BurmaNet News, July 30, 2008

[Editor]

July 30, 2008 Issue #3523


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: SSA-North denies BBC story
Kaladan News Network: Farmers landless after authorities seize farms in
Maungdaw
Kachin News Group: Junta bribed to release prisoners in Kachin State
Mizzima News: Burmese rock star Lay Phyu to sing for cyclone victims

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: About 200 Karen villagers flee in fear of imminent war
SHAN: China tightens border security

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Thai court takes new case against Thaksin over Myanmar loan
Irrawaddy: Burma’s fishery industry near standstill

ASEAN
Myanmar Times: Aid work opens ‘positive door’ for UN, Myanmar cooperation

REGIONAL
SEAPA: Burmese exiles' leading media websites under attack
Irrawaddy: Malaysian immigration giving refugees to traffickers, say
activists

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN’s lost aid may be tip of the iceberg

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian (UK): Burma and Zimbabwe witness the last gasps of the supreme
global sheriff
India Post: Myanmar: Be careful what you wish for


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 30, Shan Herald Agency for News
SSA-North denies BBC story

The report filed by BBC on 29 July that the ceasefire Shan State Army
(SSA) “North” had decided to contest in the 2010 elections was hotly
repudiated by a top officer close to the group’s chief of staff.

The customarily media-shy group called up the Shan Herald’s Saengchuen
Soikhamhuang, known by the Burmese media in his nom de guerre U Sein Kyi,
yesterday evening to state its denial.

“The bi-annual meeting at the Hseng Keow headquarters (in Hsipaw township)
is still in progress and no decision has been reached yet,” said the
officer calling from eastern Shan State.

The BBC report had dropped a bombshell among its allies, according to him.
“We have already informed them that we are still strictly observing the
joint-resolution that we had made earlier: that none of us will do
anything without consultation among ourselves,” he explained.

He also denied a report that the SSA North’s leader Maj-Gen Loimao had
resigned and was succeeded by his deputy Col Gaifa. “It is only a false
rumor,” he said. “Why, I still remember him making a firm pledge to the
people and fighters gathering at the Shan State Army Day (24 April)
ceremony in Hseng Keow that the SSA would never surrender until democracy
and state rights were restored.”

Some of its allies, particularly the Kachin ceasefire groups, have already
decided to form a state-based party to enter the 2010 elections, according
to Kachin News Group (KNG).

Other major allies: Kokang, Wa and Mongla have yet to say anything
officially on the subject.

“Among Mongla leaders, there seem to be a difference of opinion,” said a
Shan businessman working on the Mongla-Daluo border. “While most leaders
of Shan and Akha origins are against appeasing the Burmese generals, those
of ethnic Chinese origin, who hold the purse strings of the group, appear
to be reluctant to make a tough stand.”

Mongla’s final decision, to a large extent, will depend on the Wa that is
also having a leadership crisis following President Bao Youxiang’s
prolonged illness, he predicted.

The SSA was formed in 1964 under the leadership of the late Mahadevi of
Yawnghwe. One of its factions, the SSA “North”, concluded a ceasefire
agreement with Rangoon in 1989. The other faction, led by a co-founder
Gawnzerng aka Mo Heng, became Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA),
reverting to the original name only in 1998. It is led by Gawnzerng’s
long-time follower Yawd Serk.

____________________________________

July 30, Kaladan News Network
Farmers landless after authorities seize farms in Maungdaw

Authorities in Maungdaw Township seized 32.66 acres of arable land from
farmers of Oo Shaikya (Buraseikdarpara) and Dou Dan (Loodaing) Villages,
Northern Maungdaw on June 23. The villagers have become land less as a
result, said a farmer.

The order was issued by U Hla Win, Chairman of the District Peace and
Development Council, or DPDC and U Khin Maung Htut, Chairman of Township
Peace and Development Council, orTPDC.

The Chairmen of Village Peace and Development Council ,or VPDC of the
villages, Khin Maung Than alias Abul Kalam, living in Maungdaw, told
villagers that he will return all the farm land, but he needs 15,000 to
20,000 Kyats from each farmer whose farm land had been confiscated on July
12, said a close aide of the chairman.

The VPDC chairman collected 7.5 million Kyat and he paid 6 million Kyats
to the DPDC chairman, he added.

The villagers of both villages were waiting to cultivate paddy in the rain
season, but till now the VPDC's chairman has not been able to give back
the land or the money. So the farmers of both villages suffered doubly.

____________________________________

July 30, Kachin News Group
Junta bribed to release prisoners in Kachin State

The Burmese military junta officials in Kachin State in northern are
accepting bribes to release prisoners.  Criminals sentenced to jail can
bribe the authorities to be freed. But it costs a lot of money, a source
said.

This was revealed with a drug dealer in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin
State being released recently from the prisoners (Ye-Bet) camp in Dumbang
village which is on the way to Danai (Tanai) on the Ledo road.

“My friend was sentenced to 12 years in prison on a drugs case but he was
released last month after bribing the authorities,” said a source close to
the prisoner who was recently released from Ye-bet camp.

Before he was sentenced, his family had bribed the authorities for his
release, but it could not be done then, he added.

He said that his family bribed 5 million Kyat (est. US $4,237) to the
authorities for his release and now he is in hiding for a while because he
is afraid of being rearrested by the police.

____________________________________

July 30, Mizzima News
Burmese rock star Lay Phyu to sing for cyclone victims

Prominent Burmese rock star Lay Phyu, along with three other famous
singers are ready to rock the city of Rangoon during a fund raising
concert organized for victims of Cyclone Nargis, organizers said.

Lay Phyu, who has not performed live concerts for the past three years,
will stage a come back along side his brother Ahnge, Myo Gyi and Wai Wai,
in a charity show to be conducted on August 24, in Rangoon's indoor
stadium in Thuwanah.

Dr. Ko Ko Lwin, secretary of the Myanma Music Association, known as
Myanmah Gita Asi Ayone, said all the four rock stars have agreed to
perform free to lend a helping hand to cyclone victims, struggling to
rebuild their lives.

"All the proceeds will go towards donation to cyclone victims," Ko Ko Lwin
told Mizzima.  But he added that they have not fixed the rates for the
tickets for the show.

The show according to Ko Ko Lwin, will be sponsored by the Myanma Music
Association and the performance will be by Burma's most prominent rock
band Iron Cross, better known as IC by fans across Burma.

An official at the Iron Cross studio in Rangoon told Mizzima that the band
will play to raise funds for cyclone victims without taking any fees.

"Lay Phyu will also be featuring in the show, and it will be the first
time he will be appearing on stage after about three years," a woman
official at IC studio told Mizzima.

Lay Phyu, Burma's premier rock star, has not performed in public shows for
the past three years.

While the reason for his absence from live concerts remains unknown,
rumours among his fans across Burma suggest that he was subjected to a ban
by authorities.

A fan of Lay Phyu in Rangoon said, "We don't know what exactly happened to
him but we hear rumours that he was banned by the authorities."

Lay Phyu could not be reached for comment on his disappearance from public
concerts.

According to Ko Ko Lwin, the former manager of the Iron Cross band which
has close links with Lay Phyu, he last performed a live concert in Rangoon
in mid-2005.

Another woman fan of Lay Phyu told Mizzima that a planned concert at
Rangoon's Kandawgyi in September 2005 apparently was conducted without him
though the initial advertisement included him in a special appearance.

"I saw the advertisement stating that Lay Phyu was to perform at the show,
but when the day came close, his name was removed from the advertisement
and he eventually did not appear on the show," the fan, who went for the
show expecting Lay Phyu to appear on stage, said.

"Since then I have never seen or heard him perform on stage shows," she
added.

Lay Phyu, a graduate from the University of Mandalay, is one of the
pioneers of rock music in Burma and gained immense popularity in the early
1990s. He is particularly famous for his high-pitched vocal.

Following the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in early May, several
Burmese musicians and prominent singers planned to raise funds through
their songs and by jointly releasing charity music albums.

Earlier, another prominent Burmese singer Song Oo Hlaing told Mizzima that
he and several other artists are working towards releasing a charity music
album to raise funds for victims of the cyclone.

Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Burma on May 2 and 3, left at least 138,000
dead and missing, and devastated the lives of more than 2.4 million
people.

Reporting by Mizzima correspondent, writing by Mungpi

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 30, Mizzima News
About 200 Karen villagers flee in fear of imminent war – Than Htike Oo

At least 200 Karen villagers from eastern Burma's Karen State have been
forced to flee to the Thai-Burmese border since early this month in
apprehension of imminent war between two Karen ethnic rebel forces,
sources said.

Sources said, the villagers were forced to flee their villages as a result
of fresh fighting between the Karen National Union (KNU) and its break
away faction Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

The villagers were apprehensive that the Karen National Liberation Army,
the armed wing of KNU, would launch fresh attacks on DKBA's 907th
battalion, which is based in Mawphokee, Mawphokalow and Kanelay villages
in Kawkereik Township of Karen state, on the 26th of July.

"The KNU entered their villages in Mawphokee, Mawphokalow and Kanelay. The
villagers then feared that there might be cross firing between the two
factions and begun fleeing," a member of the Committee for Internally
Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), who wished not to be named, told Mizzima.

Pado Saw Hla Ngwe, In-charge of KNU (HQ) Information Department, said when
the KNLA soldiers came to know that members of DKBA had come into these
villages, they fear that the DKBA is approaching to attack them.

"And some of the KNLA soldiers start talking of launching an advance
attack before the DKBA does, and these rumors start spreading into the
villages and they became panic and confuse and began to flee in fear of a
pending war," he added.

While it is still unclear whether the villagers were able to return to
their villages, sources said the DKBA soldiers had threatened them that
they would destroy their corns and sesame fields if they do not come back.

These villages are located near the Wawlaykhee region, 45 kilometres South
of Mae Sod on the Thai-Burmese border.

Sources said there are about 30 soldiers of DKBA 907th Battalion operating
in these villages while the KNLA's 6th Brigade also maintain an active
presence in the area.

On June 30, a joint force of DKBA's 907th Battalion and the Burmese Army
launched an attack against an outpost of the KNLA's 201st Battalion,
capturing the outpost. But the KNU said they were able to recaptured the
outpost on the following day.

____________________________________

July 30, Shan Herald Agency for News
China tightens border security

Thanks to the Beijing Olympics which is kicking off on 8 August, the
Sino-Burma border though not close is unusually tight, according to
sources.

“The Chinese security has even closed some of the ferry crossings on the
Mao-Shweli river (that runs between the two countries into the
Irrawaddy),” said a businessman from Muse, opposite Ruili. “We are also
seeing reinforced security forces.”

Further south, residents of Mongla, opposite Daluo, who normally went back
and forth across the border, say they can no longer do it, as the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) had since mid-July dispatched hundreds of troops to
the border. “Those who are caught are being detained at least for the
duration of the Olympics,” said a Shan businessman who had closed his shop
in Mongla to find work in Tachilek, opposite Thailand’s Maesai. “The
border trade there has practically come to a standstill.”

An officer in the United Wa State Army (UWSA) also confirmed the news with
further details. “We can no longer enter China further than Menglian
(opposite Panghsang, the Wa capital),” he said. “In the past they used to
have only one checkpoint between Panghsang-Meng Ah (Mong Nga) and Menglian
(Mong Lem), but now there are three more checkpoints.”

All sources have not heard from Kokang, north of the Wa territory. “But
you can bet that the situation won’t be any different from here,” said the
Wa officer.

The Bejing Olympics whose opening will be graced by several international
dignitaries including US President George W. Bush will conclude on 24
August.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 30, Agence France Presse
Thai court takes new case against Thaksin over Myanmar loan

Thailand's Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear new corruption charges
against deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, involving a controversial loan
to military-ruled Myanmar.

The case is the second against Thaksin accepted by the court this week,
after judges on Monday agreed to consider charges against the billionaire
and his aides stemming from a lottery scandal.

In the latest case, military-backed investigators accused the fallen
premier of conflict of interest in a loan granted by the Export-Import
Bank of Thailand so that Myanmar could buy satellite services from
Thaksin's Shin Satellite.

The investigators claim Thaksin wrongly ordered the Exim Bank to increase
a three-billion-baht (89.6-million-dollar) loan to four billion baht, so
that Myanmar's ruling junta could buy more services from ShinSat.

ShinSat is part of the Shin Corp telecom firm, which Thaksin founded. His
family sold the company to Singapore's state-linked Temasek Holdings in
January 2006 in a tax-free deal that prompted street protests leading to
the military coup against him.

"The charges submitted by the (investigators) are enough to warrant a
hearing. The court decided to take the case," Judge Panya Suthibodi told
the court, setting the first hearing for September 15.

Neither Thaksin nor his lawyer attended the hearing Wednesday.

The case is the latest in the mounting legal challenges against Thaksin.
He also faces trial at the Supreme Court for allegedly arranging for his
wife to buy a prime chunk of real estate for just one-third its appraised
value, while other graft cases are pending.

____________________________________

July 30, Irrawaddy
Burma’s fishery industry near standstill – Min Lwin

The Burmese offshore fishing industry is at a near standstill because of
high fuel prices and a shortage of human resources and other supplies, say
sources in Rangoon.

A businessman from the fishing community said about one-fifth of the
offshore fishing fleet, including trawlers and drifters, now engage in
daily fishing trips.

“They can’t afford to pay for diesel,” he said. “A normal trip consumes
about 100 barrels of diesel. A barrel of diesel is around 320,000 kyat (US
$273)”

According to the Myanmar Offshore Fishing Vessel Owners Association, there
are 536 registered offshore fishing vessels; about 100 vessels are now
working.

“If a boat goes to sea, it will spend at least 60 million kyat, including
other general expenses,” said a captain of a fishing trawler. “We can
catch only a small amount of fish after the cyclone, and we can’t earn
enough for our expense."

According to the Burmese Fisheries Department under the Ministry of
Livestock and Fisheries, 2,088 offshore fishing boats were destroyed in
the cyclone, 17,876 fishery workers from the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon
Division were killed, and 9,612 fishery workers are missing after the May
2-3 cyclone.

Before Nargis, Burmese offshore fishing trawlers typically caught a
minimum of 1,500 baskets of fish each trip, while today’s catch is around
500 baskets (one basket is 50 viss or about 81 kg).

Fish and prawns for sale in Rangoon’s Ahlone wholesale fish market have
decreased drastically, said one shopkeeper.

"We don't receive fish and prawns like before," he said. He said fish sell
in local markets now from 3,000 kyat to 7,000 kyat a viss (equivalent to
1.26 kilograms) and prawns sell from 3,000 kyat to 15,000 kyat depending
on the size. There are about 1,170 kyat to $1.

Burma has a 2,700-kilometer coastline and annually harvests around 2
million tons of sea products. More than a million tons of ocean products
are exported, according to government statistics.

Burma fishery exports go mainly to China and Thailand, with smaller
amounts to Japan, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Saudi
Arabia, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to a report by the
Myanmar Aquaculture & Fisheries Association.

Kyi Wai in Rangoon contributed to this story.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 30, Myanmar Times
Aid work opens ‘positive door’ for UN, Myanmar cooperation – Becky
Palmstrom and Thet Khaing

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes (L) and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister
U Kyaw Thu (2L) talk with delta residents during a tour of Ayeyarwady
Division on Tuesday.
CYCLONE Nargis relief work has opened a “positive door” for cooperation
among the international community, ASEAN and the Myanmar government, which
could be extended to other humanitarian activities in Myanmar, Mr John
Holmes, the emergency relief coordinator for the United Nations, said last
week.

Mr Holmes told The Myanmar Times in an interview on Thursday that the UN
wants to expand the level of “trust and confidence” already reached with
the government in the aftermath of the cyclone.

“I think there is a positive sort of door which has opened and we need to
keep it open and improve it,” he said, adding that the government “seems
responsive” to the idea of further collaboration.

During his three days in the country he requested a permanent Myanmar
office for the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) – a body that he heads and that coordinates various UN agencies
working on post-cyclone relief work.

“We would like to establish a proper office here to be on a proper footing
after the immediate relief phase for Nargis is over in the delta,” he
said. “We think we can make a real contribution in terms of disaster risk
reduction and disaster preparedness.”

He also expressed hope that the international community more generally
might continue to contribute to humanitarian work in the country, even
after the emergency phase for relief work is over. He emphasised that this
could be done on a “totally non-political basis” as it is approached
elsewhere in the world.

The highlight of his visit, which ended on Thursday, was a meeting with
Prime Minister General Thein Sein in Nay Pyi Taw.

Mr Holmes also took a one-day field trip to Bogale in the Ayeyarwady
delta, one of the areas most heavily affected by the storm. He said the
difference in the scale of relief between his last visit in May and last
week’s tour was striking.

“Now this international relief operation is more like international relief
operations elsewhere in the world,” he said.

“As you fly over the delta, houses are being repaired, people have roofs
back on their houses, people are working in their fields, boats are plying
up down the rivers the way they were not doing two months ago, so a degree
of normal activities is resuming,” he said.

He said cyclone survivors will still need food aid for at least the next
six months, although he estimated that everyone in the affected area has
received at least some aid.

With estimates for rebuilding the delta region estimated at US$1 billion
according to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment report released last week,
Mr Holmes said, “There is still a lot to do even on relief side,
particularly to reach people in the southern parts of the delta.”

Mr Holmes had previously praised private groups and monks for their hard
work in preventing waterborne infections and malnutrition in the wake of
the cyclone. On this visit he also spoke about the impact that access for
international aid workers has had on the speed and delivery of relief.

For Mr Holmes, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has played a
crucial role in the tripartite discussions involving ASEAN, the UN and the
Myanmar government that have facilitated the opening of the “positive
door”.

The role of the regional body in these discussions is a lesson that could
used in other emergencies, he said.

“[ASEAN] provided a sort of bridge between the wider international
community and the government of Myanmar. It makes everybody feel more
comfortable with the process,” he said. “I think it is an interesting
example of the UN working with a regional organisation in a natural
disaster situation, which we have not done before.”

As if to reflect the important part played by Asian countries in recent
negotiations, Mr Holmes started his visit to the region in Singapore at
the ASEAN ministers’ meeting in Singapore last Monday.

The same day saw the release of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment report,
which offers what Mr Holmes called a “credible and comprehensive”
assessment of the situation after the cyclone.

With a full assessment completed, monitoring schemes in place and wide
access for aid workers, the conditions requested by donors at the ASEAN
Donors Conference in May have been met, he said.

Mr Holmes therefore said he felt confident that international donors would
support the UN Second Flash Appeal target of US$481.8 million.

“My main plea to the government is to maintain access and to maintain the
flexibility we have had through the tripartite core group, with ASEAN and
the UN working together to solve problems,” he said.

“There have been problems on the way and there will be more problems,
there always are. The key thing is to be able to discuss them and resolve
them in a practical and positive way.”

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 30, Southeast Asian Press Alliance
Burmese exiles' leading media websites under attack

Two leading news organizations of Burmese exiles reported persistent and
severe attacks on their respective online servers this past week.

SEAPA partner Mizzima News, a Burmese independent news agency based in New
Delhi, India, reported that its Burmese-language website has been
inaccessible since 27 July due to persistent and severe Distributed Denial
of Services (DDoS) attacks.

On the other hand, the website of Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma has
also been under similar attack since July 20.

Mizzima said its Burmese-language website received more than 5 GB of data
in less than 15 minutes, many times more than it usually gets, according
to its webmaster, who added that this amount of information is more than
what the site can handle.

The webmaster explained that a DDoS attack is an attempt to disable a
website by overwhelming it with information requests, making it incapable
of responding to regular traffic.

In a statement released on 25 July, DVB Deputy Executive Director Khin
Maung Win accused the Burmese military government of staging the online
attacks.

"We can easily say that the junta is behind this," he said.

In an email sent to media outlets, Khin Maung Win asked for support as his
organization is trying to find a solution to fend off the online attacks.
DVB is a major Burmese news agency that provides TV reports direct from
Burma.

Mizzima also voiced suspicions that the military government is the one
behind this disruption.

An IT consultant for Mizzima explained that there had been a lot of
intrusion attempts from servers in China, Russia and Hungary. At least 30
servers are involved in the attack, he added.

Mizzima said Burmese IT specialists and engineers loyal to the military
regime are known to be studying in the said countries.

Mizzima News Agency, run by Burmese journalists, is an independent Burmese
multi-media group focusing on Burma and related news and issues. It
maintains four websites—Mizzima.com, Mizzimaburmese.com, Mizzimaphoto.com
and Mizzima.tv.

Besides distributing daily news both in English and Burmese, Mizzima also
Podcast video stories on its Mizzima.tv site, which are frequently picked
up by other news organizations.

Both Mizzima's Burmese and English sites attract an average of 10,000 to
15,000 unique visitors per day but the number of hits jumped to hundreds
of thousands during the September protests in Burma last year and in May
and June this year, following the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis.
____________________________________

July 30, Irrawaddy
Malaysian immigration giving refugees to traffickers, say activists –
Vivian Chong

Activists working on migrant issues here claim that corruption is deeply
rooted among some Malaysian immigration officers who are handing over
Burmese asylum seekers and refugees to human traffickers.

A former Immigration Department director-general was recently detained by
the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for alleged graft in connection with the
issuance of visas to foreign workers.

One 55-year-old Burmese migrant, who asked that his name not be used, said
that even though he had documentation from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) he was arrested, deported and handed
over to traffickers by immigration officials twice.

"The first time I was arrested and deported to Thailand with 105 others.
First, the Malaysia immigration officers sold us to the human traffickers.
Then, the human traffickers handed us to the brokers."

"They asked for the phone numbers of our families or friends who would
send money to them for our release. If the family or friend didn’t send
the money, the refugee would be severely beaten like an animal by the
brokers," Mehn said, describing his ordeal.

The Migration Working Group, a network of more than 20 nongovernmental
organizations, says asylum seekers and refugees from Burma are handed over
to traffickers at the Malaysia-Thai border, who then demand payment for
their release.

"Those who are unable to pay the money required (typically from RM 1,400
to RM 2,500) are ‘sold’—to fishing boats, brothels or 'private owners'—as
bonded laborers or for sex," activists say.

Women refugees or asylum seekers receive the worst treatment by
traffickers, according to activists, who said they may be raped, beaten
and sold to brothels.

A network of NGOs, Burmese refugee organizations, local television
stations and a few members of Parliament have pushed the issue onto the
political stage.

In response, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar recently announced that the
Immigration Department has formed a special committee to investigate the
charges.

He said the committee has not found any immigration officials to be
involved in trafficking of Burmese.

Renuka T. Balasubramaniam, a lawyer who chaired the Migrant and Refugee
Working group of the Bar Council's Human Rights Committee, said she was
not in favor of letting an ad hoc committee investigate the matter.

She said Malaysia has an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 and an
Anti-Corruption Act through which persons suspected of human trafficking
may be investigated and charged.

"In my view, without further ado, the police or anti-corruption agency,
which has all the requisite resources, skills and experience, should
commence thorough investigations with a view to determining suspects and
charging them before a court. This would also repose greater faith in the
independence of the investigation," she said.

The Migration Working Group said the root of the problem stems from the
government's position of arresting refugees and asylum seekers.

"The unnecessary arrest, detention, whipping and deportation of asylum
seekers, refugees and stateless persons perpetuates violence and
vulnerability, and it constitutes the abuse of human rights and wastes
limited law enforcement resources which are desperately needed for the
prevention of real crime," the group said in a statement.

Because Malaysia has not yet enacted domestic laws that recognize the
status of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, they are treated
as non-documented migrants who are subjected to arrest, detention,
whipping, imprisonment and deportation to the Malaysia-Thai border.

According to the group, even refugees issued with identity documents by
the UNHCR are vulnerable to arrest, because Malaysian enforcement officers
do not recognize the validity of the documents.

They said an average of 700 to 800 UNHCR-recognized refugees remain in
detention each month, including about 100 children. The UNHCR is not
allowed to visit asylum seekers in detention centers and prisons.

"This directly jeopardizes their right to seek asylum, a universal right
in international customary law. They are detained indefinitely—sometimes
for more than 2 years—suffering violence, poor access to healthcare and
poor conditions of detention," the group said in a statement.

The group said that law enforcement agencies should respect UNHCR
documents and refrain from arresting holders of these documents.

"The UNHCR should be given free and full access to asylum seekers,
refugees and stateless persons in all immigration detention depots and
prisons so that they can verify if asylum claims are genuine and take
measures to assist refugees. Recognized refugees should be released into
the official care of the UNHCR while durable solutions are found," the
statement said.

Vivian Chong is the information and communication officer at Kuala
Lumpur-based CARAM Asia.

____________________________________


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 30, Irrawaddy
UN’s lost aid may be tip of the iceberg – William Boot

The loss of United Nations aid money via “unacceptable” exchange rates
orchestrated by the Burmese regime was going on long before this week’s
disclosures about Cyclone Nargis cash losses, a US nongovernmental
organization says.

“There are indications that [the United Nations Development Program], even
prior to Cyclone Nargis, provided larger cuts to Myanmar’s Than Shwe
government than the [up to] 25 percent now admitted to by the UN’s
humanitarian operations,” said Matthew Russell Lee of the New York-based
NGO Inner City Press.

The NGO investigates issues such as transparency, corporate accountability
and predatory lending. It was instrumental in forcing the UN this week to
admit to losses to the junta of at least US$10 million on cyclone cash aid
transmitted into Burma.

The “very serious loss” was disclosed by the UN’s humanitarian chief, John
Holmes, when he returned to New York this week after a post-cyclone
assessment visit to Burma.

“Now that Holmes has admitted the losses, putting the figure at $10
million, it’s important to note that is only for the period from the
cyclone until now,” Lee told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

“Inner City Press has asked the UN Development Program (UNDP), which has
accepted the Myanmar government’s currency exchange rules for 14 years,
how much it has converted during that time, and at what rates. For now,
UNDP says it doesn’t know, which is also troubling,” Lee said.

The UN usually expects to lose small amounts through exchange of dollars
into local currency, but the enforced conversion into Burmese kyat via
Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) at a government-controlled bank has
led to a loss of at least 15 percent, Holmes said.

“The amount of money the UN system has turned over to the Than Shwe
government goes back far before the cyclone,” said Lee, who was the first
to obtain a secret internal UN memo outlining the losses on cyclone funds.

“Why were these losses never disclosed while [new cyclone] funds were
being raised?” Lee asks.

Sizable losses were first disclosed after the UN’s second appeal on July
10 for additional aid of several hundred million dollars to tackle the
aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. A secret internal accounting memo outlining
the problem was obtained by Inner City Press.

However, it was only after Holmes’ visit to Burma last week that a firm
figure was announced. The UN had been “a bit slow to recognize” the size
of the losses, Holmes said in New York on Monday this week.

Holmes’ disclosure follows a meeting he had in Naypyidaw with Burma’s
ruling generals last week, at which he said, “We must make sure that
humanitarian efforts continue to be separate from politics.” Back in New
York, Holmes said the extent of the loss through junta-dictated exchange
rates was “unacceptable.”

At one point earlier this month, the exchange rate was only 880 kyat for
each FEC, compared with 1,180 previously.

It appears that after the UN was jolted into public acknowledgement of the
losses, the agency pressured the junta to prevent further skimming of
funds by the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, where the UNDP holds a US dollar
account.

According to Inner City Press, this led to losses dropping to 17 percent,
giving the UN 980 kyat per dollar. The UN has already raised $200 million
for cyclone relief work in Burma and is seeking an additional $300
million.

About $66 million has so far been used for local purchases within Burma,
requiring its conversion into kyat—hence the estimated $10 million loss,
based on an average deflated conversion at 15 percent.

Inner City Press, as part of its campaign for financial transparency at
the UN, asked a former UNICEF official in Burma, Eric Laroche, who is now
with the World Health Organization, whether he thought it was legitimate
to accept a low exchange rate from a government in order to have access.

Laroche told Inner City Press: “It’s a very difficult question, and a more
difficult answer. It has to do with principles.”

Evidence has emerged that the UN knew in June that it was losing what
Holmes now calls “significant” sums of aid money to the junta.

The loss on each cyclone dollar has ranged from 15 percent to as much as
25 percent, peaking in June—before the UN made its second appeal for
further donations from member countries.

“We were arguably a bit slow to recognize how serious a problem this has
become for us,” Holmes said on Monday. “It’s not acceptable.”

Holmes insisted it was “unclear” who is benefiting from the UN’s losses,
although he conceded the “likelihood” that the Burmese government gained.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 30, Guardian (UK)
Burma and Zimbabwe witness the last gasps of the supreme global sheriff –
Martin Jacques

The west can no longer impose its will on the increasingly powerful and
self-confident nations of the developing world.

We are but halfway through 2008 yet it has already born witness to a
sizeable shift in global power. The default western mindset remains that
the western writ rules. That is hardly surprising; it has been true for so
long there has been little reason for anyone to question it, least of all
the west. The assumption is that might and right are invariably on its
side, that it always knows best and that if necessary it will enforce its
political wisdom and moral rectitude on others. There is, however, a
hitch: the authority of the self-appointed global sheriff is remorselessly
eroding.

There have been two outstanding examples so far this year. The first was
Burma (or Myanmar as it should be known). We can all agree that the regime
is odious. The question facing the rest of the world in the aftermath of
the cyclone, however, was how to assist the millions of victims of a
humanitarian disaster. True to form, it was not long before the west,
including our own foreign secretary, was talking up the idea of military
intervention; warships were deployed off Burma's coast, talk was rife of
helicopter landings and amphibious craft making their way up the Irrawaddy
delta.

The idea, of course, was patently absurd. Burma's closest ally is China,
with whom it shares a long border, while it is also a member of Asean (the
Association of South East Asian Nations). China, India and Asean - who
largely make up the region - were irrevocably opposed to the use of
military force. Western leaders were living in a time warp: the kneejerk
responses of old, freshened up by the short-lived era of liberal
interventionism, have become a stock response. It was not long before the
bellicose talk subsided and the west was obliged to channel its aid via
Asean - which, from the outset, was the obvious and desirable course of
action.

The fact that the west could not understand the geopolitical realities of
east Asia - now the largest economic region in the world - and adapt its
policies accordingly, revealed that old assumptions and attitudes run very
deep indeed. Even when the very thought is ridiculous and utterly
impractical, the call for military intervention, on the part of political
leaders and media commentators alike, is seemingly the invariable reflex
action. In fact, what Burma demonstrated were the limits of western power,
the need for the west to understand those limits, and to respect and work
with a region rather than seeking to intervene over its head like some
kind of imperial overlord. The second example is Zimbabwe. This hurts the
British psyche. Because we suffer from an acute case of colonial amnesia,
we seem to think that we have some unalienable right to lecture Zimbabwe
on its iniquities. Yet Britain's culpability for the country's plight -
from tolerating Ian Smith's declaration of independence to the disgraceful
land deal that guaranteed the privileged position of white settlers - is
second to none. Notwithstanding all of this, the British feel they enjoy
incomparable moral virtue on Zimbabwe.

Yet this episode too has revealed British - and western - impotence in its
starkest form. After much grandstanding at the G8 summit, the
Anglo-American attempt to toughen up sanctions foundered in the UN
security council, where it was vetoed by Russia and China and opposed by
South Africa and two others. Meanwhile, President Thabo Mbeki, whose
efforts to broker some kind of deal have been widely and patronisingly
scorned, has scored a major diplomatic triumph. The Southern Africa
Development Community's appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, Mbeki managed to
bring both Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to the
negotiating table. All the western bluster and invective now look just
that: the route to a possible solution has been the work of South Africa,
the SADC and the African Union alone. This is yet a further illustration
of a shift in global authority.

Western power can no longer deliver in the face of the growing power,
competence and self-confidence of developing countries. Instead of
universal western power, we are witnessing the rise of regionalisation and
regional solutions. This reflects broader changes in the global economy.
Economic power is fast ebbing away from the old G7 countries towards the
so-called Bric economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), or, rather
more accurately, a growing number of developing economies. The G7 now
account for less than half of global GDP and that share is steadily
falling. Such economic shifts are the irresistible prelude to parallel
changes in political power. The two examples discussed are classic
instances of this process: Burma involved China and India, together with
the Asean countries, while Zimbabwe featured South Africa, with Russia and
especially China, emboldened in this instance to play a more assertive
role on the global stage. They illustrate what might be described as the
growing "Bricisation" of global politics.

They also underline the comprehensive failure of Anglo-American foreign
policy. At the time of the invasion of Iraq, no thought was given to the
idea that western economic power was on the wane; on the contrary, the
likes of Bush and Blair seemed to believe that we were seeing the dawning
of an era of new and overwhelming western power.

Never underestimate the ability of political leaders to misread history on
a monumental scale. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have both served
to hasten western decline: they have both failed to achieve their
objectives and in the process demonstrated an underlying western
impotence. In contrast, those other "rogue" states, namely North Korea,
Zimbabwe, and perhaps even Iran, show strong signs of responding in a
positive manner to a very different kind of treatment. Liberal
interventionism has failed. But as yet the west shows no sign of either
understanding the new world or being able to live according to its terms.

It remains in denial, refusing to recognise the diminution in its own
authority and, as a result, seemingly incapable of adapting to the new
circumstances and coming up with an innovative response. This is certainly
true of Britain. The foreign secretary only seems able to utter the
platitudes and cliches of the discredited Blairite era: he has yet to come
up with a single idea, suggestion or insight that indicates he understands
the nature of this new world. British foreign policy is mired in its own
past and in its relationship with the United States. In such circumstances
we will find ourselves dragged kicking and screaming into the new era,
constantly shunned and disappointed, a spectator rather than an architect,
cast in the role of Mr Grumpy.

• Martin Jacques is a visiting research fellow at the London School of
Economics Asia Research Centre

____________________________________

July 30, India Post
Myanmar: Be careful what you wish for – Ann Kopuzha

Myanmarese exiles, the international media, and certain first ladies have
painted the power struggle in Myanmar as black-and-white, good versus
evil. The reality is much more complicated. Multiple ethnic groups
constitute Myanmar and since its independence from colonialization 60
years ago, the nation has faced the world's oldest, constant, ethnic
uprising in the world. Furthermore, the army's influence is so pervasive
that there is a lack of institutions or people that could govern the
nation if the junta were to step down immediately.

As Iraq has shown, overthrowing a totalitarian government and only hoping
for the immediate creation of a democracy, but with no concrete plan or
timeline as to how to reach that goal, is an equation for disaster. This
lesson should be carefully considered in Myanmar where Aung San Suu Kyi,
her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and their
supporters are calling for democracy.

The international community and the Myanmarese diaspora should stop
isolating and vilifying the junta. Instead, the international community
should offer the Myanmarese government concessions and security guarantees
in exchange for its progress toward a democracy.A major problem facing
Myanmar's transition to democracy, like Iraq's, is weak institutional
strength. In any nation, institutions like a police force, a civil
service, judiciary, and legislature are necessary for the day to day
governing of the state. Since the 19th century each of Myanmar's various
governments have attempted to create institutions.

Yet, each has failed because each government was brought down by its
successor before the institutions could take hold and be strengthened.
Currently, the military is the only strong institution within Myanmar and
creating a democracy necessitates both creating additional political
institutions and loosening the army's control over state institutions in
favor of civilian control.

Martin Smith, a British journalist who writes extensively on Myanmar
commented that "Even if there is an imminent change of government, the
Myanmarese armed forces or Tatmadaw will remain the only real countrywide
organization that, in the short-term, is able to plan and implement its
own agenda.

That is the day-to- day reality that Myanmar's peoples have long had to
live with."Since the military's power is so pervasive and unique,
advocates of democracy should seek a gradual political transition and the
dialogue surrounding Myanmar should focus on specific points where
military control can be relaxed. Some Myanmarese have begun to realize
this and are calling for a "third force." This third force is a new
political group that believes in working with the military, more so than
the NLD has or believes in, to bring political and economic reform.

This group includes urban elites who doubt the NLD's effectiveness,
military members who disagree with the junta but do not support the NLD,
and members of various ethnic groups who want additional protection and
development assistance from the NLD. However, the international community
should recognize the limitations of the third force.

The organizational structure of the third force is weak and its support
throughout Myanmar is questionable. Some members of the third force are
accused of promoting the military's referendum in order to gain financial
concessions.If the group proves to be viable, the international community
should engage it.

In the meantime, the international community could espouse the basic
motivation behind the third force and begin negotiating specific
concessions from the military. This process can be initiated by demanding
Aung San Suu Kyi's release and allowing the NLD to organize in exchange
for lifting sanctions.

There are numerous issues that the NLD has yet to take a stance on, such
as how to accommodate various ethnic groups in the national framework,
arguing that specific topics can only be discussed in consultation with
the appropriate parties under democratic circumstances. Giving the NLD the
opportunity to do so will test the organization's capability, expand the
political dialogue in Myanmar, and possibly help average Myanmarese
economically.

It will also give the regime a face-saving way to begin the process of
political transition. Security guarantees are also important for junta
members because they fear that if the NLD comes to power, junta members
will be placed on trial. As painfully unjust as it maybe to the Myanmarese
population, a blanket amnesty coupled with the creation of a truth and
reconciliation commission, such as in South Africa, could provide the
junta with the protection it seeks while also giving the Myanmarese
population a way to express the abuses they have endured.Cooperating with
the military is not likely to produce tangible results immediately.

Bringing democracy to Myanmar could take decades. Yet, anything is better
than the current dire humanitarian situation in Myanmar. Furthermore,
Iraq, has demonstrated that reforming a totalitarian government will have
calamitous consequences if done hastily and carelessly.

The writer is a Research Intern for IPCS.