BurmaNet News, December 17, 2009

[Editor]

December 17, 2009, Issue #3862


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Call to reorganize NLD garners support, questions
AFP: Bomb kills six on restive Myanmar border
Mizzima News: ‘Economics and politics inseparable’, Stiglitz tells Burma
New Light of Myanmar: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi pays respects to elderly NLD
leaders

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Never mind China, junta continues pressure on ceasefire armies

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: ADB will not expand TFFP in Burma
DVB: Swiss bank fined $536mln for Burma ties

REGIONAL
New York Times: Dams and development threaten the Mekong

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: US welcomes Suu Kyi meeting with NLD leaders

OPINION / OTHER
New York Times: Where impunity reigns – Benedict Rogers
Independent (UK): Suu Kyi's fight for release – Peter Popham
IPS: A celebration of life through the Arts under the junta – Marwaan
Macan-Markar
DVB: Is Stiglitz speaking the obvious to deaf ears? – Editorial




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 17, Irrawaddy
Call to reorganize NLD garners support, questions – Arkar Moe

NLD leaders embrace Aung San Suu Kyi's call to reorganize Burma's most
prestigious opposition party, while raising questions about timing and and
other matters.

However, the party now faces difficult questions of how quickly and
extensively the leadership structure can be reorganized, replacing
long-serving leaders now in their 80s and 90s and how will such changes
affect its decision on whether or not to take part in the 2010 national
election?

Among the issues within the NLD have been differences of views between
younger and more senior party members in terms of aggrersive promotion of
the party's interest throughout the country and its participation in the
upcoming election. In recent years, the regime closed NLD offices
throughout the country, threatening its survival as a viable opposition
group, and arrested and jailed many party members.

On Wednesday, Suu Kyi called for a reorganization of the central executive
committee  (CEC) after meeting with three elderly and ailing senior
leaders.

NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Thursday that
most NLD offices outside of Rangoon are closed. "There are many
difficulties in holding a nationwide meeting," he said.

He said the central executive committe can be reorganized more effectively.

The NLD has not held a nationwide party gathering for at least a decade
because of harassment by the authorities and other setbacks. Although
younger party members recently called for party meetings across the
country, the CEC did not authorize the move, sources said.

Political observers inside Burma have said the NLD must strengthen its
presence in the countryside to maintain its popularity and influence,
particular ahead of the 2010 general election.

Myat Hla,74, the NLD chairperson in Pegu and an elected representative of
the people's parliament, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, “I welcome Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi’s calls.  Most NLD CEC members are not functioning
effectively now. If the NLD does not reorganize, it will  lose its
leadership role.”

Senior party leader Win Tin told The Irrawaddy, “I agree that the NLD
needs to reorganize, but, it won't be easy to carry out all in short
time.”

Moe Zaw Oo, secretary 2 of the  Foreign Affairs Department of the National
League for Democracy—Liberated Area (NLD-LA),  told The Irrawaddy on
Thursday: “It’s high time to reform, and I welcome Suu Kyi‘s call. It's
natural that there are different views between older members and youths.
But finally we must all be united in the best interests of the   NLD.”

The NLD should hold a nationwide meeting, he said, but the military
government would probably not allow it.

In November 2009, NLD members from Pegu and Mandalay divisions sent a
joint letter calling for a national conference to debate the issue of the
NLD’s role in next year’s election.

The letter also called for the resignation of two elderly NLD leaders.

Recently, members of the youth wing of the party voiced ideological
differences publically, saying the main objective of forming the NLD in
1988 was to bring about democracy and positive change in the country. They
said that instead the party had drifted into a “survival” mode.

Responding to the criticism, some members said the party reversed its
so-called "survival" policy, noting that in 2008, it rejected the junta’s
call to withdraw NLD statements that criticized the constitutional
referendum.

The NLD wrote to the Election Commission on Nov. 16 saying that under the
election law it  had the authority to reorganize its party.

____________________________________

December 17, Agence France Presse
Bomb kills six on restive Myanmar border

Six people have been killed and 12 injured when a time bomb exploded in
Myanmar's restive Karen state on Wednesday night, an official told AFP
Thursday.

He said the bomb was detonated at 9pm (1430 GMT) on Wednesday as the
ethnic Karen celebrated their New Year in the southeastern state bordering
Thailand.

"Altogether six people were killed and another 12 were injured when a
timed-bomb exploded," said the official, speaking on condition of
anonymity.

"One injured person is in a critical condition. It happened as they
celebrated their New Year's Day party," he said.

The bomb exploded in Phapun town in northeastern Karen State, about 120
miles (192 kilometres) from the economic hub, Yangon, he said.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the bomb went off in the
middle of market stalls where a new year festival was being held.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the bomb, but the
town is close to the area where separatists have been fighting a
decades-long insurgency.

The Karen National Union has been fighting the Myanmar government for
autonomy for more than five decades. Myanmar has been ruled by the
military since 1962.

Altogether 17 armed groups and some 40 small ethnic groups have signed
ceasefire agreements with the current military junta since it took power
in 1988.

____________________________________

December 17, Mizzima News
‘Economics and politics inseparable’, Stiglitz tells Burma – Mungpi

New Delhi - Nobel Laureate Prof. Joseph Stiglitz said Burma needs an all
inclusive economic process in order to achieve stability and security as
“Economics and politics cannot be separated.”

Prof. Stiglitz was speaking at a forum on “Restoring Burma as the Rice
Bowl of Asia”, organised by the Burmese government and the United Nations
Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), on
Monday.

“Economics and politics cannot be separated,” said the Nobel Prize winning
economist.

“For Myanmar [Burma] to play a role on the world stage — and to achieve
true stability and security — there must be widespread participation and
inclusive processes. This is the only way forward for Myanmar [Burma],” he
added.

According to a UN Press release on Monday, the former World Bank Chief
said Burma has a large opportunity for development and that it should take
a comprehensive approach.

He urged the Burmese government to promote access to appropriate
agricultural financing, take measures to boost access to seeds and
fertilizers, dramatically boost spending on health and education, and
create well-paid jobs in construction of rural infrastructure in order to
stimulate development and raise incomes and spending.

Prof Stiglitz, however, said, while Burma’s revenues earned from the sales
of oil and gas can help open up a new era, if they are not wisely used,
the opportunities would be wasted.

“Revenues from oil and gas can open up a new era, if used well. If not,
then valuable opportunities will be squandered,” Prof. Stiglitz said.

Prof. Stiglitz also noted that well-functioning institutions were critical
to success and that Burma could learn from the mistakes made by other
resource-rich countries.

The American economist was visiting Burma at the invitation of UNESCAP.
Prior to his visit, critics aired doubts about the Burmese junta’s desire
to accept serious advice on economic reforms.

According to Prof. Sean Turnell of the Macquarie University of Sydney,
Australia, genuine economic reform will require political space and
willingness as it is impossible for the economy to be partially open to
reform.

Turnell said the failed economic situation in Burma is the result of
decades of economic mismanagement by the ruling military junta, which has
no comprehensive economic planning.

“It is my hope these ideas and analysis will open a new space for policy
discussion and a further deepening of our development partnership,” UN
Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer said
at the event held in Burma’s new jungle capital city of Naypyitaw.

“These development objectives can only be achieved through the successful
engagement of local experts and people who know what is happening on the
ground. This development partnership, requested by the Government of
Myanmar [Burma], provides a unique platform for eminent international
scholars and local researchers to exchange experiences and ideas with
government agencies and civil society,” Dr. Heyzer added.

The event is the second in a series launched by Dr. Heyzer during her
visit in July and was organized by ESCAP in collaboration with Burma’s
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Ministry of National Planning
and Economic Development.

____________________________________

December 17, New Light of Myanmar
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi pays respects to elderly NLD leaders

Yangon – In accordance with the request she made to the Head of State, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi met elderly leaders of the National League for Democracy
- Chairman U Aung Shwe, Secretary U Lwin and CEC Member U Lun Tin - from
11 am to 11.45 am at Seinle Kantha Guesthouse here today and paid respects
to them. – MNA

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Never mind China, junta continues pressure on ceasefire armies

Two ceasefire groups, since its acceptance “in principle” of the
paramilitary status under the Burmese Army’s supervision, are under
pressure to submit their lists of manpower and weapons.

The Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’’s meeting at the Hsengkeow base in
Hsipaw township, Shan State North, held since last week, has postponed
conclusion to 18 December from 15 December, as its leaders are still
unable to find enough fighters to fill the 900 to 1,000 quota set by junta
authorities.

The group has an estimated strength of 4,500.

The National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), based
in Mongla, opposite China’s Daluo, meanwhile says, junta officers, since
its last meeting with the chief junta negotiator Lt-Gen Ye Myint on 28
October, have already visited four times to demand the full count of its
strength and arms. “We are discussing among ourselves whether it should be
sufficient to present the total numbers for the present,” said a
highly-placed source.

The Burmese Army, on the other hand, has been giving the two groups’ giant
ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA) a wide berth. “We have heard nothing
from Naypyitaw since our counterproposal (to accept junta officers only at
the top level and not at the battalion level) was rejected (late last
month),” said a Wa source on the Thai-Burma border. “Maybe they are
planning to settle with the SSA and Mongla first before settling with us.”

The SSA ‘North’ covers the Wa’s western flank, while the NDAA its
southeastern flank.

“It appears China’s efforts to temper both belligerents with reason aren’t
working,” said a businessman who recently returned from the Sino-Burma
border.

Lt-Gen Ai Husheng of Chengdu Military Region that oversees Sino-Burma
border security paid a six-day visit to Burma, from December 5 to 10. He
met three commanders who are responsible for border areas security on the
Burmese side:

    * Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyoe, Triangle Region Command, 6 December
    * Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Commander of Shan and Kayah states, 7 December
    * Maj-Gen Aung Than Tut, Northeastern Region Command, 8 December

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 17, Mizzima News
ADB will not expand TFFP in Burma – Siddique Islam

Dhaka – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is not interested in  expanding 
its Trade Finance Facilitation Program (TFFP) in Burma calling it a
‘sensitive’ country, a senior ADB official said in Dhaka on Thursday.

“We’re not interested in expanding the ongoing TFFP in Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma,” Steven Beck, the head of Trade Finance Capital Markets
and Financial Sectors Division and Private Sector Operations Department of
the ADB, said.

There is lower market demand of such trade facilitation in the South East
Asian country, he added.

Mr. Steven is now in Dhaka for expansion of the TFFP in Bangladesh by
signing deals with 12 local private commercial banks.

The TFFP was set up in 2004 and was expanded to a $1 billion programme in
March this year after the ADB perceived a growing and urgent need to
address the lack of finance that was holding back trade, particularly in
developing economies.

Under the programme, the triple-A rated ADB provides loans and guarantees
through, and in conjunction with, local and international banks to back
trade transactions.

The TFFP is already active in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Cambodia,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The TFFP is scheduled to expand in Philippines, Mongolia and Uzbekistan in
the first quarter of 2010. It will be followed by Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan
and Tajikistan, after which it will make its presence felt in all other
Central Asian countries over the course of the rest of 2010, the
Manila-based multilateral donor agency said.

____________________________________

December 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Swiss bank fined $536mln for Burma ties – Francis Wade

A Swiss banking giant has been fined $US536 million after being found
guilty of violating US sanctions through years of undetected transactions
with so-called “rogue” regimes, such as Burma.

US prosecutors alleged that Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s largest bank, had
carried out thousands of secret transactions with Iran, Sudan, Libya, and
Cuba, as well as Burma. These were done through US banks to avoid
detection.

The bank’s falsifying of the records of New York-based financial
institutions allowed the five countries, all of which are subject to tough
US economic blockades, “to access the US financial system in violation of
US sanctions”, Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said.

A statement released by US attorney general Eric Holder accused the bank
of “massive financial misconduct” that was “astounding
in both its scope
and complexity”.

“For more than a decade, Credit Suisse did business with and for countries
that the United States had specifically banned from our financial
systems,” he said. “But rather than adhere to the law and decline to serve
these customers, Credit Suisse established a business model to allow these
rogue players access to US dollars.”

According to attorney reports, between 2002 and 2006 the bank processed
over $US700 million in payments that violated sanctions, although it is
unclear what proportion of these related to Burma.

In the case of Iran, Holder said that the company had developed a pamphlet
for Iranian clients “explaining how to fill out payment messages so as not
to trigger US filters”. The majority of the transactions exposed in the
court case involved Iran.

The bank told Reuters on Tuesday, prior to the verdict, that it was
“conducting an internal review into certain US dollar payments involving
countries, persons or entities that may be subject to US economic
sanctions".

The US treasury department in a statement yesterday strongly condemned the
apparent “awareness of the conduct within the bank”.

Marc Dosch, press officer at Credit Suisse’s Zurich headquarters, told DVB
today that “there have been clear mistakes; that is why we got in to this
situation”.

“What has been done is very negative and we agree with the requirements
set upon us and we have taken measures
to improve our systems and are
capable of complying with sanctions.”

US sanctions on Burma have been in place in various forms since 1997, and
were extended in August following the guilty verdict handed to opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Despite recently announcing a policy of dialogue with the ruling junta,
Washington has said that sanctions will remain in place until tangible
signs of progress toward democratic reform are evident.

The US does however maintain a strong, but highly controversial, business
presence in Burma through oil company Chevron (formerly Unocal), which
operates the Yadana gas field.

The sanctions that were implemented on Burma in 1997 demanded a halt on
new investment in the country, and did not force the withdrawal of
companies that had existed there prior to 1997.

Advocacy group EarthRights International estimated in September that
Chevron, along with French oil giant Total, which also operates the Yadana
gas field, had contributed around $US5 billion to the Burmese junta, much
of which had been siphoned into private Singaporean banks.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 18, New York Times
Dams and development threaten the Mekong – Thomas Fuller

SOP RUAK, Thailand — Basket loads of fish, villagers bathing along the
banks of the river, a farmer’s market selling jungle delicacies — these
are Pornlert Prompanya’s boyhood memories of a wild and pristine Mekong
River.

Mr. Pornlert — now 32 and the owner of a company that organizes speedboat
outings for tourists in this village in northern Thailand, where Myanmar
and Laos converge — peers across the Mekong today at a more modern
picture: a newly constructed, gold-domed casino where high-rollers are
chauffeured along the riverbanks in a Bentley and a stretch Cadillac
limousine.

The Mekong has long held a mystique for outsiders, whether American G.I.’s
in the Delta during the Vietnam War or ill-starred 19th-century French
explorers who searched for the river’s source in Tibet. The earliest
visitors realized the hard way that the river was untamed and treacherous,
its waterfalls and rapids ensuring it would never become Southeast Asia’s
Mississippi or Rhine.

But today the river, which courses 3,032 miles through portions of China,
Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the
South China Sea, is rapidly being transformed by a rising tide of economic
development, the region’s thirst for electricity and the desire to use the
river as a cargo thoroughfare. The Mekong has been spared the pollution
that blackens many of Asia’s great rivers, but it is no longer the
backwater of centuries past.

China has built three hydroelectric dams on the Mekong (known as the
Lancang in Chinese) and is halfway through a fourth at Xiaowan, which when
completed will be the world’s tallest dam, according to the United Nations
Environment Program.

Laos is planning so many dams on the Mekong and its tributaries — 7 of
about 70 have been completed — that government officials have said that
their ambition is to turn the country into “the battery of Asia.” Cambodia
is planning two dams.

At the same time, the dashed dreams of French colonizers to use the river
as a southern gateway to China are being partly realized: After Chinese
engineers dynamited a series of rapids and rocks in the early part of this
decade, trade by riverboat between China and Thailand increased by close
to 50 percent.

The cargo passes through increasingly populated areas, erstwhile sleepy
cities in Laos that are now teeming with tourists and defying the economic
downturn with swinging construction cranes. Many parts of the Mekong were
once a star-gazer’s dream; now nights on the river are increasingly aglare
with electric lights.

Environmentalists worry that the rush to develop the Mekong, particularly
the dams, is not only changing the panorama of the river but could also
destroy the livelihoods of people who have depended on it for centuries.
One of the world’s most bountiful rivers is under threat, warns a series
of reports by the United Nations, environmental groups and academics.

The most controversial aspects of the dams are their effects on migrating
fish and on the rice-growing Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where half of that
country’s food is grown. The delta depends on mineral-rich silt, which the
Chinese dams are partially blocking.

Experts say the new crop of dams will block even more sediment and the
many types of fish that travel great distances to spawn, damaging the $2
billion Mekong fishing industry, according to the Mekong River Commission,
an advisory body set up in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam. Of the hundreds of fish species in the river, 87
percent are migratory, according to a 2006 study.

“The fish will have nowhere to go,” said Kaew Suanpad, a 78-year-old
farmer and fisherman in the village of Nagrasang, Laos, which sits above
the river’s great Khone Falls.

“The dams are a very big issue for the 60 million people in the Mekong
basin,” said Milton Osborne, visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for
International Policy in Sydney and the author of several books on the
Mekong. “People depend in very substantial ways on the bounty of the
Mekong.”

Some analysts see the seeds of international conflict in the rush to dam
the river. Civic groups in Thailand say they are frustrated that China
does not seem to care how its dams affect the lives of people downstream.

In August, the Vietnamese province of An Giang began a “Save the Mekong”
campaign that opposes the construction of the dams in the lower part of
the river, according to Carl Middleton, the head of the Mekong program at
International Rivers, an organization campaigning against the Mekong dams.

Neither China nor military-ruled Myanmar, the two northernmost countries
through which the river passes, are members of the Mekong River
Commission, freeing them from the obligation to consult other countries on
issues such as building dams and sharing water.

And yet, for now, the dams are not national preoccupations in any of the
countries along the river.

“Most of the voices that are shouting in the wilderness about these dams
are still very little heard outside of academic circles,” Mr. Osbourne
said.

There have been no major protests and for many people in the region the
dams are the symbol of progress and avenues to greater prosperity. The
development of the Mekong is also an affirmation of a new Asia that is no
longer hidebound by ideological conflict.

Jeremy Bird, the chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission,
says the dams are likely to even out the flow of the river, mitigating
flooding and making the river even more navigable.

“You could have launches like you have on the Rhine,” Mr. Bird said. He
added: “With dams there are always negatives and positives.”

For Mr. Pornlert, whose boyhood village of Sop Ruak has now grown into a
town with five-star resorts and restaurants catering to tourists, the
negatives seem to outweigh the good.

He says the river behaves unpredictably, it is more difficult to catch
fish, and he is uneasy about swimming in the river because there is “too
much trash and pollution.”

“The water level used to depend on the seasons,” Mr. Pornlert said. “Now
it depends on how much water China wants and needs.”

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 17, Irrawaddy
US welcomes Suu Kyi meeting with NLD leaders – Lalit K Jha

Washington, DC—The US has welcomed the Burmese regime's decision to allow
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet three senior members of her
National League for Democracy (NLD) and has urged the junta to enter
“genuine dialogue” with all the country's stakeholders.

“We welcome the decision by Burmese authorities to allow Aung San Suu Kyi
to pay her respects to three senior members of the Central Executive
Committee of her party,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told
reporters on Wednesday.

“We hope this is a step towards a meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and the
entire Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy,”
he said and reiterated the Obama administration's demand for the junta to
engage Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders in a dialogue.

 “We continue to urge the Burmese Government to engage Aung San Suu Kyi
and the democratic opposition, ethnic leaders, and other stakeholders in
a genuine dialogue to find a positive way ahead for the country,” Kelly
said.

Under the new US policy on Burma, the Obama administration favors
engagement with the regime while maintaining sanctions.

Two meetings between US and Burmese officials have taken place in recent
months, and although nothing tangible emerged the State Department
described them as a very positive development.

No date has been determined for the next round of talks. “I'm not sure
anything has been scheduled,” Kelly said. “Obviously we have an embassy
there and there's quite a bit of engagement on that level, but I'm not
sure when the next sort of formal talks are scheduled.”

The State Department on Wednesday did not had any update on the health of
the arrested US citizen of Burmese origin who is reported to be in the
second week of a hunger strike. Earlier this week, the State Department
said the US is seeking immediate consular access to Kyaw Zaw Lwin (aka Nyi
Nyi Aung.)

Maryland Senator Barbara A Mikulski has appealed in a letter for a
personal intervention by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Mr Lwin has
already reported through his attorney that he has been tortured while
being interrogated during his detention,” she said.

Mikulski wrote to Clinton: “I urge you to condemn Mr Lwin’s detention in
the strongest possible terms and to ensure that the State Department is
doing everything in its power to secure Mr Lwin’s release.”

Kyaw Zaw Lwin was arrested by Burmese authorities on September 3 on his
arrival at Rangoon Airport and was charged with fraud and forgery. Both
charges carry a sentence of seven years imprisonment.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 17, New York Times
Where impunity reigns – Benedict Rogers

The world needs to be reminded, again and again, that the military regime
in Burma (Myanmar) continues to perpetrate every conceivable human rights
violation.

Any Burmese showing any dissent is brutally suppressed, as the world
witnessed two years ago when peaceful Buddhist monks demonstrated. Many
monks were killed or have disappeared; several hundred remain in prison.

Beyond that, more than 2,000 political activists are in Burmese prisons
today, subjected to torture, denial of medical treatment and ludicrous
sentences.

Student leader Bo Min Yu Ko is serving a 104-year prison term; Shan ethnic
leader Hkun Htun Oo has been imprisoned for 93 years; democracy activist
Min Ko Naing for 65 years. The most famous human rights activist, Aung San
Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for almost 14 years, and the term was
extended for a further 18 months after a sham trial.

Many of these activists are in prisons thousands of miles from their
families, and several are critically ill.

One category of victims of the military dictatorship that gets far less
attention is Burma’s ethnic minorities.

In eastern Burma, the regime has been conducting a brutal military
campaign against people of the Karen, Karenni and Shan groups. Since 1996,
more than 3,300 villages have been destroyed and more than a million
people internally displaced. A Karenni friend of mine has described it as
“Pol Pot in slow motion.”

The catalogue of terror includes the widespread, systematic use of rape as
a weapon, forced labor, the use of human minesweepers and the forcible
conscription of child soldiers.

In northern and western Burma, the predominantly Christian Chin and Kachin
peoples also face systematic religious persecution.

The Muslim Rohingyas, targeted for their faith and ethnicity, are denied
citizenship, despite living in Burma for generations. Thousands have
escaped to miserable conditions in Bangladesh.

I have travelled more than 30 times to Burma and its borderlands. I have
met former child soldiers, women who have been gang-raped, and many people
who have been forced to flee from their burned villages.

Earlier this year, I met a man who had lost both his legs following an
attack on his village.

When the Burmese Army came, he fled, but after the troops had moved on, he
returned to his smoldering village to see if he could salvage any
remaining belongings. Where his house had stood, he found nothing except
ashes — hidden in which was a landmine laid by the troops. He stepped on
the mine, and lost both legs.

He was carried for an entire day for basic medical treatment and then, a
few weeks later, he walked on crutches through the jungle for two days to
escape. He fled to a camp for internally displaced people near the Thai
border. Four months later, that camp was attacked and he had to flee
again.

An eyewitness once told me that in a prison camp in Chin State, prisoners
who tried to escape were repeatedly stabbed, forced into a tub of salt
water, and then roasted over a fire. A woman in Karen State described to
me how her husband was hung upside down from a tree, his eyes gouged out,
and then drowned.

The United Nations has documented these atrocities. For years, General
Assembly resolutions have condemned the abuses. Previous special
rapporteurs have described the violations as “the result of policy at the
highest level, entailing political and legal responsibility.” A recent
General Assembly resolution urged the regime to “put an end to violations
of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

The U.N. has placed Burma on a monitoring list for genocide, the Genocide
Risk Indices lists Burma as one of the two top “red alert” countries for
genocide, along with Sudan, while the Minority Rights Group ranks Burma as
one of the top five countries where ethnic minorities are under threat.
Freedom House describes Burma as “the worst of the worst.”

This year, the United States reviewed its Burma policy and adopted a new
approach of engagement while maintaining existing sanctions.

While this is the right approach in principle, and one advocated by the
democracy movement, the danger is that the message has been
misinterpreted, both by the regime and countries in the region.

Even though President Obama and senior U.S. officials have consistently
emphasized that sanctions will not be lifted until there is substantial
and irreversible progress in Burma, including the release of Aung San Suu
Kyi and all political prisoners and a meaningful dialogue between the
regime, the democracy movement and the ethnic nationalities, the
impression created in the region is that the U.S. is going soft.

This is unfortunate, as it has let Burma’s neighbors off the hook just
when they were showing tentative signs of toughening up their approach.
Trying to talk to the generals is right, but it needs to be accompanied by
strong and unambiguous pressure.

In short, little action has been taken by the international community.
Countries continue to sell the regime arms, impunity prevails.

The violations perpetrated by the regime amount to war crimes and crimes
against humanity. The Harvard Law School’s report, “Crimes in Burma,”
commissioned by five of the world’s leading jurists, concludes that there
is “a prima facie case of international criminal law violations occurring
that demands U.N. Security Council action to establish a Commission of
Inquiry to investigate these grave breaches.”

Last week marked the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. If that is to mean anything in Burma, the time has come for
the U.N. to impose a universal arms embargo on the regime, to invoke the
much-flaunted “Responsibility to Protect” mechanism, and to investigate
the regime’s crimes. The time to end the system of impunity in Burma is
long overdue.

Benedict Rogers is East Asia Team Leader with the human rights
organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and author of several books
on Burma, including “Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant.”
____________________________________

December 17, Independent (UK)
Suu Kyi's fight for release – Peter Popham

Scarcely a week goes by without some mildly heart-warming news emerging
about Aung San Suu Kyi. She succeeded in sending a letter to Burma's
strongman, Senior General Than Shwe, asking for a meeting. She was
permitted to meet a group of foreign diplomats. She was allowed to go to a
hotel in downtown Rangoon to meet Kurt Campbell, the US assistant
secretary of state, where she the press photographed her. Now she has once
again been let out of her home, this time to meet senior members of her
party, the National League for Democracy.

But these concessions need to be seen in perspective. General Than Shwe
has not replied to her letter, and the regime's daily paper has bizarrely
accused Suu Kyi of being "insincere" and "dishonest" for sending hers. The
US's Burma policy has shifted under President Obama to one of wary
engagement, there is no indication that the diplomatic meetings have
brought the regime any closer to agreeing to America's and Europe's demand
for Suu Kyi's unconditional release.

Then yesterday came Suu's meetings with senior members of her party, "the
uncles", at which they agreed to her request to reorganise the party,
which has become steadily more geriatric over the years. Again, some
perspective: the meeting, their first for nearly two years, lasted all of
45 minutes. She had asked permission to see each of them in their homes,
as they are all unwell, but a single meeting at the usual guest house was
the most that would be granted. Excluded from the meeting was the most
important of her party colleagues, former General Tin Oo, who like her has
been locked up in his home since 2003. She and Tin Oo have not met now for
more than six years.

It must be refreshing for Suu Kyi to get out of the house once in a while,
but to see the beginnings of a real Burmese thaw in these events would be
extravagant. There are more than 2,000 political prisoners in Burma -
twice the number that there were before the 2007 uprising. Burma's
generals have become expert over the years at toying with foreign opinion.
If a regime wanted to do the minimum possible to suggest movement and
flexibility, this is what they would do. There is nothing yet to suggest
that it is anything more than that.

____________________________________

December 17, Inter Press Service
A celebration of life through the Arts under the junta – Marwaan Macan-Markar

Chiang Mai, Thailand – The Burmese military spares nothing with its iron
grip on power – not even art.

So what happens when the vibrant artistic community in the country seeks
to express itself through such contemporary forms as performance art is
common. Expect a visit from the censors to check content. In August, one
show in Rangoon, the former capital, had such a visit.

The officials from the ministry of information’s censorship board frown on
topics like politics and anti-junta sentiments in the military-ruled
country – and sex. The August show had little such content. The nine
artists performed hours before the show formally opened and the censors
moved on.

Such limits in the South-east Asian nation have compelled the spreading
crop of contemporary painters to look elsewhere for inspiration and to
respond to their times. Instead of anger and political rage, canvases tend
to celebrate the vibrant colour, distinct motifs and modern
interpretations of Burma.

Nay Myo Say’s solo exhibition that opened early this month in the northern
Thai city offers a window into such artistic sensibilities. The universal
image of pain and suffering that the world has come to identify with Burma
– thanks to the international media and the country’s pro-democracy
movement – is nowhere in sight in the 21 canvases that adorn the walls at
the Suvannabhumi Art Gallery, the only one in Thailand dedicated to
Burmese art.

The 42-year-old Burma-based painter has returned to the female form, a
favourite of his, for this third solo exhibition at the Chiang Mai gallery
that runs from Dec. 4 to 25. His oils explore women from the past. Their
faces convey serenity and grace.

The larger canvases are a modern-day meditation of aristocratic ladies
from "ancient days." Their gentle black brushstrokes and fluid outlines
highlight details against a splash of bright yellows and orange.

On the smaller canvases, the former medical doctor’s depiction of virgins
is distinct by the gold combs on their head and hairstyles shaped like a
bird’s tail behind the ears.

The canvases resonate with Nay Myo Say’s interpretation of his country’s
rich Buddhist traditions. The first painting in this series, ‘Women of the
Ancient Day’, has such a detail in gold that adorns the top of the canvas.
They hark to the Burmese practice of pasting gold leaf paper on the Buddha
statues in the country’s main temples.

Elsewhere, horizontal slabs of gold etched with ancient Buddhist religious
text in deep red contrast against the images of his female subjects. This
style of highlighting certain corners of his canvas, which Nay Myo Say has
done before, conveys, at times, a secular touch. A painting of a woman
blending into deep blue and green tropical floral motifs with gold patches
of colour seeping through reflects that touch.

Nay Myo Say’s choice of non-political themes is in itself a reflection of
a little-explored side of Burma.

Since the mid-1990s, which marked his arrival as an artist, the trends and
stark contradictions that have unfolded in Burma were characterised, on
one hand, by political themes dominating the arts and mass media, focusing
on a junta spreading its stranglehold on power, crushing the fledgling
pro- democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate
who has spent over 14 of the last 20 years in detention.

On the other side is the country’s image of "opening up" the economy –
albeit still a myth to many – in the 1990s after decades of isolationism
and stringent socialist policies since the military grabbed power in a
1962 coup.

It is this apparent change of scene after the drab decades of Burmese
socialism that Nay Myo Say, one of the highly acclaimed artists of the
country’s "third wave" of painters, has rooted himself in.

The artist and his contemporaries belong to a movement that is described
"not as angry rebellion; it is a celebration of opportunity," writes
Andrew Ranard, who has lived in Burma, in his book ‘Burmese Painting’.
"(Their art is) full of joyful, colourful outbursts."

Such celebration of Burmese themes was conveyed a year ago during Nay Myo
Say’s second solo exhibition at the Suvannabhumi gallery. Then he chose to
interpret a form of traditional Burmese theatre called ‘Anyein’
(translated as ‘tenderness’ in Burmese). That exhibition displayed male
and female dancers painted in black lines, reminiscent of the
expressionists, set against mural backdrops.

"There is no clue or message in my paintings," Nay Myo Say said at the
time to ‘The Irrawaddy’, a current affairs magazine published by Burmese
journalists living in this northern Thai city. "I want to convey serenity
and peace, something of the feeling I experience when I enter the old
temples and pagodas in Pagan," a major historical site in Burma, otherwise
known as Myanmar.

It is a sentiment – serenity and peace – that has been marked in his other
paintings, ranging from his landscapes to watercolours, still a popular
medium of art in the country.

"This is a side of Burma artists inside the country want to show the
world, now that they have more opportunity to exhibit in foreign
countries," says Burmese gallery owner Mar Mar. "We have at least seven
exhibitions a year."

Little wonder why one Burmese art critic has remarked that the modern
paintings of Burma’s third generation of artists like Nay Myo Say ensures
the country’s greater presence in the international art world – amid
censorship and the junta’s diktats.

____________________________________

December 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Is Stiglitz speaking the obvious to deaf ears? – Editorial

The renowned US economist Joseph Stiglitz has spelt out a path to revive
Burma, ‘the rice bowl of Asia’, with doses of the obvious that appear
diametrically opposed to the policies of the ruling junta.

In a presentation delivered to government officials and seen by DVB, he
outlines the need for education, health and property rights in Burma, with
an emphasis on ‘protecting the vulnerable’.

Stiglitz will know that Burma has one of the lowest per capita investments
in health and education anywhere in the world. Economists meanwhile
regularly scathe about the lack of security in Burmese property rights and
the financial system that underpins sound economic growth.

“It is my hope these ideas and analysis will open a new space for policy
discussion and a further deepening of our development partnership,” UN
under secretary general Noeleen Heyzer said at the event in Naypyidaw.

Indeed, Stiglitz also called for “transparent rules and regulations [and]
level playing fields”, both of which are a state of affairs that will be
alien to the two ministers in audience, one agriculture, one economic
development, and a point sadly deemed too offensive for the junta mouth
piece New Light of Myanmar newspaper in its report of the meeting. He also
added that “politics and economics cannot be fully separated in any
country” before highlighting Burma’s vast gas reserves, a so-called “good
fortune”.

It is this point that he elaborates on later in his presentation. He
refers to the “natural resources curse”, more commonly seen in Africa,
where quick profits are utilised by an elite to dominate a society, by
selling off raw materials and neglecting to invest in development. He adds
that this is a common state of affairs in countries like Burma, but says
that there are exceptions. “If a country doesn’t reinvest wealth below
ground above ground, growth is not sustainable,” he says.

The Burmese junta has shown no inclination to do what Stiglitz suggests;
indeed it has deliberately shunned advice from the international
community, including fellow American economist Jeffrey Sachs who visited
Burma in 2004, to restructure its economy to benefit the poor. Meanwhile,
billions of dollars are channeled out of the country, while it ranks ever
lower on global poverty indicators.

Stiglitz may well have the right ideas, but he stands before the wrong
audience. It is whether he can articulate well enough the message that
both parties – the junta and the people – stand to gain from a strong
economy that will really distinguish between a fruitless visit and a
glimmer of progress.