Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Suu Kyi leaves Europe armed with international support for constitutional change

Posted: 16 Apr 2014 02:38 AM PDT

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is due to depart France for home on Wednesday, having canvased international support for her agenda of constitutional change in Burma. The weeklong trip included Germany and France, and was her third visit to Europe since 2012.

Meeting the French press on Monday, Suu Kyi reminded international onlookers that "Burma is not yet a democracy". Standing alongside French President François Hollande, Suu Kyi called on France and the EU to help Burma to "move forward in a process that will ensure democratic values and democratic rights."

That process, Suu Kyi affirmed, involves national reconciliation and a curtailing of military influence in politics, both to be achieved via constitutional reform.

In that quest she found an ally in President Hollande, as she did in Chancellor Angela Merkel whom Suu Kyi met on the German leg of her tour.

"We are aware of the obstacles and difficulties which exist," Hollande explained as he reiterated France's support for Suu Kyi as the opposition leader continues her agenda of change.

Merkel too offered her support for ongoing democratic reform in Burma. Speaking to media before a closed-doors meeting in Berlin last Thursday, Merkel said the pair would be discussing ”how we on the German side can help to be actively supportive of these developments".

Friday saw Suu Kyi presented with the Willy Brandt Prize for leadership in democracy and human rights. The honour follows Suu Kyi's 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, which she collected in 2012 on her first trip to Europe after being freed from house arrest the year before. Suu Kyi was also the 1990 recipient of the EU's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, which she collected on a 2013 tour.

"The special place of the military is written into our Constitution," Suu Kyi explained to an audience gathered in Berlin to witness her acceptance of the Willy Brandt Prize.

"It is not a democratic [Constitution]" Suu Kyi told the crowd, "And the challenge we face today is to change the Constitution to make sure that our country will truly enjoy the rights and values of democracy."

The Burmese Constitution, adopted in 2008, ensures that the military provides its own mandate, as opposed to being the subject of a civilian portfolio. Article 232 states that, "the Commander-in-Chief will appoint the Ministers for Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs." Further to this, the military is assured the balance of power in both houses of parliament, as the Constitution provides for 25 percent of seats in each house to be appointed to the armed forces.

This stands as a personal barrier to Suu Kyi in her stated ambition to be Burma's next president. Article 59(f) bars Suu Kyi from the presidency, as her late husband, Michael Aris, was a British citizen. 75 percent of parliament must approve a change to that law, as is dictated by the 2008 Constitution. Therefore a motion to abolish the article would almost certainly require military acquiescence.

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Support from France and Germany may prove to be valuable munitions is Suu Kyi's own armoury, as she takes on military hardliners in her battle for reform. Earlier this month, Burma's Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing used the Armed Forces Day parade as an opportunity to underline the inviolable foundation that the 2008 Constitution provides for the future of a peaceful Burma.

Suu Kyi underscored the magnitude of her task in Germany on Friday. "We are at a most sensitive, most dangerous time in the path of our evolution, Suu Kyi told her Berlin audience. "What we are trying to do in Burma is to … establish the foundation of a truly democratic culture, it is not easy, after half a century of dictatorship to establish such a foundation."

 

Two planes crash on runway at Rangoon airport

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 11:58 PM PDT

While taxiing the runway at Rangoon International Airport at about 6am on Monday morning, an A320 plane belonging to Golden Myanmar Airlines crashed into a stationary Myanmar Airways International (MAI) plane.

According to Aye Mra Thar, the marketing and public relations officer of MAI: "The Golden Myanmar aircraft was taxiing when it lost control due to a technical problem with its front gear, and it crashed into one of our aircraft.

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"Our plane suffered substantial damage on the tail-side, but luckily no one was injured as it was parked," said Aye Mra Thar.

Both planes suffered damage and costs will be estimated after the Thingyan holiday, according to Rangoon police.

Burma's state-run national carrier, MAI operates daily international flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou, Gaya, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and recently launched a new flight service to Pusan, South Korea.

Based out of Mandalay, Golden Myanmar Airlines launched operations only in January 2013 as a low-cost domestic and international carrier. Its main investors include the chairmen of Co-operative Bank. It currently has only two aircraft, both A320 airbuses, and runs domestic flights between Rangoon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, with international routes to Gaya and Imphal in India, as well as Singapore and Bangkok.

Read more: http://www.dvb.no/news/the-battle-for-burmas-crowded-skies-myanmar/39065

Burma’s New Year water festival – in pictures

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 10:29 PM PDT

This week millions of Burmese celebrated New Year by getting merry and very very wet. The Thingyan Festival is also a national holiday in some other Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia, most notably Thailand where it is known as Songkran. Assumed to have originated in India through the festivities of Holi, Thingyan is essentially a rice harvest celebration, marking the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. Traditionally, it was in the middle of April, the driest time of the year, that families found themselves without water or scraping the bottom of their last urn. The Water Festival is in many ways a rain-dance, a way of making sacred the last drops of water for the year in the robust faith that the heavens will bestow rainwater in return. And in fact, it does seem to work – more often than not, the skies open on the evening of Thingyan, on 13 or 14 April, and the first rains of the season pour down. Some might suggest that the shroud of condensation that the celebrations produce may account for the rain, but others will assure you that it is the benevolence of the gods. In any case, it is a special time of year for all Burmese – an occasion of much playful fun and partying, but also a time for spiritual reflection.

DVB would like to wish each of its readers and TV viewers a very happy Burmese New Year. May you enjoy a good harvest and may all your family be healthy!

The DVB team

 

Other New Year’s messages from well-known Burmese:

Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD chairperson, speaking to the media at Rangoon airport:

"I wish you all to be successful media workers in the New Year. To the public, I would like them to understand they will really have to struggle this year to achieve what they want."

Min Ko Naing, 88 Generation Peace and Open Society

"I would like to extend my wishes to the Burmese people living outside their homeland – I, myself, spent some time in exile and understand the feeling of loneliness and sadness that come around this time of the year. The majority of Burmese people living abroad left their homes to escape various struggles, hardship and poverty. I hope that they all get to come home and join the Thingyan next year."

Chit Oo Nyo, writer

"It is my wish that everyone in Burma including the government, parliament, political parties, civil servants, members of the public, monks and laymen will clean off their dirt from the past year with Thingyan water. But typically this doesn't happen – everyone still sticks to their bad habits, negative attitudes and backward thinking from the past – and so I hope they really start to clean up this time, and freshen their minds and souls to build a democratic society.

Kyaw Yin Myint, journalist

"I wish for the New Year to be free from the hostile attitudes that, in the last year, drove people in our country to inflict harm upon each other on the pretext of race and religion, and I wish for the new democratic nation longed for by the people."

Nu Nu Yi, writer

"I wish the people of Burma a healthy and happy new year, and be free from all suffering."

Dr. Tuja, chairman, Kachin State Progressive Party

"I wish for resolutions on the various issues in the country, success in national reconciliation, and the establishment of peace in our country. I hope everyone will join hands in a spirit of union toward democratic development and a spectacular future."
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