ASEAN MPs urge Obama to raise human rights topic during Burma trip | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent

ASEAN MPs urge Obama to raise human rights topic during Burma trip | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Zin Linn, Nov 16, 2012

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) today released an immediate press statement welcoming U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to visit Rangoon next week.  Nevertheless, the caucus urged the President to make use of his visit pressing on key demands and raise human rights concerns with the Burmese government.

The statement says that Washington is a dynamic force to open the engagement chapter with Nay Pyi Taw. It takes art as a key supporter in the reform process in Burma. Washington has eased sanctions, appointed its first ambassador in 22 years, and opened a USAID mission in Burma. These ‘rewards’ have offered regarding the reforms initiated by the Thein Sein government.  But there is also consideration of Washington’s ‘Asian pivot’ and the United States’ bid to reassert itself in the Asia Pacific region, AIPMC said.

According to Jim Kuhnhenn of Associated Press, the Obama administration regards the political changes in Myanmar (Burma) as possibly diluting the influence of China in a country that has a strategic location between South Asia and Southeast Asia, regions of growing economic importance.

But exiled Myanmar activists and human rights groups are likely to criticize an Obama visit as premature and one that rewards Thein Sein before his political and economic reforms have been consolidated. The military is still dominant and implicated in rights abuses. It has failed to prevent vicious outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country that have left scores dead.

While in Burma, Obama will meet with President Thein Sein and also with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House said.

AIPMC expects that the key objectives of Obama’s visit should be to improve human rights and democracy. The visit should not only be seen as adding further legitimacy to the government of President Thein Sein, rather than its efforts to perform key reform measures.

“Yes, the situation is complicated; there are concerns that pushing the Thein Sein government to move too quickly with reform measures could provoke a backlash from military hardliners; and it is commendable that President Obama has embarked on this trip in an effort to ensure the reform process does not backslide, but it is also important that fundamental ideals are not surrendered in the drive for economic and political gains,” Eva Kusuma Sundari, AIPMC President and Indonesian Member of Parliament, said.

“We should all be expecting concrete commitments and deliverable achievements from President Obama’s visit. We are hopeful that this first ever visit to Myanmar by a US president can offer a real boost to the reformers in the government and help them persevere with this difficult transition,” she added.

The caucus also urges in its press statement that major achievements of this visit needs to include the release of remaining political prisoners; it is notable that, according to civil society groups, there were no political detainees among the 452 prisoners released yesterday in a government amnesty.

AIPMC also encourages Obama to work towards securing a commitment from Nay-Pyi-Taw to enter into political dialogue with non-state armed groups and allowing further humanitarian access to Rakhine and Kachin states, as well as agreement to allow the U.N.  AIPMC also recommends setting up of an office for High Commissioner for Refugees in Burma.

According to Son Chhay, AIPMC Vice President and Cambodian Member of Parliament, land grabbing and human rights abuses are on the rise as a result of the new investments coming into Burma. There is little transparency and ordinary citizens have no access to equalize through the legal system.

“Like in Cambodia, there is no truly independent judiciary or police force – without these you cannot have the rule of law,” Son Chhay said.

Son Chhay also says via statement that during this visit, Obama gets a chance to see the realities of an impoverished country moving at a snail’s pace in the course of harsh dictatorship while concurrently struggling to go through the forces of global capitalism and an influx of international aid and development loans.

“Hopefully he will be able to see enough to be persuaded to revise his understanding of the wider situation and identify properly what the country’s pressing needs really are, and the best way to support this reform process,” he said.

Panglong Initiative alone can make peaceful Burma | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent

Panglong Initiative alone can make peaceful Burma | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Zin Linn Nov 14, 2012

Speaking ahead of an imperative ‘Shan Conference’ to be held on 26-28 November, the leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) Lt-Gen Yawdserk said the way to lasting peace in Burma is a federal democratic system, according to the Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.).

“The country needs to adopt a federal system, genuine democracy and the right of the people to have a say in the amendment of the constitution,” he told SHAN on Monday. “Amendment should not be the exclusive prerogative of the 75 plus percent.”

Burma will have to celebrate its 65th anniversary of independence in 2013. The country gained its independence by overthrowing the British colonial rule on 4 January 1948. In fact, Burma’s independence is a consequence of the ‘Historic Panglong Agreement’ between General Aung San and the leaders of Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups pledging an authentic federal union of Burma. However, Burma’s consecutive decision-makers have ignored the political treaty between Burmese and the ethnic leaders of independence.

Even with the President Thein Sein government, the treaty has been put aside since the cabinet is dominated by ex-generals. Moreover, Burma’s new 2008 Constitution distributes many troubles for political parties, ethnic cease-fire groups and exiled dissident factions seeking some common initiative between ethnic groups and the current government.

To clear up the interconnected ethnic problems, the existing government must review the mistakes of past rulings and the political aspirations of the ethnic communities. The original argument of the nation’s ethnic political mayhem is the successive military-backed governments’ antagonism to a democratic federal union. The late dictator, Ne Win, who seized power in a military coup in 1962, opposed sharing equal authority in a series of heated debates in the then legislative body.

Ne Win supported a unitary state over a genuine federal union. The Military Council headed by Ne Win declared that the military coup had taken place because of the “federation topic,” which he said could lead to the disintegration of the nation. Equality of ethnic minorities with the Burmese majority was to him out of the question. When Ne Win seized power, he demolished the 1948 Constitution.  At the same time, the Panglong Agreement, which promised autonomy of the ethnic states, was broken and nullified.

The result of the 1947 agreement proved unconstructive when it reached ten years in 1958, after gaining independence from the British in 1948. Many ethnic armed rebellions broke out to stand up for autonomy. The 1947 constitution had granted the right of secession to Karenni and Shan States.

Despite the fact that the Supreme Executive Council of the United Hill Peoples was making an effort to amend the union constitution in 1961-62 to reconstruct a true federal union with the Premier U Nu’s Government of Burma, Burma Army led by Gen. Ne Win made a military coup on 2 March in 1962 and smashed the Panglong agreement. In that way, all ethnic states including Shan had been occupied by the treacherous Burma Army.

In actual fact, it is a fair demand for self-sufficiency among the respective ethnic minorities. No government should use guns to govern ethnic minorities. If one looks back to 1960-61, many leaders from ethnic states criticized the weakness of the constitution as well as the government’s failure to provide room for the political autonomy of the ethnic minorities.

They pointed the finger at the central government for not allowing the representatives of ethnic states to manage their own affairs in areas of economy, judiciary, education, and customs and so on. The central government ruled the ethnic areas as vassal states.

According to the military drafted and approved constitution’s Article 436, most of the provisions can be amended by a vote of more than 75% of the representatives of the joint Upper and Lower House assembly (666 seats). The military occupies 25% of the seats in each house (110, 56).

President Thein Sein meets with ‘Peace Donor Support Group’ on 12 June. (Photo: www.president-office.gov.mm)

Lt-Gen Yawdserk told SHAN on Monday that any peace dialogue must begin with Panglong, the 1947 treaty between pre-independence Burma and Shan-Chin-Kachin areas, collectively known then as Frontier Areas.

“We are of the same mind as the Kachins. Any dialogue for peace must begin with Panglong”, he said. “Because all the problems we are facing now started with someone reneging on it. We must take a look at it first, and if we find there is need to improve on it, we do it.”

Without addressing and honoring the ethnic people’s demand for self-determination, the latest parliament-based government seems unable to stop political and civil strife throughout ethnic areas. In reality, ethnic people’s demand for equal rights is not a new one but already mentioned in the 1947-Panglong agreement.

Many ethnic leaders asserted that they don’t have faith in the new 2008 constitution. They consider that it will not create a genuine federal union since the Burmese armed forces take 25 percent of all seats in the existing parliament. So, the current constitution will not grant the democratic freedom and the fundamental rights for the ethnic groups of the nation. In brief, if existing government sincerely wished for proper peace, it must begin with Panglong initiative which is accepted by mainstream ethnic people.

The President has pledged during the presidential inaugural ceremony that he would mainly work in support of good governance, national reconciliation, poverty alleviation and establishing a long-lasting peaceful society.  However, he looks as if he has no chance to honor self-determination of the ethnic population since the military shows no consideration on the subject.

A Cambodia's history of violence | The Phnom Penh Post

A Cambodia's history of violence | The Phnom Penh Post
David Boyle and May Titthara, 14 November 2012

 
 Free Trade Union President Chea Mony (R) places incense by a photograph of his brother, slain labour rights leader Chea Vichea, at a memorial service held on the anniversary of his death in Jan. 2012. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Systematic extra-judicial killings were directed and executed for decades by death squads established under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s regime and run by men who are now some of the highest-ranking members of government, a report released yesterday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleges.

The report, Tell Them That I Want to Kill Them, unearths hundreds of cases of political killings investigated by the United Nations, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, rights groups and the media that are linked to individuals including chief of the Ministry of Interior’s criminal department Mok Chito and Central Security Directorate chief Sok Phal.

From the “A-teams” or death squads established in the 1980s to the grenade attacks on opposition parties in the 1990s, the bloody 1997 coup d’etat to the killing of Chut Wutty this year, the report outlines how alleged murderers have been promoted in the Cambodian People's Party-led government rather than prosecuted.

The government has said the report is a baseless, politically timed stunt intended to try and derail the ASEAN summit that begins on Thursday.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the farcical explanation for the death of fierce anti-logging activist Chut Wutty — an official investigation revealed he was shot by a military police officer who was then, accidentally, killed with his own gun by a man trying to disarm him — showed murders were rewarded by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

“The fact that, for instance, Mok Chito is tapped to go down to lead the investigation and come up with a story to try to explain away the Chut Wutty murder shows that these people are still the go-to people for the CPP,” Robertson said.

“Somebody like Mok Chito, who is known to have a long association with the most senior people in the government and is known to have a reputation as someone who has repeatedly got their hands dirty for the CPP as an enforcer type, this is the type of person that... when this person says what the story is, everybody salutes.”

Wutty was killed on April 26 while investigating illegal logging in the Cardamom Mountains.

The report quotes a senior operative under the State of Cambodia, the regime that ruled Cambodia immediately after the Khmer Rouge, detailing how a secret death squad called A-92 was directed by Sok Phal and Mok Chito.

“When [senior police officer] Mok Chito or my unit discovered something or a target, we first had to make a report to our superiors. They take the decision to kill. Mok Chito was involved in lots of killings,” the anonymous operative is quoted as saying.

“Sok Phal was in charge of internal security, while Luor Ramin was responsible for foreigners. A-teams reported to Sok Phal, who reported to Sin Sen. Sometimes they went directly to Sin Sen.”

Sok Phal said yesterday he was very surprised to hear of the allegations against him.

“It is the first time that I heard people accuse me; I am always helping people,” he said, requesting a copy of the report before he could comment further.

Mok Chito, who, according to the report, was referred to by one US diplomat as “the ultimate fox in the chicken coop”, said he was at the gym yesterday and then switched off his phone.

Many others who were subsequently promoted to high-level positions in the CPP and government are named as having been involved in extrajudicial killings or death squads.

They include You Sin Long, secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs; Heng Pov, who became Phnom Penh police chief and an adviser to Hun Sen until he was jailed on a slew of charges including extortion and murder; and Luor Ramin, who has also been promoted to the upper ranks of the NACD.

None of them could be reached yesterday, and Sin Sen died in 2008.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said on the sidelines of a meeting on Tuesday morning that Human Rights Watch was just trying to make noise ahead of ASEAN, and called such attempts standard practice for rights groups and protesters operating during international meets.

“First of all, he must give the proof to say that [these men] are responsible for all these things. I think for Human Rights Watch, it is just a personal vendetta between them and the present prime minister,” he said.

HRW references, among many other sources, a September 1993 United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia human rights report, which found 39 incidents of “killing political opponents” that resulted in 26 casualties and 25 killings intended to intimidate the public.

The death squads that HRW said performed these operations were dissolved after a failed 1994 coup attempt and eventually reintegrated into the police, today operating as two distinct units, Kamlang la’or (good forces) and Kamlang samngat (secret forces).

Time and time again, the report points to murders conducted with complete impunity. There were no subsequent arrests, instead, authorities frequently devised ludicrous conclusions, including outlandish claims of suicide, a trend the report suggests continues today.

When investigating the death of senior Funcinpec General Chao Sambath, who the UN reported was shot three times in the head by soldiers immediately following the 1997 coup d’etat, authorities concluded the deceased had committed suicide “by biting his own tongue”, the report states.

In another case, Khmer Krom monk Eang Sok Thoeun – who was found dead with his throat slit three times amid an official crackdown on monk protests – was also deemed to have committed suicide by police.

They then ordered his immediate burial and prohibited monks from conducting funeral proceedings.

The report highlights a speech in which Hun Sen suggests that an infamous 1997 grenade attack at a rally held by an opposition party led by Sam Rainsy, which left 16 dead and more than 150 injured, had been orchestrated by party leadership in order to blame the CPP.

Most recently, HRW points to the farcical and contradictory official accounts of how Chut Wutty and military police officer In Rattana were killed, a narrative that was finally settled by none other that Mok Chito.

The intimidation is also shown to have stretched to the media in cases such as the killing of journalist Khim Sambo, a reporter with the opposition-affiliated newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer, who was gunned down with his son in a drive-by shooting.

The grisly details of how bullets were extracted from the dead body of outspoken newspaper editor Thun Bun Ly’s body by a gloved soldier in 1996, almost immediately after he was killed in a crime that never led to a single arrest, are also recounted.

“It is not my job to hold the testicles of the co-prime ministers [Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen],” Bun Ly is quoted as having told an amused courtroom during a trial instigated against him because of critical articles he published.

Human Rights Watch also quoted Hing Bun Heang, former deputy head of the notorious Brigade 70, who told the Post after the 1997 grenade attack that he wanted to kill journalists who alleged Hun Sen’s bodyguards were involved.

“Tell them that I want to kill them... publish it, say that I, chief of the bodyguards, have said this. I want to kill... I am so angry,” Bun Heang is quoted as saying.

Hing Bun Heang is now commander of Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit and deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

US Man Jailed for Thai Insult Urges Law Change | The Irrawaddy Magazine

US Man Jailed for Thai Insult Urges Law Change | The Irrawaddy Magazine
CHRIS BLAKE / AP WRITER, November 9, 2012

BANGKOK—A Thai-born American who spent more than a year in prison on charges of insulting Thailand’s king says the country’s harsh laws outlawing criticism of the monarchy are holding back its democratic development. He has vowed never to return until his motherland stops being so “thin-skinned” and allows full freedom of expression.

Joe Gordon, who was convicted last year of translating excerpts of an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej from English into Thai and posting them online, said those jailed under Thai laws protecting the royal family often suffer abuse from prison guards and are treated “like animals.” While he now denies committing any crime, Gordon pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison before receiving a royal pardon in July.

The punishment was a high-profile example of the severe sentences meted out here for defaming Thailand’s royal family, a crime known as “lese majeste.” The issue has drawn international attention and raised concern about freedom of speech in this Southeast Asian kingdom best known as the easygoing Land of Smiles, a tourist paradise that draws some 19 million visitors per year.

Gordon’s case also raised questions about the applicability of Thai law to acts committed by foreigners outside Thailand, since he posted the link while residing in the US state of Colorado.

“Freedom of expression is not harassment, and Thai people don’t understand that,” Gordon told The Associated Press before his planned departure from the country Thursday. He said in Thailand the attitude is “if you don’t believe and you don’t follow us in the way we are doing things, it means you are insulting us.”

Bhumibol, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, is revered in Thailand and is widely seen as a stabilizing force. But Thailand’s lese majeste laws are the harshest in the world. They mandate that people found guilty of defaming the monarchy—including the king, the queen and the heir to the throne—face three to 15 years behind bars.

Opponents say that lese majeste laws are often abused to punish political rivals. That has been especially true amid the political turmoil that has followed a 2006 military coup that unseated Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who among other things was accused of disrespect for the monarchy.

Supporters say the monarchy is an essential part of the Thai identity and defending it is a matter of national security.

Gordon, 55, is accused of posting links to a translation of the banned biography “The King Never Smiles” in 2007 while in Colorado.

“As an American citizen, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Gordon said. “It’s my freedom of expression on American soil.”

He acknowledges posting the links to the translated biography excerpts on his personal blog, but denies translating it. Either would be enough to face charges in Thailand, where authorities have warned that Facebook users around the world who “share” or “like” content that insults the Thai monarchy are committing a crime.

In the book, author Paul Handley retraces the king’s life, alleging that he has been a major stumbling block to the progress of democracy in Thailand as he consolidated royal power over his long reign.

Gordon, who was born Lerpong Wichaikammart in Thailand, has lived in the US for about 30 years, mostly in Colorado, and he became a naturalized citizen in Denver. He was arrested in Thailand in May 2011 after he returned to seek treatment for arthritis and high blood pressure.

He said he was in his apartment in northeastern Thailand when it was stormed by about 20 plainclothes police officers who confiscated his computer and accused him of wanting to turn Thailand, a constitutional monarchy, into a republic. It’s a charge that hardcore opponents have also leveled at Thaksin.

Gordon said an officer pointed to a poster of the Declaration of Independence—a gift from a relative—that he had hung on his wall. “He said ‘You want to change this country to be like this. You want a republican,’” Gordon recalled.

After being repeatedly denied bail, he pleaded guilty in October last year in hopes of obtaining a lenient sentence. The judge said at the time that the punishment, initially set at five years, was reduced because of Gordon’s plea.

“The only easy way to get out is to accept it,” Gordon said, explaining why he didn’t fight the charges.

During his 14 months in prison, Gordon said his health problems grew worse because of conditions he described as inhumane. He said the situation was worse for those accused of political crimes, such as lese majeste prisoners or those associated with the Red Shirt political movement, which is aligned with Thaksin.

“When the doctor knows that your case is a lese majeste or you are a Redshirt or you are a political prisoner, they will not treat you, they will not give you medicine,” he said.

There have been allegations that other prisoners charged with lese majeste have not been able to get proper treatment, including a 62-year-old grandfather who died of cancer in prison.

Prison official Sorasit Chongcharoen denied that lese majeste prisoners were abused.
“Doctors and prison officials are giving fair treatment to every prisoner or detainee, regardless of their charges,” he said.

Gordon said the lese majeste law should be scrapped because it is too strict and rather than protecting the royal institution causes it more harm.

“If Thailand wants to move forward to catch up with globalization, they need to get rid of lese majeste and release all the political prisoners,” he said.

He said the country’s attitude toward controversial speech was holding it back.

“Thailand needs to learn to handle the truth. Have a thicker skin to move forward,” he said.
He said his experience in Thailand has left him emotionally scarred and he had no plans to return. He said he plans to stay in Los Angeles initially on his return to the US.

“I’m very aware now that Thailand is not really the land of smiles, and you have to be careful what you are doing in this country,” Gordon said. “It seems like on the surface a nice country, but if you dig deeper it is dangerous and can harm you.”

Burma: Trouble Brewing for China | asia sentinel

Burma: Trouble Brewing for China | asia sentinel
Bertil Lintner, YaleGlobal , 07 November 2012

Government tolerates freedom of expression, and the Burmese target Chinese investments
Following the Burmese government’s suspension of a controversial joint-venture hydroelectric dam project with China in the far north of the country, another flashpoint has emerged in relations between the two countries – a massive copper mine at Latpadaung, a mountain near Monywa northwest of Mandalay in Upper Burma.

The Myitsone hydroelectric project, being built to supply power to China, was cancelled in the face of strong local resistance. This time, local residents are protesting against a Chinese company. Wanbao Mining, a joint venture with the Burmese military’s main commercial enterprise, Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, or UMEH. Wanbao has been accused of destroying cultivated fields, polluting nearby water sources and desecrating Buddhist shrines. No less than 3,150 hectares of land from 26 surrounding villages were confiscated for the project.

The public outcry could also force China to rethink its often insensitive – some would say aggressive – policies towards smaller countries in the region.

UMEH’s involvement is merely as a recipient of fees from Wanbao, a subsidiary of the North Industries Corporation, or Norinco, China’s main weapons manufacturer which is also involved in other business activities.

When the agreement between Norinco and the government of Burma was signed 10 June 2010, the Chinese company said on its website that Monywa is “abundant in copper mine resources with excellent mineral quality, which is of great significance to strengthening the strategic reserve of copper resources in our country, and to enhancing the influence of our country in Myanmar (Burma).”

That influence is now on the wane as Burma tries hard to distance itself from China - which for more than two decades has exerted considerable economic, political and even military influence over this Southeast Asian country - while improving political relations with the United States, the European Union and Japan. But after last year’s suspension of the US$3.6 billion joint venture Myitsone dam project in the northern Kachin State, which shocked the Chinese, Burma must tread carefully in dealing with Wanbao Mining. For the country’s new leaders, it is a dilemma: They cannot crack down on the movement in Monywa without risking its still tenuous relationship with the West. But a continuing struggle could impact relations with Burma’s powerful northern neighbor.

The campaign against the Chinese company is led by two unlikely local heroes: Thwe Thwe Win, 29, and Aye Net, 34. Neither of the two young women has more than the compulsory five-year primary education behind her, and more than a year ago, both were selling vegetables in the local market in Monywa.

“The Chinese company came and bulldozed our fields and the Chinese officials made rude gestures at us when we came to complain,” says Thwe Thwe Win in an interview in Monywa.

The police did nothing, except arrest the two women and some of their comrades. That ignited a mass movement, at a time when freedom of expression is becoming tolerated in Burma after decades of iron-fisted military rule and when anti-Chinese sentiment is rising across the country. Student and labor activists from the old capital Rangoon and elsewhere traveled to Monywa to show support. On 26 October, more than 1,000 local miners, Buddhist monks and members of the general public defied an order by local authorities restricting access to the mine and marched past roadblocks to make merit at a pagoda inside the mining area.

The two women vow not to give up until the project is scrapped and the Chinese company leaves Monywa.

Elsewhere in Burma, people are also complaining about how China treats their country. For more than 20 years, Chinese companies have stripped large swathes of the north of trees, denuding ecologically crucial watershed areas. Chinese merchants have also flooded Burma with cheap consumer goods and fake medicines, explains a local businessman in Rangoon. “China does produce goods of good quality, but only for export to the West,” he said. “Here, they sell only junk. This is an almost racial attitude towards us.”

Even within the ruling military, anti-Chinese feelings run high. Already in 2004, a document was compiled by Lieutenant Colonel Aung Kyaw Hla, a researcher at Burma’s Defence Services Academy located in Pyin Oo Lwin, an old hill station in the highlands northeast of Mandalay.

The 346-page top-secret, thesis, titled “A Study of Myanmar [Burma]-U.S. Relations,” outlines in Burmese the policies now being implemented to improve relations with Washington and lessen dependence on Beijing. The establishment of a more acceptable regime than the old junta after the November 2010 election has made it easier for the Burmese military to launch new policies and have those taken seriously by the international community.

The thesis bluntly states that having China as a diplomatic ally and economic patron has created a “national emergency” that threatens the country’s independence. Aung Kyaw Hla, probably a committee of army strategists rather than a single person, goes on to argue that although human rights are a concern in the West, the US would be willing to modify its policy to suit “strategic interests.” Although the author does not specify those interests, the thesis makes it clear that includes common ground with the US vis-à-vis China. The author cites Vietnam and Indonesia under former dictator Suharto as examples of US foreign-policy flexibility in weighing strategic interests against democratization.

If bilateral relations with the US were improved, the master plan suggests, Burma would also gain access to badly needed funds from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other global financial institutions. The country would then emerge from “regionalism,” where it currently depends on the goodwill and trade of immediate neighbors, including China, and “enter a new era of globalization.”

At the same time, China is clearly taking the new signals from Burma seriously. In February and March this year, the Beijing-based, Chinese-language weekly Economic Observer ran a series of articles about the suspension of the Myitsone dam trying to analyze what went wrong with China’s relations with Burma. “How could something like this happen?” columnist Qin Hui asked. The 14 October Global Times, a daily tabloid published under the auspices of The People’s Daily newspaper, said in a commentary that Chinese companies need to “attach more importance to grassroots voices” in carrying out investment projects such as the Monywa copper mine. According to Burmese journalists, reporters from The Global Times are calling them with questions about pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which never happened before.

It’s too early to say whether Myitsone, and now Monywa, will become a turning point in China’s relations with Southeast Asia, paving the way for a more tactful relationship with countries such as Burma. But popular struggles against two Chinese megaprojects here have no doubt been wake-up calls for the leaders in Beijing. Even smaller countries – and a movement led by two former vegetable vendors in a town in the Burmese outback – are now brave enough to challenge the region’s most powerful economic and political player.

(Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist based in Thailand and the author of several works on Asia. He can be reached at lintner@asiapacificms.com. This is published with permission from the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.)

What to do about Thailand's Rice Glut | asia sentinel

What to do about Thailand's Rice Glut | asia sentinel
Samarendu Mohanty, 06 November 2012

The government needs to reduce uncertainty in the global market

The Thai rice mortgage scheme continues to receive a fair amount of media bashing even after completing its one-year anniversary on Oct. 7. The debate on its impact on Thailand and the rest of the world continues to take center stage at a majority of rice conferences in the region. The media and rice gurus have all ganged up on this scheme because nobody expected this from Thailand.

This is the country that remained open for business during the 2007 rice crisis when India and Vietnam banned exports and provided some stability to a market that was chaotic and getting out of control. Despite all the negative publicity and criticism, Thai policymakers remain unruffled and publicly vow to continue with the program.

Questions come to mind: Is this the only country with such a program? Does it really create so much uncertainty in the global rice market?

To answer the first question, Thailand is not the only country with a price support program. As a matter of fact, most of the rice-growing countries in Asia have some form of price support program for farmers. These have different names and somewhat different operational mechanisms but all of them are designed to provide a guaranteed floor price for farmers.

The only difference is that some countries religiously implement these programs and procure all the rice offered by farmers at the announced support price whereas others procure only the amount needed for a strategic reserve. The critical aspect of these programs is the level at which the support price is set relative to the market price. If the support price is set much higher than the market price, the government will end up procuring a large amount of paddy similar to what we have witnessed in India in the last few years and in Thailand in the past 12 months.

The minimum support price (MSP) for rice in India made a quantum leap from 2007-08 to 2011-12 by more than 75 percent, whereas it took from 1994 to 2006 for the MSP to increase by a similar proportion. Similarly, the Thai mortgage scheme was reinstated by the Pheu Thai government at a price support level that is 30–40 percent higher than the market price.

The end result is that Indian procurement stocks grew by more than fourfold from 5.5 million tons in October 2007 to 26 million tons in September 2012. The Thai mortgage stocks in the past two seasons have gone beyond 10 million tons of rice. In both these countries, domestic market prices have gone up in response to rising support prices. Despite the steep rise in the MSP in India in the last few years, the level is still less than half of the mortgage price in Thailand. In 2011-12, the Indian MSP for paddy was US$0.20 per kilogram whereas the mortgage price for paddy in Thailand was $0.48 per kilogram. The combination of a lower MSP and weaker currency has enabled Indian traders to price broken and parboiled rice $100-150 per tonne cheaper than their Thai counterparts and this is taking away market share from Thailand. For the 2011-12 marketing year, Thailand was dethroned from its rank as the top exporter for the first time in the past three decades and India has taken over the top spot.

In response to the second question, the mortgage scheme does create more uncertainty in the global market because of greater government involvement in the rice business in the sense that the market does not know when mortgaged rice will be released and at what price.

This scheme was expected to create some problems in the market in the short run but the unexpected return of India to the non-basmati export market more than nullified the effects of the Thai mortgage scheme and even brought the market to its knees. However, over the longer term, the continuation of the mortgage scheme is likely to make global prices lower than what they would have been otherwise.

Where do we go from here?

There is no disagreement that this is a populist policy and has been brought back to appease rural voters. But populist policy is nothing new and there are numerous examples around the world that do not make any sense and cost billions of dollars to taxpayers. I personally believe that the Thai government has every right to support rice farmers if it wishes to. But the government should be prepared to pay for the rising cost of the program over time.

There will be year-to-year fluctuation depending on the global rice production situation. If the global situation is tight, then this scheme may not cost anything. But, the cost will rise quickly if the global supply situation improves.

However, as part of its responsibility for global food security, Thailand needs to take steps to reduce uncertainty in the global market by announcing a mechanism for the release of mortgaged stocks to the market in a way that the market knows when and how the stocks will be released. Another option could be slightly modifying the mortgage scheme so that farmers have the option of either mortgaging their rice or receiving the difference between the mortgage and market price and selling the actual paddy in the open market.

This would enable the government to support farmers, avoid an accumulation of mortgage stocks, and regain Thailand’s competitive position in the global market. This is exactly what the US did in the mid-1980s to continue to provide support to farmers, eliminate government stockpiling, and become competitive again in the global market by reforming its price support loan program, which was similar to the Thai rice mortgage scheme.

The Thai government may also want to think about direct cash transfers to farmers that are not linked to current production. Japan and South Korea have recently moved away from price support to direct payments and the government of India is pondering converting subsidies for food, petroleum, and fertilizer to direct cash transfers to beneficiaries.

(Samarendu Mohanty is head of the Social Sciences Division at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. email s.mohanty@irri.org This is reprinted from his blog.)

Burma’s potential for a nationwide religious war | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent

Burma’s potential for a nationwide religious war | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Francis Wade, Nov 07, 2012

The violence in western Burma between Rohingya and Arakanese has evolved in recent weeks, and now there is a distinct possibility that a religious war is unfolding that could spread far beyond Arakan state. The most concerning sign is the recent attacks by Arakanese and security forces on Kaman Muslims, who had previously lived comfortably alongside Buddhist communities, and who have citizenship (the citizenship issue had been one of the main justifications used by Arakanese and the government for mistreatment of the Rohingya, who are stateless).

Earlier this month a group of monks in Sittwe, the Arakan state capital, released a statement calling for Arakanese to “expose sympathisers of Bengali Kalars [a derogatory term for Rohingya] as national traitors along with photos and spread the information to every township”. A similar message was circulated by monks in Karen state, in eastern Burma, which has a far smaller population of Muslims. It said that anyone who interacted with Muslims – marry, trade with, and so on – would receive “critical punishment”.

It is becoming increasingly hard to dismiss the violence as something local to western Burma. People in Arakan state appear eager to publicise that they are not Muslim: “Hindu boys we met working in the market had a tag hanging around their neck claiming they are Hindu with their home address (issued and signed by the ward leader), and they are not even full citizens,” a foreign NGO worker said of a recent visit to Sittwe in Arakan state.

I had some interesting correspondence recently with another Thailand-based NGO worker who traveled to Bangladesh in late October and met with journalists – Arakanese, Rohingya, and Bangladeshi –  and government officials. Below are some excerpts.

“Both Rohingya and Arakanese reporters gave current anecdotes about small groups on the ground (in plain clothes), operating with impunity by authorities, actively trying to stir up religious conflict. They told detailed stories of daylight attacks on religious buildings, including brazenly burning the Kuran and attacking temples and mosques.

“The Arakanese reporters seem nervous to write about these things as they fear attacks by their own people, but admitted that the authorities, especially the army, are openly trying to organise anti-Muslim activities and it is getting worse. They felt that many Arakanese leaders seem reluctant to carry out these activities again because of the damage they have already suffered and therefore the Tatmadaw [Burma army] is having to take even more aggressive measures to fuel this religious war.”

The NGO worker, who doesn’t want to be named, also recounted discrimination experienced by colleagues in Karen and Karenni state in October.

“Recently several of our partners went back into Karen and Karenni state to renew their Burmese ID’s. In two separate cases, in two separate areas, they said the question asked at the government office was whether they are Muslim. Also, after they “proved” they were not, the authorities explained they are now making a list of all Muslims in their areas. One office official said the list was being prepared to disenfranchise Muslims there.”

To be sure, a lot of the stories being circulated are anecdotal, but put together, it suggests an evolution of this conflict that should be of pressing concern to all stakeholders. Both sides have committee grave abuses, but attempts so far at reconciliation seem to be hitting a brick wall. If it is true however that a belief system, rather than an ethnicity, is now being targeted, then the ramifications could be far-reaching.