Wednesday, 06 April, 2011
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US keeps Myanmar sanctions
The Dirty Dollars
Myanmar calls on public to be aware of insurgents
Burma, China agree to build petroleum refining plant in Burma
Exploited, in More Ways Than One
Multi-party alliance urges new govt to keep promises
China Discusses Border Security with Thein Sein
Still a pariah despite dogged declarations of change
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Apr 6, 2011
US keeps Myanmar sanctions
US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said Washington would not lift sanctions against Myanmar despite the country's transition to civilian leadership last month. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE - THE United States will maintain sanctions against Myanmar while attempting to engage its new leadership, and is concerned about China's crackdown on dissidents, a senior US official said on Wednesday.
US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said Washington would not lift sanctions against Myanmar despite the country's transition to civilian leadership last month.
'Our general stance in the current environment is, we think it would be inappropriate for the United States to lift sanctions,' he told reporters in Singapore.
'We're watching and waiting to see how the government is established and whether it will be possible to engage in a productive dialogue with the leadership.' Pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was also supportive of US efforts in attempting to engage Myanmar's new leaders, Mr Campbell said.
'She has encouraged us to attempt to engage and we intend to do so,' said Campbell, who is in Singapore as part of an Asian trip that also includes India and China.
Myanmar's military junta - which had ruled the country for almost half a century - ceded power to a nominally civilian government last week after widely-panned elections in November last year marred by accusations of intimidation and cheating. -- AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_653734.html
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The Dirty Dollars
Eyewitness April 06, 2011 1:57 PM
James Cheyne, freelance journalist in Rangoon, Burma
Mid Afternoon. I stepped from a seriously old and battered Toyota into Pazunduang Township, Rangoon, Burma. A sticky 35 Celsius, I felt like I’d just landed on Mars. Fittingly some of the locals looked at me like I’d just come from there. White western tourists are still very few and far between.
I’d organized a place to stay. $15 for a double room. Not the best price ever but not bad. I handed the lady a $20 bill. She immediately gave it straight back to me. “Do you have another?” She asked. “Why what’s wrong with this one?” “It’s broken” she replied, pointing to a tiny tear near the top right hand corner. I dug out a second but to no avail. “It’s dirty” she gestured to an ink stain on the edge which hadn’t seemed important back at Bangkok airport. After a bit more back and forth it emerged around a third of my budget for the week was unuseable. “Where’s the nearest ATM to here?” I asked with slight but rising panic. You might already have guessed her answer … Bangkok Airport.
And so began the battle to get rid of my dirty dollars. Which I did through the black market and by swapping with other departing westerners. They weren’t acceptable because of that very fact, there’s no banks here – at least none accessible to ordinary Burmese. Ordinary Burmese instead hand their dollars to the boss who hands them to a broker who gets them out of the country – often through the hands of people who deal in drugs and weapons as well – people who insist on crisp, clean, smooth notes. They, at the top of the chain, have the power of refusal; those at the bottom have no choice but to comply.
It’s a depressing, frustrating situation, made worse by the fact that when you use some of the local currency, The Kyat, the notes come tattered, torn, faded and held together with tape – another offshoot of having no banks of course, few new ones are ever printed.
A constantly shifting exchange rate between the two currencies can leave you ripped off or clutching huge piles of notes, depending on what hour you head down the local market and who you ask for help. Fifteen years ago there were some U.S. forgeries bearing serial numbers beginning CB, find yourself stuck with a real hundred dollar bill like this and it also becomes useless.
This system seems insane but it’s by no means the biggest financial problem the country has faced. The old President Ne Win, had a habit of declaring certain banknotes officially useless, no longer legal tender. His random decisions would wipe out people’s savings overnight and he’d then introduce new bills with bizarre numbers. He dreamed up a 75 Kyat note on is 75th birthday and a 90 Kyat note because he was obsessed with the number 9. I know this is true because I managed to track a couple of these notes down, buy them for well over their value then break the rules by taking them out of the country.
Many Burmese people are poor, many are hungry. Here in Pazunduang Township many of their children run around the backstreets naked and dirty with little future to speak of right now. Being forced to turn down a sale from a comparatively rich westerner because of a tiny tear in a dollar bill seems to add a pointless layer of sadness to the tragic situation they face. It seems to bring a whole new meaning to our beloved phrase ‘financial crisis.’ It just seems wrong.
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Myanmar calls on public to be aware of insurgents
16:47, April 06, 2011
Myanmar officials concerned called on the public to be aware of insurgents in any disguise, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
They also warned that the destructive elements and insurgents at home and abroad are planning to make constant bomb attacks to undermine the rule of law and to cause public panic.
A hand-made time bomb, made of no strange things and the explosion is planned to attack officials and civilians, has been cleared by the Myanmar Police Force near the bus stop on Sule Pagoda Road last Sunday, leaving no casualty, according to the official sources.
On March 21 this year, a mine, planted by Wamhing group, believed to be remnant members of the Shan State Army (SSA), broke a bridge on Mongshu-Mongnawng road in Mongshu township, destroying iron bars from railings on the bridge, while another mine, planted by the same group, destroyed a bridge on Mongyai-Seinkyawt- Hsaungkye road in Hsipaw township on the same day.
The main group of SSA, led by U Say Htin, returned to the government's legal fold in 1989 and was resettled in Shan state ( north) special region-3.
On Feb. 19 this year, four farmers were killed and three others wounded by heavy weapon, fired by the anti-government ethnic armed group of Kayin National Union (KNU) in Myanmar's Bago region.
The authorities charged the KNU with undermining peace of the state, tranquillity of community and prevalence of law and order and committing destructive acts.
KNU is the largest anti-government ethnic armed group operating on the Myanmar-Thai border for over five decades and has not ceased fire with the government.
The government said a total of 17 main anti-government armed groups and over 20 small groups have so far made peace with the government, returning to the legal fold under respective cease- fire agreements since 1989.
Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7342138.html
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Burma, China agree to build petroleum refining plant in Burma
Wednesday, 06 April 2011 16:00 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL), controlled by the Burmese army, and China on Monday extended a Memorandum of Understanding to build a petroleum refining plant in Burma capable of processing about five million tons of crude oil a year.
The chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin signs the guest book at the Shwedagon Pagoda during his visit to Rangoon on April 4, 2011. Qinglin is on an official visit to Burma a few days after Myanmar's military made way for a nominally civilian government after almost half a century in power. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than Win
The chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin signs the guest book at the Shwedagon Pagoda during his visit to Rangoon on April 4, 2011. Qinglin is on an official visit to Burma a few days after Myanmar's military made way for a nominally civilian government after almost half a century in power. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than Win
During a visit of Jia Qinglin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, UMEHL’s new chairman, Brigadier General Zarni Win, and Guandong Zhenrong Energy chairman Xiong Shohui signed the contract in Naypyitaw.
Jia Qinglin was the first foreign diplomatic visitor after the state power of Burma was transferred to the new government led by President Thein Sein. He is fourth most important person in the Chinese political structure.
The state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said on Tuesday that Managing Director U Nyi Phyu Hla of the Myanma Foreign Trade Bank under the Ministry of Finance and Revenue and President Li Ruogu of the Export-Import Bank of China signed the First Tranche Facility Agreement authorising Chinese RMB (Yuan) 30 billion credits from the Export-Import Bank of China to Myanma Foreign Trade Bank.
Moreover, China and Burma also signed a production sharing contract involving the Sabetaung, Sabetaung (South) and Kyisintaung copper mines.
China has invested US $8 billion in Burma including hydropower projects ($5 billion) and oil and gas projects ($2 billion).
Jia Qinglin also met with President Thein Sein, Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, Union Assembly Speaker Khin Aung Myint and ministers in Naypyitaw.
Talks also included Sino-Burmese border security affairs issues, according to Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Sino-Burmese border -based political analyst.http://www.mizzima.com/business/5122-burma-china-agree-to-build-petroleum-refining-plant-in-burma.html
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Exploited, in More Ways Than One
By LINN THANT Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The recruitment of child soldiers in Burma is nothing new to those who know about the country's deplorable human rights record, but there is one facet of this issue that has yet to receive much attention: the abuse that child soldiers jailed for desertion face inside Burma's prisons.
Of the estimated 400,000 soldiers in Burma's army, not one is female, and so there have been no reported incidents of young girls being conscripted. But during my two decades in prison as a political prisoner until 2009, it was not unusual to hear someone talking about making someone into a “girl soldier.”
Late one evening while in prison, I heard the wailing cry of a young man, aged around 16, coming from a punishment cell adjacent to my own cell. The boy later told me that his name was Thaw Zin, and that he was a former child soldier from the Burmese army.
He was one of several child soldiers I had met during my time in jail, serving one- to three-year prison sentences for fleeing from the army. In tears, he said that he had been in jail for just five weeks when he was taken to the punishment cell for breaking a prison rule.
At first, he was reluctant to discuss his “crime,” but when I asked him what had happened to him, he continued crying for a while and then finally told me his heart-wrenching story.
Thaw Zin said that he had been sentenced to a year in prison for breaking Section 65 of the Criminal Code—army desertion. Having been out of contact with his parents since he was recruited as a solider when he was young, he could not hope to receive any visits from his family.
During his first week in prison, he was forced to wash the toilet bowls of prisoners with his bare hands. He said he detested every moment of that work and while he was trying to break free from that ordeal, a hardcore criminal prisoner named Kyaw Gyi approached him, calling him “son.”
“Kyaw Gyi gave me a bath like I was his son. I never had a good bath before I met him. He also bought me medicines for my skin diseases. I thought my own parents were not as kind as he was to me,” Thaw Zin said.
Within a matter of days, Kyaw Gyi, a notorious criminal, became a great benefactor to Thaw Zin and arranged for the latter to be able to come and live with him in the same prison ward. Also through Kyaw Gyi's prison network, Thaw Zin was liberated from his job of washing toilet bowls.
One night, Thaw Zin said Kyaw Gyi asked him for sex. He said that at first he tried to brush off Kyaw Gyi's sexual advances, thinking he had once been a soldier. But when he thought about his first weeks in prison before meeting Kyaw Gyi—doing toilet-bowl duty, and not having enough food or proper clothing or a chance to take a proper bath—he said he was finally compelled to submit to Kyaw Gyi's will.
For several nights, he appeased Kyaw Gyi's desires, but at around ten o' clock on the night before he was taken to the cell next to mine, some other prisoners became aware of what was going on. After that, he was beaten by both guards and prisoners, who started calling him a “girl soldier.”
He was then shackled and taken to the punishment cell. He said he was crying because he feared that his parents and other family members would somehow learn of his “affair” in prison.
In fact, Thaw Zin was just one of many child soldiers and young prisoners who were sexually molested by hardcore criminals who bribed prison authorities so that they could get away with their dirty acts.
According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of new recruits in Burma are forcibly conscripted, and there may be as many as 70,000 soldiers—including some from armed opposition groups—under the age of 18, with some as young as just 11 years of age.
In Thaw Zin's case, he said he was deceived by a broker and conscripted into the army at the age of 14. According to his account, he came from a village in Pyawbwe Township and was a student at a state high school at the time he was recruited. But because his parents were very poor peasants working on a plantation, he often missed classes so he could help them with their work.
One day, on his way back home from school, he was approached by a middle-aged man who gave him some snacks and some pocket money. A few days later, together with another boy from the village younger than him, he went along with the man to an army unit in the town.
He said that when he received his military training, he met many other boys as young as 10 and 11, and some boys were even shorter than the guns they were trained to shoot. Besides weapons training, Thaw Zin said he and other fellow child soldiers had to do various chores—ranging from doing laundry to firewood-cutting to fetching water—at the homes of military officers and others of senior rank. Sometimes they also had to pave roads, grow trees, herd cattle owned by the army and do other hard labor.
After four months of military training, during which he received no pay except pocket money, Thaw Zin became an infantry soldier and had to go to border areas in Mon and Shan states. After a few months, he ran away from the army to escape the hardships he experienced, and but was later caught and jailed.
It is certain that there are many other child soldiers in the army who would like to get out but have not yet been able to. Among those who have escaped are many who are arrested and sexually abused in jail. But some of the child soldiers I spoke to in prison told me that they were sexually abused while they were still in the army.
This may need to be corroborated, but I think the sexual abuse of child soldiers in prison also stems from public hatred of the army. Prison inmates are sometimes used as army porters and human shields in the war zones. Those prisoners who attempted to flee away during fighting were severely flogged and punished. Such stories abound in prison, perhaps prompting some prisoners to exact revenge on child soldiers who became prisoners themselves.
As the number of deserters continues to grow, the Burmese army has launched a special recruitment campaign since 2008, according to army sources, who said that each recruitment unit now has to take in as many as 150 child soldiers every month to meet their quota requirement.
An activist in Shan State working on the issue said that child soldiers have even become victims of human trafficking. In the past, the army paid private brokers who specialized in recruiting child soldiers around 30,000 kyat (US $35) for each new recruit, but now pays around 45,000 to 50,000 kyat ($52-58), he said.
Many of these brokers are relatives of soldiers, reserve members of fire-fighting units and members of the state-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association, which last year was transformed into a political party that now dominates Burma's newly formed Parliament.
The recruitment targets include juveniles in poor neighborhoods, orphans and teenage beggars wandering in the streets or hanging around parks, bus stops and train stations.
Army deserters like Thaw Zin told me that bullying is rampant in the army and that there is no system to provide proper education or welfare for soldiers, resulting in a dramatic increase in the numbers of deserters in recent years. Army observers said at least 30 to 35 soldiers desert from 500 army units across the country each month.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21086
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Multi-party alliance urges new govt to keep promises
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 6 April 2011
An alliance of political parties known as the Group of Democratic Party Friends (GDPF) yesterday urged the new government led by president Thein Sein to immediately start implementing the objectives made in his inauguration speeches.
The GDPF consists of 10 political parties, including Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM), National Democratic Force (NDF) and five ethnic parties. On April 5 they released a statement urging the new government to implement as soon as possible the objectives mentioned by Thein Sein in his speeches on March 30 and 31 regarding politics, economy, defence sectors and a national reconciliation.
The eight-point statement signed by party leaders called for a general amnesty for political prisoners in the country and the convening of an all-inclusive union conference looking for reconciliation.
“In order to practically implement [the objectives], we call to enact a general amnesty law for all political prisoners in the country, and all those who are outside the country for their different political opinions. And we call for the new government to organise and lead an all-inclusive union conference, with everyone involved in the over 60 year long civil armed conflict taking part, looking to find a solution to end the conflict,” said the statement.
“We would like to suggest [the new government] make this happen as early as possible, in order to show their true good will and a wish for national reconciliation.”
On March 30, the junta which has ruled Burma for past 23 years officially handed power to the new government led by Thein Sein. However, corruption by government authorities, forced-labour and land-confiscation cases continue to occur across the country a week into the new government’s rule.
DPM’s chairman Thu Wei said, to stop these abuses from happening, low-level government administrations should take the president’s remarks seriously, while parties need to be constantly reminding them.
“All government departments such as administration and judicial bodies should follow these words precisely – we wish this for the country,” said Thu Wei.
“For example, corruption is one of the issues hampering the people the most and we need to keep reminding [the new government] about this until action is taken. We just can’t depend on [the new government], we need to push, depend on and criticise them at the same time.”
He also urged the affair committees in the parliament tasked with scrutinising the president’s promises and responsibilities to push for implementation of promises.
Some GDPF members say the alliance will monitor the new government’s procedures in order to learn whether the president’s promises are truly being implemented.
The GDPF previously made a call to end international sanctions on Burma.
http://www.dvb.no/news/parties-alliance-urges-new-govt-to-keep-promises/15189
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China Discusses Border Security with Thein Sein
By WAI MOE Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Burma’s closest ally China marked its support for the Southeast Asian nation's new government by sending the Chinese Communist Party's fourth highest ranking Politburo official to meet President Thein Sein.
According to China’s state Xinhua press agency, Beijing's top political adviser Jia Qinglin, the chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, raised the two countries' relationship to “a new high” by meeting with Thein Sein in Naypyitaw on Monday.
He pledged to maintain the peace and stability of the 2,200km Sino-Burmese border while supporting Burma’s “development mode”.
“China is ready to make joint efforts with Myanmar [Burma] to push our good-neighborly and friendly ties to a new high,” Jia Qinglin was quoted by Xinhua.
“Jia expressed the belief that Myanmar’s new government will make the utmost effort to safeguard the peace and stability in the border area and create a stable environment for Myanmar’s economic development,” the agency added.
The Chinese media reported that Thein Sein assured Jia Qinglin that Napyidaw’s policy in relation with Beijing “remains unchanged” after the new government was formed.
“Myanmar will maintain friendly exchanges with China and push toward the implementation of major economic cooperation projects,” Thein Sein told the Chinese delegation.
However, the state-run Myanmar News Agency (MNA) report on the visit contrasted slightly with the Chinese version, in particular reference to the Sino-Burmese border issues. “China will mutually cooperate with Myanmar to maintain the stability of border regions, and China opposes any acts that can hinder the stability and development of Myanmar,” MNA reported.
It seems that although Beijing is Napyidaw’s closest ally politically and economically, there could at least remain some different views on the issue of Burma’s ethnic minorities along the two nations’ border.
“Yes, our border issue is a big headache for the Chinese. But they must have mentioned it casually in passing. We want to have their support which they do not want to give. They want us to manage on our own,” said a senior Burmese official in Naypyidaw who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that ethnic armed groups on the border—such as the United Wa State Army—are closer to Beijing than Naypyidaw.
Burma’s border instability affected China in August 2009 when as many as 37,000 Kokang- Chinese refugees fled to China following a snap offensive by the Burmese army. The Tatmadaw was targetting the pro-Beijing ethnic armed group of the Kokang Army—as also known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army—in northeastern Burma. At the time Beijing expressed concern about border stability in the region.
The incident came after the Kokang Army and other ethnic armed groups on the Sino-Burmese border rejected Naypyidaw’s plan to put all ethnic ceasefire armed groups under the command of the Burma army through the Border Guard Force proposal.
Also present in Thein Sein’s meeting with the Chinese delegation was Vice-President ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham and Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin.
Jia Qinglin also separately met other high ranking Burmese officials—including Lower House Speaker ex-Gen Shwe Mann, Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is also chairman of the Trade Policy Council, and Upper House Speaker ex-Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint—as part of his four-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
MNA reported Jia Qinglin pledged relief supplies in response to the powerful earthquake in Burma’s eastern Shan State to Tin Aung Myint Oo during two nations’ business agreement signing ceremony.
On Monday, China and Burma signed five business agreements in Naypyidaw including Chinese’s “First Tranche Facility Agreement” involving a 30 billion yuan soft loan to Burma. The agreement involves economic and technical cooperation between Chinese and Burmese government departments and a mining contract with the Burmese military’s Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd company.
Jia Qinglin was invited to the capital by Shwe Mann as a part of his three nations tour of Burma, Australia and Samoa. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21082
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Still a pariah despite dogged declarations of change
Published: 6/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
If you read The New Light of Myanmar hoping to find signs of change in Burma, you can be forgiven for feeling a bit despondent. Retired general Thein Sein's inaugural speech as the country's newly minted president gave no indication that his government sworn-in on March 30, has any intention of breaking with the policies of the past two decades.
The new wolves of respectability: Newly appointed President Thein Sein is flanked by his vice presidents Tin Aung Myint Oo (left) and Sai Mauk Khan Maung (right), in this picture distributed by the Burmese government in Naypyidaw on April Fools’ Day.
The central message was clear: the army remains in charge, and real reform, if it ever comes, will only be at a pace that Burma's entrenched military rulers approve of.
Among other things, President Thein Sein laid out his foreign policy in his address to Parliament. Vowing to stand firm as a respected member of the global community, he invited nations wishing to see "democracy flourish" in Burma to cooperate with his government. To this end, he called on foreign governments to end "various forms" of pressure on Burma, "including assistance and encouragement to the anti-government groups and economic manipulations".
But Thein Sein, a staunch loyalist of strongman Than Shwe, head of the now-dissolved State Peace and Development Council, is not likely to get his wish.
Shortly after his speech, the US State Department's acting deputy spokesman Mark Toner dismissed the nominal transfer of authority in Burma from military to civilian figures as "immaterial". Military leaders are still in control, he said, meaning that sanctions would remain in place, even as the Obama administration continues to try to engage the Burmese authorities.
Mr Toner told Voice of America that the United States urges the Burmese authorities to release all political prisoners, recognise the legitimacy of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party, and enter into a genuine, inclusive dialogue with all democratic and ethnic-based opposition groups "as a first step toward reconciliation". He also said that Burma remained politically oppressive.
There was nothing in Thein Sein's speech to suggest that any of this would happen anytime in the foreseeable future. So Burma's longstanding pariah status in the international community looks set to continue.
It's doubtful that Thein Sein will ever exercise his executive power to free Burma's more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience, grant an amnesty for political dissidents, recognise the existence of opposition parties that decided not to contest in the 2010 election and order an end to the army's aggression toward ethnic groups.
Even if he wanted to do any of these things, it really isn't in his power to do anything without the approval of his boss, (retired Senior General) Than Shwe.
Although Than Shwe has slipped into the shadows and is no longer the face of the ruling military clique, it is clear that he is still very much in command. As the de facto leader, he will continue to steer the country along the same course as he has since first taking the helm in 1992.
Most Burmese are now thoroughly convinced that the country's military supremo, Than Shwe, has indeed handed over power _ from his right hand to his left hand. That is the joke now circulating inside Burma, and for most observers, it comes much closer to the truth than the more laughable claims coming from some quarters that real change is afoot in the country.
In the months since last year's bogus elections, Than Shwe has systematically consolidated his hold on power. His long-time loyalist Thein Sein has been named president, and military hardliner Tin Aung Myint Oo has assumed one of two vice-presidential positions _ the other going to a token ethnic Shan candidate from the junta's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Prior to the first session of Burma's new parliament, Than Shwe signed a law that gives the commander-in-chief of the military _ the position he held until recently _ absolute authority to use unlimited "Special Funds" in performing duties of protecting the constitution and preserving national sovereignty. These funds, which are in addition to a US$2 billion budget for military, will be permanently at the military's disposal to ensure that it need never worry about losing its half-century-old grip on Burma. What this means in concrete terms is that there will be no compromise with the West. Instead, China will continue to exercise growing influence over Burma as its rulers look to Beijing as their chief source of foreign support. To underline this fact, Jia Qinglin, the fourth highest-ranking leader in the Chinese politburo hierarchy, visited Burma and met with country's new president and senior government officials. China is the first country to meet Burma's new president and his cabinet members.
Chinese President Hu Jintao also sent a congratulatory message to the new government in Burma. China has also praised the new government for promoting democracy and denounced other countries for criticising Burma's new administration.
Offering China's congratulations to the new Burma government, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was quick to warn other countries not to meddle in its neighbour's internal affairs. China, Burma's close political ally and largest investor, has already invested heavily in Burma's "transition" by endorsing the outcome of last year's bogus elections, so it should come as no surprise that it is eager to lend as much legitimacy as it can to Thein Sein's puppet government.
So where does this leave Western policy-makers, particularly in Washington, which has taken the lead in imposing tough penalties on the Burmese regime?
Having already ruled out the possibility of lifting sanctions under the current circumstances, the US may now consider even more stringent measures, including more targeted sanctions. This could happen even if blanket sanctions are eventually lifted.
The US will soon appoint a full-time special representative and policy coordinator on Burma, as authorised by the 2008 JADE Act. President Barack Obama will soon appoint the first US special envoy on Burma: Derek Mitchell, a veteran policy-maker on Asia who now serves at the Pentagon, will be nominated for the position. The appointment will signal a renewed effort to pry open the nation after its much-criticised political transition.
Such a move would show that Washington is serious about making democratic reform in Burma a foreign policy priority, including allegations of Burma's nuclear ambitions, and could add impetus to its efforts to engage the Burmese authorities and opposition members. It is expected that the special US envoy will actively engage regional players including Asean nations and China.
Political observers in Washington predicted that the expected appointment would give momentum to Burma policy provided that the administration gives him enough space to manoeuvre.
After Mr Obama took office in January 2009, his administration initiated a dialogue with the regime in Burma after reviewing the policy on Burma. But US officials were disappointed after seeing no political progress in Burma and felt that the regime had failed to take opportunity of the US' engagement policy and failed to repair the relationship with Washington.
Thus, political pundits and opposition members believe that the US could take a more multilateral approach, including stepping up its efforts to win more support for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the military regime's war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Although Burma's military rulers have already granted themselves immunity from prosecution under the 2008 Constitution, it is important to remind them that they are still accountable under international law for any atrocities they committed while in power. This would send a strong message to Naypyidaw that simply swearing in a new government is not going to wipe the slate clean, much less convince anybody that democracy has returned to Burma.
In any case, whatever the West decides to do about Burma, it will be up to the country's rulers to decide for themselves if they can afford to remain pariahs forever.
If Thein Sein truly wants Burma to take its place in the community of nations, he will have to do more than tell the rest of the world to change their policies.
Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine . http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/230557/still-a-pariah-despite-dogged-declarations-of-change
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US keeps Myanmar sanctions
The Dirty Dollars
Myanmar calls on public to be aware of insurgents
Burma, China agree to build petroleum refining plant in Burma
Exploited, in More Ways Than One
Multi-party alliance urges new govt to keep promises
China Discusses Border Security with Thein Sein
Still a pariah despite dogged declarations of change
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Apr 6, 2011
US keeps Myanmar sanctions
US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said Washington would not lift sanctions against Myanmar despite the country's transition to civilian leadership last month. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE - THE United States will maintain sanctions against Myanmar while attempting to engage its new leadership, and is concerned about China's crackdown on dissidents, a senior US official said on Wednesday.
US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said Washington would not lift sanctions against Myanmar despite the country's transition to civilian leadership last month.
'Our general stance in the current environment is, we think it would be inappropriate for the United States to lift sanctions,' he told reporters in Singapore.
'We're watching and waiting to see how the government is established and whether it will be possible to engage in a productive dialogue with the leadership.' Pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was also supportive of US efforts in attempting to engage Myanmar's new leaders, Mr Campbell said.
'She has encouraged us to attempt to engage and we intend to do so,' said Campbell, who is in Singapore as part of an Asian trip that also includes India and China.
Myanmar's military junta - which had ruled the country for almost half a century - ceded power to a nominally civilian government last week after widely-panned elections in November last year marred by accusations of intimidation and cheating. -- AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_653734.html
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The Dirty Dollars
Eyewitness April 06, 2011 1:57 PM
James Cheyne, freelance journalist in Rangoon, Burma
Mid Afternoon. I stepped from a seriously old and battered Toyota into Pazunduang Township, Rangoon, Burma. A sticky 35 Celsius, I felt like I’d just landed on Mars. Fittingly some of the locals looked at me like I’d just come from there. White western tourists are still very few and far between.
I’d organized a place to stay. $15 for a double room. Not the best price ever but not bad. I handed the lady a $20 bill. She immediately gave it straight back to me. “Do you have another?” She asked. “Why what’s wrong with this one?” “It’s broken” she replied, pointing to a tiny tear near the top right hand corner. I dug out a second but to no avail. “It’s dirty” she gestured to an ink stain on the edge which hadn’t seemed important back at Bangkok airport. After a bit more back and forth it emerged around a third of my budget for the week was unuseable. “Where’s the nearest ATM to here?” I asked with slight but rising panic. You might already have guessed her answer … Bangkok Airport.
And so began the battle to get rid of my dirty dollars. Which I did through the black market and by swapping with other departing westerners. They weren’t acceptable because of that very fact, there’s no banks here – at least none accessible to ordinary Burmese. Ordinary Burmese instead hand their dollars to the boss who hands them to a broker who gets them out of the country – often through the hands of people who deal in drugs and weapons as well – people who insist on crisp, clean, smooth notes. They, at the top of the chain, have the power of refusal; those at the bottom have no choice but to comply.
It’s a depressing, frustrating situation, made worse by the fact that when you use some of the local currency, The Kyat, the notes come tattered, torn, faded and held together with tape – another offshoot of having no banks of course, few new ones are ever printed.
A constantly shifting exchange rate between the two currencies can leave you ripped off or clutching huge piles of notes, depending on what hour you head down the local market and who you ask for help. Fifteen years ago there were some U.S. forgeries bearing serial numbers beginning CB, find yourself stuck with a real hundred dollar bill like this and it also becomes useless.
This system seems insane but it’s by no means the biggest financial problem the country has faced. The old President Ne Win, had a habit of declaring certain banknotes officially useless, no longer legal tender. His random decisions would wipe out people’s savings overnight and he’d then introduce new bills with bizarre numbers. He dreamed up a 75 Kyat note on is 75th birthday and a 90 Kyat note because he was obsessed with the number 9. I know this is true because I managed to track a couple of these notes down, buy them for well over their value then break the rules by taking them out of the country.
Many Burmese people are poor, many are hungry. Here in Pazunduang Township many of their children run around the backstreets naked and dirty with little future to speak of right now. Being forced to turn down a sale from a comparatively rich westerner because of a tiny tear in a dollar bill seems to add a pointless layer of sadness to the tragic situation they face. It seems to bring a whole new meaning to our beloved phrase ‘financial crisis.’ It just seems wrong.
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Myanmar calls on public to be aware of insurgents
16:47, April 06, 2011
Myanmar officials concerned called on the public to be aware of insurgents in any disguise, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
They also warned that the destructive elements and insurgents at home and abroad are planning to make constant bomb attacks to undermine the rule of law and to cause public panic.
A hand-made time bomb, made of no strange things and the explosion is planned to attack officials and civilians, has been cleared by the Myanmar Police Force near the bus stop on Sule Pagoda Road last Sunday, leaving no casualty, according to the official sources.
On March 21 this year, a mine, planted by Wamhing group, believed to be remnant members of the Shan State Army (SSA), broke a bridge on Mongshu-Mongnawng road in Mongshu township, destroying iron bars from railings on the bridge, while another mine, planted by the same group, destroyed a bridge on Mongyai-Seinkyawt- Hsaungkye road in Hsipaw township on the same day.
The main group of SSA, led by U Say Htin, returned to the government's legal fold in 1989 and was resettled in Shan state ( north) special region-3.
On Feb. 19 this year, four farmers were killed and three others wounded by heavy weapon, fired by the anti-government ethnic armed group of Kayin National Union (KNU) in Myanmar's Bago region.
The authorities charged the KNU with undermining peace of the state, tranquillity of community and prevalence of law and order and committing destructive acts.
KNU is the largest anti-government ethnic armed group operating on the Myanmar-Thai border for over five decades and has not ceased fire with the government.
The government said a total of 17 main anti-government armed groups and over 20 small groups have so far made peace with the government, returning to the legal fold under respective cease- fire agreements since 1989.
Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7342138.html
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Burma, China agree to build petroleum refining plant in Burma
Wednesday, 06 April 2011 16:00 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL), controlled by the Burmese army, and China on Monday extended a Memorandum of Understanding to build a petroleum refining plant in Burma capable of processing about five million tons of crude oil a year.
The chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin signs the guest book at the Shwedagon Pagoda during his visit to Rangoon on April 4, 2011. Qinglin is on an official visit to Burma a few days after Myanmar's military made way for a nominally civilian government after almost half a century in power. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than Win
The chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin signs the guest book at the Shwedagon Pagoda during his visit to Rangoon on April 4, 2011. Qinglin is on an official visit to Burma a few days after Myanmar's military made way for a nominally civilian government after almost half a century in power. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than Win
During a visit of Jia Qinglin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, UMEHL’s new chairman, Brigadier General Zarni Win, and Guandong Zhenrong Energy chairman Xiong Shohui signed the contract in Naypyitaw.
Jia Qinglin was the first foreign diplomatic visitor after the state power of Burma was transferred to the new government led by President Thein Sein. He is fourth most important person in the Chinese political structure.
The state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said on Tuesday that Managing Director U Nyi Phyu Hla of the Myanma Foreign Trade Bank under the Ministry of Finance and Revenue and President Li Ruogu of the Export-Import Bank of China signed the First Tranche Facility Agreement authorising Chinese RMB (Yuan) 30 billion credits from the Export-Import Bank of China to Myanma Foreign Trade Bank.
Moreover, China and Burma also signed a production sharing contract involving the Sabetaung, Sabetaung (South) and Kyisintaung copper mines.
China has invested US $8 billion in Burma including hydropower projects ($5 billion) and oil and gas projects ($2 billion).
Jia Qinglin also met with President Thein Sein, Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, Union Assembly Speaker Khin Aung Myint and ministers in Naypyitaw.
Talks also included Sino-Burmese border security affairs issues, according to Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Sino-Burmese border -based political analyst.http://www.mizzima.com/business/5122-burma-china-agree-to-build-petroleum-refining-plant-in-burma.html
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Exploited, in More Ways Than One
By LINN THANT Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The recruitment of child soldiers in Burma is nothing new to those who know about the country's deplorable human rights record, but there is one facet of this issue that has yet to receive much attention: the abuse that child soldiers jailed for desertion face inside Burma's prisons.
Of the estimated 400,000 soldiers in Burma's army, not one is female, and so there have been no reported incidents of young girls being conscripted. But during my two decades in prison as a political prisoner until 2009, it was not unusual to hear someone talking about making someone into a “girl soldier.”
Late one evening while in prison, I heard the wailing cry of a young man, aged around 16, coming from a punishment cell adjacent to my own cell. The boy later told me that his name was Thaw Zin, and that he was a former child soldier from the Burmese army.
He was one of several child soldiers I had met during my time in jail, serving one- to three-year prison sentences for fleeing from the army. In tears, he said that he had been in jail for just five weeks when he was taken to the punishment cell for breaking a prison rule.
At first, he was reluctant to discuss his “crime,” but when I asked him what had happened to him, he continued crying for a while and then finally told me his heart-wrenching story.
Thaw Zin said that he had been sentenced to a year in prison for breaking Section 65 of the Criminal Code—army desertion. Having been out of contact with his parents since he was recruited as a solider when he was young, he could not hope to receive any visits from his family.
During his first week in prison, he was forced to wash the toilet bowls of prisoners with his bare hands. He said he detested every moment of that work and while he was trying to break free from that ordeal, a hardcore criminal prisoner named Kyaw Gyi approached him, calling him “son.”
“Kyaw Gyi gave me a bath like I was his son. I never had a good bath before I met him. He also bought me medicines for my skin diseases. I thought my own parents were not as kind as he was to me,” Thaw Zin said.
Within a matter of days, Kyaw Gyi, a notorious criminal, became a great benefactor to Thaw Zin and arranged for the latter to be able to come and live with him in the same prison ward. Also through Kyaw Gyi's prison network, Thaw Zin was liberated from his job of washing toilet bowls.
One night, Thaw Zin said Kyaw Gyi asked him for sex. He said that at first he tried to brush off Kyaw Gyi's sexual advances, thinking he had once been a soldier. But when he thought about his first weeks in prison before meeting Kyaw Gyi—doing toilet-bowl duty, and not having enough food or proper clothing or a chance to take a proper bath—he said he was finally compelled to submit to Kyaw Gyi's will.
For several nights, he appeased Kyaw Gyi's desires, but at around ten o' clock on the night before he was taken to the cell next to mine, some other prisoners became aware of what was going on. After that, he was beaten by both guards and prisoners, who started calling him a “girl soldier.”
He was then shackled and taken to the punishment cell. He said he was crying because he feared that his parents and other family members would somehow learn of his “affair” in prison.
In fact, Thaw Zin was just one of many child soldiers and young prisoners who were sexually molested by hardcore criminals who bribed prison authorities so that they could get away with their dirty acts.
According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of new recruits in Burma are forcibly conscripted, and there may be as many as 70,000 soldiers—including some from armed opposition groups—under the age of 18, with some as young as just 11 years of age.
In Thaw Zin's case, he said he was deceived by a broker and conscripted into the army at the age of 14. According to his account, he came from a village in Pyawbwe Township and was a student at a state high school at the time he was recruited. But because his parents were very poor peasants working on a plantation, he often missed classes so he could help them with their work.
One day, on his way back home from school, he was approached by a middle-aged man who gave him some snacks and some pocket money. A few days later, together with another boy from the village younger than him, he went along with the man to an army unit in the town.
He said that when he received his military training, he met many other boys as young as 10 and 11, and some boys were even shorter than the guns they were trained to shoot. Besides weapons training, Thaw Zin said he and other fellow child soldiers had to do various chores—ranging from doing laundry to firewood-cutting to fetching water—at the homes of military officers and others of senior rank. Sometimes they also had to pave roads, grow trees, herd cattle owned by the army and do other hard labor.
After four months of military training, during which he received no pay except pocket money, Thaw Zin became an infantry soldier and had to go to border areas in Mon and Shan states. After a few months, he ran away from the army to escape the hardships he experienced, and but was later caught and jailed.
It is certain that there are many other child soldiers in the army who would like to get out but have not yet been able to. Among those who have escaped are many who are arrested and sexually abused in jail. But some of the child soldiers I spoke to in prison told me that they were sexually abused while they were still in the army.
This may need to be corroborated, but I think the sexual abuse of child soldiers in prison also stems from public hatred of the army. Prison inmates are sometimes used as army porters and human shields in the war zones. Those prisoners who attempted to flee away during fighting were severely flogged and punished. Such stories abound in prison, perhaps prompting some prisoners to exact revenge on child soldiers who became prisoners themselves.
As the number of deserters continues to grow, the Burmese army has launched a special recruitment campaign since 2008, according to army sources, who said that each recruitment unit now has to take in as many as 150 child soldiers every month to meet their quota requirement.
An activist in Shan State working on the issue said that child soldiers have even become victims of human trafficking. In the past, the army paid private brokers who specialized in recruiting child soldiers around 30,000 kyat (US $35) for each new recruit, but now pays around 45,000 to 50,000 kyat ($52-58), he said.
Many of these brokers are relatives of soldiers, reserve members of fire-fighting units and members of the state-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association, which last year was transformed into a political party that now dominates Burma's newly formed Parliament.
The recruitment targets include juveniles in poor neighborhoods, orphans and teenage beggars wandering in the streets or hanging around parks, bus stops and train stations.
Army deserters like Thaw Zin told me that bullying is rampant in the army and that there is no system to provide proper education or welfare for soldiers, resulting in a dramatic increase in the numbers of deserters in recent years. Army observers said at least 30 to 35 soldiers desert from 500 army units across the country each month.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21086
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Multi-party alliance urges new govt to keep promises
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 6 April 2011
An alliance of political parties known as the Group of Democratic Party Friends (GDPF) yesterday urged the new government led by president Thein Sein to immediately start implementing the objectives made in his inauguration speeches.
The GDPF consists of 10 political parties, including Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM), National Democratic Force (NDF) and five ethnic parties. On April 5 they released a statement urging the new government to implement as soon as possible the objectives mentioned by Thein Sein in his speeches on March 30 and 31 regarding politics, economy, defence sectors and a national reconciliation.
The eight-point statement signed by party leaders called for a general amnesty for political prisoners in the country and the convening of an all-inclusive union conference looking for reconciliation.
“In order to practically implement [the objectives], we call to enact a general amnesty law for all political prisoners in the country, and all those who are outside the country for their different political opinions. And we call for the new government to organise and lead an all-inclusive union conference, with everyone involved in the over 60 year long civil armed conflict taking part, looking to find a solution to end the conflict,” said the statement.
“We would like to suggest [the new government] make this happen as early as possible, in order to show their true good will and a wish for national reconciliation.”
On March 30, the junta which has ruled Burma for past 23 years officially handed power to the new government led by Thein Sein. However, corruption by government authorities, forced-labour and land-confiscation cases continue to occur across the country a week into the new government’s rule.
DPM’s chairman Thu Wei said, to stop these abuses from happening, low-level government administrations should take the president’s remarks seriously, while parties need to be constantly reminding them.
“All government departments such as administration and judicial bodies should follow these words precisely – we wish this for the country,” said Thu Wei.
“For example, corruption is one of the issues hampering the people the most and we need to keep reminding [the new government] about this until action is taken. We just can’t depend on [the new government], we need to push, depend on and criticise them at the same time.”
He also urged the affair committees in the parliament tasked with scrutinising the president’s promises and responsibilities to push for implementation of promises.
Some GDPF members say the alliance will monitor the new government’s procedures in order to learn whether the president’s promises are truly being implemented.
The GDPF previously made a call to end international sanctions on Burma.
http://www.dvb.no/news/parties-alliance-urges-new-govt-to-keep-promises/15189
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China Discusses Border Security with Thein Sein
By WAI MOE Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Burma’s closest ally China marked its support for the Southeast Asian nation's new government by sending the Chinese Communist Party's fourth highest ranking Politburo official to meet President Thein Sein.
According to China’s state Xinhua press agency, Beijing's top political adviser Jia Qinglin, the chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, raised the two countries' relationship to “a new high” by meeting with Thein Sein in Naypyitaw on Monday.
He pledged to maintain the peace and stability of the 2,200km Sino-Burmese border while supporting Burma’s “development mode”.
“China is ready to make joint efforts with Myanmar [Burma] to push our good-neighborly and friendly ties to a new high,” Jia Qinglin was quoted by Xinhua.
“Jia expressed the belief that Myanmar’s new government will make the utmost effort to safeguard the peace and stability in the border area and create a stable environment for Myanmar’s economic development,” the agency added.
The Chinese media reported that Thein Sein assured Jia Qinglin that Napyidaw’s policy in relation with Beijing “remains unchanged” after the new government was formed.
“Myanmar will maintain friendly exchanges with China and push toward the implementation of major economic cooperation projects,” Thein Sein told the Chinese delegation.
However, the state-run Myanmar News Agency (MNA) report on the visit contrasted slightly with the Chinese version, in particular reference to the Sino-Burmese border issues. “China will mutually cooperate with Myanmar to maintain the stability of border regions, and China opposes any acts that can hinder the stability and development of Myanmar,” MNA reported.
It seems that although Beijing is Napyidaw’s closest ally politically and economically, there could at least remain some different views on the issue of Burma’s ethnic minorities along the two nations’ border.
“Yes, our border issue is a big headache for the Chinese. But they must have mentioned it casually in passing. We want to have their support which they do not want to give. They want us to manage on our own,” said a senior Burmese official in Naypyidaw who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that ethnic armed groups on the border—such as the United Wa State Army—are closer to Beijing than Naypyidaw.
Burma’s border instability affected China in August 2009 when as many as 37,000 Kokang- Chinese refugees fled to China following a snap offensive by the Burmese army. The Tatmadaw was targetting the pro-Beijing ethnic armed group of the Kokang Army—as also known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army—in northeastern Burma. At the time Beijing expressed concern about border stability in the region.
The incident came after the Kokang Army and other ethnic armed groups on the Sino-Burmese border rejected Naypyidaw’s plan to put all ethnic ceasefire armed groups under the command of the Burma army through the Border Guard Force proposal.
Also present in Thein Sein’s meeting with the Chinese delegation was Vice-President ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham and Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin.
Jia Qinglin also separately met other high ranking Burmese officials—including Lower House Speaker ex-Gen Shwe Mann, Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is also chairman of the Trade Policy Council, and Upper House Speaker ex-Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint—as part of his four-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
MNA reported Jia Qinglin pledged relief supplies in response to the powerful earthquake in Burma’s eastern Shan State to Tin Aung Myint Oo during two nations’ business agreement signing ceremony.
On Monday, China and Burma signed five business agreements in Naypyidaw including Chinese’s “First Tranche Facility Agreement” involving a 30 billion yuan soft loan to Burma. The agreement involves economic and technical cooperation between Chinese and Burmese government departments and a mining contract with the Burmese military’s Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd company.
Jia Qinglin was invited to the capital by Shwe Mann as a part of his three nations tour of Burma, Australia and Samoa. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21082
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Still a pariah despite dogged declarations of change
Published: 6/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
If you read The New Light of Myanmar hoping to find signs of change in Burma, you can be forgiven for feeling a bit despondent. Retired general Thein Sein's inaugural speech as the country's newly minted president gave no indication that his government sworn-in on March 30, has any intention of breaking with the policies of the past two decades.
The new wolves of respectability: Newly appointed President Thein Sein is flanked by his vice presidents Tin Aung Myint Oo (left) and Sai Mauk Khan Maung (right), in this picture distributed by the Burmese government in Naypyidaw on April Fools’ Day.
The central message was clear: the army remains in charge, and real reform, if it ever comes, will only be at a pace that Burma's entrenched military rulers approve of.
Among other things, President Thein Sein laid out his foreign policy in his address to Parliament. Vowing to stand firm as a respected member of the global community, he invited nations wishing to see "democracy flourish" in Burma to cooperate with his government. To this end, he called on foreign governments to end "various forms" of pressure on Burma, "including assistance and encouragement to the anti-government groups and economic manipulations".
But Thein Sein, a staunch loyalist of strongman Than Shwe, head of the now-dissolved State Peace and Development Council, is not likely to get his wish.
Shortly after his speech, the US State Department's acting deputy spokesman Mark Toner dismissed the nominal transfer of authority in Burma from military to civilian figures as "immaterial". Military leaders are still in control, he said, meaning that sanctions would remain in place, even as the Obama administration continues to try to engage the Burmese authorities.
Mr Toner told Voice of America that the United States urges the Burmese authorities to release all political prisoners, recognise the legitimacy of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party, and enter into a genuine, inclusive dialogue with all democratic and ethnic-based opposition groups "as a first step toward reconciliation". He also said that Burma remained politically oppressive.
There was nothing in Thein Sein's speech to suggest that any of this would happen anytime in the foreseeable future. So Burma's longstanding pariah status in the international community looks set to continue.
It's doubtful that Thein Sein will ever exercise his executive power to free Burma's more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience, grant an amnesty for political dissidents, recognise the existence of opposition parties that decided not to contest in the 2010 election and order an end to the army's aggression toward ethnic groups.
Even if he wanted to do any of these things, it really isn't in his power to do anything without the approval of his boss, (retired Senior General) Than Shwe.
Although Than Shwe has slipped into the shadows and is no longer the face of the ruling military clique, it is clear that he is still very much in command. As the de facto leader, he will continue to steer the country along the same course as he has since first taking the helm in 1992.
Most Burmese are now thoroughly convinced that the country's military supremo, Than Shwe, has indeed handed over power _ from his right hand to his left hand. That is the joke now circulating inside Burma, and for most observers, it comes much closer to the truth than the more laughable claims coming from some quarters that real change is afoot in the country.
In the months since last year's bogus elections, Than Shwe has systematically consolidated his hold on power. His long-time loyalist Thein Sein has been named president, and military hardliner Tin Aung Myint Oo has assumed one of two vice-presidential positions _ the other going to a token ethnic Shan candidate from the junta's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Prior to the first session of Burma's new parliament, Than Shwe signed a law that gives the commander-in-chief of the military _ the position he held until recently _ absolute authority to use unlimited "Special Funds" in performing duties of protecting the constitution and preserving national sovereignty. These funds, which are in addition to a US$2 billion budget for military, will be permanently at the military's disposal to ensure that it need never worry about losing its half-century-old grip on Burma. What this means in concrete terms is that there will be no compromise with the West. Instead, China will continue to exercise growing influence over Burma as its rulers look to Beijing as their chief source of foreign support. To underline this fact, Jia Qinglin, the fourth highest-ranking leader in the Chinese politburo hierarchy, visited Burma and met with country's new president and senior government officials. China is the first country to meet Burma's new president and his cabinet members.
Chinese President Hu Jintao also sent a congratulatory message to the new government in Burma. China has also praised the new government for promoting democracy and denounced other countries for criticising Burma's new administration.
Offering China's congratulations to the new Burma government, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was quick to warn other countries not to meddle in its neighbour's internal affairs. China, Burma's close political ally and largest investor, has already invested heavily in Burma's "transition" by endorsing the outcome of last year's bogus elections, so it should come as no surprise that it is eager to lend as much legitimacy as it can to Thein Sein's puppet government.
So where does this leave Western policy-makers, particularly in Washington, which has taken the lead in imposing tough penalties on the Burmese regime?
Having already ruled out the possibility of lifting sanctions under the current circumstances, the US may now consider even more stringent measures, including more targeted sanctions. This could happen even if blanket sanctions are eventually lifted.
The US will soon appoint a full-time special representative and policy coordinator on Burma, as authorised by the 2008 JADE Act. President Barack Obama will soon appoint the first US special envoy on Burma: Derek Mitchell, a veteran policy-maker on Asia who now serves at the Pentagon, will be nominated for the position. The appointment will signal a renewed effort to pry open the nation after its much-criticised political transition.
Such a move would show that Washington is serious about making democratic reform in Burma a foreign policy priority, including allegations of Burma's nuclear ambitions, and could add impetus to its efforts to engage the Burmese authorities and opposition members. It is expected that the special US envoy will actively engage regional players including Asean nations and China.
Political observers in Washington predicted that the expected appointment would give momentum to Burma policy provided that the administration gives him enough space to manoeuvre.
After Mr Obama took office in January 2009, his administration initiated a dialogue with the regime in Burma after reviewing the policy on Burma. But US officials were disappointed after seeing no political progress in Burma and felt that the regime had failed to take opportunity of the US' engagement policy and failed to repair the relationship with Washington.
Thus, political pundits and opposition members believe that the US could take a more multilateral approach, including stepping up its efforts to win more support for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the military regime's war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Although Burma's military rulers have already granted themselves immunity from prosecution under the 2008 Constitution, it is important to remind them that they are still accountable under international law for any atrocities they committed while in power. This would send a strong message to Naypyidaw that simply swearing in a new government is not going to wipe the slate clean, much less convince anybody that democracy has returned to Burma.
In any case, whatever the West decides to do about Burma, it will be up to the country's rulers to decide for themselves if they can afford to remain pariahs forever.
If Thein Sein truly wants Burma to take its place in the community of nations, he will have to do more than tell the rest of the world to change their policies.
Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine . http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/230557/still-a-pariah-despite-dogged-declarations-of-change
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