• PRESIDENT YET TO SIGN FDI LAW!
• SHAN LEADER FLIES TO WASHINGTON!
• ANY GRIEVANCES? USE PRESIDENT’S ONLINE POSTBOX!
• ETHNIC REPRESENTATIVES HOLD CONFERENCE!
• ROHINGYAS MAY APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP!

Cartoon
Tips for the President: Something we should seriously consider!

Think Piece
No women, No peace.

Saw Mra Raza Lin, Arakan Liberation Party’s top female leader, 14 September 2012

Criminalize drug trafficking, not drug use.

Former Senator Jon Ungphakorn and Commissioner of Global Commission on Drug Policy Michael Kazatchkine, Bangkok Post, 15 September 2012

The World
10 September 2012
Kosovo’s independence recognized by the West. But Serbia says the question of Kosovo is not resolved until it becomes part of Serbia again. (Agencies)

11 September 2012
International Action Council (IAC), a group of 40 prominent former government leaders and heads of state, in the report titled “The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue,” says the worsening water shortage could politically harm the already unstable regions of the earth. (AFA)

12 September 2012

The launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will be moved from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, says Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan. (Bangkok Post)

14 September 2012
The week filled with violence that rage across the Muslim world by the movie Innocence of Muslims, made in South California by obscure producers and actors, on YouTube in the days before 11 September. (New York Times)

International Relations
10 September 2012
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan foreign policy think tank, recommends President Obama give equal weight to upcoming visits by Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein. (Irrawaddy)

11 September 2012
India-Myanmar-Thailand Joint Task Force meets to take stock of progress on the plan to build a highway from Moreh to Mae Sot through Burma. They agree “to make all efforts to establish the trilateral connectivity by 2016”. (Business Standard/Irrawaddy)

12 September 2012
Investors, meeting in Naypyitaw, call on the president to pass the foreign direct investment (FDI) law passed by the Parliament on 7 September back to the Parliament to clarify the new rules and make it easier for foreign businesses to invest. Many are worried laws restricting foreign ownership to 50% in certain politically sensitive industries are too vague. (Wall Street Journal)

12 September 2012

President Thein Sein is set to leave for the US to attend the UN General Assembly on 24 September. He will be there for three days, according to an official. (AFP)

12 September 2012
Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, meets President Thein Sein and the 2 house speakers. Wu arrives from Iran, and will travel next to Sri Lanka and Fuji. (Xinhua)

Thai-Burma Relations
10 September 2012

Thai investors should seize the opportunity to invest in Burma within the next 3 years before the Asean Economic Community is formed in 2015, according to Thai ambassador Pisanu Suvanajata. He caution that 3 years from now, Burma might not need to depend so heavily on Thailand and Asean as it did in the past. (Bangkok Post)

13 September 2012
Human Rights Watch report says Thai refugee policies are not grounded in law and cause refugees to be exploited and unnecessarily detained and deported. (Press Release)

Politics/ Inside Burma
7 September 2012
President Thein Sein opens online postbox, President Office, allowing ordinary citizens to vent their opinions. (Irrawaddy)

9 September 2012
Information minister Aung Kyi, meeting journalists in Rangoon, invites them to help draft a modern press law which meets international standards. (Irrawaddy)

9 September 2012

Hla Kyaw Zaw, daughter of 92 year old Gen Kyaw Zaw, one of the two survivors of the legendary Thirty Comrades, invited by Minister for President’s Office U Aung Min to return from exile. The other survivor is Bo Ye Htut. (AP)

11 September 2012
Verdict at the Union Election Commission (UEC) says it found no irregularities with regard to her during the by-election campaign, says MP Phyu Phyu Thin. MP Khin Maung Thein, also from NLD, won a similar case last week against his USDP rival. (Irrawaddy)

Ethnic Affairs
7 September 2012
29 regional and state ministers for ethnic affairs meet Vice President Sai Mawk Kham. He re-affirms the government’s position on ethnic languages, that they should be taught in schools but outside school hours. (SHAN)

8 September 2012
Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) chairman Jusuf Kalla signs a memorandum of cooperation with his Burmese counterpart Tha Hla Shwe to oversee a humanitarian effort in Rakhine state. (Jakarta Post)

11 September 2012
88 Generation Students delegation led by Mya Aye and KNPP delegation meet in Loikaw. The two sides agree to cooperate to create a “genuine Union”. (Mizzima)

12 September 2012
The president has invited the KIO to hold its next round of peace talks in Naypyitaw, says chief negotiator Aung Min. It is difficult to agree a safe venue in Kachin State, and the government’s top representative would not go to Ruili for talks. The KIO have yet to respond. Aung Min rejects allegations that the army is refusing to take orders from the president. (Irrawaddy)

12 September 2012
The Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) urges armed groups to suspend negotiations with the government if the Burmese army continues to attack the Kachin Independence Army. (DVB)

12 September 2012
Karen Community Based Organizations (KCBO) outlines a number of preconditions which should be in place prior to any repatriation of Karen refugees:

• Every refugee must have a free choice whether or not to return
• Nationwide ceasefire
• Landmine clearance
• Withdrawal of the Burma Army
• Abolishment of all oppressive laws
• Framework to resolve land issues, among others.

14 September 2012
More than 130 ethnic representatives hold conference to lay down alternative peace plan and roadmap. (SHAN)

Shans/ Shan State
14 September 2012

Hkun Htun Oo, leader of the 1990 elections winning Shan party, leaves for Washington at invitation of National Endowment for Democracy. (SHAN)

16 September 2012
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) says Hkun Htun Oo, who has arrived in the United States, has accepted the President’s invitation to join his delegation to the UN General Assembly. (Press Release)

Economy/ Business
10 September 2012
Coca Cola says it has shipped drinks to customers in Burma, its first delivery in more than 60 years. (Reuters)

Human Rights
7 September 2012
The 29 person committee formed by Naypyitaw to probe the causes of communal clashes in Arakan is on an 8-day visit to Arakan State. (Irrawaddy)

8 September 2012

1,000 textile workers protest in Rangoon to demand increased pay. (Gulf Times)

9 September 2012
Flower News Journal reports 20 private schools out of 67 that have applied have been approved since the Private School Law was passed late last year. (Mizzima)

11 September 2012
9 out of 12 female farmers, arrested for protesting against a copper mine in Monywa in Sagaing Region, beaten by the police before being released. They had refused to leave without 3 other fellow protesters. (DVB)

11 September 2012
Students from Mandalay join 1,500 people to demand release of 3 female activists. (Irrawaddy)

12 September 2012
88 Generation Students meet Sagaing Region Chief Minister Tha Aye to negotiate between authorities and anti-copper mine protesters. (Irrawaddy)

12 September 2012
Myanmar National Human Rights Commission granted member of Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) at a meeting held in Chiangmai. (Bangkok Post)

13 September 2012
Forced labor in Rohingya areas, ceased for two months, returned in August with reconstruction of two model villages, says Arakan Project. Laborers include many children, who receive a little more than half a kilo of rice for their work at the end of the day. (Reuters)

13 September 2012

Immigration minister Khin Yi says Bengalis have the right to apply for citizenship. The requirements are their grandparents and parents must have lived here and died here and the applicant was born here, can speak Burmese language, among others. (Mizzima)

Drugs
8 September 2012
Thai authorities are introducing patrols along the Sai, from Sai Lom market to Ko Sai community in Maesai, up to the Ruak in Chiang Saen on the Golden Triangle, according to the Marine Police Division. (Bangkok Post)

War
11 September 2012
Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization, reports fighting is still going on between the Karen National Liberation Army and the Burma Army. (Karen News)

11 September 2012
Rebel sources claim government artillery battalions 364 and 370 have been firing 105 mm howitzers against KIA bases around its Laiza headquarters. (Irrawaddy)