Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine


Burma Govt Releases 73 Political Prisoners

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT

Former political prisoner Win Hla is a free man after he leaves Insein Prison in Rangoon on Tuesday. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma's President Thein Sein pardoned 73 political prisoners on Tuesday, a government advisor and a human right activist said. Among the released are 29 Shan ethnic rebels and 26 Kachin prisoners of conscience.

"In total, about 70 political prisoners will be released nationwide, including 26 Kachin prisoners," said Hla Maung Shwe, a special government advisor at the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC). He added that 13 detainees were being released from Kachin State's Myitkyina Prison.

"They were released as part of an amnesty by the president — this was part of his pledge to the international community to release all political prisoners by the end of the year," Hla Maung Shwe told The Irrawaddy. "This move will be a boost for the peace process."

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had previously demanded the release of 31 Kachin political prisoners. The group is currently in ceasefire talks with the central government.

Thet Oo, a spokesman of the Former Political Prisoners group in Rangoon, said 73 prisoners of conscience had been released on Tuesday.

He welcomed the president's decision, but added, "We will be happy if they release all the people at the same time. We don't like it that the government releases one group at a time."

Thet Oo said prisoners had been released from at least six prisons located in Rangoon and in Moulmein, Hinzada, Shwebo, Myin Gyan and Myitkyina townships.

"Most of the released prisoners belonged to armed groups or were accused of belonging to an unlawful group," he said, adding that one of the released had been accused of being a member of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front.

The Former Political Prisoners group welcomed six Burmese political prisoners who walked out of the gates of Rangoon's Insein Prison on Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm happy to be free, but I also feel sad because I should have been released much earlier," said Win Hla, before walking off.

Shan State Army-South Colonel Sai Khan said he had been informed that 29 members of his rebel group were being released on Tuesday.

"We received a list in the past two days, with 29 people who are to be released. We submitted a list requesting the release of 31 people," he said. "It's not immediately clear to us how many of them have already been released."

Thet Oo said that an estimated 92 political prisoners still remain behind bars in Burma.

Hla Maung Shwe, of the MPC, said Lahtaw Brang Shawng, an ethnic Kachin farmer, was among the released.

Lahtaw Brang Shawng was arrested on June 17, 2012, in an internally displaced people's camp in Myitkyina. He was charged with violating Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly being a member of the KIA. Last Friday, he was sentenced to two years in prison.

Lahtaw Brang Shawng's family and Kachin human rights activists have long campaigned for his release and his case was seen as an example of the human rights abuses that Kachin civilians face.

The repressive Unlawful Associations Act law is widely used by the government to detain Kachin civilians and combatants during the ethnic conflict in northern Burma. The Asian Human Rights Commission has said the 1908 act allows for accusing people of being "politically dangerous to the state by virtue of their identities."

Lahtaw Brang Shawng's lawyer Mar Khar welcomed his client's released, but added, "I feel very sad about Brang Shawng's imprisonment. He was tortured during interrogation even though he was just a normal civilian and had no link to the KIA."

President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government has freed thousands of prisoners since taking office in 2011, including several hundred political prisoners, as part of sweeping reforms in Burma's transition from military rule to democracy.

During a visit to the United Kingdom last week, Thein Sein said his government would release all prisoners of conscience before the year's end. He also announced that a national peace conference with Burma's 11 major ethnic rebel groups would be held this month.

Human rights groups have pointed out however, that Burma's government recently arrested a number of activists for political reasons.

Wai Phyo, secretary of activist group Generation Wave, was detained by police in Pyay Township, Pegu Division, on July 9 on charges related to his group's 2011 "Free Political Prisoners" poster campaign.

Last Thursday, Bauk Ja, an ethnic Kachin activist and member of the National Democratic Force political party, was arrested by police in Myitkyina, Kachin State, on negligent homicide on charges.

Last year, Bauk Ja helped provide medical treatment in a remote Kachin village, but a local patient later died. A police officer and another villager recently filed a complaint against her in relation to the death. Her party said the charges are politically motivated.

On July 15, on the day of Thein Sein's speech in London, security forces in Arakan State's Sittwe Township arrested prominent Rohingya human rights lawyer Kyaw Hla Aung.

The 74-year-old lawyer was one of thousands internally displaced Muslims who are living at a camp near Sittwe following last year's clashes with Arakanese Buddhist communities. He has spent many years in prison for his activism under Burma's former military regime.

Last week, Amnesty International's Burma researcher Amy Smith said that Kyaw Hla Aung "joins scores of other human rights defenders who have recently been arrested, charged, or detained for their involvement in peaceful activities."

Suu Kyi Attends High-Level Peace Team Meeting

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 05:50 AM PDT

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, second left, attends a meeting of the Union Peacemaking Working Committee along with Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann on Sunday in Rangoon. (Photo: Hla Maung Shwe / Facebook)

RANGOON — Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi attended a Union Peacemaking Working Committee meeting for the first time at the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) on Sunday.

Her appearance came about a week after President Thein Sein announced during his European tour that a nationwide ceasefire with ethnic armed groups would "very possibly" materialize "over the coming weeks."

It also followed a request from the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a coalition of 11 of Burma's ethnic armed groups, calling for Suu Kyi's participation in their next round of talks with the Burmese government's peace delegation.

Hla Maung Shwe, a senior advisor from the MPC, said Suu Kyi's attendance on Sunday was not in any official capacity. Rather, the National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman was allowed to join in the discussion in an informal role with the permission of Shwe Mann, speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, and the Union Peacemaking Team's Central Committee.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi spent 13 minutes in discussions," Hla Maung Shwe said.

The Union Peacemaking Team was reorganized in May to liaison with ethnic armed groups in ceasefire negotiations. It is divided into two parts—the Central and Working committees—with the president, vice president, government ministers, heads of divisions, members of Parliament and the chief of Burma's armed forces, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, all included on both committees.

Hla Maung Shwe said now was the time to only implement and reinforce the various ceasefire agreements reached with armed ethnic rebel groups across the country, an approach to the peace process that some ethnic leaders have said is too narrow and doesn't sufficiently emphasize the need to simultaneously begin a political dialogue between the parties.

The MPC official said he hoped Suu Kyi, ethnic leaders and other peace process participants would be involved in the next step: framework meetings for political dialogue.

Win Tin, a founding member of Suu Kyi's NLD, said the government should continue moving toward establishing a political dialogue instead of remaining fixated solely on achieving a nationwide ceasefire agreement. He added that he feared the government would use Suu Kyi to win the confidence of ethnic peoples, and as a ploy to pump international assistance into Burma's peace process.

"I'm afraid that the government will use Daw Suu just to get a ceasefire, instead of moving ahead [with a political dialogue]," he said.

Shan National League for Democracy spokesman Sai Nyunt Lwin said his party welcomed Suu Kyi's involvement in the peace process, and would be interested to see how the Nobel laureate takes take part in the peacemaking effort.

A nationwide ceasefire agreement and initiation of a political dialogue between the government and opposition forces, including ethnic groups, would likely smooth the holding of elections in 2015 and the country's democratic transition, and could also bolster the reputations of Suu Kyi and Shwe Mann, according to Yan Myo Thein, a Burmese political analyst.

Both political leaders have expressed interest in running for the presidency in 2015.

"Even though all-inclusiveness could lead to positive developments, we should be aware that too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth," Yan Myo Thein said.

Wirathu Blames ‘Islamic Terrorists’ for Mandalay Explosion

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:31 AM PDT

The car that an explosion reportedly emanated from on Sunday is pictured. (Photo: Mann Thar Lay / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — Nationalist Burmese monk U Wirathu has claimed that Islamic terrorists are behind a bomb blast that took place during a Dhamma sermon he was conducting that injured at least five Buddhist devotees on Sunday night.

"I think the culprit might be the Islamic extremists and the terrorists," he told The Irrawaddy, adding that a video titled "Mohamed is now asking for Wirathu and Pyinnyarwara. Who will bring them?" was being spread in Mandalay, with a message against U Wirathu, fellow monk U Pyinnyarwara and the Buddhist nationalist movement that the two support.

"Since their plan to fight me via Time magazine has failed, they are now targeting my Dhamma events and the devotees with explosive devices," U Wirathu said, referring to a Time article in the magazine's July issue that took a critical tone toward Wirathu's teachings and labeled him "The Face of Buddhist Terror."

Shortly after the sermon began on Sunday, an explosion startled those in attendance, about two-thirds of whom proceed to exit the venue in fear. The sermon proceeded nonetheless, with local police guarding the site following the blast.

"I feel no fear and will not keep a security detail with me because I'm not a special person. I will continue with what I must do but have to condemn this action, as this is affecting the devotees and peace," he added.

Soe Nyein, a superintendent of the Mandalay divisional police, said U Wirathu's assertion was premature.

"It is too early to say that the perpetrators were Islamic terrorists," he told The Irrawaddy, adding that he was not at liberty to elaborate on the investigation, which is ongoing.

Wirathu is a leader of the 969 movement, which encourages Buddhists in Burma to support fellow Buddhists and boycott Muslim-owned businesses. Among other anti-Muslim positions espoused by the movement's supporters, 969 followers say Burma's minority Muslims, who make up about 5 percent of the population, threaten to one day overtake Buddhists as the demographic majority. Some 90 percent of Burma's people are currently followers of Buddhism.

Sunday's incident comes just as a period of increased activity among Burma's Buddhist community kicks off.

"Since Buddhist Lent is starting, there will be many religious ceremonies and Dhamma sermons from prominent monks will be taking place every week. We are worried that devotees might not come to the ceremonies and sermons in fear of their safety. We want authorities to provide security for the monks and the devotees," said Ko Jay, an organizer of Sunday night's Dhamma sermon.

The exact nature of the attack is unclear, with varying accounts of the source of the explosive device. One devotee told The Irrawaddy that the bomb had fallen from above and struck a loud-speaker that was affixed above the crowd.

"It [the explosion] took place about 20 minutes from when Sayadaw [U Wirathu] began the sermon. In the area of the crowd, something fell from above with sparks and later I heard a thundering sound and saw a car was hit and its tires were on fire. Many people tried to extinguish the fire by throwing sand [on the flames]. Five people were hit by shrapnel on their legs and arms while many others returned to their homes in fear," said Ye Htun, who attended the sermon.

According to police, the bomb was thrown into the venue, where hundreds of devotees were listening U Wirathu's sermon.

"It was a manmade bomb that included pieces of iron, nails and wires, designed to injure many people. Luckily, the bomb did not land among the crowd and went instead under a car that was parked near the area. Five women and a young monk were hit by those pieces of iron but just have minor injuries," said an officer from the Mandalay divisional police office.

Other reports said the explosive device was planted inside or beneath the car.

Police said they were investigating the incident and planned to provide bolstered security at Dhamma sermons and religious ceremonies, especially during Buddhist Lent, which began on Monday and lasts three months.

Australia to Send Refugees to Papua New Guinea

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:13 PM PDT

Rohingya asylum seekers are seen after being found off the coast of Indonesia in 2009. (Photo: Reuters)

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's prime minister warned Friday that all refugees who arrive in the country by boat will be resettled on the island nation of Papua New Guinea, a policy shift that rights groups immediately condemned.

The move, described by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "very hard line," aims to deter an escalating number of asylum seekers who travel to Australia in rickety fishing boats from poor, war-torn homelands through other countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

The growing influx is a major political problem for Rudd's Labor Party, which is the clear underdog in elections expected within months.

"From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees," Rudd told reporters after signing a pact with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill of Papua New that will enable Australia to deport refugees there.

The policy was condemned by refugee and human rights advocates.

The new plan "shows not only a complete disregard for asylum seekers but absolute contempt for legal and moral obligations," said Graeme McGregor, Amnesty International's refugee campaign coordinator for Australia.

David Manne, executive director of Australia's Refugee and Immigration Legal Center, described it as "a fundamental repudiation of our commitment to protecting refugees."

Manne described Papua New Guinea—which is near Australia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean—as an unsafe country where violence is widespread and serious human rights abuses are a daily occurrence.

Rudd said the policy met Australia's obligations under the United Nations' Refugee Convention. Papua New Guinea is a signatory of the same convention that sets out refugees' rights.

The rules will apply to asylum seekers who arrive from Friday.

Asylum seekers who arrive by boat would continue to have their refugee claims assessed in Australia and at detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Australia would help genuine refugees settle in Papua New Guinea—a diverse tribal society of more than 800 languages and 7 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers. Those who are found not to be genuine refugees could return to their home countries or another country other than Australia.

By Friday, 15,728 asylum seekers had arrived by boat this year. The arrivals are on track to exceed last year's total of 17,202 as well as the government's target of resettling 20,000 refugees a year.

Iran has become the biggest source country. Asylum seekers from Iran last year accounted for one in seven arrivals. This year, they make up one in three.

Indonesia announced Thursday it will stop issuing visas on arrival to Iranians in a bid to stem the flow to Australia.

Rudd said his government would negotiate with other neighbors in a bid to restrict visa access from other source countries. Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Bangladesh and Burma are the next largest sources of asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores.

O'Neill set no limit on how many asylum seekers his country was prepared to accept.

"It is not going to be easy, but of course Papua New Guinea is blessed with a large land mass and a very small population so there is enough assistance that we can give to the Australian government," O'Neill said.

Australia is PNG's former colonial master and is now its largest source of foreign aid. In return for accepting the refugees, Rudd said Australia will redevelop a hospital in PNG's second largest city and reform the country's university sector.

The new policy echoes that of a previous Australian government that in 2001 also pledged that asylum seekers who arrived by boat would never be accepted by Australia. That policy all but stopped the asylum seeker traffic.

Some refugees spent years in an Australian-run detention camp on the tiny Pacific atoll of Nauru before Australia eventually resettled them because no other country would.

A protest by 150 asylum seekers on Nauru turned violent Friday with several demonstrators and their guards injured, Australia's Immigration Department said in a statement.

The department said the unrest was unrelated to the new policy, which was announced later.

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.

WHO Had Asked India to Ban Toxin That Killed Children

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:08 PM PDT

School children eat their free mid-day meal, distributed by a government-run primary school, at Brahimpur village in Chapra district of the eastern Indian state of Bihar on July 19, 2013. (Photo: Reuter / Adnan Abidi)

NEW DELHI/LONDON — The pesticide that killed 23 Indian schoolchildren last week is a nerve poison banned by many countries because of what the World Health Organization (WHO) describes as its "high acute toxicity."

As early as 2009, the United Nations health agency urged India to consider a ban on the pesticide monocrotophos—the substance said by a magistrate investigating the deaths to be the cause of the poisoning.

It had also warned that in India—against strong international health warnings—many pesticide containers are not thrown away after use but recycled and used for storing water, food and other consumables.

In last week's case in the Indian state of Bihar, the children fell ill within minutes of eating a meal of rice and potato curry in their one-room school. They were vomiting and convulsing with stomach cramps—symptoms that experts say would be common in poisoning with such a toxic chemical.

The lunch was part of India's Mid-Day Meal Scheme, which aims to tackle malnutrition and encourage 120 million poor children to attend school. It had already drawn widespread complaints over food safety.

An initial forensic investigation found the Bihar children's meal had been prepared with cooking oil that contained monocrotophos—a substance that belongs to a family of chemicals called organophosphates that share a common mechanism of toxic action.

"Basically they are nerve poisons," said David Coggon, a professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Britain's University of Southampton.

"They interfere with transmission between one nerve and another, or with transmission between nerves and muscle cells."

According to WHO, swallowing just 120 milligrams of monocrotophos—the weight of about five grains of rice—can be fatal to humans. Initial symptoms can include sweating, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision and hyper-salivation, or foaming at the mouth.

Monocrotophos controls a range of pests from aphids to caterpillars, mites, moths, stem borers and locusts on various crops such as cotton, rice and sugarcane.

According to a detailed 2009 WHO report on the health risks of monocrotophos in India, the countries and regions that have banned its use include Australia, Cambodia, China, the European Union, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. Its import is illegal in at least 46 countries.

Yet in India, monocrotophos "is widely used and easily available," and is frequently linked to fatal poisoning, both accidental and intentional.

"Its low cost and many possible applications have kept up demand in India despite growing evidence of its negative impact on human health," the WHO report said.

And although both the WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization recommend puncturing and crushing pesticide containers to prevent people using them for anything else, in India "the reality is different," the WHO said.

"Many pesticide containers, because of their sturdiness and look, are often later used to store objects, food grains and water, and sometimes even medicines."

Coggon said that, while a ban on monocrotophos would doubtless help reduce its risks in India, using it more safely could also help to reduce the threat.

"It's about trying to develop a safety culture," he said. "It's about developing systems that will ensure these things are handled as safely as possible—having the right sorts of containers, the size, the formulation … and educating people about the use of chemicals in general."

Cambodia Opposition Leader Loses Bid to Vote, Run

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 10:58 PM PDT

Sam Rainsy, center, president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, is surrounded by his supporters in Kampong Speu province on July 20, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Samrang Pring)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia's national election body on Monday rejected a late bid by the country's opposition leader to register as a candidate and vote in the general election this coming weekend.

The National Election Committee said in a letter to Sam Rainsy, head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, that he had missed the deadlines for both running and voting in the July 28 polls. Rainsy and his lawyers had applied for him to vote and be on the ballot.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party is expected to maintain its large majority in parliament, but the vast and enthusiastic crowds that greeted Rainsy's return on Friday suggest the opposition may make its strongest showing ever.

Rainsy returned from self-imposed exile last week after archrival Hun Sen arranged to pardon him for convictions that would have put him in prison for 11 years. Rainsy had called his convictions politically inspired.

Hun Sen has been in power for 28 years and says he has no intention of stepping down soon. His authoritarian rule has given him a stranglehold over the state bureaucracy that makes challenges to his authority difficult to mount.

Rainsy and Cambodian and international rights groups charge the election environment and preparations do not meet international standards for being free and fair, with Hun Sen and his ruling party maintaining too much influence over the process.

Hun Sen said he sought the royal pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni in the interests of national reconciliation and unity. However, the move is more generally seen as an effort to undercut criticism over the polls, which had focused on Rainsy's exclusion. The United States and other governments had said Rainsy's exclusion from the campaign would call into question the polls' legitimacy.

The ruling by the National Election Committee is unlikely to slow the momentum of the opposition's new upsurge as Sam Rainsy, a charismatic and fiery speaker, attracts large crowds on a whirlwind schedule taking him to over a dozen provinces in a week.

In the long run, however, it puts him in a legally vulnerable position, as he will not have the protection of parliamentary immunity from arrest. In recent years, Hun Sen and his ruling party, who used to be accused of the widespread use of violence and intimidation against their opponents, have instead used the courts to harass and cripple them. The judiciary especially is criticized by rights groups for being under the government's influence.

Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for 28 years, and his party has 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. The 60-year-old prime minister recently said that he intends to stay in office until he is 74—cutting back from an earlier vow to stay in control until he's 90.

The election will be the fifth parliamentary poll since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for Cambodia in 1991, a process mean to end the decades of bloodshed that included the communist Khmer Rouge's catastrophe 1975-79 rule, during which an estimated 1.7 million people died in torture centers and labor camps or of starvation or disease.

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma


Armed Mon group calls on army to return abducted members

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:38 AM PDT

The New Mon State Party (NSMP) is calling on the government to release two of its members who were captured by the Burmese military after clashes erupted in southern Burma's Tenasserim division last week.

According to the NMSP, the group's members Nai Aung Htun and his wife Ma Cho were abducted by troops from the Burmese army's 581st Light Infantry Battalion in Tenasserim's Bokpyin township following an unprovoked attack targeting the rebel's outpost in Thumingalan village on 16 July.

Two NMSP members and one Burmese solider were reportedly killed during the skirmish.

Nai Ong Seik Chan, a lieutenant colonel in the NMSP, said the Burmese military has admitted to mistakenly attacking their outpost after troops assumed that the position belonged to another Mon armed group, the Hanthawaddy Restoration Party.

Despite the admission, the government has yet to respond to the NMSP's request to release its members.

"On the evening of 17 July, we contacted the [army] but so far there has been no response, but we are trying to reach out to the regional military command through our liaison office to clear up the misunderstanding," said Nai Ong Seik Chan, adding that the government troops were still holding positions in the area surrounding their outpost.

The NMSP, which signed a truce with Naypyidaw in February 2012, also urged the government to refrain from attacking ceasefire groups or arresting their members.

During a speech in London last week, President Thein Sein described Burma's ongoing civil wars as complex, but insisted that his government aimed to a declare a country-wide ceasefire soon.

"Very possibly, over the coming weeks, we will have a nation-wide ceasefire and the guns will go silent everywhere in Myanmar (Burma) for the very first time in over sixty years," said Thein Sein.

However, the president noted that such a deal would "only [be] the first step towards the just and lasting peace" in Burma.

Since Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government came into power in 2011, Naypyidaw has succeeded in inking ceasefire agreements with ten of the country's eleven major armed groups.

Locals upset after upper house speaker snatches historic notebook

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 02:49 AM PDT

Residents in central Burma's Yaynanchaung are upset with the parliament's upper house speaker Khin Aung Myint after he commandeered a notebook containing General Aung San's original handwriting that was being kept at a local high school.

Mu Mu Htun, headmistress of Magwe division's Yaynanchaung High School-1, said Khin Aung Myint took the book during his recent visit to the town on Martyrs' Day and said he would preserve it.

"We understand he wishes to preserve the notebook and keep it at the national museum where the public will have wider access, but we don’t want to give it up that easily – we feel the loss," said Mu Mu Htun.

According to the school's secretary Kyaw San Oo, the town's residents are preparing to lobby Aung San Suu Kyi with the help of Ashin Sandra Dika, a revered Buddhist monk and Yaynanchaung native, to help retrieve the book.

"We will try to ask for the notebook back through Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Ashin Sandra Dika – hopefully it will go well and even if it doesn't, we will still have to try. This book is precious to the town's residents," said Kyaw San Oo.

Ashin Sandra Dika, who was a student at the school that housed the artifact, said the book was priceless to the town and taking it away could lead to public protests.

"Residents have been seriously thinking about staging public protests to ask for the book back and I, as a former student at the school who regards general Aung San as our forefather, also wish to have it with us," said Ashin Sandra.

"We wouldn't give it up for even one billion kyat."

Locals said they were prepared to let the government have the book, but they said would prefer to hand it over at an official ceremony.

The upper house speaker was unavailable for comment.

The notebook belonged to Burma’s famed independence leader when he attended a Pali language course at Rangoon University in 1933 and contains notes written in English by hand. He later gave it as a gift to a friend, who passed it on to Yaynanchaung-based journalist to donate to an appropriate school in the town. Aung San had himself previously attended high school in Yaynanchaung.

Yaynanchaung High School-1 was planning to exhibit the notebook during the school's 100th year anniversary celebrations in January 2015.

Local films look to return to the silver screen

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:58 AM PDT

Filmmakers in Burma are slowly producing movies again, in a country once under strict military rule and government censorship.

Since the quasi-civilian government started to introduce sweeping reforms, there has been an explosion of news media but filmmakers have been more reticent to touch on sensitive subjects, such as politics or corruption, that were formerly off limits.

In the 1950′s, Burma’s film industry was booming and it was free from state or self censorship.

Now the country produces only 20 films per year and they're often shot in a couple weeks or even days rather than over the course of one or two years.

But producers say it will take time for the industry to be as successful as it once was.

Burma frees around 70 political prisoners: official

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:47 AM PDT

Burma has agreed to release some 70 political prisoners, an official said Tuesday, after President Thein Sein vowed to free all dissidents by the end of the year.

“The president has signed an amnesty for about 70 political prisoners around the country,” presidential advisor Hla Maung Shwe, a senior official at the Myanmar Peace Center, told AFP.

Last week, Thein Sein said there would be “no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar” during a speech in London as part of a European tour aimed at shoring up the country’s international image in the wake of reforms that have swept the nation since the end of junta rule in 2011.

Rights groups and officials estimate there were between around 100 and 150 political prisoners in Burma ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.

Hla Maung Shwe said some of those being released were ethnic minority rebels from northern Kachin state, where the government is working on brokering a crucial ceasefire deal.

He said some prisoners had already been freed.

Sports writers downplay ministry’s ambitions for SEA games

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:25 AM PDT

Sports columnists in Burma have their doubts concerning the Ministry of Sports' goal for the country to finish in the top three of the Southeast Asian Games' medal count.

The games, which are set to kick off in Burma this December, will host 33 approved sporting events. But according to sports columnist Soe Nyi, there are at least seven categories that Burmese athletes have no shot of winning a gold medal in.

"There are 41 gold medals for the swimming event and we could win about one if we were very lucky – but chances are still very slim even for that. And I see that cycling would be another type of sport with very tough competition for us to win a gold medal because we've been out of touch with this for generations," said Soe Nyi, adding that there was almost no chance for Burma to win gold in table tennis events which is largely dominated by Singaporean athletes.

"There is no way we would be able to beat Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in badminton, and based on our current records, we could win only as many as five gold medals out of the 46 for the track and field events. And we will definitely not win hockey."

However, the columnist argued that Burmese competitors were expected to do well in martial arts events.

According to the Ministry of Sports' Sports and Physical Education Department director Htay Aung, the government body has been working hard to ensure that Burmese athletes capture gold medals on their home soil, but he admits the competition will be tough.

"We are training [athletes] intensively with various methods, including sending them to participate at international events as well as hosting events back home. We are doing everything necessary," said Htay Aung.

"However, since athletes in other countries were also training at their best, we might not have as much gold medals as we expected. But since we are the host, we'll do our best to fulfil the public's wish [for victory.]"

Earlier this year, Burma announced that it was excluding gymnastics and tennis from the competition, which prompted accusations from participants that the host country was engineering the selection in order to ensure that Burmese athletes won more medals.

In May, the Philippines unleashed vocal protests against Burma's handling of the games and announced that the country would only be sending a small delegation of athletes in response to the host country's exclusion of the events.

National News

National News


Myanmar set to release some 70 prisoners

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 05:54 AM PDT

Myanmar has agreed to release some 70 political prisoners, an official said on July 23, after President Thein Sein vowed to free all dissidents by the end of the year.

Minor blast injures five

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:45 AM PDT

A small blast near an event hosted by a radical Myanmar monk who stands accused of inflaming Buddhist-Muslim tensions has left five people injured in Mandalay, police said Monday.

Religious groups protest Bodhgaya bombing

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 12:05 PM PDT

Activists staged a peaceful protest in Yangon over the bombing of the sacred Bodhgaya temple in northeast India.

KIO liaison office to reopen

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:59 AM PDT

Senior government and Kachin Independence Army officials are expected to attend a ceremony on July 23 in Myitkyina.

President lifts Meiktila state of emergency

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:51 AM PDT

The state of emergency order in place for Meiktila was discontinued on July 20.

Kachin activist Daw Bauk Ja arrested over 2008 death

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:51 AM PDT

NDF member and land rights activist Daw Bauk Ja has been arrested on charges related to the death of a man in 2008, say lawyers.


Farmers reject ‘protection’ bill, push for changes

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:31 AM PDT

Ayeyawaddy Region farmer representatives say they are not satisfied with a proposed law that would set minimum prices for agricultural products.

US planned to sanction disbanded border security force, say activists

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:27 AM PDT

"Imminent" sanctions were common knowledge in Washington before July 14 decision to abolish the controversial security force known as the NaSaKa.

Fare hikes top list of complaints

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:25 AM PDT

The top complaint among Yangon bus passengers is conductors asking for fares above the fixed rate, new research shows.

Activists keep close eye on prisoner release scheme

Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:23 AM PDT

Politicians and activists warn how the government defines 'political prisoner' will be an important test for its reconciliation credentials.

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News


How Real is Thein Sein's Reformation in Burma, and what it means to the Non-Burman Ethnic Nationalities

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:41 AM PDT

 
There couldn't be a greater blow to all ethnic nationalities than when Britain offered to train the Burmese dictatorial army; and hearing the news that The British government has approved arms export licenses worth over US$5 million (£3.3 million) to Burma, even though it is considered a country of "serious human rights" concern and continues to be the subject of an EU arms embargo.

By following and studying the behavior and mentality of members of the Burmese military/political Institution for many decades, can anyone blame me if I am skeptical of the promises made by any of these members? Bertil Lintner wrote in his article, "The Military's still in Charge": "It is too often forgotten that Thein Sein came to power through the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the name for Burma's military regime. ---." His positions included General in the Burmese army, First Secretary of SPDC, and later Prime Minister (a position he held up until he became president).

"At no stage in his career did Thein Sein display any political independence or initiative. He was a loyal soldier, hand-picked by then-SPDC chairman and prime minister, Than Shwe. Thein Sein always said and did what he was told".

During the two years of Thein Sein's "civilian" government, no doubt, things are better, and have improved in big cities, but the opposite is true in the internal regions of the Shan and other ethnic states. Although there has been cease-fire agreement between the Thein Sein Government and many of the ethnic resistance armies, warring and committing crimes against the Kachins and Rohingya are still continuing. The Burmese soldiers are still attacking the Shan army bases, recently there were three clashes in a day. Villages are being set on fire, and a Shan Buddhist monastery was burnt down to convert it into an army base, making the monks homeless. Many villagers are also still fleeing from their own homes, while those who had fled to foreign countries during the past decades should be returning to their homelands, are still scared to return.

The transition to civilian rule is supposed to be making steady progress, yet power still lies in the same hand, the military dictators. Burma is still ruled by dictators, with the full apparatus intact. In areas where non-Burman ethnic nationalities dominate wars seem to be non-stop, and large number of military battalions are advancing on ethnic areas, while the Thein Sein Government and the ethnic leaders are supposed to be discussing the peace process.

One after the other, all the Shan, Karen, Karenni, Arakan, Kachin, Chin and Mon, without exception, each by turn had a full share of the evil of this war. The effect has been tragic: people are suffering and hurting. Countless have died, women and girls have been raped and children have become orphans and many have grown up without education. Their countries' resources and the environment have been vandalized and depleted.

It is hard for the non- Burman ethnic nationalities to be optimistic as their dream of freedom from the control of the dictatorial army, regaining their ethnic rights, equality and genuine democracy seem to be further away. The dictatorial army, with the power of weapons is still shaping the politics of Burma.

As the world's superpowers are experienced in dealing with many dictators and authoritarian governments, the Shan and other ethnic nationalities thought they could rely on them to do the right thing. On the contrary, they seem to be promoting dictatorship rather than democracy.

The speed with which the international community moved to relax sanctions, and hastened to engage with the Thein Sein Government came as a shock to many ethnic nationalities and their advocates.

There couldn't be a greater blow to all ethnic nationalities than when Britain offered to train the Burmese dictatorial army; also with the news that "The British government has approved arms export licenses worth over US$5 million (£3.3 million) to Burma, even though it is considered a country of "serious human rights" concern and continues to be the subject of an EU arms embargo."

Ta Emi commented:" I think the present British Government is very shortsighted, and ignorant of what is really going on in Burma. The Burmese dictatorial army, who is noted for its heinous crimes against humanity is being encouraged and spurred on by the government to continue to remain as an army of the country, as if they were the heroes. In order to have a credible central army to defend and protect the whole Federal Union, the present army will have to be dissolved. A new Army will have to be formed by recruits from all ethnic nationalities of Burma".

Paul Hubrich says:

July 18, 2013 at 7:05 pm

"I lived in Myanmar for a year and I can promise you that this is the worst idea one could have. The Myanmar military is not only in control of Thein Sein, it is a melting pot of rapists and criminals. For further question I want to suggest to read the conflict barometer of the Heidelberg Institute of Conflict Research where you get an overview over all the military activities in Myanmar during the last year. The systematic killing of Karen and Kachin is a crime against humanity and is supported by the British government. Congrats, well done guys"

If the British really want to help Burma towards peace and progress, it should make it a priority to put pressure and advise Thein Sein to settle the fifty year old political crisis, instead of concentrating on what it can get out of Burma, and trying to be on the right side of the President, and rewarding and praising him for every superficial reform he makes. Peace will not come to Burma as a result short fixes, or even widespread economic development, but it can be resolved by the removal of the greatest obstacle, the powerful dictatorial army. When the dictatorial armed forces are withdrawn from all the ethnic states there will be instant peace. As in all democratic countries, the new military formed should be the real protector of the country and its people, not the enemy of the people nor be above the law. It should be accountable to the democratically elected Government.

This could be followed by a dialogue between the Thein Sein Government and other stakeholders. The Federal System, which is the root cause of the fifty years old conflict, should be debated and discussed. It is the only thing that can iron out the dire political crisis in Burma. All Western Governments, especially Britain should encourage the adoption of the Federal System in Burma and not try to avoid and back away from the topic.

The contributor is the daughter of the ruling prince of Lawksawk and the author of "My Vanished World".

Ceasefire and political settlement two sides of the same coin

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:40 AM PDT

 
By: Sai Wansai
Tuesday, 23 July 2013

President Thein Sein during his recent, UK visit said that by the year's end there would be no prisoner's of conscience or political prisoner left for all will be released. At the same time, he said that a nation-wide ceasefire agreement will be signed between the government and all non-Burman ethnic armed groups, most possibly within a few weeks time.

Sai Wansai
While the release of all political prisoners could be easier to fulfil single-handedly by the government, the signing of a nation-wide ceasefire agreement, which would take at least two to happen, is somewhat problematic, for the ethnic armed groups, particularly the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), made up of eleven non-Burman ethnic armed groups, could not agree to the government's roadmap and framework, which is quite far apart from its own.

On 13 July, the Technical Teams of Union Peace Working Committee (UPWC) headed by Hla Maung Shwe and UNFC led by Padoe Mahn Mahn met in Chiangmai, Thailand, to talk about how to go about with the reconciliation process.

According to The Irrawaddy 15 July report, "Mahn Mahn also called on the government to agree to a concrete political framework and asked the government not to settle merely for ceasefire agreements nationwide. He said government peace representatives wanted to push first for achieving ceasefires nationwide before establishing a framework for discussion of political issues, a timeline at odds with the UNFC technical team's demand for simultaneous negotiating tracks."

What Padoe Mahn Mahn said was that durable ceasefire agreement could only be sustainable, if the national political agenda is first agreed upon. In other words, the UNFC position is that political settlement framework has to be included, before agreeing to sign a nation-wide ceasefire earmarked to pull it through by Thein Sein government within a few weeks time.

According to SHAN Editorial of 19 July, the Working Group for Ethnic Coordination (WGEC), formed by the armed groups in February 2012, which was made up of both UNFC and non-UNFC armed organizations - Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), as well as representatives from civil society organizations (youth, women and issue-based) – fell out in June this year, due to different principles and personalities. But despite their unwillingness to reconcile with each other, both, the UNFC and non-UNFC members have taken the same position (without consulting each other) against the government's proposal that a ceremony signing the 5 point nationwide ceasefire agreement be held in Naypyitaw. The 5 points, as stated by the President on 1 March 2012, which exclude the framework for political negotiations, are:

  • To stop all hostilities
  • To stay only in the agreed areas
  • Not to hold any arms in places except from those agreed areas
  • To open liaison offices in the mutually agreed places
  • To fix the venue, time and date for Union level dialogue

Not surprisingly, both the UNFC and the truncated WGEC, had rejected it saying a framework for political negotiations must be included in the text of the said nationwide ceasefire agreement, or else no group would turn up for the signing.

In addition to the fact that the ball is now in Thein Sein's court, the UNFC and non-UNFC members need to earnestly ask on how and when will the Burma Army stop its military occupation of all non-Burman ethnic areas, under the guise or pretext of "area cleansing and control" operations all throughout non-Burman nationalities' territories. This is the most crucial obstacle, which must be overcome, if meaningful ceasefire agreement is to be implemented. It wouldn't do just to downplay the armed clashes as usual happening, occurring now for more than hundred times with both the Shan State Army/ Shan State Progress Party (SSA/SSPP) and Shan State Army/ Restoration Council of Shan State (SSA/RCSS), which have signed ceasefire agreement for the last two years. The ongoing armed clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Shan State and elsewhere, even though the de-escalation of armed conflict agreement was signed, a few weeks ago; and the recent Burma Army's attack on the New Mon State Party (NMSP), which has also signed ceasefire agreement with the government, on 16 July, in Mon State are not conducive to the implementation of ceasefire agreement.

The Burma Army and as well, the regime, are down playing the armed confrontations as usual happening, partly to show that the peace process is still going on for international consumption, while all along it is sticking to its "area cleansing and control" policy to subjugate and occupy ethnic nationalities' areas as much as possible, so that when the area demarcation of contending troops take place it will be at advantage. And even if the negotiation breaks down, leading to total war again, it will still have a military edge over the ethnic armies.

To sum up, Thein Sein regime is moving ahead with its agenda, presuming that the ethnic armed groups are coming along with its demand of first signing the ceasefire agreement, give up armed struggle, enter political arena by forming political parties, participate in elections, and finally amend the constitution from within the parliament, accepting the existence of a single army within the country.

Another unspoken problem is that although the UNFC is addressing its adversary as "The Government", in reality, it is only acknowledging it as a military dominated entity and not even as a quasi-civilian government. On the other hand, the Thein Sein regime sees itself, rightly or wrongly, as a legitimate elected government of the whole country, including the non-Burman ethnic nationalities.

The reason for such an unspoken assumption from the part of the non-Burman ethnic nationalities is that the present Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), plus military, dominated regime comes to power through a series of orchestrated manipulation; from self-drawn, military-favoured, 2008 Constitution, rigged constitutional referendum to flawed 2010 general elections. In short, Thein Sein regime is taken as a de facto and not de jure government by the non-Burman ethnic nationalities.

That has been exactly the reason why the UNFC is demanding a tripartite dialogue, involving the USPD, plus the military, the democratic opposition groups and the non-Burman ethnic nationalities, which would lead to the 1947, Panglong Agreement-like understanding, paving way for a genuine federal structure.

Meanwhile, Eleven Media reported, on 22 July, the government chief negotiator, U Aung Min said that nation-wide ceasefire could not be materialized yet and that only four or five groups have agreed to the government's overture of signing the nation-wide ceasefire agreement.

And so it seems, the much desired nation-wide ceasefire signing ceremony wouldn't come about anytime soon, even though this could bring a huge political boost for Thein Sein's reform process, heightened international recognition as a true reformer and solicit more foreign investment.

Finally, it will do us all good, if we all could accept the fact that "political settlement" and "ceasefire agreement" are two sides of the same coin and that it would have to be tackled simultaneously and not one after another.

The contributor is the General Secretary of Shan Democratic Union (SDU) - Editor

Weekly Diary, No.635 (8-20 July 2013)

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:39 AM PDT

 
  • HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN, MALALA!
  • UK SELLS ARMS TO THEIN SEIN!
  • BURMA CAN GROW OLD BEFORE BECOMING RICHER!
  • NPT, WA AGREE NOT TO FIGHT!
  • NPT REFUSES TO WITHDRAW RESTRICTIVE LAWS!
  • FAREWELL, LO HSING HAN!
Cartoon
Tips for leaders: You should have known better!


Think Piece

Hurdles for AEC
  • 95-98% of all business in the Asean market are small and medium enterprises, most of which have little interest and opportunity to expand across national borders
  • Many of the bigger enterprises are outward-oriented and tend to concentrate on getting across to US, EU and China markets
  • Ratio for the poorest and richest in Europe is 1:8 while it is 1:61 in Asean.

Asia Focus, Bangkok Post, 15 July 2013

The flaring up of the issue of Burmese nationalism outside Myanmar, especially in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and now India, is certainly going to affect the peace and stability of the region. The ongoing sectarian violence in Myanmar therefore is no longer an internal affair of Myanmar alone.

Somu Trivedia, University of Delhi, Bangkok Post, 15 July 2013

The World
7 July 2013

Bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya, India, wound 2 monks. Two more bombs found and defused. There have been tensions following clashes in Burma. (Bangkok Post)

12 July 2013

Malala Yousafzai, girl shot by Taliban 9 months ago for her campaign for girls' education, marks 16th birthday at the UN. (AFP)

International Relations
14-18 July 2013
President Thein Sein flies out to UK and France. (Bangkok Post)

15 July 2013

President Thein Sein, on a visit to UK, says he has disbanded a security force accused of violations against Muslims and promises to free all remaining political prisoners by brokering a nationwide ceasefire. (Reuters) There is no proposal to amend the 1982 citizenship law, he says. (Today's Zaman)

16 July 2013
Daily Telegraph reports that Britain will appoint a defense attaché to oversee the establishment of contacts between Burmese and UK armed forces. (BBC)

17 July 2013

Visiting President Thein Sein meets his French host President Hollande for an hour. (AP)

18 July 2013
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says while Cambodia and Laos will probably see their proportion of workers continue to rise, Burma's population will start ageing in the next two decades. "If the momentum for development created by the country's opening and internal peace process is not seized, Myanmar could get old before it gets rich." (Bloomberg)

18 July 2013
UK Government has approved $5 million arms export licenses to Burma, even though it is considered a country of "serious human rights" concern and continues to be the subject of EU arms embargo. (DVB)

Thai-Burma Relations
8 July 2013

Mae Tao clinic founder Dr Cynthia Maung says the main clinic would not suffer from the land sale that is under dispute. Sulak Sivaraksa, founder of Metta Thammarak Foundation (MTF), says its chairman Phra Kittisophano, had approved the unauthorized sale. (Irrawaddy)

8 July 2013
Federation of Overseas Employment Agency has received requests to send 5,000 migrant workers per month to Thailand, up from 3,000 in previous months. (Eleven Media)

10 July 2013
Leaked audio clip posted last week of an alleged conversation between Gen Yutthasak Sasriprapa and Thaksin Shinawatra contains discussion about the possibility of using their links with Burma's supreme commander Min Aung Hlaing to confluence over Myanmar leaders. (Bangkok Post)

12 July 2013
25 schools, teaching as many as 5,000 students in Tak province, left without financial assistance for the 2013-14 academic year, according Migrant Workers Education Committee. There are 74 migrant schools in Tak. (DVB)

15 July 2013
Bangkok Hospital Group says it handled 22,200 patients from Burma in 2012. (Irrawaddy)

16 July 2013
Survey conducted by Karen Refugee Committee at Tham Hin Camp among 6,195 refugees say:
  • 46% want to resettle in a third country
  • 27% want to remain in Thailand
  • 27% want to go back to Burma if peace is guaranteed
(KIC)

Politics/ Inside Burma
12 July 2013

Vice President Sai Mawk Kham, in his opening speech at a ceremony commemorating World Population Day, calls for end to teen pregnancy. The adolescent birth rate is 16.9 per thousand among those aged 15-19, according to a 2007 survey. (Mizzima)

12 July 2013
Dr Pe Thet Khin, Minister of Health, reports on child malnutrition to People's Assembly. UNICEF announced in May that due to malnutrition, 2.5 million children were undersized and 200,000 have died. (Mizzima)

14 July 2013
President Thein Sein announces the notorious Nasaka force that guards the border with Bangladesh was disbanded on 12 July. It was established in 1992. (DVB)

Ethnic Affairs
5 July 2013
President Thein Sein issues announcement of filling of vacancies in Union level Peacemaking Central Committee (UPCC), (Eleven)

8 July 2013
Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF), an alliance of 15 parties, will be submitting constitutional amendments to the parliament, says MP Zo Zam, a day after its meeting in Naypyitaw. It is attended by Chin expert Ngun Zung Lian. (RFA)

9 July 2013
Karen National Union (KNU)'s Saw Moses from its 7th Brigade announced earlier that its Moe Ko San company has started an export-import business along with tourism in a bid to channel revenue to provide its members and their families. Export-import business was approved on 4 May and tour services on 8 June by Naypyitaw. (DVB)

13-14 July 2013
Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF) holds workshop on political dialogue in Naypyitaw. There are 2 participants from outside: Dr Johannes Siebert and Harn Yawnghwe. (Eleven News Media)

14 July 2013
88 Generation Students representative Mya Aye meets United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) in Chiangmai. We are all walking on the same path, he says. (Mizzima)

15-17 July 2013
Karen National Union (KNU) and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) discuss ongoing peace process. (SHAN)

Shans/ Shan State
8 July 2013
Yoma Bank manager in Muse says it has not received any extortion letter from the Shan State Army (SSA) South. The New Light of Myanmar and Myawady newspapers reported earlier that a motorcyclist had presented a letter of extortion to the bank on 4 July. (Myanmar Times)

11 July 2013
Shan leader Lt-Gen Yawdserk attends 22nd anniversary ceremony marking the passing away of his former boss, Gen Gawn Zerng (1926-1991) (SHAN)

Economy/ Business
8 July 2013
The Union Assembly agrees with President Thein Sein's proposal to join with the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) that will provide opportunities for foreign investment and support for economic development. (Mizzima)

12 July 2013
Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) sitting under finance ministry, has not turned a profit in 22 years since 1990, says Thurein Zaw, Vice Chairman, Public Accounts Joint Committee. (Eleven Media)

12 July 2013
President Thein Sein signs a new law to make the country's central bank an independent body. (AFP)

Human Rights
8 July 2013

Ashok Nigam, UN resident coordinator in Burma, says Burma has released 42 children and young people from its armed forces. (Al Jazeera)

9 July 2013
Burma News International (BNI), an alliance of 11 news agencies, issues protest against Printing and Distribution Bill approved by the People's Assembly on 4 July. "It is giving freedom to the information to restrict registration of news agencies and greatly endangers freedom of the press," says BNI chair Nan Paw Gay. (Statement)

9 July 2013
National Police Chief and Deputy Home Minister Kyaw Kyaw Htun tells parliament there is no need to amend the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act (Article 5j) and the 1975 State Protection Law (Article 10a and 10b). He adds that they are not in contravention with the 2008 constitution.
  • Article 5j carries a prison sentence of up to 7 years for anyone who prevents civil servants and army officers from carrying out their duties
  • Article 10a and 10b give authorities power to detain anybody who has committed or is about to commit an act that may be considered an "infringement of the sovereignty and security of the Union" or as "threat to the peace of the people," allowing authorities to detain suspects without trial for long periods of time.
(Irrawaddy)

10 July 2013
The controversial publishing bill passed by the lower house last week "falls far, far below international standards and if it were adopted would, in effect, retain a system of full government control over the media," says Dr Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICCE19. (DVB)

11 July 2013
Way Phyoe, Generation Wave secretary, arrested by Prome police for a Free Political Prisoners poster campaign which he organized in July 2011. (Mizzima)

16 July 2013

Defense minister Wai Lwin tells parliament the army is ready to return 18,800 acres (6%) of the land it confiscated during the 1988-2010 period. (Bangkok Post)

17 July 2013
6 people suspected for their role in the massacre of 10 Muslim pilgrims in Arakan last year nabbed in Taungup. (DVB)

18 July 2013
Wirathu, monk who has risen to prominence by spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric, says nearly 2.5 million have signed a petition in support of proposed law restricting intermarriage in Burma between Buddhists and Muslims. It would be sent to Parliament, according to him. (Irrawaddy)

18 July 2013

Bauk Ja, Kachin activist, arrested for negligent homicide in Myitkyina. It is over a person who died reportedly from her treatment a year ago, according to her lawyer. (Irrawaddy)

20 July 2013
President lifts emergency order in Meikhtila, 4 months after secular violence. (AP)

20 July 2013
Mosque in Lashio, closed since 28 May during the start of sectarian riots to be reopened, according to Dr Tin Aung, a Muslim leader. (SHAN)

Drugs
17 July 2013
K 140 million ($ 140,000) worth drugs and 18 suspected users arrested in Taunggyi. The house is owned by a Wa officer Maj Toom Kham, according to police officer Aung Soe Kyaing. (The Voice)

War
12 July 2013
The UWSA and the Union Peacemaking Work Committee vice Chairman U Thein Zaw sign a 5 point agreement that requires each to withdraw to its pre- 18 June positions. (SHAN)

16 July 2013
Brief firefight in Mon State kills 8 New Mon State Party soldiers. It violates 18 year old ceasefire agreement, says a Mon commander. (Mizzima)

20 July 2013
Shan State Army (SSA) North dismisses statement by President Thein Sein blaming ethnic groups extorting money from local villagers as the cause for the ongoing clashes despite ceasefire. He was was being interviewed by BBC in London on 18 July. (Eleven News Media)

Obituary
6 July 2013

Lo Hsing Han, dubbed Godfather of Heroin, passes away in Rangoon. He is 77, 79 according to some. (Agencies)

17 July 2013

Lo Hsing Han's funeral attended by Upper House lawmaker Haw Hsiao Chan. "He was my teacher," he says. Lo and his son Steven Law have been on US sanctions list since February 2008 (Irrawaddy)

Ethnic meeting calls on Naypyitaw to improve on its planned ceasefire text

Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:37 AM PDT

 
A meeting attended by armed group representatives and resource persons last week had urged U Thein Sein's government to revise the text of the nationwide ceasefire agreement to be signed in a special ceremony in Naypyitaw before the end of the year.

"By restricting it to just the 5 point guideline (as outlined by the President on 1 March 2012), the government would only be underming its own achievements," a resource person reminded the meeting. "In other words, it would only be taking a step back, not forward."

U Aung Min and Sao Yawd Serk (Photo: SSA)

The government, since 18 August 2011, when it issued an invitation to all armed groups for peace talks, has already signed ceasefire agreement with 13 groups.

The agreements signed so far have also covered constitutional, political, economic, military and social concerns voiced by the 13 armed groups, that had incorporated in their Comprehensive Union Peace and Ceasefire Agreement (CUPAC) for the government to consider.

Naypyitaw, through the MPC, had responded on 12 July that garnering support for the armed groups' draft within the government circles would take overly long, as the text was already a lengthy document (23 pages) ever without the Code of Conduct draft that is being negotiated separately between the Karen National Union and the Myanmar Army. "The military is naturally highly suspicious, as the draft was prepared by people who are also naturally very suspicious of the military," one MPC member had put it.

A resource person who has been involved in peace processes in several countries also advised the participants of the need to keep the military well informed and happy. "According to my experience, the army is cooperative if they are fully informed," he said. "If on the contrary they feel sidelined, then they are liable to become spoilers."

The armed groups had responded earlier that the government could expect a no turn-up by them at the planned ceremony if the nationwide ceasefire agreement text was not revised. "We will need to look up in to the (CUPCA) draft which points are indispensable for inclusion in the ceasefire text and which are not," said a participant. "But I would say that at least the following are key points:

  • That a nationwide political dialogue will immediate follow the signing of the ceasefire
  • That participants in the political dialogue are not subject to harassments during the talks
  • That the framework presented by the armed groups would be discussed as a basis for the dialogue."

The government, according to U Aung Min, Vice Chairman #2 of the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC), is planning to invite world dignitaries including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the planned nationwide ceasefire ceremony.