BurmaNet News, November 17, 2009

[Editor]

November 17, 2009 Issue #3842


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar's Suu Kyi proposes cooperation with junta
AFP: At least 50 feared dead in Myanmar ferry crash: officials
DVB: Shan culture in Burma being ‘erased’
Irrawaddy: Possible release of Suu Kyi cheers political prisoners

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: National Park on Thai–Burma border largely deforested
The Daily Star (Bangladesh): UN body defers action on Myanmar claim

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Why is the value of kyat rising?

ASEAN
New light of Myanmar: Prime Minister General Thein Sein attends 1st
ASEAN-US leaders meeting

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Corruption watchdog rules Somalia still worst; followed by
Afghanistan, Myanmar
DVB: France joins calls for Suu Kyi’s release




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 17, Associated Press
Myanmar's Suu Kyi proposes cooperation with junta

Yangon, Myanmar — Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to
cooperate with Myanmar's ruling junta in lifting foreign sanctions but it
remains uncertain if the reconciliation efforts will yield results.

In a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe released Tuesday, Suu Kyi
has requested a meeting to explain how she would cooperate in tasks
"beneficial to the country." She does not specify what those might be.

"The letter is very significant. It clearly shows Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
willingness to work with the government in the interest of the nation,"
said her National League for Democracy party spokesman Nyan Win. 'Daw' is
a term of respect used for older women.

The party, which released the text, had previously described in general
terms the contents of the letter, dated Nov. 11. The government has yet to
respond.

Suu Kyi's initiative is the latest move to try to break the political
deadlock that began when the NLD won a 1990 general election. The military
refused to allow it to take power and increased repression of the
country's pro-democracy movement, causing the United States and another
Western nations to isolate it with economic and political sanctions.

However, the Obama administration, acknowledging that such moves failed to
foster reforms, is now seeking to engage it through high-level talks
instead of simply applying sanctions.

It's difficult to judge the significance of the latest moves, said Donald
Seekins, a Myanmar expert at Japan's Meio University, noting that there
have been previous stillborn attempts at reconciliation.

"They tend to warm up and then get very cold again, depending upon the
general political circumstances," he said.

Seekins speculated that the junta's reaction to the U.S. initiative might
depend on whether it wants to loosen its close ties with China, its
neighbor and closest ally.

This is the second letter Suu Kyi sent to the junta leader since August,
when she was sentenced to 18 months' more house arrest for harboring an
uninvited American citizen. She has been detained for 14 of the past 20
years.

In September, she wrote to Than Shwe stating her willingness to cooperate
with the military government to have international sanctions eased — an
apparent shift in her position. She had previously welcomed sanctions as a
way to pressure the junta to come to an accommodation with the
pro-democracy movement.

In her new letter, she also seeks permission to meet with the NLD's
central executive committee members and visit old and ailing party
leaders.

"She has taken up an approach that cannot be rejected and we are all very
hopeful that the government will respond positively to her letter and we
hope for a positive outcome," said Nyan Win.

Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to
this report.

____________________________________

November 17, Agence France Presse
At least 50 feared dead in Myanmar ferry crash: officials

Yangon – At least 50 people are feared drowned after a packed passenger
ferry crashed into an oil barge in an area of Myanmar hit by a devastating
cyclone last year, local officials said Tuesday.

The accident happened late Sunday when the wooden boat carrying nearly 180
passengers was travelling along the Ngawun river in the southern Irrawaddy
Delta, the officials said.

"The boat sank after colliding with an oil barge. We have recovered 34
bodies and there are at least another 16 people missing who are believed
to have drowned," said an official in the area on condition of anonymity.

"The other passengers were rescued from the water and have gone back to
their home villages," the official said.

The vessel, named the Naywintun, or Rising Sun, was travelling between the
towns of Pathein and Thetkelthaung when it sank. The oil barge did not
sink, officials said.

Officials in the former capital Yangon said the Red Cross in the area was
helping survivors of the crash.

The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis
hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around
138,000 people and left thousands more homeless.

Most people living in the low-lying region -- the least developed part of
impoverished Myanmar -- rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries
for transportation around its flooded plains.

At least 38 villagers were killed when a boat sank in the delta in July
2008. In February of the same year ten pilgrims drowned in southern
Myanmar after a boat capsized while carrying them to a Buddhist pagoda.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962, and sanctions by the
United States and Europe coupled with fiscal mismanagement during decades
of military rule have battered its economy.

____________________________________

November 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Shan culture in Burma being ‘erased’ – Naw Noreen

International coverage of state-backed human rights abuses in Burma does
not adequately address the subtler forms of abuse that are beginning to
erode and distort ethnic cultures, a Shan group has warned.

The Burmese military government is replacing ethnic Shan culture with its
“own homogenized and artificially imposed ‘Myanmar culture’”, say the Shan
Women’s Action Network (SWAN), in a report released today.

The volatile Shan state in northeastern Burma is the country’s largest
state and home to an estimated six million people.

Low-intensity conflict has eaten away at the region for more than half a
century as armed ethnic groups fight for autonomy against the military
government. It is also the country’s main drugs producing region, and thus
heavily militarized.

The report, ‘Forbidden Glimpses of Shan State’, warns that tourists
visiting the region are forbidden from seeing areas that “may soon be lost
forever due to the regime’s development plans, funded by Thai and Chinese
investors”.

Oil and gas pipelines that being developed from Burma’s western Arakan
state to China’s southern Yunnan province will slice through Shan state,
which in August and September was the scene of heavy fighting between an
armed Kokang group and the Burmese army.

“The military junta is subtly destroying our cultural heritage in Shan
state, such as historical pagodas and palaces, by building dams and gas
pipelines,” said Ying Harn Fah, spokesperson for SWAN.

Moreover, "Shan State’s beautful forests, hills and rivers are fast being
ravaged and polluted by unbridled resource exploitation by the regime and
its cronies", it says.

The report states that around 150 army battalions are stationed in Shan
state, who regularly confiscate farms, extort and tax villagers, and used
as “free labour”.

It also claims that between 1996 and 1998, more than 300,000 Shan
villagers “were forced at gunpoint from their homes and lands in an
anti-insurgency operation” by the Burmese army.

A United States’ health academic, Professor Chris Beyrer, told the US
House Foreign Affairs Committee during a testimony on US policy to Burma
last month that 25 percent of Shan families had been forcibly relocated in
the past year alone.

The report also highlights the plight of political prisoners being held in
remote prisons in Shan state who “will never be physically seen by
tourists but their presence should be a constant reminder to us all of the
cruel reality of repression in Shan State and the rest of Burma today”.

____________________________________

November 17, Irrawaddy
Possible release of Suu Kyi cheers political prisoners – Kyi Wai

Rangoon — A 73-year-old mother broke into tears when she heard the message
from her son, Tun Tun Oo, who is in Meik-Hitla Prison, one of thousands of
political prisoners in Burmese jails.

The message was delivered by his brother, who had visited him in prison.
Family members of prisoners wait for the release of their loved ones in
front of Rangoon’s Insein prison gate in September. (Photo: Reuters)

Tun Tun Oo told his mother not to worry about him, and "sooner or later,
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be free."

"My son preferred to talk about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom rather than
his own,” she said, holding back more tears. “He’s said repeatedly that
only Aung San Suu Kyi can bring better times to Burma."

After news reports appeared recently saying that the regime might release
Suu Kyi, people across Burma—and in prisons—have hoped the news is true,
and not just another tactic by the military government to buy time before
the 2010 election.

The Associated Press news agency reported on Nov. 9, that a senior Burmese
diplomat said the junta will release Suu Kyi to take part in the
reorganization of her political party.

The wife of a political prisoner in Kalay Prison said, "I told my husband,
and he was very happy. He didn't ask about home immediately, but he asked
about more Suu Kyi news and information about the NLD. He asked me to give
him details about his colleagues who are not in prison."

She said she knew her husband wanted such news, and she had prepared
magazines and journals to give to him, since authorities now allow
prisoners to read the news in prison.

"They don’t have access to radio, so they don't know the latest news,” she
said. “He told me to bring news. He wants it more than food and medicine.
He thrives on it," she said.

Similarly, a family member of political prisoner Shwe Maung, who is
bedridden in Pyapon Prison with a chronic illness, told The Irrawaddy that
his morale improved noticeably when he heard the news of her possible
release.

"His is suffering. He can't speak much, and he can't walk, but when he
heard the news, he started feeling better," said a family member.

Rangoon tea shops, popular gathering places for regular gossip and the
sharing of information with friends, have been buzzing with speculation
about Suu Kyi’s release, and the neighborhood where her compound is
located has seen more visitors and tourists.

"Since the news came out, more people are coming to the corner of
University Avenue [where Suu Kyi lives], and frequenting teashops and
restaurants close to Sayar San Road," said a resident who lives on
University Avenue.

A Rangoon journalist said: “Some people believe she could be freed, but it
will take time, while others have suspicions that the regime is just
playing on the news to please the US. Nevertheless, it is obvious
everybody wants to see her free."

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma
has estimated that there are 2,100 political prisoners in Burma.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 17, Mizzima News
National Park on Thai–Burma border largely deforested – Usa Pichai

Chiang Mai – Thai authorities have increased surveillance in the National
Park on the Thailand–Burma border in Chumporn Province because of severe
deforestation and hunting of wildlife.

Karan Supakijvilekakarn, Governor of Chumporn Province said on Monday that
the local authorities in the Chumporn Province border with Mon State of
Burma would increase restriction after it found a large area of Krom Laung
Chumporn National Park was deforested and being trespassed. It could be
linked to businessmen and local politicians.

“The Thai cabinet imposed martial law in 2008 in this area to protect the
national park. Thai military will send troops to the area on 16, November
2009 because it fears that the problem would increase and affect the
bilateral relationship with neighboring countries,” he said, according to
a report in a Thai news website Manager.

The national park is in Tasae district of Chumporn province in southern
Thailand. The deforestation and trespassing was by businessmen who want to
be into coffee or palm oil plantation by hiring local Thai and Burmese
villagers to cut trees. Currently the destroyed area is about 20 000 rais
or 8,000 acres.

In addition, Damnern Woraphan, a staff of the Wild Life Rescue Center
Chumporn Province, Wild Life Friend of Thailand Foundation said that the
problem of wild life hunting for commercial purposes has increased
particularly along the Thailand – Burma border in Tasae district.

“A number of hunters hunt for rare animals and sell them in the local
markets. The buyers are both Thai and Burmese. Officials are reluctant to
solve the problems,” he said.

Damnern added with the holiday season hunting is increasing every year
because restaurants on the roadside record a high demand for wildlife
products to sell to tourists.

Damnern also urged local authorities to increase restriction on hunters
and wildlife buyers which is illegal.

Recently, Thaweesak Thanadechopol, Chumporn Irrigation Department Director
said  that currently, 12 small reservoirs in the national park are dry
because of deforestation.

Last week, Suwaroj Palang, MP said at a press conference on Tuesday that
he does not link the case of land trespassing and deforestation in
Chumporn Province when a report revealed that there are some politicians
who have a nexus. However, the government has set up a committee to
resolve the problem and stop deforestation.  Cooperation from local
villagers was sought to look after the forest in their neighbourhood and
inform officials if they see poachers.

____________________________________

November 17, The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
UN body defers action on Myanmar claim

Unb, Dhaka – Further action by the UN commission concerned on Myanmar's
claim on the outer-limits of the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal
has been suspended.

An official announcement from the ministry of foreign affairs here
yesterday said the Union of Myanmar submitted their
outer-continental-shelf claim on December 16, 2008 to the Commission on
the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

The presentation on the submission was held on August 24 this year before
the commission where the formation of a sub-commission for Myanmar was
deferred in consideration of the protest note of Bangladesh, which was
communicated to the UN secretary general on June 23 this year.

The commission, in its 24th session, heard the explanation of the Myanmar
authorities on the basis of their claim and the comments on the protest
notes of Bangladesh.

It considered Bangladesh's objection with reference to disputes in the
area as invoked under paragraph 5(a) of Annex I of the Rules of Procedure.

"The commission decided to defer further consideration of the submission
and the notes verbale until such time as the submission is next in line
for consideration," said the ministry release.

The decision was taken by the commission in order to take into
consideration any further developments that might occur during the
intervening period, including provisional arrangements of a practical
nature provided for in the Rules.

"Consequently, further action on Myanmar's claim on the outer-limits of
the continental shelf remains suspended," the foreign ministry said.

The dispute by the neighbour gathered pace, creating tensions across the
border, as Bangladesh moved to explore gas in the Bay by leasing out
hydrocarbon blocks to two foreign companies-one US and the other one
Irish.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 17, Irrawaddy
Why is the value of kyat rising? – Aung Thet Wine

Rangoon — The value of the Burmese national currency, kyat, has suddenly
appreciated as millions of US dollars flow into the local market in
earnings from the opium and amphetamine trade at the Sino-Burmese border.

That’s the opinion of several sources in the Rangoon business community
who cite the influx of dollars in the black market as the main reason for
the rise of the Burmese currency.

At the start of the cold season, most opium farmers harvest their crops
and the trade in drugs habitually flourishes at the Burmese border,
sources close to border trade said. The illicit trade creates a large
influx of US dollars into the Burmese economy and affects the exchange
rate.

“The present exchange rate is 990 kyat to the US dollar,” a Rangoon-based
money dealer said. “But this rate is not determined by the circumstances
in Rangoon markets. The exchange rate of the Chinese currency versus kyat
at the border has affected Rangoon.”

At the end of September, when the Burmese government announced it was to
introduce 5,000 kyat notes into circulation, the US dollar was trading for
1,200 kyat on the black market and many traders bought US dollars.

According to a Mandalay-based currency market analyst: "There are many
people who bought US dollars in October at the time when the 5,000 kyat
notes were introduced. But US dollars did not run out even though demand
increased. According to the nature of the currency market here, the
Burmese kyat must start to appreciate when the supply of US dollars
enhances.”

A Rangoon-based researcher on economy also estimated the rise of the kyat
could be due to the influx of foreign cash into local markets from the
opium and amphetamine trade at the border.

"Laymen could think the US dollar is depreciating worldwide and that could
be the reason the US dollar is depreciating in the Rangoon market,” the
researcher said. “But we have few businesses linked to the world economy.
I think this assumption is wrong. It is more possible that the kyat is
rising because of the money coming in from drugs sales.”

As the kyat rises, trade becomes slow because Burmese commodities are more
expensive and local merchants confirm that export earnings are low in
account transfer exchange rates.

A currency broker in Rangoon said, “As the trade in imports and exports is
slow, the trade in foreign currency market is idle.”

Foreign Exchange Currency (FEC) notes—issued as a medium of exchange in
Burma by the military junta—tell a different story, sources say, with more
supply than demand in the market. A US dollar’s worth of FEC is now
selling at 985 kyat in the market.

A local goldsmith close to U Kyaw Myint, the vice-chairman of Myanmar
Goldsmiths Association, said the price of gold in local markets has
decreased despite the rise of gold prices globally. He said he believes
the cause could be an influx of US dollars and the rising kyat.

There could be some other reasons for the recent appreciation of the kyat.
Some businessmen in Rangoon are speculating that the rise of the kyat may
be due to political factors, such as the recent developments in US-Burma
relations and a perceived breakthrough in Burma's political deadlock. They
also cite the positive gestures by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
as contributing to Burma’s economic environment.

Factoring in billions of dollars in income from the sale of natural gas
and other resources could also contribute to the appreciation of the
Burmese currency, some economists said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 17, New light of Myanmar
Prime Minister General Thein Sein attends 1st ASEAN-US leaders meeting

Nay Pyi Taw – Prime Minister of the Union of Myanmar General Thein Sein
attended the 1st ASEANUS Leaders Meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in
Singapore, the Republic of Singapore at 3.20 pm yesterday.

Also present at the meeting were King of Brunei Darussalam Sultan Haji
Hassanul Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech
Hun Sen, Indonesian President Dr H Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Laotian Prime
Minister Mr Bouasone Bouphavanh, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd
Najib Bin Tun Hj Abd Razak, Philippine President Madame Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, Singaporean Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Thai Prime Minister
Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva, Vietnamese Prime Minister Mr Nguyen Tan Dung, US
President Barak Obama, and ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan.

On arrival at the hotel at 3 pm, the Heads of State/ Government from ASEAN
countries, the US president, and the US Secretary of State were welcomed
by the Singaporean Prime Minister.

Before the meeting, they posed for a group photo.

At the meeting, Singaporean Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong extended
greetings. Alternate Chairman of ASEAN Thai Prime Minister Mr Abhisit
Vejjajiva delivered an introductory speech.

ASEAN-US Dialogue Coordinator Philippine President Madame Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo delivered a speech. The Heads of State/Government from ASEAN
countries, the US president, and the US Secretary of State held talks
about matters on ASEAN-US mutual interest.
The meeting ended at 5.30 pm.

After the meeting, Prime Minister General Thein Sein and party left the
Shangri-La Hotel and arrived back at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. – MNA

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 17, Associated Press
Corruption watchdog rules Somalia still worst; followed by Afghanistan,
Myanmar

Berlin — An international watchdog says Canada is tied for eighth place in
a survey that examined levels of corruption in 180 countries.

International watchdog says war-ravaged Somalia remains the world's most
corrupt country, followed by Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan. Transparency
International says New Zealand is the most principled country, followed by
Denmark, Singapore and Sweden.

It says the top rankings are partly due to political stability and
long-established conflict of interest regulations.

Canada is tied for eighth place with Australia and Iceland - up one spot
from the 2008 survey - while the United States is ranked 19th.

The Transparency International website did not include any specific
reasons for the Canadian ranking.

The annual ranking from the Berlin-based agency drew on surveys of
businesses and experts.

-With file from The Associated Press
____________________________________

November 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
France joins calls for Suu Kyi’s release – Joseph Allchin

Calls from the French foreign ministry to release Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi
have been welcomed by campaigners in France who say that Western
engagement with the regime is long overdue.

A statement released by the foreign ministry yesterday stated that “we
hope that this call to the Burmese prime minister to release all political
prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi will be heard”.

Following United States’ president Barrack Obama’s call for the release of
the imprisoned Nobel laureate last week, the French Foreign Ministry
backed US assertions that the upcoming 2010 elections would not be
credible unless the junta released the 2,100 political prisoners currently
incarcerated in Burma.

“We are particularly glad that France is taking the release of all
political prisoners, not only Aung San Suu Kyi, into the perspective of
next year’s elections because the release of all political prisoners is
essential to these elections,” said Isabelle Dubois, from Info Birmanie.

She added that the current Western position of critical engagement with
Burma is one that “we have always called for”.

The foreign ministry statement went on to state that “it is now up to [the
Burmese government] to undertake concrete measures in favour of dialogue
and national reconciliation.”

Ms Dubois also called for western diplomats to “closely co-ordinate and
unify their efforts to secure concrete progress”.

France’s position towards Burma came under close scrutiny earlier this
year after the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, labeled European
Union sanctions on the country “useless”.

French policy makers have also been accused of ambivalence and double
standards as the French oil multinational Total declined to halt its
controversial business dealings in the Burmese fossil fuel sector.

It is an investment that Dubois said had “terrible impacts on the people
of Burma. We have a lot of concerns about the situation”.