Bangkok Post

Myanmar’s military will return no more than 6% of the land it confiscated during two decades of junta rule, media reports said on Wednesday.

Responding to growing criticism about land grabs by the army during 1988-2010, Defence Minister Lieutenant General Wai Lwin told parliament on Tuesday that the army was ready to return only 18,300 acres (7,412 hectares).

The minister acknowledged that the army had confiscated more than 297,000 acres throughout the country under the junta, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

Confiscations were legalised by the 1963 Land Acquisition Act, which nationalised land across the country for economic projects, industrial zones and army bases or to expand urban areas.

Britain will offer Burma military training and official assistance to tackle its internal conflicts during a groundbreaking official visit by President Thein Sein to meet David Cameron that was due to begin on Sunday night.

 Hugo Swire, the Foreign Office minister of state, told The Daily Telegraph that Britain was determined to take a leading role in helping Burma to develop a more democratic system and resolve ethnic tensions.

In particular the Foreign Office has sought to use its historic experience in the former colony to defuse tensions between the military-backed government and Rohingya Muslims.

 Clashes between the Rohingya and Buddhist radicals with close links to the government have left hundreds dead over the past year, while more than 140,000 people remain displaced across Rakhine state.

“We don’t underestimate how much needs to be done in Burma but it is critical we are engaged in helping the Burmese undertake changes,” Mr Swire said. “The right way to proceed is to have the Burmese here and to send our officials over there to help them through their difficulties.”

By Human Rights Watch Media Release

PHUKET: Britain’s Prime Minster David Cameron should urge visiting Burmese President Thein Sein to bring those responsible for atrocities against Burma’s Muslims to justice, release all political prisoners, and ensure that new legislation meets international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today.

Thein Sein is visiting the United Kingdom from July 14 to 16.

Despite important changes in Burma over the past two years, many serious human rights problems remain, Human Rights Watch said.

Pledges made by Thein Sein, including those to US President Barack Obama in November 2012, to improve human rights remain partially or completely unfulfilled, including granting full humanitarian access to ethnic conflict areas, releasing all remaining political prisoners, amending abusive laws, and allowing the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish offices in the country.

”Prime Minister Cameron should not miss an important opportunity to press Burma’s president on justice for crimes against humanity committed against the country’s Muslims, the release of remaining political prisoners, or an end to repressive laws,” said David Mepham, UK director at Human Rights Watch.

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

When history is twisted, humanity loses. No country epitomizes this notion to the hilt better than Buddhist-majority Myanmar where history is twisted not only to deny human rights but also to justify genocidal campaigns against religious minorities.
There is no historical record of Buddha ever visiting any part of Arakan and Burma, and yet the popular Mon and Myanmar oral tradition, including the chronicle Sasanavamsa, and the belief of the Arakanese Rakhines suggest that the Buddha visited their king and left behind an image of himself for them to worship. The Sasanavamsa mentions several visits of the Buddha to Myanmar and one other important event: the arrival of the hair relics in Ukkala (Yangon) soon after the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Modern historiography, of course, dismisses these stories as fabrications made out of national pride, as the Myanmar had not even arrived in the region at the time of the Buddha.

Myanmar is a country of many nations: many races and ethnicities – Shan, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Rohingya, Rakhine, Mon, Karen, Chinese, Indians – and many religions, e.g., Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Hinduism. To insist that Myanmar is the country of the majority Bamar (Burman) – who practice Theravada Buddhism – at the exclusion of the minority religious communities would be a deliberate attempt that ignores and denies the history of the ‘other’ peoples to this landmass.

The government of Myanmar has signed a peace deal with the rebels of the ethnic Wa guerrilla group, according to state media.

The Kyemon Daily newspaper said on Saturday that the agreement was reached on Friday between the rebels and a government peace delegation that travelled to the remote Wa region in Shan state, which borders China.

The five-point agreement includes a clause calling for regular meetings between the two sides whenever military issues arise.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) also made a commitment not to secede from Myanmar, also known as Burma, in the document.

In addition, Myanmar’s military and the UWSA agreed to return to positions they occupied before a recent standoff.

The Wa, who have a fighting force numbering as many as 30,000, reached a peace agreement with the central government in 1989, but recently tensions escalated after the Myanmar military surrounded Wa territory.

By Lisa Misol, Special to CNN

Editor’s note: Lisa Misol is a senior researcher on business and human rights with Human Rights Watch in New York. The views expressed are her own.

Emerging from diplomatic isolation and Western economic sanctions, Myanmar wants to be the “it” destination for foreign investors.

Last month, foreign business leaders flocked to the capital, Naypyidaw, for the World Economic Forum on East Asia, a regional version of the powerhouse gathering. Major global brands have been enticed by Myanmar’s largely untapped potential, and the momentum is still picking up: General Electric, the first American company to sign a deal after U.S. sanctions were lifted last July, formally launched its Myanmar office in late May. On June 4, Coca-Cola opened its first bottling plant in the country in 60 years, on the heels of Carlsberg and Heineken. Then, on June 27, Myanmar’s government awarded highly anticipated licenses to extend cell phone and Internet service to telecommunications firms from Norway and Qatar.

More investors are lining up. In the petroleum sector, dozens of companies from around the world reportedly bid on 30 sought-after offshore oil and natural gas fields last month. A shortlist has not been announced, but prominent American, Asian, and European oil firms are seen as likely contenders. At least 20 more fields are to be offered next.