BurmaNet News, March 16, 2010

[Editor]

March 16, 2010, Issue #3917


INSIDE BURMA
Khonumthung News: Easy availability of national ID cards for polls
Mizzima News: Karen IDPs protest dam projects on Salween River
New Light of Myanmar: Senior General Than Shwe receives HRH Princess Maha
Chakri Sirindhorn of the Kingdom of Thailand

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Myanmar a gateway for wildlife trade to China: report

REGIONAL
Straits Times (Singapore): Abhisit holds off visit to Myanmar
AP: Philippines: Myanmar broke promise to democratize

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: Burma's North Korea gambit – Kelly Currie
The Korea Herald: Travel and tyranny in Myanmar – Richard Treat
AIPMC: ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is outraged by the
election laws recently announced by the military government of Myanmar

ANNOUCNEMENT
ISIS: Myanmar/Burma – Domestic developments and international responses




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 16, Khonumthung News
Easy availability of national ID cards for polls

The availability of the national identity card has become easy from this
month with the immigration department of the Burmese military junta
issuing them without the usual fuss in Kalemyo, Sagaing division western
Burma.

“We are issuing national ID cards for those who are 18 years of age so
that they can vote in the forthcoming 2010 general elections. It has been
seen to by higher authorities,” said an employee of the department.

“We can have IDs without an application being made by one of the family
members and we have to pay Kyat 5000 only. Earlier it cost more than Kyat
one lakh. I didn’t go to the office, my father went and did everything for
me,” said a local in Kalemyo.

Even last year, getting a new national ID card from the immigration
department needed the recommendation of the township authority, family
registration card, form no. 10 and more than Kyat one lakh. Now Kyat 5000
and a photograph is needed only, he added.
The military junta has already announced the guideline for registration of
political parties for the forthcoming 2010 general elections.

“If we check the members of the Election Commission, they are all on the
side of the junta. Even if we cast our vote for other parties, they will
recollect it and cast it into their box. There will be no change at all,”
said an employee of Education department in Hakha, Chin state.-

____________________________________

March 16, Mizzima News
Karen IDPs protest dam projects on Salween River

Hundreds of men, women and children thronged the sand bank of Salween
river in the boat-stop area of E-tu Hta temporary Karen Refugee Camp. They
came together on March 14 to observe the International Day of Action for
Rivers and to protest against dam projects on the Salween.

People listened to speakers providing information, support and
encouragement before floating a raft with a poster saying "No Dam" down
the Salween. The villagers are Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from Ho
Kay, Por Ka Der and E-tu Hta refugee camp.

E-tu Hta temporary refugee camp lies on the banks of the Salween river,
the border between Karen state in Burma and Mae Hong Son Province in
Thailand. The year marks the sixth consecutive anti-dam event focused on
the Salween River, coordinated by Karen Rivers Watch, a coalition of Karen
social groups along with villagers. They have been organizing events
annually since 2004.

“This annual event of anti-dam day aims to keep the spirit of awareness of
dams on the Salween River up-to-date and show the solidarity that our
Karen people have towards broader anti-dam movement (or global movement)
organized by other people affected by dams. We are against mega dams; full
stop”, said Saw Johnny Lay, the spokesperson for KRW and the primary event
organiser.

There are three dams proposed for the Salween River - the Wei Gyi, Dagwei
and Hat Gyi in a conflict zone.

Villagers are concerned that these dams will repeat the mistakes of
previous dam construction projects; people being forcibly removed from
their livelihood and homes; Karen people being the target of vicious
assaults and random killings; destruction of the ecological balance of the
area; and people’s traditional way of life. Many of them shared their
bitter experience of the Law Pi Ta dam construction in Karenni State and
ongoing issues.

One day before the event, there was a women's forum with local villagers
and a children's forum with basic education for students in the area
organized to educate the villagers, with more than a hundred women and
children participating in one day workshops. These activities included an
update on the dam situation and encouraged participation in environmental
protection.

Saw Lawplah, one of the organisers said, "We need a people-to-people
advocating strategy--to expand our idea, and to make sure that
environmental idea is in all our Karen hearts. Karen for Karen people."

This message of "No Dam" by the protesters loudly proclaims to all those
people living along the Salween that there is a concerted effort to
protect the Salween from dams.

____________________________________

March 16, New Light of Myanmar
Senior General Than Shwe receives HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of
the Kingdom of Thailand

 Nay Pyi Taw – Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the
Union of Myanmar Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General
Than Shwe received Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of
the Kingdom of Thailand who was on a goodwill private visit in Nay Pyi
Taw at Zeyathiri Beikman here at 12.30 p.m. today.

Also present at the call were Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice- Senior General Maung Aye, Member of the
State Peace and Development Council General Thura Shwe Mann, Prime
Minister General Thein Sein, Secretary-1 of the State Peace and
Development Council General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Minister for
Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Maj-Gen Maung Maung Swe, Minister
for Religious Affairs Brig-Gen Thura Myint Maung, Deputy Minister for
Foreign Affairs U Maung Myint and departmental heads.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was accompanied by Thai
Ambassador to the Union of Myanmar Mr. Bansarn Bunnag and delegation
members. – MNA

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 16, Agence France Presse
Myanmar a gateway for wildlife trade to China: report

DOHA — Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar
in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from
endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said.

"China's border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal
trade, with remote locations often making surveillance difficult in
sparsely populated areas," Xu Hongfa, top China investigator for
environmental group TRAFFIC, said in the report.

Enforcement efforts within China appear to have curtailed the open sale of
many animal parts and products taken from species banned under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), he said.

Market surveys in 18 Western Chinese cities in 2008 found only two sites
where tiger and snow leopard skins were on sale, far less than in previous
years, said Xu.

But transactions may have simply moved underground and onto the Internet,
and Myanmar has emerged as a fast-growing supply node.

"There is clearly ongoing demand for leopard and tiger products, but the
trade appears to be becoming less visible year-on-year," Xu said.

"The current trade is more covert, organised and insidious, making it
harder to detect and crack down on."

TRAFFIC said that in December 2008, its investigators checked three
markets on the Chinese side of the border in Yunnan Province, and one in
Mongla, a town in Special Region 4 of Myanmar's Eastern Shan state.

Markets on the Chinese side were legal, but one and a half kilometres (a
mile) across the border they found a grim range of wildlife products sold
by Chinese merchants.

These included a clouded leopard skin, pieces of elephant skin, batches of
bear bile extracted from live animals, a dead silver pheasant, a monitor
lizard and a bear paw, which is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.

Nearby, another shop specialised in "tiger-bone wine" costing 88 dollars
(64 euros) for a small bottle.

The shop owner said buyers were mostly Chinese tourists, and customers
could order the supposedly health-boosting tonic by phone for delivery to
Daluo, a river-port town in China.

Like China, Myanmar also had national laws forbidding trade in endangered
species.

"But enforcement is non-existent in Special Region 4 as it is an
autonomous state... controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army,"
a rebel group, said Xu Ling, the China programme officer for TRAFFIC, who
did the survey.

The 175-member CITES, meeting in Qatar's capital Doha until March 25, will
review measures to boost enforcement of wildlife bans already in place, as
well as proposals to halt or limit commerce in species not yet covered by
the Convention.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 16, Mizzima News
ASEAN MPs lambast junta’s 2010 electoral laws

Chiang Mai - A section of Members of Parliament of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) countries, appalled at the anti-democratic nature of the Burmese
junta’s electoral laws, have urged their respective governments not to
accept it.

In a statement today by the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
(AIPMC), the MPs said that the Burmese electoral laws are undemocratic and
will not result in free and fair elections in the country.

The AIPMC is composed of some Members of Parliament from Thailand,
Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines and Malaysia.

"AIPMC is appalled at the regime’s blatant disregard for the principles of
genuine multi-party democracy, principles that it claims in these very
same laws that are so inimical to the development of a flourishing
democracy," said the statement.

The regional network of MPs also today called for immediate suspension of
Burma's membership from ASEAN regional grouping as well as taking "strict
and targeted economic sanctions" against Burma.

"If the people of Myanmar are ever to be free and allowed to prosper,
dramatic actions in their defence must be taken immediately,” said AIPMC.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 16, Straits Times (Singapore)
Abhisit holds off visit to Myanmar – Nirmal Ghosh

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hopes to meet pro-democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but the Myanmar military regime has yet to agree to
that, The Straits Times has learnt.

Thailand's Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was scheduled to meet the
regime's supremo, Senior General Than Shwe, yesterday afternoon in
Naypyidaw, a Myanmar official was quoted as saying.

But the meeting - the first between a member of the Thai royalty and the
junta chief - is unlikely to have any bearing on Mr Abhisit's plans.
Thailand's royal family normally does not engage in politics or foreign
policy.

The Crown Princess is in Myanmar on a goodwill trip, during which she will
visit the Irrawaddy delta south of Yangon to witness development work in
areas devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Myanmar is preparing for an election this year - the first since 1990.

But election laws clearly favour the ruling military's own agenda, which
is to ensure that it remains the real power behind a facade of democracy.

The laws also appear to rule out any participation in the election process
by Ms Suu Kyi, who has been in some form of detention for most of the last
20 years.

When asked in an interview last Friday whether the election would be
credible while Ms Suu Kyi was still under detention, Thai Foreign Minister
Kasit Piromya said: 'I think (it) would not be free and fair.'

____________________________________

March 16, Associated Press
Philippines: Myanmar broke promise to democratize

Myanmar's military government broke its promise to democratize by barring
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from upcoming elections, the
Philippines said Monday, urging Southeast Asian countries to push the
junta to rescind a slate of new elections laws.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo's comments are unusual for a member of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which usually refrain from
criticizing other members.

But the Philippines has been more vocal in its condemnation of Myanmar,
and this is not the first time it has expressed displeasure with the
junta's recently announced election laws, which were denounced by a number
of countries, including the United States.

Romulo said he will ask fellow ASEAN ministers when they meet in an annual
summit in Vietnam next month to prod Myanmar to consider rescinding the
new election laws and rapidly enforce a long-standing promise to implement
a "roadmap to democracy," a package of reforms that is supposed to ensure
free and credible elections.

"It's contrary to the roadmap to democracy that they have pledged to ASEAN
and to the world," Romulo told reporters. "It's their own pledge and
promise."

ASEAN has yet to issue an official reaction to the new elections laws.

Romulo said he will raise his concerns when he meets Myanmar Foreign
Minister U Nyan Win, who promised to attend a two-day ministerial
conference in Manila this week.

This year's elections in Myanmar will be the first poll since 1990, when
Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory. The junta ignored the results of
that vote and has kept Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, jailed or under
detention for 14 of the past 20 years. The Philippines has repeatedly
called for her release.

An election law announced last week prohibits anyone convicted of a crime
from being a member of a political party, making Suu Kyi ineligible to
become a candidate in the elections or even a member of the party she
co-founded and heads.

Suu Kyi was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house
arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her
lakeside residence. She was sentenced to 18 more months of detention.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 16, Wall Street Journal
Burma's North Korea gambit – Kelly Currie

United States Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell gave an
understated assessment of the Obama administration's Burma policy last
week, characterizing the lack of positive results from engagement with the
junta as "not what we hoped for." His admission came as the junta denied
his recent request to visit the country and announced deeply problematic
new regulations for upcoming elections. "Smart power," it seems, has run
headlong into the street-wise tactics of the hard men in Naypyidaw.

The question now is, what next? There are worrying signals that frustrated
U.S. officials may start to focus more narrowly on an area where they feel
they have a better chance of success: Burma's increasing coziness with
Pyongyang. An anonymous senior State Department official was recently
quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "Our most decisive interactions
have been around North Korea. We've been very clear to Burma. We'll see
over time if it's been heard."

Privately, administration officials have indicated that the junta's
burgeoning relationship with Pyongyang was a driving force behind the
shift toward engagement. Given the junta's clear rejection of Washington's
overtures regarding domestic political processes, North Korea is quickly
becoming the primary reason for continued direct contacts.

It would be a strategic error for the Obama administration to make North
Korea the centerpiece of engagement with Burma. That's not to say that
Naypyidaw's exchanges with Pyongyang aren't extremely worrying. The
growing trade in conventional weapons—including reports of Burmese
purchases of North Korean-made short-range ballistic missiles—and
increasing evidence of nuclear cooperation is deeply troubling. These are
clear violations of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, and the U.S.
should be clear about the costs of continuing this cooperation with
Pyongyang.

But the U.S. also runs the risk of playing to the generals' diplomatic
strengths by focusing too narrowly on the Burma-North Korea relationship.
The Burmese regime has a history of adeptly manipulating and methodically
wearing down its interlocutors. The junta is expert at doing just enough
to keep the pressure off, engaging in sporadic unproductive talks with
officials from the U.S. and the U.N., well-timed manipulations of the
confinement of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees, and endless
machinations around the promised 2010 elections. Such moves have
tantalized the international community for decades, but all have
ultimately proven fruitless, as they merely obscured the regime's
determined efforts to institutionalize and legitimize military rule.

Engaging the regime on the basis of its relationship with North Korea
would be no different. Burma's generals would use their contacts with
Pyongyang as leverage to win U.S. compromises on issues that are arguably
of greater importance to them: removal of sanctions, and lessened support
for Burma's democracy movement. Far from fearing U.S. opprobrium, junta
leaders are thrilled to talk to the Americans about North Korea, because
such a conversation by its nature excludes Ms. Suu Kyi. Prioritizing
bilateral concerns about North Korea would also exacerbate the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations' tendency toward inertia,
undermining years of effort to push Burma's neighbors toward a more
forward-leaning posture on political reform.

The U.S. should recognize the junta's nuclear gambit for what it is: a
symptom of unaccountable and illegitimate rule. If Burma had an elected,
accountable government concerned with providing for the basic needs of the
Burmese citizenry, it is highly unlikely that nuclear cooperation with
North Korea would be on its agenda. The best, most sustainable means of
eliminating the threat posed by Burmese-North Korean cooperation is
movement toward a more representative, responsible Burmese government,
difficult though this may be.

As Mr. Campbell has said, the path to improved U.S.-Burma relations and
improvement in the situation in Burma lies through "the immediate and
unconditional release of Ms. Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, an end
to conflicts with ethnic minorities and gross human-rights violations, and
initiation of a credible internal political dialogue with the democratic
opposition and ethnic minority leaders on elements of reconciliation and
reform."

It's time for the Obama administration to follow up on those words. The
White House needs to make clear that it is not interested in cutting a
deal with the Burmese regime to end nuclear cooperation with Pyongyang in
exchange for accepting the perversely labeled "roadmap to
discipline-flourishing democracy." They can start by strongly endorsing
U.N. Human Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana's proposal to convene a
Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Burma, and by putting meaningful Security Council
consideration of Burma back on the agenda.

The Obama administration must stay focused on working with other
democracies, particularly Asean members, to establish benchmarks for the
systemic, irreversible domestic political changes Burma needs. This must
be backed up by sanctions that are broadly supported and narrowly
targeted. As decades of "constructive engagement" have proven, abandoning
principle and attempting to cut out the democracy movement to negotiate
directly with the junta has never worked with Burma's generals. Instead,
it just plays into their hands.

Ms. Currie is a senior fellow with the Project 2049 Institute, a
Washington, DC-based think tank.

____________________________________

March 16, The Korea Herald
Travel and tyranny in Myanmar – Richard Treat

The bus from Inle Lake, a popular tourist destination in eastern Myanmar,
follows a potholed road - sometimes dirt, sometimes paved - through the
mountains on the way to Mandalay. Karaoke music videos with Burmese script
play on the TV. Two ladies in front of us spit into plastic bags and
periodically heave while a kid behind us sings along with the video.
Outside the bus it's dark, minus the made-in-China florescent lights,
powered by small generators, which give the landscape a post-apocalyptic
feel.

An elephant passes in the back of a construction truck, and the song
changes. Random pictures of Korean celebrities - Rain, Kim Tae-hee, Lee
Hyo-rhee, others I don't recognize - flash on the TV screen to the
accompaniment of a Burmese song. Judging from the hotel staff in Yangon
asking about actors from the popular Korean sitcom "Boys Over Flowers" and
the families sitting on plastic stools watching Goryeo Dynasty period
dramas in a cafe in Nyaungshwe, the Korean Wave has hit Myanmar.

Sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., the bus stops. ID checkpoints were the
first glimpse at restrictions imposed by the military junta.

All the passengers, minus some Buddhist monks, get off at a military
checkpoint and show their ID cards. "The whole thing is ridiculous," a
taxi driver confided. "A hooker can't stay in a hotel in the city listed
on her ID. So she buys one ID from Mandalay, one from Yangon. Maybe five
different ones. They're not hard to get on the black market."

At a Moustache Brothers show, a famous comedy troupe that incorporates
traditional dance, music and comedy, one joke goes: "I had to go all the
way to Bangkok to get my teeth fixed. And this Thai dentist looks at me
funny and asks me why I came all the way to Thailand to get my teeth
worked on. 'Why'd you come so far?' he asked. So I looked at him. 'How can
I get my teeth fixed in Burma,' I said. 'In my country, I can't even open
my mouth.'"

The joke underlies a distressing political actuality, one where humor can
lead to imprisonment. Par Par Lay, one of the Moustache Brothers, for
example, was sentenced to seven years hard labor for telling politically
tinged jokes. Currently blacklisted, the Moustache Brothers are forbidden
from performing in public; they do, however, perform for tourists inside
the family home in Mandalay without government incursion. "The government
knows tourism means money," said Lu Zaw.

Though human rights abuses in Tibet may attract more Western media
attention, the actuality in Myanmar - governed by the military-led State
Peace and Development Council - is abysmal. Amnesty International
estimates there are some 2,100 political prisoners at the time of writing,
including Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was found
guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest and sentenced to three
years on Aug. 11, 2009, a sentence that was later reduced to 18 months.

In addition to political arrests, the military junta has been accused of
numerous other abuses, ranging from coercing citizens into forced labor to
forcing people to walk in fields to "clear" landmines. Despite such
abuses, the United Nations has failed to ameliorate the situation, largely
as a result of China's position on the U.N. Security Council.

While some activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have advocated a tourism
boycott on Myanmar, others question the effectiveness of such a strategy.
According to Justin Westnage in the National Times, for example, "The
tourism boycott has not worked and the Burmese people are poorer both
financially and politically as a result." Moreover, if one applies the
same logic of boycotting tourist destinations vis-a-vis human rights
abuses, other destinations, such as Tibet, a region with similar human
rights abuses and more travel restrictions, should also be avoided. As
Free Burma Coalition member Marcel Schonenberger noted, "If you start
thinking about not coming here because of the government, you will have to
start thinking about whether to go to China, Laos, Tibet, or even the
United States."

While Myanmar might not be an idyllic destination for all, it is
relatively safe (as long as you stay away from the off-limit zones) and
has a lot to offer. Due to its proximity to India, for example, it was one
of the first points in the southern transmission of Buddhism, dating back
to King Ashoka's reign in the 3rd century BCE. Common itineraries often
take in the "forest" of stuppas on the plains of Bagan, the gold-leafed
boulder-shrine at Kyaiktiyo, and the golden stuppa at Shwedagon in Yangon,
which is purported to contain some hairs of Siddhartha Gautama.

The country also offers an abundance of natural beauty - Inle Lake and the
mountains around Hsipaw and Kalaw - where travelers can stay in The
Viewpoint, a simple mountain inn (read: no electricity, no running water),
"traditional" villages, or monasteries for a small donation. However, if
you're tired of the pressure to buy trinkets at Angkor Wat, or annoyed at
the tuktuk drivers in Bangkok, the people in Myanmar, who are laid back
and somehow positive, oftentimes surprisingly candid about the oppressive
government, may be the biggest draw.

The easiest way to obtain a Myanmar visa is at the Myanmar Embassy in
Bangkok. If you are a journalist, writer, director, activist, or hold any
other profession along those lines, omit this on the visa application and
write English teacher. At the time of writing, tourists wanting to go
beyond areas along the Thai border have to fly into Myanmar. U.S. dollars
can be exchanged for Myanmar kyat in the country. There are no ATMs in
Myanmar, so bring enough cash. Spend responsibly in Myanmar by avoiding
any government-run businesses.

____________________________________

March 16, ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is outraged by the
election laws recently announced by the military government of Myanmar

Repeated calls for assurances that the upcoming elections will be free and
inclusive have gone unheeded as the new laws make clear the regime’s
absolute lack of commitment to democratic principles to ensure free, fair
and inclusive elections.

Under the new election laws all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, are excluded from forming or
participating in political parties and from contesting seats in the
national and state assemblies. Certain provisions of the new laws appear
to specifically target Aung San Suu Kyi, forcing her party, the National
League for Democracy (NLD) which overwhelmingly won in the previous 1990
elections, to expel her should it wish to register with the new Election
Commission and contest the upcoming elections.

By virtue of registering, the NLD and all other political parties agree to
uphold the country’s Constitution, a document enacted in 2008 that is
fundamentally flawed and does not comply with principles of representative
democracy.

Given these grave shortcomings, the election results cannot be accepted as
anything other than a formal entrenchment of the military’s iron grip on
power in the country.

AIPMC is appalled at the regime’s blatant disregard for the principles of
genuine multi-party democracy, principles that it claims in these very
same laws that are so inimical to the development of a flourishing
democracy.

AIPMC calls on ASEAN and its member states to immediately take decisive
actions with regard to Myanmar, in line with the approach of other
concerned countries, such as strict and targeted economic sanctions
against Myanmar, thus cutting off the financial lifelines of the brutal
and selfserving despots who have so far driven its citizens into terminal
poverty.

Additionally, ASEAN should immediately suspend Myanmar’s membership in the
regional grouping, as Myanmar has categorically failed to uphold the
principles to which it subscribed by virtue of agreeing to the Charter.
ASEAN must thereafter earnestly consider expelling Myanmar should no
tangible progress be achieved.

The United Nations must also use all tools at its disposal to compel
progress from the regime.

The UN, whose goodwill towards Myanmar has thus far not been appreciated
by the regime, should enact a global arms embargo and establish a
commission to investigate accusations of crimes against humanity, as
recommended by the UN Special Rapportuer on the human rights situation in
Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana

The military government of Myanmar has shown no interest in moving the
country forward through national reconciliation or the establishment of a
democratic government. Engaging them and placid persuasion has done
nothing to change this fact. If the people of Myanmar are to ever be free
and allowed to prosper, dramatic actions in their defense must be taken
immediately.

For further comment / media interviews with AIPMC Parliamentarians, do
contact – Aticha Wongwian at
+66 863 863 494 (Thailand), Donny Jatisambogo +62 815 1400 6416
(Indonesia) and Roshan Jason at
+6012 3750974 (Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines)
ASEAN INTER-PARLIAMENTARY MYANMAR CAUCUS
18-2 Commercial Centre, Taman Abadi Indah,
Off Old Klang Road, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603-7984 7318, +603-7980 1393
Fax:+603-7983 7318, +603-7981 7782
http://www.aseanmp.org email: info at aseanmp.org

____________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT

March 16, Institute of Security and International Studies
Myanmar/Burma – Domestic developments and international responses

You are invited to attend a public forum on "Myanmar/Burma – Domestic
Developments and International Responses" on March 22nd. The forum will
bring together voices from inside as well as outside Myanmar to consider
the import of current developments such as the election law and the
reported sell off of state properties.  The forum will also consider the
U.S. policy of conditional engagement and other international approaches
to the government in Naypyidaw and assess their prospects of influencing
events.

Our program will feature the following panelists:

Dr. Nay Win Maung – Co-founder of EGRESS

Mr. Harn Yawnghwe – Director of EuroBurma

Mr. Larry Jagan  - freelance journalist formerly with the BBC.

H.E. Ron Hoffmann  - Canadian Ambassador

Mr. George Kent -  Political Counselor, U.S. Embassy

Dr. Muang Zarni -  ISIS Visiting Senior Fellow, Research Fellow LSE

The forum will be held between 08:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. on Monday, 22 March
2010 in the Chumbhot-Pantip Conference Room, 4th Floor
Prajadhipok-Rambhaibarni Building, Faculty of Political Science,
Chulalongkorn University. We hope very much that you will be able to join
us.

Kindly RSVP to this invitation by calling 02 218 7430, or send the
attached reply form by fax to 02 218 7430/by e-mail to
asp.isisthailand at gmail.com by Friday, March 19.