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National League for Democracy granted permission to reopen branches
Associated Press (Yangon) - 10 March 2010
The National League for Democracy has been authorised to reopen its 35 township branch offices in Yangon as well as in other districts across the country. The action followed a decision earlier today to disqualify Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.
Note by Network Myanmar: Although it is widely assumed that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is now disqualified from standing for any Assembly, or being an officer of the NLD or even a party member because of the provisions of Law No. 2/2010 which debar any person currently serving a prison sentence from so acting, we await formal confirmation of the significance of the directive dated 10 August 2009 remitting half of any sentence passed on 11 August 2009 and suspending the remainder, while requiring her to reside at her home under restriction. Whether this is tantamount to "serving a prison term" is not yet clear to us. In the 1990 Elections, restricted residence under the 1975 State Protection Law was not regarded as "serving a prison term" and Suu Kyi was not debarred on those, but on other grounds, from standing for Parliament.
Myanmar election law puts Suu Kyi's party in bind
Reuters (Yangon) - 10 March 2010
Under the second of five new election laws, being published gradually in state media, the military government is making Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and some other parties re-register within 60 days with a new election commission. Failure to do so means they will have to fold. But to register, they have to exclude party members who are serving prison terms. That would include Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention and is now serving 18 months in house detention for breaching security laws. Many other senior NLD members are among more than 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to rights activists. "We find some of the provisions in this law very unfair and completely unacceptable. We feel sure this law will not be conducive to national reconciliation in our country at all," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told Reuters. Parties wanting to register will also have to give a written commitment to uphold the constitution passed in 2008, which the NLD rejects and campaigned against. "It's completely impossible for us," Nyan Win said.
Myanmar's Suu Kyi faces new law: spokesman
Agence France-Presse - 10 March 2010
"I have noticed that we have to expel Daw Suu. Their attitude is clear in this law," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP. "I was extremely surprised when I saw this. I did not think it would be so bad." The new law also gives the NLD 60 days to register as a party if it wants to take part in the elections, which the junta has promised sometime this year. The NLD has not yet decided whether it wants to participate. Under Suu Kyi's leadership the party won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but the military regime annulled the result. Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the subsequent 20 years. Suu Kyi was already barred from standing as a candidate under a new constitution approved in a 2008 referendum, under a clause stipulating that those married to foreign nationals are not eligible.
Note by Network Myanmar:The Political Parties Registration Law № 2/2010 of 8 March 2010 sets the conditions for registration as a political party and for participation in the forthcoming elections. These conditions are based on the criteria set out in Chapter X of the 2008 Constitution, Articles 404 - 409. According to agency reports, a "national" party for the National Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw) must have at least 1,000 members and 15 founding members, while "regional" parties for other Assemblies need a minimum of 500 members (and the same number of founding members). Parties, both old and new, must register within 60 days of the enactment of the Law on 8 March 2010. A party must contest at least three Assembly seats to avoid deregistration. Any person serving a term in prison is debarred from helping to form a political party or even from being a member of a political party. Parties will be required to accept and practise "a genuine and discipline-flourishing multi-party democratic system" and be loyal to the State. A refusal to accede to these criteria would result in the rejection of a party's application to register.
So far as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is concerned, her present status is far from clear. In the 1990 elections she was not ineligible to stand for election because of her restricted residence at the time under the 1975 State Protection Law. She was debarred on other grounds. In 2010 she is subject to restricted residence in accordance with a directive issued by Senior General Than Shwe on 10 August 2009 a day before her conviction. It is not clear whether the current period of her restricted residence has the same status as that of her previous conviction under the 1975 Law, that is, whether her suspended sentence means that she is under a disability in standing for election under Law № 2/2010. She would have the right of appeal if her application to stand for election to the National Assembly (for which she would not appear to be ineligible on the grounds of her former marriage to a foreigner - see Page 11 of the ICG Report "Myanmar: Towards the Elections") was rejected for any reason. There could also be doubt, if she is held to be "in prison", about her continuing membership of the National League for Democracy and her status in the NLD as Secretary-General; this may never have been regularised after she stood down from that position after her detention in 1989 and sought to resume in 1995. See New Light of Myanmar dated 9 March 2008 on the "right of appeal from the basic to the highest level", a promise made to UN Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari on 8 March 2008.
Publication of the Union Election Commission Law No. 1/2010
AFP (Yangon) - 9 March 2010
Burmese-language newspapers today carry as a supplement the Burmese-language text of the Union Electoral Commission No. 1/2010 of the SPDC of 8 March 2010 . As expected, the law is based on the principles contained in Articles 398-402 of the 2008 Constitution, but is valid only for the first elections before the new Constitution comes into operation.
Burmese Text - Union Election Commission Law No. 1/2010 of 8 March 2010
Unofficial English translation of Law No. 1/2010 of 8 March 2010
Reuters (UN) - 8 March 2010
Ban Ki-moon has said that he wrote to Senior General Than Shwe 10 days ago "expressing my concern about this lack of progress" on democratic reforms and emphasizing the importance of ensuring that this year's vote is "most credible, inclusive and transparent."
Interview in Washington - 8 March 2010
US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is expected to visit Myanmar in the very near future. He expresses his views on the current state of the US-Myanmar dialogue. "I think the key for the United States is we have got to be committed: committed to our principles, committed to our values, to our friends, and we have to be consistent and we do have to demonstrate some patience in the process. This is not a set of circumstances that are going to change overnight. And it will have to be through a strategic and cunning [?] approach on the part of Western friends and others to see a more positive way forward. So I stand by my early statement: painful, difficult and challenging, and it will take longer than people had hoped or anticipated."
Agence France Presse - 8 March 2010
The AFP report says that: "It was unclear if a date for the election would be included in the five new laws. Analysts have predicted the polls will take place in October or November. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said the military government had not given parties enough time to prepare for the elections, but it would reserve its decision on whether to take part until after it had seen the laws. 'It cannot be fair by announcing the laws at this time for an election to be held in 2010. There is not enough time, the parties are not ready, they cannot lobby or campaign,' NLD spokesman Nyan Win told reporters. He said senior party members hoped to meet Suu Kyi later this week.
Note by Network Myanmar: Chapter 10 of the 2008 Constitution provides in Article 406(a) that (registered) political parties have the right to "organize freely". In the UK elections may be called at 17 working days' notice only. Circumstances in Myanmar are of course different, but the suggestion by the NLD that the elections should not be held until 2011 because there is not enough time to "lobby or campaign" may strike many as unconvincing.
People's Daily Online: 8 March 2010
Myanmar State radio and television has announced that five new laws have been enacted and would be published in State newspapers beginning Tuesday 9 March 2010.
Note by Network Myanmar: The laws enacted are expected to be the Election Law to the Pyithu Hluttaw or People's Assembly (replacing the 1989 Law as amended after the 1990 Elections in 1991), two new laws for elections to the Amyotha Hluttaw or Nationalities Assembly and to the State and Regional Assemblies, the Election Commission Law (replacing the 1988 Law) and the Political Parties Registration Law (the 1988 Law was valid only for the 1990 Elections). In addition to the five laws, in due course detailed Regulations for the laws are expected to be approved.
The New York Times - 7 March 2010
The assets that have been sold or are for sale include the country’s fuel import and distribution network, gem and tin mines, farmland and factories, according to businessmen who have seen announcements of the sales. The government has put out word that it is selling factories producing soft drinks, cigarettes and bicycles, among other commercial goods, according to U Phone Win, the head of a non-profit organization that assists people in rural areas. Most of the sales and policy changes have been announced to small groups of businessmen, and the news is spreading by word of mouth. The government is also opening the health care and education sectors to private enterprise, Mr. Phone Win said, issuing licenses for the first time for private hospitals and schools. “There are opportunities here for the international business community."
Elections are due to be held later this year. “For these elections to be considered credible and legitimate, it’s absolutely essential that the government release the prisoners of conscience currently being held and allow those who wish to participate in the elections to do so,” said Andrew Heyn, the British ambassador here. But the changes are nonetheless seen as important. In recent weeks, the local news media have been allowed to publish articles condemning child labor and forced labor, both of which are illegal but persistent, especially in rural areas. The government is working with the International Labor Organization to crack down on the practice by local commanders of hiring child soldiers. “It’s a completely different environment from a few years ago,” said Steve Marshall, the head of the International Labor Organization office here. “There is very much more acceptance for the need to work together. They want to be seen as a professional military.”
MFA Singapore Press Release - 5 March 2010
On relations with Myanmar, Mr Yeo said [paragraphs 20 - 22]:
20. "This will be a critical year for Myanmar. At long last, at long last, elections will be held under a new Constitution that guarantees a continuing strong role for the military in Myanmar politics. The present Government promises that the elections will be 'free and fair'. Critical to its legitimacy will be the spirit of national reconciliation among the many ethnic groups in the country and the participation of the National League of Democracy and other opposition parties. We know there are ongoing discussions between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the generals, and hope that both sides will show flexibility and compromise. Singapore supports the ASEAN position calling for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her participation in the coming elections.
21. "If there is no reconciliation and the elections outcome is not seen as legitimate, especially by Myanmar's neighbours, then ASEAN will have a problem. At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers retreat in Da Nang, we expressed our concerns and our hopes in no uncertain terms to the Myanmar Foreign Minister.
22. "Bilaterally, our relations with Myanmar are good. Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein made his introductory visit to Singapore in March last year and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Myanmar in June '09 at the invitation of Prime Minister Thein Sein, and in Nay Pyi Taw he also met Senior General Than Shwe. Singapore continues to do our part in helping Myanmar build up its capacity. We have provided technical assistance through the Singapore Cooperation Programme and under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration."
"Targeted Financial Sanctions" - Panacea or Illusion?
Burmese Perspectives - 5 March 2010
Derek Tonkin examines current pressures to impose targeted financial sanctions against Myanmar because other sanctions have failed to induce political reform. He concludes that such unilateral sanctions targeted against Asian countries where Burmese individuals and companies are thought to hold accounts are a double-edged sword which the US and EU are likely to be very reluctant indeed to wield.
AFP/Yahoo - 3 March 2010
India is investing US$ 1.35 billion in gas projects in Myanmar, the two governments have announced, as the neighbouring nations pursue closer economic and diplomatic ties. India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) will spend US$ 1.1 billion on rights to develop two gas field blocks and US$ 250 million on a connecting pipeline, India's energy ministry said in a statement. Myanmar's military government confirmed the gas investment in a statement following broader diplomatic talks held with an Indian delegation on March 1 in its capital Naypyidaw.
Myanmar News Agency press release on the dismissal of Suu Kyi's appeal
New Light of Myanmar - 27 February 2010
"The Supreme Court confirmed the judgements and decree of Yangon Division Court and rejected the criminal appeal cases today. Daw Khin Cho Ohn, Director of the Attorney-General’s Office, the defence Supreme Court Advocates U Kyi Win, U Nyan Win, Daw Khin Htay Kywe and U Hla Myo Myint and ambassadors of embassies in Yangon were also present at the court today."
Comment by Network Myanmar: The grounds for the appeal were that Suu Kyi and her co-defendants "were dissatisfied with the judgments of the criminal appeal cases." In the Burmese version of New Light of Myanmar, this appeal was expressed as "their demand to overturn the sentence because of their dissatisfaction". It is probable that this was Suu Kyi's choice of words. From this perspective the court case was as much a political challenge as a strictly legal appeal.
Myanmar dismisses Suu Kyi appeal
Associated Press (Yangon) - 26 February 2010
The Supreme Court in Myanmar has dismissed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal to end her restricted residence. Defence lawyer Nyan Win told reporters that he would launch one final "special appeal" before the court after determining why the earlier appeal had been rejected. "The court order did not mention any reasons." British Ambassador Andrew Heyn, who attended the court session along with diplomats from Australia, France and the United States said: "Although the decision comes as no surprise, it is deeply disappointing. We continue to believe that (Suu Kyi) should be released immediately along with the other 2,000 and more other prisoners of conscience."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expresses his disappointment
US and UK sharply critical of the dismissal
Myanmar: renewed bid to fight forced labour
IRIN - 26 February 2010
The government of Myanmar and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have for the third time renewed an agreement aimed at tackling forced labour. “Neither party sought any changes and there were absolutely no issues in terms of its renewal,” Steve Marshall, liaison officer for the ILO in Myanmar, told IRIN in an interview. The agreement will come into effect on 26 February for another year. However, Marshall said much work was still required to ensure the proper application of the agreement. According to the ILO and rights groups, the military regularly uses forced labour for its activities, such as sentry duty, or when camps are shifted and porters are needed to carry supplies, or in construction. Military units are also under-funded and rely on farming to survive, and villagers are often compelled to work for them. The practice is also used by civilian authorities, who cannot afford the labour to build roads, for example. “A lot of forced labour is driven by a very bad economic structure. The local authorities have no money, they’ve got no resources,” said Marshall. “It’s not just a social issue; it’s an economic policy management issue as well.” [Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but its services are editorially independent.]
Comment by Network Myanmar: It should not be overlooked that Western sanctions are partly responsible for the depressed rural economy in Myanmar, which in turn inclines local authorities to resort to forced labour through lack of resources.
Comments by Prime Minister Thein Sein at Bhamo University
New Light of Myanmar - 24 February 2010
During his visit to Bhamo University on 23 February 2010, Prime Minister Thein Sein is reported in the New Light of Myanmar to have said: "The Prime Minister called for maintaining the development of sound foundations in the long term in the interest of the nation and its people and he pointed out that a Myanmar citizen must be for his own country, Myanmar. He must not be a sycophant of any alien nation or a stooge of a foreign country in disguise of a Myanmar."
Note by Network Myanmar: Observers assume that the reference was by implication to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Prime Minister made a similar comment on 9 March 2010 in Shan State when he commented that "Myanamr citizens must be for Myanmar and a Myanmar must not be a stooge of any alien nation or a Myanmar in disguise."
Interview with Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN
BBC HARDtalk - 24 February 2010
On the elections in Myanmar in 2010, Dr Surin said: "In all those steps you have mentioned, we have encouraged them, we have discussed with them, we have communicated with them that the world is expecting more from the reconciliation process than is going on, ending up with the elections. Now we cannot impose on every step, we cannot interfere on every detail, but certainly we have communicated very, very candidly, very openly to them in various forums we have....... I was stating the fact that there will be new elections, and the world will have to deal with Myanmar after the elections. We have seen all sorts of strategies, isolation, trying to impose, trying to boycott, nothing had worked. ......No election is perfect, it has to begin, and that's what's beginning, they have promised at the end of this year, and we are working on, trying to make sure that our expectation is fulfilled, that is, it's going to be credible, it's going to be transparent......certainly not the same level as any other places that you are expecting, this is a different country, they have had a different background. The fact [is] that they are committed to the elections....... I think there is a new beginning, after the elections........ at least they have taken a step forward......I think it is a positive step, better than not having elections at all, and there are some countries around the world, including in South East Asia, which do not have such mechanism, so it is a step forward." [transcript by Network Myanmar]
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