Daily News - February 4, 2012 - Saturday
  • Unesco to help draft Myanmar media law
  • Karen Rebels Deny Signing a Cease-Fire
  • Ambitious Dawei project faces uncertainty




    • Unesco to help draft Myanmar media law

    Yangon, Feb 4 (IANS) - Myanmar will draft a media law with help from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the official media reported Saturday.

    The information ministry is drafting the law in accordance with international and regional norms, Xinhua quoted the daily New Light of Myanmar as saying.

    Both sides will hold a discussion on the proposed law that guarantee press freedom, responsibility and accountability in promoting democracy.

    Meanwhile, the Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA) and Singapore's Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) Monday jointly organised a workshop here on media development in democratic society. Representatives from Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the US took part.

    The workshop discussed media-related laws and publication.

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    Karen Rebels Deny Signing a Cease-Fire

    The New York Times

    TAY BAY HTA — When Myanmar announced a cease-fire last month with one of the country’s most prominent rebel groups, images of longstanding enemies shaking hands across a table were beamed around the globe and touted as evidence of further reconciliation in a country emerging from decades of military dictatorship and interethnic strife.

    Now, three weeks after the deal was announced, the leadership of the rebel group is denying that a cease-fire was signed.

    “We can’t say there’s a cease-fire yet,” Naw Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union, said in an interview. “We still need to discuss the conditions.”

    There have been no reports of clashes between Karen rebels and government troops in recent weeks. But the defiant stance of the Karen leadership appears to be a significant setback for the government’s efforts to end the grinding civil conflicts that have divided the country for decades.

    Reconciliation with the country’s armed ethnic groups has been one of the conditions that the United States and other Western countries have put on Myanmar before economic sanctions and other punitive measures are lifted.

    The day after the cease-fire announcement, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, said that the United States would reward “action with action” and announced that Washington would appoint an ambassador to Myanmar after more than a decade without one. She called the cease-fire an “important step forward” for the country.

    The confusion over the cease-fire remains murky and appears to be a mix of misunderstanding and backpedaling by the rebel group’s leadership.

    Ms. Sein said the delegation sent to negotiate with the government was not authorized to sign a cease-fire. A document was signed, but all that was agreed upon in January, she said, was that the two sides would “meet again” at the end of February. She declined to release a copy of the agreement.

    Top officials of the Karen National Union, a cash-strapped organization with a ragtag army of several thousand troops, also admit that they underestimated opposition from the organization’s rank and file to a deal with the government.

    “The grass roots are very much concerned that it went too quickly — they thought it was a sellout,” said Saw David Tharckabaw, vice president of the Karen National Union and chief of its foreign affairs section. “There is a feeling that we have been cheated.”

    The organization must now “move more slowly” in dealing with the government, Mr. Tharckabaw said. He portrays the cease-fire announcement in January as part of a public relations campaign by the government for the benefit of foreign nations.

    “The government wanted to show the world that the longest-running war between the government and a rebel group was over,” Mr. Tharckabaw said. He said the Karen delegation came under “high pressure” to sign an agreement.

    The government of President Thein Sein has pushed ahead with a raft of changes in recent months, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and a loosening of restrictions on the news media.

    But ethnic strife remains a key challenge, one that has dogged Myanmar, also called Burma, from the first days of independence in 1948. E-mails to Mr. Thein Sein’s office seeking comment on the status of the Karen cease-fire were not answered.

    About one-third of Myanmar’s population are members of minority groups arrayed along the borders with Bangladesh, India, China and Thailand.

    In the impoverished hills that make up the Karen homeland, tensions persist between rebels and government troops, according to Bo Aung Hang, a battalion commander in charge of a region along the Moei River, which separates Myanmar from Thailand. The area is strewn with land mines.

    In Tay Bay Hta, a hamlet along the river without electricity or running water or roads, there is a palpable pessimism that is in stark contrast to the rekindled hopes for democratic reforms in some of Myanmar’s biggest cities. The mood here is for defiance, not reconciliation.

    During a ceremony this week to commemorate 63 years of fighting against the central government, Mr. Bo Aung Hang told an assembled group of about 150 villagers that the Burmese Army wanted to “eliminate the Karen people.”

    “All that will remain of the Karen is a picture in a library,” he said.

    As he spoke, rebel soldiers stood guard, carrying a variety of assault rifles and a grenade launcher.

    “Over the past 10 years, 40 soldiers have been killed in my battalion,” Mr. Bo Aung Hang said. “Those of us still alive are still leading the revolution.”

    Rebels call the central government the “enemy.”

    The leadership of the Karen National Union said that no date had been set for the next meeting with the government but that they are ready to respect the deadline and convene before the end of this month.

    The organization has submitted a sweeping list of 11 demands, including a call for a simultaneous cease-fire encompassing all ethnic groups. (Fighting has flared in recent weeks between ethnic Kachin rebels and the government along the border with China.)

    Mr. Tharckabaw, the vice president of the Karen National Union, summarizes the Karen demands as wanting “equality and self-determination.”

    “In short, we want a genuine federal system where the states will have their own autonomy,” he said.

    Villagers who over the last few decades have been in the cross-fire of one of Asia’s longest-running conflicts, are skeptical that a deal can be reached, said Bothien Thientha, a long-serving officer in the Karen National Liberation Army who was wounded in a battle with a pro-government militia two and a half years ago.

    “No one trusts the government,” he said. “We’ve been cheated so many times.”

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    Ambitious Dawei project faces uncertainty

    DAWEI (Reuters) - Dusty roads and makeshift offices are the only hints of the ambitious $50 billion (31 billion pounds) project slated for the thick jungles near Myanmar's southern city of Dawei, billed by its developers as the "new global gateway of Indo-China."

    Big questions surround the far-reaching plans by Thailand's largest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development Pcl, to transform 250 sq kms (97 sq miles) of scrubland in southern Myanmar into Southeast Asia's largest industrial complex.

    "There is very little activity around here related to this project. A lot of us wonder if they are really confident enough about it to go forward with it," said Kyaw Naing Oo, 40, a trader in Maungmakan, whose white-sand beaches would border the project.

    That comment is echoed by other villagers, industry analysts and even the government.

    In a country where a third of the 60 million people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day, Dawei is striking in its scale and ambition.

    Super-highways, steel mills, power plants, shipyards, refineries, pulp and paper mills and a petrochemical complex are part of it, as are two golf courses and a holiday resort - all strategically nestled in Southeast Asia between rising powers India and China.

    But just over a year since the former military junta signed a deal to create Myanmar's first and biggest special economic zone (SEZ) at Dawei, the project has made little headway, despite the dramatic political reforms sweeping the country and the prospect of a gradual lifting in Western sanctions as the former British colony emerges from half a century of isolation.

    Italian-Thai has yet to secure $8.5 billion to finance construction of its first phase -- roads, a telecoms network, utilities and a port -- after building a dirt road of more than 100 km (62 miles) to neighbouring Thailand. Its executives hope to find a strategic partner by year-end and plan to present the project to potential investors in South Korea this month.

    Myanmar Energy Minister Than Htay told Reuters last week that at least two other SEZs would be developed more quickly than Dawei: the Thilawa project near the commercial capital, Yangon, and Kyaukphyu, where the China-Myanmar pipeline starts and a deep-sea port is nearly finished.

    "It is faster than the Dawei zone," he said of Kyaukphyu. "Now we are considering supplying the electricity at Kyaukphyu area," he said.

    Securing a stable source of electricity has been at the heart of Dawei's problems since the government abruptly halted construction of a 4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the area on January 10, citing environmental concerns.

    ENERGY SUPPLY "NOT SURE"

    Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of Dawei Development Co Ltd, controlled by Italian-Thai, told Reuters on January 23 that its power plant partner, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl, would decide on a fuel type within three months, including the possible use of natural gas funnelled to the site via a 50 kms (31 mile) pipeline from fields within Myanmar.

    But Than Htay ruled out using natural gas to fuel Dawei.

    "Up to now the electric power supply for that project is not sure," he said of Dawei.

    In a country beset by chronic electrical outages, powering even a home can be difficult, let alone an industrial zone. Blackouts are common across the country, even at Yangon's international airport.

    That puts pressure on Ratchaburi, whose involvement is limited to a feasibility study as "a preliminary step," it said in a November 16 statement.

    Than Htay stressed other ministries would decide Dawei's future, not his. But he offered his personal view of what the government will do: "My guess is sell out, according to the contract made by the previous government."

    Italian-Thai , which signed a 60-year concession to develop Dawei 14 months ago, has brushed aside those comments. Somchet of Dawei Development Co insists the project will go ahead. "It's at the point of no return. They can say whatever they want but the final decision will depend on the special committee chaired by Myanmar's president," Somchet told Reuters on January 27.

    He has a powerful local partner. A quarter of Dawei Development is held by Max Myanmar Group, owned by Burmese tycoon Zaw Zaw, whose close ties to the government put him on the U.S. targeted sanctions list in 2009.

    A November 15, 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable described Zaw Zaw as an "up and coming crony." Today he is one of Myanmar's most influential businessmen.

    Thailand's top lender, Bangkok Bank, is advising on the power project and Siam Commercial Bank on the whole project.

    Companies that Italian-Thai has identified as possible investors include Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Japan's Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui & Co and Sumitomo Corp, and South Korea's POSCO.

    Japanese Trade and Economy Minister Yukio Edano discussed the project with the Myanmar and Thai governments when he visited both countries last month.

    "This project is huge and is getting a lot of interest from foreign investors," said Somchet, who personally met Edano and sees Dawei as a possible location for Japanese firms to build parts for use at car manufacturing plants in Thailand, as well as a low-cost location for industrial production for Thai companies.

    He expects much of the infrastructure, including a proper road to Thailand, to be completed within three years, creating a stable route for cargo sent to Dawei from the Middle East and Africa for shipping to Bangkok and beyond in Southeast Asia, bypassing the congested Strait of Malacca.

    "CLOUDED WITH RISKS"

    Brokers appear less sure.

    In a recent note to clients, Singapore stock brokerage DBS Vickers Securities highlighted the risks.

    "Despite potential to bring economic prosperity to Burma, the project is still in its infancy and clouded with risks," it said. "The sudden call to halt the 4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant project would make it difficult for Italian-Thai to secure strategic partners to help fund the project."

    It described Dawei Development Co's plans to sell land in the area to raise funds for the project as "optimistic" and stressed that without strategic partners and firm funding, Dawei Development would remain a drag on Italian-Thai's earnings this year.

    In the year to date, Italian-Thai shares have underperformed those of its peers and the overall market due to uncertainty over the Myanmar project. The stock has risen just 0.1 percent in the past 12 months.

    Italian-Thai has an "Analyst Revision Score" of 14 under a model by earnings-tracker StarMine which ranks stocks according to changes in analyst sentiment, with 100 representing the highest rank.

    Kanit Sangsubhan, director of the Thai Finance Ministry's Economic and Financial Research Institute, told Reuters Dawei would need heavy government involvement or state enterprises to co-invest.

    Whether that will happen is unclear. Than Htay of Myanmar's Energy Ministry said the government wanted to promote more private involvement. "Regarding the petroleum refineries or the downstream plants, now most of the plans will be taken charge of by the private sector. Up to now, I have no plan to participate in that area because I need to mind existing jobs."

    PTT Exploration and Production Pcl, Thailand's top state-controlled oil and gas explorer, has shown little interest in the project, and neither has its parent, PTT Plc, Thailand's biggest company.

    "It is still very early days on Dawei," said Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar's economy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. "They are better off having a special economic zone near Yangon. Dawei mainly benefits Thailand. There are not a lot of benefits to Burma from that one."

    IN DAWEI, MIXED VIEWS

    In Dawei itself, views of the project are mixed.

    Some such as Hsan Htoo, a 25-year-old high school dropout working on a fishing trawler, hope it can bring jobs to the impoverished area, where many live in thatched-roof huts and many young people have left to work in neighbouring Thailand.

    "I heard that Dawei will create job opportunities for many local people. That would be very good. It would mean that we wouldn't have to leave our homes and work in other countries," he said.

    Others worry about the potential environmental toll and health risks from a project that would be four times bigger than Thailand's largest industrial estate, Map Ta Phut, where pollution between 1996 and 2009 may have contributed to at least 2,000 cancer-related deaths, according to environmental activists who sought legal action to halt the estate in 2009.

    "It is just not worth it," said Sein Win Aung, a 34-year-old private taxi owner who came out to listen to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi address a crowd of thousands in Dawei on Sunday. "We hear about the problems at the industrial estate in Thailand. We don't want those problems here."

    Some activists visited Map Ta Phut to see the impact first-hand.

    In a sign of dramatic change in Myanmar, a village advocacy group has been formed to oppose the project. The Dawei Development Group has raised concern that as many as 32,000 people would be displaced in a region known for its pristine coast, groves of coconut palms and plantations of cashews, mango and rubber.

    Such groups would have been quickly shut down, their leaders arrested, during the half-century of military rule that ended last March when a nominally civilian government took office.

    Instead, they are now becoming more organised, emboldened by the government's surprise suspension of the $3.6 billion, Chinese-led Myitsone dam project on September 30 following weeks of public outcry.

    "What we want is for the project to be done with transparency. It may ultimately go ahead, but we want to make sure it is done by the rule of law and that environmental assessment studies are carried out," said one senior activist in Yangon who has worked closely with the Dawei Development Group.

    But Dawei is an economic lifeline for villagers such as Win Aung, a 34-year-old driver for Italian-Thai, one of about 200 of the company's workers in Dawei. He used to work in Thailand, but hated it. He chafed at living away from his family. "I didn't enjoying working there at all. Most of my friends don't enjoy their jobs either but most people have no other choice."

    He said the project was going ahead, and expects it will eventually transform the isthmus that separates the Andaman Sea from the Gulf of Thailand, strengthening Myanmar's relationship with India, China and Southeast Asia by linking them together in trade.

    Bulldozers were clearing land, he said. Buildings for offices and staff quarters were being built, but no major construction had begun. Many villagers need to be relocated.

    Italian-Thai is buying land from the locals but has yet to complete new homes where they would live, he said.

    He remained optimistic about what it would mean for villagers like him. "It will create many, many job opportunities for local people," he said.

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