BurmaNet News, December 17, 2010

[Editor]

December 17, 2010 Issue #4106

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Local media barred from publishing Suu Kyi Interviews

ON THE BORDER
DVB: DKBA faction could commence guerilla war in ‘every township’
Irrawaddy: KNU eye Manerplaw

BUSINESS / TRADE
VOVNews: Vietnam, Myanmar increase two-way trade

ASEAN
Bangkok Post: Indonesia wants regional bloc to be 'strong voice'

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe took other generals' wives as hostages
NTI Global Security Newswire: Myanmar discussed "going nuclear"
Mizzima: Malaysia struggles to meet refugee needs: rights report

INTERNATIONAL
Asia Sentinel: Misplaced US optimism on Burma
Xinhua: Myanmar establishes diplomatic ties with Oman

OPINION / OTHER
Bangkok Post: Golden chance to boost migration policies - Andy Hall
Huffington Post: Norway Complicit in Human Rights Abuses in Burma: New
Report - Matthew Smith

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy:
Local Media Barred from Publishing Suu Kyi Interviews - Yeni

Burma's censors have been ordered to block publication of interviews with
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to editors of local
journals and officials from the ruling regime's censorship board, the
Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD).

The PSRD, which operates under the Ministry of Information, exercises
draconian control over all publications in Burma, and has recently been
told to step up its efforts to prevent privately owned journals from
pushing the envelope in their coverage of Suu Kyi.

“This week we received requests from several journals that wanted to run
interviews with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but we are under orders from
Naypyidaw not to allow them to go into print,” a PSRD proofreader told The
Irrawaddy.

Since Tuesday, one month after her release from seven continuous years of
house arrest, Suu Kyi has spoken privately with a number of reporters from
leading publications and Rangoon-based foreign correspondents, according
to local media sources.

The sources said that many journalists in the former capital were testing
the waters to see how far they could go in playing a role in the country’s
recent political developments.

Officials from Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
said they appreciate the efforts of the Burmese press to cover the
activities of the party and its leader.

Pe Myint, a well-known writer and the editor of the Rangoon-based weekly,
Pyithukhit (“People’s Era”), told The Irrawaddy that efforts to cover news
related to Suu Kyi were not about boosting sales, but a response to the
PSRD's apparent relaxation of restrictions on covering political issues,
noting that interviews with some other politicians have recently appeared
in print.

Accustomed to working in an extremely restrictive media environment,
Burmese journalists are careful about dealing with politically sensitive
issues, but are also adept at getting around the censors.

Last month, however, nine Burmese publications were penalized for crossing
the line in their coverage of Suu Kyi's release. Two journals, First
Eleven and Hot News, were ordered suspended for two weeks, while 7 Days
News, The Voice, Venus News, Pyithu Khit, Myanmar Post, The Snap Shot and
Myanmar Newsweek were given one-week suspensions.

Burma currently has more than 100 privately owned publications, all of
which are subject to PSRD scrutiny. After several journals produced
special pages devoted to Suu Kyi’s release and put them over their front
pages, the head of the PSRD, former army major Tint Swe, summoned the
editors to warn them against further violations, without explaining what
the alleged transgressions were.

The PSRD later sent them a list of 10 rules for editors and the sanctions
they will incur for not respecting them. The penalties included
confiscation of printed material; temporary or permanent suspension of
publishing rights; confiscation of printing presses; and lengthy prison
sentences under laws first introduced in 1962, when the military seized
power.

“It confirms that Burma continues to be a paradise for censors. And the
military will stop at nothing to ensure that no embarrassing news items
slips through the net,” said Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and its
partner organization, the Burma Media Association, in a recent press
release.

The organizations said the intimidation directed at the publications
“highlights the scale of the censorship and threats with which the
privately owned media are confronted while trying to inform the public.”

Since then, publishers and editors of publications seeking to improve
relations with Naypyidaw have reportedly warned reporters to stay away
from Suu Kyi and her political allies, according to several sources close
to those respective publications.

In an apparent attempt to distract readers from news about Suu Kyi,
Popular News, run by Kalayar, daughter of ex-Lt-Gen Win Myint, Secretary 3
of the former junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council,
published a front-page story announcing that residents of Rangoon’s North
Dagon Township had seen a UFO.

Meanwhile, the PSRD has forced all local journals this week to print a
propaganda article titled “Don’t Trivialize the National Cause,” cheering
the junta's seven-step road map to democracy and stating that holding a
second Panglong-style conference with Burma's ethnic groups, as proposed
by Suu Kyi and her political allies, is impossible.

It was the first time in three months that privately owned journals were
ordered to print a propaganda article. It comes after a story critical of
Suu Kyi, written by well-known junta propagandist Ngar Minn Shwe, was
voluntarily published by three journals.

At the same time, the Burmese junta is expanding its media presence in
Naypyidaw with military propaganda outlets such as Myawaddy FM, Myawaddy
TV, and Myawaddy Publications. According to sources, the Burmese-language
Naypyidaw Newspaper will be printed by Myawaddy Publications, which has
its headquarters in Naypyidaw and offices in Rangoon and Mandalay. All
army broadcasters and publications are run under the military’s
Directorate of Public Relations and Psychological Warfare.

According to sources at the PSRD, the Information Ministry has imposed
strict rules on the publication of photos of Suu Kyi because of her calls
for a second Panglong-type conference. When one publication sought
permission to run a photo of Suu Kyi meeting with visiting US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Joseph Yun, the
PSRD permitted the paper to refer to Yun only as “a foreign guest,”
according to an editor at the news journal.

However, the junta allowed the media to print photos of Suu Kyi with her
son, Kim Aris, at Rangoon’s Mingaladon Airport. According to the PSRD
sources, the ruling generals wanted the public to see images of Suu Kyi's
reunion with her son, who she had been separated from for 10 years,
because they wanted to highlight the fact that she had married a
foreigner, the late British academic Michael Aris, and has two
“mixed-blood” sons who are staying in “foreign countries.”

But in a sign that the regime remains extremely wary of Suu Kyi's
popularity, it has reportedly ordered Myanma Athan radio, the national
radio station, not to air stories about mothers, because of many of the
65-year-old Suu Kyi's younger supporters refer to her as “Amay Suu,”
meaning “Mother Suu” in Burmese.

Rangoon-based Irrawaddy correspondents contributed to this article.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 17, Democratic Voice of Burma:
DKBA faction could commence guerilla war in ‘every township’ – Maung Too

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’s (DKBA) battalion 902 commander Colonel
Kyaw Thet in Hpalu village, where fighting recently broke out with the
government, said the group will commence guerrilla warfare in “every
township” if the SPDC continues its offensive against the renegade DKBA
faction.

“If they won’t be considerate on us, we will commence guerrilla warfare.
We have deployed our units already and we would have to proceed
 in every
township across Burma,” said Colonel Kyaw Thet.

“We are using the [Burmese Army’s] break from the fighting as an
opportunity to reorganise our forces and restock ammunition. We have
already prepared ourselves for defence.”

He said more fighting is likely in other ethnic regions due to a growing
impatience with the government and that victory can be achieved if all
ethnic armies coordinate and fight against the Burmese Army.

There has seemingly been repeated attempts to unite disaffected ethnic
armies and rebel groups, with the All Burma Students Democrtaic Front
(ABSDF) recently telling DVB that they will join with their Karen
counterparts.

While there has been no fighting in Hpalu this week, at least four battles
broke out between the DKBA and the Burmese army in Kyarinseikgyi,
Kawkareit and Hpapun townships.

A faction of the DKBA broke ranks earlier in the year when it decided
against signing the government’s border guard force (BGF) plan, which was
an attempt to assimilate ethnic armed groups into the Burmese military.

There has been low intensity war fare occurring in Karen State ever since
troops under Saw La Bwe a.k.a Na Kham Mwe took positions in and around the
major border town of Myawaddy the day after November’s controversial
election.

____________________________________

December 17, Irrawaddy
KNU Eye Manerplaw – Saw Yan Naing

A battalion of regular troops from the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) on
Dec. 11 launched a short attack on the Burmese army in Manerplaw, and have
remained active in the area. Manerplaw was the headquarters of the KNU
from 1948 until it fell into Burmese army hands in 1995.

Located in Hlaingbwe Township in Karen State at a picturesque juncture on
the Moei River, which seperates Thailand and Burma, Manerplaw was the
KNU's most strategic base during the reign of Gen Bo Mya, the former
chairman of the KNU. Its fall into enemy hands—primarily due to the
notorious betrayal of the KNU by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA)—marked a turn in the decades-old civil conflict which resulted in
several ethnic armies signing cease-fire agreements with the military
regime, while members of the KNU were forced to flee to refugee camps in
Thailand or to small guerilla bases in remote parts of Karen State.

After the Fall of Manerplaw in 1995, the KNU was unable to launch major
offensives against government forces around that area, and it became a
Burmese army stronghold and an ideal base to coordinate cross-border
trade, especially logging.

KNU sources said that Battalion 202 from Brigade 7 of the KNU's military
wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and some members of a
Karen specialist unit known as the “Special Force” were involved in a
skirmish with government forces involving gunfire and mortar attacks.

The KNU fighters retook some of their former bases around Manerplaw, and
are now patrolling along the trails and hills of Kachaw Wah Lay, Htee Thit
Kee, Manerpaw, Htoo Wah Lu, Law Kwa Lu and Yadae Nee, said the sources.

Nang Paw Gay, the editor of the Karen Information Centre, said that the
KNLA's Battalion 202 led by Maj Saw Tamla and the “Special Force” have
been much more active in the area since the beginning of December.

Small skirmishes between Burmese government troops (assisted by DKBA
regulars who are now part of the border guard force) and KNU Brigade 7
have been occuring on a near daily basis since early December in the areas
surrounding Manerplaw, souces said.

The worst fighting broke out on Dec. 10-11, which resulted in some 300
local villagers fleeing to the Thai side of the river to seek refuge in
Sop Moei District in Mae Hong Son Province, according to one source who
visited the refugees.

Mahn Mahn, a leader of the Backpack Health Worker Team, a medical relief
group which works in Karen State, said, “Some pregnant women who are ready
to give birth were among the villagers. We had to make preparations to
deliver their babies en route.”

The refugees will be unable to return home while the fighting is ongoing,
the sources said. Some refugees who tried to get into Mae La Oon refugee
camp in Mae Hong Son Province were prevented by the Thai authorities.

Relief workers have said that there are several refugees who are sick
among those held up at the border.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 17, VOVNews
Vietnam, Myanmar increase two-way trade

 A conference on trade between Vietnam and Myanmar, held by the Vietnamese
Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee in
Yagon, Myanmar has successfully ended.

The conference attracted the participation of representatives from both
countries’ ministries, administrative agencies and businesses working in
the field of electronics, , building materials, pharmaceuticals, medical
equipment, footwear, garments, cosmetics, chemicals, food processing,
plastics, fertilisers, tourism and import-export services.

They also pointed out the potentials of both countries’ potentials and
cooperation opportunities in trade, economics, investment and tourism.

In 2009, two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Myanmar reached US$99
million and jumped to US$129.7 million in the first ten months of 2010.
The import-export turnover this year is expected to pass US$160 million.

____________________________________
ASEAN

December 18, Bangkok Post
Indonesia wants regional bloc to be 'strong voice'

Indonesia has proposed a new "dynamic equilibrium" for Southeast Asian
nations as a part of its agenda after it takes up the chairmanship of the
regional association from Jan 1.

Under the Indonesian chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean), Jakarta would look beyond the already-set Asean Economic
Community, said Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa during a
lecture titled "Geopolitics and the Role of Asean in Facing Global
Challenges" organised by the Institute of Security and International
Studies at Chulalongkorn University on Wednesday.

Brunei was due to take the Asean chair next year but, during the 16th
Asean Summit in April in Hanoi, the member states unanimously decided to
grant Indonesia's request to swap its turn in 2013 with Brunei.

Mr Natalegawa said Indonesia would usher in a "dynamic equilibrium" in
light of the increasing importance of regional geopolitics.

Mr Natalegawa said the term not only describes the conventional
balance-of-power situation where no country is predominant in the region,
but it has a more holistically positive sense covering the political,
environmental, economic, social-cultural and other aspects of the regional
relationship.

"The region is facing various transnational issues such as the environment
and terrorism. And it's not just tensions on the Korean peninsula and
maritime jurisdictions, but a return to a Cold War-type mentality that
emerging powers will become a problem and need to be contained or
managed," he said, adding that such a perspective could divide Asean.

"The region is also maturing and we could do something under a coherent
Asean flag, such as Thailand is doing in supporting the United Nations by
sending its peace-keeping force [to Sudan]."

Asean, he said, would not align itself with any single power but would act
as a people-centred grouping.

"In our consensus DNA, we will position ourself as a bridge builder - by
mapping out issues of common interest and reinforcing, regionally and
globally, a strong voice in international affairs," Mr Natalegawa said.

On the issue of Burma, he said: "It's not either [recently released
pro-democracy leader Aung San] Suu Kyi or the elected government - we need
to see Daw Suu Kyi and the authorities as part of the solution in further
democratisation."

He said it was time for Asean to look again at a work plan similar to the
Bali-Concord II - a blueprint, introduced during the previous Indonesia
chairmanship in 2003, which presented the broad outlines for economic
integration among member countries.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 17, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe Took Other Generals' Wives as Hostages: Indian Official

A senior Indian official suspected that the wives of two Burmese generals
who accompanied Snr-Gen Than Shwe on a state visit to India in October
2004 were actually being held as hostages, according to a US diplomatic
cable released by WikiLeaks. A report written by Geoffrey Pyatt, the
political counselor at the US embassy in New Delhi, revealed that Mitra
Vashishta, a joint secretary of India's Ministry of External Affairs,
“observed that Than Shwe traveled with the wives of two other powerful
generals, Thura Shwe Man and Soe Win, who [Vashishta] mused may have been
used as 'hostages' to ensure tranquility among the generals in Rangoon
during Than Shwe's absence.” The memo also revealed that the Indian
government regarded the November 2004 ouster of former Prime Minister Gen
Khin Nyunt as a “coup.”

____________________________________

December 17, Global Security Newswire
Dispatch: Myanmar Discussed "Going Nuclear"

A 2004 U.S. diplomatic dispatch stated that the ruling military junta in
Myanmar indicated it could pursue a nuclear program in order to draw the
United States' attention, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN,
Dec. 13).

The cable from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, provided by the transparency
organization WikiLeaks to the London Guardian, detailed information
provided by Indian External Affairs Ministry joint secretary Mitra Vasisht
after meeting with Burmese junta leader Than Shwe.

"Burma is so isolated that members of Than Shwe's delegation wondered
whether they would have to 'go nuclear' to get U.S. attention," Vasiisht
said while pointing out the experience of Pakistan, which conducted its
own nuclear weapons testing in 1998 and today receives a large amount of
U.S. financial support.

Other leaked cables from the U.S. Embassy in Yangon addressed the junta's
suspected nuclear work and its collaboration with North Korea. Myanmar has
adamantly denied past allegations it is pursuing a nuclear weapons
capability (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Dec. 16).

Meanwhile, the Guardian posted a December 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable that
requested New Delhi move to halt a reported Syrian effort to purchase
Indian-manufactured technology that could be put to use in a biological or
chemical weapons program.

"The U.S. has obtained information indicating that a Syrian institution
with connections to the country's chemical and biological weapons programs
is attempting to acquire Australia Group-controlled glass-lined reactors,
heat exchangers and pumps from the Indian firms [redacted] and [redacted].
Both firms are believed to have received visits from the Syria institution
in the past three months and may be close to concluding their respective
deals," the cable said.

The United States called on New Delhi, as a signatory to the Chemical
Weapons Convention, to take action on the matter.

"We therefore seek the [government of India's] assistance in investigating
this activity and talking all steps necessary to prevent Indian entities
from providing CBW equipment to Syria," the cable stated.

"We also want to remind the GOI that the Iran, North Korea, and Syria
Nonproliferation Act requires us to report to Congress transfers of goods,
services and technology on multilateral control lists, such as the
Australia Group, to Syria. Sanctions may be imposed against individuals
and entities identified in such reports," the diplomatic memo added.

The Australia Group is an international export control organization that
oversees biological and chemical trade regulations. Last month, the Obama
administration announced it would advocate for Indian membership to the
group (see GSN, Nov. 8).

The cable ended by calling on New Delhi to "take all steps necessary" to
probe the situation and block Damascus from purchasing any dual-use
equipment that could be used to manufacture chemical warfare materials
(London Guardian, Dec. 16).

[The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is a non-profit organization with a
mission to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and
preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and to
work to build the trust, transparency and security which are preconditions
to the ultimate fulfillment of the Non-Proliferation Treaty’s goals and
ambitions.]
____________________________________

December 17, Mizzima
Malaysia struggles to meet refugee needs: rights report

Chiang Mai – The government of Malaysia remains delinquent in meeting the
needs of refugees seeking greener pastures, including Burmese, finds the
latest study on the status of refugee needs in the Southeast Asian state.

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), or Voice of the Malaysian People, a
Malaysian civil and political rights group, in its 2010 overview chastises
Kuala Lumpur for failing to do enough to satisfy the rights of those
either seeking temporary or permanent asylum in the country or victims of
human trafficking.

“Although the government appears to have the intention of seeking ways to
deal with this population [refugees], violations of refugee rights
continue to occur,” the report’s authors concluded.

Thousands of Burmese are among the over 90,000 refugees registered with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.

On June 12 of 2010, according to the report, Suaram “was informed that an
estimated 500 Burmese detainees at Lenggeng Immigration Detention Centre
[southeast of Kuala Lumpur in the state of Negeri Simbalan] went on hunger
strike 
 to protest against the lack of water supply which had been going
on for five days. However, it was reported that the Immigration Department
denied that there was a lack of water supply at the detention centre”.

The incident followed a February occurrence at the same location over
which the Burmese leader of a hunger strike was detained for seven months,
though the UNHCR was able to visit the centre shortly after the onset of
the protest, securing the release of 106 refugees.

In January this year, 26 Burmese asylum-seekers were arrested by Malaysian
authorities upon trying to enter the country, allegedly being denied their
basic rights as asylum-seekers in proceeding developments.

Suaram believes the behaviour of the Malaysian authorities is consistent
with Kuala Lumpur exhibiting little interest in ratifying the 1951
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, or
introducing domestic legislation to recognise the status of refugees.

“Due to the lack of legal status, refugees continue to face denial of
basic rights,” continues the rights’ group’s assessment.

Moreover, as of this year, the trafficking of Burmese refugees by
Malaysian immigration officers was reportedly still occurring, while in
March four Burmese destined for Australia were discovered at Kuala Lumpur
International Airport as part of a human-trafficking scheme, the report
said.

Suaram said the trafficking victims were then subjected to detention
centres in violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007, which
stipulates such individuals be placed in shelters as opposed to detention
centres.

Overall, the report finds that despite the optimism surrounding the advent
of the Malaysian government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, which observers
had hoped would place greater emphasis on the realisation of human rights
when he took office in April last year, “all the incidents and
controversies that have happened in 2010 signal a return to the Mahathir
era, a period of stifling control, abuse of powers and suppression of
human rights”.

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and
remains a complex political character, including in developments related
to social and civil rights.

Suaram also contends the Malaysian Election Commission has thus far
refused to take issue with allegations of illegal electoral conduct by
Najib’s ruling party, which opponents say has offered preferential
treatment in return for voter favouritism, especially during May’s
by-elections in the region of Sibu.

In Burma’s national elections last month, the junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Party was widely accused of using similar
illegal electoral tactics to sway voter allegiance.

Meanwhile, in another apparent signal of abuse of power by the Najib
government, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three allies
were suspended from parliament for six months yesterday, in votes that
triggered pandemonium and an opposition walkout, the Australian
broadcaster ABC News reported online.

“Anwar, who is also facing trial on sodomy charges that he says are a
political conspiracy, was this week found guilty by parliament of
misleading members in a row over a national unity slogan,” the ABC
reported.

The suspension came after he had criticised the Najib government’s One
Malaysia banner aimed at promoting unity in the multiracial nation, saying
it had been taken from the 1999 One Israel political bloc of former
Israeli leader Ehud Barak, the report said.

The charge is highly sensitive in the predominately Muslim country, which
has no diplomatic relations with Israel and supports a Palestinian state.

The government on Wednesday also cited three senior opposition MPs for
contempt for criticising the parliamentary disciplinary probe against
Anwar, and demanded that they also serve six-month suspensions.

“It’s so clear, it’s blatantly biased,” Anwar told ABC after vote in
parliament, where Najib’s ruling coalition has a clear majority. “It’s a
mockery of the entire proceedings.”

Chaotic scenes filled the house where debate was drowned out by 30 minutes
of shouting, and opposition lawmakers displayed signs reading “Save the
Parliament” and “Rule of kangaroo”.

They later walked out, chanting “shame on you”, the report said.

Anwar was once a deputy prime minister in the ruling coalition but was
sacked and jailed a decade ago on separate sodomy and corruption charges,
widely seen as politically motivated.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 17, Asia Sentinel
Misplaced US Optimism on Burma - Simon Roughneen

Diplomatic cables by the US Embassy in Rangoon show that American
officials were unrealistically optimistic about dialogue with Burma's
military government, as Democrat Sen. Jim Webb visited ruler
Senior-General Than Shwe in August 2009.

“It is certain Than Shwe believes he has unclenched its fist,” said a
cable released by Wikileaks overnight. The reference is to US President
Barack Obama’s inauguration speech in which he said the US would offer an
open hand to any nation that didn’t meet it with a clenched fist.

The note suggested that the Burmese ruler regarded the Webb-Shwe meeting
and the release of American prisoner John Yettaw as a major concession
that required an American counter-offer. “We should allow Burmese Foreign
Minister Nyan Win to visit the Embassy in Washington following UNGA”
(United Nations General Assembly), the cable author wrote.

The meeting between Webb and Than Shwe “was decidedly more upbeat than
expected”, with the reclusive Burmese ruler said to have “greeted Senator
Webb and Charge (Larry Dinger, the US Charge d'Affairs in Rangoon)
warmly.” Than Shwe repeatedly spoke of “friendship” throughout the
conversation, which Sen. Webb oiled by swiftly changing the subject when
Aung San Suu Kyi was mentioned.

The Webb-Shwe meeting came just days after Suu Kyi was sentenced in a
trumped-up trial to neutralize her politically, adding three years of
house arrest after Yettaw had swum to her Rangoon home earlier in 2009.
The Burmese courts ruled that Yettaw’s visit breached the terms of her
earlier house arrest according to the Burmese courts.

Yettaw was released by the Burmese during Webb’s visit, while Than Shwe
commuted Suu Kyi’s sentence to 18 months, meaning she was freed on
November 13 2010 – a week after Burma held its first general elections in
two decades. Suu Kyi also met with Sen. Webb during his visit, and
stressed her openness to talk to the Burmese rulers, “without
preconditions,” according to the leaked cable. Webb in turn emphasized the
importance of freeing Suu Kyi, saying that most of the world judges the
junta “by how it treats ASSK”, according to the meeting notes.

However, since her eventual release last month, Burma's rulers have shown
no indication that they will engage with Suu Kyi. After controversial
elections that were regarded by the outside world as rigged on Nov. 7,
which were won in a landslide by the junta's Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP), a new military-dominated faux-civilian
government is likely to be formed by February 2011, and will not include
Suu Kyi nor her allies.

Than Shwe's antipathy toward Suu Kyi is well-known and backed up by U.S.
diplomatic accounts. Another cable newly-released by Wikileaks covers a
2006 meeting between Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State under
the Bush administration, and China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.
According to the meeting notes, Wu told his American counterpart that
“Burmese officials made clear that their vision for national
reconciliation does not include Aung San Suu Kyi,” adding that “most
senior leaders fear her.”

China is the second biggest investor in Burma, after Thailand, and its
government is thought to be closer to the regime than any other. Dinger,
writing in February 2009, speculated that one reason the Burmese junta
wanted to talk to the US was because some of the generals were growing
concerned “with Burma's ever-growing dependence on China.”

The meeting with Than Shwe was the first between the Burmese ruler and an
American official. It came after Webb and Dinger sat down with Prime
Minister Thein Sein on August 14 2009, along with other Burmese ministers
and officials, including Foreign Minister Nyan Win and U Thaung, Minister
for Science and Technology, who Thein Sein touted to Webb as a possible
negotiator on behalf of the Burmese in any dialogue with the Americans.
Thein Sein criticized US sanctions on Burma, according to the cable, but
said that his administration wanted “the ability to communicate directly
with Washington.”

Months before the unprecedented meeting between Webb and Than Shwe, the US
Embassy in Rangoon proposed changing US policy on the country's name, to
use “Myanmar”, instead of “Burma”, as one of the concessions to be offered
to the junta. Burma's military rulers changed the country's name in 1989,
but the amendment has not been acknowledged by the US or many of Burma's
opposition groups.

This concession would have come about if the junta accepted “some tweaks
to the electoral process” - such as accepting international observers. The
US Embassy in Rangoon hoped that some relaxation of Suu Kyi’s house arrest
might have been granted, and that some of the country’s 2,100-plus
political prisoners might be released before the election, with the
International Committee of the Red Cross granted access to these detainees
as per international law.

However none of this happened, despite Thein Sein’s pledge to Webb to hold
fair elections.  It all makes the US representatives seem somewhat naive
in retrospect. The only international observers allowed to monitor the
rigged Nov. 7 election were diplomats already present in Burma, with the
delegation led by the North Korean Ambassador.

Ultimately, speaking in India as the voting took place, US President
Barack Obama dismissed the election as a farce, though the US has said it
remains open to dealing with the Burmese regime.

The new cables do not paint the Americans as entirely green. While the US
contemplated a mutual upgrading of diplomatic representation to
ambassadorial level, there was no indication that sanctions against the
Burmese junta and its business cronies would be dropped. Amid all the
Panglossian hopes for reform in Burma, the Americans still retained some
of their diplomatic sharp edge. After initially fearing that the US Navy
attempt to bring aid to survivors of the May 2008 Cyclone Nargis was a
disguised invasion plan, the junta later expressed gratitude for the
assistance, according to American diplomats.

Noting the utility of aid for political purposes, Dinger noted that “aid
is subversive more directly as well: recipients understand who helps them
(international donors) and who doesn't (the regime).”

____________________________________

December 17, Xinhua via People’s Daily
Myanmar establishes diplomatic ties with Oman

Myanmar has established diplomatic ties with the Sultanate of Oman at
ambassadorial level, state-run newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported
Friday.

A joint communique on the establishment was signed by Myanmar's permanent
representative to the United Nations and his Oman counterpart in New York
on Tuesday.

Oman is the second country with which Myanmar forged diplomatic links in
2010 after Fiji.

The diplomatic establishment with Oman has brought the total number of
countries in the world with which Myanmar has such links up to 102 since
it regained independence in 1948.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Myanmar has so far set up embassies in
30 countries and two permanent missions in New York and Geneva, and four
consulates-general in China's Hong Kong, Kunming and Nanning, and India's
Calcutta, respectively.

Meanwhile, 28 countries have their embassies in Myanmar. In addition,
China and India have respectively set up consulates- general in Myanmar's
Mandalay, the second largest city, while Switzerland in Yangon and
Bangladesh in Sittway.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 18, Bangkok Post (Opinion)
Golden chance to boost migration policies - Andy Hall

Tomorrow will mark exactly 20 years since the United Nations adopted the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) on Dec 18, 1990. This
convention sets out an expansive set of rights for migrant workers and
their families during recruitment and when preparing to migrate, when
travelling to and whilst staying in destination countries and during
return and integration into home states.

The convention recognises that like women, children or indigenous peoples,
migrant workers are a vulnerable group in many societies who continue to
be exploited, discriminated against and require targeted protection. Since
the year 2000, Dec 18 has been celebrated annually around the world as
International Migrant's Day.

Only 44 countries have ratified and 15 signed the ICRMW so far. Most are
migrant sending countries. In Asean, only Cambodia, Indonesia and the
Philippines have signed up. Given the extent and almost systematised
exploitation of migrant workers that takes place in Southeast Asia, most
notably in Thailand and Malaysia, the convention appears as a wish list of
rights migrants should be provided with but which they rarely receive. On
International Migrant's Day tomorrow, ensuring protection of migrant
workers means promoting ratification of the convention as well as
International Labour Organisation Conventions on labour migration.

Thailand has an estimated 2 million migrant workers, many of whom are
fleeing civil and ethnic conflict in Burma. They are discriminatorily
denied work accident compensation and disability rights, face restrictions
on freedom of movement and cannot legally organise and collectively
bargain. Where rights of migrants are enshrined in labour laws, workers
unaware of their rights cannot easily challenge employers, many of whom
ignore these standards. Pregnant migrant workers and their children
continue to be a contentious issue in Thai society framed in terms of
burdening health and education systems. Burmese language in ATMs and
migrants granted motorbike licences became high profile issues in 2010
also.

An unrealistic and poorly publicised February 2010 deadline for migrants
to enter a complex Nationality Verification (NV) regularisation process to
become "legal" prompted the UN's expert on migrant rights to publically
denounce the human rights consequences of Thailand's migration policies.
Despite this, an estimated 1.4 million migrants not meeting the deadline
(1 million entered NV and have until February 2012 to complete) were to be
deported following a June 2010 order by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
These migrants would apparently return to Thailand quickly and cheaply
through official import channels as "legal" workers soon after they were
sent home.

Generally random arrest and extortion activities by enforcement agencies
with relatively few undocumented migrants actually deported was the result
of this crackdown. Those deported, particularly to Burma, fell into well
documented cycles of trafficking and smuggling which activists demanded
the UN independently investigate. This deportation abuse continues
unchecked today however. Migrant import channels promised to employers are
at a standstill with only 30,000 migrants imported into Thailand since
2005. This includes only 700 workers from Burma. Costs demanded by
unregulated import brokers with dubious connections, as with NV brokers,
remain unreasonably high. As this year ends only around 250,000 migrant
workers have completed NV, despite some success in bringing verification
for Burmese migrants into Thailand.

Against a backdrop of low skilled labour shortages, and with the Board of
Investment revoking its policy that companies provided tax incentives
could not hire migrants, the government is slowly realising that its
migration policies are unrealistic and inhumane. Whilst some policymakers
insist a new amnesty is to be granted for undocumented migrants to
register for NV early next year, others are saying a crackdown to deport
unregistered migrants is to be intensified and expanded to employers,
broker and traffickers. The prime minister signed two related orders in
October, the latter revoking the former as a response was required to
links between deportation policies and trafficking which greeted UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Bangkok.

Thailand's migration policy remains in chaos as rights violations
continue. Effective post-regularisation migration systems have failed to
appear. So what is the way forward for Thailand in finding its way out of
this migration mess? Central to getting the reins back is perhaps simply a
case of ensuring a long term and sustainable migration policy and an
agency responsible for genuinely implementing this policy.

What Thailand lacks is a long term vision of migration that equally
benefits migrants, employers and Thais and which guarantees human and
national security for all. A policy is needed which considers migrant
workers as human beings with wants and needs like everyone else. Seeing
migrants as commodities without a future, as a national security threat or
as a burden doesn't work as markets move too fast and migrant rights
violations become more visible and remain unaddressed. Migrants benefit
Thailand and its employers whilst good employers need longer term
migration policies to plan developments in their production too.

Migration needs to be considered alongside economic and social development
policies for the country. Thailand will soon become an aging society when
birth rates fall short of replacement rates. Already facing a shortage of
skilled and low-skilled labour, migrants from neighbouring countries are
crucial. Inserting migration issues into the 11th Economic and Social
Development Plan with equal weight given to economic, national and human
security would be useful.

Acknowledging necessity of and benefit from past, present and future
migration for Thailand, its economy and its people would be a positive
step forward too. Increasing importance is now attached to corporate
social responsibility and enterprise cultures. Exploiting migrants to
increase export advantage is unlikely to be beneficial for Thailand whilst
reliance on cheap labour, instead of ensuring increased productivity, may
actually slow down development and decrease competitive advantage.

Competing visions and interests in migration between those responsible for
national security, human security, labour and industry continue to play
out. The Illegal Alien Workers Management Committee and a plethora of
other committees tasked in a piecemeal way to strategise and enforce
migration and trafficking policies remain ineffective, particularly when
combined with the lack of a long term migration policy. An independent
agency to research, develop and implement a comprehensive migration policy
which has power, resources and reports directly to the PM's office is
crucial. Given the cross cutting nature of migration issues, a multi
agency approach is certainly required.

Whilst recent interest in migration and trafficking by senior policy
makers including the prime minister is welcome, many see power to resist
solving migration challenges lying elsewhere. The systematic corruption
and abuse of power involved, given entrenched roles for brokers, smugglers
and traffickers formed over 20 years, is highly visible. Millions of
migrants did not just appear in Thailand. In the absence of formal import
systems, the undeniable truth is they were smuggled in with assistance
from those actually tasked with ensuring national security.

A commitment by all sides is required to tackle this cycle of abuse which
is undermining the rule of law. The task should perhaps be a national
priority for the existing administration.

Interestingly, migrants are starting to make the link between discharging
their own expensive "obligations", such as completing NV and paying into
deportation funds and social security systems, with a corresponding duty
on the government to give them more respect and ensure protection of their
rights. Those working with migrants sense a new-found confidence among
those who have "legal" status and passports. Incidents like when almost
1,000 post-NV migrants demanded rights in Khon Kaen will likely become
more frequent. The government would do well to discharge its duties to
migrants adhering to the law prior to discontent.

Moving forward with migration policies and good governance in Thailand
will not be easy as conflicting interests need to be overcome, systematic
corruption tackled and long term policies established.

Bringing together officials, employers, migrant, activists and the Thai
public is necessary. Addressing importance of migration pressures at
countries of origin remains too.

But in the end, migration should be seen as a challenge to be managed and
not a problem to be solved. Human beings are involved, rivers of natural
movement flow fast and unequal development across borders remains present
alongside quickening global market forces.

If Thailand was to genuinely start to address its migration challenges in
inclusive and rights-centred ways during 2011, credit will be given.
During the 20th year of the ICRMW and during its presidency of the UN
Human Rights Council, perhaps Thailand should make this extra effort too.

Andy Hall is currently a consultant to the Human Rights and Development
Foundation.
____________________________________

December 16, Huffington Post
Norway Complicit in Human Rights Abuses in Burma: New Report - Matthew Smith

For a government so often associated with the promotion of universal human
rights (just think of Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Prize last week for his "long and
non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China"), it may come
as a shock to hear that Norway is complicit in human rights abuses in
Burma (Myanmar) -- shocking but true.

What is most perplexing about Norway's complicity is that this oil rich,
socially progressive country is known to have the world's most
responsible, transparent, and ethical investment policy. Other countries
and socially responsible investors actually look to Norway to benchmark
their own policies. The world's second largest exporter of gas and sixth
largest exporter of oil (providing Europe with much of its hydrocarbon
needs and profiting greatly in the process), Norway is literally the
world's best at managing vast natural resource wealth; both in its returns
for the people of Norway (over $33 billion last quarter alone), and for
the responsible nature of its investments.

This all makes my reason for being in Oslo right now something of an
oddity. I'm here to launch a new 40-page report, entitled Broken Ethics:
The Norwegian Government's Investments in Oil and Gas Companies Operating
in Burma (Myanmar), exposing that Norway has $4.7 billion of its own oil
wealth invested in 15 oil and gas companies in Burma. All of the companies
are associated with serious and foreseeable human rights abuses, while
also enriching the country's repressive military rulers.

Investing in companies operating in Burma is not alone ethically
problematic for Norway, despite that Burma is a no-go zone for Norwegian
companies, including StatOil, the very firm that generated Norway's
massive wealth. The problem in this case is that the Norwegian Pension
Fund-Global, the world's second largest sovereign wealth fund, invests in
companies that are contributing to severe human rights abuses in Burma, as
documented through clandestine investigations by my colleagues and I over
the last several years. This puts the Fund in violation of its own
standards.

Norway's system to guard against this type of complicity started in 1990,
when the Ministry of Finance created the Fund as a repository of the
peoples' excess oil and gas wealth, which would be invested in stocks and
bonds in global capital markets. In 2002, the Norwegian government
appointed a committee to examine the ethics of those investments, which
eventually resulted in the creation of the Ethical Guidelines, a clear set
of rules to determine whether the Fund's holdings in companies are
ethical. In 2004, the government responded to pressure and appointed the
Council on Ethics as an independent body to assess whether the Fund's
investments are in line with the Guidelines.

The Council's job is complex but straight forward. First, it considers
whether there is a connection between a company's operations and
violations of human rights, environmental, or other ethical standards. If
a connection exists, then the Council considers whether there is an
unacceptable risk that the company's operations will contribute to ongoing
or future violations. If the risk is clear and present, then the Council
is mandated to recommend that the Norwegian Ministry of Finance either
exclude the company from the Fund or put it under observation.

Dissatisfied with the Council's inaction thus far, our new report
essentially screened 15 companies for the Council and found that the
Fund's holdings in the companies put it in violation of the Ethical
Guidelines.

The companies named in the report are some of the world's biggest, hailing
from eight countries, including the US (Chevron), France (Total), South
Korea (Daewoo International), China (PetroChina), India (GAIL), and
Thailand (PTT/PTTEP).

New firsthand testimonies from villagers in Burma within the last few
years describe forced labor on gas pipeline-related infrastructure,
threats, harassment, imprisonment, torture, and targeted extrajudicial
killings of villagers who were deemed a "security" threat to areas around
gas pipelines. Uncompensated land confiscation is also common. These
abuses and others are all committed by the Burmese Army in service to the
oil companies and their projects. Some of these projects also stand to
exacerbate ethnic tensions when they pass through Shan State, where an
ethnically-charged civil war is looming.

At the core of our new report is a cautionary tale not only for Norwegians
but for investors of the world. The moral is that if you're knowingly
invested in companies contributing to human rights abuses, you're
complicit. But like Norway, you can avoid that complicity. You can sell
your shares in the problematic company; you can get involved in
shareholder activism to change corporate behavior from within; or you can
manage your portfolio through any number of socially responsible
investment firms, investing only in companies that satisfy filters of your
choice.

Time will tell how Norway will respond, but the bottom line remains: To
accept investment returns at the expense of basic human rights is
ethically indefensible.

Matthew Smith is a Senior Consultant to EarthRights International