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BurmaNet News: December 27, 2000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 27, 2000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:34:00
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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
December 27, 2000 Issue # 1696
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
NOTED IN PASSING: ?Suggestions and complaints of the consumers should
always be considered in quality control of the products.?
Than Shwe, Senior General and now Consumer Advocate? See Myanmar
Information Committee (SPDC): Senior General Than Shwe Urges Industry-2
Ministry Officials to Listen to Consumers' Suggestions, Complaints to
Upgrade Products
INSIDE BURMA _______
*DVB: Severe jail terms imposed on Chinese migrants
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Shan party meets ceasefire leaders
*Shan Herald Agency for News: More Wa resettlers coming
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*AFP: Global press watchdog condemns imprisonment of Myanmar journalist
*AFP: China seizes heroin hidden in tea near Myanmar border
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Myanmar Information Committee (SPDC): Senior General Than Shwe Urges
Industry-2 Ministry Officials to Listen to Consumers' Suggestions,
Complaints to Upgrade Products
*Burma Courier: Indonesia's Exspan Begins Drilling in Magwe Area
OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*The Toronto Star: When Will Canada Stop Trade with Burma?
OTHER______
*Karen Human Rights Group: Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of
Prisoners on
Burma's Frontlines?report issued by KHRG available on web
*The Irrawaddy: Sub-editor Wanted
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
DVB: Severe jail terms imposed on Chinese migrants
Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt. Translated by BBC
SWB.
25 Dec 00
The SPDC State Peace and Development Council has started to impose
severe jail terms beginning this month to Chinese nationals for illegal
entry because of the daily increase in the influx of illegal Chinese
into Burma. Chinese who illegally entered Burma before were temporarily
detained and then sent back, but now they are being sentenced to severe
jail terms because the SPDC fears the illegal entry problem could be
blown out of proportion and could cause other unforeseen racial
problems.
Last July in commemoration of the 50th anniversary Golden Jubilee of
China-Burma diplomatic relations the SPDC released detained Chinese from
Burmese jails and also sent back illegal Chinese nationals to the
border. An unidentified SPDC township official said lately the groups
that have signed cease-fire agreements with the SPDC themselves are
engaging in trafficking illegal Chinese into Burma, the directive came
from the hierarchy to stem the flow of illegal Chinese entering Burma.
On 20 December Mu-se Township Court sentenced one human trafficker and
14 Chinese, who illegally entered Burma through Kyu-Hkok Panghsai, to
jail terms ranging from four to 14 years. Some North Koreans were
believed to be among those illegal immigrants. An unidentified Mu-se
Township SPDC official said he was not sure whether the scheme to give
severe jail terms to illegal Chinese immigrants will be sustainable or
not. This report was filed by DVB Democratic Voice of Burma
correspondent Kyaw Sein Aung
____________________________________________________
Shan Herald Agency for News: Shan party meets ceasefire leaders
27 December 2000
Shan State Journal, an organ of the Shan State Peace Council, a joint
setup of the Shan State Army "North" and Shan State Army "Central",
better known as Shan State National Army, reports meeting of the Joint
Action Committee on 2 September.
The meeting in Lashio was attended by 19 members including Khun Htoon
Oo, President' of the Shan Nationalities league for Democracy, the
party that won the most seats in Shan State in 1990, Sao Hsoten (SSA),
Sao Gaifah (SSA) and Sao Gunyawd (SSNA).
Among the topics discussed were the massacres of Shan villagers in
Kunhing in May and the meeting between Khun Htoon Oo and Razali Ismail,
UN Special Envoy, in late June. No details were given.
The JAC issued a statement on 27 July in protest of the massacres that
killed at least 83 people. The JAC is made up of three groups: SNLD, SSA
"North" and SSNA.
Ceasefire leaders meet spy chief
It was also reported that Maj.-Gen. Hsoten, Chairman of the SSPC and
Col. Gunyawd, its Secretary-General met Maj.-Gen. Kyaw Win, Deputy
Director of the Military Intelligence Service on 21 September. (Gunyawd
in his interview, same issue, says it was 20 September. The Purl, a
weekly internet magazine gives another different date, 19 September).
The meeting was held at Armed Forces Guesthouse on Inya Road and
attended by Sai Htoon Mawng, Staff Officer of the First Region (SSA),
Lt.-Col. Thet Htut and Col. San Pwint, both MIS officers. It discussed
massacres in Kunhing, activities of the JAC and the relations with
other ceasefire groups, said SSJ.
"They said they would investigate (about the killings) and see to it
that they (the junta units) behave," said Gunyawd to SSJ. (The Purl
however renders a different version that Hsoten and Kyaw Win were
embroiled in hot dispute over the issue.)
Courtesy: Shan State Journal, Volume 2, Issue #4 (1 November 2000)
___________________________________________________
Shan Herald Agency for News: More Wa resettlers coming
Dec. 27, 2000
On 10-11 December, about 600 Wa families were seen traveling from
Panghsang to Tachilek and continuing to Monghsat, said a source in
Tachilek.
Allthough details are lacking, it was reported earlier that the new
arrivals would be resettled in Mongton Township, southeast of Mongsat.
Up to 50,000 households from the Wa region in the north were targeted to
be relocated along the Thai-Shan border. It is estimated between
15,000-25,000 households had already arrived during the last dry
season.
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
AFP: Global press watchdog condemns imprisonment of Myanmar journalist
BANGKOK, Dec 27 (AFP) - International watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres
(RSF) Wednesday condemned the lengthy imprisonment of Myanmar journalist
Aung Myint as a major breach of press freedom.
Aung Myint's 21-year jail term is "a heavy sentence (that) constitutes
a serious violation of press freedom," the organisation said in a
statement.
"Imprisonment as a punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion
constitutes a serious violation of human rights," it said.
The Yangon junta must "ensure the immediate release of a journalist who
merely expressed his opinions."
Aung Myint, also known as Phya Pon Ni Loan Oo, was one of six members
of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
sentenced on December 14 to 21-year terms.
He had worked for a variety of Myanmar magazines and newspapers,
several of which were banned by the military for their satirical
content. Aung Myint since 1999 had served as an information officer for
the NLD.
Aung Myint was proven guilty of violating Myanmar's emergency laws by
distributing information regarding the NLD in September, after Aung San
Suu Kyi was prevented from travelling outside Yangon.
The six had been tried in closed sessions in Yangon's Insein Prison, a
dissident source told AFP.
Recent information suggests several are in very poor health, RSF said.
The military authorities have held Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior
party members under house arrest since September 22, when they attempted
to board a train in Mandalay.
However, the junta lifted restrictions over six of the NLD's central
executive committee members earlier this month.
___________________________________________________
AFP: China seizes heroin hidden in tea near Myanmar border
BEIJING, Dec 27 (AFP) - Police in southwest China's Yunnan province,
which borders Myanmar, recently seized 244 kilograms (537 pounds) of
heroin hidden in a truck that was transporting tea, state media said
Wednesday.
The driver aroused the suspicion of border police at Mukang town in the
Jingpo autonomous prefecture, and they found the drugs mixed in a box of
tea at the bottom of the truck, Xinhua news agency said.
Three suspects were arrested on the spot. The truck was on its way to
the provincial capital of Kunming.
The seizure was equal to more than a third of the 604 kilograms of
heroin border police in Mukang have confiscated this year.
China borders the Golden Triangle, which covers parts of Thailand,
Myanmar and Laos, and has become a renowned centre of the heroin trade.
Some of the heroin is sold inside China, while large amounts are
reexported to third countries.
Although heroin seizures in China declined by 27 percent last year to
5.3 tons, there is little to indicate the drug problem is becoming more
manageable.
Last year, more than 37,000 people suspected of drug trafficking were
arrested in China, a rise of 8.7 percent from the year before.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Myanmar Information Committee (SPDC): Senior General Than Shwe Urges
Industry-2 Ministry Officials to Listen to Consumers' Suggestions,
Complaints to Upgrade Products
Yangon
Information Sheet N0. B-1659(I) 27th December, 2000
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior General Than
Shwe inspected industrial projects being undertaken by the Ministry of
Industry-2 in Indagaw region and Ngamoeyeik Bridge Project in Dagon
Myothit (East) Township, Yangon on 26 December. At the hall of Radiator
Workshop, the Senior General and party heard a report on implementation
of the Indagaw region industrial zone project on 375 acres near Indagaw
village, Bago Township, Bago Division, the aims of the project, type of
workshops included in the project, progress of work in building the
workshops and arrival of machinery presented by Minister for
Industry-2. Managing Director of Myanma Automobile and Diesel Engine
Industries reported on the salient points about the workshops of MADEI
being built in the region, Managing Director of Myanma Agricultural
Machinery Industries on progress of work in setting up farm machinery
workshops and Managing Director of Myanma Industrial Construction
Services on progress of work in implementing the project.
In giving guidance, Senior General said: " As the Ministry of Industry-2
is the base organization of the nation's industries, it should play a
leading role in developing the industrial sector. The ministry should
lay down work plans based on its experiences gained throughout the
years for progress of the nation's entire industrial sector. It is
required to make efforts to manufacture durable, attractive and quality
products from the ministry's factories and workshops.
Suggestions and complaints of the consumers should always be considered
in quality control of the products". Senior General observed car parts,
samples of the machines which are to be manufactured by the motor parts
and farm machinery workshops displayed in the hall. The entourage
inspected farm machinery including power-tillers, tyres, car parts,
cars and 80-HP tractors, progress in construction of the Radiator
Workshop and arrival of machinery and assembling of a 10-ton container
Hino truck.
They also inspected construction of a metal bearing plan and a disc
wheel plant. They also went to Ngamoeyeik Bridge Project in Dagon
Myothit (East) Township and inspected progress in construction of
Ngamoeyeik Bridge. Ngamoeyeik Bridge is located 16 miles from Yangon on
No.7 Highway linking No.2 Highway and No.3 Highway and No.1 Highway and
No.4 Highway. The 660 feet long bridge will have a 28-foot wide
mortorway and two walkways on either side each measuring four feet in
width. It is designed to withstand up to 60-ton trucks.
___________________________________________________
Burma Courier: Indonesia's Exspan Begins Drilling in Magwe Area
Issue of Dec. 17-23, 2000
RANGOON - An Indonesian company that has a production sharing contract
with Burma's national petroleum company, MOGE, has begun drilling
operations east of Magwe about 500 km north of Rangoon.
A news item published in national media on Thursday noted a visit by
Energy Minister Lun Thi and officials to No.1 test-well of Exspan
Myanmar located northwest of the village of Ohntwe in Magwe township and
a welcome extended by Pudjo Suwarno of Exspan.
Exspan is a subsdiary of the Exspan energy group of Indonesia, over 90%
owned by Medco Energi, a publicly listed company on the Jakarta
stockmarket. Medco bills itself as an integrated oil and gas company.
In Indonesia where it operates more than a dozen rigs both onshore and
offshore, Medco has production sharing contracts with Indonesia's state
oil company, Pertamina. The company also operates a methanol plant on
Bunyu island off the east Kalimantan coast.
The production sharing contract with MOGE has been in place since 1998.
This is the first report of activity in the Magwe area. The Yenangyaung
field farther north has been exploited since colonial times. There has
been no recent news from other concessions Exspan has in the
Kyaukkyi-Mindon, and Padaukpin-Monnatkon areas. A report in June said
the company had plans to drill at least two wells on its Myanmar
concessions during the year.
MOGE has also been doing some exploratory drilling in the Myingyan area
of Mandalay division which the minister also included in his tour.
Nationally, inland oil production is up about 10% this year, close to
the 10,000 bpd level
______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
The Toronto Star: When Will Canada Stop Trade with Burma?
December 27, 2000, Wednesday, Edition 1
Penny Sanger
History and the world's memory have deserted the 52 million people of
Burma.
Their teardrop-shaped country once exported rice, teak and high
standards of art and learning throughout southeast Asia. Now, with its
agricultural economy in ruins, HIV-AIDS on the increase and most people
living in poverty, fear and oppression, the generals in charge rely on
weapons, foreign investment and tourism to keep their rickety regime
functioning.
Burma (or Myanmar) is probably the best current example of a country
whose human and natural resource capital is being destroyed by the
current taste for the uncontrolled - and ostensibly uncontrollable -
march of corporate power across the villages, forests, farms and rivers
of the globe. And Canada is right in there, marching with the best of
them.
Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, listed Canada as one the three
biggest investors (at $21.45 million) in Burma during the first three
months of fiscal year 2000, probably because of the expansion of Burma's
biggest foreign-owned mine, Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe, which is in a 50-50
partnership with the military regime in Rangoon, is incorporated in the
Yukon, has its head office in Vancouver and is listed on the Toronto
Stock exchange.
Imports of Burma-made textiles and garments to Canada have more than
doubled since Canada imposed a version of sanctions that amounted only
to removing Burma from our list of "most favoured nation" trading
partners. Most worrying of all are the corporate connections that link
Canadian businesses (among them Power Corp and Prime Minister Jean
Chretien's son-in-law Andre Desmarais) with the sale of Chinese arms to
Burma.
Desmarais is on the board of directors of CITIC Pacific (China
International Trust and Investment Corporation), the huge Chinese
conglomerate that spawned the country's military export agency,
Polytechnologies. As everyone knows, military might - with the help of
Chinese weapons, aircraft and armoured vehicles - is what keeps Burma's
50 million people docile. The Chinese military contract, worth about
$1.2 billion, has helped the Burmese army grow in recent years to more
than 400, 000. And Burma has no external military enemies.
There was brief hope that this might change when the International
Labour Organization took an unprecedented action Nov. 30 on forced
labour in Burma. It asked its 167 members, their governments, workers
and employers to "take appropriate measures to ensure that their
relations (with Burma) do not perpetuate or extend the system of forced
or compulsory labour in that country . . .."
But no one can visit or do business either in Burma or with the regime's
business partners without in some way paying into its many-tentacled
ruling military system. The military relies on forced labour and, until
this summer, the day after the ILO's commission of inquiry left the
country, there was no law against forcing people - mainly villagers and
children - to carry out, unpaid and unfed, any jobs the military needed.
Given the quality of the Burmese judicial system and the pandemic nature
of forced labour in the country (The Economist recently estimated
800,000 people could be virtual slave labourers), the new law is not
going not change anything in a hurry.
Young men and women carry ammunition and gear for soldiers, children
break up rocks for new roads, grandmothers clean canals, farmers build
barracks. Local military commands commonly force this work on citizens
who are told they must "contribute" their labour to the national cause.
Rape, beatings and forced prostitution are often part of the job.
Farmers are compelled to hand over crops and chickens and pigs to the
military, knowing that to protest could result in the whole village
being torched.
The ILO has no authority to impose sanctions or, like the United Nations
Security Council, to require its member nations to do so. It can ask
governments, employers and workers to examine what their foreign
investors and other overseas contacts are doing in Rangoon but getting
them to stop is another thing.
Nearly two years of argument between the human rights group, Canadian
Friends of Burma, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade, about the legitimacy of Canadian mining companies
doing business with the regime, ended in a standoff, the foreign affairs
lawyers claiming they could not act under current World Trade
Organization rules.
The United States imposed sanctions on all new investment in Burma
several years ago. A U.S. State Department report on Burma states,
"Forced labour, including forced child labour has contributed materially
to the new industrial parks subsequently used largely to produce
manufactured exports including garments." But U.S. imports of garments
have risen more than sixfold, to $231.1 million worth since 1992. Robert
Naiman of Washington's Centre for Economic and Policy Research argues
that since the U.S. is the destination of two-thirds of Burma's garment
exports and these represent one- quarter of the regime's access to G-7
currency, it is time to ban those imports. A U.S. law bans the import of
goods made by prison labour and the WTO theoretically allows
restrictions on such goods.
Canada's policy on corporate complicity with human rights abuses in
Burma is far less clear than the American. Ten years ago a democratic
coalition won a landslide victory in Burma. Our corporate connections
with the generals, who continue to ignore this and to lock up and
torture their opposition, will stiffen human rights activists'
determination to put Burma on Canada's moral map.
Penny Sanger is an Ottawa activist and writer.
______________________OTHER______________________
Karen Human Rights Group: Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners
on
Burma's Frontlines?report issued by KHRG available on web
Dec. 27, 2000
Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on
Burma's Frontlines, the latest report by the Karen Human Rights Group,
is
now available online at the KHRG Web Site (www.khrg.org).
Based on KHRG interviews with prison convicts from all over Burma
who have escaped forced labour for SPDC troops, this
report tells the story of their arrest, sentencing,
life in the prisons and the increasing use of convicts
as porters by Burma's military junta.
The interviewees describe arbitrary arrest and sentencing
of people to long jail terms for petty offences, the
brutal and inhuman conditions in the prisons, and the
even more brutal abuse and killings of convicts who
are forced to go into combat situations with the
military - in many cases after their sentences should
have expired. Many convicts now believe that the SPDC
is convicting many people on false charges, or minor
charges like "hiding in the dark", simply to get more
convicts for use as forced labour. Thousands of
convicts are now given false promises of sentence
reductions, forcibly shunted to 'Won Saung' porter
holding camps, and then taken as forced labourers to
frontline bases until they either die or escape.
While the SPDC claims to be replacing civilian forced
labour with convict labour, the report explains that
this is not so: that the use of forced labour is
expanding, and that increasing numbers of both
convicts and civilians are being used to support the
ever-expanding military. Other issues raised include
the AIDS problem in the prisons, the prison visits by
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
and the frustration, anger and destitution throughout
Burma which leads more and more people to crime.
___________________________________________________
The Irrawaddy: Sub-editor Wanted
[Posted to soc.culture.burma]
The Irrawaddy, a Burma-related monthly newsmagazine, is seeking a new
sub-editor to work in our Chiang Mai, Thailand office. The ideal
candidate should possess excellent writing skills and currently reside
in Thailand. A background in journalism and an interest in Burmese and
Southeast Asian affairs are a very definite plus. Duties include editing
articles submitted by outside contributors, writing news briefs, and
some administrative tasks. The position is available immediately. Salary
and other details will be discussed with candidates who are invited to
come for interviews. For further information or to submit your resume,
please contact us at waddy2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Irrawaddy is a publication of the Irrawaddy Publishing Group
(formerly Burma Information Group). IPG is an independent news agency
established by Burmese citizens living in exile and is not affiliated
any political organization. The Irrawaddy seeks to promote press freedom
and access to unbiased information.
Contact address:
P.O. Box 242
Chiang Mai University Post Office
Chiang Mai 50200
Thailand
waddy2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.irrawaddy.org
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