• WASHINGTON SAYS NO TO STATUS, YES TO JUNTA VISITORS!
• IF JIHAD COMES TO BURMA, NO MORE PANGLONG TALKS?
• GOVT SMOKES PEACEPIPE, ARMY STILL ON WAR PATH!
• THIRD ANTI-MUSLIM RAMPAGE!
• DID CHINA SUPPLY GUNSHIPS TO WA?

Cartoon
Tips for the President: Show me a leader who doesn’t have an enemy!


Think Piece
Freedom within Limits
Praises:

• Abolishing pre-publication censorship
• Releasing journalists from prison
• Allowing private daily newspapers
• Enabling to cover political topics
• No longer in the bottom league with Vietnam and Laos

Surprises:

• Draft Printing and Publishing Act submitted without local media input
• Same laws that were used in the past to imprison and prosecute journalists still on the books
• Vague terms like not allowing to write against the constitution and presenting news that could incite violence
• Yet to achieve even the middle ground of a Malaysia or Singapore

Shawn Crispin, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to the Irrawaddy, 2 May 2013

(Minister) Khin Yi was emphatic when he said Thein Sein’s government will never alter “a single word, sentence or paragraph of this blood-based citizenship law” as it was written by lawmakers who allegedly had Burma’s national security and national interest in mind. The notions of ‘racial purity’ and ‘blood’ as a basis for citizenship belong to 1930s Nazi Germany and we know where these ideas led to –a series of progroms.

Dr Maung Zarni, Open letter to ICG, 20 April 2013

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The World
1 May 2013
Muslims around the world are split on how sharia, traditional Islamic law, should be applied, says Pew Research Center survey among 2.2 billion Muslims:
Violence is rejected by by a global median of 73%. (AFP/Bangkok Post)

3 May 2013
Commission on International Religious Freedoms, US bipartisan advisory board, recommends US State Department blacklist 15 governments responsible for systematic violations of religious freedom, including 8 as Countries of Particular Concern:
(UPI)

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International Relations
22 April 2013

Ambassador Yang Houlan meets Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

26 April 2013

Kurt Campbell, former top US diplomat, arrives in Rangoon to lobby for contract to overhaul Rangoon airport. He is welcomed by Vice President Nyan Tun. (New Light)

30 April 2013
Aung San Suu Kyi, attending 7th Ministerial Conference of Community of Democracies (COD) in Mongolian capital, U lan Batur, gives lecture. (Mizzima)

2 May 2013

President Obama files notice indicating that current national emergency status declared on 20 May 1997 is to continue for another year. Meanwhile Department of state declares previous ban on government and military rulers is no longer necessary. (SHAN)

3 May 2013

Indonesian Islamic terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir warns of launching jihad against Burma’s government. (Irrawaddy)

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Thai-Burma Relations
27 April 2013
Burmese representatives at Thai-Burmese Township Border Committee (TBC) say Naypyitaw has prohibited Thais from entering Koh Lam, Koh Khan and Koh Khinok. Burma claims these islands are inside its territory based on a map drawn by Britain in 1939. (Bangkok Post)

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Politics/ Inside Burma
1 May 2013
10 more private dailies granted temporary license. (New Light)

2 May 2013
President Thein Sein resigns as chairman of ruling party, reports USDP organ Union Daily. Shwe Mann is set to replace him, announced the party’s Youth Congress at its conclusion yesterday. (DVB)

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Ethnic Affairs
27 April 2013
Karen BGF and DKBA fight in Myaing Gyi Ngu, a day after a DKBA soldier opened fire on a motorboat from BGF 1014 when it refused to stop at the group’s checkpoint on the Moei. (DVB)

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Shans/ Shan State
1 May 2013
Tamoenye Chanthar company and China’s Sunshine KAIDI will build 4 liquefied natural gas plants in Shan State North in 4 years. (Weekly Eleven) Tamoenye is owned by MP Myint Lwin, also a militia leader – Editor

3 May 2013
Three off-duty Palaung fighters murdered by LIB 504 on 20 March and 2 local women raped by LIB 502 on 19-20 April, says Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) information officer. (Mizzima)

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Human Rights
29 April 2013
Government report on Rohingya-Arakanese violence recommends upholding of 1982 Citizenship law and beefing up security presence in Arakan State. It also recommends implementing family planning programs among “Bengalis”. (Irrawaddy)

30 April 2013
2 mosques and a number of house and business in Okkan, 100 km north west of Rangoon, attacked and destroyed after a Muslim woman on a bicycle allegedly knocked down an 11 year old Buddhist novice. (Irrawaddy)

1 May 2013
18 people arrested after 77 homes “vandalizd” and set ablaze by mobs in Okkan, says deputy information minister Ye Htut. (DVB) At least one person killed and 9 injured. (AFP)

2 May 2013
Internal Displaced Monitoring Center says a further 166,000 people were displaced in Burma in 2012, bringing the total number of IDPs to at least 450,000. (Irrawaddy)

2 May 2013

Social activist Nay Myo Zin sentenced to 3 months in prison on defamation of police officers by Pantanaw court. He has chosen to accept the prison sentence instead of a 20,000 kyat (($ 22) fine. (Irrawaddy)

2 May 2013
Security forces in Mandalay and civil society groups stop instigation of unrest by anti-Muslim groups. Three suspects detained. (Irrawaddy)

3 May 2013

Debbie Stothard, Altsean Burma coordinator, calls for amendment of 1982 citizenship law to reflect basic principles of human rights. (IRIN)

3 May 2013
Burma is 151st on the World Press Freedom Index a drop of 18 places from its position in last year’s list. (Mizzima)

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Environment
2 May 2013
Heavy rain in Kalaw kills at least 11 and injures 7 gold miners. 4 are also missing as part of the mine collapses. (AP)

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War
29 April 2013
Burma Army troops seize some 40 guns from the DKBA in Myaing Gyi Ngu. DKBA has demanded the return of the weapons. (Irrawaddy)

29 April 2013
China delivered several Mi 17 ‘Hip’ helicopters armed with TY90 air to air missiles to the Wa in late February and early March. They reached Wa administered area by flying across the Mekong from Laos. One ethnic source says there were 5 of them, but government source reports two. (Jane’s Intelligence)

30 April 2013
Chinese embassy in Rangoon dismisses the allegations. UWSA spokesman Aung Myint also denies receiving such hardware. (DVB) Bertil Linter confirms the accuracy of the Jane’s report (Irrawaddy)

1 May 2013
Burma Army has deployed 15 infantry battalions to seize 4 strategic mountain bases west of the Salween. (SSA statement)

2 May 2013

Defense analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw claims to have obtained leaked military document that outlines the military’s top priority as the elimination of the ethnic armed groups. Military sources from Naypyitaw also report Min Aung Hlaing has a plan to wipe out all armed groups in order to control all of Burma’s frontier territories. (Irrawaddy)

2 May 2013
Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) issued ultimatum by Burma Army today to leave the area slated for the Hatgyi dam project by 12:00 on 4 May or face renewed clashes. Hatgyi is a Thai-backed $ 2.6 billion hydropower project. (DVB)

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