• DIESEL USEFUL BUT ALSO DANGEROUS!
• NOBEL AFTER 21 YEARS!
• FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION LEADING TO HATE SPEECHES!
• BUDDHISTS, WHERE ARE YOUR METTA AND KARUNA?
• ANCIENT SHAN KINGDOM?

Cartoon
Tips to myself: Wish I could remember to respond that way!

Think Piece
Less than half of children who attend primary school in Myanmar complete the full five grades. That means this generation of children in Myanmar may become the first in the country’s history with a lower level of education than their parents.

Bob Carr, Australian Foreign Minister, Irrawaddy, 11 June 2012

Chongqing in Sichuan province is believed to have been the seat of the Kingdom of Ba, inhabited by Tai people about 4 millennia ago, according to Orathai Pholdi, director of Kasetsart University’s Office of Agricultural Museum and Culture.

Chongqing: The Kingdom of Ba, Pichaya Svasti, Bangkok Post, 12 June 2012

The clashes in themselves aren’t enough to unwind President Thein Sein’s reform drive “but it does show how things can go wrong.”

Sean Turnell, Professor, Australia’s Macquarie University, Wall Street Journal, 14 June 2012

In Rakhine State, Rakhines are second class residents and Rohingyas are third class residents

A visitor from Burma, 15 June 2012

Transformation economic change is possible.

• The most important is to clear the thicket of rules, regulations and restrictions from the country’s military past.
• Such an approach must include slimming down Burma’s military (in order to increase) spending on health and education
• End controls on farmers that tells them what, how and at what price to produce
• Eliminate costly export and import licensing
• Remove restrictions on banks
• Simplify and reduce procedures for registering a business
• Make transparent earnings of state-owned enterprises that have exclusive control of natural gas exports

Sean Turnell, associate professor in economics, Macquerie University, Sydney, Wall Street Journal, 14 June 2012

The Rohingyas are of South Asian descent, although they have lived in the areas for centuries. A Burmese military government stripped them and other South Asian and Chinese minorities of their citizenship in 1982, leaving them stateless. That means they are unable to travel within the country, attend school, own property, are even register births and marriages.

Wall Street Journal, 14 July 2012

The World
12 June 2012

World Health Organization (WHO) says exhaust from diesel engines can cause lung cancer. (Reuters)

16 June 2012

China puts it first woman Liu Yang, 33, into orbit. (Reuters)

International Relations
11 June 2012
Australian FM Bob Carr, who visited Burma last week, announced 4 year donation of $ 80 million for education, reaching out to remote and underdeveloped regions through Buddhist and community schools. (Irrawaddy)

12 June 2012
At a meeting with President Thein Sein in Naypyitaw, the Peace Donor Support Group (PDSG), representing governments of Norway, UK and Australia, as well as the European Union, the UN and the World Bank, offers a total of nearly $ 500 million to support peace building and other projects.
The President’s office website says, the bulk will come from UK ($ 300 million) and EU ($ 189 million). Others are Australia ($ 5 million) and UN ($ 5 million). (Irrawaddy)

12 June 2012

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell introduces a resolution that will renew sanctions for another year but will also accommodate Obama’s waiver of restrictions on investment and financial services announced last month. (AP)

13 June 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi leaves Burma on her first trip to Europe since 1988. Her itinerary includes Switzerland, Norway, Britain, France and Ireland. (AFP)

13 June 2012
UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser to Burma Vijay Nambiar arrives in Arakan State to visit Maungdaw, where the riots kicked off. (DVB)

15 June 2012

Speaking at ILO meeting in Geneva, Aung San Suu Kyi says foreign investment must help – not hurt – Burma’s goal of moving toward full democracy. (AP)

16 June 2012

The Lady receives her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. (AFP)

Thai-Burma Relations
14 June 2012
Saha Group, Thailand’s largest consumer products conglomerate, will set up two trading firms in Burma this year, says Boonchai Chokwatana:

• Saha Pattanapibul for consumer goods
• ICC for fashion and cosmetics products

(BP)

Politics/ Inside Burma
11 June 2012

Max Myanmar Group, owned by Zaw Zaw, that had agreed in January to acquire one-quarter of Dawei project, has pulled out, according to a source close to the group. (Mizzima)

12 June 2012
Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma reports that its English and Burmese sites had been attacked by a hacker group called Blink, thought to have originated from Singapore and Russia. “In order to cleanse our religious land, sometimes we have to bloody our hands,” read a message on Blink’s website. (AFP)

13 June 2012
Calling on the ILO to lift resolutions against the country, including 2 recommendations adopted in 1990 and 2000 asking governments cease any relations with Burma that might aid continuation of forced labor and other practices, labor minister Aung Kyi says Burma has finalized a comprehensive plan of action to end forced labor before a 2015 deadline. (RFA)

14 June 2012
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Aung San Suu Kyi says fear of immigration lies at the heart of the violence in Arakan. Precise laws on citizenship and uncorrupted border vigilance needed to address the problem. (DVB)

Ethnic Affairs
10 June 2012
President Thein Sein declares state of emergency in Rakhine State to prevent “danger of them spreading to other parts and being overwhelmed by subversive influences.” (Irrawaddy)

10 June 2012
About 600 ethnic Rakhine gathers at Rangoon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda to demand Rohingya be “removed” from Burma. (AFP)

9-10 June 2012
Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) concludes a 17 point agreement with Burmese delegation in Loikaw. 3 points shelved for the next meeting are: new KNPP bases, withdrawal of Burma Army from KNPP-controlled areas and suspension of dam construction on the Salween. (Irrawaddy)

12 June 2012
Chris Lewa, head of Arakan Project, says tension has been growing for months and those opposed to the Rohingya have been taking the benefit of Burma’s increasingly free media to make “hate speeches” against the community. (The Independent UK)

12 June 2012
Regime says 21 people have died and 1,662 houses and a mosque had been destroyed during unrest. (VOA)

15 June 2012
There are a total of 37 refugee camps housing 31,884 victims in Arakan State so far. (Mizzima)

16 June 2012
New Light reports 50 people have died with 54 injured between 28 May-14 June in Rakhine state. Almost 32,000 people from both sides being housed in scores of camp across the state. (AFP)

Shans/ Shan State
14 June 2012
Shan State Army (SSA) South delegation meeting elders, CBO representatives and parties to discuss peace monitoring and political issues in Taunggyi. (SHAN)

Human Rights
12 June 2012
State-run papers report 4,100 people who lost homes have taken refuge in Buddhist monasteries, schools and police headquarters. Homes continue to burn in 3-4 districts of Rakhine State. (AP)

12 June 2012

Rangoon Region Chief Minister Myint Swe warns journalists they could be charged under existing laws if they publish inflammatory reports on the ongoing violence in Arakan State. (Irrawaddy)

12 June 2012
Bangladeshi authorities turn away three boats carrying 1,000 Rohingya fleeing violence in Arakan State. (AP)

12 June 2012
Snapshot news journal’s operations suspended by Myo Myint Maung, director of Printing and Publishing Enterprise, for publishing a photograph of the remains of Thida Htwe whose rape and murder instigated sectarian violence in Arakan last week. (DVB)

15 June 2012
3 UN officials, all Myanmar nationals providing rice, detained by police in Buthidaung for unknown reasons. (Reuters)

Drugs
14 June 2012

Druglords No. 8 and 9 in parliament:

• Wilson Moe – National Assembly
• Zhao Dechang – Shan State Assembly

(SHAN)

War
9 June 2012
9 explosions in Muse. Some damage but no casualties reported. (SHAN)