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Burma Related News - Dec 15, 2009.

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TIN KYI

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Dec 15, 2009, 2:05:00 PM12/15/09

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 15, 2009
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AP - Myanmar allows Suu Kyi to meet ailing party elders
AP - Thais probe destination for seized NKorean weapons
AP - Plane seized by Thais linked to alleged smugglers
Reuters - Clinton outlines human rights policy
CSM - North Korea weapons: How much slips through?
EarthTimes - Myanmar opposition leader meets with lawyers to discuss
appeal
BusinessGhana - Singapore to provide full scholarships to Myanmar
students in technology
AsiaNews.it - Child soldiers and opium cultivation, two faces of
Burma’s dark pit
Xinhua - ESCAP-involved seminar on development co-op to open in
Myanmar
Xinhua - Myanmar, Vietnam seek direct air link to boost economic,
trade co-op
Japan Today - 37 Myanmar exiles in Japan apply for long-term residency
Asian Tribune - Burma: Is Something Better Than Nothing?
The Nation - 4 more border checkpoints with Burma
Mizzima News - Stiglitz in Naypyitaw
The Irrawaddy - NLD Must Nurture Young Leaders
The Irrawaddy - All Heart, No Action
DVB News - Sixteen political prisoners denied lawyers
DVB News - UN ‘should investigate’ junta role in drugs trade
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Myanmar allows Suu Kyi to meet ailing party elders
AP - 2 hours 38 minutes ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's military authorities have agreed to
allow detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to visit old and
ailing party leaders at an undisclosed location, a spokesman for her
National League for Democracy party said Tuesday.

The meeting will take place Wednesday at a location chosen by the
government, said Suu Kyi's lawyer and spokesman Nyan Win, who with
three other lawyers visited the Nobel peace laureate for two hours
Tuesday at her lakeside house in Yangon where she is detained.

In a Nov. 11 letter to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the head of the
country's junta, Suu Kyi sought permission to meet several elderly
colleagues, and separately with other members of her party's central
executive committee. She also requested a meeting with the junta chief
to discuss how they can cooperate for the national interest.

The government's liaison with Suu Kyi, Relations Minister Aung Kyi,
informed her that she will be allowed to meet the elderly party
leaders, though not where she requested, at their homes, Nyan Win
said. Police chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi visited Suu Kyi and party
Chairman Aung Shwe to make arrangements for the meeting, the spokesman
added.

Suu Kyi will be allowed to meet party chairman Aung Shwe, 91,
Secretary U Lwin, 86, who has a spinal problem, and Lun Tin, 88.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is optimistic that the government will fulfill
all her three requests," said Nyan Win who described her as "jovial,
spirited and in good health." Daw is a term of respect used for older
women.

Suu Kyi's legal team will present their arguments at the Supreme Court
next Monday appealing against the extension of her house arrest. She
has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years.

Her party won the last elections held in Myanmar in 1990, but the
military refused to hand over power.
*************************************************************
Thais probe destination for seized NKorean weapons
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 15, 1:01 am ET

BANGKOK – Thai authorities focused Tuesday on the mammoth task of
inspecting 35 tons of weapons seized from a cargo plane loaded in
North Korea, as details of the aircraft's alleged shady past emerged
but its ultimate destination remained a mystery.

More than 100 police and military experts planned an in-depth analysis
of the 145 boxes and crates unloaded from the Ilyushin Il-76 transport
plane, which was impounded Saturday during what authorities called a
scheduled refueling stop in Bangkok.

Police Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the police inspection
team, said results were not expected to be made public for several
days. An initial review found explosives, rocket-propelled grenades,
components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments, all of
which were moved under high security to an Air Force base in the
nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.

"Our objective is to identify in detail the arms and weapons we found,
to determine their type, their source of production, their destructive
potential, how dangerous they are to people and the laws that apply"
to transporting them, Supisarn said.

The five-man crew — four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — were
denied bail Monday and ordered held for an extendable period of 12
days. Charged with illegal arms possession, they face up to 10 years
in prison but the charge and penalty could change depending on what
inspectors find, he said.

The men were being held at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem Central
Prison, the current home to suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout,
once dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying arms to
dictators and warlords around the world. The U.S. is trying to
extradite Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting
operation and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New
York.

Another link to Bout surfaced among details pointing to the plane's
long history of making deliveries for arms dealers, said Hugh
Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, a think tank that is a world leader in tracking the arms
trade and analyzing military spending.

According to the crew's Thai lawyer, the plane was registered to Air
West, a cargo transport company in the former Soviet republic of
Georgia.

Prior to that it was registered under a company named Beibars linked
to Serbian arms trafficker Tonislav Damnjanovic, and before that
registered with three companies identified by the U.S. Treasury
Department as firms controlled by Bout, said Griffiths, who is leading
a project monitoring air cargo companies involved in arms trafficking.

"They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change
from one company to another because the previous company has either
been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a U.N.
trafficking report," he said.

In this case, he said the arms dealers changed the plane's country of
registration to Georgia because the European Union had banned all
cargo carriers registered in Kazakhstan, where Beibars is registered
and where four of the crew members come from.

Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft have been documented by
the United Nations as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the
plane also was used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in
October.

The plane has since continued to change hands. Officials in Kazakhstan
and Georgia said Monday that the Air West plane was leased recently to
SP Trading Ltd. for transporting cargo. The company operates out of
New Zealand, said Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas
Omarov.

Military analysts said Monday that the arms were likely destined for
African rebel groups or a rogue regime like Myanmar.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said authorities were
also investigating the Middle East as a possible destination, even
though the flight plan indicated the aircraft was headed for the Sri
Lankan capital, Colombo.

Investigations into weapons trafficking shows that documentation such
as a flight plan "doesn't mean anything," said Siemon Wezeman, a
senior fellow for the Arms Transfers Project of the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute.

The United States, which is particularly concerned about North Korea
selling weapons and nuclear technology in the Middle East, reportedly
tipped off Thai authorities to the illicit cargo, according to Thai
media reports that the government and U.S. Embassy declined to comment
on.

Army Gen. Walter "Skip" Sharp, the top U.S. military commander in
Korea, said in Washington that he was "not going to give away any of
the intelligence as far as how we're watching to see what North Korea
is doing up there."

Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of
dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other
weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the seizure,
saying it "shows that sanctions can prevent the proliferation of
weapons and it shows that the international community when it stands
together can make a very strong statement."

The plane's manifest had described the cargo as oil-drilling
equipment, and the crew said the plane was supposed to deliver its
cargo to Sri Lanka.

The U.N. sanctions — which ban North Korea from exporting any arms —
were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a
nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are aimed at derailing
North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban North Korea's
selling any conventional arms.
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Plane seized by Thais linked to alleged smugglers
By GRANT PECK, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 37 mins ago

BANGKOK (AP) – A weapons-laden cargo plane impounded in Bangkok has
links to at least two men accused of global arms trafficking,
including one fighting extradition to the U.S. from Thailand, an
analyst said Tuesday.

The five-man crew of the aircraft that arrived from North Korea — four
from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — have been charged with illegal
arms possession and face up to 10 years in prison.

Thai officials impounded the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane when it
landed in Bangkok on Saturday to refuel, and discovered what they said
was 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for
surface-to-air missiles and other armaments — exported in defiance of
a U.N. embargo against North Korea.

Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, told The Associated Press the aircraft was
previously registered under a company named Beibars, which has been
linked to Serbian arms trafficker Tomislav Damnjanovic.

In the past, it has also been registered with three companies
identified by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control as firms controlled by Bout. The U.S. is trying to extradite
Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting operation
and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New York.

Researchers said the arms were likely destined for African rebel
groups or a rogue regime such as Myanmar. The aircraft's documentation
had falsely described its cargo as oil-drilling equipment, and
declared it was bound for Sri Lanka. Thai officials are skeptical that
that was the true destination.

Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the Thai police inspection team,
estimated the value of the weapons at about 500-600 million baht ($15
million-18 million).

Supisarn said more serious charges, possibly carrying the death
penalty, would be added because the haul included explosives.

Prison director Sopon Thititam-pruek said the crew members were being
held in separate cells, and guards were keeping a close eye on them to
prevent them from meeting Bout.

Siemon Wezeman, a Senior Fellow at SIPRI, said the types of arms found
in the aircraft — used to add firepower against planes and tanks in
the arsenal of government forces — were typical of those used by
insurgent movements, and raised suspicion they could be headed for an
African rebel group.

Possible buyers included Sudan, which might pass the weapons to rebel
groups in Chad, and Eritrea, which might keep them for its own arsenal
or pass them on to warring factions in Somalia, said Christian
LeMiere, editor of the London-based Jane's Intelligence Weekly.

Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of
dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other
weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

U.N. sanctions were imposed in June after the reclusive communist
regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are
aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban
North Korea's selling of any conventional arms.
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Clinton outlines human rights policy
By David Alexander – Mon Dec 14, 5:29 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a
U.S. human rights agenda on Monday calling for universal standards
that apply to all nations, prompting rights groups to urge the
administration to live up to its rhetoric.

Just days after President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize
while defending the concept of a just war, Clinton outlined a human
rights policy calling for people to be free from tyranny but also free
to "seize the opportunities of a full life."

Human rights experts said the speech was important, coming at a time
when the Obama administration's message on human rights had become
increasingly muddied but they said the proof would be in the
administration's actions.

Clinton angered rights groups in February when she said U.S. concerns
about human rights in China would not disrupt financial or other
diplomatic relations with Beijing.

An op-ed piece in The Washington Post sharply criticized the
administration on Sunday, saying that "from China to Sudan, from Burma
to Iran, a president lauded for his commitment to peace has dialed
down a U.S. commitment to human rights."

Clinton, in her speech at Georgetown University, outlined a pragmatic
approach toward human rights that would press for democratic
principles and development but be flexible in the methods it used to
pursue the policy.

"This administration, like others before us, will promote, support and
defend democracy," she said. "Democracy has proven the best political
system for making human rights a reality over the long term."

Clinton said a commitment to human rights started with universal
principles. She noted that Obama wanted Guantanamo prison closed and
had issued an executive order his second day in office prohibiting the
use of torture by any U.S. official.

She said the United States would report next year on human trafficking
both at home and abroad, and would participate in a U.N. review of
"our own human rights record, just as we encourage other nations to
do."

Rights experts welcomed the address, but said the administration must
follow through.

"It goes a long way to laying out a vision of where human rights sits
in the Obama administration," said Sarah Mendelson, head of the Human
Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies think tank.

PHILOSOPHICAL SHIFT

She said Clinton's discussion of the United States' own compliance
with human rights principles was a philosophical shift from the Bush
administration.

"By placing our own human rights record as fundamental ... that is
really, I think for a lot of us, very critical, very important,"
Mendelson said.

Amnesty International said Clinton "rightly identifies accountability
as the centerpiece of any successful human rights agenda for the
United States."

"But if the administration means what it says, then it needs to follow
through and back up rhetoric with action. Discussion of human rights
can't be an empty rebranding exercise."

Clinton said the administration's approach to pursuing its rights
agenda would be "pragmatic and agile," upholding its principles but
"doing what is most likely to make them real."

"When old approaches aren't working, we won't be afraid to attempt new
ones," Clinton said, pointing to the recent U.S. efforts at engaging
the military-led government in Myanmar after years of trying to
isolate it.

She said the United States would approach major powers like China and
Russia with "principled pragmatism," recognizing that cooperation is
critical to the global economy and for dealing with security issues
like North Korea's nuclear program.

In both countries, she said, the United States would engage with the
government as well as individuals or groups that are working to
advance human rights and democracy.

"We support change driven by citizens and their communities," Clinton
said. "The project of making human rights a human reality cannot be
just a project for governments. It requires cooperation among
individuals and organizations."
*************************************************************
The Christian Science Monitor - North Korea weapons: How much slips
through?
The recent seizure of an illegal weapons shipment from North Korea in
Thailand was praised. But analysts wonder how many weapons shipments
sneak through.
By Donald Kirk Correspondent / December 14, 2009
Washington, DC

The seizure at Bangkok’s airport of 35 tons of North Korean arms being
shipped by plane raises a disturbing question: How many weapons is
North Korea managing to ship undetected to Iran and other clients
worldwide?

The commander of US troops in Korea, General Walter Sharp, cited
Monday the UN resolution imposing stringent sanctions on North Korean
weapons sales as the key to halting the shipments. He refrained,
however, from talking about the intelligence that tipped off
authorities in Thailand to the cargo they found aboard the plane
during a refueling stop at Don Muang military airport.

He acknowledged frustration in determining how important the cargo was
in the overall scheme of North Korean arms exports. “I’d like to know
the answer,” he said at a seminar in Washington, at which he largely
focused on strengthening the US military alliance with South Korea.

Analysts say it is hard to judge how successful the UN sanctions
resolution, adopted in June shortly after North Korea’s second nuclear
test, has really been.

“I don’t think they have accurate figures,” says Victor Cha, former
director of Asia affairs at the National Cecurity Council during the
presidency of George W. Bush. “The big thing is we need [is] better
cooperation from China and Russia.”

Although both China and Russia joined in supporting the UN resolution,
some analysts suspect that North Korea is still able to ship arms
through both countries by plane or overland. “I don’t think we know
about them,” says Mr. Cha, who chairs the Korea program at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “That’s the
hardest thing.”

Cha cites the recent visit of China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to North
Korea, followed by that of China’s defense minister, as fueling fears
that North Korea may on occasion be able to send arms surreptitiously
through China.

He remains confident, however, of cooperation among Southeast Asian
nations, from Singapore to Thailand. Even Burma (Myanmar), he notes,
is refusing arms shipments from North Korea after a North Korean
freighter believed to be seeking to break an arms embargo on Burma
turned back as US ships tracked it.

Thai authorities continue to hold five men, four from Kazakhstan and
one from Belarus, found aboard the plane, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76
registered in Georgia. They said they were carrying oil drilling
equipment when they asked to land and refuel, but instead the plane
was discovered to have missile components along with rocket-propelled
grenades and other weaponry.

South Korean analysts see the seizure of the cargo as evidence of a
“two-track" strategy pursued by the US in dealing with North Korea.

Kim Yeon-soo, a professor at the Korea National Defense University,
was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying the US “has employed a two-
track strategy of sanctions and negotiations.” He called the incident
“a chance to show that, apart from dialogue, sanctions will continue
for North Korea’s behavior.”

One question is the extent to which South Korea is willing to act
aggressively to stop North Korean arms shipments by sea – or to
support US aims outside Korea.
*************************************************************
EarthTimes - Myanmar opposition leader meets with lawyers to discuss
appeal
Posted : Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:39:57 GMT

Yangon - Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
allowed a rare meeting with her lawyers Tuesday to discuss her appeal,
government sources said. The country's ruling military junta allowed
her legal team of Kyi Win, Nyan Win, Hla Myo Myint and Khin Htay Kywe
to visit her house-cum-prison in Yangon, where Suu Kyi has been kept
under detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate last met with her legal
team on November 26 when they disclosed that the Supreme Court had
decided to hear Suu Kyi's request for an appeal against her recent
sentence of 18 months of detention for allowing an uninvited US
national to visit her home in May.

The Supreme Court was due to decide on December 21 whether to hear Suu
Kyi's appeal.

She was originally sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour
for allowing American John Yettaw to swim to her house on Inya Lake in
May, an act that was ruled a breach of her terms of imprisonment. The
sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest.

Many analysts said Yettaw's bizarre swim to Suu Kyi's home in early
May to warn her of an assassination attempt he dreamed about was an
unexpected gift to the ruling generals because her previous period of
detention was about to expire.

Her latest sentence should keep her out of circulation next year when
the military plans to hold the first general election since 1990.

Yettaw, 53, was sentenced to seven years in jail but was soon allowed
to leave the country.

The United States and many Western countries have warned the junta
that if the upcoming election is to be seen as credible, Suu Kyi and
the country's other political prisoners should be released
beforehand.
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BusinessGhana - Singapore to provide full scholarships to Myanmar
students in technology
News Date: 15th December 2009

Three universities of Singapore will provide full scholarships to
Myanmar students for them to pursue in technological field as part of
Singapore's aid to help the country develop human resources in the
sector, sources with the education circle said on Thursday.

Offered by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National
University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University
(SMU), the scholarship winning students are to attend full-time
undergraduate degree course on nine technological major subjects in
the 2010-11 academic year.

There have been some Singapore institutes extending such scholarships
to Myanmar students. These institutes include MDIS , ERC, Nanyang
Institute of Management (NIM), PSB Academy and TMC Private College of
International and TMC Academy.

The scholarships cover those for pursuing master degree or diplomas in
tourism and hospitality management, finance, economy and computer game
creation, journalism, mass communications, public relations,
accounting and

finance, international business management and marketing, logistics
management, e-business and e- commerce, construction management and
property.
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12/15/2009 16:30
MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Child soldiers and opium cultivation, two faces of
Burma’s dark pit
The authorities are recruiting children with money and food to fight
rebels and use as security forces in next year’s elections. Surface
used for opium cultivation increased by 50 per cent since 2006. With
drug proceeds, rebels buy weapons.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The number of child soldiers and the
surface devolved to opium cultivation have increased in Myanmar.
Ostensibly different, the two issues are closely related because rebel
groups among the country’s ethnic minorities rely on drug trafficking
to buy weapons. In response, the Myanmar military is recruiting young
soldiers to field against the rebels and maintain security ahead of
next year’s elections.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently noted a worrying
rise in the extent of opium cultivation in Myanmar; the amount of land
used for growing the drug has increased by almost 50 per cent since
2006 (+ 11 per cent over last year).

Over 31,000 hectares of land are now devoted to opium. This is still a
far cry from the 1990s, when Burma was the world's largest opium
producer, part of the infamous Golden Triangle. However, “the trend is
going in the wrong direction,” said Antonio Maria Costa, head of the
UN drugs agency, and will become a major problem in the future.

More than a million people are now involved in opium cultivation in
Myanmar, most of them in Shan State. About 95 percent of Myanmar’s
poppies are grown in this region located on the border with China,
Laos and Thailand.

“Ceasefire groups—autonomous ethnic militias—are selling drugs to buy
weapons, and moving stocks to avoid detection,” Costa said.

Despite the increase in cultivation, the potential value of opium
production in Myanmar fell by 15 per cent from US$ 123 million in 2008
to $104 million in 2009.

In addition to the drug problem, the country is also confronted by the
curse of child soldiers conscripted by the military.

Money and food are offered to the families of underage recruits, this
according to Guiding Star, a legal advocacy group, which was quoted in
the Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident online Burmese magazine.

Despite the difficulty in getting official information, boys aged 12
to 17 are known to have been inducted into the army, and this despite
a law that requires soldiers to be at least 18 years of age.

Aye Myint, a Guiding Star member in Bago, said that his group could
attest to 115 cases of child soldiers since last May, mostly in
Mandalay, Bago and Irrawaddy.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has also raised the issue.
Maung Maung Lay, from Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network,
said his organisation is aware of 41 cases of child soldiers since
April of this year.

Aye Myint said that trafficking in child soldiers is becoming a real
business with the army paying 50 dollars and bag of rice for anyone
supplying a new recruit (whatever the age) for the army.

Myanmar currently has the highest military to civilian ratio but is
still eager to recruit more.

This might be due to next year’s elections, which are expected to lead
to high tensions, following protests in 2007 when the people were loud
and clear in their demand for democracy and human rights.
*************************************************************
ESCAP-involved seminar on development co-op to open in Myanmar
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 11:17:58

YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A seminar on development cooperation,
jointly organized by Myanmar and the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP),is due to open in
Nay Pyi Taw later on Tuesday.

The second seminar of its kind, sponsored by Myanmar Ministry of
Agriculture and Irrigation and Ministry of National Planning and
Economic Development as well as the ESCAP, is to be attended by
visiting UN Under Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr.
Noeleen Heyzer and respective Myanmar ministers Major-General Htay Oo
and U Soe Tha as well as officials of the ministries, official media
report said Tuesday.

Heyzer, who arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, was received by Myanmar
Prime Minister General Thein Sein in the new capital Monday, said the
New Light of Myanmar.

According to other reports, invited by the ESCAP, Nobel Laureate
Joseph Stiglitz, who is also a former chief economist at the World
Bank, will also attend the forum on the country's rural development
policy highlighting strategy on development and poverty alleviation.
*************************************************************
Myanmar, Vietnam seek direct air link to boost economic, trade co-op
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 12:01:29
by Feng Yingqiu

YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Vietnam have been seeking
direct air link as part of their efforts to boost the two countries'
economic and trade cooperation and the current visit to Nay Pyi Taw of
Vice-President of Vietnam Airlines Duong Tri Thanh is seen as paving
way for the establishment.

According to Tuesday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar,
Myanmar Deputy Minister of Transport Colonel Nyan Tun met with Thanh
in the new capital Monday and had discussions on matters relating to
aviation between the two countries.

Myanmar tourism circle expects that the probable Yangon-Hanoi direct
air link would bring in more tourists and boost Myanmar's tourism
industry.

World travelers especially those from Japan can travel to Myanmar via
Hanoi, from America via Japan and Hanoi, and from South Korea via
Hanoi if the air link is established, said the Myanmar Travel and
Tourism Association.

So far, Myanmar has direct air links mainly with Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore and China, and most of the world tourists especially from
Asia and Europe come to Myanmar via Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese businessmen are reported to plan investment in
Myanmar hotel industry for the first time as part of its engagement in
the country, according to the Myanmar Hoteliers Association.

The planned hotel is to be built near Myanmar's current top-level one,
the Sedona, located on the Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the biggest city of
Yangon.

There are some other foreign-invested hotels operating in the city,
which are three from Thailand, one from Singapore and one other from
China.

In November, a Vietnamese ministerial delegation and officials of
Myanmar's biggest business organization met in Yangon.

The discussions between the Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy
Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien, and the Myanmar
delegation, led by President of the Union of Myanmar Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) U Win Myint, covered matters relating
to economic and trade opportunities and cooperation between the two
countries, exchanging of delegations, study of agricultural
technology, trade and investment.

Some Vietnamese entrepreneurs, who had visited Myanmar, held that they
wanted to put a first hand into the Myanmar market in the light of
Myanmar's foreseen political and economic evolution ahead although its
current investment in Myanmar reached merely 0.15 percent of the
total.

According to the official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign
investment in late 1988. Vietnam's in Myanmar hit 23.4 million U.S.
dollars in nearly 21 years up to the end of August this year

The investment was highlighted by that in the oil and gas sector
injected in September 2008 with 20 million dollars along with the
Russian Federation's 94 million dollars in the same sector on the same
month.

Vietnamese businessmen said they wants to expand investment in the
fishery and hotel industry.

Vietnam stands the 16th among Myanmar's exporting countries. Myanmar
mainly exported its forestry products to Vietnam, followed by
agricultural produces, seafood and electrical spare parts, while it
imported from Vietnam steel, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals,
medicines, industrial products, chemical products, computer and
accessories, plastic, cosmetics and engine oil.

Under a memorandum of understanding reached at the 5th meeting of the
Myanmar-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee at the Vietnamese port city of
Ho Chi Minh in February this year, Vietnam will import over 5 million
U.S. dollars' hardwood from Myanmar and the activity will be carried
out in 2010, according to the commerce authorities.

Official statistics show that Myanmar-Vietnam bilateral trade in the
first nine months of 2009 hit 60 million dollars. Of the total,
Myanmar's export to Vietnam took 42 million dollars, while its import
from Vietnam stood 18 million dollars, enjoying a trade surplus of 24
million dollars.
*************************************************************
Japan Today - 37 Myanmar exiles in Japan apply for long-term residency
Tuesday 15th December, 06:49 AM JST

TOKYO — A group of 37 people from Myanmar who were exceptionally
granted leave to remain in Japan without refugee status applied Monday
for more stable long-term residency at the Tokyo Regional Immigration
Bureau, their lawyers said.

According to the lawyers, the 37 people from 22 families living in
Tokyo and Gunma, Saitama and Chiba prefectures have applied for long-
term residency because they may not be able to renew their current
residence status if the situation in Myanmar changes. Also, their
current status does not allow them to bring over family members from
Myanmar or receive welfare benefits.

Less than 20% of applicants for long-term residency have been granted
the status this year, according to research by the legal team, and a
man who had made such an application committed suicide in April
because he was unable to bring over family members.
*************************************************************
Asian Tribune - Burma: Is Something Better Than Nothing?
Wed, 2009-12-16 00:59 — editor
By Dr. Kanbawza Win

We're just days away from 2010 - a defining year for Burma, as we
witness the opposition composed of ethnics and pro democracy movement.
have to admit that they have been soundly beaten. First, they lost is
in the battle fields and very lately in the diplomatic arena, where
the Junta scored a major victory of recognition without yielding an
inch from the Western countries who claims to be the defender of
Democracy and Human Rights. Now, the Junta is going to be legitimized
by its phony elections.

The Burmese regime has claimed to hold a new election in 2010 to
facilitate a formation of a civil-military government in accordance
with the military-orchestrated constitution with a rigged referendum.
The prospect of the new election is a moral and strategic dilemma to
the democratic movement, especially the NLD and its supporters who are
entrenched in upholding their eighteen-year-old election. Will the
moderates group participate or not seems to be the key factor in
deciding the authenticity of the elections.

That is why the Euro Burma Office, Director said, “For the people
inside, they cannot avoid casting votes and if they don’t have their
own candidates, then they will have to choose the Junta’s candidates.
Or better if they could set up their own parties, hoping some of their
candidates will win some seats. It’s up to each locality to decide for
itself, and is not a question of opportunity or survival but depends
on planning. It’s not the resistance armies that will suffer if
fighting resumes, but it is the people who suffer, because when there
is war, the Burma Army always pick on the people, not the
resistance.”

This is but one way of encouraging the moderates. View
internationally, the Burmese pro-democracy movement was merely a moral
case and moral concern which is usually inferior to strategic needs in
international relations and one could be compared to the Free Tibet
Campaign that seems to share the same fate. Both movements have been
remarkably successful in awareness campaigns and then come to a full
stop.

They managed to mobilize international support in transnational causes
but failed to realise that it has to be followed up by pursuing the
international authorities. The actual policy making depends on the
willingness and capability of the international powers and the
international system. Sadly, both the Diaspora democracy movement and
the ethnics leaders could not comprehend the situation and have little
or no knowledge about economic incentives and the country`s resources
to play with, that are so crucial in the international scene.
Lamentably the opposition groups are unable to learn the lessons from
Iraq where US allotted $100 if compared to Burma not even $10
including the care of refugees and IDPs.

Analysing Contemporary History

Gen. Ne Win's military coup in 1962 has the ability to consolidate its
power by institutionalizing a one-party state, a decade after the
military takeover. The current Junta unlike Ne Win is not capable of
institutionalizing its rule into a formal political system. Hence the
transition plan is based on the regime's orchestrated constitution
which the Junta forced through a forced rigged referendum and the
coming unfair elections.

But the interpretation of the constitution in practice will depend on
the degree of participation by civilian politicians in the election
and the authority of the elected representatives in the government.
The constitution itself does allow elected members to hold substantial
power in the new government. Hence the legitimacy of the 2010 election
depends on the participation of pro-democracy civilians and their
roles in the new government.

The regime's strategy appears to minimize the influence of hard
liners, including the NLD. The major arrests and severe jail-terms
imposed on the activists are a part of the plan to steer clear hard-
line elements before the election comes. On the other hand, an
alternative third-force in the opposition movement is not in an
organized form. Because of the nature of polarization in Burma's
conflict, many moderate individuals are reluctant to engineer a third-
force platform which is a politically derogative term for the Burmese
oppositions.

Regarding the participation of the civilians it depends on their roles
and stance towards the coming election, there seems to be four
categories of civilian politicians, in addition to the pro-military
elements to contest the election.

The first type is the majority of the oppositions strongly condemned
the regime's road map. They will continue to reject the 2010 election
and refuse to participate. These hardliners among the opposition
movement are mostly in exile. Most hardcore activists inside the
country are under lock and key. These hardliners voice will make
little or no impact on the holding of the election.

The second type of oppositions sees the election as a step towards a
confrontation with the military. Despite its call to recognize the
result of the 1990 general election, the splinter group of the NLD and
the likes e.g. veteran politician U Shwe Ohn of Shan State, the
daughters of U Nu and U Kyaw Nyein, choose to participate in the 2010
election because it is the only option to reclaim its legitimacy and
remobilize its supporters after 2010. For many hardliners, including
some of the ethnic nationalities and the defunct Burmese Communist
Party, the coming election is a tactical battleground for further
escalation of the conflict.

The third type is political groups who view the coming election as an
enticing opportunity to pursue their self interests. Many smaller
ceasefire groups like the DKBA, KNPLF, KDA and the likes fall into
this account. They will seek to strengthen their legitimacy through
the existing electoral process regardless of the degree of fairness
and freedom of the election. Some ceasefire groups may also incline to
transform into the third force.

The fourth type is the individuals regard themselves moderates and
share a view that the current NLD-led opposition movement is a
failure. Many individuals include former political prisoners, elected
representatives from the NLD, current leaders in NGOs, and
environmental activists and some exiles even though may have not
emerged as an institutionalized political force, are likely to
establish their political platform to contest the 2010 election.

The Junta’s Perspective

It seems that the regime is also facing a dilemma based on three major
concerns.

First, the military is reluctant to open up political space for the
civilian politicians to mobilize to contest in the election because
the regime learned a hard lesson after it had released former student
leaders and allowed them to organize their supporters. Their
mobilization paved a way to the monk-led protest in 2007. The regime
is very careful this time not to repeat the previous mistake.

Second, the regime is concerned with the repetition of the NLD's
another victory in the 2010 election. The dominance of anti-military
oppositions in the civilian portion of elected representatives will
encourage the oppositions to challenge the military after the
election. In other words, the military wants more 'moderate'
opposition to contest in the election than the hard-liners. The
release of student leaders in 2004 partially aimed at creating a so-
called 'third force' between the NLD and the regime. However, the
student leaders chose to take hard-line stance.

Third, the regime is worried that the emerging civilian-led government
would undermine the military's institutional interests. The military
wants to avoid creating itself a
“Frankenstein or Dracula” image by its own Road Map. The military
therefore embedded protective clauses in the constitution to guarantee
its own interests because of its distrust on civilian politicians.
Overall, the Junta does not have viable civilian partnership in the
new government after 2010. Lack of confidence on civilian politicians
and amicable partnership has fostered siege mentality among the
military leaders who will desperately cling on to the constitution and
use suppression to safeguard their interests.
Hence there is a faint possibility that Burma may become a liberal
democracy and the most potent ingredient for instability, when poor
economic performance and factional mobilization characterize a new
transition. Any new government, regardless of the forms of transition,
will not be able to revive the country from current economic
pauperization in a short term. Poverty will continue and quality of
life remains poor after 2010. Economic destitutions are usually
channel towards political discontent. Under poverty, Burmese people
will remain dissatisfied with the government as long as the military
is a part of the ruling institution.

It will eventually expand political space for formerly suppressed
oppositions who were deprived of political mobilization under the
previous system. Economically dissatisfied public is vulnerable to
political instigation stirring up unrests. The hard line oppositions
will utilize newly emerging political space to mobilize poverty-
stricken angry publics to pressure the new government. Their objective
will aim to scrap the existing constitution and boot the military out
of politics.

On the other hand, the military is likely to be politically defensive
after the 2010 election while taking shelter under its brainchild
constitution. The military's 25 percent of representatives in the
parliament and its supporters will continue to preserve the military's
institutional interests threatened by the oppositions' mobilization.
Alternatively, the military may disenfranchise potential hardliners in
the 2010 election and continue to deny their political freedom even
after 2010. In both scenarios, the confrontation between the military
and hardcore oppositions is likely to escalate after the election. But
it will be the first time in more than two decades that the civilian
politicians and the military representatives will be sitting under the
same roof in the Parliament. It will also be the venue for both the
military and civilians to interact in policy making and mutually
envisioning the future. Against all odds, the transition in 2010
offers an opportunity to jumpstart confidence building to seek much
need reconciliation for the country.

O! Burma betrayed by Obama

President Obama and his strategic advisors acknowledge that the
extension of US power has reached a critical threshold. The US has
become a declining power in the face of a rising China, Russia and
India. The US economy is largely interdependent with the Asian
economy. The combination of Japanese and Chinese ownership of US debt
has reached 45%t of US Treasury securities. In addition, the military
gap is narrowing. A study conducted by the RAND Corporation, an
influential think-tank, concludes the Chinese military could defeat US
forces in the Taiwan Strait, if the US attempted to deter a Chinese
offensive to reclaim Taiwan. Russia has fielded its latest S-400 air-
defence system far superior than the US’s second-generation Patriot
missile system. Hence Obama realizes that the most effective approach
to totalitarian countries is the utilization of ‘soft power,’ which
calls for friendliness rather than coercion and the end result was
that the Junta’s representative Thein Sein sat smiling besides Obama
in S`pore. The other Western countries like the EU are bound to follow
the American lead.

For one thing, Obama clearly wants to distinguish himself from George
W. Bush, who badly tainted the human rights agenda by linking it to
the war in Iraq and by adopting an overly moralistic, evangelical tone
about democracy. Will P resident Obama be forcefully advocating
democracy abroad if he believes that negotiating about human rights
behind the scenes works better than bullying in public, since it
permits nasty regimes to save face while, at least theoretically,
allowing them to quietly make concessions? It seems that the president
seems to believe that, no matter how brutal a government he is dealing
with, he can find common cause.

Though the Bush administration established a deputy national security
adviser for global democracy strategy, Obama's National Security
Council structure has explicitly downgraded the role of democracy
specialists. And some parts of the government seem to be backing away
from even the word “Democracy.” What more proof is wanted when Obama's
administration became the first since 1991 not to meet with the Dalai
Lama, even privately, when the Tibetan leader was in Washington last
October?

On matters of democracy and human rights, past presidents have wielded
the bully pulpit to impressive effect, sometimes winning the release
of high-profile dissidents e.g. after Bush highlighted the case of
Ayman Nour, the most prominent Egyptian dissident, in early 2005,
Hosni Mubarak's government released him from jail even though he is
locked up again. After much rhetoric of Obama and Clinton about the
new Burma policy, the American delegate lead by Assistant Secretary of
East Asia and Pacific Kurt Campbell who went to Burma never uttered a
word for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Sadly the American Nobel
Laureate has failed his duty to the Burmese Nobel Laureate.

The Chinese Card

The Burma-China relationship will enter a new chapter after China
completes an oil pipeline connecting the Andaman Sea with China’s
Yunnan province. The move is alarmingly strategic. Past Chinese
interest in Burma was less critical than many observers have
speculated, with trade accounting for a fraction of one percent of
overall Chinese exports, while China has failed to transfer any
strategic weaponry to Naypyidaw. But the 2.9-billion dollar Chinese
oil pipeline will drastically transform the role of Burma in China’s
strategic calculus. China has been geographically vulnerable to a
naval blockade, being confined by Japan to the east, Taiwan to the
south and South Korea to the north of China – all US allies. In
addition, China lacks a naval force capable of protecting its sea
lines. The projected oil pipeline from Burma will reinforce China’s
long-term strategic energy initiative.

The pipeline will be much more significant than any existing China-
Burma engagements. China may even consider protecting its interest in
Burma under a nuclear umbrella. One of the main reasons for China to
send its advanced submarines to the Andaman Sea is to protect its
strategic interest, simultaneously restricting the regional power
projection of the US Navy’s 7th fleet. As I had said earlier if Burma
used to be a moral issue for the United States now it is for the
current leaders of how to play it into the hands of US security and
its national interests. Perhaps one should recollect that Obama in the
Nobel Academy said that “evil does exist in the world and that there
will be times when nations...will find the use of force not only
necessary but morally justified,” if this is a clear statement of
American foreign policy principles in international realm we would
like to see how it applies to Burma or rather a hypocritical aspect of
quid pro quo engagement, ranging from counter-narcotics to political
prisoners. But I am afraid that among all initiatives, however, the
focus of US policy will be on the 2010 elections.

Likely Scenario

Obviously the military will not drop its Road Map and seek an
alternative political settlement with the opposition. Any political
outcomes have to go through the military-led transitional process. In
the past, the military is asked to sit down at a table set up by the
opposition, now it will be vice versa. The process will be likely
initiated in phases, starting with the military and moderate political
forces in the parliament and the government. If we look at the world
we see that democratic transition history we see that in 108
democratic transitions, only 12 countries have consolidated democracy
since 1955. In many cases, instability follows transitions and often
than not fell back to autocracy.
Burma conflict is vastly factionalized, and the polarity between the
military and the oppositions is deeply entrenched. The traditional
opposition forces will likely take the path of confrontation with the
military after 2010. Confidence building won't be materialized as long
as both the civilian politicians and the military fail to cooperate in
shared common interests, such as economic development, health care,
security and public welfare.

As long as the junta sees no viable civilian partnership after 2010,
the military will restrict the participation of civilian politicians
in the coming election and their capacity to mobilize. The only
civilian force willing to categorically cooperate with the military is
moderate non-NLD pro-democracy activists who feel discontented with
the status quo in the opposition movement. Although the military may
not trust this so-called third force, it is the only viable civilian
partnership the military needs to implement its Road Map.
The moderate force has not been able to organize its political
platform and leadership structure to function as a feasible political
institution. The election in 2010 will likely be a breeding ground to
shape the structure of moderate force in Burmese politics. Regardless
of whether the NLD fields’ candidates through proxy parties or
contests the elections, the generals will make sure her party is in no
position to field any sizable number of candidates, much less win a
landslide again.

What other benchmarks, then, could be treated as signals that the
regime is serious about democratic transition? It could, relax media
and Internet censorship; show increased tolerance towards valid public
criticism of its policy and leadership failures; enable existing
parties to reorganize themselves with full organizational rights and
responsibilities; adopt conciliatory gestures towards multi-ethnic
dissidents and armed resistance organizations; allocate public
resources fairly and equitably among the parties for election
purposes; and grant them equal access to the State-owned media
outlets; and last but not least, encourage and educate the Burmese
electorate in general about their voting rights, as well as
fundamental rights as citizens of a soon-to-be democracy. But without
institutionalizing legal regimes of human rights to protect citizens'
and communities’ socio-cultural rights, as well as economic and
political freedoms, no polity can be label democratic.

We don’t expect culturally conservative and semi-feudal society such
as Burma be expected to evolve into something that can sustain a
formal democracy and its further advancement because those who are at
the helm of wearing uniform have grown accustomed to power,
privileges, wealth and State protection, as well as adept at control,
manipulation and domination over the public, economy and the State. As
such, these men in uniforms are not going to be agents of change,
rather it is the people themselves—multi-ethnic communities, religious
leaders and associations, individual professionals, educators,
entrepreneurs, artists and intellectuals, and pockets of enlightened
military officers, as well as the webs of informal networks—that need
to be viewed as potential change agents. If ever change come to Burma,
for sure it will not be achieved through the generals’ elections.
*************************************************************
The Nation - 4 more border checkpoints with Burma
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
Published on December 15, 2009

In a bid to boost cross-border trade with Burma, the government will
support the opening of four more border checkpoints next year.

They will be at Huay Ton Nun, Mae Hong Son/Shan State: Ban Nam Khao,
Kanchanaburi/Tavoy; Three Pagodas Pass, Kanchanaburi/Taya Thon Zu; and
Dan Singkhon, Prachuap Khiri Khan/My Eik.

Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot yesterday said the
government would open these checkpoints as soon as possible, in order
to facilitate trade, investment and tourism between the two countries.

At present, there are only three checkpoints linking Thailand and
Burma.

After meeting with ministers in Burma, Alongkorn also said both
nations had agreed to support the construction of a friendship bridge
connecting Tak's Mae Sot district with Burma.

The two nations will soon set up a subcommittee to identify an exact
location and set up a construction schedule, he said.

Niyom Wairatpanij, chairman of the border-trade committee of the Thai
Chamber of Commerce (TCC), said traders were greatly anticipating the
opening of more checkpoints to facilitate trade and tourism.

"The Asean Free Trade Agreement will be fully implemented early next
year, with tariffs on most Asean goods eliminated. More checkpoints
will increase trade opportunities for Thai products," said Niyom.

In addition, after meeting with TCC representatives about its "micro
action plan" aimed strengthening seven sectors plan, Alongkorn said
the government would lend its full support.

The TCC and the Commerce Ministry have agreed to set up a Joint Public-
Private Committee on Commerce, for cooperation in facilitating the
plan.

The TCC last month came up with the micro action plan, aimed at
strengthening the country's best products and most efficient services
ahead of tougher competition that is expected once Asean becomes a
seamless market by 2015.

The seven sectors are food and agriculture, gems and jewellery,
textiles, healthcare and spas, construction, tourism and border trade.

TCC vice chairman Komson Opassathavorn said the chamber would discuss
the plan tomorrow with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and that he
expected full government support.
*************************************************************
Stiglitz in Naypyitaw
by Kyaw Thein Kha
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 20:00

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz
arrived in Burma’s new capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday, where he will
speak at a seminar on economic development.

The Nobel Laureate is visiting the Southeast Asian nation at the
invitation of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia-Pacific (UNESCAP) to advise the ruling military junta on
development policies and poverty eradication, particularly in the
rural areas.

“In our Media Advisory, he’s going to participate in reforms in Burma.
They left for Burma yesterday. I believe he’s there in the city at the
moment,” an official at the Bangkok office of the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), told Mizzima
on Tuesday.

Prof. Sin Theingi, a retired teacher of Rangoon Institute of
Economics, said discussions should focus more on the social and
economic aspect rather than the rural economy.

“When we discuss, instead of focusing only on the rural aspect, we
should be able to discuss the economic and social aspects. Besides, we
should also talk of health and education,” she added.

Prof. Sin Theingi said in order to develop the rural economy it is
necessary to develop the way of thinking of farmers and forming
community-based organisations to protect the environment. There is
also need for children’s health and education.

Besides, she said the market economy should be well-implemented, “They
need to really open up the market, so that it will attract the people.
For example, they also need to listen to the farmers, as often they
know better than us in several ways. If we open it up like this, it
would develop the rural area,” she added.

But a Burmese economist, who did not wish to reveal his identity, said
economic development of a country is closely linked with political
stability.

He added that the government should allow farmers to freely work in
the rural areas and provide them raw materials and capital.

Stiglitz, in one of his popular book titled “Globalization and Its
Discontents” argues, “when families and firms seek to buy too little
compared to what the economy can produce, governments can fight
recessions and depressions by using expansionary monetary and fiscal
policies to spur the demand for goods and services.”

On Tuesday, Burmese military junta’s mouthpiece newspaper the New
Light of Myanmar reported the meeting between Burmese Prime Minister
General Thein Sein and Dr. Noeleen Hezyer, United Nations Under-
Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, led delegation.
But the newspaper did not mention Joseph Stiglitz’s visit to the
country.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - NLD Must Nurture Young Leaders
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Will Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi resolve
the opposition’s “generation crisis” when she meets with the aging
leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in the
coming days?

In late November, NLD sources told The Irrawaddy that in response to
Suu Kyi’s requests, the ruling authorities had agreed to grant her a
meeting with members of the NLD's Central Executive Committee (CEC),
though it is uncertain whether another detained leader, ex-Gen Tin Oo,
would be allowed to participate.

The meeting is likely to be on Wednesday, which is a national holiday
in Burma, celebrating Karen New Year.

Originally, the generals in Naypyidaw said they would only allow her a
meeting with three CEC members—Aung Shwe, U Lwin and Lun Tin— two of
whom are octogenarians while Aung Shwe is 92.

Along with other political issues, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is
expected to talk with her colleagues about party reform, particularly
the replacement of aging and ill CEC members with younger leaders, NLD
sources said.

“Currently there are 11 CEC members within the party. Six out of the
11 are now over 80 and not very well,” said Khin Maung Swe, 67, a CEC
member and an NLD spokesman.

In fact, with the exception of Suu Kyi, who is 64, and Khin Maung Swe,
all the other CEC members are over 80 years of age.

The NLD's most prominent other figurehead, Vice Chairman Tin Oo, who
was arrested in May 2003 following an ambush on Suu Kyi’s convey and
sentenced to house arrest, is now 83.

“Even if a total overhaul of the party cannot take place, the
replacement of those who are ill within the NLD leadership should be
possible,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakanese leader based in Rangoon,
who is a close ally of the NLD.

Due to Chairman Aung Shwe’s health, two CEC members, Win Tin, 80, and
Than Tun, 87, are reportedly acting chairmen of the party, according
to NLD sources.

Relative youngsters, such as Than Nyein, who is in his 70s, and Nyan
Win, who is in his 60s, are informally listed as additional members of
the CEC.

Political observers inside Burma have said the NLD needs to strengthen
its presence in the country to maintain its popularity ahead of the
2010 general election.

The pertinent question is how the leading opposition party can hope to
bridge the spectrum of society when even its second row of leaders are
all over 60 years of age.

The NLD has not held nationwide party meetings for at least a decade
because of harassment by the authorities and other setbacks. Although
young members of the party
recently called for party meetings across the country, the CEC have
stalled.

“The NLD has to call national party meetings at least once every four
years to resolve the generation gap in its leadership,” Aye Thar Aung
said. “Then younger members could come through the ranks.”

While the NLD finds itself in a generation dilemma, the military
junta, headed by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, organizes its hierarchy from the
top down using military rank. Although Than Shwe is 76 and his No 2,
Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, is 72, the other top generals are in their
early 60s and some are still in their 50s.

The junta-backed civic organization, the Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA), has been recruiting young, respected
persons to run as candidates in next year's election, representing
pro-junta parties.

“Since early 2009, the USDA has nominated potential candidates who are
young and well-respected with good names to avoid a repeat of the 1990
election,” said a USDA source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In the 1990 election, the NLD and its allies won a landslide victory
over the junta-backed National Unity Party.

Twenty years later, the NLD lacks young candidates, but has a surplus
of members who were active in the 1988 democratic uprising against
military rule.

Imprisoned 88 Generation Students group leaders, such as Min Ko Naing,
Ko Ko Kyi, Pyone Cho and Htay Kywe, are now in their 40s and are
reported to be ready to cooperate or join Suu Kyi’s party in the
greater interest of supporting the cause of democratic reform in
Burma.

“We have many young emerging prospects across the country,” said Khin
Maung Swe.

“One day they will be the party's leaders.”
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - All Heart, No Action
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A new international movie set in a Karen refugee camp is to be
released in 2010. Its working title is “How About Love?” and its
director, Stefan Haupt, spoke recently to The Irrawaddy about making
the film and his impressions of refugee life at the Thai-Burmese
border.

Haupt was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961. He currently serves as
the president of the Swiss Filmmakers' Association and is best known
for his 2001 film “Utopia Blues.”

QUESTION: What is the topic of this movie?

ANSWER: We often say in terms of globalization that our world has now
become only one small world. But at the same time, life on this one
earth can be so incredibly different.

So I took my main character, Dr. Fritz Reinhart, an award-winning
heart surgeon from Switzerland, and exposed him to two totally
different worlds. I sent him and his wife on vacation to Thailand
where they pay a visit to an old friend who works in a medical clinic
at a refugee camp. When they arrive there, they are confronted with a
totally different life than the life they are used to in Zurich. For
me, it was very interesting to expose my character to this different
lifestyle and see how he reacts to it.

Q: What is the moral of the story?

A: When I make a film, I don’t start with the question, “What will the
moral of this film be?” I don’t want to work this way, by defining
what the moral of a story should be and then making the film according
to it. I'd much rather tell stories that interest me. Maybe when
people watch the film, they will find a moral behind it, but I think
that different people will see different morals in it, which is fine
with me.

What is interesting and important for me is that I have an honest
approach to the story myself, that I’m really interested in the
story.

So I did a lot of research on my subject – some three and half years.
For me, it is important thing that I, as a director, know the reality
behind the fictional scenes that we are shooting. So, this is not a
documentary – it is fiction,but based on reality.

Q: How did you learn about the culture of Burma and the ethnic groups?

A: There is literature and the Internet, which is incredibly important
nowadays. I saw quite a few documentary films, some by other Swiss
directors. And, of course, by far the most helpful thing is to talk
with the people like U Tin Win, with refugees, with Thai people here
in Chiang Mai and with people at the border.

We also made a research trip to a real refugee camp in Mae Hong Son
and we talked to the representatives of different supporting
institutions. We also went to Mae Tao Clinic.
However, one of the medics in the refugee camp was a Burmese refugee –
a Karen refugee in the film – that writes down all the stories of
other refugees. She had some experiences with Dr. Fritz, so I always
wanted to find a young refugee women, to talk to her and ask her some
specific questions. But, it was all but impossible. It was like the
girls were locked up. It was very difficult for me, but it was very
interesting as a researcher to find out how well-protected the young
women are here.

Q: There are several movies which are based on the Thai-Burmese
border, like Rambo and other action films about Burma. What are the
differences between your film and former movies?

A: We have a smaller budget, that is one difference. We are not a
Hollywood production.

I think most of these films tend to be action movies. I had so-called
“script doctors” who read my script and told me: “Put more action in
it!” For example, let Dr. Fritz go with that Burmese refugee girl over
the border, then they get attacked, or she gets caught and thrown in
jail … Make an action film!

Well, I can imagine that many in the audience would like an action
movie, but that is not the kind of story I’m interested in.
I’m much more interested in the internal lives of the characters – the
inner feeling of being thrown apart, of not knowing: should I do this
or should I do that?

I hope another difference is that we really tried to make our film in
a “true” way. For example, we made sure that the extras in the Karen
refugee camp were speaking Karen. We had some Thai actors who didn't
know how to speak Karen, so they had to learn their lines with a
language coach in Karen language. I’m very happy about that.

Q: How do you expect the movie to do at the box office?

A: We'll see. Of course, I hope it will have a long, wide journey
throughout the whole world.

Q: When will we get a chance to see “How About Love?”

A: We plan to finish it next June, so it can go to the festivals in
August and September 2010. I think it will open in Swiss cinemas in
September / October 2010. One thing I really want to do with the film
is to show it in Bangkok at one of the festivals there and in Chiang
Mai, where we were shooting.

Q: This movie focused on the issue of refugees. Did you have any
obstacles to overcome with the Thai authorities?

A: No, we didn’t have any problems at all. The Thai film board read
our script, and we didn’t have to change anything at all.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say?

A: For me, it is difficult to believe that life can be so different
for refugees. I know that a lot of people in the Western world are
absorbed with their own problems and don’t really hear about that.

I am trying to offer film-goers a chance to take a close look at this
situation, to open their eyes and give them a chance to talk about it.
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Sixteen political prisoners denied lawyers

Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–Restrictions have been placed on the permits of
lawyers representing 16 political prisoners at a trial in central
Burma, while family members have been barred from entering the
courtroom.

It is not know what the accused, who are active campaigners for the
release of political prisoners in Burma, are being charged with. The
sister of one of the accused, Venerable Nanda Wuntha, said that her
brother is facing seven charges.

Another relative of one of the defendants said that court officials
had instructed the 16 to hire lawyers from the proxy government
organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA),
at a cost of 200,000 kyat ($US200), although none had complied.

“They are speeding up the process to sentence them but they have not
been sentenced yet because we are having a problem with lawyers,” said
the sister of Myo Han.
She added that only two of the four lawyers put forward by families of
the defendants have been allowed to represent them.

“Only [lawyers] U Myint Thwin and Kyaw Soe Lin were accepted,” she
said. “We have to wait until they come out [of the courtroom]. Only
then will we know for certain whether they get the permission or not,”
she said.

Restrictions on lawyers representing opposition members and witnesses
testifying for the defence are common in Burma. During the trial of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this year, courts barred
all but one of her witnesses from testifying, while the prosecution
was allowed 14.

Lawyers themselves are also at risk of harassment by the government.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma
(AAPP), 12 lawyers are currently imprisoned in Burma.

The United Nations special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana,
in October slammed the culture of impunity in Burma and said that the
establishment of an independent judiciary would be a signal that the
junta is moving towards democratic reform.

Reporting by Aye Nai
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UN ‘should investigate’ junta role in drugs trade

Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–The Burmese junta is covering up its role in the
country’s drugs trade by labeling adversarial armed groups as Burma’s
sole drugs producers, an ethnic coalition group has said.

The comments, issued by the National Democratic Front (NDF), which
represents nine ethnic parties, follow in the wake of a UN Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report that claims opium cultivation in Burma
had doubled since 2006.

It said that armed ethnic groups are using the proceeds from the drugs
trade to secure weapons. Gary Lewis, the UNODC’s Southeast Asia
representative, told DVB yesterday that information in the report was
collected “in partnership” with the Burmese government.

The report however fails to pay adequate attention to the role the
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) plays in the
country’s drugs trade, the NDF said.

“The UNODC should investigate the involvement of the SPDC military
leaders in drug trafficking, on a large scale, in collusion with the
SPDC proxy armies in some ethnic areas,” an NDF statement said.

It said that accusations were being targeted at groups that had
refused to transform into border guard forces (BGF) and thus
subordinate themselves to the Burmese army.

It “is a move by [the government] to cover up its own involvement in
drug business and to get international assistance to militarily
suppress the armed ethnic organizations that do not accept its BGF
plan,” the NDF said.

Members of the coalition include Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO) and the Karen National Union (KNU),
Burma’s most prominent armed opposition group.

According to the UNODC, around one million people in Burma are thought
to be involved in the production of opium, which despite a surge in
cultivation, has reportedly decreased since 2006.

Burma is the world’s second largest heroin producer, and now a leading
source of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia.

The key source region for opium, Shan state, is also one of the
country’s most volatile states. The 30,000-strong United Wa State Army
(UWSA), which holds a tenuous ceasefire agreement with the government,
controls much of the region, and is also believed to play a principal
role in the drugs trade.

The NDF statement said however that “it is impossible” to produce
drugs in Burma’s border regions without complicity from the SPDC.

Fighting erupted in Shan state in August this year after the Burmese
army launched an offensive against a Kokang rebel group that had
resisted pressure to transform into a border guard force.

Shortly after fighting ceased, state media in Burma announced the
discovery of a horde of methamphetamine pills in a Kokang village,
which were subsequently destroyed in a high-profiel ceremony reported
in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

Then in November, the newspaper claimed that the Kokang offensive did
not result from the group’s resistance to border guard transformation
but from “manufacturing illegal arms and ammunition and trafficking
narcotic drugs on a large scale”.

Reporting by Francis Wade
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