SlashAsia » Myanmar

West shuns Myanmar while Asian countries compete for trade deals

Alexandra Stevenson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:04:34 +0000

Western calls for human rights in Myanmar fall on deaf ears while Asian money talks. As Western countries continue to impose trade sanctions on Myanmar and press for the release of Nobel prize winning Aung Sun Suu Kyi, Asian countries have jumped in to trade with the military junta. According to the Wall Street Journal, over the last five years trade with China has more than doubled, and other Asian countries including India, Thailand and Singapore are in competition for Myanmar’s resources. Business is good and the profits are high, as South Korean company Daewoo recently testified to when it forecast a US $10 billion profit over 25 years with a proposed 1100 km natural gas pipeline to be built from Myanmar to southwest China, reports The Irrawaddy. The main buyers of this gas will be state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation. Other countries in the bid included South Korea, India, Thailand and Japan. China continues to press for closer economic ties with the military junta, echoed in Chinese media last week during Burmese Vice Senior General Maung Aye’s visit to China and talks with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.

Myanmar second top leader Maung Aye leaves on official visit to China, Xinhua News

Skirting Western sanctions, Myanmar prospers, The Wall Street Journal

Weekly business roundup, The Irrawaddy

Burmese situation still dire; hundreds of thousands jobless, homeless

enrico — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:19:02 +0000

One year after devastating Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar last May 2 killing nearly 140,000 and leaving 800,00 homeless, hundreds of thousands still have no jobs or housing. The situation is particularly urgent given the monsoon season ahead. Immediately after the cyclone the international community donated $315 million for food and assistance, initially blocked by the miliary junta that rules the country. International organizations say that hundreds of millions more in funding is still needed for infrastructure projects. So far the Tripartite Core Group, comprised of the Myanmar government, the UN, and ASEAN, have estimated the country still needs another $700 million. New issues have arisen as the military junta is beginning to make it hard once again for foreign aid groups to remain in the country and for new relief workers to get visas.

Nargis survivors burdened by debt , The Irrawaddy
Burma still recovering from Cyclone Nargis , Voice of America
Will Nargis make it easier for aid groups to work in Myanmar?, Reuters AlertNet

TB hot spot Burma in dire need of TB drugs

enrico — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:01:42 +0000

Despite WHO calls that a new strain of TB is “potentially explosive”, Burma is in serious shortage of TB drugs and funding from current national supplier Global Fund Facility will run out at the end of this year. Along with other Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and China, Burma is a WHO “high burden category”. Countries like China have received funding; the Gates Foundation has pumped US $33 million into a TB program in China. An estimated 1.5 percent of Burma’s 55.4 million population are infected by TB each year. Medecins Sans Frontieres is set up in parts of the country to assist, but they rely in part on drugs from the National TB Program, which receives drugs from GFF. Burmese health agencies were given a five year grant from GFF but this is not set to start until 2011, leaving Burma without any international funding for one year.

The challenges of treating TB in Burma - MSF, Reuters AlertNet
Advances made, but battle against TB not over yet, The Nation
Burma faces shortage of drugs in 2010, The Irrawaddy

Asia: Internet-nanny states on rise

Alexandra Stevenson — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:55:50 +0000

According to a recent article in Asia Times Online, the 2007 Computer Crime Act in Thailand had made the use of proxy servers punishable by law and more recently 2, 300 websites have been shutdown for insulting the monarchy. The Justice Ministry has sought court orders to shut down an additional 3000. In Singapore the government, wary of any criticism, frequently sues publications like The Economist and the Far Eastern Economic Review for referring to the one-party government rule as ‘authoritarian’. The government, which uses economic success as legitimacy for it’s hold on power, harassed an Asia Times contributor for discussing financial trouble in the city-state. In Malaysia last year, local ISPs were told to block renowned blogger and critique of the government, Raja Petra Kamarudin, from accessing the Internet. He was later arrested under the Internal Security Act. The Burmese government is taking lessons from Russian and Chinese officials on how to tighten it’s grip in cyberspace too, in a more sophisticated way than has previously done.

Links and sources:

An opening in cyberspace closes, Asia Times Online

China’s Internet censorship explained, China you ren website

Myanmar: Weapons, colonialism and Buddhist Imagery in Burmese art

Alexandra Stevenson — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:51:32 +0000

Paintings that depict a revolver with lipstick, and a grenade encasing a fetuses is part of a recent exhibit by Burmese artist San Minn, on display at the Suvannabhumi Art Gallery in Chiang Mai. The artist’s ‘weapon’ series is loaded with images that seem to be motivated by a strong sense of anti-violence. According to a review in Irrawaddy Magazine, the painting ‘Equal Reaction’ shows San Minn’s own spiritual influence and Buddhist beliefs - a revolver with two ends pointing in opposite directions, the ultimate visual for karma. San Minn tells journalist Kyaw Zwa Moe that a “lack of modernization was a turning point for our country.” Much of his subject matter juxtaposes this lack of modernity with imagery of British colonialism.

To see more on artist and a slide show of his work:

Explosive art from Burma, The Irrawaddy

Asia: ASEAN countries to demonstrate self-sufficiency and open trade

Alexandra Stevenson — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:35:08 +0000

Finance ministers in the Asia region are holding bilateral talks in the lead up the 14th Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit, in a show of greater strategic cooperation to prevent trade protectionism. Malaysia held bilateral talks with Indonesian and Chinese finance ministers this weekend, to promote trade. Officials from Japan, China and Korea met Saturday afternoon to discuss counter-measures to economic slowdown. Finance chiefs from Asean countries and Japan, China and South Korea will gather at the summit on February 27 in Thailand to discuss concrete and collective response to financial woes.

Asean will speak out against using trade protectionism as a way to cope with the current financial crisis, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said. Mr. Abhisit has encouraged Asean countries to seek aid from other regions, acknowledging that the IMF ” simply does not have the resources, money and time to look into the various problems in different regions.” The Asia Development Bank will participate in the summit as Asean members determine the details of a foreign reserve fund pool agreed upon last May. Contributing countries will discuss management and size of fund.

Links and sources:

Asean to resist protectionism, Straits Times

China, Indonesia and China trade talks, Malaysia Star

Asea foreign reserve pool, Xinhua