Yangon – Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Thursday he told Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein that “inclusivity, openness and transparency are important” in the process of holding elections. (more…)

Yangon – The Myanmar authorities have tightened formalities for its citizens in applying for a passport by adding more complicated procedures for the applicants to go through, the local weekly Popular News reported Thursday. (more…)

The leaders and foreign ministers of Asean countries are expected next week to discuss the Burmese military regime’s election laws which bar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office. (more…)

Bangkok – The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Thursday called on Myanmar’s junta to amend its recently promulgated election laws to ensure polls planned this year are “inclusive, free and fair.” (more…)

Chiang Mai – Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will begin his three-day tour of Burma tomorrow. (more…)

Washington – The United States should broaden engagement with Myanmar to reach more of the population, taking a long-term view despite growing concern over upcoming elections, a study said Wednesday. (more…)

The Burmese military regime knows how to do one thing well: survive. Twenty years ago, it nullified an election that was massively won by the party of the opposition, the National League for Democracy. It placed the party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under a house arrest that, with a few brief respites, continues to this day. For two decades, the regime has consolidated its power, created an economic oligarchy, ended most of the ethnic insurgencies or fought them to a draw, crushed any democratic tremors among the civilian population, bought off its neighbors, and successfully defied American and world condemnation. (more…)

The 2008 Constitution and the upcoming election guarantee a continuation of Burma’s longest civil war, and the only hope for a peaceful Burma is to constitutionally accommodate ethnic diversity. (more…)

Burma’s leading opposition party says it won’t take part in national elections to be held sometime this year. (more…)