From editor at burmanet.org Mon Jan 31 14:36:09 2011 From: editor at burmanet.org (Editor) Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:36:09 -0500 Subject: BurmaNet News, January 29 - 31, 2011 Message-ID: <460a8c6cf44594e8dd66dc4ffa09dc8a.squirrel@sm.webmail.pair.com> Dear BurmaNet Readers and Subscribers, Thank you to everyone who participated in our BurmaNet News survey! Based on your responses, we are in the process of making a few upgrades to the BurmaNet News services. Starting this week, you will begin receiving the BurmaNet newsletter in your mailbox via our new email service provider Mailchimp as opposed to Pairlist mailman , our previous host. Other improvements will take place over the next few weeks. Again, we thank you for your help. Sincerely, BurmaNet News editors January 29 ? 31, 2011 Issue #4130 INSIDE BURMA New York Times: Myanmar opens parliament for first time since the ?80s Reuters: As Myanmar parliament opens, junta's shadow looms large Nation (Thailand): Suu Kyi launches website DVB: Journalists barred from parliament New Light of Myanmar: All Pyithu Hluttaw, Amyotha Hluttaw representatives arrive in Nay Pyi Taw Representatives enjoying convenient accommodation, meals and transport ON THE BORDER Thai News Agency MCOT: Two Thai soldiers wounded by artillery from Myanmar clash BUSINESS / TRADE Bangkok Post: Businesses keen on roads along border with Burma INTERNATIONAL Economist: Aung San Suu Kyi (virtually) at Davos Kansas City Star (US): For ethnic Karen immigrants, life in KC is a dream after a nightmare AFP: Myanmar refugee sets himself alight in Australia OPINION / OTHER TIME: Was Burma's opening of Parliament significant? ? Hannah Beech Bangkok Post: Egyptian troubles paralleled in Burma ? Editorial DVB: This parliament makes a mockery of democracy ? Larry Jagan Myanmar Times: Business boom beckons in Myanmar ? Luc de Waegh Straits Times (Singapore): Way forward for Asean and EU on Myanmar; New Parliament opening today offers opportunity for re-engagement ? Jonathan Eyal ____________________________________ INSIDE BURMA January 30, New York Times Myanmar opens parliament for first time since the ?80s ? Thomas Fuller Bangkok ? Myanmar?s ruling generals on Monday convened the first meeting of Parliament in more than two decades, a move they say completes the impoverished country?s transition to a multiparty democracy. Reporters were barred from the Parliament building when the session was convened Monday morning under tight security in the capital, Naypyidaw, the Associated Press reported. Officially the opening of the two-chamber Parliament will mean the dissolution of the junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1988, when the country was known as Burma. But it does not appear to be the dawn of unfettered democracy. A quarter of the seats are reserved for the military, and a military-backed party controls more than 80 percent of the rest, allowing the generals to effectively retain their power, albeit in a less hierarchical system. ?The military is staying in control, but some of them are taking off their uniforms,? said Win Min, a professor at Payap University in Thailand who is on leave in the United States. One key question is whether Myanmar?s top general, Than Shwe, will become president, the most powerful job under the new Constitution, but one that would require him to resign as commander in chief. Gen. Than Shwe, who has successfully crushed uprisings and purged potential rivals inside the military during his nearly two decades in power, turns 78 on Wednesday, according to a government booklet published three decades ago. (The military government has been so secretive that even the birthday of the country?s top leader is not known with certainty.) Myanmar?s new system will resemble a democracy more in form than in substance, analysts say, but with the possibility of more debate and inclusiveness than under the junta?s top-down rule. Myanmar?s news media in exile has reported that questions in Parliament must be submitted by members 10 days in advance and pass a vetting process. ?I don?t think there?s going to be a lot of open, democratic governance during these first five years,? said Priscilla A. Clapp, who was the chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Myanmar from 1999 to 2002. ?But with a system that is so much more complex, inevitably competing centers of power will develop.? The opening of Parliament, which follows elections in November, is only one of a number of changes inside Myanmar. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the country?s leading dissident, was freed from house arrest a week after the elections and is now seeking to rebuild her pro-democracy movement. The military government, meanwhile, is aggressively selling off buildings, factories and state-run companies, mostly to allies and family members of the country?s military leaders. The rush to privatization vaguely resembles the vast sell-off in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Neighboring countries have responded by pushing harder to end Myanmar?s international isolation, including an effort to lift the economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other Western countries. The two chambers of Parliament and representatives from the military will nominate three vice presidents, one of whom will be elected president and choose a cabinet. Names of potential cabinet members circulating in Myanmar in recent days included many of the people who held positions of power under the military government. Parliament last met in Myanmar under the one-party rule of Gen. Ne Win, who formally retired from politics in 1988 during a time of unrest, but the country has not had a genuine multiparty system since 1962, when the military took power in a coup. ____________________________________ January 31, Reuters As Myanmar parliament opens, junta's shadow looms large ? Aung Hla Tun Naypyitaw ? An elected parliament convened in Myanmar on Monday for the first time in half a century but inspired scant enthusiasm among a sceptical public convinced it is just a smokescreen for continued military rule. More than 600 members filled two new "Hluttaws," or legislative chambers, in the opening session. They are tasked with choosing Myanmar's first civilian president since a 1962 coup ushered in 49 unbroken years of military dictatorship. The ruling junta has hailed the legislature as a new dawn of democracy but critics dismiss it as a charade that leaves the same authoritarian generals in control. The new government is just as likely to clamp down on dissent as the old one. Lawmakers elected a chairmen and vice chairmen for each of the two chambers in the opening session, with three of the four positions going to retired soldiers, according to several parliamentarians, who asked to remain anonymous because speaking to the media was punishable by two years in prison. The big surprise was junta number three Thura Shwe Mann, a career soldier honoured for bravery and tipped by many politicians and analysts as a possible presidential candidate, being made chairman, or speaker, of the lower house. "There was speculation among us that Thura Shwe Mann will become the president, but our party instructed us to elect him as the chairman of the lower house," said a member of the main political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is a proxy for the military government. The army has a reserved quota of a quarter of the seats in both chambers, as well as in regional parliaments. That leaves parliament dominated by serving or retired soldiers loyal to junta supremo Than Shwe who many analysts think might take the post of president. Police patrolled roads and legislators travelled in luxury cars to the assemblies in Naypyitaw, the sprawling capital built from scratch just four years ago, where the military rulers of the former Burma have isolated themselves some 320 km (200 miles) from the biggest city and former capital, Yangon. But there was barely a ripple of interest among ordinary Burmese, most of whom see the changes as purely cosmetic. "We have no idea and no time to take the trouble to think about these useless things," said a 38-year-old worker in Naypyitaw when asked for his views on parliament. Journalists were barred from attending the session and cellular phones were banned in the chambers. Following a November 7 general election that was sharply criticised at home and abroad for irregularities, both the lower and upper houses will be dominated by the USDP. "WE DON'T CARE WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT" The National Democratic Force, the biggest pro-democracy party that took part in the November election, won just 12 of the 664 seats. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy boycotted the election after winning the previous poll in 1990 by a landslide, a result the military ignored. Despite being freed from house arrest after the election, Suu Kyi and her party, dissolved for boycotting the poll, have no influence over parliament, though she remains immensely popular. While Western nations have harshly criticised the parliament and shown little sign of ending sanctions imposed in response to rights abuses, the elections have been lauded by China which, along with Thailand, India and Singapore, is a big investor. Myanmar's neighbours are keen to tap its rich natural resources. Its proven gas reserves, for instance, doubled in the past decade to 570 billion cubic metres, equivalent to almost a fifth of Australia's, according to the BP Statistical Review. China's official Xinhua news agency hailed the start of parliament as a "new era," in which the military would still play a role "with its own special characteristics." Japan's Foreign Ministry said it would "closely observe" the direction of the parliament and called on the new government, when it takes office, to release political prisoners and engage more with the international community. Most people interviewed by Reuters said they remained far more concerned with the struggles of day-to-day life in a country with woeful public services, frequent power cuts and chronic economic mismanagement. At least 32 percent of Myanmar's estimated 50 million people live below the poverty line. "We don't care who becomes president as long as he can create better living conditions," said the worker, who would only speak candidly on the condition his name was not reported. "Things couldn't be worse right now and prices keep rising." No one has publicly expressed interest in becoming head of state and analysts believe the president, two vice presidents and ministers have already been decided by the junta. Many believe the 78-year-old Than Shwe is too wary to end his 18-year reign and will quietly retire from the military in coming days so he is eligible to take the all-powerful presidency himself. Other analysts, however, believe the strongman may have reserved the top positions for his proteges and confidantes and plans to step aside and pull the strings from behind the scenes. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel) ____________________________________ January 31, The Nation (Thailand) Suu Kyi launches website Rangoon -Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi this weekend launched a website to consolidate international links and speed up "democratic union" in her military-led country. "A good communication system is essential to our endeavour to set up a people's network for democracy that will span the whole world," Suu Kyi said in a statement posted online Monday. By moving the message of her National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party online, "I believe we shall be able to achieve our goal of a democratic union at a faster pace," she said. The statement was co-signed by NLD vice chairman Tin Oo. The website, http://www.nldburma.org, was made possible when authorities allowed Suu Kyi internet access on November 21. The NLD is Burma's main opposition party. It won the 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been blocked from power by the ruling junta for the past 20 years, with most of its leadership thrown in jail. The NLD boycotted the November election in response to new regulations that would have required it to drop its leader Suu Kyi as a member. As a consequence of the boycott, it lost its party status. ____________________________________ January 31, Democratic Voice of Burma Journalists barred from parliament ? Shwe Aung Journalists will not be allowed to enter parliament today to cover the first session in more than two decades, despite reported pledges to the contrary. It also remains unclear whether media will be allowed to report on any future sittings, the chairman of the Committee for Professional Conduct (CPC), Ko Ko, told DVB. ?The CPC previously checked with the MoI [Ministry of Information] and was told that there was no plan to invite journalists to Naypyidaw for the parliament opening,? he said. This comes despite an announcement by Burma?s information minister, Kyaw Hsan, on 17 January that reporters would be permitted. Some 18 foreign news correspondents arrived in Naypyidaw yesterday to cover the event, but a photojournalist said today it would be impossible even to take a photo of the parliament building because the road leading to it was barricaded with barbed wire. An elected MP today said on condition of anonymity that two reporters from a domestic Burmese news journal were visited by government authorities at their guest house in the capital and had their names taken. Burma has some of the world?s strictest media laws, and bans filming of so-called sensitive material that would include parliamentary debates unless expressly permitted to do so. Under the Electronics Act, journalists caught filming without permission face a 10-year prison sentence. The CPC, which is ostensibly tasked with protecting the interests of journalists and issuing guidelines for media practice, was set up recently by the government?s censor board, which also enforces Burma?s draconian press laws. Analysts have sought to dampen expectations about the first parliamentary session since elections in November last year. Both chambers are dominated by the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 80 percent of the vote, while a quarter of seats have already been reserved for pre-appointed military officials who effectively carry power of veto. A parliament did meet in 1988 prior to the ousting of Burma?s first dictator, Ne Win, but one has to go back to March 1962 for the last time it met under civilian rule. ____________________________________ January 31, New Light of Myanmar All Pyithu Hluttaw, Amyotha Hluttaw representatives arrive in Nay Pyi Taw Representatives enjoying convenient accommodation, meals and transport Nay Pyi Taw ? All Pyithu Hluttaw representatives and Amyotha Hluttaw representatives have arrived here to attend the Hluttaw meetings to be commenced on 31 January 2011. Thanks to comprehensive preparations of the authorities concerned, the Hluttaw representatives are convenient in accommodation, meals and transport matters. The Hluttaw representatives today contacted the authorities concerned for attending the Hluttaw meetings. - MNA ____________________________________ ON THE BORDER January 31, Thai News Agency MCOT Two Thai soldiers wounded by artillery from Myanmar clash Tak ? Two Thai soldiers were injured after an artillery shell from a clash between Myanmar and ethnic Karen troops exploded on landing on the Thai side in the northern border province of Tak Sunday night. Third Army commander Lt Gen Wannatip Wongwai and Maj Gen Kasem Thanaporn, commander of the Naresuan Taskforce, on Monday visited Pte Benjapon Paokantha, 23, at hospital in Mae Sot district. He and his companion Pte Winai Damrongpon were patrolling the border when the shell from fighting between Myanmar Tatmadaw soldiers and the Karen Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) forces landed in front of their Humvee armed with a heavy machine gun, carrying them on duty to patrol the villages along the Moei River valley near the zone of the heavy fighting. Pte Benjapon was seriously injured and his right arm was broken while Pte Winai was injured in his right arm. They are now being treated at hospital in Phop Phra district. ____________________________________ BUSINESS / TRADE January 31, Bangkok Post Businesses keen on roads along border with Burma ? Piyarach Chongcharoen Business leaders in the country's central region are pushing for more road development along the 2,193-kilometre border with Burma linking Chiang Rai to Chumphon without running through Bangkok and surrounding cities. Sing Tangcharoenchaichana, who heads the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) in the central region, said members there were now working with government agencies to push forward a road construction project covering several provinces: Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Chumphon. The proposed road development is meant to attract industries to expand in the area, improving income distribution to those provinces and lifting Thailand's competitiveness in trade, investment, tourism and employment, he said. Mr Sing was part of an FTI mission to Dawei in Burma from Jan 22-25 to discuss a partnership between Dawei University and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The mission was also monitoring the progress of the 400-billion-baht Dawei project that includes a highway linking Dawei and Kanchanaburi, a deep-sea port and an industrial estate. Construction of the port and highway in Dawei will be completed by 2015. Dawei aims to be a trade hub connecting Southeast Asia and China to the Indian Ocean, via the Andaman Sea, receiving goods from the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Kanchanaburi province expects to develop a special economic zone to accommodate trade, investment and transport to the Dawei project, he said. On growing concerns over border unrest that may affect the plan, Mr Sing believes Burmese authorities are unlikely to close the road on a whim, though they would try to prevent incidents that may block construction. At a recent meeting of the Asean Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Burma pledged to upgrade the new road to become part of the Asian Highway, an international highway. Kanchanaburi deputy governor Chaiwat Limwantha said the province was accelerating efforts to turn Baan Phu Namron into a border checkpoint and customs office to facilitate transport of construction materials and allow investors and tourists into Dawei. The process is expected to take at most four months. The new customs office would facilitate the export of machinery and equipment for the construction of the Dawei port and industrial zone. Many Thai factories may relocate to Dawei. The government recently unveiled plans to construct two motorways - a Bang Yai-Nakhon Pathom-Muang Kanchanaburi route and another from Muang Kanchanaburi to Baan Phu Namron to connect to Dawei. ____________________________________ INTERNATIONAL January 31, The Economist Aung San Suu Kyi (virtually) at Davos Singapore ? Unable to come herself last week to the annual world business leaders? knees-up at Davos in Switzerland, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar?s democracy movement, got to address the assembled grandees by audio link instead (or read the text here). The timing, on Friday January 28th, was significant. It might have been Davos week, but it was also just a few days before the opening of Myanmar?s first parliament in the country?s new purpose-built capital, Naypyidaw. The country?s military rulers would have people believe that the new parliament, along with November?s general elections?not to mention the release of Miss Suu Kyi herself from house arrest?all signify a democratic transition under way. Miss Suu Kyi, however, mentioned none of the above to her Davos audience. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), believes that the whole show is a sham, designed to curry support for a repressive military regime that in fact has no intention of fundamentally changing its ways. Indeed, as if to prove the point, that very same day, on January 28th, Myanmar?s highest court threw out an appeal against the government?s dissolution of the NLD as a political party. The NLD had been banned for refusing to take part in what it regarded as the fraudulent elections in November. Instead, Miss Suu Kyi?s remarks dwelt on the economic hardships that her people have been experiencing, and her own sense of isolation during her years under house arrest. She pointed out how far Myanmar has fallen behind other countries, and how economic integration with the rest of the world is now necessary. Before the junta, when the independent country was still called Burma, its prospects for trade and prosperity looked as rich as any in South-East Asia. Intriguingly, Miss Suu Kyi asked for more investment in technology and infrastructure, but said that investors ?should pay close attention to the costs and collateral damage of our development, whether environmental or social.? Furthermore, she urged ?those who have invested or who are thinking of investing in Burma to put a premium on respect for law, on environmental and social factors, on the rights of workers, on job creation and on the promotion of technological skills.? There is a very lively debate going on among pro-democracy activists as to whether it is yet time to call for the end of sanctions by Western countries; but I don?t think these comments of Miss Suu Kyi?s were aimed at the foreign governments. Rather, I think she was speaking to Chinese, Thai and other Asian investors who are coming in and, by all accounts, doing great damage to many of Myanmar?s minority communities and to its environmental resources?the Chinese in particular. I don?t expect Miss Suu Kyi?s appeals to change things very much, but I hope it focuses fresh attention on the misdeeds of those investors who are already operating in Myanmar. ____________________________________ January 28, Kansas City Star (US) For ethnic Karen immigrants, life in KC is a dream after a nightmare ? Donald Bradley Paw Wah Tamla bounces between getting her people to remember and forget. Her people are the Karen who fled oppression to come here from a land they still call Burma. As a community leader, she wants them to remember their proud history and customs. For several weeks, she?s helped plan today?s celebration of the Karen New Year, a pageant complete with traditional costumes, food and dance. But as a parent liaison for the North Kansas City School District, she works to get them to forget the crude ways of the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border where they all lived before coming to Kansas City. She tells them they can?t let toddlers go outside to play unattended in a big city. When children have to go to the bathroom at school, they can?t just run somewhere and drop their pants. But in just hours of flight time, the Karen families went from jungle camps to American suburbia. From open sewers and no electricity to subdivisions, Starbucks and schools with media labs. Tamla, 31, who lived half her life in one of those refugee camps, tells of a little girl who got hot in her North Kansas City district classroom. ?She took off her shirt and used it to fan herself,? she said. ?Her parents didn?t understand why she can?t do that.? ??? ?Security? seemingly is one of the first English words learned by the Karen. Men who struggle to say where they work or what they do or even how old they are will quickly cite ?security? as the best thing about coming to America. ?Security is good here,? Eh Tee Ta said haltingly one morning this week. He was waiting in the snow outside a North Kansas City apartment complex waiting for seven other Karen to crowd into his white Dodge Caravan for the ride to a meat processing plant in St. Joseph. History explains his mindset. The Karen, one of several ethnic groups in Myanmar (formerly Burma), suffered years of oppression by Burmese kings. Things improved under the years of British colonial rule, but after World War II the Karen again found themselves at odds with the country?s leaders. Burmese nationalists, who would run the country, had sided with the Japanese invaders during the early part of the war while the Karen fought with the British and Americans. After the war, in 1948, Burma became an independent state, free of British influence. In 1988, a group of generals seized power and established a repressive military junta to rule the country, which they renamed Myanmar (the U.S. government, in support of opposition forces, still uses ?Burma?). The junta unleashed a reign of terror against the Karen and other ethnic groups. Persecution, forced labor, imprisonment, relocation and torture. Thousands fled across the border to refugee camps in Thailand. With nowhere to go after that, they stayed for years. During Tamla?s 17 years in a camp, one of her brothers died; another disappeared and hasn?t been seen since. Her father also perished. ?He wasn?t that sick, but there was no modern equipment to help treat him,? she said. A few years ago, with the help of agencies such as Jewish Vocational Services, the Karen finally were allowed to migrate as part of a resettlement program. Nearly a thousand made their way to this area, settling mostly in Kansas City, Kan., and the Northland. ?I knew immediately we would need help ? someone to communicate with these people,? said Laura Lukens, ELL (English language learners) program coordinator for the North Kansas City School District. ?They had lived in horrible conditions for years. Warehoused. Little better than animals. Some of the kids had never been to school. They didn?t speak English. I knew the learning curve would be very steep.? As part of a child nutrition program, on Fridays the district sent snacks home for students. The Karen children?s snacks came back Monday unopened. They didn?t know what the Vienna sausages were. In August 2008, the district hired Tamla as a link to the families. Rice is now the weekend snack. Tamla had worked with the Karen Women Organization, a relief agency in the camps, and through that work later studied in South Africa and the Philippines. So she spoke English and knew ways of the modern world. And how much did her new clients know when they arrived? She smiled. ?Nothing.? ??? On a recent cold Saturday afternoon inside a church in Kansas City, Kan., teenage girls in pink and lavender dresses and white scarves on their heads walk across a stage. This is rehearsal for today?s New Year and Revolutionary Day celebration that will take place at J.C. Harmon High School, 2400 Steele Road. The event that runs from noon to 10 p.m. is sponsored by the Karen Community of Kansas City. The public is invited. Tamla directs the teens, most of whom, despite being here for only a short time, are dressed like typical American youth. Sweatshirts, backward caps, baggy pants. One girl wears a purple T-shirt that says. ?Only vampires will love you forever.? Like other immigrant groups, the teens? English is better than their parents because of school. The skits, music and dance are important, Tamla says. The young must remember the good parts of their homeland. But some of the skits depict the Burmese brutality against the Karen. The boys in the group know that well. Some want to join the U.S. Army after graduation and learn to fight so they can someday return to their homeland and kill those who terrorized their people. Eh Hitkaw, 17, a junior at North Kansas City High School, spent 10 years in a camp. ?What they did to me and my family wasn?t right,? he said this week. ??? Tamla crawls on the floor from mother to mother. Each of the Karen women has a stack of mail and no idea what the words mean. Doctor bills, insurance explanations of benefits, notices from schools about shots, bus routes and parent-teacher conferences. Tamla speaks Karen to a mother, who nods when she understands. Tamla says she will make telephone calls for her, then moves on to the next mother. Despite the seven or eight barefoot children, the apartment is roomy because it has hardly any furniture. The Karen families work hard and live in the midst of American plenty, but they have little. Several bulk-sized bags of rice take up a kitchen shelf. The TV is a 12-inch. About the only wall decor is a U.S. map. Tamla, who smiles easily, has arrived early to go over the mail and also because she?s brought donated toys for the children. But her main purpose is to translate for the district?s parent educator who soon arrives to check on the progress of the children. ?This little girl should be in a booster seat,? Amy Hines tells a mother. She then turns to Tamla. ?This little girl should be in a booster seat.? Tamla repeats the message in Karen. The mother nods. Hines has brought the seat and shows the mothers how it is used. One then puts a child in the seat. Backward. ?Car seats, immunizations, even birthdays ? they don?t know,? Hines said later. ?They don?t know you can?t let a 2-year-old out by themselves.? Some of them also don?t know they can?t send out a young child to walk to a school that might be miles away. It?s happened. That?s how children got to school in the camps. But on dirt paths, not busy suburban streets. Those are the things Tamla hopes to change. She lives in one of the same apartment buildings as several other Karen. Her mother and fiance live there, too. Like many Karen men, he works at the meatpacking plant in St. Joseph. The living room wall of the apartment is covered with Karen flags, photos and other reminders of Burma. She wants her people to remember. Except for the parts she needs them to forget. ____________________________________ January 31, Agence France Presse Myanmar refugee sets himself alight in Australia Sydney ? A Myanmar refugee being held in Australian immigration detention was treated in hospital Monday after trying to set himself on fire, refugee advocates said. The immigration department confirmed that a detainee was taken to hospital after a "small fire" at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin about 2:30 am (1700 GMT Sunday), but indicated the person was unhurt. "We are not speculating on the cause of the fire but the detainee had no injuries," a spokeswoman told AFP. "(They have) since been discharged and returned to the centre," she said, adding that federal police were investigating the incident. The asylum seeker was back at the centre about eight hours after the incident. Advocates from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said the inmate was from Myanmar and had "set himself on fire last night in desperation" after eight months of uncertainty about his application. The ASRC said the man had been granted refugee status but his visa was being held up by security checks. "He was desperate to get out of detention because (he was) fearing for the lives of his children back home and (was) powerless to help them in detention," the ASRC said on its Twitter feed. "He was so fearful for his kids he previously asked to be sent home despite his own life being in danger so as to save his kids." The man had "begged to be released or returned or at least told when he would come out of detention" before setting himself alight, the ASRC said. Public broadcaster ABC, citing sources inside the centre, also reported that the man was from Myanmar and had attempted to ignite himself. Immigration officials would not comment on the detainee's gender, nationality or the status of their application. Tensions are high in Australia's immigration centres after a record 6,500 refugees arrived by leaky fishing boat from Indonesia last year, stretching facilities to capacity. Most are from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Iraq. Hunger strikes and protests have flared recently after a refugee boat smashed into rocks at remote Christmas Island, killing about 50 people, and Canberra announced a push to forcibly deport failed Afghan asylum claimants. ____________________________________ OPINION / OTHER January 31, TIME Was Burma's opening of Parliament significant? ? Hannah Beech Deep in the heart of Burma's remote new capital Naypyidaw, a most unusual event occurred on the morning of January 31. More then 600 legislators gathered in a lavish, palace-like hall for the country's first parliamentary session in 22 years. Technically, nearly five decades of military rule in Burma had ended. But if the landmark gathering gave the illusion of a new political era in a country governed by the army since 1962, the reality was quite different. "New bottle, same wine," joked Win Tin, a veteran opposition politician whose popular National League for Democracy (NLD) has no seats in the new parliament because it boycotted last November's elections. "It's the same army men in charge. Everyone knows that convening a parliament and saying there is a transition to civilian rule is nonsense. We know where the real power lies." Indeed, although the military junta has boasted about setting Burma on a path to what it calls a discipline-flourishing democracy, the regulations governing the milestone legislative session showed just how isolated and repressive Burma's rulers still are. Foreign journalists were barred from attending the event. Parliamentary laws introduced in January restrict freedom of information. One rule, for instance, states that any non-MP who enters the parliament building without prior approval can be jailed for one year. Lawmakers themselves are not allowed to bring any electronic equipment, including cellphones, cameras or recording devices, into parliament. Nor can they even ask a question without going through an arcane process that takes more than a week. Even the oddly precise timing of the opening of parliament ? 8:55 a.m. ? was widely seen as a move by the astrologically obsessed junta members to secure the most auspicious time to inaugurate their rubber-stamp body. At first glance, the past few months have brought what seem like major shifts in Burma's political topography. On Nov. 7, the country held its first elections in two decades, allowing an entire generation of young Burmese to vote for the first time. Six days after the polls, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from more than seven years of house arrest. The NLD, which Suu Kyi founded, won a landslide in the country's last polls back in 1990, but the junta ignored the results and locked her up for most of the intervening two decades. But three months after these watersheds events of November, Burma feels essentially unchanged. Although Suu Kyi's NLD proudly inaugurated its website the same day that parliament held its first session, the party is no longer a legal political force. Many of the legislators now sitting in the improbably grand parliament building in Naypyidaw are hardly the people's choice. Due to likely voter intimidation and alleged ballot-box shenanigans, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won around 80% of the November vote. Its elected representatives in parliament include business cronies of the junta and officers who recently retired from the military in order to participate in what is officially supposed to be a civilian process. Those opposition parties that dared to participate in the polls, including a slew of ethnically based parties and the NLD breakaway National Democratic Force (NDF), won far fewer seats than international observers believe they should have. With one-quarter of parliamentary seats designated for military appointees, the opposition's power in parliament is paltry. Add to that the fact that top leadership positions are reserved for those with military backgrounds, and Win Tin's new bottle, same wine formulation makes perfect sense. (See Suu Kyi in TIME's top 10 political prisoners.) One of parliament's first tasks over the coming days will be to select the country's new President. Speculation is rife as to whether current junta leader Than Shwe, an elderly former postal worker and Psy-Ops specialist, will want the position or whether he will prefer to keep the post of Burma's commander-in-chief. (By law one person cannot hold both titles.) An alternative candidate for President may be Thura Shwe Mann, a battle-hardened general famous for his loyalty to Than Shwe and for his brutal campaigns against ethnic Karen rebels. Either way, the President will not face much of a check from parliament, which for the most part cannot legally challenge him. Just a few days before the parliament convened, Burma's supreme court rejected an appeal by the NLD to have the political party recognized as a legal entity. Because the NLD decided to boycott the November polls, which it rightly believed would be neither free nor fair, the party was ordered dissolved by Burma's election commission in September. NLD elders have talked about retooling the party either as a shadow political engine or as a civil-society force. But both paths are untested. A political landscape with only a modicum of opposition presence in parliament and a totally absent NLD sounds like a bleak scenario for democratic progress in Burma. The lack of interest that many Burmese have shown in both the elections and the convening of the new parliament shows just how removed they believe their lives are from stage-managed Burmese politics. Around one-third of Burmese live under the poverty line; no parliament will change that in the near future. Nevertheless, change, if only at a glacial pace, may still come. Although many Western nations maintain economic sanctions on the regime, an influx of investment from neighboring Asian countries has brought a flood of money into Burma's natural-resources sector. This month, Burma unveiled a Special Economic Zone law, although what exactly this means is not yet clear. Most of that money has ended up ? and no doubt will continue to end up ? in the pockets of the generals or their business cronies. Still, more foreign investment could make life better for some Burmese, if only because of improved telecommunications, better roads and even menial jobs associated with foreign projects. (Of course, the Burmese army has also shown little compunction in employing forced labor and forcing farmers off their land with little compensation to make way for future projects.) "Change in Burma will come through politics and also economics," says Kyaw Win, a Burmese political analyst in Rangoon, the country's largest city and former capital. "But we have to be patient." Sadly, that's the one quality the Burmese, who have witnessed the slow devolution of their homeland for nearly five decades, possess in large supply. ____________________________________ January 30, Bangkok Post Egyptian troubles paralleled in Burma ? Editorial For the second week in a row the big news story is a crumbling dictatorship in the Middle East. While it's still to soon to say if Egypt's Hosni Mubarak will share the same fate as Tunisian strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, yesterday protesters controlled many parts of Cairo. Mr Mubarak has vowed he will not be removed, and as long as the military stands with him, he is probably right. The situation is similar to one much closer to home, in Burma, where the chances of regime change seem much more remote. If anything, the political situation in Burma is more dismal. In Burma, of course, it is the military leadership who actually have the ruling power, despite the pretence of transferring power to a civilian government through the sham elections of last November. The parliament elected then will begin its duties in the new capital of Naypyidaw tomorrow, but the military leaders have made sure it will act as a rubber stamp to all they propose. In Burma, as perhaps in Egypt, there would probably have to be a mass defection in the lower ranks of the military along with a popular revolt to bring about a change in government. But as revealed in the story on page 10 of this week's Spectrum, ''Film offers glimpse of dissent in army'', this might not be as far-fetched many people might think. There are other parallels between the situations in Burma and Egypt. Before Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei returned to his native Egypt to take part in the protests there and was put under house arrest _ much like Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi _ he gave an interview in Austria. Mr Baradei noted that Egypt had parliamentary elections only two months ago, and ''they were completely rigged. The party of President Hosni Mubarak left the opposition with only 3%. Imagine that. And the American government said that it was dismayed. Well, frankly, I was dismayed that all it could say is that it was dismayed. The word was hardly adequate to express the way the Egyptian people felt.'' If we substitute Egypt for Burma and America for Asean, the story looks familiar. Like the US and other Western nations, Thailand in particular has long found it politically and financially expedient to do business with a repressive regime while periodically offering mild reproaches. When Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva went to Naypyidaw and was photographed shaking hands with Senior General Than Shwe last October, it was clear from the look on the PM's face that he wouldn't be framing the photo and hanging it over his mantle. But Mr Abhisit put whatever misgivings he may have had aside and thought instead of the benefits that greater trade and investment in Burma would bring to Thai companies, one of which has the contract to develop the deep-sea port in Dawei, on Burma's stretch of the Andaman Sea. Mr Abhisit is no different than previous Thai premiers who have made similar economic calculations, just as Barack Obama is no different from his predecessors who compromised themselves over Egypt, although in the case of the US, the considerations have been driven as much by security as economics. The point is not that Thailand should cut off relations with Burma entirely. It is likely better to try to effect change through engagement, and particularly to insist on high environmental and human rights standards for any projects with Thai investment. Mrs Suu Kyi herself has not condemned foreign investment in Burma outright. In fact, in an audio message to the affluent crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, she encouraged it, if it is done with a conscience. ''I would like to request those who have invested or who are thinking of investing in Burma to put a premium on respect for the law, on environmental and social factors, on the rights of workers, on job creation and on the promotion of technological skills,'' she said. The Thai government says it does regard these areas as a priority, but it's not clear that this has been expressed in any formal agreements or contracts involving Burma. ____________________________________ January 31, Democratic Voice of Burma This parliament makes a mockery of democracy ? Larry Jagan Burma?s first parliament has opened in the capital Naypyidaw in strict secrecy. This first sitting of the parliament in 22 years is meant to be a watershed, with the introduction of a new form of civilian government to replace the past two decades of naked military rule. But it is nothing more than a thinly disguised military dictatorship. Disciplined democracy, as the junta leader prefers to dub his military plan to try and gain international legitimacy, is nothing but another charade. The reality is that while some structural changes are being introduced ? a new president, parliament, civilian government and regional assemblies ? little will in fact be different from the past. Than Shwe will remain in power ? though perhaps not formally ? and the new administration will be virtually all made up of former military men. After months of speculation, it seems certain now that the current prime minister, Thein Sein, will become the president when parliament nominates and votes for the position in the coming days. Most of the current ministers will also be re-appointed, with a few deputy ministers taking over the top portfolio, including Maung Myint, who is tipped to become the new foreign minister. Former key military commanders will become chief ministers of the states. General Myint Swe (the former Bureau of Special Operation chief for Rangoon) not surprisingly will become Rangoon Division chief minister, and General Ye Myint (former Bureau of Special Operation chief for Mandalay) will become the Mandalay Division chief minister. Despite the massive propaganda in the last few months, Than Shwe has finally baulked at introducing anything that might damage his authority and lead to a pluralist system. In fact Than Shwe has opted to keep his tried and trusted lieutenants in power. The new civilian government will be in name only, as there is unlikely to be any room for civilians in the cabinet given that Than Shwe does not trust them. His biggest concern of course is to ensure that the new political system would never provide an avenue for an army successor to build up sufficient support and power to overthrow him in the way he removed his predecessor, Saw Maung. The fate of Ne Win and Saw Maung haunts the Burmese military leader, according to sources in his family circle. He has been so mesmerised by trying to avoid this that he has finally opted to make Thein Sein ? who has been a ?civilian? general for some time now ? prime minister instead of the former general, Thura Shwe Mann. But the former number three in the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is to be trusted with the crucial position of speaker of the lower house and will effectively control the day to day running of the parliament, and hence much of government. Than Shwe is a very cautious man at best and the thought of loosening his grip on power has given him nightmares for years, with his wife in particular urging him to remain in the saddle for as long as possible. But the senior general has promised his neighbours, especially the countries of ASEAN, China and India, that change was in the pipeline but that he could not back down completely. A clear sign that he is not comfortable even with his own changes however is apparent: the new military-civilian government, including the president, is only an interim administration, and unlikely to remain in place for more than a year. Than Shwe has already warned the future government that if it fails to meet his expectations, the army will lead another coup to make sure the country follows the military?s model of development and governance. It is still unclear how often the parliament will meet and how long any session will be, though sources in Naypyidaw say it is to run for two weeks from its first sitting, after it elects the new president and the two vice presidents. It will then approve the Cabinet appointees ? selected by the new president ? and the chief ministers by the respective regional parliaments. The whole strategic plan was outlined to the remaining generals in the SPDC at its recent quarterly meeting, which is likely to be its last. And the future cabinet ministers and chief ministers met Than Shwe last Friday in the capital and were given their final instructions. So much for democracy ? the senior general is leaving nothing to chance. A new political structure will be unveiled in the coming days, but it?s only an adaptation of the current power structure, with few checks and balances. For one thing, Than Shwe and Maung Aye will remain in the current positions ? effectively in control of the army for at least another year, according to sources in Naypyidaw. They will also be on the National Defence and Security Council ? a new body that will supervise the army and appoint the chiefs in future. With the army remaining tightly under his control, Than Shwe has engineered a political system that will cascade down from his position at the top of the political pyramid. A triumvirate controls the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP): the three patrons ? Than Shwe, Maung Aye and Thura Shwe Mann ? will exercise control of the party. The one thing that appears to be emerging is that power will be more diffuse than before ? deliberately to minimise any challenge to his authority. While Than Shwe remains in good health he may be able to manipulate the political process to his own end. But his balance of power approach will rekindle personal ambitions and resentments, as has happened before in the time of Khin Nyunt and his military intelligence network. The fault lines will emerge again, this time amongst the middle-ranking and junior officers who may feel they have been mistreated and had their access to money-making ventures curtailed by the ?new? civilian administrators who may no longer feel beholden to the up-coming generation of military leaders. They may also realise, as Khin Nyunt and his coterie did earlier, that unless Burma manages to open up to the world, and benefit from greater global trade and foreign investment ? their future may well be a limited one. The dangers of even ?benign? autocratic rule that continues to ignore the interests of the people at large have been pointedly illustrated again in the last couple of weeks ? with massive unrest sweeping through North Africa and parts of the Middle East. Than Shwe has been horrified by the scenes on television broadcast from Eygpt, according to sources close to the top general. This may have been the final straw that made the senior general heed his wife?s persistent urging not to give up power ? or at least to remain securely in control. The irony is that the tighter he maintains his grip, the more likely there is to be a backlash. For one thing, there are two generals, Maung Aye and Thura Shwe Mann, who will be very disgruntled at Than Shwe?s current plans. ____________________________________ January 31, Myanmar Times Business boom beckons in Myanmar ? Luc de Waegh Myanmar?s November 7 elections look set to change the business environment in the country. Expectations about the elections may be low but they might bring a new mindset to the governance of the country. Even in the existing business environment, Myanmar?s international reintegration through growing foreign direct investment (FDI) has begun. Though challenging, it is not impossible to develop accountable businesses in Myanmar and opportunities are seen to be growing. The majority of reactions from senior executives (mostly western) who have visited Myanmar for the first time is: ?This is much better than what I was expecting.? Rarely is it heard for an executive, or any visitor to state: ?This is exactly what I was expecting.? The first word that comes to mind when talking about doing business in Myanmar is sanctions. Since 1988, many countries have issued a number of sanctions against Myanmar. From my experience on the ground, the sanctions are ? in their vast majority ? at best ineffective and in most cases counterproductive. They have, however, helped deteriorate perceptions of Myanmar to the point of keeping most large companies away and even keeping development and humanitarian aid away. With 55 million people, Myanmar ranks 24 in the world in terms of population. For many multinational corporations (MNC), Myanmar is the largest market ? in terms of number of consumers ? where they don?t have an active presence. The country provides access to the two most populated and fastest growing economies in the world, China and India. The population of neighbouring countries totals 2.8 billion, or 40 percent of the world?s population. The integration process of the Myanmar economy has started. In the four months between March and July 2010, about $16 billion of FDI were committed to Myanmar. This is as much as the total FDI committed during the previous 22 years. This figure does not include the recently confirmed Dawei deep-sea port project, which is estimated at $13 billion. Recent investments are mainly in oil and gas, electricity production and the mining sectors. China accounts for more than 65pc of recent investments. Thailand ranks a distant second at 18pc. It becomes increasingly clear that while some countries hang on to their sanctions, others have opted for an accelerated economic engagement. This has the potential of being good news for the people of Myanmar, not only because prosperity is an important factor for social stability, but also because people?s main aspiration remains an improvement of their everyday material life. There is however room for a better balance in the source of FDIs that would deliver stronger overall development perspectives. Western countries in particular have a role to play by allowing ? if not encouraging ? their first-class accountable multinational companies to invest in Myanmar. Earlier this year, Unilever, a large European consumer goods company decided to go back to Myanmar, after having pulled out eight years ago. This is not only creating hundreds of quality jobs and changing the life of thousands of ordinary Myanmar people, but is also raising the standards of the industry for the benefit of all consumers. In 1993 a large UK-listed consumer goods company, British American Tobacco (BAT), commenced operations in Myanmar. BAT?s investment was a demonstration of the role large MNCs can play in the development process: Fair and competitive salary structures; health insurance; in some cases pension funds; opportunities for further training and development; exposure to the rest of the world (through training and temporary postings); equal opportunity practices; and so forth. Listed MNCs must comply with increasingly strict disclosure regulations and greater transparency. They have only one set of standards that are applicable worldwide: These deal with the respect of the local laws, employment terms, corruption, treatment of the environment, CSR programs and more. In setting these new standards MNCs are leading by example: People would much prefer to work for companies that offer better employment terms and better development prospects and consumers prefer to buy products that are safe and guaranteed by accountable manufacturers. Other companies will have to adapt in order to stay in business. The country?s legal system ? inherited from the British ? is working reasonably well. The British brought their basics of the English Common Law to India and codified it. The Laws in Myanmar were the same laws that the British passed in India with a few minor exceptions, but basically laws dealing with business and commerce are still intact. The Code of Civil Procedure originated as the India Act 1908, the Workmen?s Compensation Act as the India Act 1923. When Myanmar became independent in 1948, the names changed to Myanmar act. The Indian Company Law became the Myanmar Companies Law. Myanmar has been a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 2001. As such the country has committed to provide effective means of enforcing intellectual property rights. In a recent case, where a local party registered a well known foreign brand and logo as its own in a local Registrar of Deeds in Myanmar, the Supreme Court in the appeal observed inter alia that the party that had registered the trade mark had no right to it as he had copied the trade mark of a foreign company and was not the party?s invention and therefore had no right to the brand and logo. Qualified auditors practicing at international standards levels are available. As for market research, MMRD (Myanmar Marketing Research and Development), the leading agency, is equipped to provide all market research services available in more developed economies. But the brightest side of doing business in Myanmar is definitely the people. There is an abundance of committed men and women eager to learn, develop new skills and try their very best to contribute to the success of new ventures. Things are changing in Myanmar on many fronts. Obviously a new form of government will take charge after the November 7 elections, but this is not the only change coming to Myanmar. Myanmar?s isolation has undoubtedly led to deterioration in infrastructure and industries, but this has also provided opportunities for investment today. Thailand?s proximity has already enabled companies like ItalThai, PTTEP and CP to establish a growing presence. Oil, gas and mining industries, alongside associated service industries, are set to expand in the coming years, buoyed in no small part by Thailand?s own domestic demands. Similarly, as Thai companies have expanded into neighbouring countries to the east, the agricultural sector, including manual and mechanical tools, pumps, fertilisers and crop protection, will provide lucrative returns in this largely agrarian society. Fast moving consumer goods, the ?affordable luxuries? also offer strong market potential with an existing consumer base and low entry cost. For Thai-based manufacturers there is the possibility of existing brand awareness created by intensive border trade, a scenario that is shared by other consumer goods including pharmaceuticals, white goods and electronics. Given Myanmar?s professed moves toward democracy, leading to greater engagement by governments, businesses and aid agencies, the prospect of sanctions being eased or removed looms. If so, textile industries, and in general all labour-intensive, export-orientated industries will bloom, as will the tourism sector. There are currently 90 flights weekly between Bangkok and Yangon. A successful completion of the first elections in 20 years would only build confidence and lead to further investigation of investment opportunities. As with business opportunities in Thailand, a sound corporate legal structure, trusted local partner and advisor combined with good diligence could yield lucrative returns for investors. Luc de Waegh is the managing partner of West Indochina, an advisory firm that has specialised in developing businesses in Myanmar. He has 17 years experience of doing business in Southeast Asia, mainly in Myanmar and advises local and foreign companies on setting up, growing and selling their businesses. ____________________________________ January 31, The Straits Times (Singapore) Way forward for Asean and EU on Myanmar; New Parliament opening today offers opportunity for re-engagement ? Jonathan Eyal Myanmar?s newly elected Parliament is scheduled to meet for the first time today, three months after the military-ruled nation's first elections in two decades. This should have been a perfect opportunity for Western governments to re-engage with a country they pointedly still call 'Burma'. That's precisely what Asean foreign ministers suggested last week, calling on Europe and the United States to lift their economic sanctions. But the silence from the West has been deafening, despite most governments knowing that their current approach is counter-productive. Since the mid-1990s, the European Union (EU) and the US - as well as Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have slapped various sanctions against Myanmar. These include a ban on trade in weapons, timber, gems and metals, as well as visa restrictions on members of the regime and the suspension of development aid programmes. There are several reasons why Western governments - which have no difficulties in dealing with other authoritarian regimes - continue to ostracise Myanmar. One is psychological. Myanmar experienced a popular uprising in 1988, just when communist Eastern Europe underwent similar upheavals. This led Europeans to see Myanmar as, somehow, part of their march to freedom. The annulment of its free elections in 1990 shattered the myth of the much-talked-about 'end of history', the triumph of democracy. The personality of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's chief opposition leader, also played a part. Physically frail but politically unbreakable, she became the West's latter-day Mahatma Gandhi, a champion of freedom. A ferocious lobbying offensive against Myanmar has also done its bit. The Burma Campaign is one of Britain's most effective pressure groups. Ultimately, however, the real reason for sanctions is that, despite Myanmar's vast natural wealth, it was never a major trading partner of the West. Ostracising Myanmar entailed few costs. But the outcome is a disaster. Dr Niklas Swanstrom, who heads Sweden's Institute for Security and Development Policy, says: 'What we see today in Myanmar is not a weakened government, but stronger governmental control of resources and people.' The only ones to suffer are the ordinary people in a country which started its independence as one of Asia's richest states but now ranks 138th out of 182 nations on the United Nations Human Development Index. Asean's appeal for the end of sanctions is based on two chief arguments: that a new generation of military officers will soon come to power and should be encouraged to be more open-minded, and that a boost in trade and aid will give Myanmar's rulers further incentives, as well as alleviate the population's suffering. But many Western politicians are not persuaded, noting the military has held power for two generations and there is no proof the next will be any different. The claim that economic development would follow the lifting of sanctions is also doubtful. This can happen only if the economy is freed from political control and if Myanmar's rulers accept the need to improve their people's welfare. For the moment, neither seems likely. The country's revenue is steadily increasing, but the population gets next to nothing: Less than 2 per cent of the national budget is allocated to health and education combined. Indeed, a good case can be made that lifting sanctions will make little difference. Myanmar's raw materials are controlled by Chinese or Indian corporations. Tourism is already not restricted. Western firms determined to benefit from Myanmar's opportunities are already there. Other business may never come. Why, for instance, should Western garment companies go to Myanmar, when Bangladesh, Cambodia or Vietnam already offer abundant cheap labour as well as better transport infrastructure? 'The logic of gradual change through engagement, development aid and trade has no empirical basis in the history of meaningful social change from dictatorships in either the East or the West,' says Dr Maung Zarni, a noted Myanmar human rights activist, now a research fellow at the London School of Economics. Since the political backlash from noisy non-governmental organisations is likely to be fierce and the economic benefits likely to be low, few Western governments have an incentive to abandon the sanctions. Indeed, even Ms Suu Kyi herself does not favour a lifting of sanctions, the Financial Times reported this past weekend. Nevertheless, a way forward does exist. The Europeans have noted that Asean's latest initiative goes beyond a call to lift sanctions, to include a pledge to help break Myanmar's internal political impasse. As Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa put it last week, 'lifting the ban and reconciliation should go hand in hand'. More importantly, the US is already pledged to a new 'pragmatic engagement' with Myanmar. Little has emerged from Washington since this policy shift announced in September 2009 but the US is clearly searching for alternatives. The real challenge, therefore, is one of timing. Asean is unlikely to get a formal, public promise from either the EU or the US to lift sanctions at this early stage. But it is entitled to demand - in private - a pledge from Western governments to respond quickly and positively to any future political concessions which Asean may extract from Myanmar. The sanctions could be lifted in stages, with the most symbolic ones remaining for a longer period. Europe will probably not take the first step. Still, if the US can be persuaded to move together with Asean, the EU can be cornered into changing its stance. The Asean appeal has succeeded in one respect: in reminding Western governments that their failed policies on Myanmar are overdue for review. But the hard work of delivering on engagement with Myanmar still lies ahead. Either way, nothing further can now be gained by continuing with the megaphone diplomacy and public finger-pointing between Asean and the West.