BurmaNet News, November 26 - 30, 2009

[Editor]

November 26 – 30, 2009 Issue #3849


INSIDE BURMA
Khonumthung News: SPDC into election campaign in Chin State
Mizzima News: Than Shwe urges USDA to forge ahead
Kachin News Group: Kachin village threatened with demolition by Yuzana
Company
New Light of Myanmar: Annual General Meeting 2009 of USDA held

BUSINESS / TRADE
DPA: Domestic natural gas to triple in Myanmar in next decade
AFP: Singapore firm inks massive Myanmar gas deal

HEALTH
Myanmar Times: 3DF studies options for new projects
Irrawaddy: HIV infection rates still high among injecting drug users

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar rebels cashing in illegal drugs stocks: UN

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: Burmese pro-democracy activists brief Indian intellectuals

INTERNATIONAL
Inter Press News Service: BURMA: Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to advise junta
on poverty

OPINION / OTHER
GlobalPost: Burma's minorities must not be overlooked – Richard Sollom
Asian Tribune: Burma media faces junta squeeze – Zin Linn
Irrawaddy: Kowtowing holds up political progress in Burma – Ko Ko Thett

PRESS RELEASE
Indian Parliamentarian’s Forum for Democracy in Burma: Parliamentarians
from South and South East Asia extend solidarity with the struggle for
democracy in Burma



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 30, Khonumthung News
SPDC into election campaign in Chin State

Campaigning for the 2010 general elections in Burma seems to have begun in
earnest from the military junta’s side with the Deputy Minister of Power
and Electricity visiting Tidim town and Tawnzang town in Chin state on
November 13 to 15 on a campaign tour.

When the minister arrived he met departmental staff members,
representatives of the Union Solidarity Development Association, Women’s
Association and about 100 parents in a high school hall in Tawnzang town.
He addressed them regarding the election.

“He urged us to cast votes for the candidates of the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) and beware of enemies of the state. The
elections will be held soon and we have to unite as a family,” said a
member of the USDA.

When Khonumthung News asked a person, who attended the meeting about the
polls, he said that the forthcoming general election cannot be free and
fair. “Even if we cast votes against the authorities it will convert it to
votes in its favour,” he added.

Similarly, the second commander of LIB 309 Myat Soe had campaigned in
Kalemyo and Tamu Township on November 7, where he met representatives of
the Union Solidarity Development Association, Women’s Association,
volunteer firemen and local parents.

Although the military junta has officially announced the elections for
2010, there is no declaration of codes and conducts of the election and
the date.

____________________________________

November 30, Mizzima News
Than Shwe urges USDA to forge ahead – Mungpi

New Delhi - Burma’s military junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe on
Friday patted on the back his puppet civilian organization – the Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – for a job well-done for
the past 16 years and urged it to carry on with gusto until the junta’s
Seven-Step Roadmap is wrapped up.

Than Shwe, in his speech on the last day of the USDA’s Annual General
Meeting, expressed his appreciation of the USDA, but urged it to continue
to safeguard non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of
national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty of the country,
according to the state-own New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Saturday.

Burma’s military rulers claim that they are the saviors of the Union,
where several groups are struggling to break away, and justify that their
rule for the past 20 years have ushered in stability and peace in the
country.

“Therefore, you are
. to safeguard non-disintegration of the Union,
non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty
with true patriotic spirit,” Than Shwe, patron of the USDA told the
meeting, held in Naypyitaw.

He also urged the USDA to cooperate in the successful implementation of
the Seven-Step Roadmap, and to prevent any attempt to harm the interests
of the State and the people.

The junta chief, in his speech, re-affirmed that as part of the roadmap to
democracy, a general election will be held in 2010, where political
parties would be allowed to contest.

“Free and fair elections will be held in 2010 in keeping with the
publicly-approved constitution. Political parties, formed based on their
different beliefs, will get involved in political activities,” Than Shwe
said.

Critics have expressed scepticism about the junta’s statement of ‘Free and
Fair elections’, pointing out that the referendum held in May 2008 to
approve the new constitution was rigged.

Opposition groups, including detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi’s party – the National League for Democracy – have demanded a revision
of the 2008 constitution, which will be used as the base for next year’s
election.

While Burma watchers and analysts had earlier speculated that the USDA
might be transformed into a political party that will be backed by the
junta, a USDA official in Naypyitaw told Mizzima that so far there has not
been any ‘orders from above’ to transform the group into a political
outfit.

The USDA, which was formed by Than Shwe in 1993, has been widely known for
carrying out orders from the junta including those to crackdown on
protesters during the Buddhist monk-led protests in September 2007.

The junta claims that the USDA has a membership of over 20 million, nearly
half of Burma’s over 50 million population.

____________________________________

November 29, Kachin News Group
Kachin village threatened with demolition by Yuzana Company

Yuzana Company, which has the backing of the Burmese military junta, has
threatened to demolish a Kachin village in Hukawng Valley following a
dispute between the company's workers and local youth in western Kachin
State, said village sources.

There was a quarrel between Yuzana Company workers and native Kachin youth
in Sahtu Zup village on Stilwell Road also called the Ledo Road between
Namti and Danai on November 18, said Sahtu Zup villagers.

112609-hukawng-valley

A Yuzana company's factory is under construction beside Ledo Road in
Hukawng Valley, Kachin State
The dispute went on for several hours and the company's workers entered
Sahtu Zup village and threatened to demolish the entire village with 7
farm tractors, according to villagers.

The root cause of the problem between native Kachin youth and alien Burman
workers in the valley is yet to be ascertained but people in the valley do
not like the company grabbing their land, said residents of the valley.

With political and military support of the junta, the country's former
capital Rangoon-based Yuzana Company headed by Chinese-Burmese U Htay
Myint bought over 200,000 acres of land in the Valley in 2006.

The land occupied by the company, includes local people's paddy fields,
crop plantation and farms along with forests from where traditional wood
and bamboo is collected, said locals.

Since late 2006, the company cleared forests in these areas to cultivate
crops, cassava plants and sugarcane, said residents.

The company transports tens of thousands of Burman workers from lower or
southern Burma to the Valley for cultivation with the support of the
ruling junta, according to local residents.

Now two Thai-style factories are under construction in the company's
occupied land by Thai technicians, added local residents.

Since the Yuzana Company arrived in the Valley in 2006, social and land
related problems have been erupting between local Christian Kachins and
Buddhist Burman settlers, said natives of Hukawng Valley. Domestic animals
of locals are always secretly slaughtered by the company's workers, added
local people.

In Kachin history, the Hukawng or Hugawng Valley was ruled by 12 Kachin
Duwas, the ancient rulers of Kachin regions before Burma received
independence from the British in 1948.

The Hukawng Valley was declared as the world's largest tiger sanctuary by
US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 2004.

____________________________________

November 27, New Light of Myanmar
Annual General Meeting 2009 of USDA held

Nay Pyi Taw – The Annual General Meeting 2009 of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association had been held at the USDA Headquarters in
Dekkhinathiri here since 22 November. Patron of the USDA Chairman of the
State Peace and Development Council Commander-in- Chief of Defence
Services Senior General Than Shwe addressed the annual general meeting at
the USDA Headquarters in Dekkhinathiri here this morning.

Patron of the USDA Chairman of the SPDC Commander-in-Chief of the Defence
Services Senior General Than Shwe arrived at the USDA Headquarters at 8:50
am. The Senior General was welcomed by Members of the USDA Central Panel
of Patrons Vice- Chairman of the SPDC Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence
Services Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, Member
of the SPDC General Thura Shwe Mann, Prime Minister General Thein Sein,
Secretary-1 of the SPDC General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Member of
the SPDC Lt-Gen Tin Aye, the Commander-in-Chief (Navy), the
Commander-in-Chief (Air), senior military officers of Ministry of Defence,
the Commander of Nay Pyi Taw Command, Secretary-General U Htay Oo of the
USDA.

The fifth day session of the annual general meeting 2009 was also attended
by Members of the Central Panel of Patrons Vice-Senior General Maung Aye,
General Thura Shwe Mann, Prime Minister General Thein Sein, Secretary-1
General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Lt-Gen Tin Aye, the Commanderin-
Chief (Navy), the Commander-in-Chief (Air), senior military officers of
the Ministry of Defence, the Nay Pyi Taw Command Commander, CEC members of
the USDA, ministers, the Chief Justice, the Auditor- General, deputy
ministers, directors-general and managing directors of departments and
enterprises, chairmen and committee members of Central Committee and
Sub-committee for Organizing the Annual General Meeting 2009 of the USDA.
chairpersons, presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries of Myanmar
Women’s Affairs Federation, Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare
Association, Myanmar Red Cross Society, Myanmar Motion Pictures Asiayon,
Myanmar Traditional Artists and Artisans Asiayon, Myanmar National
Committee for Women’s Affairs, Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association,
Myanmar Fisheries Federation, delegates of the USDA at state, division,
district, and township level, outstanding youths of 2009 and guests,
totalling 887.

Daw Ei Nwe Phyo of Shan State (East) USDA presided over the AGM and Daw
Lay Lay Myint of Yangon Division USDA co-presided the AGM. First, the MC
announced the opening of the fifth day session of the AGM upon permission
of the patron of the USDA. Afterwards, Patron of the USDA, Senior General
Than Shwe delivered an address.

Later, Secretary-General U Htay Oo of the USDA awarded 19 science
students, and 12 arts students who stood first to tenth positions in 2009
matriculation examination, 15 science students who took optional subjects,
14 arts students who took optional subjects who stood first in respective
states and divisions, six students who won gold medals in sports events,
two outstanding auxiliary Fire Brigade members of 2009, two outstanding
Red Cross members of 2009, six students who won five gold medals and above
in Myanmar Traditional Cultural Performing Arts Competitions and 14
outstanding students of English Language Proficiency Contest at central
level of the USDA.

Afterwards, the secretary-general, the joint-secretary-general, CEC
members, delegates of the association at state and division level
continued the AGM according to the agenda. The AGM concluded chanting of
slogans. - MNA

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 30, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Domestic natural gas to triple in Myanmar in next decade

Bangkok – Myanmar Energy Domestic natural gas to triple in Myanmar in next
decade =    Bangkok The supply of natural gas for domestic use is to
triple in Myanmar over the next decade, the Myanmar Times reported Monday
quoting the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

The gas is due to come from two major projects coming on stream - Shwe and
Zawtika - leading to increases in onshore gas production, and the
construction of a new pipeline linking the older Yadana offshore gas
project with the capital Yangon.

Gas exports are also scheduled to increase, almost doubling over the same
period, said U Myint Oo, MOGE's acting managing director earlier this
month.

In fiscal 2008-2009 year, Myanmar earned 2.38 billion US dollars from
natural gas exports to Thailand, according to Myanmar government figures
cited by the paper.

Electricity generation from natural gas in Myanmar is to drop from 39.8
per cent of the total in 2005 to just 4.3 per cent in 2030, when almost 95
per cent of electricity is due to come from hydropower projects.

____________________________________

November 28, Agence France Presse
Singapore firm inks massive Myanmar gas deal

Singapore — A Singaporean marine engineering company has signed a
multimillion dollar contract with a Myanmar firm, and will lay gas
pipelines off the shores of the military-ruled nation next year.

Singapore-based firm Swiber Holdings will construct 150 kilometres of gas
pipelines after signing a 77 million US dollar contract with "a Myanmar
oil and gas company," the company said in a statement Friday.

The statement did not give the name of the Myanmar company involved.

The project will start in the first quarter of 2010 and will last six
months, it added.

"We are honoured and excited to kick-start the offshore installation job
in Myanmar," said Raymond Goh, group chief executive officer of Swiber
Holdings.

The agreement comes as foreign investment in military-ruled nation soared
more than fivefold to reach almost one billion dollars last year, official
statistics showed.

Total foreign investment in Myanmar increased from 172.72 million dollars
in the 2007-2008 fiscal year to 985 million dollars in 2008-2009, the
Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development said earlier this
year.

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.

____________________________________
HEALTH

November 28, Irrawaddy
HIV infection rates still high among injecting drug users

In the three years that he was an injecting drug user, Phoe Htoo (not his
real name) shared a needle with just one person—a close friend he grew up
with.

The 23-year-old said he and his friend always went to the same house in
Hlaing Tharyar Township, on the outskirts of Rangoon, to shoot up, because
they considered it safe.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, his friend told him he was HIV-positive and
urged him to have a test, too.

“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard,” said Phoe Htoo, who put off
taking the test for a week because he dreaded hearing the possible result.

As he feared, he soon learned that he was HIV-positive like his friend.

Due to a lack of adequate knowledge about the dangers of sharing needles,
thousands of injecting drug users like Phoe Htoo and his friend are being
infected with HIV in Burma.

According to UNAIDS, one in three injecting drug users is infected with
HIV/AIDS in Burma, where an estimated 240,000 people are thought to be
living with the deadly disease.

Government figures also show that HIV prevalence is at about 35 percent
among injecting drug users; in some areas, the rate is as high as 80
percent.

Intravenous drug use accounts for 30 percent of all new HIV infections in
this country, which is the world’s second-largest producer of illicit
opium and one of the largest producers of amphetamine type stimulants
(ATS).

In Rangoon and Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, HIV prevalence
among drug users, including injecting drug users, reportedly tripled in
2008 compared with the previous year.

In Myitkyina, HIV prevalence among drug users stood at around 54.5 percent
last year, while in Rangoon it was 19 percent, according to figures
released by the Ministry of Health.

Experts say that the number of drug users has also increased at a
surprising rate in recent years, and that many users are moving away from
smoking opium to injecting heroin and taking ATS tablets.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that there are around
300,000 drug users in Burma, while some NGOs believe there could be as
many as 500,000.

An estimated 50 percent of all drug users are reportedly injecting drug
users, according to experts.

In an effort to reduce HIV infection caused by needle-sharing,
international and local agencies have been trying to raise HIV awareness
among injecting drug users.

Through their outreach programs and drop-in centers, agencies don't just
educate injecting drug users about the dangers of sharing needles—they
also operate needle exchange programs, collecting used needles and
syringes and giving back new ones.

However, challenges remain in terms of the effectiveness of these programs
and the government’s collaboration.

“We’re still facing challenges not only in raising HIV awareness among the
injecting drug users but also in persuading them to fully apply their
knowledge,” said an expert from one international organization that is
working on the reduction of HIV risks among injecting drug users.

There are many remote places that have yet to be reached by the agencies,
the expert added.

Through awareness-raising campaigns, some injecting drug users know that
they should not share a needle with other users in order to avoid becoming
infected with HIV.

“Though they might not share a needle when they have enough needles and
syringes, they might not apply their knowledge when they do not have
access to clean and safe needles,” the expert said.

Some drug users say that one reason they tend to reuse needles is that
they fear being arrested by the police when they buy new needles from drug
stores.

“Drug users, including injecting drug users, are forced to live in a
hidden community,” an official from the Asian Harm Reduction Network
(AHRN) said.

While drug users are stigmatized by their communities, they are also
arrested and imprisoned by the authorities for using illicit drugs.

Police crackdowns don't just negatively impact on the agencies’ access to
injecting drug users—they also drive the users into hiding.

“This kind of law enforcement poses a high risk of increasing HIV
infection among injecting drug users since they dare not come out to buy
clean and safe needles,” the official from AHRN said.

The 1993 Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law requires drug
users to register with government medical facilities to have treatment and
rehabilitation. If they fail to register, they could be imprisoned for
three to five years.

Since government health facilities are insufficient and poorly equipped,
many drug users fail to register even if they want to undergo treatment or
rehabilitation. Instead, they continue to live in their hidden communities
and facing arrest. If one leaves the health facility without success, one
can be arrested and put in jail.

“I’m not sure treatment would work. If I didn’t successfully recover from
my addiction, I could be imprisoned,” said one injecting drug user,
explaining why he failed to take treatment.

____________________________________

November 30, Myanmar Times
3DF studies options for new projects – Thomas Kean

THE Three Diseases Fund will undertake a "scoping study" in the coming
weeks to identify areas donors can contribute to when the present project
cycle is completed in 2011.

The decision comes after the Global Fund board approved all three of
Myanmar's Round 9 funding proposals earlier this month, paving the way for
up to US$110 million in aid funding over two years to fight HIV, malaria
and tuberculosis.

Mr Bengt Ekman, the chair of the Three Diseases Fund board, said donors
would consider shifting the fund's focus to other health areas, including
non-communicable diseases, primary healthcare, and infant and maternal
care.

"The donors are committed to continue working together in Myanmar and will
commission a scoping study on gaps and needs to be potentially addressed
by a new health fund post-2011", Mr Ekman said.

"The six donors, several of which are key contributors to the Global Fund,
are looking forward to ensuring that the two funds will be supplementing
one another in the remaining project cycle for the [Three Diseases Fund],"
the fund said in a statement.

The Global Fund's decision, announced on November 12, "marks unprecedented
humanitarian engagement" with Myanmar, the statement said.

"The donors to the [Three Diseases Fund] ... welcome the Global Fund's
decision and are pleased to see the result of a strong application by the
Myanmar Country Coordination Mechanism, a joint effort from UN and
nongovernmental agencies, donor representatives in the country along with
the national diseases control programs led by the Ministry of Health."

The Three Diseases Fund was created in early 2006 to fill the funding gap
after the Global Fund terminated grants to Myanmar the previous year.
Donors - including Australia's AusAID, European Commission, Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden's Sida and the United Kingdom's Department for
International Development - have provided $100 million to be spent over
five years. So far the fund has distributed $73 million to local and
international NGOs and community-based organisations.

One local health expert said they "would like to see the Three Diseases
Fund become the Health Fund to support national health plans" and pointed
to further opportunities created by the United States' decision to
increase humanitarian aid to Myanmar.

"HIV is now well funded so the US can focus on other health issues such as
tobacco control, undernutrition or reproductive health. This is a big
opportunity for America," said the moderator of HIV Information for
Myanmar, a widely respected blog that monitors aid work in Myanmar.

"The global HIV funding environment in the five years since Global
Fund-resourced activities last took place in Myanmar has changed
significantly. As [former UN Secretary General] U Thant once said: 'It is
no longer our resources that limit our decisions; it's our decisions that
limit our resources.'"

The HIV Information for Myanmar moderator said the Global Fund's presence
in Myanmar was an "important change in international development
assistance" but cautioned, "now the hard part begins".

"Myanmar will need to reduce its budget by 10 percent, just like all
countries. If the Principal Recipients meet their self-defined targets
then they will receive the full amount" of funding from the Global Fund.
"If all goes well a grant agreement will be signed before Thingyan and the
money will start to flow."

____________________________________
DRUGS

November 26, Agence France Presse
Myanmar rebels cashing in illegal drugs stocks: UN

Bangkok — Military-ruled Myanmar's rebel ethnic groups are increasingly
cashing in their illegal drugs hordes on expectations of a junta
crackdown, a UN expert said Thursday.

Minority groups that feel under threat from central government are using
drugs trafficking to sustain themselves and keep control of their
territories, said Gary Le

wis, a representative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"What we have seen is an increased movement of products across border," he
said in Bangkok at the launch of a UNODC report on amphetamine-type
stimulants (ATS) and other drugs in East and Southeast Asia.

The trafficking from Myanmar includes opium and morphine-based products as
well as ATS, he said.

There has also been "an increased degree of cashing (in) of the products
within Myanmar, in anticipation of exposure of those products through
contacts with law enforcement and military counterparts," he said.

The new report said the "unsettled" political situation in Myanmar could
result in the relocation of clandestine manufacturing sites across the
border.

Lewis said that the drugs were not just moving through Thailand, where
increased law enforcement may have curbed direct trafficking, but also
through other nearby countries such as Laos, Vietnam and India.

Myanmar's military regime has in recent months stepped up its decades-long
campaign against minority groups because it wants them to come under its
control ahead of elections planned for 2010.

Analysts say that while in the past the junta often tacitly assented to
ethnic minority involvement in the drugs trade, it is now using it as a
pretext to put pressure on groups that do not want to join the Burmese
security forces.

The junta has also vowed to make the country drug-free by 2014 by
following a 15-year elimination plan, but Myanmar remains the world's
second largest opium producer after Afghanistan.

Lewis said East and Southeast Asia were "facing an uphill struggle" with
regard to ATS -- now the leading drugs in terms of use in the region.

The report said methamphetamine in particular has "rapidly become more
prominent" in several countries.

More than 31 million methamphetamine pills were seized across the region
in 2008, up by more than a quarter from 2007, according to the report.

Overall, for countries in the region that report data by drug type,
admissions for methamphetamine treatment have almost doubled between 2004
and 2008.

In Thailand the jump was particularly extreme, with more than 70,000
treatment admissions for the drug in 2008, up from 19,489 four years
earlier.

Lewis said the drugs were not only being sought for recreational purposes,
but could also be linked to "intense" economic competition in the region.

"What we have seen at a social level is the use of these drugs...to a
significant degree to increase the mental and physical acuity of those who
take them, so they can work longer hours and maintain a higher degree of
concentration in their manual and intellectual work," he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 30, Mizzima News
Burmese pro-democracy activists brief Indian intellectuals – Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi – A group of Indian intellectuals and Burmese pro-democracy
leaders in exile on Thursday held a brainstorming seminar on the
possibilities of democratic transition in Burma and the role of its giant
neighbours – India and China.

Speaking at the seminar, titled “The Paranoia of Unpredictability: Is
democracy possible in Burma/Myanmar?” held in Jamia Millia Islamia
University, speakers discussed Burma’s current political scenario, the
ruling junta’s 2008 constitution and the planned elections in 2010.

While a minister for the Burmese government in exile – the National
Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) – Dr. Tint Swe explained
the stand of Burma’s main opposition party the National League for
Democracy, other Burmese speakers talked of the role of women, ethnic
nationalities, and the urgent need for humanitarian assistance in the
Southeast Asian nation, which has been plagued by decades of civil-war.

Dr. Tint Swe, a vocal critic of India’s ‘Look East Policy’, said India
seems to have set its focus on China in dealing with Burma.

“We are calling on India not to focus too much on China when it comes to
its policy on Burma,” Dr. Tint Swe said.

Explaining the nature of the junta’s planned 2010, Dr. Tint Swe, who is a
Member of Parliament elected in 1990 from the NLD said, his party has
demanded that the junta amend its 2008 constitution, release political
prisoners, including party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and initiate a
dialogue.

“The NLD is a pro-democracy party. Therefore, we do not directly oppose
the 2010 elections but will contest only if the regime fulfils the
demands,” Tint Swe said.

The seminar organised by Centre for Northeast Studies, Academy of Third
World Studies (ATWS) was also attended by Burmese pro-democracy leaders
including Harn Yanghwe, Director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office
(EBO), and Dr. Lian H. Sakhong of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC),
an umbrella group of ethnic nationalities of Burma.

Indian intellectuals including Prof. Veena Sikri, former High Commissioner
to Bangladesh, Rajiv Sikri, Former Secretary of the Indian Ministry of
External Affairs, and Lt. Gen. (Retd.) V R Raghavan, Director of the Delhi
Policy Group and President of Centre for Security Analysis in Chennai,
also spoke on India’s current policy on Burma.

India, which was once a strong critic of the military junta in Burma,
changed its policy in the early 1990s and began engaging the military
dictators under the aegis of its “Look East policy”.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 30, Inter Press News Service
BURMA: Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to advise junta on poverty – Marwaan
Macan-Markar

Bangkok – The list of high-profile foreigners heading to Burma to engage
and advise the country’s military regime is about to get longer. The
latest due to join that flow is Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

The former chief economist of the World Bank will fly into Burma, or
Myanmar as it is also known, on Dec. 14 for a mission aimed to examine and
improve the South-east Asian nation’s rural economy, says Noeleen Heyzer,
head of a United Nations regional body based in Bangkok.

"He will share his ideas on what kind of economic decision making is
critical for growth in the rural economy and poverty reduction," adds the
executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (ESCAP). "He will be there for a couple of days."

"We hope that this mission will be able to open up a new space in economic
decision-making and policy formulations," Heyzer tells IPS. "The focus is
on how do we reach the poorest people in Myanmar."

Stiglitz, who has engaged with poorer countries to offer development
models through the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank he
founded, will meet Burma’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Maj
Gen Htay Oo and National Development Minister Soe Tha during this visit.

Both ministers are reportedly close to Burma’s strongman, Senior Gen Than
Shwe, who presides over a regime notorious for its oppression and secrecy.

Stiglitz is due to deliver a lecture on ‘Economic Policies and Decision
Making for Poverty Reduction: Reaching the Bottom Half’ in the afternoon
of Dec. 15. The two ministers and Heyzer have also been billed as speakers
during this ‘development forum’ under the theme ‘Policies for Poverty
Reduction— Effecting Change in Myanmar’s Rural Economy’.

This forum, to be held in Naypidaw, the administrative capital, is one of
a series of talks Stigliz will be involved in. Others will include an
exchange of ideas with leading Burmese economists, U.N. experts, the
diplomatic community and speakers from the local and international
non-governmental groups.

Field visits to Burma’s dry zone are also on the cards, confirms Heyzer,
who has been instrumental in the visit of the globally renowned economist.
"It should be for two or three days to bring him into contact with the
issues of the rural economy and the problems of trading, the banking
system and the commodity prices."

ESCAP’s foray into Burma is part of a broader programme to reach out to
countries with "special needs" among its over 50 member states. The
foundation for this engagement with Burma’s rural economy was laid in
August when Heyzer visited the military-ruled country. The initial talks
she had at that time touched on issues like the need for farmers to gain
greater access to rural credit and concerns over the state fixing of rice
prices at rates that condemned farmers into permanent poverty.

Currently, some 7.8 million hectares are under paddy cultivation,
producing an estimated 30.5 million tonnes of rice during the 2008-2009
harvest period, states the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Such rice production has come at a heavy price for Burmese rice farmers.
Most of them, who are small farmers, have had difficulty accessing rural
credit, according to Sean Turnell, an Australian academic who publishes
the ‘Burma Economic Watch’, in an interview with IPS.

"The policies of the Burmese government have been anything but helpful,"
he says. "They have, in essence, stood by while Burma’s rural credit
scheme has collapsed."

Burmese economists wonder how open the junta will be to Stiglitz’s policy
prescriptions given previous foreign attempts to suggest improvements to
the country’s beleaguered economy, which were initially received with much
fanfare but then ignored by the regime.

A Japanese initiative in 2002 is illustrative. Tokyo, with early support
from the regime, conducted a macro-economic and structural reform study.
Researchers reportedly had access to sensitive economic data for this
project.

But the implementation of the results, which the Japanese government was
willing to back, found little takers within the regime.

"This research that was conducted by top Japanese and Burmese economist
was rejected by the military government," says a Burmese economist based
in northern Thailand, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "This was after
the Japanese made every effort to offer a feasible programme that the
regime could undertake according to its comfort level."

"Other efforts can face a similar fate," he adds. "They will fall on deaf
ears."

Such reluctance for change has been attributed to the new wealth the
regime has amassed since the discovery of huge offshore natural gas fields
in the 1990s. Gas exports to neighbouring Thailand has resulted in Burma’s
foreign exchange reserves reaching a record 3.6 billion U.S. dollars.

That figure is expected to increase with Chinese investments in a new
offshore natural gas project.

Yet 75 percent of the country’s estimated 57 million people who live in
rural areas and make up the largest slice of the country's poor have
hardly benefited from such financial bounty. Malnutrition is rampant,
affecting over a third of the country’s children. It is ranked by the U.N.
as one of the hunger hotspots of the world.

The junta’s public spending offers some clues for this dire picture.
Nearly 40 percent of the gross domestic percent goes to support of its
over 400,000- strong army while only 0.3 percent is set aside for health,
placing it just above the lowest ranked Sierra Leone, at 191st, on a World
Health Organisation list.

Stiglitz’s solutions to help Burma’s rural poor will have to grapple with
other numbers, too. Inflation is at 30 percent and the annual growth rate—
estimated at four to five percent by independent analysts—is far lower
than the 10 percent rate that the regime claims it to be.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 30, GlobalPost
Burma's minorities must not be overlooked – Richard Sollom

COX 'S BAZAAR, Bangladesh and CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – Twenty years
after the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, a repressive barricade is
being quietly raised in the jungles of Burma.

The Burmese military junta has begun erecting a concrete and barbed-wire
fence along its western border with Bangladesh, allegedly to prevent
smuggling, but more probably to prohibit the return from Bangladesh of
some 200,000 Rohingya migrants ” a persecuted Burmese Muslim minority
group who are now stateless.

Burmas new barrier symbolizes the past five decades of military rule and
isolation from the free world. It should also remind the West of the
brutal repression of ethnic minorities who abide mass atrocities behind
Burmas barricade.

As principal investigator for Physicians for Human Rights, I returned last
week from a three-week trip to Burma and its neighboring countries ”
Bangladesh, India and Thailand ” where I met with Burmese civil society
and victims of human rights violations. Our investigation revealed ongoing
crimes against humanity in this country where murder, forced displacement,
slave labor, conscription of child soldiers, torture and rape comprise the
militarys arsenal of rights abuses inflicted against ethnic minorities.

In Coxs Bazaar, Bangladesh, I interviewed a 72-year-old Buddhist monk whom
Burmese military imprisoned and tortured for the past two years after he
had led the peaceful demonstration that sparked the Saffron Revolution ”
the name of which stems from the monks colorful monastic robes.

In Aizawl, India a group of Christian women who fled Chin State in Burma
this year reported to me unspeakable sexual violence they suffered at the
hands of the Tatmadaw, or Burmese military, during its roundup of forced
laborers.

In the Thai border town of Mae Sot, I met a 14-year-old landmine survivor
whose left leg was blown off just days earlier while tending his familys
four water buffalo just across the border in Karen State, Burma.

Such egregious breaches of human dignity are not isolated incidents. They
highlight the militarys widespread and systematic campaign to crush
dissent by imprisonment, torture, enslavement and the silencing of ethnic
minorities such as the Chin, Karen, Kokang, Rakhine, Rohingya and Shan. No
group is spared.

Burmas de facto president, the reclusive Senior General Than Shwe, seized
power 20 years ago while promising free and fair elections in 1990. The
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) trounced the
military-backed State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) garnering
59 percent of the vote and 80 percent of the seats in the Peoples
Assembly. SLORC dismissed the results, and subsequently detained NLDs
Prime Minister-elect Aung San Suu Kyi.

The merciless head of Burmas military junta will not brook a second defeat
at the polls next year. He has hence stepped-up militarization this past
year resulting in forced relocation and attendant rights abuses. Than
Shwes Tatmadaw has locked up 2,200 political prisoners, destroyed more
than 3,200 villages and forced up to 3 million civilians to flee ” all of
which make it nearly impossible for the NLD and other political parties to
organize prior to upcoming elections.

President Obama has recently embarked on a new policy of engagement with
the Burmese military claiming targeted sanctions have failed to reform the
repressive regime. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs Kurt Campbell met this month in the capital city Naypyidaw with
his Burmese counterpart in a second round of dialogue, which began this
September in New York. And Obama himself met recently with ASEAN leaders,
including Burmas Prime Minister Thein Sein, in Singapore.

For such diplomatic initiatives to succeed, the Obama administration must
establish benchmarks and present credible consequences should its new
strategy of engagement fail to produce movement toward real political
change within Burma. The minimum price for continued dialogue should be
the unconditional release of all political prisoners and the immediate
cessation of rights abuses against ethnic minorities ” without which there
can be neither free nor fair elections in 2010.

By meeting with the Americans, Than Shwe has already procured what he
craves most ” international legitimacy ” and revoking it is perhaps the
best hope for a shift in Burma. If these series of high-level diplomatic
talks do not result in any significant positive change by the military
junta, the United States should fully implement tougher sanctions already
allowed by the 2008 Burmese JADE Act and press the U.N. Security Council
to launch a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma.

Burmas military regime has maintained its intransigence for decades in the
face of outside demands for change. As the United States tries to alter
that posture, it must not forsake justice and accountability for toothless
diplomatic engagement.

Richard Sollom is Director of Research and Investigations at Physicians
for Human Rights in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he directs public
health research and human rights investigations in areas of armed
conflict.
____________________________________

November 30, Inter Press News Service
Junta under scrutiny for concrete pre-election signs – Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Nov 29 (IPS) - In the wake of a meeting attended by the
all-powerful military elite, Burma’s military regime is due to come under
close scrutiny for concrete signs of change leading up to a promised
general elections in 2010.

The weeklong gathering in Naypidaw, the administrative capital, is where
the country’s strongman, Senior General Than Shwe, receives reports from
senior officers in the military machine that dominates the South-east
Asian country and then determines policies for the following four months.

There were close to 200 officers who attended this high-powered meeting,
from Nov. 23 to 27, according to Win Min, a Burmese national security
expert at Payap University in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

"Than Shwe has been normally holding these meetings once in four months.
It draws in ministers of the military government, regional commanders,
heads of the light infantry divisions and officers of brigadier general
rank," Win Min told IPS.

"Highest policy decisions are made here. Military reshuffles normally
occur, but Than Shwe will keep people guessing till the very last minute
about concrete moves. He prefers to take people by surprise. It is his
military thinking."

Among the announcements that diplomats following Burmese affairs are
waiting to hear is Than Shwe’s order to military officers to enter the
political field for the 2010 elections. "The order for senior military
officers to change uniforms will be significant," one Asian diplomat, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "Who among them ordered to do
so will also be revealing."

Other more certain signs that the regime will go ahead with the election
is the announcement of two election laws, the diplomat added. They are the
law for the registration of political parties and the law governing the
election process.

Until now, the junta’s commitment towards the poll to create a
"discipline- flourishing democracy" has only been verbal assurances as
part of its "roadmap" towards political reform in Burma, officially called
Myanmar.

On Friday Than Shwe repeated this promise at a meeting of the Union of
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) held in Naypidaw to coincide
with the meeting of the country’s military elite.

A free and fair election will be held in 2010 in keeping with the
country’s new 2008 constitution, Than Shwe had told members of the USDA,
according to Saturday’s edition of ‘The New Light of Myanmar,’ a junta
mouthpiece.

Yet the strongman sounded a note of warning to the political parties that
may vie in this long-awaited poll. They should not undermine the
disintegration of the country and affect national solidarity, Than Shwe
was reported as saying.

Than Shwe is the head of USDA, a civilian arm of the junta that is
expected to play a pivotal role in the polls to avoid a repeat of the 1990
elections. At that poll, the last held in Burma, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), the party of the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, won with a massive mandate, which the junta refused to recognise.

The new constitution, which was approved in a deeply flawed referendum in
May 2008, has other features to ensure that the military’s grip on power
will remain even after the poll. The powerful army, with its nearly
450,000- strong troops, has been guaranteed 25 percent of all seats in the
legislative bodies from the national to the village levels.

Although Western governments are aware of these anti-democratic features,
they are increasingly open to engagement with the regime. Still unchanged,
however, are the punitive economic sanctions that marked the hostile
policy the United States and the European Union (EU) have towards Burma.

There are new opportunities for a breakthrough in the political deadlock
in Burma, Piero Fassino, the EU special envoy to Burma, said in a
statement Friday following mission through South-east Asia. The Italian
politician was encouraged by the prospect of a dialogue involving the
junta.

Fassino’s views add to the softer line taken by the administration of U.S.
President Barak Obama on Burma. The latter’s policy shift to engage with
Burma has seen an encounter between the U.S. leader and Burmese Prime
Minister Gen Thein Sein at a regional summit in Singapore in mid-
November.

That landmark meeting—the first by a U.S. president in over 40 years—
followed a visit to Burma in October by Kurt Campbell, the U.S. assistant
secretary of state, who became the highest-ranking official from
Washington to visit Burma in 14 years.

Campbell’s visit included a nearly two-hour meeting with Suu Kyi, who has
spent over 14 of her last 20 years under detention.

For her part, Suu Kyi has used the momentum towards engagement to write to
Than Shwe, seeking a meeting between the two. The Nobel Peace laureate’s
letter reportedly expressed a willingness to "cooperate" to end the
stalemate between the junta and the NLD leader.

The last time the two met was in 2002 in Rangoon, the former Burmese
capital. But Suu Kyi has met with a government minister appointed as the
junta’s liaison officer seven times in the past two years, the most recent
in October.

The changes in the international community’s thinking towards Burma served
as a backdrop for the just concluded meeting of the country’s military
elite.

"The military government could not ignore this during this week’s
meeting," said Zin Linn, information director for the National Coalition
Government for the Union of Burma, the government elected in 1990
currently in exile.

"There is some pressure and expectations of change from the international
community," he told IPS. "The military government has to decide how they
will deal with Aung San Suu Kyi and how they will manage (the country’s)
political affairs during the election year."

____________________________________

November 30, Asian Tribune
Burma media faces junta squeeze – Zin Linn

Presently, Burma is at an intersection of political makeover. The military
regime wants to maintain the status quo while the people desire to open a
new chapter of change. People are demanding freedoms of expression and
association while the junta is in no mood to allow basic civic rights.

So much so, most people are rallying in support of NLD the proposals. In
its ‘Shwe-gon-dine declaration’ dated 29th April 2009, the National League
for Democracy (NLD) has set two conditions for its participation in the
2010 election. One amend provisions in the 2008 constitution which are not
in harmony with democratic principles. Two hold an all-inclusive free and
fair poll under international supervision.

The International Community has been urging the junta to release all
political prisoners prior to the 2010 election in order to gain
international support. “Burma must release Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest and let her to take part in a nationwide election, otherwise the
vote will not be honourable and U.S. economic sanctions will not be
lifted”, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Scot Marciel, warned
after meeting her in Rangoon.

No diplomatic breakthrough was achieved during the visit to Burma by Mr.
Marciel and the Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on November 3
and 4. In addition to Suu Kyi, the two American diplomats met Prime
Minister Gen. Thein Sein, opposition politicians, ethnic leaders, and
others. But they could not meet the Big Man, Senior Gen Than Shwe himself.
Why a meeting with him could not be arranged remains unclear. After all it
is Gen Than who calls the shots in Burma and a meeting with him could have
been beneficial to both sides.

According to some analysts, there is no progress at all since the US
Special Mission’s visit to Burma. There is more belligerence, more
restrictions on media and civil society, more control on Internet users,
more arrests, more political prisoners, and more military attacks in the
ethnic minority areas. So, dissident politicians warned each other to be
very wary and have asked the international community to put pressure on
the regime until the said benchmarks are achieved.

If the junta has a sincere mindset to start democratic reform, the media
must be free at the outset. Access to information is crucial to establish
a healthy democracy. Moreover, media is the backbone of a democracy
system. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says,
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless
frontiers".
But, in Burma, not only the political oppositions but also the journalists
and the media personnel are under the strictest rules of the stratocracy.
In most countries, journalists or media workers can do their jobs without
fear or favour and survive. But in military ruled Burma, journalism is a
hazardous work. Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed in the 2007
Saffron Revolution. Several citizen journalists are still in prisons.

According to the Burma Media Association and Reporters Sans Frontieres, at
least 12 journalists and dozens of media workers including poets and
writers are held behind bars since the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis and the
May 2008 constitutional referendum. Some like film director, writer and
comic Zarganar and blogger Nay Phone Latt received long-term sentences
while sentences for print journalists ranged from two to seven years. Saw
Wai, a poet, was arrested in January 2008 for inserting a concealed
message – power crazy Than Shwe - in a Valentines Day poem. He has been
awarded a two- year jail term..

The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ)
"strongly condemned" the arrest on 28 October 2009 of freelance journalist
and blogger Pai Soe Oo (alias) Jay Paing, reportedly a member of Cyclone
Nargis disaster relief volunteer group named "Lin Let Kye" ("Shining
Star"). CPJ called for his immediate release, saying his arrest undermined
the Burmese junta's assertion of moving toward democracy.

"Burma's military regime claims to be moving toward democracy, yet it
continues to routinely arrest and detain journalists," said Shawn W.
Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Reducing
international pressure should require demonstrable improvements in press
freedom."

A freelance journalist, speaking under condition of anonymity, said that
around 20 people, including entertainers, writers and press workers, have
been arrested since third week of October. There were several arrests
without warrant between 21 and 28 October. Staff members of the Voice, the
Foreign News, the Favourite, the Pyi Myanmar and the Kandarawaddy journals
are reportedly picked up for a life in jail.

He could confirm at least eight people including 4 journalists arrested by
police and military intelligence officials at their homes. They included
Khant Min Htet, a poet and the layout designer for the ‘Ahlinkar Wutyi
Journal’,Thant Zin Soe, an editor of the Foreign Affair News weekly
journal, freelancer Nyi Nyi Tun (alias) Mee Doke and Paing Soe Oo (alias)
Jay Paing, a freelance reporter and blogger. The other four, Aung Myat
Kyaw Thu, Thet Ko, Myint Thein and Min Min are students of Dagon
University.

The detained youths are members of "Linlet Kyei," or "Shining Star" a
group which helps survivors of last year's Cyclone Nargis, which killed
over 140,000 people. The Linlet Kye volunteer group was formed in early
May 2008 and has over 40 members. Most of them are Rangoon-based reporters
and young social activists. They help orphaned schoolchildren by providing
them with textbooks and paying for their school expenses.

Burmese media is often targeted during periodical crackdown on dissents.
Some more arrests of journalists cannot be ruled out since the regime has
turned a virtual deaf ear to the appeals from the international community
to release political prisoners prior to elections next year..

Burma was at the forefront of press freedom in Southeast Asia before the
1962 military coup. The country then enjoyed a free press; censorship was
something unheard then. As many as three dozen newspapers, including
English, Chinese and Hindi dailies, existed between 1948 and 1962.
Journalists had free access even to the prime minister’s office in those
days. They were free to tie –up with international press agencies.

The situation changed in 1962, when the military seized power. All
newspapers were nationalized. Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) came up to
enforce strict censorship on all forms of printed matter including
advertisements and even obituaries. Since then, censorship and
self-censorship have become commonplace in Burma undermining political
rights and civil liberties.

Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) is a major oppressive tool
of Than Shwe military regime. Not surprisingly, Burma stands downgraded
from a free state to a prison state. All news media in Burma is strictly
censored and tightly controlled by the military -- all daily newspapers,
radio and television stations are under supervision of the junta. Whatever
privately-owned journals and magazines are there, these are few and work
strictly under the PSRD scanner. No printed matter can bring out without
PSRD permission.

The radio, television and other media outlets are monopolized for
propaganda warfare by the regime and opposition views are never allowed.
Recently some FM Radio stations have come up but people view them as a
part of the military campaign to secure voters’ support for the ‘official
nominees’ in the 2010 elections.

The regime knows well how to take advantage of the popularity of FM radio.
They are now using the new stations to magnetize people away from the
exiled media. The media is a special tool for the military regime and no
space is given for the opposition.

Unless the junta guaranteed the essential value of human rights – such as,
freedom of expression and freedom of association – its ongoing polling
process will be meaningless.

Press is the fourth pillar of a State. It is accepted around the globe.
Not in Burma. The lifeblood of democracy is free flow of information.
Burma needs regional cooperation for Press Freedom. While Burma is at an
intersection of political makeover, the media workers in Burma are looking
forward to have more assistance, understanding and pragmatic help from the
international media groups.

Without press freedom a nation cannot have social equality or democracy.
____________________________________

November 27, Irrawaddy
Kowtowing holds up political progress in Burma – Ko Ko Thett

Megalomania on the part of the authorities and obsequiousness on the part
of the people who serve them are salient features of any authoritarian
system, where signs of complete submission and personal loyalty can induce
rewards.

In an authoritarian setting, acting “normal” as self-respecting citizens
or professionals can land people on the book of enemies. In Burma, the
ruling generals have gone grotesquely backward in time with their penchant
for expressions of servility by their underlings.

In Burmese Buddhist culture, the act of kowtowing is a sign of garawa,
obeisance and humility, to the Buddha and the Sangha (the Order) as well
as to teachers and elders. It should be noted that in a sutta, Buddha
elucidates that it is not the age but the degree of morality, mindfulness
and wisdom that qualifies one as an “elder.”  The misunderstanding and
malpractice of gawara, rampant in the Burmese society in general and the
Burmese military institution in particular, often give way to illusory
righteousness and blind obedience.

In parts of pre-colonial Asia, ruled by absolute monarchs or feudal lords,
kowtowing was commonplace at all levels of social and political hierarchy.
 In fact, the protocol of having to kowtow sacrosanct Burmese kings, who
aspired to be future Buddhas, or Chinese emperors irked the Western
diplomats, soldiers, Christian missionaries and adventurers who had
journeyed to the seat of the “oriental” kingdoms.

Historically, the Burmese elite’s outward display of servility in a highly
personalized hierarchical system must have infected all other social
relations.  Eminent Burma scholars, from Dr Maung Maung Gyi to Dr Than
Tun, abhorred the fact that the Burmese first person singular is kyundaw
or kyunma, meaning “your royal slave!”


>From the time of the British conquest of lower Burma in 1824 until the

country’s independence in 1948, the local minions who chose to serve the
British retained the old habit of kissing up.  They addressed the British
as thakingyi, or great masters, while continuing to kowtow them.  The
Japanese who occupied and ruled Burma through a proxy nationalist
government during the Second World War demanded “long and deep” formal
bows from the locals.  Most of the Burmese obliged, calling the new
masters simply “masters.”

It is one thing to kowtow Buddha but quite another to have to treat one’s
boss as if he were a Buddha.  Treating one’s superior like a Buddha,
however, may be exactly what is expected of the Burmese public servants
and military personnel by their bosses, the generals who misrule Burma
today.

For instance, the most striking image among the photos of General Shwe
Mann's tour of North Korea and China in November 2008, is that of the
Burmese embassy staff and their family members on all fours in front of
the general in a Beijing hotel room.  Shwe Mann, a protégé of junta chief
Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is considered the third most powerful man in Burma and
an heir apparent.

Colonization of Burma thoroughly humiliated the majority Burman (Bama)
population as they were forcibly separated from their past.  As such, Bama
politicians or soldiers are wont to hark back to their pre-colonial roots.

On gaining independence in 1948, the Bama leaders resumed building their
unitary state on Bama nationalism.  As ethnic and communist insurgencies
broke out and civil war ensued within months of independence, it was too
late for them to undo feudal cultural traits, develop mutually beneficial
ties with ethnic peoples or heal their collective inferiority complex.

Invasions from neighboring China in the 1940s and 1950s added more fuel to
Bama jingoism as the country withdrew further away from the international
community during the Cold War.

The perceived glory of the past, which is disgraceful to the ethnic groups
who suffered at the hands of Bama kings, has been rehabilitated through
official and unofficial versions of nationalist historiography. In fact,
it has become a staple in the nationalist propaganda.

Present-day Bama military officers have been doused in ultra-nationalist
doctrine pretty much the same way that all Bama nationalist leaders of
various political hues, be they leftist, rightist or totalitarian, fed on
the anti-colonial historical narrative.  As a result, in the words of
Professor Maung Maung Gyi, ‘‘nationalism chained them to the petty world
of native culture.  Their attitude was that almost everything Burmese was
positively superior to anything Western.’’

U Nu, the prime minister of newly independent Burma, behaved like a
benevolent Burmese king, a bodhisattva, while presiding over a
parliamentary democracy system that eventually went out of his control. Ne
Win, who took over power from Nu and set out to ruin the country under a
pseudo-socialist regime from 1962 to 1988, was known for his royal antics.

Nonetheless only under the present military regime, which named its new
capital Naypyidaw, meaning the royal city or abode of kings, “min
complex,” or royal-mania, has grown out of all proportion.

Burma scholars often speak of  the “colonization from within” in the state
of Burma. This view is completely justifiable in light of
dominant-subordinate colonial relations that can be observed in the
Burmese political culture.

Given the royal mania of the Burmese military regime, optimists see the
current constitution as Burma's Magna Carta. In this view, the fact that
the constitution was unilaterally drawn up and forcibly approved in a sham
referendum in May 2008 is less relevant than its emergence as a document
that defines the boundaries of state and local powers.

Even if this “regime accommodationist view” reflects some elements of
reality and relevancy, democracy in Burma will remain a very long-term
guided process that will take decades, if not centuries, of evolution of
democratic institutions.

One thing is for sure—democracy has to wait until the day when the people
of Burma no longer take their bosses for Buddha.


Ko Ko Thett is an independent Burma scholar and a student of politics at
the University of Helsinki.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

November 27, Indian Parliamentarian’s Forum for Democracy in Burma
Parliamentarians from South and South East Asia extend solidarity with the
struggle for democracy in Burma

New Delhi, India – Parliamentarians from South and South East Asian
countries such as; India, Nepal, and Singapore gathered today in New
Delhi, capital of India to extend their solidarity with Burmese people’s
struggle for the restoration of democracy in Burma.

Indian Parliamentarians across party lines along with their counterparts
from ASEAN countries discussed the current political and human rights
situations in Burma and the role of ASEAN and India on the democratization
in Burma. They also discussed how Parliamentarians in the region can be of
more help in advocating support for the initiation of genuine political
dialogue involving all stake holders in the country and national
reconciliation in Burma.

Mr. Charles Chong, Singaporean Parliamentarian and Vice Chair of ASEAN
Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) said in his speech that “ASEAN
was of the view that the more ASEAN got involved in Burma, the more it
might be able to influence (Burmese generals) but 10 years had passed with
no results. Things are getting worse in Burma instead. There are more
refugees fleeing Burma”.

“ASEAN cannot do it on its own because the military generals have made it
clear that the western sanctions will not have any impact so long as the
two largest neighbours India and China continue to do big business with
Burma” said Mr. Chong.

Parliamentarians at the meeting called on the Indian government to join
and actively engage with ASEAN and United Nations in finding ways to urge
Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) leaders to pave the way
for genuine democracy in Burma.

Mr. Sharad Joshi, MP and Convener of the Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum
for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) said “ASEAN and SAARC countries should come
together in working for the immediate release of all political prisoners
including Aung San Suu Kyi and for the restoration of democracy in Burma”.
“Restoration of democracy in Burma is in our (India) interest,” he added.
Indian Parliamentarians came together across party lines and demanded that
the Burmese government release all political prisoners in Burma including
Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The issue of democracy in Burma and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
should find some priority in the agenda of Indian political parties,” said
D Raja, Raja Sabha MP and National Secretary of the Communist Party of
India (CPI).

While expressing her party’s strong support for the Burmese democracy
movement and pointing out the existence of thousands of Burmese refugees
living in India, Brinda Karat, MP and Politbureau member of Communist
Party of India (Marxist) said that “our party will do whatever it can to
help the Burmese refugees and their lives in India”.

She also expressed her disappointment in the fact that there was lack of
discussion on Burma issues in the parliamentary foreign policy debates.
“We had debates on India’s foreign policy related to Nepal, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, but no debates on Burma”. “The issue of India’s policy and
stand on Burma must be discussed when we discuss foreign policy,” Brinda
Karat added.

Criticizing the Indian media for lack of coverage on Burma issues, the
participants at the consultation meeting acknowledged that there is a need
to mobilize and sensitize the media in India to write and inform the
Indian public about Burma’s situation. “When we had demonstrations
organized (for Burma) in front of the Burmese embassy (in New Delhi) there
was no news (in the media) but when we had protests outside the Pakistan
and Chinese embassy, it made news headlines,” said Vijay Jolly of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Parliamentarians in the region also agreed to put greater pressure to
make Burma’s 2010 elections free, fair, inclusive and transparent by
demanding the junta release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu
Kyi, cease attacks against ethnic groups, and review the constitution of
2008 through inclusive dialogue before the elections.

The meeting also resolved to expand cooperation and network between IPFDB
and Parliamentarians in other countries in the region to help Burmese
people in their struggle for the restoration of democracy in Burma.

The consultation meeting was participated among others by Mr. Charles
Chong, a Parliamentarian from Singapore and Vice President of ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus which is a group of Parliamentarians
from ASEAN countries working for the restoration of democracy and freedom
for Burma, Mr Chandrika Yadav, a Parliamentarian from Nepal who is also
Chief Whip of MPRF party in the Nepal Parliament, Sharad Joshi MP Rajya
Sabha, Swatantra Bharat Paksha, India; Baroness Caroline Cox, MP, British
Parliament, Dr Tint Swe, MP-elect of NLD, Burma and Information Minister,
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma; Rev. Achariya, M.P.
of Tibetan Parliament in Exile; Thomas Sangma, MP, Nationalist Congress
Party, India; Chandan Mitra, and Vijay Jolly, former MP and MLA of the
BJP, India; Brinda Karat, MP, Communist Party of India (Marxist), D. Raja,
MP of Communist Party of India, Brijbhushan Tiwari, MP of Samajwadi Party,
India;  KC Tyagi, Former MP and General Secretary of the Janata Dal
United, India.

For Media contact:
Sharad Joshi, MP
Convenor, Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB)
Tel: +91-9811477736

For more information: Thin Thin Aung  +91-9891252316,   Kim +91-9810476273