BurmaNet News, July 17, 2007

[Editor]

July 17, 2007 Issue # 3248

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Opposition calls for changes to constitution
Mizzima News: Journalists to attend NC sans tape recorders, cell phones
DVB: Activist’s mother sacked over political activities

ON THE BORDER
DVB: KNU slams military on eve of National Convention

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Illegal rice trade flows into Yunnan province
KNG: Maj-Gen Ohn Myint bans gold mining, logging in Kachin
AFP: Myanmar wraps up largest-ever gem auction
News from Bangladesh: Dhaka, Yangon to sign deal to build hydropower plant

REGIONAL
The Australian: Indians defiant on arms to Burma
Mizzima News: Burmese activists in Malaysia lambast Russia for supporting
junta
Xinhua: Myanmar active in cooperation with BIMSTEC member countries

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Gambari to submit Burma report to UN

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: United Nations & Burma's Generals

PRESS RELEASE
Altsean-Burma: Burma's National Convention may destabilize region,
activists warn

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Opposition calls for changes to constitution

Opposition groups across Burma repeated calls for an inclusive
constitution drafting process today as delegates arrived at the secure
Nyaunghnapin compound for the final session of the widely condemned
National Convention.

Leaders from the National League for Democracy told DVB today that they
hoped secretary one of the State Peace and Development Council and acting
premier lieutenant general Thein Sein would stand by comments made in the
official media on potential changes to the new constitution.

"We regarded what lieutenant general Then Sein said as a positive step and
welcomed it. But there was no improvement after that,” NLD information
officer U Thein Nyunt said.

"In 2004 [National Conventions] our delegates were sent personal
invitations to their houses but we refused it by explaining our policy we
will only accept invitations sent to our party but not the ones sent to
individuals," he said.

They also said that they had not been invited to the convention, despite
being one of the major opposition parties in Burma. But the state-run
media has heralded the tomorrow’s launch of the final National Convention
session for the past few days, with yesterday’s New Light of Myanmar
claiming the process reflected “the wishes of the entire nation.”

“This is national political development required by the historical trend
of [Burma]; no one can hinder or oppose the process. If an individual or a
party tries to do so, the person or the party will be documented as a
culprit in the history of the nation,” yesterday’s New Light of Myanmar
said.

National Convention delegates from Karen Mon, Shan, Kachin states and
Mandalay, Ayeyarwaddy and Bago divisions started arriving at a special
government compound in Nyaunghnapin, outside Rangoon, yesterday before it
is reconvened tomorrow.

But many of the ethnic political and armed groups not involved in the
National Convention said today that national reconciliation could only be
achieved if all groups were invited to take part in an inclusive process.

A source from the New Mon State Party said that while Thein Sein had
promised changes to the current draft of Burma’s new constitution, his
actions had not supported his claims of flexibility.

“Because of this, we will only attend the convention as spectators to
monitor the improvements made to the convention and see what they discuss
there. We have made this move to show that we are standing for efforts
towards national reconciliation,” an NMSP official said on condition of
anonymity.

____________________________________

July 17, Mizzima News
Journalists to attend NC sans tape recorders, cell phones - Nem Davies

In keeping with the paranoia of the Burmese military junta, foreign
correspondents based in Rangoon invited by the convening committee to
attend the National Convention, have been told not to carry tape recorders
and mobile phones.

The invitation letter from the National Convention Convening Committee
yesterday to all foreign correspondents and local journalists made it
clear that only one representative journalist should attend the opening
ceremony of the much-criticized constitution drafting process.

Foreign journalists who had applied for visas to go to Burma to cover the
convention are yet to get it.

"The invitation letter told us not to take cell phones, cassette
recorders, purses and bags. However, some had taken the items despite the
same instructions being given last time," said a Rangoon based foreign
correspondent to Mizzima.

"Usually we are allowed to stay there for only 10 to 15 minutes just after
the opening ceremony. That's it," she added.

With a majority of hand picked delegates, the military junta has been
drafting the constitution since 1993.

The opposition National League for Democracy which posted a landslide
victory in the 1990 general elections has branded the convention as a
sham.

____________________________________

July 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Activist’s mother sacked over political activities

A woman sacked from her job at the Myanma Textile Industries after her son
and husband were arrested for causing community unrest, has sent a letter
to senior general Than Shwe asking for reinstatement.

Daw Htay Htay Win, who had worked at the Insein garment factory for 10
years said her employers told her she was being dismissed for not
reporting her husband U Zaw Zaw Min and her son Maung De Lyein Linn’s
political activities to her superiors.

“We are a peaceful family who live according to the law and have never
violated it . . . They laid me off from work by saying that I was
responsible for hiding my husband and my son’s offence of unrest,” Daw
Htay Htay Win said.

Her letter to Than Shwe reportedly questioned the charges of unrest since
the area she lived in was completely stable politically and that there was
no other reason for her dismissal from her government position.

Her son, Maung De Nyein Linn, was arrested during the June crackdown on
prayer campaigners and her husband was then charged for aiding
anti-government activists. U Naing Min Htut, chief of the Insein garment
factory refused to comment on the matter today.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
KNU slams military on eve of National Convention

The Karen National Union released a statement today demanding that Burma’s
military government allow all ethnic and political groups in the country
to participate in the constitution-drafting process.

The KNU said that since so many significant groups had been excluded from
the convention, the process was invalid and needed drastic changes.

“The unbalanced working procedures of the National Convention such as the
ruling State Peace and Development Council’s domination of the convention
and their handpicking of representatives . . . Are not signs of a
legitimate process,” the KNU said.

“During the whole period of the National Convention, the SPDC has never
accepted the points made by representatives and has even pressured them by
revoking their permission to attend the convention or arresting them.”

The final session of the constitution-drafting National Convention, which
is set to reconvene for its final session tomorrow, has been widely
criticised by opposition and international political groups since it
started in the early 1990s.

“Holding a fake convention should be rejected strongly by, not only by the
people of Burma, but also by government officials and Tatmadaw personnel,”
the KNU said.

Pado David Htaw, foreign affairs coordinator for the KNU and National
Council of the Union of Burma said that the military’s strangle-hold on
the procedures for the convention showed that the junta was preparing to
hold onto power, not relinquish it.

“The NCUB believe that the convention is not capable of solving the
problems of Burma,” Pado David Htaw said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 17, Irrawaddy
Illegal rice trade flows into Yunnan province - Khun Sam

The volume of the illegal cross-border rice trade into China's Yunnan
Province is estimated at thousands of Burmese rice sacks daily, according
to border sources.

Rice is illegally exported to Yunnan through several Burmese border towns,
including Laiza in eastern Kachin State and Namkham in northern Shan
State.

In Laiza, which is under the control of the Kachin Independence
Organization, one exporter-importer businessman dominates the illegal rice
trade in Kachin State’s border area, selling about 5,000 rice sacks daily,
according to Bhamo sources.

A businessman in Bhamo, located about 30 miles from the Chinese border,
said about 3,000 rice sacks are sold daily from Bhamo by illegal rice
traders.

The price for o­ne rice sack, which weights 24 viss (about 37 kilograms),
is between 15,000 and 30,000 kyat (US $11 to $23). Exporters add 5,000
kyat or more ($3) when selling to Chinese traders.

“Rice trade is very profitable here because of the demand in China,” a
rice trader in Bhamo told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. “Chinese people use
the Burmese rice for making many types of snacks and cooking alcohols.”

Market demand for Burmese rice in China has increased rice prices in
Burmese border towns, the business source said. About 13,500 kyat worth of
low quality rice in the former capital of Rangoon can sell for more than
15,000 kyat in Bhamo.

It was reported last week that about 16 trucks carrying an estimated 8,000
sacks of rice were detained at a checkpoint in Pegu Division by local
authorities. The Burmese regime has banned the transport of rice within
the country as part of an effort to lower prices and to curb the illegal
trade to neighboring countries.

However, border sources said rice traders easily bribe authorities.

“A vehicle that carries 10 to 15 tons of rice has to pay about 30,000 kyat
($23) at a checkpoint,” a Bhamo business man said.

____________________________________

July 17, Kachin News Group
Maj-Gen Ohn Myint bans gold mining, logging in Kachin

Gold mining and logging in Kachin state, in northern Burma has been
totally banned by Burma Army Commander in Kachin State, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint.
The announcement came last weekend, local sources said.

The order was given at a special meeting in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin
State to attending delegates of the three Kachin ceasefire groups- Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO), New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and
Lasawng Awng Wa Ceasefire Group. The meet was conducted by Commander
Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, a participant said.

According to Kachin ceasefire group sources, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint said that
the order had come from Nay Pyi Taw and he has to ensure a halt to logging
and gold mining in areas controlled by both Kachin ceasefire groups and
the junta in Kachin State.

Burmese military operations have already started in logging and gold
fields in Lasang Awng Wa ceasefire group’s controlled areas 20 miles
northeast of Myitkyina and Njang Yang areas and over 40 miles from
northeast of Myitkyina, said Lasang Awng Wa sources.

The Burmese military has seized several gold mining equipment in Nmai Hka
(May Kha River) above the Mali-Nmai confluence (Mayli Kha-May Kha),
Myitsone. The gold mining equipments and machines were brought to Njang
Yang, sources added.

Earlier this month, Burmese the military launched a military operation in
Dabyi Hka (Dabyi Stream) gold mine near Tanai Township (called Danai
locally) in Hugawng Valley and detained over 50 gold miners with their
gold mining equipments and machines, residents of Tanai told KNG.

On the other side, the Burmese military’s operations are underway in Sinbo
areas for a couple of weeks now where most of the illegal teak logging
takes place in Kachin State, about 50 miles south of Myitkyina, local
timber businessmen said.

In Kachin State, major gold mining fields and logging business ventures
are controlled by the KIO, NDAK and Lasang Awng Wa Ceasefire Groups and
they rely on the business for their core income, said Kachin ceasefire
groups sources.

The main Kachin ceasefire group, the KIO officially released its Central
Committee statement on June 30 which said that the KIO has demanded that
the ruling junta confer legitimate ethnic rights and rights of
self-determination of ethnic state in the new Constitution.

Burma’s ruling junta has stepped up economic pressure on the three Kachin
ceasefire groups before the final session of the Nyaung Napyin National
Convention which will resume on July 18.

____________________________________


July 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar wraps up largest-ever gem auction

Military-run Myanmar has wrapped up its biggest-ever gems auction, state
media said Tuesday, with sales expected to reach millions of dollars for
the cash-strapped junta.

Over 70 percent of some 6,400 lots of jade, gems and pearls were sold
during the 13-day emporium, which ended on Monday, the official Mirror
newspaper said.

The junta rarely reveals how much it earns from gem auctions but its most
successful have raked in more than 100 million dollars. Sales from the
July auction, the third this year, are expected to hit tens of millions of
dollars.

Among 4,000 merchants, some 2,200 were from China and 120 from Thailand,
the paper said. Myanmar's neighbouring countries are the biggest gem
customers.

Myanmar used to hold the gem auctions twice a year to curb the flow of
precious stones into the country's enormous black market, which economists
believe is at least half the size of the formal economy.

But in a bid to raise much-needed foreign currency, the junta has been
holding the auctions with increasing frequency -- four took place in 2006
and the July one was the third this year.

Myanmar is one of the world's poorest nations and is subject to US and
European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house
arrest of 62-year-old democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened by the eagerness of
China, India and Thailand to tap Myanmar's vast natural wealth to fuel
their own growing economies.

____________________________________

July 15, News from Bangladesh
Dhaka, Yangon to sign deal to build hydropower plant

Dhaka and Yangon have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
to build a large hydropower plant in Myanmar to feed Bangladesh's
power-hungry national grid, reports UNB.

The agreement was reached when a high-powered Bangladesh delegation
recently visited Myanmar, as part of a hectic government search for
sources of electricity.

Power Secretary Dr. M Fouzul Kabir, who led the delegation on the visit
from July 10 to 13 to the neighbouring country, told reporters Sunday that
the visit was very fruitful as the two countries agreed on two issues. As
per agreement, a delegation will make a follow-up visit to Myanmar in
November and sign the MoU to conduct a joint techno-economic feasibility
study to build the planned hydropower plant in its Rakhaine State to
supply power to Bangladesh.

He said three locations are being considered as potential sites for the
hydroelectric plant. But among those, a site in Lemro River of Rakhaine
State is most prospective, as there is a potential for building a
500MW-600MW plant. This site is approximately 100 kilometres from
Bangladesh.

Kabir said both the countries would examine all the possible options as to
which could be the basis for such a big-venture plant. "Either it could be
a government-government joint-venture project or a private-public joint
venture between the two countries."

But, he added, everything will be decided after the feasibility study.

The Power Secretary said the feasibility study would look into the
technical and financial viability of the project so both the countries can
benefit from it.

He mentioned that the proposed power plant would

be built under a long-term planning which would have no role to resolve
the present power crisis.

He said many countries, including China, India and Thailand, are now
working in Myanmar with the same purpose of setting up hydropower plant to
utilise the hydro potential available over there.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 17, The Australian
Indians defiant on arms to Burma

Indian arms sales to Burma's military junta -- including the provision of
attack helicopters -- will continue, despite fierce condemnation from the
human rights group Amnesty International, officials in New Delhi indicated
yesterday.

A European Union arms embargo on Burma was under threat from an Indian
project to sell an attack helicopter to the military regime, Amnesty said
in a report yesterday.

The London-based rights group said France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy
and Britain provided components and technology for the Advanced Light
Helicopter, potentially flouting the 19-year-old ban on arms sales.

The report said the Indian-manufactured ALH would not be operational
without vital components from EU member states, and highlighted the need
for stricter arms controls.

Defending the arms sales, a senior official in the Indian capital said:
''Amnesty can say what it likes, but what we are dealing with is the
reality -- the realpolitik -- of massively increasing Chinese influence in
Myanmar (Burma), which is in our own backyard. If we do not do something
to dilute that growing Chinese influence with the junta, we will be
cutting off our noses to spite out faces.''

He added: ''As well, there is the reality of the insurgency in our
northeast -- in Assam and places like that. Much of it is based in
Myanmar. We want the junta to stamp out those operational bases. But we
have to give them the means to do that.''

Amnesty homed in on the provision by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited of the
helicopters to the junta, maintaining that their supply was a flagrant
breach of the EU's arms embargo that had been in force since 1988.

Amnesty said the helicopter would not be operational without vital parts
from EU states, including rockets, guns and engines from France.

''The EU embargo explicitly states that no military equipment should be
supplied, either directly or indirectly, for use in Myanmar (Burma),'' it
said.

____________________________________

July 17, Mizzima News
Burmese activists in Malaysia lambast Russia for supporting junta - Mungpi

Burmese activists today called on Russia to back off from its plan to
build a nuclear reactor in the Southeast Asian country, during a protest
staged outside the Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Over 100 activists today staged a demonstration in front of the Burmese
embassy and marched two kilometers to the Russian embassy condemning both
the countries for its nuclear pact signed in May, a leader of the
activists told Mizzima.

"With the people of Burma reeling under severe economic deprivation, we
don't need a nuclear research reactor, and Russia should not support the
junta with its technology to build it," Maung Thein, organizer of the
rally said.

The Burmese government should rather strive for economic uplift and
stability and "at least provide adequate electricity in the country," he
added.

With banners and placards screaming 'Stop nuclear program', 'Russia: Stay
out of Myanmar affairs', demonstrators also denounced Russia for asserting
its veto power to block a UN security Council resolution on Burma in
January.

"Instead of siding with the people, who are suffering under the brutal
regime, Russia looking at its interest, has vetoed a Security Council
resolution on Burma," said, Maung Thein, chairman of the Democratic
Federation of Burma (DFB) Malaysia branch.

"Therefore we demand that Russia stay out of Burma's affairs," he added.

On May 15, Russia's state owned atomic energy agency Rosatom announced
that a deal has been signed between Nay Pyi Taw and Moscow to build a
nuclear research centre in the military-ruled country.

The announcement attracted widespread criticism from the international
community including the United States, which publicly denounced the deal.

While there is still a long way to go for the planned nuclear programme to
be used for developing weapons, critics fear that with the lack of
adequate technical skills and knowledge in handling nuclear technology, it
could pose a threat.

Earlier in January, China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council
resolution on Burma saying the problems in Burma are internal and does not
pose a threat, regional or international.

Meanwhile, the Burmese junta, internationally condemned for its appalling
human rights record, is all set to reconvene its last round of
constitutional talks tomorrow with its handpicked delegates, ignoring the
calls made by the opposition to make the convention a convenient place for
dialogue to start the national reconciliation process.

____________________________________

July 17, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar active in cooperation with BIMSTEC member countries

Myanmar has been active in cooperation with member countries of the Bay of
Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
(BIMSTEC), joining in sharing the duty of the leading country in
cooperation sectorwise.

BIMSTEC now comprises seven members -- Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal -- with the prior five standing as the
original members since its founding in 1997. Bhutan and Nepal joined in
2004.

Myanmar is to take over the chairmanship of the BIMSTEC from India in 2008
under the rotation system for the status of the member countries in
alphabetical order.

Out of a total of 13 sectors of cooperation of the sub-regional economic
grouping now, Myanmar shares the duty of the leading country in the
sectors of transportation, communication and agriculture.

The 13 sectors are known as trade and investment, technology, energy,
transportation and communication, tourism, fisheries, poverty alleviation,
agriculture, cultural cooperation, counter- terrorism and transnational
crime, environment and disaster management, public health and
people-to-people contact.

Of these sectors, Bangladesh also shares the duty of the leading country
in trade and investment, while India in technology, energy,
counter-terrorism and transnational crime, and environment and disaster
management, Sri Lanka in tourism, Thailand in fisheries and public health,
Bhutan in cultural cooperation and Nepal in poverty alleviation.

BIMSTEC was formed with the five original countries sharing the Bay of
Bengal with the objective of promoting multi-sectoral cooperation for
economic and social progress of the region, outlining six areas of
cooperation in 1999 and the areas were increased to 13 in 2006.

The first summit of the grouping was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004,
while the second is re-planned for New Delhi, India in February 2008
instead of 2006.

Over the period of the past ten years, BIMSTEC was able to carry out
endorsement of the frame work agreement on BIMSTEC Free Trade Area,
designation of 2004-05 as Visit BIMSTEC Year, establishment of BIMSTEC
Chambers of Commerce and holding of the first BIMSTEC youth football
tournament in Phuket, formation of the Central Department of BIMSTEC
activities in Bangkok and implementation of bio-gas project in Myingyan
township in Myanmar.

Myanmar joined the BIMSTEC in August 1997 soon after integration into the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July.

BIMSTEC consists of certain ASEAN countries and members of South Asia
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), serving as a bridge to link
the two regional organizations.

BIMSTEC also represents the outcome of the integration of Thailand's "Look
West" policy and India's "Look East" policy. Thailand adopted the look
west policy with the aim of extending economic and trade ties with its
western neighbors -- South Asian nations. Likewise, countries of the
Indian sub-continent laid down the look east policy to establish close
economic relations with Southeast Asian nations after witnessing the
latter's economic growth, economists commented.

Meanwhile, India is making feasibility study on building a deep- sea port
in Myanmar's southern Tanintharyi division under its proposal at BIMSTEC
Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Phuket in February 2004. The Dawei
deep-sea port project stands as one of the priorities among future
programs of the grouping.

With a population of over 1.3 billion accounting for 21 percent of the
world population, BIMSTEC registered a gross domestic product of 750
billion U.S. dollars and trade volume of 33 to 59 billion dollars under
the BIMSTEC free trade area scheme.

Intellectuals and private organizations are being urged to work hard
together for the development of the respective sectors so that BIMSTEC can
help members to enjoy greater economic growth and practise the market
economic system.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 17, Irrawaddy
Gambari to submit Burma report to UN - Lalit K Jha

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Burma, will
brief the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, this week on his meetings
with top officials of China, India and Japan on the issue of Burma.

A senior UN official said after Gambari submits his report the next issue
would be to decide on the timing for his next visit to Burma.

“Gambari had detailed and open discussions on how best the United Nations
and the countries he visited can continue to work together to support
Myanmar's [Burma's] efforts in implementing relevant General Assembly
resolutions,” a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General told The
Irrawaddy.

At the advice of the Secretary-General, Gambari visited Beijing, New Delhi
and Tokyo last week holding series of consultations with top officials. UN
officials now handling Burma believe that the three Asian powers can play
an influential role in resolving two main issues—restoration of democracy
and protection of human rights.

Beijing—the closet ally of the Burma’s military government—was the first
stop on Gambari's tour, where he met with top Communist leaders. From
there, he went to New Delhi to meet with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar
Menon, followed by a trip to Japan.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 16, Wall Street Journal
United Nations & Burma's Generals

The United Nations has a track record of coddling brutal regimes from Iraq
to North Korea. Now add another to the list: Burma.

The Secretary General's special adviser on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, swept
through India, China and Japan last week to "promote positive changes" in
the repressive dictatorship. These countries should "encourage the
authorities in Myanmar to build on the positive steps they are making," he
told Reuters (using the name Burma's generals imposed on their country).

Mr. Gambari is likely referring to the country's new constitution, which
is expected be finalized at a national convention this week. The generals
have periodically made noises about democratic reform since they annulled
the 1990 election results that would have brought Aung San Suu Kyi's party
into power by a landslide majority. Back then they refused to transfer
power to her on the grounds that Burma needed a new constitution first.
Will they do so now?

The reality on the ground doesn't suggest much will change. Land
confiscation, arbitrary arrests, torture, murder and military conflict
with the country's ethnic minorities all continue unabated. The situation
is so bad that the International Committee of the Red Cross broke its
policy of silence this month and openly described how authorities torture
civilians and detainees.

The U.N. itself knows what's going on. Last week, a confidential U.N.
report leaked to the Financial Times found the government was seizing land
and cracking down on non-government organizations, among other things.

Mr. Gambari should know better. In May 2006, he offered monetary rewards
to the junta in exchange for Ms. Suu Kyi's release. The generals promptly
extended her house arrest. Mr. Gambari's predecessor, Razali Ismail
visited Ms. Suu Kyi in June 2003, only to find himself later barred from
the country. Former special rapporteur for human rights, Paulo Pinheiro,
curtailed a trip after finding a bug in a room where he was interviewing
political prisoners.

Mr. Gambari says he will visit Burma again soon to encourage signs of
"openness and cooperation" from the junta. Perhaps he expects Ms. Suu
Kyi's party will be allowed to contest elections under the new
constitution -- a promise the generals made to him last November. If
history is any guide, he's likely to be disappointed. More important, so
are the long-suffering Burmese people.

____________________________________

July 17, Irrawaddy
Burma's robber barons - Ma Sandar

Work continues on upgrading and widening the Ledo Road that will link
India and China through Burma. A forthcoming Trans-Asia rail line will
likely follow the course of famed World War II highway, creating two major
arteries for investment and the overland flow of trade to Burma and
throughout the region.

Anticipating these developments, crony capitalists such as Yuzana Htay
Hlaing, who enjoys close connections with Burma’s ruling State Peace and
Development Council, have begun acquiring tens of thousands of acres along
this historic route.

In the process, local inhabitants have been dispossessed and displaced
principally by two sons of key SPDC members—Lt-Gen Ye Myint and Lt-Gen
Maung Bo. These men have scrambled to augment their wealth by the size and
number of business assets that accrue from their blood ties.

Vast stretches of fallow land remain throughout Burma, and the military
government has invited investors to apply for leases. However, the
situation in the Hukawng Valley, through which the Ledo Road runs, amounts
to nothing less than a land grab of no mean proportions and with no regard
for properties owned and worked for generations by local ethnic people.

The widening of the Ledo Road alone entailed the destruction of numerous
homes, and the majority of the people—in the Hukawng Valley and throughout
Burma—have no say in the matter.

This land grab bears a striking resemblance to the opening of the American
West, when well-moneyed and politically powerful railroad barons acquired
tracts of land along proposed rail routes—assets that later became the
foundations of immense personal fortunes.

Cronyism in Burma has prospered under the fiat of military
authoritarianism and via the venality and machinations of unscrupulous
entrepreneurs who dominate the country’s transitional economy.

These developments could have been addressed legally, officially and
within the province of the state if a parliament, any parliament, had been
convened following the elections of 1988 (under the assumption that this
happens side by side with the drafting of a new constitution). The very
fact that grievances could be aired would act as a brake o­n the baser
instincts within our economy and society. This applies as well to larger
issues like the ending of the armed conflict in ethnic regions.

That a parliament and an elected government have not come into being
nineteen years after 1988 is shameful, and both the ruling junta and the
leading opposition have to share the responsibility—albeit the former must
bear the lion's share.

The incumbent military regime has set a world's record in postponing the
democratic transition for more than 18 years and having a field day with
the country's resources in the interim, as if it were their divine right
to mismanage the country's resources.

Burma’s leading democrats have continued to insist, mind-numbingly, that
only their version of parliament should come into being, and not an
initial parliament that could have acted as a crucial first step towards
preventing the unscrupulous generals from doing more pernicious things in
the name of a transitional market-based economy.

The people are too poor to demand liberal Western democracy, and they
would greatly benefit from genuine, gradual democratic transition and
sensible economic reforms.

Neither the junta nor the opposition has proven themselves capable of
feeding the people or triggering a democratic evolution, though they have
tried to legitimize themselves in the name of the people.

Meanwhile, the internal dislocation and displacement of poor farming
communities continue while a new class of economic vultures—that is,
Burmese robber barons patronized by friends in high places—have rake in
record profits.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 17, Altsean-Burma (Alternative Asean Network on Burma)
Burma's National Convention may destabilize region, activists warn

ASEAN-based activists have condemned the Burmese regime's
constitution-drafting process as "part of the problem and not the solution
to Burma's troubles".

In a briefing issued a day ahead of the resumption of the
military-controlled National Convention, Altsean-Burma (the Alternative
ASEAN Network on Burma) pointed out that outcomes of the flawed National
Convention would merely intensify the root causes of the ethnic-based
conflicts perpetuated by Burma's successive military regimes.

"Regional governments, including ASEAN members, China and India, should be
extremely concerned at the destabilizing potential of the regime's
strong-arm tactics to formalize and prolong its rule," said Altsean-Burma
Coordinator, Debbie Stothard. Over the weekend, ethnic representatives
warned that a regime-dominated constitution will lead to "increased
militarization, armed conflict and chaos."

"Ethnic groups and the National League for Democracy have consistently
proposed steps to salvage the National Convention and transform it into a
venue for dialogue; however these recommendations have been rejected.
These solutions deserve greater support from governments in the region,"
emphasized Ms Stothard. The Altsean-Burma statement adds to the chorus of
condemnation by pro-democracy and ethnic groups within and outside of
Burma.

Originally devised by the military regime as a tactic to avoid convening
Parliament after it lost the 1990 elections, the National Convention was
mothballed in March 1996. It was revived in 2004 as part of the "7-point
roadmap to democracy", a response to heightened regional and international
pressure following the Depayin Massacre in May 2003, in which
government-organised thugs attacked pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and her supporters. Scores were killed or injured, and the Nobel
Laureate has been held under strict conditions of detention since.

Altsean-Burma's briefer titled "National Convention: Roadmap to
Instability" is available for download from http://www.altsean.org The
briefer launches Altsean-Burma's revamped website which now boasts a range
of new features, including research resources for advocacy.

For more information, please call +6681 850 9008 during office hours or
email debbie at altsean.org.