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BURMA RELATED NEWS - APRIL 03, 2008
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HEADLINES
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AP - Draft UN statement targets Myanmar junta
AP - Singa****e says it will investigate alleged North Korea rocket
ex****ts to Myanmar
AP - Activist who staged solo protest against Myanmar junta gets life
sentence
Reuters - West seeks new U.N. council statement on Myanmar
Reuters - India, Myanmar sign tax, trans****t pacts to boost trade
Reuters - Myanmar's gas pipeline to be fixed in 5 days
AFP - India urges Myanmar to push reconciliation
AFP - US condemns Myanmar arrests of political activists
Bloomberg - Myanmar Junta Holds Referendum in `Climate of Fear,' U.S.
Says
Calcutta News.Net - India, Myanmar sign pact to avoid double taxation
The Straits Times - Eight more activists arrested in Myanmar
The Straits Times - India, Myanmar sign multimillion-dollar trans****t
deal
MCOT - Myanmar gas pipeline leak not affecting Thai power
RSI - Myanmar's Roadmap to Democracy
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Draft UN statement targets Myanmar junta
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Apr 2, 11:38 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A draft Security Council statement calls on
Myanmar's government to allow detained pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and other political actors to speak freely and hold meetings
ahead of the May referendum on a new constitution, according to a copy
obtained Wednesday.
The statement prepared by the United States, Britain and France, was
obtained by The Associated Press on the day that Suu Kyi's party urged
voters to reject the military-backed draft constitution. The National
League for Democracy said it was undemocratic and prepared under the
junta's direct control.
The statement is expected to be circulated to all 15 Security Council
members in the coming days. It needs the approval of all members for
the council to adopt it.
The draft statement "calls on the government of Myanmar to allow full
participation of all political actors, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi"
in the referendum process in order for it "to be inclusive and
credible."
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta
seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of a 1990
general election won by Suu Kyi's party. The Nobel Peace Prize winner,
who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without
trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
Critics of the proposed constitution say it aims to perpetuate
military rule.
The junta has been under strong international pressure to make
democratic reforms, especially since it quashed peaceful pro-democracy
protests last September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were
killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.
The draft Security Council statement expresses regret at the military
government's "slow rate of progress" towards meeting the council's
call last September for a "genuine dialogue" with the pro-democracy
opposition and the early release of all political prisoners and
detainees.
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Singa****e says it will investigate alleged North Korea rocket ex****ts
to Myanmar
AP - Friday, April 4
SINGA****E (AP) - The Singa****e government said Thursday it will look
into allegations that a Singa****e company was involved in the ex****ts
of rocket launchers by North Korea to Myanmar, following a media
re****t.
Japan's national broadcaster NHK re****ted Wednesday that North Korea
started full-scale ex****ts of rocket launchers to Myanmar through a
trading company based in Singa****e.
The re****t, however, did not identify the Singa****e-based company, or
give any other details.
Singa****e's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it took such allegations
seriously and would investigate.
"We are committed to fulfilling our international obligations to
prevent the proliferation and illicit trafficking of arms and weapons
of mass destruction," the ministry said in a statement.
NHK said the ex****ts were of a 65 kilometer (40.4 mile)-range multiple-
launch rocket system capable of rapid-firing shells measuring 24
centimeters (9.5 inches) in diameter and 1 meter (3.3 feet) long.
The re****t, which quoted "several" unnamed diplomatic sources, did not
say how many such systems were ex****ted.
North Korea normalized diplomatic ties with Myanmar last April for the
first time in 24 years. North Korea has already deployed similar
rockets at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, according to
NHK's re****t.
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Activist who staged solo protest against Myanmar junta gets life
sentence
AP - Friday, April 4
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A veteran activist who staged a solo protest
last year against Myanmar's military junta has been sentenced to life
in prison for sedition, his lawyer said Thursday.
Ohn Than, a member of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy, was found guilty of demonstrating last
year outside the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, said Aung Thein, who will
represent the convicted man at his appeal.
In Myanmar, a life sentence is a maximum of 20 years in prison, Aung
Thein said. Ohn Than, who is in his mid-60s, was sentenced Tuesday at
a trial inside Yangon's Insein Prison, he said.
Ohn Than represented himself at his trial. He was arrested for
standing outside the U.S. Embassy on Aug. 23 with a placard calling
for the military regime that has controlled the Southeast Asian nation
since 1988 to give up power. The ruling junta held general elections
in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the National League for
Democracy when it won.
His solo protest came the same week that anti-government activists
launched a series of street protests against fuel price increases and
mismanagement of the economy.
Despite government efforts to quash them, the protests evolved by
September into the largest anti-government demonstrations in almost
two decades. The military halted the pro-democracy protests with a
violent crackdown, killing at least 31 people by U.N. estimates and
detaining thousands.
According to Aung Thein, Ohn Than argued during his trial that the
authorities had tolerated and protected pro-junta demonstrators who
staged protests outside U.S. and British embassies early last year.
The U.S. and British governments are among the military regime's top
critics.
Ohn Than has been jailed several times for his dissident activities.
He served two years in prison for taking part in a solo protest
outside a U.N. office in Yangon in 2004, and was detained in February
and April last year after taking part in other protests.
The ruling junta tolerates little public dissent, sometimes sentencing
dissidents to long jail terms for violating broadly defined security
laws. The U.N. estimates there are more than 1,100 political prisoners
in Myanmar, not including those who were detained in the September
2007 crackdown.
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West seeks new U.N. council statement on Myanmar
Reuters - Thursday, April 3
UNITED NATIONS - Western states are seeking to have the U.N. Security
Council issue a new statement on Myanmar, stepping up pressure on the
Asian country's military government ahead of a key constitutional
referendum.
A draft of the statement, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, regrets
slow progress by the junta in meeting previous council demands for
political dialogue and release of political prisoners and calls for
planned elections to be open to all candidates.
Diplomats said the draft had been written by the United States and
agreed upon with Britain and France. But they said work was continuing
on the text before it was to be circulated to all 15 council members,
probably in the next few days.
While not binding, so-called presidential statements by the council
require the assent of all members and an earlier statement, issued on
October 11, jolted Myanmar because it was agreed to by China,
generally seen as an ally of the junta.
That statement came shortly after Myanmar's government cracked down on
monk-led pro-democracy protests. China will also have to be persuaded
to back the new statement, which would come a month before the
referendum, a key step in a much criticized plan by the junta to
restore civilian rule.
Despite reluctance by China and some other council members to
criticize Myanmar too openly, U.S. diplomats expressed confidence a
statement would be adopted. "We expect there to be a ," deputy
permanent representative Alejandro Wolff told re****ters on Wednesday.
The draft "regrets the slow rate of progress towards meeting"
expectations expressed in the October 11 statement.
It said that if the May referendum and elections planned for 2010 were
to be "inclusive and credible," the junta must "allow full
participation of all political actors," including detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It called on the military to move quickly to
a genuine dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Promises by the junta that the referendum would be free and fair "must
be followed by action, including the guarantee of freedoms of
expression, association and assembly" and the vote must be subject to
independent monitoring, it said.
The proposed new constitution would ban Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize
laureate, from standing for election because she was once married to a
foreigner. Her party, the main opposition in Myanmar, called on
Wednesday for a "no" vote in the poll.
U.N. efforts to promote change in Myanmar have been entrusted to
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who has made three visits there since
last September.
Following his last visit, from March 6-10, he told the Security
Council he was disappointed "that this latest visit did not yield any
immediate tangible outcome."
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India, Myanmar sign tax, trans****t pacts to boost trade
Reuters - Friday, April 4
NEW DELHI, April 3 - India has signed a tax treaty with Myanmar that
aims at checking evasion, boosting trade and investments across the
two Asian nations, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement will cover taxes on individual
income, company profits, dividends, interest and capital gains, the
ministry said in a statement.
The two nations have also signed an agreement for a multi-modal
trans****t project that will link India's north eastern region to Asian
and South East Asian nations through Myanmar.
India will invest 5.4 billion rupees in the project expected to be
completed in five years, the Junior Trade Minister Jairam Ramesh said
at a conference.
Ramesh said he expected collaboration between India and Myanmar in oil
and gas refining, technology and mining sectors.
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Myanmar's gas pipeline to be fixed in 5 days
Reuters - Friday, April 4
BANGKOK, April 3 - A leak in a pipeline from Myanmar's Yetagun
offshore gas field will be fixed in five days by Malaysia's Petronas,
Thai Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said on Thursday.
Petronas, operator of the gas-rich offshore field in the Gulf of
Martaban, had found two cracks on the onshore part of the pipeline
near Thai and Myanmar border, Poonpirom told re****ters.
"They are fixing the problem and gas supply from Yetagun should be
back to normal in five days," she said.
Myanmar natural gas accounts for about 30 percent of Thailand's
consumption, mostly in power generation.
About 1.16 billion cubic feet per day of gas from the Yetagun and
nearby Yadana fields is ex****ted to Thailand.
Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production said on Wednesday the leak
caused a loss of supplies to Thailand of about 400-500 million cfd.
PTTEP, a subsidiary of top energy firm PTT PCL , owns 19.3 percent of
the Yetagun gas field and Petronas has a 40.9 percent stake. Other
shareholders include Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and Nippon Oil
Exploration .
State-controlled PTT PCL, a buyer of gas from the Yetagun and Yadana
fields, was im****ting 10 million litres of fuel oil a day from
Malaysia for power generation as a precaution, Poonpirom said.
The leak also prompted PTT to postpone a plan to shut down the gas
pipeline to Myanmar for routine maintenance from April 11-20, she
said.
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India urges Myanmar to push reconciliation
AFP - Thursday, April 3
NEW DELHI (AFP) - - India on Wednesday urged Myanmar to push forward
its stuttering national reconciliation process as the junta's number
two leader held trade and military talks here.
Myanmar's military rulers should engage with detained pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they build towards planned elections, a
foreign ministry statement said, but praised the country's "positive
steps."
Vice-senior General Maung Aye met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Vice President Hamid Ansari as well as India's foreign minister and
army chief after arriving on Wednesday.
"Noting the positive steps being taken by Myanmar towards national
reconciliation... the premier underlined the need for Myanmar to
expedite the process and make it broad-based to include all sections
of society, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the various ethnic groups
in Myanmar," the statement said.
India's engagement with neighbouring Myanmar comes at a time when the
international community is seeking to pressure the junta to introduce
democracy.
Aung San Suu Ky's pro-democracy party on Wednesday urged voters to
reject an army-backed constitution in a referendum next month. Leaked
copies show it would allow the military to dominate government even
after polls slated for 2010.
The referendum in May will be the first balloting in Myanmar since
1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a
landslide victory that was never recognised by the junta.
India also repeated its criticism of US and European sanctions that
were tightened after Myanmar arrested 3,000 people in a crackdown on
protests led by Buddhist monks last year.
"The vice president conveyed that India did not believe that sanctions
were helpful and that it may well prove to be counter-productive," the
statement said.
India has consistently opposed economic sanctions as unhelpful in
pressuring Myanmar to improve its domestic human rights record, but
says it is urging democratic reforms.
Meanwhile the general, who is on his second visit in eight years,
"reviewed bilateral military cooperation" in his talks with army chief
Deepak Kapoor.
"The talks included Indian military ex****ts to the government in
Yangon," a defence ministry official told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Experts say New Delhi supplies combat vehicles, light artillery,
helicopter gun****ps and sidearms to Myanmar as part of a deal to stem
cross-border militancy into India's restive northeastern states.
The two sides also signed several accords including one involving 130
million dollars of Indian investment in Myanmar's Sittwe ****t on the
edge of the Bay of Bengal.
"This will give India's landlocked northeast access to a new trade
route to Southeast Asia. It will enhance connectivity and not only
benefit India but Myanmar as well," a commerce ministry official told
AFP.
New Delhi is also looking at increasing border trade through two new
frontier regions besides the existing one at the Indian town of Moreh,
which connects with Tamu in Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined to her home for 12 of the last 18
years, and her top lieutenant is also under house arrest.
Myanmar has not had a constitution since 1988, when the current junta
took power by cru****ng a pro-democracy uprising, leaving at least
3,000 dead.
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US condemns Myanmar arrests of political activists
Wed Apr 2, 2:27 PM ET
WA****NGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday condemned Myanmar
for new arrests of political activists, which it said contributes to a
"climate of fear and repression" ahead of a referendum on the
constitution.
"We condemn the Burmese (Myanmar) regime's continued arrests and
attacks on peaceful political activists," State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack said in a statement.
"These blatant human rights abuses contribute to the climate of fear
and repression in Burma as the regime prepares to conduct a referendum
on its draft constitution," he added.
He said the military junta over the weekend arrested five Muslim
community leaders in Rakhine state for peaceful political activities,
as well as six young activists who had joined a peaceful rally against
the draft constitution.
Democracy and human rights activists in the capital Yangoon were
"assaulted and beaten with sticks" on two separate occasions in the
last two weeks, McCormack added.
A Thailand-based watchdog group said the junta has arrested and
imprisoned at least 52 activists since January -- most of them members
of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) party.
McCormack renewed calls for Myanmar to free all political prisoners,
including Aung San Suu Kyi, and begin a genuine dialogue with the
opposition and minorities "leading to a transition to democracy."
His statement said the junta was going ahead with its planned
referendum, even though Myanmar's democratic forces had "made clear
their opposition to the unjust process" aimed at imposing the junta's
unpublished draft constitution.
The junta's actions "undercut any claim that this referendum will be
free and fair," the statement said.
In September, Buddhist monks led the biggest anti-government protests
seen in Yangon in nearly 20 years.
The military regime violently suppressed the movement by opening fire
on crowds and beating people in the streets, while more than 3,000
people were arrested during the crackdown.
The junta says most have now been released, but Amnesty International
and the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
say that 700 people remain behind bars, while 40 have been sentenced
to prison terms.
Even before the crackdown, Myanmar was holding about 1,150 political
prisoners, the most famous being Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace
prize winner who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.
She led the NLD to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the
military never recognized the result.
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Myanmar Junta Holds Referendum in `Climate of Fear,' U.S. Says
By Michael Heath
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar's military junta is creating a
``climate of fear'' before its constitutional referendum next month,
the U.S. State Department said, after six youth activists were
arrested for campaigning against the draft charter.
Democracy and human rights activists have been ``assaulted and beaten
with sticks'' in the former capital, Yangon, on two separate occasions
in the past two weeks, spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday. Such
abuses ``contribute to the climate of fear and repression in Burma as
the regime prepares to conduct a referendum on its draft
constitution.''
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party yesterday called on voters
to reject the charter in the nation formerly known as Burma. The
National League for Democracy asked people ``to clearly and bravely
vote `No''' when casting their ballots, Agence France-Presse cited the
party saying in a statement.
Myanmar's military is considering returning the Southeast Asian
country to civilian rule under a model similar to the government of
late Indonesian President Suharto, who guaranteed the army seats in
Parliament, United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari said last month. The
junta rejected UN monitors for the constitutional referendum.
The draft charter still hasn't been released to the public. A leaked
copy of the do***ent shows Suu Kyi is barred from holding office on
the grounds she was married to a U.K. national, AFP re****ted. It also
gives the military dominance over the government after multiparty
elections scheduled for 2010.
Muslim Leaders
The day after the March 29 arrest of the six protesters, five Muslim
community leaders in Rakhine state were arrested, the State Department
said.
``The regime's arrests of individuals campaigning against the
constitution, its failure to publish the constitution and welcome
independent referendum monitors, and its continued refusal to release
political prisoners undercut any claim that this referendum will be
free and fair,'' McCormack said in a statement issued in Wa****ngton.
Suu Kyi's NLD was excluded from the National Convention to draft the
constitution that began meeting in 2004 and completed its work last
September.
The NLD said yesterday the constitution wouldn't bring democracy to
Myanmar, AFP re****ted.
Under the charter, the military would receive powers to declare a
state of emergency, allowing the generals to take control of the
government while granting them immunity from prosecution, according to
AFP.
Reconciliation Talks
UN envoy Gambari has made three trips to Myanmar since the military,
which has run the country since 1962, crushed the biggest anti-
government demonstrations in almost 20 years last September. The
regime agreed to reconciliation talks after international condemnation
of the crackdown that left at least 31 people dead.
The U.S. tightened sanctions on Myanmar two months ago after the junta
failed to meet pledges to begin talks with opposition groups. It
imposed an asset freeze on officials and blacklisted companies linked
to the regime.
Suu Kyi's NLD won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 in a result
rejected by the military. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under
house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
The State Department yesterday renewed its call for the release of all
detainees and political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, and for genuine
talks between the regime's leader****p and democratic and ethnic
minorities.
Such discussions should lead ``to a transition to democracy, as called
for by the people of Burma and the UN Security Council in its October
2007 Presidential Statement,'' McCormack said.
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India, Myanmar sign pact to avoid double taxation
Calcutta News.Net
Thursday 3rd April, 2008 (IANS)
India and Myanmar Thursday announced a double taxation avoidance
agreement that will ensure both prevention of fiscal evasion by firms
operating in the two countries and that incomes are taxed just once.
Dividends at the five percent maximum and interest and royalties at 10
percent will be taxed both in the country of residence and in the
country of source, an official statement said.
But capital gains from the sale of shares would be only taxable in the
country of source, the statement added.
P.K. Misra, chairman of the India's Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT), and Kyi Thein, ambassador and plenipotentiary of Myanmar to
India, signed the pact here.
'The double taxation avoidance agreement provides that business
profits will be taxable in the source state if the activities of an
enterprise constitute a permanent establishment in the source state,'
said the statement.
'The agreement will provide tax stability to the residents of India
and Myanmar and facilitate mutual economic cooperation as well as
stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between
India and Myanmar.'
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The Straits Times - April 3, 2008
Eight more activists arrested in Myanmar
YANGON - EIGHT activists have been arrested this week in military-
ruled Myanmar, the nation's opposition party said on Thursday, while a
leading labour activist was charged over anti-government protests last
year.
Eight members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party
led by detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have been arrested
since Sunday, spokesman Nyan Win said.
No reason was given for their detention, he said.
They were arrested after about 50 members of NLD's youth wing staged a
small protest last week against a constitution proposed by the
military, which will go before voters in a referendum next month.
Imprisoned labour activist Su Su Nway, meanwhile, has been charged for
staging anti-government protests last year, he said.
'Su Su Nway made a second appearance before a secret court inside
Insein prison on Wednesday. She was charged with two criminal cases
for participating in protests,' Mr Nyan Win said.
Kyi Win, the lawyer for Ms Suu Kyi, will defend the labour activist at
trial, the spokesman said.
Ms Su Nway, 35, is an NLD member who was arrested in November as she
protested near a hotel where UN human rights envoy Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro was staying.
Mr Nyan Win said it was not clear if she had been charged over that
protest or over her involvement in mass marches led by Buddhist monks
in September.
Those demonstrations were the biggest challenge to military rule seen
in nearly two decades. Security forces violently disrupted the
protests by opening fire on crowds and beating people in the streets.
More than 700 people remain in prison over the protests, but human
rights groups have accused the ruling junta of stepping up their
arrests of activists this year.
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The Straits Times - April 3, 2008
India, Myanmar sign multimillion-dollar trans****t deal
NEW DELHI - INDIA has agreed to build a multimillion-dollar (euro)
sea****t and trans****tation system in Myanmar as it presses ahead with
investment in its much-criticised neighbor.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday by officials during a meeting
between the second-highest member of Myanmar's ruling junta, Vice
Senior Gen. Maung Aye, and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid
Ansari, India's Foreign Ministry said.
India has been investing in Myanmar despite international calls for
sanctions on the South-east Asian country's military government, which
violently suppressed pro-democracy protests several months ago.
A ministry statement gave no details of the deal.
Earlier, Indian officials said India would upgrade waterways and
highways along Myanmar's Kaladan River and develop the ****t of Sittway
in the country's northwest in the US$120 million (S$166 million)
project.
'This project will greatly enhance connectivity between Myanmar and
India, in particular with India's northeast states,' the ministry
statement said.
India has established deep economic and military ties with Myanmar's
ruling junta over the past decade and has said it believes talking
quietly is a better approach than sanctions.
During his six-day trip to India, Maung Aye has also met Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, who reiterated New Delhi's commitment to
sup****t Myanmar in telecommunications and information technology, the
statement said.
The general, whose visit ends on Saturday, said he appreciated India's
assistance with infrastructure projects, road construction, lines of
credit and setting up an information technology centre in Myanmar, it
said.
The agreement was signed the same day as detained Myanmar democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party urged voters to reject a
military-backed draft constitution, saying it was undemocratic and
written under the junta's direct control.
The charter will be voted on in a referendum next month. The junta has
also announced general elections in 2010.
The Indian ministry's statement quoted Prime Minister Singh as saying
Myanmar needs to speed up its promised democratisation process.
India ****fted its policy from sup****ting Ms Suu Kyi to engaging the
junta's generals in the early 1990s, partly because of a desire for
access to Myanmar's large natural gas reserves.
The trans****tation system will give India greater access to the
reserves, which it needs to fuel its rapid economic growth.
India has also recently sought to increase its influence in Myanmar in
an attempt to counter China, which has become the junta's main ally.
In addition, India has been eager to secure the cooperation of the
Myanmar military in containing separatist groups fighting New Delhi's
rule in northeastern India near the Myanmar border. Several of the
groups have set up bases across the 1,331km border and used them to
launch attacks in India.
******************************************************
MCOT
Myanmar gas pipeline leak not affecting Thai power
BANGKOK, April 3 (TNA) - The Ministry of Energy insisted that leakage
in the natural gas pipeline from Myanmar's Yetagun gas field won't be
a burden to the Thai public's electric power bills, saying Thailand's
energy giant PTT will postpone the shutdown of the Myanmar's gas
pipeline and has reserved fuel oil supplies from Malaysia to take up
the slack.
Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said that although the Yetagun
gas field in the Gulf of Martaban and the Arthit gas field in the Gulf
of Thailand have problems, there will be no shortage of electricity.
Speaking about higher cost of production incurred by using fuel oil to
replace natural gas, she said it won't put the burden on consumers as
the operator of the gas fields has the insurance policy and the baht
has strengthened, which help reduce to the production cost.
Malaysia's Petronas, operator of the Yetagun gas field, informed PTT
that repairs to the gas pipeline will be completed within five days.
PTT im****ted fuel oil from Malaysia at the rate of 10 million litres
per day for reserve and announced postponement of the pipeline
shutdown scheduled on April 11-20 for maintenance work.
Thailand im****ted 1,160 million cubic feet per day from the Yetagun
gas field and 700 million cubic feet per day from the Yanada gas
field.
The Yetagun gas field suspended supplying gas to Thailand on April 2
due to two gas pipeline leakages.
******************************************************
Radio Singa****e International - March 31, 2008
Myanmar's Roadmap to Democracy
On February 9th the state-run media in Myanmar announced that it was
time to change the military administration to a democratic, civil
administrative system by conducting a referendum in May on the long-
awaited draft constitution followed by a multi-party election in
2010.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. In August 1988, the
military regime brutally put down a pro-democracy movement. Two years
later the military permitted multi-party elections but refused to
honor the results when the National League for Democracy or NLD won a
resounding victory. The military has remained in power ever since.
In 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN). Myanmar's internal problems have now become ASEAN's
problem in its dealings with outside powers. ASEAN has suffered by its
association with the Myanmar regime and its poor record of human
rights.
Last September the situation in Myanmar came back into focus when pro-
democracy activists and Buddhist monks briefly resumed public
protests. They were suppressed when the military intervened in force.
The response by the international community predictably was divided.
The United States led the charge seeking a U.N. Security Council
resolution declaring that the situation in Myanmar was a threat to
international peace and security. This was rebuffed by China and
Russia.
Next the U.S. and the European Union imposed further sanctions on
members of the military regime.
ASEAN is split between states who insist on upholding the principle of
non intervention in the internal affairs of another member, and those
states that seek to apply pressure on Myanmar to open a political
dialogue with the democratic opposition.
The United Nations Secretary General, in an effort to overcome this
impasse, appointed a Special Envoy to promote national
reconciliation.
Myanmar's announcement that it has resumed its 'road map to democracy
raises the question: will Myanmar's 2010 elections be a re-run of
1990?
Few foreign commentators realize that Myanmar's 1990 elections were
problematic from the start. After announcing the elections, the
military junta began to back track almost immediately. The junta
declared that the elections were only the first step. In their view
the 1990 elections were never intended to lead to an immediate
turnover of power to the victor.
Rather, the elections were to select a constituent assembly whose task
it was to prepare a draft constitution to be approved by a national
referendum. Then and only then could democratic elections be held to
select a national legislature.
The NLD's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her sup****ters acknowledged as
much during the campaign. Yet when the NLD won an overwhelming
electoral victory they demanded an immediate hand over of power. The
military junta refused to yield and a seventeen year political
stalemate ensued.
Both ASEAN and the international community have some hard thinking to
do about how to respond to Myanmar's latest "road map to democracy".
Neither sanctions
nor constructive engagement have worked.
Myanmar's opposition also has some hard choices: should they boycott
the referendum or launch another round of physical confrontation?
Between now and the May referendum the international community must
get behind the U.N. Secretary General'special Representative to
promote national reconciliation in Myanmar.
It must be made clear to Myanmar's military regime that their present
road map to democracy is unacceptable to the regional and
international community until the NLD and ethnic minorities are
consulted. Provisions in the electoral law and draft constitution that
bar Aung San Suu Kyi from participating must be amended.
Those advocating democratic change must also take into account two
considerations - domestic stability and the future role of the
military. Both are inter-related. The NLD does not represent Myanmar's
ethnic minorities. Democracy will not end armed insurgency and
separatism by these disaffected groups.
The current draft constitution re****tedly contains provisions that
entrenches military rule through special powers for the army commander
and the allocation of a bloc of seats in the legislature. National
reconciliation in Myanmar must also take into account the future role
of the armed forces. It is clear that some compromise involving a
transition to civil control must be worked out.
This is Carlyle Thayer, Fuller Distinguished Visiting Professor of
Southeast Asian Studies, at Ohio University in the United States.
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