Freedom of Association in Burma: Sunlight or False Dawn? – The Irrawaddy
July 16th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18981
With elections scheduled for later this year, a fierce debate has emerged among those who the polls as an opportunity, albeit limited, to open up some democratic space in a military-ruled country, and those who view the process as a sham aimed at legitimizing continued military rule.
A relatively light-handed reaction to a series of strikes in late 2009 and early 2010 has some thinking that with an election looming, the ruling junta does not want to be seen clamping down on public gatherings.
According to Steve Marshall, the liaison officer for the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Burma, “The fact that the country is moving toward general elections and a parliamentary system of government is opening some windows of opportunity for positive change. It is important that these opportunities be recognized and constructively taken.”
Some of the recent labor strikers were relatives of military officers, another factor possibly curtailing any potential crackdown. Some of the personnel working to reduce the prevalence of forced labor in Burma are simultaneously members of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), a 28-million member “civil society” organization that is widely regarded as a junta front, with many of its members coerced into joining.
The strikes were similar in origin to protests that precipitated the 2007 Saffron Revolution, based on economic factors generally, and price increases specifically. A late 2009 wage hike for the public sector drove up prices for basic goods, putting pressure on incomes elsewhere as private sector wages stayed as they were.
Despite these echoes, and although public gatherings of more than five people are prohibited, police action was restricted to crowd control during the strikes. Criminal charges were not leveled against strike leaders, and officials acted as mediators between the employers and disgruntled workers. (more…)
Thailand buys sugar for the first time in 30 years – Financial Times
July 13th, 2010
By Tim Johnston and Simon Roughneen in Bangkok and Jack Farchy and Jun Merrett in London
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/508e30b2-8e60-11df-964e-00144feab49a.html
At Big C in Bang Na, a Bangkok suburb, no sugar has been on the shelves for a week. Montree Thamnuwat, the manager, says the supermarket tried to save its dwindling supplies by restricting customers to one kilo each – to no avail.
Thailand is the second biggest sugar exporter, but for the first time in three decades on Tuesday, amid an acute shortfall in domestic supplies, it went into the market to buy.
The government bought more than 74,000 tonnes of white sugar from international trading houses at up to $720 a tonne for delivery between July and September.
Although the Thai tender was small relative to the size of trade in the commodity, the move has helped underpin a tight market. (more…)
Israel, Vatican: A Magdalene meeting point – Asia Times
July 13th, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LG14Ak03.html
Synagogue dig at Magdala. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
TIBERIAS – The breeze cooling the furnace-like lakeshore funnels down between hills behind, redolent of history like so much else in the Holy Land. One, an extinct volcano popularised as the ‘Horns of Hattin’, marks the site where Saladin defeated a Crusader army in 1187. Closer again is the cliff-face where over a thousand years before, Jews are said to have committed mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Romans in 67 AD, 3 years before the destruction of Jerusalem and a better-known mass suicide at the Masada.
Downhill is the reed-laden lakeshore along the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus Christ walked. He may well even have preached in a startling new discovery 200m from the water’s edge at Magdala, thought to be the home-place of Mary Magdalene, 5km from Tiberias and around the same from Capernaum. A synagogue dating to the first century AD, possibly destroyed during the same Jewish revolt, has been discovered during excavations for the construction of a new Catholic pilgrimage center.
Like many other locations in the country, Magdala is precious to more than one religion. An image of a seven-branched menorah (a type of candelabra) found at the synagogue dig is apparently a replica of the the iconic menorah held at the Second Temple, nowadays reproduced on Israel’s coat of arms. The temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD , marking the start of 2000 years of Jewish dispersal prior to the formation of Israel in 1948. (more…)
Thai group thinks big in China – Financial Times
July 12th, 2010
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/07/12/thai-group-thinks-big-in-china/
Just as Jeffrey Immelt, the General Electric chief executive, and other foreign businessmen are complaining about the difficulties of operating in China, along comes a Thai company with plans for a multi-billion dollar investment programme in the Middle Kingdom.
CP group, the Thai company that was the first group to come into China in the post-Mao opening up, is ploughing in $2bn into a new real estate development in Henan, with similar-sized projects lined-up for Shanghai, Shandong and Guangzhou. The company intends to expand a 73-outlet hypermarket chain to 1000 over the coming decade. If that is not a vote confidence – and an alert to the competition, then it is hard to say what is.
With Rmb11bn in sales last year, CP is currently a distant fourth in a sector led by RT-Mart, which has sales of Rmb38.8bn or 10.7 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor. Carrefour ranked second with Rmb33.5bn (9.2 per cent) with Wal-Mart was third at Rmb31.2bn (8.6 per cent).
The move highlights the long-standing links and growing links between China and its neighbours, especially those like Thailand with significant ethnic Chinese populations. (more…)
Young blood – The Irrawaddy
July 12th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18950
BANGKOK—The number of child soldiers in Burma is impossible to verify and recruitment appears to be ongoing in the Burmese armed forces and ethnic militias, despite some positive steps to curb the practice.
Burma’s ruling military has long stood accused of a practice perhaps better known in west Africa’s civil wars, popularized by scenes of drugged 12-year-olds firing AK-47s at Leonardo DiCaprio’s mercenary character in the movie “Blood Diamond,” which was set in Sierra Leone.
In 2002, Human Rights Watch estimated that there were about 70,000 child soldiers in Burma, a figure that has never been effectively confirmed or rebutted. The NGO Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers says Burma as the only Asian country where government armed forces forcibly recruit children.
According to the US State Department’s newly-released “Trafficking in Persons” report: “The regime’s widespread use of and lack of accountability in forced labor and recruitment of child soldiers is particularly worrying and represents the top causal factor for Burma’s significant trafficking problem.”
Worldwide, there are thought to be between 250,000 to 300,000 combatants under the age of 18 in state armies or militia groups.
Speaking in Bangkok, International Labor Organisation (ILO) liaison officer in Burma Steve Marshall told The Irrawaddy that “Whilst a lot more still needs to be done, the [Burmese] army has taken positive steps toward enforcing the minimum age for recruitment and discharging children found to have been illegally recruited.” (more…)
Thailand defends continued emergency rule – Financial Times
July 9th, 2010
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90873458-8b26-11df-a4b4-00144feab49a.html
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
The Thai government on Friday defended its move to extend a state of emergency covering about a quarter of the country, despite criticism of its restrictions on civil rights and the potential impact on reconciliation efforts.
Thailand has been peaceful since the army forcibly ended anti-government protests in Bangkok on May 19. By the end, the weeks of street violence had left almost 90 people dead and over 1,000 injured, mostly civilians.
Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister, on Friday warned of “preparations for anti-government activities” that justified the government’s move this week to retain emergency rule in the capital and 18 other provinces for another 90 days. The Department of Special Investigation, the Thai equivalent to MI5, said it was investigating “an anti-monarchy network” encompassing some opposition parliamentarians and protest leaders. (more…)
EU Sanctions on Tay Za’s Son Upheld – The Irrawaddy
July 8th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=18909
In a May 19 court judgment that went almost unnoticed, Pye Phyo Tay Za, the son of junta-linked businessman Tay Za, lost a legal bid to have EU sanctions against him overturned and was ordered to pay the court costs for the Council of the European Union.
Pye Phyo had argued that he is neither a member of Burma’s military government nor associated with it, and does not benefit from “the administration of that government.” His lawyers, London-based law firm Carter-Ruck, claimed that “neither the applicant [Pye Phyo] nor his father received any benefits from the regime.”
But Tay Za is widely-regarded as having built a multifaceted, multi-billion dollar business empire based on close connections with Burma’s ruling military, including junta-chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe. (more…)
New BoT head gives himself a headstart – Financial Times
July 7th, 2010
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
The Bank of Thailand’s new governor just can’t wait to get started. Long before he officially takes up the post on October 1, Prasarn Trairatvorakul launched into action today, surprising reporters with a statement that Thailand’s interest rate would jump to 2 per cent by the end of 2010.
An interest rate hike had been mooted, with current governor Tarisa Watanagase saying last month that interest rates are too low at the current 1.25 per cent. But she is unlikely to take offence at Prasarn’s dawn salvo. Rather, she will be well pleased by the clear promise of continuity of monetary policy. (more…)
Bank of Thailand gets new boss but state of emergency remains – Financial Times
July 6th, 2010
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
Congratulations were the first order of the day after getting through to the Kasikorn Bank HQ this afternoon. President Dr Prasarn Trairatvorakul was earlier named the next governor of the Bank of Thailand during a Thai cabinet meeting, and with a number of key policy decisions looming on interest rates and forex, his thoughts on these matters will be keenly-awaited.
However, for now, he’s likely to keep his views to himself. According to his spokesperson, the new BoT governor cannot discuss his new role with the media until King Bhumibol Adulyadej formally approves the appointment. But some hints may be in the offing when Dr Prasarn speaks at a conference tomorrow morning, at the Queens Park Hotel in downtown Bangkok. (more…)
Gas revenues fund Burma nuke programme – The Irrawaddy
July 5th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18876
Billions of dollars in gas revenues have been siphoned away by the Burmese military junta and are helping fund a clandestine nuclear weapons program, according to a new report released on Monday in Paris by international environmental group, EarthRights International (ERI).
Titled “Energy Insecurity: How Total, Chevron, and PTTEP Contribute to Human Rights Violations, Financial Secrecy, and Nuclear Proliferation in Burma (Myanmar),” the report comes hot on the heels of an exposé by exiled Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)—based on material from Burmese army defectors—which added credence to allegations that the military rulers of Burma are seeking nuclear weapons technology and are in breach of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
ERI says that this activity is likely to be funded by revenues from the Yadana Gas field in the Bay of Bengal. Former International Atomic Energy Agency director Robert Kelley described the nuclear activity taking place in Burma as “useful only for weapons.” (more…)
