I Voted for Party Which Serves the People: Khin Nyunt

Former Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt talks to reporters after voting at a polling station in Mayangone Township on Sunday.

Former Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt said he voted for a political party which he believed served the interest of civilians.
Khin Nyunt, who is also a former spy chief, spoke to journalists after casting his ballot in Rangoon on Sunday—but did not disclose which party he voted for.
However, he said that he cast his vote in accordance with the will of the majority.
Meanwhile, his son, Zaw Naing Oo, told reporters in Rangoon that he voted for May Win Myint, a candidate representing the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Khin Nyunt and his family cast their ballots in Mayangone Township to the north of the former capital. Despite the lack of an official comment by Khin Nyunt, many journalists believe that he also voted for the NLD.
According to preliminary results coming from polls so far, it is believed that Suu Kyi’s party is currently leading the race with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is filed with many ex-junta members, in second place.
Nyan Win, the main spokesperson for the NLD,“According to results so far, we can say that the condition of our party is good.”
Suu Kyi is contesting one seat for Kawhmu Township out of 45 constituencies up for grabs in the by-elections.

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

Released after enduring house arrest for years, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an icon of peaceful resistance.

   Aung San Suu Kyi is widely seen as the symbol of peaceful resistance in her struggle for democracy
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for "her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights", Aung San Suu Kyi has become an icon of Myanmar's struggle for democracy and of the global struggle against oppression.
Kept under house arrest or in jail for most of the past 21 years, she is the most prominent of more than 1,000 political prisoners held by Myanmar's military government.
Born in Rangoon, now Yangon, in June 1945, Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San.
He was assassinated by political rivals when she was just two years old, six months before Myanmar, then known as Burma, was granted independence from Britain.
As a young woman, Aung San Suu Kyi studied politics in New Delhi before moving to Oxford University in the UK in 1964 where she studied philosophy, politics and economics.
There she met and married British academic Michael Aris, with whom she had two sons, Alexander and Kim.
Rising discontent
In 1988 Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar to look after her mother, who had suffered a stroke.
Her return coincided with a period of rising discontent with the military government of Myanmar's ruler, General Ne Win.
When that boiled over into nationwide pro-democracy protests, she found herself unable to stay silent.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar independence leader General Aung San

"I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on," she told a crowd of supporters in Yangon.
She was named secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and travelled the country calling for peaceful reform and democratic rule.
On September 18, 1988 the Myanmar military launched a bloody crackdown on protesters in which an estimated 2,000 people died.
Aung San Suu Kyi's mother died in December of that year but she stayed on in Myanmar, keeping up the campaign for an end to military rule.
In July 1989, in an effort to silence her, the military government placed her under house arrest in her lakeside villa on Yangon's University Avenue, accused of "endangering the state".
She was offered freedom on the condition that she left the country, but she refused.
Landslide victory
A year later, apparently confident that its crackdown had worked, the military government called a nationwide general election - Myanmar's first in 30 years.
The NLD scored a landslide victory, winning 392 of 485 parliamentary seats, although Aung San Suu Kyi herself was barred from standing.
Stung by the rejection, the military refused to recognise the result and announced it was extending Aung San Suu Kyi's detention.

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it." - Aung San Suu Kyi

Despite being out of sight, however, she remained very much in the minds of her supporters.
Pictures of the woman many refer to simply as The Lady are kept and maintained with almost spiritual reverence, even though owning such items has in the past attracted serious repercussions from the authorities.
In 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her achievements as "the symbol of the revolt against violence and the struggle for a free society".

"The little woman under house arrest stands for a positive hope," said Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Nobel committee, at the prize ceremony.
"Knowing she is there gives us confidence and faith in the power of good."
Movements restricted
In 1995 following intense international pressure, the military government announced it was freeing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, although in practice her movements remained highly restricted.
Four years later her husband, Michael Aris, whom she had not seen for several years, died of cancer in the UK.

She has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest in her Yangon home

He had been prevented from visiting his wife during his illness, and she herself had rejected government's "humanitarian" offers to be allowed to leave the country, fearing that she would not then be allowed to return.
In 2000, after breaking travel restrictions by travelling to the northern city of Mandalay for a meeting with NLD officials, she was again put under house arrest.
She was freed two years later, but in May 2003 was sent to Yangon's notorious Insein prison following a bloody clash between NLD supporters and a pro-government mob.
After several months in the jail she was returned to house arrest in her crumbling lakeside villa, where she was held virtually incommunicado for years.
Visitors to the house were tightly restricted, while mail and telephone communications were monitored and intercepted.
Frail figure
The few people who had made contact with her during her house arrest said the growing frustration at the lack of progress with the government had taken a heavy toll on her health.
Photographs of meetings with the United Nations' special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, showed a thin and frail figure, spurring renewed international calls for her release.

Photos in early 2009 raised concerns over Aung San Suu Kyi's poor health

Despite her poor health, NLD officials said she remained as defiant and fearless as ever - determined to achieve her goals of bringing democracy to Myanmar through peaceful resistance.
In one of her most famous speeches delivered before the 1990 elections, she called for a country free from fear.
"It is not power that corrupts but fear," she said.
"Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
In 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted of violating the condition of her detention by allowing John Yettaw, a US national, to stay at her home after he swam across a lake to get there.
She has since offered to lobby the international community to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Myanmar, many of which were imposed more than two decades ago.
In the 2010 general elections, held for the first time in 20 years, Aung San Suu Kyi was barred from contesting and her NLD party boycotted the vote.
Aung San Suu Kyi was released on 13 November 2010, and, after boycotting elections that year, she stood as a candidate in the April 1, 2011, by-election for the constituency of Kawhmu, south of Yangon.
She said that she did not regret standing for parliament, as it boosted people's interest in politics after decades of military rule.

Suu Kyi 'wins seat' in Myanmar parliament

Democracy icon's party says she has triumphed in by-election contest seen as test of government's commitment to reform

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been elected to the country's parliament in landmark by-elections, according to her National League for Democracy (NLD).
A senior party member, speaking shortly after polls closed on Sunday, said that Suu Kyi, who spent years as a political prisoner, had secured more than 80 per cent of votes in the constituency of Kawhmu, south of Yangon.
The announcement prompted cheers and celebrations from crowds of NLD supporters, although official results are not expected for days.
"Reports are coming through that Suu Kyi has won the polls in Kawhmu, a very poor, rural part of Myanmar ... That is a place where she spent the night on Saturday night, with the locals out there. She has been out there campaigning a couple of times, where she has received an incredible response," said Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from Yangon.
Sunday's vote is seen as a key test of the military-backed civilian government's commitment to recent democratic reforms.
Hay said that provisional results from further north, an area near the city of Mandalay, where there were 10 seats up for grabs also suggested that NLD was ahead in eight of those seats.
More than six million people were eligible to vote on Sunday, with a total of 160 candidates from 17 parties, including six new to the political stage, contesting for 45 parliamentary seats.
The number of seats at stake is not enough to threaten the military-backed ruling party's overwhelming majority, secured in full elections in 2010.
Suu Kyi's apparent victory had been widely expected, despite complaints by the NLD over alleged voting irregularities and campaign intimidation.
She said she did not regret standing for parliament because the polls had boosted people's interest in politics after decades of outright military rule ended last year.
The government for the first time invited teams of foreign observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN], European Union and the US, and journalists to witness the elections.
Political reforms
Since taking office a year ago, President Thein Sein has carried out reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, easing media restrictions and welcoming the opposition back into mainstream politics.
Our correspondent, reporting earlier from Kawhmu, said: "There are international monitors on the ground, but they are not allowed inside the polling booths. They are certainly not allowed to oversee the counting when that starts later on Sunday."
"So, they are here to observe overall process, talk to voters about any irregularities that they might have seen," he said.
"What we are hearing is that some voters have complained that voting sheets have been tampered with. Some voters have complained that inside the polling stations some of the officials have been coercing voters into voting for a certain party.
"So, not the best of starts, but certainly something the National League for Democracy and Suu Kyi were expecting."
Nyan Win, a spokesman for the party, told the AFP news agency on Sunday that his party had submitted a letter of complaint to the country's election commission regarding alleged irregularities involving ballot papers that could potentially be invalidated without due cause.
The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but the ruling military never allowed it to take office. The party also boycotted the 2010 polls that swept the army's political proxies to power and were marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation.
Suu Kyi, who spent most of the past 22 years as a political prisoner, described the vote as "a step towards step one in democracy", despite complaining on Friday that the polls were not "genuinely free and fair".
"What has been happening in this country is really beyond what is acceptable for a democratic election. Still, we are determined to go forward because we think that is what our people want," the Nobel peace laureate said.

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.

Burma Among Worst For Religious Freedom: Report

Burma has been declared one of the world’s worst countries for religious freedom as reports emerge of places of worship being savagely vandalized by government troops.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2012 Annual Report on Tuesday which includes Burma on its list of “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) just as incidents of bibles being burnt and Christian gatherings being disrupted emerge in Kachin and Chin states.
“It’s no coincidence that many of the nations we recommend to be designated as CPCs are among the most dangerous and destabilizing places on earth,” said USCIRF Chairman Leonard Leo. “Nations that trample upon basic rights, including freedom of religion, provide fertile ground for poverty and insecurity, war and terror, and violent, radical movements and activities.”
Burmese government troops reportedly ransacked Sin Lum Pang Mu Baptist Church in Pang Mu village, Bhamo District, Kachin State, on March 13, with bibles burned and widespread looting.
Rev. Jangmaw Gam Maw, the pastor of Pang Mu Church, claims soldiers from 33rd Battalion of 88th Infantry Division burned bibles, destroyed church property and stole a video player, loudspeakers and belongings of local people, as well as cash from donation boxes.
The soldiers claimed that the church was a Kachin Independence Army outpost. The pastor and more than 1,000 parishioners had recently returned after abandoning the village on Nov. 19 last year to join Mai Ja Yang refugee camp.
On March 10, Burmese government troops disrupted a Christian conference and threatened a Member of Parliament at gunpoint in southern Chin State, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).
More than 1,000 delegates from 80 local branches of the Mara (Chin) Evangelical Church at Sabawngte village, Matupi Township, had gathered for the conference which had official permission.
The CHRO reported that several Burmese soldiers disrupted the meeting and rebuked the village headman for not informing the army camp about the event. Pu Van Cin, an MP from the Ethnic National Development Party, was threatened at gunpoint when he intervened to stop soldiers confronting the village chief.
Benedict Rogers, the East Asia team leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said, “These incidents illustrate that there is still a very long way to go in Burma’s reform process, and for that reason, the international community should be cautious about lifting too many sanctions too quickly.
“We have seen very welcome progress in Burma at some levels in recent months, but the [Burmese army] continues to perpetrate grave violations of human rights in the ethnic areas, which include religious discrimination and persecution of minorities.”
The other nations included on USCIRF list of CPCs were China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.