Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

EU begins ‘crowd control’ training for Burmese police

Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:48 AM PST

The European Union on Tuesday began a €10 million (US$13.5 million) programme to provide riot control training to the Burmese police force, following a request from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The 10-month course, which will be provided by EU officials, is expected to include "crowd control" strategies, capacity building training and the provision of riot control gear, state media reported on Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear how the provision of riot gear would avoid breaching the EU's arms embargo against Burma, which has been in place since 1996.

The first session will be carried out between 4-20 November at the 8th Combat Police Battalion Headquarters in Rangoon's Mingalardon township and attended by 200 personnel, according to the Myanma Alinn Daily. A launch ceremony was held on Monday in Rangoon.

A spokesperson for the EU insisted that the programme is intended to boost the capacity of the Burmese police force and to train officers on "efficient" crowd control, as well as to reform policing practices.

The head of the EU's delegation to Burma, Roland Kobia, reportedly said the training would educate police officers on transparency and public communication, human rights and crime prevention, along with international good practice standards.

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It is being carried out in response to a request from President Thein Sein, based on a recommendation by the Latpadaung Investigation Commission, which was tasked with investigating a botched crackdown on peaceful anti-mine protestors in November 2012.

An independent report into the crackdown concluded that white phosphorous bombs had been used to disperse the crowd, leaving dozens of civilians severely burned.

The state-backed commission, led by democracy icon Suu Kyi, also ruled that excessive force had been used and recommended that police receive riot-control training to avoid future problems.

"We want to suggest that the police should check the material that they will use and what its effects are, before an anti-riot crackdown," said the report.

But the report's conclusions drew popular condemnation, with rights activists calling for police officers to be held to account before the law.

The EU and western countries are increasingly re-engaging with Burma, which is emerging from decades of military oppression and ethnic conflict. The UK, the US and Australia have all offered to provide training to the Burmese army, despite accusations that it could fuel conflicts in the country's ethnic minority territories where abuses continue to be perpetrated by government forces.

Earlier this year, the EU posted two officers to Naypyidaw in response to an official request for advice on crowd control and community policing.

The Burmese police force has been implicated in several atrocities over the past few months, including several violent crackdowns on peaceful protestors. In April, video footage emerged which showed police officers standing idly by as a Muslim man was burned to death during religious riots in Meikhtila.

Burma embassy bomb plot suspect appears in Indonesian court

Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:30 AM PST

A suspected Indonesian extremist plotted with other Islamic militants on Facebook to bomb the Burmese embassy to avenge the killing of Rohingya Muslims in that country, a court heard Wednesday.

Separiano, 29, could face the death penalty over the plan to attack the mission in Jakarta in May, amid anger in Muslim-majority Indonesia at persecution of the Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Burma.

The suspect, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was arrested the night before the planned attack as he rode a motorbike with another man allegedly involved in the plot.

Police said they found five pipe bombs in a backpack they were carrying. Several men were arrested over the plot and Separiano is the first to go on trial.

Prosecutor Susilo told the South Jakarta District Court as his trial began that Separiano was radicalised over several years after attending sermons by an extremist preacher at a central Jakarta mosque.

He also attended several sermons by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah which was the terror network behind the 2002 Bali bombings.

It was on the social networking site Facebook that the suspect, who studied bomb-making on the internet and had bought materials to make them, met the extremists with whom he hatched the embassy attack plot, the prosecutor said.

This was where he met the alleged mastermind of the plot, Sigit Indrajid, who leads the Negara Islam Indonesia (Islamic State of Indonesia) group.

In April the defendant often logged on to “his Facebook account and chatted with Sigit, who posted a lot of news about the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, which attracted a lot of comments saying there should be retaliation against the infidel Buddhists”, the prosecutor said.

At one point Sigit posted on Facebook that people should target “the Myanmar [Burmese] embassy to avenge the slaughter of Muslims in Myanmar”.

“We will set off our explosion as a surprise for the embassy” ahead of a demonstration by a radical group, Sigit wrote, according to the prosecutor.

In response, Separiano replied: “Yes, OK.”

When police arrested him, they seized chemicals and instructions for bomb-making that had been bought by the defendant and several others accused over the plot.

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Sigit and another man have also been apprehended and are due to stand trial later.

Separiano, who appeared in court wearing an orange top with “detainee” written on it, is charged under two anti-terrorism laws.

He is accused of attempting to commission an act of terrorism or assisting in the commission of such an act; and plotting to commit a terrorist act that could result in victims or damage to buildings.

He could face the death penalty under the anti-terror laws although people charged with more serious crimes have in the past instead received lengthy prison sentences.

The plot to attack the embassy followed several outbreaks of anti-Muslim unrest in Burma, which have left many dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The soaring religious tensions have exposed deep fractures in the formerly junta-run country and cast a shadow over political reforms there.

The fate of the stateless Muslim Rohingya in Burma has attracted the most sympathy in Indonesia. Clashes in Arakan state last year between Buddhists and the Rohingya left around 200 dead.

There have been numerous demonstrations by Indonesians expressing support for the minority. In August a small bomb went off at a Buddhist temple in Jakarta, slightly injuring one person.

The package that contained the explosive bore the words “We are responding to the screams of the Rohingya”, witnesses said.

Rohingya, who are seen by many in Burma as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, are described by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

Burma parliament warns government over unpaid debts

Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:37 AM PST

Burma's union parliament on Tuesday urged the government to roll out a plan for dealing with an estimated US$1.1 billion in ministerial debts, accrued over years of military rule.

According to a mid-year report by the Union Auditor General's Office, examining expenditures for the fiscal year 2013-2014, 15 ministries are yet to repay outstanding loans borrowed from the central government over years of junta rule.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation reportedly owes the largest amount of money, reaching 400 billion kyat (US$400 million), followed by the Ministry of Electric Power that owes 270 billion kyat (US$270 million).

Presenting the report to parliament on Tuesday, the Public Accounts Committee called on the government to develop a swift plan for ministries to clear this "tremendous debt".

Aung Tun Thet, a professor and economic advisor to the president, told DVB that it would be difficult for the current government ministers to resolve the crisis as the debts had been incurred for an unknown amount of years and before they took office.

"A collective effort is needed to sort out this issue – it could be tough for the current ministry officials to resolve the debts incurred throughout previous years and they will have to conduct a detailed inquiry into past spending," said Aung Tun Thet.

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"But they have to deal with it as their ministries are in debt."

The auditor's report also noted that government expenditures for the fiscal year 2012-2013 left a deficit of 2.5 trillion kyat (US$2.5 billion). The government reportedly spent 13 trillion kyat (US$13 billion) over the previous fiscal year, compared to 10.5 trillion kyat (US$10.5 billion) accrued in revenue.

Burma's quasi-civilian government, led by President Thein Sein, faces an arduous task of getting the country's finances in order following decades of mismanagement under the military regime.

Last year, another report by the auditor-general accused six ministries of siphoning off billions of kyat in government funds and various other illegal transactions.

Burma currently ranks 172 out of 176 on Transparency International's corruption perception index. Over the years of military rule, which formally ended in 2011, government expenditures including ministerial budgets were managed with notorious secrecy.

Suu Kyi heading on first diplomatic tour of Australia

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:58 PM PST

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will fly to Australia later this month for her first diplomatic tour of the country, where she will meet with political leaders and members of the Burmese diaspora.

Suu Kyi will travel to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne from 27 November to 2 December and attend a number of public events, including a UN sponsored HIV conference.

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who is an ambassador for Burma Campaign Australia and first met the democracy icon in 1995, said she was thrilled.

“Australia has long been a staunch supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to bring democracy to the Burmese people,” Bishop said in a statement on Tuesday.

The news comes on the same week that Australia pledged to step up its engagement with Burma, including offering scholarships to Burmese university students.

President Thein Sein on Tuesday welcomed the Honorable Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia to Naypyidaw, where they discussed Burma's political reforms and bilateral development cooperation.

Australia has gradually begun easing its economic sanctions against Burma, in recognition of its democratic reform programme which has seen thousands of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, released from jail.

The Nobel laureate, who has since taken a seat in parliament representing the National League for Democracy, accepted an invitation to Australia in June at the request of then Foreign Minister Bob Carr.

Australia is home to thousands of Burmese migrants and refugees, who have fled violence and persecution in their home country over the past five decades. Hundreds, mostly Rohingya Muslims, continue to make the perilous journey by sea, despite a new government policy to turn all boat arrivals away.

UN fears more Rohingya boat tragedies in Burma

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:06 PM PST

The UN refugee agency Tuesday urged Burma to stem sectarian violence to avoid a repeat of a boat tragedy believed to have killed dozens of Rohingya Muslims fleeing clashes in the country.

“As with the recent boat disasters on the Mediterranean, our worry is that similar tragedies with follow, unless actions are taken by concerned countries to address the causes and reduce the risks,” spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.

“It is unacceptable that people are driven by such desperation into life-risking journeys, often falling into the hands of ruthless smugglers,” he added.

A boat carrying almost 70 Rohingya refugees headed to Malaysia capsized Sunday off Burma's coast, police said, leaving dozens missing in treacherous seas and a reported eight survivors.

Around 140,000 people — the majority of them Rohingya — were displaced by two waves of violence between the Buddhist majority and Muslims in Rakhine last year that left some 200 people dead.

Thousands of Rohingya have since fled Burma, many paying smugglers for passage on rickety and overcrowded boats to Malaysia or further south, despite the dangers posed by rough seas in the Bay of Bengal.

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Hundreds are believed to have perished at sea so far this year.

Burma views its population of some 800,000 Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.

They are considered by the UN to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, and the situation has raised questions about the government’s reform credentials as Burma emerges from decades of military rule.

Edwards said the UN stood ready to help Burma's government “address the root causes of this outflow”, including seeking ways to resolve the statelessness.

He said the government and international community should also tackle the lack of development in what is Burma's second-poorest state.

Rohingya boats frequently make landfall in Thailand, where those passengers caught by authorities are detained.

“We are appealing to states in the region to strengthen search and rescue operations to prevent further loss of life at sea,” said Edwards.

“We also urge regional governments to harmonise disembarkation and reception conditions and to offer temporary protection to people in need of international protection while durable solutions are sought.”

Burmese army compromises for sake of peace, says Lt-Gen Myint Soe

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 08:59 PM PST

Lt-Gen Myint Soe of Burma’s Ministry of Defence has played a leading role in difficult and at times fractious negotiations between the government and the Kachin Independence Organisation.

He spoke to DVB reporter Aye Nai about how he views the peace process and his hopes for a nationwide ceasefire.

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What is the Burmese army’s stance on the nationwide ceasefire?

The Burmese army is actively involved in the peace process in an effort to bring about a nationwide ceasefire. We presented the nationwide ceasefire accord drafted by the government to the participants at the meeting today and the Burmese army has compromised in order to make this happen

Is the federal union envisioned by the Tatmadaw same as the one envisioned by the ethnic groups, which guarantees ethnic equalitiy and self-determination?

Personally, I don't know how the ethnic groups envision the federal union to be. But the federal union we want to have – the one we have been talking about - is the one that is in accordance with today's constitution.

What is the Burmese army’s view on the national reconciliation?

We are facilitating peace talks to overcome the conflict; and because of the peace talks, we have reached an extent of understanding. The number of clashes in Kachin state has been lowered to be almost non-existent, apart from occasional clashes. So although we didn't reach the signing of an agreement today, we made a decision to meet again and we can say this is a degree of success. Therefore, we believe a nationwide ceasefire will come about inevitably and due to this belief, we are engaging in negotiations.
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