BurmaNet News, March 24, 2010

[Editor]

March 24, 2010, Issue #3923


INSIDE BURMA
DPA: Myanmar opposition party to decide next week on contesting polls
Der Spiegel: Junta prepares to take on the ethnic militias
Irrawaddy: 15 more parties to register
Kachin News Group: Burmese Army wraps up first phase of militia training
in Kachin State

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Cabinet OKs new health package

ASEAN
Jakarta Post: Myanmar poll to take center stage at ASEAN summit

INTERNATIONAL
VOA: UN Security Council to discuss Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: A lack of independence, impartiality – Kay Latt



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 24, Deustche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar opposition party to decide next week on contesting polls

Yangon – Myanmar's main opposition party - the National League for
Democracy - is due to announce next week whether it is to contest a
general election planned this year, a senior member of the party said
Wednesday.

"About 100 members of the central executive committee will attend
discussions on the election on March 29," NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo said.

"We will try our best to reach a consensus and regain our unity, as there
are several opinions on the matter," Tin Oo said.

Tin Oo, 83, a founding father of the NLD, was freed from seven years of
house arrest on February 13.

NLD Secretary-General Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still under house arrest,
has advised the party not to register for the upcoming polls.

In talks with her lawyers Kyi Win and Nyan Win on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said it
was her opinion that the NLD should not register to contest the polls but
the NLD must decide the matter for themselves.

Suu Kyi, who won the 1990 Nobel peace prize for championing Myanmar's
struggle for democracy, has been effectively barred from contesting the
2010 polls by election laws promulgated earlier this month by the ruling
junta.

The newly passed Political Party Registration Law barred people currently
serving prison terms from belonging to political parties.

Suu Kyi, who is serving an 18-month house detention term, is not due to be
freed until October at the earliest. There are another 2,100 political
prisoners in Myanmar jails who will also be excluded from joining
political parties.

Former prisoners are likewise barred from contesting the election.

If the NLD wishes to contest the polls, a date for which has yet to be
set, the party would need to drop Suu Kyi from its membership list.

All political parties must register within the next 60 days.

Myanmar political activists outside the country have called on the
international community to ignore the outcome of the coming polls in light
of the unfair election laws.

Myanmar, which has been ruled by military dictatorships since 1962, last
held an election in 1990.

That election was won by a landslide by the NLD, but the military refused
to hand over power to civilians on the grounds that a new constitution was
needed first.

The new charter took 18 years to draft by a military-appointed committee.
It was approved by what many saw as sham referendum in May 2008, and is
due to go into effect after the forthcoming election.

Among other things, the new constitution assures the military of control
over the Senate, which allows them veto power over any new legislation,
effectively cementing their control over any future elected government.

____________________________________

March 24, Der Spiegel
Junta prepares to take on the ethnic militias – Thilo Thielke

After years of relative peace, Burma's military junta is trying to break
the power of guerilla armies in the drug-infested Golden Triangle. The
ethnic armies may end up posing a greater threat to the regime than the
democracy movement and its icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

The village of Doi Tailaeng, on Burma's border with Thailand, has been
transformed into a military camp. For hours, columns of uniformed fighters
have been marching through this outpost of the rebellious Shan people,
which feels oppressed by Burma's majority ethnic group, the Burman. There
are several thousand rebel soldiers in Doi Tailaeng, and they have just
completed their military training. The dust rises under the boots of the
recruits. The Shan national festival is solely a show of power.

The militia fighters repeatedly point their guns at the sky and fire
salvos into the clear mountain air, accompanied by the deafening noise of
drums and fanfares. At the end of the parade, a Buddhist monk blesses the
rebels of the "Shan State Army - South" with holy water.

For years, the Shan State Army (SSA) has been waging a desperate and
costly guerilla war against the Burmese army. The SSA consists of about
10,000 fighters, waging war against the Junta's vastly larger army of
400,000 soldiers. "We are preparing for new battles," says Sao Yawd Serk,
51, the leader of both the Shan State Army and the movement's political
wing.

Until now, it has only been the remoteness of this mountainous border
region that has kept his men from being wiped out. Other rebel groups have
also doggedly kept up their struggle against the clique of generals in the
new Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, including the Karen National Liberation
Army and a handful of militia organizations fighting for other ethnic
groups.

Fragile Peace

Most of the country's other ethnic minorities and their fighters signed a
truce with the government in 1989, in return for being granted extensive
autonomy in their regions. They were also permitted to keep their weapons
and go about their business, which includes growing opium, producing
methamphetamines like Crystal Meth and operating casinos in the border
region near China.

The warlords are running a profitable business in the Golden Triangle, but
the fragile peace has come at a high price. Within the last three years,
the amount of land devoted to growing opium has grown by almost 50
percent, to 31,700 hectares (78,300 acres). Pills produced in Burma are
now flooding the rest of Southeast Asia.

These drug revenues are then used to fund powerful armies. The militia
representing the Wa ethnic group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which
formed in 1989 after the collapse of the China-backed Communist Party of
Burma, is estimated at about 25,000 combat-ready troops.

But now the fragile peace is at risk. The junta plans to hold an election
this year and use it to cement its power. Foreign observers and critics in
Burma say the election will be a farce. For example, the country's
election laws, which the junta has fashioned in its favor, expressly
prohibit Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the election. The
64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize Winner has been under house arrest for
years.

The ethnic minority armies operating in Burma's border regions could now
prove to be a much bigger threat to the government than Burma's icon of
freedom, Suu Kyi. The government has given the militias an ultimatum:
Either their fighters allow themselves to be voluntarily integrated into
the regular border troops, thereby partly submitting to the command of the
Burmese army, or the army will disarm the militias by force.

Unequally Matched Adversaries

So far few of the many combat groups have indicated a willingness to give
into the junta's demands. For most, integration into the border troops
would amount to capitulation. As a result, two unequal sets of adversaries
face off in the largely impenetrable jungle regions of the northeast,
eying each other warily. The junta is apparently serious about its plans
to break up the groups of armed ethnic fighters.

Under the pretense of removing an illegal weapons factory in the region
inhabited by the Kokang people near the Chinese border, the army attacked
its militias in August 2009 and drove about 37,000 Kokang into neighboring
China. Since then, a warlike state has prevailed in this part of Burma,
and it now threatens to expand into a guerilla war between unequally
matched adversaries, a war that could last for years and that no one can
win.

The leader of the SSA, Yawd Serk, is openly preparing his troops for new
battles. From his command post in the mountains, he has a good overview of
the surrounding terrain. The rugged mountains along the Thai border form a
natural and almost impenetrable fortress. Not far away, trenches permeate
the green hills, while the Wa army lurks behind the hills.

"Perhaps we will be fighting the government together soon," Yawd Serk says
hopefully. "We know that the Wa military leaders are itching for a fight."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

____________________________________

March 24, Irrawaddy
15 more parties to register – Kyaw Thein Kha

Fifteen parties have confirmed that they will register for this year's
election.

The parties will join two other political organizations—the Union of
Myanmar Federation of National Politics (formerly known as the Union of
Myanmar National Political Force) and the 88 Generation Student Youths
(Union of Myanmar)—that registered on Monday to contest the election.

Four of the parties planning to register previously belonged to the
National Political Alliance (NPA), a group consisting of nine small
political parties that was formed after the Burmese junta announced its
election law on March 8.

Under the law, all parties must register by May 7.

Two of the four former NPA members, the Demo NLD and the Reconciliation
Research and Analysis Study Group, will register together as the United
Democratic Party. The new party plans to contest nationwide.

The two other former NPA members will contest the election regionally. The
Nationalist NLD (which, like the Demo NLD, includes former members of the
NLD) will contest in Mandalay Division and the Union of Myanmar National
Force Arakan State will contest in Arakan State.

So far, nine parties have told The Irrawaddy that they will contest
nationwide, while another six parties say they intend to run in their
respective regions.

The following parties have registered or plan to register to contest the
election nationally:

   1. Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (registered)
   2. 88 Generation Student Youths (Union of Myanmar) (registered)
   3. National Unity Party
   4. National Political Alliance
   5. Union Democratic Alliance
   6. Democratic Party
   7. Union Solidarity and Development Association (expected to form more
than one party)
   8. United Democratic Party
   9. Peace and Diversity Party
  10. A party formed by Phyo Min Thein (the name of the party hasn't been
announced yet)
  11. A party formed by self-described “Myanmar Bengalis” (the name of the
party hasn't been announced)

The following parties will contest regionally:

   1. Kachin State Progressive Party
   2. The Union of Myanmar National Force Arakan State
   3. Mon National Democratic Front
   4. Karen People's Party
   5. Nationalist NLD
   6. Scientific National Politics Party, based in Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin)

The following parties contested in the 1990 election but have not yet
registered for this year's election:

   1. National League for Democracy
   2. National Unity Party
   3. Shan National League for Democracy
   4. Union Pa-o National  Organization
   5. Shan State Kokang Democratic Party
   6. Mro or Khami National Solidarity Organization
   7. Lahu National Development Party
   8. Union Karen League
   9. Kokang Democracy and Unity Party
  10. Wa National Development Party

The NLD will decide on whether to register or not on March 29, but the
party's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has already stated that she is not in
favor of the move. The NUP, which ran as the main junta-backed party
during the 1990 election, said it has decided to contest the election and
will register next week.

____________________________________

March 24, Kachin News Group
Burmese Army wraps up first phase of militia training in Kachin State

With the Border Guard Force issue yet to be resolved and tension mounting,
the first phase of the 11-day militia training in Kachin State in the
north was wrapped up by the Burmese Army after the junta announced the
electoral laws on March 8, said local residents.

The militia training to the first batch called the “1/2010 militia basic
combat battle training” was given by Burmese Army trainers to 80 residents
of Tatkone quarter, one of the largest ethnic Kachin quarters in Kachin
State’s capital Myitkyina, local trainees told Kachin News Group.

The training began on March 8, the same day that the junta released the
electoral laws and was concluded on March 19, the trainees said.

All trainees were Kachin men and they were forced to join the Burmese
Army’s basic combat training by local military authorities reluctantly,
they added.

During the training period, the civilian trainees were especially trained
in basic combat like soldiers with machine guns, said eyewitnesses.

The second phase of militia training for local civilians is also underway
in different quarters in Myitkyina, said local residents.

In Puta-O, the remote and landlocked town in northern Kachin State, the
Burmese Army is preparing to give the same basic combat training to local
civilians, said Puta-O residents.

Burmese soldiers trained the "basic combat battle training" to Kachin
civilians in Myitkyina in Kachin State, northern Burma before the
countrywide elections in this year. Photo: Kachin News Group.

In Bhamo late last year, civilians from each quarter and village were
forcibly assembled in the guise of “reserved firefighters” but they were
given basic combat training by Burmese military trainers, said residents
of Bhamo.

Local members of the junta-back Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) in Myitkyina and Bhamo also have to take basic combat
training from the Burmese Army, said members of USDA in the two cities.

In Kachin State, the junta forcibly recruited local civilians in the name
of “reserved firefighters” and they were given basic combat training since
the Buddhist monk-led anti-junta demonstration in 2007, according to local
sources.

People in Kachin State believe that the junta is preparing for an
offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the last
remaining Kachin ceasefire group which has refused to transform its
armed-wing to the junta-proposed Border Guard Force.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 24, Bangkok Post
Cabinet OKs new health package – Apiradee Treerutkuarkul

The cabinet has approved funding of 472 million baht to provide stateless
people with health care and reduce the heavy financial burden on border
hospitals.

The money will be used from next month on health care for 457,409 ethnic
minority people, long-term migrants and those born on Thai soil but who
are awaiting verification of their citizenship, Public Health Minister
Jurin Laksanavisit said yesterday.

The budget had been pushed by the National Health Security Office (NHSO)
for months as 172 state hospitals were continuing to provide costly
treatment for stateless people living in 15 provinces along the border
with Burma for humanitarian reasons.

The money would be given to the permanent secretary for public health's
office to distribute as the NHSO is only obliged to take care of Thai
people's health.

About 468 million baht was spent last year on health care for stateless
people. The universal healthcare budget for Thais had to be slashed as a
result of the soaring cost of treating infectious diseases among people
along the border, Mr Jurin said.

Ten doctors representing border hospitals met with Mr Jurin last month to
urge the government to take swift action to solve the long-standing
problem.

The ministry approved 200 million baht in emergency funding to ease the
financial burden on border hospitals as a result of the meeting.

The NHSO, which oversees the universal healthcare scheme for 48 million
Thais, had asked for cabinet approval for the budget several times. But
the plan was rejected mainly because of national security concerns.

"The funds will not only reduce the financial problems at hundreds of
border hospitals but also curb health problems such as diarrhoea, malaria,
tuberculosis, dengue and HIV/Aids," Mr Jurin said.

Stateless people often sought hospital treatment for diseases which could
be passed on to Thai people so there needed to be proper disease control
measures, he said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 24, Jakarta Post
Myanmar poll to take center stage at ASEAN summit – Lilian Budianto

Myanmar’s upcoming elections will likely hog the spotlight at the 16th
ASEAN Summit in Vietnam in April, as regional leaders try to steer clear
of the junta’s poll agenda to avoid further embarrassment.

The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
will convene in Hanoi from April 8 to April 9 with an agenda officials say
will range from economic integration to political reforms in Myanmar, in
which leaders will try to push the junta to allow opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi to take part in the country’s elections.

Pressure has mounted for the military junta in Yangon to repeal electoral
regulations prohibiting convicts to join political parties and run for
office, and allow Suu Kyi to take part in the polls.

The poll date has not been announced, but it will be held before Suu Kyi’s
house arrest is over.

The Nobel laureate is currently serving 18 months on charges of violating
the terms of her previous stint under house arrest.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the country would push
the demand that Suu Kyi be made part of the solution in Myanmar’s
democratization.

“It is very important for all the parties concerned to be part of the
solution; in other words, not to have a mindset that one party is being
sidelined or pushed into a corner or pressed,” he said at a press
conference last week.

“Everyone must see that they have a stake in an orderly democratization
process.

“Suu Kyi’s role [in a future government] could be a positive one, and we
hope very much that the authorities in Myanmar also see this.”

Jakarta has not announced its agenda in the ASEAN Summit, but officials
say leaders will take stock of the development of the bloc’s economic,
security and sociocultural integration under one ASEAN community by 2015,
as well as the thorny issue of Myanmar.

In previous ASEAN Summits, Myanmar has always been one of the key issues
in the agenda.

In July, ASEAN foreign ministers will convene for the 43rd ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting.

Observers say the Myanmar polls will be a turning point for which ASEAN
will be judged by its success in engaging the junta in democratization.

They add the Myanmar junta has for years been an embarrassment to ASEAN
leaders, who are criticized by accommodating the interests of a rogue
state.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Yasmin Sungkar said the
exclusivity of Myanmar’s polls would not only hurt the democratization
process of the country, but also impact on ASEAN integration.

“The success of Myanmar’s election depends much on its inclusiveness, but
how the current leaders are allowing that to happen isn’t satisfactory,”
she said.
“Democratization in Myanmar might have to wait.”

ASEAN leaders, particularly from democracies such as Indonesia and the
Philippines, have issued several statements appealing for their Myanmar
counterparts to quash Suu Kyi’s conviction and allow her to join the
elections.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 24, Voice of America
UN Security Council to discuss Burma

The United Nations Security Council will hold consultations on Burma
Wednesday to consider how to respond to the military government's
controversial new election laws.

Harriet Cross, a spokeswoman for Britain's U.N. mission, confirmed the
meeting to VOA's Burmese service.

She did not say what Council members were considering, but noted that
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown supports a proposed global arms
embargo on Burma.

The briefing will precede a meeting that U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon is holding on Burma Thursday with representatives from 15
governments.

Mr. Ban has expressed concern about Burma's voting process, saying
indications suggest the new election laws do not meet expectations of an
inclusive political process.

The laws, in effect, prohibit detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
and other political prisoners from taking part in the elections.

Burma has not yet set a date for the elections, which will be the
country's first since 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won the last
elections, but the military government refused to give up power.

The democracy leader says she is opposed to her party registering for this
year's vote. But she told her lawyer Tuesday that the party must decide
for itself whether to participate in the election.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years and is
currently under house arrest.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 24, Irrawaddy
A lack of independence, impartiality – Kay Latt

The election will definitely be held sometime in 2010, but the jury is
still out on how we should look at the election: as opportunity or as a
rigged process.

The Burmese regime has now issued five laws related to the election
including Election Commission regulations and Political Parties
Registration laws, which are revisions of the 1990 electoral law. Already,
international bodies and governments around the world have condemned the
laws as short of international standards and lacking in credibility for a
free and fair election.

The governments of the United States, Canada, Britain and even Asean
governments such as the Philippines and Indonesia view the laws with deep
disappointment, saying the election will not be credible.

Why don't they accept the election laws? First, there's the issue of the
independence of the Election Commission. Each member of the commission was
handpicked by the junta.

Many people believe the commission will favor the regime in making its
decisions and wielding authority.

The previous election commission which supervised the 1990 election was
formed by the former socialist government before the military coup in
1988. After the military coup, Gen Saw Maung, the coup leader, appointed
election commission members and said the military would not interfere in
its work.

The commission was granted the right to draw up the electoral law
independently. The commission publicly issued a draft law and invited
political parties and the public to comment. The commission then revised
the draft law and submitted it to the junta which issued it on May 31,
1989, one year before of the date of the election.

The new election law was drafted by the generals unilaterally without
public input. Closely affiliated with the regime, the Election Commission
chairman was a member of the junta's Constitution drafting commission, and
he also served as a military judge advocate general.

Internationally, an election commission is an organization which has
various duties including collecting voter lists, examining candidate
applications, announcing the list of candidates, conducting polls,
counting and tabulating votes, with additional functions such as boundary
delimitation, voter registration, the registration of political parties,
electoral dispute resolution and civic and voter education.

Moreover, such commissions can regulate the conduct of political parties
and candidates during the election process.

Among the key responsibilities is the registration of political parties.
The commission may deny the registration of a political party, such as the
National League for Democracy, if the party includes political prisoners
as members or leaders, such as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Through her lawyers, Suu Kyi recently remarked that the law should not be
aimed at one particular person or organization, a charge alleged by many
international groups and governments.

Parties or candidates can also be denied registration if the commission
determines that they owe allegiance to a foreign government, are subjects
of a foreign government or who are entitled to enjoy the rights and
privileges of a subject of a foreign government, or a citizen of a foreign
country. Again, the commission's decision is final.

The commission can also deny registration to a party or candidate that
obtains and uses directly or indirectly financial support, land, housing,
buildings, vehicles or property from government or religious organizations
or organizations of a foreign country.

Chapter (11) of the electoral laws grants the commission the authority to
postpone the election in constituencies on the ground of natural disaster
or security. The commission can also move a polling station to a safer
location.

After the election, the commission is authorized to form a complaint body,
which will hear accusations if a candidate is accused of violating
election laws, and then make an appropriate ruling.

Analysts worry that with such wide-ranging authority and discretionary
power, the Election Commission could directly affect the election's
outcome in favor of the regime because of the commission members' lack of
independence and impartiality.