Aung San Suu Kyi at the Singapore Summit conference

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Aung San Suu Kyi said Myanmar’s government is committed to improving the country’s economy. she emphasized that a key part of that will be changes to the constitution and improving the rule of law to boost inclusiveness and unity in the country.

Suu Kyi was speaking on Saturday at the Singapore Summit conference held in Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel.

Suu Kyi emphasized that genuine reform will depend on how much inclusiveness and unity Myanmar can achieve and the key to that is changing the constitution and improving the rule of law.

She said: “A lot of our problems in recent months have arisen from the fact that we have been lacking in transparency. Business deals that have turned sour, the demands of the people for their wrongs to be put right so transparency is very important.

“But transparency is linked to confidence. We need a leadership that has enough confidence in themselves to be transparent and enough honesty to accept criticisms and to meet it in the best way possible which is to say by redressing what needs to be redressed but by standing up for what they believe is worth preserving or worth pursuing.”

Indonesia’s former vice-president, Yusuf Kalla also weighed in on how Myanmar can work towards resolving the conflicts among its different communities.

“It is how to make compromise. We should compromise to make prosperity for each other. What we can do in any country or Myanmar is to improve in the equality of life between the others,” he said.

As many are also keen on investing in Myanmar, Suu Kyi called on businesses to insist on transparency in order to help the country develop,there sounded a word of caution.

“This is what the international community can do for us. To be honest in their assessment of the situation and not to let their hopes colour what they really see. You must not see what you want to see. You must see what there is to see. It is not by painting an over optimistic picture of our country that you can help us. It’s only by being realistic about what we need to do that you’ll be able to help us.”

Some have questioned whether such views may deter investors from entering the market but Suu Kyi is cognizant that Myanmar needs foreign funds.

Singapore Summit’s chairman George Yeo said: “She did say that businesses have got to make profits and if you don’t make profits, you shouldn’t be in business. But please aspire to higher goals and not just be concerned with making money.”

Suu Kyi certainly did not mince her words when she said that Myanmar is a nation that’s still divided.

What she said is crucial is that the people in her country must come together to discuss and resolve the differences for the sake of living together in a society which has to be at peace with itself.

Resolving deep-seated issues in Myanmar will be a challenge, but substantial reforms must be seen by next year before the country’s elections in 2015. Media agencies

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Global News

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 Myanmar approves UNESCO’s peace education project

Myanmar has approved UNESCO’s peace education project in northern Rakhine state reaffirming its commitment to promote peace education as a means of fostering mutual respect for cultural diversity at the school level, official sources said on Sunday.

The project is to be jointly implemented by the UNESCO and the government in three townships in the state –Maungtaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung with the fund support by the Belgium government.

Under the project, 350 teachers from 40 conflicted-affected schools will be trained in peace education and it will benefit 10, 000 students, the sources said.

The project also aims to reactivate 40 parent-teacher associations and set up three community learning centers, the sources added.

Following the recent communal violence in Rakhine state which has affected hundreds of schools and thousands of students, the government and international community have identified peace education as one of the priority to address underlying causes of the communal tension.

The overall aim of the peace education project is to enhance the capacity of schools teachers, students and their parents to facilitate inclusive problem-solving process and consensus- building around community priority and to strengthen the commitment to an inclusive civic national identity

Snake on plane forces Qantas to ground flight

Hundreds of Qantas passengers were stranded in Sydney after the discovery of a tiny snake on board the plane at Sydney Airport on Sunday night, local media reported Monday.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the 20-centimeter snake was found by a cabin crew member near the doorway of the aircraft on Sunday night before the 370 passengers boarded the flight, which was bounded for Tokyo.

The flight was canceled and the 370 passengers were put up in accommodation in Sydney overnight, the spokeswoman told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

The spokeswoman said it was yet to be determined what type of snake it was and where it had come from.

“The snake has gone into quarantine to determine where it’s come from,” she said.

A replacement flight was scheduled to leave Sydney at 10:15 a.m. (local time) on Monday.

Cambodian opposition boycotts parliament over alleged election rigging

The Cambodian opposition boycotted the opening of parliament Monday over alleged cheating in the July 28 elections. Fifty-five lawmakers elected from the opposition were absent in the National Assembly, while 68 ruling party lawmakers attended the session. Prime Minister Hun Sen was poised to continue his 28 years in power during a re-election vote scheduled for Tuesday’s session. Hun Sen, 61, made no comment about the boycott. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party claims it was cheated out of a victory because of electoral fraud.

Sudan’s president, wanted by ICC, plans to travel to UNGA

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide charges, said he plans to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly this week, Reuters reported. Bashir said Sunday that he had already booked a hotel in New York. However, he did not say whether the US had granted him a visa. A senior US State Department official said last week that Bashir would “not receive a warm welcome” if he traveled to the US. Washington led calls for the Sundanese leader to face international justice over his role in the conflict in the troubled Darfur region.

US Navy helicopter crashes in Red Sea with 5 people on board

A US Navy helicopter has crashed in the central Red Sea with five military personnel on board, the US Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement. The status of the personnel is unknown. The MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6, crashed while operating with the guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence. The aircraft was not engaged in hostile activity. The incident is being investigated.

Iran demands West recognizes its uranium enrichment right

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has demanded that the West recognizes Tehran’s uranium enrichment right in any nuclear deal. “If they accept these rights, the Iranian people are a rational people, peaceful and friendly. We stand ready to cooperate and together we can settle all the region’s problems and even global ones,” he said on the eve of his departure for talks at the United Nations, according to AFP. He added that Iran is ready for negotiations with the West, provided that “there are no preconditions, the talks are on equal terms and there is mutual respect,” AP reported. Rouhani is set to deliver a key speech in New York and hold talks with world leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting.

WWF calls for release of Greenpeace activists in the Arctic

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is calling for the immediate release of 30 crew members of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise vessel which was detained by Russian authorities, the organization said in a statement. The Russian Coast Guard boarded the Greenpeace vessel and arrested activists after the crew tried to hinder the work of a Gazprom oil rig in the Barents Sea on Thursday. Two additional activists were arrested on Wednesday after they tried to climb Gazprom’s Prirazlomnoye oil platform, protesting against drilling in the Arctic.

16 killed in suicide bomb attack in Baghdad Sunni district

At least 16 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in a mainly Sunni district of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The attacker blew himself up inside a tent filled with mourners on Sunday, Reuters cited police and medical sources as saying. Thirty-five people were wounded in the Dora neighborhood. The attack comes just one day after a string of bombings killed at least 96 people and injured dozens of others in a Baghdad suburb and the northern city of Baiji, adding to the worst year of violence since American troops began leaving Iraq in 2008.

Iran to take control of Bushehr nuclear power plant on Monday

Iran will take control over the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on September 23.For two years, or “7,000 hours,” the country’s first atomic power station will operate under Russian warranty, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, as cited by Press TV. Several Russian specialists will remain on site to assist their Iranian colleagues. At the end of the two-year period, the Bushehr station will be fully controlled by Iranian technicians. The 1000-megawatt station, working under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), became fully operational in September 2011. Despite having the third largest oil reserves and second largest gas reserves in the world, Iran was striving to use its energy more efficiently. Energy wastage has previously cost the country millions of dollars.

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Cambodian King appoints Hun Sen as PM

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Cambodian King appoints Hun Sen as PM today opens new parliament despite opposition boycott

Cambodia opened the fifth legislature of the National Assembly successfully on Monday even though the opposition party boycotted the session because it did not recognize the results of the July 28 election that handed victory to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party.

King Norodom Sihamoni opened the new parliament session, which was attended by only all 68 elected lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the 55 elected lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy did not join it.

The opposition CNRP boycotted the session since it did not recognize the results of the July 28 election, claiming serious vote fraud and demanding the formation of an independent poll probe committee, but the CPP rejected the request, saying the move was against the country’s constitution and the election results were already ratified.

Addressing the session, King Sihamoni called on all newly- elected lawmakers to see the country’s interest as the top priority and should unify for the nation’s prestige. “This is a new opportunity for our legislative body, all elected lawmakers, to try all your best both physically and mentally to serve the nation by seeing national interest as the top priority,” he said.

He also urged all lawmakers to work closely in order to lead the Cambodian people to live in happiness, peace and stability in the context of ensuring freedom and human rights respect.

“To achieve these excellent duties, the Cambodian people should have highly-national unity and solidarity based on the implementation of democratic principles and rule of law that the kingdom has carried out since 1993,” he said.

The king also said that the nation needed to further construct social justice to a higher level through more active reforms on legal and judicial systems.

“I hope that the fifth legislature of the National Assembly will function well and fulfill its duties successfully for the interest of the nation and the Cambodian people,” he said.

After the opening session, the king appointed incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen as the prime minister for the new five-year-term government after the CPP’s victory in the July 28 election.

“The prime minister of Cambodia has duties to prepare the members of the Cambodian government in order to ask for the adoption of confidence from the National Assembly,” the king said in the royal decree of appointment.

In response to the appointment, Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked the king and vowed to put all his efforts to fulfill his duties in order to serve the nation and the people.

The premier said that he would submit the members of the new government to the dean of the parliament on Tuesday in order to ask for the adoption of confidence.

According to the official schedule, Hun Sen, 61, who has been in power for 28 years, will be sworn in for another five-year term on Tuesday.

The opposition CNRP issued a statement on Monday, saying that the new parliament was the one-party parliament and did not represent the whole Cambodian people. “This opening session is a violation of the constitution,” the statement said. “It is completely contrary to the principle of multi-party liberal democratic regime.”

However, according to the country’s constitution, a new government would be formed by a 50 percent plus one majority, or 63 lawmakers, in the new parliament.

Security has been tightened on Monday and anti-riot police have been deployed along streets in the city with barbed wire barricades being used to block roads surrounding key government’s buildings, the Royal Palace, and the National Assembly.

“We have used thousands of security forces to ensure security and public order during the session,” National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito told Xinhua, adding that protests were not allowed during these days.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday appointed incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen as the prime minister for the new five-year-term government after his ruling party won the July 28 election, according to a royal decree.

“The Prime Minister of Cambodia has duties to prepare the members of the Cambodian government in order to ask for the adoption of confidence from the National Assembly,” said the royal decree.

In response to the appointment, Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked the king and vowed to put all his efforts to fulfill his duties in order to serve the nation and the people.

The premier said that he would submit the members of the new government to the dean of the parliament on Tuesday in order to ask for the adoption of confidence.

According to the official schedule, Hun Sen will be sworn in for another five-year term on Tuesday.

The appointment came after King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the opening session of the fifth legislature of the National Assembly, which was attended by only the ruling party’s elected lawmakers as the opposition’s elected legislators boycotted it.

Sixty-eight elected lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’ s Party (CPP) of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen were present at the opening session, while all the 55 legislators from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy did not attend it.

The opposition CNRP boycotted the session since it did not recognize the results of the July 28 parliamentary election, claiming serious vote fraud and demanding the formation of an independent poll probe committee, but the CPP rejected the request, saying the move was against the country’s constitution and the election results were already ratified.

The CNRP issued a statement on Monday, saying that the new parliament was the one-party parliament and did not represent the whole Cambodian people.

“It is completely contrary to the principle of multi-party liberal democratic regime,” it said.

However, according to the country’s constitution, a new government would be formed by a 50 percent plus one majority, or 63 lawmakers, in the new parliament. Media agencies

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