Malaysia PM Leads 150-Strong Delegation to Burma

Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Abdul Razak arrived in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday leading a 150-member diplomatic and business delegation on a two-day visit to the country.
“It is widely expected that the visit will focus on economic issues,” Malaysian ambassador to Burma Ahmad Faisal Mohamed told Malaysian journalists on Tuesday. “Everybody is interested in Myanmar. If you are late, all the opportunities will be gone.”
Bilateral trade between Malaysia and Burma stood at US $795 million in 2011, an increase of nearly 27 percent from the previous year, according to Malaysian government figures. Roughly 258,000 Burmese nationals are registered as working in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Abdul Razak

Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas giant Petronas and the hotel group Micasa have investments in Burma. In January, the Burmese government awarded two out of 18 new onshore oil and gas blocks to Petronas in its biggest energy tender in years. Petronas said in December that it was looking to expand its onshore presence in Burma. Six additional onshore oil and gas blocks are expected to be tendered soon.
Malaysia is ranked third as country of origin of tourists in Burma, overtaking South Korea and Japan last year, according to figures by the Burmese Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. 23,287 tourist visas were issued to Malaysians in 2011, up 44 percent on the previous year.
“In trade and investment, we are not doing that badly, but we can take these opportunities to talk about areas we can further develop. There is huge potential,” Ambassador Mohamed said.
A business delegation of more than 50 representatives of Malaysian companies has travelled with Najib to Naypyidaw to explore investments in telecommunications, construction, timber and agriculture, according to Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is temporarily home to a total of 88,500 Burmese refugees as of the end of January. 34,400 Chins and 23,000 Rohingyas are the two biggest ethnic groups of asylum seekers in Malaysia.
The ministers for human resources and home affairs, whose portfolios deal with foreign workers and asylum seekers, are part of the prime ministers’ delegation along with Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.
Opposition parliamentarian Mujahid Yusof Rawa expressed hope that Najib will raise the issue of the Rohingya refugees in Naypyidaw.
“I hope that the prime minister’s visit will open a new chapter in how we handle the Rohingya refugees,” the MP for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “I hope there will be a new approach.”
“I call for the Burmese government to treat Rohingyas as Burmese,” he said. “Do not treat them as aliens.”
Najib’s visit was preceded by a preparatory visit by Foreign Minister Aman two weeks ago. This is his first prime ministerial visit to Burma and the first of a Malaysian prime minister since his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s visit in 2004.

‘Elections Neither Free Nor Fair,’ Says Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi cited repeated incidences of intimidation on the campaign trail. 

RANGOON—Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said that Sunday’s by-elections will be neither free nor fair because of widespread irregularities, but vowed to continue her candidacy to press forward with reform.
The Nobel laureate said opposition candidates had suffered stone-throwing incidents and other intimidation that hampered their campaigning in the run-up to the weekend poll.
The ballot is considered a crucial test of Burma’s commitment to democratic reforms and may well herald the end to punitive economic sanctions imposed by Western nations.
The 66-year-old told a press conference that the irregularities go “beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections.”
“I don’t think we can consider it genuinely free and fair if we consider what has been going on for the last couple months,” she said. “We’ve had to face many irregularities.”
When asked how far she would go to dispute the result, Suu Kyi said she would wait and see.
“We will have to see how the polling goes .. if the will of the people is represented,” she said. “We will have to see if these irregularities affect the result.”
Suu Kyi said there were attempts to injure candidates and cited two cases in which stones or other objects were thrown at members of her opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), even causing one of the party’s security guards to be hospitalized.
There were “many, many cases of intimidation” and vandalism of party campaign posters. She blamed some of the acts on “people in official positions.”
Despite the irregularities, Suu Kyi said that the party is “determined to go forward because we think that is what our people want.”
The by-elections are likely to mark a symbolic turning point by bringing Suu Kyi into Parliament for the first time, an event that would raise hopes for a more representative government after half-a-century of repressive military rule.
The by-elections will fill 45 vacant seats in Burma’s 664-seat Union Parliament.
A victory by Suu Kyi and her opposition NLD would do little to alter the balance of power in Parliament but would give her a voice in government for the first time.
Asked how she wanted to aid the nation, she replied, “in a way to help all the ethnic nationalities to live peacefully and happily with one another.
“I don’t need an official position but if it makes my work more effective then why not. We have very unreasonable expectations!—we want to win as many constituencies as possible.”
And Suu Kyi vowed to make reconciliation in Burma a priority should she win a parliamentary seat.
“We have differences of opinion within the government … but we have faced many challenges over the years and we will face many more. I feel we can have a voice within Parliament even if we win about 44 seats.”
And Suu Kyi said she was overwhelmed with the strength of support she encountered on the campaign trail.
“Lots of people approached me during the campaign but particularly children jumping up and down and shouting for the NLD,” she said.
“I’m not going to visit all the polling stations [in Kawhmu Township where she is standing] but I would like to visit some of them—I do not want to [have] a disruptive effect.
And Suu Kyi said that there were few countries which have had such a chequered history as Burma with respect of prolonged conflict and related abuses.
“We are confident that we too can achieve reconciliation despite our record of violence and violation of human rights,” she said.
When asked if she believed that Burma could learn from the South African model of reform, she was positive.
“Certainly we would like to learn from as many countries as possible,” she said. “We would like to study all different patterns of reconciliation and see what we can gain from experiences elsewhere.
“We haven’t even really started our process of reconciliation officially. We are very interested in how other countries went about it and negotiated settlements.”
When asked whether she would want the perpetrators of human rights abuses to face trial, Suu Kyi quoted Arch-Bishop Desmond Tu-Tu, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, in that, “what we believe in is not retributive justice but restorative justice.”
Suu Kyi denied that she has had discussions with the government of China regarding democracy, but said that the by-elections were positive for the entire region.
“It’s a step towards step one towards democracy,” she said. “For the Asean community it’s an opportunity to assess if real reforms have taken place or might be taking place in the near future.
“Democracy in this country will be a victory for our people. Once we get into Parliament we will be able to start building towards democratization.

Burma’s By-election on Sunday: Why It Matters

Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is widely expected to win a parliamentary seat in Sunday's by-elections

Burma’s by-elections on Sunday only counts for a small portion of parliament seats, but has taken on immense symbolic importance because it will likely see pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi win her first term in office.
The elections represent a key step for national reconciliation after more than two decades of bitter struggle which set the ruling military against a pro-democracy movement led by Suu Kyi and which turned Burma into a shunned, pariah state with stunted development.
Though the seats up for grabs are relatively few, the stakes are high for both the military-backed government, which wants to emerge from international isolation, and for Suu Kyi’s camp, which wants real democracy. The vote also sets the stage for an even more important general election in 2015.
Here’s a look at Sunday’s polling, the players and what’s at stake:
The Election
Candidates are vying for 45 seats in the 664-seat parliament that have been vacated since 2010 general elections, which were boycotted by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The government has invited a limited number of international observers to witness the latest polling, hoping to boost its democratic credentials. Suu Kyi, running in impoverished Kawhmu Township south of Rangoon, has alleged widespread irregularities in the run-up, but has vowed to go forward with her candidacy.
The Military
The country’s former military rulers—known for violently suppressing any uprisings—nullified a 1990 election victory by Suu Kyi and kept her under house arrest for much of the following two decades.
They engineered the 2010 elections to usher in a nominally civilian governement while ensuring that the military retained power, for example, by reserving at least a quarter of parliamentary seats for the military. Foreign observers were barred from that vote—a military-backed party unsurprisingly won.
Now firmly entrenched, the country’s rulers have a strong interest in promoting a more democratic stance, to placate international critics. The government hopes to earn a lifting of economic and political sanctions by the US and other Western nations, so that Burma can enjoy the benefits of the global economy.
It can afford to allow Suu Kyi’s followers to win seats in the Parliament, because those up for grabs amount to less than seven percent of the legislature, and wants Sunday’s vote to appear to go as smoothly as possible.
The government of President Thein Sein has launched a series of reforms—including the freeing of political prisoners and opening of a dialogue with Suu Kyi. Washington has promised to upgrade diplomatic relations, but wants to see free and fair elections before it grants further rewards.
Suu Kyi
Suu Kyi and her political party came out of the 2010 election with poor prospects because of its boycott. Two decades of struggle against fierce repression had given the party the moral high ground but drained its energy.
Then, Suu Kyi was finally freed from house arrest, rejuvenating her pro-democracy movement while she herself—in her mid-60s—has shown signs of fatigue in campaign appearances that have drawn large, enthusiastic crowds.
Suu Kyi was supposedly loathed by the former military leader, Sen-Gen Than Shwe, who stepped down after the 2010 elections. But she says she trusts Thein Sein and his promise of a kinder, gentler Burma.
She has acknowledged that her party will have no substantial power even it if wins all 45 seats that it is contesting, but hopes to give voice to the “aspirations” of the people.
Thein Sein’s government needs Suu Kyi’s participation because of her prestige in the international community as standard-bearer for Burma’s democracy movement whose courage won her a Nobel Peace prize. She commands considerable influence on policymakers, especially in the United States.
To woo Washington, Thein Sein must curry favor with Suu Kyi.
The Future
Both sides are playing for future benefits, but the path seems clearer for the military—Provide enough democracy to keep Suu Kyi in line and satisfy Western nations so that they drop their sanctions, and use the anticipated inflows of investment to jump-start the economy.
Critics fear that Suu Kyi could become marginalized or co-opted in Parliament. But if her party plays by the government’s rules, it could provide the party’s long-suffering organizers the kind of breathing space they never before enjoyed.
Suu Kyi has said repeatedly that the party will work outside the legislature as well as inside. Many of the country’s best-known pro-democracy activists, released from prison under Thein Sein’s amnesties and unbowed by their incarceration, have vowed their support for Suu Kyi.
If the party can rebuild itself, it can mount a campaign for a general election in 2015 that could pose a real challenge to military-backed rule. Whether the military allows a victory by Suu Kyi and her supporters in that vote—or squashes the result, as it did in 1990—will be the true test of its commitment to democracy.