BurmaNet News, September 4-6, 2010

[Editor]

September 4-6, 2010, Issue #4035

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Two shot after dispute with soldiers
Irrawaddy: Negotiate with cease-fire groups: Suu Kyi
Mizzima: USDP, ethnic parties our main rivals, says NUP
DVB: Govt workers pulled out of Wa territory
SHAN: Real struggle will come post elections

BUSINESS / TRADE
Radio Australia News: Hidden taxes rob Burma's poor, says report
DVB: S Korea climbs the Burma investment ranks
Irrawaddy: Weekly business roundup

REGIONAL
Reuters: Five facts about China-Myanmar relations
Kaladan Press: Ten issues on agenda in Burma-Bangladesh JTC meeting

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: The Irrawaddy editor wins journalism award

OPINION / OTHER
Financial Times (Editorial): Burma’s poll farce
Newsweek: Burma's elections in name only - Mike Giglio
DVB: The Senior General that never is - Soe Min Naing
ABMA+88+ABFSU: UN investigation of human rights violations in Burma is
welcomed

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 6, Irrawaddy
Two shot after dispute with soldiers - Wai Moe

Two young men were shot dead in a dispute with soldiers of the Southern
Region Military Command in Pegu, some 50 km north of Rangoon.

Local sources identified the victims as Aung Thu Hein, 22, and Soe Paing
Zaw, 18.  The sources said they were shot dead execution-style by soldiers
from the Command's Infantry Battalion 59 on Saturday after a dispute
between local young men and officers from the battalion near a local
restaurant.

One Pegu eye-witness reported: “After arguing with local youngsters, about
10 soldiers, including officers, came back to the town with arms, looking
for the young men they had had problems with. The soldiers found them near
a local teashop and shot them after more arguing.”

A medical official at the Pegu General Hospital, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said Aung Thu Hein had six gunshot wounds, while Soe Paing Zaw
had four. Hundreds of angry residents gathered at the hospital.

A battalion general staff officer reportedly offered the families of the
dead men 1 million kyat (US $10,000) compensation, provided they remained
silent on the incident, which fueled further anger.

“My nephew was quite innocent. He was killed unjustly. So how can we calm
down? We don’t want any money. We only want truth and justice,” said Aung
Thu Hein’s aunt.

State-run radios such Myanmar Radio and Padaunt Myae FM reported the two
young men had been shot at because they tried to wrest weapons from the
soldiers.

“This is misinformation as well as an insult, not only to victims’
families, but also to all of us,” said a Pegu lawyer, Aye Myint.

The funerals of the two dead men are scheduled for Tuesday. Local
authorities are very nervous at this time because of the anniversary of
the Sept 2007 uprising and the approaching November election.

Irrawaddy Correspondent Zarni Mann contributed to this story.

____________________________________

September 6, Irrawaddy
Negotiate with cease-fire groups: Suu Kyi - Ko Htwe

Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants the military
regime to negotiatate with ethnic cease-fire groups for a better future in
Burma, according to a spokesman who met with her on Saturday.

Nyan Win, who was a senior official in the disbanded National League for
Democracy (NLD), met with Suu Kyi in her Rangoon home, where she is under
house arrest, accompanied by lawyers Kyi Wynn and Khin Htay Kwe, on
Saturday.

CA woman holds a poster of Aung San Suu Kyi outside the United Nation
University in Tokyo, Japan, in June. (Photo: AP)
Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy that they also discussed the lawsuit against
military junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the appeal of Suu Kyi's
18-month extension of her house arrest.

On March 23, three NLD leaders—Nyan Win, Tin Oo and Aung Shwe—attempted to
file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to sue the chairman of the State
Peace and Development Council, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, for issuing "unjust and
unfair" election laws.

But an official at the Supreme Court handed the documents back, responding
that the court did not have the power to handle the case.

Responding to Suu Kyi comments about ethnic groups, Sai Sheng Murng, a
deputy spokesman for the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), said that if the
regime seeks to resolve the border guard issue dispute with violence, it
will hurt the livlihood of local residents.

“If the regime is honest, it has to accept negotiations with all armed
cease-fire groups,” he said, adding that the stand off is growing more
tense.

The SSA-S has not received any offer for talks, according to a spokesman.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Karen National Union (KNU)
General-Secretary Zipporah Sein said, “Without solving political problems,
the potential conflicts will not go away.”

Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months house arrest for
violating the terms of her detention after US citizen John William Yettaw
visited her lakeside home on May 3, 2009. At the time, she had already
spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention. Her sentence is set
to expire in November.

____________________________________

September 5, Mizzima
USDP, ethnic parties our main rivals, says NUP - Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi– The junta-backed National Unity Party, which won 10 seats of a
possible 492 in Burma’s 1990 general election said the Union Solidarity
and Development Party and ethnic parties will be its main rivals in
November elections, according to one of its leaders.

Also junta-supported, the USDP will contest in this election in sweeping
manner, with more than a thousand candidates, and ethnic parties can count
on local loyalties, National Unity Party (NUP) central executive committee
member Han Shwe told Mizzima.

“USDP had fielded more than 1,000 candidates with election commission and
it is the strong party. So our main rival will be this USDP”, Han Shwe
said.

The NUP contested 431 constituencies in 1990 general election and they
will stand for all legislative bodies; the People’s Assembly (lower
house), the National Assembly (upper house) and the States and Regions
Assemblies in all 14 states and divisions in nationwide elections on
November 7. It is fielding 980 candidates this year.

“We will contest in Shan State. The ethnic Shan party led by Sai Ai Pau,
our NUP and the USDP, will be the main contenders in this State. So 
 we
must contest with local ethnic parties too”, Han Shwe said, referring to
the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP).

The NUP were able to field hundreds of candidates within the stipulated
time of about two weeks because it had been preparing since the government
announced in early 2008 that general elections would be held this year, he
added.

For any success, NUP would mainly have to rely on seats in the seven
divisions (regions), such as Rangoon and Mandalay, he said. As for Karenni
and Mon States, he expected wins there too.

For the remaining States such as Kachin, Shan, Chin, Arakan and Karen, the
party was likely to face big challenges as ethnic parties were also
contesting seats there, Han Shwe said.

The Chin Progressive Party and the Chin National Party, which will contest
all constituencies in Chin State are confident in winning all available
seats in the state.

Also the SNDP, also known as the White Tiger party, set to run for seats
in all three legislative bodies with 157 candidates, said that it was
confident to win all the seats it was vying for because it claimed the
full support of the Shan people. The party will contest 40 constituencies
out of a total of 55 in Shan State.

Former dictator General Ne Win led the Burma Socialist Programme Party
turned NUP, which continued to stand as a legal registered party from 1990
until this year without being dissolved by the Union Election Commission
(UEC). It re-registered with the UEC on March 29. The party claims it has
3.5 million members.

According to figures from the National Planning and Economic Development
Ministry recorded at the time of the controversial constitutional
referendum held in May 2008, the population of Burma was more than 57.5
million, with more than 27.3 million eligible voters.

____________________________________

September 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Govt workers pulled out of Wa territory - Nang Kham Kaew

Burmese government workers have been withdrawn from territory in Shan
state controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in a possible sign of
looming hostilities.

The 30,000-strong Wa army, Burma’s largest armed ethnic group, recently
refused to allow troops from the Burmese army to accompany Election
Commission officials into their territory, drawing the ire of the ruling
junta.

A UWSA official in the Wa capital, Panghsang, said that workers from
around 10 different governmental departments under the Ministry of
Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs were
pulled out on 1 September. They had been working on health, education and
agriculture projects.

Tension has mounted between the ruling junta and the UWSA, who signed a
ceasefire agreement in 1989, both over its blocking of army-accompanied
election officials and the group’s refusal to transform into a Border
Guard Force, a move that would see lower-ranking troops assimilated into
the Burmese army.

“Our Central Executive Committee had already made the decision – [the
government workers] can leave and we will not stop them,” a UWSA official
told DVB. “But we cannot accept that the Burmese army will accompany the
Election Commission. We have our own troops here and we are playing by our
rules in our own autonomous region. [The Burmese Army] cannot enter here
as they wish.”

An agreement was reached to hold polling in Wa-controlled territory for
the 7 November elections, Burma’s first in 20 years. But, the Wa official
said, the junta went ahead with preparation for the polling in two Wa
regions without UWSA permission, causing it to refuse preparation in the
remaining four regions.

Numbers of other international agencies, many of whom work under the UN,
operate in Wa area in Burma’s volatile eastern Shan state. Many of these
however remain.

Accompanying the government workers who left the Wa region were around 50
Burmese army troops who had been posted there for on security detail for
the government workers.

____________________________________

September 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Real struggle will come post elections: Yawdserk

The real struggle for freedom will begin only after the elections and not
before or during the polls, where the ruling junta’s Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP) is expected to win, said Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader
of the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’.

“To my knowledge, most of the superpowers are ready to accept the
results,” he told SHAN. “Their logic is that the junta, as a democratic
government, must then open up the country. Allegations of human rights
violations, human trafficking and other offenses can then be investigated
with fewer restrictions. That’s where the struggle for freedom will resume
in earnest and we must be prepared for it.”
yawd__serk
At least two other prominent leaders in exile have agreed with his reasoning.

“Many countries feel uncomfortable talking to junta leaders in their
military uniforms,” said Chin leader Dr Suikhar. “They think junta leaders
changing into civilian attire is not a bad idea.”

Some countries also anticipate gradual change in store for Burma. “Among
the new leadership will be new people and real civilians with new ideas,”
said Harn Yawnghwe, Director of Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office (EBO),
shunned by some sections of the opposition as a turncoat. “Countries like
India, that are facing Burma’s nuclear programme and other problems, also
view the elections as a way out.”

Their views are in line with that of Thailand’s Burma report Surapong
Jayanama, who told his audience at the Chiangmai University on 3 August,
“In fact, it might be a good exit strategy for the powers concerned.
They’ll say ‘We’ve done what we could, now it’s time to be back to
business as usual’, ‘Having elections is better than no elections’ and
‘The regime deserves the benefit of the doubt, shouldn’t we allow it the
opportunity to prove itself?’”

Nevertheless, he also warned Burma’s ruling junta not all was going to be
plain sailing. “(The last Soviet Union leader) Mikhail Gorbachev launched
his Glasnost and Perestroika campaigns to strengthen the Communist system
but, contrary to his expectations, the campaigns went wild ending in the
collapse of the Soviet Union,” he said. “Similarly, Burma’s regime, aiming
to extend its rule, may well be sowing the seeds of its own destruction.”

Naypyidaw announced on 13 August the long awaited elections would be held
on 7 November. Some 43 political parties are expected to contest the 330
seats for the Lower House, 168 seats for the Upper House and 665 seats for
the state and regional legislatures. Only the junta-backed USDA has been
able to field candidates for every available seat.

His views were seconded by Dr Lee Stefankos, a professor of electrical
engineering and director of the Clean Energy Research Centre at the
University of South Florida. Dr Stefanakos, has been carrying out research
in the areas of solar thermal energy conversion, photovoltaic systems and
hydrogen.

Dr Stefankos also feels that nuclear energy is not one of the major
producers of energy. With the shrinking uranium reserves, Dr Stefankos
believes solar energy provides a safer and in the long run, a much cheaper
alternative.

An Indian scientist pointed out, “India is investing thousands of crores
in expanding a nuclear energy programme even though they were warned that
high grade uranium is as much a dwindling resource as are coal and gas
resources.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 4, Radio Australia News
Hidden taxes rob Burma's poor, says report - Ron Corben

The poorest people in Burma are paying more than half their income in
hidden taxes, says a human rights report.

The Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma says interests associated
with the ruling military junta spend more than 50 per cent of the national
budget on the military and less than 1.3 per cent on health and education.

The report says Burma's tax system lacks transparency and accountability,
with payments often arbitrary and made to local military and officials in
cash or by forced labour.

The report is based on interviews with more than 340 people across Burma.

Checkpoints
Burmese are charged arbitrary fees at checkpoints, as well as having to
make forced donations for festivals, school buildings, school registration
and equipment.

Cheery Zahau, of the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, said the
unofficial taxes add to citizen's problems with basic survival.

She told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program: "They can't send their
children to school, cannot save money, they don't have enough money for
hospitals for health care."

Dr Alison Vicary, an economist at Macquarie University's Burma Economic
Watch, said it appeared much of the taxation collected at the local level
is going towards the incomes of the local officials, rather to the central
government.

"The official data on taxation from the central government budget . . .
suggests it is increasing but it is a very, very low percentage of GDP."

She said: "The increase in taxation, I would argue, is partly responsible
for the deterioration in the economy particularly in the rural areas."

Incentive
The academic said soldiers in regional areas "have limited business
opportunities" and "that would provide them with an incentive to, I guess,
appropriate resources from local people."

Dr Vicary says that in Burma's "militarised state" economy, major
resources are controlled by the armed forces, with senior officials
overseeing control or influence of the private sector.

This legacy of mismanagement has left millions in poverty, and requiring
years before recovery, she said.

"This is the problem - is one of the biggest damages that this government
has done - in that it's impoverished people for several generations and
for several generations into the future . . .

"Burma's now so poor that it's going to take a long time to right the
economic problems that the regime has caused."

____________________________________

September 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
S Korea climbs the Burma investment ranks - Joseph Allchin

Soaring investment from South Korea has pushed it to fifth place in the
list of countries pouring money into Burma, Chinese press has reported.

Its foreign direct investment has increased ten-fold, or some US$2.658
billion since 1988 when moderate easing of financial restrictions
occurred, Xinhua said. In comparison, Thailand, who tops the official
list, has invested US$9.6 billion in the past 22 years.

Such investment growth has made the last quarter of this financial year
the best on record for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Burma, with a
reported US$15.84 billion since June.

The bulk of the investment came in the extractive industries and power
generation, notably in Burma’s gas sector, which is thought to be the
country’s largest ‘official’ export industry, although leading Burmese
economist, U Myint, estimates that unofficial  exports are probably of
equal value.

One possible thrust behind the startling rise in Korean investment is the
ongoing construction of the Shwe gas pipeline, which will transport gas
from Burma’s lucrative offshore reserves in the Bay of Bengal to southern
China. Two South Korean firms, Daewoo Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy
Industries, are very much involved in the pipeline.

Wong Aung, of the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) campaign group, notes that
Hyundai Heavy Industries is involved in producing the steel pipes and gas
terminals; he hastens to add that the current South Korean President is a
former CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Much of the Korean investment is in the non-sustainable extractive sector,
as well as hydropower projects for sale to energy-hungry foreign markets.
China also has a keen eye on exploiting Burma’s energy capabilities, and
its Datang company recently inaugurated a new 240 megawatt hydro-plant.
Meanwhile, Burmese continue to struggle with regular electricity shortages
as much of the country’s power resources are sold off.

Whilst business may be buoyed by the growth, there is a superficial
element to the figures, with the polarised nature of investment in the
country a continuing concern.

Statistical information for Burma is available from the fiscal year
1938-39, when the country was a British colony and when agriculture
accounted for around 47 percent of GDP. At this time, Burma exported
roughly 3.3 million tons of rice per year.

Today agriculture accounts for around 43 percent of GDP and the country’s
rice output is a fraction of its colonial hey day, with an average of
249,000 tons exported per year in the 1990’s – 7.5 percent of that which
was exported in 1938, when global population and consumption was less than
half of today’s.

Industrial contribution to Burma’s national GDP remains extremely low, at
19.9 percent; in contrast, figures for neighbouring Laos are currently at
around 30 percent in a country that has seen the share of agriculture’s
contribution to GDP shrink by around 20 percent in the past two decades,
as other sectors grew in strength.

Questions therefore remain as to the benefits of FDI in Burma, a country
where the military are key benefactors from such projects and where the
trickle-down effect is reliant almost entirely on the altruism of
businesses, many of which are state-owned.

Some Chinese projects however do seemingly hold the potential to help with
internal infrastructure such as roads, as Chinese FDI has achieved in
parts of Africa.

But whilst Burma’s natural bounty is sold off with little tangible
advancement in the country’s development or living standards, there will
persist a feeling that the people or indeed the nation are being severely
short-changed from the endowment that the earth has left for them.

____________________________________

September 4, Irrawaddy
Weekly Business Roundup - William Boot

Bangladesh in Deal to buy Burma Hydro Dam Electricity

Energy starved Burma has reportedly agreed to build two hydroelectric dams
in southwestern Arakan State to supply Bangladesh with electricity.

The projects at Michuang and Lemro will have power generating capacities
of 575 megawatts, according to the Financial Express newspaper in Dhaka
quoting Bangladeshi energy ministry officials.

That is about one third of Burma’s current national electricity generating
capacity.

The paper said an agreement was reached during a recent visit to Burma by
a “high-powered Bangladesh delegation.”

Bangladesh is suffering an acute electricity shortage causing frequent
blackouts even in the capital that have shut down factories. Factory
workers rioted in Dhaka recently over pay losses due to factory stoppages.

The dams will be built by unnamed Chinese firms with the Shwe Taung
Development Company as the Burmese partner.

No timetable for the hydro projects has been disclosed, nor how they will
be financed.

Earlier efforts by Bangladesh to build hydroelectric dams in Arakan, close
to the border at Cox’s Bazar, have come to nothing.

A Burmese negotiating team will visit Bangladesh in the near future to
finalize the power purchasing terms, said the Financial Express.

Brussels Trade Union Group Urges Tighter Sanctions Against Junta

Economic sanctions against Burma should be “tighter and more
comprehensive,” says the Brussels-based International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC).

It said recent revelations about the covert way in which Britain’s
Barclays Bank attempted to continue doing business with Burma illustrated
the need for tougher action.

“Governments need to send a clear message and tighten sanctions now,
including on finance and insurance,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan
Burrow in a statement, adding, ““The European Union in particular should
step up pressure.”

Barclays recently admitted in a US court to covering up secret financial
transactions with several sanctioned countries, including Burma, between
1995 and 2006.

The bank admitted operating a filter system in Britain which monitored any
transactions involving countries under US legal sanctions.

It has agreed to pay a fine of US $298 million for flouting American
sanctions law. Barclays is registered as a business in the US.

The ITUC said the international community should seek to force the junta
to implement the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation
Commission of inquiry into forced labor in Burma “instead of embarking
upon uncritical engagement policies that could strengthen the regime.”

Than Shwe’s China Visit ‘About Business'

Burmese junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe will seek to promote business
contacts with Asian countries when he visits the World Expo trade show in
Shanghai next week.

He will attend the huge international six-month event during his visit to
China as a guest of the Beijing government.

Than Shwe is going to China at the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao who
visited Burma in June.

The two leaders initialed a number of trade and state business plans in
June, and analysts say Than Shwe’s China visit will cement these, among
other things.

“The Burma leader is certain to meet a number of senior representatives of
Chinese state enterprises and I would think that construction, energy and
mining will figure prominently,” said a trade counselor at a Western
embassy in Bangkok on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Of course, the visit will be sending a strong political message of
support from Beijing ahead of the Burmese elections but business will
definitely be on the agenda, in the capital and in Shanghai,” he said.

Delhi Voices Concern at China’s Indian Ocean Ports Activity

The Indian government has expressed concern about China’s growing interest
in the Indian Ocean and its investment in a string of ports.

The concern comes as Chinese state firms build an oil transshipment
terminal for huge tankers on the Burmese coast, invest in Bangladeshi
ports, and negotiate for port access in Pakistan.

“China has been showing more than the normal interest in Indian Ocean
affairs. So we are closely monitoring Chinese intentions,” Foreign
Minister S.M. Krishna said in a statement this week to the Indian
parliament.

The New Delhi concern was voiced as two Chinese warships visited Rangoon
port.

Krishna made no mention of Burma with which it has been cultivating warmer
relations, although it is understood that the oil transshipment on Ramree
island in the Bay of Bengal will lead to increased Chinese shipping in the
Indian Ocean.

The Ramree terminal will handle tankers from the Middle East and Africa
bringing oil to feed a trans-Burma pipeline into southwest China.

“China has told India it has no strategic interest in the Indian Ocean,
but that it patently untrue when you set out to use it as a conduit for
much needed oil imports,” said Bangkok-based energy industries consultant
Collin Reynolds.

“You can be sure that when those oil shipments via Burma begin the Chinese
will step up their naval presence in the ocean, especially with piracy on
the up.”

The two Chinese navy ships visiting Rangoon this week are part of an
anti-piracy force.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 6, Reuters
Five facts about China-Myanmar relations

Myanmar's reclusive leader, General Than Shwe, arrives in China on Tuesday
for a five-day state visit ahead of elections on Nov. 7, at which the
ruling junta's civilian proxies are expected to score a resounding
victory.

Here are five facts about the complex relationship between China and Myanmar:

*In 1949, Burma, as Myanmar was then known, was one of the first countries
to recognise the People's Republic of China. But relations soured in the
1960s following anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon (now called Yangon).

* Following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988, the West
imposed broad sanctions on Myanmar. China stepped into the void, providing
aid and weapons and ramping up trade.

Beijing has continued to provide broad diplomatic support for Myanmar's
military government, though the ruling generals remain wary of their
powerful northern neighbour.

* China has pumped $8.17 billion into Myanmar in the current fiscal year,
accounting for two-thirds of its total investment over the past two
decades, Myanmar's state media reported last month. [ID:nSGE67F0BL]

Energy projects formed the bulk of the investment, with $5 billion in
hydropower and $2.15 billion in the oil and gas sector of the
resource-rich nation. However, analysts say official investment data for
Myanmar is notoriously unreliable.

Bilateral trade grew by more than one-quarter in 2008 to about $2.63
billion, according to Chinese figures. Chinese firms are also heavily
involved in logging in Myanmar.

* Myanmar gives China access to the Indian Ocean, not only for imports of
oil and gas and exports from landlocked southwestern Chinese provinces,
but also potentially for military bases or listening posts. Two Chinese
warships made a port call in Myanmar last month, the Chinese navy's first
visit to the country.

In October, China's state energy group CNPC started building a crude oil
port in Myanmar, part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long
detour oil cargoes take through the congested and strategically vulnerable
Malacca Strait. [ID:nTOE60D08W] [ID:nTOE67P06B]

* The relationship has had rocky patches of late. In August 2009, refugees
flooded across into China following fighting on the Myanmar side of the
border between rebels and government troops, angering Beijing. Myanmar has
since promised to maintain stability on the border. [ID:nTOE65206V]

In 2007, China's Foreign Ministry published an unflattering account of
Myanmar's new jungle capital Naypyitaw, expressing surprise that the poor
country would consider such an expensive move without first telling its
supposed Chinese friends. (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron
Popeski)

____________________________________

September 4, Kaladan Press
Ten issues on agenda in Burma-Bangladesh JTC meeting - Tin Soe

Chittagong, Bangladesh: Bangladesh wants to discus 10 major issues during
the two-day Burma-Bangladesh fourth Joint Trade Commission (JTC) meeting
to be held in Dhaka on September 22, according to a senior official of the
Ministry of Commerce (MoC).

MD Ghulam Hussain and Aung Tun, Commerce Secretaries of Bangladesh and
Burma respectively, will lead their delegations at the meeting where
Bangladesh will have senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(MoFA), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Ministry of
Communication and Energy, the official said.

The 10 major issues are: establishing a direct air link between Dhaka and
Rangoon; establishing a direct road link between Burma and Bangladesh;
eliminating problems relating to business visas; introducing direct letter
of credit (L/C); establishing a hydroelectric plant in Arakan State,
Burma; fertiliser buy-back; border trade; repatriation of Myanmar
refugees; demarcation of land boundaries; delimitation of maritime
boundaries; coastal shipping link; cooperation in tourism; border fencing;
issuance of border passes and cooperation in agricultural sector, the
source said.

Dhaka is expected to attach the highest importance to the issue of the
hydro-power plant as the country is in dire need of electricity, sources
said.

The road link is not only for Burma and Bangladesh, but also for many
regional countries, an official in the Ministry of Communication (MoC)
said.

Dhaka's prime agenda at the meeting will be to request Rangoon to increase
imports from Bangladesh. Currently, exporters and importers of both the
countries face problems due to the absence of direct L/C opening
opportunities between banks of the two countries. Since Myanmar is not
member of International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country
follows strict foreign exchange related regulations, trade officials said.

"We will raise the Letter of Credit issue seriously,” a top MoC official
said.

Also on the agenda of the meeting will be the problems of business visas
issued from the Burmese Embassy in Dhaka. Bangladeshi businessmen only get
a 14 day visa, and that only allows them to travel to the bordering Arakan
State of Burma. Moreover, with one single entry in the border pass, they
are not allowed to move beyond Maungdaw.

Bilateral trade between the two neighbouring countries has been taking
place under the General Trade Agreement and Border Trade Agreement signed
in 1973 and 1994 respectively. Trade between the two countries takes place
mostly under the provisions of border trade arrangements. The two-way
trade volume is very low and the balance is tilted towards Burma.

Dhaka exported goods and commodities worth only $9.17million to Yangon in
2008-09 while its imports during the same period stood at $66.65 million.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 6, Irrawaddy
The Irrawaddy editor wins journalism award - Wai Moe

The founder and editor of The Irrawaddy magazine, Aung Zaw, has been
awarded the 2010 Prince Claus Award for journalism along with two
journalists from Iran and Cuba.

“Aung Zaw is honored for his active dedication to achieving democratic
government in Burma,” said the organization on Monday. “For building such
a valuable resource for exposing realities that those in power want to
hide, for maintaining the flow of ideas and upholding freedom of
information, and for his inspiring role in transgressing the containment
of violently enforced political boundaries.”

Aung Zaw (Left) interviews the late Burmese foreign minister Win Aung in
Bangkok in the late 1990s.
The Irrawaddy editor becomes the second Burmese recipient of a Prince
Claus award after the late poet Tin Moe (1933-2007) who was honored in
2004. Tin Moe was awarded for “his outstanding literary achievements and
for his role in sustaining culture as a source of strength, inspiration
and identity,” said the Prince Claus Fund.

Rangoon-born Aung Zaw, 42, who has lived in exile since 1988 said he was
honored to learn the news and feels humble to be selected as one of the
laureates.

“I share this award with the many courageous journalists inside Burma—
they have been taking greater risks in telling the world the truth about
what’s happening inside military-ruled Burma,” he said. “They are
journalists, editors, bloggers, as well as citizen journalists and true
heroes of Burma. Many of them are in prison. I truly admire them.”

He added: “I wish to share the prize with my colleagues at The Irrawaddy,
many of whom work inside Burma, and with the many exiled Burmese and
friends of Burma, such as Sam Kalayanee [an independent Thai filmmaker who
died last week in Chiang Mai].”

According to the official website, the Prince Claus Fund was inaugurated
in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of The Netherlands. The Fund has
presented the international Prince Claus Awards annually since 1997 to
honor individuals and organizations reflecting a progressive and
contemporary approach to the themes of culture and development.
Recipients are mainly located in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean.

However, the theme of the award changes every year. The theme of the 2010
award is “Frontiers of Reality,” and the fund said it had considered
individuals and organizations whose exceptional performance not only
challenges and changes the boundaries of reality, but who, in doing so,
contribute to the development of society.

The awards are presented to laureates for their outstanding work in
journalism, visual arts, film/photography, literature and architecture.
The Principle Award winner for 2010, Algerian publisher Barzakh Editions,
receives € 100,000, which will be presented at the Royal Palace in
Amsterdam in December while 10 other laureates, including Aung Zaw, will
each receive €25,000, to be presented by Dutch ambassadors in their
respective residential countries.

The Dutch fund said in their statement on Monday that in 1993, Aung Zaw
launched The Irrawaddy, the first independent publication on Burma and the
most significant resource for up-to-date news on the political situation.
Although Aung Zaw is a former activist and political detainee, he remains
unaffiliated to any political group and has recently expanded coverage to
related regional developments, according to the announcement.

“As a founder of the magazine, I believe that the facts we have reported
in The Irrawaddy in the past 17 years have been subversive,” said Aung
Zaw. “Our journey to document and expose the truth will continue.”

Beside Aung Zaw, Iranian independent filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, 41, and
Yoani Sánchez, 35, are the other laureates of the 2010 Prince Claus Awards
in journalism. The Dutch fund said Oskouei “penetrates subaltern segments
of Iranian Society to give voice to unknown perspectives, challenge
preconceptions and offer unique readings of people lives and experience”
while Sánchez is described as “a leading figure in the use of social
networking technologies to breach imposed frontiers.”

Link to Prince Claus statement:
http://www.princeclausfund.org/en/what_we_do/awards/index.shtml

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 5, Financial Times (Editorial)
Burma’s poll farce

Burma’s elections are shaping up to be the detestable sham the
dictatorship’s sternest critics have warned. Unlike those held – and then
callously ignored – in 1990, no credible opposition is running. Aung San
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won the 1990 poll, is a
prisoner after spending 15 of the past 21 years under arrest. She is
barred from participating. Not satisfied with the quarter of parliamentary
seats reserved for the military, dozens of officers retired last week so
they could contest “civilian” seats. Philip Crowley, a US assistant
secretary of state, accurately said of this mockery: “A dictator in
civilian clothing is still a dictator.”

Sadly, if predictably, the opposition has splintered under the pressure.
Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD party has boycotted the poll. The breakaway National
Democratic Force has decided it is better to fight the election, however
flawed. Its candidates have faced intimidation, strict censorship and a
registration fee of $500, not far short of annual per capita income in the
impoverished country. The two main opposition parties are expected to
field only 200 candidates against the more than 1,000 standing for the
junta-backed Union Solidarity Development party.

The generals must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves. They have
rarely looked more secure. Their economic prospects, in contrast to those
of their downtrodden countrymen, are rosy. The regime is busily dividing
up state assets through a phoney “privatisation” scheme. It is also
selling gas to Thailand and will soon start supplying China. India,
another big trading partner, treats the regime with kid gloves. All three
countries ought to put the interests of Burmese people above their own
commercial interests, though the chances they will do so are virtually
nil. Even the US has begun to talk to – though not to trade with – the
generals. Years of sanctions and cold-shouldering have produced precisely
nothing.

Yet the election, however rigged, is not without meaning. General Than
Shwe, who has ruled the country since 1992, is now 77. What he laughably
calls “a roadmap to democracy” looks like a succession plan. That makes it
unpredictable. Military officers may use the ballot to jostle for power.
There must be a chance they will descend into infighting or let some true
democrats into the political process by the back door. One should not
exaggerate. The world is right to expose the process as a farce. But it
should also be alive to the possibility, however slim, of surprise.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our
article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by
email or post to the web.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9557b256-b915-11df-99be-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss

____________________________________

September 6, Newsweek
Burma's elections in name only - Mike Giglio

The last time Burma's junta tried rigging an election in hopes of putting
a civilian face on its military rule, in 1990, it was routed at the polls.
The junta responded by annulling the results. Now, with the country's
first vote in 20 years set for Nov. 7, the generals have apparently
learned their lesson: this time, the process will be even more tightly
controlled.

In 2008 the junta pushed through a Constitution that guarantees it a
quarter of parliamentary seats and a continued stranglehold on state
power. In the upcoming elections, meanwhile, opposition candidates need
permission to campaign and are barred from shouting slogans, waving flags,
criticizing the junta, or "harming security." Civil servants and monks are
barred from running, as is anyone convicted of a crime--which means a good
portion of the politically inclined. And parties must submit a list of at
least 1,000 members in order to register, a scary proposition for voters
who live in constant fear of the military and its spies. (One party chair
has complained that security forces are already intimidating members on
his list.)

None of this lends the appearance of legitimacy to the elections, and
candidates are starting to quit in protest and threatening to boycott the
polls. Unfortunately, this will likely matter very little to countries
such as the other ASEAN nations and China, which have already been willing
to do business with the junta and turn a blind eye to human rights. Worse,
it may even give political cover to those like India that hope to ramp up
trade with Burma. Twenty years later, it's likely that the junta will
finally get its desired results at the polls--but from an election free in
name only.

____________________________________

September 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
The Senior General that never is - Soe Min Naing

Buried deep within secret Burmese army files obtained by DVB is a
recording of Senior General Than Shwe in late 2005 speaking to top-level
military officials during a four-monthly meeting.

“If we look at the list of fallen people, you will see that 38 people
fell, and one person went missing; 59 persons wounded, 21 weapons were
lost
” he says on the losses suffered by his army.

The record reveals the mindset and intellectual depth of a general who has
been controlling Burma for more than a decade. But it also highlights
problems faced by Burmese leaders everywhere, who struggle to provide
positive leadership due to self-deception and an inability to adapt and
accept criticism for fear of ‘losing face’.

Senior leaders want the participation and contribution of younger
generations, but at the same time are unable to take into account what the
new generations really want, and where they can perform well. The
mentality of ‘old people know best’ is still widespread both in military
and political circles in Burma, despite the rhetoric of wanting to build a
‘new, democratic’ society for future generations.

Than Shwe begins in a clear and sonorous voice, but the more you listen to
the 50-minute speech, the more you realise his frustration, anger and
helplessness. In order to make his point, the 72-year-old often uses long
sentences, rhetorical questions and even humour. They are cobbled together
in a repetitive way, sometimes using the omniscient tone of a Buddhist
monk preaching his way to Nirvana, sometimes with the bullying tone of a
schoolmaster admonishing his taciturn pupils.

“[Deserters] might run away because they could not bear the hardship of
the battleground. And they might run away because they are afraid. And,
they might run away because we treat them badly.”

However he falls short of facing up to the fact that soldiers desert
because they have lost faith in the army or the regime itself. So, like a
true despotic paternalistic Burmese leader, Than Shwe piles all the blame
on his nearest henchmen, the commanders. The onslaught of blame first
sounds like a soul-searching practice but it then tapers into a
self-satisfying, pathetic moan.

“What is possible though is the majority run away because of the weakness
in our treatment of them and administration
 even if he ran away because
he could not tolerate the hardships in battlefield, you need to make him
able to endure it
 if it is a question of cowardice, it could be cured
”


>From this point on, the speech imperceptibly turns into a monk-style

sermon combined with the tone of a sentimental drunkard philosophising
over life and death. His assertions are incongruous and inconsistent, and
constantly undercut each other.

“I said it before, no one is born with the habit of killing and
slaughtering. We have to train our heart [to do it]
 There is no one who
is not afraid of dying. We are all afraid to die. Only God, saints and
martyrs are not afraid of dying – I read it in books.”

And with a sense of pride he relates how his old friends and teachers,
some village thugs, trained soldiers to be tough in order to illustrate
the point that you have to be cruel to be kind.

“I was thinking to myself, he is such an inhumane person, such a barbarous
person. ‘What are you doing that for?’ I asked. ‘What is the matter with
you, lieutenant?’ he said. ‘If you feed them well here, they won’t have
any endurance on the battlefield. You have to train them now so that they
can endure it later.’ Yeah, that was not good but this has its own logic
”

Listen to above quote obtained by Democratic Voice of Burma

“When you recruit, don’t let in military traffickers
 they enter from one
army and take all the materials they could grab and run away and join the
other
if you see these army traffickers send them for about seven years in
jail
 during wartime, you can even give them up to death sentence. You are
allowed to give death sentence during war time
 You need to treat [them]
like that
”

It is chilling to hear the way he utters the word death sentence with
casualness. Notice how he just moots the idea and leaves it to his
followers to interpret what he means exactly, as it is neither a proper
order nor a passing remark – a devious practice often used by powerful
leaders in order to avoid direct responsibility when things go wrong. Many
innocent people were punished or even killed by soldiers with this kind of
informal order in Burma.

He then tells his commanders to treat new recruits with respect and
humanity, littering his speech with English translations in an attempt to
appear intellectual and to impress his commanders:

“
A human being has ‘attachment’; ’attachment’ in English means sticking
to, connected with one another
 that is attachment. As for you, whatever
you say, when a new soldier comes in, you need to treat him sweetly and
courteously. It is necessary that he comes to love the army
If you do that
they will have the attachment for you.”

For one thing, it never seems to occur to Than Shwe that the army or the
country can’t be improved by just giving ‘necessary instructions’ without
addressing real problems facing them. His rant is followed by a truly
ironic remark given the wider context:
“Confidence and understanding are very important. In politics too,
confidence and understanding are important. Confidence and understanding
are important when nations deal with each other. For us too, confidence
and understanding are important everywhere. If you treat them like that,
confidence and understanding will rise voluntarily.”

He appears to ignore the fact that he himself fails to treat the
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi with confidence and understanding for
the sake of the country, inadvertently highlighting his own hypocrisy.
Having realized the weakness in his argument, Than Shwe cracks a ‘joke’,
using the analogy of his favourite sport, football, to ease the tension.
But no one seems to find the joke funny, or it is likely that they dare
not laugh out loud for fear of offending him unwittingly.

“I will tell you a funny thing
 Some people just watch the game ball
[ballgame] and do nothing. Forget the game ball. Just leave it and game
it, am I right? Just call it a game. (giggle) Just game it straight
away
(laughing)
Just cancel the game ball. The game ball doesn’t work
anymore


Listen to above quote obtained by Democratic Voice of Burma

“Make sure that the training is not exploitative training. It used to have
a bad name because it used to be ‘exploitative’, ‘exploiting’ group
(giggles)
 I don’t know whether that kind of thing still exists. You watch
out for that. Don’t let yourselves be exploiting training.”

That, however, is more easily said than done. Than Shwe and his commanders
know how difficult it is to command and reorganise a demoralized army, not
to mention a rundown country with diverse racial backgrounds and
interests. It is not that the generals do not want to carry out their
duties well, but it seems that they do not have real political will to
help the army or the country.

Moreover, those who have the will and the vision are often attacked and
marginalised by those who only have the trickery and position, as the
system itself is based on fear, flattery and intrigue. Than Shwe’s
solution for improving the system is simple: try to persuade those not in
accordance with your liking, and if they do not accept your advice, kick
them out: “If you see people who are fed up, remove them”.

Having failed to give any feasible direction to his commanders, the speech
meanders back to the importance of mentality, discipline and skill, but
with a new analogy. “If you can’t train them in the training, it will
become very difficult. The reason is it is already ruined at the stage of
conception
 There is no reason for the foetus to become good
”

At this stage, the speech resembles the middle section of a traditional
Burmese orchestral performance with indecipherable cacophony as he touches
on every subject from firing weapons accurately, pregnancy and foetuses,
to training schools and the curricula, chanting words like mantras and
sutras. Than Shwe’s speech might not be as long as Fidel Castro’s famed
monologues, but it is just as boring and soul-numbing. But his special
anger is reserved for deserters and he cannot help but express his anger
against them.

“They kill their officer and join the rebel, take away the guns and
landmines and mine our own troop; what kind of persons they are, I don’t
know. They have no sense of ‘thanyawzin’ [attachment]. If you mine your
own troops, you won’t have attachment to your troops, would you? Isn’t it?
They are people like that. It shows that the mentality you have instilled
itself is weak.”

He then promises his commanders that the Burmese army “will become a
modern army without fail
 It has to be a strong, capable, modern, trained
army
 Everyone has responsibility and you all need to fulfil it
It is not
enough that you can fight because you are only army officers; officers
have to do all.”

The full meaning of “officers have to do all” becomes clearer when another
senior general tells the commanders that “combat is temporary and
administration is eternal”, reiterating the army’s unwillingness to give
up power despite the promise of a civilian government after elections this
year.

The speech was delivered one year after Than Shwe’s main rival, former
intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, was officially ‘permitted to retire for
health reasons’, or more likely ousted by Than Shwe himself. Than Shwe and
other senior generals do not like Khin Nyunt, who is younger and more
intelligent, and they felt they were being upstaged by his popularity and
success with persuading armed ethnic groups not to fight against the army.

Than Shwe in particular feels aggrieved and wronged by the way “young
Turks” like Khin Nyunt are allowed to take advantage of his “goodwill”.
But what he cannot admit is that he is a frustrated man who has been
unable to learn new tricks after assuming the top position. He appears and
sounds like a mannequin wrapped in a uniform that symbolises his power but
which to comical effect hangs on him like an ill-fitting suit; the slave
of his own uniform.

It will be interesting to see what Than Shwe does after the election if he
is forced to ‘retire’ by his ‘elected’ comrades. Will he spend his
remaining days in a monastery to atone for his violent past and declare
himself a Buddha to be, or will he be still clinging to the uniform and to
power? Whatever is the case, he will be replaced by another man in uniform
sooner or later, and Burma will not fare better if he retains the same
mentality as his predecessors.

____________________________________

September 6, All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students, All Burma
Federation of Student Unions
UN investigation of human rights violations in Burma is welcomed

European Union, United States, Canada, and Australia Urged to Make It
Happen in the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council Meetings in
September 2010

No. 9/2010(ABMA+88+ABFSU)
Rangoon, Burma

(1) We welcome and support the endorsement of the United States for a UN
Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Burma, as recommended by UN Special Rapporteur on the
situation of Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana in March 2010.

We are also encouraged by the support shown by the United Kingdom,
Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Canada on Mr. Quintana’s
recommendation.

(2) The people of Burma have been oppressed by successive military regimes
since 1962. The military staged a coup, followed by an abolishment of
14-year-old parliamentary democracy system. Democracy activists and human
rights defenders who have challenged the regime’s illegal rule were
brutally killed, unlawfully arrested, rigorously tortured, and arbitrarily
detained, unfairly sentenced, and inhumanly imprisoned in remote prisons
for many years.

(3) Human rights violations are particularly severe in ethnic minority
areas where the regime has launched a large-scale military offence to
suppress and subjugate the ethnic resistance movements. As a result of
scorched-earth campaigns, over 3,500 ethnic villages have been razed to
the ground. Tens of thousands of villagers are forced to porter and
relocate homes at gun point. Civilians are also used as human shields as
well as mine-sweepers, on a land littered with landmines. Thousands of
women and girls are raped, used as a weapon of war. Over 500,000 ethnic
people are displaced from their homes, living out their days in hiding
from the Army. Moreover, over 2 million people have fled to neighboring
countries to become refugees or illegal immigrants. Human rights
violations are a
day-to-day occurrence in Burma, operating under a system of impunity. A UN
Commission of Inquiry to investigate these egregious crimes committed by
the military regime is not only necessary but long overdue.

(4) The creation of a UN Commission on Burma is even more imperative given
the regime is trying to shore up its military power via the sham 2008
constitution and election scheduled for November 7, 2010. The constitution
grants blanket amnesty and immunity to the military generals of any crimes
committed during their incumbencies and beyond. It also specifically
states that military personnel cannot be put on trial under the given
civilian judiciary system. Instead, they can only be tried by the
military court appointed by the Commander-in-Chief. We believe that the UN
Commission of Inquiry will be an important first step towards justice and
accountability in Burma, where the generals will be held responsible for
their heinous crimes.

(5) We believe such an international action will transpire an end to human
rights violations in Burma, and force the military generals to come to the
negotiating table with democracy forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi, National
League for Democracy party and ethnic representatives. This multiparty
dialogue is a much-needed step towards a peaceful national reconciliation
in the country.

(6) We know the European Union is drafting a resolution on Burma, which
will be submitted to the UN General Assembly in the near future. We
strongly urge the EU take this opportunity to stand with us on the side of
justice and call on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to establish the
UN Commission of Inquiry in Burma. We advise the EU to make this important
recommendation in its draft resolution for Burma. Meanwhile, we recommend
the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries to work with the
EU to make the UN Commission in Burma possible at the upcoming UN General
Assembly and the Human Rights Council meetings.

All Burma Monks’ Alliance
The 88 Generation Students
All Burma Federation of Student Unions
Rangoon, Burma