BurmaNet News: March 18, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
         March 18, 2001   Issue # 1758
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

INSIDE BURMA _______
*DVB: Rangoon mum about 15 Mar bomb explosion at Kemmendine railway 
station
*DVB : Laid off workers stage protest at tyre factory in southeast Burma
*Mizzima: Burma starts using GSM phones
*DVB: Karen rebels free over 900 labourers in attack on Burmese 
government camp 
*The Nation: A New Burmese Election Without Aung San Suu Kyi?
*Muslim Information Centre of Burma : Mosque Imam killed by junta in 
Burma

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*The Nation: Speed pills from Burma seized 
*The Nation: PM Lauded for Taking on Burma

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*KNU Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department: SPDC's Oil Palm 
Plantation

OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*The Nation: Burma up to its Old Trick of Niggling Thais

OTHER______
*CFOB: Ottawa Event of Student Rights in Burma
	


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________



DVB: Rangoon mum about 15 Mar bomb explosion at Kemmendine railway 
station

March 18, 2001

Democratic Voice of Burma [DVB] has learned that there was a bomb 
explosion at Kemmendine railway station in Rangoon at 2130 on 15 March. 
According to local people from Kemmendine Township, the bomb explosion 
was very strong and the extent of the damage is still not known. DVB has 
also learned that the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] has not 
issued any official report regarding the bomb explosion.










___________________________________________________



DVB : Laid off workers stage protest at tyre factory in southeast Burma

Laid off workers stage protest at tyre factory in southeast Burma 
Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 16 March

DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that there was a protest at 
the Kanthayar Motorcar Tyre Factory in Thaton Township, Mon State. The 
protest was staged by a group of redundant workers seeking compensation. 
DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this report.

[Myint Maung Maung] A motorcar tyre factory with a capacity to produce 
500 assorted sizes of tyres daily was opened in 1996 by the Ministry of 
Industry-2 at Kanthayar Village in Thaton Township. The factory was 
unable to perform its routine manufacturing tasks in 1999 due to 
shortage of fuel oil and raw materials. Daily wagers, who are unskilled 
workers, were retrenched on 18 February 2000 while 120 grade-5, grade-4, 
and grade-3 skilled workers were cut back on 27 May 2000. The remaining 
30 grade-2 and grade-1 skilled workers were retained and ordered to sell 
the manufactured tyres.

The Ministry of industry-2 issued an announcement on 25 February 2001 
that 19 grade-2 skilled workers were discharged of their duties. The 
announcement also said that the laid off workers who are interested in 
other clerical positions within the ministry will be accepted for 
transfer. But, those workers who were cut back earlier and the current 
laid off workers did not receive any compensation.

It was learned that old workers from Thaton together with the 
recently-retrenched workers staged a peaceful protest in front of the 
factory from 1100 to 1600 [local time] on 13 March seeking severance pay 
or compensation pay. Thaton District authorities and No 5 Military 
Intelligence Unit arrived at the factory and told the protesters that 
they can submit a petition to the Ministry of Industry-2 and another to 
the Ministry of Labour. According to workers from Thaton Township, the 
authorities urged them to stop the protest which could affect regional 
security and asked the protesters to disperse.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 16 Mar 01

___________________________________________________






Mizzima: Burma starts using GSM phones

Rangoon, March 18, 2001 
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com) 

Burma has started using the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) 
phones in major cities of the country although it still circles around 
the top businesspersons and military officials. Last year, Sky-Link 
Communications of the Virgin Islands was commissioned by the Burmese 
government to supply 135,000 GSM phones.  
The government announced in March last year that it intended to launch 
GSM network in the country, starting Rangoon and Mandalay in two months 
and a further six towns to be covered by the end of 2000.  

However, it was delayed till last month then only the government started 
launching the GSM phones.  

It has sanctioned to have 70,000 lines and 30,000 lines respectively 
available in Rangoon and Mandalay, the two major cities of Burma.  

Some other major cities including Myitkyina, Moulmein, Bhamo, Taunggyi, 
Sittwe and Prome have access to GSM network as well.  

A GSM phone in Burma officially costs Burmese Kyat 5 lakhs (US $ one 
thousand). However, it costs around Kyat 7 lakhs in black market. At 
present only a few people 
are using the GSM phones.  

Apart from the GSM, Burma has been using cell phones, connected to CDMA 
(Code Dialing Multiple Access).    




___________________________________________________





DVB: Karen rebels free over 900 labourers in attack on Burmese 
government camp 

Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 15 March

About 50 members of the Karen National Union, KNU, 6th Brigade attacked 
the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] No 4 Central Training 
Camp at Wegali near Thanbyuzayat. Three SPDC soldiers including one 
captain were killed in the 30-minute battle while the remaining SPDC 
soldiers fled the camp. Democratic Voice of Burma, DVB, contacted KNU 
Secretary Phado Mahn Shar and inquired about the attack.

[Phado Mahn Shar] A company from the 16th Battalion of the KNU 6th 
Brigade attacked No 4 Central Training Camp at Wegali, southeast of 
Thanbyuzayat. It is very close to Thanbyuzayat, I think it is about 
three or four miles. The camp is also responsible for the security of 
the Wegali Dam construction project nearby. When we attacked the camp in 
the early hours of the morning on 6 [March], we captured U Tint Lwin, 
deputy chief engineer of Public Works, together with three bodies of 
SPDC soldiers including one captain. We seized 120 barrels of diesel 
oil. Other things which we seized included 11 big bulldozers, seven 
[?McCall] bulldozers, six loader trucks, three scraper trucks, five 
roller trucks, one earth levelling truck, three blower trucks, seven 
dumpers, four water trucks, two [?paving] trucks, two army trucks, and 
95 other small cars. We destroyed over 40 trucks and cars. We also 
destroyed all 120 barrels of diesel oil. Our troops freed over 900 
workers whom the SPDC has forcibly recruited from all over the country. 
We let them return home.

[DVB correspondent] Do you have plans to release the deputy chief 
engineer and all?

[Phado Mahn Shar] Yes. They are well looked after. They will be released 
when the time comes. We have a prisoner of war policy. Anyone captured 
on the battleground will be released.

[DVB correspondent] Now that you have released all the civilians from 
all parts of the country, how did they all go back?

[Phado Mahn Shar] Well, the civilians went back to their respective 
homes by their own means, helping each other. We can only liberate them, 
we cannot send them back directly to their homes. But the people 
themselves have pity and consideration for each other and they help one 
another. We believe they will all reach their homes safely.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 15 Mar 01 




___________________________________________________



The Nation: a New Burmese Election Without Aung San Suu Kyi?

Sunday, March 18, 2001



 Ko Ko Thett

>From what has leaked out about the discreet talks between the Burmese 
military junta and the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, it's now 
more obvious that the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi 
has been subjected by arm-twisting by the State Peace and Development 
Council (SPDC). Both parties, having been engaged in a political 
deadlock for more than a decade, and watched by an international 
audience, are now like two exhausted and wounded roosters at the 
beginning of the end of a Burmese cockfight.

First, that the military has to "be provided with immunity from 
prosecution for past abuses" so as to establish an interim government 
with Suu Kyi's NLD is rather demanding on the part of the junta which 
has ruthlessly practised atrocities against its own people since 1962. 
The military turned a deaf ear when, in 1998, marking the 10th 
anniversary of the 1988 Burmese peoples' uprising, the exiled opposition 
leaders, echoing Suu Kyi, said they were ready to consider a "blanket 
amnesty" for the generals who should be sent to international tribunals. 
Why not then? And why now? 
Even bystanders in Asean have now lost confidence in the military 
administration and they are showing a willingness to help the junta pave 
the way to democracy. The junta has given in because they just couldn't 
resist. There remains a question: Will the people of Burma who, unlike 
serene politicians, have suffered most from the junta, easily forgive 
and forget the past abuses inflicted upon them?

Another military condition is also quite demanding, that "Suu Kyi give 
up any personal ambition and not take a direct role in any civilian 
government". 
"Whether or not Suu Kyi takes a seat in future civilian government is 
her personal matter. But do you see anyone else who could reconcile the 
ethnic minorities, the junta and the opposition groups?" asks Thar Swe, 
an exiled student.

The last condition, as far as we've learned, is the most demanding and 
could be the most dangerous. This is to drop the "NLD's insistence that 
its landslide victory in the 1990 election be honoured".

Than Shwe, head of the SPDC, in a meeting with Prime Minister Mahathir 
Mohammed of Malaysia in January, hinted that there would be no new 
election in the next two years.

There was not a single day in which Myanmar (Burma) Radio and Television 
from 1998 to the end of 2000 did not air the forced resignations and 
forced denouncements of NLD members.

The SPDC's hidden agenda is getting clearer now. When ready and 
confident again, they will sponsor another election in which their own 
party will contend with the NLD without the charismatic Suu Kyi.




___________________________________________________




Muslim Information Centre of Burma : Mosque Imam killed by junta in 
Burma  

March 2001

On December, 15, 2000, junta?s military officers shot the Imam of mosque 
in the head, killing him.  The shooting occurred in the compound of 
mosque in Karen state of Burma. The military officers led by Captain Soe 
Hla of Light Infantry Battalion No.28 came to the Kyauk Taung village 
mosque and asked the Imam, U Sulaiman ( about 37 years old) to go as 
porter. The Imam of the mosque requested the authorities to spare him 
from portering, as it was the month of Ramadan, Islam fasting month. 
However, the military officers shot him dead.  Kyauk Taung village is in 
 Pa-an township, Karen state.   

Troops from the regime affiliated Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) 
also shoot a Muslim for refusing porter duties during Ramadan  On 
November, 15, 2000, the DKBA shot a Burmese Muslim in the compound of a 
mosque in southern Karen State for refusing to work as a porter. When 
this 45 years old Imam asked to be spared from forced labor, he was shot 
in the head by seven DKBA soldiers and left dead in the mosque compound. 
According to a Karen merchant, the DKBA soldiers were led by Major Maung 
Than Nu who shot the Imam. The Imam, U De Ta   was cleaning the Lat 
Padan village mosque as well as its compound, when DKBA soldiers came to 
the mosque.Lat Padan village is in Pa-an township, Karen State. DKBA is 
a militant group supported by the military junta.   



___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				



The Nation: Speed pills from Burma seized 

Filed at 12 : 17 pm (THLD time) 


MAE SAI, March 16 (The Nation) -- Army troops this morning arrested a 
village headman and seized 1.2 million of speed pills which the suspect 
and two other accomplices had smuggled into the northern province of 
Chiang Rai from Burma's Thachilek province.  
The village headman, identified as Anan Techaweesak of Tambon Sri Don 
Moon in Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen district, was charged with possession 
of illicit drug with intent to sell.  
Soldiers intercepted the pickup truck in which the suspect and two 
others were travelling in Mae Sai district near the Burmese border. Two 
other suspects managed to escape. 


___________________________________________________





___________________________________________________



The Nation: PM Lauded for Taking on Burma

Sunday, March 18, 2001



 SOPON ONKGARA

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, trying to fulfil his campaign 
promises, works hard to be perceived truly as a fast-action man who 
expects prompt results under his policy directives. After taking office 
less than a month ago, he has been steering his national agenda towards 
achievement with a series of crisis meetings, though solid results have 
yet to be appreciated by the public.

He faces tough tasks, of course, and many challenges on vital fronts 
look threatening. His impressive track record and success in business, 
making him the wealthiest man in the country, don't seem to count for 
much when it comes to the burden of managing affairs of state.

Thaksin knows that he has to live up to expectations. At least, a 
certain degree of public sentiment is in his favour. He has gained a lot 
of sympathy following the explosion on a Thai International aircraft. It 
looked as if somebody wanted him dead, though that has yet to be proved 
through investigation. Well, there is nothing wrong if he intends to 
make the most out of the incident and the yet inconclusive probe. 

The way he has managed to wrap up key issues with speed certainly has 
raised many eyebrows. The plan on a national assets management 
corporation was sealed in about a week, followed by fast action with 
strategic meetings on drug suppression and low farm commodity prices. 
Then he will move on to tackle the village revolving fund, the debt 
suspension programme, health care and other issues.

His management style is utterly impressive, compared with his dithering 
and slow-moving predecessor Chuan Leekpai.

Supporters tend to give him a big thumbs-up. The picture looks good. 
Well, actual results might take more time, like the wartime motto of the 
American Sea Bees - the impossible just takes a little longer.

Well, if he can produce results within a reasonable period of time, then 
a lot of people would see a stark difference between Thaksin and other 
run-of-the-mill politicians. On the contrary, if the success remains 
just media hype with no solid and tangible results, then he is likely to 
be asked: "Where is the meat?"

Some are inclined to think, with growing concern, that Thaksin is biting 
off much more than he can chew within a short period. That could lead to 
a rearrangement of priorities and reallocation of resources. 
Local problems aside - such as his warning over an impending second 
economic crisis, which requires serious efforts to handle with limited 
resources - he has also taken on the long-standing problem of the 
relationship with Burma. From testy exchanges of tough words, people are 
seeing a limited scale of armed confrontation, including a Burmese 
patrol boat shooting at a Thai fishing trawler on the high seas.

The conflict with Burma is the first test of Thaksin's diplomatic 
skills. His tough talk and sabre rattling are quite in contrast with his 
nature as a businessman, who instinctively prefers a solution through 
negotiations and horse-trading.

His tough talk, based on anger over the spreading sales of amphetamine 
tablets, known locally as "the mad drug", struck a responsive chord 
among the public. Thaksin got a lot of support for his stance that 
Thailand should take no more nonsense from Rangoon, considering the size 
of the drug-producing region, with Mong Yawn as the key town.

The aerial pictures of Mong Yawn, which has been expanding rapidly in 
the past few years, should give any viewer a shock. Most of the capital 
spent on the enlargement of residential areas and basic infrastructure 
came from Thailand, the major market for the mad drug and the conduit 
for it to reach world markets. This year, the Red Wa in a satellite 
enclave just immediately inside the Burmese border are expected to 
produce 500-600 million pills, worth up to Bt50 billion at street 
prices.

Well, maybe Thaksin should be given public support in his campaign 
against the Red Wa. The country's overall stability depends much on the 
extent of the flow of narcotics from Burma, which has been turning a 
blind eye to what has been going on in its drug-producing regions. But 
he must make sure that his brash style does not upset military strategy 
and plans to cope with a large-scale armed confrontation, if not actual 
clashes, in the future if bilateral negotiations fail to improve the 
situation. 
Burma's position in the world is quite odd. The country is among the 10 
Asean members, but it is more or less portrayed as a pariah state in the 
international community, due to its human rights abuses and a military 
junta with blood-soaked hands. It stands out like a sore thumb among 
Asean members, even when compared with Cambodia.

As of now, Thaksin seems to understand Thailand's position, and where he 
intends the country to be in a soured relationship with Burma. He stands 
to win loud applause if his efforts eventually become successful in 
ending or minimising the drug traffic from Burma. It does not matter how 
he achieves it, through negotiations or armed confrontation, if he 
produces desirable results.


He won the general election with a crafty campaign strategy. The public 
expects him to apply the same skills in his campaign against the mad 
drug produced by the Red Wa who have received tacit, if not blatant, 
support from the junta in Rangoon.






_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 


KNU Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department: SPDC's Oil Palm 
Plantation


Karen National Union
17 March, 2001
02#01

FORCED LABOUR
 

16.2.2001
 
Since in the month of January SPDC have started it's oil palm plantation 
plan in Tanawthiri township (Taninthayi) in Mergui district, Tenasserim 
division. The planned area to clear are in the surroundings of 
Thaboleik, Leikpu, Htihpo-awmay, Kabawplaw villages in the east of 
Taninthayi town and the villagers from those related villages were 
ordered to clear the plantation site. The area of plantation was not 
known yet. SPDC authorities are working for 'Yan Naing Myint Co.' and at 
the work site Oo Sann Myint and Oo Kyi Yan are leading the work as 
managers. For security SPDC had ordered their Pyi Thu Sit (local 
militia) to take responsible and Oo Kyaw Naing is leading those 
military. SPDC had ordered all the local village tracts nearby to plant 
the oil palm sapling when the site was ready. Every household must go 
and plant the sapling from the beginning to the end.  



_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________



The Nation: Burma up to its Old Trick of Niggling Thais

Saturday, March 17, 2001


Editorial

The Burmese junta leaders' decision to close down a temporary crossing 
opposite Kanchanaburi's Sangkla Buri District, ostensibly as retaliation 
for the Thaksin administration's crackdown on drug trafficking, will not 
be the last. Even though it was reopened yesterday, there's nothing to 
say that it could be closed down again at any time upon the whim of the 
generals. This trend will continue until Thailand's decision-makers give 
way under pressure. Why? Because the generals want to play games with 
the Thaksin government and its policies.


For years, this has been the pattern of Thai-Burmese relations, 
especially since 1988 when there was more interaction between the two 
countries. The crossing in Sangkla Buri is one of 12 temporary border 
checkpoints that dot the 2,401 kilometre-long frontier.

These border passes are mainly meant to help people living along the 
border to undertake trade and other things. It would be an interesting 
development were Burma in the future to completely seal off the three 
international checkpoints, one of which the junta has already refused to 
open. 
Burma is trying to blackmail Thailand, especially those gullible 
businessmen and provincial officials with vested interests. Every time 
Burma closes one checkpoint, there is an immediate outcry from this 
group. In the past, it would rattle the decision makers.

But this time around it remains to be seen whether it will be the Thais 
or the Burmese who break first. Though this action of sealing off a 
border crossing can hurt the locals reliant upon daily trade and 
people-to-people contacts, ultimately it can only affect the Burmese 
more. Of late, Burma's ties with India and Bangladesh have improved and 
the junta therefore can utilise more of these types of crossings with 
its western neighbours. 
However, most of the essentials that the Burmese need are to be found in 
Thailand.
These efforts to create economic strangulation will not work if the Thai 
authorities carefully consider the junta's tactics. The shooting 
incident involving a Thai trawler on Wednesday was nothing new either, 
as this sort of thing happens quite frequently, whether there are border 
incidents elsewhere or not. Sometimes, Burmese fishermen working on the 
Thai trawlers are the victims of the junta's aggression.

The border situation seems tense as both sides are manoeuvring 
themselves into a corner. Thailand has long declared war on drugs, but 
this latest move is possibly the hardest strike yet at Burma's 
intransigence and its refusal to cooperate on narcotics suppression. 
With the junta raising the stakes, Deputy Prime Minister General 
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who is also the defence minister, apparently is 
preparing for a visit to Burma. He foolishly believes that he alone can 
ease the tension and solve demarcation problems. He must be out his mind 
to think that the Burmese leaders, who are facing mounting economic 
trouble, will respond to his personal diplomacy. 
The junta knows that Chavalit wants to prove to his fellow countrymen 
that he has been right all along. Yes, it is quite possible that he will 
have some success because he and the Burmese military leaders are old 
chums. But it is impossible to expect, given the intransigence of the 
junta, that he will achieve anything but short-term, band-aid solutions.

Making things that much more difficult between Thailand and Burma have 
been certain statements emanating from Rangoon's embassy in Bangkok, 
which went a bit too far in criticising the Armed Forces and the Thai 
government. The criticisms were a breach of protocol under international 
standards. 

The junta has resorted to these niggling tactics time and again because 
they have proven to work against successive prevaricating 
administrations. Will it be the same this time?

Far too often we have seen the unity and solidarity of Thai authorities 
put to the test by the wily junta. If the new government is serious 
about combating the drug menace, then it will have to hang tough as the 
Burmese generals try once again to play their little games of 
brinkmanship.



______________________OTHER______________________




CFOB: Ottawa Event of Student Rights in Burma

Canadian Friends of Burma


STUDENT RIGHTS IN BURMA

Come and learn more about the repression of students in Burma ¡ and 
raise your voice to release Min Ko Naing and other student political 
prisoners! Then join the caravan, which will leave after the speakers' 
presentations from the University to deliver the signed postcards to the 
Burmese Embassy at 85 Range Road.

Refreshments will be served.
When: March 21 at 12: 00pm 
Where: University of Ottawa, Agora Lounge, Jock-Turcot University Center 
 ---------------------- 
Speakers:
Ken Wiwa, Nigerian journalist and human rights activist, author of æIn 
the Shadow of a Saint', has traveled to Burma and met Aung San Suu Kyi 
Warren Allmand, President of Rights & Democracy, has met with 
pro-democracy groups on the Thai-Burmese border 

Tin Maung Htoo, student activist and former political prisoner colleague 
of Min Ko Naing

Jean-Michel Archambault-Cyr, a Canadian student who risked arrest to 
participate in an education forum in Burma organised by Aung San Suu Kyi 
's National League for Democracy
 





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