BurmaNet News, February 16, 2007

[Editor]

February 16, 2007 Issue # 3144


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Police Chief warns Burma’s opposition alliance
Irrawaddy: Burma reassigns army officers to administration posts
AP: Myanmar junta warns opposition members not to make pro-democracy demands

ON THE BORDER
The Indian Express: NSCN(K) HQ raided in Myanmar

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Businesses forced to use royal names in Pyinmana

REGIONAL
DVB: Indonesia questions Burma on political progress

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UK urges ban on investment in Burma
AFP: Human Rights Watch condemns detention of Myanmar activist

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima: Casting the shadow of darkness not peace; China's influence on
Myanmar - May Ng

PRESS RELEASE
HRW: Burma: Pro-democracy activist detained indefinitely

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 16, Irrawaddy
Police Chief warns Burma’s opposition alliance - Khun Sam

Burma’s police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi has warned leaders of the country’s
major opposition alliance, the Committee Representing the People’s
Parliament, against making political statements, state-run The New Light
of Myanmar reported on Friday.

The warning by Brig-Gen Khin Yi was clarified to the CRPP’s chairman Aung
Shwe and secretary Aye Tha Aung at a meeting at the Burma’s Police Force
office in Rangoon on Thursday evening.

The meeting was called regarding the CRPP’s leading role in the February
12 celebration of “Union Day,” during which the group released a statement
that called on the military government to immediately release political
prisoners, to allow political parties free movement, to promote political
reform in the country and to respect the human rights of Burmese citizens.

Speaking by phone from Rangoon, CRPP secretary Aye Tha Aung told The
Irrawaddy that Khin Yi warned the group by reading regulations and laws
for unlawful organizations and the punishment, if actions were taken
against the group.

The New Light of Myanmar quoted the police chief as saying the CRPP is
illegal and warned it against the release of statements and political
demands.

The warning was described as a “threat” by Fu Cin Sian Thang, an ethnic
member of the CRPP who is also chairman of the Zomi National Congress.

“It is nonsense to say the CRPP is illegal," he said. "The CRPP is indeed
an organization formed in 1998 by people including elected
representatives. These people are the ones who were elected in the
government’s election,” he told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

“Our statement reveals the existent political necessities and is meant to
be in the country’s interest. In my view, such statements and political
activities are essential and must be done.”

He accused the government of creating an "imbalance" in politics. By
issuing more warnings and restrictions on pro-democracy forces, the junta
is allowing "more space" for pro-military government groups or
government-backed associations, even allowing them to demonstrate with the
government against the US and UNSC resolution on Burma, he said.

“These organization backed by the government have recently emerged," Fu
Cin Sian Thang said. "And I don’t hear that the government says these
groups and their activities are illegal. They even praise them. So I don’t
understand what is legal and illegal.”

____________________________________

February 16, Irrawaddy
Burma reassigns army officers to administration posts - Yeni

The Burmese regime is reassigning hundreds of military officers to
government administration posts in order to make room for a younger
generation of army officers.

The mass reassignment decision follows the regime’s quarterly meeting in
Naypyidaw in early January. All members of the current ruling military
council, the State Peace and Development Council, and high-ranking
military officers have to attend such meetings, at which major reshuffles
in the cabinet and military hierarchy have often been decided.

Burma’s supreme leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe aims to turn his army into a more
efficient, energetic force, according to Thai-Burma border-based
researcher Htay Aung. “Than Shwe wants to bring the quality of military
members into line with professional standards,” he said. “He understands
that Burma’s armed force is messed up with officers who are ‘sleeping’ in
their duties.”

According to military analysts inside and outside the country, about 3,000
military officers graduate annually from different schools and academies,
including the Defence Service Academy and the Defence Service
Technological Academy, both located at Maymyo, the Defence Service Medical
Academy, Rangoon, and the Officer Training School at Fort Ba Htoo. The
strength of Burma’s armed force is put at about 400,000.

Mostly low or mid-ranking officers who have passed a certain age limit are
now being retired, sources say. Those who have not risen past the rank of
captain by age 30, major by the age of 45 or colonel by 55 are being moved
to government administration jobs, according to the sources. The official
retirement age for both civil service and military posts is 60, but two of
the ruling junta are past retirement age—Snr-Gen Than Shwe, 74, and Vice
Snr-Gen Maung Aye, 67.

Observers say the reorganization might signal a change of Burma's army
administration into a civilian body, to be ushered in under a new
constitution, which is expected to be promulgated in the next year.

The retirement decision was not announced in the state media—military
reshuffles are usually published only in the form of orders.

____________________________________

February 16, Associated Press
Myanmar junta warns opposition members not to make pro-democracy demands

Myanmar's police chief has warned a top official of Aung San Suu Kyi's
opposition party not to make pro-democracy demands, state-run media
reported Friday.

Brig. Gen. Khin Yi summoned National League for Democracy Chairman U Aung
Shwe to police head-quarters Thursday to warn him not to make
announcements or demands, the New Light of Myanmar news-paper reported.

U Aung Shwe also heads the Committee Representing People's Parliament, or
CRPP, a 10-party coalition of ethnic minority parties led by the National
League for Democracy. The group was intended to serve as a proxy
parliament after the military government refused to convene the real one.

At a meeting Monday, CRPP officials had demanded Suu Kyi's release and
reiterated calls for a parliament to be convened and for the results of
the 1990 election to be honored.

The military junta has called the group illegal, and reiterated that
warning on Thursday.

"The CRPP's demands are unlikely to bring good results to the nation and
the people. Moreover, it is not a legally formed organization, so it has
no rights to make such a demand," the newspaper said. CRPP members have
been arrested in the past.

Myanmar's state-run media closely report the government line.

The current junta emerged in 1988 after violently suppressing massive
public pro-democracy protests. It held general elections in 1990, but
refused to recognize the results after a landslide victory by Suu Kyi's
party.

Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years.

The junta regularly calls her a threat to national unity, saying she and
her party are trying to undermine the government by collaborating with
foreign powers.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 16, The Indian Express
NSCN(K) HQ raided in Myanmar

New Delhi: Following sustained pressure from New Delhi, the Myanmar army
raided the headquarters of NSCN (Khaplang) at Sagaing, bordering Arunachal
Pradesh and Nagaland, where cadres of other banned militant outfits
operating in the North-East had also set up base.

A top functionary of the NSCN(K) said on phone from Arunachal that the
attack this time around was different and the damage inflicted was
“severe”, forcing inmates to seek shelter elsewhere.

Soon after the camp was raided, there were rumours that NSCN (K) chief
Khaplang had fled to Changlang in Arunachal.

Sources said Khaplang has ventured deep into eastern Myanmar to avoid the
army. NSCN(K) signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in 2001, but
has not yet submitted its charter of demands.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 16, Irrawaddy
Businesses forced to use royal names in Pyinmana - Shah Paung

Sources in Pyinmana, near Burma’s new administrative capital Naypyidaw,
say that authorities have instructed local guesthouse owners to change the
names of their businesses to those that sound more traditional or royal.

The order is said to have come from the City Development Committee. “We
were told to submit new names by April,” one business owner told The
Irrawaddy on Friday. “I’ve already submitted five names and am waiting for
approval.”

Guesthouse owners said the authorities want them to use traditional or
royal names, but sources say business owners are unhappy with the order.
They prefer to keep their current, well-established names and fear the
expense of changing the name in all their current advertisements.

The office of the City Development Committee was unavailable for comment
on Friday.

Though Burmese governments have often changed the names of public places
from old colonial monikers to more traditional Burmese names, such changes
in the private sector are rare.

Following the military coup in 1989, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (now the State Peace and Development Council) changed the
country’s name from Burma to Myanmar, and the name of the then capital
Rangoon to Yangon. The changes were controversial in and outside the
country.

Under the rule of the late dictator Gen Ne Win, several streets with
colonial names in Rangoon were also replaced with Burmese names. Ne Win
also changed the flow of automobile traffic from the left side of the road
to the right.

Burma’s current ruling junta, the SPDC, in early November 2005 relocated
its capital 320 km north of Rangoon in Pyinmana, Mandalay Division. Since
that time, the junta has scrambled to build up the city into a full-blown,
modern capital.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Indonesia questions Burma on political progress

Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirujada questioned his Burmese
counterpart Nyan Win today on the junta’s progress towards democratisation
as Jakarta intensified efforts to engage the regime on Burma’s political
future.

After two days of ministerial meetings in Jakarta, the first of their kind
under the newly-formed Burma-Indonesia joint commission, Nyan Win told
Wirujada that Burma planned to finish the National Convention “by the end
of the year,” an unnamed Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson told
DVB.

Nyan Win was less explicit on the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
refusing to say when the National League for Democracy leader and other
political prisoners in Burma would be released, Deutsche Presse Agentur
reported.

The foreign ministry spokesperson said it remained “a long process to
persuade and engage with [Burma],” nevertheless describing the first round
of talks as “very positive.”

“We along with other ASEAN countries continue to try to push [Burma]
towards democratisation,” the spokesperson said.

This week’s meetings are the latest sign that Indonesia is taking the lead
within ASEAN on the intransigent Burma problem, a month after Jakarta
abstained on a proposed UN Security Council resolution designed to push
the regime towards reform.

Indonesia and Burma established the joint commission in March last year
during a visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Rangoon.
Indonesian officials attempted to coerce Burma into change by sharing
their own country’s experiences of transition from military rule to
multi-party democracy.

Following last year’s visit, Yudhoyono planned to appoint Ali Alatas, the
former Indonesian foreign minister, as one of two special envoys to Burma
along with an as-yet unannounced former general “as part of the increased
dialogue” between the two Asean members.

Both prospective envoys travelled to Burma with Yudhoyono during last
year’s visit but the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said that Alatas was not
present during meetings in Jakarta on Wednesday and Thursday in which
officials from both sides also discussed cooperation on issues including
trade, energy, agriculture, education and tourism.

No explanation of the roles of both special envoys has been given, meaning
their involvement on the Burma issue remains unclear and, in Alatas’ case,
complicated given his recent roles as a special envoy of the UN
Secretariat. He is also the Indonesian representative in the ASEAN Eminent
Persons Group, which is responsible for drawing up recommendations for the
forthcoming ASEAN Charter.

With or without Alatas, the Burma-Indonesia joint commission plans to hold
annual meetings, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said, with the next
scheduled to be held in Burma sometime in 2008.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 16, Irrawaddy
UK urges ban on investment in Burma

The London-based human rights group Burma Campaign UK has called on the
British government to endorse a ban on new investment in military-rule
Burma.

The call this week followed a report in late January that Singapore-based
MPRL E&P Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands, and the Virgin
Islands company Rimbunan Petrogas Ltd had signed a contract with Burma to
explore for gas.

“The regime in Burma has used foreign investment to double the size of the
army, reinforcing its grip on power, while ordinary people have become
poorer,” said a Burma Campaign-UK statement, launching a campaign for
letters to be written to the British foreign minister urging a ban on new
investment.

____________________________________

February 16, Agence France Presse
Human Rights Watch condemns detention of Myanmar activist

Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned the decision by Myanmar's military
rulers to extend the house arrest of democracy activist Tin Oo, the top
deputy to Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military government in the country formerly known as Burma extended
Tin Oo's detention by another year on Tuesday.

He and Aung San Suu Kyi have both been detained since May 2003, when their
convoy was ambushed by a pro-government mob during a political tour of
northern Myanmar.

The New York based watchdog accused Myanmar of using diplomatic cover from
China and Russia to further its repression of the democracy movement,
after Beijing and Moscow last month vetoed a UN resolution demanding
reforms from the junta.

"The Burmese government relies on China and Russia's backing to flout the
international community's demands to free political prisoners like Tin
Oo," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"The continued detention of the leaders of the party that won the last
election in Burma shows how the military junta is fearful of political
dissidents striving for democracy."

The National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, won
1990 elections in a land slide but has never been allowed to govern.

The United States had proposed a UN Security Council resolution to
pressure the regime to follow through on promises to reform and to release
political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo.

But the resolution was defeated by a rare double veto from Russia and
China, who have been expanding their ties with the Southeast Asian nation.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 16, Mizzima News
Casting the shadow of darkness not peace; China's influence on Myanmar -
May Ng

China's political power, on the wings of its spectacular economic success,
is rising. But because of China's military and financial support for
Myanmar's brutal regime, like many nations on the wrong end of this power
equation, Burma and its people are facing not the future of peace and
security but of continuing conflicts and violence.

China's commercial influence on the current South African government alone
has shown its vicious teeth at the latest UN Security Council push for
resolution, to end the violence in Burma. South Africa is China's biggest
trade partner in Africa and China has no scruple in using its influence to
get SA to vote with them at the UNSC, against the poor people of Burma.
Instead of listening to their outstanding leader Nobel Peace laureate
Desmond Tutu, who was advocating peace and security for the people of
Burma, South Africa President Thabo Mbeki voted with China, forgetting the
past UN's role in abolishing apartheid in his country and his own warning
against allowing ties with China to develop into a "colonial
relationship."

China's influence on South Africa however, is minute compared to the power
it wields over other more menacing regimes such as North Korea, Burma,
Sudan and Zimbabwe. Gordon Chang, the author of 'Nuclear Showdown: North
Korea Takes on the World' described North Korea under the influence of
China as, "the little autocrat that could neither bark nor bite without
China's assistance."

Taking the cue from China's handling of the North Korean Nuclear crisis,
the over all take on China's policy in Burma is not only bleak but dark
and down right chilling. China has so far refused to acknowledge or act on
behalf of a peaceful political settlement in Burma.

Just in the past year alone, over 80,000 Burmese refugees, running away
from government assaults, crossed the border into Thailand. Yesterday, the
Karen Women's organization reported that the Burmese military's violence
on civilians continued while the UNSC rejected a resolution to take action
for Burma. They outlined in details, the sexual violence committed by the
army against civilians as Myanmar continued to use rape as a weapon of
war.

Amidst the poverty and violence, HIV is rampant on the borders, including
the border with China. Proliferation, of drug trades, gambling, human
smuggling and prostitution on Burma's border, only hardened the evidence
which finally brought the case against Burma to the UNSC.

A stalwart supporter of the unpopular regime in Burma, which is bitterly
despised by its own people, China has been sending arms, money and
infrastructure support.

In November 2005, Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the
Council on Foreign Relations, warned that countries that provide
assistance to sustain unpopular regimes for short-term economic or
strategic interests often pay a steep long-term political price once these
regimes fall out of favour. She said that China should look carefully at
its engagement in countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, among
others. Chinese multinationals, too, should consider the longer-term
health, safety and environmental welfare of the communities in which they
operate, or risk growing local protest.

By October 3, 2006 rioters attacked the Chinese in Zambia, where the
political opposition accused China of exploitation and turning Zambia into
dumping ground for Chinese slave labour. In less than a decade, over
30,000 Chinese have moved into Lusaka where the riot took place.

Until now China was able to hide behind the headlines about the
unsuccessful war in Iraq by the US. But with a careful hard look, the
stories about China's fast tract into the heart of Africa and Burma are
much more brutal. There are over 100,000 US troops in Iraq and the bloody
conflict of the war has been a major concern for US and their allies. But
two million Chinese migrants have moved into Burma in less than two
decades and it is destabilizing the already explosive political situation
in Burma.

Adding to the reality of China's direct involvement in Burma's political
affairs, China's continuation in ignoring the threat of HIV, drug, crime
and political instability on its border, highlights the underlying, more
crucial, failure of the Chinese political leadership. As Gordon Chang has
discussed above, what many mistake as 'nuanced' diplomacy is just
competing views and interest that result in directionless policy within
the Chinese government.

The blind faith in the slogan of 'peaceful rise of political power' has
not protected the poor Chinese migrant workers in Chinese cities and
abroad. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes of BBC on March 7, 2006 reported that in a
system akin to South Africa's apartheid, Chinese migrants are
discriminated and exploited. Accurately Elizabeth Economy has labeled
China as a rising power exploiting other countries' natural resources,
spoiling the global environment, making economic deals but looking away
from serious government mistreatment of its citizens and not delivering on
promises.

In his expert analysis, David Lampton, Director of China studies at the
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said that the
Chinese political system does not adequately reflect the diverse interests
of the increasingly pluralized society that marketization, urbanization,
and globalization have created. Consequently, the Chinese Communist Part's
legitimacy is not robust and the Chinese system's appeal, at home and
abroad, rests largely on the country's economic success.

Burma is affected by what Mr. Lampton described as, Chinese power, through
the massive, often unintended spillover effects, of its appetite for
economic growth. And although Beijing's domestic and foreign policies are
not malevolent by design, they often have harmful effects, and for those
countries on the receiving end of them, intentions may not matter. He
concluded that the rise of Chinese political power generates global
responses that Beijing cannot fully control and that may not be in its
interest.

The Chinese veto at the UNSC along with their friend South Africa, against
the resolution to bring a peaceful reconciliation in Burma, was deeply
felt by the Burmese people. Even the Myanmar military personnel were said
to have been very disappointed in losing the last glimmer of hope for
peace. China has cast a long shadow of darkness on Burma, Chinese
political power is rising in the east but the long darkness in Burma will
not be over soon.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

February 16, Human Rights Watch
Burma: Pro-democracy activist detained indefinitely

China, Russia Continue to Provide Political Cover for Military Junta

New York: The Burmese government’s arbitrary extension of the detention of
a prominent opposition party leader highlights the country’s lack of
commitment to political change, Human Rights Watch said today.

On Tuesday, the Home Ministry of the ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) extended the house arrest of U Tin Oo, the deputy leader of
the National League for Democracy (NLD). Burma’s military junta barred the
NLD from taking power after the party overwhelmingly won the 1990 general
election.

U Tin Oo, a former Army Chief of Staff who was purged in the late 1970s
and helped form the NLD, was arrested on trumped-up charges of disturbing
public order on May 30, 2003, after pro-government militias attacked the
convoy carrying him and other opposition leaders near Depayin in upper
Burma. An unknown number of opposition supporters were killed in the
attack, in which NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also injured.

In January, China and Russia nonetheless vetoed a draft United Nations
Security Council resolution aimed at taking steps to address the dire
human rights situation in Burma.

“The Burmese government relies on China and Russia’s backing to flout the
international community’s demands to free political prisoners like U Tin
Oo,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The continued
detention of the leaders of the party that won the last election in Burma
shows how the military junta is fearful of political dissidents striving
for democracy.”

U Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi have been held under house arrest for more
than three years and are allowed almost no visitors. In May 2006, the
detention order for Aung San Suu Kyi was extended by a year, one day after
she met with UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, the
first international visitor she had been permitted since late 2003. She is
currently allowed no visits except for a monthly visit from her doctor.

Today the Burmese government is holding more than 1,000 known political
prisoners held in dozen prisons and almost 100 labor camps throughout the
country. Many are held in desperate conditions and tortured by prison and
military authorities. Many are also held far away from their homes to make
it difficult for family and political supporters to visit them or provide
food and medicines.

The SPDC regularly arrests opposition political figures and extends the
detention orders of those already imprisoned to keep them from
participating in politics. For example, in February 2005 the SPDC arrested
nine leaders of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), led by
Hkun Tun Oo, the party that gained the second-highest number of votes in
the 1990 elections. In previous years the SNLD had participated in the
National Convention to write a new constitution, but consistently
complained about the restrictive process. As a result, the party’s leaders
were arrested and the party outlawed. In secret trials in 2005, all the
leadership was sentenced to life imprisonment with terms of 97 years. One
of the leaders, U Myint Than, died in custody on May 2, 2006 at age 55.

“Burma’s military government is using its detention and harassment of
political activists to smooth the way toward writing a new constitution
that would allow it to stay in power,” said Adams. “Burma’s leaders are
trying to make the public and the world community forget that there are
many Burmese voices demanding political change.”

Since late 2005 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has
not been permitted to conduct unsupervised visits to political prisoners,
one of their core mandates for operations in Burma. Recently, the
government announced that visits could resume if accompanied by members of
the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a mass-based
social movement organized and controlled by the SPDC, which would be
contrary to standard protocol that ICRC follows around the world.

The USDA perpetrated the 2003 attack in Depayin on the NLD convoy of Aung
San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and other opposition leaders. It has also been
involved in numerous other attacks and demonstrations against opposition
political figures. As part of the SPDC’s sham political reform process,
the USDA is being groomed as a political organization that will assume
power once the long running constitutional process concludes and elections
take place. USDA officials are slowly taking over control of local
government responsibilities from military officials, a key step in
institutionalizing their nationwide control.

“The military is trying to subcontract power to the same thuggish elements
who violently attacked Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo in 2003,” Adams said.
“It’s time for China and other international supporters of Burma’s
military junta to say enough is enough and stop supporting repression in
Burma.”