Hillary Clinton visit: Burma hails new chapter in ties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hillary Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit Burma since 1955

Burmese President Thein Sein has hailed a "new chapter" in relations with the US during talks with Hillary Clinton in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

Mrs Clinton, the most senior American to visit the country in half a century, told the president she was "encouraged" by recent policy changes.
The US maintains tight sanctions on senior figures in Burma's hierarchy.
But a series of reforms this year has led to speculation that decades of isolation could be about to end.
However, US officials have stressed that there is unlikely to be any major announcements on sanctions during Mrs Clinton's trip.
Analysts say the US is more likely to consider symbolic gestures such as upgrading its mission in Burma to a full embassy.
Mrs Clinton's talks with Burma's leadership got under way on Thursday when she met Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin before the talks with President Thein Sein.
"I am here today because President Obama and myself are encouraged by the steps that you and your government have taken to provide for your people," Mrs Clinton told Thein Sein as the two sat down for talks.
Thein Sein said her visit would prove to be a "milestone".
"Your excellency's visit will be historic and a new chapter in relations," he said before the start of the closed-door meeting.
BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas, travelling with Mrs Clinton, says the top US diplomat's visit is both a reward for the reforms that have already taken place and an incentive for Burma's government to do more.
The US secretary of state said before the trip she was quite hopeful that "flickers of progress" could transform into a real movement for change.
'No resistance' Mrs Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit Burma since 1955.
The country was taken over by the military in 1962 and ruled by a brutal and unpredictable junta until last year, when the army ceded power to a nominally civilian government.

REFORM IN BURMA

• 7 Nov 2010: First polls in 20 years
• 13 Nov: Aung San Suu Kyi freed from house arrest
• 30 Mar 2011: Transfer of power to new government complete
• 14 Aug: Aung San Suu Kyi allowed to leave Rangoon on political visit
• 19 Aug: Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burmese President Thein Sein
• 6 Oct: Human rights commission established
• 12 Oct: More than 200 political prisoners freed
• 13 Oct: New labour laws allowing unions passed
• 17 Nov: Burma granted Asean chair in 2014
• 18 Nov: NLD says it is rejoining political process

Although the government is still dominated by figures from the previous military regime, it has introduced several important reforms, and released groups of political prisoners.

The visit comes weeks after President Barack Obama toured Asia and made a series of announcements bolstering American commitments in the region.
Observers have portrayed the new US focus on Asia as an attempt to counter China's attempts to become the pre-eminent power in the area.
And Chinese state media has reacted furiously to Mrs Clinton's visit to Burma.
The Global Times, which often runs bombastic nationalistic editorials, warned the US not to impinge on China's interests.
"China has no resistance toward Myanmar [Burma] seeking improved relationship with the West, but it will not accept this while seeing its interests stamped on," said a comment piece in the paper.
China has invested heavily in Burma, particularly in the energy sector.
But big Chinese-funded projects such as a hydroelectric dam in the north have provoked resentment among Burmese and led to an upsurge in fighting between ethnic rebels and the army.
Mrs Clinton landed in the remote capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on Wednesday afternoon. After her meeting with Thein Sein, she is due to head to the main city Rangoon to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy recently re-registered as a political party, and she is expected to stand for parliament in forthcoming by-elections.
The NLD had operated outside the political system for two decades, and Ms Suu Kyi spent much of that time in detention. She was freed shortly after the current government came to power.

Can Clinton, Suu Kyi change Burma?

(Commentary) – As the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Burma in 50 years, Hillary Clinton’s trip marks a turning point, and there is high expectation that Burma may finally be coming out of the cold.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Special Session on Gender at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Korea on November 30, 2011. Photo: AFP

Soon after its independence from Britain, British travel writer Norman Lewis wrote in the early 1950s that in comparison to Vietnam, Burma had remained isolated and mysterious.  He wrote that “while in Vietnam the established authority was challenged by a united opposition with a single ideology, the Burmese government was opposed by two separate bands of communists, two versions of a heterogeneous organization called the People’s Voluntary Organization, in which many bandits had enrolled, 10,000 or so Seven Day Adventist Karens, and a small army of mutinous military police.”
Even today, while resisting the central government’s ethnocentric nationalism and chauvinism for decades, Burma’s various opposition groups, while they share a common goal for democracy, have never unified under a common leadership or set of principles.
Following the Saffron Revolution of 2007, the Burmese military regime was viewed negatively by the world at-large. With the fresh memory of monks’ blood on their hands, it could no longer use the blunt force of violence against Aung San Suu Kyi, as it did during the 2003 Depayin Massacre. The army finally released Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2010, but it has continued its brutal assaults on ethnic minorities in conflict areas. However, simultaneously, the new government began a concerted charm offensive on all fronts, including it pursuit of separate cease-fires with armed ethnic groups.
The military’s rapid warming up to Suu Kyi and the NLD caught many in the political opposition camp by surprise. There was no time to openly discuss or mull over the political choices made by Suu Kyi, but people trusted her instincts. However, some political factions still remain far apart in areas throughout the country.
Looking back to 1886, James George Scott wrote, “Large trading towns of Burma will be for all practical purposes absorbed by the Chinese traders, just as in Singapore... And Burma is a country that has never known, and can never know, famine except as a direct result of civil war and misrule. It is perhaps a pity that the Burmese have not more vigor about them, but, on the other hand, it would be a pity if so simple and contented and genial a people were to be spoilt by a new and sordid desire for the acquisition of wealth.”
Burma and China seemed so utterly different then, but since the 1988 crackdown in Burma and the 1989 uprising in China, the two countries have become key political and economic allies. The question is whether the United States can now move Burma from its deep embrace of China?

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets with musicians in November to discuss songs to use in the campaigns of National League for Democracy candidates. Photo: Mizzima

With the assassination of General Aung San, the father of Suu Kyi, after Burma’s independence from Britain, the dream of a peaceful and democratic Burma quickly faded. Distrustful of the population, the Burmese army took over political and economic control, and according to commentator Mary P. Callahan, “after cleaning house inside the army, Gen. Ne Win led the ultimate offensive against civilian parliamentary rule in March 1962.”  Again in 1990, under a new name and a new set of army generals, an even more brutal military junta grabbed political power back from the election-winning National League for Democracy. Callahan concluded that there would be no easy solutions to the problem of dissembling this security-obsessed state and replacing it with a new one that treats citizens with dignity and accountability. The removal of the handful of top generals and colonels from the government, and their replacement with fraudulently elected officials, will not transform the century-old command relationship between the state and society overnight.
Callahan also rightly noted that many ethnic minority leaders question whether a democratic government based in central Burma would really commit national resources to development programs in ethnic border areas. And as the world focuses on Suu Kyi and her political party, many minority leaders worry that their needs are not being taken into account.
The political uncertainty in Burma’s tortured history rivals that of Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping. Surely a change of clothes from military uniforms to civilian garb cannot, at this stage, be equated with a true change of heart to embrace genuine democratic reforms in Burma.
Regardless, Clinton’s visit signifies the Americans’ willingness to invest major political capital in Burma. Clinton brings with her not only the momentum of a global outcry for freedom, but also as a leading member of the U.S. administration, she can also use her influence to help reconcile Burma’s various political factions, including the military, democracy activists, and ethnic nationalities.
As Suu Kyi says, most Burmese may not understand English, but they all know the meaning of democracy and freedom. So far, Suu Kyi seems to have set aside her differences with Thein Sein. The recent gains, including the halt of a major dam project, the symbolic release of a handful of political prisoners, and the slight relaxation of press freedoms have been attributed to their renewed relations.
Whether it is only a superficial gesture or a true commitment on the part of the current Burmese government, as Ko Myat Soe, a former student leader now living in the United States, observed, twilight is finally descending on the dictators. This is a perfect time for Clinton to go to Burma and meet with Suu Kyi.
Even though she has been released from house arrest, like all other Burmese, Suu Kyi is not yet truly free. In order to fulfill her promises and those made by her father, Burma still has to release all political prisoners and must bestow equal political rights on ethnic nationalities by laying down the groundwork for a true and democratic political process.
For Clinton, it’s a little bit of a tightrope walk right now. It requires delicate steps, one by one. But one thing is certain: it’s the twilight of the military dictators in Burma. Everyone in Burma, including the generals, wants U.S. help. Expectations are high. This is a once in a lifetime opening in which the world’s two most respected women can bring positive change to Burma.

Five millions kyat for village administration officer post in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: A Rohingya had given five millions kyat for village administration officer post to District administration officer in Maungdaw recently, according to politician from Maungdaw.

“Rashid, the Rohingya, had given five millions kyat to U Aung Myint Soe, the district administration officer of Maungdaw who supervised the village administration officer election in the villages of Maungdaw Township.”

“The money was carried by Ahyas hailed from Poung Zarr - a notorious collaborator of authority- for district administration officer of Maungdaw U Aung Myint Soe.” 

“The money was given for the election of Labawzarr village administration officer.”

But, the villagers from Labawzarr village supported and casted their vote to Kaseim for their village head of the administration office and win in the election while it was held, said a school teacher from Labawzarr.

“The villagers didn’t support Rashid as their village administration officer and now the Ahyas who took money from Rashid, is trying to change the result of election and to appoint Rashed as head of village administration office with money.”

We are worrying for Kaseim, as  Ahyas and Rashed are trying to use the power of district administration officer  with bribing five millions kyat to him, said an elder from the Labawzarr village.

Bangladesh pushes back 16 Rohingya

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Guard Bangladesh (BGB) pushed back 16 Rohingya who were arrested from the Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar highway road on November 27, according to a trader from Teknaf.

“The Rohingya who were going to Cox’s Bazar with different vehicles on Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar highway road and BGB arrested them at their check point on the road.”

Later, they were pushed pack to Burma through the entry point of Whykong.

Similarly, the BGB arrested Nazim Uddin, 26, hailed from Shabran under Teknaf police station, a drug trafficker with 3970 Yaba tablets while he was going to Cox’s Bazar from Shamalapur through the marine drive road on November27, said an elder from Shamalapur.

Nazim was handed over to the Teknaf police station and file a case of drug trafficking against him, an official said from Teknaf police station. 

On the other hand, BGB seized five sacks of fertilizer, three sacks of rice, seventy kg of potatoes and twenty litters of diesel with a row boat from Naff river on November 27, while it was being smuggled to Burma, according to official from BGB.