BurmaNet News, April 13, 2010

[Editor]

April 13, 2010, Issue #3939


INSIDE BURMA
IRIN News: MYANMAR: Coping with water scarcity in the Ayeyarwady Delta

REGIONAL
AFP: China urges reconciliation in Myanmar vote

INTERNATIONAL
The Jakarta Post: Myanmar could use S. African reconciliation model:
Activists

OPINION / OTHER
Huffington Post (US): The UN singles out big oil in Burma, with good
reason – Matthew Smith
Kaladan Press: Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh – Dr. Habib
Siddiqui and Dr. Nora Rowley
Asian Tribune: ASEAN’s dream may not come true if it fails to tame its
unprincipled member, Burma – Zin Linn




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 13, IRIN News
MYANMAR: Coping with water scarcity in the Ayeyarwady Delta

Pyinkayaing – Water scarcity has become a daily challenge in Myanmar’s
Ayeyarwaddy Delta in the dry season, with thousands still struggling after
damage to water sources by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

The delta’s inhabitants traditionally source drinking water from rainwater
harvesting, communal water ponds and tube and open wells, since most
villages do not have access to piped water and nearby tidal rivers are
saline.

The ponds help villagers during the dry season, which stretches from
November to May, but can be insufficient.

Many ponds and wells were heavily salinated when a 3m tidal surge
inundated much of the low-lying area when the cyclone struck.

Efforts to rehabilitate them are well under way. However, a 12 March forum
on Nargis recovery held by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) comprising the
government, the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
heard that an estimated 180,000 people across three townships in the delta
will probably see their primary water sources dry up during the dry season
months of March and April.

While this is half the number of the 360,000 affected delta dwellers at
risk from water shortages in 2009, agencies say more needs to be done.

“There is continued need for rehabilitation and repair of damaged water
sources,” Joseph Tadayo, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) emergency
specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Myanmar, told IRIN.

“Access to improved new water sources must be increased, in particular new
ponds and wells. Water storage and treatment at household level remains
inadequate, with high risk of contamination
 Hygiene practices, in
particular for children, are rudimentary and may lead to increased risk of
diseases,” he said.

Long-term problem

According to the TCG’s July 2008 Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA)
report, 43 percent of ponds in the delta were contaminated during Cyclone
Nargis. Household rainwater collection systems were also badly damaged.

“The main challenge is that there is insufficient good quality water
sources across the delta,” said Daniel Collison, director of emergencies
for Save the Children in Myanmar.

“Over 70 percent of people rely on ponds as their main means of access to
water, and insufficient water sources are cited as the main reason for
household water shortages, so there is an in-built long-term problem,” he
said.

UNICEF and other WASH sector cooperating partners have constructed and
rehabilitated over 3,800 water storage ponds and more than 3,000 tube and
dug wells.

But potable water is still a daily problem for 38-year-old betel seller
Aye Aye Myint from Thar Yar Gone village in Pyinkayaing District, one of
the hardest-hit areas in the delta.
"People in our village are always busy getting water. They are either
waiting for water trucking or looking for places where we can fetch water.
We can't do any other work in the dry season,” said Aye Aye Myint, who
receives a daily water ration of three litres from Save the Children.

"Though we receive drinking water, we don’t have enough for household use.
We still face difficult access to water for washing, bathing and
cleaning,” she said.

The third post-Nargis survey released in February 2010 noted that the
travel time to fetch water and return home during the 2009 dry season
averaged 72 minutes. Fetching water imposes a considerable time burden,
often on women and girls, it said.

Alternative sources

The contamination of ponds has seen a shift to alternative sources of
water, such as rainwater tanks, water trucking provided by NGOs and open
dug wells.

Since Nargis, Nay Min, a fisherman in his 40s in the village of Ma Gyi
Chyaing, has moved from relying on village ponds to water trucks, which
fill a communal water tank with well water.

"Many water ponds were saline after the cyclone. We have only a few water
ponds left but the taste of water is not as good as before,” he said.

Private water sellers are also profiting from the dry season, although a
cart of water at 1,000 kyat (US$1) - nearly a daily wage for many such as
Aye Aye Myint - makes it unaffordable for many.

“In the short term, improving access and quality of ponds and wells will
be an important investment, and will make a definite contribution to
reducing future dry season shortages,” said Save the Children’s Collison.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 13, Agence France Presse
China urges reconciliation in Myanmar vote

Beijing – China said Tuesday it hoped Myanmar's elections later this year
would lead to national reconciliation and announced Premier Wen Jiabao
would visit the country this month.

"On Myanmar's election, as a friendly neighbour we hope to see national
reconciliation of the various parties in the country to ensure national
stability and development," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

Wen will visit Myanmar as part of an April 22-25 swing through Southeast
Asia that will also take him to Brunei and Indonesia, she told reporters
at a regular news briefing.

During his Indonesia and Myanmar stops, Wen will attend celebrations for
the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with those countries and
"have extensive contact with people from different sectors," she said,
without elaborating.

Elections in military-ruled Myanmar, expected to be held by early
November, have been widely criticised as lacking credibility because of
laws that effectively bar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking
part.

They will be the country's first elections for two decades, but Suu Kyi's
political party has called a boycott over rules that would have forced it
to expel her as leader if it wanted to participate.

China is the isolated state's sole major ally and trade partner.

Energy-hungry China is an eager buyer of Myanmar's sizeable natural gas
reserves and has in the past tried to shield its ruling junta from
international sanctions imposed over its poor human rights record.

During his Southeast Asian trip, Wen will meet with Brunei's Sultan
Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and
"leaders of Myanmar," Jiang said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 13, The Jakarta Post
Myanmar could use S. African reconciliation model: Activists – Lilian
Budianto

International sanctions and domestic pressure should be combined to push
for democracy reform that will lead to reconciliation in the
military-ruled Myanmar, activists at an international forum said here
Monday.

With upcoming elections later this year, Myanmar is expected to fail in
bringing about a political change, the forum heard. Activists worldwide
have agreed that punishment and internal pressure must be maximized for
Myanmar’s reform to work, while at the same time looking into
reconciliation between the ruling and opposition groups.

Khin Maung Win, the Oslo-based deputy director executive of the Democratic
Voice of Burma, said political reform in Myanmar had not been working in
the absence of synergy between those preferring engagement and those
looking for more sanctions.

“I’d say we have to engage Myanmar and at the same time make sanctions an
option.”

Khin was speaking on a sidelines of the “World Movement for Democracy”, an
international symposium that runs from April 11-14, and hosts 600
activists from 110 countries around the world.

Recognizing the need for domestic factors as the main force for reform
within Myanmar, Khin also said it had so far had  little success.

“We have had several uprisings since the elections in 1990, but none was
successful because the military were so powerful. Realistically speaking,
you cannot hope the common people will rally again and expect it will
eventually work without help from the outside,” he said.

The US and other western countries have imposed economic sanctions on
Myanmar, while Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries have opposed
the sanctions, saying the economic isolation will not help to bring about
change.

Rama Naidu, the executive director of the Durban-based Democracy
Development Program, said the approach applied in South Africa could be
adopted for Myanmar to woo the military rulers to hand over power.

South Africa survived the aftermath of the apartheid system because its
truth and reconciliation commission managed to find a resolution that
worked both for the oppressors and victims, he said. The commission did
not bring perpetrators in the apartheid system to justice.

“We have to compromise when we come seeking a reconciliation. Each country
has their own culture and accepted ways of  how to deal with this ... We
can use our local standard in this case. The international standard of
bringing perpetrators to justice may not be the best [way to approach our
circumstances].”

Carl Gershman, the president of the Washington-based National Endowment
for Democracy, said reconciliation should limit vengeance and retribution
toward past perpetrators because this would destabilize the democratic
process.

“We have to make a compromise and find a middle ground that can work for
everybody. And I think the military junta will open more room for a change
if they know they have some future after they are no longer in power,” he
said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 13, Huffington Post (US)
The UN singles out big oil in Burma, with good reason – Matthew Smith

In a surprising report last month to the UN Human Rights Council, UN
Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on human rights Tomás Quintana recommended an
official "commission of inquiry" into possible crimes against humanity and
war crimes in military-ruled Burma (Myanmar).

Although the call for such a commission was widely covered in media and
policy circles, a critical section of the report went completely
overlooked and unreported: Quintana actually became the first UNSR to take
specific aim at the ruling State Peace and Development Council's corporate
partners, singling out problematic foreign oil companies operating in the
country.

Coming after a 5-day mission to Burma, the report pulls no punches. It
notes "rampant forced labor" connected to the country's four main natural
gas projects, including the transnational Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand
and the Shwe gas pipeline to China.

Confirming what's long been documented, the report notes the Yadana and
Shwe companies "rely on the Myanmar military to provide security for their
projects."

Mentioning by name only South Korea's Daewoo International and Thailand's
PTTEP, Quintana in effect implicated a who's who of Big Oil: The Yadana
project, meaning "treasure," is operated by Total (France), Chevron (US),
and PTTEP; and Shwe, meaning "gold," is operated by Daewoo International,
state-owned companies from India and South Korea, and the China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

While this is the UNSR's first mention of the human rights impacts of
foreign-led energy projects in Burma, at EarthRights International (ERI),
we've documented for years how overland gas pipelines and other
billion-dollar installations in the country are physically secured by the
Tatmadaw -- the Burmese Army -- resulting in forced labor, killings in
cold blood, rape, torture, and other abuses against local residents.

The Tatmadaw is a decentralized, complicated organization of hundreds of
thousands of poor, uneducated, predominantly ethnic Burman soldiers. It's
the most powerful political actor in the ethnically diverse country, and
the most brutal. It also happens to include thousands of impressionable
children, forced from their families, trained to be soldiers, and taught
in the way of indiscriminate violence.

In 2009, one former child soldier explained to ERI how he was taken by the
Tatmadaw from his family at age 15, and how his craven superiors
ruthlessly burned the feet of children who tried to escape their clutches.
This particular soldier "graduated" to provide security for Total and
Chevron's pipeline, where he in turn conscripted local villagers for
forced labor.

For years, Total and Chevron's pipeline has resulted in abuses like this:
forced labor, killings, rape, torture. In recent weeks we documented two
extrajudicial killings and numerous instances of forced labor committed by
battalion #282, known locally as "Total's battalion," a notorious regiment
that's been securing the project since the 1990s.

This is a grave problem. The burgeoning and controversial corporate social
responsibility agenda hasn't effectively addressed it, regardless of what
some companies and analysts claim, and victims of corporate human rights
abuses still lack access to justice, despite lawsuits brought by Burmese
villagers against Total and Unocal (now Chevron) in the companies' home
states.

What's more, there's another batch of problems with Burma's gas sector.
These involve cold hard cash, and were also noted by Quintana: For years,
lucrative gas exports have lined the camouflaged pockets of the ruling
military regime while the ailing country has sunk deeper into poverty.
That's inherently problematic. In 2009, ERI calculated how Total and
Chevron's pipeline generated over US$7.5 billion dollars from 2000-2008,
the lion's share going to the ruling junta.

This cash influx has only complicated the already deep military-politico
complex in the country, not least of all by contributing to high-level
corruption. Last September, we exposed how gas revenues from Total and
Chevron's pipeline were being siphoned by the Burmese elite into offshore
bank accounts in Singapore, rather than to the national economy or
development.

Now, the same junta managing this cash is orchestrating the country's
first elections in 20 years, controversially excluding over 2,100
political prisoners (by virtue of keeping them behind bars), including
Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy
party just recently decided to boycott the elections.

In this context, the decision was made by the junta and its partners to
simultaneously move forward with the construction of yet another pipeline:
the Shwe gas pipeline to China, operated by Daewoo and CNPC. Costing
nearly US$2 billion to construct, it'll be almost 20 times longer than
Yadana, moving gas valued at a whopping US$30 billion, according to the
Shwe Gas Movement.

The pipeline comes amidst a palpable threat of civil war between the
Tatmadaw and non-state ethnic armies near the northern end of the project,
in Shan State, where there's a danger of thousands of refugee out-flows to
China.

Villagers in some areas of the project aren't thinking about elections as
much as the risk they'll lose their land and have to do forced labor.
Where construction has already begun, so too have land confiscations and
persecutions against the pipeline's dissenters.

In a politically unstable "election year," when the world's attention will
focus on Burma, one would think that risky transnational mega-development
projects would be approached with caution, by both the junta and its
corporate partners.

Apparently, that's not the case.

Rather than move full speed ahead, Daewoo International, its partners, and
CNPC should instead listen to the Shwe Gas Movement and EarthRights
International: the companies should postpone the Shwe pipeline and any
work on offshore installations until there's no risk the project will
contribute to human rights violations -- that would be good business. In
the meantime, the companies should promote public participation in
development decisions; conduct transparent, inclusive third-party
environmental and human rights impact assessments according to
international standards; and practice complete revenue transparency,
including publishing taxes, fees, royalties, bonuses, and social benefits
paid to the Burmese authorities.

For companies who've ignored the risks and already made the mistake of
being involved in a fully operational oil and gas project in Burma -- like
Total, Chevron, and PTTEP -- they ought to take immediate steps to
mitigate their harmful impacts. At a bare minimum, they should:

1. Practice complete revenue transparency.
2. Facilitate complaints of forced labor to the International Labour
Organization.
3. Acknowledge an accurate sphere-of-responsibility, determined by actual
social and political impacts, and take steps to mitigate the local harms
caused by Tatmadaw forces securing the project.
4. Commission ongoing human rights and environmental impact assessments
according to international standards, including the safe participation of
local communities.

____________________________________

April 13, Kaladan Press
Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh – Dr. Habib Siddiqui and Dr.
Nora Rowley

When a widely circulated newspaper like the New York Times picks up the
matter of ill-treatment of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, it is no
small matter. It is a matter of grievous concern and shame to tens of
thousands of Bangladeshi-Americans who live in and around the Big Apple
state. In its February 20 publication the headline read, “Burmese Refugees
Persecuted in Bangladesh.” It said, “Stateless refugees from Myanmar are
suffering beatings and deportation in Bangladesh, according to aid workers
and rights groups who say thousands are crowding into a squalid camp where
they face starvation and disease.” It described the situation as a
humanitarian crisis.

The NY Times report should come as no surprise to many of us who have been
following the inhuman condition of the Rohingyas around the world for a
number of years. In its Special Report, dated February 18, “Bangladesh:
Violent Crackdown Fuels Humanitarian Crisis for Unrecognized Rohingya
Refugees,” the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) criticized the Bangladesh
government for violent crackdown against the stateless Rohingyas in
Bangladesh. It was a chastising report in which the MSF called for an
immediate end to the violence, along with urgent measures by the
Government of Bangladesh and the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to increase protection to Rohingya
refugees seeking asylum in the country.

Last month the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued an emergency
report, “Stateless and Starving: Persecuted Rohingya Flee Burma and Starve
in Bangladesh”.    This report reveals a PHR emergency assessment of 18.3%
acute malnutrition in children.  This level of child malnutrition is
“considered “critical” by the World Health Organization (WHO), which
recommends in such crises that adequate food aid be delivered to the
entire population to avoid high numbers of preventable deaths.”   The
extreme food insecurity causing this critical level of malnutrition is the
direct consequence of Bangladesh government authorities’ restricting
movement and, therefore, income generation of the Rohingya, and actively
obstructing the amount of international humanitarian aid to this
population.

Last week, the American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), an umbrella organization
that includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), amongst other Muslim organizations
in the USA, hosted a press conference in the National Press Club,
Washington D.C. to discuss human rights abuses in Bangladesh. In his
inaugural statement, Mr. Wright Mahdi Bray of the AMT brought up the
squalid living conditions of the Rohingya refugees inside Bangladesh. In
the last few years we have raised the Rohingya issue a few times with
Bangladesh government, but have failed to improve the deplorable
condition.

Denied citizenship rights and subjected to repeated abuse and forced slave
labor in their ancestral homes in the Arakan/Rakhine state of Burma by a
xenophobic Buddhist government, where they cannot travel, marry or
practice their religion freely, and betrayed and battered by their Magh
Rakhine co-residents, many Rohingya Muslims have hardly any option left
for them to survive with dignity other than seeking refuge outside. The
neighboring Bangladesh to the north-west with her huge Muslim population
and historical ties with Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, dating back centuries
earlier during the Arakanese rule of those districts (1538-1666), provides
a natural setting for seeking shelter. Thus, when the Burmese genocidal
campaigns – Naga Min ( King Dragon) Operation (1978-79) and Pyi Thaya
Operation (1991-92) – forced eviction of some 300,000 and 268,000 Rohingya
refugees, respectively, to seek shelter outside it was Bangladesh where
they ended up.

With the assistance of the UNHCR, Bangladesh repatriated most of those
refugees back to Arakan. Still, however, tens of thousands of Rohingyas
never returned, especially from the second batch of major exodus in
1991-92. The on-going Nasaka operation and targeted violence by the
Rakhine Maghs inside the Rakhine state have also forced many Rohingyas to
leave their ancestral land and return again to Bangladesh. Many of those
refugees have often used Bangladesh as a transit point to seek better
shelters elsewhere. Many of the Rohingyas have ended up in Saudi Arabia
and other Gulf states, and also in Pakistan.

As noted recently by Syed Neaz Ahmad in a New Age article, the late King
Faisal’s kind gesture to offer the fleeing Rohingyas a permanent abode in
Saudi Arabia is no longer respected by the new rulers who have restricted
their employment and movement within the Kingdom.  According to him some
three thousand Rohingya families are in Makkah and Jeddah prisons awaiting
their deportation. It is good to hear that the Pakistan government has
agreed to take these unwanted refugees. (Islamabad can also do a noble
job, albeit a delayed one for the past four decades, in taking some
300,000 stranded Pakistanis – living a miserable life in camps in
Bangladesh.)

There are some 13,600 Rohingyas registered with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, an estimated 3,000 in
Thailand, and unknown numbers in India. Small number of Rohingya refugees
also lives in Japan, Australia and the USA. The total number of Rohingya
refugees living inside Bangladesh today is not known. The UNHCR stopped
documenting the Rohingyas after 1991 as they shifted their focus to Africa
and Eastern Europe. From my contacts within the Rohingya leadership, the
estimate is around 400,000. Of these refugees, only 28,000 are recognized
as prima facie refugees by the Government of Bangladesh and live in
official camps under the supervision of the UNHCR. The official camp has
everything: primary schools, a computer learning centre funded by the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, health care centers, adult literacy centers,
supplementary food centers for children and pregnant women.

Except a handful of wealthy Rohingyas who have been able to settle
comfortably within the big cities, the rest of the refugees struggle to
survive unrecognized and largely unassisted and unprotected, living in
dire humanitarian condition with food insecurity, poor water and appalling
sanitation. They live mostly in and around Cox’s Bazar and the Hilly
districts of Chittagong. Some of the unfortunate refugees have also ended
up living in slums of big cities like Dhaka and Chittagong. As reported by
the MSF and the Amnesty International, these Rohingya refugees are treated
as unwanted folks and have faced repeated beatings and harassment,
including forcible repatriation to Myanmar. Many refugees, who had been
repatriated to their country in the past, had entered Bangladesh again as
they did not find any development and change in the attitude of the
Myanmar authorities.

Some Rohingya refugees live at a makeshift camp in Kutupalong, south of
Cox’s Bazar. Last June and July the local authorities destroyed 259 homes
in that makeshift camp to clear space around the perimeter of the official
UNHCR camp at Kutupalong. There was a crackdown in October in Bandarban
District, east of Cox’s Bazar, forcing many Rohigyas to take shelter in
the makeshift camp in Kutupalong. In January 2010, another crackdown
followed the refugees living in Cox’s Bazar District. To add to the
brutality of the authorities, the Rohingyas also suffer at the hands of
the local population, whose anti-Rohingya sentiment is fuelled by local
leaders and the media.

This was not the first time that this kind of problem emerged for the
fleeing Rohingyas. In 2002 during the police action “Operation Clean
Heart” many Rohingyas were violently forced from their homes, which led to
the establishment of the original Tal makeshift camp on a swamp-like patch
of ground. This camp relocated, and in the spring of 2006 MSF started a
medical program at the new site, where at the time around 5,700
unregistered Rohingya lived in awful, unsanitary conditions on a small
strip of flood land in Teknaf in the Cox’s Bazar District. After two years
of providing humanitarian assistance, and following strong advocacy by
MSF, which ultimately gained the support of UNHCR and the international
community, the Government of Bangladesh allocated new land in Leda Bazar
for around 10,000 people in mid-2008. Less than one year later, nearly
13,000 people were living in Leda Bazar Camp, their fundamental living
conditions having changed little. According to the MSF, these people
continue to struggle to survive without recognition and opportunities to
provide for themselves inside an increasingly hostile environment.

With a total population of over 28,400, the unregistered Rohingya at
Kutupalong makeshift camp now outnumber the total registered refugee
population supported by the UNHCR in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government
has repeatedly stopped registration of those unfortunate refugees living
outside the official camps. Without official recognition these people are
forced to live in overcrowded squalor, unprotected and largely unassisted.
Prevented from supporting themselves, they also do not qualify for the
UNHCR-supported food relief. And sadly, the UNHCR, which is mandated to
protect refugees worldwide, makes little or no visible protest at the
injustice of this situation.

According to the MSF, the UNHCR is guilty of not taking the return of the
Rohingyas as a priority issue. The Office of the UNHCR must take greater
steps to protect the unregistered Rohingya seeking asylum in Bangladesh.
The UNHCR must not allow the terms of its agreement with the government to
undermine its role as international protector of the Rohingyas who have
lost the protection of their own state - Myanmar, and have no state to
turn to. Any failure to protect the Rohingyas inside and outside Myanmar
is simply not acceptable.

We are told that as a poor country, Bangladesh faces a dilemma about the
Rohingya refugees. If she shows too much flexibility a huge influx may
occur, while being harsh creates concern among international community.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh government’s forced repatriation of the refugees
against their wishes is simply inhuman and violates international
humanitarian laws. It must be immediately stopped, failing which its
international image may suffer terribly. It must also stop all harassment
against the Rohingyas. Temporary residency permits should be provided to
the refugees so that they can earn their livelihood like any other
Bangladeshi. There is nothing worse than a forced poverty which leads to
crime and other serious problems. Should the refugees choose to leave
Bangladesh for a third country the government should not hinder that
process either. It must also make all diplomatic efforts to find shelters
for these stranded refugees in sparsely populated and prosperous countries
of Europe and North America, and the Gulf states.

The Rohingya refugees remain trapped in a desperate situation with no
future in Bangladesh. These unfortunate people are caught between a
crocodile and a snake: neither the xenophobic SPDC regime wants them back
in Myanmar, nor does the Bangladesh government want them to stay because
they are largely perceived as a burden on already scant resources. Outside
China, none of the neighboring countries of Burma has ratified the 1951
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, the 1954
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This must change by
ratifying those conventions.

As the Thai boat crisis of 2009 made clear, regional comprehensive
solutions are needed to the situation of the stateless Rohingya. The
international community must support the Government of Bangladesh and
UNHCR to adopt measures to guarantee the unregistered Rohingya’s lasting
dignity and well-being in Bangladesh.

[About the authors: Dr. Siddiqui is a human rights activist who has
written and co-edited three books on the Rohingyas of Burma. Dr. Rowley is
a medical doctor who as part of MSF worked with the Rohingya people inside
Arakan. She is currently affiliated with the US Campaign for Burma.]

____________________________________

April 13, Asian Tribune
ASEAN’s dream may not come true if it fails to tame its unprincipled
member, Burma – Zin Linn

At the end of the 16th ASEAN Summit in the Vietnamese capital Ha Noi on
April 9, the Chairman of ASEAN Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called on
Burma/Myanmar to stick to its “road map to democracy” and hold free, fair
and inclusive elections.

Nguyen Tan Dung further said, “We were briefed by H.E. Prime Minister
Thein Sein of Myanmar on recent political developments and the progress
made in the implementation of the Roadmap for Democracy, especially the
preparations for the general election in Myanmar in 2010.

We underscored the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar and
the holding of the general election in a free, fair, and inclusive manner,
thus contributing to Myanmar’s stability and development. We also stressed
the need that Myanmar would continue to work with ASEAN and United Nations
in this process.”

The Heads of the ASEAN Member States, gathered in Ha Noi for the 16th
ASEAN Summit on 8-9 April 2010 also agreed that ASEAN would act swiftly at
national, regional and global levels to achieve sustained economic
recovery and development for ASEAN in the aftermath of the global economic
and financial crisis. ASEAN is superficially committed to accelerating
economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the
South-East Asia region, to strengthen the institution for a prosperous and
composed community of Southeast Asian nations. So far one of its members
is a military-ruled nation that pays no attention to the norms of the
grouping. How can the association ignore the recalcitrance of its
desperado member, Burma or Myanmar?

ASEAN aims to promote regional peace and stability through respect for
justice and the rule of law compliant with the U.N. Charter. It has just
stressed the importance of bringing the ASEAN Charter into life in all
aspects at the earliest.

Yet it shuts its eyes while extrajudicial killings and violence against
women and children take place daily in Burma, one of its members. There is
no law and order at all under Burma’s military dictatorship.

Burma, world's worst human rights violator

People of Burma have suffered under high-handed military rulers since
1962. The regime has earned a reputation as one of the world's worst human
rights violators. It inhumanly suppressed pro-democracy movements in 1988,
followed by, during the Depayin conspiracy on May 30, 2003, and in the
Saffron Revolution in September 2007, as well as in many other sporadic
crackdowns. The junta has arrested nearly 2,200 political dissidents
including the Nobel laureate of Burma, who has been confined to her
residence for the 14 of the last 20 years.

The regime held a deceptive referendum at gunpoint in May, 2008, just a
few days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The junta said its
2008 Constitution was “approved” by more than 90 per cent of the qualified
voters in the referendum, which has been widely dismissed as a fraud.

The worst of the so-called Nargis Constitution is that it provides the
blanket immunity to the members of the military junta for their past human
rights violations. It also provides a special status for military to live
above the law and to practice coup at its will. However, to prevent the
participation of key political figures, the 2008 constitution bars the
political prisoners including the Lady and the ethnic leaders to contest
in the polls. The constitution also does not recognize the ethnic people’s
demand for a federal union guaranteeing self-determination and equal
opportunity.

The regime has ignored calls from the international community and Burma’s
main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, to review the
2008 Constitution, which will only bring further troubles to the Burmese
people.

People are convinced that, like the referendum held at gunpoint, the
secret ballot will not be free, fair and inclusive. The junta may not be
able to deal with the worsening socio-economic situation if it continues
to turn down the national reconciliation process being urged by the
opposition NLD, the United Nationalities Alliance and the Association of
the Veteran Politicians. Without National Reconciliation settlement, Burma
may not prevail over the current political and economic hardships.

Three key benchmarks at least for good start

In the mean time, ‘Burma’s movement for Democracy and Rights of Ethnic
Nationalities’ which represents multi-ethnic political and civil society
organizations inside and outside the country working for national
reconciliation, has expressed three key benchmarks toward the military
regime. Three key benchmarks are to release all political prisoners, to
stop all hostilities against ethnic and pro-democracy groupings and
inclusive dialogue with key stakeholders plus review of 2008 Constitution.
Those benchmarks are appropriate as minimum conditions to be met to begin
a good start for peaceful Burma.

But, the character of the junta shows clearly that it has no plan to pay
attention to international and domestic concerns, release political
prisoners or commence a dialogue for reconciliation. According to a
Burmese forecaster, it is baseless to believe that the military dictators
are going to build a democratic country by means of the 2008 constitution
and it is also useless to wait for a helping hand from the ASEAN for
democratization in this military ruled country.

Peoples from all walks of life are severely suffering from a lot of
miseries under the military regime which is in the saddle for nearly five
decades. The consequences of this reign of violence produce spilling over
effects directly into territories of the neighboring countries, especially
Thailand and Malaysia.

Burmese workers flee to Thailand

Over the past two decades, more than a million Burmese workers have fled
to Thailand. This has placed tremendous pressure on the Thai governments
which has been facing its own civil unrests. Trans-border crime has gone
up with a massive influx of narcotics drugs, including heroin and
methamphetamines. Trafficking in women and children has increased along
the 2,400 km-long Thailand-Burma border. The regime's neglect of
health-care has also produced a new HIV/AIDS flow into neighboring
countries.

Within the country, the living standards of average citizens are rapidly
falling. The situation is alarming even on the outskirts of Yangon.
According to the UN estimation, one child in three under the age of five
is suffering from malnutrition.

The junta’s generals are well-bred gentlemen in front of the ASEAN
counterparts where as they are the inhumane dictators to their own
populace, especially to the various ethnic groups in Burma.

ASEAN has agreed at the end of the 16th ASEAN Summit that it would act
swiftly at national, regional and global levels to achieve sustained
economic recovery and development for ASEAN in the aftermath of the global
economic and financial crisis. If ASEAN failed to take responsibility
taming of its unprincipled member, ASEAN’s dream - Strategy for Economic
Recovery and Development – may not come true due to lack of teamwork among
member countries, especially Burma the black sheep.

The suffering of the people of Burma has been going on for five decades.
The member nations have a moral duty to do whatever they can to help the
people of Burma reach a peaceful and sustainable political settlement. No
effort may cause a dire reputation toward the association.

In conclusion, ASEAN ought to support three key benchmarks - to release
all political prisoners, to stop all hostilities against ethnic and
pro-democracy groupings and inclusive dialogue with key stakeholders plus
review of 2008 Constitution – solving Burma question as well as raising
the association’s dignity higher. People of Burma need ASEAN’s sympathy.

Zin Linn:The author, a freelance Burmese journalist, lives in exile. He is
vice-president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the
Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.