Myanmar lawmakers paid the country's first ever visit to the
European parliament on Thursday in a new sign of growing warmth between the
European Union and the Southeast Asian nation.
Headed by lower house speaker U Shwe Mann, the delegation,
including two other parliamentarians and a dozen officials, was to meet EU
president Herman Van Rompuy and the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton.
The president of the parliament, Martin Schulz, said the
talks notably served to recognise reforms carried out so far in the
long-isolated nation.
"The recent impressive democratic opening of the
country gives us much hope and optimism," Schulz said in a statement.
He said the parliament was ready to assist its partner
institution in Naypyidaw and had reiterated a standing invitation to Aung San
Suu Kyi to collect personally her 1990 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.
"I hope this will become possible in the nearest
future," he added.
The EU last month decided to suspend almost all sanctions
against Myanmar -- a move due to take effect on Friday -- and sent Ashton to
Yangon to open an EU office in a first step towards establishing a full
diplomatic mission.
After decades under a repressive junta, Myanmar has seen a
thaw in its relations with the international community since President Thein
Sein ushered in broad changes on coming to power last year, including welcoming
Suu Kyi's party into the political mainstream.
Following the meeting with U Shwe Mann, Speaker of the Lower
House of Burma/Myanmar (Pyithu Hluttaw), the President of the European
Parliament Martin Schulz stated:
"This was the first ever visit of a Burma/Myanmar
parliament delegation to the European Parliament, following my personal
invitation. It served the triple purpose of increasing mutual confidence,
giving recognition to the Burmese leadership for the reforms carried out so far
and to discuss the steps ahead in EU-Burma/Myanmar relations.
In particular, I congratulated the Speaker for the way the
April by-elections were carried out and encouraged him to continue to work for
the achievement of genuine party pluralism and for the reinforcing of civil
society and the protection of human rights.
The recent impressive democratic opening of the country
gives us much hope and optimism. The EU has honoured these courageous steps by
suspending most of its sanctions and opening its office in Rangoon. Significant
new EU funding will be available to assist the reform process and help economic
and social development. The European Parliament stands ready to assist our
partner parliament in Burma/Myanmar in strengthening its capacities, training
its staff and building a stronger parliamentary culture.
I commended the announcement of the commuting of all death
sentences into life imprisonment and asked for the release of all the remaining
political prisoners. We look forward to further progress in the human rights
area for the EU to be able to gradually lift all restrictive measures, which
will help boost trade and economic development of the country.
I reminded the Speaker of my standing invitation to Aung San
Suu Kyi to come to the European Parliament to collect personally her 1990
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. I hope this will become possible in the
nearest future."
Saw Lah Pwe, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)
leader who has been named one of Thailand’s most-wanted drug traffickers, has
called on international anti-narcotics bodies including the US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) to investigate the allegations against him.
At a press conference in Myawaddy Township on Thursday, Saw
Lah Pwe told several dozen journalists that his organization wrote to the DEA
on May 1 urging the agency to come to the area under his control to determine
whether he is involved in drug trafficking.
He said the DEA acknowledged receipt of the letter, but did
not immediately respond to the invitation.
Speaking to more than 40 Burmese and around 10 Thai
journalists, as well as a number of foreign reporters, he added that he has
also extended similar invitations to the Thai and Burmese authorities, but has
yet to receive a response from them.
On April, Thailand’s Office of Narcotics Control Board
(ONCB) included Saw Lah Pwe, who is also known as Na Kham Mwe, in the top five
of a list of Thailand’s 25 most-wanted drug traffickers with an offer of a
reward for 1 million baht (US $32,000) for information leading to his arrest.
The DKBA leader immediately challenged the allegations
against him, saying he was willing to face the charges in a court of law if
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who made the decision to
include Saw Lah Pwe on the most-wanted list, could offer any evidence to
support the claims.
The DKBA also warned that it would shut down a major
border-trade point, the Myawaddy-Mae Sot Friendship Brigade, if tensions between
the group and the Thai authorities continued to rise, according to Maj San
Aung, a leading DKBA official.
The ONCB has insisted, however, that its reports of the DKBA
leader’s alleged involvement in the drug trade are accurate. It said that drugs
seized by the Thai authorities in Tak Province in 2003 belonged to relatives of
Saw Lah Pwe, and that he was their ringleader.
However, Thai media reports indicate that the Thai
authorities appear to be working on the assumption that Saw Lah Pwe was the leader
of the DKBA at that time. In fact, he was just the commander of DKBA Brigade 5,
which broke away from the rest of the group in 2010 after it decided to disband
and join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military command.
Since then, Saw Lah Pwe’s faction, consisting of around
1,500 troops—roughly a quarter of the group’s former size—is all that remains
of the DKBA.
Saw Lah Pwe also questioned the timing of the Thai charges
against him. “Why didn’t they issue an arrest warrant for me in 2003 if that’s
when they seized the drugs?” he said.
Accusing Chalerm of stirring up trouble, Saw Lah Pwe said
that the Thai deputy prime minister “doesn’t want peace.”
“If he is so interested in hunting down fugitives, he should
go after Thaksin,” said the DKBA leader, referring to former Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who fled Thailand in 2008 after being found guilty
of corruption.
Laotian authorities handed over Golden Triangle drug lord
Sai Naw Kham to Beijing on Thursday—16 days after his reported arrest for the
killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River last autumn.
The 42-year old is understood to have started his
trafficking career under late drug warlord Khun Sa—the leader of the now
defunct Shan rebel Mong Thai Army.
“After joint work by the Chinese, Laotian, Burmese and Thai
police, we now have sufficient evidence to prove that Naw Kham and his gang
members … have in collusion with illegal Thailand military personnel planned
and executed the [murders],” said the head of Chinese investigative group Liu
Yuejin in a press statement published by the Chinese Ministry of Public
Security on Friday.
Liu, who is also the head of the narcotics control bureau of
the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, had been given the task of investigate
October slayings.
“Naw Kham has been a leading figure in the production,
transport and sale of drugs and other criminal activities in the Mekong River
area,” Liu said.
“Chinese police captured two [more] suspects in the case of
the killings on Oct. 5. According to their statements, Naw Kham is an important
person in this case.”
“Mr [Naw Kham] is a key figure in disturbing the peace along
the borders of Laos, China, Thailand and Myanmar,” Brigadier General Sysavath
Keomalavong, director general of the Laotian General Police Department, was
quoted by the Vientiane Times on Friday.
Naw Kham will face trial in China under Chinese law for the
crimes of murder and piracy, according to the Chinese ministry’s statement.
The Burmese national is generally regarded as the mastermind
behind an assault on two Chinese freight ships in the Thai part of the Mekong
River. All 13 Chinese members of the Huaping and Yuxing 8 vessels were killed
in the attack, which caused a media uproar in China.
Synthetic drugs, methamphetamines known as “yaba,” were found on the
ships after the assault. Xian Yanping, the deputy head of the Yunnan provincial
department for public security, told Chinese
Central Television that the two boats were captured by Naw Kham’s
men in Burmese waters, where they loaded on the narcotics. Once in Thailand,
they killed the 13 crew members and unloaded their illicit cargo.
The assault led to the establishment of multinational armed
police patrols along the Mekong River in December, headquartered in the sleepy
Chinese port of Guanlei, and the formation of a Chinese special investigative
unit tasked to hunt down Naw Kham.
On April 28, after the Chinese unit and its Burmese and
Laotian counterparts raided some of his hideouts and arrested several
associates, Naw Kham apparently crossed from Burma into Laos by boat to
negotiate with Laotian authorities on how to evade arrest there.
But the Laotian police arrested the party as soon as they
docked at the pier. Armed with rifles and guns, they surrendered after several
warning shots were fired, according to the Chinese account released on Friday.
However, the Bangkok Post quoted a Thai security source in
April who claimed that Naw Kham, his Laotian right-hand man Tao Maitaeng and
six other collaborates were captured during a raid in Bokeo Province.
Unconfirmed rumors followed that Naw Kham offered 20 million
Thai baht (US $640,000) “bail” to the Laotian captors for his release, while
others said that the Chinese authorities promised a two million Chinese yuan
($3.16 million) reward for his deportation to China.
Around 11 am yesterday, a short “ceremony” was held at the
VIP section of Vientiane Airport marking the handover of Naw Kham with a
“memorandum of understanding” signed. At 2 pm the Chinese delegation left by
plane with Naw Kham for Beijing, where they arrived two hours later.
Reporters saw Naw Kham formally sign his arrest warrant in
Beijing, after which he was taken into police custody. On Thursday evening,
Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu met with members of the special
investigative team headed by Liu and congratulated them on the capture.
Liu Jun, a member of the Chinese investigative team, told
Chinese Central Television on Friday that Naw Kham was then taken to Yunnan,
the Chinese border province next to Burma, where he will stand trial.
“The arrest of Naw Kham means that we have eradicated his
criminal gang,” Liu said, adding that Chinese police will continue along with
Burmese, Thai and Laotian authorities to hunt down his associates who are still
at large.
Naw Kham remained listed on the Interpol website as wanted
by Burmese police on Friday.
Switzerland has lifted all sanctions against Burma with the
exception of an embargo on arms and other goods liable to be used in
repression, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on
Wednesday.
The decision comes into force on Thursday, but will be
rescinded if the political situation in Burma deteriorates sharply, the
government said.
Last month the European Union responded to what it said were
historic changes in Burma by suspending for one year a wide range of trade,
economic and individual sanctions while leaving intact an arms embargo.
Canada and Australia have also recently eased punitive
measures, and Japan has waived US $3.7 billion in debt. The U.S. has also
lifted some sanctions.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski met with Burmese
President Thein Sein this week in Naypyitaw, the New Light of Myanmar said this
week.
The pair exchanged views on economic development in Burma,
the suspension and lifting of sanctions imposed by European Union (EU),
targeted investment of Poland in factories, dockyards, rail transportation and
energy sector as well as aid to human resources development and the technology
sector, the article said.
The Polish foreign minister was scheduled to meet Aung San
Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), in Rangoon later on
Thursday.
EU foreign ministers announced in Luxemburg on April 23 the
suspension of most sanctions against Burma for a year, excluding an arms
embargo. The EU's suspension of sanctions rather than complete lifting include
a ban on investment and trade related to timber and mining.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton in late April
opened a representative office in Rangoon, a move towards establishing a full
diplomatic mission in the future.
Ashton also announced a support package of up to 150 million
euro (US$ 198 million) for use in Burma's agricultural sector. The EU is
Asean’s second largest trading partner.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski met opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday while on a two-day official visit to
Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi called for investors to develop regions
where ethnic minorities exist.
[Aung San Suu Kyi,
Leader of National League for Democracy]:
"Those who are thinking of giving development aid or
investing in Burma should consider having programs not just in the mainly
Burmese areas but in the ethnic nationality areas as well. That they should
always try to balance one with another. Because although our people are poor, I
think, in the main land, I think in the ethnic areas they are even poorer and
even in greater need of even more aid.”
Sikorski said the suspension of sanctions posed by the
European Union against Myanmar would encourage economic recovery.
[Radoslaw Sikorski,
Polish Foreign Minister]:
"By suspending the sanctions, we have removed their effects.
So you cannot argue that the Burmese economy is not developing because of
sanctions, sanctions are not operable anymore. But at the same time we are
sending the signal, 'look, we want to be sure that what you are doing is
irreversible.’ And we think in a year maybe we will be sure. And maybe that
will be the time to re-examine the policy.”
Prior to his visit Sikorski had emphasized that the demand
for all political prisoners be released must be met before permanent lifting of
EU's sanctions.
Sikorski was accompanied by Polish businessmen representing
heavy industries and infrastructure. The delegation met with Myanmar ministers
and business communities.
The Polish and Myanmar's delegation also signed an agreement
on financing of technology in the mining industry and geological sciences
between the two countries.
An agreement on economic collaboration between Burma and Poland
including cooperation in the energy sector was reached at a meeting between
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Burmese Energy Minister Than Htay
in Naypyidaw, according to Bernama. Poland will invest in Burma’s energy sector
and supply training and technical services, while Poland will buy machinery
from Burma. A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Myanmar
Geoscience Association and the Polish AGH university of Science and Technology
while the Poland Development Cooperation Initiative Programme donated teaching
aids to four schools in Rangoon.
“You are not alone in
your struggle for change,” Poland’s foreign minister Radek Sikorski told a
journalists’ workshop in Burma, attended by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi.
“You have many friends ready to help. Poland, like all EU
countries, is one of them,” Sikorski said, who was attending the workshop in
the capital Naypyidaw, as part of a three-day trip to Burma.
Minister Sikorski told the journalists that there were
similarities between the Burmese struggle for freedom and Poland’s experience
under communism.
“You have Ms Suu Kyi, we had Lech Walesa,” he said
“I hope that you are on the road to democracy [...]. but
there is still much to do.”
Suu Kyi received a passport from the Burmese authorities
this week ahead of planned trips to Norway - to belatedly collect the Nobel
Peace Prize she won in 1991 - and the UK, following her election to parliament
last year after 15 years of house arrest.
The then ruling junta in Burma released her from house
arrest in November 2010.
During a short speech at the journalists’ workshop, Suu Kyi
thanked Radek Sikorski for visiting Burma and agreed with him that though
recent reforms were welcome, the Asian nation still has a long path to tread
before democratic transition is complete.
She emphasized that the opposition movement badly needs
training sessions like the one at the workshop to help realize that transition.
Burma, also known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,
underwent partial democratic reforms last year, when power was handed over to
the military backed Solidarity Union and Development Party.
Poland’s foreign minister has also met with former political
prisoners of the Generation 88 Student Group and representatives of opposition
parties.
Sikorski, who is being accompanied on his visit by a group
of Polish business people, said that Poland supports a further easing of
sanctions against the country to encourage further progress in the transition
to democracy. (pg)
Asian Green Development Bank and Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank signed
an agreement on 8 May to create a remittance service between the two countries.
On Tuesday, AGDB’s deputy-chairman Zaw Min and the K-Bank’s
Senior Executive Vice President Somkid Jiranuntarat signed an agreement in
Bangkok at Kasikorn’s headquarters in front of officials from the Burmese
embassy and the World Bank.
“Migrants sending their hard-earn cash from Thailand back to
their homes via unofficial money transfer services often end up losing their
money so based on this consideration, we sought approval from the World Bank to
run an official remittance service,” said an official from K-Bank.
The exchange rate will be based on daily EU currency rates.
The bank said it will offer special discount services to migrant workers and is
looking to hire Burmese staff at select branches.
K-Bank said they aim to have the service up and running in
June. The first bank to host the service will be in Mahachai district near
Bangkok, where a large Burmese community is located.
Kasikorn is the first bank to use Burmese language interface
with their ATM machines at more than 20 locations in Thailand.
Asia Green Development Bank is owned by the powerful
businessman Tay Za, whom Forbes has described as Burma’s first billionaire and who
has benefited from close relations with top-level government officials.
The reported resignation of Burmese Vice-President Tin Aung
Myint Oo became more that mere media speculation on Friday after a photo
emerged which showed his empty seat at a cabinet meeting.
The image released on the President’s Office website showed
President Thein Sein holding a meeting with his administration, but Tin Aung
Myint Oo, who normally sits next to the head of state, was conspicuously
absent. By contrast, Sai Mauk Kham, Burma’s other vice-president, was shown in
his usual place.
The President’s Office launched its own website on Friday as
the latest step in Burma’s current program of tentative democratic reforms.
Rumors that Tin Aung Myint Oo offered his resignation last
month spread after he returned from a trip to Singapore which was apparently
for medical treatment. The 61-year-old has not been seen in public or state-run
media since the conjecture concerning his possible resignation.
However, the government has still not made an official
announcement about his position and even banned local journals inside Burma
from reporting the speculation. The latest photo from the President’s Office
may not prove that Tin Aung Myint Oo has quit, although observers have taken it
as a strong indication.
Tin Aung Myint Oo was one of the most powerful opponents of
reform in Burma and widely regarded as a key figure in the government’s
hardliner faction.
Reports of his resignation have been carried by many
different media outlets. Tin Aung Myint Oo was among several hardliners slated
to be “moved to different roles or have their responsibilities reduced” over
concerns that they could become an obstacle to having Western sanctions lifted,
claim sources close to the government.
Thein Sein and Tin Aung Myint Oo were both favorites of
former junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who selected them to run in the 2010
general election as leaders of the military-backed ruling Union Solidarity and
Development Party. Than Shwe is also believed to have appointed them to their
current government posts.
However, there have been persistent reports since last year
that the pair are on bad terms. The clash may have had as much to do with
personality differences as any power struggle—Thein Sein is widely regarded as
the least corrupt of Burma’s former military leaders, and he and his family
have no known connections with any of the country’s tycoons.
Some suspect, however, that he does not enjoy broad support
within the government. The President’s Office is known to be displeased with
several ministers’ performances and corruption scandals, although Thein Sein
himself has also been criticized for the sluggish pace of reforms by Lower
House Speaker Shwe Mann, another key member of the former regime.
The Burmese Election Commission has approved the Tailai (Red
Shan) Nationalities Development Party (TNDP) to register as political party.
Four former members of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party
(SNDP) and 14 Tailai (Red Shan) members organized the new party, according to a
January 25 article in the Shan Herald News.
The founders include former SNDP members Sai Htay Aung, Sai
Kyaw Sway, Saw Win Tun and Saw Min Htin. The 18 TNDP members represent Tailai
communities in upper Burma. The group’s headquarters is in Mandalay.
The TNDP name was chosen by the Tailai community in Mandalay
on January 19, said Sai Htay Aung, who added that the party would represent not
only Tailai people (Red Shan) but also other Shan communities in the area such
as Tai Ner, Thai Khamti and others.
The party would like to organize all Shan into one
community, he said.
Many Shan are also living in Kachin State and other
divisions such as Sagaing, Mandalay, Rangoon.
Although Shan refers to themselves as Tai, they are known by
a different names, such as, Thai Yai in Thailand, Dai in China, Tai Ahom in
northeast India and Shan in Burma.
Tai-Shan live in Shan State, Burma, and in Yunnan Province
in southern China and are classified into different groups: such as Tai Lai,
Tai Nüa, Tai Long, Tai Sã, Tai Leng, and others.
Shan State is the largest of Burma’s 14 states and divisions
covering 60,000 square miles (23 per cent of the of the entire country with 9
million Shan inhabitants along with other migrants.
Over a month since historic by-elections, Burma's parliament was sworn
in earlier this month, including veteran democracy figure and Nobel Laureate,
Aung San Suu Kyi.
While all that was happening, some MPs from Ms Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy was visiting Australia, on a so-called 'political advisory
course' run by the University of Sydney and supported by the ruling Australian
Labor Party.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Khin Mar Win, Burmese Service, Radio Australia
Please go to the website in order listen to
the story.
Reports this week that Lower House MP Aung Thaung, a former
general who served as Burma’s industry minister in the previous military junta,
will no longer head efforts to reach a peace agreement with the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO) are just the latest twist in the long career of
a man regarded as one of the country’s most corrupt officials.
According to an anonymous government official quoted by Agence France-Presse, Aung
Thaung will not be included in a new Kachin negotiation team that will
reportedly be led by President Thein Sein “because of a health condition.” Aung
Thaung’s apparent ouster is similar to the fate of Vice President Tin Aung
Myint Oo, who reportedly resigned last week, also for health reasons.
The move to sideline Aung Thaung from his position as chief
of the parliamentary negotiating team, the Union Level Peace Committee, leaves
many questions unanswered, including how much influence he still yields and
whether more allies of former junta supremo Than Shwe will also be purged from
influential positions in the new government. It is also unclear if the shakeup
in the negotiating team will actually lead to better relations between the
government and the KIO.
Burma’s army under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Gen
Min Aung Hlaing has twice over the past six months ignored Thein Sein’s public
orders to halt the offensive against the KIO—a strong indication that Thein
Sein and his allies have little control over the country’s armed forces.
Aung Thaung, who is widely believed to have profited
immensely from corrupt business deals involving firms owned by his sons, is not
known for his negotiating skills. A leaked September 2008 US diplomatic cable
describe him as a “notorious hardliner” and noted his close relationship with
Than Shwe.
Over the past six months Aung Thaung led a series of
meetings with the KIO in the Chinese city of Ruili—talks that failed to reach
any form of agreement to end the 11 month conflict between the army and Burma’s
second-largest armed ethnic group.
Although Aung Thaung’s team successfully reached agreements
with two relatively small groups, the Shan State Army—North and a breakaway
faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, the parliamentary group’s
failure to make a deal with the KIO stood in sharp contrast with the negotiating
team led by Railways Minister Aung Min.
Aung Min’s team has concluded a flurry of high-profile
ceasefire agreements with more than half a dozen groups since early January,
when a deal was reached with the Shan State Army—South (SSA-South). The pact
with the SSA-South was quickly followed by similar agreements with the Chin
National Front, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the New Mon State Party.
Aung Min’s tentative agreement with the KNU, which brought a pause to one of
the world’s longest-running conflicts, gained international attention and
praise from numerous Western governments.
While Aung Min recently traveled to Switzerland and Norway
to discuss ways of ending Burma’s civil wars, Aung Thaung and his team
continued to be largely shunned by Western governments. Although Aung Thaung,
Aung Min and Thein Sein all served as senior figures in the notorious State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Aung Thaung has had far more difficulty
rehabilitating his image.
A key figure in the leadership of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA), the pro-military group that was later
transformed into the similarly named political party currently in power, Aung
Thaung is often cited by opposition activists as one of the key architects of
the Depayin massacre. This was the infamous May 30, 2003, incident in which a
mob of stick-wielding USDA cadres attacked supporters of National League for
Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi while she was on a speaking tour in
Upper Burma. The coordinated attack left several dozen NLD activists dead, a
fate which Suu Kyi herself only narrowly escaped.
Although Aung Thaung and the other alleged organizers of the
Depayin attack will likely never face trial for their involvement in this
horrendous event, his association with one of the more notorious episodes in
recent Burmese history is one possible reason that he has met with few
international visitors to Burma, in stark contrast with the showering of praise
Aung Min has received. The Norwegian government will reportedly spend millions
of dollars over the next five years funding ceasefire-related development
programs backed by Aung Min in Karen State and other areas of eastern Burma.
Reports from Naypyidaw suggest a rivalry between Aung Min
and Aung Thaung, though as with many reports from anonymous individuals
speaking about the small clique who run Burma, it is difficult to tell how far
these tensions actually run and whether this led to Aung Thaung’s removal.
Nirmal Ghosh, a correspondent for Singapore’s Straits Times, wrote on May 3 that “Sources
said Mr Aung Thaung has been privately critical of Mr Aung Min for making too
many concessions to the ethnic groups.”
These and other reports that Aung Thaung took a tougher line
are hardly surprising given Aung Thaung’s role in escalating tensions with the
KIO prior to the end of the group’s 17-year ceasefire with the central
government.
During negotiations in early 2010, Aung Thaung and then
Communications, Post and Telegraph Minister Thein Zaw gave the KIO until July
of that year to join a Border Guard Force under Burmese military command. The
decision by the KIO to ignore this deadline led to the 50-year-old organization
being declared a terrorist group in state media shortly afterward. Thein Zaw,
who has also made the transition from the army to Parliament, currently serves
as the second-ranked member of the Union Peace Committee.
How Aung Thaung helped his sons become millionaires
Aung Thaung served as Burma’s Industry Minister (1) from
1997 until the official end of the ruling SPDC last year, a 14-year period in
which Burma’s industrial sector came to be dominated by a small group of
businessman connected to the military leadership, including Aung Thaung’s own
children.
Although they may have not made as much money as billionaire
Tay Za, two of Aung Thaung sons, Pyi Aung (also spelled Pye Aung) and Nay Aung
are thought to have become multimillionaires using their father’s position in
Than Shwe’s junta to advance their business interests, which include timber,
oil, gas, electricity, banking, hotels and construction.
The brothers’ business empire is based on a series of
interconnected firms, most prominently IGE Co Ltd (also listed as International
Group of Entrepreneurs and IGE Pte Ltd). According to a company brochure UNOG
Pte Ltd, which deals in oil, gas and mining (also UNOG Co Ltd and United
National Oil & Gas), is also under the IGE umbrella, as is another firm
that deals in timber called MRT Co Ltd.
A 2008 diplomatic cable
states that Win Aung, owner of the timber company United International, told US
diplomats that “IGE is the second largest timber company in Burma, earning more
than
USD 75 million in 2007.”
According to the pamphlet, other parts of the IGE group of
companies include FCGC Co, which deals in “infrastructure development,” and the
Hotel Amara in Naypyidaw, where many recent international conferences have been
held. Aung Thaung’s family also owns United Amara Bank, formed in 2010.
During the great asset sell-off that took place at the end
of the SPDC regime, IGE gained control of what was previously a state-owned 50
percent stake in three upscale hotels in Rangoon—the famed Strand, the Dusit
Inya Lake and the Thammada. Another firm, Aung Yee Phyoe Co (also Aung Yee
Phyo), which deals in agricultural products, is also part of the family empire.
A US diplomatic cable from 2008
reports that IGE was formed in 1994 and later registered in Singapore in 2001.
UNOG, which is also registered in both Burma and Singapore, was created in
2000.
The 2008 cable states: “Nay Aung’s best friend, Win Kyaing,
is the Managing Director of IGE Co. and UNOG Co.” Recent reports in Burmese
state-controlled media suggest that four years later, Win Kyaing remains
managing director with IGE while his friend Nay Aung continues to serve as the
chairman of both IGE and UNOG. In January of this year, the New Light of Myanmar
listed a woman named Thazin Aung as the managing director of UNOG.
The revealing US diplomatic cable goes on to describe both
of Aung Thaung’s sons as being “close to Senior General Than Shwe, who
allegedly regards them as family.” The cable quotes a Rangoon-based businessman
as stating that both men “use their family connections and close ties to the
regime to amass great wealth.”
In addition to being the son of Aung Thaung, Pyi Aung is
married to Nandar Aye, the daughter of retired Ge Maung Aye, who for many years
was the second-highest ranking member of the SPDC. A US diplomatic cable dated
June 2009 suggested that Maung Aye preferred his son-in-law over Tay Za when
handing out lucrative business deals.
The 2009 cable
cites another Rangoon businessman who told US diplomats that the Joint Chief of
Staff Gen Shwe Mann and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye were favoring Nay Aung, Zaw Zaw
(head of Max Myanmar) and Aung Thet Mann (Shwe Mann’s son) “for new projects
and licenses in return for their ‘assistance.’”
The leaked 2008 cable also reports that IGE “was one of
eight companies to construct buildings in Nay Pyi Taw. In addition to building
several government housing complexes in the capital, the company built IGE
Hotel [now Hotel Amara], a four-star hotel with thirty bungalows. As with other
construction companies, the GOB [Government of Burma] did not pay IGE for its
services, instead providing it with 15 vehicle import licenses, worth USD
200,000 each.”
According to business sources in Burma who spoke to The
Irrawaddy last year, in early January 2011, IGE received an official permit
from the government’s Trade Policy Council (TPC) to import pipeline material to
be used for the Shwe pipeline project which will send fuel from the Arakanese
coast to China’s Yunnan Province, literally cutting Burma in half. The
billion-dollar project’s twin oil and gas pipelines will be operated by a
consortium led by the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the
China National Petroleum Company (CNPC).
The route of the pipelines goes through a lengthy strip of
northern Shan State controlled by the KIO, where heavy fighting is reportedly
continuing between the group’s armed wing and Burma’s military. It is unknown
if IGE’s involvement in the pipeline was a topic of discussion during the KIO’s
negotiations with Aung Thaung.
IGE and UNOG may not major be players in Burma’s oil
industry, however the Aung Thaung family empire is in a good position to
receive a percentage of the lucrative royalties that will flow if the oil and
gas blocks UNOG co-owns become operational.
In April 2012, UNOG and Petronas Carigali, the exploration
and production arm of Malaysia’s state-owned energy firm, obtained the rights
for two onshore blocks, RSF-2 and RSF-3. In 2010, Petrnoas Carigali and UNOG
reached a similar deal for the rights to offshore blocks in the Gulf of
Martaban, MD-4, MD-5 and MD-6. UNOG also currently co-owns the rights to the M1
offshore block with another foreign firm.
In May and June 2011 Norwegian firm Seadrill conducted
drilling work in the M1 offshore block despite the fact that the block’s
co-owners, Aung Thaung’s sons, were subject to EU sanctions. Though Norway is
not in the EU, Oslo officially adopted the EU’s Burma sanctions, which were in
effect until last month.
Despite the notorious reputation of Aung Thaung and his
sons, Seadrill did not appear to be concerned about being associated with them.
The New Light of Myanmar
reported that Seadrill staff attended a June 1, 2011, ceremony that was held on
Seadrill’s West Juno drilling rig to mark the beginning of drilling at the M1
block’s test well, Shwepyitan No. 1. Left unreported in state media was any
mention of the fact that the M1 block is located in the ecologically sensitive
Irrawaddy delta, home to the increasingly rare Irrawaddy dolphin.
In March 2007, the New
Light of Myanmar reported that UNOG Pte Ltd had teamed up with
Rimbunan Petrogas (also known as RH Petrogas), a British Virgin
Islands-registered firm to sign a production-sharing agreement with MOGE.
According to Burma’s paper of record “MOGE and the two
companies will explore, drill and produce oil and natural gas at M-1 block in
Mottama offshore.” Leaked US diplomatic cables state that the agreement signed
in 2007 gave UNOG and their partner firm the rights to M1 for thirty years.
An August 2011 report produced by MOGE continues to list
UNOG as co-owner of the M1 offshore block with its partner, Rimbunan Petrogas.
Seadrill’s regulatory filings with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) suggest that Rimbunan Petrogas was the lead operator
in the venture between the Malaysian-owned firm and UNOG, a technicality that
may have legally allowed Seadrill to circumvent restrictions on doing business
with Aung Thang’s blacklisted progeny.
Seadrill’s 6 K filing dated August 2011 shows that West Juno
was hired by Rimbunan Petrogas for a one-month contract beginning in May 11,
2011, at a day rate of US $124,500, a slight reduction from the $129,500 rate
Seadrill received from Thailand’s PTTEP for a four-month drilling contract in
Burmese waters from Jan. 11 to May 11, 2011.
The reputation of the Malaysian timber and media tycoon
behind Rimbunan Petrogas is not much better than the family behind UNOG. While
registered in the British Virgin Islands, Rimbunan Petrogas is part of Tiong
Hiew King’s Rimbunan Hijau Group.
The ethnic Chinese billionaire has come under repeated
scrutiny from international environmental groups concerned about his companies’
destructive timber practices in Malaysia and Papua New Guineau, both places
where Tiong Hiew King uses his substantial ownership in the local media to
advance his firm’s interests, a practice that has earned him comparisons with
Rupert Murdoch.
Greenpeace has described the 75-year-old Tiong Hiew King as
operating a “global logging empire” that is “responsible for the destruction of
huge swathes of pristine rainforest in Southeast Asia.”
Offshore gas rules bent for Thaung Aung’s sons
Another US government cable dated June 5, 2009, describes
how in late 2008 IGE was able to keep its partial ownership of potentially
lucrative offshore gas exploration block A5 after the firm’s Malaysian partners
Rimbunan Petrogas opted to pull out from the block.
According to the cable,
under rules put in place by MOGE, when Rinmbunan Petrogas withdrew from the
exploration block, MOGE should have made it available for auction again.
Instead, it held on to the block and in early 2009 entered into an agreement
with Indian’s Reliance Industries to develop it.
In April 2011 this block was taken over by Korea-Myanmar
Development Co Ltd and Brilliant Oil Corporation Pte, a Singaporean firm
controlled by Silver Wave Energy chief Minn Minn Oung, an individual described
in a US cable
as a front man for infamous regime crony Tay Za.
IGE involved in log export scam
Leaked US diplomatic cables from September 2008 reveal that
IGE benefited from a blatantly corrupt practice in which the state-owned
Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) “pre-sells uncut timber to well-connected
Burmese companies at below-market prices.” MTE has an official monopoly on the
exporting of logs but the cronies, including IGE, were able to twist this to
suit their own needs.
According to the US cable,
IGE along with other crony-controlled firms, including Tay Za’s Htoo Trading,
Win Aung’s Dagon Timber and Tin Win’s Tin Wun Tun Company, used “their
connections to ensure they received the best quality timber, and often felled
them in place of MTE.”
The cable said that IGE and the other firms “exported all
logs under MTE’s name” and went on to report that firms in fact received the
entire profit from the sale of the logs. According to the cable, the
“companies, like others in the industry, exported all logs under MTE’s name,
but in their case MTE did not take a percentage cut.”
In another cable
from June 2009, a former senior official from the Ministry of Forestry told US
embassy staff that although the government had given Htoo Trading and IGE Co
Ltd permits to engage in reforestation programs, both firms were using the
permits as an excuse to build plantations.
The cable noted that according to the official, “instead of
promoting reforestation, these companies [Htoo Trading and IGE] are instead
using the land for teak plantations, which he argues is not reforestation. The
objective of these plantations, he noted, is to grow teak for future export.”
Thursday morning saw troops from the Kachin Independence
Army (KIA) capture a key Burma army post on the Myitkyina to Putao road in the
north of Kachin state. Hka Garan post fell after a one hour firefight,
according to local residents.
The post manned which is usually manned by soldiers from the
Putao based Infantry Battalion No. 138 was attacked at 5 AM by KIA troops from
Brigade 2, a KIA official told the Kachin News Group.
8 Burma army soldiers fell in battle, according to the KIA
official who requested anonymity.The
KIA also seized 18 MA rifles, 5 cases of bullets, one pistol, one machine gun,
several sacks of rice and about 100 military uniforms when they took the post.
Local residents report that the Kachin flag is now flying at
Hka Garan post having replaced the Burmese flag.
It is believed that the extra uniforms were stored at the
post because soldiers travel to the remote post wearing civilian clothes and
then change into uniform upon arrival.
This week marks 11th month of the Kachin conflict. News
service AFP reported today that President Thein Sein will now personally
oversee peace talks between the nominally civilian government and the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO).
Fighting in northern Burma’s Kachin state between the Kachin
Independence Army and government forces intensified this month, according to
the rebels.
La Nan, spokesperson from the Kachin Independence
Organisation — the KIA’s political wing — said 52 clashes have taken place this
month inside the group’s territories on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy
River.
He said fighting inside KIA brigade-5’s territory, where
their stronghold Laiza is located, has been the most intense.
“We are seeing clashes inside all our brigades’ territories.
There were four clashes [near] our stronghold,” said La Nan. “The clashes
usually are brief but intense – the [Burmese Army] is mainly relying on
artillery fire, which they are utilising on a daily basis.”
Locals in the area have been relocating to a KIO-run refugee
camp in Laiza, where an estimated 15,000 refugees are living.
According to the spokesperson, KIO officials are
increasingly concerned that the overcrowded camp may be hit with outbreaks of
diarrhea and malaria, along with food shortages.
The KIO said it sent a letter to the Parliament’s Peace
Making Committee led by Aung Thaung on April 29 asking to continue talks;
however, the group claims they have yet to receive a response.
La Nan says that for the talks to progress the government’s
roadmap to peace should not be one-sided affair and should include ethnic
minorities voices.
Earlier this month, the president’s office created a new
union-level peace committee filled with the government’s top leaders, which
hopes to end the conflict in Kachin state.
President Thein Sein claims to have ordered the government’s
troops to cease combat operations in Kachin state; however fighting continues.
LayiHtaw – Mon language study is
only permitted in Mon State government schools two days a week, on Saturdays
and Sundays, according to a source from Mon National Education Committee (MNEC)
Center.
During a meeting on April 11th between the New Mon State
Party (NMSP) and U Aung Min, the chief government peace negotiator, Mi Sar Dar,
an official of MNEC, presented a Mon language program to be taught in
governmental schools.
“The MNEC will negotiate with the government this Mayregarding
future plans [for studying Mon language],” said an official of MNEC.
The main objectives of MNEC are to maintain Mon literature
and culture, to teach Mon language to Mon youths, and to teach Mon grammar
usage to Mon people.
In 1995, during a previous NMSP ceasefire, there were 109
governmental schools in Moulmein, Kawkareik, Kyaikmayaw, Kyarinnseikyi, and
Southern and Northern Ye Townships that allowed Mon language study.
Now, according to the official of MNEC, the Committeeplans
to get permission to offer Mon language in about 400 governmental schools in
Mon State, and to institute the changes with three years.
“The plan will start in 2012. [Mon language will be] offered
from first to fifth grades. The primary school textbooks will be based on a curriculum
designedby MNEC.”
Subjects to be covered include Mon history, poetry, culture,
art, and grammar.
During the early years of independence under U Nu,
government schools allowed the study of Mon language, and a Board of Mon
Education was organized in 1954. Mon teachers were appointed to government
schools and Mon language was officially allowed in primary education.
The first set back occurred in 1962, when Mon language was
prohibited by the Burma Socialist Programme Party, although it was still offered
part-time at some governmental schools through unofficial agreements.
Responding to growing constraints, the NMSP founded the MNEC
in 1972 and provided grade-by-grade study of Mon language. The Party also
formed a small, central education delegation in 1984-85.
Finally, in 1988, the study of Mon language was completely
banned in government schools. Mon people, like other ethnic groups,lost the
right to study their mother language.
Today, there are almost three million Mon people living in
lower Burma.
Bangkok - A bold move by Myanmar's president to take charge of peace talks
with ethnic rebels has revived hope of an end to a war in the far north
perpetuated by mutual distrust and vested interests, experts say.
Conflict between Myanmar's army and ethnic rebels in Kachin state has
raged for a year, displacing around 50,000 civilians and casting a shadow over
hard-won government ceasefires in other parts of the country.
The reformist regime has now overhauled its negotiating team, putting
the president at the helm of the process and removing some elements of the
previous delegation seen by Kachin rebels as linked to army hardliners.
The involvement of President Thein Sein, who has won plaudits for a
series of reform launched since he took power last year, is a "strong
indication that a deal with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) can be
reached", said Nicholas Farrelly, research fellow at the Australian
National University.
"This is overdue but suggests a realisation that hesitant steps
will not bring peace to war-torn northern Burma. It will take bold leadership
and reservoirs of goodwill," he added, using the country's former name.
Myanmar has signed tentative ceasefire deals with a number of rebel
groups in recent months as it seeks to draw a line under civil conflicts that
have racked parts of the country since independence in 1948.
But fighting has continued in Kachin state since a 17-year ceasefire
broke down last June, as previous government negotiator Aung Thaung failed to
win the KIA's trust.
An MP with the ruling army-backed party, he was seen by the rebels as
actively trying to hamper talks to buy time as the army pushed for territory,
and has now been removed from negotiations.
Win Min, an expert with the Thailand-based Vahu Development Institute,
said the new line-up was likely to be welcomed because it boosts the political
and military clout of the negotiators -- adding the chief of the army for the
first time as well as ethnic Shan vice president Sai Mauk Kham.
He said another welcome inclusion was Railway Minister Aung Min, seen
as a pivotal figure in other ceasefire deals, including with rebels from
eastern Karen state, the scene of the country's longest-running insurgency.
The Kachin for their part have held out for a political deal to avoid
falling "into the same vicious circle of making ceasefire, then making business-oriented
regional development and finally falling into fighting again", Win Min
said.
A KIA official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Thein Sein's
involvement was welcome.
But he said the success of the talks "will depend on their policy,
their willingness to talk to us. It doesn't depend on people".
Negotiators will be faced with the immediate task of securing a
temporary halt to fighting, which appears to have gained momentum in recent
weeks, despite international calls for a ceasefire.
The KIA has raised fears of an impending assault on their northern
stronghold of Laiza near the Chinese border.
State media have also increased the heat with claims of rebel attacks,
some wounding civilians -- allegations the KIA denies.
Experts said that both sides are likely to vie for strategic positions
before they return to the negotiating table.
Myanmar's military, which traditionally used the ethnic conflicts as a
justification for its near half century dictatorship, may also be reluctant to
see an end to the fighting.
"Without an internal enemy their budgets and combat strength are
hard to justify," said Farrelly.
Independent Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey said the Kachin conflict has
been particularly hard to calm because on-going fighting made the military
reluctant to back down while suffering casualties.
But he said the KIA were uncomfortable being the only major group not
to strike a deal, and were likely to be open to negotiations that gave them the
same standing as other ethnic minority rebels.
"There was the wrong negotiating team. It wasn't ready to offer
the same terms to the Kachin as had offered to the Karen for example,"
said Horsey, citing international monitors and codes of conduct for troops as
examples.
But peace may imperil the standing of rebel commanders who enjoy much
greater power in a conflict situation, he added, while others benefit
personally from controlling land linked to lucrative logging and mining deals
with Chinese firms.
The KIA may also be reluctant to lay down its arms at a time when it is
enjoying a surge of popular support.
"Kachin society is really animated, really angry and people feel
emboldened and for the first time in years the KIA have support. They are
suddenly feeling like they are the heroes," Horsey said.
The Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army
(RCSS/SSA) that had concluded a ceasefire pact with the Thein Sein government
last December announced yesterday one of the three key topics to be discussed
at the next union level meeting will be cooperation against drugs.
“It is destroying our new generation and hence the future of
our country,” said a draft proposal seen by SHAN last month. “It has also been
tarnishing the reputation of the country for so long. But now that a ceasefire
has been achieved to resolve our political problems within the country by
political means, we think it is time we join hands together to deal with the
drug question.”
According to the statement, dated 8 May 2012, that was
released yesterday, the SSA South, as the RCSS/SSA is popularly known, had
formed a drug eradication committee at the meeting held on 7 May at its Loi
Taileng base, opposite Maehongson.
The draft proposal also calls for coordination and
cooperation with government departments concerned, the armed movements all of
which have been more or less tainted by drugs, the people, neighboring
countries and the international community. “We cannot do it alone,” said Lt-Gen
Yawd Serk, the SSA leader. “Nobody can do it alone.”
Cooperation against drug is included in the second stage of
the peace process declared by President Thein Sein in his speech to the
parliament on 1 March.
“Everyone who has a gun is involved,” said a Palaung leader
years ago.
Shan State, the biggest state in the Union, boasts a horde
of armed organizations beginning with the Burma Army, followed by militia
forces run by it and the armed resistance movements that have been either
fighting against it or have reached truce with it.
Groups that have signed ceasefire agreements
1.Restoration
Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA)
2.Shan
State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA)
3.United
Wa State Party / United Wa State Army (UWSP/UWSA)
4.National
Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)
5.Kayan
New Land Party (KNLP) *since 1994*
Groups yet to sign
ceasefire agreements
1.Palaung
State Liberation Front (PSLF)
2.PaO
National Liberation Organization (PNLO)
3.Lahu
Democratic Union (LDU)
4.Wa
National Organization (WNO)
5.Kachin
Independence Organization / Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA) *Its 4th Brigade
is active in Shan State’s top north*
Burma Army-run Border Guard Forces (BGFs) and People Militia
Forces (PMFs), with investments from financiers in neighboring countries, are
increasingly well known for their involvement in drug production and
trafficking.
Burma Army, forced to stand on their own feet, are also
deeply involved especially in the protection and transportation sectors.
Beside drugs, the SSA South has proposed to discuss
resettlement of the IDPs and agricultural project, according to Yawd Serk. The
meeting has been set for 19 May in Kengtung, capital of Shan State East, 160 km
north of Thailand’s Mae Sai. Academics, legal experts and the international
media are also expected to witness the event.
Myanmar's ethnic groups called yesterday for Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to play a significant role in their peace talks with
the Myanmar government, saying the current truce seems to be yielding few
benefits.
President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of all
ethnic groups should sit together with open minds to talk about the future of
ethnic minorities, said Timothy Laklem, executive of the Karen National Liberation
Army (KNLA) Peace Council.
The Karen peace council reached an initial truce with the
Myanmar government in last February, but many of its seven-point agreements
have not yet been enforced, he said.
"If peace talks are conducted like playing games, the
people will end up with all the worst results," Laklem said in an
interview.
One point the Karen agreed was important was that: "the
state will allow and render assistance for … quickly fulfilling the basic
needs, education, health, transport, water and electricity supply in the area
for resettlement of the national race residing in another country, and [help
it] to become self reliant."
"In the months since then, nothing really has
happened," Laklem said, "This really matters for us. Peace talk is
not about us, the peace council, but about the people. If they get nothing from
the truce, the peace talk is useless."
Since the current regime took power last year, the Myanmar
government has reached peace agreements with 11 ethnic groups which had taken
up weapons against it for decades.
There are three steps for peace talks. The initial step
takes place at state level, the second step at union level and the final step
would be held in the parliament where all ethnic groups would sit with the
government to determine their future.
Many groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and the
Shan group are now at the union level while the KNLA Peace Council is only on
the first step. The Shan will have its next round of talks next week but the
Karen peace council has not yet fixed a date for its round.
Other groups which managed to up the level of their talks,
continue to have much doubt about their fate at the end. Ethnic groups had
talked with the government without trust and knew the government was not being sincere
with them, Laklem said.
They needed a trusted agent to guarantee a peace would be
fully enforced. If Aung San Suu Kyi could actively participate in the peace
process, it could guarantee a truce that would benefit the people and
minorities, he said.
A colorful Democratic Karen Buddhist Army leader, Major
General Na Kham Mwe, who is accused of drug running by Thai authorities, held a
press conference at his headquarters on Thursday and blasted back, insisting he
is not involved in drugs.
Thai authorities have asked Burma to assist in his arrest. A
warrant for his arrest was issued by Thailand in 2003.
Surrounding by around 500 armed Karen soldiers, he said Thai
authorities were welcome to inspect his camp opposite Tak’s Phop Phra District,
and their safety would be guaranteed. About 100 reporters gathered to hear his
remarks. The event was reportedly approved by the Burmese authorities.
The DKBA faction led by Na Kham Mwe broke away from the
Karen National Union in 2010. It signed a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese
government this year. Its troops are estimated to number around 1,500.
Defending himself, the general told reporters his income
came from business ventures, concessions and taxes from trade gates under DKBA
control.
Formerly known as “Colonel Moustache,” the general is listed
fifth on Thailand's list of most-wanted drug dealers. He insisted he would
never stand trial in a Thai court because he was a Karen with Burmese
nationality, according to an article in The Bangkok Post.
Described as “furious” over the allegations, he retaliated
by closing 12 border crossings in areas under DKBA influence from Tak to
Kanchanaburi Province.
He said he had done nothing wrong and wondered why the
government brought up the drug case against him at the same time as he was
preparing to hold peace talks with the Burmese government.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who head’s
Thailand anti-drugs effort, leveled the charges against the general this week.
He said the government is expecting a response soon to its request for help in
securing his arrest.
Chalerm, who made his allegations and called for the
general’s arrest on a television program, been engaged in a running verbal duel
with the general.
Continuing the exchange, Chalerm said, “Most minority groups
have not sided with Na Kha Muay's men, which are made up of hundreds of troops,
who could not flex [sufficient] muscle against the might of the Thai military.
I'm not giving them [DKBA] any credit.”
Burma ― Global euphoria over changes in Burma isn't trickling down to
the ones it should most affect: the Karen Christian refugees.
There's still a great deal of danger andmistrust surrounding the camps, which
prevents many of the Internally Displaced People from making their way back to
home villages in the heart of Burma.
A case in point: one reform initiative involves the Burmese government,
rebels, and a ceasefire agreement. Although inked, there's concern that the
talks were a cover for another conflict.
Since the January accord went into effect, there have still be sporadic
reports of shooting civilians and other attacks. According to Compass Direct
News reports, four months ago, more than 1,100 new refugees--about 450 of them
Christian--arrived at the seven refugee camps in Thailand. Those numbers
swelled the 74,000 registered IDPs and additional 53,000 unregistered refugees
crammed into the space.
Still, the government insists change is on the winds. There have been
several concessions in recent days, not the least of which involved activist
Aung Sung Suu Kyi winning a Parliament seat. It all resulted in an easing of
the sanctions.
However, that's presented an unexpected side-effect for the refugees:
aid is drying up. Since people are expecting that the fighting is nearing an
end, they also expect that refugees will soon be able to return to their homes,
therefore needing less aid in a camp.
Patrick Klein with Vision Beyond Borders says, "We're really
concerned about it. The European Union was talking about redistributing some of
the funds even before the sanctions were lifted. We felt this would really
affect people in the refugeecamps. I
believe this is an opportunity for the Church to step up more and more."
However, it's not safe yet for IDPs to leave. "For one thing,
there's a lot of landmines", explains Klein. "It's going to take
years to clear those landmines. One thing we've found too, like with the
orphans, are these kids really ready to go back into Burma? We're trying to
figure out how we prepare them to go back. They don't really have family."
The refugees are effectively trapped between malnutrition and getting
blown up. "Let's help them. Let's give them the supplies, the
funds...whatever they need, so that they can minister to these needs."
Now is the time to answer the call for aid. It's especially necessary
because the silence has been overwhelming. "Their cry throughout has been:
'Does the Church care about us?' And, 'How come the world doesn't really seem
to care?' I believe this is a great opportunity for the Church, for God's
people, to step up and say, 'Let's help.'"
Those in place with a network of believers add another caution as the
country continues to experience the throes of freedom. "We also need to be
praying that God would keep out adverse elements as well. As the country opens
up, there's a lot of people going in to try to exploit people, especially in a
country like Burma. The people have been cut off. They're very naïve."
Klein says the problems in Burma are a long way from over. However, the
good news is: "We are seeing people more and more open to the Gospel.
We're excited because we're seeing prayers answered. But I believe we're going
to see people coming back. It's a great opportunity to minister to people.
They're open. They've seen a lot of times Christians have been the ones who've
come in and brought aid to them."
Yangon - Thailand's Nation Multimedia Group Plc has
signed a comprehensive agreement of cooperation with Myanmar's Eleven Media
Group Co Ltd that will lead to the formation of a joint venture in a wide range
of English-language publications in the near future.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Yangon
last Friday by Nation Multimedia Group chairman Suthichai Yoon and Eleven Media
Group chairman and CEO Dr Than Htut Aung.
Both pledged to combine their editorial and business efforts
to benefit the peoples of both countries and the Asean region with high
professional standards and ethics.
"The Eleven Media Group is Myanmar's No 1 private
publishing group with a highly impressive record of independent and
hard-hitting coverage against corruption and undemocratic activities in
Myanmar. I have great respect for Dr Than Htut Aung's crusade against
dictatorship and corruption," Suthichai said after the signing ceremony.
"This is a landmark agreement with both media
organisations sharing similar histories in independent and impartial news
reporting, as well as supporting democracy," said Aung.
Both sides also announced an immediate set-up of editorial
offices in Yangon and Bangkok with immediate effect. The initiative will
intensify news coverage of Myanmar and Asean affairs out of Thailand and Thai
and Asean affairs out of Myanmar at a time of significant international
interest in Myanmar.
Eleven Media publishes the largest-circulation newspaper,
operates websites in local and English languages, and is the pioneer and leader
in SMS English-language news. Nation Multimedia publishes Thailand's leading
newspaper The Nation, which is also co-founder of Asia News Network, an
alliance of 21 leading newspapers in 18 Asian countries.
Aung founded Eleven Media 11 years ago as a sports weekly.
The group has since expanded to general news publishing with an aim of
promoting democracy for the people and adhering to a public interest agenda in
Myanmar. Eleven Media is also preparing for Myanmar's further integration into
Asean and the international arena as the country opens up.
"We share the same mission in freedom of the press,
public interest agenda and democracy as well as regional outlook. Nation
Multimedia Group and Eleven Media will utilise and optimise existing assets
with minimal new investment in our various aspects of close cooperation,"
said Suthichai.
Both sides will proceed to form a joint venture for an
English-language website as soon as possible and to set up a daily
English-language newspaper at an appropriate time. Eleven Media will have a
majority in the partnership. The joint venture hopes to be listed as a public
company when Myanmar sets up a stock exchange scheduled in 2016.
Eleven Media has also entered into a broad professional
cooperation with NMG in the areas of editorial staff exchange, training, new
media, English-language training and editing. The Nation and Eleven Media local
and English-language websites will exchange news on a daily basis.
Eleven Media will represent distribution of NMG publications
in Myanmar and NMG can represent distribution of EMG publication in Thailand.
Both will also work together on organising conferences and events. In
advertising and commercial areas, NMG will act as media representative for EMG
in Thailand and EMG will act as NMG's media representative in Myanmar.
Striking employees at
an artificial hair factory in Rangoon’s Industrial Zone 4 were granted their
demands for a wage hike as well as increased workers’ rights on Thursday.
More than 1,800 staff
at HI Mo High Art factory walked out over demands for increased pay on
Wednesday. They then marched to the Labor Office in Mayangone Tonwship and
expressed their wishes to officials there.
An agreement was
reached after seven workers’ representatives along with Managing Director Nan
Tao Yin and Director-General Win Shein of the factory held a meeting at the
Labor Law Administrative office in Hlaing Thar Yar Township on Thursday.
Ya Min Lwin, a female
worker representative, told The Irrawaddy that, “all of our demands have been
agreed to after negotiations at 2 pm today.”
“We will be able to
decide whether to work overtime or not, which in the past we did not have a
choice about,” she added. “The factory also agreed not to cut the water and
electricity for workers as before.”
In the agreement the
workers will also receive daily pay, overtime pay and ferry allowance as usual.
The workers demanded
a pay raise from 8,000 kyat (US $9.6) to 30,000 kyat ($36.3) per month. In
addition, they wanted overtime pay, a clean working environment, sanitary meals
and action to be taken against bad supervisors.
Workers only receive
78 kyat ($0.09) for overtime and must work from 5 pm to 9 pm.
Speaking to The
Irrawaddy on Thursday morning, May Phyu Win, who came to work at the factory
from a rural area and so lives in the building, said, “We are provided with
unclean meals in the factory every day. Sometimes there were even worms in the
vegetables curries so the workers would suffer diarrhea regularly.”
“The supervisors at
the factory treat us badly, and we cannot even talk on phone in the case of an
emergency,” she added.
The workers had
already demanded a salary raise last year but the protest was not serious
enough at the time and their demands were unsuccessful. A worker said, “In
April 2011, similar demands for a wage hike happened, but at that time we were
put in a locked room inside the factory after they told us that they will solve
the matter.”
The factory is owned
by a Korean businessman with products exported to South Korea, Japan, China
and, occasionally, the Philippines.
In similar industrial
action, workers at the Myanmar Winery & Distillery Co. Ltd factory in Shwe
Pyi Thar Industrial Zone demanded a salary raise on Tuesday, but had still not
reached an agreement at the time of publication.
The resignation of Burma's vice president may signal
major changes in the cabinet.
Rumors of a
reshuffle in Burma's cabinet, fueled by hints from senior government advisers,
have been circulating for months amid reports—strenuously denied by President
Thein Sein himself—of a battle between the liberals and hardliners in the
government.
Nevertheless,
major changes to the cabinet and government policies are in the pipeline.
The massive
victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the recent by-elections
has made government changes inevitable, and has made the position of the
hardliners in government even more untenable.
But first,
Thein Sein has to announce the replacement for Vice President Tin Aung Myint
Oo, who is seen by many as a hardliner though in recent months he had begun to
swing in behind the president.
The Burmese
government remains highly secretive, similar to the Chinese government,
whichresists having internal disputes
and divisions made public. But there is, no doubt, a lot of horse trading and
private discussion going on behind the scenes.
The current
speaker of the lower house, Shwe Mann, seems to be the hot favorite to take on
the vice president’s role.
A calming move?
Shwe Mann
has become a thorn in Thein Sein’s side as the parliament battles with the
president over legislation and the constitution. So moving the speaker to vice
president would help calm the personal feud between the two of them.
This would
also give the ambitious politician a better springboard for the 2015 elections
and for the presidency, as Thein Sein has repeatedly told government insiders
he will not be seeking a second term.
The
question then becomes who will fill the vacant role of speaker of the lower
house, who in turn will become the main speaker in the middle of next year.
This has
now become a very powerful position, as parliament has become a significant
political institution and has not been shy of flexing its muscles under Shwe
Mann’s leadership.
For months
now, government insiders have hinted that the president favors giving that post
to Aung San Suu Kyi, now that she is a parliamentarian.
Diplomats
in Rangoon are skeptical, though, saying she has repeatedly told them that she
would not take an administrative post in the government.
She is
particularly keen to pursue the political role of an MP and be a watchdog on
government action—or inaction--and policies.
An opportunity
In reality
though, the speaker’s job would be ideal for her to prove her political weight
and help deliver a democracy dividend to the people. That has been one of her
and the NLD’s constant concerns.
It would be
an excellent opportunity for her to demand accountability and transparency from
the ministers and the government bureaucracy.
She could
also provide a role model and authority for the military MPs. There is no doubt
that they respect her greatly, because of their high regard for her father,
General Aung San. It would also put her in a pivotal position to push for
constitutional reform.
But it is
still unclear if the president will follow the counsel of his senior advisers,
or even if the Lady would accept the offer. If not, then it may be a
significant independent in parliament—like Aye Maung—that Thein Sein calls
upon.
Of course,
whoever is nominated needs to be endorsed or elected by the parliament.
Then there
is the more vexed question of the cabinet reshuffle. Thein Sein, according to
sources close to him, is wrestling with various options. The most critical is
whether members of the NLD apart from Aung San Suu Kyi might be offered
ministerial posts.
More
civilians or civil servants are also being considered for less politically
sensitive posts like the planned new minister for aid coordination in the
president’s office.
Rumors
In light of
the election results—though it was on Thein Sein’s mind even before that—it
seems likely that the liberals in the cabinet will be strengthened at the
expense of the hardliners.
The rumor
mills have been working overtime in recent months, with several names
consistently being mooted for the chop.
These
include the electricity minister Zaw Min, the fisheries minister Tin Naing
Thein, the foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin, the information minister Kyaw
Hsan, and the sports minister Tint San.
There has
been mounting speculation that a cabinet shuffle was imminent after several
trips abroad, including the electricity minister’s trip to Switzerland, were
cancelled more than a week ago on the president’s orders.
But one
change that seems certain is that Aung Min, the railways minister and lead
negotiator with many of the ceasefire groups, will give up his current post and
become a minister in the president’s office put in charge of a revamped peace
negotiating team.
This is all
in the pipeline and will be announced within the next few weeks, according to
government advisers. Under the constitution, the president has to announce to
the parliament—the Pyihtawnsu Hluttaw or Union Parliament—the vice president’s
resignation within seven days.
But if the
parliament is in recess, he has to ask for an emergency session within 21 days,
according to a government adviser.
Then the
process of replacing will begin. And it is expected that the long-awaited
cabinet shake-up will be announced at that time.
Larry
Jagan is a former BBC regional correspondent who is based in Bangkok and has
extensively covered Burma issues.
When Aung San Suu Kyi speaks of “freedom from fear,” she is
not only speaking to the people she is also speaking to the army that her
father helped found.
She wants, most of all, the army to stop seeing the people
of Burma as enemies – out of fear. And while taking an enormous gamble, she
joined the junta’s Parliament to reassure the military that in her vision for
democracy in Burma, she wants to represent the military as well.
In the future, even assuming that democracy is restored in
Burma by a transfer of power to the civilian government, the task of
restructuring the economy by privatization pose sthe most difficult problem.
How to dismantle the decades old supra governmental state enterprises and end
the entrenchment of economic power in the hands of the former military
commanders and their families will not be easy.
One of the toughest problems in developing countries lies in
the relative weakness of the rule of law, and the emergence of a capitalist
economy is broadly dependent on the prior existence of a rule of law.
Unfortunately for Burma, even if the Naypyitaw government
successfully changes the Constitution, if the power elites of the army cannot
be constrained under the rule of law, there will be no security for the people
or their property to propel economic prosperity in Burma. Evidently, as Suu Kyi
has said, the rule of law exists only when individuals who hold political power
feel bound by the law.
Alarmingly, the Naypyitaw generals recently declared their
renewed commitment to defend the 2008 army supremacist Constitution, which they
term as the Burmese way to a disciplined flourishing democracy. Like many times
before, the names and faces have changed, but the core values of military rule
remains.
This should trouble the international community, even as
they are softening their approach toward Burma
At the moment, Suu Kyi brings her innate ability to
transcend politics and her reverence for the deeply held cultural and religious
values of Burma. Suu Kyi and her father’s legacy could help put an end to the
wars against the ethnic nationalities if a genuine peace agreement can be
implemented with provisional changes in the Constitution to protect the ethnic
people’s political rights.
In addition, to rebuild a viable political institution in
Burma, the government must stop meddling in the country’s religious affairs,
for Buddhism continues to be a powerful legitimizing institution in Burma.
Also, the government must reopen all the major university campuses and restore
the rights of the students to organize, since the studeny unions play an
enormous part in bolstering Burma’s political institutions.
Burmese people and the world have shown good will toward the
junta’s recent efforts to open up the country. But to encourage further
cooperation from the world’s leaders, the government must immediately release
all political prisoners and immediately cease armed conflicts with all ethnic
nationalities.
While Suu Kyi and her party’s position in Parliament is
still only symbolic, Burma’s dire economic condition and staggering poverty are
real.
Unless the great economic inequality and the lack of
opportunity for youth are addressed urgently, Suu Kyi will not be able to stem
the tide of popular anger against the ruling elites, similar to the 1988 and
2007 unrest in Burma.
Burma’s only choice now is peace and hope instead of fear
and violence. Someone like Suu Kyi does not come along very often. We must all
abandon our fear and take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to
embrace freedom and democracy.
Pro Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has taken her seat
in Burma's parliament, following a landslide victory for her party in April 1
by-elections. Then, on Sunday, Burmese media reported that the alleged hardline
vice-president, ex-general Tin Aung Myint Oo, had resigned "for health
reasons".
This and similar signs have led many outside observers to
assume that "reformist" elements within Burma's quasi-civilian
government are strengthening their positions vis-a-vis more
"conservative" elements, and that Burma, at long last, may be on its
way to becoming a functioning democracy. In an official statement late last
month, the EU's External Action Service counsellor, Robert Cooper, even went as
far as characterising recent developments as Burma's "Berlin Wall
moment"…
In mid-2012, with reforms taking hold in central Burma, war
raging in the north, and a possible peace process in the east, little attention
was being paid to Burma's western regions, including the homelands of the
indigenous peoples known as the Chins.In remote “Chinland,” civil society
organizations and institutions are emerging more slowly than elsewhere, says a
new report by Project Maje.
The report says civil society organizations and
international aid are desperately needed in the Chin regions; Chin State is
said to be Burma's poorest state, with severely undeveloped transportation and
communications infrastructure.
Food insecurity remains a serious problem in Chinland. The
lingering effects of the Mautam bamboo/rat famine continue to cause hunger and
malnutrition in parts of the region.
It is very important to note that if Burma's reforms bring
economic development to Chinland, this may open the area up to environmentally
disastrous projects for outside profit, the report said.
“Much of the formerly thickly forested state has already
been logged for timber export. This deforestation may be made permanent by the
introduction of commercial monoculture plantation crops to replace such natural
vegetation as secondary-growth hardwood trees and bamboo,” the report said.
“Oil palm plantations (which have already taken over some of Mizoram's
deforested hills) are a particular danger, as they obliterate the growth of
other plants and deplete the soil, then leave desertification after short-term
productivity.”
A number of large development projects pose a threat to
Chinland, which lacks enough local NGO groups to raise questions and demand
answers.
Among the potential threats to the environment is the area
is the Kaladan Multimodal Transport project is an India-backed trade corridor
under construction, stretching from a seaport in Arakan, north along the
Kaladan River to Paletwa, and including a new highway to the India border.
Another area of concern is the China-backed Lemro [aka Laymro, aka Phunglong]
River hydropower project in southern Chin State, which reportedly may damage
fish stocks, destroy forest and cause flooding.
The large-scale Manipur River multipurpose project, intended
mainly to provide hydropower to central Burma, creates a flood risk in northern
Chin State and Sagaing Division. In 2009, several villages of the Khumi (aka
Khami) Chin-related indigenous people were forcibly relocated for the Sai Dan
hydroelectric dam project in far northern Arakan.
The projects are not receiving as much international
attention as environmental issues elsewhere in Burma, but they are of great
importance for their effects on the watersheds and ecosystems of the western
Burma.
“Chinland crucially needs its own environmental NGOs and
sustainable development projects, including alternative energy such as solar
and mini/microhydro,” said the report.
Even with democratic reforms, an end to Burmese military occupation,
and regional autonomy, the people of Chinland will face the need to work
towards common goals and forge an inclusive cultural identity.
“Chin” as an “umbrella” construct promoted by the CNF for
the region's people still meets with opposition, especially by Zo-identifying
ethnic people. Language divisions form barriers, and stereotypes about people
of various regional townships persist. Even in exile, organizations and
projects have broken down into narrow regional classifications, which may date
back to the times when tribes were isolated by mountains and raiding. The
potential for lack of intra-ethnic cooperation in a free Chinland is very real.
The worst case scenario would follow the pattern of severe,
chronic ethnic/tribal violence which has plagued Northeast Indian states such
as Manipur and Assam, said the report.
While the Mizo people of Mizoram and the Chin/Zo people from
across the border are strongly related culturally, there are language
differences between them.
Refugees and migrants from the Chinland side of the border
are currently estimated at as much as 10% of Mizoram's 1,091,000 population. In
recent years, efforts to improve communication and find common ground appear to
be paying off with more tolerance for the Burma-origin residents.
Some analysts perceive a new spirit in Northeast India of
abandoning ethnic tension and violence in favor of improving regional ties and
economic development. If that is the case, and if Burma demilitarizes and
continues democratic reform, the frontiers of Chinland and India's Northeast
may become important trade corridors.
In Mizoram, one can see maps of a “Greater Zoram” which
includes Chinland along with Mizoram, as a vision of a pan-Chin/Zo nation,
defying the borders of India and Burma. The term “Zomia” as used by academics
such as the University of Amsterdam's Willem van Schendel and Yale University's
James C. Scott, extends to an entire alternative swath of Asia, sometimes
sweeping all the way from the Central Asian "'Stans" to the Montagnard
uplands of Vietnam. It is the egalitarian realm of “refusenik” populations, the
"hill tribes" who have for millennia strived to remain independent of
nation states and authoritarian, rice paddy, city cultures.
This profile certainly fits the Chin/Zo people (even if many
of them actually live in valley towns and grow wet rice) as well as it fits the
Mizos with their spectacular, isolated ridgetop capital, Aizawl.
But at present the vision of a free, autonomous and at least
loosely unified Chinland faces many challenges before it even fits into a
federal Burma, much less forming a keystone of a vast continental entity.
For the Chin/Zo refugees, life in kindred-spirit Mizoram
tends to be less difficult than subsistence in urban India. They have
nonetheless been drawn to Delhi because of the office of the United National
High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR) which holds the possibility of
registration and therefore legal status in India.
In 2004, there were an estimated 1,300 Chin refugees in
Delhi (see Project Maje's 2004 report, "Razor's Edge: Survival Crisis for
Refugees from Burma in Delhi, India").
As of early 2012, this had increased to as many as 8,000 in
Delhi's western slums, although thousands have reportedly gone back to Mizoram
since 2010. Employment for Chin/Zo refugees remains extremely difficult in
Delhi, and what there is usually pays less than a living wage.
Housing in the lowest-rent sections of neighborhoods
including Vikaspuri and Janakpuri is substandard and overcrowded, violent
attacks are frequent, and the children of the refugee "baby boom" are
bullied at school and on the streets. As Christians, the Chin/Zo families are
acutely aware of their religious minority status in Hindu, Muslim and Sikh
Delhi.
India also has thousands of other ethnic refugees from
Burma, including Rohingyas and Rakhines from Arakan State. A number of Burmese
(Burman) dissidents have been resettled overseas or have chosen to return to
Burma in the new climate of reform. Additionally, India is host to refugees
from Tibet, Afghanistan, Africa and other regions.
Projects started by exile NGOs, such as preschools, health
clinics and women's advocacy have become lifelines for the refugees from
Chinland in India. They also provide working models for NGO activity back in
Chinland.
The future of Chinland will be enhanced by returning exiles,
with their awareness of environmental issues, sustainable development,
indigenous rights and women's rights, and their experience with international
networking, constructive dialogue and ethnic inclusiveness.
Until Chinland is safe enough for mass returns,
international funders should continue to provide financial backing and other
support for NGOs in exile, while also encouraging the emerging growth of civil
society inside Chinland, the report concluded.
Aung San Suu Kyi has finally been allowed to win. Her
by-election victory in Burma last month brought home the scale of the political
earthquake taking place there after half a century of military rule. The
government is reforming at an unprecedented pace, land prices are rising and
tourists are preparing their itineraries.
It is, at the very least, a reminder of the power of a
single person committed to change. Suu Kyi’s long house arrest in Burma, on and
off since 1990, took her away from the West, where she studied, and her family
— her husband died and her children grew up in her absence. Of persistent ideas
it is said that ninety-nine times out of a hundred they are smashed to bits;
the hundredth time they can change the world. If nothing else, Suu Kyi’s
persistence has changed Burma.
But why now? The
opening came as a surprise to many, particularly since the regime went to great
trouble to secure sham electoral victories in 2010. Some say the pressure from
international sanctions are what precipitated the recent thaw (even though
sanctions have been ongoing in some form since 1988).
Others, like Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, argue
that the engagement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is what led
to big changes (even though this has been going on longer than sanctions have).
But pay attention to the way Mahbubani makes the argument: “Western sanctions
did not work. Asean engagement with Myanmar did. The regional organization
forced Myanmar’s officials and leaders to attend thousands of meetings in Asean
countries. These travels opened their eyes to how far Myanmar was falling
behind: they realized it had to become a more ‘normal’ country.”
The crux here is that only in the context of rising economic
growth does Asean engagement matter. If Southeast Asia were an economic basket
case, then the Burmese leadership, no matter how many KrisFlyer miles it racked
up, would not be persuaded to follow its example.
This “good neighbor” theory of economic growth roughly goes
like this: regions develop by comparing themselves to their neighbors (both in
terms of general economic prosperity and its accoutrements: like military
spending and public monuments) but also by attracting investment and trade from
them. This may explain why a country like Greece, with a sclerotic political
culture and limited industrial capacity, is still many times richer than
Indonesia: proximity to Germany, France and Northern Europe brought with it
spillover effects. In this view, Burma opened up because it saw all of
Southeast Asia advancing and needed to keep up.
The case of Burma reminds me of the long debate among
economists and political scientists about why Indonesia and Nigeria, similar
countries in many respects, have turned out so differently.
Of course, there is the famous joke about our bureaucrats: a
man from dictator Gen. Sani Abacha’s Nigeria is impressed by an Indonesian
bureaucrat’s house and Mercedes. “Do you see that road?” the Indonesian asks.
“Ten percent,” he says. A couple years later, Suharto’s man visits the Nigerian
in a palace with Ferraris, amazed. “Do you see that road,” says the Nigerian,
gesturing at virgin rainforest. “One hundred percent.”
The joke is glib but the point is not: a distinction can and
must be made between a corruption that facilitates and one that obstructs. The
question is why some nations end up with the former and others with the latter.
Both Nigeria and Indonesia are regional giants, the former
in West Africa, the latter in Southeast Asia. Both are large — the seventh and
fourth most populous countries, respectively, with remarkable diversity.
Indonesia has some 200 languages and Nigeria 400. Indonesia has three to four
prominent religions, Nigeria has two. Politically, both are recent creations,
forged from ancient states by Europeans, then governed as one country. Both are
home to large immigrant business communities: the Chinese in Indonesia and the
Lebanese in Nigeria. Both have oil.
Even their histories mirror each other. Independence was
gained within a dozen years of each other, coups launched within a few months —
September 1965 for Indonesia and January 1966 in Nigeria. Their strongmen left
power around the same time too — May 1998 in Jakarta and May 1999 in Abuja. In
its teeming, mad wonder, Lagos is also like Jakarta; both are megalopolises of
countries besieged by secessionist movements, civil unrest, corruption and
human rights violations.
Yet, Indonesia is not Nigeria. The 2011 nominal per capita
GDP is $3,509 for the former and $1,490 for the latter, according to the
International Monetary Fund. Peter Cunliffe-Jones, who compared the countries
in his book “My Nigeria: Five Decades of Independence,” points out that when
Suharto took power in 1967, the number of people in poverty was the same as
Nigeria: around 6 out of 10.
Three decades later, it had fallen to two in Indonesia but
risen to seven in Nigeria. The average Nigerian lives to 47, the average
Indonesian to 70. At independence, he notes, both countries were comparable;
today Indonesia does better on most fronts: growth, average income, health and
education.
Why is this the case?
The conclusion Cunliffe-Jones reaches is that Suharto, despite everything, felt
pressure to perform throughout his rule from the media, the business elite, the
urban poor and the rural areas. In Nigeria, this sort of pressure did not
exist. He quotes a retired Supreme Court justice of Nigeria as saying: “We have
not fought, not really, or not enough. And if you do not fight for your rights,
nobody will fight for you.”
It’s an intriguing argument, and it could be taken further.
Much of the pressure for Indonesia’s advancement may have been driven by a
comparison with regional neighbors. Indonesians had Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,
Bangkok (and later Perth) within a few hours of air travel, whereas Nigerians,
further away from Southern and Northern Europe, were more likely to compare
themselves to their West African neighbors. Singapore, in particular, was
always the glaring comparison for Indonesians: geographically an hour away and
yet quite a civilizational distance.
If this is the right way to approach growth, then it casts
the Burmese opening in a new light. It seems that once you get the ball
rolling, it is difficult to stop. Expectations have risen permanently,
something widespread Internet access and cheap flights will do little to lower.
In this kind of world, the best Asean foreign policy toward
Burma is paradoxically domestic growth and prudent policy-making. By itself of
course this is not sufficient — we must continue to engage Burma and make sure
the “dividends of reform” are felt by its citizens. But setting a good example
is ultimately what will keep the pressure for reform alive.
John Riady is a
lecturer at Pelita Harapan University Law School and editor-at-large at
BeritaSatu Media Holdings.
Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), perennially oblivious to the
brutality of the Burmese military government, has always opposed United States
economic sanctions on the junta. Despite his attempts to gut them, U.S.
sanctions were not only maintained but strengthened and are beginning to
produce important results.
Now, in a letter to Secretary of State Clinton, Senator Webb
is attempting to use the progress made in the April 1 elections as a pretext
for repeating his call. In other words, he was first against them because they
were supposedly not working and now he is against them because they are. This,
despite clear evidence that the regime continues to make war on many of its
citizens, recently attacking and killing ethnic minorities in Kachin State.
It’s certainly promising that some advances toward a more
democratic Burma have been made. This progress should be encouraged. However,
there is so much yet to be accomplished and we must recognize that this is the
beginning of the road, not the end. The small steps forward on democracy can
easily be undone and there are still ongoing and widespread atrocities being
perpetrated by the army in Burma’s ethnic national states.
I just returned from one such state, Kachin, where I
witnessed the escalation of Burmese troops and spoke with families fleeing the
army’s attacks. The situation there continues to worsen. I met people like Nang
Bauk, whose village had been attacked and husband captured, and the family of
an elderly man who had been shot by the army while tending to his crops.
Recent reports indicate that 2,000 troops had moved in on
the town of Laiza, which is home to thousands of displaced people, sparking
fears that a major assault is imminent. Is this the type of behavior that
should be encouraged?
Being cautious when easing restrictions on the Burmese
regime isn’t just about maintaining consequences for ongoing bad behavior. It’s
recognizing that years of pressure have encouraged a desire for progress. We
must exercise prudence in removing this pressure by gradually rolling back
sanctions in exchange for verifiable changes on the ground. The United States
should also be clear about what it considers to be the benchmarks of progress.
As a starting point, the U.S. should require that the
Burmese government end gross violations of international human rights law and
humanitarian law; enter meaningful collective nationwide negotiations that lead
to a political settlement with ethnic national groups; release all political
prisoners and repeal laws that prohibit basic freedom including freedoms of
assembly, speech, and press; implement constitutional changes that enable a
civilian government to hold the military accountable; and establish the rule of
law, including the creation of an independent judiciary.
What many people don’t know is that Burma is home to some of
the longest running conflicts in the world. It has the highest number of child
soldiers. There are decades of well-documented cases of war crimes and crimes
against humanity, particularly against Burma’s ethnic national population. It’s
going to take time and effort to address these challenges.
Even worse than rewarding the regime prematurely by rolling
back sanctions, U.S. companies would actually be in a position to further
exacerbate atrocities by rushing into Burma prematurely. At this point, the
Burmese regime and its cronies still control the most lucrative sectors of the
economy—including natural gas, gems, timber and mining—exploiting Burma’s
natural resources at the expense of the people. These men with blood on their
hands are exact same people that U.S. companies will be dealing with as they
rush to invest.
In Kachin State—home to major dam projects and adjacent to
the new Shwe oil and natural gas pipeline project—Chinese investment is fueling
the current conflict.With an eye to
their economic interests, the Burmese army broke a 17-year ceasefire when they
launched a military offensive last June. In less than a year, tens of thousands
have been displaced from the homes because of the Burmese army’s attacks.
The attacks by the army in Kachin underscore two important
points: first, the ongoing need for political agreements between the central
government and each of Burma’s ethnic national groups and second, the Burmese
army is still willing to employ the same brutal tactics today to target
minorities that it has for decades.
The United States has led the international community in
support of peace, human rights and democracy in Burma for years. Burma is at
the beginning of a crossroads and U.S. leadership is being tested. By hastily
removing sanctions the risk of reinforcing and exacerbating rights violations
is great. By exercising patience and prudence, the U.S. can support real
progress that lasts.
It seems that the pressure within the Burma had built up to
such a degree that the Junta was forced to look for a way to open up, if they
were to survive, while at the same time, the regional and international
environments have changed and most of the neighbouring countries are
concentrating more on accelerating their economic growth and building the
region as a community.
The new generation in the army has become more progressive
and less conservative. There seems to have been an agreement among the elite on
the need to transform Burma before it is too late and be left totally
powerless. Hence, the political reforms have begun.
Opening up the country economically is an initial step
towards a strategic move that allows the regime to cling on to political power
while promoting liberal economic policy to justify its ongoing reform process.
No doubt Daw Aung Suu Kyi would have an immense influence on the West’s
decision to lift sanctions against the regime but whether lifting of sanctions
will do ‘good’ for the people or not is still to be seen. The one thing which
is very sure is that the of lifting sanctions by the West will not improve the
human rights situation as there is still a long way to go. The US and the West
must be very careful that it does not place human rights on the back burner, as
it seems to be doing in the case of Chen Guangcheng in Beijing.
The power distribution which is taking place in Burma
nowadays is essentially among elite groups themselves, of which Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi is a part. The so called national reconciliation therefore, in Burma is
focus mainly on mending ties between the government and the NLD and did not
incorporate various ethnic nationalities into the nation-building process
without which there is little chance of success as it did not encompass the
political involvement. Major military offensive using intensive air power in
Kachin state is a classic example of the ongoing ethnic cleansing policy and so
there is serious doubt whether the government’s policy be truly people-oriented
even though the NLD is targeting the empowerment of the masses economically and
seek further support from the public whereas the regime is to legitimise its
grips on power.
Call me a pessimist because I foresee only a depressing picture.
With the help of the “agents of capitalism” posing as scholars, diplomats,
development aid experts, representatives of international agencies, investors,
entrepreneurs etc, I foresee the land and people of Burma will be robbed and
sold off under the lie of development and democratic change. The exploitation
of man by man is now very much encouraged on all sides. Perhaps this policy
will be just a little better than the Constructive Engagement Policy as
practiced by ASEAN and the neighboring countries. The quasi military government
now wearing Longyi (Burmese Sarong) and Gaungboung (headdress with a flag) is
now being supported by many whose interests lie in having their way with the
riches of Burma.David Cameron, for
example, took ten businessmen with him to Rangoon, only as tourists because
Britain still had some economic sanctions in place.
Real citizen involvement is needed in creating a federal
democratic Burma and not just token involvement by a few. Now Western
governments are praising the regime to open new markets for their corporations.
They talk only business the market and debt, not health, education, ecology or
the common good of the people of Burma. The administrative authorities of the
EU, Norway, Canada, the USA, and Australia have suspended most sanctions on
Burma, rewarding the ‘quasi civilian government’ for its democratic changes. In
fact the cut throat Australian government has never sanctioned investment in
Burma as it send only human rights trainers, which is just like trying to
straightened a dog’s tail with a pipe as according to the Burmese proverb..
Yet Australian, French, American, Thai, Chinese, Indian,
Russian, Malaysian oil and gas companies currently operate there. Oil and gas
exports are the Burmese leaders’ largest source of income, amounting to nearly
US $3 Billion in the 2011-12 fiscal year. Despite this resource wealth, the oil
and gas revenues over the last decades have been pocketed by a few corrupt
military generals and the people of Burma benefit nothing.
Several hundred political prisoners remain in jail,
repressive laws remain in place and the Constitution has not yet been amended.
Although the government has negotiated some cease-fire agreements with some
ethnic groups, no inclusive, nationwide political dialogue with the ethnic
nationalities has yet been initiated. That is a pre requisite in a country
where more than half a century of civil war has been waging.. A cease-fire is
simply pressing the pause button. A major offensive was launching in Kachin
state where the government boated of claiming killing more than 30 resistance
fighters although it dared not release its own casualties according to the CMA
(Controller of Military Accounts)figure is 3,278 is KIA, (Kill In Action) since
the offensive started in Kachin state. What is needed is a peace process that
stops the conflict for good. For now, what is occurring is primarily a change
in atmosphere, not yet a change in system.
Of course the Thein Sein administration realized that the
status quo was not sustainable and the country is crumbling by successive
corrupt, incompetent and brutal military dictatorships. For ordinary people of
Burma, each day is a struggle for survival while many of them could not afford
a square meal. Discontent is simmering. Sanctions by the West bites much to the
regime’s self-esteem and the regime unlike the previous Junta is not longer
proud to be a pariah state. All indications point out that Burma was in danger
of becoming one of the autonomous regions of China like Tibet. The Junta saw
the clear writings of the Arab Spring.
What happened to Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt’s
Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi and other leaders in the Middle East and
North Africa, gave them a serious thought. The supremo Than Shwe realized that
he faced two choices: leave things as they are and, in a matter of time, Burma
could have another popular uprising, on a larger scale than the 2007 Saffron
Revolution, in which his own personal security, wealth and welfare, and that of
his family, could be in jeopardy; or, he could approve a process of gradual
change, in which at least he, his family and his assets are protected. He chose
what to him was the lesser of two evils. This is the real cause of change in
Burma. Perhaps Than Shwe wants to be to be remembered as the man who gave the
nod to a democratic transition, rather than the man who butchered thousands of
his people, monks and is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Or maybe he may conjecture that by allowing Thein Sein to talk
with Suu Kyi–something he would never do–bring her into the process and proceed
on the path of reform, he can compensate for the horrific suffering he
inflicted on his people, wipe the blood from his hands and change his karma.
Whatever his motivations, Thein Sein could not have got this far without Than
Shwe, and that means Burma’s spring is still fragile. If Than Shwe is still
helping to pull some strings, could he call an end to the reforms if he feels
they go too far and threaten his interests? as even now his right hand man Tin
Aung Myint Oo the architect of the Kachin Offensive has resigned as a Vice
President.
Many young bright Burmese who ran away following the deadly
crackdowns in 1988 has not given any incentive to return to become a part of nation
building even though several thousands have worked in different professions
elsewhere could contribute to the nation nor there is, political stability,
supported by democracy and sound economic policy, to encourage those educated
to remain in the country rather than finding opportunities outside the country.
But so far nothing has moved.
Currently it seems that the senior generals an older
generation feel that their political space is shrinking too fast for a
comfortable stay and the Burmese army obsession of a state within a state is
very much alive and do what it like independent of the central government.
Hence, the international community should wait for sometimes, iinstead of
rushing in to Burma, one need to study the truth of how Western actions will
affect current tensions, relationships and life for the Burmese people whether
it is better or for worst for the regime is still too early to be trusted.
Burma is poised to
become Asia's next boom economy as international companies clamour to invest
there.
But while the country is resource rich, it's expected to be
some time before the Burmese people see any economic benefits.
Correspondent: Zoe
Daniel
Speakers: Khine Kine
New, Garment Manufacturers Association; U Moe Myint, businessman; Daniel
Gelfer, development consultant
Zoe Daniel: All of
a sudden - Burma is on the move.
Rapid political reform is bringing with it economic change
and this nation run ragged by repression is finally full of possibilities.
Industries previously flattened by trade restrictions are preparing for an
economic revival.
Among them - the garment sector, which before sanctions
employed more than 300,000 people - although exports to the US are still not
allowed, for the moment.
Khine Khine Nwe is from the country's Garment Manufacturers
Association.
Khine Kine Nwe: We
have about 150 factories running at this moment with 100,000 workers at one
time down to 60,000 workers from 350,000 workers and we are trying to create a
job opportunity for them, the government also and our industry also, to bring
them back.
Zoe Daniel:
Already Australia and the United States have eased sanctions and the EU has
suspended all but the arms embargo for a year.
There are visible changes on the streets of Rangoon, new
cars on the road, new goods in the shops - and a sense of surprise among the
Burmese people - rich and poor.
Moe Myint: What
has happened over the year, has been a, shall I say, a surprise. I never
expected that something like this would happen in my lifetime, I'm 60 years old
now.
Zoe Daniel: U Moe
Myint is one of Burma's top businessmen. His oil and gas exploration company
operates one of the most productive oil fields in a country perfectly
positioned to provide energy to both China and India.
He's known for the fact that he's avoided the crony system
that pervades business in Burma where military mates foster business success.
But he was still affected by US travel bans on those seen to be profiting from
the spoils of the regime.
Moe Myint: I find
that it was totally unfair but what I was very annoyed with when they imposed
it on my family, including my young son who has nothing to do with it, at that
time my son was working for Chevron in Bakersfield, and then he left the States
for Canada and he couldn't get back in on account of the visa imposed on him
and that shocked us.
Zoe Daniel: Now
those bans have been lifted and there's finally a chance to truly explore the
potential of the place and its people, but with care.
Moe Myint: I would
like to see more investment, more big qualified companies, like for instance
from Australia, you have Woodside Petroleum, you have BHP, I would very much
like to see companies like that come in. Because when these companies come in,
you know, it will have a very positive effect or impact on the environmental,
education, health standards of the country and that will help grow a middle
class.
But what has happened over the past 20 years, the country
has gone poorer.
Zoe Daniel:
Already there's an emphasis on corporate social responsibility, amid concern
that people will be forgotten by international investors who are only looking
to extract profits.
Development consultant
Daniel Gelfer.
Daniel Gelfer:
This is a labour-intensive country, there's lots of labour available, people
need jobs, people are unemployed, people are impoverished, people are underemployed.
There's a need for massive employment both in skilled and unskilled labour, and
I would hope that investment could help fill some of those gaps.
Zoe Daniel: Known
as an untapped, resource-rich place, there are predictions that Burma could be
a new Asian tiger - if reforms continue.
Note: Please go to the website in order
listen to the story.
The International
Monetary Fund says Burma could be Asia's next boom economy if it stays on the
path of political and economic reforms.
The IMF this week noted Burma's moves to free up its
currency and said the nation faces an historic opportunity to jump-start
development and lift living standards.
It also points to the country's rich natural resources,
young labor force, and proximity to some of Asia's most dynamic economies to
its advantage.
But while Asian firms are poised to compete for business
opportunities, the challenges are many.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Shigeki Maeda,
managing director of the Singapore office of the Japan External Trade
Organisation, JETRO
Maeda: At this
moment, I don't think so. There're still unclear factors remaining. For example,
the new investment law, that is a very critical factor for the Japanese
investor, who'd like to penetrate the market. So, so far from the Japanese
company's viewpoint, they're still in the wait-and-see position, looking
forward to the opening of the gate.
Lam: But it would
seem that Japan is leading the way. Isn't Tokyo helping Burma set up a stock
exchange?
Maeda: Yes, and
(Japanese) government has already officially announced to list out the ODA -
the Official Development Assistance - but from the private sector's viewpoint,
it remains still unclear factor. They're watching seriously the market, what's
going on. While the big trading companies have already established their
offices in Naypyidaw and large offices in Yangon, but real business is still
"in the air."
Lam: Would some of
the challenges be the uncertainties of doing business in Burma? For example,
the lack of rule of law, or opaque laws. The uncertain or unreliable
electricity supply system?
Maeda: Oh, yes,
almost always uncertainties. For example, the legislation rule of business or
investment is still uncertain. Government procedures are still unclear. The
infrastructure is still not well organised. If the Japanese companies would
like to start a joint venture with a local partner, the information is not
enough. In the past, or under the military administration, the powerful
economic companies were strongly linked to the government. But now, it might be
shifting and changing, and so, with whom are the Japanese companies
cooperating? That is still unclear. So, in such transition periods, the
economic structure is also changing and so how are the Japanese companies to
start up their new business under such conditiions? That is always with some
confusion.
Lam: So there are
positives there, but the picture is not so clear at the moment?
Maeda: Yes.
Lam: And what
about Burma's complex exchange rate system? Do you think that might be
problematic? Might that hinder direct foreign investment?
Maeda: Yes, yes,
of course. But the government is now introducing the new system, with the
consultation of the IMF, and it's a good sign for the other countries. So, as
time goes on, the situation would be better, I hope.
Lam: As you say,
the picture is unclear, and doing business in Burma is still an unknown quantity,
but going by the number of Asia countries rushing into Burma to invest,
particularly Japan, China, Korea, for instance, these countries do see the
potential there, don't they? Do you think that despite the uncertainties, that
it is important for countries to get in first, to stake a claim, if you like?
Maeda: Ya, ya, ya.
Of course, of course. They are waiting or looking forward to the opening gate.
And they're now trying to keep a good position, just in front of the gate. So
Japanese companies are now rushing to visit, just visit so far, but it takes a
bit of time to start the real business in Myanmar.
Lam: Time and
patience, I imagine?
Maeda: Ya, ya, ya.
Note: Please go to the website in order
listen to the story.
In recent weeks, Western states have begun easing
sanctions as a result of the Myanmar’s increased pluralism, the most notable
example being Aung San Suu Kyi’s election to Parliament. But in the context of
new investment and economic growth, the military regime has paradoxically positioned
itself to consolidate power and isolate Suu Kyi through political legitimacy.
The difference between the words‘respect’ and ‘safeguard’ may not mean a lot
to you or me. But if you were to ask Aung San Suu Kyi, Noble Peace laureate and
long imprisoned opposition leader, the answer would likely be that it is
substantial. Last week, Suu Kyi in a clear sign of acquiescence to the military
backed government, agreed to drop her demand to replace the words “safeguard
the constitution” with “respect the constitution” in the Parliamentary oath of
office.
The difference in phrasing, no small matter, opens
legitimate questions as to the degree of political freedom granted to lawmakers
in Myanmar as Western countries ease sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation as
a reward for increased pluralism. ‘Respecting’ implies the ability to change
the constitution’s language. ‘Safeguarding’ implies a legalistic and fiduciary
obligation to defending its content.
Suu Kyi, now elected to Parliament, faces a serious long
term dilemma. Continue to protest the regime and risk appearing against the
newfound economic benefits of liberalization, or condone a regime that needs
her support in the eyes of the people and the international community to govern
legitimately.
Condoning the government and continuing the process of
easing sanctions will deliver clear economic and social benefits to the
country. Last week the United States loosened sanctions to allow private US
charities and NGOs to do work in the isolated country. The US Treasury’s
actions eased restrictions on private groups working in the areas of democratic
development, sport, and education
The IMF, for its part, worked discretely but closely with
the central bank of Myanmar in preparation for the April 2nd flotation of its
currency, the Kyat, and the EU recently lifted a ban on investing in 52
companies controlled by the Myanmar government and lifted travel bans and asset
freezes on 491 people with close ties to the regime. Even the economically
devastated state of Japan recently cancelled $3.7-billion in debt owed by
Myanmar and restarted development loans.
If Suu Kyi condones the government’s actions, it will allow
the regime to take credit for new benefits delivered by the international
community, and will dilute her voice to merely a contributory piece of a larger
successful narrative. Criticism of her being co-opted by the regime will
result, and government officials will permanently retain benefits previously
denied under sanctions.
Alternatively, Suu Kyi could continue to resist. Rumours
abound that if she won a seat in Parliament she would be offered a place in the
government as the head of an influential committee, or even the position of
Foreign Affairs Minister. Should she refuse and continue to protest, she will
be acting against the forces of foreign investment that will contribute to
tangible short-term development in the newly opened markets of Myanmar.
Thus, if Suu Kyi should resist but retain her elected
position in Parliament, the easing of sanctions will paradoxically contribute
to the regime’s consolidation of power. In this sense, Suu Kyi’s Parliamentary
victory marks a strategic victory for the regime’s leadership. By vesting her
with political legitimacy, Suu Kyi will lose the agency needed criticize the
underpinnings of the regime she now participates in. At once, the military
regime will have succeeded in opening the country to foreign investment,
purchasing enough political capital to make peace with armed rebel groups and
the international community, and co-opting the regime’s most vocal critic into
political silence.
A key indicator will be Suu Kyi’s party, the National League
for Democracy (NLD)’s, stance on the new foreign investment law, which sets out
land use terms, legal structures and incentives for foreign investment for the
foreseeable future. As the international financial institutions and donor
countries prepare to gather in Myanmar to coordinate aid flows, the voice
given, and the opinions expressed by the NLD will offer a window into the
strategy of the opposition party.
As foreign investors line up to do business in Myanmar, it
is important to note that no system-wide political progress can occur while the
military controls the largest Parliamentary block. The true test of democratic
development will take place in 2015, when national elections are held. This
will represent an opportunity for Suu Kyi and her NLD to take power and launch
an agenda that could range from small scale reform to full regime change. How
aggressively the NLD positions themselves on policy issues such as the foreign
investment law will likely determine whether or not the military regime, who in
the meantime will enjoy the benefits of open markets, will even allow the NLD
the opportunity to legitimately take power.
While a more thorough analysis of the NLD’s political
decision making will have to take place in the run up to the 2015 elections,
the key question becomes: was Suu Kyi’s acceptance of the oath a choice to lose
a battle, but win the wider war? Or was it instead the first of many decisions
where the military regime will use her position of legitimacy in Parliament
force her to choose between her own agency and the wellbeing of her people.
Ben Hartley is an Asia
Pacific Analyst with the Atlantic Council of Canada. He hold a BAH from Queen's
University, where he worked as a research assistant at the Queen's Centre for
International Relations. Ben specializes in international trade and
non-proliferation, and will be pursuing an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies in the Fall of 2012.
Any views or opinions expressed in this article are
solely those of the authors and the news agencies and do not necessarily
represent those of the Atlantic Council of Canada. This article is published for
information purposes only.
For Burmese dissident,
IMF might dream economic boom, but our dignity is worth more
For the International
Monetary Fund, Myanmar could become Asia's "next frontier". Experts
call for "appropriate reforms" to go along with the "labour
force" and "natural resources." NLD representative in India says
wealth "is not the sole aspiration"; what counts is "prosperity
for the entire population".
New Delhi - "Most Burmese admire the Asian
Tigers," nations like South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore that
led the economic boom of the 1990s; however, "material success is not the
sole aspiration." What really counts for Myanmar is "prosperity for
the entire population and a life with dignity," said Tint Swe, a Burmese exiled
leader and representative of the National league for Democracy (NLD) in India.
Speaking to Asia News about a recent report released by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the veteran dissident, who fled the
crackdown by the military regime in 1990, said, "Economic indicators"
set by international financial institutions "should not be the driving
factors".
For the IMF's 2011 report on Myanmar, the country
"could become the next economic frontier in Asia if, with appropriate
reforms, it can turn its rich natural resources, young labour force, and
proximity to some of the most dynamic economies, to its advantage."
Last year, the economy grew by an estimated 5.5 per cent and
could reach 6 per cent in the current year.
"Economic stability", inflation and "managed
float" of the kyat, the national currency, are some of the key goals laid
out in the report.
For the IMF, further economic liberalisation and
privatisation are necessary even though companies close to the former military
junta or connected to foreign interests are the best placed.
Improvements are possible in the energy sector and
manufacturing. In an unprecedented move, the authorities have decided to cut
military spending and invest more in education.
In order to understand the situation in Myanmar, AsiaNews
interviewed Tint Swe, a Burmese dissident and NLD representative in India.
Dr Swe, are Myanmar's
reforms only economic or have there been steps towards democracy?
It is clear that real changes are taking place in Burma. The
nation is coming out of martial laws, one-party rule and military suppression.
For the first time, a constitutional system is in place, although it is not
fully democratic. Economic reforms have not yet been implemented even though
restrictions have been lifted and new measures are taken. However, it must be
noted that all these changes come after those in power entrenched their power
base and economic holdings. The constitution favours the military-backed party.
The military is guaranteed 25 per cent of the seats in parliament and the head
of state must be military-oriented. Economic opportunities have been in the
hands of army and cronies.
What about lifting
sanctions? Many have been vocal about it?
Some have called for the lifting of sanctions not on a
rational basis but for their own sake. Myanmar's neighbours and other Asian
countries, which have never cared for human rights, have called for sanctions
to be lifted. The economy and wealth are very important. Burma is officially a
Least Developed Country (LDC) since 1987. The country is extremely poor but
there are millionaires, i.e. generals and their friends.
The country is enormously rich, endowed with a
treasure-trove of natural resources. However, teak and hard wood forests as
well as under-water fishery were sold out under the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC). Natural Gas was sold out by the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC). The revenue did not come to the State for public
use and nothing indicates that Burma will lose its LDC status.
Burma has to rebuild from almost ground zero. So far,
changes have been superficial. Millions of migrant workers and refugees cannot
return home because there are no new jobs, better education or health care
facilities. Sixty five percent of population is in the agricultural sector and
have not been uplifted. The education system, which has been systematically
destroyed, needs a couple of decades to improved. Deep-rooted corruption is a
real challenge. Highly hierarchical workplace practices has to be changed. There
are good people who want to change but many of them do not know how to do it.
In the recent past, China has been Myanmar's main trading
partner. Will the opening to new markets and countries bring greater attention
to human rights?
It will be a big mistake to rely on a single helping hand.
It may be good for others but not for Burma. Burma's economic and financial
reforms may or may not be good if measured against the IMF yardstick alone. The
growth rate and the GDP are not always indicative of a people's wellbeing.
For decades, the people of Burma might have read about
impressive growth figures in state-owned newspapers even though they had a hard
time finding a square meal.
Since the Foreign Direct Investment Law was enacted in late
1988, over 30 foreign countries invested more than US$ 16 billion in over 400
projects in Burma as of March 2010.
Most foreign direct investment was in oil and natural gas
and other energy-related activities. Agriculture and manufacturing have not seen
any increase in investment.
Despite greater foreign investment, job opportunities,
manufacturing and farming have shown little progress.
Agriculture represents a declining component of GDP: 58.8
per cent in 1991, 57.1 per cent in 2001 and 36.4 per cent in 2010.
Farm workers are thus not profiting from any growth.
Dr Swe, will Myanmar
really become Asia's "new frontier"?
Yes, Burma has the potential to be an economic frontier.
Burmese have been disgraced and degraded by their dictatorial rulers. They are
ashamed of their standing and are eager to show their abilities and talents.
However, they need foreign assistance and more democratic
changes to accomplish what amounts to a mission impossible. Businessmen
everywhere are the same; they just want to make money and profit.
Sharing benefits is fine. However, at this juncture, mutual
benefit cannot be done with multinationals and Burmese tycoons.
What are your main
concerns?
Environmental concerns must government the construction of
big dams, large-scale projects and cross-country pipelines. Issues such as the
displacement of local communities, forced labour and fair compensation must be
addressed. Transparency and accountability are still a dream in Burma. A
Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has been set up recently, but its officials
are not independent.
What impact are
foreigners having on Burma's economic and social life?
Burma's civil society has not yet fully formed. Many NGOs
have been active in Burma well before the 2010 election. New NGOs have
comeonly after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met
with President U Thein Sein and was favourably impressed. NGOs in Burma can be
divided between those who eagerly endorsed the 2010 elections, and those who
came only after Aung San Suu Kyi indicated her support.
Those that existed might have concluded that the National
League for Democracy (NLD) had lost the battle and so they tried to create a
non-NLD third force. In just a year, they were proven wrong. The NLD has become
a legal entity and won a landslide in recent by-elections.
This shows how foreigners created a mess. Some do not
understand Burma and failed to read the situation correctly. Although they
might be well-intentioned, their plans do not help as intended. This is the
situation. Those who lend a helping hand should realise that the bad times are
not yet over in Burma. The military is still challenging democracy. Dividing
the pro-democracy camp is not a good thing.
Most Burmese admire the Asian Tigers. They want to catch up
with them quickly. However, material success is not the sole aspiration.
Economic indicators should not be the driving factors. Human rights and
environmental concerns are an imperative but what they really want is the
prosperity of the entire population and a life with dignity. (DS)
