I sent a thank you note with my typical rudeness to Mr Lex Rieffel as his tone was totally unexpected and so much spot on. Appears he did not know his comments were being published there at that time. Bit of a surprise William Boot being a veteran.
Rude because I, for one, could not still work out how sincere are these concepts he proferred or whether these are for further implementation by the United States or the business allies ( totally unlikely as Monsanto always wins like Sebulba). And personally they are currently to be seen as isolated quark.
But it can be said at least that ” let’s be leading rice exporter of the world like in the old golden glorious days”, “experts say Burma will catch up with the rest of ASEAN in no time” craps may now have valid logical counter point to wash their chanting lunatics off their irrational, uncessary, dangerous and destructive “Pink Dreams”.
To continue my indulgent rudeness, Stiglitz advocacy is based on the given assumption that all societies MUST be somehow trying to change or in their feeble mind ” progress”, or “develop” if one prefers, as most communicators of these columns can and will relate to.
But why? Why does the millennium old societies have to be fiddled as if one has any understanding at all about stability and harmony do the societies especially a precious and peaceful one like that of Burma. It seems all they know is how to import greed and covetousness and destroy age old societies like a boy taking a watch apart to “fix” or “improve”. Not a single boy has managed to put a watch back together which ends up like poor Humpty-Dumpty.
I take it that is Lex Rieffel’s MAIN point. To let the farmers, the CUSTODIANS of humanity, morality, culture, and food production of varied and healthy types to let loose on their own term with maximal support for (never exploitative as is happening widespread right now in Burma) seasonal funding, storage, transport and fair marketing.
But even here, once the monetary system is “repaired” and connected to the Main Grid, a -let’s say – Jew sitting in bed in New York or London can easily tap a couple of keys before the shower in the morning or in between Matzah Brei and scrambled egg to wipe out any earning from entire farm produce, rice or otherwise.
And even now after the current training period for the currency manipulator s getting to know the Kyat, the lives of the Burmese populace will be exactly at the controllers’ pleasure. Only uncontrollable major base of the Kyat’s value would be the proceeds of the narcotics which is one prime fundamental of current system perhaps out of control of the money changers.
So I see Stiglitz solution as exactly same process with only slight change in price. Rieffel, I could not figure out yet.
But you are right. As in rabid anti-Rohingya rage and rampage, this getting rich quick to “catch up” with the ASEAN’s or even “beat” them (how stupid and ludicrous and full of Lawba and Mawha which by the way are currently highly promoted by the monks in and out of the country) is the very much of a single uniting focus for the military, with or without Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi, with or without NLD, 88’s and others in and out of the country as well as “media” and importantly the armed groups except the Kachin.
Their greed fuelled quiet virulence combined has now even blinded them to see or deafened them to hear from the most inhumane atrocities happening really under the eyes in Kachin Land and indeed Karen Land as well as in Monywa.
Having said all that, the majority populace who are rural, and still uncorrupted like the one listed (or me) are still a redoubt for he peaceful, unspoilt country’s future.
For conventionally highly educated idiots giving effusive “free” advice “for” Burma, there are simple questions.
1. Is the country or the people going to be rich with the economic status and income level closer together than now or wider? If one wants to sound so bloody educated, Aristotle model is desirable. But not that Founding Father Madison -Alexandar Hamilton crap.
2. Any money made at all must not destroy the land, waters and all the environment but most importantly the societies, their unique culture – Chin, Bamar, Kachin, Karen, Shan, whatever-, and tradition.
3. Totally opposed to the current system Aung San Suu Kyi is desperately endorsing, no one, repeat NO ONE must be disadvantaged for it.
Killing and shelling with fighters? Dogs would not do it. ( and totally useless as well!)
P.S thank you for your reference to Chomsky. I will try to find. We need all the help we can get.
This article is interesting but I see that there are some points that perhaps could do with further clarification.
Firstly the article states “At that forum, happy villagers were trotted out by government departments, to counter the effect of unhappy villagers produced by civil society organisations.”
I attended the AEPF meeting and from what I saw there were no “happy villagers” being trotted out, rather government officials were pretending to be villagers speaking at the meeting. The 15 minute monologue is a dead give away, especially when the speaker is told repeatedly to sit down by the moderator and completely ignores the request.
Secondly the author hasn’t seemed to put together the most obvious link between Ms Gindroz, and Mr Sombath, that being that they were both on the National Organising Committee of the AEPF. Coincidence? I think not!
Lastly I do have to wonder if giving villagers rights over their traditional lands is really a “foreign idea” as above commentator puts it? Foreign to the LPRP perhaps, but not necessarily ‘foreign’.
Farish Noor discusses the possibility that Malaysia could have an Islamist prime minister over at RSIS.
The call by PAS members for their party leader to be Prime Minister should the Pakatan Rakyat coalition win power at the next general election raises two questions: will it erode non-Malay support for the opposition coalition and will it change Malaysia’s foreign policy?
Carpool democracy – a Malaysian and possibly world first.
Democracy activists are preparing to carpool tens of thousands of Malaysians back home from abroad to vote, as Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy prepares for general elections in the spring.
I agree with Somsay on this. Evan, you appear to be quite naive. Also, how can you be so certain that no nasty things are happening? Finally, I can’t disclose the details, but you appear to be unaware of some important evidence that links the Lao authorities to Sombath’s disappearance. Anyway, it will all come out with time, I suspect, but I would be wary of such strong statement in defense of the Lao government.
“ps. Don’t jump to conclusions… Using the word “├╝ltra” doesn’t make me German.”
“├╝bermensch”
Obviously you ARE just another misguided Euro/Anglo-phile if not an ignorant itinerant New Mandala poster considering your unconscionable admiration for the “Colonial Legacy” that do not go beyond the Rail system.
” However, at least the English installed a railway system.”
Which they built to SUBJUGATE Myanmar as well as facilitate trade, and YES LARGE SCALE LOGGING as well.
Specifically the staring from 1st Anglo-Burma war to include the Revolution Council period of Me Win.
As for the following:
“What did the Bamar fascists (that’s *not* all bamar people, but BAMAR+FASCISTS, cumulatively fulfilled) install except for hatred, mysery, horror and religious fundamentalism (AKA the karma farce) ? You tell me please.”
As much as I detest the military government I and my ilk love the citizenry of Myanmar.
“A little knowledge with misguided hatred/sympathy can be dangerous. If it does not first make one foolish.”
“Disappearance and expulsion send chills through Laos”
Straits Times (Singapore)
Dec 29, 2012
By Nirmal Ghosh Indochina Bureau Chief
THE sudden disappearance of social activist Sombath Somphone has set Laos on edge.
Rumours abound that he has been spotted alive. Perhaps he will call. Perhaps there is some explanation, however outrageous, for his disappearance on the evening of Dec 15.
The mysterious disappearance of the 62-year-old social activist and winner of one of Asia’s most prestigious international awards, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, is inevitably being paired with the expulsion eight days earlier of Ms Anne-Sophie Gindroz, the head in Laos of Swiss development agency Helvetas.
On Dec 7, Ms Gindroz was given 48 hours to leave, after she wrote a letter – scathingly critical of the Lao government – to development partners.
Taken together, the two incidents shine an unaccustomed light on Laos, a country too often seen only through the prism of tourists as a laid-back pastoral backwater of tropical Asia.
Ms Gindroz is no naive neophyte; she had worked in Mali, and in Suharto-era Indonesia. Her expulsion was a shock to the international non-governmental organisation (INGO) community, which has a prominent place in a Laos that is struggling to lift itself out of least developed country status and only just joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
But two foreign professionals working in development in Laos told The Straits Times that her letter had appeared deliberately provocative, to the point of inviting expulsion.
The letter, penned after Helvetas was not invited to the government-hosted annual Round Table Implementation Meeting of Non-Profit Associations last month, was titled “Personal Letter to Development Partners”, but carried the Helvetas letterhead – and immediately became public.
Ms Gindroz wrote: “We are working in a challenging environment: This is a country governed by a single-party regime, where there is little space for meaningful democratic debate and when taking advantage of that limited space, repercussions often follow.
“Although allowable under the Lao Constitution, real freedom of expression and assembly are not afforded, and those who wish to exercise their constitutional rights and dare to try, often do so at their own peril faced with intimidation, false accusations and increasingly unlawful arrest. The media is censored and people are forbidden to hold peaceful assembly/ demonstration. Even in (Myanmar), this is no longer the case.”
The two-page letter went on to sketch a dilemma for civil society organisations in Laos.
“We have to make choices: to continue to do what we are expected to do and say only what pleases the government; or we can show solidarity with those acting and calling for more inclusive dialogue and stronger promotion, respect and protection of basic rights.
“We as partners in development can either choose as an objective to maintain good relations and comfortable partnerships with governmental partners; or make use of these to achieve other objectives. This might lead to uneasy discussions and uncomfortable relationships. But this might translate into significant contribution in promoting people’s participation through a more enabling environment and better guarantees of basic rights.”
Development professionals familiar with Laos said the missive was accurate. “Certainly, everyone in Laos self-censors. That’s how everyone lives,” said one foreign professional who worked in Laos for two decades. “She defied the unwritten code of no criticism at all.”
In its letter to Helvetas, the Lao government called Ms Gindroz “unconstructive” and said her letter had “demonstrated her explicit rejection” of Laos’ Constitution and law, particularly its political system. It added that she had called on development partners and others not to side with the Lao government.
The letter then outlined a string of measures taken by the government, including “ratification of most United Nations core human rights treaties”.
Laos was given membership status in the WTO in October, a key step in bringing it in sync with the rest of Asean and integrating it into the global economic system.
The dissonance between such progress and Ms Gindroz’s expulsion and the disappearance of Mr Sombath is apparent.
On Monday, Mr Saritdet Marukatat, a Bangkok Post editor, wrote: “This year was supposed to have been a year to remember for Laos. Vientiane and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party showed the world that their country could easily handle big international events. It hosted the Asia-Europe summit… the biggest ever in its history.
“Everything seems to confirm the gradual opening of a country once extremely cautious about outside influence on the back of fears of endangering the firm grip of the ruling communist party.”
But the feel-good mood of Lao watchers turned sour when Mr Sombath disappeared, he wrote. And while the expulsion of Ms Gindroz and the disappearance of Mr Sombath “might not be connected… it signals new concerns about Laos’ tolerance of critics”.
In 2007, Mr Sompawn Khantisouk, owner and manager of an eco-tourism lodge, vanished. Many thought his disappearance was because he had tried to mobilise local opinion against Chinese plantation investments. He has not been seen since.
Observers in Laos say it is no coincidence that the expulsion of Ms Gindroz and the disappearance of Mr Sombath came after the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, held in October in conjunction with the Asia-Europe summit in Vientiane. Mr Sombath had helped organise the forum, and Ms Gindroz also participated.
At that forum, happy villagers were trotted out by government departments, to counter the effect of unhappy villagers produced by civil society organisations.
The two cases have sent a chill through civil society organisations in Laos.
Associate Professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun, from Kyoto University’s Centre for South- east Asian Studies, said in an e-mail: “Laos has arrived at the most difficult dilemma. On the one hand, the country is in need of being integrated with the regional economy.
“On the other hand, opening up the country and embracing imported foreign ideas, including the emerging role of INGOs, has been viewed with caution and indeed suspicion. The political elite is not ready to push for certain political reforms.
“As much as Laos wants to be modernised, its political outlook has been trapped in the Cold War. The lack of political legitimacy has compelled Laos’ leaders to use harsh measures against critics.”
Hopping across the Thai border into Myanmar’s border towns is easy, but crossing into or out of Myanmar proper by land varies between difficult and impossible. Visa-free entry is possible at some border crossings, but you must then exit Myanmar via the same border crossing, usually (but not always) on the same day that you enter, and fees apply (normally US$10). All land border crossings into Myanmar give only restricted access to the border areas. The only way to visit locations throughout the country, is to enter and exit Myanmar by air.
Somsay, I think your interpretation of what is going on in Laos TODAY is faulty, likely distorted by incidents in the past. How can you say that the police did nothing when asked for help? They showed the family the surveillance video and allowed it to be captured on a mobile device for subsequent dissemination. How do you know they have not also been sharing additional information with the family with the understanding that the information remain confidential so as not to jeopardize the on-going investigation? How can you expect the Lao police to have more transparency than the police in, say, the USA, where the only release of specific information during an on-going investigation is done by the police with their own interests in mind?
The “government” of Laos is not a unified entity. There are numerous ministries, the National Assembly and thousands of local components of government. Even policies of the police are fragmented and rarely show uniformity. Above and powerful within the “government” is the Party. To say that the “government” knows exactly what happened to Sombath is an incredible absurd statement.
Anyone who studies international mass media (and mass media in many countires, i.e. USA) today knows that they mostly follow the reporting/slant/lead of the other players. Listing the numerous instances of this regarding the disappearance of Sombath as Mr. Barney does has more to do with the monopolization of reporting than with the Sombath situation. In fact, he should expand on his analysis and it will provide the best documentation yet seen how the media tend to create reality rather than report it.
Assad does have genuine authority as opposed to our bald pantomime actor. But “he” does send Mig 29’s and Russian attack helicopters onto civilian targets presumably in agreement with or in accordance with the Americans as the Deputy Defence Secretary in Burma was on record advising the “counter-insurgency measures” to already most ruthless and virulent armed forces existing solely for attacks against their own people.
The deafening silence of the world on this latest most open and blatant aggression will have wide and long lasting repercussions.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Press briefing notes on Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hissène Habré and Laos
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 21 December 2012
3) Laos
We are concerned by what appears to be the enforced disappearance of Mr. Sombath Somphone, a prominent human rights defender in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. We are highly concerned for his safety and believe that his abduction may be related to his human rights work.
Mr Somphone was last seen at about 6pm on 15 December 2012 on his way home. Security camera footage reportedly shows that he was stopped at the police post on Thadeua Road in Vientiane, the capital, and was then driven away in a car by men in civilian clothes. His family has been unable to locate him since then, despite repeated calls to the authorities and searches in the local area.
Mr. Somphone is the former director of the Participatory Development Training Centre, an NGO he founded in 1996 to promote education, training and sustainable development. In 2005, he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, which is one of Asia’s top civil awards, for his work in poverty reduction and sustainable development.
We welcome the Government’s recent statement that a serious investigation is underway, and urge the authorities to do everything possible to ensure that Mr. Somphone is found safe and unharmed.
The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, issued the following statement today:
“The High Representative would like to express her deep concern over the disappearance of Sombath Somphone in Vientiane on 15 December. Sombath Somphone is a well-respected member of Lao civil society, a recipient of the Magsaysay prize and the successful co-organiser of the Asia-
Europe People-to-People Forum that took place in Vientiane ahead of the ASEM9 Summit last month.
The EU supports and encourages the Lao authorities in their efforts to investigate this case with the aim of ensuring the return of Sombath Somphone to his family.”
“PRESSURE MOUNTS ON VIENTIANE TO FIND MISSING ACTIVIST”
by Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation (Thailand), December 21, 2012
The international community yesterday piled pressure on authorities in Vientiane to take responsibility for the disappearance of Magsaysay Award-winner Sombath Somphone as Laos’ foreign ministry seemed to distance itself by saying he was kidnapped for a personal conflict from a police outpost in Vientiane on Saturday.
“At this stage the authorities are not in a position to say exactly what has actually happened, why Sombath has gone missing or who might have been involved in the incident,” the ministry said in describing a video provided by Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng showing that he was taken away by a pickup truck after being stopped by police at an outpost on his way back home.
The authorities did not say why Lao police failed to protect Sombath from the abductors but vowed to continue investigating the incident and find him.
The closed-circuit television footage from his wife and the initial investigation indicated that the Lao activist was snatched because of a personal or business conflict or for some other reason, according to a ministry statement.
A group of activists and human rights defenders in Thailand have called international attention to the incident over the past two to three days. They, together with Ng Shui Meng, sent appeals to authorities in Vientiane asking them to ensure his safety.
Thailand’s Magsaysay Award-winner Jon Ungphakorn said 31 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipients have endorsed a letter to various authorities in Laos expressing extreme concern about the safety and well-being of Sombath, who won the prize in 2005.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the Lao government needs to immediately reveal Sombath’s location and release him.
“Lao authorities should come clean on the enforced disappearance of this prominent social leader and take steps to stem the deepening climate of fear his disappearance has caused,” he said.
Sombath’s wife said she was driving home with him in two vehicles. Sombath followed Shui Meng’s car in his Jeep on Saturday evening. His jeep was still behind her car at about 6pm near the police post on Thadeua Road. Soon after that she did not see him anymore, she said, adding that she went out to look for him that night.
His family reported him missing to local authorities on Sunday and went to the Vientiane Police Station on Monday asking to review the CCTV footage taken around 6pm.
“We did see my husband stopped by police at the Thadeua police post at 6:03pm. Then we saw him getting out of the jeep and being taken into the police post. Later we saw a motorcyclist who stopped at the police post and drove off with my husband’s jeep leaving his motorcycle by the roadside.
“Later another truck with flashing lights came and stopped at the police post and we saw two people taking my husband into the vehicle and driving off.”
Shui Meng wrote to many agencies outlining what she saw in the CCTV footage.
“It is now nearly four days since the disappearance of my husband and I have yet to hear anything of his whereabouts,” she said.
“I appeal to the government of the Lao PDR to please investigate my husband’s disappearance as soon as possible, release information of his whereabouts and ensure his safety.”
The statement from the Lao foreign ministry said almost the same as the video but did not indicate a serious commitment to ensuring his safety.
“In this connection, the authorities concerned are currently and seriously investigating the incident in order to find out the truth and the whereabouts of Sombath,” the statement said.
There are business elites or the emperors who make more money every second they are sleeping than several countries annual income combined. They are above any law and they do what they want which is making even more money at any and all cost.
And they have their tried and trusted machination like governments, government departments, banking systems, total control of public media, international organizations (loan agencies, labour regulation agencies, law agencies, etc) to act as go-betweens and facilitators, etc. By nature they are ruthless, focused, totally unemotional, cynical and in practice clinical.
Then there are majority of the world’s populace, the ignorant and meddlesome ones of George Madison, who really own the land and other resources and in fact looked after it undamaged for millennium.
Now those land and resources will be gone or irreparably damaged, and their millennium old cohesive society will change to fractured, dispersed, hostile, on the edge, covetous, avaricious small entities ripe for indentured labour, manipulation and consumer goods dumping. They are always manipulated, lied to, bewildered, always many steps behind and helpless.
Those two are straight forward and clear and predictable classes.
And that is where Burma as a country is speeding ahead. As desired by….who? Now that is the difficult question.
Because there is the third enigmatic group. They do not usually own anything of material or are likely to. They are usually simply educated, conventional way. They do not gain much as they do not belong to the 0.1% Club or anywhere near it.
Yet they are the most vocal supporters and in deed instigators of these devastation while the 0.1% simply guide them the way and get busy collecting their “dues”.
They have ideals and visions. But never to the end. Never over all. Highly knowledgeable in isolated areas of their speciality but never the overall pictures. Yet they are most effective weapon owned by the 0.1%.
For example, while they would clamour for increase in (that bad word) GDP, they do not know or care how that GDP is either calculated or more importantly distributed. As in George Soros earning 3.3 billions in 2009 while average American income was 39,000. That would probably increase the GDP while people literally starve as 46 million people lives with family income of $23,000 a year or less most going into poor quality food.
And there is no currently prevailing system that will “raise all the boats”. Only the ones widening the income and financial security difference among the populace to bigger and bigger gaps.
Yet people calling for support of the oppressed, gender equality, minority rights, etc. are effectively supporting the prevailing system by diverting the efforts away from the main issue.
Why do people need to be oppressed in the first place? What is so wrong with current conditions which has thrived for millennia but for the constant interference by the armed violence? In stead of taking away the armed violence or supporting the people, there will now be added oppression from so many different players, each with so many different rules that people have not a clue and the total destruction of not just land and environment but the societies and culture.
All for half cooked “ideals” which have already destroyed land, waters and societies in Central and South America, Africa and other parts of Asia.
Specifically, this port and industrial complex thing is thought of and planned by looking at the map by people who would get maximal benefit out of it. Any little benefit that happens at all to the local people at great environmental and societal cost is accidental. But all players spear-headed by the third parties of do-gooder-sounding-people will sell it as for the local people’s benefit.
If so, when local people say no, please go away.
Even the likely share of the Thaksin Dynasty and Than Shwe family over the years, if the plan succeeds, will be in thousands of times of the total crumb falling onto the true owners of the land. And of course for KNU as well.
The success of the first group is dependent on the hard, and in fact honest, work of the third group with inexplicable enthusiasm as we see in these columns.
They are in Burmese proverb, fish oil to fry the fish. Nga gyin se ne nga gyin kyaw.
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The Company in Dawei
Thank you , truly U Moe Aung.
I sent a thank you note with my typical rudeness to Mr Lex Rieffel as his tone was totally unexpected and so much spot on. Appears he did not know his comments were being published there at that time. Bit of a surprise William Boot being a veteran.
Rude because I, for one, could not still work out how sincere are these concepts he proferred or whether these are for further implementation by the United States or the business allies ( totally unlikely as Monsanto always wins like Sebulba). And personally they are currently to be seen as isolated quark.
But it can be said at least that ” let’s be leading rice exporter of the world like in the old golden glorious days”, “experts say Burma will catch up with the rest of ASEAN in no time” craps may now have valid logical counter point to wash their chanting lunatics off their irrational, uncessary, dangerous and destructive “Pink Dreams”.
To continue my indulgent rudeness, Stiglitz advocacy is based on the given assumption that all societies MUST be somehow trying to change or in their feeble mind ” progress”, or “develop” if one prefers, as most communicators of these columns can and will relate to.
But why? Why does the millennium old societies have to be fiddled as if one has any understanding at all about stability and harmony do the societies especially a precious and peaceful one like that of Burma. It seems all they know is how to import greed and covetousness and destroy age old societies like a boy taking a watch apart to “fix” or “improve”. Not a single boy has managed to put a watch back together which ends up like poor Humpty-Dumpty.
I take it that is Lex Rieffel’s MAIN point. To let the farmers, the CUSTODIANS of humanity, morality, culture, and food production of varied and healthy types to let loose on their own term with maximal support for (never exploitative as is happening widespread right now in Burma) seasonal funding, storage, transport and fair marketing.
But even here, once the monetary system is “repaired” and connected to the Main Grid, a -let’s say – Jew sitting in bed in New York or London can easily tap a couple of keys before the shower in the morning or in between Matzah Brei and scrambled egg to wipe out any earning from entire farm produce, rice or otherwise.
And even now after the current training period for the currency manipulator s getting to know the Kyat, the lives of the Burmese populace will be exactly at the controllers’ pleasure. Only uncontrollable major base of the Kyat’s value would be the proceeds of the narcotics which is one prime fundamental of current system perhaps out of control of the money changers.
So I see Stiglitz solution as exactly same process with only slight change in price. Rieffel, I could not figure out yet.
But you are right. As in rabid anti-Rohingya rage and rampage, this getting rich quick to “catch up” with the ASEAN’s or even “beat” them (how stupid and ludicrous and full of Lawba and Mawha which by the way are currently highly promoted by the monks in and out of the country) is the very much of a single uniting focus for the military, with or without Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi, with or without NLD, 88’s and others in and out of the country as well as “media” and importantly the armed groups except the Kachin.
Their greed fuelled quiet virulence combined has now even blinded them to see or deafened them to hear from the most inhumane atrocities happening really under the eyes in Kachin Land and indeed Karen Land as well as in Monywa.
Having said all that, the majority populace who are rural, and still uncorrupted like the one listed (or me) are still a redoubt for he peaceful, unspoilt country’s future.
For conventionally highly educated idiots giving effusive “free” advice “for” Burma, there are simple questions.
1. Is the country or the people going to be rich with the economic status and income level closer together than now or wider? If one wants to sound so bloody educated, Aristotle model is desirable. But not that Founding Father Madison -Alexandar Hamilton crap.
2. Any money made at all must not destroy the land, waters and all the environment but most importantly the societies, their unique culture – Chin, Bamar, Kachin, Karen, Shan, whatever-, and tradition.
3. Totally opposed to the current system Aung San Suu Kyi is desperately endorsing, no one, repeat NO ONE must be disadvantaged for it.
Killing and shelling with fighters? Dogs would not do it. ( and totally useless as well!)
P.S thank you for your reference to Chomsky. I will try to find. We need all the help we can get.
Happy New Year!
The Company in Dawei
Fixed link:From Resource Curse to Blessing by Joseph Stiglitz, Aug 6, 2012. Sorry.
The Company in Dawei
It was Chomsky who notably characterised the third enigmatic group as one of those commissars in manufacturing consent.
Would good sense prevail such as Lex Rieffel, a former US Treasury Department staff economist, has offered when he said,”…to adjust the division of the gas produced so that a larger share is consumed inside Myanmar and a smaller share is exported to other countries….What is important for Myanmar’s economic success is raising rural household incomes, not achieving some arbitrary export target.” or would it fall on deaf ears like Joseph Stiglitz’s sound advice on the economy, not least what he had to say about turning the resource curse into a blessing?
Seems like not a big but an impossible ask when the priorities are clearly anything but.
Distressing developments in Laos
.. no, I’m Sombath Somphone…
Distressing developments in Laos
….”I’m Sombath Somphone” !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q
Distressing developments in Laos
This article is interesting but I see that there are some points that perhaps could do with further clarification.
Firstly the article states “At that forum, happy villagers were trotted out by government departments, to counter the effect of unhappy villagers produced by civil society organisations.”
I attended the AEPF meeting and from what I saw there were no “happy villagers” being trotted out, rather government officials were pretending to be villagers speaking at the meeting. The 15 minute monologue is a dead give away, especially when the speaker is told repeatedly to sit down by the moderator and completely ignores the request.
Secondly the author hasn’t seemed to put together the most obvious link between Ms Gindroz, and Mr Sombath, that being that they were both on the National Organising Committee of the AEPF. Coincidence? I think not!
Lastly I do have to wonder if giving villagers rights over their traditional lands is really a “foreign idea” as above commentator puts it? Foreign to the LPRP perhaps, but not necessarily ‘foreign’.
The inexorable pursuit of an Islamic State
Farish Noor discusses the possibility that Malaysia could have an Islamist prime minister over at RSIS.
Awakening of the Malaysian Diaspora
Carpool democracy – a Malaysian and possibly world first.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/27/carpool-democracy-malaysians-prepare-to-head-home-for-landmark-elections/#ixzz2GUu9ikCm
Distressing developments in Laos
I agree with Somsay on this. Evan, you appear to be quite naive. Also, how can you be so certain that no nasty things are happening? Finally, I can’t disclose the details, but you appear to be unaware of some important evidence that links the Lao authorities to Sombath’s disappearance. Anyway, it will all come out with time, I suspect, but I would be wary of such strong statement in defense of the Lao government.
Myanmar tourism after the boycott
“ps. Don’t jump to conclusions… Using the word “├╝ltra” doesn’t make me German.”
“├╝bermensch”
Obviously you ARE just another misguided Euro/Anglo-phile if not an ignorant itinerant New Mandala poster considering your unconscionable admiration for the “Colonial Legacy” that do not go beyond the Rail system.
” However, at least the English installed a railway system.”
Which they built to SUBJUGATE Myanmar as well as facilitate trade, and YES LARGE SCALE LOGGING as well.
May I suggest some essential reading here
http://www.newmandala.org/2012/10/10/andrew-selths-burma-bibiliography/
Specifically the staring from 1st Anglo-Burma war to include the Revolution Council period of Me Win.
As for the following:
“What did the Bamar fascists (that’s *not* all bamar people, but BAMAR+FASCISTS, cumulatively fulfilled) install except for hatred, mysery, horror and religious fundamentalism (AKA the karma farce) ? You tell me please.”
As much as I detest the military government I and my ilk love the citizenry of Myanmar.
“A little knowledge with misguided hatred/sympathy can be dangerous. If it does not first make one foolish.”
When was the last time you visited Myanmar?
Distressing developments in Laos
“Disappearance and expulsion send chills through Laos”
Straits Times (Singapore)
Dec 29, 2012
By Nirmal Ghosh Indochina Bureau Chief
THE sudden disappearance of social activist Sombath Somphone has set Laos on edge.
Rumours abound that he has been spotted alive. Perhaps he will call. Perhaps there is some explanation, however outrageous, for his disappearance on the evening of Dec 15.
The mysterious disappearance of the 62-year-old social activist and winner of one of Asia’s most prestigious international awards, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, is inevitably being paired with the expulsion eight days earlier of Ms Anne-Sophie Gindroz, the head in Laos of Swiss development agency Helvetas.
On Dec 7, Ms Gindroz was given 48 hours to leave, after she wrote a letter – scathingly critical of the Lao government – to development partners.
Taken together, the two incidents shine an unaccustomed light on Laos, a country too often seen only through the prism of tourists as a laid-back pastoral backwater of tropical Asia.
Ms Gindroz is no naive neophyte; she had worked in Mali, and in Suharto-era Indonesia. Her expulsion was a shock to the international non-governmental organisation (INGO) community, which has a prominent place in a Laos that is struggling to lift itself out of least developed country status and only just joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
But two foreign professionals working in development in Laos told The Straits Times that her letter had appeared deliberately provocative, to the point of inviting expulsion.
The letter, penned after Helvetas was not invited to the government-hosted annual Round Table Implementation Meeting of Non-Profit Associations last month, was titled “Personal Letter to Development Partners”, but carried the Helvetas letterhead – and immediately became public.
Ms Gindroz wrote: “We are working in a challenging environment: This is a country governed by a single-party regime, where there is little space for meaningful democratic debate and when taking advantage of that limited space, repercussions often follow.
“Although allowable under the Lao Constitution, real freedom of expression and assembly are not afforded, and those who wish to exercise their constitutional rights and dare to try, often do so at their own peril faced with intimidation, false accusations and increasingly unlawful arrest. The media is censored and people are forbidden to hold peaceful assembly/ demonstration. Even in (Myanmar), this is no longer the case.”
The two-page letter went on to sketch a dilemma for civil society organisations in Laos.
“We have to make choices: to continue to do what we are expected to do and say only what pleases the government; or we can show solidarity with those acting and calling for more inclusive dialogue and stronger promotion, respect and protection of basic rights.
“We as partners in development can either choose as an objective to maintain good relations and comfortable partnerships with governmental partners; or make use of these to achieve other objectives. This might lead to uneasy discussions and uncomfortable relationships. But this might translate into significant contribution in promoting people’s participation through a more enabling environment and better guarantees of basic rights.”
Development professionals familiar with Laos said the missive was accurate. “Certainly, everyone in Laos self-censors. That’s how everyone lives,” said one foreign professional who worked in Laos for two decades. “She defied the unwritten code of no criticism at all.”
In its letter to Helvetas, the Lao government called Ms Gindroz “unconstructive” and said her letter had “demonstrated her explicit rejection” of Laos’ Constitution and law, particularly its political system. It added that she had called on development partners and others not to side with the Lao government.
The letter then outlined a string of measures taken by the government, including “ratification of most United Nations core human rights treaties”.
Laos was given membership status in the WTO in October, a key step in bringing it in sync with the rest of Asean and integrating it into the global economic system.
The dissonance between such progress and Ms Gindroz’s expulsion and the disappearance of Mr Sombath is apparent.
On Monday, Mr Saritdet Marukatat, a Bangkok Post editor, wrote: “This year was supposed to have been a year to remember for Laos. Vientiane and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party showed the world that their country could easily handle big international events. It hosted the Asia-Europe summit… the biggest ever in its history.
“Everything seems to confirm the gradual opening of a country once extremely cautious about outside influence on the back of fears of endangering the firm grip of the ruling communist party.”
But the feel-good mood of Lao watchers turned sour when Mr Sombath disappeared, he wrote. And while the expulsion of Ms Gindroz and the disappearance of Mr Sombath “might not be connected… it signals new concerns about Laos’ tolerance of critics”.
In 2007, Mr Sompawn Khantisouk, owner and manager of an eco-tourism lodge, vanished. Many thought his disappearance was because he had tried to mobilise local opinion against Chinese plantation investments. He has not been seen since.
Observers in Laos say it is no coincidence that the expulsion of Ms Gindroz and the disappearance of Mr Sombath came after the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, held in October in conjunction with the Asia-Europe summit in Vientiane. Mr Sombath had helped organise the forum, and Ms Gindroz also participated.
At that forum, happy villagers were trotted out by government departments, to counter the effect of unhappy villagers produced by civil society organisations.
The two cases have sent a chill through civil society organisations in Laos.
Associate Professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun, from Kyoto University’s Centre for South- east Asian Studies, said in an e-mail: “Laos has arrived at the most difficult dilemma. On the one hand, the country is in need of being integrated with the regional economy.
“On the other hand, opening up the country and embracing imported foreign ideas, including the emerging role of INGOs, has been viewed with caution and indeed suspicion. The political elite is not ready to push for certain political reforms.
“As much as Laos wants to be modernised, its political outlook has been trapped in the Cold War. The lack of political legitimacy has compelled Laos’ leaders to use harsh measures against critics.”
[email protected]
Bangladesh to Burma “friendship” road
Hopping across the Thai border into Myanmar’s border towns is easy, but crossing into or out of Myanmar proper by land varies between difficult and impossible. Visa-free entry is possible at some border crossings, but you must then exit Myanmar via the same border crossing, usually (but not always) on the same day that you enter, and fees apply (normally US$10). All land border crossings into Myanmar give only restricted access to the border areas. The only way to visit locations throughout the country, is to enter and exit Myanmar by air.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Myanmar
Distressing developments in Laos
Somsay, I think your interpretation of what is going on in Laos TODAY is faulty, likely distorted by incidents in the past. How can you say that the police did nothing when asked for help? They showed the family the surveillance video and allowed it to be captured on a mobile device for subsequent dissemination. How do you know they have not also been sharing additional information with the family with the understanding that the information remain confidential so as not to jeopardize the on-going investigation? How can you expect the Lao police to have more transparency than the police in, say, the USA, where the only release of specific information during an on-going investigation is done by the police with their own interests in mind?
Distressing developments in Laos
The “government” of Laos is not a unified entity. There are numerous ministries, the National Assembly and thousands of local components of government. Even policies of the police are fragmented and rarely show uniformity. Above and powerful within the “government” is the Party. To say that the “government” knows exactly what happened to Sombath is an incredible absurd statement.
Distressing developments in Laos
Anyone who studies international mass media (and mass media in many countires, i.e. USA) today knows that they mostly follow the reporting/slant/lead of the other players. Listing the numerous instances of this regarding the disappearance of Sombath as Mr. Barney does has more to do with the monopolization of reporting than with the Sombath situation. In fact, he should expand on his analysis and it will provide the best documentation yet seen how the media tend to create reality rather than report it.
Next stop? Laiza?
Assad does have genuine authority as opposed to our bald pantomime actor. But “he” does send Mig 29’s and Russian attack helicopters onto civilian targets presumably in agreement with or in accordance with the Americans as the Deputy Defence Secretary in Burma was on record advising the “counter-insurgency measures” to already most ruthless and virulent armed forces existing solely for attacks against their own people.
The deafening silence of the world on this latest most open and blatant aggression will have wide and long lasting repercussions.
Distressing developments in Laos
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Press briefing notes on Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hissène Habré and Laos
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 21 December 2012
3) Laos
We are concerned by what appears to be the enforced disappearance of Mr. Sombath Somphone, a prominent human rights defender in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. We are highly concerned for his safety and believe that his abduction may be related to his human rights work.
Mr Somphone was last seen at about 6pm on 15 December 2012 on his way home. Security camera footage reportedly shows that he was stopped at the police post on Thadeua Road in Vientiane, the capital, and was then driven away in a car by men in civilian clothes. His family has been unable to locate him since then, despite repeated calls to the authorities and searches in the local area.
Mr. Somphone is the former director of the Participatory Development Training Centre, an NGO he founded in 1996 to promote education, training and sustainable development. In 2005, he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, which is one of Asia’s top civil awards, for his work in poverty reduction and sustainable development.
We welcome the Government’s recent statement that a serious investigation is underway, and urge the authorities to do everything possible to ensure that Mr. Somphone is found safe and unharmed.
ENDS
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12906&LangID=E
Distressing developments in Laos
STATEMENT BY THE SPOKESPERSON OF EU HIGH REPRESENTATIVE CATHERINE ASHTON ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SOMBATH SOMPHONE IN LAOS
http://www.consilium.europa.eu//uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/134538.pdf
EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 21 December 2012
A 586/12
The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, issued the following statement today:
“The High Representative would like to express her deep concern over the disappearance of Sombath Somphone in Vientiane on 15 December. Sombath Somphone is a well-respected member of Lao civil society, a recipient of the Magsaysay prize and the successful co-organiser of the Asia-
Europe People-to-People Forum that took place in Vientiane ahead of the ASEM9 Summit last month.
The EU supports and encourages the Lao authorities in their efforts to investigate this case with the aim of ensuring the return of Sombath Somphone to his family.”
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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Pressure-mounts-on-Vientiane-to-find-missing-activ-30196555.html
LAOS
“PRESSURE MOUNTS ON VIENTIANE TO FIND MISSING ACTIVIST”
by Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation (Thailand), December 21, 2012
The international community yesterday piled pressure on authorities in Vientiane to take responsibility for the disappearance of Magsaysay Award-winner Sombath Somphone as Laos’ foreign ministry seemed to distance itself by saying he was kidnapped for a personal conflict from a police outpost in Vientiane on Saturday.
“At this stage the authorities are not in a position to say exactly what has actually happened, why Sombath has gone missing or who might have been involved in the incident,” the ministry said in describing a video provided by Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng showing that he was taken away by a pickup truck after being stopped by police at an outpost on his way back home.
The authorities did not say why Lao police failed to protect Sombath from the abductors but vowed to continue investigating the incident and find him.
The closed-circuit television footage from his wife and the initial investigation indicated that the Lao activist was snatched because of a personal or business conflict or for some other reason, according to a ministry statement.
A group of activists and human rights defenders in Thailand have called international attention to the incident over the past two to three days. They, together with Ng Shui Meng, sent appeals to authorities in Vientiane asking them to ensure his safety.
Thailand’s Magsaysay Award-winner Jon Ungphakorn said 31 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipients have endorsed a letter to various authorities in Laos expressing extreme concern about the safety and well-being of Sombath, who won the prize in 2005.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the Lao government needs to immediately reveal Sombath’s location and release him.
“Lao authorities should come clean on the enforced disappearance of this prominent social leader and take steps to stem the deepening climate of fear his disappearance has caused,” he said.
Sombath’s wife said she was driving home with him in two vehicles. Sombath followed Shui Meng’s car in his Jeep on Saturday evening. His jeep was still behind her car at about 6pm near the police post on Thadeua Road. Soon after that she did not see him anymore, she said, adding that she went out to look for him that night.
His family reported him missing to local authorities on Sunday and went to the Vientiane Police Station on Monday asking to review the CCTV footage taken around 6pm.
“We did see my husband stopped by police at the Thadeua police post at 6:03pm. Then we saw him getting out of the jeep and being taken into the police post. Later we saw a motorcyclist who stopped at the police post and drove off with my husband’s jeep leaving his motorcycle by the roadside.
“Later another truck with flashing lights came and stopped at the police post and we saw two people taking my husband into the vehicle and driving off.”
Shui Meng wrote to many agencies outlining what she saw in the CCTV footage.
“It is now nearly four days since the disappearance of my husband and I have yet to hear anything of his whereabouts,” she said.
“I appeal to the government of the Lao PDR to please investigate my husband’s disappearance as soon as possible, release information of his whereabouts and ensure his safety.”
The statement from the Lao foreign ministry said almost the same as the video but did not indicate a serious commitment to ensuring his safety.
“In this connection, the authorities concerned are currently and seriously investigating the incident in order to find out the truth and the whereabouts of Sombath,” the statement said.
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Next stop? Laiza?
Thein Sein going to Laiza? About same chances than Bashar al-Ashad going to Aleppo to negotiate with the FSA.
The Company in Dawei
That is the curiosity of the times U Moe Aung.
There are business elites or the emperors who make more money every second they are sleeping than several countries annual income combined. They are above any law and they do what they want which is making even more money at any and all cost.
And they have their tried and trusted machination like governments, government departments, banking systems, total control of public media, international organizations (loan agencies, labour regulation agencies, law agencies, etc) to act as go-betweens and facilitators, etc. By nature they are ruthless, focused, totally unemotional, cynical and in practice clinical.
Then there are majority of the world’s populace, the ignorant and meddlesome ones of George Madison, who really own the land and other resources and in fact looked after it undamaged for millennium.
Now those land and resources will be gone or irreparably damaged, and their millennium old cohesive society will change to fractured, dispersed, hostile, on the edge, covetous, avaricious small entities ripe for indentured labour, manipulation and consumer goods dumping. They are always manipulated, lied to, bewildered, always many steps behind and helpless.
Those two are straight forward and clear and predictable classes.
And that is where Burma as a country is speeding ahead. As desired by….who? Now that is the difficult question.
Because there is the third enigmatic group. They do not usually own anything of material or are likely to. They are usually simply educated, conventional way. They do not gain much as they do not belong to the 0.1% Club or anywhere near it.
Yet they are the most vocal supporters and in deed instigators of these devastation while the 0.1% simply guide them the way and get busy collecting their “dues”.
They have ideals and visions. But never to the end. Never over all. Highly knowledgeable in isolated areas of their speciality but never the overall pictures. Yet they are most effective weapon owned by the 0.1%.
For example, while they would clamour for increase in (that bad word) GDP, they do not know or care how that GDP is either calculated or more importantly distributed. As in George Soros earning 3.3 billions in 2009 while average American income was 39,000. That would probably increase the GDP while people literally starve as 46 million people lives with family income of $23,000 a year or less most going into poor quality food.
And there is no currently prevailing system that will “raise all the boats”. Only the ones widening the income and financial security difference among the populace to bigger and bigger gaps.
Yet people calling for support of the oppressed, gender equality, minority rights, etc. are effectively supporting the prevailing system by diverting the efforts away from the main issue.
Why do people need to be oppressed in the first place? What is so wrong with current conditions which has thrived for millennia but for the constant interference by the armed violence? In stead of taking away the armed violence or supporting the people, there will now be added oppression from so many different players, each with so many different rules that people have not a clue and the total destruction of not just land and environment but the societies and culture.
All for half cooked “ideals” which have already destroyed land, waters and societies in Central and South America, Africa and other parts of Asia.
Specifically, this port and industrial complex thing is thought of and planned by looking at the map by people who would get maximal benefit out of it. Any little benefit that happens at all to the local people at great environmental and societal cost is accidental. But all players spear-headed by the third parties of do-gooder-sounding-people will sell it as for the local people’s benefit.
If so, when local people say no, please go away.
Even the likely share of the Thaksin Dynasty and Than Shwe family over the years, if the plan succeeds, will be in thousands of times of the total crumb falling onto the true owners of the land. And of course for KNU as well.
The success of the first group is dependent on the hard, and in fact honest, work of the third group with inexplicable enthusiasm as we see in these columns.
They are in Burmese proverb, fish oil to fry the fish. Nga gyin se ne nga gyin kyaw.