BurmaNet News, January 8, 2010

[Editor]

January 8, 2010, Issue #3872


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burma elections to be held ‘in October’
AFP: Tourists wrestle with rights issues in Myanmar
Mizzima News: Activist sentenced to 71 years in prison
Irrawaddy: Burma would 'disintegrate' under federalism: Gen Maung Aye
Irrawaddy: 100 factory workers strike in Rangoon

ON THE BORDER
The Daily Star (Bangladesh): Dhaka wants equitable demarcation

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: UN defends hiatus on Burma envoy

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima News: Burma’s alliance with Pyongyang, cause of worry for
northeast India




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma elections to be held ‘in October’

Elections in Burma could be held in October this year, according to
information leaked from a meeting between the head of a Japanese charity
and Burma’s agriculture minister.

The revelation follows a visit to Japan in August last year by agriculture
minister Htay Oo, who also heads a proxy organization of the Burmese
junta, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).

Whilst there he met with the politically influential Yohei Sasakawa,
chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Japan’s largest charity. Htay Oo had
reportedly visited Japan to observe elections there.

A Japanese source, speaking to DVB on condition of anonymity, said that
Htay Oo had told Sasakawa that Burma’s elections would be held in October
this year. The source also said that Japan had offered technical
assistance in conducting the elections.

The revelation was then corroborated following a visit to Burma last
October by the executive director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF),
Seki Akinori, who is believed to have met with senior government
ministers. The SPF was set up by Sasakawa.

There Akinori was also told that elections would be held in October this
year, according to the source.

The Tokyo-based Asahi Shimbun newspaper, who carried a similar report
yesterday, said that the electoral and political party laws will be
disseminated in April, around the time of Burmese New Year.

The report also said that the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party would be recognized as legitimate participants in the election
in order to placate pressure from the international community.

A junta source told Asahi Shimbun however that Burma’s military rulers
believe that restrictions placed on the party, coupled with the ongoing
house arrest of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, would significantly weaken
their chances of any success.

Details on the elections have to date been shrouded in mystery, although
junta chief Than Shwe confirmed earlier this week that they would take
place some time this year.

The NLD has not yet announced whether it will participate, and has
demanded a revision of the 2008 constitution, which appears to guarantee a
continuation of military rule in Burma.

____________________________________

January 8, Agence France Presse
Tourists wrestle with rights issues in Myanmar

Bagan, Myanmar — Soaring high in a hot air balloon over Bagan in central
Myanmar at sunrise, foreign tourists gasp in awe at a vast plain dotted
with around 4,000 centuries-old temples.
Despite sights like these Myanmar remains one of the least visited nations
in Asia, as many operators and holidaymakers take their money elsewhere so
that it doesn't end up lining the pockets of the country's military
rulers.

But others argue that it is possible to explore the country with a clear
conscience in spite of concerns over the junta's rights abuses,
imprisonment of dissidents and use of forced labour.
"If nobody came here, there would be more poverty than there is now, I
guess, so I don't actually have a problem coming here. It doesn't mean
that I support the system," said Dirk, a Belgian tourist in Bagan.

Yasmin, a German visitor, said she wanted to "build up my own idea of the
situation here".
"I came on the premise that, as far as possible, I wouldn't stay anywhere
state-owned but would try to stick to private businesses, to stay in
privately run guesthouses and to have contact with local people, as long
as that didn't put them at risk," she said.

Last year, just 230,000 foreigners arrived at Yangon airport, more than
half of them tourists, according to an official estimate. The figure was
up from the 177,018 who arrived in the previous year but around the same
as 2007.

The biggest groups of tourists come from Thailand, China and Japan, drawn
by wonders such as Yangon's gold-covered gilded Shwe Dagon pagoda and
stunning Inle Lake with its mountains and stilt villages.

By comparison, neighbouring Thailand drew an estimated 14 million tourists
in 2009.

Calls by rights groups and some western governments for a visitor boycott
grew louder after the regime launched a bloody crackdown on huge
pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007.

Thousands of people were arrested after the demonstrations and many
received long jail sentences.

One of them was comedian Par Par Lay.

He got out after a month, after his third time behind bars, and while his
troupe of performers, the Moustache Brothers, is banned from performing in
public, it keeps its nightly shows going for tourists.

"Tourists come -- you know what is happening here," said Lu Maw, another
member of the troupe, before a show in Mandalay, the country's second
biggest city.

A group of 10 mainly Western tourists watches the mix of crude slapstick
and bizarre puppetry, the performers swathed in gaudy costumes and daubed
with makeup.

"Tourist's camera, tourist's eye, tourist's ear. That's what we need!"
says Lu Maw.

However, with elections promised by the regime later this year, the
situation is showing signs of gradual change.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last year wrote to reclusive
junta leader Than Shwe offering suggestions on getting Western sanctions
lifted after years of advocating punitive measures against the generals.

In August she reportedly eased her earlier objections to tourism, on the
grounds that increased contact with foreigners would help ease the
regime's grip over the impoverished nation.

"Myanmar (the regime) doesn't want to have contact with Westerners. By
boycotting the country, in fact we only reinforce the opinion in Myanmar
that Myanmar must be kept separate from the rest of the world," said
Jacques Ivanoff of the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia
in Bangkok.

A painting seller in Bagan living in a one-roomed hut near the temple
ruins said a boost in tourism would help the economy.

"We need tourists here. The government gets only 10 dollars for the
entrance fee. But we get money from tourists in hotels, restaurants and by
selling things," said the man, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But the junta remains wary of opening up the country to the eyes of
tourists. Much of Myanmar remains off-limits, particularly its sensitive
border areas largely inhabited by minority ethnic groups.

Visitors therefore tend to see the same handful of sites, leaving most of
Myanmar's people untouched by tourism.

"Here we don't benefit because tourists don't come here. They go straight
past our village. It's just the government who benefits," said a fisherman
in a village near Yangon.

____________________________________

January 8, Mizzima News
Activist sentenced to 71 years in prison – Myint Maung

New Delhi – Fifteen political activists from three townships in Mandalay
Division, who were held in Obo prison in Mandalay for three months, were
given various prison sentences ranging from two years to 71 years on 30
December by a court sitting inside the prison.

The special branch of the police arrested the political activists from
Myingyan, Nyaung Oo and Kyauk Padaung towns last September and October
without giving any reasons and did not allow them to meet their family
members during detention. They have been given prison sentences now, a
family member who met one of the activists in a prison interview on
January 6 said.

“Myo Han (Myingyan) was charged in 10 cases and sentenced to 51 years in
prison. His elder sister saw him on January 6 but she was not allowed to
speak to her brother freely,” a source close to the family member said.

Myo Han was given 15 years in prison with cases under the Electronic Act,
nine years with three cases under Unlawful Associations Act, two years for
inciting people against state security, 14 years with two cases under
Printing and Publishing Act, eight years in the  with Associations Act and
three years under the Television Act, he said quoting  his lawyer Myint
Thwin.

The rest of the  activists, U Nandawuntha a.k.a. Aung Naing Oo from
Myingyan was sentenced to 71 years, Dr. Wint Thu was given 28 years, Kyi
Soe 22 years, Soe Phyo Yarzar Soe 14 years, Hla Myo Kyaw 14 years, Ko Ko
Naing 28 years, Than Htike Aung 35 years and Wei Phyo 11 years
respectively.

They are not only political activists but also volunteers who did relief
work for Cyclone Nargis victims.

Similarly Myo Min Thant from Nyaung Oo was given 15 years in prison, Zaw
Zaw five years, Kyaw Tun Linn 52 years, Ye Goung from Kyauk Padaung 19
years and Cho Cho Than eight years respectively. A monk named U Zaw Tika
arrested in November last year from Thukha Waddy monastery in Kyauk
Padaung town was sentenced to two years in prison on December 10 for
"inciting crime against state security".

They were charged in various cases including having contact with
Thailand-based Burmese opposition forces and then given varying prison
terms.

Lawyers Myint Thwin and Kyaw Soe Lwin are representing them and they will
file revision cases against the court verdicts.

____________________________________

January 8, Irrawaddy
Burma would 'disintegrate' under federalism: Gen Maung Aye – Lawi Weng

Burma would “disintegrate” if the demands by ethnic groups for a federal
system of government were granted, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the No 2
ranking general, told military officers and government officials on
Thursday.

In a speech at a graduation parade at the Defense Services Institute of
Nursing and Paramedical Science, Maung Aye stressed the need for the
preservation of the union form of government, national solidarity and
“perpetuation of sovereignty.”

Ethnic Kachin celebrate their annual Manaw Festival on Jan. 8. Like other
minorities, the Kachin have long been denied the autonomy they seek from
Burma's rulers. (Photo: Reuters)
After achieving independence from Britain, armed insurgency broke out
across the country in ethnic areas, he told the graduates in Rangoon.

“Political demands [by ethnic groups] related to federalism also emerged,”
he said. He said that since ethnic groups dominate many regions of the
country, “the country [would] break up into pieces” leading to the
collapse of the nation.

“Our nation is a union where more than one hundred national ethnic groups
live...in every corner of the country due to [a] divide and rule policy
imposed during more than hundred years of colonization,” he said in the
prepared text of his speech.

He urged the graduates to treat locations where they are assigned to duty
as “their home” and to “treat local people as your own parents.”

“The socio-economic conditions of people, especially those in the border
areas, is relatively low due to [the] negative impact caused by armed
insurgents,” he said.

He told officers to participate in state development projects in ethnic
border areas and other rural development projects implemented by the
government.

The ceremony was also attended by Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, Secretary-1 of
the State Peace and Development Council and Quartermaster General of the
Armed Forces, and other members of the junta's leadership.

In related matters, Burmese state-run media on Thursday published a
commentary piece criticizing the Karen National Union (KNU), which it said
did not want to see peace, stability and development in its region. It
said the KNU acted like terrorists, killing innocent people in a bomb
attack during Karen New Year celebrations.

Meanwhile, government troops are preparing to launch a military offensive
in the KNU Brigade 6 area.

David Dakapaw, the KNU vice chairman, said, “We almost have fighting one
or two times a day.” He said the offensive was not expected to be large.

The military junta is trying to force 17 ethnic armed cease-fire groups to
transform their troops into a border guard force under state control.
Tension has mounted in recent months. The government says the  border
guard forces should be created before the national election this year.

The most powerful ethnic armed cease-fire group, the United Wa State Army,
with about 20,000 troops in northern Shan State, has refused the order,
along with most of the other cease-fire groups.
____________________________________

January 8, Irrawaddy
100 factory workers strike in Rangoon

In a sign of growing unrest in Burmese factories, about 100 female workers
from a shrimp processing factory in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Township went
on strike at 8 a.m. on Thursday, though full details of their demands have
not emerged.

A source close to the factory, which is located in an industrial park in
Rangoon's western suburbs, said that the women had issued a demand calling
for a list of 10 workers' rights to be met. However, a reporter in Rangoon
who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, said the issue was
salaries.

A clerk at the shrimp processing factory confirmed the strike, but
declined to provide further details.

The Ministry of Labor's deputy director, Win Shein, reportedly arrived at
the scene on Thursday together with police officers. The source said that
security was tightened around the factory area.

In most cases of industrial action, a representative of the Ministry of
Labor will mediate between the management and the workers to resolve
issues. The mediator is responsible for ensuring that certain minimum
conditions are met, such as minimum wages, hours and overtime. However, in
Burma, it is rare for striking workers' demands to be met.

In December, nearly 1,000 textile workers in Hlaing Tharyar staged a
demonstration. Government officials were involved in negotiations with the
workers over their demands, though it remains unclear as to how the issue
was resolved.

The monthly income of most factory workers in Burma ranges from 20,000
kyat [$20] to 40,000 kyat [$40], forcing many to work overtime. Many
factory owners employ temporary workers who have no legal recourse if they
are fired without compensation, according to former factory workers in
Rangoon.

More than 80 percent of factory workers in Rangoon work on a day-to-day
basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from
the countryside in search of a better living.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 8, The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Dhaka wants equitable demarcation

Bangladesh proposed demarcation of the maritime boundary on the basis of
equity in the two-day talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar that began
yesterday in the port city.

Two teams with 13 members each from both the countries are participating
in the meeting in efforts to resolve the dispute over maritime boundary.
Yesterday's session started at 9:30am at Hotel Agrabad.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Maung Myint was heading the Myanmar
delegation while Additional Foreign Secretary of United Nations Convention
on Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam the
Bangladesh team.

"Bangladesh wants to demarcate the maritime boundary on the basis of
equity while Myanmar insists on equidistance method," Khurshed Alam told
journalists.

"We hope the talks would help resolve the dispute," said the Bangladesh
delegation leader.

Myanmar delegation leader U Maung Myint said, "The negotiation is going on
and we are yet to reach the stage for drawing conclusion".

Bangladesh needs to file claims for its maritime boundary to the
International Seabed Authorities as per UNCLOS. In accordance with the UN
Convention on Law of the Seas, Bangladesh must demarcate its boundaries by
July 27, 2011 while India by June 29, 2009 and Myanmar by May 21, 2009.

Under the convention, Bangladesh has to submit necessary documents to UN
to validate its claims of territorial waters, exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (nm) and continental shelf up to 350 nm
from the baseline.

But the demarcation on equidistance method would deprive Bangladesh of its
equitable share of the territorial waters.

Bangladesh needs to settle the dispute to preserve its sovereignty and
resources in the territorial waters, said the sources.

The meeting is the first of its kind after Bangladesh officially asked in
October 2009, for arbitration under 1982 UNCLOS to settle the issues on
maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar.

Bangladesh would be trying to settle the dispute through talks with
Myanmar and India, said the delegation members while talking to
journalists yesterday.

Bangladesh Ambassador in Myanmar Major General Anup Kumar Chakma and
Myanmar Ambassador in Bangladesh U Phae Than Oo were also present at the
meeting.

Bangladesh delegation included Sector General (Administration) Mohammad
Abdul Hye and five high officials of foreign ministry and representatives
from Hydrography and Naval Operations of Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh
Geological Survey, Petrobangla and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport
Authority.

In the Myanmar team, representatives from Ministries of Defence and
Education, Legal and Consular Affairs, Consular and Legal Affairs
Department, Myanmar National Hydrographic Centre, State Peace and
Development Council, Legal Expert Group and Law Department of University
of Yangon were present.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
UN defends hiatus on Burma envoy

The United Nations has said that it continues to be closely engaged with
Burma after accusations that it has been lax in appointing a successor to
former envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

A spokesperson for UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon was yesterday forced
to defend charges that it had “downgraded” its commitment to the country
by not arranging an immediate replacement for Gambari, who will next week
begin his new post as Darfur envoy.
At present, UN Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar is the acting envoy to Burma
until an official replacement is confirmed. But with Burma due to hold
elections this year, the hiatus between appointments has drawn criticism.

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky said however that there “is no hiatus”, adding
that Nambiar was successfully continuing the work carried out by Gambari.
He also said that Gambari “had not been working in isolation”, and neither
is Nambiar.

“The Secretary-General remains engaged with the Government of Myanmar
[Burma] and he
continues to follow developments closely there,” said
Nesirky.

“[This includes] what's coming up, not just an election, the date for
which has not yet been announced, but also the [Aung San Suu Kyi court]
appeal, which will be heard on 18 January.”
He added that an official successor to Gambari, who during his term was
criticized for being ineffective in the face of a stubborn military
government, would be announced “in due course”, but failed to give a
specific date.

Between Gambari first visiting Burma as UN envoy in March 2006 and being
reassigned in December 2009, the number of political prisoners in the
country had nearly doubled. He had also been criticized for his soft
approach to the Burmese generals, which drew comparisons with Ban Ki-moon.

Nambiar was chosen as UN chief of staff in January 2007, soon after Ban
Ki-moon’s inauguration, and has previously served as India’s ambassador to
Pakistan, China, Malaysia and Afghanistan.

Burma has long been a thorny issue for the UN, particularly within the
five-member Security Council which has consistently failed to cement any
binding resolutions on the country’s human rights record, with the issue
pitched between the US and Burma’s main ally, China.

The country is due this year to hold its first elections since 1990,
although critics of the ruling junta claim that the 2008 constitution will
guarantee a continuation of military rule, first established in 1962.

Reporting by Francis Wade

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 8, Mizzima News
Burma’s alliance with Pyongyang, cause of worry for northeast India –
Anirban Roy

Guwahati – It is surprising as to why India, one of the strongest global
torch bearers of democracy, is so silent on Burma.

Even as pro-democracy forces are fighting a long battle against the
despotic military junta in Burma, New Delhi’s silence on Naypyidaw’s
growing friendly relationships with Pyongyang, has surprised a lot of
Indians, especially in northeast India.

People in northeast India have started questioning as to why New Delhi is
so quiet on Burmese military junta’s activities, and especially on its
growing relationships with North Korea.

After Burma restored its diplomatic ties with North Korea in April 2007,
the Burmese interest to develop nuclear technology has reportedly grown
substantially. Even the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said
during the ASEAN Summit that the military and nuclear cooperation between
North Korea and Burma was a “cause of serious concern”.

“We don’t understand as to why India’s foreign policy is not clear on
Burma,” Nagen Saikia, a teacher of political science in Guwahati, capital
of Assam State said, adding that New Delhi should immediately make its
stand clear on restoration of democracy in Burma, and force Naypyidaw to
end its relationship with North Korea.

Concerns were serious in June 2009 when it was reported that a North
Korean freighter destined for Burma was suspected of carrying military
cargo in violation of UN Security Council’s sanctions. As the US Navy
chased the freighter, it returned to North Korea, rather than risk
inspections.

Like the people of northeast, several countries in the world want India,
which also has an economic interest in Burma, to lend its democratic voice
against the autocratic military junta to stop the killing and end its
relationship with North Korea.

For people of the northeast, restoration of democracy in Burma is a must.
Thousands of people had taken out a candle-light procession in 2007 in
Mawphlang in Meghalaya State of India when the junta had unleashed a reign
of terror on the Buddhist monks as they were demanding restoration of
democracy in the Land of the Pagodas.

“India’s foreign policy on Burma is not to take an active part in the
internal matters and is primarily to find a place for itself as China has
practically taken over the country,” Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of The
Imphal Free Press said, adding that New Delhi is keen to use the country
as a trade link to the fast-growing ASEAN region.

Phanjoubam, a senior journalist at Imphal, the capital of Manipur, said
India is now desperate to end Chinese supremacy in Burma.

When India’s Vice-President Hamid Ansari visited Burma in 2009, he
underlined the importance of economic engagement between the two
countries. He had also emphasized the need for increasing the interaction
between northeast Indian states and Burma, which occupy a central place in
India’s Look East Policy.

Unfortunately, there is no people-to-people contact between the
northeastern states and Burma. People, except for the smugglers and
insurgents, don’t get to interact with each other. Moreover, people in
northeast always look at the military junta with a lot of antagonism and
distrust.

But, for New Delhi, Burma is the gateway to ASEAN as it is the only ASEAN
country which has land and maritime borders with India. India and the
ASEAN signed a Free Trade Agreement in August 2009 which will cover 11
countries, including Myanmar/Burma, with a combined Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of over $2 trillion.

As New Delhi’s relationships with Burma is a necessity, now, people in the
northeastern states of India are more worried that any form of
cloud-shrouded nexus between Burma and North Korea should not have any
serious impact in the region. India and Burma share 1,700 km-long border,
which is open and porous. Four Indian states---Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland
and Arunachal Pradesh share long international border running through a
hostile terrain.

Saikia argued that New Delhi has been spending huge funds for development
of modern roads, including the India-Burma-Thailand Trilateral Highway
project and ports in Burma, but in return, people of India, and especially
in the northeast, have got nothing.
India is funding $ (US) 20 million for establishment of wire manufacturing
plant, $ (US) 64 million for three 230 KV transmission lines in Burma
“But, in return, the military junta is giving us tensions and problems,”
Saikia alleged.

New Delhi has always miserably failed in capturing Burma’s gas reserve as
China and South Korean companies outsmarted India to shore up energy
deals. Burma has reportedly one of the world’s biggest gas reserves
estimated to be more than 90 trillion cubic feet. The dream project of
India-Burma gas pipeline has also failed.

The northeastern states are already concerned over the trans-border
movement of the separatist insurgent outfits. The ULFA, NSCN and the
Meitei insurgent outfits use different areas under Sagaing Division of
Burma that borders with India for safe sanctuary and training, and the
State Peace and Development Council (regime in Burma) turns a blind eye to
the concern. There are also reports that Burmese military officials
collect huge amount of “protection tax” from the insurgent outfits for
using the territory.

Drug smugglers, in collaboration with the Burmese security agencies,
allegedly bring in large consignments of heroin, Amphetamine and
Metamphitamine to the northeastern states, and the youth are falling prey
to drugs.

“Several thousand Chins from Burma are illegally staying in Mizoram
because of the atrocities of the military junta,” Rozika Changte, a
Mizoram government official said, adding that New Delhi is not showing any
interest to resolve the problem. Changte, who worked for a long time in
the border town of Champhai in Mizoram, said many local Mizos are not
happy with the Chin refugees staying in their state illegally.

Burma's military regime has been building underground tunnels in various
parts of the country with assistance from North Korea and has been buying
weapons from countries like Russia and China. Burma has recently signed a
contract to buy 20 MIG-29 fighter planes from Russia. The contract is
worth close to $570 million, according to media reports in Russia. It also
continue to import various weapons and military equipments from China
besides $2 billion arms import in the 1990s.

“Why does Burma need to buy arms? Whom will it fight? China or India? Or,
is it trying to sell some of the small arms to the insurgent outfits of
northeast” Kabya Jyoti Bora, a social activist working against the
proliferation of small arms, said, adding that there are ceasefire
agreements with most of armed ethnic groups such as Kachin, Shan and Wa,
and the military junta does not need too many arms now.

Instead of instability across the India-Burma border and consequences of
the lack of democracy and human rights in it neighbour, people in
northeast India now want the general elections in Burma to be held
democratically, to be free and inclusive, and the military junta should
give up  power which it had captured forcefully. Will New Delhi be able to
play a pro-active role in Burma's 2010 election process to be free and
fair? Or will selling weapons and providing arms to the Burmese junta make
India's border safe and help stability on the border? These are questions
that New Delhi will have to think over.