BurmaNet News, December 10, 2008

[Editor]

December 10, 2008, Issue #3615


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Detained leader Min Ko Naing freezing in prison, needs eye
care: Sister
Xinhua: UN agency to donate to Burma's cyclone-hit areas
AFP: Burma accused of elephant smuggling
Narinjara: Burmese military plays politics with sport

ON THE BORDER
Xinhua: Myanmar puts off again opening of second border trade zone

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Russian business presence becoming stronger in Burma – Moe Thu

REGIONAL
AFP: Human rights supporters rally in Tokyo
Minichi Daily News: 2 men arrested for smuggling 5 women from Myanmar into
Japan

INTERNATIONAL
Associated Press: Laura Bush promises to continue work on human rights
Inner City Press: UN was "Disrespectful" in approach to Aung San Suu Kyi,
NLD leader says

OPINION / OTHER
Independent (UK): How Burma's opposition lost its fear – Phoebe Kennedy
Straits Times: Life on Myanmar's biofuels plantations – Jessica Cheam
Boston Globe: Still to do on human rights – Editorial
Jakarta Post: ASEAN human rights body: Will it have an impact on Myanmar's
junta? – Djoko Susilo




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 10, Mizzima News
Detained leader Min Ko Naing freezing in prison, needs eye care: Sister –
Mungpi

Detained student leader Min Ko Naing, recently sentenced to 65 years in
prison, is suffering from a severe eye ailment and is in need of immediate
attention of an eye specialist, his sister, who visited him at Keng Tung
prison in Shan state, said.

His sister Kyi Kyi Nyunt, who visited the prominent student leader on
Thursday, said Min Ko Naing is in solitary confinement in the Keng Tung
prison. He is suffering from an eye problem and his condition is
deteriorating. He needs the attention of an eye specialist.

"We have requested the prison authorities to allow him a check-up and
medical attention by an eye specialist," Kyi Kyi Nyunt told Mizzima over
telephone, adding that the student leader has been suffering from the eye
ailment since his detention in Rangoon's Insein prison.

Kyi Kyi Nyunt said that Min Ko Naing is kept in a separate cell all by
himself and though the prison situation seems normal, the severe weather
in Keng Tung is having an adverse affect on his health.

"It is like keeping him in a refrigerator," said Kyi Kyi Nyunt, adding
that she had requested the prison authorities to allow him to walk around
and be in the sun occasionally because he seems to be having difficulty in
moving his hands and feet due to the severe cold.

Prominent student leaders Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who were arrested in
mid-August 2007, after leading a peaceful march in Rangoon for a roll back
of fuel prices which had pushed up costs of essential commodities, were
shifted to Keng Tung prison last month after being handed lengthy prison
terms of 65 years.

But after spending about two nights in Keng Tung prison, Ko Ko Gyi was
transferred to Mai Sat prison in Shan State, she added.

Burma's military rulers over the past few months have handed down lengthy
prison terms to political activists and begun transferring them to
far-flung prisons across the country, making it all the more difficult for
family members to visit them.

"The prison authorities said, we could meet him [Min Ko Naing] once in two
weeks. But I don't think we can go that often because it is too far away.
We might only be able to visit him once in a few months," said Kyi Kyi
Nyunt, who returned to Rangoon on Tuesday evening from Keng Tung.

In much the same way, other prominent political activists including
comedian Zargarnar and blogger Nay Phone Latt were all transferred to
remote prisons across Burma. Zargarnar has been transferred to a prison in
the northern most city of Myitkyina of Kachin state, while popular rapper
Zeya Thaw was moved to a prison in Burma's southern most town of
Kawthawng.

____________________________________

December 10, Xinhua
UN agency to donate to Burma's cyclone-hit areas

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations will
donate a total of 80, 000 chickens and ducks to cyclone victims in two
divisions in Myanmar to help livestock breeding resumption work in the
post-storm period, a local weekly journal reported Wednesday.

The areas of the division covered by the distribution of the poultry
include Bogalay, Phyapon, Dedaye, Latputta, Kyaitlatt, Kungyankon and
Kawmu, the Yangon Times said.

Since July this year, purchasing from lesser-cyclone-hit region of Bago
and cyclone-free northern region of Mandalay, the FAO has also donated 600
cows and cattle for four cyclone-hit regions -Kungyankon, Mawlamyine,
Ngaputaw and Phyapon to help recultivation work.

Meanwhile, purchasing from domestic traders, the World Food Programme
(WFP) will also donate 9,000 more tons of rice to storm-ravaged Bogalay,
Phyapon and Laputta in the division following the distribution of 40,000
tons of rice to the cyclone-torn region earlier by buying from other
countries.

According to reports, a total of 29,000 survived population in nine
village tracts out of 50 in Laputta will benefit from the UN programme.

Laputta township suffered the biggest damage out of those in the
Ayeyawaddy delta, an assessment of a tripartite core group involving the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Myanmar and the UN was quoted as
saying.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states - Ayeyawaddy,
Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and
Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural
damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359
injured according to official death toll.

Altogether 300,000 cows and cattle died in cyclone-hard-hit Ayeyawaddy and
Yangon divisions.

____________________________________

December 10, Agence France Presse
Burma accused of elephant smuggling

Burma is at the centre of an illegal trade in elephants and ivory, with
more than 250 live animals smuggled out of the country in the past decade,
a report said on Wednesday.

Most of the elephants were destined for use in the tourist trekking
industry in neighbouring Thailand, said the report by the wildlife trade
monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Smuggling of live elephants and ivory is in "blatant contravention" of
national laws and of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), the group said.

"Our research found evidence of corruption allowing the illicit smuggling
of ivory and elephants to take place," Chris Shepherd, senior program
officer with TRAFFIC, was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Females and juvenile elephants are particularly targeted to supply the
demand from the tourism industry in Thailand, where they are put to work
in elephant trekking centres," said Shepherd.

Smugglers took elephants over the frontier by bribing border officials,
the report said, citing one guard as saying he had charged up to $US200
($A304.65) per animal because he was saving up to fly to Germany for the
2006 World Cup.

Yet no cross-border trade of live elephants had been reported to CITES by
either Burma or Thailand, and some traders said elephants had disappeared
from parts of Burma owing to numbers captured for the live trade, it said.

A survey by the group of 14 markets and three border markets in Thailand
and China, which both adjoin Burma, also found 9,000 pieces of ivory and
16 whole tusks for sale, it said.

Reports of elephant disappearances and the amount of ivory on sale
"suggests that trade poses a significant threat to the survival of Asian
elephants in Burma," said Vincent Nijman, a co-author of the report.

Burma has the largest elephant population in South-East Asia, with an
estimated 4,000 to 5,000 animals, the report said.

TRAFFIC and conservation group WWF called on authorities in Burma to work
closely with enforcement officers in Thailand and China to address the
illegal trade.

"Both Thailand and China must do much more to increase enforcement and
crack down on this insidious trade," Susan Lieberman, director of the WWF
international species program, was quoted as saying in the TRAFFIC
statement.

It called for greater monitoring of domestic elephant populations in
Burma, including the use of microchip and tattoo-based identification
systems to prevent illegal cross-border movement.

____________________________________

December 9, Narinjara
Burmese military plays politics with sport

Since gaining power in 1988, the Burmese military junta has never
officially referred to the regions of Arakan State as either "Northern"
Arakan or "Southern" Arakan, despite its use of such terms as part of its
divide and rule tactics in Shan State.

However, authorities recently referred to "South Arakan" and "North
Arakan" in relation to a football match that was sponsored by Western
Command Commander General Thaung Aye.

The football match was held on the field grounds of Kyauk Pru, a district
town in the middle of Arakan State, and seven townships located in the
south of Arakan State were chosen to participate in the tournament.

The seven townships were Gwa, Thandwe, Taungup, Rambree, Manaung, Kyauk
Pru, and Ann. The tournament was held from 29 November to 7 December,
2008.

The tournament was titled, "Arakan State Chairman's Cup", but townships in
the north of Arakan were not invited to send teams to the event.

Because the military authorities have never held such a tournament for
Arakan's southern townships before, there is much speculation spreading in
the state that the event was coordinated as part of a divide and rule
policy.

An Arakanese politician from Sittwe said he was also concerned by the
government's choice of phrase for the event, saying, "It is a big problem
for our people's unity if the government has plans to disturb Arakanese
unity."

The past parliamentary government led by Minister U Nu from 1948 to 1962
also played politics with Arakanese identities, using the official terms
"Northern Arakan" and "Southern Arakan".

Arakanese politicians from the south and the north were not unified, and
shared power by taking the Arakan Region minister position for six months
each in a year.

Prime Minister U Nu established a university for Arakan State in the
southern city of Kyauk Pru, the second largest city in the state, instead
of in Sittwe, the state capital.

After its establishment there was conflict among the Arakanese people over
whether the university should have been located in the state capital or in
the central part of the state, and the university was subsequently closed
down by the authority.

Many Arakanese are now concerned that the government has restarted the
practice of separating Southern Arakan and Northern Arakan because they
had such a bitter experience under the past parliamentary government's use
of such a convention.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 10, Xinhua
Myanmar puts off again opening of second border trade zone

Myanmar has put off again the opening of a new border trade zone, which is
opposite to Thailand, for the third time due to the current situation in
the southeast Asian neighbor, the local weekly 7-Day News journal reported
Wednesday without a new date set for move.

The formal inauguration of the Myawaddy border zone, the second largest of
its kind in Myanmar after the Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone with
China, was first scheduled for March this year but was reset for Dec. 7
for the second time.

Despite postponement, border trade between Myanmar and Thailandare
operating normally, the report said.

The 193-hectare Myawaddy trade zone in southeastern Kayin state bordering
Thailand's Maesot, which is to highlight export of Myanmar marine
products, was constructed by three Myanmar companies since 2007, the
report added.

Besides Myawaddy, Myanmar also trades with Thailand at Tachilek, Kawthoung
and Meik (Free on Board) under the border trade system.

According to official statistics, in the fiscal year of 2007-08which ended
in March, Myanmar-Thai bilateral trade reached 3.205 billion U.S. dollars,
of which Myanmar's export to Thailand took 2.823 billion dollars, while
its import from Thailand accounted for 382 million dollars.

Under a latest proposal of Thailand to Myanmar's largest business
organization of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (UMFCCI), a prospective Phaya Thonzu border trade zone in Mon
state's Thanphyuzayat township connecting Thailand's Kanchanaburi province
will be established as another one of its kind after Myawaddy's.

Meanwhile, the State Customs Department's figures indicate that Myanmar’s
total foreign trade volume in 2007-08 stood 8.851 billion dollars, a new
high against 2006-07's 8.1 billion dollars.

Of the total, the exports took 6.043 billion, while the imports accounted
for 2.818 billion dollars registering a trade surplus of 3.225 billion
dollars.

Myanmar main export goods are natural gas, agricultural, marine and
forestry products, while its key import goods are machinery, crude oil,
edible oil, pharmaceutical products, cement, fertilizer and consumers
goods.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 10, Mizzima News
Russian business presence becoming stronger in Burma – Moe Thu

With several Russian firms directly investing or having businesses
interests in Burma and with the closer cooperation between the two
countries, a Rangoon based observer said, Russia is likely to emerge  as a
major investor in the near future in the Southeast Asian country.

The observer, who closely follows Russian-Burmese relationship, said since
about eight years ago Russia's private and public enterprises slowly
emerged in Burma and began investing and operating businesses in sectors
including gold and copper mining, onshore-offshore oil and gas
explorations, steel manufacturing and even had a finger in garment and the
fisheries industries.

Of the many businesses ventures in cooperation with Russian enterprises
are the prominent Russian Oil and Natural Gas Company Silver Wave Sputnik
Petroleum Pte Ltd., Victorious Glory International Pte Ltd., and
Technoprom Exports of Russia.

Russia's Oil and Natural Gas companies had conducted two onshore and two
offshore projects, with each project estimated to be valued at between US$
30 million to US$50 million, the observer, who declined to reveal his
identity for fear of reprisal told Mizzima.

"As a principle, the military government [of Burma] does not allow any
foreign company to be involved in onshore exploration and production. But
the Russian case is an exception," the observer said.

Another important project the US$160 million development of a steel
manufacturing facility by 'Technoprom Exports' of Russia is also nearly
complete in southern Shan State.

According to the observer, the project, which has a capacity of producing
200,000 tonnes of cast iron per annum, is expected to be commissioned in
early 2009 and that the iron produced would be fed to a steel mill run by
the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), a major business undertaking of
the army based in Myingyan of Mandalay Division.

The facility located in the town of Pingpet in southern Shan State, will
have a commercial-scale coal-powered generator that produces 65 megawatt
of electricity. The coal will be transported to the plant from Tigyit coal
mine, Burma's biggest coal mine located in Tigyit village of Pinlong
Township, about 22 miles south of Kalaw town in Southern Shan State.

The observer said Russia is likely to emerge as a major investor in Burma,
because it is one of the foremost world powers. Burma's military rulers
are seeking stronger support by giving them secret business deals in the
country.

While Burma has publicly declared that it maintains a policy of
non-alignment, it is apparent that Burma needs an alliance with some major
power like Russia, in order to survive in the long run in the
international arena, he added.

Meanwhile, another informed industrial source claims that a Russian firm
is now seeking business deals in Burma's garment and fisheries industries.
"A Russian firm, yet be identified, plans to set up and run a garment
factory in Rangoon, that will manufacture bullet-proof jackets," the
source said. However, the information could be independently verified.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 10, Agence France Presse
Human rights supporters rally in Tokyo

Hundreds of people rallied in Tokyo Wednesday calling for job security and
freedom for Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Some 350 demonstrators took part in the rally, hoisting colourful flags
and banners in a park in Tokyo's entertainment district of Shibuya.

Many of them were nationals from Myanmar, formerly Burma, bearing pictures
of Aung San Suu Kyi and slogans reading: "We want human rights now."

Sayaka Miyazawa, from the People's Forum on Burma, one of the organising
groups, said some homeless people also joined the rally.

A total of 19 groups from home and abroad participated in the
demonstration, including one supporting people suffering poverty due to
lack of stable work.

"It shows that people have higher awareness for human rights from a
variety of perspectives," Miyazawa said.

Many Japanese companies, including automakers and electronic giant Sony,
have announced a series of layoffs as Asia's largest economy stumbles
through its first recession in seven years.

Others in the rally were members of Human Rights Now, Amnesty
International Japan and groups supporting migrant workers.

____________________________________

December 10, Minichi Daily News
2 men arrested for smuggling 5 women from Myanmar into Japan

Two men have been arrested for smuggling five women from Myanmar into
Japan and putting them to work in restaurants, Tokyo police announced
Wednesday.

Arrested under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law were
69-year-old Hideo Kobune, president of NPO Wellness Network 21, and notary
public Izumi Omori, 58. Their accomplice, a 27-year-old Myanmarese woman
who worked as a broker, is already under arrest.

Police say that Kobune forged graduation certificates from a Japanese
language school in Myanmar, as well as fake certificates of employment
from his trading and software companies, and used them to obtain residence
status certificates for five Myanmarese women. They each paid him around
1.5 million yen.

The pair are believed to have made around 160 million yen from smuggling
since February 2006. Kobune is also believed to have used his NPO to lean
on the Japanese consulate in Guangzhou, China, to expedite visa
applications for Chinese immigrants, who formed the majority of the 135
people he illegally brought into Japan.

"I admit making them work in the restaurants, but Omori actually brought
them into the country," Kobune told investigators. Omori has denied the
charges, saying: "I don't see it as mass smuggling."

Set up in 2003, the NPO had links to a Tokyo-based criminal organization,
according to police.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 10, Associated Press
Laura Bush promises to continue work on human rights

First lady Laura Bush says she will continue to fight for human rights
after leaving the White House, especially in Afghanistan and Myanmar.

She spoke Wednesday before the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan
on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The first lady, who fielded questions from the audience, said she was
particularly concerned about promoting the rights of women in Afghanistan
and Myanmar, previously known as Burma.

The Council on Foreign Relations sponsors more than 250 panel discussions,
lectures and other programs devoted to world events every year.

____________________________________

December 8, Inner City Press
UN was "Disrespectful" in approach to Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD leader says

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

As political leaders east and west are calling for the UN to do more about
the situation in Myanmar, Monday in New York leaders of that country's
National League for Democracy criticized the UN's last trip to Yangoon.
NLD leader Khun Mying Tun, speaking at New York University, was asked by
Inner City Press to review the UN's recent performance. He referred to UN
staff shouting at Daw Aun San Suu Kyi through a bullhorn and pasting
fliers on the gate of the house in which she is under house arrest.

"That is not a polite gesture in our culture," he said. "We viewed it as
the junta trying to embarrass our leader."

The event, held in the 9th floor of NYU's student center with its swirling
view of Greenwich Village, was sponsored by Amnesty International. Inner
City Press asked Khun Mying Tun if the NDL thinks Amnesty International
and similar groups like Human Rights Watch should put more pressure on
companies which invest in Myanmar, like France's Total and South Korea's
Daewoo.

"They use our people as cheap labor and slaves," he said. "Amnesty
International should definitely not support companies which invest in
Burma."

Khun Mying Tun was decidedly more diplomatic and elusive when asked about
China. They are our neighbor, he said. They could be helpful as a
mediator.

Prior to his talk, a film called "In the Shadow of the Pagodas" was
screened. It portrayed and interviewed armed Karen and Shan rebels and
showed oblivious tourists in Myanmar. Afterwards, Khun Mying Tun was asked
by an Amnesty International member for the NLD's view on tourism in
Myanmar. "We cannot guarantee your safety," he said, citing the case of
the Japanese cameraman killed in September 2007. "If you come for
pleasure, you are helping the junta," he said. "If you come as the
cameraman, you are welcome." But safety is not assured. He concluded by
referring to a lawsuit against the Than Shwe regime under the U.S. Alien
Torts Claims Act, on which we hope to report more.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 10, Independent (UK)
How Burma's opposition lost its fear – Phoebe Kennedy

I was bumping along Rangoon's streets in a battered taxi when I saw the
crowd, men and women wearing red armbands, most with heads bowed, looking
uncomfortable, even frightened.

Any crowd in Burma's old colonial capital is a rarity and I asked the
driver who they were. "NLD," he muttered. I asked him to stop and walked
back up the street. I had not noticed it before but tucked between two
shops selling cheap wooden furniture is the office of the National League
for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of Burmese
democracy and political prisoner who remains confined to her decaying
lakeside home on University Avenue, a mile or so away.

The NLD was the landslide winner of elections in 1990, immediately
annulled by the ruling military to keep themselves in power. In the 18
intervening years, depressingly little has changed in Burma's political
landscape.

U Hla Tin introduced himself as a member of parliament (who has never
taken up his seat) and steered me through the overspill of NLD members on
the pavement. The crowd of about 80 people was braving not just the glare
of Burma's midday sun but the scrutiny of watching plain-clothed military
intelligence officers across the street.

A recent flurry of lengthy jail sentences meted out to Burmese dissidents
made their simple decision to come out to support their party a stunningly
brave one. In recent months, hundreds of activists, along with
journalists, bloggers, a comedian and a hip hop star have been handed
decades-long sentences and dispatched to remote jails across the Burmese
gulag.

"Aren't you scared?" I asked the MP. "No," he said with a smile. "We don't
care." He and his colleagues had faced up to the worst that could happen
to them, it seemed, and were no longer afraid.

Inside, in a gloomy shop-cum-house, with yellowing walls and ceiling fans
whirring, it was hard to believe we were in the offices of the party which
should be running a country of more than 50 million. I was ushered to a
plastic chair near the front.

U Hla Pe, a member of the NLD central executive committee, read dryly from
a written speech calling for political prisoners to be released and for
the junta to implement an urgent review of a new constitution which
enshrines their role in any future elected government.

A woman in the audience, her greying hair pinned back, wiped away silent
tears as she listened to demands that are unlikely ever to be met. U Hla
Pe finished, took a sip from his water glass, his hand shaking, and was
helped down from the wooden podium. He rejoined the NLD top brass seated
behind him; two rows of noble, elderly men, their political dreams reduced
to empty protocol.

The NLD has been criticised for its lack of direction and new ideas. Not
surprising, given that most of its best political minds are behind bars.
And communication with Ms Suu Kyi, under house arrest, is impossible, said
U Hla Tin. "We don't speak to her, we don't hear from her, no no no," he
shook his head. "How can we know what she's thinking?"

Rudderless and reduced by imprisonments, the remnants of Suu Kyi's party
are trying to decide whether to contest elections set for 2010. There is
almost no prospect of a fair vote, Burma's generals will no doubt ensure
that their puppet civilian organisation, the Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) will form the winning party. But the NLD's
refusal to engage with the military's stage-managed "road-map to
democracy" means the party risks becoming isolated and irrelevant as the
years tick by.

Some of Ms Suu Kyi's supporters want a change of tactic. According to the
online bulletins of Burma's exiled opposition, calls for greater
engagement in the military's skewed political process are led by the
veteran journalist and NLD executive U Win Tin, released in September
after 19 years in jail. Reports say pressure has been added by Western
diplomats who have met privately with NLD leaders to urge them to
participate.

But the party rank and file are circumspect. "In the West you always talk
of a level playing field," said another disenfranchised MP. "Here our game
is played on the side of a mountain."

They streamed out of the meeting, walking in pairs or small groups to
catch an ancient bus or taxi home. They kept their heads down, with wary
sideways glances at the men across the street.

____________________________________

December 10, Straits Times
Life on Myanmar's biofuels plantations – Jessica Cheam

AS A clean energy reporter, I often write about new developments in
technologies such as solar and biofuels, but seldom get the chance to get
up close and personal with the actual process.

But just a couple of months back, I was given the opportunity  to get my
hands dirty, literally, when I was invited to visit a jatropha plantation
in - Myanmar.

It couldn't have been a more unlikely destination, and it almost didn't
happen because of cyclone Nargis. But fortunately, the damage done to the
plantation was reparable and I finally made it to Myanmar where for the
first time, where I could touch the plant, seeds, fruits, that I often
wrote about. And spoke to the people who made it happen.

So let me give you the context of my visit: Biofuels is an industry that
is both full of promise and controversy.

Singapore has a number of biofuels refineries itself, and the EDB has
singled the sector as one of the key renewable energy areas important to
Singapore's economy.

But on one hand, while biofuels is a key player in the world's future
energy mix - one that is renewable and can make our transport fuels
cleaner, its development can also lead to deforestation as it competes
with food crops for arable land if not managed sustainably.

Amidst this raging debate on the sustainability of biofuels, a second
generation of feedstock has emerged - one that uses non-food crops. The
jatropha plant, algae, wood mass from plant waste have been singled out as
some promising "fuels of the future" as they don't compete with food and
can grow in hardy conditions or exist abundantly in other locations.

In Asia, many countries have particularly caught on the jatropha "fever",
with China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar planting its seed
extensively in the hope of riding on the wave of this sunrise industry.

But these feedstocks are also not without its risks. Most are relatively
under-researched, and no one knows if full-scale commercial applications
of using such feedstocks to make biofuel will be successful yet.

So it is with all these considerations that I went with my eyes wide open
to visit the 100,000 acre estate at Maw Tin, in south Myanmar, to get a
better understanding of how the industry and this particular feedstock
works.

And my experience did not disappoint.

I was happy to learn that biofuels can be cultivated sustainably and
responsibly if planned for, right at the beginning.

The plantation was eco-friendly and completely self-sufficient. It had the
hallmarks of Singaporean planning and efficiency, if I might say so. And
not surprisingly, it had a Singapore connection.

The plantation is the work of Singapore-listed firm Yoma Strategic
Holdings, which has a unit, Plantation Resources, which manages and sells
produce from this estate in partnership with a local Myanmese firm called
Myanmar Agri-Tech.

The plantation has a 650-strong community, mostly local farmers, who go
about planting the seeds, harvesting them, sorting the seeds out, and then
re-planting them again. When I spoke to Myanmese farm worker Thin Thin
Khing, she tells me of her days in the fields.

Six days a week, working from 6.30am to 11am, then 1 to 4pm. Days off for
the 29-year-old are spent relaxing with her co-workers in Pathein city,
less than half an hour away. She's worked on the farm for more than a year
now.

Before this, she says, she had never worked before, and was mainly doing
housework for her family. Now, she earns about US$45 (54,000 kyat - the
local currency pronounced like "chut") a month - above the national
average of US$30.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided on the farm, prepared by cooks
who live on the plantation. Their food is also produced on the estate,
where beans, rice, vegetables and even domestic animals such as goats and
pigs are reared for consumption.

Power for the plantation comes from burning biomass (rice husks) and water
is pumped from underground, making the entire plantation almost carbon
neutral, save for the diesel used to power vehicles. I even spotted the
kids of the farmers riding a baby elephant, which they had tamed from the
wild, now used to do menial physical work on the plantation.

I visited the workers' quarters and the kampong-like huts where children
and parents of the plantation workers - three generations of a family -
were living together in a cosy village setting. It was all very
"harmonious" living - nature, wild life, and humans, all on this
plantation.

I was impressed to see the degree of planning involved in the plantation,
especially how the way it was run sharply contrasted the reports from NGOs
that have surfaced on how the Myanmar government's jatropha drive has
backfired on itself.

Organisations such as the Ethnic Community Development Forum allege that
Myanmar's junta have used forced labour or confiscated land in some
locations. And has directed the entire nation of farmers to plant jatropha
wherever they can, without fully understanding the climatic conditions
needed to cultivate the plant successfully.

Chief executive of Myanmar Agri-Tech, Mr Frankie Tan, who oversees all of
Yoma's plantations, notes that the junta’s drive has got “good intentions”
but lacks a clear roadmap. Farmers are told to plant the seeds, but there
is no system to collect them, and also – no refinery to convert the seeds
into refined biodiesel.

This is where Yoma's chief executive Serge Pun, a Myanmar-born tycoon who
made his fortune in real estate developments across Asia, wants to play a
part.

He told me that he hoped Yoma's farm would be a model example for the rest
of the country to follow.

When sourcing land for the plantation, Mr Pun gave strict instructions not
to use arable land meant for food. The whole estate was also designed to
be self-sufficient, it has an office on site and workers’ quarters for the
farmers and their families. It's important for the firm to “do things
right and sustainably” if it wanted to be a long-term player in the
jatropha market, he said.

And now, Yoma is expanding by implementing a contract farming strategy
which will make it the biggest jatropha seed collector in Myanmar. This
will possibly salvage the current situation in Myanmar where farmers are
stuck with jatropha seeds, but no buyers.

And there's more in the pipeline. Yoma is planning to build a biodiesel
refinery in partnership with a major Korean biofuels supplier, Enertech.
It will be three miles from Maw Tin, along the Yangon River, and will
facilitate both domestic use and export of the biofuel - something that
might save Myanmar from spending millions of its foreign reserves on fuel
imports ( a top reason why Myanmar's government have embraced jatropha in
such a big way). Mr Pun, who has been doing business in Myanmar for 18
years, is bullish about jatropha’s prospects, despite its critics - which
is why Yoma has pumped in US$6 million into their jatropha operations in
the country so far.

And from what I saw, I'm convinced biofuels can be a sustainable business
if done right. The challenge is putting the regulations and/or private
sector initiatives in place such that this can be ensured.

When this is achieved, a true win-win situation will benefit all parties
involved - and the environment. We'll have a world with fuels that are
cleaner, companies that can make a profit supplying it, and a nation of
farmers who might find that a seed could be their ticket out of poverty.
____________________________________

December 10, Boston Globe
Still to do on human rights – Editorial

THE Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being commemorated at the
United Nations today, the 60th anniversary of its signing. Still, UN
officials need to be reminded that the declaration's promise remains
unfulfilled. To their credit, 112 former presidents and prime ministers
did just that when they signed a letter this month urging UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to obtain the release of 2,100 political
prisoners held by the military junta that rules Burma.

A similar letter from 241 Asian legislators reminded Ban Ki-moon that he
was tasked more than a year ago by the General Assembly with a mandate to
achieve the freedom of the political prisoners by Dec. 31, 2008.

That benchmark has not been met. On the contrary, the junta recently
sentenced human rights activists, cyclone relief workers, and defense
lawyers to long prison terms in inaccessible locations. These
characteristic acts of repression and intimidation are also gestures of
defiance toward the UN.

Like Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, Burma under General Than Shwe presents
a nontraditional threat to peace and security. Just as Mugabe's misrule
engendered the cholera epidemic now spilling into South Africa, Burma's
junta is responsible for 2 million displaced people, the export of heroin
and methamphetamine into Thailand and China, and the deaths of 100,000
people in the aftermath of May's Cyclone Nargis.

The former presidents and prime ministers act in the spirit of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights when they ask that the Security
Council take "concrete action" to free Burma's political prisoners. In the
same spirit, council members should tell Than Shwe to release those
prisoners or face a UN arms embargo.

____________________________________

December 10, Jakarta Post
ASEAN human rights body: Will it have an impact on Myanmar's junta? –
Djoko Susilo

Almost a year ago, at a meeting of parliamentarians of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, I urged the ASEAN states to freeze Myanmar's
membership from the 10-member grouping since there had been no serious
political will to implement democracy and protect human rights, such as by
releasing its jailed political opponents -- especially Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi from her house detention.

Last year's incidents in Myanmar proved that such a call is indeed still
valid and it will still be valid until the domestic situation in that
country moves toward democracy.

The violent crackdown and the junta's brutality against the peaceful
demonstrations of the Buddhist monks -- who were supported by the
Myanmarese people -- were well documented and widely known throughout the
international community, yet the junta recently tried to fool the world by
announcing a so-called general election.

Regrettably some ASEAN leaders have expressed their readiness to cooperate
with the junta and welcomed the last false referendum and the planned
election as "real" progress. It is a shameful act and betrays the people
of Burma/Myanmar. They don't really care about the sufferings of the
people who have been oppressed by the military junta for almost two
decades.

Indeed, we cannot just sit back and wait until the situation improves.
Action must be taken because there has been no serious will from the
military junta to work for a peaceful solution to Myanmar's problems.

With this appeal, the international community needs to work together and
have a untied stand to put more pressure on Myanmar. The Indonesian
government, in this case, supports the efforts of democratization and
reconciliation. In his meeting with UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said it was necessary to push for
Myanmar's reconciliation process from many aspects.

However, the Indonesian government believes that those aspects that must
be advocated in Myanmar are not only related to democracy and human
rights, but also to security and stability as potential threats to
Myanmar's disintegration. This is the way to handle Myanmar's
psychological issues, especially with the sense of insecurity and
inconvenience of the ruling government in the context of the new Myanmar.

The Indonesian government also strongly supports Gambari's mission to
solve Myanmar's problems within UN's framework and Indonesia will ensure
that the issue remains on the UN Security Council's agenda.

In addition, Indonesia urges the Chinese and Indian governments to do more
to convince Myanmar to improve its dismal human rights record. We believe
it is important to enlist the help of these two nations to convince the
junta to fulfill its promise to embrace democracy.

Within the ASEAN context, especially in its relations between the Myanmar
issue and the signing of the ASEAN Charter in Singapore last year or its
finalization later this year (probably) in Thailand, many have expressed
concerns as to whether the charter will work as expected, especially after
the recent troubles in that member country. The Indonesian parliament, for
example, has expressed its concern over several of the ASEAN Charter's
articles -- a legally binding treaty that regulates relations among the 10
members of ASEAN.

Recent reports of senior officials meeting in Denpasar, Bali, in
preparation for the upcoming ASEAN summit produced discouraging news. The
members of the high-level panel have yet to agree on the official name of
the human rights body. Some reports suggest that many countries in ASEAN
are more interested in the "promotion" rather than the "protection" of
human rights.

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a senior Thai diplomat who chaired the meeting said
that human rights promotion and protection would be an evolutionary
process given the differences of the ASEAN members, in terms of their
diversities, stages of development and political awareness.

Thus, member countries do not expect too much on the protection of human
rights from within ASEAN, let alone its ability to maintain peace and
security in the region. Myanmar will be the biggest offender, and the
crimes committed by the junta will go unpunished.

Indonesia acknowledges that ASEANS's diplomatic efforts to prod Myanmar to
rapidly democratize have failed. ASEAN has recognized that its
constructive engagement has not produced any tangible results. But
sanctions and pressures by western countries have also failed.

Within the ASEAN Parliamentary, the Myanmar tragedy is a catastrophe for
the region. The Parliamentarians urge their governments to take strong
actions and recognize the seriousness of the human security problems
caused by the Myanmar regime. We must be as one to end the misery and
sufferings of the Myanmar people.

The writer is member of the Indonesian House of Representatives and
Chairman of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary on Myanmar Caucus.