BurmaNet News, February 13, 2008

[Editor]

February 13, 2008 Issue # 3401

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar extends arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi's deputy: official
FT: Burma vote pledge spurs hope and anger
Irrawaddy: Burmese referendum: here we go again...
Irrawaddy: Children’s Day nothing to celebrate in Burma
Khonumthung: Burmese ethnic groups call for boycott of regime's road map
Mizzima News: Ceasefire groups join in opposition dinner
Mizzima News: Women groups reject new elections
IMNA: MNDF requests its nationals to ignore referendum and elections
DVB: Authorities disrupt NLD Union Day activities
KNG: A mother of three raped and killed by Burmese soldier

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Activists flee Myanmar crackdown to Thailand

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Thai PTTEP in deal with CNOOC in Myanmar
Narinjara: Burma expected to export 400,000 tons of rice to Bangladesh

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Four rewarded for Burmese community work

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Referendum a 'sham': HRW
Sofia News Agency: Bulgaria imposes restrictions against Myanmar
Press Trust of India: Britain calls for Suu Kyi's immediate release

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma’s referendum ambush – Aung Zaw
The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia): Burma's junta lies about its
farcical reforms because it can [Editorial]

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 13, Agence France Presse
Myanmar extends arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi's deputy: official

Myanmar's military rulers Wednesday extended the house arrest of Tin Oo,
the deputy to detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an official
said.

Tin Oo, 80, was ordered confined to his Yangon home for another year, a
Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Tin Oo is the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) party. The international community, as well as local
activists, have repeatedly called for the pair to be released.

He was arrested along with the Nobel peace prize winner in May 2003, after
a pro-government mob attacked their convoy during a political tour of the
country's north.

The two led the NLD to victory in 1990 elections, but the junta never
recognised the result.

Tin Oo was initially held in prison in Kalay in the remote northwest, but
in February 2004 was brought back to his home in Yangon, where he has been
held ever since.

More than 1,800 political prisoners are believed detained in Myanmar,
including about 700 held over pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks
in September.

Security forces violently suppressed the protests, leaving at least 31
dead according to the United Nations.

Myanmar's military, which has ruled since 1962, has come under mounting
international pressure to open a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi to move
towards national reconciliation.

But the regime has insisted on sticking to its self-proclaimed "road map"
to democracy, and on Saturday unexpectedly announced that it would hold a
referendum in May ahead of democratic elections in 2010.

Critics warn any balloting would be meaningless with Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin
Oo and other democracy leaders locked away.

____________________________________

February 12, Financial Times
Burma vote pledge spurs hope and anger - Amy Kazmin

For many of Burma’s 55m people, their military rulers’ weekend declaration
of a national referendum on a new constitution came as a big shock.

Just a few months ago, the junta made a high-profile start to talks with
Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s Nobel Prize-winning opposition leader and
democracy campaigner, ostensibly for a dialogue on Burma’s political
future.

But the regime’s decision to push through a controversial
military-sponsored charter has been taken as a clear signal of its
unwillingness to compromise with the democratic opposition and with ethnic
minorities on substantial political issues.

Under the new constitution, 25 per cent of the seats in a new parliament
would be reserved for military appointees, the army chief would choose
some key ministers, and the army could seize power in a state of
emergency. Ethnic minorities have complained that the draft charter does
not give them sufficient local autonomy.

Still, for some Burmese, accepting the charter – in spite of its flaws –
is the only realistic hope of altering the increasingly unbearable status
quo of unchecked military power.

“There is no alternative,” said Ma Theingi, a Rangoon-based writer who
once served as Ms Suu Kyi’s personal assistant but disagreed with her
stand on economic sanctions. “At least after this is done we can step
forward to elections.”

“However big a role the military has in the constitution in the future,
now they have 100 per cent power,” she said. “You can’t expect perfection
at a stroke. There can be amendments later – it’s not like we have to live
with this for the next 100 years.”
She said she also feared that “if people refuse the smallest change, we
have to go back to square one”.

Opposition activists, however, are already calling on the Burmese to
reject what they call a charter to “legalise the military dictatorship”,
although they admit that campaigning will be tough, given that dissident
leaders are imprisoned or on the run amid a harsh crackdown on dissent.

“This is a declaration of war by the military regime against the people of
Burma,” the 88 Generation Students group said, adding that the referendum
would be a “major battlefield” in the struggle with the regime.

In an interview from his hiding place, Soe Htun, a member of the group,
told the Financial Times: “This sham constitution is not for our people’s
sake but for the army and their relatives. We have to organise people to
reject it. It’s difficult but we have to try within the two months.”

Exiled dissidents also said they were gearing up to campaign against the
charter, using radio, leaflets, CDs and other channels that bypass
heavily-censored state-controlled media.

“This one-sided constitution is not the right thing,” said Nyo Ohn Myint,
an exiled member of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which won
a landslide 1990 election victory but was barred from taking power. “If
[the] military win, it will be more legitimacy for them.”

Inside Burma, the NLD has so far reacted cautiously to the referendum.
With Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest, the party’s elderly acting leaders
have been wary of any overt moves that could result in the party being
banned, or in exclusion from future elections.

Nyo Ohn Myint believes the NLD leaders will soon take a public stand
against the charter. “This is do or die,” he said. Yet like other Burmese,
he conceded that even if the campaign to mobilise voters were successful,
it could prove a pyrrhic victory. “If the referendum fails, the generals
will keep power longer.”

____________________________________

February 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese referendum: here we go again... – Wai Moe

The referendum on a new Burmese constitution will be in May, but people
are still in the dark about the exact election date and the contents of
the constitution.

Many Burmese believe the election could meet the same fate as the 1973
referendum which was manipulated by the late dictator Ne Win, say Rangoon
observers.

The last referendum in Burma was in 1973, which endorsed the 1974
socialist constitution. At that time, Ne Win’s regime declared that more
than 99 percent of the voters supported the constitution, but critics say
the results were rigged by the government.

Aye Thar Aung, an Arankan ethnic leader, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday
that a white box and a black box were at the polling station where he
voted—a white box for a ‘Yes’ vote and a black box for a ‘No’ vote.

“I voted against the regime’s constitution in 1973. But when my township
authorities declared the results, they said everyone voted ‘Yes,’” he
said. “It means they cheated in the referendum. There were no independent
or international observers to monitor the voting process.”

The current military regime also held a general election in 1990.

Aye Thar Aye, who was elected a member of parliament in the 1990 election,
remembers harassment by authorities during the campaign.

“When I attempted to meet with people in Arankan State during that time,
the authorities ordered boats not to take me and my team to campaign
areas,” he said.

“But fortunately the voting system helped us and the voting allowed people
to vote secretly,” he said.  However, the election results were not
honored by the regime, which refused to relinquish power.

On February 9, the junta announced the general dates for the referendum
and nationwide election, in May and 2010 respectively. The referendum is
the forth step in its road map to democracy.

“The approval of the draft constitution will be sought in a national
referendum to be held in May,” Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Secretary 1
of the junta, said in the announcement.

The referendum on the constitution will be the second such election in
Southeast Asia recently. Thailand held a referendum on a military-backed
constitution in August 2007.

The coup organizers, who ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatara in
September 2006, sent each household in the country a copy of the new
constitution before the referendum. Seventy percent of the eligible voters
turned out for the referendum, which passed with 56 percent of the vote.

The print media in Thailand provided extensive debate on the
constitution’s merits. Thai broadcasting stations aired similar debates.

If the Thai constitution had failed in the referendum, the country would
have returned to the 1997 constitution. In Burma, however, there has been
no constitution for about two decades.

Also, open debate is not expected to occur in the Burmese referendum. No
critical political debate has been allowed in the country since the coup
by Ne Win in 1962. All daily newspapers are state-run or heavily censored.
Many private journals and magazines are printed, but they will be
prohibited from writing interpretive or commentary articles on the
proposed constitution or political issues.

Observers see the Burmese junta’s referendum election as a move to ward
off criticism from Western international community, and a way to shore up
support from its closer allies, China, India and the Asean group
countries.

A veteran Rangoon journalist who observed the 1973 referendum remembers
that the socialist regime took a few years to hold the election.

“But now the referendum is only three months away,” he said. “So I don’t
know what the junta will do or what will happen next.”

There are many unanswered questions, he said. “How can people participant
in the constitution process?”

____________________________________

February 13, Irrawaddy
Children’s Day nothing to celebrate in Burma – Min Lwin

Today is Children’s Day in Burma, commemorating the birthday of Gen Aung
San, the founder of the Burmese armed forces and hero of Burmese
independence. However, the current military leaders in Burma would rather
erase his name from the history books and forbid his birthday being
celebrated altogether.

“Gen Aung San’s story is genuine and honest,” said a former teacher from a
primary school in Rangoon. “Something that is sorely absent among the
current leaders.”

She said the authorities even removed a poem that was written about Aung
San from primary text books. “Aung San’s birthday was erased by the
military government when they took power in 1988,” she added.

“The name of Aung San always aroused excitement among young students,
because teachers often taught stories about Aung San, his life and his
sacrifice,” a Rangoon resident said.

But nowadays, teachers do not tell their students stories about Aung San
for fear of reprisals.

A civil servant from Rangoon said that Aung San’s name has all but been
erased from Burmese life. He is barely mentioned in the state-run media or
in secondary school textbooks. Burma’s rulers no longer say they are
following Aung San’s path, and the once elaborate Martyrs’ Day
celebrations have been drastically curtailed.

According to a Rangoon resident, the reason the current military leaders
want to keep Aung San at a distance is because of his daughter, Suu Kyi.
Her presence in the country sits uncomfortably with the junta leaders.
They regard her as their chief enemy.

However, the Township Peace and Development Council in Rangoon has given
permission for the National League for Democracy to mark Burmese
Children’s Day at their headquarters in Rangoon.

Whether celebrating Children’s Day is symbolic or not, the fact is that
life expectancy and health conditions for Burmese children are
increasingly worse since the military government took power in 1988.

In 2007, Burma’s child mortality rate was the fourth highest in the world,
eclipsed in Asia only by Afghanistan, according to a UNICEF report in
January.

According to Dr Osamu Kunii, a nutrition expert in Burma, between 100,000
to 150,000 children under five years of age die every year in Burma.
That’s between 270 and 400 daily—and many are dying from preventable
diseases.

Poverty, the economic crisis and instability in Burma drives more and more
children in search of jobs. Some work from 5 a.m. until late at night in
tea shops, bars and factories, often earning just 7,000 kyat ($ US5.72)
per month.

A resident in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy recently that the amount of
street children in the former capital is now increasing. “Many children
aged between 4 and 13 are begging on the streets. Some young children are
carrying babies and begging. Some street children look for plastic in the
rubbish bins and dumps and some go fishing every day for their daily
survival,” she said.

According to reports, sometimes street children who can’t produce ID are
recruited into the Burmese army.

____________________________________

February 13, Khonumthung News
Burmese ethnic groups call for boycott of regime's road map

Burmese ethnic political groups yesterday urged people in Burma to protest
against the Burmese junta's road map to democracy that is basically
prolonging military rule.

The United Nationalities League for Democracy (Liberated Areas) in a
statement on the 61st anniversary of the Union Day on February 12 urged
people in Burma to boycott the SPDC's road map and to strive for the
setting up of a federal system in Burma.

The Union Day of Burma commemorates the date of the Panglong agreement
signed by General Aung San, government of Burma Proper which included
Karen, Arakan and Mon territories, and the representatives of the ethnic
nationalities from Shan state, Kachin hill and Chin hill in Panglong town
in Shan state, Burma.

The Burmese military regime led by Ne Win, who grabbed state power in
1962, sidetracked from the Panglong agreement that guaranteed equality and
a federal democratic system for all nationalities in Burma and redrafted
its own programmed constitution in 1974 that led Burma into civil war and
denied freedom to the people, according to UNLD/LA.

Burma gained independence from British colonial rule on January 4, 1948
after the assassination of General Aung San and other leaders on July 17,
1947.

The UNLD/LA also stressed that nationalities in Burma needed to restore
the Panglong spirit in order to solve the problems of inequality among
nationalities and to restore democracy in Burma.

Meanwhile, Shing Pe Ling, MP and Chairman of the Chin National League for
Democracy (CNLD) in Mindat Township, southern Chin State, in a statement
yesterday also criticized the junta's recent announcement on referendum
and elections and said that it violates the Panglong agreement and denies
the aspiration of ethnic nationalities for a federal system, India based
Mizzima news was quoted as saying.

The Burmese junta announced on February 9 that it will hold a
constitutional referendum in May to legitimize the constitution drafted
after the 14-year long national convention and it is to be followed by
multi-party elections in 2010.

The National Convention which began in 1993 as a part of the regime's
seven-point road map to disciplined democracy was wrapped up on September
3, 2007. Around one thousand of junta's hand picked delegates were
involved in the convention.

The UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon on February 11 in a statement
called on the Burmese junta to make the constitution making process
inclusive, participatory and transparent in order to ensure the document
represents the views of all people of Burma.

The Secretary General also stressed that the junta should start a
"substantive and time-bound" dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the
NLD and other parties relevant to the national reconciliation process.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 general elections after a military
coup in 1988 but the regime refused to honor the election results.

____________________________________

February 13, Mizzima News
Ceasefire groups join in opposition dinner - Nay Thwin

Opposition forces held a Union Day banquet in Rangoon last night which was
attended by representatives of pro-democracy organizations and ceasefire
groups.

For the first time ever ceasefire delegates joined with pro-democracy
opposition groups to pay tribute to Union Day; the three-hour banquet on U
Wisara Road being held right under the nose of the authorities.

Meanwhile the regime held a State banquet for Union Day in Naypyitaw last
night which was attended by Senior General Than Shwe and his wife Kyaing
Kyaing along with invited representatives from states and divisions
throughout the country, according to state-run newspapers.

With rumors circulating as to the health of Kyaing Kyaing, she was
curiously absent from photographs of ethnic representatives meeting with
Than Shwe at the gala. On previous occasions she has invariably been
pictured with Than Shwe.

The opposition dinner in Rangoon drew a crowd of over fifty guests,
including veteran politicians and members from the Committee Representing
the People's Parliament, National League for Democracy and ethnic
organizations.

"The function was a pragmatic move for unity as it was attended by ethnic
ceasefire groups", an attendee of the banquet told Mizzima on condition of
anonymity. Out of concerns for safety, he declined to reveal the names of
the ceasefire ethnic delegations in attendance.

An ethnic youth who helped organize the banquet said, "It's time, while
the regime is publicly challenging all of us, for all dissident democratic
forces to unite. We must build unity with mutual respect and mutual
understanding through frequent exchanges and dealings. If we cannot unite
this time, we will regret having missed our last chance to do so."

"As a Shan proverb goes, like the ekokes [edible insects indigenous to the
Shan region] we live in our own worlds for a lifetime, only to meet when
we are in the same frying pan. We must learn from this", he added.

A veteran politician said it was an unforgettable experience in his
lifetime, as the banquet went totally unnoticed by the authorities.

The regime restricts ceasefire groups from meeting with each other and
with pro-democracy political parties.

____________________________________

February 13, Mizzima News
Women groups reject new elections - Phanida

Women groups at home and abroad yesterday labeled the junta's proposed
timetable for a constitutional referendum and general election a sheer lie
to the people.

"They took a step backward from improving their international image. How
can the people accept their constitution if they realize this cannot
guarantee fundamental rights and ethnic rights? They are planning to lie
to the whole country, we will protest against it", Khin Ohnmar, Chairman
of the Thai-based Network of Democracy and Development, told Mizzima.

They have also shown their true face by not cooperating with the United
Nations Special Envoy to Burma, who is doing his best in working toward
national reconciliation, she articulated.

"A fresh election will be meaningless. The 1990 general election results
must be recognized. We think this is not a good program. We hope for the
best and are doing our best", Myint Myint Sein, leader of the women's wing
of the National League for Democracy said in Rangoon.

AIDS campaign activist Phyu Phyu Thin said that she cannot accept this
dictatorial program either, which undermines the people's spirit and their
desire for peace and democracy.

"It is impossible to hold a referendum in May this year and a new election
in 2010 without implementing the 1990 election result. The people showed
their desire and aspiration very clearly in the 1990 general election.
They should not destroy the people's desire", she admonished.

Nilar Thein from the 88-generation student group said from her hideout
that they cannot recognize the planned referendum, which excludes
political leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic political prisoners.

"The people have expressed their true will and desire in the September
protests last year. Will it be a free and fair referendum or a forced
referendum with intimidation and coercion?" Nilar Thein asked.

"These undemocratic and unfair practices will create a lot of concern over
the future of our country. It will lead to danger if they hold the planned
unfair election in 2010", she added.

____________________________________

February 13, Independent Mon News Agency
MNDF requests its nationals to ignore referendum and elections - Loa Htaw

The Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) yesterday requested it nationals
to ignore the Burmese junta's constitutional referendum and election.

The Burmese junta announced on last Saturday that they will hold
constitutional referendum in May this year and will hold elections in
2010.

The MNDF said that the Burmese military government will never do what they
say and will never say what they will do.

The Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), the National
League for Democracy and MNDF has not accepted the regime's road map plans
from the very beginning.

The ensuing referendum and election is just to prolong and extend the
junta's life and to keep clinging to power, said a former political
prisoner and MNDF leader.

"We should not waste our time with what the government plans which will
not benefit the people. We should concentrate on our movements which will
bring us democracy and ethnic rights," said the MNDF leader.

Whether the referendum will be supported or not the government would
benefit, he said. If people support the referendum they will continue and
hold elections and if not they'll take more time by giving a reason to
repair the constitution again.

Burmese opposition leaders said that the government announcing the
timetable before knowing the results of the referendum is meaningless.

"It's like inviting for a marriage before knowing the answer is love or
not," said the MNDF leader.

MNDF was formed in 1988 after the uprising to contest the election in 1990
and it was banned by the SLORC in 1992.

____________________________________

February 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Authorities disrupt NLD Union Day activities

Union Day celebrations planned by National League for Democracy members
faced disruption and intimidation yesterday from local officials and Union
Solidarity and Development Association members.

U Chit Htwe, a member of Taunggok NLD, went to Phaung Taw Oo pagoda
yesterday at 8pm, having been turned away that morning when he went with
other NLD members and young people to offer food to the monks.

Taunggok NLD deputy chairman U Than Pe said Chit Htwe was arrested as he
tried to get past security at the pagoda.

“He went to the pagoda for a candlelight vigil, but as all three entrances
had been shut down by the authorities since morning, he climbed over the
fence to get in and was arrested by the pagoda security,” Than Pe said.

Chit Htwe is currently being held at Taunggok police station, and had not
been released as of 3pm today.

In Mandalay division, Taung Thar township NLD chairman U Than Myint said
that the township Peace and Development Council chairman and USDA members
came to ask if they were planning to celebrate Union Day, and warned them
not to go ahead with any plans.

“On previous Union Days, they didn’t come to ask these kinds of question,
but this year they have been trying to find out about our plans,” Than
Myint said.

Than Myint said that the authorities had also checked on monasteries in
the township to ensure monks were not accepting meal offerings from NLD
members.

In a separate incident, around 400 USDA members went to an NLD celebration
being held in Rangoon at around noon and took photographs of the event and
the people attending.

Celebrations in Aung Lan township, Magwe division, attended by around 30
NLD members, took place under the close watch of local authorities and
three military affairs security officials, according to one township NLD
member.

In Sagaing division, NLD communications committee member Daw Khin Than
said that the group had requested permission from the authorities to hold
a Union Day celebration, but this was refused.

____________________________________

February 13, Kachin News Group
A mother of three raped and killed by Burmese soldier

A Kachin mother of three children was raped and killed over a month ago in
Hukawng Valley in Kachin State of Northern Burma by Burma Army soldiers,
said local sources.

Ms. Hpaumyang Kai (32), a widow and a mother of three children was raped
and killed on December 30, 2007 in her village called Nawngmi on Ledo
Road, said residents of Nawngmi.

According to residents, Ms. Hpaumyang Kai was raped and killed by a
soldier under Sergeant Tun Tun from a Public Relation battalion based in
Myitkyina Township, capital of Kachin State.

Hpaumyang Kai's body was discovered in a place in the outskirts of the
village during a search operation conducted by Shahtuzup based Burma
Army's, Infantry Battalion (IB) No. (298) eight days after she was
murdered, the residents told KNG.

The soldier who committed the crime was detained and interrogated by
Infantry Battalion No. (298), said relatives of Hpaumyang Kai who informed
of the crime to the military base.

No action has been taken against the soldier yet and he has been freed by
the military authorities, added residents.

The residents and relatives of Hpaumyang Kai were told by the IB No.
(298)--- that "We can't charge any of Burma Army soldiers no matter what
crimes they commit ."

On February 6, Ko Win Aung, a gold merchant was robbed and killed on the
road heading towards Shahtuzup gold mine by the three soldiers in IB No.
(298).

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 13, Reuters
Activists flee Myanmar crackdown to Thailand - Ed Cropley

Defying international calls to relent, Myanmar's junta is still hunting
down activists involved in September's monk-led protests, causing scores
to flee to Thailand, fugitives and aid workers said on Wednesday.

"They will not stop," said one 36-year-old former political prisoner who
arrived in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on January 1 after three months
in hiding in Yangon, the old capital and hub of the pro-democracy
demonstrations.

His account of a dramatic escape to Thailand exposes as a lie the junta's
assurances to United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari in November
that it had stopped its arrests.

As Gambari was passing on the generals' promises to the U.N. Security
Council, police were holding the man's mother for a week to force her to
reveal the names, addresses and phone numbers of her son's friends and
relatives, he said.

"Gambari may tell them to stop arresting people but they just carry on,"
he told Reuters in an interview. He asked not to be named as his wife and
children remain in Yangon. She has to report to the authorities every
week, he said.

Having been imprisoned twice two decades ago for taking part in a failed
1988 uprising, the activist knew he would be a target of the junta's
crackdown last September, and decided to go to ground immediately.

"I stayed in friends' houses -- a new house each week -- but the
authorities got to know all the houses," he said. "On December 25, I
decided I had to flee. If I had been arrested, I would have been sent to
prison for a long time."

Knowing he was on a wanted list, he evaded military checkpoints on the
road to Thailand by hiding in a truck beneath crates of fresh crabs. The
driver bribed soldiers not to search the vehicle, saying any delay would
ruin the meat, he said.

"LIKE A DEATH SENTENCE"

Even though the crackdown started more than four months ago, a steady
trickle of fugitive men, women, children and Buddhist monks are turning up
in Mae Sot as their bolt-holes are slowly uncovered.

"Some people left immediately but some went into hiding and are only
coming out now," said Nay Tin Myint, a senior member of the 1988
student-led uprising who spent 15 years in prison -- seven in solitary
confinement -- before fleeing in May 2007.

Along with an exiled branch of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy, he said he was helping 83 people,
including 22 monks, who had fled since September.

"We have new-comers all the time," he said.

A worker at another refugee agency in Mae Sot, who asked not to be named,
said four times as many fugitives were now crossing the Thai border
compared to before the crackdown.

With Bangkok refusing to allow the United Nations refugee agency to start
the asylum process for new arrivals, all those who make it across the
border live in constant fear of arrest and deportation as illegal
migrants.

"It would be like a death sentence for me," Nay Tin Myint said. "They have
accused me of being a terrorist. I would be sent to prison for a very,
very long time."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 13, Reuters
Thai PTTEP in deal with CNOOC in Myanmar

Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL PTTE.BK will join with
Chinese energy giant CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) to
explore and develop gas and oil projects in army-ruled Myanmar, a PTT
executive said.

PTTEP will swap its 20 percent stake in offshore Block M3 and M4 in
Myanmar for CNOOC's A4 and C1 blocks, PTTEP president Maroot Mrigadat told
reporters on Tuesday.

"We talked about cooperation, including the share swap. In the future, we
may invest jointly in other countries," Maroot said of his discussions
with CNOOC.

PTTEP's deal is part of its plan to diversify risk, he said. PTTEP, the
oil and gas exploration arm of top energy firm PTT PCL PTT.BK, is looking
to buy new gas and oil assets at home and abroad to increase reserves and
capacity and serve rising domestic demand.

With its deal, the Thai firm is ignoring Western calls for a boycott of
the former Burma after its crackdown on pro-democracy protests last
September.

The United States, which imposed a ban on new investment in Myanmar in
1997 and tightened sanctions after the crackdown, and the European Union
have called on Asian neighbours to impose sanctions on the military junta.

But Thailand and others are reluctant to do so.

Myanmar gets most of its export earnings from selling gas to Thailand,
which is competing against China and India for a slice of the country's
abundant gas reserves.

PTTEP owns 100 percent of offshore Block M9, which is still under
exploration in the Gulf of Martaban, south of Myanmar's main city, Yangon.

The company said in August last year it planned to spend $1 billion on
Block M9 and was looking for financial and technical partners to help
share the costs of developing it.

(Reporting by Pisit Changplayngam, writing by Khettiya Jittapong, editing
by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)

____________________________________

February 13, Narinjara News
Burma expected to export 400,000 tons of rice to Bangladesh

Private sector exporters in Burma plan to export 400,000 tons of rice to
Bangladesh at 'free on board' prices between USD 280 and USD 365 per ton,
officials said.

The Commerce Ministry of Myanmar has informed the Bangladesh embassy in
Rangoon that Burma has about 400,000 tons of rice available for export at
the private level this year.

Of the 400,000 tons of rice, the Irrawaddy Division of Burma has about
200,000 tons of exportable rice that is slated to be sent to Bangladesh
along the sea route.

Rice merchants in Arakan State will export about 100,000 tons of rice,
much of which is in Sittwe harbour to be exported to Bangladesh as part of
border trade.

At the same time, many tons of Burmese rice has been exported to
Bangladesh along the sea route to Teknaf and Chittagong since the
beginning of this year.

The Commerce Ministry of Myanmar, however, informed Bangladesh that the
import payments should be made through the telegraphic transfer advance
system via Singapore, as Burmese businessmen do not prefer the letter of
credit system.

Exporters in Burma would rather not export their products through the
opening of letters of credit due to the imposition of investment and trade
sanctions on Burma by the United States, European Union, and Canada.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

February 13, Irrawaddy
Four rewarded for Burmese community work - Violet Cho

Alliance Myanmar, a Burmese branch of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance,
has presented leadership awards to four Burmese social activists, honoring
them for their community work.

The four laureates were praised for putting into practice the theme of
last year’s UN World AIDS day, which urged activists to “take the lead” in
their communities and inspire others to follow their example.

Alliance Myanmar recently organized a forum for 31 Burmese community-based
partner organizations to discuss their work and seek ways to overcome the
challenges of HIV/AIDS in Burma.

The four award-winners were Htay Lwin Oo, Thi Ha Kyaing, Edward Nyein and
Tin Tin Htwe.

Htay Lwin Oo is active in alerting the gay male community of Kyaukpadaung,
in Mandalay Division, to the risks of HIV/AIDS, contributing his own money
to information and prevention campaigns. He founded an organization, Mee
Ein Shin Lay Myar [Lamp Holders Sharing the Light], to help gay men
counter discrimination and provide them with vocational training.

Htay Lwin Oo said the Alliance Myanmar award would encourage him in his work.

His fellow laureate, Thi Ha Kyaing, is the founder of the Rangoon-based
HIV-positive support group Phoenix.

Phoenix's social program rebuilt 60 houses in 2007, provided funds for
school fees and funerals, and trained carers for HIV-positive hospital
patients. Phoenix was the first group to provide HIV/AIDS care in
hospitals, and the success of its program has prompted other groups to
organize similar projects.

The third man among the laureates, Edward Nyein, from Pyay, Pegu Division,
is the care and support project manager for Karuna, a Catholic
organization. Part of his work involves
training sex workers to be peer educators in the community. He also
represents sex workers in their contacts with local police and lawyers.

The only woman among the four award-winners, Tin Tin Htwe, is a peer
educator for sex workers in Mawlamyine, capital of Mon State, and a
facilitator for non-governmental organizations working there.

Through her work with Mahaythi Myitta Shin (Loving Kindness for Women),
Tin Tin Htwe has helped the NGO community to reach sex workers and help
them.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 13, Mizzima News
Referendum a 'sham': HRW

Without providing a civil environment respectful of basic human rights the
junta's proposed referendum is a "sham", according to Human Rights Watch.

New York based Human Rights Watch, on Monday, gave notice that any
referendum or election in Burma "should be conducted in an atmosphere of
freedom and respect for basic rights, and not as a hollow exercise in the
military's sham political reform process."

The rights to public debate, a neutral election committee and freedom of
the press are just three rights fundamental to the holding of a free and
fair election that the junta must guarantee, according to the
international rights group.

Following a more than 14-year drafting process of the proposed
constitution, which has not seen the participation of the National League
for Democracy in over a decade and which Human Rights Watch argues
attempts to entrench military rule, the organization is not optimistic on
the prospect of change in the regime's behavior.

"In light of its massive crackdown on protests last year, there are no
signs that the government believes in openness or debate," said Brad
Adams, Asia Director for Human Rights Watch in the statement.

Adams cautions that there is a danger of international actors less
critical of the regime to give a false sense of legitimacy to the junta's
road-map by saying, "See, Burma is moving toward democracy; we should back
off and give them a chance."

Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok are singled out as pivotal actors, often
accused of being too soft on the junta, that need to join with other
international voices and increase pressure on Burma's generals to amend
their ways.
The United Nations Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is scheduled
to visit next week with Chinese authorities in Beijing at the onset of yet
another regional tour.

____________________________________

February 13, Sofia News Agency
Bulgaria imposes restrictions against Myanmar

Bulgaria's government headed by PM Stanishev (first on the right) set off
to contribute to the crushing of Burma's military junta by imposing
wide-ranging sanctions on the Asian country's regime.

The Bulgarian government decided to impose restrictive measures against
Myanmar (formerly called Burma) at its session on Wednesday by approving a
respective decree of the EU Council.

The USA has also imposed similar sanctions against the Asian state. The
measures have been adopted in the wake of the suppression of peaceful
civic protests by the Burmese ruling military junta and the continuing
human rights abuses.

Bulgarian cabinet's decision contains an update of the names of persons
from the Burmese junta who are not allowed to enter Bulgaria and whose
assets and funds would also be kept out of the country.

The ban for investments in Burmese state-owned enterprises owned or
controlled by the regime or by people related to it is expanded.

Further restrictions are introduced with respect to the revenue sources
for the Burmese regime. These include the export of machinery and
equipment for the timber and timber-processing industry, the mining of
metals and minerals, and of precious and semi-precious stones. The import
of products from these activities is also prohibited.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=90343

____________________________________

February 13, Press Trust Of India
Britain calls for Suu Kyi's immediate release

Britain has called for the immediate release of Myanmar's pro-democracy
leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi and the United Nations special envoy Ibrahim
Gambari's return to the military-ruled country.

"First, Aung San Suu Kyi must be released immediately and allowed to
participate along with other political leaders and ethnic groups in
drafting the constitution and in the subsequent referendum campaign,"
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a speech at Oxford.

"Second, the UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari should be allowed to return
immediately to Burma to help facilitate the process. I believe this is an
important time to reflect on the situation in Burma and to think about
what the international community can do there - and elsewhere - to help
people fulfil their aspirations for democratic rule," he said.

Miliband's remark came days after Myanmar's military regime called for a
referendum in May on a new constitution and elections in 2010.

Delivering the Aung Saan Suu Kyi Lecture titled 'The Democratic
Imperative' on Monday, Miliband recalled that the pro-democracy leader
studied at Oxford where she also met her late husband and scholar, Michael
Aris.

Miliband quoted Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Indo-American
journalist Fareed Zakaria to insist on the need for democracy to flourish
in different parts of the globe.

"(Amartya) Sen has brilliantly shown, from the Buddhist councils in India
to the society of the Ochollo in Southern Ethiopia, that people from all
cultures came together to deliberate over their communal affairs centuries
before the emergence of the Italian city-republics," he said.

In Pakistan, Miliband said the path to democracy began with free and fair
elections, but it needed deeper roots.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 13, Irrawaddy
Burma’s referendum ambush – Aung Zaw

The announcement last Saturday that a constitutional referendum would be
held in Burma in May, to be followed by elections in 2010, is just the
latest attempt by the country’s military rulers to ambush the opposition
and international community.

The regime has pulled many such surprise moves in the past. This time, the
generals are telling the world, “Take it or leave it—the road map is the
only way to go.”

But let’s put things into perspective. This announcement is just the
regime’s latest gambit to deflect criticism from the West after the bloody
crackdown in September. Would they have taken this step in June or July
last year, before their handling of the protests made them the target of
intense international pressure? Not likely.

The decision also shows that the regime feels it is accountable to one
country in particular: China. As the regime’s political consultant,
Beijing has been urging the generals to implement their road map, while
calling on the international community to refrain from imposing sanctions.

But the regime’s road map is designed to ensure that it holds on to power
indefinitely—nothing more, nothing less.

Indeed, there is nothing new on the plate. The decision to a hold
referendum later this year and elections in 2010 is in line with the
regime’s seven-point road map, though we previously had no idea of a
timeline.

Now we know that in two months’ time, the regime will hold a referendum
with practically no preparation. People haven’t even seen the new
constitution yet. More importantly, after the crackdown, the people of
Burma are in no mood to cooperate with the regime.

However, the leaders in Naypyidaw know that the announcement will again
divide its critics and opponents because they (Burmese and non-Burmese
alike) are disunited and lack a proper strategy.

Not surprisingly, the regime’s most vocal critic, the US, slammed the
announcement.

“We call on the Burmese government to comply with the United Nations call,
last October, that this be an open and inclusive process that allows the
Burmese people a fair say in the structure and form of their new
government,” said White House spokesperson Dana Perino.

Sean McCormack, a spokesperson for the US State Department, was even
harsher in his assessment:

“No referendum held under these conditions—a pervasive climate of fear in
which virtually the entire population, including Aung San Suu Kyi, is
under detention, and the Burmese people not being allowed to participate
in or even discuss the drafting of a constitution—can be free, fair or
credible.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has seen his special envoy’s
missions to Burma repeatedly fail to make any meaningful headway, urged
the Burmese junta to “make the constitution-making process inclusive,
participatory and transparent in order to ensure that any draft
constitution is broadly representative of the views of all the people of
Myanmar.”

Understandably, the opposition in exile and activists in Burma rejected
the announcement and called for a referendum boycott. But aside from
outright rejection, they seem to lack a strategy. And so the regime has
the upper hand again. The 1990 election winner, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), said the decision to hold referendum was “incomplete” and
“vague.” The party later called for the regime to create a fair climate.
But what does that mean?

At a press conference held by the regime in Naypyidaw on December 3, Dr
Dietrich Andreas, the German ambassador to Burma, asked whether political
parties, including the NLD, would have a chance to participate in the
drafting of the state constitution.

Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan replied:

“We will not sideline those opposing the seven-step road map and the
detailed basic principles. When a referendum is held, those in opposition
will have the chance to cast votes together with the supporters. In like
manner, those in opposition will have the chance to stand for elections
after the draft constitution has been approved.”

Of course, the regime’s hand-picked “opposition” includes the National
Unity Party, formed by Gen Ne Win’s closest ministers, and ethnic allies
who will happily participate in the coming election.

Outside of Burma, the chief of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
Surin Pitsuwan, said he saw some merit in the regime’s announcement.

“It has to begin somewhere and now it has a clear, definite beginning,’ he
said.

Surin is no stranger to the Burmese regime. He was a vocal critic when he
was Thai foreign minister from 1997 to 2000. He recently visited the
junta’s fortified capital, Naypyidaw, and admitted that he felt the
Burmese regime was determined to stay in power indefinitely.

“I think it is a development in the right direction,” the former Thai
foreign minister told Reuters on the sidelines of a business seminar in
Bangkok.

Than Shwe and his senior military leaders will undoubtedly be smiling at
Surin’s comments, knowing that there is no unified position on the latest
ambush launched from Naypyidaw. The regime has been exploiting differences
between its neighbors and the West to serve its own interest.

All forces at home and abroad have so far failed to take advantage of the
regime’s weaknesses, let alone mount a counterattack.

____________________________________

February 13, The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
Burma's junta lies about its farcical reforms because it can [Editorial]

One positive thing that can be said about Burma's military regime is that
its generals don't bury their lies in the small print.

When they feel the need to tell a great big whopper they do it in big bold
capital letters and right in your face.

Which is why it doesn't even take a second glance to see that the plans
for a constitutional referendum in May and elections in 2010 announced by
the generals on Saturday are nothing more than a sham.

The result of this farce will be to make things worse by legitimizing
military rule behind a facade of civilian institutions.

The referendum and elections will certainly not bring to power Burma's
most popular political party, the National League for Democracy.

In 1990 elections the NLD won 82 per cent of the vote; that appalled the
generals and they have always refused to accept the result.

The junta, led by Gen. Than Shwe, has already moved to ensure that NLD
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18 years under
various forms of detention, can never become government leader.

A constitutional amendment has banned people from running for parliament
if they are or were married to foreigners. Suu Kyi was married to British
academic Michael Aris, who died in 1999.

The main reason for this unusually honest approach to lying is that the
generals have discovered they don't need to disguise their duplicity.

The countries and institutions that seriously worry about the Burmese
generals' brutal assaults on human and political rights -- such as the
European Union, the United States and liberal democratic United Nations
members like Canada -- are a long way away and of limited daily annoyance.

The countries that could seriously inconvenience the generals' 46-year
hold on power, such as the nine fellow members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations or lustful economic partners India and China, are
too fixated on self-interest to be a real problem.

There's good reason to think China's self-interest has played a
significant part in prompting Than Shwe and his junta to produce this
pantomime of transition to civilian rule.

The crushing of mass demonstrations by Buddhist monks and their supporters
in August and September last year pushed the Burma question high up the
international agenda again.

This is a problem for China, which has made Burma into what amounts to an
economy colony. But China does not want its support for the Burmese regime
to be yet another cause for boycotts or protests during this summer's
Beijing Olympics.

So Than Shwe has been persuaded to speed up his seven-step "roadmap to
democracy." In its early years this had all the hallmarks of a stalling
tactic rather than an initiative.

The constitutional convention of hand-picked delegates started meeting in
1993, but only infrequently and, of course, did not include the NLD or Suu
Kyi.

International uproar at the crushing of last year's demonstrations has
made it expedient to move ahead on the roadmap.

We know a little about what the constitutional convention has suggested
should be put to the people in a yes-or-no referendum and it is not
encouraging.

The new dispensation would make the president a military appointee, and
the generals will have the right to seize power if they feel national
security is threatened.

A quarter of the parliamentary seats will be reserved for military
appointees who will also control the key ministries.

It is also unlikely the May referendum on this travesty will be a
plebiscite in any recognizable sense.

Responsibility for organizing the referendum and the 2010 elections is
being given to the United Solidarity and Development Association.

The USDA is an organization of paid thugs and off-duty civil servants
which claims to have 24 million members, almost half the population of
Burma.

It has experience in arranging referendums, such as the 1994 outpouring of
popular support for the constitutional convention. People were bribed or
intimidated to attend mass rallies and thus "approve" the work of the
convention.

The USDA will not only vet and select the candidates for the 2010
parliamentary election, it is also set to become a political party and the
only one whose victory the generals will accept.