Monday, March 3, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

BIMSTEC leaders convene in Burma

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 03:33 AM PST

Leaders of seven regional partner nations convened in Naypyidaw this weekend for a summit on South and Southeast Asian development.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was established in 1997 with the aim of improving trade, transit and economic development among its members.

The initiative's seven member nations are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Delegates have descended on Burma for the conference, scheduled from 1-4 March.

Member nations assume leadership of priority sectors, to encourage skill, technology and resource sharing catered to each partner's strengths. Burma leads the BIMSTEC agricultural development agenda.

Burma also provides South Asia with important transport links to mainland Southeast Asia, as well as access to China. BIMSTEC representatives have stated intention to reach a free trade area agreement by 2017.

The bloc has been instrumental in the rollout of India's "look east" policy, the cornerstone of northeast India's development agenda which has recently encountered some roadblocks.

However, developments like the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, central to the policy, could serve to ease Burma's dependence on Bangladesh as a transit route between the Bay of Bengal and Kolkata, diverting the pressures of a border fraught with anxiety.

Bangladesh has fully closed off its border with Burma on multiple occasions, most recently in November last year, and has claimed that their entire 30,000 Rohingya population has illegally crossed the border from the Burma.

Bangladesh's The Daily Star reported official confirmation on Monday that "repatriation of listed Rohingya refugees and undocumented Myanmar [Burma] citizens" would be discussed on the summit sidelines between Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Thein Sein.

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Census convention kicks off in Naypyidaw

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 02:21 AM PST

Burmese President Thein Sein on Saturday pledged that the upcoming census will be conducted in accordance with international standards and human rights principles, at an opening ceremony held in Naypyidaw.

Thein Sein, joined by representatives of the government, political parties and leaders of ethnic armed groups, urged civilians to respond to all questions without "any hesitations", assuring that their information will be kept confidential.

The president described the survey as, "a noble process, making an investment for at least a decade", which he said will provide data necessary for the country's development and impressed the importance of giving accurate information.

International Technical Advisory Board (ITAB), an independent census review panel, gave Burma the green light in a statement published in January, reading, "ITAB have found that the [Burmese Department of Population] have done a good job and that now the rest is up to the people of Myanmar [Burma]."

Burma's 2014 census, which is set to begin on 30 March, will be the first nationwide census since 1983, though statistics gleaned from the previous surveys are almost universally dismissed as inaccurate due to lack of independent supervision and obstacles to geographical access.

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The upcoming census has been a subject of controversy in recent weeks, as the current questionnaire inquires about racial and religious identity. The census form allows individuals to select their ethnicity from an official list of 135, which many have decried as arbitrary.

Rights groups have called it "divisive", and some ethnic civil society groups have vowed not to participate because of the classification system.

"We are prepared to ensure that the census does not go ahead as it stands. That much is clear," said Khon Ja, renowned activist and member of the Kachin Peace Network.

The Central Census Committee, however, has resolved not to make requested adjustments until after the census is complete.

Plough protestors charged with trespassing and vandalism

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 02:00 AM PST

Four farmers in central Burma's Madaya have been charged with trespassing and vandalism, after staging a ploughing protest on 1 March, on land that had been confiscated by the government.

Over 100 farmers from Kyauksarit-North village in Mandalay division's Madaya began to till the land with 15 ox-pulled ploughs to signify their original ownership of the land.

Ye Yint Aung, a resident in the village who participated in the protest, said the next morning police told him and three other farmers that they were being charged with Articles 447 and 427 of the Penal Code, which are trespassing and vandalism, respectively.

"So far, authorities are not stopping the protest but this morning I was told by police that myself, Nay Win, Zaw Win and Ko Ko Aung have been charged for joining the ploughing," he said.

Despite the charges the farmers continued their plough protest into Sunday, which also happened to be Burma's Peasant Day.

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Whether they stop us or not – we are ploughing our own land," said Ye Yint Aung. "We are not stealing from anyone, we are just reclaiming what belongs to us.”

The farmers said they have been trying to negotiate with authorities for their land for the past 28 years.

They began their protest on Saturday, after inquiries carried out by various government and parliamentary committees to look into land confiscation across the country, came to nothing.

Daw Swar, a farmer from Kyauksarit-North village in Madaya, said they had owned the land for generations but now they are forced to live in makeshift huts.

"We went through hard labour turning the barren land into workable soil," she said. "Now we are living in poverty and hardship, in a hut on the side of the road. Recently, we were given an eviction order from there and have been forced to take our huts down, we are now living rough in makeshift tents."

In 1986 the Cooperatives Ministry confiscated over 600 acres of land from 95 farmers in the area.

The four charged for ploughing in Madaya are among dozens of people who have been arrested for plough protests over land grabs throughout the country.
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