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What lies beneath

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Francis Wade

Oct 28, 2009 (DVB), As the most senior level US delegation to visit Burma in decades is soon to touch down, it is worth reminding ourselves of the myriad problems in Burma that Washington needs to address.

Much of the rhetoric surrounding the recent US policy shift has focused on Aung San Suu Kyi and the 2,100 political prisoners in Burma; indeed, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon flagged this up in July as the most important obstacle to democracy in the country. Their plight, illuminated by the captivating 64-year-old, is what grabs headlines across the world, but they are merely a taster of Burma's wider ruin.

Many are skeptical as to the effect a shift towards greater dialogue between the generals and Washington will have. Will it be able to tackle entrenched corruption in Burmese society, or draw the junta away from a myopic focus on its military to the pitifully undernourished health and education sectors? Will it address what the US said this week were ongoing restrictions against religious freedom in the country?

The Obama administration has made comparatively little mention of ongoing crises in Burma's remote ethnic regions that lie well beyond the Rangoon-to-Naypyidaw diplomatic corridor, and that underlies the country's fragile state. Low-intensity conflict has steadily eaten away at these regions for decades, with groups sparring with the government for autonomy. A US health academic, Chris Beyrer, testifying in front of the House last week relegated this issue to "the second major cause for concern in Burma today".

The comment would have come as a blow to the millions of ethnic Burmese that for decades have been ousted, just like Suu Kyi, from any part of Burma's political decision-making process. Beyrer cited research that found that more than a quarter of families in Shan state, which borders China, had been forcibly relocated by government troops in the past year, while 24 percent had one family member taken by the army for forced labour.

Since independence in 1948, successive military governments dominated by the majority Burman population have enacted a kind of racial supremacy, and thus meted out a particularly violent brand of the minority treatment to all other ethnic groups. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), which ostensibly represents the estimated six million Burmese Shan, came one place behind Suu Kyi's party in the 1990 elections. Its leader, Khun Htun Oo, was sentenced in 1995 to 93 years imprisonment on defamation charges, but the subject of his release remains conspicuously absent from any of the stated US goals for the country.

Burma's fragile border regions are another cause for concern, nearly all of which have at one point or another in recent months been the site of major flare-ups. In June, 5,000 refugees poured across the border from Karen state into Thailand following fighting between government troops and the ethnic Karen National Union (KNU). In August and September, an exodus of some 37,000 ethnic Shan fled into China after troops launched an offensive against an ethnic Kokang army. The Muslim Rohingya community in eastern Burma continues to be pushed back and forth across the border between Bangladesh, with neither country wanting the impoverished and persecuted minority.

If the US had hoped to look for assistance from Burma's regional neighbours, it had better think again. While Thailand, as head of the regional bloc, has perhaps made the biggest strides in recent months towards pressuring the regime, its lip-service is less than convincing. Last week it oversaw the launch of the region's first human rights body which, with no punitive powers, appears to be little more than a flimsy platform for further soft condemnation.

Thailand's indifference to the crisis is all the more perplexing given that it criticised the fighting near the border in June for its regional ramifications. Beyrer last week pointed out that one medical clinic in the Thai border town of Mae Sot had treated some 20,000 Burmese nationals in the past year, many of whom had suffered as a result of the fighting. These were people unable to find adequate treatment their own country, which spends around $US0.70 per person each year on healthcare. It's a statistic that alone provides ample evidence of the mountain the US has to climb when faced with a government that channels some 40 percent of its budget into the military, and was accused recently of siphoning $US9 billion out of state funds into private Singaporean banks.

Powerful symbolic rhetoric is what won Obama office, but it is yet to be seen whether that can translate into rounded, pragmatic diplomacy. The mass of issues that don't make headlines need to be factored into the engagement process; this is what Burma needs, and Suu Kyi's place at the top of the priority list, elevated way beyond the multitude of Burma's other pressing crises, may well be a sign of the new US administration's shortcomings.

China denounced by anti-pipeline protesters

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Oct 29, 2009 (DVB), Protesters yesterday expressed "grave concern" about China's multi-billion dollar gas and oil pipeline project in Burma that they claim poses serious risks both to Burmese citizens and regional security.

The pipeline project also poses "financial and image risks to China, [and] we are calling for the project to be suspended unless these risks can be mitigated", said the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) in an open letter to the Chinese government.

The letter was accompanied by protests yesterday outside the Chinese consulate in Thailand's northern town of Chiang Mai.

"The ongoing Shwe Gas project and other gas pipelines are strategic projects for the [Burmese] and the Chinese government," said Win Aung, international coordinator for SGM.

"We need to think of possible negative effects and a conflict between the two countries that will emerge from the projects. That's why are calling on the Chinese government to stop."

The 980-kilometer pipelines will run across the breadth of Burma, from its western shore on the Bay of Bengal to China's southern Yunnan province.

The project will give China access to Burma's vast offshore gas reserves as well as oil shipped over from the Middle East.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which holds a 50 percent stake in the project in partnership with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), will manage the operation.

"Based on experiences in Burma, partnerships with the MOGE on infra-structure development projects invariably leads to forced displacement, forced labour and loss of livelihoods," the letter said.

"There are already reports of human rights violations in [Burma's western] Arakan state connected to the project's exploration phase, including arrests and beatings of fishermen, and abuses will escalate as the project progresses."

In tandem with exponential economic and population growth, China went from being a net exporter of oil in the 1980s to a net importer by 1993.

According to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), China's oil consumption grows by 7.5 percent each year, seven times faster than the United States. The SGM letter acknowledged China's increasing energy needs, but said that "urgent measures are required" to ensure regional stability and development.

It added that Chinese companies and the Burmese army would be responsible for exporting vast quantities of oil and gas from Burma "while the electricity consumption per capita in Burma is less than five percent of the Chinese people".

"This is a dangerous combination which could further fuel serious conflicts and anti-Chinese sentiment in Burma", it said, pointing to the hike in fuel prices which ignited the September 2007 uprising in Burma.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

Torture used on ‘ordinary criminals’ in Burma

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Oct 29, 2009 (DVB), Victims of state-sanctioned torture in Burma range from the elderly to teenage girls who lack any sort of institutional measures to tackle the problem, an investigation has found.

Furthermore, Burma's 2008 constitution does not prohibit the use of torture, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said.

The latest investigation deviates from the common belief that torture is reserved for political prisoners, and warns that "perpetrators do not discriminate" over their victims.

AHRC documented the case of two young males who were beaten by police "hundreds of times" with batons and made to stand on their tiptoes with sharp spikes under their feet and pose "like I was riding a motorcycle".

The report states that these methods are commonly associated with military officers or army troops in Burma, but in this case the perpetrators "were police in an ordinary suburban station".

"Thus the methods of torture ordinarily associated with cases of political prisoners or alleged insurgents are actually in the entire system," AHRC said.

It adds that torture victims are "typical of the overwhelming majority of victims throughout Asia: poor people accused of ordinary crimes, for which the purpose of the torture is both to extract confessions and/or to obtain money".

Burma has never been a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which provides for consideration of torture as a crime against humanity.

Several reports have been released in recent years that have documented torture as a state policy in Burma, although much of the material has focused on political prisoners.

Kyaw Hsan Hlaing, who as a 15-year-old was sentenced to five years in prison following the 1988 uprising in Burma, told DVB that interrogators often employ both physical and psychological torture to extract information.

"In prison you are put on your own for long periods of time; you have no contact with other people," he said. "This loneliness is one of the worst effects of psychological torture."

He added that there is no psychological therapy for torture victims upon release from prison, and many cross the border into Thailand to seek help among exiled organizations.

"For political prisoners they often can't go back to their families or really associate with other people inside the country," he said. "They become very aggressive, very irritable and very fragile."

Reporting by Francis Wade

15-year sentence for displaying a poster

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Oct 28, 2009 (DVB), A courtroom in Rangoon has handed down a 15-year sentence to a man arrested after putting up a poster calling for the release of political prisoners in Burma.

The family of Tin Htut Paing, from Rangoon's North Okkalapa township, was barred from attending the trial, which began in April this year.

His father said that he had been convicted on four different charges, including illegal border crossing and the Unlawful Association Act.

"We knew he was going to be sentenced on the 26 October but we didn't have permission to attend the hearing," said Htay Win.

"It would have been nice if the court allowed us to attend the hearing of the verdict. The same thing happened when my wife was sentenced; we were denied entry to the court."

Htay Win's wife, 52-year-old Daw Nge, is a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Tamwe township. She was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on charges related to the September 2007 monk-led protests.

He said that Tin Htut Paing had been kept in detention for more than a month before the trial began, and "was denied food for two days and faced harsh interrogations".

The United States government has pinpointed the release of political prisoners in Burma as a key goal for engagement with the regime.

Observers are concerned however that the government will paradoxically step up its efforts to silence political opposition in the run-up to elections next year, despite pressure from the US.

"We will definitely see the number of arrests of activists growing before the elections," said Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP). "The regime sees them a big threat".

Burma currently holds 2,119 political prisoners, some with sentences of more than 100 years, according to AAPP. Around 190 of these are women, while 219 are monks, many of whom were sentenced follow the September 2007 protests.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw and Francis Wade

Rangoon to ban plastic bags

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Oct 28, 2009 (DVB), Plastic bag factories in Rangoon have been ordered by local authorities to stop production by the end of November or face heavy punishment, as the Burmese government looks to ban plastic bags.

Factory owners have complained however that they are likely to face serious loss of investment given the lack of prior warning about the ban.

There are currently around 150 registered plastic bag factories in Rangoon, as well as a number of unregistered ones. It is not clear what punishment violators of the ban would face.

Myat Thin, administration committee chair of Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Rangoon, said that two plastic bag factories located in his zone have been notified about the order.

"A plan to replace plastic bags with another source of wrapper is in place because plastic can harm the environment," he said.

"The Myanmar [Burma] Plastic Industries Association has been appointed to implement the plan."

Myanmar Plastic Industries Association's central executive committee member Hla Win said the group held a meeting yesterday but refused to give details on what was discussed.

Rangoon is following in the footsteps of central Burma's Mandalay and the new capital Naypyidaw, both of which have eliminated plastic bags.

Prior to June this year, Mandalay had looked set to distribute free plastic bags to residents before the proposal was quickly cancelled.

Not all are convinced by the plan, however. A plastic bag factory owner in Rangoon said that it would be difficult to enforce the ban because "plastic bags are basic daily tools used by people".

Similarly, a Mandalay local said that the substitute wrapping would be poorly suited to carrying liquids; a common usage of plastic bags in Burma.

Burmese writer and environmentalist Kyaw Yin Myint said that the move was welcome, but that more needed to be done.

"Just restriction is not enough. Another source to replace the plastic bags should be provided," he said.

Reporting by Aye Nai

Thai police raid Karen National Union homes

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Oct 28, 2009 (DVB), Thai security officers yesterday raided around 10 houses belonging to key Karen leaders in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

Among those searched were houses belonging to the chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), General Tamala Baw, and general secretary Naw Zipporrah Sein, KNU officials said.

Thai authorities were reportedly not checking legal documents, an excuse frequently used to raid property, but were searching for weapons and explosives.

According to unconfirmed reports, explosives used to make landmines were found at a house belonging to the wife of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) commander, Nardah Mya. The KNLA is the armed wing of the KNU.

The woman is now reportedly in detention. Nardah Mya himself was charged earlier this year by Thai authorities for illegal possession of firearms.

Migrant schools and offices belonging to Burmese organizations in Mae Sot have closed following widespread panic about further raids.

Last week Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared to hold cordial dicussions with his Burmese counterpart at the 15th ASEAN summit in Thailand.

Burmese prime minister Thein Sein reportedly promised that Burma would not be used as a launch pad for attacks by other countries on Thailand.

The KNU has long kept a presence on the Thai side of the border, and controlled much of the black market border trade. Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Sinawatra's close relationship with the Burmese junta however placed a strain on KNU activity in Thailand.

Reporting by DVB

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