BurmaNet News, May 20, 2010

[Editor]

May 20, 2010, Issue #3966

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Soe Myint’s death a great loss: NLD leaders
Mizzima News: Activist dies in jail hospital after neglect
DVB: Burma flag ‘erases ethnic armies’

ON THE BORDER
IPS: Rising border tension threatens China-Burma relations
SHAN: Thai crisis weighs down migrants

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: Burma’s banks set for a shakeup
KNG: Fresh batch of 300 Chinese dam workers arrive in Myitkyina

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Chinese Premier coming to Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Bangladesh increases pressure on Rohingya refugees – Kristy
Crabtree

STATEMENT
European Parliament: Human rights: Thailand, Burma and Pakistan
Human Rights Council from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada and the Asian Legal
Resource Centre: MYANMAR: The absence of minimum conditions for elections


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 20, Mizzima News
Soe Myint’s death a great loss: NLD leaders – Khai Suu

New Delhi – NLD leader Soe Myint, a veteran freedom fighter, activist,
politician and colleague of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died in
his sleep at home in Rangoon at about 1:30 p.m. today, a relative said.

NLD leader Soe Myint

The National League for Democracy central executive committee member and
Rangoon Division president died of a suspected heart attack at his home in
South Okkalapa Township. He was 87.

“He died at 1:30 p.m. while he was sleeping at the home. We think he died
because of a heart attack.” Khine Wint Yi, a granddaughter of Soe Myint
told Mizzima. “A neighbour who is a doctor confirmed his death. He also
suffered from asthma, had a weak heart, used to feel dizzy and fell down
often, but he died peacefully.”

Fellow party leaders lamented the death of Thakin Soe Myint saying it
would leave a big gap in the opposition party.

“The death of a well-experienced and reliable leader such as him is a
great loss to our party”, NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo told Mizzima.

At a time of struggle for the party following its decision no to
re-register with the Election Commission (EC), the death of a man who has
fought for Burma’s freedom since the anti-colonial struggles will have a
great impact on our party, another fellow party leader,  Win Tin, said.

“We need leaders with his expertise to perform and face the current
political challenges surrounding not being a party registered with the
EC,” Thakin Soe Myint’s colleague Win Tin said. “This is a great loss for
us, him dying in this situation.”

The NLD had 20 central executive committee members but now has only 15 as
some top panel members have died or split from the party.

The party which won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election
refused to re-register with the EC in protest at “unfair” electoral laws
enacted by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the name the
junta calls itself. After that, dissident NLD leaders who had rejected the
decision established a breakaway party called the National Democratic
Force (NDF).

Remaining NLD party top panel members are Aung Shwe (Chairman), Tin Oo
(Vice-Chairman), Aung San Suu Kyi (General Secretary), U Lwin (Secretary)
and members Win Tin, Nyan Win, Lun Tin, Ohn Kyaing, Dr. May Win Myint, Han
Thar Myint, Win Myint, Nyunt Wei, Than Tun, Hla Pe and Tun Tun Hein.

Soe Myint, also known as Thakhin Soe Myint, was born on August 16, 1923 to
U Shein and was educated to grade six at Myaungmya High School in
Irrawaddy Division.

His entry into activism came as secretary of the Myaungmya Township branch
of the  Dobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association), a pro-independence and
originally pro-Japanese, Burmese organisation led by Ba Sein. It was
established in 1930 in Rangoon, after Indian dock workers and their
families were murdered by locals who believed the Indians had taken their
jobs.

He served as a commanding officer in the Burma Defence Army (BDA), created
by the Japanese in 1942 as a successor to the Burma Independence Army. In
August 1943, Burma was granted nominal independence by Japan but Soe Myint
became one of the many swayed against the Japanese because of their
torture and oppression to form a temporary alliance with the British.

Soe Myint was a member of the Delta military Committee in Pathein District
for the Burma National Army, which openly declared war on the Japanese in
March 1945, and, as the Patriotic Burmese Forces, co-operated with the
British in driving the Japanese out of southern Burma.

His other affiliations included being a founding member of the People’s
Revolutionary Party, the chairman of Myaungmya District Socialist Party, a
central committee member of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, a
central executive committee member of the Burmese Farmer’s Association, a
central committee member of the Socialist Party and a vice-chairman of the
People’s Youth League.

In 1953, he was Burma’s delegate to the Vienna Youth Convention and was
also awarded the Independence Struggle Medal (Grade 1) for his role as a
Burmese independence fighter.

Later he became a leader of the Central Farmer’s League and a chairman of
the campaign committee for the Rangoon Division of the NLD. He became a
member of the NLD’s reformed central executive committee on March 26,
1991.

The editor and writer was arrested temporarily in 1993 because he included
in a report a three-part action plan for what to do if the junta refused
to convene the parliament of people elected in the 1990 polls in
accordance with the NLD’s Gandhi Hall decision.

He became a member of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament
(CRPP), formed on September 16, 1998 after the SPDC had failed to respond
to renewed calls to recognise the results of the 1990 elections.

After the “Depayin Massacre” on May 30, 2003, he was placed under house
arrest, and was freed on November 23, 2003.

The NLD member of parliament for South Okkalapa Constituency 1 is survived
by his wife Aye Kywe, his children Swe Swe Myint, Maung Maung Myint, Thit
Thit Myint, Cho Cho Myint, Thin Thin Myint and 11 grandchildren.

____________________________________

May 20, Mizzima News
Activist dies in jail hospital after neglect – Phanida

Rights activist Kyaw Soe, who was arrested during the September 2007
“Saffron Revolution”, on Wednesday morning became the 144th political
prisoner to die in a Burmese jail since 1988, after inadequate treatment
at a prison hospital in Mandalay Division, a rights group said on
Wednesday.

Also known as Kyaw Kyaw Soe and Jeffrey, the 39-year-old member of the
Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) in Taunggyi, Shan State, died
of respiratory and abdominal diseases in Myingyan Prison, said Bo Kyi,
joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in
Burma (AAPPB), based in Mae Sot, Thailand.

“Kyaw Soe was denied timely access to medical treatment or suitable
doctors for his stomach and respiratory conditions”, he told Mizzima. “He
had been charged over connections with Burmese exile political
organisations in Thailand but had merely distributed copies of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the people.”

He was arrested at his home in Taunggyi on September 17, 2007 and remanded
in custody at Insein prison, Rangoon. He was sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment on November 11, 2008 for violations of: section 17(1) of the
Unlawful Association Act; section 13(a) of the Immigration (Emergency
Provisions) Act and section 505(b) of the Penal Code for “upsetting public
tranquility”. Later that month he was transferred to Myingyan Prison, the
political prisoners’ rights group said.

During interrogation he was tortured, and was the 144th political prisoner
to die in prison in Burma since 1988, the AAPPB said.

Tate Naing, secretary of the prisoner’s rights group, said that when Kyaw
Soe’s family asked prison authorities to buy appropriate medicine for him,
the authorities said they had had been taking care of him “adequately and
carefully”.

“Now, it is obvious that they were not treating him properly,” Tate Naing,
said. “The deplorable conditions in Burma’s prisons: the absence and
denial of adequate medical

treatment, torture and mistreatment, causes and exacerbates the health
problems of prisoners, leading to the tragic deaths of far too many of
Burma’s human rights defenders and democracy activists.”

Since 2007, at least 20 members of the HRDP have been arrested, the
prisoner’s rights group said. Among more than 2,100 political prisoners in
the 44 prisons and more than 50 labour camps in Burma, 142 were in poor
health. Most suffered from malaria, hypertension, heart conditions and
diarrhoea, Bo Kyi said.

More than 200,000 prisoners in Burmese prisons were denied adequate
medical care and treatment, he said.

They are not given their basic rights concerning adequate medical
treatment or decent doctors,” Bo Kyi said. “They are suffering from severe
malnutrition and such conditions lead many political prisoners to die
behind bars.”

Kyaw Soe leaves behind his wife, May Han Ei, and a seven-year-old daughter.

____________________________________

May 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma flag ‘erases ethnic armies’ – Francis Wade

The new Burmese flag to be hoisted following elections this year is
evidence of the ruling regime’s attempt to wipe out ethnic armies, Burma
observers say.

An image of the new flag obtained by DVB shows a complete revamp of both
colour, design and symbols: in place of a largely red flag with a blue
square in the corner hosting a paddy ear, cog wheel and 14 stars comes a
flag dominated by one single star in the middle, with three yellow, green
and red stripes behind.

Analysts believe that the removal of the 14 stars, which signify the 14
divisions and states in Burma, or indeed their assimilation into one
larger star, is further proof that citizens of a post-election Burma will
live under the dominant control of the military government.

“It’s a sign of the original agenda [the junta] had after the British
left; the Burmanisation of the country,” said Saw Taw Wa from the Karen
National Union (KNU) Peace Council. He added that it was a “step-by-step
process” which has already taken root in the formation of ethnic Border
Guard Forces aimed at “causing division within the ethnic states”.

The Burmese government has been attempting, sometimes aggressively, to
transform the country’s 18 ceasefire groups into border militias, which
will bring them under direct control of the ruling generals. Saw Taw Wa
said that the junta has been supporting pro-government ethnic groups, such
as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), with money and arms “to
eliminate ethnic armies”.

Many have however resisted and decades-old ceasefires are now on
tenterhooks, leading to fears in Burma’s ethnic border regions that
fighting will erupt.

Khin Ohmar, chairperson of the Network for Democracy and Development
(NDD), said that the new flag was a sign that the junta was “solidifying
their power into one star – the unity of the union; that every ethnic
group is together as one”.

Further evidence is found in Article 338 of the 2008 constitution which
will come into force following the elections this year. It states that
“all the armed forces in the Union shall be under the command of the
Defense Services”. Khin Ohmar said that it proves the junta is
“consolidating
everything by force and by assimilation”.

“When I look at this attempted assimilation – all ethnic groups have to
follow the traditional Burmese dances, for example – it’s unbelievable;
really disgusting to me. That is a very clear sign that the one big star
really is their power.”

The official name of Burma is also due to change, from the current Union
of Myanmar to the Union Republic of Myanmar.

“With the name, they are being very clear that Burma is no longer a
federal state, but will be a republic – they are totally denying
indigenous rights,” said Saw Taw Wa.

Ethnic conflict in Burma has gradually eaten away at the roots of society,
with millions now displaced and areas of the country littered with
landmines. The 60-year long conflict between the Karen National Union and
the ruling junta is thought to be one of the world’s longest running.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 20, Inter Press Service
Rising border tension threatens China-Burma relations – Mitch Moxley

Beijing – When the military regime in Burma launched a campaign last
August to disarm the ethnic rebels in the Kokang region, made up mostly of
ethnic Chinese and where a two-decade-long ceasefire had been in place,
the push triggered an exodus of more than 37,000 refugees into China’s
Yunnan province.

The move, which frustrated the Chinese government in Beijing, sheds light
on brewing troubles in China-Burma relations. China has a significant
interest in a stable Burma and a greater influence over the xenophobic
regime than perhaps any other power. But as an election approaches in
Burma (officially known as Myanmar) that the ruling generals dubiously
claim will be free and fair, China-Burma relations are growing
increasingly strained.

Complicating matters is growing anxiety that another push against armed
ethnics groups in eastern Burma will cause a second refugee crisis in
southern China’s Yunnan province, which borders the military-ruled South-
east Asian state along with Laos and Vietnam. Observers say the junta is
preparing for a military campaign against the 30,000-strong United Wa
State Army, which is ethnically Chinese and has been accused by the United
States of being a drug cartel.

"What’s happening on the border brings into sharp relief the fault lines
in [China-Burma relations] that have been apparent for some time but are
now more clearly defined," said Dr Ian Storey, a fellow at the Institute
of South East Asian Studies in Singapore.

"This is not a relationship that is based on trust and mutual friendship.
It’s very much a marriage of convenience."

In Burma, distrust of China runs deep, and the junta has for several years
tried to reduce its dependence on the latter by courting other nations,
namely, India and Russia. China, meanwhile, has grown frustrated with
Burma’s lack of progress on political reform and addressing economic
disparities, Dr Storey said.

Burma was one of the first countries to recognise the People’s Republic of
China in 1949, but relations turned for the worse in the 1960s,
culminating in anti-Chinese riots in the then-capital, Rangoon (now known
as Yangon). But when Western countries imposed broad sanctions on Burma
following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988, China upped aid
and arms shipments and fostered trade relations.

Since then, China has provided broad diplomatic and economic support for
the junta, considered one of the most corrupt in the world. According to
state media, China is Burma’s fourth largest foreign investor and has
invested more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in the country, mostly in the
mining sector. In 2008, bilateral trade grew more than one-quarter to
about 2.63 billion dollars.

In October 2009, state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation started
building a crude oil port in Burma, part of a pipeline that will carry 12
million metric tons of crude oil a year from the Middle East and Africa
through Burma into China, roughly 6 percent of China’s total imports last
year. Another pipeline, slated to come online in 2012, will have a
capacity to bring in 12 million cubic metres of gas from Burma into China.

Burma gives China access to the Indian Ocean through its ports, not just
for oil and gas import and export to China’s landlocked southwest, but
also for potential military bases.

The generals, meanwhile, depend on China for money and armaments. In 2006,
during a visit to Yunnan, Burma’s Commerce Minister Tin Naing Thein
thanked Beijing for being a "good neighbour" and offering "vigorous
support" following the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracry prostestors. China
also offers Burma some protection within the United Nations Security
Council.

"Burma is isolated from the international community, and the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has put a lot of pressure on Burma to
improve its human rights conditions," said Yu Changsen, an associate
professor in the International Affairs Department of Sun Yat-Sen
University, located in Guandong Province. "Burma depends on China in many
aspects
 [The relationship] is somewhat like that of China and North
Korea."

Despite appearances, relations in recent years have been increasingly
troubled. For many years, China backed Burmese communists in their armed
struggle with the government, and many of Burma’s current leaders once
fought against the communists. Today, many Burmese view China as a
pillager of resources.

Huang Yunjing, an associate professor at Sun Yat-Sen University’s Asia-
Pacific Research Institute, said that the schisms in China-Burma relations
are overblown, noting that China’s investments in its military-ruled
neighbour continue to grow. "China and Burma share many common interests
in political, economic and security aspects," he said. "We have a good
bilateral partnership, and in many ways we support each other in a
mutually beneficial way."

But China is growing increasingly concerned about more unrest in the
troubled border region. This concern was made apparent with the recent
deployment of 5,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops along China’s
southwestern border with Burma, according to reports by ‘The Irrawaddy’, a
Thailand-based news magazine run by exiled Burmese.

The threat of border skirmishes grows greater as the elections, thought to
be held sometime this summer, draw near. The generals have long sought to
consolidate power in the restive and porous regions that border Yunnan,
where ethnic minorities on both sides share blood ties.

Further violence could disrupt border trade, create a refugee crisis and
lead to increased narcotics production and trafficking. It would also put
at risk a large number of Chinese nationals in the region, according to Dr
Storey.

"If that happens," Sun Yat-Sen’s Yu said, "it will definitely give the
Chinese government a headache."

____________________________________

May 20, Shan Herald Agency for News
Thai crisis weighs down migrants – Hseng Khio Fah

The Thai government’s announcement of curfew on Wednesday, following
unrest and violence by anti-government protesters has put many migrant
labourers working in northern Thailand’s Chiangmai province in a spot.
They are finding it difficult to move freely and work normally.

On 19 May, the Thai military cracked down on anti-government protesters,
better known as the ‘Red-Shirt’ group, in Bangkok. But the violence and
unrest spread to Chiangmai, the hometown of  former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra , who enjoys the support of the red-shirts. It is also a place
where most migrant workers from Burma live.

The government imposed a curfew in 24 provinces including Chiangmai.
People were barred from going outside between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.  People
who are found on the street during curfew will be fined Baht 40,000 (US$
1,234) and sentenced to two years in prison, according to Lanna Thai News
agency.

Since the curfew announcement, many community radio stations, restaurants,
markets and shopping malls in Bangkok and Chiangmai have been shutdown.

A Shan worker from a plastic company in Samutprakan province near Bangkok
said all workers in the factory were told to stop working for a short
spell, but the owner did not mention whether there would be pay cuts.
“Workers there are daily wage earners.”

A similar incident took place at Chiangmai’s Night Bazaar, one of the
well-known markets for foreigners. Many migrant workers from Burma work
there. There are over 100 migrant workers, according to a woman worker.

“We are paid monthly, but we also don’t know whether our bosses will cut
our salary,” she said.

Yesterday, all workers were told to return home. But on the way, many
check points have been placed. So they are afraid to go home because most
workers there don’t have official documents, she added.

“We had to find a way not only to escape the violence but also from the
police,” she said. “Therefore we chose the highway. It took us a long time
to get home. It usually takes about 10 or 15 minutes, but now it was
almost an hour.”

Likewise, a radio station which always aired programmes for migrant
workers from Monday to Friday between 21:00 and 22:00 was also closed,
according to a Shan woman working there.

There are at least two million legal and illegal migrant workers in Thailand.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma’s banks set for a shakeup – Joseph Allchin

The Burmese junta is preparing to allow major business cronies free reign
to open banks, with the new entrants into the sector all industry leaders
in other fields.

The move would appear to open the potential for huge power among new bank
owners, and comes as part of the government’s mass privatisation of the
Burmese economy.

Among the companies listed is Htoo Trading Company, owned by the
sanctions-listed Tay Za, who is known to be close to the ruling junta.
Another company, IGE, is owned by Nay Aung, the son of a government
minister, while Ayedin Company is owned by Chit Khine, a renegade of the
former opposition National League for Democracy party.

Max Myanmar, also tabled to enter the banking sector, is owned by business
tycoon Zaw Zaw, who is also president of the Myanmar Football Federation.

Htoo Trading, along with Asia World Company, is regarded as one of Burma’s
leading conglomerates, with interests in construction and gems. It owns an
airline and, according to its website, a “customs authorised clearing
agency” service.

IGE meanwhile is in construction and has been involved in building gas
terminals, whilst Max Myanmar follows in a similar mould with interests in
mining construction and hotels. Analysts suggest that the groups would
have been given “special privileges” by the regime.

The move to open new banks has been questioned by Burmese economic analyst
Aung Thu Nyein, who told DVB that most Burmese banks are currently not
profitable because “of high inflation and negative interest rates, so I
don’t know why they opened new banks at this moment”.

The government has had difficulty controlling the economy and has enacted
strict controls since the 2003 financial crisis in the country, including
limiting bank withdrawals and other anti-inflation measures. These are
aimed at further limiting liquidity, which is essential for the emergence
of new enterprise and economic growth.

More recently, however, the surge in gold price, although partly in line
with global commodity trends, is indicative of mistrust in the banking
sector.

This sector is considered archaic in the country, despite a liberalisation
with the Financial Institutions of Myanmar Law 1990 that allowed the
emergence of some private banks with certain “backward” elements, such as
interest rate ceilings on deposits and loans considerably below Burma’s
inflation rate.

Aung Thu Nyein corroborated this long-held sentiment by saying that the
banking sector “urgently needs reform”.

Transparency and a respect of property rights and other legal provisions
are high on a list of urgent needs in Burma, with banks being viewed as
money laundering hot spots due to a lack of viable anti-laundering
enforcement or scrutiny. The lack of such a provision is often viewed as
necessary for the country’s vast narcotic profits.

Whether these private companies who are intimately linked to the military
regime will affect any change remains to be seen, but the creep towards
megaliths within the Burmese economy continues with worrying implications
for the further polarisation of the economy.

Concerns abound that certain entities or companies will have vast vertical
control of the economic supply chains, thus limiting competition and
stimulating the possibility for economic bubbles and greater fraud.

____________________________________

May 20, Kachin News Group
Fresh batch of 300 Chinese dam workers arrive in Myitkyina

A fresh batch of over 300 Chinese dam construction workers arrived in
Myitkyina capital of Kachin State in northern Burma today, replacing an
earlier lot, who fled to mainland China in the wake of the serial bomb
blasts on April 17, said eyewitnesses.

The new arrivals have come a month after the blasts, which killed four and
injured over 12 Chinese workers in Irrawaddy Myitsone dam construction
site. They belong to Chinese state-owned China Power Investment
Corporation (CPI).

“At least 30 trucks arrived in Myitkyina today transporting over 300
Chinese workers and construction material like cement and steel,” the
eyewitnesses said.

Environmentalist and local Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG)
functionary, Awng Wa said, the Burmese military junta will forcibly
relocate residents living around the hydropower construction site and have
arranged for tight security for the Chinese workers, who are worried about
their security in the wake of the bomb blasts.

“Without the consent of the local people the junta is trying to relocate
them,” Awng Wa added.

With the arrival of the fresh batch of Chinese workers local people will
be under severe pressure from the regime to relocate from their homes,
where they have been living for decades. It will also usher in demographic
changes in the region.

The junta and township leaders held a meeting on May 16 in Tang Hpre
village at the Myitsone 27 miles from Myitkyina to formulate a strategy to
shift residents, who are still resisting the regime’s order.

A villager of Tang Hpre in the dam project area carried a wood shelf to a
new relocation place. Photo: Kachin News Group.
A recent order from the Kachin State Peace and Development Council
(Pa-Ya-Ka) entails involving 10 local people from each quarter in
Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships to expedite relocation of all houses and
churches from the Myitsone dam construction site. If the villagers
continue to resist, trouble will follow, where Kachins will be made to
fight Kachins, Awng Wa said.

According to environmentalists over 15,000 people will be relocated and
millions of people will live in fear of floods if the dam collapses as the
site is located less than 100 kilometres from the Sagaing fault line.

The Mali-N’Mai Zup, or Myitsone dam construction project got off the
ground last year on December 21 and is being jointly implemented by
Burma’s Asia World Company, military Junta’s Ministry of Electric Power 1
and China’s CPI much to the chagrin of local people, who want the project
to be halted.

Meanwhile the junta authorities continue arresting and investigating
residents over the bomb blasts but are yet to find the perpetrators.
Locals believe the junta triggered the blasts to intensify security at the
construction site and help drive out those meant to be relocated.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 20, Irrawaddy
Chinese Premier coming to Burma – Wai Moe

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who postponed his trip to Southeast Asia in
April following the deadly earthquake in northwest China’s Quinghai
province, is now expected to visit Burma and meet with Snr-Gen Than Shwe
between the end of May and early June, diplomatic sources said.

The diplomatic sources said that Wen Jiabao’s agenda in Burma is likely to
focus on stability and national reconciliation in Burma ahead of the
election to be held later in 2010. Points of discussion are expected to
include the election, ethnic issues on the Sino-Burmese border and ties
between Burma and North Korea.

The sources also said Wen Jiabao’s trip could be part of the international
community’s efforts to influence the Burmese military junta. Beijing and
Washington have cooperated on Burma issues in recent years, and the
Chinese Premier's trip to Burma follows closely the trip by US Assistant
Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who visited Burma on May 9-10 and met
with both junta and opposition officials. After Burma, Campbell visited
Beijing and met with senior Chinese officials.

Although Beijing never publicly talks about Burma politics, Chinese
officials have said privately that their government is disappointed in
Burma’s electoral laws banning dissidents, including pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation Students group, from the election.
And analysts have noted that the junta’s electoral laws are in opposition
to calls by China and other countries for an inclusive political process
in Burma to promote national reconcilliation.

Further indicating China’s interest in Burma's election, Chinese
ambassador Ye Dabo met with Burma’s Union Election Commission on
Wednesday.

Ahead of Wen Jiabao’s visit, the Burmese military junta is making efforts
to highlight what they consider to be the positive aspects of the
Sino-Burmese relationship.

On Tuesday in Naypyidaw, Burmese Construction Minister Khin Maung Myint
and his counterpart, Chinese Transport Minister Li Senghlin, signed an
agreement covering the construction of a highway between Yunnan’s Ruili
and the deep seaport of Kyaukpyu, in western Burma, which will give China
road access to the Indian Ocean.

Burma's state-run-media reported that Gen Tin Aung Myint O, the junta’s
secretary and No. 4 ranking general, attended the signing of the
agreement, which is part of China's Two-Ocean Strategy”, under which
Beijing is attempting to expand its influence to the Indian Ocean to
enhance its security.

The Two Ocean Strategy includes establishment of a strategic network of
road, rail and air transport and core pipelines of water, oil and gas
between Yunnan Province and Kyaukpyu, according Chinese experts on Burma.

An important component of the strategy is the Sino-Burmese gas and oil
pipeline project from Kyaukpyu to Yunnan’s capital of Kunming. The
pipeline will carry 80 percent of China’s imported oil from North Africa
and the Middle East, as well as Burma’s natural gas from the Bay of
Bengal.

China National Petroleum Corporation, China’s largest integrated oil and
gas enterprise, held an inauguration ceremony marking the start of
construction in October 2009 on Maday Island, where Kyaukpyu is located.

China is one of the world’s largest consumers of energy and is hightly
dependent on foreign sources. Acording to official Chinese statistics,
imported oil constitued 50 percent of China's total consumption in 2008, a
figure expected to increase 60 percent by 2020,.

Despite wide anticipation of Wen Jiabao's visit to Burma in the near
future, Chinese officials are playing it typically coy. When questioned
about a possible end of May visit at a press conference on Tuesday,
China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu said, “Information about
the Chinese leader's overseas visit will be released in due course. Please
wait with patience.”

Meanwhile, next week the junta's military commanders and senior officials
will gather for their regular meeting, held every four months in
Naypyidaw, government sources said. Issues to be discussed by the ruling
generals include the election, the tension with ethnic ceasefire groups
over the Border Guard Force plan and the military reshuffle.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 20, Irrawaddy
Bangladesh increases pressure on Rohingya refugees – Kristy Crabtree

As the plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh continues to worsen,
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is insisting on their return to
Burma “in the soonest possible time.”

But promoting the Rohingyas' repatriation as the only possible solution to
their displacement overlooks an internationally recognized norm of
protection for those seeking refuge. This is the principle of
non-refoulement. Basically, this principle prohibits nations from
expelling or returning a refugee to a place where their freedom will be
threatened or there is a risk of persecution.

This principle is recognized in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status
of Refugees, and applies to refugees that are formally recognized as well
as those who lack an official status.

Although Bangladesh is not a party to the convention, the principle still
applies because non-refoulement is an international custom.  This means
that the principle is a “general practice accepted as law”  because it has
fulfilled the two elements necessary to become customary international
law: consistent State practice and opinio juris. The latter means it is a
practice recognized by states as obligatory.

Having satisfied these requirements, the principle of non-refoulement is
considered customary international law, and therefore, binding on all
states regardless of their adoption of the 1951 Convention.  Furthermore,
the principle is defended in other treaties which Bangladesh has signed,
such as the Convention Against Torture and the Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.  This principle should protect the Rohingya from forced
or coerced repatriation to Burma.

Foreign Minister Moni’s plan for Rohingya repatriation not only goes
against customary international law but her request for the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees to pursue socio-economic development in Burma
also falls short.

The reason for the flight of the Rohingya into neighboring countries is
not the result of a socio-economic problem. The root cause of their
displacement is the lack of recognition of their citizenship rights in
Burma.

Without these national rights, their other basic rights, such as freedom
to travel or marry or practice their faith, are routinely violated, and
the Rohingya are subject to other gross human rights abuses such as forced
labor and property confiscation.

Although they should be protected from compulsory return to Burma, many
Rohingya would be prepared to return to a Burma that recognizes them as
citizens and provides them with the full protection of the law like other
citizens.

However, even recognized citizens in Burma are fleeing across nearly every
border to avoid wrongful detention and the lack of freedom of speech,
press or association, among other more violent human rights violations.
Without significant changes in Burma, the Rohingya cannot return.
Repatriation can only occur when it is voluntary on the part of the
persecuted.

While the Bangladesh foreign minister’s remarks can certainly be viewed as
disregarding the internationally-recognized principle of non-refoulement,
they should also be regarded as a request for assistance. Perhaps she
should be heard as a plea for international, political action in Burma.
Clearly Bangladesh and other Burmese refugee-hosting countries like
Thailand cannot go this path alone indefinitely.

Resettlement of Rohingya refugees must continue in countries like the US,
Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Funding must also support local villagers
living in the area surrounding the camps.  This is necessary to change the
local perception of the refugee camps from being a financial burden for
the country to infusing the area with international aid and development.

While it is inappropriate for Foreign Minister Moni to suggest the
repatriation of the Rohingya on any terms that are not voluntary, western
states as well need to take political action in Burma for the sake of all
Burmese people.

Kristy Crabtree qualified in international law from New York University,
and has conducted field research with Rohingya refugees in the Kutupalong
and Leda camps.  Her research has been published in Forced Migration
Review, Infinity Journal, the Journal for Muslim Mental Health and the
Huffington Post.  She worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Gazipur and
Cox’s Bazar.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 20, European Parliament
Human rights: Thailand, Burma and Pakistan

Three resolutions on the situation in Thailand, the pre-election climate
in Burma and religious freedom in Pakistan were adopted by the European
Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday.

Thailand

MEPs voice deep concern and express their solidarity with the people of
Thailand in the light of the violent conflict between demonstrators and
security forces in the country.  They are particularly worried at the
introduction of a state of emergency, which has included censorship of the
media.  They urge all parties "to engage immediately in a constructive
dialogue" in order to seek a quick, negotiated and peaceful settlement to
the current crisis.

The government's decision to establish a committee comprising forensic
experts and representatives of academic institutions to investigate the
deaths that occurred during the incident on 10 April 2010 is welcomed, but
MEPs believe the investigations should cover the most recent deaths as
well.

Parliament calls on the Thai Government to ensure that the declaration of
a state of emergency does not lead to any disproportionate restriction of
fundamental rights and individual freedoms. A state of emergency has been
declared in more than 20 provinces across the country.

The government is urged to end censorship and restrictions on the right to
freedom of expression.  Several radio and television stations as well as
internet sites have been censored, says Parliament.

Burma

The wish of the Burmese authorities to hold elections "under completely
undemocratic conditions" and excluding the main democratic opposition
party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi
until its dissolution last week, is condemned in the European Parliament's
resolution.  The elections could take place in late October/early November
2010.

The electoral laws published in March 2010 make the holding of free
elections impossible and should be repealed, say MEPs. The authorities of
Burma/Myanmar are urged to heed the appeals of the international community
to allow Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience to
participate in the political process.  The government is also asked to
lift restrictions on freedom of assembly, association, movement and
expression, including for free and independent media.

The resolution deplores the fact that, under the new constitution, the
military will be guaranteed at least 25% of the seats in parliament and
will have the power to suspend civil liberties and legislative authority
in the interests of national security.

MEPs welcome the Council's decision to extend the restrictive measures
against Rangoon by a further year, and express strong support for the
continued work of the EU Special Envoy.

The Commission's decision to cut funding for refugees on the
Thailand-Burma border is criticised. MEPs call for cross-border aid,
especially medical assistance, to be restored.

Religious freedom in Pakistan

Parliament is concerned about discrimination and the lack of basic
freedoms suffered by minorities in the broad sense but especially
religious minorities in Pakistan, a country whose majority and state
religion is Sunni Islam.  They call on the government to review the
practice of including the religious identity of its citizens in all new
passports and to carry out a thoroughgoing review of the blasphemy laws.

Measures taken by the government since November 2008, such as establishing
a quota of five per cent for minorities in the federal jobs sector,
recognising non-Muslim public holidays and declaring National Minorities
Day, are welcomed by Parliament.

Among the minority religious and belief groups in Pakistan are Christians,
Hindus, Sikhs, Shiites, Ahmadis, Buddhists, Parsis and Bahá’ís.

____________________________________

May 20, Human Rights Council from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada and the
Asian Legal Resource Centre
MYANMAR: The absence of minimum conditions for elections

1. The Government of Myanmar has this year issued a raft of laws and rules
for the holding of national and regional elections for new parliaments
under the army-prepared 2008 Constitution. The elections are expected late
in 2010 but no firm announcement has been made and they could be postponed
until any time in the future, as have so many other undertakings by the
military regime in Myanmar: the preparations for drafting the new
constitution alone took over a decade to complete. Anyhow, it is widely
acknowledged that the minimum conditions for free and fair elections are
absent from Myanmar and whatever takes place this year or thereafter will
not constitute an electoral process as understood in most other countries.

2. Although many groups and scholars have pointed to specific problems
associated with the electoral process, the Asian Legal Resource Centre
(ALRC) and Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) are concerned to anchor
these in the larger and deeper obstacles to social and political change in
Myanmar. In this statement, we have chosen to drawn the Council's
attention to the absence from Myanmar of three basic minimum features of
free and fair elections: namely, the absence of a judiciary; the absence
of a normative framework for civil rights; and, the absence of
opportunities for free speech.

3. The absence of a judiciary
a. Myanmar has no judiciary capable of performing the functions required
of it to ensure fair elections. Without it, there is no agency capable of
addressing and settling disputes arising from the electoral process.
b. The absence of the judiciary is manifest in the handling of an
application from the National League for Democracy to the Supreme Court on
23 March 2010. This party won 392 out of 405 seats in the 1990 election,
but then--as now--there was no judiciary capable of enforcing results. The
party submitted a miscellaneous civil application to the court under the
Judiciary Law 2000 and the Specific Relief Act 1887. It asked the court to
examine provisions of the new Political Parties Registration Law 2010 that
prohibit convicted serving prisoners from establishing or participating in
political parties.
c. Whereas the 2008 Constitution prohibits convicted prisoners from being
members of parliament, the new party registration law prohibits these
persons from being involved in a political party at all. As the NLD has
hundreds of members behind bars--and hundreds of others who could be
detained, prosecuted and convicted at any time--its concern over these
provisions is obvious. Nor is it the only party in this situation. The
leaders of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, which obtained the
second-largest number of votes in 1990, are also currently imprisoned; the
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has opined that their detention is
arbitrary (Opinion 26/2008, A/HRC/13/30/Add.1).
d. The NLD's approach to the court was premised on the notion that the
Supreme Court would at very least be able to entertain its plaint. But
according to the NLD, the application did not even go before a judge.
Instead it was returned by lunchtime on the same day with an official
giving the reason that, "We do not have jurisdiction." Subsequently, an
attempt to approach the chief justice directly was also rebuffed.
e. In some countries, courts without effective authority over matters that
are technically within their domain go through the pretence of hearing and
deciding on these things at least to impress on the government and public
that they are cognizant of their responsibilities, even if they cannot
carry them out, and still have a degree of self respect that requires the
keeping up of appearances. But the courts in Myanmar have lost even these
minimal qualities of a judiciary. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say
that Myanmar is without a judiciary--at least as far as any planned
elections are concerned--and that as a consequence the notion of an
electoral process as understood elsewhere is in Myanmar an absurdity.

4. The absence of a normative framework for civil rights
a. The Government of Myanmar has set down in the new laws conditions for
the forming of political parties that would have people associate in order
to participate in anticipated elections, but nowhere and in no way is the
right to associate itself guaranteed. While parties are required to have
at least a thousand members to enlist for the national election--500 for
regional assemblies--a host of extant security laws circumscribe how, when
and in what numbers persons can associate.
b. The notion of association without the right to associate is manifest in
the Political Parties Registration Law 2010, which has written into it
references to some preexisting laws that circumscribe free association.
According to section 12,
"A party that infringes any of the following will cease to have
authorization to be a political party: ... (3) Direct or indirect
communication with, or support for, armed insurgent organisations and
individuals opposing the state; or organisations and individuals that the
state has designated as having committed terrorist acts; or associations
that have been declared unlawful; or these organisations' members."
c. As in present-day Myanmar anybody can be found guilty of having
supported insurgents, of having been involved in terrorist acts, and above
all, of having contacted unlawful associations, the law effectively allows
the authorities to de-register any political party at any time. The ALRC
has documented many such cases. That of U Myint Aye is indicative. For
founding a local group of human rights defenders and speaking on overseas
radio broadcasts about what he saw in the delta in the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis, Myint Aye was arrested and accused in a fabricated bombing
plot. The military tried and convicted him and two other accused in a
press conference during September 2008; in November a court did so
officially, handing down a sentence of life imprisonment.
d. The inherent denial of the right to associate in the party registration
law speaks to the absence of any normative framework of civil rights, as
understood in terms of international standards, from Myanmar. The right of
association does not exist not only because of specific terms of law to
prevent it but more importantly, because of the conceptual absence of any
framework for rights at all.
e. The 2008 Constitution has confirmed that Myanmar citizens are expected
to live in a rights vacuum. Whereas the notion of a constitution is to
establish a normative framework under which the apparatus of state is
supposed to operate, in this constitution rights are at virtually every
point negated and qualified, including the right to associate. Under
section 354 citizens have a "right" to form associations that do not
contravene statutory law on national security and public morality: which
can be construed to mean literally anything. This is a constitution
without human rights norms. In this it is at least consistent with other
aspects of the military government's project, in which democratic and
rule-of-law concepts and institutions are consistently inverted and
defeated.

5. The absence of opportunities for free speech
a. When the Government in Myanmar passed new laws and rules for the
planned elections, it attracted a lot of interest in the global media. The
only place where the media did not pick up on the story was in Myanmar
itself. Aside from official announcements and some articles in news
journals iterating the facts as found in the state media, there was no
analysis, commentary or debate.
b. The lack of debate was not because the persons writing and publishing
periodicals did not want discussion, or even try to have some. Journalists
had in fact interviewed experts and prepared articles that they had
thought would be printable. But instead they were prohibited from
analyzing the laws at all, or from saying anything about parties already
registering for the ballot. The absurd situation thus arose of an election
having been announced and the process of party registration begun without
any information about it being given to the electorate.
c. The blackout on news about the electoral process is not merely a
question of media freedom. It is indicative of the wider and more profound
incapacity of people in Myanmar to communicate with one another, after
half a century of military rule. Where internal communication is blocked
for a long time, as it has been in Myanmar, it brings about all sorts of
deep psychoses hidden under the surface of day-to-day life. As different
parts of society are not able to communicate openly with each other,
problems build up and fester. People become deeply frustrated and angry,
and occasionally the frustration and anger burst out suddenly, as during
the nationwide protests of 2007. At such times, when the authorities use
force to bring people back under control the problems are again submerged
and worsened.
d. Under these circumstances, the type of controlled communication that
the Government of Myanmar envisages for the anticipated elections is not a
form of communication at all. It is a mere contrivance aimed at a
different type of social control from what came before. In this way, the
Government attempts to construct a debate in which the public is an
onlooker and recipient of fabricated, sanctioned and sanitized views.
e. Constructed debate will, of course, do nothing to address or ease the
deep afflictions in Myanmar society, nor address its tensions, nor
contribute to the holding of meaningful elections. In fact, it will only
make things worse. Until there are enough opportunities for open
communication, the possibility of some kind of democratic government
emerging in Myanmar is zero. And if there is no significant political
change--not the type of superficial engineered change which the armed
forces are planning--there can be no hope of any significant change in the
country's appalling human rights conditions, which have been documented
now for over a decade by successive Special Rapporteurs on human rights in
Myanmar, and numerous other agencies and individuals both inside and
outside the United Nations for longer still.

6. In light of the above, Myanmar's planned elections can be nothing but
an elaborate farce, following on from the referendum on the new
constitution that coincided with the biggest natural disaster to hit the
country in living memory. If indeed the Government of Myanmar were sincere
about the elections it would start by, at an absolute minimum:
a. Releasing all prisoners of conscience, allowing all persons to engage
actively in the electoral process, and permitting the International
Committee of the Red Cross access to all detention facilities in
accordance with its international mandate.
b. Announcing the dates of elections sufficiently far enough in advance to
allow all parties time to prepare and engage in campaigning.
c. Guaranteeing that all media outlets are free to print any news and
analysis concerning the electoral process and ceasing requirements that
they submit copy for scrutiny and censorship prior to publication.

7. Some problems associated with the electoral process indicated above,
notably those of the judiciary and the 2008 Constitution, will take much
longer to address than the interim between now and the planned elections
allows. But if obvious, feasible, immediate steps like the three indicated
here cannot be taken then there can be no reason to expect that far more
intractable aspects of the anti-human rights regime in Myanmar will be
addressed any time soon. Under these circumstances, we also need to
question the limits of international pressure on Myanmar for change, and
strategies and approaches that the Human Rights Council ought to take.
This question is the subject of a separate written submission from the
Asian Legal Resource Centre to the Council’s 14th session.

# # #

About the ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional
non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister
organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based
group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human
rights issues at the local and national levels throughout Asia.