BurmaNet News, January 14, 2010

[Editor]

January 14, 2010, Issue #3876


INSIDE BURMA
DPA: Myanmar opposition party gets new blood on executive committee
Irrawaddy: Ethnic leaders reject election
Mizzima News: Shootout in LID 66 denied

ON THE BORDER
Kachin News Group: Junta recruits forcibly to form people’s militia to
harass KIA
Irrawaddy: Arms smuggling, anti-junta activities discussed

ASEAN
Reuters: Myanmar polls likely in 2nd half of yr - Thai FM

PRESS RELEASE
BCUK: More than 140 MPs call for investigation into crimes against
humanity in Burma




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 14, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar opposition party gets new blood on executive committee

Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party on Thursday
announced an expansion of its central executive committee, weeks after
Aung San Suu Kyi called for reforms.

The NLD has added nine new members to the existing 11-man central
executive committee, which has led the party for two decades and includes
several octogenarians.


The new party executives are Than Nyein, Ohn Kyaing, Win Myint, Tun Tun
Hein, Win Naing, Nyan Win, Han Tha Myint, Thein Nyunt and May Win Myint, a
relatively younger lot of elected members of parliament.

Political observers said the move was a transitional step paving the way
for the older NLD leaders to resign.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD's imprisoned general secretary, was permitted to
meet with three senior NLD executives on December 16 to discuss party
reforms.

Authorities escorted her from her Yangon house-cum-prison to a government
guesthouse where she was allowed to meet with NLD central executive
committee members Lun Tin, 88; U Lwin, 86; and Aung Shwe, 91.

The threesome are known locally as "the world's oldest active political
party leaders."

"Daw [Madame] Aung San Suu Kyi asked for permission to reform the NLD
central executive committee, and the three top leaders agreed with her," U
Lwin said after the meeting.

The leadership of Myanmar's 2-decade-old opposition party has been widely
criticized for showing a lack of initiative and unity during the past six
years as Suu Kyi was kept under detention in near-isolation from her
party.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her leadership of
Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, remains the only well-known NLD leader
outside the country, a reflection of the lacklustre nature of the party's
central committee.

It was still unclear whether the NLD would contest a general election
planned this year by Myanmar's ruling military junta.

Western governments have said the election would lack credibility if Suu
Kyi and the NLD are not permitted to participate.

It was unlikely that Suu Kyi would be freed before the polls. Suu Kyi has
spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest and in August was
sentenced to an additional 18 month of home detention.

She was under house arrest when Myanmar held its last election in 1990,
but if anything, her detention then helped the NLD romp to a landslide
victory.

The success surprised the military, who blocked the NLD from taking power
on the pretext that the country was not yet ready for civilian rule and
needed a new constitution, which took 19 years to write.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

____________________________________

January 14, Irrawaddy
Ethnic leaders reject election – Ba Kaung

Several ethnic leaders elected in Burma's 1990 election reaffirmed this
week that they will not participate in the planned election this year
without a review of the 2008 Constitutional and the release of all
political prisoners—two major demands they have been pressing for since
early last year.

“We will not found any political party if the 2008 Constitution cannot
guarantee us equality and autonomy,” said 76-year-old Thar Ban, the acting
chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy.

Pu Cin Sian Thang, a spokesman for the United Nationalities Alliance
(UNA), a coalition of 12 ethnic parties which contested and won 67 seats
in the 1990 election, said that the alliance's attitude toward the planned
election is not much different from the National League for Democracy's
(NLD) Shwegondaing Declaration.

The Shwegondaing Declaration, released by the NLD in April last year,
calls for a review of the controversial Constitution, political dialogue
and the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including its
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The reason for this stand is that we contributed to the Shwegondaing
Declaration even though it was not publicly known,” said Pu Cin Sian
Thang, who is also the chairman of the Zomi National Congress, an ethnic
Chin political party.

Many of the 12 parties comprising the UNA were abolished after the 1990
election by the military regime, which cited various reasons—one of them
for not having enough membership on their central executive committees.

In February last year, the UNA issued a statement condemning the
Constitution as a means to make Burma's ethnic nationalities subordinates
to the Burman majority, and because it hands “supreme power” to the
military's commander in chief.

“Our participation in the election without changing the undemocratic
elements of the Constitution would validate this whole Constitution as
soon as the first session of parliament is held,” said Pu Cin Sian Thang
in a telephone interview with The Irrawaddy.

He said the Zomi National Congress will base its decision on how the NLD
responds at that time. However, soon after the regime announces the
electoral law, many political groups including the NLD and the UNA will
have to announce their final decision on whether to participate or not.

“We will not follow exactly what the NLD does,” he added. “But we have to
look at its responses since it represents the majority of the people.

“However,” he added, “if the Constitution remains unchanged, we will in no
way join in the election.”

Another ethnic leader, Naing Ngwe Thein, who is the chairman of the Mon
National Democratic Front, said his political party's position on the
election is the same as the UNA's.

But while a stalemate remains between the regime and several ethnic
cease-fire groups, such as the United Wa State Army and the Kachin
Independence Army, over the Border Guard Force proposal, other ethnic
leaders like Dr. Tuja, the former vice-president of the Kachin
Independence Organization, have stated their willingness to participate in
the election.

“We have no objection if anyone wants to join in the election,” said Naing
Ngwe Thein. “But history will judge who is on the right side and who is on
the wrong side.”

____________________________________

January 14, Mizzima News
Shootout in LID 66 denied

Chiang Mai – News of the shooting in Pyi district, western Pegu division,
Burma on Sunday evening has been denied by a military source from
Naypyitaw, however, acknowledged that the situation was tense between
infantry battalions under the command of Light Infantry Division 66 (LID
66) and Military Affairs Security (MAS).

The Military Affairs Security (MAS) is a separate military entity and none
of its personnel were sent and attached to the Light Infantry Battalion 5
(LIB 5), as reported earlier, the source said, adding that an exchange of
fire was out of lid66-mas1the question, as soldiers are not equipped with
arms and ammunitions except bodyguards and the central sentry unit of each
battalion.

In recent days, rumours have been doing the rounds suggesting that tension
have arisen between an Inma village based LIB under the command of LID 66
and a MAS unit.

According to the BBC Burmese Service’s January 12 report, the LIB 80 under
the command of LID 66, which has been disobedient and was said to have
resorted to insubordination, exchanged fire with MAS unit, critically
injuring a military intelligence sergeant attached to LIB 5.

The report said, the Sergeant later succumbed to his injuries at the
military hospital located between Inma village and Ywa Taung.

A separate source in the military suggested that all battalion commanders
under the command of LID 66 were summoned to Divisional Headquarters and a
meeting was held on the BBC’s report. The information, however, cannot be
independently verified.

Rangoon based Mizzima’s correspondent said that the rumours originated
from the people who lived near these battalions.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 14, Kachin News Group
Junta recruits forcibly to form people’s militia to harass KIA

The Burmese military junta is forcibly recruiting people from East Burma
to form a people’s militia in Northeast Shan State, the area where the 4th
brigade of the Kachin Independence Army is located, said a local source.

A resident of border town Mongkoe, where the army has set up a training
camp, told Kachin News Group that the Burmese military was forcibly
assembling local people for recruitment for a people’s militia since
January 11.

“At least 60 people from Mongkoe have already been recruited,” said the
source.

“They (local Burmese military authorities) forced the civilians to attend
the training programme. This problem is being faced by Mongkoe and its
surrounding areas,” he added.

However, no one is certain of the motive of the regime in trying to form
the militia. Local people think it might be to take on the Kachin
Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A) and pressurize the ethnic armed
group.

“They want to pressurize the KIO and the KIA’s 4th brigade. Should there
be clashes between KIA and the Burmese Army, the militia will be sent to
the front lines because they know the terrain well,” said a resident.

Eyewitnesses said they have seen fresh batches of Burmese soldiers
travelling in 32 army trucks to Loikang village on January 8, where KIA’s
4th brigade is based.

The junta had ordered KIA’s 4th brigade to shift to Kachin State to KIO’s
headquarters in Laiza but the rebels have refused because the place is
historically linked to KIO, which was formed there in October 25, 1960.
The armed wing, KIA was set up in February 5, 1961.

Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the junta’s Chief of Bureau of Special
Operations-2 (BS0) directed KIA in September last year to move.

“They are trying to pressurize KIO by sending additional forces into the
area, and they will use the militia to put heat on the 4th brigade,” said
the source.

The 4th brigade of KIA has four battalions--- No. 2, No. 8, No. 9 and No.
17 in Northeast Shan State.

____________________________________

January 14, Irrawaddy
Arms smuggling, anti-junta activities discussed – Wai Moe

Officials of the Burmese junta reportedly raised the issues of illegal
arms smuggling and anti-junta activities along the Sino-Burmese border at
a border committee meeting with their Chinese counterparts, military
sources said.

Officers with Burma’s Military Affairs Security (MAS) charged that an
armed ethnic group, the Shan State Army (South), and dissident groups such
as the Communist Party of Burma, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front
and exiled members of the National League for Democracy are engaged in
anti-government activities on China’s soil.

In the December meeting, Burmese officials called on China to deter such
activities. Chinese officials reportedly promised to cooperate with the
Burmese authorities on the issues.

Previously, Burmese officials and the state media have often claimed that
Burmese dissidents use neighboring Thailand for activities against the
government. But similar accusations against China are unusual.

Sources said other cross-border issues such as illegal border trading,
human trafficking and gambling were also discussed at the meeting.
Military cooperation between the two countries along the border was also
discussed.

Other issues involved Chinese dam and road construction projects along the
border. After the Burmese complaints, one Chinese dam and a road
construction project near Mong Ko were reportedly withdrawn. Burmese
officials requested that China inform Burma in advance about future
projects on the border to prevent misunderstanding.

The MAS, formally known as Military Intelligence, handles all bilateral
border meetings with neighboring countries such as China, Laos and
Thailand.

The Sino-Burmese border had been of interest to diplomats, the
international press and security analysts following the recent junta
offensive against the Kokang armed cease-fire group along Burma’s
northeast border, after the Kokang and other ethnic groups declined to
transform their armies into a border guard force under the command of 
government officers.

An estimated 37,000 Kokang-Chinese including businessmen from Kokang
territory fled to China during the conflict.

After the clash, China sheltered thousands of refugees from Burma. Chinese
officials including Vice President Xi Jinping and Premier Wen Jiabao have
repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and stability
on the border.

Although the Kokang territory is now under control of the government army,
the tension along the border area is increasing as the largest ethnic
armed group, the United Wa State Army and others, are negotiating over the
border guard force plan.

In 2009, MAS chief Lt-Gen Ye Myint, who is Naypyidaw’s top negotiator with
ethnic groups, was busy traveling to northern and northeastern areas of
the country to convince ethnic groups to become border guard forces.

Wa leader Bao Youxiang sent a letter to Ye Myint in November offering
several proposals, but military sources said Naypyidaw rejected the
proposals.

In the letter, Wa leaders called on the junta to grant its territory
autonomy, grant amnesty to Wa organizations and individuals accused of
dealing in drugs, and help replace opium production with agriculture
projects.

Wa leaders should be appointed as administration officials of the Wa
region and the Wa autonomous region should handle its own legislation,
natural resources and water resources as well as be responsible for taxes,
the Wa leader wrote.

Bao Youxiang also called for autonomy for three Wa territories, Mong
Paung, Mong Phyan and Wan Hong, which are excluded in the 2008
Constitution.

According to the Shan Herald Agency for News, the Wa leader said on Wa TV
last week that the Wa should not be treated like a conquered people, and
he reaffirmed the need for peaceful solutions to political differences.

Meanwhile, on Jan.10, the junta reshuffled six officers at the
lieutenant-colonel and colonel level in operation centers in Shan State,
military sources said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 14, Reuters
Myanmar polls likely in 2nd half of yr - Thai FM – John Ruwitch

Danang, Vietnam (Reuters) - Myanmar will likely hold its long-awaited
election in the second half of this year because the ruling junta is still
crafting the legal framework for the vote, Thailand's foreign minister
said on Thursday.

Kasit Piromya made the comments after a meeting with Myanmar counterpart
Nyan Win during which he was told that 60-70 percent of the election and
political party laws were completed.

"You take another two or three months to make it 100 percent, so it will
take you by that time from the mathematical, or the guessing point of
view, to the middle of this year," Kasit told Reuters in an interview.

"So, I think the elections would be most probably in the second half."

Myanmar's reclusive junta has been silent on the timing of the election,
and Nyan Win's comment to Kasit would be a rare indication of the level of
progress towards holding the vote.

Nyan Win declined to answer reporters' questions on multiple occasions
during a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign
ministers in central Vietnam.

Nyan Win briefed the other foreign ministers on the preparations at a
dinner on Wednesday night, but he gave no indication of the timing.

"It was assured that it will be this year and it will be free, fair and
credible, and the ASEAN ministers have expressed their hope the issue of
Myanmar will be resolved this year and that we can move on to the new era
of ASEAN relations and cooperation with the international community,"
Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary general, told reporters.

"No date has been set but everything is moving on course. That's what we
were told."

NO RUSH

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who also met Nyan Win on the
sidelines of the Vietnam meeting, said there was no rush, as long as the
vote takes place this year, and is carried out fairly and democratically,
as the junta has promised.

"For us the main criterion, or the main preoccupation, would be that we
have that necessary positive, democratic atmosphere for a credible
election to take place," he told reporters.

"It's best to allow things for such conditions to be established rather
than to rush into it and then we have a situation where the ideal
condition is not there."

Little is known about the junta's legal preparations.

Critics of the army-drafted constitution say Myanmar's legislature will be
dominated by the military and their civilian stooges, with limited powers
and representation for dozens of ethnic groups or established opposition
parties.

Myanmar's last election, in 1990, ended with a landslide win for Aung San
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, but the junta ignored the
result and has since jailed more than 2,000 activists and political
opponents, many for minor offences.

Suu Kyi herself has been under house arrest or other sort of detention for
14 of the last 20 years.

The election in the former British colony has already been widely
dismissed as a means to entrench nearly five decades of unbroken military
rule, with the junta hoping a public vote would legitimise its monopoly of
national politics.

The notoriously secretive regime has yet to say who can take part in the
polls. Several major ethnic groups are resisting calls to join the
political process, saying they have nothing to gain.

Many analysts believe the delay in naming an election date is to give the
government more time to bring the ethnic groups on board, either
voluntarily or through military force.

(Editing by Martin Petty and Sugita Katyal)

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 14, Burma Campaign UK
More than 140 MPs call for investigation into crimes against humanity in
Burma

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the news that more than 140 MPs have
signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling for an investigation into crimes
committed by the regime in Burma, tabled by members of the All Party
Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma (APPG Burma).

The motion says that the members are concerned about the escalating
systematic human rights abuses being perpetrated against the people of
Burma by the military dictatorship and the well documented evidence over
many years of widespread torture, forced displacement, sexual violence,
extra-judicial killings and forced labour and that these actions
constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In addition, it calls on the UK government to urge to the United Nations
to establish a Commission of Inquiry into these crimes and to support the
International Labour Organization referring Burma to the International
Court of Justice for its use of forced labour.

In less than two months, the motion has been signed by a total of 141
Members of Parliament from 7 parties: Conservative Party, Democratic
Unionist Party, Independent Labour, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats,
Scottish National Party, and Social Democratic and Labour Party. So far,
it is the highest ranking EDM on foreign policy.

“It is encouraging that more than 140 MPs from the British parliament have
shown how seriously they take widespread human rights violations committed
by the military regime,” said Nang Seng, Campaigns Officer at Burma
Campaign UK. “I hope more MPs will sign and it is also essential that the
UK government listens to what MPs have been calling for and ends its
silence on this issue.”

Last month, MPs from the main opposition parties called on the UK
government to support a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into crimes
against humanity in Burma during a parliamentary debate in the UK
parliament.

For more information please contact Nang Seng on +44 788 983 2485.