Clouds of War over Burma – ISN
September 11th, 2009
The ruling junta may provoke renewed conflict with ethnic minorities ahead of 2010 elections as it seeks to impose its will on autonomous borderlands, Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.
Recent fighting in northern Burma sent over 35,000 refugees into China, prompting fears that the ruling junta is seeking a
Protestors in London, 2007 (cc) Orhan Tsolak/flickr
military solution to its recent demand that 17 ethnic militias based in Burma’s borderlands merge with the state security forces before 2010 elections.
Over the weekend of 28 August, the junta’s army overran territory previously controlled by one of the militias, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, comprised of Kokang-Chinese who have been in the region for decades. The group – like many of the other militias in the borderlands – is thought to be involved in the ‘Golden Triangle’ drug trade.
The fighting came just days after US Senator Jim Webb’s visit to Burma, where he met the junta’s leader, General Than Shwe, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite US and international condemnation of sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months house arrest on 11 August, Webb got little by way of concessions from the junta. He secured the release of John Yettaw, the apparent guilty party in the case that saw Suu Kyi found guilty of violating her original house arrest terms. However, as things stand, the junta will proceed with elections scheduled for 2010, without Suu Kyi, without her National League for Democracy (NLD) and without the 2,100 political prisoners currently in jail in Burma.
Webb since penned an op-ed in the New York Times, pushing his view that the US should engage with the junta, which in turn has drawn scorn from Burmese exiles, who cite remarks by Suu Kyi’s lawyer countering Webb’s statement that she would consider supporting reduced sanctions on the junta. (more…)
Junta Gas Profits Stashed in Singapore Banks: ERI – The Irrawaddy
September 10th, 2009
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16762
ERIs Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo discuss the reports (Simon Roughneen)
At a Bangkok press conference on Thursday, Earthrights International (ERI) launched two reports alleging that oil giants Total and Chevron are linked to “forced labor, killings, high-level corruption and authoritarianism” in Burma.
The reports, titled “Total Impact” and “Getting it Wrong,” examine how revenue from the Yadana gas project sustains military rule in Burma and undermines Western sanctions.
The NGO also said that two Singapore-based banks—Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and DBS Group—function as “offshore repositories” for junta revenues accruing from the Yadana gas project.
The report said that Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council has earned almost US $5 billion from the gas pipeline project.
By using an outdated exchange rate, the junta declares a fraction of the revenues to the State budget, enabling it to siphon the rest off. The junta calculates revenue at just 6 kyat to the dollar when the de facto rate is closer to 1,000.
According to a confidential International Monetary Fund (IMF) report obtained by ERI, revenue “contributed less than 1 percent of total budget revenue in 2007/08, but would have contributed about 57 percent if valued at the market exchange rate.”
The report says these rates allow the regime to list a mere $29 million of the Yadana earnings, leaving around $4.8 billion unaccounted for, which ERI believes to be lodged in the Singapore banks. (more…)
The Military’s Role in Asean Nations – The Irrawaddy
September 9th, 2009
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16748
NEWS ANALYSIS – By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
Most of Southeast Asia has experienced military rule at some stage since the Colonial Era ended, and the political role of the region’s military institutions has shaped and influenced politics right up to the present day.
The often-decisive interventions of the military in national politics have restricted the development of democracy, freedom of speech and human rights in many countries. (more…)
More killings in Thailand’s south – Sunday Business Post
September 6th, 2009
http://thepost.ie/news/world/thai-terror-campaign-continues-with-further-attacks-in-south-44137.html
Soldier on guard after a bomb attack in Yala province, south of Bangkok, on Aug. 22, 2009 (Surapan Boonthanom/Reuters)
BANGKOK – A spate of shootings, bombings and military raids last week left 12 people dead and dozens wounded in Thailand’s restive south, where a terror campaign has killed more than 3,700 people since January 2004.
The surge in violence coincided with the Muslim celebration of Ramadan. ‘‘The number of incidents goes up every year during this period,” said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, of Pattani’s Prince of Songkhla University. ‘‘Some believe that insurgents stage symbolic attacks during Ramadan, to demonstrate that their objective is ethno-political, rather than religious.”
Last week’s killings took place just a few hours’ drive from Thai land’s popular southern beaches and resorts. So far, however, the insurgents have not targeted foreigners or Thailand’s tourist infrastructure, which may explain why the beheadings, bombings and drive-by shootings have not yet altered tourists’ perceptions of this holiday paradise.
However, the country’s export-oriented economy is struggling amid the global downturn, and is expected to shrink by between 2.8 and 3.6 per cent this year.That downturn, combined with domestic political unrest, has also hit tourist numbers.
In the first seven months of 2009, the number of arrivals fell by 15.5 per cent, a significant drop as the sector contributed almost 6 per cent to the country’s GDP last year (more…)
Junta Continues its Campaign against Burmese Diversity – The Irrawaddy
September 3rd, 2009
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16712
Recent fighting in northern Shan state, between the junta’s army and the ethnic Kokang militia known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, has fuelled speculation that the regime intends to coerce Burma’s 17 ceasefire groups into accepting a plan to incorporate them into the state security apparatus as border guards.
The ceasefire groups are ethnic militias—most notably the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Kachin Independence Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army—that have fought on and off, in various guises, against central rule since Burma became independent in 1948. They are part of Burma’s remarkably diverse ethnic, religious and cultural demography—40 percent of the country’s population is comprised of non-Burman minorities. In total, the state recognizes 135 different ethnicities.
However, the Burmese regime’s army has fought brutal campaigns against these groups, with long-documented human rights abuses, including mass displacement, forced labor and conscription, as well as countless cases of rape and murder targeting civilians. Some analysts believing that the level of abuses ranks alongside or even exceeds that of Darfur in western Sudan. (more…)
Myanmar refugees return as fighting cools – The Washington Times
September 3rd, 2009
Government troops clashing with ethnic militia
By Michael Standaert and Simon Roughneen
Chinese soldiers watch as refugees cross from Myanmar last Friday (AFP/Getty)
LINCANG, China | A few thousand Myanmar refugees have returned home this week during a lull in fighting between government troops and an ethnic militia that has roiled relations between Myanmar and its closest foreign ally — China.
U Aung Kyaw Zaw, an expert on the military situation in northeastern Myanmar who lives in the Chinese city of Yunnan, said Wednesday that the situation has stabilized somewhat but that many of the estimated 37,000 Burmese who fled here last week are still afraid to go home to their country, also known as Burma.
“The Chinese want to show the world that they are treating the refugees well and have control of the situation,” he said.
The recent fighting suggests that the ruling junta in Myanmar seeks to extend control over rebel-held territory in advance of 2010 elections.
The violence has pitted the junta against the Kokang — ethnic Chinese who have lived in Myanmar for generations. The offensive, launched last month against the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) militia in a section of the largely autonomous Shan state along the border of China’s Yunnan province, broke a 20-year-long cease-fire.
On Tuesday, state-run Chinese media reported that about 2,800 of the refugees had returned to Myanmar.
According to the Burmese-exile newspaper Irrawaddy, the Myanmar junta is using the lull in the fighting to reinforce its forces in Shan state in what could be a prelude to action against other ethnic militias in the region. (more…)
Indonesia steps into the spotlight – The Irrawaddy
September 1st, 2009
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16673
Southeast Asia’s largest and most democratic country shows a willingness to take the lead in directly engaging the Burmese junta to move toward democracy
Sept09 print ed of The Irrawaddy
The Burmese military junta appears to be impervious to international pressure. It might well respond to some harsh words from Beijing or New Delhi, but for now neither tough international rhetoric nor economic sanctions have done much to loosen the regime’s iron grip on power.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has been particularly acquiescent, holding fast to its cherished principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states.
It came as something of a surprise, then, when Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr Hassan Wirajuda, speaking in advance of the Asean Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand, said that the junta must release Aung San Suu Kyi for the 2010 elections to be deemed free and fair.
Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, speaking to The Irrawaddy prior to the sentencing of Suu Kyi to 18 months under house arrest, said, “It is not the first time that Indonesia has told the Myanmar [Burmese] government that we expect a fully inclusive political process.”
Despite its unexpected departure from the Asean party line, however, some observers say it is too early to judge whether Indonesia—a country that has undergone a remarkable political transformation over the past decade—is about to take the Asean body in a new direction in its approach to Burma. (more…)
On the lash in Malaysia – Eureka Street
September 1st, 2009
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=16128
Grabbing a beer along Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Ampang last week, it would be difficult to imagine that sharia law applied to 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 27 million people. Tourists and local revelers bar-hopped along a strip that pounds to the usual dance, trance and RnB. All lubricated by beer flowing like water, with poured-into-the-dress waitresses peddling shots of vodka and tequila by the tray-full.So you might be forgiven for thinking that I, an Irishman, am in my element. The food is great, the beaches are fantastic, and Kuala Lumpur features two of the world’s most spectacular vertigo-inducing urban landmarks — the Petronas Towers and the KL Tower — both among the world’s tallest buildings.
Still, all’s not what it seems in this slickly-marketed, ‘moderate Islamic’ tourist magnet. (more…)
Teenage angst in East Timor – The Casual Truth
August 31st, 2009
http://thecasualtruth.com/node/77
Building for the future: trainees learn basic construction as part of a USAID-funded Education Development Centre project (Simon Roughneen)
Yesterday, East Timor (the official name is ‘Timor-Leste’) marked a decade since it voted to end Indonesia’s long, brutal and illegal occupation. It is sure to be an emotional occasion – a time for celebration certainly, and maybe for somber reflection.
After all, an estimated 150,000 people died during the 24 years Jakarta put its jackboot to the Timorese throat. Out of a population of around 700,000 in 1974, when Portuguese colonial rule ended, this is perhaps the highest death-toll per capita of any conflict anywhere, since World War II. It is hard to find any Timorese person who has not been touched, one way or another, by such large-scale tragedy.
The 10th anniversary of Independence
With the anniversary looming, many activists and NGOs jumped at the opportunity to lobby again for some form of justice for past crimes perpetrated in East Timor. The government in Dili does not want this, preferring instead to maintain good relations with Indonesia, the now-amicable ex-invader to the north (and east, and west).
Both sides of this debate have merit, though perhaps not equal merit. However, dealing with the past should not mean future progress must be neglected, or international relationships compromised.
Therefore, given the retrospective theme of much of the 10th anniversary coverage so far, it is worth looking into the country’s future – through a dark glass though, rather than any crystal ball clarity. (more…)
Cardinal Zen Interview – NCRegister
August 25th, 2009
http://www.ncregister.com/daily/cardinal_zen_interview/
This exclusive interview with Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen will appear in the Sept. 6 print issue of the Register:
Cardinal Zen and Pope Benedict XVI (Asianews.it)
Cardinal Zen on China and Christianity
Cardinal Joseph Zen is sometimes called “the new conscience of Hong Kong.”
That’s due to his outspoken defense of religious freedom and political rights.
He has often been the target of criticism from state media in mainland China, and he was banned from entering China from 1998-2004. For example, he used his position to oppose the “consecration” of two bishops who belong to the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. He later referred to the nominations, which did not have papal sanction, as “a declaration of war.”
Since he stepped down as archbishop of Hong Kong, he has continued to be outspoken. He denounced “false interpretations” of the latest papal encyclical in China, after fears that Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) could be manipulated to vindicate the Communist regime’s social and economic policies.
Cardinal Zen, the only Chinese cardinal under the age of 80, spoke with Register correspondent Simon Roughneen. (more…)
