BurmaNet News, December 22, 2009

[Editor]

Dear BurmaNet Subscriber,

Please note that from December 23, 2009 to January 4, 2010, the BurmaNet
will release summary issues on the following days:

December 26, 2009
December 30, 2009
January 4, 2010

Thank you,
The BurmaNet Staff

____________________________________


December 22, 2009, Issue #3865

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Opposition party kick starts reform
Irrawaddy: Junta tightens media censorship
Narinjara: Muslim businessmen organize for National United Party

BUSINESS / TRADE
DPA: Chinese company wins ownership of Myanmar-China pipeline project

INTERNATIONAL
Buffalo News (US): Burmese refugees spread holiday spirit with song

OPINION / OTHER
AP: Obama has powerful tool to pressure Myanmar – Forster Klug
VOA: Movement in Burma? – Editorial

PRESS RELEASE
Freedom Now: American imprisoned in Burma tortured for 15 days: Freedom
Now submits urgent appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Opposition party kick starts reform – Khin Hnin Htet

Reform of the youth wing of Burma’s main opposition party is underway
following a warning from detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi that the party
was being restricted by an ageing leadership.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) youth coordinator (2), Hla Oo,
said that work had already begun on a Rangoon division NLD youth network.
He added that the party’s women’s network was also being shaken up.

“Our objectives are to reinforce the party with youth working groups and
install these across divisions and states,” he said. “Township-level
groups are to implement the youth working groups in villages.”

Currently there are around 70 NLD youth networks across Burma. A rare
meeting between Suu Kyi and three elderly party members exposed a
potentially weak upper rung, which analysts then followed with a
suggestion for new blood in the party.

At 64, Suu Kyi is the youngest of the 11-member central executive
committee (CEC), while nine are in their 80s and 90s and most of them are
said to be in bad health.

It will be the first time in the party’s 21-year history that any
significant reorganization has taken place. Development of the party has
been severely hindered by Suu Kyi’s spells under house arrest, which in
total amount to 14 of the past 20 years.

“We aim to form youth working groups in townships in all 14 divisions in
states across the country and to strengthen the youth network,” Hla Oo
said. “We have called for a meeting on 1 January next year to discuss how
to work on forming these working groups and what kind of responsibilities
to set them.”

The head of the NLD’s information wing, Khin Maung Swe, added that an
office is being set up in the party’s Rangoon headquarters for Suu Kyi, in
spite of her continued house arrest.

“For a couple of years, we have been planning to build a room upstairs and
the building owners have already approved it,” he said. “We think it would
be good to have a room up there.”

The NLD, which Suu Kyi formed in 1988, the year she returned to Burma from
Britain, is yet to announce whether it will participate in highly
controversial elections next year.

Without a revision of the 2008 constitution, critics of the junta claim
that the election will only serve to cement military rule in the country,
which has been governed by a junta since 1962.

____________________________________

December 22, Irrawaddy
Junta tightens media censorship – Arkar Moe

Burmese journalists say the state's censorship board has cracked down hard
following the publication of a story about a young girl's malpractice
death in a Rangoon clinic.

The latest round of censorship follows a flurry of articles recently over
a two week period about the death of  a student, Khine Shunn Leh Yee, 15,
who died as a result of a surgeon's  malpractice in a Rangoon private
clinic.
Burmese read the newspapers on a street in Rangoon. (Photo: Getty Images)

The stories are believed to have prompted the Myanmar [Burma] Medical
Council, a governmental organization, to open an investigation which led
to a five-year suspension of the doctor's license to practice. The girl's
family received compensation from the clinic. The government also banned
similar stories.

Journalists say the censorship board, called the Press Scrutiny and
Registration Division, has  imposed tighter restrictions in its
never-ending effort to restrictfreedom of the press in the country's print
and broadcast media.

An officer at the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division told The
Irrawaddy on Tuesday, “The censorship board will ban any news or articles
about social issues which show or reflect weakness in the system
controlled by the Burmese regime.”

An editor of a Rangoon-based journal told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that
the stories led to more people coming forward to the media with their
experiences about malpractice and other problems in private hospitals, as
well as other social justice issues.

He said, “All journals tried to publish news about  workers at the Wong
Hong Hung textile factory in Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone 3 in Rangoon
this week. But, the censorship board warned us not to publish this
information. News about a house maid in Irrawaddy Division who was
humiliated and hospitalized also was banned.”

The junta has a well-earned reputation as “an enemy of the press,” but
Burmese journalists  say they try to work around the restrictions when
possible.

Ohn Kyaing, a former journalist and member of the opposition National
League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, "If there is
censorship in the media and publishing, it has very bad affects throughout
society. People need to have reliable information. The censorship board is
a major obstacle to freedom of information and the press.”

 An independent press is seen as an essential ingredient in democracy, say
analysts.

Maung Wun Tha, a veteran writer and editor, told The Irrawaddy, “The
government should understand the essential role that the media plays in
social development. The media can reflect people's opinion and that is
important to allow society to improve itself.”

“In open societies, factual information and reasonable perspectives, or
viewpoints, are viewed as useful and something that can make civil society
stronger,” he said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) in December 2009 released a
series of reports on journalists imprisoned around the world.  Burma,
which has jailed nine journalists, was ranked in  the top five nations for
imprisoning journalists, along with Iran, China, Cuba and Eritrea.

Kyi Wai and Aung Thet Wine also contributed to this story.

____________________________________

December 22, Narinjara
Muslim businessmen organize for National United Party

Maungdaw: The Burmese military authority has tasked two Muslim businessmen
from Rangoon to organize the Muslim community in Maungdaw Township on the
western border to support the National United Party in the forthcoming
2010 election, said a local Muslim leader.

The National United Party, NUP, was formed from the former Burma Socialist
Programme Party, BSPP, led by late Burmese dictator General Ne Win.

"Aung Zaw Win was told to organize Muslims from northern Maungdaw Township
while Aung Naing was told to organize the Muslim community in southern
Maungdaw Township," he said.

The two Muslim businessmen are now living in Rangoon, the former capital
of Burma, but originally hail from Maungdaw Township. They are now
cooperating with the high authorities in their business endeavors.

"I heard two businessmen were tasked by the high authority during the
recent visit of Western Command Commander General Thaung Aye to Maungdaw,
accompanied by them," the community leader said.

He also said, "I did not know the reason behind the government plan of
promoting the NUP to the Muslim community in Maungdaw Township for the
forthcoming 2010 election."

According to a local source, some Muslim community leaders from Maungdaw
were recently summoned by Nasaka border security forces to their
headquarters to pressure them into supporting the NUP in the election.

A Muslim businessman from Maungdaw confirmed and told Narinjara over the
phone that the authority has pressured the Muslim leaders to support the
NUP.

"Muslim leaders promised to Nasaka leaders to support NUP in the 2010
election because they were afraid of oppression against the Muslim
community by the authorities," he said.

Burmese military authorities support the NUP and allow the party to
mobilize for the 2010 election. On the other hand, the military authority
has pressured the people of Arakan to support NUP, the former BSPP, in the
2010 election, but there is detail information as to why they are doing
so.

The NUP has gotten the opportunity to open their regional offices around
Arakan State and organize Arakanese people for the 2010 election, even
though there is no election law or schedule in place for the event.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 22, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Chinese company wins ownership of Myanmar-China pipeline project

Yangon – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has secured exclusive
ownership and management rights over a planned 771-kilometre, overland
Myanmar-China crude oil pipeline, industry sources said Tuesday.

The contract signing was witnessed by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping
and Maung Aye, vice chairman of Myanmar's ruling military junta, over the
weekend in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's military capital, CNPC said in a statement
posted on its website.

Under the terms of the agreement, CNPC is allowed to outsource the
construction and operation of the project to CNPC-controlled Southeast
Asia Crude Pipeline Co Ltd.

"The agreement also stipulates that Myanmar government shall ensure the
company's ownership and exclusionary right to the pipeline and guarantee
the safety of the pipeline," the company statement said.

The pipeline is to extend from Madeira on the western coast of Myanmar;
run through Rakhine, Magway, Mandalay and Shan states; and enter China at
Ruili in Yunnan province.

It is to have an annual delivery capacity of 12 million tons in its first
stage.

The pipeline would allow China to shorten oil deliveries from the Middle
East by cutting out the need for oil tankers to travel through the Malacca
Straits.

Xi witnessed the signing of 16 agreements during his two-day visit to
Myanmar Saturday and Sunday.

Four of the agreements were between the two governments and the remaining
12 were between private companies.

China is Myanmar's fourth-largest foreign investor with a total investment
of 1.3 billion dollars. Bilateral trade between the two neighbours reached
2.6 billion dollars in 2008.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 22, Buffalo News (US)
Burmese refugees spread holiday spirit with song – Tom Buckham

Putting aside any thought of the grim circumstances they left behind, a
dozen new Burmese refugees lifted their voices Monday in the crowded
vestibule of the International Institute on Delaware Avenue.

The performers were Chins, a predominantly Christian ethnic group from the
Burma region bordering India, and the songs were native Christmas carols.

The ensemble didn’t simply harmonize, they energetically belted out the
lyrics backed by two acoustic guitars and one electric guitar hooked to a
portable amplifier. Fellow Burmese stood facing them in a semicircle,
smiling, singing and clapping along.

“In Burma, they would be singing these songs in church this week,” said
Nanda Sara, a Buddhist monk who fled his homeland, also known as Myanmar,
in 2004 and was in the vanguard of refugees who started resettling in
Western New York.

Now a caseworker at the institute, Sara does not speak the Chin dialect
but understood perfectly the tidings of joy expressed by the exuberant
choir. After all, music — in every language— has long been a powerful
antidote to political strife the world over.

The choir members are part of a tide of Burmese refugees that is expected
to total about 350 in the next year, said Denise Phillips Beehag,
International Institute director of refugee and employment services.

They are part of a trend that has seen Erie County and Buffalo become the
state’s leading refugee destination — a distinction long and famously
owned by New York City. The county has resettled about 5,300 refugees from
45 troubled countries during the past decade, with many more on the way.

Among the nations of origin, few are as problematic for the international
community as Burma, which has been ruled by an insular, iron-fisted
military regime since 1990.

The number of people living in abject poverty in camps along Burma’s
borders has grown to about 1.5 million, and the United Nations is
spearheading a global effort to resettle as many as possible. Ethnic
Burmese, many of whom were born in those camps, now make up the largest
refugee group served by the International Institute, Beehag said.

“We literally meet them at the airport, buy them their first food and then
help them find housing, services and jobs,” said Executive Director Eva
Hassett. The institute is one of three local agencies expected to welcome
a total of about 1,600 refugees this year, she said.

Burmese make up a majority of the 150 people who go to the institute daily
and two nights a week for English language classes or other help, Hassett
said.

As they have established their own community on Buffalo’s West Side, where
three houses have been converted to Buddhist monasteries, Burmese who
settled elsewhere in the United States have moved here to join them, she
said.

If his countrymen share a goal, it is the determination to succeed in
their new surroundings, in a climate that couldn’t be more different than
that of tropical Southeast Asia, Sara said.

“The weather is a little hard, but they adapt,” he said. “They can’t go
back to Burma anyway, so they say, ‘This is my home.’ ”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 22, Associated Press
Obama has powerful tool to pressure Myanmar – Forster Klug

Washington – If talks with Myanmar over democratic reforms fail, the Obama
administration could tie up large amounts of money that the country's
ruling generals stash in international banks from the sale of natural gas.

So far the administration has been hesitant to go that route.

But pressuring banks to avoid doing business with Myanmar's leaders could
be a powerful economic weapon one that already is being used elsewhere.
It's an approach, for example, that has been used to try to push North
Korea to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.

Congress already has provided the power for the administration to go after
the banks and some rights groups want President Barack Obama to use it
right away, or at least if direct talks fail.

U.S. officials have just started face-to-face negotiations and want to
give them more time to show results. Imposing the banking sanctions would
be expensive and time-consuming, and Myanmar isn't a top priority on a
crowded foreign policy agenda that includes Afghanistan and Iran.

Still, the administration has warned of tougher action if engagement
breaks down with Myanmar, also known as Burma. And the mere threat could
add force to the U.S. negotiating position.

"We will reserve the option of tightening sanctions on the regime and its
supporters to respond to events in Burma," Obama's top diplomat for East
Asia, Kurt Campbell, told lawmakers in September.

Myanmar has one of the most repressive governments in the world and has
been controlled by the military since 1962. For years, the United States
has used punishing sanctions to try to force change on the country, with
little success. Former President George W. Bush's administration favored
shunning Myanmar, and Bush's wife, Laura, and many in Congress were strong
advocates of the nascent democracy movement there.

Now, the Obama administration has reversed the isolation policy in favor
of engagement, which it hopes will persuade the generals to grant greater
freedoms to opposition parties and minorities and to free political
prisoners.

Myanmar has since made a few symbolic gestures of good will, letting
detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meet with Campbell, for
instance, and releasing some political prisoners. At the same time, it has
continued to persecute ethnic minorities, journalists and student
activists.

Obama himself spoke of a possibly stronger position on Myanmar in his
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. There will be engagement and
diplomacy with Myanmar, he said, "but there must be consequences when
those things fail."

Activists say financial measures that hinder Myanmar's ruling generals'
ability to access the international banking system might do what broader
economic sanctions have failed to do.

"What the Burmese government values is not its commerce with the outside
world but the financial proceeds of that commerce," said Tom Malinowski of
Human Rights Watch. "Once the Burmese government deposits the checks in
its bank accounts, there's a lot the United States government can do to
prevent that money from being used in the international banking system."

Treasury officials have targeted 40 people and 44 entities since the
Myanmar junta killed and arrested protesters during demonstrations in
2007. Being added to the sanctions list prevents people from making
transactions in the banking system of the United States.

But a 2008 law grants the Treasury Department authority to impose
conditions on banking relationships, meaning sanctions could affect
activities of international banks.

Myanmar has lucrative natural gas deals with its neighbors and with some
European and U.S. companies, with revenues going into foreign banks. Under
its new authority, the U.S. can let these banks know it has concerns about
their association with Myanmar that could hurt these banks' ability to
work with U.S. financial institutions, said Jennifer Quigley, advocacy
director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Supporters of the banking sanctions often raise North Korea, saying that
the United States effectively froze the North out of the international
banking system in 2005, hurting leader Kim Jong Il.

For the moment, the Obama administration is urging patience as it pursues
talks.

Next year's elections in Myanmar will provide a good look at the junta's
intentions. A big question will be whether high-level U.S.-Myanmar talks
lead to true participation by minorities and opposition groups or merely
let the generals consolidate power.

____________________________________

December 22, Voice of America
Movement in Burma? – Editorial

Detained Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time in
nearly a year was allowed to meet with elder members of her opposition
political party, the National League of Democracy. The Nobel Peace
laureate was taken from her home in Rangoon where she is under house
arrest to a state guest house for a brief opportunity to pay her respects
to the party's chairman, secretary and a member of the central committee.
During the meeting, Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly asked their permission to
reorganize the party.

The meeting was the latest development in a series of meetings the
government has allowed Aung San Suu Kyi since she wrote Burma's top
military ruler in September offering to cooperate to lift sanctions on the
country, which has been ruled with the military’s iron hand since 1962.

The United States, which has long urged engagement among opposition
parties, ethnic minorities and Burma's military rulers, has welcomed this
development. The U.S. continues to encourage the government to engage Aung
San Suu Kyi and the democratic opposition, Burma's ethnic leaders and
other stakeholders in a genuine dialogue to find a positive way forward
for the country.

The U.S. is also seeking engagement with Burmese authorities to promote a
better way of life for the Burmese people. However, until the government
makes real progress on core concerns, including credible political reform,
the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience, and
a serious dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic
nationalities, sanctions now in place against the regime will remain in
place.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 22, Freedom Now
American imprisoned in Burma tortured for 15 days: Freedom Now submits
urgent appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Washington – Today, Freedom Now submitted an urgent appeal to the UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, on American Nyi Nyi Aung’s
behalf.

Nyi Nyi Aung, who has been unjustly imprisoned in Burma since September 3,
2009 is being subjected to torture by prison officials in Burma’s
notorious Insein Prison.

The torture is punishment for his hunger strike earlier this month
protesting the conditions of Burma’s political prisoners.

Mr. Aung is being kept in what is known in Burma as “military dog cell”
confinement. This means that he is kept in solitary confinement in an 8 x
10 cell.

Military dogs are held directly across from his cell in order to subject
him to almost constant, high-volume barking. This treatment and resulting
sleep deprivation clearly meets the standard of cruel, inhuman and unusual
treatment prohibited by multiple international treaties. Freedom Now
believes that this treatment has been ongoing since at least December 7,
2009, when Mr. Aung initiated his hunger strike.

Information about this treatment has only now become available because of
extended denial of access to him.

Freedom Now President Jared Genser stated: “We hope that UN Special
Rapporteur Nowak will be able to persuade the Burmese junta to immediately
stop torturing Nyi Nyi. We also believe that U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton must personally demand that the Burmese junta cease
treating an American citizen in this manner.”

Mr. Aung, a well-known non-violent democracy activist, was arrested by
Burmese authorities on September 3, 2009. He was attempting to visit his
mother, also an imprisoned democracy activist, who has cancer. Mr. Aung is
falsely accused of using a forged Burmese national identity card and
illegally importing currencies into the country. He is currently on trial
for these alleged violations.

The Burmese junta has deprived Mr. Aung of his right to U.S. consular
access since December 3, 2009. He was also deprived of this right during
the first seventeen days of his detention. Mr. Aung was also tortured
during this initial period of his detention. He was deprived of food and
sleep, beaten, and denied medical treatment.