Monday, June 30, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Maung Maung Ohn confirmed as Arakan chief minister

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 05:36 AM PDT

The Arakan State government has unanimously passed the appointment of Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn as chief minister of the volatile region.

"The regional parliament speaker today announced a unanimous decision by its representatives to appoint me as the chief minister of Arakan State," Maung Maung Ohn told reporters outside the assembly in Sittwe on Monday.

"I am very gratified to be appointed and pledge to work relentlessly for the region," he said.

Maung Maung Ohn was nominated by the President's Office, which has the power to appoint the chief minister of any state or division. But the nomination was controversial with many Arakanese questioning the need for a senior military figure in a civilian role, while others voiced objection that he was ethnic Burman, not Arakanese.

Oo Hla Saw, secretary of the Arakan National Party, said his party's MPs in the regional parliament did not attempt to block the nomination due to the fact that it would have been "fruitless" under the provision of the Constitution. Article 261(d) states that a regional parliament cannot refuse the president's choice of chief minister unless it can be clearly proved that the person concerned does not meet the relevant qualifications.

"Honestly, we don't like the fact the Maung Maung Ohn is our new chief minister. It leads us to doubt whether this is an attempt to tighten the military's grip on the region," he said. "However, on the other hand, having a military general – a strong figure – could also be a positive thing given the Bengali [Rohingya] Muslim issue."

On Thursday, at an Arakan conference in Rangoon, Maung Maung Ohn promised to improve the living standards of the local population and restore stability to the region.

The 26- 28 June conference was hosted in Rangoon by Myanmar Peace Centre, which brought together politicians, civil society groups and other Arakanese Buddhist figures – though notably absent was any Rohingya Muslim representative despite the fact that the community makes up perhaps 30- 50 percent of the state's population.

Discussions at the forum focused on measures to bring about stability and development in the restive region where at least 200 people have been killed and 140,000 displaced from their homes since inter-religious violence erupted between Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Rohingyas two years ago.

Delegates also discussed conditions for allowing international humanitarian organisations to return to Arakan to continue relief work.

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Saw Mra Raza Linn, a senior member of the Arakan Women's Association, said Arakanese representatives on Friday stressed that INGOs, including the UN, must ensure relief programmes are transparent and not biased toward the Rohingya community – a common sentiment among the Buddhist Arakanese population.

"Arakanese representatives said they would welcome assistance from the international community, but only if the INGOs ensure their operations are transparent and impartial," she said.

Saw Mra Raza Linn told DVB that the conference also included discussion on bringing development to Arakan State, and the acknowledgement that such infrastructure would not be possible without international help.

The two-day meeting was attended by government officials, including Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn, and international diplomats such as the UN secretary general's special advisor on Burma, Vijay Nambiar.

DVB English Headlines 30/06/14

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 04:42 AM PDT

In today’s headlines:

Maj Gen Maung Maung Ohn has been confirmed as Arakan State’s Chief minister

A law to protect women against violence is being drafted by over 100 civil society groups

Aung San Suu Kyi launches a landmark State of the Tropics report

And the funeral of Karen National Union figurehead Tamla Baw was held today at Thay Bay Hta military camp in KNU territory

 

You can watch today’s headlines on DVB TV after the 7 o’ clock news. 

Aung San Suu Kyi launches landmark tropics report

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 03:38 AM PDT

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has launched the landmark State of the Tropics report in Rangoon, which reveals that the equatorial regions will play a critical role in guiding the world’s demographic, economic and environmental changes over the coming decades.

Known as the Tropics, these regions reside between the latitudes of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which includes central Africa, Latin America, India and Southeast Asia. The report, launched on Sunday in Rangoon, has ground-breaking analysis which reveals that the regions are expanding as the Earth warms, but at a slower rate than earlier forecast.

The State of the Tropics report is an initiative of 12 research institutions from across the world, and provides the first in-depth, impartial assessment of the regions as an environmental and geopolitical entity in its own right.

It reveals that half of the world’s population and 67 percent of the world’s children under 15 years of age will be living in the Tropics by 2050, raising serious implications for global policymakers.

Aung San Suu Kyi told the audience in Rangoon she hopes the report will change viewpoints.

“I would like this report to be able to contribute towards a more caring world for all of us. And there is so much that we can learn from this report to make us better carers: to care for our environment, to care for one another, to care for those who are different from us, and to understand that those who are different from us are just as worthy of care as we are," she said.

The report shows that the tropical population is expected to exceed that of the rest of the world in the late 2030s, confirming just how crucial the regions are to the world’s future.

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The project’s convener and Vice Chancellor of Australia’s James Cook University, Professor Sandra Harding, said the launch will become a critical moment in reframing our understanding of global dynamics.

“The Tropics accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s population, around 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity, and features some of the most pressing issues of our time: population growth rates ahead of the rest of the world, health and disease, environmental management, the development of governance and judicial structures, all playing out in Aristotle’s Torrid Zone,” she said.

The report also shows that while these regions are changing rapidly, they also have much to offer, and its influence and impact on the rest of the world is set to dramatically rise in the coming decades. Economic growth in the equatorial regions has outperformed the rest of the world over the past 30 years and is now estimated to represent 18.7 percent of global economic activity, up from 14.5 percent in 1980, the report said.

But it also warned that climate change has the potential to disproportionately affect these advances through the impacts on human and food security, renewable water availability, rising sea levels, and vector-borne diseases.

“Building strategic partnerships will become a critical key to achieving sustainable development. That goes back to: how are we going to use this report to achieve sustainable development?" asks Rose Aderolili, head of human and social development for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

"I believe that getting this report into the hands of the people will really make good use of it, in terms of informing policy, in terms of implementing policies that address the issues that I have outlined," she said. "[It] will be a big step forward."

 

 

2.6 million sign petition for 436 amendment: NLD

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 01:11 AM PDT

Some 2.6 million people from Rangoon, Mandalay and Magwe divisions have thrown their support behind a petition by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party calling for amendments to constitutional Article 436.

The petition is a collaboration between the NLD and activist group 88 Generation Peace and Open Society (88GPOS) and was launched earlier this year to garner nationwide support for amending the clause, which stipulates that any constitutional amendment requires the approval of 75 percent of parliament. The two groups say that it is undemocratic because it provides the military – which is appointed 25 percent of parliamentarian seats – veto power on any proposed amendments.

NLD spokesman Htin Linn Oo said the party has only counted signatories from Rangoon, Mandalay and Magwe divisions, though it has received a lot of backing from people in other states and divisions as well.

"So far we have counted around 2.6 million signatures, but that's not all of Burma," Htin Linn Oo said. "We are still waiting for numbers from places such as northern Sagaing Division and Kachin State, which are hard to reach."

He also said that people in Mandalay Division's Aungmyay Tharzan Township faced harassment when they signed the petition.

"A group of men came in and started bad-mouthing those who were there to sign the petition, denouncing them for 'failing to protect the country'," Htin Linn Oo said, adding that the party is investigating whether the mob were hired by anyone.

Speaking on Sunday from Rangoon, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated how the Constitution, as it currently stands, allows the military an inordinate amount of power.

"If we don't change 436, it means that the military has virtual veto power over what can or cannot be changed within the Constitution, and I think it should be the elected representatives of the people who decide whether or not the Constitution should be changed," she was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Amending Article 436 would also open the door to amending other constitutional articles, particularly one that directly concerns Suu Kyi's ability to run for president in next year's general elections — Article 59(f), which stipulates that anyone whose spouse or children are foreign-born is prohibited to run for president or vice president. Suu Kyi was married to a British national and has two children by him.

But Suu Kyi said that her party's focus has always been on Article 436.

"We were never focused on 59(f). It was others who were focused on it," she said. "We always knew that the key one was 436."

This nationwide push for support will continue until 19 July, the NLD has said, noting that recent events in some parts of Kachin and Chin states were halted by local authorities.

US ready to engage with Burmese military, officials say

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 10:19 PM PDT

A delegation of senior officials from the United States has left Burma with the message that "it is time to engage" the country's military.

Speaking to reporters in Rangoon on Saturday, Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, said that the US is preparing for "cautious" engagement, which could include non-combat training.

"The purpose of this engagement, the sole purpose, was and is to speak to the military about the importance of human rights, the rule of law and civilian control," Malinowski said. He added that "there is the potential for a deeper partnership, even a full partnership, in the future."

The assistant secretary led a week-long delegation of officials from the US military and treasury department, making stops in Moulmein, Hpa-an, Rangoon and Naypyidaw.  They met with a range of Burmese politicians, ethnic leaders and specially designated nationals, or blacklisted entities.

The delegation also met with Burma's Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of the Union Election Commission. The purpose of the tour, Malinowski said, was to engage the Burmese government on a range of issues including ensuring free and fair elections and determining the future role of the Burmese military.

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Also present at Saturday's briefing was Maj-Gen Tony Crutchfield, one of the highest-ranking US military officials ever to visit Burma. Crutchfield explained that military-to-military assistance will not include training combat forces or exchange of weapons systems. Engagement could include professional training sessions and disaster relief preparedness, he said.

In the first address ever given by an American officer at the Myanmar National Defence College in Naypyidaw, Crutchfield spoke to young soldiers on Wednesday about professionalism, ethical conduct and the importance of civilian control over military actions.

"What I tried to do is portray an alternate future for the Myanmar military," Crutchfield said at the briefing. "I painted a picture of what's possible; a more professional military, a military that is trusted by you, the people."

In addition to warming the American military relationship with Burma, officially known as Myanmar, the delegation spent a day in Rangoon meeting with several blacklisted entities. Malinowski said that these meetings consisted of laying out guidelines that could lead to their removal from the specially designated nationals list. "How soon is up to them," he said, "but they are going to have to make some fundamental changes."

Malinowski was appointed as the assistant secretary of state in April of this year. He previously served as the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading rights research and advocacy bodies.

In his press remarks, Malinowski reiterated that the US remains "profoundly concerned" by the humanitarian situation in western Burma's Arakan State, where ethno-religious riots have left hundreds dead and more than 140,000 displaced, many still living in isolated camps that are systematically denied access to life-saving assistance.

The US has maintained a distant relationship with Burma throughout the country's decades of military dictatorship, but has shown a willingness to engage since the transition to a nominally civilian government in early 2011. Economic sanctions were eased beginning in 2012, though Burma remains subject to some restrictions on investment as of May 2014, when President Barack Obama renewed a national emergency order.
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