Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has been working on Burma issues since the early 90’s and it used to
be focused primarily on federal constitution of Burma and ethnic nationalities issues.
- But since Dr. Paul Pasch who is the representative for Malaysia and Burma (he was based in
Malaysia) come in he change the ways of FES and tried to engage with the military regime of
Burma and its cronies and supporters hoping to change them to become more democratic.
- FES supported and funded Myanmar Institute of Security and International Studies (a
Burmese brunch of ASEAN ISIS). But unlike other ISISs in fellow ASEAN countries MISIS is
directly controlled by the Foreign Ministry of junta and doesn’t function as a research and
think tank organization.
- When Dr. Paul Pasch was still the country representative of Myanmar, he made a lot of rude
and irrational comments that were totally against Burma’s democratic struggle. For instance
in 2004, he went to Burma and met Shan democratic leaders including U Khun Htun Oo who
are now serving lengthy prison sentences and tried to persuade them to accept junta’s
National Convention, but they didn’t accept his advice. Just a few days after he went back
from Burma, these leaders were arrested tried arbitrarily and given unusual sentences.
Instead of showing sympathy towards the leaders and deplore the junta for their ruthless
act, he even said that these Shan leaders do deserve such sentences because they were so
stubbornly going against the government. We can see Dr. Paul Pasch’s mentality from this
incident.
- “Even more bizarrely, when monks and others were being killed and arrested in Rangoon,
the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German foundation, organized a Burma tour, in which,
according to The New Light of Myanmar of October 7, “thirteen scholars with two from the
European Union and the European Parliament” took part. The FES delegation visited a
showcase “drug eradication project” in a remote corner of northeastern Burma, where, the
paper said, they were received by “U Phon Kyar Shin,” who, in fact, is Peng Jiasheng, one of
Burma’s most notorious drug lords.” From:
http://www.asiapacificms.com/articles/bringing_generals_to_justice/
- Current Representative to Myanmar form FES is Henning Effner who is also based in
Malaysia.
- FES’s official stand is social democratic and it supports progressive and social democratic
movements and networks in Southeast Asia, but in dealing with Burma, they drops their
principle to support social democratic organizations and instead supports the neo-liberals,
free marketeers, and reactionary group like Myanmar Egress.
- It is because they are simply doing all of their activities for their country (Germany’s) interest
and not because they want to promote a principal, a value or an ideology. Germany’s
interest is to protect Southeast Asian countries and potential market form the hands of
other global hegemonic powers like US and thus the ideology if social democracy becomes
their tool to mobilize anti-American and anti-globalization sentiments in our region. So that
it can wield that soft power to bring the interest to its home country Germany.
- FES position on supporting genuine people who are struggling is as follows;” the status of
FES as a "guest organization" might be jeopardized if some groups' tickets are paid for with
FES funds/ under FES accounts. The possibility of political censure or retaliation is very real;
it has happened before”,” For Singapore, it will be the discretion of the FES Singapore Office
whether they are open to inviting opposition youth groups from Singapore”
- And please check out the following links to learn more about FES’s policy on Burma
Myanmar Egress
- Myanmar Egress take up the social democracy mask as last resort, because other regional
networks and organizations that hold either liberalism or socialism are already associated
with Burmese exile networks.
- E.g. Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) is associated with National Coalition of
the Union of Burma (NCUB), and NLD (Liberated Area), International Union of Socialist Youth
(IUSY) is associated with Democratic Party of New Society (DPNS), International Union of
Students (IUS) is associated with All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), Asian
Student Association (ASA) is associated with All Burma student Democratic Front (ABSDF)
and World Youth Movement for Democracy (WYMD) is associated with Student and Youth
Congress of Burma (SYCB). So the only channel left for them is social democratic networks.
- Myanmar Egress is doing all sectors just to gain control of the respective sectors; politics,
business, NGO works, media and education.
- Myanmar Egress related organizations:
1. Myanmar Youths In Action http://myanmar-youths.com
2. Myanmar Internet Networking Group http://www.myanmaring.asia
3. Myanmar Green Society http://groups.google.com/group/myanmargreensociety
4. The Nargis Action Group http://www.nargisaction.org
5. Myanmar Fisheries Federation
6. Myanmar Shrimps Association
7. Gracious Myanmar Travel Co., Ltd
8. Chindwin College
9. Alpha Computer http://www.alpha.com.mm
10. Myanmar Partners Think-Tank
http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1684
11. Living Color Magazine
12. The Voice Weekly Newspaper
13. Foreign Affairs Journal
Volume XV, Number 174 11th Waning of Tawthalin 1369 ME Sunday, 7 October, 2007
Director of Yangon Division General Administration Department U Hla Soe supplicates matters related to religious affairs to Sayadaws of
Yangon Division Sangha Nayaka Committee (All Ganas). — MNA
NAY PYI TAW, 6 Oct — A ceremony to seek Director of Yangon Division Administration During the disturbances, monks of the mon-
ovada from Sayadaws of Yangon Division Sangha Department U Hla Soe supplicated on religious mat- asteries who did not take part in the disturbances
Nayaka Committee (All Ganas) was held at Yangon ters saying violent disturbances occurred in some faced threats and insulting group throwing bottled
Division Sangha Nayaka Committee (Sudhamma) in townships of Yangon Division due to some mem- water at their monasteries. Troublemakers commit-
Bahan Township, Yangon, yesterday afternoon. bers of the Sangha and laypersons. ted assaults even on eminent monks.
(See page 7)
Leader of Spokes Authoritative Team of the State Peace and INSIDE
1234567890123456789012345678901
Development Council Minister for Information Brig-Gen 1234567890123456789012345678901
1234567890123456789012345678901
Control yourselves with awareness
1234567890123456789012345678901
Kyaw Hsan receives scholars of Friedrich Ebert Foundation I would like to remind you that you will lose
your monkhood like the monk I have presented if
FES scholars tour Shan State (North), Yeywa hydel you keep on doing wrong acts, relying on the
made-up stories manufactured and aired by in-
project in Mandalay Division ternal and external destructive elements and BBC,
VOA, RFA and DVB who you have never seen
NAY PYI TAW, 6 Oct — Scholars of Friedrich businesses in Muse, and Yeywa hydroelectric power
and met, who have never done any good deeds
Ebert Foundation (FES) headed by Dr P Christian generation project in Kyaukse Township in Mandalay
in the interests of the Sasana, and who are hatch-
Hauswedell went on a study tour of development Division on 1 and 2 October.
achievements of Laukkai of Special Region No 1 and The FES scholars together with local and ing plots to destroy the interests of the lay per-
Kaungkha of Special Region No 5 in Shan State foreign journalists arrived in Laukkai in Special region sons who offer four kinds of requisites to you
(North), Muse 105th-mile border trade station, the No 1 in Shan State (North) on 1 October morning. every day.
gateway to the People’s Republic of China and trade (See page 8) PAGE 5 A VILLAGE MONK
Emergence of the State Constitution is the duty of all citizens of Myanmar Naing-Ngan.
E Experts from FES foundation visits Yeywa Hydroelectric power Project in Kyaukse.—MNA
Leader of Spokes Authoritative Team… crops. FES scholars in- Afterwards, FES scholars and the future works. FES scholars inquired the co-
quired about the reason visited the Kaungkha hy- scholars inquired that operation between
(from page 1) techniques, fertilizers and for making peace, their droelectric power plant whether the project was Myanmar and the UN.
They were welcomed by pesticides, he observed. views and attitudes to the and the 100-acre opium- harmful to environment or Minister for Information
national race leaders, dis- Water is scarce in Kokang National Convention, the substitution tea plantation. not. The Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan re-
trict and township level region for domestic use future of the peace groups On 2 October, clarified that feasibility plied that Myanmar as a
departmental officials and and agricultural purposes, and the relations among FES scholars visited the studies were made also for member nation has been
local national people. he said. The international the Kachin peace groups. 105th-mile border trade environmental conserva- cooperating with the UN
Afterwards at the community should recog- National race leader U station in Muse in north- tion before starting the and at present Myanmar
Anti-Narcotic Drugs Mu- nize the achievements in Mahtu Naw explained that ern Shan State. At the project. When the project is fully cooperating with
seum in Laukkai, U Li anti-narcotic drugs activi- armed insurgency started briefing hall there, they is under way, a consultant it; Head of State Senior
Man Kwan on behalf of ties undertaken by the as their region did not de- were briefed matters re- team from Switzerland General Than Shwe re-
Special Region No 1 na- Government and the na- velop and was left isolated. lated to construction was hired to avoid effects ceived UN Secretary Gen-
tional race leader U Phon tional people, he stressed. They attained peace as the works at the 105th-mile to the environment. No eral’s Special Envoy Mr
Kyar Shin briefed regional Later, FES schol- Government gave them a station, border trade and villages were removed by Gambari on 2 October; Mr
development endeavours ars visited the Anti-Nar- chance to join hands with developments of Muse re- the project which was be- Gambari also met with
and accomplishments in cotic Drugs Museum and the Tatmadaw in regional gion by Director-General ing implemented by Spokes Authoritative Team
cultivation of opium sub- viewed round the devel- development endeavours of the Border Trade De- Myanmar technicians of the State Peace and De-
stitution crops. FES schol- opment in Laukkai. They and to participate in the partment U San Pyae. only, he explained. Then, velopment Council, na-
ars inquired the require- proceeded to Kaungkha of National Convention, he Deputy Director-General FES scholars viewed tional race peace groups as
ments in carrying out re- Special Region No 5 in said. The National Con- of the Hydroelectric round the Yeywa hydel well as officials from reli-
gional development ac- Shan State (North). They vention the first step of Power Generation Depart- power project site. gious organizations,
tivities, U Li Man Kwan were welcomed there by the Road Map has now ment U Win Kyi explained On 3 October Myanma Motion Picture
replied that there were re- national race leader U been completed and when matters on Shweli hydro- morning, the FES schol- Asiayon and Myanmar
quirements in transporta- Mahtu Naw, departmen- the remaining steps are electric power project. ars met with State Peace Music Asiayon; Mr
tion for agricultural pro- tal officials and the local completed the elected Later, the FES and Development Coun- Gambari was allowed to
duces. Although the ma- national people. government will emerge, scholars went on excur- cil Spokes Authoritative meet with those he would
jor roads have been built Afterwards, at the he observed. At that time, sion tour to Mongyu in- Team Leader and mem- like to meet; he also got
with the assistance of the briefing hall of Kaungkha, the peace groups will be- spection centre where bers, Deputy Ministers opportunities to witness
State, village-to-village national race leader U come auxiliary forces of loaded trucks are in- and senior officials from development of the coun-
roads are still required to Mahtu Naw explained the Tatmadaw, he men- spected with the use of the Ministry of Home Af- try and mass rallies to ex-
be built to access remote matters on regional devel- tioned. There are alto- X-ray machines; the in- fairs, the Ministry of La- press People’s Desire. The
hilly areas, he mentioned. opment endeavours and gether three Kachin peace spection of vehicles at bour, the Ministry of De- Minister also disclosed that
Similarly, it is required to accomplishments in culti- groups and the relation the export-import check fence, the Ministry of he explained to Mr Gambari
obtain modern cultivation vating opium-substitution among them is fraternal. point and cold storage for Health, the Ministry of not only the current situa-
marine products. Next, Foreign Affairs at the tion but also the stance of
they also visited the Minister’s Office of the the Government on
Shwe Nandaw gateway Ministry of Information Myanmar’s politics. The
in Muse to the People’s in Nay Pyi Taw. Officials Minister also expressed his
Republic of China and concerned from various hope that Mr Gambari
studied business and ministries clarified the would explain about
trade activities. salient points of their Myanmar’s actual situation
The FES scholars works and replied to the when he arrives back to the
proceeded to Yeywa hy- queries made by the FES UN.
droelectric power plant scholars. In the afternoon, FES scholars then
project site in Kyaukse Minister for Information inquired about the possi-
Township of Mandalay Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan re- bilities of the groups which
Division. They were wel- ceived the FES scholars did not participated in the
comed by Deputy Minis- and clarified the current National Convention to
ter for Electric Power-1 U political situation of enter election to be held
Myo Myint and officials. Myanmar. according to the seven-step
At the briefing hall there, (The Minister’s Road Map. Minister Brig-
Scholars from FES foundation paying a visit to Drug Elimination Deputy Minister U Myo clarifications are re- Gen Kyaw Hsan replied that
Myint explained the work ported separately). the Constitution draft and
Museum in Laukkai. — MNA progress so far achieved Next, the FES (See page 9)
Leader of Spokes Authoritative Team… tional Convention in the year 2007, one can see that Government is not hindering the democracy reform
the Government has been expediting the implemen- but bringing about the discipline-flourishing democ-
(from page 8) tation of the seven-step Road Map, he said. However, racy, he stressed. He continued to say that Fundamen-
related laws and bylaws will be consisted of stipulations antigovernment groups do not see the completion of tal Principles and detailed basic principles were
for formation of political parties. In accordance with the the National Convention as a progress and assuming adopted at the National Convention by people’s del-
stipulations, antigovernment groups can be able to form that it rendered them lesser opportunities to grab egates from eight delegate groups unanimously. Dur-
political parties, he said. NLD is still sticking to wrongful power, they accelerated their efforts to jeopardize the ing the previous trips as well as in this trip, the FES
policies of Defiance of All Orders, Confrontation, Utter National Convention, he noted. Thus, their efforts scholars have toured the regions of peace groups and
Devastation, Imposing Four Kinds of Sanctions and were deterred by security unit members and the known the views and stances of these groups upon the
Relying on External Elements, he noted. Only when the people collectively, he said. The Minister continued National Convention, the Minister said.
NLD give up these policies, cooperation can be made, to say that the Government has sound evidences The Third Workshop on ASEAN-EU relation was
he pointed out. One cannot plead for dialogue on one about the collaborated attempts of antigovernment held on 4 and 5 October at Kumudra Hotel in Nay Pyi
hand while putting pressures on the other, the minister groups within and without the country to jeopardize Taw attended by FES scholars as well as researchers
remarked. Now the National Convention which is the the National Convention. The destructive elements and scholars of Myanmar Institute of Strategic and
first step of the seven-step Road Map has been com- had also plotted to blast bombs at the National Con- International Studies.
pleted, and continued efforts will thus be made for vention. Such destructive acts could delay the Road The FES Foundation included 13 scholars with
implementing the remaining steps, the Minister ob- Map implementation process, he noted. He also two from the European Union and the European Parlia-
served. stressed that international community as well as ment. The two scholars from the EU and the Eurpean
The FES scholars then inquired about the forma- antigovernment groups should render cooperative Parliament were unable to attend the workshop though
tion of a committee for drafting the Constitution. The hand to the Government’s implementation of the they were in Yangon because they were recalled due to
Minister clarified that the drafting committee will be seven-step Road Map. The Government would like to the foreign media’s exaggerated broadcasts on the
formed with adequate number of legal experts and see the antigovernment groups to enter elections in demonstrations that took place in Myanmar.
intellectuals. By seeing the completion of the Na- the future, the Minister mentioned. The Tatmadaw MNA
Information
Tourist Attraction
Myanmar Media
E-mail : mailto: webmaster@myanmar.com
Pro-election Think Tank Feels the Pressure
By W AI MOE Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Burma's election will attract an estimated 77 percent turnout, according to the Burmese “think tank” Myanmar Egress.
The group, which describes itself as a “third force” in Burmese politics, announced its estimate at meetings in the Thai capital,
Bangkok, with diplomats and non-governmental organization officials from Europe.
At one meeting in Bangkok last week, participants were told that a survey undertaken by Myanmar Egress after the 2008
constitutional referendum found that 85 percent of respondents agreed with the constitution—very close to the government's claim
that 93.8 percent of voters had cast “yes” ballots.
Although Myanmar Egress claims political independence, it supports the planned election, advocating it at meetings such as those it
held in Bangkok and with donor organizations from Europe. A pro-election Thailand partner, the Vahu Development Institute took
part in the meetings.
At the meeting in Bangkok, said a source, “they made several presentations to diplomats and foreign NGOs and expert groups
regarding the election.”
“Basically they asked money from European countries. Interesting is that they claimed at the meeting that key political parties for
the coming election give them a mandate to seek funding aboard.”
The press were not invited to the meeting and Aung Naing Oo of the Vahu Development Institute declined to describe the
proceedings when contacted by The Irrawaddy. When contacted by The Irrawaddy, Myanmar Egress denied the meeting had
even taken place.
Main speakers at the Bangkok meeting were businessman Hla Maung Shwe, vice president of the Myanmar Egress, and its general
secretary Nay Win Maung, who is owner of Living Color magazine and The Voice Weekly journal.
Hla Maung Shwe, a key member of the Myanmar Shrimps Association, was a member of the opposition National League for
Democracy in the 1980s and 1990s. He was arrested in the early 1990s and spent three years in prison.
Hla Maung Shwe's younger brother is Brig-Gen Hla Myint Shwe, commandant of the Defense Services Institute of Nursing and
Paramedical Science, according to sources.
Sources said the Bangkok meeting was shown video footage of three Burmese political parties—the National Democratic Force
(NDF), the Democratic Party (Myanmar), led by veteran politician Thu Wai, and the Union Democratic Party (UDP).
“They came to our office and interviewed us on the difficulties we are facing,” said Khin Maung Swe, a NDF leader. “We sent
messages to the international community through them as they requested, as we think the media is biased. That is all. We did not
give any mandate to them for any purpose,”
Phyo Min Thein, a leader of the UDP, also denied his party had given any mandate to Myanmar Egress. “A few weeks ago, they
came to take a video about our perspective on the election and the difficulties,” he said.
A third denial of any mandate issued to Myanmar Egress came from Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein of the Democratic Party (Myanmar).
“We are not dependent on others, including for funding,” she said.
The Myanmar Egress is popular with some young people who want to study abroad as they can build capacity at the group’s
training sessions in Rangoon, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
According to a report in The Christian Science Monitor in June, Tin Maung Thann of Myanmar Egress said training young people
in areas such as rural development, and securing the best and brightest to study overseas, is one way to speed change.
Nevertheless, most young intellectuals are critical of Myanmar Egress, accusing it of pro-government bias.
“The Myanmar Egress or the “Third Force” people say they are not for the government or the opposition. But what they say and
write are quite biased, advocating the junta’s constitution and election,” said a young Rangoon researcher who spoke on condition of
anonymity. “However, they are quite clever when they meet diplomats and foreigners, speaking like pro-democracy activists.”
Myanmar Egress executives are the product of the country's elite.
Nay Win Maung is the son of a military officer and a friend of former spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt’s son, Ye Naing Win. Helped by
good connections with the ruling generals, Nay Win Maung and Ye Naing Win established Living Color magazine in the late 1990s.
Nay Win Maung was also an executive member of the Kanbawza Bank run by Aung Ko Win, one of the junta’s associates.
Executive members of Myanmar Egress benefit from opportunities from the military rulers in the export and import business,
including diesel import licenses.
It has been alleged that Nay Win Maung and his colleagues have reported to government agencies such as the Military Affairs
Security and the Special Branch of the Burma police.
“The West knows what the 'Third Force' is really up to. But they—western policy circles of academics, diplomats, NGOs, donor
agencies, etcetera— want to expand their 'own' space together with an organization like Egress,” said a Burmese political analyst in
Rangoon.
According to observers in Rangoon, contacted by The Irrawaddy, Myanmar Egress also has created opportunities for foreigners to
work with the organization and conduct research. Other groups that try to organize similar classes or activities are immediately
harassed or banned by the authorities.
Sources said the Myanmar Egress is now engaged in educating voters, teaching them the SPDC constitution and encouraging
participation in the election.
Official limitations are still placed on Myanmar Egress, however. Training sessions held outside the organization's premises have
been banned in the past by the authorities.
“The space Myanmar Egress has enjoyed is not a benchmark for our civil liberties,” one source said. “Now, some foreigners got
distracted by this illusion of 'space,' a pure rhetoric of the Third Force which came into our political vocabulary only a few years
back.”
An article in The Voice by Nay Win Maung in favor of the constitution and the election was even reportedly suppressed and
the journal ordered to close for two weeks because one minister was upset by its moral tone.
“The article was totally pro- constitution, pro-election and pro-roadmap of the junta,” said a Rangoon editor. “But journalists here
learned that one minister read the article and got angry because the article adopted a morally high ground tone.”
The editor, who works for a private publication, commented: “The 'third force” people said they know how to create political space
under military rules. But the space even for apologists of the system is limited.”
Last month, a European Union delegation canceled its planned trip to Burma after the Burmese regime refused to allow it to meet
detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
However, several informed EU sources suggested that some of the community's member states are still interested in visiting
Naypyidaw for talks with Burmese officials even if the request to meet Suu Kyi is not granted.
The Irrawaddy has also learned that several EU officials who belong to the “engagement camp” are also pushing the policy of
greater engagement with the regime.
Piero Fassino, the EU’s special envoy on Burma, is clearly in favor of visiting the country again. Recent requests by Fassino to visit
Burma have been rejected by the junta, however, while missions he was able to undertake in the past failed miserably.
Fassino is known to have little knowledge of Burma and its political situation. So why would he want to revisit the country?
Engaging the regime in Burma is fine as long as the regime has the political will and engagement produces a tangible outcome. But
the EU's engagement policy has produced nothing positive so far.
Burma campaign groups previously expressed concern that the EU envoy on Burma has on occasion appeared to publicly and
privately undermine the “very common position” which he is mandated to advocate with Asian countries.
Indeed, the EU common policy is to maintain or increase sanctions against the regime and support political dialogue and national
reconciliation between the opposition and the regime. It can also increase pressure if necessary, including imposing an arms
embargo on Burma.
Yet the EU has still failed to employ its full economic and political pressure to produce a positive outcome in military-ruled Burma.
The complexity of the EU cannot be denied—but, alarmingly, some member states don’t stick to the community's common policy,
resulting in tension and confusion within the grouping.
The trouble is that the EU’s Burma policy sends mixed signals to Burmese democratic forces inside and outside Burma.
The Irrawaddy has learned that detained democracy leader Suu Kyi herself and senior members of the now-banned NLD have
recently expressed concern over the EU’s policy.
It is believed that the UK, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands want to maintain the EU’s common
policy but some other member countries, especially Germany and Spain, are pushing more of a pro-engagement line if not openly
supporting the regime’s sham election and some controversial and shady figures belonging to a “third force” inside Burma.
Unlike European Parliament members, bureaucrats at the European Commission (EC) have supported a dialogue with the junta
and increased its cooperation with some shady allies of the junta and the “third force” while cutting funding for refugees on the
Thai-Burmese border.
Cooperation with a “third force” and some shady figures supporting the regime’s sham election and undermining the main
opposition parties and activists and civil society groups inside and outside Burma is questionable.
What is interesting is that some EC officials have covertly supported the “third force” inside the country in the creation of a civil
society. Do EC bureaucrats really believe that these half-baked “third force” people, who are merely spokesmen of the regime, can
create a civil society in Burma?
No wonder Burmese inside and outside the country see EC bureaucrats as part of the problem in Burma’s complicated political
landscape. They appear to support a controversial “third force” inside Burma and the regime’s sham election instead of increasing
targeted sanctions against the regime and its cronies or supporting the UN human rights envoy’s commission of inquiry on crimes
against humanity.
In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma stated that human rights abuses in Burma are very serious and that the UN
should consider establishing a commission of inquiry into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. So far, the EU is silent
on this issue, as if the regime has committed no crimes at all.
Sadly, on the Thai-Burmese border, the EC’s decision to cut funding for relief work on the Thai-Burmese border sent a shock wave
through the area as the EU is one of the major donors there.
Refugee agencies on the Thai-Burmese border said they are concerned that a cut in funds could hurt medical programs for
Burmese refugees.
According to London-based Burma campaign UK: “The European Commission has consistently refused to fund such aid, and has
failed to provide an adequate explanation as to why, instead making vague statements about accountability and monitoring. This
argument is not credible, as the British government and other EU members with strict monitoring requirements are satisfied with
monitoring of cross-border aid.”
Burma Campaign UK also said: “There are around 100,000 Internally Displaced People in Eastern Burma who are in need of cross-
border aid, and around 2.5 million people in Eastern Burma for whom cross-border assistance is the only or easiest way to deliver
aid. Cross-border aid is also needed in other states in Burma.”
On May 20, the European Parliament called on the EC “to reverse cuts in funding for refugees on the Thailand-Burma border and
immediately start funding cross-border aid, especially medical assistance.”
However, after Thailand's foreign minister said in June that the Bangkok government hoped to send Burmese refugees home after
the elections a EU official told The Irrawaddy: “The EU does not expect that the elections in Myanmar [Burma] in 2010 will create
conditions conducive to an immediate return of the predominantly Karen to eastern Burma, particularly since a ceasefire between
SPDC [the Burmese government] and the Karen leadership seems unlikely to materialize and armed conflict persists to this day.”
EU observers believe that internal confusion and rifts within the community have also compounded its Burma position and its very
reputation.
The Irrawaddy has recently learned that some EC officials and bureaucrats take personal positions that go against not only EU
common policy but also democratic principles.
They are said to be highly critical of Suu Kyi and her party's decision not to contest the coming election. Moreover, these EC
officials and bureaucrats also see civil society groups, campaigners on the border and ethnic campaign movements as
troublemakers.
If this is true, the integrity and dignity of the EU and its democratic principles have to be questioned. We assume these officials and
bureaucrats were born in a democratic society. The irony is that they have expressed a dislike of civil society and campaign groups
working for a better Burma.
The regime keeps over 2,000 political prisoners in gulags, soldiers continue to commit human rights abuses in the ethnic regions
and refugees and displaced persons are stranded along the border. A climate of fear pervades the country.
However, the EU is sending conflicting signals to Burma and the pro-democracy movement—a shameful state of affairs, which has
contributed to
deep unhappiness among Burmese inside and outside Burma when discussing EU policy.
In a recent letter to EU foreign ministers, European-based Burma lobby groups said they were “deeply concerned that European
Commission staff openly and publicly advocate against the agreed Common Position of EU member states and against the positions
taken by the European Parliament in its resolutions. We believe that it is unacceptable that Commission officials who have no
democratic mandate undermine the official position of democratically accountable member states and the European Parliament."
The EU and EC should now officially clarify the issues outlined above—and
Burmese democratic forces, campaign groups and exiled news groups should investigate more thoroughly EU and EC Burma
policies, in order to make those organizations more accountable in this critical time for Burma.
Susan George shared these reflections in the run-up to the Asia-Europe People's Forum. Find out more on how to get involved
[2]
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references
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AEPF civil society recommendations [5]
AEPF overview [6]
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