By EILEEN NG/ AP WRITER
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia— Military-ruled Burma must assure its neighbors that the thousands of Muslim boatpeople who have fled the country will not be persecuted if they're returned home, Malaysia's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The comments by Rais Yatim came after Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week called for the Rohingya to be sent back to Burma because they had become a burden to the countries where they washed ashore.
The Muslim Rohingya number about 800,000 in predominantly Buddhist Burma, where they are denied full citizenship and face widespread abuses including forced labor, land seizures and rape, rights groups say.
Thousands have fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Middle East, and rights groups have expressed concern the migrants will be tortured or killed if forced to return to Burma.
Rais said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) recently agreed to find a regional solution to the problem. Asean wants Burma to promise "not to persecute them when they go back," he said.
Burma was informed of the bloc's wishes at a recent summit in Thailand, but the country's leaders didn't indicate whether it will cooperate, Rais told reporters.
Rais said he will also send a diplomatic note to his Burmese counterpart to urge the junta to comply with international human rights standards.
The plight of the Rohingya gained international attention in January after allegations that more than 1,200 of them were detained by Thai authorities and later left adrift at sea on boats with little food or water.
Hundreds are believed to have drowned.
Suaram, a Malaysian rights group, slammed the call to return the refugees as "inhumane," and urged Asean nations to give temporary shelter to the Rohingya until conditions were safe for them to return home.
But Rais defended his government's stance. Malaysia has the biggest number of Rohingya refugees in the region, totaling 14,700, many of whom have stayed for years in the country, working illegally in plantations or factories, he said.
March 4, 2009
USDA Going to Press?
By WAI MOE
The Burmese military junta’s most loyal support group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), is reportedly planning to start publishing a daily newspaper in the run-up to the 2010 Burmese elections, according to media sources in Rangoon.
Several journalists in Rangoon confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the USDA was contacting journalists and offering them work at a forthcoming newspaper. Reporters have been told that they would be paid a competitive salary—150,000 kyat (US $150) per month—at the new daily, which does not yet have a name.
According to the sources, USDA leaders are looking at office space in a building on Min Dhamma Road, near Myanmar Convention Center, in Rangoon.
Analysts say that a USDA newspaper could play a significant role in disseminating government propaganda, particularly during the election campaign period.
The USDA was prominent during the national referendum for a junta-backed constitution in May 2008. Similarly, the organization is likely to be trusted by the Naypyidaw regime again next year to convince and coerce the electorate to vote for pro-junta parties, said the analysts.
Since late last year, the USDA has reportedly “invited” respected persons in local communities around the country to run for pro-junta parties in the upcoming election.
Information Minister and executive member of the USDA, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, is reputedly the mastermind of plans to crank up the military government’s propaganda machine prior to the election. He vowed at a meeting with journalists that he “will fight back against the media using media.”
Under Kyaw Hsan’s guidance, the Ministry of Information sponsored a journalism training course in early February in Rangoon. The 47 Burmese writers and journalists who attended the course were reportedly taught how journalists should cover the 2010 elections.
A pro-junta political journal, Northern Star, was recently launched by Thiha Aung, an ex-military officer and a former editor of the junta mouthpiece, Myanma Alin, which is the Burmese version of The New Light of Myanmar.
“Now, the government has already introduced the ‘seven-step roadmap to democracy,’” Thiha Aung was quoted as saying in a Rangoon-based journal, The Voice Weekly, in early February. “We will report that there is no alternative way to the ‘roadmap’ and encourage people to support this most appropriate way.”
The USDA is perhaps most notorious for the roles its members assumed in suppressing monk-led mass demonstrations in Burma in September 2007, as well as participating in a brutal ambush on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division, in May 2003.
The Burmese military junta’s most loyal support group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), is reportedly planning to start publishing a daily newspaper in the run-up to the 2010 Burmese elections, according to media sources in Rangoon.
Several journalists in Rangoon confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the USDA was contacting journalists and offering them work at a forthcoming newspaper. Reporters have been told that they would be paid a competitive salary—150,000 kyat (US $150) per month—at the new daily, which does not yet have a name.
According to the sources, USDA leaders are looking at office space in a building on Min Dhamma Road, near Myanmar Convention Center, in Rangoon.
Analysts say that a USDA newspaper could play a significant role in disseminating government propaganda, particularly during the election campaign period.
The USDA was prominent during the national referendum for a junta-backed constitution in May 2008. Similarly, the organization is likely to be trusted by the Naypyidaw regime again next year to convince and coerce the electorate to vote for pro-junta parties, said the analysts.
Since late last year, the USDA has reportedly “invited” respected persons in local communities around the country to run for pro-junta parties in the upcoming election.
Information Minister and executive member of the USDA, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, is reputedly the mastermind of plans to crank up the military government’s propaganda machine prior to the election. He vowed at a meeting with journalists that he “will fight back against the media using media.”
Under Kyaw Hsan’s guidance, the Ministry of Information sponsored a journalism training course in early February in Rangoon. The 47 Burmese writers and journalists who attended the course were reportedly taught how journalists should cover the 2010 elections.
A pro-junta political journal, Northern Star, was recently launched by Thiha Aung, an ex-military officer and a former editor of the junta mouthpiece, Myanma Alin, which is the Burmese version of The New Light of Myanmar.
“Now, the government has already introduced the ‘seven-step roadmap to democracy,’” Thiha Aung was quoted as saying in a Rangoon-based journal, The Voice Weekly, in early February. “We will report that there is no alternative way to the ‘roadmap’ and encourage people to support this most appropriate way.”
The USDA is perhaps most notorious for the roles its members assumed in suppressing monk-led mass demonstrations in Burma in September 2007, as well as participating in a brutal ambush on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division, in May 2003.
New Kachin Party Formed to Fight 2010 Election
By LAWI WENG
The three Kachin ceasefire groups and the Kachin National Consultative Assembly have formed a new political party to contest the planned 2010 election in Burma.
James Lum Dau, deputy foreign minister of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the new coalition, the Kachin State Progressive Party, was waiting to register as a poltical party.
One source within the new party said negotiations on its formation had begun last year, following the formulation of the new constitution.
The three ceasefire groups within the new party are the KIO, the New Democratic Army-Kachin and the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group. Manam Tu Ja, joint chairman of the KIO, is reportedly among the new party’s leaders.
KIO Chairman Salang Kaba Lanyaw Zawng Hra appealed to Kachin on their Revolution Day last month to vote for the proposed new party.
“The Kachin must have a political party,” said a party source. “If not, they will lose their identity.”
James Lum Dau said he strongly believed that the new constitution had the basic foundation of democracy. The election would allow the Kachin people to fight for democracy, which would have to be achieved step-by-step.
Kachin sources in Thailand said election campaigning had already begun in Kachin State.
News of the new party’s formation was greeted with skepticism by many Kachin living outside Burma. Some asked how the party hoped to attain freedom for the Kachin people from the many restrictions placed on them by the military government.
Lapai Naw Din, an editor with the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, said leaders of the new party would benefit—but “I am sure the people will not get full democracy through the election.”
Another Kachin activist in exile, Awng Wa, said the election would not bring the Kachin people democracy because the constitution had been written by the current military government.
The KIO participated in the formulation of the new constitution and has been told by the regime that it will serve as a militia after the election.
The three Kachin ceasefire groups and the Kachin National Consultative Assembly have formed a new political party to contest the planned 2010 election in Burma.
James Lum Dau, deputy foreign minister of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the new coalition, the Kachin State Progressive Party, was waiting to register as a poltical party.
One source within the new party said negotiations on its formation had begun last year, following the formulation of the new constitution.
The three ceasefire groups within the new party are the KIO, the New Democratic Army-Kachin and the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group. Manam Tu Ja, joint chairman of the KIO, is reportedly among the new party’s leaders.
KIO Chairman Salang Kaba Lanyaw Zawng Hra appealed to Kachin on their Revolution Day last month to vote for the proposed new party.
“The Kachin must have a political party,” said a party source. “If not, they will lose their identity.”
James Lum Dau said he strongly believed that the new constitution had the basic foundation of democracy. The election would allow the Kachin people to fight for democracy, which would have to be achieved step-by-step.
Kachin sources in Thailand said election campaigning had already begun in Kachin State.
News of the new party’s formation was greeted with skepticism by many Kachin living outside Burma. Some asked how the party hoped to attain freedom for the Kachin people from the many restrictions placed on them by the military government.
Lapai Naw Din, an editor with the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, said leaders of the new party would benefit—but “I am sure the people will not get full democracy through the election.”
Another Kachin activist in exile, Awng Wa, said the election would not bring the Kachin people democracy because the constitution had been written by the current military government.
The KIO participated in the formulation of the new constitution and has been told by the regime that it will serve as a militia after the election.
Burmese Migrants Come Under Stricter Control
By MIN LWIN
Local authorities in Thailand’s Chiang Mai Province recently sent a stern warning to Thais who house and employ illegal migrant workers from Burma, according to the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Program (MAP).
“The main goal is to get Burmese migrant workers to add their names to the list,” said MAP member Jo Tong Dee, referring to an informal registry of migrant workers maintained by the heads of villages where Burmese are employed.
Jo Tong Dee said that all Burmese migrant workers have been instructed to inform village authorities of their presence, regardless of their legal status.
“Whether they have work permits or not, they have to give their information to the village heads,” he said.
The warning was issued following a series of arrests targeting illegal migrant workers in the northern Thai province, which is home to a large Burmese migrant population.
Several hundred Burmese migrant workers have been arrested in and around Chiang Mai since February 8, when a 22-year-old student from Mae Jo University was found murdered in her dormitory room. Two Burmese migrant workers were arrested in connection with the case.
Sources from migrant worker assistance groups said that local authorities in San Sai District, where the university is located, have urged Thais to inform them about illegal migrants working on construction sites in the area.
One source said that migrants who live in camps in San Sai and San Kampang districts have to hide in the jungle at night.
According to the migrant worker groups, Thais running shops and factories have urged the government not to expel migrants, who make up a significant portion of the local workforce.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Mae Rim, near the city of Chiang Mai, have imposed a curfew on Burmese migrant workers, who are not permitted to drive motorbikes after 8 p.m. Or carry any tool that can be used as a weapon.
Local authorities have also forbidden Burmese migrants to rent land or cultivate gardens. They were specifically told that they could not grow flowers or chili.
According to MAP’s estimates, there are about 80,000 Burmese migrants, most of them ethnic Shan, working legally and illegally in the Chiang Mai area.
Local authorities in Thailand’s Chiang Mai Province recently sent a stern warning to Thais who house and employ illegal migrant workers from Burma, according to the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Program (MAP).
“The main goal is to get Burmese migrant workers to add their names to the list,” said MAP member Jo Tong Dee, referring to an informal registry of migrant workers maintained by the heads of villages where Burmese are employed.
Jo Tong Dee said that all Burmese migrant workers have been instructed to inform village authorities of their presence, regardless of their legal status.
“Whether they have work permits or not, they have to give their information to the village heads,” he said.
The warning was issued following a series of arrests targeting illegal migrant workers in the northern Thai province, which is home to a large Burmese migrant population.
Several hundred Burmese migrant workers have been arrested in and around Chiang Mai since February 8, when a 22-year-old student from Mae Jo University was found murdered in her dormitory room. Two Burmese migrant workers were arrested in connection with the case.
Sources from migrant worker assistance groups said that local authorities in San Sai District, where the university is located, have urged Thais to inform them about illegal migrants working on construction sites in the area.
One source said that migrants who live in camps in San Sai and San Kampang districts have to hide in the jungle at night.
According to the migrant worker groups, Thais running shops and factories have urged the government not to expel migrants, who make up a significant portion of the local workforce.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Mae Rim, near the city of Chiang Mai, have imposed a curfew on Burmese migrant workers, who are not permitted to drive motorbikes after 8 p.m. Or carry any tool that can be used as a weapon.
Local authorities have also forbidden Burmese migrants to rent land or cultivate gardens. They were specifically told that they could not grow flowers or chili.
According to MAP’s estimates, there are about 80,000 Burmese migrants, most of them ethnic Shan, working legally and illegally in the Chiang Mai area.
Brunei Defends Whipping 400 Immigrants in 5 Years
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUNEI — Brunei has defended its tough penalties against illegal immigrants after revealing that nearly 400 foreigners were whipped in the past five years for settling unlawfully in this oil-rich sultanate, a news report said Monday.
Authorities have flogged 396 foreigners with rattan canes for entering Brunei without valid travel documents or overstaying after immigration laws were tightened in 2004, according to Immigration Department data reported by the Borneo Bulletin newspaper.
Those whipped were mainly from other Asian countries, including Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand, the report said.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have slammed Brunei's whipping penalties, which are part of its criminal laws and are also used for other offenses including rape, theft and smuggling.
Immigration Department representatives could not be immediately contacted Monday, but the Borneo Bulletin quoted a senior official as saying that foreign workers must abide by the law.
"We also received inquiries concerning such punishment. Neighboring countries too carry out such lashes," the official told the Bulletin. Malaysia and Singapore also have flogging punishments for various crimes.
Some diplomats in Brunei have also voiced reservations about corporal punishment, saying many migrant workers unknowingly commit visa violations because of negligent employers, who do not get whipped themselves.
Brunei, a nation of 380,000 people, is located on Borneo island. Its offshore oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world's richest nations per capita, and it relies on foreign workers to fill such menial jobs as laborers and housemaids.
BRUNEI — Brunei has defended its tough penalties against illegal immigrants after revealing that nearly 400 foreigners were whipped in the past five years for settling unlawfully in this oil-rich sultanate, a news report said Monday.
Authorities have flogged 396 foreigners with rattan canes for entering Brunei without valid travel documents or overstaying after immigration laws were tightened in 2004, according to Immigration Department data reported by the Borneo Bulletin newspaper.
Those whipped were mainly from other Asian countries, including Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand, the report said.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have slammed Brunei's whipping penalties, which are part of its criminal laws and are also used for other offenses including rape, theft and smuggling.
Immigration Department representatives could not be immediately contacted Monday, but the Borneo Bulletin quoted a senior official as saying that foreign workers must abide by the law.
"We also received inquiries concerning such punishment. Neighboring countries too carry out such lashes," the official told the Bulletin. Malaysia and Singapore also have flogging punishments for various crimes.
Some diplomats in Brunei have also voiced reservations about corporal punishment, saying many migrant workers unknowingly commit visa violations because of negligent employers, who do not get whipped themselves.
Brunei, a nation of 380,000 people, is located on Borneo island. Its offshore oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world's richest nations per capita, and it relies on foreign workers to fill such menial jobs as laborers and housemaids.
Two Bombs Explode in Rangoon—No Casualties
By THE IRRAWADDY
Two bombs exploded in crowded areas of Rangoon on Tuesday evening, but no casualties were reported.
The first explosion occurred around 9:30 p.m. at Padonma Park in Sanchaung Township. The second came about an hour later at a bus stop in Hledan, Kamayut Township, according to eyewitnesses.
The blast areas were rapidly sealed off by police and troops, who also closed off Padonma Park and searched for other possible explosives.
Padonma Park and the site of the second blast, opposite the Anawrahta building near the Hledan junction on the Rangoon-Insein road, are crowded with shopping centers, markets and restaurants.
State-run newspapers failed to report on the blasts in their Wednesday issues.
The bomb attacks were the first to occur in Rangoon this year. Two bombs exploded in Pegu Division in February, but they caused no casualties.
Last year, at least seven bomb attacks occurred in Burma.
A bomb exploded at a ticket booth at Rangoon’s main railway station in January 2008, injuring two women.
Three months later, two bombs exploded in downtown Rangoon, with no casualties.
In July 2008, a Rangoon office of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association was the target of a bomb attack.
In September, a bomb exploded at the Tamwe Township police station and another near Rangoon’s city hall. Police found another explosive device nearby.
The deadliest blast of 2008 came on October 13, when seven people in a passenger-carrying truck were killed when the vehicle’s compressed natural gas cylinder reportedly exploded.
Later in October, two bombs exploded in separate attacks in Rangoon, killing one man.
Two bombs exploded in crowded areas of Rangoon on Tuesday evening, but no casualties were reported.
The first explosion occurred around 9:30 p.m. at Padonma Park in Sanchaung Township. The second came about an hour later at a bus stop in Hledan, Kamayut Township, according to eyewitnesses.
The blast areas were rapidly sealed off by police and troops, who also closed off Padonma Park and searched for other possible explosives.
Padonma Park and the site of the second blast, opposite the Anawrahta building near the Hledan junction on the Rangoon-Insein road, are crowded with shopping centers, markets and restaurants.
State-run newspapers failed to report on the blasts in their Wednesday issues.
The bomb attacks were the first to occur in Rangoon this year. Two bombs exploded in Pegu Division in February, but they caused no casualties.
Last year, at least seven bomb attacks occurred in Burma.
A bomb exploded at a ticket booth at Rangoon’s main railway station in January 2008, injuring two women.
Three months later, two bombs exploded in downtown Rangoon, with no casualties.
In July 2008, a Rangoon office of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association was the target of a bomb attack.
In September, a bomb exploded at the Tamwe Township police station and another near Rangoon’s city hall. Police found another explosive device nearby.
The deadliest blast of 2008 came on October 13, when seven people in a passenger-carrying truck were killed when the vehicle’s compressed natural gas cylinder reportedly exploded.
Later in October, two bombs exploded in separate attacks in Rangoon, killing one man.
March 3, 2009
CPB Urges Search for Moderates within the Tatmadaw
By WAI MOE
In a message from its base in China, the Communist Party of Burma has urged pro-democracy activists to persuade moderates within the Burmese armed forces to change sides and support the opposition National League for Democracy.
In an analytical report, the CPB, banned in Burma, hailed the NLD as the central force of Burma’s democracy movement and welcomed the party’s long-term plans.
“We have to organize patriotic soldiers in the current Tatmadaw [the Burmese armed forces],” the CPB said.
The present situation in the world and in Burma in particular could make such an undertaking possible, the report said. Moderate forces within the Tatmadaw had to be organized in times when it wasn’t cracking down on the democracy movement.
Prodemocracy forces had to seize a “pre-emptive chance,” acting on the mandate obtained by the NLD in the 1990 election, the CPB said.
The 1988 uprising had not been successful because there had been many centers of opposition, and that was still the case, the CPB report maintained.
The CPB said it opposes of the idea of a parallel government. “The CPB opposes forming a parallel government either in exile or inside Burma,” it said.
Exiled organizations working for Burmese democracy had no roots in Burma and survived on “donors,” “proposal politics” and “lobby politics,” the report said. Because of this reliance, dissident groups were unwilling to cooperate with the CPB, it complained.
“Surprisingly, we see people inside Burma who are being oppressed by the junta committed to struggle, while exiled Burmese not under oppression choose a ‘surrender policy,’” the CPB said. Its use of the term “surrender policy” is interpreted as a reference to those politicians who support the current constitution and plan to participate in the 2010 election.
The report predicted that the Burma political progress would proceed gradually, and it urged pro-democracy groups to look for long-term plans.
In a message from its base in China, the Communist Party of Burma has urged pro-democracy activists to persuade moderates within the Burmese armed forces to change sides and support the opposition National League for Democracy.
In an analytical report, the CPB, banned in Burma, hailed the NLD as the central force of Burma’s democracy movement and welcomed the party’s long-term plans.
“We have to organize patriotic soldiers in the current Tatmadaw [the Burmese armed forces],” the CPB said.
The present situation in the world and in Burma in particular could make such an undertaking possible, the report said. Moderate forces within the Tatmadaw had to be organized in times when it wasn’t cracking down on the democracy movement.
Prodemocracy forces had to seize a “pre-emptive chance,” acting on the mandate obtained by the NLD in the 1990 election, the CPB said.
The 1988 uprising had not been successful because there had been many centers of opposition, and that was still the case, the CPB report maintained.
The CPB said it opposes of the idea of a parallel government. “The CPB opposes forming a parallel government either in exile or inside Burma,” it said.
Exiled organizations working for Burmese democracy had no roots in Burma and survived on “donors,” “proposal politics” and “lobby politics,” the report said. Because of this reliance, dissident groups were unwilling to cooperate with the CPB, it complained.
“Surprisingly, we see people inside Burma who are being oppressed by the junta committed to struggle, while exiled Burmese not under oppression choose a ‘surrender policy,’” the CPB said. Its use of the term “surrender policy” is interpreted as a reference to those politicians who support the current constitution and plan to participate in the 2010 election.
The report predicted that the Burma political progress would proceed gradually, and it urged pro-democracy groups to look for long-term plans.
Troops Closing In on Shan Drug Lord
By LAWI WENG
Thai border troops and police are said to be closing in on Shan fugitive Naw Kham, an alleged drug lord who is wanted in Thailand, Burma, China and Laos for drug trafficking.
According to a local Thai language teacher, Naw Kham is thought to be hiding in Wiang Haeng District in northern Thailand. She said that an intensive search of Shan community residential areas began last week and that many local people were afraid of the soldiers.
The hunt for Naw Kham came after the Burmese army seized weapons, 350 kg of heroin and 217 million baht (US $6 million) in cash, following a clash with Naw Kham’s private militia in the Tachilek area. The attack appeared to be in response to an incident on February 18 when it is alleged Naw Kham’s troops opened fire on a Chinese cargo boat on the Mekong River, killing one crew member and injuring three.
After Burmese, Chinese and Laotian authorities combined to close in on Naw Kham, it is believed that he fled to Thailand because he owned a Thai citizenship card, said the source.
According to Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, China sent police to Tachilek Township in eastern Burma last week to apprehend Naw Kham. He added that the Chinese government also put pressure on the Burmese government to arrest him and called for Laotian border security guards to maintain a lookout for the fugitive.
Naw Kham is one of the highest profile drug lords of the Golden Triangle and reportedly commands a private militia of about 30 to 40 members.
Despite his notoriety in the region, Naw Kham was not on last year’s wanted list issued by the United States. The 48–year-old Shan was previously loyal to warlord and drug kingpin, Khun Sa.
In 2006, a tip-off from Chinese and Thai intelligence services led to a bust at his home in Tachilek and the recovery of a large amount of yaba (methamphetamines). Naw Kham evaded capture and was rumored to be active in the Tachilek area until very recently.
Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyoe, the Burmese army’s regional commander in the Golden Triangle area of Shan State, accused the Shan State Army South (SSA-S) of assisting Naw Kham, following a meeting in Tachilek on Monday with local authorities.
However, Sai Sheng Murng, the deputy spokesman of the SSA-S, denied that the Shan rebels were providing protection for the alleged drug lord.
Thai border troops and police are said to be closing in on Shan fugitive Naw Kham, an alleged drug lord who is wanted in Thailand, Burma, China and Laos for drug trafficking.
According to a local Thai language teacher, Naw Kham is thought to be hiding in Wiang Haeng District in northern Thailand. She said that an intensive search of Shan community residential areas began last week and that many local people were afraid of the soldiers.
The hunt for Naw Kham came after the Burmese army seized weapons, 350 kg of heroin and 217 million baht (US $6 million) in cash, following a clash with Naw Kham’s private militia in the Tachilek area. The attack appeared to be in response to an incident on February 18 when it is alleged Naw Kham’s troops opened fire on a Chinese cargo boat on the Mekong River, killing one crew member and injuring three.
After Burmese, Chinese and Laotian authorities combined to close in on Naw Kham, it is believed that he fled to Thailand because he owned a Thai citizenship card, said the source.
According to Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, China sent police to Tachilek Township in eastern Burma last week to apprehend Naw Kham. He added that the Chinese government also put pressure on the Burmese government to arrest him and called for Laotian border security guards to maintain a lookout for the fugitive.
Naw Kham is one of the highest profile drug lords of the Golden Triangle and reportedly commands a private militia of about 30 to 40 members.
Despite his notoriety in the region, Naw Kham was not on last year’s wanted list issued by the United States. The 48–year-old Shan was previously loyal to warlord and drug kingpin, Khun Sa.
In 2006, a tip-off from Chinese and Thai intelligence services led to a bust at his home in Tachilek and the recovery of a large amount of yaba (methamphetamines). Naw Kham evaded capture and was rumored to be active in the Tachilek area until very recently.
Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyoe, the Burmese army’s regional commander in the Golden Triangle area of Shan State, accused the Shan State Army South (SSA-S) of assisting Naw Kham, following a meeting in Tachilek on Monday with local authorities.
However, Sai Sheng Murng, the deputy spokesman of the SSA-S, denied that the Shan rebels were providing protection for the alleged drug lord.
Chinese Traders Scooping Up Mandalay Gems, Precious Stones
By MIN LWIN
Chinese traders have managed to dominate the precious gems and jade market in Mandalay, paying jade prices as much as 50 percent under the stone’s value, say jade traders in Mandalay.
“The Chinese buyers totally control the gems market, especially the jade trading, where prices have fallen more than 50 percent,” a jade trader in Mandalay told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
The buying and selling of gems, especially jade, came to a near halt in the past few months, exacerbated by Chinese buyers exporting gems and stones illegally, according to Mandalay gem traders.
Myo Thu, who mostly deals in private jade sales and monitors the jade trade in Mandalay, estimated that jade sales have dropped more than 65 percent.
“The jade market is quiet, even through Chinese buyers come to the market. But they give no more than what traders paid for the stone,” he said.
The Mandalay gem market includes jade, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones that come from six areas of Burma: Mogok in Mandalay Division; Mongshu in Shan State; Khamti in Sagaing Division; and Moe-Nyin, Hpakant and Namya in Kachin State.
“Most of the jade, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones in the Mandalay gem market are purchased by Chinese buyers who are making gem products, ” a jade trader said.
“Some precious stones are illegally bought by the Chinese dealers and sent directly to Hong Kong and Macau,” he said.
The Mandalay gem and precious stone industry employs an estimated 100,000 people around Mandalay.
A gems trader from Mae Sot, Thailand, said that the precious gems market at the Thai border was also quiet, and there were few buyers at the three-day Tak Province Chamber of Commerce-sponsored gem show which ended on Sunday.
“Gem buyers didn’t come, even visitors didn’t come,” he said.
In July, former US President George Bush signed into law the Burma Jade Act, restricting the import of precious Burmese gems and stones and extended existing import sanctions on Burma. Ten Burmese companies were added to the sanction’s list.
The US sanctions targeted two conglomerates, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEH), and the Myanmar Economic Corporation, established by the Burmese military, which is engaged in commercial enterprises and industries, including the gem, banking and construction industries.
UMEH subsidiary companies include Myanmar Ruby Enterprise and Myanmar Imperial Jade Company Ltd.
Also on the sanction list are No 1 Mining Enterprise, No 2 Mining Enterprise and No 3 Mining Enterprise, all owned by the Burmese Ministry of Mines.
Chinese traders have managed to dominate the precious gems and jade market in Mandalay, paying jade prices as much as 50 percent under the stone’s value, say jade traders in Mandalay.
“The Chinese buyers totally control the gems market, especially the jade trading, where prices have fallen more than 50 percent,” a jade trader in Mandalay told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
The buying and selling of gems, especially jade, came to a near halt in the past few months, exacerbated by Chinese buyers exporting gems and stones illegally, according to Mandalay gem traders.
Myo Thu, who mostly deals in private jade sales and monitors the jade trade in Mandalay, estimated that jade sales have dropped more than 65 percent.
“The jade market is quiet, even through Chinese buyers come to the market. But they give no more than what traders paid for the stone,” he said.
The Mandalay gem market includes jade, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones that come from six areas of Burma: Mogok in Mandalay Division; Mongshu in Shan State; Khamti in Sagaing Division; and Moe-Nyin, Hpakant and Namya in Kachin State.
“Most of the jade, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones in the Mandalay gem market are purchased by Chinese buyers who are making gem products, ” a jade trader said.
“Some precious stones are illegally bought by the Chinese dealers and sent directly to Hong Kong and Macau,” he said.
The Mandalay gem and precious stone industry employs an estimated 100,000 people around Mandalay.
A gems trader from Mae Sot, Thailand, said that the precious gems market at the Thai border was also quiet, and there were few buyers at the three-day Tak Province Chamber of Commerce-sponsored gem show which ended on Sunday.
“Gem buyers didn’t come, even visitors didn’t come,” he said.
In July, former US President George Bush signed into law the Burma Jade Act, restricting the import of precious Burmese gems and stones and extended existing import sanctions on Burma. Ten Burmese companies were added to the sanction’s list.
The US sanctions targeted two conglomerates, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEH), and the Myanmar Economic Corporation, established by the Burmese military, which is engaged in commercial enterprises and industries, including the gem, banking and construction industries.
UMEH subsidiary companies include Myanmar Ruby Enterprise and Myanmar Imperial Jade Company Ltd.
Also on the sanction list are No 1 Mining Enterprise, No 2 Mining Enterprise and No 3 Mining Enterprise, all owned by the Burmese Ministry of Mines.
Sanctions Are Not to Blame for Burma’s Economic Woes
By MOE ZAW OO
Recently, some critics of the National League for Democracy (NLD) have taken the party’s leadership to task for continuing to call for sanctions on Burma.
It is not enough to blame sanctions for the prolonged poverty in Burma while urging the NLD to confess policy mistakes. We need to identify and implement a workable strategy that exploits the junta’s weaknesses—not just place blame and point fingers.
Isolation has been the policy of Burma’s military ever since it stole power from the country’s civilian government in 1962. The current junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has proved intransigent and has refused to concede any aspect of its policy as a result of sanctions or engagement. Champions of both policies realize this.
The underlying question is this: What will influence the junta to peacefully solve the current crises facing Burma? If sanctions, targeted or total, could be made to work more effectively, policymakers who advocate this approach would be applauded.
Similarly, pro-engagement policymakers would be praised if their strategy actually succeeded in changing the regime.
On October 4, 2007, under extreme pressure from the international community following its brutal crackdown on the peaceful monk-led Saffron Revolution, the SPDC issued Statement 1/2007. This statement called on NLD General-Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to renounce “confrontation, utter devastation, and demanding all types of sanctions, including economic sanctions,” as a precondition for meeting with junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
The word “confrontation” entered Burma’s political lexicon in 1989, when the junta accused the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi of confrontational activities during her organizational trips across Burma. For the junta, any activity that threatens their hold on power is an act of confrontation.
Aung San Suu Kyi introduced the phrase “utter devastation” during a press conference in Burma on July 11, 1995, the day after she was released from her first period of house arrest. “We must choose between dialogue and utter devastation,” she said at the time.
The junta’s call for the elimination of “all types of sanctions, including economic sanctions,” has a long history. However, the sanctions debate is not about the impact of the sanctions on political change in Burma or the international community’s options for imposing pressure on the Burmese junta. Instead, the debate is about whether sanctions negatively impact the people of Burma. Sanctions should not be used as a scapegoat for the economic problems in Burma. The cause of the crisis in Burma is the junta, not the sanctions.
For years, international ministers and diplomats have discussed policy toward Burma and the junta’s disregard of international and public opinion.
Recently, at a news conference in Indonesia on February 18, 2009, Hillary Clinton, the new US Secretary of State, stated that her government was “looking at possible ideas” to try to promote positive change in Burma. “Clearly the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn’t influenced the Burmese junta, [but] reaching out and trying to engage them has not influenced them, either,” she said.
In an interview in 2003, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was the primary person responsible for admitting Burma into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) during the 1997 Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur, warned that Burma might be expelled from the regional grouping if its military rulers continued to defy world pressure to release Aung San Suu Kyi. “I fought hard for Myanmar [Burma] to be admitted into Asean. I think the leaders of Myanmar should consider public opinion,” he said.
When the UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma recently, the SPDC’s Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein told him that “the UN should make an effort to lift economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar, if the organization wants to see a prosperous Myanmar with political stability.”
Thein Sein seemed to suggest that lifting economic sanctions would guarantee Burma’s future prosperity and political stability. Obviously, that would not happen. The special envoy reported to the Security Council after his recent visit that he had achieved “no tangible results” in his efforts to move Burma closer to democracy.
As Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, explained during an interview with a columnist from the University of California’s Los Angeles Media Center, “These are rather dumb generals when it comes to the economy. How can they so mismanage the economy and reach this stage when the country has so many natural resources?”
Lee also asserted that he could not understand how the generals could expect Burma to remain so isolated, adding that even medicine had to be smuggled into the country from Thailand.
The junta manipulates the international community, and the SPDC’s contempt for international opinion is obvious. Neither a confession from the NLD nor blaming sanctions will result in tangible outcomes for democracy in Burma. Therefore, instead of focusing on confession and blame games, we must identify the most effective ways, both internationally and within Burma, to penetrate the junta’s impervious shield.
The author is a former political prisoner and currently member of the foreign affairs section of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area).
Recently, some critics of the National League for Democracy (NLD) have taken the party’s leadership to task for continuing to call for sanctions on Burma.
It is not enough to blame sanctions for the prolonged poverty in Burma while urging the NLD to confess policy mistakes. We need to identify and implement a workable strategy that exploits the junta’s weaknesses—not just place blame and point fingers.
Isolation has been the policy of Burma’s military ever since it stole power from the country’s civilian government in 1962. The current junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has proved intransigent and has refused to concede any aspect of its policy as a result of sanctions or engagement. Champions of both policies realize this.
The underlying question is this: What will influence the junta to peacefully solve the current crises facing Burma? If sanctions, targeted or total, could be made to work more effectively, policymakers who advocate this approach would be applauded.
Similarly, pro-engagement policymakers would be praised if their strategy actually succeeded in changing the regime.
On October 4, 2007, under extreme pressure from the international community following its brutal crackdown on the peaceful monk-led Saffron Revolution, the SPDC issued Statement 1/2007. This statement called on NLD General-Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to renounce “confrontation, utter devastation, and demanding all types of sanctions, including economic sanctions,” as a precondition for meeting with junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
The word “confrontation” entered Burma’s political lexicon in 1989, when the junta accused the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi of confrontational activities during her organizational trips across Burma. For the junta, any activity that threatens their hold on power is an act of confrontation.
Aung San Suu Kyi introduced the phrase “utter devastation” during a press conference in Burma on July 11, 1995, the day after she was released from her first period of house arrest. “We must choose between dialogue and utter devastation,” she said at the time.
The junta’s call for the elimination of “all types of sanctions, including economic sanctions,” has a long history. However, the sanctions debate is not about the impact of the sanctions on political change in Burma or the international community’s options for imposing pressure on the Burmese junta. Instead, the debate is about whether sanctions negatively impact the people of Burma. Sanctions should not be used as a scapegoat for the economic problems in Burma. The cause of the crisis in Burma is the junta, not the sanctions.
For years, international ministers and diplomats have discussed policy toward Burma and the junta’s disregard of international and public opinion.
Recently, at a news conference in Indonesia on February 18, 2009, Hillary Clinton, the new US Secretary of State, stated that her government was “looking at possible ideas” to try to promote positive change in Burma. “Clearly the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn’t influenced the Burmese junta, [but] reaching out and trying to engage them has not influenced them, either,” she said.
In an interview in 2003, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was the primary person responsible for admitting Burma into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) during the 1997 Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur, warned that Burma might be expelled from the regional grouping if its military rulers continued to defy world pressure to release Aung San Suu Kyi. “I fought hard for Myanmar [Burma] to be admitted into Asean. I think the leaders of Myanmar should consider public opinion,” he said.
When the UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma recently, the SPDC’s Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein told him that “the UN should make an effort to lift economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar, if the organization wants to see a prosperous Myanmar with political stability.”
Thein Sein seemed to suggest that lifting economic sanctions would guarantee Burma’s future prosperity and political stability. Obviously, that would not happen. The special envoy reported to the Security Council after his recent visit that he had achieved “no tangible results” in his efforts to move Burma closer to democracy.
As Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, explained during an interview with a columnist from the University of California’s Los Angeles Media Center, “These are rather dumb generals when it comes to the economy. How can they so mismanage the economy and reach this stage when the country has so many natural resources?”
Lee also asserted that he could not understand how the generals could expect Burma to remain so isolated, adding that even medicine had to be smuggled into the country from Thailand.
The junta manipulates the international community, and the SPDC’s contempt for international opinion is obvious. Neither a confession from the NLD nor blaming sanctions will result in tangible outcomes for democracy in Burma. Therefore, instead of focusing on confession and blame games, we must identify the most effective ways, both internationally and within Burma, to penetrate the junta’s impervious shield.
The author is a former political prisoner and currently member of the foreign affairs section of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area).
Malaysian Opposition Blocked from State Parliament
By THE ASSOCAITED PRESS
IPOH, Malaysia — Opposition lawmakers held a meeting under a tree after riot police blocked them from entering a northern state's parliament Tuesday in a tussle for power that has become symbolic of the turmoil in Malaysian politics.
The 28 legislators, accompanied by some 100 supporters, scuffled briefly with police and ruling party supporters outside the Perak state assembly building before retreating to a side street where they held the meeting.
Standing in the shade of a large tree, the lawmakers of the opposition People's Alliance coalition passed a resolution calling for fresh elections to end a constitutional deadlock with the ruling National Front coalition on who should govern Perak.
"This is utter rubbish. Elected representatives are not allowed to go inside. It is not in accordance with the law. The police are practicing double standards," said A. Sivanesan, an opposition legislator.
The spat in Perak state highlights the growing instability in Malaysian politics since the March 2008 elections when the National Front coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suffered its worst results ever.
The ruling national coalition lost control of five states including Perak, as well as its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament, conceding a large number of seats to the People's Alliance.
Since then, the National Front has been trying hard to undermine the People's Alliance. Perak, where the alliance had a three-seat majority, has been one of the centers in the political wrangling.
In early February, three People's Alliance lawmakers defected amid allegations of bribery, tipping the balance in the 59-member state parliament in favor of the National Front.
Soon afterward, the state's titular head, Sultan Azlan Shah, appointed National Front politician Zambry Abd Kadir as chief minister and head of a new government.
The People's Alliance claimed the sultan acted unconstitutionally in appointing Zambry without waiting for a vote of confidence in the state parliament. Zambry's predecessor, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, meanwhile, has refused to step down.
Tuesday's attempt by Perak parliament speaker V. Sivakumar, who belongs to the People's Alliance, to hold an emergency session was foiled by police and supporters of the National Front.
"Go back!" the National Front supporters screamed, pushing back alliance members. Police did not intervene in the scuffle.
During the special session held under the tree, the alliance lawmakers, dressed in suits, called for dissolving the legislature and holding fresh elections.
"We are the rightful government ... Now the state has two chief ministers, one that is legal, one that is absolutely illegal," said Mohammad Nizar. "The crisis must be solved ... through the dissolution of the state assembly."
IPOH, Malaysia — Opposition lawmakers held a meeting under a tree after riot police blocked them from entering a northern state's parliament Tuesday in a tussle for power that has become symbolic of the turmoil in Malaysian politics.
The 28 legislators, accompanied by some 100 supporters, scuffled briefly with police and ruling party supporters outside the Perak state assembly building before retreating to a side street where they held the meeting.
Standing in the shade of a large tree, the lawmakers of the opposition People's Alliance coalition passed a resolution calling for fresh elections to end a constitutional deadlock with the ruling National Front coalition on who should govern Perak.
"This is utter rubbish. Elected representatives are not allowed to go inside. It is not in accordance with the law. The police are practicing double standards," said A. Sivanesan, an opposition legislator.
The spat in Perak state highlights the growing instability in Malaysian politics since the March 2008 elections when the National Front coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suffered its worst results ever.
The ruling national coalition lost control of five states including Perak, as well as its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament, conceding a large number of seats to the People's Alliance.
Since then, the National Front has been trying hard to undermine the People's Alliance. Perak, where the alliance had a three-seat majority, has been one of the centers in the political wrangling.
In early February, three People's Alliance lawmakers defected amid allegations of bribery, tipping the balance in the 59-member state parliament in favor of the National Front.
Soon afterward, the state's titular head, Sultan Azlan Shah, appointed National Front politician Zambry Abd Kadir as chief minister and head of a new government.
The People's Alliance claimed the sultan acted unconstitutionally in appointing Zambry without waiting for a vote of confidence in the state parliament. Zambry's predecessor, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, meanwhile, has refused to step down.
Tuesday's attempt by Perak parliament speaker V. Sivakumar, who belongs to the People's Alliance, to hold an emergency session was foiled by police and supporters of the National Front.
"Go back!" the National Front supporters screamed, pushing back alliance members. Police did not intervene in the scuffle.
During the special session held under the tree, the alliance lawmakers, dressed in suits, called for dissolving the legislature and holding fresh elections.
"We are the rightful government ... Now the state has two chief ministers, one that is legal, one that is absolutely illegal," said Mohammad Nizar. "The crisis must be solved ... through the dissolution of the state assembly."
Indonesian Exports Mark Biggest Drop in 22 Years
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA — Indonesia's exports fell 36 percent in January from a year ago, the biggest drop since 1986, amid plunging demand for the country's vast natural resources and manufactured goods, the statistic's agency reported on Monday.
The downward trend—which began in October—was in line with declines in exports from other nations across Asia.
January trade data released showed exports, which account for 30 percent of the country's economic growth, fell to $7.15 billion from $11.19 billion the year before, with the biggest drops in shipments of coal, manufactured goods and electronics.
In the last month, there was also a 24 percent drop in oil and gas exports.
Although Indonesia is relatively less reliant on exports than other Asian nations, declining shipments to overseas markets has also caused domestic consumers to spend less. Indonesia, which has weathered the global crisis better than many countries as its economy expanding by 6.1 percent in 2008, is likely to have a slower economy throughout 2009 until a fiscal stimulus package begins to take effect.
Rusman Heriawan, chief of the statistics agency, told reporters the most dramatic drop in exports was the collective decline to the nine other members of Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Main markets in the European Union, the United States and Singapore also were hit, the agency noted. Exports to Japan dropped to $788 million from the recent monthly average above $1 billion.
JAKARTA — Indonesia's exports fell 36 percent in January from a year ago, the biggest drop since 1986, amid plunging demand for the country's vast natural resources and manufactured goods, the statistic's agency reported on Monday.
The downward trend—which began in October—was in line with declines in exports from other nations across Asia.
January trade data released showed exports, which account for 30 percent of the country's economic growth, fell to $7.15 billion from $11.19 billion the year before, with the biggest drops in shipments of coal, manufactured goods and electronics.
In the last month, there was also a 24 percent drop in oil and gas exports.
Although Indonesia is relatively less reliant on exports than other Asian nations, declining shipments to overseas markets has also caused domestic consumers to spend less. Indonesia, which has weathered the global crisis better than many countries as its economy expanding by 6.1 percent in 2008, is likely to have a slower economy throughout 2009 until a fiscal stimulus package begins to take effect.
Rusman Heriawan, chief of the statistics agency, told reporters the most dramatic drop in exports was the collective decline to the nine other members of Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Main markets in the European Union, the United States and Singapore also were hit, the agency noted. Exports to Japan dropped to $788 million from the recent monthly average above $1 billion.
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