‘Right to Protest’ Framework Issued to Burma MPs

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The right to protest? Buddhist monks led peaceful demonstrations in 2007 to protest rising fuel prices until the military brutally suppressed all dissent. (Photo: Reuters)

Burma’s Ministry of the Interior on Thursday released details of a proposed framework for the law that was passed last year according civilians the right to gather and protest peacefully.
State-run media reported on Tuesday full-page copies of the ministerial document which details procedures for applying to hold a demonstration, grounds for refusal, and the procedure for appeal. The regulations have been distributed to MPs who must deliberate the motion in Parliament in the near future.
The right to “assemble peacefully without arms and holding procession” is protected by the 2008 Constitution under Chapter VIII’s “Citizen, Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Citizens” section.
Burmese rights activists said they welcomed the framework, but noted that it contained several restrictions. Pho Phyu, a prominent civil rights lawyer, said the new guidelines will allow farmers to fight for their lands that were confiscated.
88 generation student leader Ko Ko Gyi also voiced his support for the proposed edict, saying it will allow for gatherings and peaceful protests. He said that “although the proposed law contains restrictions, we will only know if it works if we practice it.”
But Aung Htoo of the Burma Lawyer’s Council called the proclamation “a trap.” He said that the government can arbitrarily accuse protesters of threatening national security, therefore the new decree would not protect protesters nor guarantee their safety.
The ministerial statement says, “Any person wishing to lead or organize a rally must inform the township chief of police at least one week beforehand and get approval from both the police and the township authorities.”
In addition, one clause states: “Anyone wishing to speak [at the rally] must submit a personal biography.” Rights activists immediately cited this clause as unconstitutional and said it should be withdrawn.
However, the proposed framework states that police and township authorities cannot reject permission to a request from protesters if the gathering “does not threaten national security, rule of law, or state peace and development.”
Pho Phyu said he openly questions this clause. “It only mentions the security of the country,” he said. “But how about the security of the people?”
He also noted that if authorities are given one week’s notice, they have plenty time to prepare a crackdown.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Ko Ko Gyi said that even though the president and the representatives of Parliament have spoken about the political changes in the country, there still exist some authorities who do not understand and who do not want change.
Until President Thein Sein’s administration was sworn in on March 31, 2011, Burma had been ruled by a succession of military juntas for nearly 50 years. Many political activists remain behind bars though a significant number was released in recent months.
About 12 political prisoners were granted an amnesty this week, and according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, at least 659 political prisoners in Burma have been freed over the past year. It says that some 200 to 600 political activists remain in detention across Burma.
On July 7, about 20 activists across Burma who were planning to hold a memorial event to mark the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the Students Union building at Rangoon University were detained by security forces. All were later released unharmed.

Irrawaddy

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Myanmar: Japan making up for lost time

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After the debt, the deluge? Three months after Japan agreed to waive much of the money owed to it by Myanmar, clearing the way for normalised economic relations after a 25-year lending freeze, Japanese companies are beginning to make up for lost time.
On Tuesday Marubeni, Japan’s fifth largest trading house, said it had been awarded a contract to overhaul a gas-fired power plant it built seven years ago, before tighter Western sanctions took hold.
Marubeni described the award to upgrade the creaking Ywama plant as the first infrastructure order to a Japanese company since the government of president Thein Sein took over in March 2011, ushering in democratic reforms.
Myanmar depends on hydropower for about 70 per cent of its electricity, making the economy highly vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. When water levels at hydroelectric dams fall during the dry season that runs from November to April, blackouts plague the country. In a report published in May, the IMF identified “inadequate infrastructure” as one of the main factors limiting GDP growth last year to 5.3 per cent, and to a projected 5.5 per cent this year.
Marubeni, which relies on power projects for one-eighth of net income – the third highest earner behind metals and energy – is now aiming to get involved in more brownfield and greenfield projects in Myanmar, according to Hirohide Sagara, senior operating officer in the company’s power, projects and infrastructure division.
Marubeni launched a liaison office in the capital city of Naypyidaw in January, intending to develop stronger relationships with government officials in anticipation of April’s resolution of the debt problem. It has maintained an office in the port of Yangon, the former capital once known as Rangoon, since 1942.
Plenty of other Japanese companies have similar ideas. Most of the country’s biggest trading companies have followed Marubeni in setting up offices in the capital this year. The Japan Bank for International Co-operation, the state-owned lender specialising in supporting Japan-led infrastructure projects, has included Myanmar as a key destination in what it calls the ‘Southern Economic Corridor’, extending from Vietnam to India through Cambodia and Thailand. Keidanren, the powerful business lobby, last month urged the government to position Myanmar as one of several targets for infrastructure exports, and to take effective policy measures to support them.
Foreign minister Koichiro Gemba is doing his bit: last week the Nikkei newspaper reported that Gemba met his counterpart in Myanmar to propose the setting up of a Japan-Myanmar Joint Initiative, with the aim of clearing barriers to direct investment. The hope is to do for Myanmar what a similar body did for Vietnam – now one of the biggest recipients of Japanese investment – from the early 1990s.
Also pitching in is All Nippon Airways, which on Tuesday said it would begin offering three business-class flights a week between Tokyo’s Narita airport and Yangon. If the service begins as planned in October, it would mark the first direct connection between Japan and Myanmar since March 2000.
No more layovers in Bangkok.
“It’s opening up, bit by bit,” said an executive at a rival trading house. “There is a huge deficiency in expertise in Myanmar. Whether it’s electricity, roads or water, they’re not there yet.”


Related reading:
Japan waives most of its Myanmar debt, FT
A test for China in Myanmar hydro dam, beyondbrics
Lawson kick-starts push into Myanmar, FT
Myanmar’s reforms hailed as ‘credit positives’, FT

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Former army intelligence head set to be Myanmar VP: sources

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A former head of military intelligence has been nominated to become a vice-president of Myanmar, parliamentary sources said on Tuesday, a move that disappointed some supporters of reform but which analysts said should not derail the process.

Myint Swe was believed to have been close to former dictator Than Shwe, head of the military junta that ruled Myanmar until March 2011, when a quasi-civilian government took over under President Thein Sein.
Despite being stuffed with former generals, it quickly launched political and economic reforms, and this latest nomination seems unlikely to derail or even slow the pace, analysts say.
The post is understood to have little influence on policy-making and was previously occupied by a hardliner, Tin Aung Myint Oo, a former member of the junta, who has resigned.
A Yangon businessman who once had to work closely with Myint Swe as a member of the Chamber of Commerce gave an even-handed assessment: "I am sure Myint Swe will not be an obstacle to Thein Sein's reforms at all, even though he may not become a reinforcement to him ... He is quite different from his predecessor, Tin Aung Myint Oo."
A quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for serving military personnel, which puts forward one of the two vice-presidents. One source from this bloc in the assembly said there was some surprise at the nomination.
"We think the decision must have come from former Senior General Than Shwe, who is generally considered his mentor," he said, asking not to be identified.
During his army career, Myint Swe was head of special operations in Yangon at the time of a monk-led uprising in 2007 that was brutally put down by the military authorities.
He reached the rank of lieutenant-general before stepping down - like many senior members of the former military regime - and running as a civilian for the army-backed party that won the November 2010 elections, which were widely seen as rigged.
He is now chief minister of Yangon division, a top position in the former capital, still the main commercial hub.
He attracted attention during sectarian unrest in Rakhine state in June when he warned journalists they risked prison if they used language that incited violence, seen as a setback for press freedom just as censorship was starting to be lifted.
One businessman, who declined to be named, was disappointed at the proposed appointment.
"Frankly, we would like to see someone else replace the outgoing vice-president. I mean someone who would be able to reinforce President Thein Sein in the complicated reform process," he said.
Sean Turnell, an economist at Macquarie University in Sydney who follows Myanmar, said the disappointment was natural but this development was not necessarily a setback.
"All the reformers have to take into account the military, so to some extent the military getting something is part of the politics of the place," he said.
He doubted the reforms would stall because of this appointment.
"It's a very critical time at the moment and there's a number of big reform bills but I can't imagine this will derail that."
(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Additional reporting by Thu Rein Hlaing in Naypyitaw and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Ed Lane)

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Suu Kyi takes seat in Burma's parliament

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Arriving at parliament this morning, she said: "I'll try my best for the country."

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has taken her seat in parliament, marking a new phase in her fight to bring democracy to the country.
Ms Suu Kyi first sat in the parliament briefly in May when she and other members of her National League for Democracy were sworn after winning seats at historic by-elections in April.
The parliament then adjourned and she and her colleagues are now making their debut at a sitting session.
It is the final step in her transition from activist to active politician.
Ms Suu Kyi was supposed to take her seat last week but postponed to rest after a gruelling trip to Europe.
Arriving at parliament this morning, she said: "I'll try my best for the country."

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Myanmar, US agree to re-establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level

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YANGON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar civilian government has agreed to the appointment of Derek J Mitchell by the United States government as its Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the country, official media reported Friday.
Myanmar's acceptance of the appointment of Mitchell, who has been serving as U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Myanmar, signified the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries at ambassadorial level.
Mitchell will be the first ambassador of the U.S. to Myanmar in 22 years following the country's historic election in April.
This move is said to be made in recognition of the reform pursued by the Southeast Asian nation.
Mitchell last visited Myanmar in May on his fifth mission.
During the month, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin also met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington and sought progress in easing U.S. economic sanctions.
Relations between Myanmar and the U.S. have improved following Clinton's visit to Myanmar in December last year. More visits were successively made by Derek Mitchell, Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator John MaCain in January this year, meeting with Myanmar's new government leadership and seeking grounds for normalization of the two countries' diplomatic relations which were stranded for over two decades.
In the latest development, the U.S. Treasury has relaxed some sanctions on Myanmar, allowing financial transactions to support the country's humanitarian and development projects.

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Myanamar detentions prompt fears of backward step

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More than 20 activists are said to have been detained in Myanmar on the 50th anniversary of a brutal military crackdown. The development raises concerns that the country’s tentative reform process could be in danger.
Student leaders on Saturday called for the release of activists detained across Myanmar, claiming that the country's apparently reformist government still harbors a repressive element.
A total of 23 people were arrested in an operation that began on Friday night, said the leader of the All Burma Federation of Students Union, Kyaw Ko Ko.
"We call for the release of those arrested students immediately. This kind of arrest can harm the dignity of the government. Arrest without reason can also harm national reconciliation," he said.
"We also have to accuse the government of trying to go backward."
Despite the detentions and the presence of plainclothes police, students gathered in the largest city, Yangon, on Saturday to commemorate the 1962 crackdown. The military at the time had been taking action against students who were opposed to a coup four months earlier.
'Old habits die hard'
Claims that the government's reformist agenda might be in some jeopardy were echoed by Ko Ko Gyi, a leader of a failed democracy uprising in 1988.
"Even when the president has repeatedly said his government is making real reforms, it is very disappointing that there are some in the government who still cannot abandon their old habits," he told the AP news agency.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has voiced only cautious optimism about reforms in the country, calling on the government of President Thein Sein to release all political prisoners detained during the rule of the military junta.
The current government, still dominated by a pro-military party, has earned international praise for reforms enacted since elections in 2010 paved the way for a civilian government.
rc /tj (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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Will vice president's exit boost Myanmar's reform efforts?

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Hong Kong (CNN) -- The resignation of Myanmar's first vice president could pave the way for the introduction of more reformers into President Thein Sein's government, experts say.

The departure of Tin Aung Myint Oo was announced by the government on Wednesday. An official statement said he was in Singapore receiving treatment for a medical condition.

Myanmar's VP resigns for health reasons

A former general with close ties to Myanmar's retired dictator, Than Shwe, Tin has long been viewed by observers as a hardliner who did not agree with the president's reform agenda -- and the vacated cabinet spot presents an opportunity for a change of direction.

"A lot of people are hoping that the president will have time to choose a more moderate vice president, perhaps one who sees eye to eye with him to move the reform process forward," said Aung Zaw, the editor of Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, which covers Myanmar news.

In April, Britain's Financial Times reported that several conservative leaders in Myanmar -- including the vice president -- were in danger of being replaced.

Thein Sein has been praised for the country's dramatic changes over the past year, most notably with elections that introduced pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her party to Parliament. But Myanmar watchers lament the slow pace of change, which some attribute to the administration's conservative faction, led by Tin.

Aung San Suu Kyi appeals for help for Myanmar

With his resignation, observers believe a cabinet reshuffle could increase the pace of reform, especially long-awaited economic legislation, following a recent suspension of sanctions against Myanmar by the United States and the European Union.

The Foreign Investment Law is meant to encourage overseas businesses to invest in the country by protecting their legal rights. The finalization of the law, however, has met with an unexplained delay.

Aung Zaw said the current administration as ineffective, filled with people who do not work well together or talk to each other, and are resistant to change. If Thein Sein does not remove a few such ministers from his government, he said, the president risks undoing the progress that has been made so far.

Yet it is not wholly up to the president to fill the empty seat -- far from it. According to Myanmar law, the new vice president will again be a member of the armed forces, nominated by the Parliament's military members.

Even so, the armed forces' nomination will likely be a joint decision along with the rest of Parliament and the president.

"There will be a lot of pre-dialogue and discussions; there are already ongoing discussions," he said. "I think they already have chosen a person, but the final decision hasn't come out yet because it's quite secretive at the moment.

"Governments who watch Burma carefully, I think, will be quietly relieved that the vice president is gone," he added, using the other name for Myanmar.

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