By Liza Yosephine

Only 99 Rohingya refugee seekers remain in East Aceh’s refugee camp out of the 409 that arrived on shore last year, an official has confirmed.

"We have received reports that the immigrants flee by deceiving the guards on ground. There are some who leave at night by crossing the river behind the refugee camp," Aceh legislative councilor Iskandar Usman Al-Farlaky said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com

Iskandar visited the refugee camp in Bayeun, in the district of Rantau Selamat. He suspected that the refugee seekers had run away to Malaysia. He expressed his worry they may fall victim to human trafficking.

Iskandar called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization Migration (IOM) to decide the final destination country for the Rohingya refugee seekers.

"There needs to be certainty," he said, adding that he did not meet any representatives of the UNHCR or IOM during his visit to the camp. He stressed the urgency to ensure a third country for the refugee seekers.

Indonesia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention. But the country has voluntary resettled and repatriated boat people from Myanmar and other countries. Indonesia is considered a transit country for refugees en route to destination countries such as Australia.

Dr Maung Zarni comments on Kofi Annan Commission and Myanmar Genocide of Rohingya, Al Jazeera English News Hour, 7 September 2016

By AFP

September 6, 2016

VIENTIANE: Myanmar's newly installed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet President Barack Obama in the United States next week, a senior White House official said on Tuesday (Sep 6).

Plans for a visit had been announced in July but no date had been given.

"She'll be visiting Washington and meeting with the president on Sep 15," deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in Laos, where Obama is on a two day visit.

During a speech earlier in the day, Obama said he looked forward to welcoming Suu Kyi "as we stand with the people of Myanmar in their journey towards pluralism and peace".

The invitation reinforces Suu Kyi's primacy on the international stage as the real head of a government which she is technically barred from leading.

Despite winning a landslide in last November's elections, which ended decades of military rule, the Nobel laureate is banned by a military-era constitution from becoming president.

Instead she has taken the role of foreign minister and created a new position for herself as state counsellor. She has also appointed a longtime friend and ally, Htin Kyaw, to be a proxy president.

Obama and Suu Kyi first met in 2012 shortly after the veteran dissident was released from house arrest, where she had spent much of the last two decades under military rule. He also met Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar in 2014, when he criticised the ban on her assuming the presidency.

Myanmar's peaceful transition from military to civilian rule has been hailed in a world where such transitions seem rare. But the military remains enormously influential.

Officers are still guaranteed a quarter of legislative seats, giving them a veto on constitutional change, while the military retains control of the crucial home, border and defence ministries.

It also controls huge business conglomerates, with some key army-linked figures still under US sanctions. There have been suggestions Washington may lift some of those sanctions during Suu Kyi's visit, something which rights groups have balked at.

"US sanctions are focused on the Burmese generals and their cronies in order to encourage democratic reforms," said John Sifton, from Human Rights Watch. "They shouldn't be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible."

Rhodes said Washington was determined to improve Myanmar's prospects by helping it trade with the world. "Some of that involves sanctions relief and we've taken steps to relax sanctions and to authorise greater activity and it's something we continue to look at," he said.

By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone 

Reuters
September 6, 2016

SITTWE, MYANMAR -- Hundreds in Myanmar rallied on Tuesday against an advisory commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to find solutions to the conflict between the country's Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, which has cast a pall over democratic reforms.

The plight of the Rohingya has raised questions about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's commitment to human rights and represents a politically sensitive issue for her National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory last year.

Local residents and Buddhist monks joined the protest overseen by dozens of police, despite rain in the northwestern Rakhine State, challenging what they perceived as "foreigners' biased intervention" from the nine-member panel.

Jeers and chants denouncing the panel intensified upon the arrival of Annan's plane. The crowd soon followed the convoy into town, where Annan delivered a speech and met with members of both the Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine communities during his two-day visit to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state.

"We are here to help provide ideas and advice," Annan told local officials and leaders from the Buddhist Rakhine community over the sound of demonstrators outside a government building.

"We are also aware of resistance, fears and doubts that have prevailed again and again," he said.

Myanmar's lower house of parliament was on Tuesday discussing whether foreigners should be excluded from the commission, but the chances of such an outcome are low.

"I don't want to see foreigners involved in this commission. I want to see a commission involving people of the Rakhine nationality," Kyaw Zin Wai, a 52-year-old carpenter told Reuters, adding that the two ethnic Rakhine commission members were not "representative" of people in the state.

The commission, made up of six Myanmar citizens and three foreigners, is on a initial two-day visit to meet local communities. It will visit camps for stateless Muslims on Wednesday, where people live in cramped and poorly maintained huts. It hopes to present its findings in the next few months.

More than 100 people were killed and some neighborhoods were razed to the ground as local ethnic Rakhine Buddhists clashed with Rohingya Muslims across the state in 2012.

Some 125,000 people are still displaced, the vast majority of them Rohingya, who are prevented from moving freely, have their access to basic services restricted and are mostly denied citizenship in Myanmar. Many have fled by sea in rickety boats.

Suu Kyi, who is barred from the presidency by the junta-drafted constitution but leads the country as state counselor and foreign minister, formed the commission last month to find solutions to the issue.

She plans to visit the United States this month, where she is thought to be seeking further sanctions relief for her country but is likely to face questions over her efforts to improve conditions for the Rohingya.

The protest was called by some leaders in the state's powerful Arakan National Party (ANP), which has criticized the commission, insisting that foreigners cannot understand the history of the area.

"This country has its own sovereignty, so we will not accept foreign interference in local affairs," said Aung Than Wai, secretary of ANP's executive committee.

Annan told fellow commissioners and Suu Kyi at the panel's first meeting in Yangon on Monday that he planned to approach the region's long-running conflict with "rigorous impartiality" and would listen to all sides of the conflict.

"Dialogue will be the order of the day," Annan said.

By Moe Myint
The Irrawaddy

September 6, 2016

RANGOON – Burma’s State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that she believes the Arakan State Advisory Commission—chaired by former UN general secretary Kofi Annan—will bring credible advice in confronting tension in Arakan State.

On Monday, the State Counselor and the nine-member commission conducted their initial meeting at National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC) in Rangoon. Media were allowed access to the opening speeches of the session.

“All members of the commission will help us to find a way forward,” she said. “We believe that you will give us fair and valuable advice. I believe that it will be based on goodwill to all our people as well as people all over the world. And based on your advice, we will try the best for our country.”

The problems in Arakan State, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi explained, not only have relevance for Burma but also the global community. Since anti-Muslim violence broke out in the region in 2012, more than 140,000 people have been displaced in the state and tensions have grown between the Buddhist Arakanese and the Muslim Rohingya.

Communal violence is not a recent phenomenon, she continued, adding that the problem has been growing for “many years” and a historical investigation would contribute to better understanding of the conflict.

She also refuted assertions from political parties, such as the Arakan National Party and the Union Solidarity and Development Party, that the formation of the commission—which includes three international members—would interfere with Burma’s sovereignty on “internal affairs.”

“No one can interfere with our sovereignty—sovereignty is owned by all people, not only by the government,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said. “Our problem has been on the international stage for many years and we want to find out why. We want to find out why our problem has become of great importance to humans all over the world. We must try to evaluate the situation.”

The commission’s purpose, she stated, is to investigate the root causes of conflict in Arakan State and to develop a reconciliation process between the two religious communities in the region.

Kofi Annan delivered a short statement to the press at the event in which he said that the advisory commission would act rigorously to find ways to address the situation in Arakan State, and work closely with the people of the region, including engaging with community and religious leaders, local administration and members of the State Counselor’s Office.

Although the challenges facing Arakan State are “complex and deep-rooted,” Mr. Annan said he remains “confident that we can assist the people of Rakhine to chart a common path for a peaceful and prosperous future.”

During the conference, both sides avoided using the term “Rohingya,” the name with which many Muslims in the region ethnically identify; it is rejected by many Arakanese Buddhists and members of the Burmese public, who describe the group as “Bengali,” implying they are interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh. The “Rohingya” are not listed among Burma’s 135 officially recognized ethnic groups, contributing to widespread statelessness among the population.

The commission itself does not have any Rohingya members—it includes two Muslim representatives, two Arakanese Buddhists and two government representatives, in addition to the three members of the international community.

On Tuesday, Mr. Annan will travel to Arakan State, reportedly to introduce himself to locals as the chair of the advisory commission and spend two days in the region. Around 300 Arakanese Buddhist nationalists have already received permission from the local authorities to hold a peaceful protest at the airport in the state capital of Sittwe, according to police official Aye Khin Maung.

“Locals will protest for two days at the airport, [corresponding with] the arrival and departure times of Mr. Annan,” he said.

By Kofi Annan Foundation

September 5, 2016

Yangon: In the presence of the State Counselor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Commission’s chair and chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation, Kofi Annan, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State holds its inaugural session in Yangon today.

On Tuesday 6 September, the Commission will travel to Sittwe, Rakhine State, to meet with the authorities and representatives of various communities. The Commission’s chair will meet the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Htin Kyaw and the Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on the morning of Thursday 8 September. 

“We hope that the Commission will help us heal wounds,” Aung San Suu Kyi said. “We want this to be a country that ensures rights for all its people. We look to the Commission to point a way forward. Let me add that there should be no concerns surrounding Myanmar’s sovereignty which firmly remains in the hands of the people.” 

“We look forward to listening and engaging with a wide range of interlocutors in Rakhine state as well as at the national level in order to develop proposals that take full account of the concerns and hopes of the people of the State,” Kofi Annan said. 

The Advisory Commission will submit and discuss its findings and recommendations to the Government of Myanmar through the State Counselor and thereafter publish its report, in the second half of 2017. 

About the commission: 

The Advisory Commission’s mandate is to provide recommendations to the Government of Myanmar on measures for finding lasting solutions to the complex and delicate issues in the Rakhine State, in accordance with established international standards. 

The Commission’s members are: 

• Kofi Annan (Chair), Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation, Secretary General of the United Nations (1997 – 2006), Nobel Peace Laureate (2001) 

• U Win Mra, Chair of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission 

• Dr Thar Hla Shwe, President of the Myanmar Red Cross Society 

• Ghassan Salamé, Lebanese Minister of Culture (2000-2003), UN Special Advisor to Secretary General (2003-2006) 

• Laetitia van den Assum, Special Advisor to the UNAIDS (2005-2006), the Netherlands’ Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2012-2015) 

• U Aye Lwin, Core Member and Founder of Religions for Peace, Myanmar 

• Dr Mya Thida, President of Obstetrical and Gynecological Society of Myanmar Medical Association, Member of the Myanmar Academy of Medical Science 

• U Khin Maung Lay, Member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission 

• Daw Saw Khin Tint, Chairperson (Rakhine Literature and Culture Association, Yangon) and Vice-Chairperson (Rakhine Women Association) 

The Commission will establish a small secretariat in Yangon. More information will be available shortly with the launch of the Commission’s website.

By AFP

September 5, 2016

YANGON: Buddhist hardliners threatened today to stage protests against a visit by former UN chief Kofi Annan to Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine state, where tens of thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims languish in displacement camps. 

Aung San Suu Kyi has asked Annan to head an advisory commission to recommend how her government can narrow bitter sectarian divides in the western state.

Rakhine has suffered deadly anti-Muslim violence since 2012 and the Rohingya question remains incendiary in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Their plight has also seen Suu Kyi's reputation as a rights defender tarnished.

Myanmar nationalists insist the million-strong group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and refuse to use the word "Rohingya", instead labelling them "Bengalis".

Annan, who is due to arrive in the state capital Sittwe on Tuesday, told reporters he intends to be impartial in his peace and reconciliation bid.

But Rakhine activists object to the visit.

"Rakhine affairs are local affairs. We acknowledge Kofi Annan and his reputation but we do not accept his interference in our affairs," Aung Htay, one of the leaders of the protest group, said.

"We will protest tomorrow at Sittwe airport. We respect Kofi Annan personally but we do not think he knows Rakhine history."

The envoy is expected to visit Rohingya camps and meet Rakhine community groups and officials.

But the region's largest political group, the Arakan National Party, has already ruled out meeting the former UN secretary-general.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and face severe restrictions on their movements across Rakhine, as well as curbs in access to health care and other basic services.

More than 100,000 of the Muslim group live in squalid displacement camps. 

Their treatment is seen as a black spot on Myanmar's democratic progress since Suu Kyi's elected government took power in April.

Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader, said Monday Annan's nine-member commission could help "heal the wounds" of sectarian conflict.

"We cannot ignore problems.... ignoring problems will simply allow them to get worse and worse," she told reporters.

But for the first few months of her tenure in office Suu Kyi tried to avoid inflaming Buddhist nationalist sentiment.

In June she ordered officials to refer to the group only as "Muslims of Rakhine State".

But even that order sparked mass protests in Rakhine, with local Buddhists demanding the government call them "Bengalis".

Rakhine protesters have previously targeted international aid agencies in the state as well as the UN over their perceived support for the Rohingya.

By Nehginpao Kipgen

The Diplomat
September 5, 2016

A new advisory commission, led by Annan, will seek a lasting solution to tensions in Rakhine state.

In an attempt to find a sustainable solution to the complicated issues between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is visiting Myanmar this week.

Annan is head of the nine member State Advisory Commission formed by the Myanmar government on August 24. Annan, who was the UN secretary general from 1997-2001, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations in 2001.

The other international members of the commission are Ghassan Salamé, a scholar from Lebanon and former advisor to Kofi Annan, and Laetitia van den Assum, a diplomat from the Netherlands and a former advisor to the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS. The other six members are Myanmar nationals, with two Rakhine Buddhist members, two Muslim members, and two government representatives.

The Commission has been tasked with finding conflict-prevention measures, ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, establishing basic infrastructure, and promoting long-term development plans in the restive state. And the commission has been given a year to conduct research and submit a report on its findings.

The formation of the commission was necessitated by a number of factors, but most importantly due to the protracted and lingering tensions between the Buddhists and Muslims (mostly Rohingyas) in the wake of the 2012 violence in Rakhine state that killed more than 100 people and has resulted in some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims living in designated camps where their movements are restricted.

Importance of Timing

The timing of Annan’s visit is important for the Myanmar government as it happens at a time when the attention of the international community, including the media, is relatively focused on the Southeast Asian nation.

First, Annan’s visit comes right after the highly vaunted 21st century Panglong conference where the Myanmar government is seeking to secure peace and reconciliation with the country’s ethnic minorities. Several dignitaries, including Ban Ki-moon, the incumbent UN secretary general and successor of Annan himself, attended the conference.

Second, the commission’s first visit also comes days before Suu Kyi’s planned visit to the United States, where she will meet President Barack Obama and also address the 71st session of the UN General Assembly.

By making some progress in the peace process with the country’s ethnic armed groups, as well as by taking certain initiatives with regard to the Rohingya issue, Suu Kyi would have a strong case to present during her meeting with Obama and also while addressing the UN General Assembly. Suu Kyi is expected to make efforts to convince the international community about her NLD government’s positive initiatives and urge patience and continued support for its success.

Challenges Ahead

Despite some positive developments, there are certain challenges. The first is domestic opposition to the commission’s composition. Since its formation on August 24, two political parties — the Arakan National Party and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) — have called for its cancellation or the removal of the international members on the grounds that they could not be expected to understand the local context or that their involvement would amount to interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs.

Whether these political parties will gradually accept and recognize the role of the commission or continue with their opposition remains to be seen. The acceptance or non-acceptance of the commission may also depend on how its work progresses and the strategy it pursues.

The issue of identity or nomenclature will perhaps be the greatest challenge of the commission. Although the Muslims in Rakhine call themselves Rohingya, the Buddhists in Rakhine and many across Myanmar call them illegal Bengali immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

In an attempt to pacify both sides, the NLD government uses neither of the two sensitive terms — Rohingya and Bengali — and instead refers to them as the Muslims of Rakhine. The previous USDP government used the term Bengali, and at one point President Thein Sein suggested that they should be resettled to a third country under the initiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a proposal which was rejected outright by the UN.

During his recent visit to Myanmar, Ban Ki-moon chose to use the controversial term “Rohingya” in his speech. While the Muslims in Rakhine want to be identified as “Rohingya,” given the strong opposition from the ultra or nationalist Buddhists to the term’s usage, it is still unclear as to what name the commission would use to address these people or when submitting its report to the Myanmar government.

Another major challenge will be the question of citizenship for the Rohingyas. As of now, the NLD government’s position on the issue is not much different from its predecessor. The government wants to address this sensitive question in accordance with the 1982 citizenship law, which would have made many of the Rohingyas ineligible for Myanmar citizenship.

According to the 1982 citizenship law, there are three categories of citizenship: citizen, associate citizen, and naturalized citizen. Citizens are descendants of residents who lived in Burma prior to 1823 or were born to parents who were both citizens. Associate citizens are those who acquired citizenship through the 1948 Union Citizenship Act. Naturalized citizens are people who lived in Burma before January 4, 1948 and applied for citizenship after 1982.

Because of the continued allegation of the Muslims in Rakhine being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, whether the advisory commission would talk to the Dhaka government in the course of its mission remains to be seen. A compounding complicated issue is that Bangladesh, which already hosts about 300,000 Rohingyas, has rejected the Rohingyas as its citizens.

New Thinking

The NLD government’s appointment of the commission is not the first of its kind. In February 2014, President Thein Sein appointed a 10-member commission to probe the death of a policeman, which had sparked what was described as revenge killings of at least 40 Rohingya Muslims by Buddhist mobs in western Rakhine state.

Prior to the appointment of the commission, Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin also announced a separate inquiry by three government-appointed groups into the circumstances that led to the violence in Rakhine state. The Central Committee for Rakhine State Peace, Stability, and Development Implementation; the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission; and the Rakhine Conflict Investigation Commission conducted separate investigations into the killings.

Neither the commission nor the separate investigations brought a lasting solution to the simmering tensions between the Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state. Among others, the initiatives partly failed because the government had lacked substantive plans to address the core issues of identity and citizenship of the Rohingyas.

In light of these failures of the commission and investigations led by people of Myanmar and the continued pressure from the international community, the participation of foreign experts may help bring some new thinking and fresh ideas, which may pave the way for a possible solution to the protracted problem.

In any case, the task of Kofi Annan-led commission is to conduct research and give its recommendation to the Myanmar government. The commission has no power to enforce those recommendations. Since there are Myanmar nationals as well as foreign nationals in the commission, it may engender a neutral idea that could be mutually acceptable.

However, regardless of the appointment of the commission and its anticipated recommendation, reconciliation will have a chance to succeed when Rohingyas and Rakhines are willing to compromise on their differences by respecting each other’s identity and culture. More importantly, the Myanmar government and the general public must be ready to embrace the Rohingyas if any genuine reconciliation is to be achieved.

Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen is Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University. His writings (books and articles) have been widely published in over 30 countries in five continents: Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America.

By Saudi Gazette Editorial

September 5, 2016

Malaysia is considering opening up its job market for thousands of refugees who have no legal right to work. There are some 150,700 refugees and asylum seekers in in that Southeast Asian country. About 90 percent of them are from Myanmar, with Rohingya (53,140) topping the list.

As Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention, these refugees do not have formal status in the country. The Malaysia government does not extend protection, job opportunities or education to these illegal migrants. Lack of a formal status often leaves refugees vulnerable to exploitation by employers and law enforcement officials. So they felt relieved when the government announced last moth the creation of a task force to handle refugee registration issues. The government-led task force would also look into the possibility of opening up the job market for refugees and allowing their children formal education.

Also last week, UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon called on Myanmar authorities to give the right to citizenship to Rohingya. “People who have been living for generations in this country should enjoy the same legal status and citizenship as everyone else,” he said. What he said is important. More important is where he said it. Ban made this appeal on Tuesday at a press conference in the capital Naypyitaw alongside Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Of greater significance is the fact that the UN chief used the word “Rohingya”, ignoring the sensitivity of Myanmar authorities who want the group labeled “Bengalis” so they can cast them as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Unfortunately, Suu Kyi who leads Myanmar with the title of state counselor and is also her country’s foreign minister, is on the same page with the majority Buddhists on this issue. In fact, she advised the incoming US ambassador to Myanmar to refrain from using the term “Rohingya”. She says her government will not recognize the name, singing the same tune as its military predecessors.

This also means her government is following the same policies as the military government toward Rohingya though the UN believes the entrenched discrimination this community suffers is so deep that it may amount to crimes against humanity.

Rohingya comprise nearly two percent of the country’s predominantly Buddhist population but are excluded from the official list of ethnic minorities and remain without citizenship — denied freedom of movement, access to education and the ownership of property.

Conflict over land and resources in the western state of Rakhine, where most Rohingya live in squalid camps, often lead to unrest. More than 100,000 people had to flee their homes in Rakhine state in 2012, following deadly violence driven largely by Buddhist mobs.Thousands have fled to other Southeast Asian countries on rickety boats in search of better lives, only to drown or fall victim to human traffickers. International attention grew last May when a boatload of Rohingya was found adrift in the Andaman Sea en route to Malaysia.

But Suu Kyi who fought and suffered long imprisonment for human rights says little or nothing about the abuses faced by the Rohingya. There was a case for reticence when she was fighting the military authorities and wanted to enlist the support of the Buddhist majority in the elections in which her National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory. Now that she is in power, there is no reason why she should continue the same apartheid policies unless she actually believes in them.

The West has rejoiced at the election of a new government headed, in effect, by Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate. It’s up to countries like US and Britain to exert all the pressure they can on Suu Kyi’s government over this issue in the same way they applied pressure on the military junta to release the NLD leader and allow the Myanmar people to choose their leaders through a free and fair election.

By Simon Lewis

Reuters
Septemberr 5, 2016

Yangon -- Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Monday oversaw the first meeting of a panel tasked with bringing peace to a region where violence between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims has cast a pall over the country's democratic transition.

The plight of the Rohingya has raised questions about Suu Kyi's commitment to human rights and represents a politically sensitive issue for her National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory last year.

The commission, whose aim is to stop human rights abuses in the northwestern state of Rakhine, was chaired by Annan.

"This is an issue that we have failed to meet squarely and fairly, and to which we have not been able to find the right solution," Suu Kyi said at the meeting in the commercial capital, Yangon.

"We hope that this commission will help us to find solutions to the problem."

More than 100 people were killed in violence in Rakhine in 2012 and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted. Thousands have fled persecution and poverty by boat.

The Rohingya are considered by many in Myanmar to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and most do not have citizenship.

Suu Kyi, who is constitutionally barred from being president but leads the government as state counselor and foreign minister, last month announced the nine-member commission, made up of six Myanmar citizens and three foreigners, to advise her government on the Rohingya issue.

Suu Kyi plans this month to visit the United States, where she is thought to be seeking further sanctions relief for her country but is likely to face questions over her efforts to improve conditions for the Rohingya. 

The panel's members were set to travel to the state capital of Sittwe, where Annan will deliver a speech on Tuesday, and commissioners are expected to meet with members of both the Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine communities.

Annan said the panel would come up proposals to the issue over the coming months.

"I can assure you, and the people of Rakhine, that the advisory commission will deploy every effort with rigorous impartiality to find and propose ways to address these challenges," he said.

The largest political party in Rakhine State, the Arakan National Party (ANP), has criticized the commission, insisting that foreigners cannot understand the history of the area, raising the prospect of tensions or protests during the visit, expected to last two days.

Some members of the ANP - formed by hardline Rakhine Buddhists - will participate in a protest against the commission on Tuesday.

By Motokazu Matsui

Nikkei Asian Review

September 5, 2016

YANGON -- Myanmar's new government led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, which was formed at the end of March, is unsympathetic toward the Rohingya people, a persecuted Muslim ethnic minority. Suu Kyi, who also serves as foreign minister, was reluctant to intervene in the Rohingya issue when she was an opposition leader for fear of angering the Buddhist majority. Since she became the de facto government leader, she has yielded to Buddhists' pressure and has even refused to use the term Rohingya. She is facing growing criticism from the international community for appearing to avoid responsibility.

In late April, a boat carrying a full load of Muslim refugees capsized off the coast of Rakhine, a western state of Myanmar, resulting in more than 20 deaths. When the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar expressed condolences for the tragedy of the Rohingya in a statement, angered Buddhists staged protest demonstrations in Yangon and Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State.

A great majority of the Myanmar people regard Muslims in Rakhine State as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are critical of them calling themselves Rohingya, which originally means Muslims who settled in Myanmar during the British colonial period. It offended them that the U.S. Embassy used the term "Rohingya" in the statement. The demonstrators also called on the new government to use the term Bengalis, which means Bangladeshis, to refer to the people who identify themselves as Rohingya.

Since the time she was a pro-democracy opposition leader, Suu Kyi has consistently kept her distance from religious issues. In the general election last November, she made no mention of the Rohingya issue and did not express her opinions about the government's religious policy. Now that she is in the position of leading the government, she has become much more cautious about the issue.

Soon after the demonstrations took place, Suu Kyi asked the U.S. Embassy to refrain from using the term Rohingya, which could aggravate religious antagonism. In a meeting with resident representatives in Myanmar of international organizations, including the World Bank, she reportedly asked them to avoid exaggerating the Rohingya issue, saying the religious antagonism in Rakhine State is one of the many problems Myanmar has.

Aung San Suu Kyi's stance has disappointed the international community. The U.S. has criticized the Myanmar government's policy on the Rohingya since the days of former President Thein Sein's administration. On May 22, during his visit to Myanmar, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Suu Kyi again to improve the Rohingya's human rights situation. Suu Kyi set up a special committee in June to secure peace and stability in Rakhine State, becoming its chairperson, but has not accepted the U.S. request to grant citizenship to the Rohingya.

In this year's "Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report," released on June 22, the U.S. downgraded Myanmar to Tier 3, the lowest grade. Myanmar had been rated Tier 3 until 2010 in the annual human trafficking report, but it was upgraded a notch to Tier 2 Watch List in 2011 and stayed on the list as it underwent democratization. The first downgrading in five years can be seen as the U.S.'s "punishment" for the new government.

The United Nations also pointed out in a report on Myanmar's human rights problems released on June 20 that violence against Rohingya was increasing in the country. Yanghee Lee, a special U.N. rapporteur, visited Myanmar around the same time and requested the new government to have a third party investigate the Rohingya's human rights situation. A Rohingya man who has lived in Thailand for over 25 years said he had expected before the start of the new government that the situation would be improved, but that he was disappointed that nothing had changed.

On July 21, the religious composition of Myanmar's population based on a national census conducted in 2014 was published. The population ratio of domestic Muslims was 4.3%, a modest rise from 3.9% in the previous census in 1983. Before the data was released, some analysts estimated that the percentage of Muslim population would reach a double digit, and there were voices of concern that the publication of the survey results might intensify the religious hostility.

In the country, a nationalist Buddhist organization that calls for the exclusion of Muslims remains influential. In Rakhine State, the Arakan National Party, an ethnic political party that became the third-largest group in the national legislature through the latest general election, pushes forward its anti-Muslim principle and tries to prevent the government from helping the Rohingya. Suu Kyi remains in a predicament, pressured by both the ANP and the international community.

In Rakhine State, as a result of massive clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012, more than 120,000 Muslims remain isolated in refugee camps. It is difficult to expect that the change of government will improve their situation.

By AFP & DPA

September 3, 2016

A summit designed to help end Myanmar's long-running civil war has ended. Aung San Suu Kyi expressed optimism about achieving a long-lasting peace, though she emphasized there's still work needed to be done.

The last day of the peace conference drew to a close one day earlier than expected on Saturday with no concrete resolution, though Suu Kyi insisted it was only the first step toward ending insurgencies that have divided the nation for years.

Myanmar has been embroiled in an ongoing civil war since 1948, when once-independent ethnic minorities suddenly found themselves under Burmese control following the country's independence from Great Britain.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize-winner who became the country's de facto leader after speaking out against the ruling junta, has made a peace agreement between the military and ethnic rebels one of her major priorities.

The UN-backed summit, which began on Wednesday and gave more than a dozen rebel groups the opportunity to come to the table and make their voices heard, was not without its achievements. Among the participants, for example, were rebel groups that had not signed a ceasefire agreement with the former government last year.

More meetings ahead

The summit also faced its share of obstacles. Three rebel militaries refused to participate, and one of the biggest groups, the United Wa State Army, stormed out on the second day after it was only granted observer status. The government insists it was an administrative problem.

"To achieve peace is very difficult," Suu Kyi told the conference. "This is the first meeting. After this, there will be more meetings. And there are many things we have to do during the time in between."

Despite the leader's optimism, many rebel groups remain skeptical of her leadership, and some observers believe a truly sustained peace will be difficult to achieve.

Among the challenges Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) faces is the fact that the military still retains influence in the government post-junta. In order to settle on a federal arrangement that satisfies all the disparate rebel groups, Suu Kyi will need the support from the army.

Challenges ahead

Geographic hurdles are another factor. The ethnic Burmese reside mostly in the center and coastal regions of the country, while many of the ethnic minorities live in areas containing valuable natural resources like wood, jade and ruby. Many of these groups - not necessarily on good terms with each other - have been fiercely defending their access to these resources.

Experts have expressed skepticism that a deal was within reach, partly due to the rebels' inherent distrust of the military. "The ethnic groups know precisely that Suu Kyi is speaking up front, but that the military is standing behind her," academic Marco Bünte told DW earlier this week.

Nonetheless, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the meeting "historic" and, like many international leaders, has expressed optimism that Suu Kyi could lead the way toward peace.

The next peace conference is slated to take place in March.

By Sai Latt

The Irrawaddy

September 3, 2016

A few days before the start of this week’s 21st Century Panglong peace conference, the State Counselor’s Office announced the formation of an advisory commission on Arakan state, to be chaired by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. In late May this year, President U Htin Kyaw formed the Central Committee for the Implementation of Peace and Development in Arakan State. It has 27 members, all of whom are government officials, and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the chair.

The creation of these bodies, and the holding of the Panglong conference, indicates that peace is high on the government’s agenda.

For some time now, two of the most important elements in the current political landscape have been seen as distinct problems: the peace process involving the government and ethnic armed groups, and the violent and racist ultra-nationalist campaign against the Rohingya, and Muslims in general, by the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, better known by its Burmese language acronym Ma Ba Tha. Very few people working on the peace process take the nationalist campaign seriously, and vice versa.

Yet there are clear connections between the two, in terms of how the nationalist movement can undermine the peace process. For a start, lessons can be learned by looking at how Ma Ba Tha’s populist campaign against Rohingyas/Muslims turned democratic forces from “state enemies” into “public enemies,” and from the “people’s friends” to the “nation’s traitors.”

Democratic forces: from ‘state enemies’ to ‘public enemies’

One of the prime victims of the nationalist movement is the cohort of democratic forces (however problematic and racist some may have been) that have dissented from the junta since 1988. These forces include the (once) exiled media, the international community, human rights activists and monks, as well as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her loyal dissident groups.

Past regimes consistently accused them of trying to break up the Union. State propaganda called overseas and once-exiled media—including the BBC, VOA, RFA, DVB, The Irrawaddy and Mizzima—“killer media, liars and troublemakers.” State media described the international community as neocolonialists who were manipulating opposition groups in order to control the country. Human rights groups were accused of destabilizing Burma, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi described as a threat to sovereignty and culture.

But twenty-five years of such state propaganda did not work. People always supported the anti-junta forces and saw them as saviors. People looked up to them as agents of change and as friends of the people.

However, after the Arakan State riots broke out in 2012, people started believing nationalist rhetoric—that all these forces were betraying the nation by supporting the Rohingya. As the Rohingya issue was increasingly framed as a threat to sovereignty, people started seeing the democratic forces too as threatening sovereignty, religion and culture.

For instance, various media organizations were accused of taking money from the international Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in exchange for producing pro-Rohingya news. Some cartoonists portrayed them as dogs fed by the Rohingya. The Democratic Voice of Burma, whose radio and TV output people have relied on for decades, was called the Democratic Voice of Bengali. Human rights activists were accused of exchanging sovereignty, and race-and-religion, for dangerous foreign ideas. Articles were written condemning “human rights” as infringing sovereignty. Public protests against international and local nongovernmental organizations were organized. Senior UN official Tomás Ojea Quintana’s convoy was attacked. UN envoy Yanghee Lee was called a “whore.” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was criticized and insulted in ways previously unimaginable.

Within a few months, groups and individuals long known for challenging the regime were being framed as the “people’s enemies.” Members of the public started saying things about these groups that those in power had been unable to get them to say for more than two decades. Ironically, this was achieved not by the traditional state propaganda machine, but by a “people’s movement” led by monks.

This points to the need to see the anti-Rohingya/Muslim campaign as something rather more than just a distraction from the “real issues,” as some describe it. In fact, the campaign became a populist political instrument whose direct opposition to Rohingya/Muslims eventually, and ironically, weakened public support, trust and confidence in the democratic forces that had been trying to weaken the oppressors.

This raises questions around whether the Rohingya/Muslims are indeed the ultimate targets of the nationalist campaign. It may be asked if, (i) the nationalist campaign has been strategically orchestrated in unknown bunkers; (ii) those in power have just turned the violence of an unfolding nationalist campaign to their own advantage; or (iii) the outcomes have been uncalculated and merely the result of coincidence.

Whether the outcomes were orchestrated or coincidental, it is certain that the forces of democratization have been discredited and transformed into “public enemies” in sudden and shocking ways.

Moving targets

The obvious target being one thing and the result something else is not an isolated phenomenon; it is part of a pattern. Take the way many more people, for a time, came to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a threat to sovereignty, and to race-and-religion. The previous military junta spent 25 years painting her as a threat to the nation—for marrying the late Dr. Michael Aris, a British historian of Himalayan cultures—but the people did not buy that propaganda. Yet, in late 2014 and 2015, the number of people opposing her, at least on social media, seemed to rise rapidly. How did this happen?

The racist ultra-nationalist narratives are often all about women in danger, mostly in terms of sexual violence and marital strife, caused by lu myo char, bar thar char (people of a different race and religion), i.e. foreigners.

When the Arakan State riots broke out in 2012, the initial narrative had to do with “Bengali” men raping an Arakanese Buddhist woman. The narrative around victimhood shifted gradually to become about “kalar” (a derogatory term for Muslims and those of South Asian descent) assaulting Burmese women—then about “lu myo char, bar thar char” forcing Burmese women to marry them, converting them (and their children) to Islam by force, and torturing and killing them if they refused.

Using made-up stories, the narrative warned that Burmese people should not engage socially with Muslims, and that inter-marriage was dangerous. The spinning went further. Nationalists distributed Facebook photos of Burmese ladies overseas dating black men, and then images of Burmese girls in sexy clothing partying with white people. They were relaying a message that such Burmese women were disrespecting Burmese culture and therefore posed a danger to race-and-religion. Eventually, the message morphed into the idea that it was wrong for Burmese women to have sexual and marital relations with foreigners. Prior to the 2015 general election, the prime target of this idea became Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Had the campaign been launched directly against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the first instance, people would have immediately understood it as the usual propaganda. But when the idea that Burmese women marrying foreigners is wrong was constructed in the context of the Rohingya, who were already painted and often taken as outcasts, more and more people internalized the notion. As the idea traveled through different contexts under the guise of disciplining young women and protecting culture and religion, it became more accepted. In 2015, when the issue was overheating, it was used directly against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. By that time, the overtly sexist and racist content of the messaging was unlike anything that had been seen before. This was a powerful psy-war achievement, until people realized it was propaganda against her.

To recap, whether it was orchestrated or a mere coincidence, the outcome was obvious: a narrative of condemning rape in 2012 became one of anti-Aung San Suu Kyi in 2015.

Nationalists against reconciliation

Just as the racist nationalist movement has been seen in the two examples above to have successfully undermined the forces of democratization, it could work similarly against the forces of national reconciliation in unexpected and unforeseen ways. This may sound speculative, but the matters already discussed show signs of what could happen, and how.

National reconciliation requires equality between the Burman majority and ethnic minorities, in terms of political decision-making, defense, economic rights and cultural rights. Predominant or significant populations of many ethnic groups are Christian. But the nationalist campaigns, speeches and writings work against equality among all groups. The nationalists’ calls for Buddhist Burman supremacy in the political hierarchy reinforces what minority groups see as chauvinism—a root cause of ethnic conflict.

Recently, anti-Christian articles and cartoons have been seen in print publications and posted on social media, including on Ma Ba Tha’s official Facebook page. Signboards have been put up in various towns saying that lu myo char, bar thar char are not allowed to live in the locality, or to buy and sell at the local markets. A signboard in Shwe Naung in Shan State identified Muslims, Christians and Hindus as those who are so barred.

The discourse around lu myo char (different race/ethnicity) reinforces discrimination based on ethnicity.

Even poetry is not immune. A poem by Shin Myo Chit about marriage and the expression of Burmese pride is titled “Avoid lu myo char.” A poem by Maha Bawdi Myein Sayadaw warns readers not to sell land to lu myo char so as to preserve sovereignty. While these poems do not specifically define who lu myo char are, the call for “pure Burmese” blood, and even “pure Buddhist” blood, indicate that they proscribe everyone who is not Buddhist and/or Burmese.

Moving towards the political arena, a senior monk wrote an article titled “Traitors of the Country,” published on the Ma Ba Tha (Central) Online Media and Thargitwe Journal Facebook pages, which said that everyone has the responsibility to protect sovereignty, culture and race-and-religion. He stated that those being influenced and supported by foreign countries were traitors—so were politicians defending bar thar char (non-Buddhists) with outside support.

Many poems, articles and short stories conflate the protection of Buddhism and Burman culture with the perpetuation of sovereignty. This is at odds with calls from ethnic groups for federalism, in which all members are equal partners.

In addition, discourses around “lu myo char,” “bar thar char,” “land,” and “protecting sovereignty” run the risk of becoming powerful propaganda tools for those in power to criminalize ethnic armed groups’ struggle for equality and national reconciliation. For ethnic groups can be seen as lu myo char, bar thar char or both. Their struggle for equality, self-determination and federalism, which is in part a struggle for what they see as their ancestral land, could be distorted as an attempt by lu myo char, bar thar char to control “our forefather’s” land, break up the Union and threaten the nation’s sovereignty.

The point is that, if any unforeseen circumstance were to trigger a mass movement against the forces of national reconciliation in the name of protecting sovereignty and race-and-religion, the movement’s aims would be all too achievable—because the narratives around national traitors and lu myo char, bar thar char threatening sovereignty and race-and-religion are all already in place.

Many people already hold such notions, at least in some form. If ultra-nationalists were to embark on a mass campaign against ethnic groups, neither historical context nor facts would matter much. For the campaigns discussed earlier, which succeeded in discrediting the democratic forces, were all based on lies, deception and hatred—perpetuated in this case not by the traditional state propaganda machine, but by monks who are supposed to never lie, deceive or hate. They could do so by invoking the uncontested power of the Sangha and their special status in society.

The fact that nationalists are deploying ideas around sovereignty is concerning, because protecting sovereignty is a very distinctive military discourse that has been invoked to crush ethnic minority groups. As recently as June 21, Burma’s armed forces chief stated during a meeting with members of the Tatmadaw in Shan State that national defense was about more than just military activity, but also about protecting race-and-religion.

A threat to peace

In short, whether a coincidence or not, the nationalist movement’s key narratives of protecting race-and-religion continue to contribute to blocking recognition of diversity and equality as necessary conditions for national reconciliation.

Looking at the ways in which the forces of democratization became public enemies, receiving the brunt of public outcry as a by-product of the racist nationalist campaign against Rohingya/Muslims, who can guarantee that the same campaign won’t provide a platform to be used against the forces of national reconciliation, at the very least as an unintended consequence?

It is to be hoped that people in the government and the peace movement have a vision and a strategy for such an outcome, before it strikes at the heart of peace and national reconciliation.

(This is a shorter version of a research paper in Burmese titled “Beyond Muslims: Ma Ba Tha’s Impacts on Democratization and National Reconciliation” to be published in the Myanmar Quarterly Journal in September).

Dr. Sai Latt received his Ph.D. in Human Geography from Simon Fraser University in Canada. He is a Research Associate of the York Center for Asian Research at York University in Toronto. His research covers violence, securitization and displacement.

By Mizzima

September 3, 2016

The United States government should keep in place sanctions on Myanmar to deter the Myanmar military from derailing democratic reforms, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has learned that the Obama administration plans to announce the lifting of key sanctions during Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Washington, DC, which begins on September 14, 2016.

“US sanctions are focused on the Burmese generals and their cronies in order to encourage democratic reforms,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, in a press release on September 2. “The sanctions are crucial for pressing the military to end rights abuses and transfer power to a fully civilian government. They shouldn’t be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible.”

Many of the sanctions restricting Myanmar financial institutions, imports, and US investment in Myanmar were already eased or removed entirely between July 2012 and May 2016. Most of the remaining sanctions specifically target the Ministry of Defense, state or non-state armed groups, and individuals and entities on the US Department of Treasury’s “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) List.

In August, Myanmar’s lower house of parliament voted to reject a legislative proposal that would challenge US sanctions. U Hla Moe, a senior official in Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy party, told the media after the vote that “there’s no reason to discuss it, because the sanctions are imposed for those who are obstructions to the country’s democratic movements, not for the [whole] country. So the parliament doesn’t need to urge to ease them.”

During a joint news conference on May 22, Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Foreign Secretary of Myanmar, and US Secretary of State John Kerry both appeared to suggest that relaxing sanctions would not occur until Myanmar’s military allowed the country’s fundamentally flawed 2008 constitution to be revamped. The constitution reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military, empowers the military to appoint the ministers of defense, home affairs, and border affairs, and allows the military to dissolve the government during a national emergency.

Kerry said at the May news conference that, “the key to the lifting of the sanctions is really the progress that is made within Myanmar in continuing to move down the road of democratization… it’s very difficult to complete that journey – in fact, impossible to complete that journey with the current constitution. It needs to be changed.”

Suu Kyi said: “We’re not afraid of sanctions. We’re not afraid of scrutiny… I understand and I accept and I believe that the United States is a friend, and are not keeping the sanctions to hurt us, but to – that it would help us. And I’m ready to accept that; I’m not afraid of sanctions.”

Core sanctions include the gem trade, with which the Myanmar military has long been involved in illicit and abusive exploitation, Human Rights Watch said. Key provisions in the current sanctions regime aim to prevent US companies and individuals from doing business with military officials and military-owned enterprises, prohibit the import of Myanmar jade and gemstones into the US, and restrict businesses and persons from involvement in that sector. Recent legal reforms in Myanmar that address the jade and gemstone sector have not yet been fully implemented. As a result, on August 23, US Customs and Border Protection reportedly updated and renewed its rules prohibiting the importation of gemstones from Myanmar.

The US Department of the Treasury maintains on its “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) List an extensive number of Myanmar people and entities with whom US companies and persons are barred from doing business. Several are individuals who the US has determined threaten the peace, security, or stability of Burma’s political reforms, or are responsible for or complicit in human rights abuses in Myanmar.

“Many of the Burmese on the US sanctions list are criminal suspects and human rights abusers,” Sifton said. “The US should assist Burma in promoting genuine economic development, not help those who made ill-gotten gains during military rule.”

Human Rights Watch also urged the Obama administration to keep in place the underlying “state of emergency” that allows many parts of the sanctions regime to stay in place. If current executive orders imposing sanctions are lifted or amended, they should be replaced with a new executive order under which sanctions could be re-imposed.

Congress has long played an important role in imposing and maintaining sanctions on key human rights abusers in Myanmar, particularly those related to the Jade and gem sector. Regardless of administration actions, the US Congress should continue its leadership and maintain relevant sanctions legislation, which will be particularly useful in the event of backsliding on reforms by the Burmese military.

The US and other donors should also press for fiscal transparency in connection with Myanmar’s mineral sector and state or military-owned enterprises, Human Rights Watch said. All donors and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank should make revenue transparency a prerequisite for budget support to Burma and investments in the extractives industries.

The US and other governments should retain restrictions on military assistance and training, and make increases in bilateral and multilateral assistance conditional on key reforms and military withdrawal from civilian government.

“Sanctions were always intended to press the Burmese military to relinquish power and embrace reforms,” Sifton said. “Now that real progress has been made, it’s crucial to keep up the pressure until those goals have been achieved.”

By Patricia Zengerle, Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and Antoni Slodkowski

Reuters

September 2, 2016

WASHINGTON/YANGON -- The United States is considering further easing or lifting sanctions against Myanmar around the time of a White House visit this month by the country's new leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, U.S. officials told Reuters.

President Barack Obama is expected to decide on the extent of the sanctions relief after consultations between Suu Kyi and his administration to gauge how far she wants Washington to go in loosening the screws on Myanmar's still-powerful military.

Obama will attend a Group of 20 leaders' summit this weekend in China followed by an East Asia summit in Laos, where Suu Kyi may also be present. She will visit Washington on Sept. 14-15 for meetings with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, members of the U.S. Congress and business leaders.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy icon, helped persuade the West to impose sanctions during her years as a jailed opposition leader. She is now trying to strike a balance between showing her people the economic rewards of a democratic transition while keeping pressure on the country's generals for further reforms.

Obama's historic opening to Myanmar followed by its peaceful transition to an elected civilian-led government is seen as one of his foreign policy achievements. But with less than five months left in office, his administration remains wary of giving up leverage for removing the vestiges of military rule.

Suu Kyi's Washington visit would be her first since her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept into power after November 2015 elections. 

Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, met this week with congressional staffers and told them the president was considering reducing sanctions or removing them altogether, several U.S. officials said.

The U.S. officials spoke to Reuters this week on condition of anonymity.

The White House declined comment.

Washington is eager to expand relations with Myanmar to help counteract China's rise in Asia and let U.S. businesses take advantage of the opening of one of the world's last "frontier markets" - fast-growing but less developed emerging economies.

MILITARY-RUN ENTERPRISES

Most of the remaining U.S. measures restrict business with military-run enterprises, including bans on imports of Myanmar's jade and gemstones, and with black-listed individuals.

Obama has already eased some sanctions on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, several times. This included the removal in May of state-owned banks from the U.S. blacklist and of measures against seven key state-owned timber and mining firms. But many restrictions were renewed for another year.

"We're looking at things related to trade, investment and commerce, and trying to see what can be done to improve the investment environment in Myanmar," a U.S. government source said of the changes being weighed.

These could include adding Myanmar to the Generalized System of Preferences program, which provides duty-free treatment for goods from many poor and developing countries, the sources said.

A key question is how far Suu Kyi wants Washington to go in relaxing pressure on the military, which has a strong hand in politics through a military-drafted constitution as well as an economic powerbase.

"If our bosses are in the room with Aung San Suu Kyi and she says 'I want you to lift all the sanctions,' it is hard to imagine them saying no," a congressional source said, when asked whether members of Congress would go along with lifting U.S. sanctions.

Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by the constitution drafted by the former junta because her two sons are British citizens. She holds the title of foreign minister, but is Myanmar's de facto government leader.

She and the NLD have been criticized for not doing enough to help Myanmar's oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority.

Some backers of removing sanctions argue that easing Myanmar's international isolation could help improve human rights by boosting the economy.

However, Human Rights Watch called on Friday for the U.S. government to keep sanctions in place to deter the military from derailing democratic reforms.