BurmaNet News, August 5, 2010

[Editor]

August 5, 2010 Issue #4013


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar dissident quits as head of democracy party
Irrawaddy: Birthday messages delivered to Suu Kyi
DVB: Political prisoner health concerns rise
AP: Myanmar warns 'subversives' ahead of elections

ON THE BORDER
AP: Vets treat elephant land mine victim in Thailand

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: British PM ‘to support, not just befriend’ opposition

OPINION / OTHER
Economist: Banyan: A beautiful feeling
DVB: India should use Burma trade as barter – Gayatri Lakshmibai
Bangkok Post: How we bully our migrant workers – Sanitsuda Ekachai

INTERVIEW
Irrawaddy: For Karen people, but not Karen State – Htet Aung with Saw Say Wah




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 5, Agence France Presse
Myanmar dissident quits as head of democracy party

Yangon – The head of one of Myanmar's newly formed pro-democracy parties
resigned Thursday and said he would boycott the country's first elections
in two decades because they would not be free and fair.

Phyo Min Thein, 41, who spent about 15 years behind bars for joining
Myanmar's bloody 1988 uprising, co-founded the Union Democratic Party
(UDP) with fellow former student activists and ethnic leaders in late May.

"I do not believe the coming 2010 election will be free and fair," Phyo
Min Thein told AFP.

He said he was disappointed that political prisoners were not being
released and that parties were being prevented from conducting political
activities freely ahead of the vote.

Many leaders of the 1988 uprising -- in which thousands of people died as
soldiers opened fire on mass student demonstrations in Yangon -- were
given long prison terms and some are still locked up.

Phyo Min Thein said the UDP had accepted his resignation and were
considering their future without him.

The UDP is one of nearly 40 parties that have so far been allowed to
register for the elections, which Western countries fear are a sham aimed
at shoring up the junta's half-century grip on power.

The military leaders have not yet announced a date for the polls, which
are scheduled for some time later this year.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy won the last polls in 1990 by a landslide but the military never
allowed the party to take power.

Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years in jail or under house arrest
and is barred from standing in the next polls because she is a serving
prisoner.

The NLD opted to boycott the vote because of rules laid down by the junta
that would have effectively forced it to expel Suu Kyi and other members
in prison before it could participate.

As a result, the party was forcibly disbanded by the ruling generals.

A group of former NLD members has formed a new party, the National
Democratic Force (NDF), to stand in the election -- a move that has put it
at odds with Suu Kyi, who was opposed to participating in the polls.

____________________________________

August 5, Irrawaddy
Birthday messages delivered to Suu Kyi – Ko Htwe

British Ambassador to Burma Andy Heyn has given 120 pages of birthday
messages for detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to her
representatives in Rangoon, according to a government statement.

The messages were posted by well-wishers on the ministry's Burma Facebook
page.

“The response from the UK public and from people across the world on the
occasion of her 65th birthday was amazing,” Ambassador Heyn said.

He also urged the military junta to release Suu Kyi and the other 2,100
political prisoners inn the country's jails.

“Burma’s stability, security and prosperity can only be achieved through
an inclusive process of national reconciliation in which Aung San Suu Kyi
and other opposition and ethnic groups are allowed to play a full role,”
he said in the statement.

He praised the Suu Kyi's commitment as “a global symbol of moral courage
and resilience in the face of repression,” and called her the “heartbeat
of Burma’s pro-democracy movement” who is “sacrificing her own liberty and
freedom to spotlight the plight of her impoverished people.”

Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest for
violating the terms of her detention after US citizen John William Yettaw
intruded into her lakeside compound on May 3. At the time, she had already
spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention. Her sentence is set
to expire in November.

Meanwhile, more than 1, 600 staff and volunteers of London-based Burma
Campaign UK have written letters to British Prime Minister David Cameron
calling on him to take the lead on Burma.

Mary Hla, a campaigns officer at Burma Campaign UK, said in a statement
released on Wednesday, ‘We hope he will take the lead in building support
for practical steps. When he goes to the UN General Assembly in September,
he has the opportunity to push for them to establish a commission of
inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.”

The letters also urged the prime minister to continue on four key issues;
build support for a global consensus for a UN arms embargo against Burma;
persuade EU partners to support a a UN commission of inquiry into war
crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma; work to build international
support for a UN-led process persuading the dictatorship to enter into
genuine dialogue with Burma's democracy movement and ethnic groups; and
maintain planned increases of aid to Burma and increase cross-border
humanitarian aid for internally displaced people.

“While the international community focuses on fake elections hoping for
change that won't happen, the human rights situation in Burma is getting
worse," Seng Pan, a campaigner at Burma Campaign UK, said in statement.

The Burma Campaign UK, founded in 1991, is a leading Burma campaign
organization, that works for human rights, democracy and development in
Burma.

____________________________________

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
Political prisoner health concerns rise – Khin Hnin Htet

A new regulation that reduces the amount of items inmates can buy via
prison officials has heightened concerns about access to medication, with
numbers of former activists succumbing to dire prison conditions.

The limit has been introduced in Myitkyina prison in Burma’s northern
Kachin state, where numbers of political prisoners are held. A youth
member of the now-defunct National League for Democracy (NLD), Myo Khin,
is being held there and suffering from a heart condition and eye problem.

His wife Khin Khin Win said that while treatment was being given by prison
doctors, the new regulation had made life harder for him. Visiting family
members are often the only providers of medication for prisoners, and
visits can be hampered by the vast geographical distances created between
family and detainee.

Myo Khin was sentenced to four and a half years’ in prison after taking
part in one of the early protests that preceded the September 2007
uprising in Burma.

“He had been getting better in recent months but became worse this month.
He said it was because of [hygiene problems] in the prison,” said Khin
Khin Win. She added that it takes a 10-day roundtrip to visit Myitkyina
prison, despite only being allowed 30 minutes to talk with Myo Khin.

Another NLD member who is being tried on charges of subversion has
reportedly been beaten during interrogation and has gone deaf in one ear.
Hyat Aung’s sister, San San Aye, said that he was being denied medical
assistance whilst in detention.

“My brother’s temples were swollen and turned red. He was checked over by
an ear-specialist doctor at the hospital who said his ear drum was
ruptured and needed to be patched up.

“Now he had completely lost hearing in that ear due to the beating. He
didn’t hear when I asked him what happened,” she said, adding that a
request for an operation on his ear that was suggested doctors had been
denied.

Similar complaints were also voiced by the family of a Karen National
Union (KNU) prisoner, Saw Naing Lay, who cannot afford treatment for a
“serious stomach ailment”.

“He was very thin; I don’t know how to help him,” a fellow prisoner told
his family, adding that Saw Naing Lay had a prescription for medication
but not the money to buy it. He is serving a 22-year sentence in Rangoon’s
notorious Insein prison.

Additional reporting by Yee May Aung
____________________________________

August 5, Associated Press
Myanmar warns 'subversives' ahead of elections

Yangon, Myanmar – Myanmar's state-run press on Wednesday warned
"subversives" that anyone who disrupts the country's first elections in
two decades could face up to 20 years in prison.

Ahead of the polls, the ruling military junta has passed numerous laws and
rules criticized by detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the
international community as undemocratic and unfair.

The new laws effectively bar Suu Kyi and other political prisoners _
estimated at more than 2,000 _ from taking part in the elections. Tight
rules for campaigning bar parties from chanting, marching or saying
anything at rallies that could tarnish the country's image. Critics have
called the elections a sham designed to cement 50 years of military rule.

A commentary in The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, published as a series
Tuesday and Wednesday, said the government is working to ensure stable,
peaceful and successful polls and that such laws are necessary because
"there may be acts by subversives to disrupt elections."

The article's author was identified only as "A Law Analyst." Commentaries
in Myanmar's tightly controlled newspapers are viewed as reflections of
the junta's views.

Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, decided to
boycott the balloting and has been disbanded. Activists inside and outside
the country have launched a quiet "no vote" campaign, with pamphlets
distributed anonymously with that slogan.

The commentary noted that according to the new election laws, electoral
crimes are punishable by a year in prison and a fine, and that a harsh
1996 "Law Protecting the Peaceful and Systematic Transfer of State
Responsibility" is still in force.

The law provides for five to 20 years in prison for anyone who "incites,
delivers speech or makes oral or written statements that undermine the
stability of the state, community peace and tranquility and prevalence of
law and order." Any organization that violates the law can be suspended.

Renegade members of Suu Kyi's disbanded party have formed a new group, the
National Democratic Force, to carry the party's mantle in the vote. Suu
Kyi has expressed dissatisfaction through her lawyer with the formation of
the new breakaway party.

Suu Kyi's party won a landslide majority in the 1990 election, the result
of which was not honored by the junta.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 5, Associated Press
Vets treat elephant land mine victim in Thailand

Lampang, Thailand — Veterinarians were treating the latest land mine
victim from the Thai-Myanmar border Thursday, a 22-year-old female
elephant whose foot was severely wounded by the explosion.

Mae Ka Pae, as she is called, is the 13th mine casualty to be treated at
the innovative Friends of Asian Elephant hospital near this city in
northern Thailand since it began operating in 1993. She arrived at the
facility Wednesday evening, a week after the accident, which shredded the
sole of her left rear foot.

"We have to monitor her condition for 48 hours now that we cleaned the
wound and injected pain killers. We will give her a tetanus shot later
today. Overall, she is a good condition. She is obedient and can eat
normally," said Dr. Preecha Phuangkam, a veterinarian and the hospital
director.

The elephant was injured at the frontier, which is strewn with land mines
from fighting between the Myanmar government and ethnic minority rebels.
Preecha said her handlers might have let her wander to the less-developed
Myanmar side of the border to find food.

She joins two other elephants, Motala and Mosha, who remain hospitalized
but have recovered well enough to wear prosthetic legs. Mosha became the
world's first elephant with an artificial leg, attached in 2007.

Traditionally the truck, taxi and logging worker of Thailand, the elephant
has lost most of its jobs to modernization. However, the tourism industry
still employs large numbers of elephants for trekking and other
activities. Some, including a number along the Myanmar border, are still
used in illegal logging operations.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
British PM ‘to support, not just befriend’ opposition – Nang Kham Kaew

Britain’s new prime minister, David Cameron, has said that he will do more
than the previous Labour government to help Burma’s beleaguered
opposition.

The message was passed on to the National League for Democracy (NLD) party
yesterday by British ambassador Andrew Heyn, on the same day that 1,600
letters were delivered to Downing Street by campaigners calling on Cameron
“to take the lead in pushing for strong and effective international action
on Burma”.

Tin Oo, deputy leader of the NLD, said that he and two other senior
members, Win Tin and Nyan Win, met with Heyn yesterday in Rangoon.

“The UK
prime minister passed on a personal message, that the UK
government fully agrees with the democratic forces continuing their
activity and supports all their work,” he said. “[Heyn] said
that [the new
UK government] will be more supportive and striving than just the friendly
work done by the previous Labour government.”

Britain’s criticism of the Burmese junta has been fairly sporadic,
although former prime minister Gordon Brown used his last days in office
to pen a letter to Aung San Suu Kyi in which he said “I will do everything
I can to support you. You are, for me, what courage is and I will fight
for you to be free and your people [to be] free”.

Like the US, Britain holds sanctions on Burma, but rights groups say that
Burma remains a ’boutique issue’ for the West as it concentrates
priorities elsewhere.

The London-based Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) yesterday delivered 1,657
letters to Downing Street in lieu of the 22nd anniversary of the 1988
uprising this Sunday.

The letters call on Cameron to push for a global arms embargo and UN
investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Burma, as well as increasing aid and persuading the junta to “enter into
genuine dialogue with Burma’s democracy movement and ethnic groups”.

“David Cameron has already shown that he sees Burma as a priority,” said
Mary Hla, campaigns officer at BCUK, in a statement released yesterday.

“We hope he will take the lead in building support for practical steps.
When he goes to the UN General Assembly in September he has the
opportunity to push for them to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war
crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.”

Fellow BCUK campaigner Seng Pan added that “The British government is one
of the few not to fall for the regime’s election lies”.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 5, The Economist
Banyan: A beautiful feeling

BY RIGHTS, Than Shwe, Myanmar’s dictator, should be a worried man. As an
exiled dissident wrote this week, the country he rules is among the
world’s poorest, has suffered the longest civil war anywhere, and
displaces, by the opposition’s count, more people per head of population
than any other country. He is understandably (if silently) reviled by his
own people, and shunned by the West, where it has long been hoped—or even
assumed—that the days of any regime as corrupt, inept, brutal and
unpopular as the one he heads must be numbered. So it is disconcerting to
have to admit it: General Than Shwe is on a roll.

The 77-year-old “senior general” has just returned from India. In the
world’s largest democracy, he had the chance to pray for about five hours
at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment; he was given Indian
promises of help in information technology; and he received as a gift from
his hosts a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, an apostle of non-violence. Whoever
planned his itinerary must have a highly developed sense of irony.
Pro-democracy protesters did little to spoil the party. India feels it has
lost out in Myanmar because of its earlier support for democratic reform
and Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader, and is anxious to
make up for lost time. It wants Myanmar’s help in thwarting the
cross-border activities of insurgents in its north-eastern states, and in
curbing smuggling—and the drug-abuse and AIDS that follow.

Most of all, India wants to make sure Myanmar does not tilt irrevocably
into the Chinese sphere of influence. Its strategists are paranoid about
the sort of access China might win to Burmese seaports. And Indian
businesses lament the opportunities to secure energy supplies from
Myanmar, lost to their Chinese rivals. They looked on with envy in June,
as Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, was feted in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s
remote new capital. India was happy to give the junta the chance, in the
general’s visit, to remind China that it is not the only game in town.

Completing a triangle of cosy neighbourliness, Thailand’s electricity
supply depends on Burmese gas, and Myanmar emerged from last month’s
meeting in Hanoi of the regional club, the Association of South-East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), to which both belong, with a reference in the joint
communiqué (to “national reconciliation”) that could be taken as much as a
pat on the back as a rap on the knuckles. Thant Myint-U, a writer on
Myanmar, says the regime is relishing the experience of being on good
terms with all its neighbours—a first in Burmese history,

America and European countries still impose sanctions of varying severity.
But weary of endless bickering with ASEAN about who will sit where at
which meetings with whom, the EU and America, like Japan, have swapped the
bargepole for the long spoon and some sort of engagement with the junta.

Moreover, the generals have another new friend, of the sort to spook the
West. North Korea’s foreign minister, Pak Ui Chun, has also been in
Naypyidaw. The two countries renewed diplomatic relations only in 2007, 24
years after a murderous North Korean attack on a visiting South Korean
delegation in Yangon. Mr Pak’s visit now will add to recent worries about
Myanmar’s inchoate nuclear programme. The two regimes are past masters at
dividing and ruling in the outside world. The lesson Myanmar’s has drawn
from North Korea is that a real or rumoured nuclear capability is a big
help in this endeavour. So pally are the two dictatorships that Myanmar
seems to have tolerated another outrageous, if less catastrophic, North
Korean breach of its sovereignty. Its diplomats in Yangon confiscated all
300 remaining copies of a locally published Burmese-language biography of
Kim Jong Il, their dear leader, from the home of its 62-year-old author.
Perhaps he had omitted a miracle or a hole-in-one.

The generals will not lack money to pay for North Korean weapons and
gadgetry—and to feather their own nests. They can expect a handsome income
from the parallel oil and gas pipelines to China now under construction.
Already, the sale of gas to Thailand has made some of them rich, without
improving the lot of subsistence farmers, the majority of the population.
Now they are lining their cronies’ pockets by “privatising” state assets.


Happy in your Naypyidaw

That drive is related to the election promised for an unnamed day later
this year. Nobody expects it to be free or fair, and the constitution has
been doctored to entrench a dominant role for the army. Yet the outside
world—including many of the junta’s fiercest critics—has by and large
decided that the election is better than nothing. That is not just because
almost any political change in Myanmar would mark an improvement; it is
also because the election will create new, partially representative,
institutions, and sometimes the forms of even heavily circumscribed
democracy take on a life of their own. That the opposition is split, with
Miss Suu Kyi’s party announcing a boycott only for one faction to decide
to take part after all, may make the junta a bit more confident. But it
will not repeat the mistake it made in 1990, when the opposition thrashed
it at the polls, and it had to spend two decades rejecting foreign demands
that it honour the outcome.

Now, as some generals swap combat fatigues and dress uniforms for longyis
and business suits, presenting themselves as civilian politicians, it is
hard to expect more than evolutionary change. Another writer on the
country recently visited the government in Naypyidaw. He left the
crumbling, shoddy former capital, Yangon, for a pristine, deserted highway
and a new city built on an epic scale, adorned with monumental statues of
the martial heroes of Burmese history. To him, this did not look like the
seat of a regime preparing to bow out, so much as that of one that saw
itself as the founder of a dynasty, built to last.

____________________________________

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
India should use Burma trade as barter – Gayatri Lakshmibai

Burmese General Than Shwe’s recent visit to India has sparked harsh
reactions. Many have berated the world’s largest democracy for openly
conniving with an oppressive regime. His visit to India came just before
elections are expected to be held in Burma later this year.

It is interesting to note the paradigm shift in relations between the two
neighbours since the 1990 Burmese elections. Two decades ago, the Janata
Dal-led coalition government in India firmly denounced the usurping of
power by the junta following the bloody uprising of 1988. The Indian
government offered asylum to many Burmese refugees and activists during
the protests, openly criticising the military regime.

As the junta prepares for another election this year, Indo-Burmese
relations seem at an all-time high. A lot has transpired since Aung San
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won the elections, yet was
denied power, in 1990. One of the key factors influencing cordial
relations between India and Burma is trade. Some political analysts
believe that economics and politics are closely intertwined, and in this
light, India sees Burma as a strong foothold to enter Southeast Asia and
thus finds it difficult to ignore it. Add to this the growing clout of
China in the region, and you get an insecure India trying to catch up on
regional supremacy.

According to the joint statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External
Affairs after Than Shwe’s visit, India has agreed to four more major
investments in Burma – US$60 million for construction and renovation of
the Rhi-Tiddim road, a US$10 million grant for acquiring agricultural
machinery, a US$64 million credit in the transmission lines sector and
another US$6 million credit for developing a microwave line between the
two countries.

Reports surfaced earlier this year that foreign investment in Burma had
dropped to US$315 million in 2010 from US$985 million the previous year.
In this context, India’s investment in the region holds huge significance.
Trade relations between India and Burma alone are expected to be worth
US$1 billion by the end of this year. Moreover, India has already become
Burma’s third biggest foreign investor, after China and Thailand.

What India gets in return hasn’t been proportional over the years. In
2008-09, Burma’s exports to India were nearly five times more than its
imports. With investment in the Kaladan multi-modal project, a truck
manufacturing plant by Tata Motors and the massive hydropower project
backed by the National Hydro Power Company (NHPC), the balance sheet tips
considerably in favour of Burma.

India could use this monetary deficit to influence Burma’s internal
politics. Given its long-standing pro-democratic stance in world politics
and heavily growing economic involvement in Burma, a demand for free and
fair elections from the regime seems within India’s capacity. China, the
only other significant force in the region, doesn’t project itself as a
particularly pro-democratic figure and seems unlikely to take a stand in
the matter. This adds onus on India’s part, making it the only possible
player that could significantly affect the course of events.

What India also cannot ignore is maintaining its relations with the West.
India faces pressure from the US which demands a strong stand on its
behalf over democracy in Burma. With the West keeping a keen eye over
India’s foreign policy in this matter, India could gain brownie points on
moral grounds from the West. However, what remains to be seen is whether
India possesses a moral fibre at all.
____________________________________

August 5, Bangkok Post
How we bully our migrant workers – Sanitsuda Ekachai

So we want migrant workers from Burma to be legal with passports and all,
yet we still want them to submit to our old oppressive ways, is that it?

If not, then why have we refused to give legal migrant workers driving
licences - on the grounds that they still pose a threat to national
security?

Last week, the provincial authorities in Ranong stopped issuing driving
licences to a batch of legal Burmese workers, following a protest from
some 200 Ranong motorcyclists who feared that migrant workers would steal
their jobs if allowed to drive.

Worse, they might abuse their new privilege and smuggle drugs and illegal
workers into the country, said the motorcyclists.

Their concerns are understandable. But isn't it the job of the police to
arrest law breakers? Aren't drug and human trafficking rings reportedly
run by men in uniform, and not by migrant workers?

Also, is it right to comply to a demand which violates a basic human right
of another person? Do we not consider the right to movement a basic human
right? Or do we simply not see migrant workers as human? What is our real
problem?

These workers have fled harsh poverty and persecution in Burma to toil
here doing dirty and dangerous work at pitiful wages. Yet we condemn them
as unwanted outsiders who burden us with social problems and infectious
diseases. We dismiss the fact that it is our government's support for the
atrocious Burmese junta that has forced them to flee their homeland.

And it is our prejudice that makes us blind to their slave-like conditions.

We Thais pride ourselves as free people in a free land. Yet we celebrate
confinement, which is part of slavery, for migrant workers. Why is that
so?

Since we brand them illegal, which is criminal in our view, we believe the
problems from migrant workers and human trafficking will disappear if all
Burmese workers have legal entry. So we forcibly deport them to face
danger, extortion and complex red tape back in Burma in order to obtain
the passports, not to mention the astronomical fees involved. So far, only
about 90,000 out of 2-3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand have
succeeded in obtaining their passports.

Yet, after going through a difficult process, these legal workers are not
promised the legal minimum wage nor the right to change employers. They
are allowed to work only as labourers and domestic workers and, as before,
denied the freedom of movement. With such little benefits, most migrant
workers prefer to stay underground and remain exploited while human
trafficking rings continue to thrive.

Regarding the Ranong incident, the driving licences for migrant workers
are actually private and cannot be used for plying or running taxis or
taxi-motorcycles. Also, migrant workers - legal or illegal - cannot travel
outside their restricted zones. So a driving licence would only help them
to commute within their area without fear of police extortion. Yet, this
too is beyond their reach.

No, I am not writing about all this because it is a matter of life and
death for migrant workers in Ranong to go buy food on their motorcycles.
But it is a matter of life and death for us.

How can we get out of our political abyss and avoid future carnage if we
still don't see the weak and the poor as our equal human beings?

At the core of the social injustice and double standards that are
threatening to tear our country apart is this very lack of respect for
lawful needs and concerns of the people we view as inferior to ourselves,
isn't it? Migrant workers are at the lowest rung of our
big-fish-eat-little-fish world. How we treat them is an indicator of
social justice itself.

The May bloodshed may have shocked us into trying to fix structural
injustice. But don't bet on it if we still feel it is okay to treat
migrant workers the way we do now. We cannot hope to get closer to a fair
society because we do not have in our hearts what it takes to make this
happen.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor (Outlook), Bangkok Post.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

August 5, Irrawaddy
For Karen people, but not Karen State – Htet Aung with Saw Say Wah

Leaders of the Kayin Peoples Party, including Saw Say Wah, recently
celebrated their party's inauguration ceremony in Rangoon.

The Kayin Peoples Party (KPP), which was formed by ethnic Karen living in
Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, is one of the political parties seeking
to contest in the upcoming election in Burma. A striking aspect of the KPP
is that its leaders are retired military and civilian officials. The
party's chairman, Saw Htun Aung Myint, once served as a colonel in the
Burmese Navy, and its secretary general, Saw Say Wah, is a former police
colonel.

In a recent interview with Htet Aung, chief reporter of The Irrawaddy's
election desk, Saw Say Wah expressed hope for a free and fair election and
explained why his party would be staying out of the polls in Karen State.

Question: Your party's national policy states the importance of
transforming the current political and economic conditions, including the
country's administration. But your party also said that the things which
need immediate attention are national stability, rule of law and the basic
welfare of the public. What do you mean by national stability?

Answer: The wide social gap has adversely affected the country's stability
and harmony. What I wish to say is, we have lost peace because we have
lost unity. The development gap between different regions is one of the
causes of these things. We also need to resolve ethnic conflicts.

Q:  In what particular ways would your party handle the conflicts in Karen
State, where some groups have reached a cease-fire agreement with the
government and some have not?

A: Our party is not a well-established party yet. It is in the process of
building itself. We are just sketching out our party's policies. While we
were government employees, we were faithful to the government as
individuals. At this point, too, we will work toward the country's
development. Having said that, ethnic conflicts on the border are
unavoidable issues. But now we are in no position to handle these
problems—the capacity to do that is still beyond our reach. Once we have
strengthened ourselves, we will cope with these issues gradually.

Q: What is your view of the government's plan to change armed cease-fire
groups into border guard forces?

A: We need to take a balanced view of that. Since the country must have a
single army in accord with the [2008] Constitution, the government wants
to have all armed groups under its administration. But on the other hand,
it seems that they [Karen armed groups] will not disarm themselves until
and unless they are assured of winning a uniform economic, political and
social standard. Some groups may, for many different reasons, choose to
give up their arms without achieving this goal, while others will not. So
it will take time to resolve these issues gradually in a political way.

Q: While some Karen live in cities, most make their living as farmers in
rural areas. What is your party's economic policy, and how will it help
the rural population?

A: Our country would be better off under a full-blown market economy.
Equality of rights is also an important principle. That's our party's
basic policy.

Q: The government claims that Burma has had a market economy for the past
20 years. Are you satisfied with current economic conditions? Which parts
of the economy do you think are weak?

A: In our view, the market economy is not fully developed. It has been
based on favoritism towards certain groups. The rules don't apply the same
way to everyone, so equal opportunities and equal freedom have been
lacking.

Q: Do you mean that we should be able to do business as freely as our own
capacity and financial means allow?

A: Not exactly. If we give capitalists completely free rein, then the poor
will be left behind. We also need to consider the needs of workers and
farmers. We will need a balance.

Q: In its party platform, the Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP), led by Prime Minister Thein Sein, says that it will uphold “the
right of farmers to work on their farmland,” but says nothing about their
right to own their land. This suggests that the government will remain the
landowner. What is your party's view on this issue?

A: Most Karen are farmers, so they want this issue of ownership to be made
much clearer. Only with a clear sense of ownership will farmers have an
incentive to increase their productivity. Without real ownership, the
farmers may find themselves in difficult straits, since the government can
distribute or confiscate lands at its own discretion. That's why our
party's policy on this issue is that farmers should have a right to own
their farmland.

Q: As part of the development of Burma's market economy, wealthy
businessmen have started expanding into the agricultural sector. With
their large financial assets, they have acquired farmlands to grow cash
crops. Eventually, they will be able to monopolize the whole agricultural
sector. What are your views on this situation?

A: The state wants to develop mechanized farming. But that has not
succeeded yet because, as you know, most farmers are poor. We must
encourage mechanized farming and simultaneously make sure that those who
continue to use traditional farming methods don't have their land
confiscated.

Q: How many Karen people live in Burma? And which parts of the country are
they living in? Will your party only run in areas with large
concentrations of Karen? Which major parties will you have to compete with
in the election?

A: There is an estimated population of 8 million Karen in Burma. We can
say 10 million if we include mixed Karen intermarried with people from
other ethnic groups. An estimated number of more than 55,000 Karen, which
is 0.1 percentage of country's population, are living in Rangoon,
Irrawaddy, Pegu and Tenasserim divisions and Mon State. As a minority
right [granted by the Constitution], we will have a Karen member of
parliament [for Karen affairs] in those areas.

So we will desperately try to win seats in those areas which are crucial
for the interests of Karen people. Our second priority is to win seats in
the state and regional parliaments. But we will not run for seats in Karen
State, where the situation remains complex due to border issues and armed
ethnic issues. Our main competitors will be the USDP and the National
Unity Party (NUP).

Q: The USDP is headed by the prime minister and several other ministers.
During tours with government responsibilities, they are also rallying
public support for their party. Some people complain that they should
resign from their government posts and conduct campaigns at the same level
as other political parties. What is your view on this?

A: We are not worried about that. From the very outset, this has been
designed to maintain the government's control on power. They [the regime
leaders] want to make a transition which suits them. We understand that.
But if there is some sort of dishonesty in the election, the public will
make its own judgments. If we do our best for the public, they will give
us their support.

Q: Your party's leaders are mostly living in Rangoon and Irrawaddy
divisions. How did they unite with each other and form a party?

A: It has taken us six years to set up a party. We started out as the
Karen Development Committee, which is not, however, a legal entity. It was
set up as a social organization for Karen people. From the outset, we knew
that we wanted to form a political party if this kind of opportunity
arose. Shortly after the endorsement of the 2008 Constitution, we had a
discussion among ourselves. Mostly those from Rangoon participated in the
discussions. After nearly 60 meetings, we were able to form a party.

Q: What message do you want to give to voters as a representative of the
Kayin People's Party?

A: I wish to express my hope that we will have a free and fair election.
We want to tell the public not to engage in advanced voting, which is not
in their control. We also wish to tell people not to avoid voting, which
can be problematic [for us]. So please make the right choice for the right
person. That's our message to the people.