|
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINES -------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Thailand's Drug War Could Mirror Iran's Failure AP - Myanmar To Probe Pakistan's Claim Of Citizens Terror Link AP - Friendly-Fire Clash On Myanmar Border Kills Thai Officer Asia Pulse - Eu Supports Unitary State of Indonesia, Envoy Says Asia Pulse - Export Development Fund for India's North-East Region Time Asia - The U.N. envoy would be allowed back into Burma Neftegaz.ru - Total With New Gas Field In Myanmar Bkk Post - Survey starts for new road from Myawaddy BBC News - Thailand and Burma build bridges DS - Border talks with Myanmar from today Asian Tribune - A Maimed Burmese Needs Your Help urgently. WSJ - EDITORIALS - Burma Shows U.N.'s Failure -------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand's
Drug War Could Mirror Iran's Failure -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday May 19, 7:08 PM -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday May 19, 6:09 PM
Monday May 19, 11:18 AM -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday May 19, 7:23 PM -------------------------------------------------------------- Time Asia -------------------------------------------------------------- Neftegaz.ru
Total With New Gas Field In
Myanmar
19.05.2003 10:23 Total, the French oil company, has confirmed plans to develop its Sein
natural gas field in Myanmar.
The company plans to invest around $35 million in the project, which should start producing in 2005. The reserves are estimated to be 200 Bcf. The gas is likely to be exported to Thailand. Gas demand in Thailand has started to climb recently. -------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday 19 May 2003
Survey starts for new road from Myawaddy First step on the Asian Highway Supamart Kasem in Tak Thai and Burmese officials have begun the surveying of a planned 18-kilometre highway to link Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot district, with inner Burma. The dual carriageway road would be seven metres wide and lined with asphalt. Design work will be completed in July and construction begin in October, said Viroj Vacharasin, deputy chief of the Tak highway construction centre. It is being built with an 80-million-baht grant. The 18km road will run from Myawaddy to a village called Thinganyinaung. The Highways Department will handle construction which will take an estimated 18 months. Construction would take that long because the road has to pass through rough terrain and cross many streams, Mr Viroj said. Chaphan Chawacharoenphan, chairman of the Tak Chamber of Commerce, said the road marked the start of a United Nations plan to connect the Asian Highway with neighbouring countries to the West _ from Mae Sot in Thailand to Burma, Bangladesh and the Middle East, connecting to Europe at Azerbaijan. ``The road will back up an Industry Ministry plan to set up a Mae Sot economic zone with an initial fund of eight billion baht. The plan has yet to be approved by cabinet,'' Mr Chaphan said. The road is also part of the plan for a highway connecting Thailand, Burma and India agreed by the foreign ministers of those countries last year in Mandalay. In line with this plan India has built a road to Tamu, a border town in Sagaing division of Burma and handed over the building equipment to Burma to extend the road to Rangoon. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Burma's State Peace and Development Council first secretary Khin Nyunt will lay a foundation stone for a new cross-border bridge in Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai today. The bridge will connect Tha Phakkad on the Thai side with Ban Mae Khao on the Burmese side and will be built with a Thai grant of 38 million baht. -------------------------------------------------------------- BBC News - Monday, 19 May,
2003
Thailand and Burma build bridges By Larry Jagan BBC correspondent on the Thai-Burmese border Thailand's Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, and the Burmese intelligence chief, General Kinyunt, have celebrated the laying of the first foundations of a new bridge that will link the two countries. The two sides also discussed improving transport links between the two countries, and how to combat the trafficking of drugs across the border. Ties between Burma and Thailand have often been strained, and there were fears last year that they would fight a full-scale border war. But on Monday, amidst much pomp and ceremony, the two ministers celebrated the laying of the first stone of the new friendship bridge at Tachilek. The bridge will be finished within the year, according to the Thai authorities who are paying for its construction. The Thais hope that the increased trade which they expect the bridge will bring will help the whole region develop economically. Local Thai businessmen and politicians who came to witness the ground-breaking ceremony were obviously delighted. They expect the value of trade to increase tenfold in the next two years. It is already worth more than $10m a year, just at this checkpoint. Both sides expect the bridge to strengthen bilateral economic ties between the two countries, and allow Thailand to tap into the markets of southern China. Drugs trade The Thais certainly hope that the greater economic integration that the bridge is expected to bring will lessen the likelihood of the return to cross-border tensions. But local Thai government officials are also privately worried that the bridge might encourage an increase in illegal trade, especially the flow of synthetic drugs, or methamphetamines, into Thailand. Some 10,000 "ya ba" tablets were seized only three days ago, as they were being smuggled across the border. Combating drugs was also extensively discussed by the Thai foreign minister and the Burmese intelligence chief. After laying the foundation stone for the new bridge, Burmese officials took the Thai foreign minister on a helicopter tour of inspection along the border, to see for himself what the Burmese were doing to stamp out drug trafficking. -------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily Star - Mon. May 19, 2003
Border talks with Myanmar from today Staff Correspondent The director general level meeting of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Immigration Headquarters of Myanmar opens to discuss border issues at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka today. A seven-member Myanmar delegation led by Director General of Immigration U Maung Htay arrived yesterday to attend the meeting. The team also brings together officials from immigration, migration, social welfare and relief ministries. Major General Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury will lead a 12-member Bangladesh side at the meeting. His team will also include officials from the BDR headquarters and representatives from home, foreign, disaster management and relief ministries and survey directorate, joint river commission and immigration and passport directorate. -------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-05-18 A Maimed Burmese Needs Your Help urgently. This is a tale of woe - a tragic story of an innocent Burmese, who fled his country for survival from persecution to Thailand, has ended up as a cripple and today seeks the generosity of large-hearted persons like you. He is Maung Saw Win, from the Waw Township of Pegu .He fled Pegu to Thailand and was working in a garment factory in Mae Sot, Thailand He worked without proper documents and was considered as an illegal hand. While he was working in the garment factory, on March 14 he had an electric shock and was rush to the hospital. In the hospital, both the hands of Maung Saw Win were surgically amputated and he is today a cripple. The factory has not come forward to pay any compensation even though the tragic incident took place, whilst Maung Saw Win was on duty at the garment factory. Furthermore, as he was an illegal worker, it is believed that it is very difficult to get any compensation for this innocent Burmese. It is learnt that he and his mother are finding life miserable at Mae Sot and their daily survival is becoming more and more difficult. It is revealed that Ko Saw Win wants to go back to his village and to rear livestock for his and his family?s survival. Therefore, Ko Saw Win now needs your generous help: You are kindly requested to come forward and give assistance or donation to Ko Saw Win and his mother as much as you can. If you want to donate anything for Ko Saw Win, please contact to the following Address: Aung Ko, CEC, Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS) Tel: 66 1 8838381 Than Soe, Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS), Tel 66 55 545529 E-mail: koaungko@xxxxxxxxxxx or violet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx -------------------------------------------------------------- Wall Street Journal May 12 2003EDITORIALS - Burma Shows U.N.'s Failure By TIN MAUNG THAN Let me put it bluntly: The United Nations is hopeless in dealing with dictators. As a Burmese, I know this first-hand because I've seen the U.N. sit by and do virtually nothing to help free my people from the oppression of the military junta. That's why I wasn't the least bit surprised to see the U.N. fail to deal with another dictator, leaving it to U.S.-led coalition forces to take on the task of overthrowing Saddam Hussein. For over a decade, the U.N. adopted numerous resolutions urging the Burmese military junta to honor the results of the 1990 elections, to respect human rights, to free all political prisoners and to launch a dialogue with the National League for Democracy and members of ethnic groups. Nothing happened. The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 82% of parliamentary seats in the 1990 polls. But instead, a few years later, the State Law and Order Restoration Council convened the National Convention and filled 85% of the seats in the body with its own appointees. It would take three years after the U.S. and EU imposed limited sanctions on Burma for the generals to finally accept U.N. Special Envoy Razali Ismail as a mediator between them and Ms. Suu Kyi. In May 2002, after releasing Ms. Suu Kyi from house arrest, the junta declared that Burma had entered "new pages of history." Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the military intelligence chief and secretary of the junta, promised Mr. Razali a dialogue with Ms. Suu Kyi would happen. The world thought a political breakthrough was imminent. But a year later, we have had nothing. In an interview in November with Malaysiakini, the Malaysian Internet news service, Mr. Razali puzzled over why the junta broke its promise. He mused that, though the generals did not give him an exact timetable on which they would start talks with Ms. Suu Kyi, they had said dialogue would begin "very soon." Mr. Razali said that in his understanding "very soon would be like a couple of weeks or three to four weeks." So why nothing? The fact is that the military dictators treat the U.N. with contempt. By contrast, even as they were snubbing the U.N., Burma's rulers were busy seeking a dialogue with the U.S. Why? Because they knew they had to watch their step with the Americans. Especially when Lorne Craner, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights, democracy and labor, had warned that: "Our patience for positive change is beginning to run out and we, along with the U.K. and others, are considering all options, including further sanction." A week after those remarks were made in February, the junta issued a statement urging the U.S. to enter into a "constructive dialogue toward humanitarian, economic and political development in Myanmar" and welcomed "American advice on making the transition to a stable democracy." Quite likely, Burma had noticed the American forces that had by then massed on Iraq's border. For although the generals may shrug off the U.N., but they dare not ignore the United States' muscle, military or economic. The U.S. already imposes on Burma an investment ban, travel restrictions on junta members and an arms embargo. Further sanctions were expected after Mr. Craner's remarks. And the generals understood that the United States means what it says. In that is a lesson for all: Those who stand firm against dictators get treated with respect. That's why Burma's rulers are afraid of the U.S., but not the United Nations. U Thant, the late Burmese secretary-general of the United Nations, saw the world divided between civilized nations and uncivilized regimes, not between East and West. His view is as relevant today as when he ran the world body. But the experience of Burma, which has endured brutal military dictators for 40 years, leads me to believe that we need to expand on U Thant's understanding. Although we cannot ignore the uncivilized world, we must speak to it in a language it can understand. Unfortunately, that language is force, which is necessary if civilization is to triumph against tyranny and terrorism. As the United States has shown it understands, and rightly, sometimes must overcome barbarity with war. Although war can be the shame of humanity, war dedicated to humanity is not. On the other hand, a peace that provides no space for democracy is a sham; in war some innocent people may die, but peace under a dictatorship represses all. The need for war results from the failure of existing rules of international diplomacy and a dated understanding of the concept of sovereignty. This lies at the heart of the problem for international relations. The U.N. and others often refrain from action because of their understanding of sovereignty. Yet if after the Cold War the United States and Europe had been less particular about sovereignty and poured all their effort into a global agenda against tyranny, Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong Il might have been removed sooner. What we need is a new order to achieve sustainable peace by empowering people and their institutions through a new set of international rules that refuses to recognize that tyrants have sovereignty over the land and people they terrorize. The U.N. and all it symbolizes has been shown to be inadequate to the task, as Burmese can testify. We need a world body willing to take action, one that is less particular about concepts like sovereignty when it comes to tyrannical regimes and one that is willing to act as forcefully in a multilateral manner as the U.S. has done unilaterally. Maybe then my people can be free. Mr. Tin is the former editor of Thint Bawa magazine, which was shut down in 2000 by the military in Burma. He is an editorial consultant for Radio Free Asia (Burmese Services) in Washington, D.C. and for the Democratic Voice of Burma, which broadcasts out of Norway. -------------------------------------------------------------- |