BurmaNet News, February 27, 2009

[Editor]

February 27, 2009, Issue #3661


INSIDE BURMA
Telegraph (UK): Burma cyclone response was 'crime against humanity'
DVB: No reduction in forced labour, says ILO
DVB: Authorities charge farmers for aid-donated fertilizer
Bernama (India): Myanmar needs more cyclone shelters before monsoon

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Will US oil companies return to Burma?

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Global fund seeks possibility to re-engage in Myanmar with its aid
efforts for fighting diseases

DRUGS
Mizzima News: Army-drug gang encounter in Golden Triangle

ASEAN
Reuters: ASEAN to send Rohingya migrants back to Myanmar
AP: ASEAN human rights body lacks power to punish

REGIONAL
DPA: Philippine activists demand more ASEAN action against Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Boston Globe: Clinton's stumbling start – Editorial
Irrawaddy: Break the broken record – Kyaw Zwa Moe



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 27, Telegraph (UK)
Burma cyclone response was 'crime against humanity' – Thomas Bell

Burma's regime deliberately blocked international aid getting to victims
of last year's cyclone, a report has claimed.

The first independent inquiry into the aftermath of the disaster has said
the authorities should be referred to the International Criminal Court for
stopping help getting through and persecuting survivors.

It found the Burmese leadership failed to provide adequate food, shelter
and medical care in the wake of Cyclone Nargis which struck the Irrawaddy
Delta on May 2 last year, killing at least 140 000 people.

Around 3.4 million people were effected by the disaster, which swept away
homes, farms, granaries, livestock and wells.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in America and an organisation
of Burmese volunteers called the Emergency Assistance Team – Burma (EAT)
have documented what happened in the following weeks.

Military checkpoints were set up across the delta as the regime treated
the disaster not as a humanitarian emergency but as a security crisis.

The report claims some people who attempted to distribute private aid were
arrested. It details allegations of aid being stolen and resold by the
military authorities.

The researchers also claim the army used forced labour, including of
children, in the aftermath of the disaster.

According to one survivor: "[The army] did not help us, they threatened
us. Everyone in the village was required to work for five days, morning
and evening, without compensation. Children were required to work too.

"A boy got injured in his leg and he got fever. After two or three days he
was taken to Rangoon, but in a few [days] he died."

There were also anecdotal accounts of people dying in the aftermath of the
cyclone due to the actions of the army.

But restrictions in the country mean no one has been able to estimate how
many died in a supposed "second wave" of deaths in the period after the
cyclone.

Under international law, creating conditions where the basic survival
needs of civilians cannot be adequately met, "intentionally causing great
suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health," is
considered a crime against humanity.
The report concludes that the United Nations Security Council should refer
the junta for investigation by the International Criminal Court.

____________________________________

February 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
No reduction in forced labour, says ILO – Htet Aung Kyaw

There has been no reduction in the use of forced labour in Burma despite
work done by the International Labour Organisation to eradicate it, says
ILO’s liasion officer in Rangoon, Steve Marshall.

The ILO’s Executive Director, Kari Tapiola, is currently in Burma to
extend for another year the ILO’s cooperation agreement with the Burmese
regime.

The agreement stipulates that the government must not harass or arrest
people who report forced labour to the ILO or collect information on such
practices.

“In terms of the forced labour issue, we continue to receive complaints,”
said Marshall. “It is running at about the same level. It has not
increased dramatically but it has not decreased either.”

Tapiola had said in March 2008 that forced labour was continuing in the
country, and in some areas was getting worse.

“I do not think the government can deny the existence of forced labour,
and we know many forced labour cases are taking place,” he said.

“Forced labour by civilian authorities might decline but the use of forced
labor by the military is getting worse.”

On the cooperation agreement, however, Marshall said it is a mechanism
that, in principal, works.

“The important thing is that citizens of Myanmar understand that they have
got the right to complain and that if they do complain their complaint
will be listened to and will be actioned,” he said.

He added, however, that there are still grey areas which the government is
exploiting.

“There is, however, the situation where a person who was the facilitator
for that complaint has been charged under the law on a different offence
not related to the lodgment of the complaint,” he said.

“We are very concerned that there may in fact be an indirect link to his
working on that complaint.”

On Saturday Tapiola will visit the ILO project in the delta. The project,
according to Marshall, is designed as a best practice in employment to
show that small-scale infrastructure work can be done without the use of
forced labour.

____________________________________

February 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Authorities charge farmers for aid-donated fertilizer – Naw Say Paw

Township authorities have been demanding money from farmers in Bogalay,
Irrawaddy division, for fertilisers freely distributed by a charity called
International Development Enterprise.

IDE distributed two bags of 'Paleh' (Pearl) fertilisers to each farmer in
Nyinaung village tract for free, a farmer said.

"IDE gave fertilisers to 300 farmers. The village chair and secretary
collected them, gave two bags each to farmers, and charged 1500 from each
farmer."

The situation is the same at nearby Thitbyuchaung village group and
surrounding areas, the farmer claimed. Farmers said it would be better for
donors to give aid directly into their hands in the future.

____________________________________

February 27, Bernama (India)
Myanmar needs more cyclone shelters before monsoon

Barely two months away from the May monsoon season, at least 4,000 cyclone
shelters are needed for people living in the lowlands in Myanmar, which
suffered its worst cyclone last year.

"We are not really up to the mark (in preparation) for this monsoon. We
need plenty of cyclone shelters, at least 3,000 to 4,000," U Than Myint,
former president of the Myanmar Engineering Society told Bernama here.

"For this project, the government and donors are doing something but in
some areas, cyclone shelters cannot be completed soon and the monsoon is
coming this May," he added.

Myanmar suffered one of the worst catastrophes in its history last May
when the deadly cyclone Nargis struck the Southeast Asian nation, killing
over 80,000 people, while another 50,000 are still reported missing.

Millions of dollars in foreign aid and scores of relief workers were
rushed, to the military-controlled underdeveloped agrarian state, to save
millions stuck in cyclone-hit areas, which were stripped off food and
shelter.

"People have already recovered from the disaster. Now is the
reconstruction and development stage. For development we need to build
some bridges and roads.

"We need some assistance, the government is working with the UN (United
Nations) and Asean. We have asked for funds but they are not coming.

"Our local government, entrepreneurs and our own construction people are
helping out. We hope to manage with this," said Myint, who is in Delhi to
attend the Disaster Risk Reduction conference.

Under mounting pressure, Myanmar agreed with its Asean partners and the UN
to form a tripartite core group to coordinate relief works for the cyclone
victims in June last year.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 27, Irrawaddy
Will US oil companies return to Burma? – William Boot

Burma watchers are wondering if US oil and gas developers might return to
the country after the Barack Obama government announced it is reviewing
its policy towards Burma’s military regime.

Statements by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that sanctions against
Burma’s military regime are not working came shortly before she also began
urging China to try to influence change in the repressed Southeast Asian
country.

China is seen by many, including evidently Clinton, as pivotal to any
improvements in Burma.

While Western countries have continued to tighten economic sanctions
against the Burma regime, China has increasingly engaged.

The result has been a big upsurge in Chinese access to Burma’s natural
resources of oil, gas and river-fed hydroelectric dams.

China will this year begin building two 1,000-mile-plus pipelines to carry
both gas and oil from Burma’s coastline up into Chinese Yunnan Province.

Chinese state companies have exclusively bought up the gas from two blocks
of Burma’s biggest-to-date offshore field, the Shwe complex in the Bay of
Bengal.

The Burmese military leadership is also allowing China to build a large
crude oil transshipment port at a remote location on the central coast to
transfer Middle East and African oil through the country into China.

All this has happened while the US and the European Union have pressured
their oil companies to withdraw.

Chevron of the US and Total of France still remain to manage their
pre-existing gas concessions in the Yadana and Yetagun fields of the
Andaman Sea, but there has been no new Western investment in oil and gas
for some years, apart from small activities by several Australian firms.

The Clinton-led US State Department has repeated old American calls for
the release of political prisoners in Burma, but also underlined that
under Clinton’s stewardship it is reviewing the sanctions policy “to
figure out a way to better influence the behavior of the regime.”

This contrasts with the final months of the George W Bush presidency which
saw a tightening of financial sanctions against the Burmese generals, and
new pressure on Chevron to completely pull out.

Political observers have made much of Clinton’s high-level talks in
Beijing in recent days in which human rights issues took a back seat in
favor of economic issues.

The emphasis of her talks was on a US-China partnership to revive the
world’s economies.

“Two things stand out really in this about-face scenario,” said a
commercial attaché with an EU embassy in Bangkok, who spoke to Asia Oil &
Gas Monitor on agreement of anonymity this week.

“First, White House policy in Asia is definitely changing to one of closer
engagement. Bush was aloof to Asia, eight years in which China’s influence
in particular has grown considerably, both politically and economically.

“Second, Clinton wants closer White House ties specifically with China.

“With regards to Myanmar [Burma], well, it will not have escaped the
attention of Obama and Clinton, and their advisers, that the Chinese have
dug in deep. Burma is now not only a rich source of raw essentials for
China, it’s become an important geo-strategic client state giving Beijing
access to the Indian Ocean.”

During her talks in Beijing, Clinton asked the Chinese government to try
to use its influence to persuade the Burmese regime to talk with the
political opposition, many of whom are jailed, with a view to democratic
reform.

Clinton may have just been paying lip service here to human rights
pressure groups. She must know that it is not really in Beijing’s
interests to see a democratically elected government in Burma that might
tell the Chinese to go home.

On the other hand, if regime change should occur, China would benefit from
being seen as not supporting the regime in total disregard to the people’s
interests.

Just what kind of policy change the White House has in mind on Burma
remains to be seen, but given the current political and economic chill it
would have to involve some form of engagement.

“Will it mean US oil giants queuing to get at Burma’s gas? There might be
some carrot-and-stick economic diplomacy, but Burma’s generals already
have plenty of that, from all its neighbors,” Bangkok-based energy
industries consultant Collin Reynolds told AOGM. “There would have to be a
lot of carrot.”

Clinton steered clear of Burma on her just-finished Asian tour but visited
Indonesia, a key member of the Southeast Asian “club” Asean that Burma
also belongs to, as well as two countries which have some economic sway in
Burma—Japan and China.

Indonesia has been critical of the Burmese regime and has called for it to
engage in political dialogue with detained opposition leader Aung San Sui
Kyi.

The 10 member countries of Asean are holding a summit this weekend in
Thailand with discussions on closer economic integration and closer trade
ties with, among others, China.

But with the global financial crisis increasingly biting in Southeast
Asian, the issue of Burma will likely receive a lower priority.

Thailand’s new government as current leader of Asean under the revolving
chairmanship system has made clear it wants a happy and harmonious summit
on its territory—after its own political chaos forced postponement last
December.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

February 27, Xinhua
Global fund seeks possibility to re-engage in Myanmar with its aid efforts
for fighting diseases – Feng Yingqiu

A four-member mission of the Global Fund, led by William Paton, Director
of Country Programs is currently visiting Myanmar to seek possibility to
re-engage with its aid efforts in the country for fighting AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria.

The mission of the Global Fund, which pulled out from Myanmar four years
ago, is coordinating with a 29-member Myanmar Country Coordinating
Mechanism (MCCM), headed by the health minister, for the move.

The MCCM includes 10 members from the government ministries, four from the
United Nations agencies and four from international non-governmental
organizations.

The global fund delegation, which has been visiting Myanmar since Tuesday
for a four-day mission at the invitation of the Myanmar government, is
holding discussions with the MCCM and the global organization is expected
to make a formal comeback by 2010.

At a reception held here on Wednesday, Sun Gang, Country Coordinator of
the UNAIDS, told Xinhua that respective parties are making their utmost
efforts for fighting the AIDS, TB and malaria.

The global fund withdrew from Myanmar in August 2005, suspending its
grants to Myanmar for the campaign.

In 2006, a new fund called the Three-Disease (3-D) Fund was developed as a
compensation by a group of six donors -- the European Commission, Sweden's
Sida, the Netherlands, United Kingdom's Department for International
Development, Norway and Australia's Aus AID.

A five-year 3-D fund project to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, worth
about 100 million U.S. dollars, started implementation in April 2006 under
the guidance of the MCCM.

The 3-D fund was extended through the World Health Organization(WHO) which
administers the program under a memorandum of understanding signed in
2007.

The 3-D fund provided the country with four million dollars for use in
2007-08 and 5.7 million dollars for use in 2008-09, earlier reports said.

In a recent report, the 3-D fund has provided nine non-governmental
organizations in Myanmar this year with a total of 630,000 U.S. dollars to
fight the three diseases.

The fund will be used for the projects in Kachin, Mon, Shan, Kayin,
Rakhine, Yangon and Mandalay states and divisions.

Meanwhile, a latest report of the UNAIDS said that the number of people
infected with HIV in Myanmar dropped to 240,000 in 2007 from 300,000 in
2001.

In the wake of the danger being posed by the three diseases on the public
health, Myanmar has taken steps to control the three disease as a national
duty .

In its efforts to control AIDS, the Central Committee for Control and
Elimination of AIDS was formed in 1989.

As part of the project for control of AIDS and syphilis, efforts are being
made for giving educative talks on AIDS, for 100-percent use of condoms in
targeted groups in 170 townships in the country and for effective
treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Work is also underway for preventing spread of HIV among those who use
drugs through injection and from mother to fetus at 37 hospitals and 106
townships, while preventing such spread through blood transfusion and
introducing safe blood transfusion.

Besides, 13 strategies on preventive measures and rehabilitation are now
being implemented under five-year national strategic plan (2006-2010)
adopted collectively by the relevant ministries, local non-governmental
organizations, UN agencies and community-based organizations.

In cooperation with foreign organizations in the fight, Myanmar is
actively taking part in implementing the ASEAN HIV/AIDS Control Plan, the
HIV Prevention Plan in Mekong Region countries, and regional and central
level plans of UN agencies.

Moreover, Myanmar is also cooperating with neighboring countries to combat
and control TB and HIV/AIDS under a special plan.

HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are the three major communicable diseases of
national concern designated by Myanmar.

Myanmar treats the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of
reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to meet the Millennium
Development Goals of the United Nations.

In its prevention efforts against malaria, the Myanmar government has
distributed 50,000 long lasting insecticidal nets annually since 2000 to
hardly accessible areas of national races with up to 400,000 existing bed
nets also impregnated with insecticide annually since then.

____________________________________
DRUGS

February 27, Mizzima News
Army-drug gang encounter in Golden Triangle – Ko Wild

There was exchange of gunfire on February 18 between Burmese Army troops
and a drug trafficking gang operating in Meng Peng region, Shan State in
the Golden Triangle.

The LIB 526 and 359 clashed with Sai Nau Kham-led remnants of the former
Khun Sa's MTA army.

"The clash occurred in Meng Peng region with the LIB 526 and 359 of the
Burmese Army. Sai Nau Kham is still at large along with his 30 to
40-strong force,"  theThai based 'Shan Herald Agency of News' (SHAN)
Assistant Editor Sein Kyi  told Mizzima.

Local military observers said that a shell hit a Chinese ship navigating
the nearby Mekong River killing one Chinese sailor and injuring three.

Col. Sai Lau Seng, spokesman of the Shan Sate Army (South) said "We heard
that a clash broke out between Sai Nau Kham led remnants of the MTA Army
near Wan Pong village, upper Meng Peng in the Golden Triangle. We heard of
it on February 22".

Local observers said that Sai Nau Kham was into drug trafficking while
living in Tachileik. He had close contacts with local authorities and was
later arrested with a lot of narcotic drugs and arms. Later he escaped
from custody.

The gang is now collecting extortion and protection money from drug
traffickers in Meng Peng region in the Burmese side of the Golden Traingle
area, the triangular border of Burma, Thailand and Laos. He recruited
local villagers into his army.

The drug traffickers usually use Chinese ships plying on the Mekong River
to transport their contraband from Wa and Meng La region in northern
Burma. Sai Nau Kham and his army intercept these drug convoys and collect
tax when they are tipped off on the movement of drug consignments. They
fire on drug convoys when they refuse to pay them money as tax.

Thailand, Laos, China and Burma are jointly launching operations against
drug trafficking in the golden triangle area.

Similarly Sai Nau Kham opened fire on a Chinese patrol boat navigating in
Mekong River on 25 February last year killing three Chinese naval
officers, SHAN news reported.

____________________________________
ASEAN

February 27, Reuters
ASEAN to send Rohingya migrants back to Myanmar – Martin Petty

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations said on Friday it will send
hundreds of Rohingya boat people back to military-ruled Myanmar, which
rights groups fear gives them little in the way of protection.

Meeting at its annual summit, the 10-member bloc agreed to compile and
pool information and interviews on the Rohingyas, who washed up on the
shores of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia having fled oppression in
Myanmar.

Those found to have originated from the former Burma, which denies the
Rohingya Muslims are from its soil, would be returned, under the proposal
agreed on Friday.

"They have been trying to flee Burma because of extreme persecution. They
will be tragically hopeless if they are returned," said Debbie Stothard of
the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.

"They won't be monitored or supervised to ensure they aren't tortured,
detained or simply put on another boat.

"This doesn't tackle the root problem. This shows a fundamental lack of
political will in ASEAN," she said.

ANNUAL MIGRATIONS

Rickety wooden boats crowded with hundreds of Rohingya, a Muslim minority
from Myanmar's northwest, have reached Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in
the last two months, the latest in annual migrations of people in search
of better lives.

Their plight was brought to light last month when hundreds were feared
drowned after they were towed out to sea by the Thai military and
abandoned in engine-less boats.

Some Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia said they were beaten and tortured
at the hands of the Thai army.

Thailand's government has launched an investigation into the allegations
and insist the Rohingya were treated humanely and were given ample
supplies of food and water.

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said ASEAN would tackle the issue
with urgency and called on Myanmar to give its full cooperation.

"We recognise that the Rohingyas are people that need attention from the
salvaging efforts of ASEAN...," Yatim told reporters.

"The fact that Myanmar has come forward is positive. Myanmar should play a
positive role in endearing itself to our human rights demands."

Chris Lewa of the Rohingya rights group The Arakan Project said the
agreement showed ASEAN's policy of non-intervention was more important to
its members than human rights.

"This is simply a gesture to all the ASEAN countries and does not solve
the problem," Lewa told Reuters.

"ASEAN needs to put pressure on Myanmar to recognise the Rohingyas. It's
very clear these people do not want to go back."

____________________________________

February 27, Associated Press
ASEAN human rights body lacks power to punish – Jim Gomez

Southeast Asian officials on Friday hailed the creation of a regional
human rights body as a historic first step toward confronting abuses in
the region, but the body will lack the power to investigate or punish
violators of human rights like military-ruled Myanmar.

A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press says the rights
body, which the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations hopes to
form later this year, would "promote and protect human rights and
fundamental freedoms" in the region but will abide by the bloc's bedrock
policy of not interfering in members internal affairs.

The document, which outlines the proposed powers of the future rights
body, falls short of key demands voiced by international human rights
groups, which say the body will have limited effectiveness unless it can
impose sanctions or expel countries that violate the rights of their own
citizens.

The document was being presented behind closed-doors to ASEAN foreign
ministers gathered at a coastal resort in Thailand ahead of an annual
leaders summit this weekend. It is a first draft for the body's proposed
powers, with a final draft scheduled for completion in July.

The delegates are expected to devote most of their time to grappling with
how the region can best cope with the global economic crisis. Although
reform in Myanmar may be discussed on the sidelines of the conference,
ASEAN traditionally shies away from criticism of its members.

Thailand, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and is
hosting the summit, bills the meeting as a turning point for the bloc.

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.

One of the charter's key pledges is to set up the regional human rights
body. It is a landmark step and a highly controversial one for the Cold
War-era bloc made up of fledgling democracies, authoritarian states, a
military dictatorship and a monarchy.

"It is a historic first for Southeast Asia," said Rosario Manalo, a senior
diplomat representing the Philippines on the high-level panel that drafted
the human rights body's outline. "It marks the efforts of the region to
move toward democracy."

Officials describe the human rights body as a work in progress, saying its
powers will evolve over time.

"Investigative powers should not be ruled out. We'll take it step by
step," said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand's chairman of the drafting
committee. "We have to go as far as we can but at the same time we have to
be realistic."

ASEAN's 10 members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam range from very poor to
moderately rich.

The bloc that has long been criticized as a talk shop that forges
agreements by consensus and steers away from confrontation a factor that
rights groups note will impede progress for the eventual human rights
body.

According to the confidential document, the human rights body would follow
the principles of "noninterference in the internal affairs of ASEAN member
states" and would "respect the right of every member state to (be) free
from external interference, subversion and coercion."

Any decisions taken by the group "shall be based on consultation and
consensus," the document says, effectively giving Myanmar and other
violators veto power to block decisions.

International human rights groups have urged ASEAN leaders to press
military-ruled Myanmar to end its rights abuses.

London-based Amnesty International said in a statement earlier this week
that ASEAN "must be empowered to effectively address human rights in
Myanmar."

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a letter to ASEAN Secretary-General
Surin Pitsuwan, urged the summit to address "the dire human rights
situation in Burma" and also improve treatment of refugees, asylum seekers
and migrants in the region.

The United States also blasted Myanmar's junta for having "brutally
suppressed dissent" through a campaign of extrajudicial killings,
disappearances and torture.

In its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, the
U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized Myanmar's junta for a range
of abuses including the holding of more than 2,100 political prisoners,
the continued detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and a
brutal military campaign against ethnic minority groups.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 27, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Philippine activists demand more ASEAN action against Myanmar

Democracy activists took to the streets in the Philippines on Friday to
demand more action from the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) against Myanmar for its poor human rights record.

The protestors, numbering around 90, picketed the Thai embassy in Manila
and urged ASEAN to put Myanmar, formerly called Burma, on the "hot seat"
during its annual leaders' summit in Thailand, which started Friday.

"The military regime of Burma has a lot to answer," said Resti Delizo of
the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines. "Its human rights record is not
showing any degree of significant improvement and ASEAN should not take a
blind eye to this issue."

The demonstrators, who staged a mock prison to highlight the plight of
political prisoners in Myanmar, called on ASEAN to establish a mechanism
to monitor the human rights situation in the group's most notorious member
country.

"We challenge the ASEAN to begin monitoring the human rights situation in
Burma, schedule a visit to Burma's labour camps, detention centres and try
to see and feel the atmosphere of dictatorship there," Delizo said.

"Right now, ASEAN should go beyond its usual rhetoric and act concretely,"
he added.

"The peoples of Burma are suffering politically and economically because
their government doesn't care even if millions will die in extreme
hunger," Delizo said, noting that Myanmar's military junta treats the
national coffers as its "personal purse."

Aside from the Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar, ASEAN consists of
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

A proposed emergency fund to help mitigate the impact of the global
financial crisis in ASEAN member-countries and the creation of a human
rights body were among the issues expected to be discussed at the ASEAN
summit.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 27, Boston Globe
Clinton's stumbling start – Editorial

SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton did well to make her first trip abroad
last week to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, and China - nations vital to
global security and prosperity. But Clinton made disturbing remarks about
human rights in China, Tibet, and Burma.

She gave the impression that the Obama administration is preparing to
downgrade human rights and freedom of expression in American foreign
policy. She also made it seem she is unaware of the delicate balance the
nation's top diplomat needs to strike between idealism and Realpolitik.

Clinton's most obvious misstep was to muse in public about a failure of
both sanctions and engagement to modify the dictatorial behavior of the
junta that rules Burma. The analysis may be accurate. Yet Clinton's job
demands an acute awareness of the implications of her public words. She
seemed oblivious to the European Union's commitment to a sanctions policy
and unaware that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is sensitive
about having Burma's pariah regime in its midst. She also seemed forgetful
of President Obama's comparison of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi to Nelson Mandela.

Clinton made another kind of gaffe when she said pressing China on human
rights "can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global
climate change crisis, and the security crisis." Even if these were her
priorities in talks behind closed doors with Chinese officials, her
comment sent the wrong message to those officials, to Tibetans and Chinese
democrats, and to human rights defenders in China.

Worse yet, Clinton justified her intent to soft-pedal human rights by
saying, "We know what they're going to say, because I've had those
conversations for more than a decade with Chinese leaders." This remark
betrays two stunning assumptions: that American protests about human
rights abuses have no effect on Chinese authorities, and that US-Chinese
cooperation is possible only if the United States kowtows to Beijing's
insistence on what it calls non-interference in its domestic affairs.

This year, China confronts two telling anniversaries - of the 1959
invasion of Tibet by the People's Liberation Army and of the murderous
suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement. Communist
Party bosses are all the more anxious about those memories because they
coincide with protests at factory closings and revolts against corruption.

In short, Chinese leaders are more vulnerable than ever to an argument
that free speech and a free press are the safest remedies for the ills
that beset China's autocratic system. The US secretary of state must never
downplay those human rights.
____________________________________

February 27, Irrawaddy
Break the broken record – Kyaw Zwa Moe

The Burma issue is like a broken record: the same things are repeated over
and over.

No 1: The junta routinely arrests political activists; it says economic
sanctions should be repealed and blames the opposition party for it; it
tries to sell its upcoming election in 2010, as part of its democracy
roadmap.

No 2: The opposition parties, including the National League for Democracy
(NLD), call for dialogue without any new, results-oriented strategies.
They simply oppose whatever the government does.

No 3: All the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries are
afraid directly confront the Burmese military leaders.

No 4: Without action, the international community calls for the release of
all political prisoners and for dialogue between opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

No 5: The US remains the strongest vocal critic of the military leaders.

After hearing most of these positions repeated over and over for two
decades, it’s not surprising that people are jaded and complacent. But
things may be changing.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during her first trip to Asia:
“We want to see a time when citizens of Burma and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kyi can live freely in their own country.”

The big question is when and how? During her trip, Clinton talked about
Burma with Japan, Indonesia and China. She noted that US policy has failed
to achieve positive results. “Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing
sanctions hasn’t influenced the Burmese junta.”

She noted the path taken by Burma’s neighboring countries, a “constructive
engagement policy,” hasn’t influenced the military leaders either.

The new administration of US President Barack Obama can be expected to
create a new approach to Burma, based on Obama’s track record of creative
thinking and pragmatism.

In his inaugural address, his message was clear: "We will extend a hand if
you are willing to unclench your fist." Definitely, his message was heard
by Burma’s military leaders.

Two core political bargaining chips stand out: the release all political
prisoners and the removal of economic sanctions.

The first is a key principle of the NLD; the second is a key principle of
the junta.

These two issues are probably the keys to unlocking the status quo in Burma.

When UN Special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma recently, premier Gen
Thein Sein told the envoy, “The UN should make an effort to lift economic
sanctions imposed on Myanmar [Burma], if the organization wants to see a
prosperous Myanmar with political stability.”

The prime minister said economic sanctions have hindered Burma’s efforts
to alleviate poverty. He said the country is “like a person who is forced
to run quickly while his legs are tied together.”

The prime minister sent a clear message to the Western world, especially
the US, which has led the world effort to impose sanctions since 1997.

During her meeting with Gambari, Suu Kyi and senior NLD leaders emphasized
the release of all political prisoners and a return to real dialogue.

President Obama and his secretary of state should make these two issues
the focus of direct, or back channel, talks with the junta, and the sooner
the better.

To drive home the message that direct talks are needed, the US
administration should immediately name a special envoy to Burma, to carry
the administration’s negotiating views directly to Than Shwe.

Last November, former President George W Bush appointed Michael Green as
his special Burma policy coordinator with a rank of ambassador. But
President Obama has yet to nominate him for the job.

With a special Burma envoy in place, the United States can get down to
business, focusing on a basic quid pro quo: the release of all political
prisoners for a lifting of economic sanctions.

If progress can be made on these two key issues, then the door is open for
more change, and the old broken record will be broken.