Myanmar's Suu Kyi calls for changes to constitution - Aung San Suu Kyi réclame une révision de la Constitution birmane

January 30, 2012
By Jason Szep

DAWEI, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for changes to the military-drafted constitution in her first political trip since ending a boycott of the country's political system last year and announcing plans to run for parliament.

Thousands of people lined the roads shouting "Long live mother Suu" as her motorcade moved through the rural coastal region of Dawei about 615 km (380 miles) south of her home city, Yangon, the main business centre.

The trip, only her fourth outside Yangon since her release from years of house arrest in November 2010, demonstrates the increasingly central role of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as the Southeast Asian state emerges from half a century of isolation.

Burma joy as freed prisoners head home

Nilar Thein had not seen her young daughter for four years

13 January 2012
By Soe Win Than
BBC Burmese, Rangoon

When Ko Ko Gyi arrived at Rangoon airport the crowd had been waiting several hours and rushed to greet him.

People almost jumped on him, shouting, cheering, thronging him, calling out his name.

Ko Ko Gyi is one of the best known of the 88 generation of student leaders, along with Min Ko Naing, the most famous.

Relatives, ordinary people, political activists, members of Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party had all gathered at Rangoon airport to wait for the freed prisoners.

The more prominent a student leader in Burma, the further away he or she is sent to prison.

I saw one woman student leader, Nilar Thein, who had been released from a district prison. She had been separated from her young daughter for more than four years. The reunion at the airport was tearful. Many people were choking with emotion.

After meeting with Zarganar, AIPMC calls for release of political prisoners in Burma

Dec 23, 2011
By Zin Linn
Asian Correspondent

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) released a press release today reiterating its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Burma (Myanmar) as a precondition for genuine democratic change in the Southeast Asian country.

The call came as AIPMC Vice-President, Cambodian MP and Chair of the AIPMC Cambodia Caucus, Son Chhay, met with comedian Maung Thura, known as Zarganar, on December 21 in Phnom Penh.

Zarganar, on his first trip outside of Burma since being granted a passport, met with Son Chhay and other MPs from the Sam Rainsy Party in Phnom Penh on Wednesday evening.

Son Chhay said that Zarganar shared his experience of Burma’s prisons, where he and other political prisoners have suffered countless abuses.

AIPMC meets with Zarganar, reiterates call for release of all political prisoners in Myanmar

PRESS RELEASE
December 23, 2011

AIPMC meets with Zarganar, reiterates call for release of all political prisoners in Myanmar

Zarganar

PHNOM PENH – The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) today reiterated its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar as a prerequisite for genuine democratic change in the Southeast Asian country.

The call came as AIPMC Vice-President, Cambodian MP and Chair of the AIPMC Cambodia Caucus, Son Chhay, met with comedian Maung Thura, known as Zarganar, earlier this week in Phnom Penh. Zarganar, on his first trip outside of Myanmar since being granted a passport, met with Son Chhay and other MPs from the Sam Rainsy Party in Phnom Penh on Wednesday evening.

“Zarganar shared with us his experience of Myanmar’s prisons, where he and other political prisoners have encountered untold abuses. It is imperative that all political prisoners be released immediately if President Thein Sein’s move toward democracy is to be seen as genuine and fully inclusive,” said Son Chhay.

Freed Myanmar comedian to hit the road

Dec 4, 2011
DPA

Yangon - Outspoken Myanmar comedian Zaganar, recently freed from prison, plans to travel to Thailand, Cambodia, the United States and Germany after being issued a passport, media reports said Sunday.

Zaganar, real name Ko Thura, said he received his first passport in late November, barely a month and a half after being released under a presidential amnesty, the Myanmar Times reported.

'I've tried six times to apply for a passport in the past but each time was rejected. This time it took only three weeks,' he said.

Zaganar was to visit Thailand and Cambodia later this month to meet directors and discuss the upcoming Art of Freedom film festival to be held in Yangon from December 31 to January 4. 'I will meet two Thai directors in Thailand. They said they will teach the winner of our festival after it's finished,' he said.

Suu Kyi Meets Clinton, Sees Start of ‘New Future’ in Myanmar

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talk during their meeting at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. (AP / Saul Loeb)

By Daniel Ten Kate

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she saw the start of a “new future” in the country, a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the nation’s leaders the U.S. is open to lifting sanctions if they grant more political freedoms and promote internal peace.

Suu Kyi, who spoke alongside Clinton after they met at her Yangon residence, said she was “so happy” Clinton had “very good” meetings with leaders in Myanmar’s capital yesterday. Clinton said she was encouraged by the political opening in the country, though much work still needed to be done to improve the rule of law.

“This will be the beginning of a new future for all of us provided we can maintain it,” Suu Kyi said before embracing Clinton on the veranda of the lakeside home where she spent 15 years under house arrest. “Because of this engagement, our way ahead will be clearer and we will be able to trust that the process of democratization will move forward.”

The Burmese dictatorship is willing to change and reform ... when will Hun Xen's dictatorship do the same?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) walks with Myanmar's President Thein Sein (L) at the President's Office in Naypyitaw December 1, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Saul Loeb/Pool)

Thu Dec 1, 2011
By Andrew Quinn

NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her first substantive talks with Myanmar's new leaders on Thursday in a meeting Washington hopes will embolden reformers in the reclusive country where entrenched military interests still loom large.

Clinton, whose landmark visit to the country also known as Burma marks a tentative rapprochement after more than 50 years of estrangement with the West, began a series of meetings with President Thein Sein, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and top officials from parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's new capital.

"I am here today because President Obama and myself are encouraged by the steps that you and your government have taken to provide for your people," Clinton told Thein Sein as the two sat down for talks in Myanmar's ornate presidential palace.

Thein Sein welcomed Clinton on a visit he said would be a "milestone." "Your excellency's visit will be historic and a new chapter in relations," he said before the start of the closed-door meeting.

US, UN hopeful on Myanmar reforms

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (C) speaks to reporters at her house in Yangon, on November 4 (AFP, Soe Than Win)

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (L) poses for pictures with Vijay Nambiar (AFP/File, Soe Than Win)

Friday, 04 November 2011
AFP

YANGON — Senior US and UN officials said they were encouraged by nascent reforms in Myanmar, with Washington saying it will look at new incentives to spur change including the expansion of microfinance.

In a first, Myanmar allowed in the US assistant secretary of state handling human rights, Mike Posner, who said he voiced concern about the treatment of ethnic minorities and political prisoners but also saw signs of progress.

"There are some encouraging steps and signs. We need to go forward in a way that recognizes what's been done and what's being done that is positive, and build on that," Posner said at the US embassy on Friday.

ASEAN Urged To Delay Burma Decision

October 20, 2011
RFA

A group of legislators from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have requested that any decision to designate Burma as chair of the regional grouping in 2014 be put off until there are clear signs that the country is moving towards democracy.

ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) Executive Director Agung Putri Astrid said the lawmakers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Cambodia could not endorse Burma’s bid until the government made concrete efforts at reconciliation with the country’s ethnic groups and political opposition.

“The minimum conditions for real democracy are ongoing, so we would like to suggest to ASEAN that they delay the decision,” Astrid said.

ASEAN delayed a decision on a request by Burma to be ASEAN chair nation during the grouping’s previous summit in Jakarta in May this year, two months after the country’s military junta handed power to a new government elected in the first polls in two decades.

U.S. urges Myanmar to make "genuine" reforms

Myanmar Pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Yangon Division government's security and border affairs minister colonel Tin Win (R) watch the Asean Football Federation U-19 Championship soccer match between Myanmar and Laos at Thuwunna stadium in Yangon September 14, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

Thu Sep 15, 2011
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's leaders must pursue "genuine" reforms that involve Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and make progress in freeing thousands of political prisoners before ties can improve with Washington, a U.S. envoy said on Wednesday.

But the new U.S. special representative to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, declined to identify specific conditions for lifting sanctions in place since the military crushed a 1988 student uprising.

"I consider this a highly productive visit," Mitchell told reporters at Yangon's main airport at the end of a six-day trip to the army-dominated, reclusive former British colony also known as Burma.

Mitchell met a range of officials in the capital, Naypyitaw, including Cabinet members of the nearly year-old parliament and opposition politicians led by Suu Kyi, but he did not meet President Thein Sein.

Hint of hope as Suu Kyi set for Myanmar govt meet

Aung San Suu Kyi will Monday meet a minister of Myanmar's new, nominally-civilian government for the first time (AFP/File, Soe Than Win)

Monday, July 25, 2011
By Hla Hla Htay (AFP)

YANGON — Aung San Suu Kyi will Monday meet a minister of Myanmar's new, nominally-civilian government for the first time, raising cautious hopes after the US called for "concrete" progress towards democracy.

Suu Kyi has frequently urged dialogue with the government since her release from house arrest just days after November's controversial elections, but until now the country's rulers had not met her requests.

She will hold talks in Yangon on Monday afternoon with labour minister Aung Kyi, who was in charge of relations between the military junta and Suu Kyi under Myanmar's previous regime, a government official told AFP late Saturday.

ASEAN in Quandary over Burma's Request to Head Bloc

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, May 11, 2011 (IPS) - The new Burmese government’s request to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2014 has given its neighbours a political headache they have decided to put off dealing with till later this year.

But the dilemma that the 10-member regional bloc faces with Burma, or Myanmar as it is also known, is not the same one that had dogged it in the past, when the country’s oppressive record was seen as undermining ASEAN's international credibility.

This time it is Burma’s slow and controlled transition towards democracy that puts ASEAN in a quandary.

The final statement read by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the end of the 18th ASEAN summit held May 7-8 in Jakarta reflected the new political realities Burma’s neighbours are grappling with. "We considered the proposal of Myanmar to host the ASEAN summit in 2014, in view of its firm commitment to the principles of ASEAN," the statement said.

ASEAN summit starts amid cloud of Thai-Cambodia border row

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) stand together for a group photo in Jakarta on Saturday.

May 7, 2011
From Kathy Quiano, CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Indonesia chairs the summit this year
• The nation has been trying to mediate talks between Thailand and Cambodia
• The border row is a result of a dispute over the ancient Preah Vihear temple
• The Indonesian president urges member nations to promote peace

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia on Saturday for a two-day summit expected to focus on efforts to achieve economic integration by 2015.

The meeting started under the cloud of security issues such as the Thai-Cambodia border conflict.

Indonesia, which chairs the summit this year, has been trying to mediate talks between Thailand and Cambodia in their dispute over the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Renewed fighting in the area has prompted displacement of thousands on both sides. Fighting along the turbulent border has raged since last month as the two sides accuse each other of trying to seize ancient temples.

US not content with Suu Kyi release

(Photo: AP)

11 April 2011
AFP

The United States has said that Burma had far more to do to improve human rights after freeing Aung San Suu Kyi, in a report that also aired concern over Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.

In an annual survey on human rights, the State Department pointed to “severe” abuses in Burma including frequent killings, rapes and forced labour of ethnic minorities at the hands of the country’s powerful army.

Burma freed pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi in November. The military leaders have officially ceded to civilians as part of a political transition, although outside observers consider the step cosmetic.

Myanmar warns no 'decadent' dress for New Year's [-Sounds like Cambodia's morality squad...]

April 2, 2011

It said that a special committee will supervise what people are wearing and will use CCTV cameras to videotape crowds.

PDT YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Revelers who wear "decadent" clothing during Myanmar's upcoming New Year's celebrations can face up to a month in prison, a news report said Sunday.

The four-day festival begins April 13 and marks the traditional New Year on the lunisolar calendar that is also used in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It's one of the few times when Myanmar's citizens can cut loose under the watchful eye of the repressive regime.

Revelers in the impoverished country splash one another with water and dance in the streets, despite annual warnings of proper etiquette from the government. Myanmar was under military rule for 50 years.

Following elections last year, the junta was officially disbanded and handed power to a nominally civilian government, but the rules for partying during the New Year's celebration remain unchanged.

Than Shwe tells new cabinet to end corruption [... April fool is in the horizon!!!]

Burma's Senior General Than Shwe has announced his retirement, but has not set a date. Photo: Mizzima

Monday, 28 March 2011

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Retiring Burmese junta leader Senior General Than Shwe has advised outgoing and newly elected cabinet ministers in Naypyidaw to tackle corruption, according to sources close to the government.

In a farewell speech at military headquarters on Saturday, the 78-year-old junta leader said that bribery and corruption must end, and he acknowledged for the first time that Burma was below Laos and Cambodia in gross domestic product.

Sources said the comments were particularly noteworthy because of the admission that Burma is essentially at the bottom of all Southeast Asian economies.

Australian editor [Ross Dunkley] in Burma again denied bail

Thursday, March 24, 2011
By South-East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel
ABC News (Australia)

An Australian newspaper editor has again been denied bail by a court in Burma following an appearance in a Rangoon court.

Ross Dunkley, who works as a publisher for the Myanmar Times and Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post, has been in jail since being arrested for breaching his visa in mid-February.

The court is expected to deliver judgment on his case next week.

A prostitute initially accused the 55-year-old of assault but later withdrew the claim. The case has proceeded anyway.

Dunkley has been held at Burma's notorious Insein prison since his arrest on February 10.

Burmese Army ‘Demoralized’ and Under ‘Great Strain’

March 21, 2011
By David Calleja
Foreign Policy Journal

Burma’s pro-military parliament has passed a new law paving the way for compulsory service in the Burmese Army for up to five years in the case of a state of emergency.

The Public Service Military Law requires both men and women to serve in the Burmese Army, or Tatmadaw, regardless of ethnicity. Rebel groups have repeatedly refused to sign up to the military’s Border Guard Force (BGF) plan, giving the Burmese Army control over all armed groups, in exchange for an end to the numerous conflicts in Burma.

Foreign Policy Journal has obtained an unofficial English translation of the law, signed by Senior-General Than Shwe on November 4, 2010. However, it is unclear whether the regulations are now active.

Dr. Nicholas Farrelly from the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific has told Foreign Policy Journal that the law served as a reminder of the Burmese military’s ability to terrorize civilians and extract bribes from families.

Burma May Soon Release Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Supporters of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi hold portraits of their detained leader at her National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon, 12, Nov. 2010 (Photo: AP)

VOA News
12 November 2010

Burma's military rulers appear to be on the verge of releasing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, after detaining her for most of the past two decades.

On Friday, a day ahead of her scheduled release, government officials told the French news agency her release was a certainty, although no time was mentioned.

And Tin Oo, vice chairman of her banned National League for Democracy party, said his sources told him her release order has been signed.

Authorities increased security in Rangoon as supporters gathered near her lakeside home and at the party's headquarters.

A Saturday release would be six days after Burma's first election in two decades. The military's political party already has claimed a majority of seats in both houses of parliament, in voting that Western leaders and human rights activists say was fraudulent and aimed at ensuring continued military rule with a civilian face.

Aung San Suu Kyi's release would raise immediate questions about how much freedom the military rulers will grant her. Her followers say she will not accept any conditions on release. Her lawyer says the 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate would resume political activities.

Her party won a landslide victory in Burma's last elections, held in 1990, but military rulers refused to let it take power. Now, some analysts think the military might view Aung San Suu Kyi's release as a way to soften overseas criticism of last Sunday's election.

Burma's rulers did not allow international observers to enter the country to observe the voting, but there were reports of punishment being meted out to those who voted against the military's political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

Cambodia: The confluent of Southeast Asia dictators

Southeast Asia dictators (from left to right): Sone, Sein, Dung and Xen

Myanmar PM to attend regional summits in Cambodia

November 12, 2010
Xinhua

Myanmar Prime Minister U Thein Sein will attend the 5th CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) Summit and the 4th ACMECS ( Ayeyawaddy-Chaophraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) Summit to be held in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh, an official announcement from Nay Pyi Taw said Friday without specifying the date of his attendance .

Thein Sein is invited by his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen for the attendance.

CLMV are the lesser-developed countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Myanmar, along with Laos, joined the regional grouping in July 1997.

Aimed at strengthening friendship among CLMV countries, uplifting good neighboring spirit, ensuring cooperation among member countries, holding culture exchange, enhancing cultural preservation and boosting tourism sector through cultural cooperation, ministers of culture and fine arts of CLMV held a roundtable in Myanmar's new capital of Nay Pyi Taw in January this year, vowing to maintain cultural connectivity among CLMV member countries in a Nay Pyi Taw Declaration-2010.

The declaration called for preservation of cultural heritage in the member countries, prevention against illegal trading of cultural heritage through borders, establishment of sister cities among the member countries and promotion of tourism industry.

Meanwhile, in November 2003, four countries -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand held their first ACMECS summit in Myanmar's ancient city of Bagan, laying down ACMECS program which provides for cooperation in five main strategic areas of agriculture, industry, trade and investment, transport, tourist and human resources development.

Vietnam joined the ACMECS in 2004.

In May 2007, ACMECS foreign ministers met in Myanmar's Mandalay, pledging to work for greater competitiveness, narrower economic disparity and promoting socio-economic development in the subregion.

Calling for realization of their 2003 Bagan Declaration efficiently and effectively, the foreign ministers also expressed their desire to strengthen the aims and objectives of the declaration and work for attaining prosperity in the subregion through enhanced solidarity, mutual respect, goods neighborliness and active cooperation among the member countries.