Mr.creator-Thank You
Day: February 4, 2009
The New ERA Journal 4.02.
ဂမ္ဘာရီႏွင့္စခဲ့သည့္
၂၀၀၉ ပြဲဦးထြက္ ႏုိင္ငံေရး (သုံးသပ္ခ်က္)
သတင္းေထာက္ ဟန္တင္ေအာင္/ ၄ ေဖေဖာ္၀ါရီ ၂၀၀၉
http://www.khitpyaingnews.org/index.php
The path of the pen or the path of the sword? Young Kachin in northern Burma are preparing and learning on both fronts.
The question dates back to antiquity, but recently it has come to life here in Kachin State where the Kachin have struggled for autonomy for generations.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) fought an armed insurgency for more than 30 years. Despite being out-numbered and out-armed, the KIA was never fully defeated, but they were not able to win full autonomy for the Kachin people.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=15057
Than Shwe Has No Time for UN Envoy
United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari has ended yet another visit to Burma without meeting the ruling regime’s supreme leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe. As if to underline this snub, the state-run media reported on Than Shwe’s more important business on the final day of Gambari’s four-day visit—accepting the credentials of new ambassadors from the friendly governments of China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Analysts say that the Burmese authorities intentionally put Than Shwe on the front page of today’s New Light of Myanmar to highlight how little he thinks of Gambari’s UN-mandated mission to put the country on a path to political reconciliation with the democratic opposition.
“This seems to be Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s way of sending a clear message about who he wants to meet and who he doesn’t want to meet,” said Win Min, a Burmese political analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “He clearly doesn’t want to meet Mr Gambari.”
The highest-ranking general to meet with Gambari, who finished his seventh trip to Burma on Tuesday, was Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein. The state-run media also covered Gambari’s meeting with Thein Sein, as well as his two meetings with members of the junta’s Spokes Authoritative Team, led by Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan.
While Than Shwe made his feelings known more obliquely, Thein Sein was more direct. According to the New Light, he told the visiting envoy, “The UN should make efforts to lift economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar [Burma] if the organization wants to see prosperous Myanmar with political stability.”
He said that the economic sanctions have hindered the regime’s efforts to alleviate poverty. He described the country’s situation as being “like a person who is forced to run quickly while his legs are tied together.”
The Burmese regime is the target of numerous international sanctions for its widespread human rights abuses and its refusal to loosen its grip on power. Following the junta’s brutal crackdown on monk-led protests in September 2007, the US and other Western countries moved to increase pressure on the regime with visa bans and targeted sanctions against high-ranking Burmese officials and their families and business cronies.
The regime also blamed its most outspoken domestic critic, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, for the slow pace of its efforts to achieve “national reconsolidation” (a term that it frequently uses as a substitute for “national reconciliation”).
“Concerning the matter of holding a dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi we, on our part, would like to reiterate that we always keep the door open to her,” Kyaw Hsan, the information minister, told Gambari. He added: “After your last visit, for two times, we proposed her to hold a dialogue. But she declined our proposal.”
The New Light also quoted Kyaw Hsan as saying that Than Shwe would personally meet with Suu Kyi if she ended “her policy of Confrontation, Utter Devastation, and Imposing All Kinds of Sanctions including Economic Sanctions.”
However, Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), rejected the junta’s demands for unilateral concessions.
“If the regime wants to know Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s exact position on dialogue, she should be allowed to announce her statement publicly,” said NLD spokesman Nyan Win.
During her meeting with NLD executive members on Monday, Suu Kyi reiterated that “she was ready and willing to meet anyone” to achieve political reform, according to Nyan Win. But, he added, she “could not accept having meetings without achieving any outcome.”
He also said that Suu Kyi had told the Special Branch of Burma’s national police force that she would accept an invitation to meet with Aung Kyi, the regime’s liaison minister, after receiving treatment from her doctor.
Gambari is scheduled to brief UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on his Burma trip in India on Thursday, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters on Tuesday.
“[W]hat we are waiting for next is for Mr Gambari to brief the secretary-general on the outcome of his total visit on Thursday,” Okabe said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/index.php
Businessman Tay Za owned aircrafts will be leased to an airline in Malaysia which is planning to operate direct Rangoon-Kuala Lumpur flights.
Air Bagan leases its aircrafts on chartered flights
by Zarni
Wednesday, 04 February 2009 21:30
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Businessman Tay Za owned aircrafts will be leased to an airline in Malaysia which is planning to operate direct Rangoon-Kuala Lumpur flights.
The ‘Sanbumi’ Travel Company from Malaysia is likely to start its business in March after acquiring aircrafts for chartered flights.
“The aircrafts are chartered to ‘Sanbumi Air Transport’. It means Air Bagan aircrafts are being leased to this company,” a responsible officer from Air Bagan told Mizzima.
Sanbumi Air Transport chartered a 100-seater Fokker 100 aircraft from Air Bagan to operate on this flight with the Air Bagan logo.
The airline code of this flight will be the same as that of Air Bagan’s code — W9. The flight code will be W9-9701.
But the officials of Air Bagan declined to disclose the contract price.
The new flight will fly biweekly on Thursdays and Sundays. It will depart Rangoon International Airport at 2 p.m. local time for Malaysia International Airport.
The agreement on this joint business was signed in January this year by Sanbumi and Air Bagan. The New Strait Times from Malaysia reported that the operators hope to profit from this flight, quoting Sanbumi.
“The Grand Opening is planned to be held on 26 February. First we planned it on February 5 but had to postpone it due to some difficulties”, a staff of Sanbumi told Mizzima.
The ticket reservations will be handled only by Sunfar, Shan Yoma and Nice Fare travel agencies in Rangoon and the branch office of Sanbumi in Rangoon will act as the agent of the airline.
This flight was planned to commence on 5 February initially, but had to be postponed to 15 February because there were no bookings. It is learnt now that the airline informed the travel agents that their flights will start only in early March.
“There were very few confirmed tickets bought. Moreover the number of migrant workers going to Malaysia is also declining due to the economic downturn there. So they said that they would fix the new date despite the slump in air travel. The whole set of new schedules will be announced on both air fares and flight schedules,” a leading travel agency from Rangoon told Mizzima.
Though the operation of the flight is certain, the travel agents are not yet certain about selling tickets as they do not know exact flight schedule.
“If either air fare or flight schedule changes, it is very difficult to deal with passengers from our side. So we dare not say the flight is scheduled yet and also dare not accept the booking and ticket reservations. We have not yet sold any tickets for this flight,” a woman staff from the air ticketing service said.
A tour operator felt that Sanbumi will sell the tour package also if the chartered airline operation is successful.
Initially, Sanbumi planned to fly on this route with its own aircrafts but they had to charter Air Bagan’s aircrafts as they didn’t get landing rights from the concerned department, according to Rangoon travel agent community.
Besides the domestic flights, Air Bagan flew international flights on the Rangoon-Singapore and Rangoon-Bangkok route on its Airbus aircraft.
Amid the slump in the tourism industry after September 2007 and economic sanctions imposed by US government which made restriction on acquiring spare parts for its aircrafts, Air Bagan had to stop its international flight operations. http://www.mizzima.com/
Burma Campaign US-Come to DC for Burma – less than four weeks until our National Meeting
The U.S. Campaign for Burma’s National Organizing Meeting is less than 4 weeks away. Register today to reserve your spot.
Activists from New York, to California, to Texas and many states in between have registered for our National Organizing Meeting. Now it is your turn. Please join us in Washington, DC during the weekend of Feb 28th.
You will get to:
Skill share with Burma activists from around the country.
Learn how you play a role in shaping U.S. policy toward Burma.
Strategize about how to spread the word about Burma.
Make your voice heard!
Click here to view the schedule.
Help build and strengthen the campaign for Burma – register for this event today. The registration fee is only $35 and includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday!
If you are coming from out of town, U.S. Campaign for Burma may be able to find free housing for you with volunteers in the area. Space for housing is filling up fast, so register now to ensure your spot.
Hope to see you there,
Mike Haack
Campaigns Coordinator
U.S. Campaign for Burma
mike@uscampaignforburma.org
(202) 234-8022
Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma:
Become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.
Or, make a donation today.
In Burma’s current political arena, there are five distinct groups with different approaches to democratisation, the struggle for power, and participation in the 2010 elections.
Burma’s fifth column
Tine Gyaw
Feb 4, 2009 (DVB)–In Burma’s current political arena, there are five distinct groups with different approaches to democratisation, the struggle for power, and participation in the 2010 elections.
The first is the military group. The objective of the military is clear – the survival of general Than Shwe and the military dictatorship in power by all available means. They have imposed a seven-step roadmap for the country and written a constitution to suit their own ends and have now stated that they will hold an election – in order to get what they want.
Another is the opposition group inside Burma led by the NLD. This group has declared that it doesn’t accept the State Peace and Development Council’s 2008 constitution, but they haven’t said clearly and decisively whether they are going to contest the election or not.
The third is the group that opposes and works to bring down the military group’s seven-step road map in whatever way they can. This group is strongest outside the country.
The fourth group is made up of the strong armed ethnic ceasefire groups. Out of this group, well-equipped organisations such as the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independence Organisation neither accept nor reject the SPDC’s plans for the 2010 election. This group maintains a policy of neutrality and insists that it will only deal with the government that emerges from the future elections. In essence, this group doesn’t seem to accept the SPDC’s 2008 constitution and 2010 election. continue
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2176
democracy for burma 
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