BurmaNet News, September 9, 2010

[Editor]

September 9, 2010 Issue #4038


INSIDE BURMA
Xinhua: Myanmar tightens measures against over-stay foreign visitors

ON THE BORDER
UN News Centre: UN-backed project helps villagers in Myanmar rebuild lives
following floods
SHAN: Regional commander gives instructions to strengthen security around
Shan army
Irrawaddy: UWSA deploy troops at Thai Border

BUSINESS / TRADE
Wall Street Journal: Rights activists criticize China for hosting Myanmar
leader
Reuters: Myanmar says China top ally, vote won't affect ties
Irrawaddy: Burma's FEC in crisis

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Top UN rights official urges 'utmost vigilance' to ensure fairness of
Myanmar elections
France24: Is the Burmese junta really saving tigers?
AFP: US accepts Myanmar refugees from Palau: priest

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian (UK): In praise of 
 the BBC's Burmese service – Editorial




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 9, Xinhua
Myanmar tightens measures against over-stay foreign visitors

Yangon – The Myanmar authorities have tightened measures against foreign
visitors traveling in the country whose visa has gone expired without
applying for extension, the local Biweekly Eleven News reported Thursday.

Previously, such over-stay visitors were punished through cash fine, but
now certain action will be taken against them, the report quoted travel
and tour circle as saying without specifying the new punishment to be
made.

Foreign visitors entering into Myanmar with visit visa are being monitored
if their undertakings are related to visit only.

Travel agencies are being warned to be responsible for such over-stay
visitors introduced by them.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have also tightened control of visa
grant for world tourists visiting the country, saying that tourist visa
could only be granted through the recommendation of the Ministry of Hotels
and Tourism in Nay Pyi Taw over a visa-on- arrival suspension period.

Myanmar set Sept. 1 for temporarily suspending the issue of
visa-on-arrival at two international airports -- Yangon and Mandalay ahead
of the Nov. 7 multi-party general election.

Normally, it takes two weeks to process the visa application for package
tour.

Myanmar's immigration authorities had granted such visa for four months
since April 30 under its revised policy to promote tourism.

The introduction of the visa-on-arrival system in Myanmar had raised the
number of tourist arrivals in the country.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 9, UN News Centre
UN-backed project helps villagers in Myanmar rebuild lives following floods

Almost 100,000 villagers in western Myanmar whose homes or croplands were
badly damaged by floods earlier this year are rebuilding their lives under
a United Nations-backed project that provides income-generating activities
for locals.

The scheme, supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), began in
Myanmar’s Rakhine state in early July after torrential rains and strong
winds a month earlier killed dozens of people and inundated swathes of
countryside.

Villagers have been paid for cleaning and repairing damaged houses,
latrines and schools; cleaning water ponds and wells; rebuilding footpaths
and jetties and reclaiming paddy fields that were covered with sand.

The villagers who took part received $2 to $2.50 a day for their work,
according to a press release issued today by UNDP. Many had no means of
earning money following the floods.

UNDP said the project, which is being carried out across 90 separate
villagers, is likely to continue until later this month.
____________________________________

September 9, Shan Herald Agency for News
Regional commander gives instructions to strengthen security around Shan
army – Hseng Khio Fah

Yet again Burma Army’s security forces based in areas surrounding main
base of the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’’s First Brigade is soaring after
the newly promoted regional commander of the Northeastern Region Command,
issued orders to tighten security and to secure all pathways to the SSA
bases, according to sources from the Sino-Burma border.

However, the reason for Burma Army’s reinforcement is not clear, said a
source.

The instructions passed on 7 September, when Brig-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw, the
new commander of the Northeastern Region Command (he succeeded former
commander Aung Than Htut in late August) and Tangyan area commander
Colonel Khaing Zaw, visited their strongest base, Loi Panglong, northwest
of the Wa headquarters Panghsang, and west of Manghseng.

“They later went to inspect Takawng-at Bridge on the Salween, west of
Tangyan,” the source said.

Afterwards, the two continued inspection battalions and hospital in
Mongkao, Shan State North’s Tangyan township, facing the SSA ‘North’’s
Brigade No 1 and ordered all local militia units to safeguard all roads
and bridges to the SSA and areas along the Salween River in cooperation
with Burma Army troops.

Ja Hey’s unit was assigned to provide security at Nampang bridge, located
between the Wa’s capital Panghsang and the Burma Army controlled town of
Tangyan, 115 miles west of Panghsang. Another militia unit of Ja Nu was
ordered to safeguard the motor road between Namlao and Mongkao, said a
villager in Mongkao.

Since the units’ arrivals, reports of abuses by the units have been
reported in nearby villages everyday, a local villager from Wankawngmu
said.

“We were ordered to provide them rice and meat everyday,” she said.

Every people travelling in the areas have also been checked and people who
were suspected as SSA fighters were detained by the Burma Army, another a
businessman from Lashio said. “There were 5 people so far arrested by the
Burma Army soldiers on the way to Mongyai (west of Tangyan).”

Mongyai is located in the north of the First Brigade main bases.

Tensions along the border with ceasefire groups are tense during these
days despite Naypyitaw’s first priority is to hold the general elections
before year’s end and China’s request to maintain regional stability.

Currently, Chairman of State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior
General Than Shwe is in Beijing. Meeting him yesterday, China’s President
Hu Jintao says he “understands and supports Myanmar government’s efforts
to promote ethnic reconciliation.” Than Shwe, in turn, was reported as
saying, “Maintaining peace and stability on the border is of utmost
importance to both countries,” according to Reuters.

____________________________________

September 9, Irrawaddy
UWSA deploy troops at Thai Border – Saw Yan Naing

Burma's largest armed ethnic group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), has
deployed three battalions from its headquarters in Panghsang to southern
Shan State close to the Thai border in as preparations mount for a
military showdown with the Burmese amy, sources close to the UWSA say.

The three battalions—comprising some the Wa army's elite troops—were
dispatched within the last few days. The battalions were led by veteran
commander Wei Hsaitang who has extensive frontline experience and is
strategically familiar with the geography of southern Shan State where
many Wa people live, the sources said.

Saeng Juen, an editor at the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News
said that Wei Hsaitang first became notorious as a warrior when the Wa
battled former drug warlord Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army in 1989-96.

The mobilization comes as tensions increase between Naypyidaw and several
ethnic cease-fire groups that have refused at accede to the junta's border
guard force (BGF) plan.

The UWSA has an estimated 30,000 soldiers, some 4,000 of whom are based in
villages around the Shan State-Thai border where 60,000-120,000 Wa people
live.

Saeng Juen said that the headmen of several Wa villages organized a public
gathering in Mongton Township in southern Shan State on Sept. 7-8 when
they explained preparations and evacuation plans to the assembled crowd.

There are no reports of Burmese army reinforcements in southern Shan
State, said Saeng Juen. However, The Irrawaddy reported on Wednesday that
government forces had mobilized close to the Chinese border in areas
traditionally controlled by Shan Wa and Kachin armies.

An official from the UWSA in Panghsang told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “We
have to wait and see what happens after Snr-Gen Than Shwe comes back from
China. We think that his talks with the Chinese government will include
border stability issues.”

He said, however, that he does not believe the Burmese regime will order
an offensive against the UWSA before or during the general election, which
is on Nov. 7, but perhaps in the post-election period.

On April 23-24, small clashes occurred between UWSA units in southern Shan
State and Burmese government troops, according to Thai soldiers posted at
Ang Khang hill, about 23 kilometers from the Fang District border with
Shan State.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 9, Wall Street Journal
Rights activists criticize China for hosting Myanmar leader - Barbara
Demick and Mark Magnier

Than Shwe seeks Beijing's support for Myanmar's coming elections and its
fight against border-area insurgents. Critics accuse China of propping up
repressive regimes.

Reporting from Beijing and New Delhi — Once again, the head of a nation
viewed as a pariah in the West had come to China to court favor,
legitimacy and money, eliciting criticism that Beijing is coddling
repressive regimes.

This time it was Senior Gen. Than Shwe, leader of the generals who rule
Myanmar. The 77-year-old on Wednesday received a red-carpet welcome at
Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke effusively about the 60th anniversary of
relations between China and Myanmar, also known as Burma, signaling that
Beijing would help protect its ally against international pressure.

"China respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar,
understands and supports the Myanmar government's efforts for national
reconciliation," Hu said, according to comments carried by the official
New China News Agency. "The policy will remain unchanged regardless of
changes of international situation."

Than Shwe, an elusive figure who rarely speaks to journalists, mumbled a
few words about neighborly relations before reporters were ushered out of
the conference hall.

The top items on the agenda were believed to be Myanmar's coming elections
and its struggle against armed tribal groups along the countries' shared
border, endeavors for which the ruling generals need the backing of one of
its few international friends.

Myanmar also needs Beijing's backing at the United Nations at a time when
Washington is increasingly concerned that the nation is following North
Korea's path and trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"The trip is designed to shore up Beijing's support," said Adrian Vickers,
professor of Southeast Asian studies at Australia's University of Sydney.
"It's really Beijing's money that keeps bankrolling the current regime."

Myanmar's elections, scheduled for Nov. 7, are the nation's first in 20
years. The process has been widely criticized because of restrictions on
campaigning and participating that ensure the continuity of the regime,
while conferring an aura of legitimacy. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi is barred from running.

Beijing, despite its discomfort with the electoral process, pressed the
generals to hold the vote out of concern that Myanmar's ossified political
system could endanger China's business interests and worsen unrest along
their border.

China has extensive economic interests in Myanmar: dams, fisheries, mines,
oil and gas, construction. It is also building twin pipelines, for oil and
natural gas, extending from southwestern China's Yunnan province to the
Indian Ocean.

"What China really needs from Burma is a route to the sea," said a
Beijing-based diplomat, who asked not to be quoted by name.

Fresh on the heels of a trip last month to China by North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il, Than Shwe's visit is coming under attack from human rights
advocates who accuse Beijing of propping up some of the world's most
repressive regimes.

"China both wants to profit from Burma and distance itself from Burma's
unstable military rule," Sophie Richardson, acting Asia director of Human
Rights Watch, said in a statement before Than Shwe's visit. "If the
Chinese government doesn't fundamentally alter its approach to Burma, it
risks burnishing its reputation as a patron of abusive regimes."

Myanmar also will be looking for help from Beijing in fighting armed
groups that operate in the border areas, a conflict that at times has led
refugees to flee into China. A Myanmar government plan to co-opt minority
ethnic groups and turn them into armed border guards has fallen short.

"They have a plan to eliminate all these armed groups," said Nawdin
Lahpai, Thailand-based editor of the Kachin News Group, a dissident
publication. "But this has failed. They need support from China to limit
the armed groups along the border."

Than Shwe hasn't visited China since 2003. The tour follows a trip to
Myanmar by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in June, when the two countries
signed 15 documents covering natural gas pipeline, hydroelectric power and
grant aid.

The New China News Agency says China is Myanmar's third-largest trading
partner and investor, with two-way trade in 2009 of $2.9 billion. But much
of the border activity is illegal or unreported, so the real figure is
probably far higher, analysts said.

____________________________________

September 9, Reuters
Myanmar says China top ally, vote won't affect ties

Beijing – Myanmar's reclusive leader on Thursday reassured Beijing that
China is a vital ally and said an upcoming election and planned power
transfer to a civilian government would not affect relations.

General Than Shwe dubbed China its most "important neighbour," according
to reports on Chinese state media, a designation likely to annoy Thailand
and India which are vying for energy resources and other deals in the
isolated nation.

"Myanmar regards China as its most important friendly neighbour, and will
stick to its friendly policy towards China and its one-China stance," the
report quoted him as telling the head of China's Communist Party-run
parliament, Wu Bangguo.

"Myanmar will continue to develop its strategic relations with China after
the election, and the handover from the military," he added, according to
a report on state television.

The ruling junta's civilian proxies are expected to score a resounding
victory in the November 7 elections. The U.S. and European governments
have condemned the poll as a sham.

China has close ties with Myanmar and has poured billions into the country
through investments in oil, gas and other industries, and is likely keen
for guarantees that this spending will be respected by the new leadership.

Oil and gas pipelines are set to bring energy to China's poor, landlocked
southwest and Myanmar also offers potentially lucrative access to the
Indian Ocean.

However Beijing also frets about drug lords and rebel armies operating
along the border -- and Than Shwe told President Wen Jiabao that Myanmar
would work with its neighbour to jointly maintain peace and stability of
the border regions.

The former Burma is subject to wide-ranging economic sanctions imposed by
Europe and the United States stemming from its bloody crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters in 1988 and continued detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

These make China's support all the more vital.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison)

____________________________________

September 9, Irrawaddy
Burma's FEC in crisis

The trading of Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) in Burma has totally
halted due to the excessive drop in its rate this week, causing concerns
among foreign currency dealers, according to sources.

The exchange rate between the FEC and the US dollar had almost no
difference within the first half of 2010, and the FEC value was even
higher during some months. However, the FEC is becoming difficult to trade
in the market in Rangoon since its exchange rate began dropping in August
and fewer people are buying it.

On Monday, a dollar of the FEC was worth 880 kyat (less than US $1), but
within three days it suddenly dropped to 730 kyat on Thursday.

“The current exchange rate for 1 FEC is 730 kyat. Nobody either buys or
sells it now because its rate has dropped excessively,” said a businessman
in Rangoon, who trades currencies.

He said the value of the US dollar has also decreased from 970 kyat to 925
kyat per dollar.

A manager at the Myanmar Economic Bank said rumors have circulated that a
new financial policy, which may terminate the FEC, may be implemented
after the Nov. 7 election.

“If the new government wants to bring foreign investments into the
country, it has to relax its policies on the use of foreign currencies
inside Burma. If people can use foreign currencies officially, the FEC may
become a useless paper,” said the bank manager.

FECs are circulated in place of US dollars domestically. The junta has
issued FEC at a fixed rate of 1 FEC to $1 via licensed exchange counters.
The junta requires foreign companies and international NGOs to use dollars
or FEC to pay rental charges and utility and telephone bills (charged at a
rate that is often 10 times higher than what local firms are charged). The
military government also allows dollars to be deposited in a state bank
for later withdrawal as FEC.

With regard to the usefulness of the FEC, a travel agency owner said,
“Previously, the FEC was widely used in paying phone bills and company
taxes, buying fuel, etc., but since the emergence of private gas stations
and pre-paid phone cards its usefulness has become very limited.”

Economists in Burma said the drop of the US dollar and FEC values lied in
the current economic pattern. They said the domestic economy is now at a
standstill as businessmen do not invest in new enterprises while watching
the political situation in the lead up to the election.

Traders also said the halt in the Thai-Burmese border trade has had a huge
impact on many businesses, and caused the appreciation of the kyat.

In addition, the price of solid gold has reportedly gone down from about
650,000 kyat ($ 722) per one kyat-thar (approximately 0.015 kg) to 635,000
kyat.

An economist in Rangoon said that apart from slow economic conditions the
scarcity of Burmese currency inside the country was another reason for
depreciation of the value of the US dollar and gold.

“The government withdraw massive amount of kyat through increasing tax
rates, charging fines for unlicensed vehicles and issuing licenses,
auctioning illegal vehicles and state-owned buildings, and selling state
assets under the name of privatization. It means a shortage of cash in the
market. So, when it needed money in cash the sold gold and dollars, that's
why the value of those items dropped,” he explained.

Shop owners at Rangoon's Bayintnaung wholesale market, however, said the
price of staple food such as rice, cooking oil, salt and other commodities
did not fall although the value of the US dollars, export earnings and
gold depreciates excessively.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 9, Associated Press
Top UN rights official urges 'utmost vigilance' to ensure fairness of
Myanmar elections

Geneva— The U.N.'s top human rights official says the world must exercise
"utmost vigilance" to ensure upcoming elections in Myanmar are free and
fair.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, says those
vulnerable to exclusion, intimidation and attacks must be protected — but
she doesn't specify how.

In November, the Southeast Asian country, which is run by a military
junta, is set to hold its first nationwide vote in two decades.

Pillay's comments, released Wednesday, are part of a speech she is due to
deliver at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council's three-week
meeting in Geneva on Monday.

The speech addresses dozens of human rights concerns worldwide, in places
like China, France, Iran and the United States.

____________________________________

September 9, France24
Is the Burmese junta really saving tigers?

The Burmese junta announced in August that it would triple the size of the
protected game reserve for endangered tigers situated in the northern
region of Kachin. But, the truth is, a real-estate tycoon close to the
junta has continued, unhindered, to raze large parcels of the land.

The tiger reserve of Hukaung valley, established in 2001, is home to the
largest remaining population of the rare Indochinese tiger. In August
2010, the junta announced plans to increase the surface of the reserve for
it to stretch across the entire valley. Burma’s leaders announced that the
reserve would ultimately reach the size of 17,000 km2, roughly the size of
Kuwait.

Yet, just a few months before the announcement, the non-profit
organisation KDNG (Kachin Developement Networking Group) published an
alarming report on the unchecked deforestation operated by Burmese real
estate Tycoon U Htay Myint on protected lands, with the junta’s blessing.

The countries surrounding the Mekong River (Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma
and Thailand) are home to the world’s largest population of wild tigers.
But intensive poaching and deforestation have caused the number of tigers
to fall from 1,200 in 1988 to just 350 today.

The state of Kachin (in the north of the country, near the Chinese
border), has also been the stronghold of a Burmese separatist guerrilla
for the past 50 years.

In 2006, Burmese authorities allowed industrial farming group Yuzana to
use 200,000 acres [800 km2] of land in the south of the reserve to be
turned into an 'agricultural development zone'. The group is directed by U
Htay Myint, a businessman with close ties to the Burmese junta. As a
result, tractors are –- as we speak –- digging up acres of protected
forest land, spraying the earth with pesticides and turning sections of
the forest into tapioca and sugar-cane fields.

There are two direct victims of this deforestation. First, animals, in
particular tigers, have seen their living and hunting space shrink
considerably. Tractors have even demolished the "green corridor" of forest
initially left so tigers could cross the farm fields. All that is left is
a multitude of signs, planted in the middle of razed land, indicating that
you are standing on "protected forest territory" (see photos). Recently, a
resident of the reserve told us that sightings of tigers had ceased. The
few hundred left have been forced to retreat into the depth of the forest.

Locals are also affected. They settled in the valley years ago, well
before the zone became a protected area, and are now forcefully evacuated
by Yuzana’s private militia. The zone is currently under the army’s
permanent watch, and residents were displaced to 'model villages' created
by the company, where it’s nearly impossible for them to grow any crops.

The government announcement that they plan to expand the protected reserve
is just for show, to look good at the International summit on tiger
preservation coming up in St. Petersburg. They intend to announce that, by
2022, the number of tigers on Burmese soil will have doubled. But, on the
field, nothing is being done to successfully preserve the forest. They
don’t respect anything."

____________________________________

September 9, Agence France Presse
US accepts Myanmar refugees from Palau: priest

Koror, Palau — The United States has agreed to take 11 Myanmar asylum
seekers who fled to the Pacific island nation of Palau fearing persecution
in their homeland, the priest overseeing their case said.

Most of the group arrived in Palau via Malaysia, the Philippines and
Singapore in February last year, Catholic priest Rusk Saburo said
Wednesday.

The refugees, who argued they would be arrested by the military regime in
Myanmar, said they headed for Palau after finding out they did not require
visas for the country.

The group's spokeswoman Khin Khin Cho, who married her fiance, San Yu
Maung in Palau last December and gave birth to a baby boy three months
ago, said they were grateful the island had given them a temporary haven.

She said her baby, Max, had also been given a Palauan name, Ngeltengat,
meaning "blessed".

"He was born here, one day he will ask where he was born," Khin told AFP.

Saburo said six of the refugees relocated to the United States on
Wednesday and the rest were set to follow in October.

Palau is also the temporary home for six former detainees at the US
military's Guantanamo Bay detention centre -- members of the Chinese
Muslim Uighur minority who are hoping another country will offer them a
permanent home.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 9, The Guardian (UK)
In praise of 
 the BBC's Burmese service – Editorial

The BBC's Burmese service serves an essential function and must be allowed
to survive.

Government departments often fight spending cuts by leaking plans to scrap
something that no one can imagine losing. The threat of the cut is enough
to prevent it ever taking place. That tactic may lie behind reports this
week that the BBC World Service is considering axing its Burmese service,
70 years to the month since it began. If Foreign Office belt-tightening
has to go this far, one wonders which other broadcasts will survive, for
there can be nowhere more in need of a radio station that tells the truth
than Burma. "People inside Burma cannot get free information. We are a
lifeline service," one of the station's editors told the BBC last week as
Burmese broadcasts entered their eighth decade. There is no free media in
this oppressed country, only an established tradition of relying on the
BBC, which has an estimated 8.3 million Burmese radio listeners a week on
top of traffic to its Burmese-language website. Funded by the Foreign
Office as part of its grant to the World Service, BBC Burmese is routinely
accused by its Burmese state-run equivalent of "sowing hatred among the
people". By that, the Burmese government means reporting honestly on
dissent and humanitarian disasters such as cyclone Nargis, which killed
more than 100,000 people in 2008. Other countries, too, depend on World
Service broadcasts, and cuts sometimes have to be made. There were
protests when many European services were axed, for instance. But the
Burmese service is particularly necessary and must survive.