Friday, 30 September 2011 19:38 Tun Tun
New Delhi (Mizzima) – President Thein Sein sent a letter to both houses of the Burmese Parliament on Friday: “Our government is elected by the people so we must pay attention to the will of the people. We are obliged to focus on resolving the worries and anxieties of the people. Thus the Myitsone Dam project will be suspended during the term of our government.”
His message said that the dam project could be “damaging the natural beauty of Myitsone, damaging the livelihood of the local people, damaging the rubber plantations and crops grown by private capital, a dam collapse due to climate change could kill many people living near the dam site and downstream could also be damaged.”
He said the government would negotiate with the Chinese government in order not to damage bilateral relations and mutual friendship. Mizzima reporter Tun Tun interviewed environmentalists, politicians, artists and anti-dam campaigners about the government’s decision.
U Ohn (environmental academic):
This is good news for us, but we don’t know yet whether this dam project will be suspended or totally stopped. Suspending the dam project for the time being is the good news for us. It will be better if this dam project is stopped absolutely because it can damage the rare species of fauna and flora in this biodiversity hotspot of Kachin State. It will be best not to touch this place.
Win Tin (central executive committee member, National League for Democracy):
It is good to see the president exercise his authority and do his job bravely and resolutely. This is first thing. And the next thing is he made this decision by considering the will of the people and accommodated the will of the people.
We don’t know everything about it yet especially since one of his cabinet ministers, Zaw Min, told the media recently that they would continue the project no matter what people said. Now it’s good to see him override his own minister and make this decision. There are many more things to do in our country, such as the political prisoner issue, etc. It’s clear now that there are some ministers in his cabinet who disrupted and hampered his work and authority. At the same time, some cabinet members agree with him.
But one thing we have to bear in mind is that his term lasts only five years. I think the president should urge the next president not to continue this project when his current term expires. In this way, successive presidents might do the same thing and the dam project will be stopped permanently.
Cartoonist Aw Pi Kye:
It is a success rather than a victory, because it is like passing a single subject in a final exam. We need to pass all the subjects to pass the final exam. I assume that it is because of the work jointly done by academics and activists but it is just a suspension not a stop to the project. We don’t want the studies to be stopped. These studies should be done by academics, scholars, internationally recognized academics and well-known academics in the country. They should do field studies in both the lower and upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River on environmental impacts, social impacts, hydrology, etc.
In this case, another party in this agreement is a foreign country, a powerful and mighty country. There are many issues to be resolved if one party stops such signed agreements and obligations, payments must be made as per the agreement etc. We don’t want to damage the mutual friendship between the two countries, and at the same time we don’t want to see damage to the lifeline of our country. So I think it needs to be done very systematically. We need to present these matters of the agreement and who did what in accordance with the agreement at a public forum or national convention.
There are still many more steps to go. We must go step by step but it should not take very long time. It should not take one year for each step. We want speedy and effective steps.
For some people, the Myitsone matter is a dilemma. They swallowed too much, and now they dare not vomit otherwise people will see what they swallowed. So they are in a dilemma about what to do next, swallow or vomit what they ate in the past. I see the current situation this way from a cartoonist’s perspective.
Win Cho (anti-Myitsone Dam signature campaigner):
I’d like to say we have achieved a unity between the government and people thanks to the Irrawaddy River. We see the new government’s will to negotiate and consult with the people was fulfilled by the unity of the people. If we cannot maintain our unity, there will be some problems. If they continue in this way of working in unity with the people, there will be no difficulties because they have already recognized the will of the people.
New Delhi (Mizzima) – President Thein Sein sent a letter to both houses of the Burmese Parliament on Friday: “Our government is elected by the people so we must pay attention to the will of the people. We are obliged to focus on resolving the worries and anxieties of the people. Thus the Myitsone Dam project will be suspended during the term of our government.”
His message said that the dam project could be “damaging the natural beauty of Myitsone, damaging the livelihood of the local people, damaging the rubber plantations and crops grown by private capital, a dam collapse due to climate change could kill many people living near the dam site and downstream could also be damaged.”
He said the government would negotiate with the Chinese government in order not to damage bilateral relations and mutual friendship. Mizzima reporter Tun Tun interviewed environmentalists, politicians, artists and anti-dam campaigners about the government’s decision.
U Ohn (environmental academic):
This is good news for us, but we don’t know yet whether this dam project will be suspended or totally stopped. Suspending the dam project for the time being is the good news for us. It will be better if this dam project is stopped absolutely because it can damage the rare species of fauna and flora in this biodiversity hotspot of Kachin State. It will be best not to touch this place.
Win Tin (central executive committee member, National League for Democracy):
It is good to see the president exercise his authority and do his job bravely and resolutely. This is first thing. And the next thing is he made this decision by considering the will of the people and accommodated the will of the people.
We don’t know everything about it yet especially since one of his cabinet ministers, Zaw Min, told the media recently that they would continue the project no matter what people said. Now it’s good to see him override his own minister and make this decision. There are many more things to do in our country, such as the political prisoner issue, etc. It’s clear now that there are some ministers in his cabinet who disrupted and hampered his work and authority. At the same time, some cabinet members agree with him.
But one thing we have to bear in mind is that his term lasts only five years. I think the president should urge the next president not to continue this project when his current term expires. In this way, successive presidents might do the same thing and the dam project will be stopped permanently.
Cartoonist Aw Pi Kye:
It is a success rather than a victory, because it is like passing a single subject in a final exam. We need to pass all the subjects to pass the final exam. I assume that it is because of the work jointly done by academics and activists but it is just a suspension not a stop to the project. We don’t want the studies to be stopped. These studies should be done by academics, scholars, internationally recognized academics and well-known academics in the country. They should do field studies in both the lower and upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River on environmental impacts, social impacts, hydrology, etc.
In this case, another party in this agreement is a foreign country, a powerful and mighty country. There are many issues to be resolved if one party stops such signed agreements and obligations, payments must be made as per the agreement etc. We don’t want to damage the mutual friendship between the two countries, and at the same time we don’t want to see damage to the lifeline of our country. So I think it needs to be done very systematically. We need to present these matters of the agreement and who did what in accordance with the agreement at a public forum or national convention.
There are still many more steps to go. We must go step by step but it should not take very long time. It should not take one year for each step. We want speedy and effective steps.
For some people, the Myitsone matter is a dilemma. They swallowed too much, and now they dare not vomit otherwise people will see what they swallowed. So they are in a dilemma about what to do next, swallow or vomit what they ate in the past. I see the current situation this way from a cartoonist’s perspective.
Win Cho (anti-Myitsone Dam signature campaigner):
I’d like to say we have achieved a unity between the government and people thanks to the Irrawaddy River. We see the new government’s will to negotiate and consult with the people was fulfilled by the unity of the people. If we cannot maintain our unity, there will be some problems. If they continue in this way of working in unity with the people, there will be no difficulties because they have already recognized the will of the people.
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