- QUINTANA IN ARAKAN STATE!
- WORLD BANK OPENS OFFICE!
- PRESIDENT ORDERS ASSETS REPORTS FROM MINISTERS!
- MEDIA FREEDOM? TWO WEEKLIES SUSPENDED!
- MORE CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS!
Cartoon
Tips for the President: The people would rather it’s for the Armed Forces Day!
Think Piece
By killing each other, the two groups (Arakan and Rohingya) themselves become the ultimate losers.
Min Zin, Foreign Policy, 27 July 2012
In order for the economic reform process to be successful, the political transition must go smoothly as well.
Paul Quinn-Judge, Acting Asian program director, International Crisis Group (ICG), 27 July 2012
If we leave out the Panglong Agreement, the Union is not meaningful.
They think if they can solve economic problems, the people will shut up. But we don’t have equal rights. How can we go on?
Lt-Gen Hso Ten, leader of Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), Irrawaddy, 31 July 2012
What happens in Myanmar’s Shan State affects the whole region’s security. Now is the time for the international community to engage in alternative development in the poppy-growing regions, as a natural counterbalance to the increased enforcement being conducted.
Gary Lewis, UN Office on Drugs and Grime, Bangkok representative to IRIN, Mizzima News, 31 July 2012
The Dignity of Man
Your own self is your own mainstay
For who else could your mainstay be?
With you yourself well-trained,
You obtain the mainstay hard to obtain
Dhammapada, 160th verse, translation by Thanissara Bhikkhu, quoted by Kham Hserh on the holy Asေlahabuja Day, 2 August 2012
China’s victory (at the Asean Ministerial Meeting last month) proved to be Pyrrhic. It won the battle of communiqué, but it may have lost 20 years of painstakingly accumulated goodwill. Now, by dividing Asean, China has provided America with its best possible geopolitical opportunity in the region.
Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, reprinted by Bangkok Post, 2 August 2012
The World
1 August 2012
Analysis shows circumcision has reduced the rate of new HIV infection by 76%. (Bloomberg)
International Relations
30 July 2012
UN Human Rights expert Tomas Ojea Quintana arrives in Burma on a weeklong visit to focus on sectarian violence in Arakan State (AP)
30 July 2012
Vickie Hawkins, deputy head of Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) denies rumors weapons were found in an MSF building and funding comes from Islamic financial backers. (DVB)
31 July 2012
Quintana visits Sittwe and Maungdaw, but refuses to answer journalists questions about what he found. (AP)
31 July 2012
Indonesia will raise the Rohingya problem at the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, scheduled for mid-August. (Jakarta Post)
31 July 2012
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of 57 member states, urges Muslims around the world to give political, humanitarian and financial aid to victims of violence in northwest Burma. (Reuters)
1 August 2012
Quintana meets 5 detained UN local staff members in Buthidaung prison. (Mizzima)
1 August 2012
Vice President of the World Bank Pamela Cox opens Rangoon office. (Myanmar Times)
1 August 2012
World Bank officials in Burma say the bank will make $ 85 million in grants to support democratic reforms. (Mizzima)
1 August 2012
Tokyo plans to extend around $ 900 million in bridge loans to help Burma pay back its debts in arrears owed to the World Bank (about $ 400 million) and the Asian Development Bank (about $ 500 million). (Japan Times)
2 August 2012
US Congress votes to extend a one-year ban on imports from Burma, along with White House authority to waive the restriction. (Reuters)
3 August 2012
Armed Forces chief Min Aung Hlaing visits India. Both sides will discuss training Burmese soldiers and insurgency in India’s northeast, among others. (Asian News International)
Politics/ Inside Burma
26 July 2012
President’s Office orders all officials appointed by the president to submit lists of their assets and businesses no later than 1 August, in accordance with Section 101 of the Union Government Law, enacted in October 2010. (Irrawaddy)
27 July 2012
U Tin Aye, EC chairman, meets Democratic and Ethnic Alliance parties to discuss proportional representation. The meeting agrees the new system will allow independent and minority parties to win seats more easily. He says he will submit the meeting’s proposal to Parliament. (RFA/Mizzima)
31 July 2012
Burma MPs call for overhaul of education system. There are currently around 170 universities all under the control of the government. (Irrawaddy)
3 August 2012
VP Sai Mawk Kham visits Maungdaw to assess the situation in the area two months after the June violence. (Irrawaddy)
Ethnic Affairs
22 July 2012
The remains of Galau Bawm Yaw, who was arrested by the Burmese military in Panghsai under suspicion of being connected to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on 1 July, found. His body shows obvious signs of being tortured. (KNG)
27 July 2012
Norwegian led Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI) consultant Ashley South says the group will give assistance to ceasefire group on 5 categories: liaison offices, public consultations, peace monitoring, drugs and rehabilitation. (Mizzima)
31 July 2012
Vice President Sai Mawk Kham tells government committee coordinating relief in Rakhine State that solution should be “tackled carefully as there is an unbalanced population ratio. Bengalis constitute 94% and Rakhine nationals 6% in Maungdaw and Buthidaung.” (New Light / Mizzima)
Shans/ Shan State
30-31 July 2012
Shan State Army (SSA) South reports 26th and 27th clashes in Namzang and Mongpan. (SHAN)
31 July 2012
Second tension between Shan and Wa over territorial claim in Mongton township. (SHAN)
Economy/ Business
1 August 2012
Speaking to the Washington International Trade Association, top State Department economic official Robert Hormats says there is not likely to be “a big gush of money” going to Burma as the country, though rich in resources, has few processing industries and is poor compared to its neighbors. (Mizzima)
Human Rights
27 July 2012
UNHCR has delivered aid to more than 30,000 people affected by recent inter-communal clashes, including 6,000 family kits, 1,100 tents and 700 tarpaulins. An estimated 80,000 were displaced. (Reuters)
28 July 2012
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay calls for independent inquiry over claims of abuses in Arakan State. (BBC)
30 July 2012
Foreign Ministry statement issued today rejects accusations of abuses and excessive use of force made by authorities in dealing with Arakan unrest. (Mizzima)
30 July 2012
Riots in Arakan State killed 77 people and 109 people were injured. A total of 4,822 homes, 12 mosques, 15 monasteries and 3 schools were burnt down. (Press Release by government)
31 July 2012
Two weekly magazines: The Voice and Envoy, informed by Press Scrutiny and Registration Board (PSRB) that their publications have been suspended indefinitely. No reasons explained. But reporters suspect links to their articles speculating about the anticipated cabinet reshuffle. (AP)
31 July 2012
Aung Thu, political prisoner being transferred from Sittwe to Tharawaddy, beaten by prison official during brief stopover at Insein. He had questioned them about the seizure of transferred inmates’ food. (DVB)
1 August 2012
Human Rights Watch (HRW) releases report condemning “state sponsored persecution and discrimination” in Burma:
- Official figure, 77 dead, “grossly underestimated”
- Both Buddhist and Muslim communities committed horrific acts of violence
- International reaction, unlike before reform process, appears to be blinded by romantic narrative of sweeping change”
(AFP)
1 August 2012
Proposal to form a committee to investigate workers strikes which took place in Rangoon last year shot down by 43 votes in favor compared with 288 against and 17 abstentions. (Irrawaddy)
1 August 2012
Dozens protest killings of Muslims in Burma outside the Myanmar embassy in Cairo. (Egyptian Gazette)
2 August 2012
Media Freedom Committee (MFC), comprised of Rangoon-based journalists, condemns indefinite suspension of The Voice and Envoy journals. (DVB)
2 August 2012
Bangladesh orders 3 charity organizations: Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Muslim Aid UK to suspend their services as they “were encouraging an influx of Rohingya refugees.” (AFP)
2 August 2012
Eleven Media Group (EMG) will be applying for the country’s first privately owned TV station, says its CEO Dr Than Htut Aung. Burma has 7 daily newspapers and 6 TV channels, all state-run. (Mizzima)
3 August 2012
Phyo Way Aung, sentenced to death in May for allegedly carrying out a bombing during the Thingyan festival in April 2010, released after receiving a presidential pardon. (Irrawaddy)
Drugs
30 July 2012
Australian police seize 306 kg of Ice and 252 kg of heroin, worth a total of A $ 50 million in Sydney. (AFP)
31 July 2012
The government has allowed UNODC to work in 25 additional townships in Shan State from just 3 at present, says Gary Lewis, UNODC Bangkok representative. (IRIN / Mizzima)
War
3 August 2012
Jailed Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir threatens to wage war if Burma continues to harm Muslim Rohingyas in a letter to President Thein Sein seen on a website. The 74 year old Indonesian is currently serving a 15 year jail term for funding terror. (AFP)
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