Monday, October 7, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

KNU is ready to sign nationwide ceasefire, says CEC member

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 05:55 AM PDT

The Karen National Union (KNU) is ready to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement, according to one of its most prominent central executive committee members, Mahn Nyein Maung, who spoke to DVB in an interview on Monday.

"The KNU is looking to find solutions to all political issues through a nationwide ceasefire," he said, adding that he envisages a "Panglong-like conference where representatives of the government, parliament, the Burmese armed forces, ethnic armed groups, political parties, civil society groups and women's groups sit face to face to discuss political issues and amend the constitution."

The KNU leader said that in a post-ceasefire world, all ethnic groups should be able to look for solutions to political issues based on federal principles.

Asked whether this meant that the Karen rebels – who have fought successive Burmese government forces for autonomy for over 60 years – have reached an accord on military issues, Mahn Nyein Maung said, "We have managed to establish a significant level of trust to an extent where I can say that we are now in a position to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement."

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On 4 October, the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS – the political wing of the Shan State Army– South) released a statement in which it expressed optimism in participating in a nationwide ceasefire.

It noted however that the Burmese army had been responsible for 122 clashes during nearly two years of bilateral ceasefire, while the RCSS accepted that it had initiated only 11 military clashes. The Shan army's statement called on the Burmese government forces to abide by the 31 terms of the ceasefire signed between both parties on 2 December 2012.

Meanwhile, Aung Naing Oo, the associate director of the Peace Dialogue Program at Myanmar Peace Centre, expressed hope that the ethnic armed groups which are still not ready to sign a ceasefire will continue with dialogue until the time is right for them to sign.

"Ultimately we would encourage all groups to sign," he said.

However, Nai Hongsa, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) spokesperson and New Mon State Party general secretary, said he did not see why such a nationwide ceasefire was necessary.

"Some armed groups, even after signing ceasefires, have still been engaged in hundreds of military clashes with the Burmese army," he said. "Therefore there should be a clear understanding about demarcation – a nationwide ceasefire should only be signed when this has been widely agreed.

"And reaching a ceasefire doesn't mean the peace process is completed," he said. "But rather it is a mechanism to facilitate political dialogue that, in turn, builds further understanding."

Karenni ceasefire fuels mining exploitation: NGOs

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 02:53 AM PDT

Two Karenni NGOs have called on the Burmese government to suspend all mining licences issued since March 2012 for the eastern state until there is constitutional reform granting ethnic states the right to control and manage their own natural resources.

In a joint-statement issued last week, the Molo Women Mining Watch Network and Karenni Civil Society Network (KCSN) strongly condemned the Burmese government's practice of granting mining contracts in conflict zones in Karenni state.

According to the groups, since the Karenni National Progressive Party signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government some 18 months ago, the number of mines in Karenni state has risen from three to 16.

"Tin and tungsten mines in Mawchi mining town have been expanded, and new antimony, coal, galena and gold mines are being mined throughout Karenni state," said the report.

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Khu Mi Reh, a spokesperson for the KCSN, said: "We are calling for the suspension of the mining projects, including one by an Australian company that covers 100,000 acres of land."

Ah Ku, a local woman from Mawchi, said: "If the mining projects in this area increase any further, we will lose the land that we rely upon for our livelihoods."

Despite rich natural resources in Karenni state, local people have not benefited but instead have lost their farmlands, mountains, rivers, livelihoods and villages due to forced relocation, land confiscation and environment destruction related to the mining projects, said the report.

Burma’s traditional lanterns lose out to Chinese versions

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:18 AM PDT

At the end of October, people across Burma will adorn their houses with paper lanterns to mark the end of Buddhist lent. The lanterns are kept up until mid-November when the Festival of Lights, or Tazaungdaing, marks the end of rainy season.

Traditional events such as robe-weaving competitions, the visiting of pagodas and the release of hot air balloons are then held to express thanks and drive away evil spirits.

The colourful lantern-hanging festival, known as Thadingyut, is Burma's second most annual event after the Water Festival.

However, nowadays the handmade bamboo and paper Burmese lanterns are losing out commercially to factory-made plastic lanterns from China.

Htun Shein has been making lanterns for 40 years, and his products have long been popular across the country. But this year, he says, orders have dropped dramatically due to the surge in sales of Chinese-made lanterns which are less fragile, waterproof and cheaper.

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"We make lanterns with paper, while the foreign ones are plastic," he says. "Nowadays children are more interested in the Chinese versions with designs like Angry Birds."

At Rangoon markets, Chinese lanterns have been on sale for the past three or four years.

"Chinese-made lanterns are cheaper, easy to sell, and prettier," says Myint Myint Khin who works at a lantern stall. "Both children and adults like them, and people prefer the Chinese lanterns for decorations."

Since the process of making traditional Burmese lanterns is intricate and time-consuming, the cost is higher. Craftsmen have to smooth out the bamboo, cut it into shape, apply talc paper, and then carefully paint the patterns.

"Burmese lanterns are made of bamboo," explains Myint Myint Khin. "So worms can destroy them and they don't last long. If the talc paper gets pierced or torn it cannot be sold."

Other lantern-makers worry that the falling demand for traditional lanterns will lead to fewer traditional craftsmen in the future.

"In the past, I made 5,000-6,000 lanterns to send around the country," said a Rangoon artisan. "Now, I can only send 350 upcountry."

But Htun Shein says he will keep making traditional lanterns as a hobby.

"I can't live without them," he says.

45 detained in connection with Sandoway riots

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:55 PM PDT

Forty-five people have been detained in connection with last week's bout of violence in Sandoway [Thandwe] township, according to the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP).

Speaking to DVB on Sunday, party executive San Aye said that a large majority of those in custody are members of local nationalist groups, including the Organisation for the Protection of Race and Religion. The RNDP chairman for Sandoway township, Maung Pyu, was detained late on 2 October. "In the custody are: one RNDP member and the chairman; twelve members of the Organisation for the Protection of Race and Religion and the Funeral Assistance Association; thirteen residents from the villages in the Singaung village-tract; nine residents from Thabyuchaing; and nine from Nathmawtaung," said San Aye. "We have learnt that they are currently being held in Sandoway prison and will be charged for vandalism and arson."

The Burmese government's Ministry of Information announced on Saturday that 44 people – 42 men and 2 women – were detained and questioned in connection with the riots.

RNDP lower house member Pe Than said that party officials will visit Sandoway on 7 October to make inquiries about the detention of its local chairman.

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"We are sending an investigative committee to make inquiries about the situation and will announce our findings in a report," said Pe Than.

Five people were killed and five others injured in the three days of communal violence that erupted in Sandoway on 29 October. According to state media this weekend, 114 houses, three religious buildings and one gasoline warehouse were burned down, while 482 people were left homeless.

ASEAN 2014: Naypyidaw’s chance to shine

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 10:27 PM PDT

No country resembles a laboratory of political and economic development more than Myanmar [Burma]. A country with effectively two capitals, old and new, in Rangoon and Naypyidaw, Myanmar is briskly moving from one reform to another. Its multiple exchange rate system has been unified and stable. The infrastructure is receiving facelifts all over, much slower than demand but moving forward nevertheless. Human resource capacity is being bolstered in short order.

Yet none of these efforts appear to be in step with the growing demands and expectations for a country that came out of isolation just two years ago. All eyes in Myanmar are fixated on the road ahead, starting this year with the Southeast Asian Games in December and next year with the ASEAN chairmanship, culminating with presidential polls in 2015.

Its ASEAN chairmanship will have much to say about how Myanmar proceeds into its critical election year and how ASEAN finalises its plan to be a regional community by the end of 2015, as stipulated in the ASEAN charter.

The ASEAN chairmanship next year thus comes at a momentous time for both Myanmar and for ASEAN. It will be a vindication and deliverance in view of the global and regional pressure that resulted in Myanmar’s decision to skip its rotational turn in 2006. Next year will be the first time Myanmar has chaired ASEAN since it joined the organisation in 1997.

As ASEAN chair, Myanmar will have an unprecedented opportunity to shine and display its rich history and ongoing reform process towards greater democratisation.

President Thein Sein, a genuine reformer by all accounts, will likely stand among top world leaders at the G20 summit. And Myanmar will attract worldwide attention as it hosts a string of top-level summits in October next year.

At the same time, Myanmar will be exposed to the risk of not making enough progress on human rights related to recent and continual religious and ethnic violence. The stakes for Myanmar next year are the highest the country will see since it opened up and ushered in breath-taking reforms.

ASEAN chairmanship is what the ASEAN chair makes of it. Here is what Myanmar officials will have to work on with sophistication, commitment and resolve. Myanmar will have to chair hundreds of ASEAN-related meetings up and down and across ministries, sectors and issues. Myanmar has to set out a coherent and comprehensive set of initiatives and work plans.

Its long chairmanship theme, “Moving forward in unity towards a peaceful and prosperous Community”, is instructive of Myanmar’s concerns. Myanmar’s leaders and officials would do best to make this theme consonant with ASEAN’s interests. Their aim next year should be to make what is good for Myanmar also good for ASEAN.

The key domestic words of forward, unity, peace, prosperity and Community with a capital C make sense. Moving forward means continuing with the ongoing reforms.

Unity is integral to Myanmar’s imperative of maintaining workable core-periphery relations between the Burman majority, which represents about half the population, and the diverse ethnic minorities that constitute the other half. Peace is the flipside of unity in Myanmar, and it is why the country’s name centres around the word “union”. Prosperity suggests that the reform process and opening up must deliver a sense of better livelihoods and mobility to the Myanmar people.

The only keyword in Myanmar’s chairing slogan that is focused on ASEAN is the capitalised Community. The ASEAN Community 2015 is the final and central aim of the ASEAN Charter, operationalised into three pillars of political-security, economic and socio-cultural.

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Myanmar has to ensure that its slogan also provides benefits for ASEAN. Forward, unity, peace and prosperity are all objectives that ASEAN is also aiming for. Moving forward as a regional organisation in view of the charter, in unity over contentious issues such as the South China Sea, with internal and intramural peace in light of internal conflicts in Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia and with the aim of economic growth are all part and parcel of what ASEAN was established to achieve and aspires to in its charter plans.

Myanmar’s chairmanship theme and interests next year have to be made analogous to ASEAN’s interests and concerns as a regional organisation. This is a fundamental task of Myanmar planners and policymakers.

Beyond the theme, Myanmar will be overwhelmed by the meetings and responsibilities of chairing ASEAN for the first time. The sheer number of meetings, technical issues, logistical requirements and funding will exhaust Myanmar’s resources. Here is where Myanmar will need external assistance, including technical training and human resource development from ASEAN partners, such as Thailand and Singapore.

Myanmar should come up with a kind of template for chairing ASEAN by quickly adapting lessons learned by Cambodia last year and Brunei this year. Brunei’s chairmanship this year has been seen as successful despite the country’s limited resources and small size. Myanmar can see how Brunei does the summits this month and learn from it. And there will be substantive matters to deal with as ASEAN is now situated amid the growing rivalry between the United States and China.

The potential spoilers for Myanmar are the ethnic and religious violence involving the Rohingya, which must be seen to be addressed. This is a raw and sensitive issue among Myanmar people, especially those in Rakhine state, who see their country as a transit point for the people they call Bengali. But the international community sees it differently.

Myanmar needs an adept media and publicity office to explain their case persuasively as much as international opinion can accept. The growing competition between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann and army chief General Min Aung Hlaing as well as President Thein Sein can undermine Myanmar’s chairmanship if it is not managed sufficiently behind the scenes.

Chairing ASEAN is already achieving a great deal for Myanmar. The country has come a long way. It deserves its turn. It should keep expectations low and aspirations high. The ASEAN chairmanship will reflect well and powerfully on Myanmar’s reform process and ASEAN’s long road towards a regional community.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak is director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

This article first appeared in the Bangkok Post on 5 October, 2013.
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