BurmaNet News, February 25, 2009

[Editor]

February 25, 2009, Issue #3659


INSIDE BURMA
RFA: Burmese 'struggle' amid economic crisis
Irrawaddy: Authorities threaten the Free Funeral Services Society
DVB: Nargis accused to receive legal help
Khonumthung News: Cultivation allowed only after paying tax to Burmese Army

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Activists demand intensified global pressure on Burma
Irrawaddy: KNU Colonel released by Thai Army
Kaowao News: Displaced villagers flee to border
Reuters: China warns of kidnappings at Myanmar casinos
Reuters: Total discovers gas in sea off Bangladesh

BUSINESS / TRADE
New Light of Myanmar: F&R Minister attends special ASEAN+3 finance
ministers' meeting
Reuters: Thai PTTEP cancels swap of Myanmar stakes with CNOOC

ASEAN
AFP: US urges ASEAN to push for political progress in Myanmar
AP: Asean financial gloom to trump rights issues
Bangkok Post: Civil society groups demand bigger say

OPINION / OTHER
The National (UAE): Myanmar’s amnesty overture seen as ploy – Larry Jagan

PRESS RELEASE
ASEAN Peoples’ Forum: Asean’s civil society responds to Sec-Gen’s comments



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 25, Radio Free Asia
Burmese 'struggle' amid economic crisis

A Burmese dissident just freed from prison after more than 18 years says
everyone he knows is simply struggling to survive.

Zaw Myint Maung, a medical doctor elected to parliament in 1990 as a
member of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD), was freed this week by the ruling junta as part of a
general amnesty, after 18 years and three months in prison.

"I have a lot of things to make up for with regard to my family," he said
in an interview after returning to his home in Amarapura, in the central
city of Mandalay.

...Everyone was complaining about the financial crisis. Everybody is
struggling."

"Yesterday, all my friends and acquaintances came to see me...From the
time I got back in the morning until 9 p.m.," he said. "As we have aged,
physically, each of us has changed. But if we look at all of them from the
mental point of view, what I saw was that at present everyone was
complaining about the financial crisis. Everybody is struggling."

"I can say for sure that everyone is struggling to survive. My political
colleagues are struggling, just as my friends and acquaintances are
struggling. So from the social and humanitarian point of view, most people
are struggling. This is what I have been able to see."

Zaw Myint Maung was released from Myitkyina prison on Feb. 22.

He was sentenced to 25 years for attending meetings of the provisional NLD
government in 1990, and later to 12 more years for writing a letter to the
United Nations from Insein prison in Rangoon "about the sufferings
ordinary prisoners had to endure."

'Inconveniences'

"There have been a number of inconveniences at home," he said.

"My wife has had to struggle for 18 or 19 years, so when I looked at the
situation as soon as I got back, I could see that I would have to make up
for all of the all the inconveniences that have occurred during my
absence."

"So when the head of the household has been away from home for such a long
time my wife has to bring up our children on her own... I have never eaten
together at the same table with my young daughter," he said.

"When I got back she was at school, and when she came back from school,
she was tired. Since we have never had any kind of an intimate
relationship between father and daughter, she may be feeling a bit
uncomfortable, just as I feel awkward in this situation."

The Burmese regime announced the release of more than 6,000 inmates Friday
after U.N. rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana ended a five-day visit during
which he called for the progressive release of "prisoners of conscience."

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who began her latest detention in May 2003, is
among more than 2,000 people jailed in Burma for their political or
religious beliefs, rights groups say.

The military junta denies the existence of any political prisoners, saying
all detainees have committed crimes.

State-owned MRTV said on Friday the prisoners were being released for the
"social consideration of their families" and to take part in elections
promised for 2010, part of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy."

Western governments dismiss the roadmap as a charade, and human rights
groups accuse the regime of seeking to eliminate all political opposition
ahead of the election. Special courts have sentenced scores of dissidents
to lengthy prison terms of up to 65 years in recent months.

The most prominent activists have been sent to the furthest corners of the
country, making it almost impossible for relatives to deliver food and
medicine to them, raising the possibility of the prisoners dying behind
bars.

Zaw Myint Maung was one of three dissidents freed from Myitkyina prison in
northern Kachin state.

Original reporting by Kywa Min Htun for RFA's Burmese service. Translated
by Soe Thinn. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Executive producer:
Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.

____________________________________

February 25, Irrawaddy
Authorities threaten the Free Funeral Services Society – Min Lwin

A Rangoon-based social welfare organization, the Free Funeral Services
Society (FFSS), has been ordered by the Yangon City Development Committee
(YCDC) not to park hearses in Rangoon municipal areas.

The YCDC ordered the funeral services society to relocate from Rangoon to
the outskirts of the city before February 28.

Kyaw Thu, a member of the FFSS, said the YCDC also ordered it not to park
its hearses at Byamma Vihara Monastery in Thingangyun Township in Rangoon,
and instead park in a government cemetery outside Rangoon. The FFSS
offices are located at the monastery.

Kyaw Thu said 16 hearses carry more than 50 coffins to burial or cremation
sites every day in Rangoon, the former capital of Burma.

The FFSS provides free burial or cremation services for people who can not
afford to pay burial or cremation fees for family members.

The FFSS has asked the YCDC to provide an area where the society can build
a garage to keep the hearses, said Kyaw Thu. The YCDC has yet to reply to
the request.

Kyaw Thu told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, “If they don't respond, we will
work as usual until they seize the hearses, punish us and stop the free
funeral services.”

Residents in the area say the government has long worried about the
influence and popularity the FSSS enjoys among the public. Founded in
2001, the FFSS is a nongovernmental, apolitical organization that relies
on donations from inside and outside Burma. Most donations come from
Burmese living in Japan, Taiwan, England and the United States.

Media coverage of the FFSS was banned by the military government after
leading members of the FFSS were involved in the 2007 pro-democracy
uprising.

“We will continue the free funeral services,” Kyaw Thu said. “It is not
our own business. We will do for the people.”

____________________________________

February 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Nargis accused to receive legal help – Nan Kham Kaew

Six members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions who were
arrested last year after helping victims of cyclone Nargis have been
granted permission to have legal representation in their ongoing trial.

The trial is being held in Insein prison special court, where Dr. Newin
and his daughter Phyo Phyo Aung, Aung Kyaw San, Phone Pyi Kywe, Shane
Yazar Htun and Aung Thant Zin Oo (aka James) are defending government
allegations of sedition and the unlawful association acts.

They were arrested for collecting and burying rotting corpses in the
aftermath of the cyclone.

Central court lawyer Khin Maung Myint, who has been representing the six
since they were arrested, said he was allowed to enter the courtroom
during a hearing session on yesterday.

“I was allowed to meet them at the trial [on Tuesday] and I had a talk
with them – all of them seemed to be in good health,” he said.

“The next hearing is on 3 March and then I will have to present some
necessary documents at the court to get permission to talk on behalf of
them at the trial.”

____________________________________

February 25, Kaowao News
Displaced villagers flee to border

Forced relocation continues to devastate the lives of local villagers in
Tavoy District, southern Burma according to a refugee family which just
arrived on the Thai-Burma border.

Since January this year, sporadic fighting between the Burmese Army and
Karen National Union (KNU) has left rural villagers of Nyaung Done, Metta
Sub-township effectively prisoners in their own village.

Permission was granted to leave by Lt. Col Ye Yint Naing of Infantry
Battalion No. 103. However it was for just three days and was under
extenuating circumstances – villagers had to complete their paddy harvest.
 Further, leave was only granted after a pig worth approximately100, 000
Kyat was offered to him.

These controlled movement restrictions and relocations are not new to the
region. This time last year the Burmese Army forced Kami villagers to move
into Nyang Done village and about 60 of 400 households were uprooted.

"Even though they (the Burmese Army) offer each household a plot of land
to build a new house, we had to leave our old land and livelihood and try
to make a new life.   They don't allow us to return to our farms that some
of us have spent so long cultivating and we face constant hurdles just to
survive from day-to-day.  That is why we have to flee from our country to
Thailand,” said the head of the refugee family.

The area they have fled from is located along the proposed route of the
Asia Highway Kanchanaburi-Tavoy Road Project.  The joint project by the
Kyaw Lynn Naing Company and Kanchanaburi Tavoy Development (KTD) began in
1997, but has stalled due to the fighting between the Burmese Army and the
KNU.

The Brigade 55 and Marine Command of the Burmese Army and Brigade No. 4 of
KNU were engaged in fighting in the areas where 10 villages were relocated
and 17 others were destroyed, effecting the rural population of
approximately 7,000 people.

A further setback to people in the region is it’s marking as a ‘black
area’ or killing zone; several villagers have been arrested, tortured or
killed by the Burmese Army during military operations.
____________________________________

February 25, Khonumthung News
Cultivation allowed only after paying tax to Burmese Army

The Burmese Army authorities are not providing permission to clear forests
and sow rice saplings without taking tax from the people in Chin state
western Myanmar.

A report said that the Matupi based IB (304) has ordered all farmers to
pay tax for rice cultivation to the tune of Kyat 20,000 per land as the
military has already occupied the particular stretch in Ngala block.

“The land belonged to our ancestors. But the military has seized it and
added it to its territory as it was very close to their camp. They came up
with an excuse that their camp would be burnt if farmers set fire bushes
to clean the area to sow rice seeds,” said a local.

The settlers in Ngala block had already cleared over100 acres of the
forest in January, but the military stopped them and asked them to pay tax
first before cultivation.

In Chin state, people are totally dependent on rice as it is their staple
food. Now they are facing the problem of paying tax – money or rice -- to
the authorities of the Matupi based military. They cannot survive without
cultivating rice, he added.

“The farmers do not have any rights without paying the tax. So we give all
we have, whatever they demand from us,” he added.

Similarly, the Forest Department in Falam has collected Kyat 2000 an acre
from Auhmun, Palte, Laizawl, Tilum and Lumte villages as land and wood
taxes in the first month of this year.

A report said that the Falam District Peace and Development Council (DPDC)
had told the Forest and Revenue Departments not to collect taxes on land
and wood in 2008. But the collection continues in some villages, located
far from the town.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 25, Mizzima News
Activists demand intensified global pressure on Burma – Solomon

Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma
(AAPP-B), urged the international community on Tuesday, to assert more
pressure on Burma’s ruling junta to release all political prisoners.

The AAPP-B, formed with Burmese activists and former political prisoners,
on Tuesday said, the international community should not be full of praise
and be satisfied with the Burmese junta’s release of a few political
prisoners, but should intensify pressure on the junta.

Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPP-B said, “The international community
should intensify the pressure on the junta for the release of more
political prisoners.”

In a statement, the group said, releasing a few political prisoners could
not be termed as development, because the junta was using the release as a
tool to ease-off mounting pressure.

“We cannot expect the political situation in Burma to improve just because
a few political prisoners have been released. This is just a ploy to try
and ease international pressure,” Tate Naing said in the statement.

He said all other political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin
Oo, ethnic nationality leaders, and the 88 Generation student leaders,
must be released if the military government really wanted to progress
towards democracy and national reconciliation.

“We urge the international community to pressurize the SPDC more
effectively for their release,” said Tate Naing, referring to the junta
with its official name – the State Peace and Development Council.

On Friday, Burma’s military rulers announced amnesty for 6313 prisoners,
across the country and on Saturday began releasing them. According to
activists and UN human rights expert, Tomas Ojea Quintana, about 24
prisoners among those released were prisoners of conscience.

However, the AAPP-B said releasing 24 political prisoners, was too little
in number compared to the overall number of more than 2,000 political
prisoners, still languishing in jails across Burma.

Tate Naing said the international community, particularly; the United
Nations had not put in their utmost effort in pressuring the Burmese
authority, to release prisoners of conscience and to implement political
reforms in the country.

“The UN should put their utmost efforts and do whatever they can within
their mandate and should avoid urging the military government,” Tate Naing
said.

But on the other hand, Burma’s military government has constantly denied
the presence of political prisoners, and justified that the government had
only arrested and sentenced those people, who had committed crimes that
were prohibited by the existing law.

UN human rights expert, Tomas Ojea Quintana, who recently concluded a
visit to Burma, in an interview to Mizzima said, he had suggested to the
Burmese authorities to review its judiciary and to make it independent and
impartial, so as to protect the fundamental rights of the people.

The UN envoy also said that the release of 24 political prisoners was a
good sign, but not enough to consider as significant development.

Besides Tate Naing said, the UN should not endorse but reject the military
junta’s proposed 2010 general elections because it was aimed to legitimize
military rule in the country and was being forged against the peoples’
will.

He said, the junta drafted its new constitution without the peoples’
participation and the planned 2010 elections was against the 1990 election
results, where Burma’s main opposition party – the National League for
Democracy – won a landslide victory.

“So, at least the UN should push the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi, 88
generation students and 15 Members of Parliament from the 1990 elections,”
he added.
____________________________________

February 25, Irrawaddy
KNU Colonel released by Thai Army – Min Lwin

Col Ner Dah Mya, the son of the late Gen Bo Mya of the Karen National
Union (KNU), has reportedly been released on bail by the Thai army,
according to the London-based British Broadcasting Corporation Burmese
service. He was arrested in January.

The BBC quoted a Thai army officer as saying that Col Ner Dah Mya was
arrested and charged with possessing illegal weapons and transporting
Burmese migrants to Thailand.

A senior KNU official confirmed Col Ner Dah Mya had been arrested along
the Thai-Burmese border, where, the official said, he was supporting KNLA
battalions in Burma.

Observers in Mae Sot in Tak Province said Thai authorities have increased
pressure on leaders of the KNU and its armed wing, the KNLA.

The KNLA has been fighting the Burmese government since 1948. Its
headquarters was overrun in 1995, and KNLA military activities moved
closer to the Burmese-Thai border.

The KNU has continued to wage war against the Burmese military, mainly by
forming small units and basing themselves in temporary jungle camps along
the Thai-Burmese border.

____________________________________

February 25, Reuters
China warns of kidnappings at Myanmar casinos

Chinese should not go to Myanmar to gamble, because of the risks of scams
and kidnapping, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Casinos lining the Mekong River along the border of Myanmar and China's
southwestern Yunnan Province are popular with Chinese, since gambling is
illegal in mainland China.

But in recent years, Chinese lured by the promise of free trips or cheap
jade have run into trouble or been cheated of all their money, the Xinhua
news agency said.

"People who don't know what's going on have been trapped in casinos,
beaten and their relatives asked to pay ransoms," the foreign ministry
said on its website.

Just last month, 19 Chinese teenagers from the northern province of Shanxi
were freed after their families paid ransoms to kidnappers in Myanmar.
They had gambled themselves deep into debt in Myanmar when they went to
Yunnan seeking work.

Another group of 124 migrant workers from the northeast were stopped at
the border crossing into Myanmar in December, after also having been told
by human smugglers that they would find work in Yunnan
____________________________________

February 25, Reuters
Total discovers gas in sea off Bangladesh

French oil firm Total SA (TOTF.PA) has discovered natural gas in an
offshore field about 420 kilometres (263 miles) southeast from Dhaka, a
Bangladesh official said on Wednesday.

"We have had confirmation from the firm about the presence of natural gas
in two blocks which also covered an island in the sea," said Mohammad
Muqtadir Ali, a director at the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral
Corporation or Petrobangla.

"It is a great relief for us as the country at present is facing up to 250
million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas shortages a day," Muqtadir told Reuters.

The firm said that both oil and gas might be there and was satisfied with
the data they acquired through seismic survey, the official said.

The European oil giant Total spent nearly $20 million to conduct the three
dimensional survey in those structures in the sea near the Myanmar border
covering 18,367 square kilometres.

"If the acquired data matches the commercial viability, it will be one of
the biggest natural gas discoveries (in the region) and if everything goes
smoothly then production will be started by early 2012," Muqtadir said.

Total, the operator of these two blocks holds a 30 percent share while
Irish oil company Tullow (TLW.L) owns 32 percent shares followed by Thai
energy firm PTTEP with 30 percent. US companies Oakland and Rexwood hold
the remaining shares.

Blocks 17 and 18 are close to Myanmar's gas blocks where that country
discovered around 6.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

Bangladesh with more than 13 tcf of gas reserves is currently producing
about 1,800 mmcf of gas per day against the demand of more than 2,050
mmcfd.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 25, New Light of Myanmar
F&R Minister attends special ASEAN+3 finance ministers' meeting

NAY PYI TAW, 24 Feb — Myanmar delegation led by Minister for Finance and
Revenue Maj-Gen Hla Tun attended Special ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers'
meeting held in the resort island of Phuket, Thailand on 22 February.

At the meeting, the ASEAN+3 finance ministers agreed to inject 120 billion
U.S. dollars, instead of 80 billion U.S. dollars as initially proposed
into the reserve pool in the process of operationalising the Chiang Mai
Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM). The ministers also agreed to
establish an independent regional surveillance mechanism to promote
economic monitoring in the-region.

Myanmar delegation arrived back here today and delegation members were
welcomed back by Minister for Electric Power No.1 Col Zaw Min, Chairman of
Civil Service Selection and Training Board U Kyaw Thu, Deputy Minister for
Finance and Revenue Col Hla Thein Swe, Governor of the Central Bank of
Myanmar U Than Nyein and responsible persons at the airport. Advisor
(Director) Daw Ohnmar Sein to Central Bank of Myanmar and Deputy Director
U Min Htut of the Ministry of Finance and Revenue also arrived back on the
same flight.
____________________________________

February 25, Reuters
Thai PTTEP cancels swap of Myanmar stakes with CNOOC

Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL PTTE.BK said on Wednesday it
had cancelled a deal to swap stakes in Myanmar's offshore M3 and M4 blocks
for Chinese energy giant CNOOC's (0883.HK) A4 and C1.

The contract for the swap had expired before approval was won from
Myanmar's government, so it became invalid, PTTEP said in a statement to
the exchange.

PTTEP International, an operator of oil and gas fields in army-ruled
Myanmar, will maintain its 100 percent holding in blocks M3 and M4.

The company had signed a deal with CNOOC Myanmar Ltd last April, hoping to
swap its 20 percent stake in offshore gas blocks M3 and M4 to the Chinese
firm in exchange for a 20 percent share of CNOOC's A4 and C1 blocks.

Blocks M3 and M4 in the Gulf of Martaban off Myanmar have strong gas
potential.

Block A4 is a gas field located off the former Burma's Rakhine coast,
while C1 is a potential onshore oil field.

PTTEP, a subsidiary of PTT PTT.BK, Thailand's top energy firm, has been
aggressive in buying new gas and oil assets at home and abroad to increase
reserves and capacity to meet rising domestic demand.

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

At the midday break, PTTEP shares were up 1.12 percent at 90 baht while
the main index .SETI was up 0.57 percent. ($1 = 35.65 Baht) (Reporting by
Ploy Chitsomboon; Editing by Alan Raybould)

____________________________________
ASEAN

February 25, Agence France Presse
US urges ASEAN to push for political progress in Myanmar

The United States on Wednesday called on Southeast Asian nations to push
for "political progress" in military-ruled Myanmar.

Scot Marciel, the US ambassador to the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) told reporters his country wanted the group's members to
"use whatever contacts and access they have in the country to encourage
new thinking and reform and increase openness and political progress".

The diplomat, speaking after an official visit to Hanoi, said he would go
to Thailand for the opening of the ASEAN summit starting on Friday.

But he refused to elaborate on a policy review towards Myanmar US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced earlier.

Marciel told reporters Clinton said "that our approach to date,
emphasising sanctions, hadn't worked".

"She also emphasised that the ASEAN approach of engagement hadn't worked,"
he said.

"So she said, given that we haven't achieved that success, it's logical
and appropriate to review and look for new ideas to see if there is a way
we can be more effective."

A day after Obama took office a senior official in Yangon said Myanmar
hoped the new president would change Washington's tough policy towards its
military regime and end the "misunderstandings" of the past.

Former US President George W. Bush's administration strengthened
decade-old sanctions against Myanmar while his wife Laura was an outspoken
critic of the country's ruling junta.

"Our goal vis-a-vis Myanmar or Burma remains to encourage release of
political prisoners, dialogue between the government and the people in the
opposition and overall progress so that the country stops going in a
negative direction and moves in a more positive direction", Marciel added.
____________________________________

February 25, Associated Press
Asean financial gloom to trump rights issues – Jocelyn Gecker

The prickly issue of human rights in Burma will take a back seat to the
global financial meltdown as leaders of cash-strapped Southeast Asian
countries meet this weekend for an annual summit.

Ducking the spotlight will be a relief for Burma's military junta, which
has been busy locking up dissidents and has ignored UN demands to free its
highest-profile political prisoner, the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thai policemen conduct a security exercise in preparation for the upcoming
Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. (Photo: Reuters)
For the rest of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the
financial crisis offers an opportunity to avoid the perennial dilemma of
confronting its most troublesome member and other sensitive topics.

Thailand, which currently holds Asean's rotating chairmanship and is
hosting the summit, bills the meeting as a turning point for the bloc that
has long been criticized as a talk shop that forges agreements by
consensus and steers away from confrontation.

It is the first time leaders will meet since the group signed a landmark
charter in December. The document made Asean a legal entity and moves it a
step closer toward the goal of establishing a single market by 2015 and
becoming a European Union-like community.

"This summit will mark a new chapter for Asean," Thailand's Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva said recently. "We want to make Asean a more rule-based
and effective organization according to the charter."

But the run-up to the summit has showcased some of the disarray in Asean,
which groups more than 500 million people and includes fledgling
democracies, a monarchy, a military dictatorship and two communist
regimes.

Originally scheduled for December in Bangkok, the summit was postponed
because of political upheaval in Thailand. Abhisit, who came to power that
month on the back of protests, shifted the venue to the beach resort Hua
Hin, 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital, to escape lingering
protests in Bangkok.

Senior officials start meeting on February 26 ahead of the weekend
leaders' summit. Asean's 10 members include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

In recent years, Asean summits have been followed by the so-called East
Asia Summit, which includes the leaders of China, Japan, South Korea,
India, Australia and New Zealand. But Beijing couldn't make the new Feb
meeting, forcing Thailand to call a second summit in April.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has decried the back-to-back meetings as
"a waste of time," saying the absence this weekend of China, Japan and
South Korea means Asean can't lobby Asia's economic powers for financial
aid. The sharp-tongued Hun Sen has been particularly critical of Thailand
since a border dispute last year sparked deadly clashes and brief concerns
of war between the neighbors.

Philippine diplomats also say their interest in the summit has "really
waned" without the three East Asian powers attending.

Southeast Asian countries are struggling to revive their export-driven
economies amid rising employment and fears of recession. The economies of
Thailand and Singapore have already shrunk while Indonesia, Malaysia and
the Philippines are grappling with rapidly slowing growth.

Asian finance ministers agreed last weekend to form a $120 billion pool of
foreign-exchange reserves to protect falling currencies. Asean members
will provide 20% of funding, with 80% from China, Japan and South Korea.

Among the key documents to be signed at the meeting are a free trade
agreement with Australia and New Zealand and a roadmap for turning Asean
into an EU-style bloc by 2015, as outlined by the new charter.

One of the charter's key pledges is to set up a regional human rights
body, though critics doubt that members like Burma would allow it to have
much clout.

Meanwhile, specific human rights issues—including the plight of the
stateless Rohingya boat people who flee Burma and have recently washed up
on the shores of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia—will be discussed on the
sidelines but not as part of the summit's formal agenda.

Burma has come under vocal criticism by the United Nations for jailing
hundreds of dissidents ahead of general elections promised for 2010—the
first in 20 years. The junta holds more than 2,100 political detainees,
including pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi. The 63-year-old Suu Kyi has spent
13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial.

But Asean has no intention of formally scolding Burma, Vitavas Srivihok,
the director-general the Thai Foreign Ministry's Asean department told
reporters earlier this week.

"We don't have any specific meetings regarding Myanmar (Burma) because it
is sensitive," he said, "and we don't want to single out any country."

____________________________________

February 25, Bangkok Post
Civil society groups demand bigger say – Achara Ashayagachat

It was supposed to be a grand encounter. However, the meeting between
representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), Asean
Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya
over the weekend, turned out to be less than spectacular for the nearly
1,000-strong audience when the two senior Asean officials opined in unison
that the region's CSOs would be held responsible in blame or shame should
the Asean Charter fail.

The charter sets a 2015 goal for establishing a free-trade zone among the
10 members and lays out a set of political, economic and "people-oriented"
commitments including respect for democratic principles and human rights,
a nuclear weapons-free Southeast Asia and progress towards regional
economic integration.

Mr Surin said that from now on every issue could be placed on the agenda
of the ministers and leaders, including the Burma problem. Mr Kasit said
the Asean Charter remains an evolving process dependent on each member's
socio-political development.

The thorny point, however, is what Asean as a regional grouping has
provided for, or will do, if people in some repressive member countries
jail or torture their citizens who speak up about their problems.

"We appreciate their efforts of engagement with the CSOs, which is
different from the old-style inflexible manner in the past three years,"
said Debbie Stothard, coordinator for the Alternative Asean Network on
Burma. "But what they said is rather a disappointment, especially in the
case of Burma, which the CSOs in several countries have already spoken up
for the people inside without much heed from the Burmese government."

According to Ms Stothard, Asean under the new charter could act as an
equalising force, if they are to become a community. If people in one
country are mistreated by their government, the rest of the community
should at least listen and show that they care, said Ms Stothard.

She added that civil society has long been debating among themselves
whether talking with the Asean governments would be a waste of time, their
"engagement" being just a "decoration" to the official setting. But there
are many groups who are convinced that engagement is the only way to push
forward the people's agenda. In fact, without the push from the civil
society sector, the so-called people-centred approach and the noble
objective of democratisation and respect for basic human rights could not
have appeared in the text of the charter.

Khin Ohmar, from Chiang Mai-based Burma Partnership, said several
activists felt cheated when they heard that the charter was created on
behalf of the people but the process of launching it has not been
adequately open and participatory. The same thing was also happening with
the creation of the Asean Human Rights Body (AHRB).

"Mr Surin is kind enough to open a little door for us, but it is not right
that if anything fails it will be us who are blamed. If any blame is to be
on our shoulders, we should have real access and meaningful participation
in Asean policy-making procedures," said Ms Ohmar, who will represent
Burma CSOs in meeting with the Asean leaders on Saturday.

She added that lessons have been learned from the case of the charter
drafting process, when several aspects of the input from civil society,
which appeared in the report of the eminent persons' group, had been
watered down finally by the leaders.

As for the AHRB, Ms Ohmar said, the CSOs have yet to put forward the need
for independence, the extensive role and mandate of the regional human
rights commissioners, to ensure that complaints and investigations could
be done in a transparent manner. They did not want the commissioners to
become a shadow or mouthpiece of the officials.

Pokpong Lawansiri, of the Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development,
also called for Asean to open its mind. The regional bloc should not adopt
the same approach it used during the making of the charter, when they
launch the AHRB. The Asean public has every right to know how and on what
terms of reference the new body is being drafted.

Mr Pokpong, who read a leaked document, suggested that the terms of
reference on the protection aspect of the AHRB could be more elaborate.
What's more worrying, he added, is the five-page TOR draft mentioned only
an external threat or human violations against the Asean people. It did
not have a single word on rights abuse from within the region's states,
said the activist.

Jacques-chai Chomthongdi from Focus on the Global South said Thailand, in
its capacity as the current chair of Asean, should push for some models it
has used to create channels for participation from civil society.

"The National Human Rights Commission, despite its flaws, could have been
a model for the AHRB in terms of independence and process of nominating
commissioners," said Mr Jacques-chai.

Thailand also has the National Economic and Social Advisory Council
(Nesac) which comprises representatives from a wider spectrum. Asean
should have a widely represented body like the Nesac, not just the Asean
Business Advisory Council, he noted.

"Asean claims to be people-centred but in reality it is a rather
business-oriented entity. The Secretariat under the new Charter could be
more pro-active in creating a channel or mechanism for civil society to
substantively engage in issues with region-wide effects such as FTA," said
the economist.

Mr Jacques-chai said the CSOs did not go against regionalism at all
despite their complaints.

"We always support any talks or collaborative attempts that increase the
bargaining power of the region. We've always supported the Chiang Mai
Initiative."

The problem is that Asean usually only cares about the "collective
attraction" of foreign investors, Mr Jacques-chai said.

As the regional grouping is going after trade pacts with several blocs
such as the European Union, he proposed that it facilitate CSO
consultations alongside private sector participation in the
policy-formulating and negotiating process, so that any international
treaty could get all-around views from people within society.

"We do sympathise with the great burden the Asean secretary-general has to
bear and the socio-political difficulties in sealing and serving all types
of Asean governments. But we still think that the secretary-general under
the new mandate of the charter should also be bold enough to address those
challenges by creating a platform for us to work with him. The
understanding is already there but a path is needed to step forward
together," Mr Jacques-chai said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 25, The National (UAE)
Myanmar’s amnesty overture seen as ploy – Larry Jagan

Myanmar’s military rulers have begun releasing thousands of prisoners in
an effort to deflect international pressure on them to introduce political
reform. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, has welcomed the move,
calling it an important first step towards democracy.

But analysts and diplomats in Yangon say they believe the releases are a
charade, part of the regime’s new diplomatic offensive to prevent possible
criticism of their human rights record, especially the treatment of the
Muslim minority, in the lead-up to the meeting of South East Asian leaders
in Thailand this week.

Over the past three days, more than 6,000 prisoners have been released
from jails all over the country. At least 23 of them were political
prisoners, including a few monks, members of the opposition party, the
National League for Democracy (NLD), and other activists, according to the
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Myanmar, a
Thailand-based human rights group that monitors the situation in the
country.

“It is clear that the junta wants to ease pressure from the international
community and this is the way they do it. Whenever they face mounting
pressure, they release a handful of political prisoners,” Bo Kyi, of the
assistance association, said in an interview.

“This is just for show,” said Zin Linn, a spokesman for the democracy
movement in exile and a former political prisoner himself. “There are no
key players in this group. If they were serious, they would release our
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.”

The NLD leader has been under house arrest for more than 13 of the past 20
years. Her party overwhelmingly won the elections held in 1990, but was
never allowed to form a government.

Western countries who have imposed economic sanctions against the junta
had put pressure on the UN leader not to visit Myanmar because of the
regime’s recent intransigence during the latest visits by two UN special
envoys to the country. Yet Mr Ban wants to encourage the generals to move
forwards on their road map to democracy, which will involve elections
within the next two years.

“This is the time for Myanmar to seize the opportunity before it to send
positive signals,” he said after a meeting with his Group of Friends on
Myanmar at the UN in New York on Monday. The group also includes the
neighbouring countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(Asean) and members of the Security Council, including the five permanent
members.

“There are still hundreds and hundreds of detainees [held] under political
reasons,” Mr Ban said. “I would urge again the Myanmar authorities to
release all the detainees, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Myanmar’s state radio and television announced on Friday that the
prisoners had been released in recognition of their good conduct, for the
“social consideration of their families” and so they could participate in
the general election planned for 2010.

This mass release of prisoners follows the freeing of more than 9,000
prisoners in September, including a handful of political prisoners. The
country’s longest-serving political prisoner and leading member of the
NLD, Win Tin, was among them.

The government announced the fresh release of 6,313 prisoners one day
after the UN’s human rights envoy wound up a six-day visit to the country.
During the visit, Tomas Ojea Quintana suggested to Myanmar’s military
authorities that they should progressively release political prisoners as
part of the process of democratisation, in the lead up to next year’s
elections.

Mr Quintana told journalists at Yangon International Airport before
leaving the country that the junta’s top officials had promised to
consider his suggestions. But he also told diplomats that the country’s
home minister continued to deny that there were any political prisoners in
Myanmar. Mr Quintana though preferred to call them “prisoners of
conscience”.

A mass amnesty for all political prisoners has been a central part of the
UN’s discussion with the junta on its seven-step “road map” to restore
democracy to the country. But the opposition continues to insist that the
government is not serious about introducing democracy. “These prisoners
were released to save face at the Asean summit,” said Win Tin, a member of
NLD’s central executive committee.

“The junta reluctantly releases political prisoners, so this amnesty is an
act to ease pressure on them and prevent criticism at the Asean meeting,”
he said.

Human rights activists also accuse the government of cynically using
prisoner releases to cover their real intentions. It is more likely that
they have released these prisoners because the jails are overcrowded,
according to an analyst, Aung Naing Oo, based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
They released thousands of prisoners in 1988, during the mass
pro-democracy demonstrations, only to fill them up again with thousands of
political prisoners when they brutally crushed the students a few months
later, he said.

“Without wanting to diminish the importance of these releases to the
prisoners themselves and their families, these people should never have
been imprisoned in the first place,” Amnesty International’s Myanmar
researcher, Benjamin Zawacki, said.

“We should not forget that this handful of political prisoners represents
only the very tip of the iceberg – over 2,100 other activists remain
behind bars.”

In the past six months more than 300 political activists have been given
stiff sentences. Among them were more than 20 former student leaders, some
of whom were released in Nov 2004 after serving 16 years in jail, who were
sentenced to 65 years in jail for the alleged organisation of the mass
anti-prices protests in Sept 2007, known as the “Saffron Revolution”
because thousands of Buddhist monks led the demonstrations.

But the prisoner releases are more likely to be part of the junta’s top
leader trying to gain merit, according to a businessman close to the
country’s senior generals. “The releases are tied to the inauguration of
the Shwedagon Replica that has just been built in the new capital,
Naypitdaw,” he said. The Shwedagon pagoda is probably the country’s most
famous temple in the former capital, Yangon. In a highly superstitious and
religious country, this may in fact be the real reason for the release of
prisoners. “There will be many more freed after they finish the umbrella,”
the top part of the pagoda, he added.

ljagan at thenational.ae

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

February 25, ASEAN Peoples’ Forum
Asean’s civil society responds to Sec-Gen’s comments

It is a rare occasion that both the ASEAN Chair and the ASEAN
Secretary-General sit down to dialogue with hundreds of civil society
representatives, and expectations were understandably high. However, it
was a surprise that it was Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan who caused
consternation by his responses to matters raised at the ASEAN Civil
Society Conference dialogue session on the weekend.

Mr. Gus Miclat, Executive Director of Initiatives for International
Dialogue said: “We welcome his recognition of the ASEAN Civil Society
Conference as an opening to dialogue but we don’t welcome his shifting of
the blame to civil society if ASEAN fails. Dr Surin urged us to push our
agenda with our national governments, but failed to recognize that the
main problem is what happens to ASEAN people when they try to engage
repressive governments. Civil society groups that have tried to engage
their governments on ASEAN Charter-related issues such as human rights and
democracy have been subjected to serious and even brutal retaliation in
member states such as Burma, Laos, and even the Philippines.”

Mr. Yap Swee Seng, Executive Director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights
and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said: “We commend the effort of Dr Surin to
engage with the civil society and open up space in participating in the
ASEAN process. The dialogue of civil society with the Secretary-General
and the ASEAN Chair is a positive development and an important precedent
that should be replicated in other countries. This form of engagement
however should be improved and strengthened and we call on Surin to ensure
the institutionalization of these process.

“The right of civil society to participate in ASEAN processes should be
respected. We regret that this right has not been coded into the ASEAN
Charter. We urge Surin to ensure that the coming terms of reference of
ASEAN human rights body will uphold this fundamental principle to enable
civil society to participate in ASEAN meetings at various levels and not
only confining to the short and symbolic meeting with the leaders. Access
of information related to ASEAN by civil society should also be protected
and coded for meaningful consultation and participation. We therefore
welcome the statement of Surin implying that the terms of reference would
be made public in the end of the month,” said Mr Yap.

However trade activists were less complimentary: "The way with which ASEAN
Secretary-General Surin dismissed our calls to stop EU-ASEAN FTA and
institute a more participatory negotiation process revealed not only
ASEAN’s lack of political will to veer away from a discredited neoliberal
model of trade and economic development, but also tragically exposes our
leaders’ lack of imagination. ASEAN leaders should instead be moving
forward on alternative economic and development policies that put ASEAN
peoples’ welfare and interests at their core", asserted Mr. Jacques-Chai
Chomthongdi of Thailand's FTA-Watch. FTA-Watch is a Thai national focal
organization of the region-wide EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign Network.

Indigenous peoples’ groups were no less riled by Surin, who said they
“should wait” and that the indigenous peoples’ issues came about as an
offshoot of globalization. Visibly upset by the comments was Ms. Mary Ann
Manja M. Bayang, National Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Rights
Monitor who expressed frustration that Surin had failed to acknowledge the
decades-long struggle of indigenous peoples. She declared: “ASEAN is
homeland to one of the greatest diversity of peoples in the world, hosting
two thirds of the world’s indigenous peoples, who have worked for decades
to gain recognition. The secretary general’s comments ridicule the nine
ASEAN countries who signed the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples
(UNDRIP). ASEAN officials should do their homework on this, implement the
provisions of the UNDRIP, and recognize indigenous peoples’ rights to
engage ASEAN processes.”

Speaking on behalf of the Women’s Caucus for an ASEAN Human Rights Body,
Ms. Wathshlah G. Naidu expressed disappointment over Surin’s failure to
respond to the request for a timeline for establishment, mandate and
status of the proposed ASEAN Commission on the Protection and Promotion of
the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC). “We are deeply concerned that the
ASEAN Charter does not specifically address human rights of women,
children and other marginalized and vulnerable groups and communities.
Therefore it is imperative that the ASEAN human rights body (AHRB) and the
ACWC reflect international human rights standards of substantive equality
and non-discrimination, especially as enshrined in the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). We look
forward to guarantee from the ASEAN Secretary-General that there will be
full participation and equal representation of women at all stages in the
process of drafting to final adoption of the AHRB and ACWC as well as
within all institutional structures of ASEAN.”

The activists emphasized that their comments were not meant to be an
attack on Surin. “We will continue to engage him and other officials of
ASEAN and its members even as we will continue to assert and express our
aspirations and issues in all possible venues and domains; we will
criticize him and the others as we welcome feedback and criticism of our
own work and methodologies. We do this in the spirit of dialogue and
partnership, but more so in the spirit of forwarding the dreams and
desires of the peoples of ASEAN to whom we are all ultimately
accountable,” emphasized Gus Miclat.

Enquiries tel +66 (0) 81 771 6075 (Eng) or +66 (0) 82 344 8274 (Thai/Eng)

Mary Ann Manja M. Bayang, email manjabayang at gmail.com
Wathshlah Naidu, tel + 66 (0) 89 147 0926 (until March 1)
Gus Miclat, tel + 6392 0912 4309
Yap Swee Seng, tel + 66 (0) 81 868 9178
Mr. Jacques-Chai Chomthongdi, tel +66 (0) 84 655 0666

Conference reports of the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum and ASEAN Civil Society
Conference are at www.apf2008.org