*************************************************************
BURMA RELATED NEWS - FEBRUARY 14, 2008
*************************************************************
HEADLINES
*************************************************************
Reuters - Myanmar rebel leader shot dead in Thai town
Reuters - Senators urge top U.S. honor for Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Reuters - UN Myanmar envoy criticizes holding of dissident
AP - Rare sandpipers found in Myanmar
AP - India: Militants abducting recruits
AP - China pledges to sup****t UN special envoy on Myanmar
Xinhua News - Chinese FM, U.N. chief discuss envoy's China visit over
phone
BBC News - Stakes high for Burma's 'roadmap'
Asia Times - Asia's tigers eye nuclear future
Mizzima News - UN chief convenes second 'Group of Friends' meeting on
Burma
Irrawaddy - Tay Za Buys ****ps in Korea
DVB News - NLD member given life sentence for sedition
*************************************************************
Myanmar rebel leader shot dead in Thai town
Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:47 PM GMT
By Somjit Rungjumratrussamee
MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A leader of Myanmar's biggest
rebel group was shot dead at his home in a Thai border town on
Thursday in an assassination immediately blamed on troops loyal to the
former Burma's military junta.
Mahn Sha Lar Phan, secretary-general of the Karen National Union
(KNU), was shot at his two-storey wooden home by two men who arrived
in a pickup truck, his neighbour Kim Suay told Reuters at the scene.
He died instantly.
"One of them walked up to the house and said in Karen 'How are you,
uncle?' Then the other man joined him after parking the truck and they
both shot him with two pistols," she said, her voice shaking with
emotion.
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, he had predicted a possible
increase in violence ahead of a constitutional referendum in the
former Burma in May.
However, the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation
Army (KNLA), are riven by internal feuds and lethal vendettas.
His son Hse Hse, another senior member of the predominantly Christian
Karen rebel movement, blamed a Buddhist Karen splinter group which
brokered a truce with the Myanmar junta in the mid-1990s.
"This is the work of the DKBA and the Burmese soldiers,"" Hse Hse
said, referring to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
The Irrawaddy, an exile-run magazine based in the northern Thai city
of Chiang Mai, said there had been several recent attacks and
assassination attempts between mainstream KNU members and the
breakaway 7th Brigade led by Htain Maung, which agreed a ceasefire
with the junta last year.
"Last month, Colonel Ler Moo, the son-in-law of breakaway leader Htain
Maung, was killed in a bomb attack while sleeping at a communications
office near the group's headquarters," the magazine said on its Web
site www.irrawaddy.org.
The Karen have been fighting for independence in the hills of eastern
Myanmar for the last 60 years, one of the world's longest-running
insurgencies.
Thai police said they had the registration number of the truck and
were setting up roadblocks around Mae Sot, a "wild west" frontier town
of refugees, illegal migrants and gem dealers, to try to catch the two
killers.
*************************************************************
Senators urge top U.S. honor for Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Wed Feb 13, 6:19 PM ET
WA****NGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators introduced legislation on
Wednesday to give the Congressional Gold Medal, America's top civilian
honor, to incarcerated Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen.
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, both long-time critics of Myanmar's
ruling military junta, put forth the bill with bipartisan sup****t of
73 other senators, they said.
Feinstein called Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi "a woman of unrivaled
courage and commitment" who offered hope and democracy to Myanmar,
formerly called Burma, which has been under military rule of one form
or another since 1962.
"This Congressional Gold Medal will not only honor the life and legacy
of this remarkable woman, it will also demonstrate to the world that
her cause is our cause: a free and democratic Burma," she said in a
statement.
The House of Representatives companion bill to the Suu Kyi legislation
passed with 400 to 0 vote on Dec 17. and the measure now needs to
clear a Senate committee before it can be brought before the full
Senate floor, the sponsors said.
Past recipients of the Gold Medal include Winston Churchill, Pope John
Paul II, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and most recently, Tibet's
Dalai Lama.
Myanmar violently suppressed a Buddhist monk-led pro-democracy
protests in September.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990, but the
army refused to hand over power and has detained her for most of the
time since then.
The junta this week announced a referendum on a new, as yet
unfinished, constitution in May to be followed by a general election
in 2010. Major dissident groups have already said they will campaign
to reject the military-drafted constitution.
*************************************************************
UN Myanmar envoy criticizes holding of dissident
Wed Feb 13, 9:08 PM ET
By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy to Myanmar
criticized its extension of the house arrest of a top opposition
politician on Wednesday but said its government might make a
concession on his own next visit to the country.
Myanmar's ruling military junta ordered Tin Oo, number two to detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, confined for another year. He has
been under house arrest since May 2003.
"That's not helpful. That's not what the international community would
like to see," envoy Ibrahim Gambari said after U.N. officials and
diplomats met to discuss Myanmar's weekend announcement of a
constitutional referendum and elections.
But Gambari said he believed the junta might allow him to pay his
third visit to try to resolve the political crisis since September's
crackdown on monk-led pro-democracy protests sooner than the mid-April
date it had proposed.
"I need to go there sooner rather than later, much sooner than April,
and I believe that will happen," he told re****ters. "I think they are
reconsidering -- bringing it earlier.
"Each time I go we should be making progress in addressing the
concerns of the international community -- release of Aung San Suu
Kyi, political prisoners, more substantive dialogue between Aung San
Suu Kyi and the government, and so on."
He gave no specific date. Aides said he would leave New York on
Saturday for visits to Myanmar's neighbors China, Indonesia and
Singa****e. Gambari sees regional powers as central to pu****ng Myanmar
into political concessions, but they have been reluctant to agree to
sanctions or other tough measures.
The junta made a surprise announcement on Saturday of a referendum on
a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May to be a followed by a
general election in 2010.
But opposition figures and some Western countries have voiced
skepticism that it will be willing to let the opposition compete in
the vote or to relinquish power.
Gambari described the situation as a "glass half full and half empty."
"At least we know something has happened, a timeline is given," he
said. "Now we'll get them to live up to their commitment, but also
make sure that all the gaps are filled in terms of the constitution,
an all-inclusive process and also the conditions for a credible
referendum and election."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and ambassadors from a group of so-
called "Friends on Myanmar" -- regional countries and big powers --
took part in Wednesday's meeting.
"There was a sense that (the Myanmar government) have been pushed into
producing this timeline but of course it's on a basis of no
consultation, no involvement of the political parties," said one
Western envoy who not to be identified.
"So I think the theme that came through from Gambari and others is
that for this to work there has to be genuine political freedom for
the parties to take part and to discuss and negotiate and be part of
the process with the regime."
*************************************************************
Rare sandpipers found in Myanmar
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer
Wed Feb 13, 9:55 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Eighty-four spoon-billed sandpipers have been
discovered in a coastal stretch of Myanmar, offering hope for saving
the endangered birds, a conservation group said Thursday.
The discovery in early February comes only months after Russian
researchers re****ted that numbers of the tiny birds -- with speckled
brow feathers and a distinctive spoon-shaped bill -- had dropped 70
percent in the past few years in their breeding sites in Siberia and
none had been seen this year in their traditional wintering sites in
Bangladesh, Britain-based conservation group BirdLife International
said.
The World Conservation Union lists the bird as endangered with only
200 to 300 pairs left in the wild.
The discovery of 84 birds wintering in Myanmar -- only one of which
appears to have come from Siberia -- raises the prospect of breeding
grounds elsewhere, BirdLife said. The birds' migration route takes
them from Siberia down through Japan, North Korea, South Korea,
mainland China and Taiwan, to their main wintering grounds in South
Asia.
"This is an im****tant piece of the jigsaw," Simba Chan, senior
conservation manager at BirdLife's Asia Division, said in a statement.
"If present trends continue, the spoon-billed sandpiper faces
extinction in the next few years. If we are to save the species, we
need to identify and conserve not only its breeding sites, but its
migration stopover sites and wintering grounds too."
Spoon-billed sandpipers face a myriad of threats because of their
complicated migration routes, from expanding shrimp farms and salt
pans in Bangladesh to coastal development in China and South Korea.
Their eggs are often eaten by foraging dogs and foxes in Russia.
Armed with historical records, satellite data and re****ts of
sightings, researchers set out three years ago to search for other
winter grounds for the shorebird in South Asia.
After finding nothing in India and only a handful of birds in
Bangladesh, they turned to Myanmar, where they found the birds at
Arakan in the Bay of Bengal, and Martaban Bay near the Thai border.
"It was a big relief that we finally have come close to solving the
mystery of the wintering sandpipers," said Christopher Zockler, part
of the international survey team that also included Thai, Japanese and
Russian bird experts.
Zockler said spoon-billed sandpipers are just one of a string of rare
birds found recently in Myanmar, putting it on the map of birders
worldwide. Two years ago, experts found the only other known
population of Gurney's Pitta outside of Thailand in Myanmar.
"Its coastlines have the potential for many more surprises," Zockler
said, adding that his team talked with the government about
designating protected areas where the spoon-billed sandpipers were
found. "It hasn't been surveyed at all before and it's less developed.
It's the last oasis in a very fast developing region."
*************************************************************
India: Militants abducting recruits
By WASBIR HUSSAIN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Feb 14, 5:23 AM ET
GAUHATI, India (AP) - A separatist group in India's remote northeast
has been forcibly recruiting people and taking them to camps in
neighboring Myanmar for military training, Indian police said
Thursday.
The group, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, which has been
fighting for a separate homeland for the Naga people, denied the
accusation, saying the recruits joined the organization voluntarily.
State police Chief D. Kumar said the rebels took 51 people between the
ages of 12 and 24 last month in Arunachal Pradesh state and sent
demands to villagers for more than 200 more.
Kumar said the rebels later released the younger children and some
others escaped. He said they are still holding 23 of the 51 people.
The rebel group has had a cease-fire with the Indian government since
2001, but it only prohibits militant activity in the state of
Nagaland. The group is still active in neighboring Arunachal Pradesh
and is believed to have some 5,000 fighters based in camps across the
border in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Kumar said the army would step up patrols in the area to stop the
abductions.
Kughalo Mulatonu, a senior leader of the Naga group, denied the
allegation.
"The boys have joined our group of their own volition following a
recruitment drive that we have launched. We have not kidnapped anybody
from Arunachal Pradesh," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
There are more than a dozen rebel groups operating in India's
northeast, a region wedged between Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and
Myanmar with only a thin land corridor, just 13 miles wide at its
narrowest point, connecting it to the rest of India.
Rebels say the region's indigenous people -- most of whom are
ethnically closer to groups in Myanmar and China than to the rest of
India -- are ignored by the federal government in New Delhi, some 1,000
miles to the west.
They accuse the Indian government of exploiting the northeast's rich
natural resources.
*************************************************************
China pledges to sup****t UN special envoy on Myanmar
AP - Friday, February 15
BEIJING - China sup****ts the efforts of the United Nations to help
bring reconciliation to Myanmar, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday,
ahead of a visit by the U.N. special envoy.
Ibrahim Gambari's visit to China, which does considerable trade with
Myanmar, comes after Myanmar's main opposition party staged a street
protest this week to complain that the ruling junta's recent moves
toward democracy were not enough.
The junta last week announced plans for a referendum this May on a
proposed new constitution, to be followed by a general election in
2010. The plans were made without consulting the country's main
opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and its detained
leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
"China is going to sup****t the mediation efforts of Gambari and the
secretary general of the United Nations," Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Liu Jianchao said at a news conference Thursday.
"We have taken note that the Myanmar government has taken steps toward
the right direction. We hope that Myanmar can continue to proceed to
promote democracy so as to achieve democratic reconciliation in
Myanmar," he said.
Gambari is scheduled to visit Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, before
flying to Jakarta and Singa****e, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
China objects to Western criticisms of the Myanmar's military regime,
saying that conditions in the country have improved dramatically since
a violent crackdown on peaceful protests in September.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962
and has not had a constitution since 1988, when the army brutally
suppressed pro-democracy protests and the current junta took power.
On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the junta to hold
substantive talks with Suu Kyi without delay to ensure that the
constitution represents all citizens.
He also urged the government to grant a visa to Gambari to allow him
to visit Myanmar again soon. Gambari has made two visits to promote
reconciliation after last year's crackdown on protesters.
Ban has made it clear the United Nations is highly critical of the
constitution-drafting process.
*************************************************************
Chinese FM, U.N. chief discuss envoy's China visit over phone
BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday exchanged
views over phone about a planned visit to China by Ibrahim Gambari,
Ban's Special Advisor on Myanmar, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in
a press release.
*************************************************************
BBC News - Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 18:05 GMT
Stakes high for Burma's 'roadmap'
By Andrew Harding, Asia correspondent, BBC News
It was an astute and unexpected gamble.
Last Saturday, Burmese state radio abruptly declared that it was "a
suitable time to change from a military government to a democratic
civilian administration".
This dramatic announcement came out of the blue - a reminder that
Burma is ruled by the whims of an isolated general who once decided to
move the country's capital virtually overnight on the advice of his
astrologers.
In fact, Senior General Than Shwe has been talking about his "roadmap"
towards "disciplined democracy" for so long that many had assumed it
was simply another delaying tactic by a junta which has clung
ruthlessly to power for decades.
But on Saturday, a reasonably precise timetable was suddenly
produced.
A referendum, the radio announcer declared, would be held in May on a
new constitution. Democratic multi-party elections would follow
smoothly two years later.
We shall probably never know exactly what prompted Than Shwe to make
this brusque move. Perhaps he had been planning it all along.
More likely he was prodded by China, and saw it as a useful way to
undercut international pressure on his government.
He may also have been motivated by concerns about his own failing
health and the security of his family in a notoriously unforgiving
political system.
Either way, the result is that Burma is now moving towards what may
well prove to be a defining political moment.
The stakes are very high.
Will the junta manage to control the process, sideline the UN,
outsmart its western critics and emerge in full control of a sham
democracy?
Or will opposition forces finally find a way - either by fighting or
joining the roadmap process - to push Burma towards genuine democratic
reform?
Right now, the odds seem to be stacked in the junta's favour.
Tight control
Let us start with the new constitution.
The drafting process could have been an op****tunity (even at this late
stage) to bring Burma's feuding political factions together.
Instead the do***ent was drawn up by a handpicked assembly, without
the participation of the country's main democratic opposition and its
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
It was finalised in secrecy, and has yet to be revealed in full.
However it is already clear that the constitution will ensure the
military retains a stranglehold on power in Burma, with a large share
of seats in government and parliament, and the right to sweep aside
civilian rule whenever required.
The constitution is also almost certain to bar Aung San Suu Kyi from
power (because she was married to a foreigner) and it may well find an
excuse to do the same for her party, the National League for Democracy
(NLD).
Of course the constitution could be rejected in May's referendum. But
that seems unlikely - criticism of the constitution is a criminal
offence.
The authorities are bound to keep a tight control over any voting
process - a secret ballot may not be deemed necessary - and will have
an army of well-rewarded, and often thuggish, loyalists from the mass
organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, to
"encourage" participation.
After years of political stagnation, many weary Burmese may choose to
vote for a flawed do***ent in the hope that it will at least be an
improvement on the status quo.
And what of Aung San Suu Kyi? Still under house arrest, she faces a
difficult choice.
Should she endorse the broad aims of the roadmap and use her
considerable moral authority try to find a way to ****ge the process in
a more democratic direction?
Or should she and the NLD boycott it, and hope that their sup****ters
can frustrate the military as they did when the NLD won the, quickly
overruled, election of 1990?
Both options carry substantial risks, and after experiencing years of
repression, the NLD is not the force it once was.
Climate of fear
There is, of course, the strong possibility of more street protests.
Those who led the demonstrations last August and September are without
doubt preparing more of the same.
The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks and the 88 Generation
Students have described the roadmap as a "declaration of war" and
May's referendum as "a battlefield".
That could spell real trouble for the junta. The economy remains in
dire straits and the hard****ps which prompted last year's protests are
now even more acute.
In that sense, time is not on the generals' side. They need to move
promptly to fix a new political system before popular anger boils
over.
But the military authorities showed in September that they are ready
to crush all opposition - even if that means violently confronting the
country's revered monks.
Given the pervasive atmosphere of fear in Burma, it seems unlikely,
though of course not impossible, that tens of thousands of civilians
will once again dare to take to the streets.
It is hard to judge the real impact of international pressure on such
an insular regime. But for what it is worth, China and the South East
Asian regional grouping Asean will probably be keen to give the
roadmap the benefit of the doubt, at least in the short term.
The UN has been effectively sidelined - its envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, is
being kept out of the country, presumably until the new constitution
is already a fait accompli.
Western countries will no doubt continue to call for a more inclusive,
democratic reform process, and perhaps tighten their financial
sanctions against the junta.
But as one Western diplomat privately admitted, "It's going to be
tough... Than Shwe has muddied the waters... It's a clever plan,"
which leaves the West with few options but to "work with the grain" of
the roadmap.
*************************************************************
Asia Times - Feb 15, 2008
Asia's tigers eye nuclear future
By Geoffrey Gunn
The 2005-07 spike in petroleum prices topping out at US$100 a barrel
has prodded economic planners across the globe to reconsider their
energy options in an age of growing concern over global warming and
carbon emissions.
The Southeast Asian economies, beneficiaries of an oil and gas ex****t
bonanza through the 1970s-1990s, now find themselves in an energy
crunch as once-ample reserves run down and the search is on for new
and cleaner energy supplies. Notably, regional leaders at the 13th
ASEAN Summit in Singa****e in November 2007 issued a statement
promoting civilian nuclear power, alongside renewable and alternative
energy sources.
ASEAN - which in 1971 endorsed a nuclear-free zone concept - also
sought to ensure that plutonium did not fall into the wrong hands
through the creation of a "regional nuclear safety regime". In
response, environmental activists across the region cited concerns
over nuclear power, highlighting concerns over safety and unstable
regional geologies. Undoubtedly they were taking a cue from Japan's
recent nuclear disaster. Singa****e, host of the ASEAN summit meeting,
made known its concerns.
East and Southeast Asia is the only region of the globe where nuclear
power generation is growing significantly. According to the Nuclear
Issues Briefing Paper, the region boasts 109 operational nuclear power
plants, with 18 more under construction and around 110 in the planning
stage. In addition, there are 56 research rectors in 14 countries.
Among major Pacific Rim countries, only New Zealand and Singa****e are
without research reactors. Much of the startling growth is in China
(10 units), Taiwan (6 units), India (15 units), Pakistan (2 units),
Japan (55 units) and South Korea (20 units).
Japan, which generates 29% of its power from nuclear energy, has two
plants under construction with 10 more planned. More than that, as
Gavan McCormack observes, Japan positions itself as a "plutonium
superpower", not only as the world's most committed nuclear country
but, even as one "nuclear obsessed". By this it is meant that, alone
among non-nuclear weapon states, Japan pursues the full nuclear cycle
in which plutonium is used as fuel after the reprocessing of spent
reactor waste, just as Japan has ac***ulated more than 45 tonnes of
plutonium or almost one fifth of the global stock of civil plutonium.
The high risks and vulnerability of nuclear power plants in
geologically unstable zones were dramatically highlighted by the
impact of an earthquake upon the Ka****wazaki-Kariwa nuclear power
plant in Niigata Prefecture on July 16, 2007. Fortified to withstand
earthquakes as strong as 6.5 on the Richter scale, the plant
nevertheless suffered a fire and leakage. In the 40 years since Japan
initiated its nuclear power industry no major quake-linked damage to
plants occurred. But in the past two years, three incidents occurred -
at the Onagawa Plant (August 2005); the ****ka Plant (March 2007); and
the Ka****wazaki Plant. In each case the maximum ground motion was
greater than seismic design criteria of the plants. Of great public
concern and a matter of high scandal, as Japanese scientist I****ba****
Katsuhiko explains, enforcement policy is also in "shambles".
Fossil fuel depletion
As Laos Vice Prime Minister Bounhang Vorachith re****tedly told Iran's
Ambassador to the land-locked Southeast Asia nation, in words
undoubtedly designed to defend national sovereignty from outside
interference, "Every country should be allowed to take advantage of
peaceful nuclear energy." Due to the depletion of oil reserves as well
as to the sharp increase in oil prices, the developing countries have
no alternative but to make use of nuclear energy, he said.
In the Southeast Asian region, country after country appears to be
getting that message, although hydro-electric-rich Laos is a major
exception. With the help of the World Bank and the ADB, Laos seeks to
position itself as the battery of mainland Southeast Asia, with
lucrative cross-border electricity sales with Thailand and Vietnam.
Even setting aside serious environmental questions raised by big dam
construction on the Mekong and its tributaries in Laos, the limits to
hydro-power generation are obvious. In any case, few nations are as
blessed in this regard as Laos, although river systems in Yunnan in
southwest China along with the Salween River flowing through Myanmar
are also being dammed and harnessed for this purpose.
While impoverished Laos is not a candidate for the development of
civilian nuclear power, neighboring Myanmar has declared its intention
to build at least a research reactor and has sent technicians to
Russia for training. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
inspectors who visited Myanmar in 2001 were not impressed with the
country's regulatory framework to develop nuclear energy. But the
notion that Myanmar is experimenting with nuclear weapons is
undoubtedly overhyped as it lacks the capacity to enrich uranium. In
fact, of the mainland Southeast Asian countries, Thailand and Vietnam
alone are considering nuclear power options, with Vietnam undoubtedly
further down the road to the realization of such a dream.
Thailand, which has long served as Laos' major purchaser of
hydropower, especially for the energy-deficient northeast - including
periods in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the two countries were
virtually at war - has now declared its nuclear power ambitions. Under
the so-called Power Development Plan, four 1,000-megawatt nuclear
power plants will be built and are expected to start generating
electricity around 2020-2021. Possible coastal sites are still being
identified in the southern provinces of Ranong, Chumpon and Surat
Thani.
The country was visited in September 2007 by IAEA officials to advise
a preparatory committee on the feasibility of nuclear power. The
Governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
asserts that nuclear power is necessary in light of a deficit of
natural gas seen as occurring within the next three to four years. He
also admitted the prospect of future protests, although the space for
civil society actions in Thailand has considerably diminished since
the military coup of September 2006.
Since 1984, Vietnam has operated a 500KW capacity reactor for medical
research located in the central highlands. Economic reforms kicked off
by Vietnam in the late 1980s have been accompanied by steadily rising
growth rates along with a surge in demand for power. The country's
population of 76 million is also expected to grow to more than 100
million by 2020.
Electricity comes from hydropower, coal-fired thermopower, and oil or
gas-fired thermopower to provide a balanced mix that few Southeast
Asian economies have. Even so, hydropower is mostly sourced in the
northern part of the country and is subject to inconsistent supply
during summer or drought. As a result, Vietnam remains a net im****ter
of hydropower from Laos, Cambodia and China. The need to further
diversify energy sources and to meet energy security is also pu****ng
Vietnam towards a nuclear power option.
Assisted by the IAEA, Vietnam has produced a "Pre-Feasibility Study on
the Introduction of Nuclear Power, (1996-1999). In 2005, Vietnam
announced it would begin construction of a nuclear power plant in Ninh
Thuan in central Vietnam, scheduled to come into operation by
2017-2020. All power utilities in Vietnam are operated by the state.
It remains to be seen if local or other opposition to nuclear power
plant construction emerges in a nation without a history of open
challenge to state power.
Malaysia is also a nation that is increasingly industrialized, and
over the past several decades it has secured significant revenues from
Petronas, the state-controlled oil company. Until recently, Malaysian
officials stated that the country does not need civilian nuclear power
given its abundant supplies of energy. Yet Deputy Prime Minister,
Najib Tun Razak, has stated that limits on fossil fuel reserves make
nuclear power a possible option, allowing a 15-year lag in planning
and development.
Malaysia hosts an Institute for Nuclear Technology Research, which
sup****ts a one megawatt research and training plant at Bangi in
Selangor. The country has also asserted the right of fellow Non-
Aligned Nation (NAM)-member countries to develop nuclear power. More
than that, the Malaysia Nuclear Agency (MOSTI) declaims on its website
that "Nuclear Malaysia is responsible in preparing the nation for a
resurgence of nuclear industry."
Among the core countries of the ASEAN region, Singa****e stands apart
on civilian nuclear power, at least ostensibly. Notably, in early
2007, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong went on record as expressing
caution over safety and security in relation to the region's nuclear
power ambitions. "We have to understand what the risks are" and "make
sure that there are very clear stringent rules". Such a stand might be
accounted for by the island state's small size and exposure to trans-
boundary threats, its location athwart tanker routes from the Middle
East as much as its local oil refining capacity, making gas-fired
thermopower the established option.
Even so, at the 2007 ASEAN Summit, Singa****e also touted the use of
solar power as a clean option just as the need for options are obvious
given the vulnerabilities of oil and gas supplies, not to mention
upward pressure on price, and mounting environmental concerns.
Top down versus bottom up
In 2005 Indonesia, the world's largest producer of natural gas and
long an oil ex****ter, announced that it was proceeding with the
construction of the country's first nuclear power plant. This is to be
sited on the Miura peninsula, actually the slopes of a dormant
volcano, on the northeast coast of central Java.
Originally announced in 1995 under the Suharto regime (and the hobby
horse of future President then Minister of Technology B J Habibie),
but shelved owing to public opposition as much as to the effects of
the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, the project involves
construction of four 1,000 megawatt plants, down from the 12
originally planned. Construction is to begin in 2010 with completion
slated for 2017. A site on Madura island has also been identified for
a separate reactor. Re****tedly, a new constellation of business and
political figures are behind the enthusiasm for Madura, including vice
president Yusuf Kalla.
Nevertheless, criticism of the project has emerged from legislators,
academics, a broad section of public opinion and vocal local
residents. Unstable geology and environmental concerns are stated as
reasons for objection, while critics also contend that Indonesia is
blessed with many alternative untapped sources of power including
thermal. Such vocal environmental groups as WALHI, or the Indonesian
Forum for Environment, argue that even a small radioactive leak could
potentially affect tens of millions of people in one of the most
densely populated places in the world.
In June 2007, some 4,000 demonstrators against the project rallied at
the central Javanese site, including a local chapter of Greenpeace. In
October, 100 clerics and scholars from the largest Muslim organization
in Indonesia, Nahdatul Ulama, descended on the site and, after
deliberations, issued a fatwa declaring the Muria site haram or
forbidden, albeit more on pragmatic than strictly religious grounds.
According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI
re****t, Indonesia has largely succeeded in creating an "indigenous
fuel cycle". Although conducted only at the laboratory level, evidence
indicates that Indonesia is active in uranium milling, processing and
conversion. Its nuclear research program spans five decades. Three
research reactors are in operation with a fourth planned. Indonesia
hosts at least two uranium mines capable of supplying sufficient
yellowcake to service domestic needs for planned reactors.
While Indonesia operates under IAEA safeguards, SIPRI's stated concern
is that given the questionable security of the management of nuclear
waste, "it is conceivable that terrorist organizations could utilize
its spent waste in a radiological device ('dirty bomb')". Perhaps of
greater concern is the combination of unstable geological conditions
and dubious safeguards to control the technology.
While Indonesia appears to be committed to the peaceful development of
nuclear energy, an indigenous route to power plant construction is not
in the cards. In August 2003, Indonesia signed a 10-year nuclear
cooperation agreement with Russia, which includes construction of a
research reactor and a power reactor. General Electric, Mitsubi****
Heavy Industries, Areva of France and To****ba are all also lining up
as potential contractors.
Back in 1994, Japanese consultants conducting a feasibility study
cleared the way. Indonesian firm Medco Energi Internasional, with
links to Vice President Kalla, has signed a preliminary contract with
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd to build the plant. But as
Australian journalist Tom Hyland re****ts, "Details of the deal are
secret, adding to unease in a country where corruption remains
endemic." He adds that even though power generation has devolved to
the province level, nuclear power remains the last of the Suharto-era
big projects imposed from above.
Back in 1994 major criticism of the project came from Australian
experts in the field (although not the Australian government) owing to
concerns of a potential accident, especially as monsoon winds would
expose northern Australia to radioactive fallout. On the other hand,
it would not be surprising if Indonesia had concerns that Australia
would acquire or produce nuclear weapons, especially as successive
conservative governments held to that option through until the early
1970s, a debate revisited in recent years.
As Richard Tanter has summarized, "The consequences of Indonesia and
Australia pursuing their somewhat non-rational approaches to the
nuclear fuel cycle could have very negative consequences for people
who are already suspicious of each other."
The international nuclear lobby
According to the Tokyo-based Citizen's Nuclear Information Center
(CNIC), Japan and South Korea are two countries eager to secure
contracts for the construction of nuclear power plants in Southeast
Asia with Indonesia looming large in the sights of both players. For
example, Japan assists Indonesia's nuclear program in such areas as
training in technical and regulatory skills and through high-level
participation in the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FCNA),
inaugurated in Bangkok in 2000 by the Tokyo government with sup****t of
the Atomic Energy Commission. South Korea in December 2005 signed a
memorandum of understanding with Indonesia concerning the introduction
of nuclear power.
Japan's Nuclear Power National Plan, as released by the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in August 2006, seeks to "actively
sup****t the global development of the Japanese nuclear industry". As
CNIC interprets it, Tokyo is motivated by the fact that domestic power
plants alone will not provide sufficient profits to sustain the
industry through 2030. To remain competitive and to maintain its
domestic capacity, the Japanese nuclear power industry will need to
win overseas contracts.
According to a METI-commissioned re****t of 2006 conducted by JETRO on
the potential for introducing nuclear power to Indonesia (and
Vietnam), obtained by CNIC under a freedom of information request,
Indonesia presented a number of obstacles. Foremost among concerns was
the lack of trained personnel, the lack of an appropriate entity to
implement the nuclear power program and failure to address problems
raised by an IAEA study of 1997-2002. Other caveats entered were that
Indonesia had large unexploited reserves of geothermal power, that
infrastructure was lacking, and that power usage was highly
inefficient.
Lessons learned? The region has thus far failed to grasp the
implications of the negative experience of the Philippines with
nuclear power. The mothballed Bataan nuclear power project just north
of Manila should send a strong message to potential nuclear power
plant clients.
Initiated in the early 1970s by the Marcos dictator****p as a response
to the energy crisis, the all but completed, albeit never fueled,
Westinghouse light water reactor stands today as a stark white
elephant, victim of inadequate planning, corruption, and flawed cost-
benefit calculation. In early 1986, international inspectors concluded
the site was unsafe and inoperable owing to proximity to major
earthquake fault lines and the then dormant Pinatubo volcano. Heeding
public opinion, the incoming Aquino government (1986-92) sealed the
fate of the nuclear plant for good when it banned the use of nuclear
power and enshrined the principle in the constitution.
Undoubtedly, Marcos-era corruption added to cost overruns in the
plant's construction, just as the Philippines mounted an unsuccessful
suit against Westinghouse to redeem alleged kickbacks paid to Marcos.
For over 30 years, until meeting obligations in April 2007, Filipino
taxpayers paid US$155,000 a day in interest on the plant that never
produced a kilowatt of power.
Still, the nuclear power option in the Philippines was revisited under
the Ramos administration, and in 2007 the Arroyo administration's
energy secretary raised the Bataan nuclear option once again with
interest expressed by the Korean Electric Power Cor****ation. The
lesson of the Philippines' experience for Southeast Asia should be
clear: when scientists and engineers get it wrong in the world's most
advanced economies, the potential for error or mishap in less advanced
is magnified. A Javanese or Vietnamese Chernobyl or even Ka****wazaki
is, or should be, unthinkable.
Geoff Gunn is Professor of International Relations, Nagasaki
University and a specialist on Indonesia, East Timor and the Malay
world. He is the author of First Globalization. The Eurasian Exchange,
1500-1800.
*************************************************************
Mizzima News
UN chief convenes second 'Group of Friends' meeting on Burma
February 14, 2008
Continuing with his efforts to usher in political reforms in Burma,
Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General on Wednesday convened a
meeting of the 14-member 'Group of Friends' to review recent
developments in Burma, where the military junta on Saturday announced
holding a referendum in May, followed by general elections in 2010.
While details of the second meeting of the 'Group of Friends' on Burma
were not disclosed, the members discussed the Burmese junta's
announcement on the referendum and general elections.
Earlier this week, the world body chief called on the Burmese junta to
make the constitutional referendum scheduled to be held in May
representative of the views of the people of Burma - a stand neutral
to western countries and Burma's neighbours.
Following the Burmese junta's announcement on Saturday on the
referendum and elections, Singa****e, the current Chair of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a
member, applauded it saying it is a positive development.
However, western nations including the UK and US have dismissed the
junta's announcement saying it does not represent the views of the
people of Burma.
Ban Ki-moon told members of the 'Group of Friends' that his special
envoy Ibrahim Gambari would visit China on February 18 and 19 followed
by stops in Jakarta and Singa****e.
The Group of Friends is made up of Australia, China, France, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singa****e, Thailand, the United
Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and Slovenia (current President of
the European Union).
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy
Tay Za Buys ****ps in Korea
By MIN LWIN
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Business sources in Rangoon have re****ted that Tay Za, head of the
Htoo Trading Company and a prominent target of US sanctions, has
recently traveled to Pusan, South Korea's largest ****t, to purchase a
freight ****p and a tanker.
"Tay Za bought the ****ps from [South] Korea," said a businessman based
in Rangoon.
"He plans to open the ****pping business to the private sector in
Burma," the source added, indicating that Tay Za, a crony of Burma's
junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, was acting in cooperation with the
government.
Htoo Trading is Burma's leading private teak ex****ter and is also
active in the tourism, logging, real estate and housing development
industries.
A source close to the company confirmed that Tay Za recently went on a
business trip to South Korea, but would provide no further details.
"Tay Za went to Korea recently for business with his bodyguards," the
source said.
He is believed to have procured a loan of US $10 million from the
military government to purchase the freight ****p and tanker,
re****tedly as part of a plan to create the country's first private
international ****pping line.
The state-owned Five Star Line, founded in 1959, operates 26 vessels
and is currently the o=ACnly international ****pping line in the country.
Tay Za's plans for a private ****pping line emerged after a meeting
with the minister of trans****t, Maj-Gen Thein Swe, and top business
leaders in Naypyidaw o=ACn June 29 last year, according to the state-run
The New Light of Myanmar.
Close ties to the Burmese junta have made Tay Za a prominent target of
US sanctions.
Even after Wa****ngton put Air Bagan, an airline owned by Tay Za, on
its blacklist last October, the private carrier announced a new route
from Rangoon to Incheon, South Korea, on December 27, 2007. According
to a re****t in the Yangon Times, this is the airline's third
international route.
Air Bagan's introduction of the Incheon flight came three months after
the inauguration of its second international route, to Singa****e, on
September 7. However, due to US financial sanctions imposed on the
airline on October 19, flights to Singa****e were suspended.
"Air Bagan flies from Rangoon to Incheon every Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday," said a businessman in Rangoon.
Tay Za's companies, which are either based in Burma or linked to
Singa****e, include Pavo Trading Pte Ltd, Air Bagan Holdings Pte Ltd
and Htoo Wood Products Pte Ltd. Pavo Trading is a sister company of
the Htoo Group of Companies.
*************************************************************
NLD member given life sentence for sedition
Feb 14, 2008 (DVB)-The defence lawyer for a National League for
Democracy member who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment has
claimed that his client's punishment is unlawful.
Lawyer U Myint Thwin said that Ko Thiha, a youth member of Meikhtila
town****p NLD in Mandalay division, was arrested by the authorities in
August 2007 for possession of political leaflets bearing messages such
as, "It is time to get back on track" and, "Where there are students,
there are student unions".
Two weeks later, he was charged with sedition and incitement to
offences against the public tranquility under sections 124(a) and
505(b) of the penal code.
The court sentenced him to life imprisonment plus an additional two-
year jail term for the offences.
U Myint Thwin said it was unfair to give such harsh punishment to his
client since he had only been found in possession of political
do***ents and had not been distributing them himself.
"They can jail him for two years for a violation of 505(b) because of
his possession of do***ents that could lead to public mischief. But
life imprisonment for a violation of 124(a), sedition, is very
inappropriate," said Myint Thwin.
"Even the two year jail term for the 505(b) violation is harsh for my
client because the do***ents were only found on him, he was not
distributing them or chanting the slogans publicly."
U Myint Thwin said he is now preparing an appeal on behalf of his
client.
*************************************************************
|
