BurmaNet News, April 10 - 12, 2010

[Editor]

April 10 – 12, 2010, Issue #3938


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar's Suu Kyi briefly admitted to hospital: official
VOA: New political parties register for Burma's elections
Irrawaddy: Burma's watered down festival

ON THE BORDER
The Daily Star (Bangladesh): No fresh listing of Rohingyas: Foreign Secy
says Dhaka won't recognise undocumented entrants
Irrawaddy: Landmine victims find solace at Mae La
Bangkok Post: Quick on the draw

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Weekly business roundup

ASEAN
AFP: Challenges ahead for visions of an ASEAN community

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: The General must not be disturbed’ – Benedict Rogers

STATEMENT
Asian Human Rights Commission: Elections without a judiciary




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 11, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's Suu Kyi briefly admitted to hospital: official

Yangon—Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was admitted to hospital
briefly on Sunday over concerns about her heart, a Myanmar official said.

"Suu Kyi was taken to Yangon General Hospital to check her heart condition
for about 45 minutes," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said she returned to her lakeside house, where she is held under house
arrest, on Sunday night. Another official confirmed she left the hospital,
but neither could give further details.

Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said he was as yet unaware of the visit, which
is thought to be her first to hospital since 2003, although the
64-year-old has monthly medical check ups by a doctor at her home.

In May, her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said it was "very
concerned" for her health while she was detained in the notorious Yangon
prison, facing trial over an incident in which an American man swam to her
home.

The Nobel peace laureate, who has been locked up for 14 of the past 20
years, had suffered health scares in previous months.

On Wednesday she welcomed her party's decision to boycott upcoming
elections in the military-ruled nation, according to Nyan Win.

____________________________________

April 10, Voice of America
New political parties register for Burma's elections

Burma's government says 16 new political parties have registered for
elections planned for later this year.

State-controlled media reported Friday that Burma's official Election
Commission had approved the new parties prior to the end of a 60-day
registration period that ends on May 6.

Three already existing parties have also registered to run in Burma's
first general polls in two decades.

The commission also warned that the old political parties that fail to
register prior to the deadline will be forced to disband.

The government has not yet announced the election date.

Friday, leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
urged fellow member Burma to hold a fair election and include all
political parties.

Burma's main opposition, the National League of Democracy (NLD) recently
decided to boycott the elections because Burma's new election law bans
participation of all politicians who have been detained.  The NLD's
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years. 
Her latest house arrest expires in November.

The NLD won the last general election held in Burma in 1990, but the
military never relinquished power.

____________________________________

April 10, Irrawaddy
Burma's watered down festival – Yeni

Thingyan, Burma's traditional New Year's water festival, starts on
Wednesday, and military junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his family are
already rolling up their sleeves to celebrate the five-day holiday in the
capital Naypyidaw.

This year, Than Shwe's business cronies will sponsor all the festive
activities in Naypyidaw. Several members of the military top brass,
delegations from the respective government ministries and major
businessmen will make appearances, as well as many of the country's top
pop singers and traditional dancers.

Than Shwe may see the festival as a celebration of the near completion of
his seven-step “road map to democracy.”

Than Shwe’s favorite grandson, Nay Shwe Thway Aung, gets top billing on
the festival circuit. The 19-year-old will appear at festivities in
Naypyidaw, Rangoon and Mandalay.

According to a source in Rangoon, Than Shwe's grandson will host his own
pavilion on Prome Road near Inya Lake in Rangoon, bypassing rules laid
down by the Yangon [Rangoon] City Development Committee (YCDC) and the
SPDC Rangoon Division.

Many rich kids in Rangoon—notably Phyoe Tay Za and Htet Tay Za, the sons
of Burmese tycoon Tay Za—will join in the clubhouse atmosphere alongside
Nay Shwe Thway Aung, the source said.

It’s a time of fun, as the late Burmese author Khin Myo Chit wrote, “to
have nice clean fun with dear friends, sprinkling scented water on one
another 
 all the teasing and playing and joking go with the spirit of the
season.”

Unfortunate then that Thingyan is severely restricted for the common
people of Burma.

The YCDC announced no less than 39 rules governing participants in the
water festival in Rangoon. On top of all the other restrictions, the YCDC
is limiting the location of pavilions. Rangoon's youngsters are not
allowed to build pavilions along University Avenue and Inya Road, the
venues where the crowd usually flocks.

According to YCDC restrictions, pavilions must be given Burmese names,
pavilion decorations must be designed to showcase Burmese art and culture,
pavilion workers and guests must wear traditional Burmese clothing,
pavilions must only serve traditional Burmese food and pavilion workers
and guests must dance in a manner that reflects Burmese culture.

In fact, Thingyan—which has long since evolved from a simple purification
ceremony into one of the world’s wildest annual events—has been
increasingly commercialized, with major companies sponsoring pop concerts,
DJs, dances and water-throwing events.

Ironically, many fun-loving citizens will simply have to stand back and
watch as Than Shwe's grandson and his gangster friends flaunt the rules
and their wealth in their private pavilion. The rules do not apply to
them, of course.

The Rangoon pavilion permit committee announced that it will only issue 46
pavilion permits to residents and private companies. Last year, there were
more than 200 pavilions built in Rangoon for the water festival.

In Mandalay, the most famous location for its traditional colorful
performances and fun activities during Thingyan, there will be just 39
pavilions this year. Last year there were 110.

“The generals are trying to discourage us,” a local man said. “Nowadays,
Naypyidaw is above all else.”

Thingyan is not all fun and games. It is a time for taking stock of the
past year and making the most of the few remaining days before the arrival
of the new year, according to Burmese tradition. Apart from the
traditional water-throwing festival, Burmese people visit pagodas and
monasteries to make merit and keep precepts, pay respect to the elderly,
and do charitable work. It’s also a time of rest and recreation after the
year’s labors.

Burmese abroad will also be celebrating. Water festivals abroad are
generally community gatherings, featuring singing, dancing and traditional
food.

Astrologers are also invited along to give blessings at this special time
of year.

The origin of Thingyan is from Hinduism—the new year signified by the
Princess Devi passing on the the Brahma's head to the next Devi. The
Brahma, the supreme eternal deity whose essence makes up the cosmos, was
considered so powerful that if his head were thrown into the sea it would
dry up immediately. If it were thrown onto land it would be scorched. If
it were thrown up into the air the sky would burst into flames—hence the
head is protected by the hands of the princess and passed on year after
year.

Thingyan-sa, the annual almanac broadsheet predicting what lies ahead in
the coming year, which is published by the state-sponsored Myanmar
Calendar Advisory Member, reads this year that Burma will be burdened with
sorrow.

“The Devi who will accept Brahma's head this year is crying,” San Zarni
Bo, one of Burma's leading astrologers, told The Irrawaddy. “It means that
the country will be sad if something changes this year.”

The Brahma's head, often whispered by Burmese to be the symbol of the
military junta, seems to be giving grief to the weeping princess. Perhaps
she is finding it like a “hot potato” with no one to pass it to.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 11, The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
No fresh listing of Rohingyas: Foreign Secy says Dhaka won't recognise
undocumented entrants

Bangladesh will not give in to western pressure for recognition to the
large number of undocumented Myanmar [Burma] nationals who entered the
country illegally as refugees, said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul
Quayes yesterday.

The foreign secretary made the comment at a press conference at the
foreign ministry following the proposal of United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for fresh registration of the Myanmar
intruders.

Mijarul said the regional coordinator of UNHCR had recently made the
proposal to the government.

"We have categorically told them that the proposal is not acceptable," he
told reporters.

"We don't want to discuss the issue with UNHCR or others. They are
undocumented Myanmar nationals and they must go back to their homeland,"
the foreign secretary stressed.

The government only recognises 28,000 Rohingyas staying at two
UNHCR-administered camps in Cox's Bazar, he said.

More than three lakh illegal Myanmar nationals are staying outside the two
camps set up in Nowapara and Kutupalong of Cox's Bazar district [on the
south-east]. There are, however, no official statistics for illegal
Rohingyas.

Mijarul said the government is very "tolerant and flexible" to thousands
of illegal Myanmar nationals who are involved in various economic
activities.

The foreign secretary said the government is allowing them to take health
services on humanitarian ground.

"We have not dumped them in the concentration camps. But this is not our
weakness. Our efforts are on to repatriate them," maintained Mijarul.

He also criticised some international NGOs and media for presenting
"untrue" stories about Rohingya refugees.

Some western diplomats and legislators have recently visited Cox's Bazar
to see for themselves the poor living conditions of Rohingyas.
International pressures are there on the government to give recognition to
illegal Myanmar nationals.

UNHCR, with the help of Bangladesh and Myanmar government, registered over
200,000 Rohngyas as refugees. UNHCR helped repatriate most of the
refugees. Over 28,000 Rohingyas, however, refused to return to their
homeland in Rakhain state.

The local administration in Cox's Bazar said that most of the previously
repatriated Rohingyas re-entered Bangladesh because of poverty there.

Maritime Boundary:

On maritime boundary with Myanmar, the foreign secretary said the gap with
the neighbour has been reduced substantially on the long-standing issue of
demarcating maritime boundary.

He said the 6th Technical Committee meeting held in Myanmar on March 17-18
made some progress as Myanmar side shifted its position recognising
Bangladesh's plea for "equity" principle.

Mijarul said Bangladesh completed the seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal
and the results are satisfactory. On the basis of the survey results, he
said, Bangladesh will submit its claim on its territorial sea in the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by the deadline of July 11,
2011.

Nuclear power plant:

Mijarul said a high-powered delegation led by two advisers of the prime
minister -- Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowhdury and Dr Mashiur Rahman -- are now
visiting Russia and Poland where they will discuss all possible sources of
energy starting from nuclear to solar energy.

He said earlier Bangladesh and Russia signed an MoU for cooperation in
using nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.

"Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will visit Moscow soon and hold talks with her
Russian counterpart on wide-ranging issues including the nuclear power
plant," Mijarul told reporters.

____________________________________

April 10, Irrawaddy
Landmine victims find solace at Mae La – Alex Ellgee

As the last rays of sun beam through the wooden wall, the choir assembles
in the hut. Without delay, the men bellow out the first verse of a Karen
song.

One member of the choir tilts his head back, seemingly fully engrossed in
the sounds around him while another raises his amputated arm to his ear.
The back row breaks off into a harmony filling the room with melancholic
songs of freedom and hope for their people.

They have been brought together by a love of music, but this is not your
average choir. These men have formed a bond as a result of their
near-fatal encounters with landmines.

“In my village, I had never seen a blind man or a person without a limb,
so when I lost my sight I felt like such an outsider and lost all hope,”
said Has Ka Tarai, who at 15 years of age, is the youngest member of the
choir.

When he was 12, Burmese government forces stormed his village, deep in
Karen State, burning down all the homes. He and his mother fled to the
jungle where they hid for days till they thought it would be safe to
return.

As they walked up the hill to the village, Has Ka Tarai recalls being
excited to return home. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground; he had hit
a landmine with a knife he was playing with.

He says he remembers feeling a pain in his eyes, something he compares to
ants eating out his eyeballs. He remembers the sound of his mother
shouting and crying. He was blinded and lost much of his hearing.

It has been well documented that the Burmese army often leaves landmines
outside villages they raid in order to deter people from returning to
their homes. By doing so, they are able to control more territory and
leave a psychological scar on the jungle communities who reject their
rule.

For two months, Has Ka Tarai’s eyes went untreated until a Free Burma
Ranger medic came to the village. Seeing how severe his condition was, the
medic took him all the way to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Has Ka Tasrai was
told he would never see again.

He didn’t want to go back to his village, fearing for his life. Instead,
he was offered a chance to stay at “Care Villa,” a foundation set up in
2000 by the Karen Handicap Welfare Association to look after landmine
victims at Mae La Refugee Camp in Thailand.

Not only have many of the residents at Care Villa lost limbs, but many
have lost their sight as well. Basic daily activities can be extremely
difficult for them. Before coming to Care Villa, many of them stayed with
friends or family who were unable to help satisfactorily. Many say they
fell into heavy depression.

“They feel like such a burden on their friends and families because they
can’t do anything to help around the house. They get lonely and depressed.
Some get suicidal,” Saw Ler Lay Kler, the director of Care Villa, told The
Irrawaddy as he sat on a wooden veranda looking over the cramped huts
which make up the refugee camp.

Care Villa clinic has four carers who look after the 18 men and one woman
who live there. Until recently their living conditions were desperate:
they had to sleep on the floor under a leaking roof.

However, their situation has recently gotr much better, they say. An
organization called Worldwide Impact donated beds and rebuilt their roof. 
Dutch relief organization ZOA has initiated a paid employment program for
them—three days a week agricultural work—which gives them some pocket
money. The residents also make handicrafts which they sell around the
camp, and have lessons in yoga.

But what they appear bto enjoy most is singing. They practice almost every
day, either formally as a choir or with Has Ka Tarai playing his guitar.

“Although we do many activities, my favorite is singing in the choir. It
helps to give me strength and hope,” said Has Ka Tarai.

The choir has gained a notable reputation in the border region and has
been invited to sing at churches up and down the border. Because all 19
are devout Christians, singing in the bible school is a major part of
their lives.

Religion has long been cited as one of the major factors fueling the fight
between the Karen rebel KNLA and the Burmese military junta, which is
allied with the Buddhist Karen army, the DKBA. Being vastly outnumbered,
the KNLA has long depended on landmines for their survival.

Thirty-two-year-old Pa Ko is a former KNLA soldier who lost both his arms
and sight during an attack on the KNLA's seventh brigade by Burmese
troops. While he was trying to defuse a landmine which the SPDC had laid,
it exploded in his face, leaving him feeling helpless for years.

Despite his injuries, he said he still doesn’t condemn the KNLA using
landmines.

“In Karen State, the people suffer from so much oppression by the SPDC. We
try to fight back, but we are so few, compared to their army. We need to
use landmines for our defence,” he told The Irrawaddy, scratching his
closed eye with his stump of an arm.

International activists and NGOs have condemned the KNLA’s use of
landmines, citing the substantial injuries that civilians have incurred
along the Thai-Burmese border.

In response to International Landmine Day, leaders of Burma's main
opposition party, the National League for Democracy, called on the SPDC
and all ethnic armies to stop using landmines. They voiced their concern
about the growing number of civilians being injured by landmines and
stated that if they were in power they would sign an international
agreement forbidding their use.

But Pa Ko says it isn't an option.

“If we have peace and justice in Karen State, then we would not have to
use them. We have to defend ourselves till we have freedom,” he said.

The sentiment appeared to be shared by all the members of the group.

As the sun disappears behind the mountain which looms over Mae La, the
choir finishes their song and heads to the dining room. Some of the group,
who were minutes before singing with such pride, are unable to feed
themselves and require the carers to help them.

Commenting on his difficult living conditions, one of the residents said;
“I can’t eat by myself, but at least I am not alone—I have my brothers to
sing with.”

____________________________________

April 10, Bangkok Post
Quick on the draw – Phil Thorton

Burma's military dictatorship has ruled the country with an iron fist for
many years, but one man has traded in his gun for a pen which he uses to
lampoon the uniformed hard men of Burma

Cartoonist Harn Lay, grins, draws a quick sharp line and Burma's feared
dictator, General Than Shwe, is skewered like a chicken, ready for
roasting. Harn Lay says he detests General Than Shwe and his regime and it
shows in the cartoons he draws for The Irrawaddy Magazine, Democratic
Voice of Burma, Voice of America and the Shan Herald Agency for News.

"Than Shwe's a pumped up bully. I try to show how ridiculous he is, a
little fat man in a uniform. His only power, his gun."

Cartoons are often not taken as "serious" as the editorial comment they
appear next to, but this ability to sneak under the censors' radar allows
them a huge amount of devastating freedom to inflict hurt on politicians.

Harn Lay says it is the role of the artist to point out the emperor is
naked, even when it is the so-called "good guys".

"It's like a responsibility. I stand by the victims of the powerful and
the ruthless. I try to make people not only laugh, but to be aware of how
they can be manipulated. Sometimes my cartoons have upset the
pro-democracy and aid groups."

Harn Lay, 44, is from Shan State, and says he has seen the mad and
powerful of Burma up close, and it isn't pretty.

"When I was younger, I joined the Mong Tai Army (MTA) to fight for Shan
freedom and independence. But it was an illusion. Khun Sa [the MTA leader]
was power mad, the same as Than Shwe. He was like a kid, no control, he
wanted everything he saw."

Khun Sa, as well as being the leader of the MTA, was on the world's most
wanted list for running a vast drug-trafficking operation out of the
Golden Triangle region that links Thailand, Laos and Burma.

Harn Lay explained why he joined Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army.

"Khun Sa told us he was fighting for independence and the drug money would
buy arms, but he used the money for himself. He said life would get better
for the Shan people if we fought with him, but it only got worse."

Harn Lay stops smiling as he remembers back to the days when he had to
have his meals at the same table as the notorious drug lord, and says
being around Khun Sa was a nightmare.

"He was moody. If he didn't like you, it was off with your head. It was
always personal with him, never political. There were no laws, only his
dark moods." Khun Sa, dubbed by international law enforcement agencies as
the "Prince of Death" and Burma's "King of Opium", died in 2007.

Harn Lay realised it was time to put down the gun and pick up his pen.

"The gun kills, the pen doesn't. I try to use cartoons to express my
politics, the injustices people suffer and to make them laugh at the
powerful - they can't be too powerful if people are laughing at them."

Harn Lay picks up a book of his cartoons, Defiant Humor, published by The
Irrawaddy Magazine, and flicks to a drawing of two crumbling statutes. The
one chopped of at the ankles and lying on its side in the dirt is former
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and the other, still standing, is Burma's
leader Than Shwe. Than Shwe's statue is falling apart and a bird has built
a nest on its head. Harn Lay chuckles.

"Than Shwe doesn't realise it, but he's like an ant in the sugar bowl -
one day he'll die there. All dictators fall eventually and one day my
daughter, like the people of Burma, will live freely."

Harn Lay says he was encouraged to paint, read and draw cartoons by his
father.

"My father was a rice miller, but he painted, wrote poetry and short
stories. He had a collection of cartoon books and we'd look at them
together. My father's library was big. He had many English language
magazines and they had lots of cartoons in them."

Harn Lay studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Rangoon and drew film posters
for theatres before starting out as a cartoonist.

Sai Kheunsai Jaiyen, the editor of SHAN, a former army colleague of Harn
Lay's, says the cartoonist has always been unafraid to voice his opinion.

"When we were in the MTA together Harn Lay and others put themselves at
great risk when they mutinied against Khun Sa. I regularly use Harn Lay's
cartoons in our paper. His cartoons are a powerful message. I hope Than
Shwe sees them. His work is strong and good, but he's not arrogant, he's a
humble man."

If Khuensai thinks Harn Lay is humble, his ancestry is anything but.
Kheunsai leans in close, stirs his iced fruit drink and says Harn Lay is a
direct descendent of the Shan royal family.

When I later ask Harn Lay about his royal connections, he's quick to
dismiss them.

"My father was opposed to the monarchy, he was a republican, as I am, but
it is true my uncle and grandfather were Shan [Tai] kings."

Harn Lay is anything but regal - he's more court jester. He's chunky and
his hands are constantly on the move as they draw air pictures. He
switches from impish grins to deep frowns as the gravity of how dismal
Than Shwe's Burma is.

Harn Lay credits award-winning Australian artist Bill Leak's hard-hitting
cartoons for being a professional inspiration.

"I look on the internet at many cartoonists, but I like Bill's the best.
He's strong. He doesn't hold back. I love the directness of his work. He
doesn't miss his targets."

If Harn Lay is full of admiration for Bill Leak and his cartoons, the
feeling is mutual. In a telephone interview Bill Leak said he was honoured
to be an inspiration to Harn Lay.

"I am so impressed by his drawing that I'm now a fan of his too. I'm in
absolute awe of him and the work he does."

But not everyone is in love with either of the two cartoonists.

Both Leak and Harn Lay receive their fair share of threats from the
powerful people they upset. Leak says he used to receive abusive mail and
threats daily.

"I wear them like a badge of honour. The intention is to upset the big and
the powerful, stir things up a bit. I'm lucky the editor at The Australian
newspaper gives me an enormous leeway. The editorial group enjoys the idea
that it [cartoon] will cause an uproar."

Likewise, Harn Lay's cartoons have upset politicians on both sides of the
Thai-Burma border.

"I get many strongly worded letters. I even got one from a former prime
minister, now dead."

Harn Lay says his intention is to get under the skin of the ruthless and
powerful dictators of Burma.

"Translated my name means a leaf that causes irritation and itching. I
want to make these powerful generals uncomfortable. I want to show people
what they are really like without the protection of their uniforms and I
want to show they are mortal."

Harn Lay says he enjoys the support of his wife Yuwadee and his daughter
Wan Wan, but says they can be his harshest critics.

"I met Yuwadee 16 years ago in Shan State. I test my work out on her for
clarity. If she laughs, I know I'm on track."

Harn Lay says the cruelty of the Burma regime is not a laughing matter.

"Every Burmese person has been hurt or touched by their brutality. In 2007
they killed my friend Nong Dang by pouring boiling water down his throat.
I've given up the gun, but I'll keep drawing and try to expose this regime
for the criminals they are."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 10, Irrawaddy
Weekly business roundup – William Boot


Belarus Bids to Bypass Arms Boycott with Burma Sales

The East European country of Belarus is bidding to develop military
weapons sales to Burma following a week-long visit by a high-ranking
delegation.

A team from the Belarusian state military and technical committee met
Burmese army representatives to discuss military and technical
cooperation, a European report said this week.

It was the second meeting between the two countries. A Burmese delegation
went to Belarus last June.

Although foreign currency revenues from contracts with this state [Burma]
remain insignificant, there are certain prospects for the development of
cooperation in the military and technical sphere, delegation official
Uladzimir Lawranyuk told the Belarus news agency Belapan on April 7.

Belarus is on a United States™ government restricted list because of its
arms sales to unstable countries, such as North Korea and Sudan.

The US report lists Belarus as the 11th largest arms exporter in the
world, with sales of at least US $1 billion between 1999 and 2006.

Western countries have called for a total weapons embargo on Burma, which
buys military equipment from a number of countries, including China,
India, Russia, Ukraine and Serbia.

Vietnam: Much Remains To Be Done on Asean Economic Union

Asean is a harmonious organization which has made enormous progress in
becoming a œclosely-integrated political and economic entity, Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung claimed on April 8.

His welcoming speech to the 16th summit of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) made no mention of conflicts in Burma, the military
confrontations in a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, or the
severe political crisis within Thailand which has forced the Thai prime
minister to cancel his participation in the summit.

The Hanoi meeting, in the rotating chairmanship of Asean held by Vietnam,
is aimed at solidifying ambitions for the 10-country association to become
a European Union-like organization by 2015—seen by most observers as an
impossible target.

In a sign that Asean leaders might now be recognizing this, Nguyen Tan
Dung warned that œmuch remains to be done to actually imitate the European
Union.

It is now imperative to make stronger efforts to really bring the Asean
Charter into life, accelerate Asean economic integration and work out a
suitable model for sustainable economic development, he said.

Thais Fund Road to South Burma for Bangkok Link

Thailand is spending US $11 million to expand trade and port links into
southern Burma.

The Thai government, via the commerce ministry, will use the funding to
build a road linking the Thai town of Kanchanaburi with the Burma port of
Tavoy, and to create a new permanent border crossing for trade further
south near Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The Thai ministry said the developments were agreed at trade talks in the
Thai resort town of Hua Hin, on the sidelines of the Mekong Rivers
Commission conference.

The aim of the two links is to cut the cost and time of transporting farm
and sea produce from Burma into Thailand.

Bangkok is about 300 kilometers from Tavoy in a direct line via Kanchanaburi.

The developments are forecast to be completed some time in 2013, said the
Thai commerce ministry.

Australian Trade with Burma Grows Despite Sanctions

Trade between Australia and Burma has grown 160 percent over the last year
despite sanctions imposed by the Australian government since 2007, a human
rights campaign group has alleged.

The increased trade is mainly in textiles such as women's clothes,
communications and technical equipment, and fish, but does not include
investment in Burma's state-controlled oil and gas industry, said the
Burma Campaign Australia (BCA) this week.

Trade between Australia and Burma has grown significantly over the past
five years. In the last year alone, it increased 160 per cent, said BCA
spokeswoman Zetty Brake.

No detailed breakdown of the increase has been disclosed.

Blanket sanctions are not imposed by Australia against Burma, but the
government has been enforcing so-called targeted sanctions on Burmese
financial institutions and regime leaders since October 2007.

The BCA said it seeks an extension of government-imposed targeted
sanctions and government support for a total trade ban until there is
regime change.

____________________________________
ASEAN

April 11, Agence France Presse
Challenges ahead for visions of an ASEAN community

Hanoi – Street vendor Ta Thi Huong has never heard of the "ASEAN
Community" which Southeast Asian leaders spent two days last week trying
to refine.

"ASEAN? I don't know what it is," says Huong, 40, who wears a traditional
conical bamboo hat as she sells apricots on the streets of the Vietnamese
capital Hanoi. "What community?"

Making the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meaningful for
the region's 590 million citizens is one of the bloc's challenges but
observers say the vision faces even more fundamental issues.

Analysts say it is weighed down by wide development gaps within the
region, entrenched domestic interests and the perennial distraction of
Myanmar's failure to embrace democracy.

Focused on economic issues for most of its existence, ASEAN's 10 members
in 2008 adopted a charter committing them to tighter links.

The group aims to form by 2015 a "community" based on free trade, common
democratic ideals, and shared social goals including a common identity.

Senior government officials admit that progress has been greatest in the
economic sphere, while the political and social "pillars" of their
community need strengthening.

"It's easy to have a harmonisation of interests on the economic sphere,"
said Christopher Roberts, an expert in Asian politics and security at the
University of Canberra.

But he said that creating a cohesive community was a task better carried
out over decades and that the 2015 goal was unrealistic.

Political, security and human rights issues are "the real point of
contention" between the very diverse group of countries, Roberts said.

ASEAN's membership ranges from communist Vietnam and Laos -- one of Asia's
poorest nations -- to the Westernised city-state of Singapore, the
absolute monarchy of Brunei and the vibrant democracy of Indonesia.

Other members are Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and
military-ruled Myanmar.

An ASEAN summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi which ended Friday was again
overshadowed by Myanmar, and by protests in Bangkok which prevented Thai
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from attending.

Thailand's long-running political drama is among the domestic issues
within ASEAN nations which are distracting it from moving forward
collectively, analysts say.

The group has been divided over how to respond to Myanmar, which is under
United States and European Union sanctions.

But on Friday it urged Myanmar to ensure that this year's planned
elections, which have been boycotted by the opposition, are fair and
include all parties.

"You talk of a community, it means that there must be some degree of
commonality within the region but as you know ASEAN is made up of
countries of varying nature," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty
Natalegawa.

"Economically less so, but certainly in the political area, we have
different political systems working in our neighbourhood."

He said that should not be a problem as long as everyone is committed to
the same universal principles including human rights and democracy.

At their summit, foreign ministers fleshed out their vision of a
rules-based regional community by signing a protocol to help member
nations resolve conflicts.

Scarred by wars in the 1960s and 1970s, Southeast Asian nations have
largely lived peacefully together for at least two decades, but
smaller-scale conflicts and sovereignty disputes persist.

Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop
standoff over a disputed temple on their border since July 2008. Soldiers
have died on both sides.

Although ASEAN has helped the region avoid war and has allowed its members
to get to know each other better, it "has not been really effective" on
bilateral issues like the Thai-Cambodia dispute, said Pavin
Chachavalpongpun from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in
Singapore.

"It it comes down to national interest, some members, they are not willing
to rely on ASEAN... so at the end of the day the term 'community' is
rather superficial," he said.

Ahead of the summit, ASEAN took another step towards building the social
aspect of its community with the inauguration of a commission to address
the rights of women and children.

Natalegawa, who says the ASEAN Community cannot be fairly compared with
the much longer-established European Union, said one of group's challenges
is how to make a difference in ordinary people's lives.

If it can do that, Huong, the Hanoi apricot seller, will take notice.

"I will like it if it makes our country better," she said, laughing.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
The General must not be disturbed’ – Benedict Rogers

Burma’s Senior General Than Shwe is undoubtedly number one. Since he took
power in 1992, he has consolidated his own personal position in a way that
means Burma is no longer ruled by a collection of Generals, as it was from
September 1988 until the mid-1990s, but by one man, Burma’s tyrant.

Evidence of this is abundant, but an illustration came when British
politician Andrew Mitchell MP visited Rangoon in 2007. He asked the Deputy
Foreign Minister if he could visit Aung San Suu Kyi. The Deputy Foreign
Minister trembled, saying only one man could give permission:  Than Shwe.
“Well call him up then,” Mitchell suggested. Such an idea was enough to
turn the Deputy Foreign Minister’s face pale. The Senior General must not
be disturbed, he retorted.

Writing a biography of Than Shwe is far from easy. Few people know much
about him, and access to him or his family, for an activist like me, is
impossible. I requested an interview with him, and with the Burmese
ambassador in London, but received no reply. Instead, I had to rely on
anecdotes from defectors from the Burma Army who have known him at
different times, during his military training, his time as South-West
Regional Commander and as Senior General, and the impressions of
international diplomats who have met him. I conducted extensive interviews
with people such as former UN Special Envoy Razali Ismail, former British
ambassador Mark Canning, former Australian, American, Japanese and Thai
diplomats, and others. I also travelled to Burma, visiting Naypyidaw and
talking to people in various parts of the country and along its borders
about life under Than Shwe’s rule. I was told many stories, some of which
I believe are true and others are impossible to verify. Rumour surrounds
Than Shwe, but even if some stories are untrue, the fact that they spread
says something about him and his family, and how widely disliked they are.
In every rumour, there is at least a grain of truth, a flash of insight
into his character and mindset.

Than Shwe was born in Kyaukse, an area near Mandalay well known for its
conservative culture. His education was limited, and after only a year as
a postman, he joined the Officer Training School (OTS) and rose through
the ranks of the Tatmadaw. In 1958, the year the military took control of
the government for the first time, Than Shwe joined the office of the
Director of Education and Psychological Warfare, where he gained grounding
in the skills of propaganda and divide-and-rule which he uses to
manipulate and destroy his opponents today. His time in the Central School
of Political Sciences a few years later was also influential. Tasked with
teaching the Burmese Way to Socialism, Ne Win’s ideological framework
designed to justify military rule, described by one former diplomat as “an
amalgam of Karl Marx and Groucho Marx”, Than Shwe taught history. His love
of the ancient Burmese warrior kings, on whom he models himself, and his
penchant for giving visiting diplomats long, distorted lectures on Burmese
history, is likely to have grown from this time. At least one reason for
the move to a new capital, Naypyidaw, described by former British
ambassador Mark Canning as “the most awful place you have ever been to,”
is that Burmese kings had a tradition of building new capitals, as part of
their legacy. Naypyidaw means “the Seat of Kings”, and is part of Than
Shwe’s legacy.

According to those who knew Than Shwe during the 1960s and 1970s, he was
not regarded as a particularly successful soldier.  Sein Thaung says he
was “not very smart, very quiet, and always willing to say things to
please the commander 
 but no one was impressed.” But this very lack of
flair, ability, charisma and overt ambition was the secret of his success.
“Than Shwe kept quiet – he knew that if you show off too much in the
military, you are likely to be chopped,” said one of his former
colleagues.

In fact, some question the extent of his battlefield experience
altogether, and most doubt that the medals he wears today were earned.
There are even some stories of real incompetence and cowardice. Former
Communist solder Aung Kyaw Zaw claims that in a battle between the
Tatmadaw and the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1980, Than Shwe was
ordered to move his troops into Khangtang and the Loi Mwe Valley. He
fulfilled this command, but then switched off his radio for two days and
disappeared. “He went to sleep in the valley,” says Aung Kyaw Zaw. “He
didn’t want to fight.”When he finally resumed communications, his
superiors were furious. “They told him to take off his badge and rank and
hand them over to senior officers. They told him he was incapable.”

Bizarrely, however, it was his very lack of competence that brought him to
Ne Win’s attention. Although Ne Win and his top advisors doubted Than
Shwe’s military prowess, they had no reservations about his loyalty.  “Ne
Win didn’t like good soldiers, he only liked followers, dull people like
Than Shwe,” concludes Aung Kyaw Zaw.

Than Shwe benefited from Ne Win’s suspicion of potential rivals in the
regime, particularly after the coup plot against Ne Win in 1976, and was
rewarded for his loyalty. His rose to become South-West Regional
Commander, where according to those who knew him he developed a passion
for infrastructure projects and false propaganda. He embarked on a
campaign to improve literacy rates, and declared victory, claiming to have
eliminated illiteracy in the Irrawaddy Delta. Others who were there at the
time claim there remained many people who could not read or write.

Despite presiding over a system of widespread forced labour, Than Shwe
gained a reputation among those who worked for him as Regional Commander
as a modest man with simple tastes and no signs of the cruelty and
corruption endemic in his family and regime today. One of his former staff
says that in the early 1980s, Than Shwe was “a nice guy”.

But if a palm-reader were consulted, they would not conclude that Than
Shwe is a nice guy. According to palm-readers, most people have three
lines on their palms: a life line, indicating health, a head line
representing intellect, and a heart line, meaning compassion. Look at a
photograph of Than Shwe waving, and you will see: he has no heart line.

After the brutal suppression of the democracy movement in 1988 and the
return of a fully-fledged military regime, Than Shwe became the number
two, under General Saw Maung. He manoeuvred skilfully to oust Saw Maung in
1992, perhaps together with Khin Nyunt, and became the Senior General.
Rumours suggest Than Shwe may have been involved in drugging Saw Maung.
However, even despite his ruthlessness in ousting Saw Maung, Than Shwe was
perceived as a stop-gap. Ne Win saw him as less of a threat to him than
Khin Nyunt, and therefore a safer bet. Diplomats say he was seen as a
“short-termer”. A former Thai ambassador recalls: “He played the fool at
the beginning, giving the impression of a parochial, unambitious person,
giving Ne Win the impression that he could trust him, that he was not
hungry for power. He was a mastermind – he fooled everybody.”

Razali Ismail says Than Shwe can be “very charming and friendly when he
wants to be,” but most diplomats who have met him describe him as “cold
and humourless”.  Humour, said one, “is not part of his personality” and
he has a “plump, sullen face”. He speaks English quite well, loves
Manchester United, watches Chinese Shaolin martial arts movies, reads TIME
magazine and, reportedly, surfs the Internet. He eats simply, preferring
basic curries, fried morning glory, fish-head soup and gourd and magnolia
fritters. He is slow to make decisions, but when he does, he tends to
overreact. During the Saffron Revolution, he reportedly went into a deep
depression, and refused to eat anything except chicken rice soup.

His wife, Kyaing Kyaing, is a significant influence, particularly as far
as astrologers are concerned. She had been married before, to another
soldier who was killed in battle. Versions vary, but one account suggests
Than Shwe was ordered by his superior to marry his fallen comrade’s widow,
while another version says soldiers drew lots to decide who should marry
her and he drew the short straw. She is known to dislike Aung San Suu Kyi
at least as much as he does, if not more. Former diplomats say that Aung
San Suu Kyi “represents everything that [the Generals and their wives] are
not” – she is beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated, highly-educated and
well-travelled.

How has Than Shwe maintained, indeed tightened, such a strong personal
grip on power? He is despised and feared in equal measure, yet unlike
other dictators, possesses no charisma to inspire loyalty. The answer,
according to one diplomat, is that he controls the levers of power,
especially regarding patronage and promotion. Many soldiers owe their
careers to him, just as he owed his to Ne Win. Only when he had reached
the very top did Than Shwe assert his own power. When he went as far as
putting Ne Win and his family under house arrest, it was, says a former
diplomat, “a pretty powerful statement of intent.” He has built several
power bases, notably the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA),
a group of business cronies, the new capital, a new constitution and fake
elections that will ensure military rule and protection for him and his
family after his eventual retirement or death.

These are just some of the themes I explore in my book, in addition to his
family’s greed and corruption, his grandson’s antics and the crimes
against humanity perpetrated by his regime. In addition, the book examines
the influence of astrology, the drugs trade, the nuclear programme, arms
purchases, biological and chemical weapons, relations with China, Russia
and North Korea, Khin Nyunt’s demise, Maung Aye’s role, the development of
the USDA and Swann Arr Shin, the cronies, the succession, Naypyidaw, the
Saffron Revolution, Cyclone Nargis and Than Shwe’s attitudes toward Aung
San Suu Kyi who, according to Razali Ismail, “frightened the hell out of
the military”. The conclusion I reach is that Than Shwe is a skilled
manipulator, who knows how to play people off each other. Although not
educated academically, it is a mistake to underestimate him or to think of
him as mad or stupid. He is ruthless and brutal, but he knows what he
wants and has shown a remarkable ability to get it. His very
colourlessness and lack of flamboyance is the secret of his success.

Benedict Rogers is a writer and human rights activist working with
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). His book Than Shwe: Unmasking
Burma’s Tyrant will be published by Silkworm Books in June 2010.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

April 10, Asian Human Rights Commission
Elections without a judiciary

One of the basic prerequisites of a fair election is that agencies exist
which are responsible for settling disputes that arise before, during and
afterwards. These disputes take many forms, and are a normal part of
electoral politics. It is essential that well-prepared institutions can
address these disputes within rules that are clearly set down and
understood in advance, and can resolve disputes over the rules themselves.

Electoral commissions can perform some of these tasks. When functioning
effectively, an electoral commission can secure party compliance with
rules designed to ensure a fair election, and can greatly improve public
confidence in the outcome. But when disputes rest on problems arising from
the rules themselves, on fundamental problems of law, it is the judiciary
that must decide.

Just as a competitive football game cannot be played without an umpire, an
election cannot be run fairly without a judiciary with the capacity to
consider and rule on problems of law arising from the electoral process.
Where such a judiciary does not exist, it is needless to ask whether or
not an election can be fair.

Therefore, it is irrelevant to begin any discussion about whether the
elections that the military government of Burma is planning for later this
year can be fair. The country has no judiciary capable of performing the
function required of it to ensure fair elections. Without it, disputes
arising in the process, like during the football game without an umpire,
cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of either the parties involved, or
the public.

If this plain fact in any way needed to be proven, then it has already
been by way of an application from the National League for Democracy to
the Supreme Court during March. This party won 392 out of 485 seats in the
1990 election, which some observers have mistakenly described as fair,
because the military government did not manipulate the counting of votes
itself. But the outcome of the election did not result in the league being
entitled to form a government, because then--as now--there was no
judiciary capable of enforcing results.

On 23 March 2010 the NLD submitted a miscellaneous civil application to
the court under the Judiciary Law 2000 and the Specific Relief Act 1887.
The league asked the court to examine provisions of the new Political
Parties Registration Law 2010 that prohibit convicted serving prisoners
from establishing or participating in political parties.

Whereas the 2008 Constitution prohibits convicted prisoners from being
members of parliament, the new law prohibits these persons from being
involved in a political party. As the NLD has hundreds of members behind
bars--and hundreds of others who could be detained, prosecuted and
convicted at any time--its concern over these provisions is obvious.
Therefore, it approached the court for an interpretation of the law: that
is, it sought to clarify a fundamental question on which the whole
electoral process hinges.

According to the NLD, the application did not even go before a judge.
Instead it was returned by lunchtime on the same day with an official
giving the reason that, "We do not have jurisdiction." The party has since
submitted a special leave to appeal by way of a letter to the chief
justice, pointing out that it is illegal to return an application without
even stamping and registering it in the court records. No details are yet
known about the progress of this latest attempt.

In some countries, courts without effective authority over matters that
are technically within their domain go through the pretence of hearing and
deciding on these things at least to impress on the government and public
that they are cognizant of their responsibilities, even if they cannot
carry them out, and still have a degree of self respect that requires the
keeping up of appearances. But the courts in Burma, or Myanmar as it is
officially known, have lost even these minimal qualities of a judiciary.
It is nothing strange for their personnel that the planned electoral
process is beyond their authority. Indeed, it would be far stranger for
them to think that they would actually have any authority over actions of
the executive.

The refusal of the court to hear the application concerning the Political
Parties Registration Law will affect some parties more than others. It
evidently contributed to the NLD's decision at the end of March not to
register and instead to engage in social work for the foreseeable future.
It will also directly affect the second-placed party in the 1990 election,
the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, whose chairman and general
secretary are, among other party members, serving lengthy sentences for
their political activities. The Asian Human Rights Commission has
previously issued appeals on their cases (AHRC UA-017-2007), and the
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has opined that their
imprisonment is arbitrary (Opinion No. 26/2008, A/HRC/13/30/Add.1);
however, to date they remain in jail.

But ultimately the refusal of the court goes beyond questions of the
damage to specific parties and individuals and to those concerned with the
wider conditions in Burma inimical to electoral process. As the Supreme
Court's own personnel admit that it does not have jurisdiction to consider
the terms of the laws under which the proposed elections will be held, and
that they cannot accept applications to examine the legal parameters of
these laws with reference to other existing laws, then Burma is set to
have elections without a judiciary. Such elections, like the football game
without an umpire, cannot be fair. In fact, they cannot be anything but
farcical.

Discussion and analysis about the planned elections should not be lost in
the myriad technicalities of laws-by-decree, rules and electoral
procedures that the regime has and will continue to introduce so as to
push Burma towards outcomes that are amenable to its interests. Although
all these are relevant, they are subsidiary to the basic problems that
arise from the absence of any meaningful institutions for the conducting
of fair elections.

In this respect, the elections are at least an opportunity for much more
deeper and purposeful discussion about the utterly degraded conditions of
state institutions in Burma that go beyond the immediate issues arising
from the planned ballots, and to far longer and bigger problems about how
a future society can be built in which, after half a century of violent
and defective military rule, people can have some confidence in the work
of government and trust in any form of political leadership.