly organized by the China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
The Chinese medical team has been conducting a week-long surgical treatment on cataract patients in Yangon since May 31 under the "Brightness Action" program for the first time.
In the afternoon, Li also visited No.1 State High School in Yangon, where he met with teachers and students and donated some teaching materials and athletic equipment.
Li, heading a CPC delegation, arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a good-will visit to Myanmar at the invitation of the USDP.
Source: Xinhua
China's COMAC signs agreement to sell two ARJ21 planes to Myanmar Airways
BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), a state-owned aircraft manufacturer, has signed an agreement to sell two ARJ21-700 aircraft to the Myanmar Airways, a statement from the country's state-assets supervisor said.
The value of the deal was not revealed in the statement posted Friday on the website of country's State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
The delivery time for the two models were also not disclosed, but the statement said the signing of the agreement has marked big progress made by COMAC in promoting the ARJ21 aircraft to the overseas markets.
The statement added the agreement has paved the way for the long-term cooperation between COMAC and Myanmar Airways in the future.
The ARJ21 is China's first homegrown commercial regional aircraft, which earlier made an international debut at the Zhuhai air show in November last year.
The 78- to 90-seat craft has a maximum flight range of 3,700 kilometers and maximum altitude of 11,900 meters. The statement said COMAC plans to deliver its first ARJ21-700 regional aircraft to its first client, the Chengdu Airlines
Source: Xinhua
The value of the deal was not revealed in the statement posted Friday on the website of country's State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
The delivery time for the two models were also not disclosed, but the statement said the signing of the agreement has marked big progress made by COMAC in promoting the ARJ21 aircraft to the overseas markets.
The statement added the agreement has paved the way for the long-term cooperation between COMAC and Myanmar Airways in the future.
The ARJ21 is China's first homegrown commercial regional aircraft, which earlier made an international debut at the Zhuhai air show in November last year.
The 78- to 90-seat craft has a maximum flight range of 3,700 kilometers and maximum altitude of 11,900 meters. The statement said COMAC plans to deliver its first ARJ21-700 regional aircraft to its first client, the Chengdu Airlines
Source: Xinhua
Cambodia's free speech worsening
Cambodia is failing to address concerns about a worsening climate for freedom of expression, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the country said on Friday.
UN special rapporteur Surya Subedi has warned that Cambodia is failing to address concerns about a worsening climate for freedom of expression.
"The situation I'm afraid has not changed much with regards to freedom of speech. That's where I would like to see some progress made," Surya Subedi told reporters at the end of his fifth fact-finding mission to Cambodia.
Subedi said the situation had showed little improvement since his previous visit in February, when he voiced alarm over the narrowing space for people to express their views and told the government that criticism was not a crime.
"Because of the fear of possible charges of defamation, disinformation and incitement against them, many people such as journalists, human rights defenders and political activists seem to be resorting to self-censorship," he said at a news conference in the capital.
The Cambodian government has come under fire in recent years for launching a number of lawsuits against critics and opposition members.
Last year it also introduced a new penal code that makes it easier to jail a person for voicing dissent.
"People who should not be in prison in a properly functioning democracy are in prison," Subedi said, referring to the case of a World Food Programme employee who was jailed for six months in December for distributing material from an anti-government website.
Touching on the sensitive issue of land rights violations, a high-profile problem in Cambodia, he said "not much progress has been made".
He said he had visited some disputed sites, including a lake area in Phnom Penh where thousands of people are being forcibly evicted to make way for a private development project.
A rally by dozens of lake residents in April ended violently when baton-wielding policemen beat protesters, including elderly women, and made several arrests.
Subedi called the incident "regrettable" but said he was encouraged by the recent dialogue between the lake-dwellers and city officials.
Source:Bangkok Post
UN special rapporteur Surya Subedi has warned that Cambodia is failing to address concerns about a worsening climate for freedom of expression.
"The situation I'm afraid has not changed much with regards to freedom of speech. That's where I would like to see some progress made," Surya Subedi told reporters at the end of his fifth fact-finding mission to Cambodia.
Subedi said the situation had showed little improvement since his previous visit in February, when he voiced alarm over the narrowing space for people to express their views and told the government that criticism was not a crime.
"Because of the fear of possible charges of defamation, disinformation and incitement against them, many people such as journalists, human rights defenders and political activists seem to be resorting to self-censorship," he said at a news conference in the capital.
The Cambodian government has come under fire in recent years for launching a number of lawsuits against critics and opposition members.
Last year it also introduced a new penal code that makes it easier to jail a person for voicing dissent.
"People who should not be in prison in a properly functioning democracy are in prison," Subedi said, referring to the case of a World Food Programme employee who was jailed for six months in December for distributing material from an anti-government website.
Touching on the sensitive issue of land rights violations, a high-profile problem in Cambodia, he said "not much progress has been made".
He said he had visited some disputed sites, including a lake area in Phnom Penh where thousands of people are being forcibly evicted to make way for a private development project.
A rally by dozens of lake residents in April ended violently when baton-wielding policemen beat protesters, including elderly women, and made several arrests.
Subedi called the incident "regrettable" but said he was encouraged by the recent dialogue between the lake-dwellers and city officials.
Source:Bangkok Post
Thailand: Candidates ask for protection
400 officers deployed to provide security
Nearly 200 party-list and constituency MP candidates have asked for police protection during the election campaign, Royal Thai Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said yesterday.
"The Royal Thai Police Office has assigned more than 400 officers to provide security for the candidates as requested," he said.
He insisted at this stage, there were enough police officers to provide protection for all 199 candidates that had requested it.
Pol Maj Gen Prawut said the southernmost province of Narathiwat had been added to the list of constituencies on special watch because the poll competition there was especially fierce.
There are 36 constituencies in 16 provinces that have been listed as special watch areas, he added.
The top three provinces on the list are Narathiwat, Nakhon Sawan and Chiang Rai. The other 13 provinces are Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Roi Et, Samut Prakan, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Ratchaburi, Phuket and Mae Hong Son.
In Bangkok, 12 constituencies are on the special watch list, including Laksi, Don Muang, Sai Mai, Bang Khen, Klong Sam Wa, Nong Chok, Bang Khunthian, Bang Bon, Nong Khaem and Thawi Watthana, he said.
Meanwhile, police have concluded that the recent shooting at the home of a canvasser for Samart Muangsiri, a Democrat candidate in Bangkok's Constituency 28, was politically motivated, Pol Maj Gen Prawut said.
He has ordered local police to step up security at the home of the canvasser, Wichan Rueangklan.
Pol Maj Gen Prawut said patrol officers had been sent to check on the homes of other candidates' canvassers as a precautionary measure.
Pol Col Prasopchok Phrommoon, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), said a police intelligence unit had been established to gather information related to the general election, including people on a watchlist, such as influential persons, hitmen and war weapons traders.
The CSD has dispatched 480 officers to 20 provinces where competition is especially tough, including Nakhon Sawan and Ratchaburi, Pol Col Prasopchok said.
In Chiang Rai, local police said they believed either business or political conflicts were behind the shooting death of Mongkhol Weerawatphongsathorn, 46, headman of Ban Huai San village in Mae Fa Luang district. He was also a canvasser for an MP candidate running for election in the province.
Source: Bangkok Post
Nearly 200 party-list and constituency MP candidates have asked for police protection during the election campaign, Royal Thai Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said yesterday.
"The Royal Thai Police Office has assigned more than 400 officers to provide security for the candidates as requested," he said.
He insisted at this stage, there were enough police officers to provide protection for all 199 candidates that had requested it.
Pol Maj Gen Prawut said the southernmost province of Narathiwat had been added to the list of constituencies on special watch because the poll competition there was especially fierce.
There are 36 constituencies in 16 provinces that have been listed as special watch areas, he added.
The top three provinces on the list are Narathiwat, Nakhon Sawan and Chiang Rai. The other 13 provinces are Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Roi Et, Samut Prakan, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Ratchaburi, Phuket and Mae Hong Son.
In Bangkok, 12 constituencies are on the special watch list, including Laksi, Don Muang, Sai Mai, Bang Khen, Klong Sam Wa, Nong Chok, Bang Khunthian, Bang Bon, Nong Khaem and Thawi Watthana, he said.
Meanwhile, police have concluded that the recent shooting at the home of a canvasser for Samart Muangsiri, a Democrat candidate in Bangkok's Constituency 28, was politically motivated, Pol Maj Gen Prawut said.
He has ordered local police to step up security at the home of the canvasser, Wichan Rueangklan.
Pol Maj Gen Prawut said patrol officers had been sent to check on the homes of other candidates' canvassers as a precautionary measure.
Pol Col Prasopchok Phrommoon, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), said a police intelligence unit had been established to gather information related to the general election, including people on a watchlist, such as influential persons, hitmen and war weapons traders.
The CSD has dispatched 480 officers to 20 provinces where competition is especially tough, including Nakhon Sawan and Ratchaburi, Pol Col Prasopchok said.
In Chiang Rai, local police said they believed either business or political conflicts were behind the shooting death of Mongkhol Weerawatphongsathorn, 46, headman of Ban Huai San village in Mae Fa Luang district. He was also a canvasser for an MP candidate running for election in the province.
Source: Bangkok Post
Testimony of Joseph Yun
Block Burmese JADE Act and recent policy developments
Testimony of Joseph Yun
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Washington, DC
June 2, 2011
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Berman, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the central aspects of our Burma policy, including elements of our two-track approach that comprises pressure coupled with principled engagement. In light of my recent visits to Burma in December 2010 and again two weeks ago, I would also like to provide an overview on the Administration’s efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Burma and on key recent developments in Burma including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the 2010 elections, and the formation of a government headed by former top regime general and now President Thein Sein.
After a comprehensive policy review, which Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell outlined for your Committee in October 2009, the United States launched a dual-track Burma policy, combining pressure with direct dialogue with the regime. We are currently pursuing these parallel and complementary tracks in a full-scale effort to advance progress on core concerns of the United States and the international community, including the unconditional release of all political prisoners, respect for human rights, and an inclusive dialogue with the political opposition and ethnic groups that would lead to national reconciliation. We also urge the Government of Burma to respect its international obligations, including adherence to all UN Security Council resolutions on nonproliferation. We have made these representations repeatedly in the context of Burma’s nontransparent relationship with North Korea. Although meaningful progress remains elusive, I believe we must continue to bring the full range of diplomatic tools to bear and use both dialogue and pressure to promote positive change in Burma.
First, let me start with the pressure side of our policy. We play a leading role in the international community in shining a light on the regime's dismal human rights record and signaling to Burmese authorities that the world is watching. We support an annual resolution at the UN General Assembly on Burma that draws attention to human rights abuses and calls for cooperation with the international community to achieve concrete progress with regard to human rights, fundamental freedoms and political processes. In 2010, this resolution passed by a higher vote margin than in any previous year. More recently, in March of this year, we supported the annual resolution on Burma at the UN Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana. We continue to call upon the Burmese government to fully cooperate with Mr. Quintana, including by allowing him to visit the country again, which authorities are refusing. Secretary of State Clinton has also expressed our commitment to pursuing accountability for human rights abuses through establishing a commission of inquiry for Burma in close consultation with our friends, allies, and partners at the United Nations.
Source: Unknown
Testimony of Joseph Yun
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Washington, DC
June 2, 2011
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Berman, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the central aspects of our Burma policy, including elements of our two-track approach that comprises pressure coupled with principled engagement. In light of my recent visits to Burma in December 2010 and again two weeks ago, I would also like to provide an overview on the Administration’s efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Burma and on key recent developments in Burma including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the 2010 elections, and the formation of a government headed by former top regime general and now President Thein Sein.
After a comprehensive policy review, which Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell outlined for your Committee in October 2009, the United States launched a dual-track Burma policy, combining pressure with direct dialogue with the regime. We are currently pursuing these parallel and complementary tracks in a full-scale effort to advance progress on core concerns of the United States and the international community, including the unconditional release of all political prisoners, respect for human rights, and an inclusive dialogue with the political opposition and ethnic groups that would lead to national reconciliation. We also urge the Government of Burma to respect its international obligations, including adherence to all UN Security Council resolutions on nonproliferation. We have made these representations repeatedly in the context of Burma’s nontransparent relationship with North Korea. Although meaningful progress remains elusive, I believe we must continue to bring the full range of diplomatic tools to bear and use both dialogue and pressure to promote positive change in Burma.
First, let me start with the pressure side of our policy. We play a leading role in the international community in shining a light on the regime's dismal human rights record and signaling to Burmese authorities that the world is watching. We support an annual resolution at the UN General Assembly on Burma that draws attention to human rights abuses and calls for cooperation with the international community to achieve concrete progress with regard to human rights, fundamental freedoms and political processes. In 2010, this resolution passed by a higher vote margin than in any previous year. More recently, in March of this year, we supported the annual resolution on Burma at the UN Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana. We continue to call upon the Burmese government to fully cooperate with Mr. Quintana, including by allowing him to visit the country again, which authorities are refusing. Secretary of State Clinton has also expressed our commitment to pursuing accountability for human rights abuses through establishing a commission of inquiry for Burma in close consultation with our friends, allies, and partners at the United Nations.
Source: Unknown
Friday, June 3, 2011
Tsai holds small lead over Ma in presidential poll
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
A new opinion poll suggests that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is maintaining a small but steady lead over President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the race for the nation’s top post.
A survey in yesterday’s -Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) suggested that record low approval ratings for Ma and shifting attitudes among pan-blue voters could be contributing to Tsai’s slight gain.
Thirty-five percent of those questioned in the poll said they supported Tsai for president, with 31 percent backing Ma, eight months before the presidential election.
The 4 percentage point lead, slightly above the margin of error, is consistent with other recent media polls that suggest Tsai is slightly ahead in popular support.
A Global Views magazine “public mood” index released on Wednesday showed Tsai leading Ma 49.6 percent to 46 percent in a public trust index. Another Global Views poll earlier this month gave Ma a 0.3 percent lead in popular support.
Continued dissatisfaction with the Ma administration, which marked its third anniversary last Friday, could be part of the reason why Tsai is making slight gains. Only 36.04 percent approved of the administration’s performance, according to the Liberty Times
“It shows that negative public opinion outnumbers positive when it comes to assessing Ma’s entire administrative performance,” the paper said.
Self-described undecided voters are also leaning toward the DPP candidate, while only 67 percent of voters who said they voted for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the local elections last year still support Ma, the poll suggested.
However, 83 percent of those who voted for the DPP last year said they continue to back Tsai.
According to the poll, Tsai is also leading among younger voters — a demographic where both candidates have focused recent efforts. Among the 20-to-29 age group, Tsai leads Ma 36 percent to 24 percent.
“The [results] show that the people have felt nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction with the Ma administration and its results over the past three years,” Tsai said while stumping in Nantou County yesterday.
However, with both presidential campaigns yet to officially start, she cautioned that the results are too early to provide more than a reference point. There was “still plenty of time left” before polling day, she said.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓), at a separate setting yesterday, defended the efforts of the Ma administration to improve the economy and lower the unemployment rate among other achievements, and said the government would continue its work regardless of poll results.
“We take the results of every poll as a reference and the government will continue to work harder to improve its performance,” he said.
The Liberty Times poll was conducted by telephone on May 23 and 24. It sampled 1,021 respondents and has a margin of error of 3.07 percent.
Source: Taipei Times
A new opinion poll suggests that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is maintaining a small but steady lead over President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the race for the nation’s top post.
A survey in yesterday’s -Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) suggested that record low approval ratings for Ma and shifting attitudes among pan-blue voters could be contributing to Tsai’s slight gain.
Thirty-five percent of those questioned in the poll said they supported Tsai for president, with 31 percent backing Ma, eight months before the presidential election.
The 4 percentage point lead, slightly above the margin of error, is consistent with other recent media polls that suggest Tsai is slightly ahead in popular support.
A Global Views magazine “public mood” index released on Wednesday showed Tsai leading Ma 49.6 percent to 46 percent in a public trust index. Another Global Views poll earlier this month gave Ma a 0.3 percent lead in popular support.
Continued dissatisfaction with the Ma administration, which marked its third anniversary last Friday, could be part of the reason why Tsai is making slight gains. Only 36.04 percent approved of the administration’s performance, according to the Liberty Times
“It shows that negative public opinion outnumbers positive when it comes to assessing Ma’s entire administrative performance,” the paper said.
Self-described undecided voters are also leaning toward the DPP candidate, while only 67 percent of voters who said they voted for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the local elections last year still support Ma, the poll suggested.
However, 83 percent of those who voted for the DPP last year said they continue to back Tsai.
According to the poll, Tsai is also leading among younger voters — a demographic where both candidates have focused recent efforts. Among the 20-to-29 age group, Tsai leads Ma 36 percent to 24 percent.
“The [results] show that the people have felt nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction with the Ma administration and its results over the past three years,” Tsai said while stumping in Nantou County yesterday.
However, with both presidential campaigns yet to officially start, she cautioned that the results are too early to provide more than a reference point. There was “still plenty of time left” before polling day, she said.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓), at a separate setting yesterday, defended the efforts of the Ma administration to improve the economy and lower the unemployment rate among other achievements, and said the government would continue its work regardless of poll results.
“We take the results of every poll as a reference and the government will continue to work harder to improve its performance,” he said.
The Liberty Times poll was conducted by telephone on May 23 and 24. It sampled 1,021 respondents and has a margin of error of 3.07 percent.
Source: Taipei Times
SDP: Transportation of ballot boxes open to serious questions
Singapore Democrats
The SDP had written to the Elections Department and queried the inconsistencies regarding the rules and regulations of polling procedures. Different presiding officers seemed to apply the rules differently during the course of Polling Day.
The Elections Department (ELD) replied to clarify the rules which, in effect, only made matters more confusing. It asked for more information about the incidents and promised to "look into them further."
The Singapore Democrats continue to ask questions of the ELD because inconsistently applied rules create confusion and raise questions about the entire polling process and, hence, results.
Now that GE2011 is behind us, it is tempting to forget about all that happened and happened wrongly. However, we must continue to scrutinise the ELD's practices and procedures. This is especially important for future elections - the next one being just a few months away.
Volunteers, political parties indeed all citizens must hold the ELD to a high standard of transparency and fair-play.
In our on-going correspondence with the ELD, we provide the names and places where we spotted discrepancies and inconsistencies that need to be addressed.
One that needs particularly urgent attention is the transportation of the ballot boxes to the counting centres. Our polling agents reported that when a bus came to pick up the ballot boxes at their polling station, there were already ballot boxes on board. We presume that these were boxes that were picked up from another polling station.
Our polling agents wanted to verify this by checking those boxes. Unfortunately they were prevented from doing so. How does one ensure that the boxes being transported are indeed the ones that were used for polling during the day from another polling station?
Source: SDP
The SDP had written to the Elections Department and queried the inconsistencies regarding the rules and regulations of polling procedures. Different presiding officers seemed to apply the rules differently during the course of Polling Day.
The Elections Department (ELD) replied to clarify the rules which, in effect, only made matters more confusing. It asked for more information about the incidents and promised to "look into them further."
The Singapore Democrats continue to ask questions of the ELD because inconsistently applied rules create confusion and raise questions about the entire polling process and, hence, results.
Now that GE2011 is behind us, it is tempting to forget about all that happened and happened wrongly. However, we must continue to scrutinise the ELD's practices and procedures. This is especially important for future elections - the next one being just a few months away.
Volunteers, political parties indeed all citizens must hold the ELD to a high standard of transparency and fair-play.
In our on-going correspondence with the ELD, we provide the names and places where we spotted discrepancies and inconsistencies that need to be addressed.
One that needs particularly urgent attention is the transportation of the ballot boxes to the counting centres. Our polling agents reported that when a bus came to pick up the ballot boxes at their polling station, there were already ballot boxes on board. We presume that these were boxes that were picked up from another polling station.
Our polling agents wanted to verify this by checking those boxes. Unfortunately they were prevented from doing so. How does one ensure that the boxes being transported are indeed the ones that were used for polling during the day from another polling station?
Source: SDP
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