Philippine Poll Shows Aquino Rival Catching Up

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By OLIVER TEVES

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

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MANILA— Lavish campaign spending has allowed the Philippines' wealthiest politician to close in on the son of democracy icon Corazon Aquino in the latest opinion poll ahead of May presidential election, analysts said on Tuesday.

Sen. Manny Villar's aggressive media campaign mainly accounts for his eight-point gain from December to January in one poll, leaving him only seven points behind front-runner Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III in the survey, said public administration professor Prospero de Vera.

The respected Social Weather Stations' January survey has Aquino as the top choice of 42 percent of respondents, down from 46 percent in early December. Villar, who made his fortune in real estate, was up to 35 percent from 27 percent.

The survey, commissioned and published on Monday by The Business World daily, interviewed 2,100 adult respondents nationwide and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

The presidential race is shaping up as a two-pronged battle between Aquino and Villar, both senators from sharply different backgrounds but with a similar message—uplifting the lives of a third of the population who live in abject poverty and cracking down on widespread corruption and political violence.

Aquino, 50, has anchored his campaign on running a clean government and restoring the credibility of the judiciary and Congress, which he says has been seriously eroded during President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's nine years of tumultuous rule.

He said he took the cue from his mother, who fought dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was swept to power in the 1986 "people power" revolt. Corazon Aquino's death from cancer in August led to a massive outpouring of grief, which analysts credit for her son's popularity.

Villar, 60, who portrays his rags-to-riches life in his colorful political advertisements, is promising to end poverty in the country. Appealing to mostly poor voters, from whose ranks he rose, Villar vows to create jobs and provide housing—his main source of income as a leading property developer.

But Villar is also facing censure by his colleagues in the Senate for his alleged role in the rerouting of a highway so that it passes close to his real estate developments. He said the charges are trumped up.

Aquino is being criticized by his rivals as an underachieving legislator with no track record who is riding on his mother's reputation.

Ramon Casiple, head of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said Aquino has been delivering "motherhood statements ... all visions, but no strategy." He said Aquino needs to step out from the shadow of his family's name and connect with voters, letting them know who he is as person.

The three-month campaign period officially kicks off Feb. 9, but candidates are already allowed to put out radio and television ads.

The amount candidates spend is not disclosed until after elections, but already Villar has the most number of ads. A 30-second prime-time TV ad costs up to 220,000 pesos (US $4,700).

Burma's Internet Slows to a Stop

By WAI MOE and MIN LWIN

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

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Internet connections have slowed down recently across Burma with the country's two providers, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT) and Myanmar Teleport, telling users that the Internet backbone is temporarily down.

The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers.

Two Buddhist monks go online at an Internet cafe in Rangoon where owners are required to keep records of all users. (Photo: AFP)

However, several IT technicians in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the slowdown was due to a transfer of computer hardware from the providers' offices in the former capital to Yadanabon Cyber City near Mandalay.

“For the past two days, I have been unable to log on to any Web site,” said a staffer with an international nongovernmental organization in Rangoon. “We can only use Google Talk. We cannot access any other Web site or use e-mail.”

Several other Internet users in Rangoon, including students, travel agents, journalists and Internet café owners, confirmed that they could not work or study because they were unable to access the Internet.

“I cannot even get into my own homepage,” bemoaned a travel agent. “This is affecting business terribly. These months are our high tourist season.”

Many Internet cafes have closed their doors for business while the service is so poor, sources said.

There are only two Internet service providers in the country, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT) and Myanmar Teleport, formerly known as Bagan Cyber Tech, a private company run by businessmen known to be well-connected with the ruling generals.

The Irrawaddy was unable to get confirmation from the providers on Tuesday as the lines were constantly engaged.

The Burmese military government has one of the most draconian approaches to the Internet in the world. Much information is censored and many international or exiled news agencies, such as The Irrawaddy, are officially banned in Burma.

Burmese citizens face long prison terms if caught sharing information or photos that the military authorities deem sensitive or subversive under Section 33(a) of the Electronics Act.

Several prominent members of the 88 Generation Students group, famous comedian Zarganar, some journalists and various bloggers have been arrested and jailed for breaking the Electronics Act in the past two years.

Last week, a young man named Soe Naing Lin was jailed for 13 years with hard labor by a special court set up inside Insein Prison. One of the charges against him was the Electronics Act. He was arrested at an Internet café in Rangoon in June 2009 accusing of sending information to the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma.

Although state policy limits and controls the public's use of the Internet, the military junta has simultaneously attempted to show the world that they want to advance Burma’s information technology as a part of a modernization drive.

In 2006, the junta tried to establish the Burmese version of Silicon Valley––Yadanabon Cyber City near Pyinoolwin in Mandalay Division––with concessions allotted to military cronies' companies such the Htoo Group, owned by tycoon Tay Za.

With the aid of Chinese companies and technicians, Yadanabon Cyber City has been assigned the task of handling surveillance of Burma’s flow of information.

The junta allowed companies and technicians on Jan. 23-24 to hold an IT forum which was called “BarCamp Yangon,” attracting many young Burmese IT enthusiasts.

BarCamp Yangon, held at Hlaing University Campus in Rangoon, was attended by 2,500 IT technicians and students. During the two-day forum, Burmese telecommunication authorities temporarily allowed an assessment of blogs for Internet users in the country. However, after the forum, the limits on information technology returned to normal.

“A real BarCamp means describing freedom of information as well as open discussion,” said a Rangoon-based blogger who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But the BarCamp in Rangoon cannot fully demonstrate what freedom of information is unless the junta allows a free flow of information.”

Bloggers have complained that the military authorities have refused to permit them to hold a bloggers' conference for the last two years.

Beijing Limits Information on Burmese Refugees Remaining in China - NYTimes.com

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By MICHAEL WINES

BEIJING — Chinese officials imposed an information blackout on Tuesday on the situation along its border with Myanmar and began taking down tents that had sheltered an estimated 30,000 refugees who fled into China to escape recent fighting between Myanmar’s military and ethnic rebels.

But news reports stated that many thousands of refugees remained in China, unwilling or unable to return to Myanmar, formerly called Burma, and it was not clear how the Chinese government intended to address their plight.

The Chinese authorities withheld comment on the border situation on Tuesday, aside from saying, in a Foreign Ministry briefing, that “necessary humanitarian assistance” was being provided. And they began ordering foreign journalists to leave the area around Nansan and Genma, Chinese towns on the mountainous border where the refugees have been housed in seven separate camps.

While about 4,000 refugees had returned to Myanmar on Monday, the day after the fighting ended, the pace has since slowed significantly. Only about 30 people crossed the border into Myanmar in a half-hour period on Tuesday morning, The Associated Press reported.

“It seems to be slowing down,” one foreigner near Nansan said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “There’s still a large number of refugees in and around Nansan, both in the camps and hanging around.” The foreigner, who asked not to be identified, said Chinese Army troops had stepped up patrols in the area.

An unknown number of those who fled to China during the fighting are Chinese citizens who have been conducting business in Myanmar, where China is building dams and other projects and has extensive mining ventures. They are unlikely to return soon.

China has insisted that the northern Myanmar region of Kokang is safe and stable after the fighting last week, in which hundreds of government troops overwhelmed an armed ethnic group, breaking a cease-fire that had prevailed for two decades. Human rights groups and others have warned that the junta’s actions could ignite a wider conflict in the area, where other, better armed, ethnic groups also are resisting government control.

Thai newspapers and The Irrawaddy, an independent magazine that focuses on Myanmar, have reported that the government is sending fresh troops into the northern state of Shan in an attempt to consolidate its control there. The army wants the rebels to disarm and join a government border patrol force, as required under a new Constitution. Most of the rebels have resisted the order, which would effectively place them under government control.

Myanmar’s military junta apparently seeks to take control of the region before elections, the first in almost 20 years, that are scheduled for next year. Outside monitors accuse the military junta of brutal human rights violations as part of its effort to stay in power. The Myanmar government has said that 26 of its soldiers and at least 8 rebels died in three days of battles.

The Myanmar conflict has thrust the Chinese government, one of Myanmar’s only staunch backers, into an awkward situation. China has provided diplomatic support to the junta in exchange for access to its considerable mineral wealth and cooperation in efforts to suppress a growing cross-border trade in heroin and other illicit drugs. The flood of refugees prompted the Chinese to issue muted criticism of the junta, on Friday calling for it to secure Myanmar’s borders.