Rangoon's colonial grandeur, once indelibly marked with the architectural and cultural dreams of Europe, has largely faded into a mass of multi-storey skyscraper hotels designed for millions of tourists - tourists, however, who never arrive, discouraged by the brutality and forced labour perpetrated by the military regime against ordinary Burmese.
Two years ago in this city James Mawdsley, a Bristol University graduate, was put on trial, charged with being a mercenary.
His name may not be familiar to many, but if his family and a leading British QC have anything to do with it, James will forever be linked with the yearning for democracy in Burma.
Like many young people looking for a cause to identify with, James was moved by the story of a Burmese refugee fleeing oppression by the military regime. He decided to leave the security of his life in New Zealand and travelled to Burma to learn more about human rights abuses and to call for the release of all political prisoners.
He lived in the Burmese jungle with the ethnic Karen community, whose people have suffered gross human rights abuses at the hands of the military. It is estimated that up to 30,000 have lost their lives either resisting the military or because they have simply disappeared.
James's problems began soon after he illegally entered the country and was guided by rebel soldiers to Rangoon, where he began his protest. "I switched on my cassette player and democratic songs blared out," he wrote later. Within a few minutes he was arrested and taken away for questioning.
During an eight-day interrogation he was also tortured. His situation worsened considerably when after requesting a lawyer, the trial judge was brought his cell to explain that he would also be acting as his defence lawyer.
James was sentenced to five years for illegal entry. He served 99 days in solitary confinement in the notorious Insein prison.
It might have been simpler and safer if he had decided to continue his protest from outside Burma. He might have drawn more attention to the extent of military repression, particularly since it ignored the results of the 1990 general election that gave 82 per cent of the vote to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, if he had stayed in Britain. But when he was released from prison and flew out of Burma with his father, David, who turned to him and asked: "Is that it?" James replied: "Dad, I've only just begun."
A year passed but James felt that he wasn't doing enough for the Burmese people. "I thought he would just protest in London and write his journal, which he did, but it wasn't enough," says David Mawdsley, sitting in his west London home. So, last August James went back to Burma. It is at that moment that his account of his entry into the country and that of the military government diverge. James insists he travelled to the Tachilek border area with his passport, paid $5 to the local official and was given a one-day pass. Rangoon says he entered the country illegally and handed out anti-government leaflets.
His father says the documents he handed out "said nothing other than open the universities and do not obey illegal orders - which is not anti-government. That was enough for them to give him 17 years". He was sent to a prison in Kengtung, 400 miles north-east of Rangoon.
The Mawdsley family is resilient. "In many ways the sentence was so ludicrous it gave us hope," explains David Mawdsley. "If they'd said three years for this and four years for that, now that would have been much harder for the family to bear and for James to bear because it's far more reasonable. But this is such a ludicrous amount, pointless thinking about it."
Asked if his son was foolish, David Mawdsley is adamant. "Some people thought he was a bit crazy, a bit foolhardy. But no, he's not. He is determined - everyone is: his brother, his sister. Doesn't matter what colour or creed you are - he really genuinely believes in everyone's right, in human rights."
Eight months into James's 17year sentence the campaign for his release is gathering pace. He is a British and Australian citizen and officials from the British Foreign Office and both embassies in Burma are working on his behalf. The family has also engaged a leading QC to lead an appeal in Burma this year against his conviction.
Until then David Mawdsley and his family must wait and hope. "James knows he's not going to do 10 years, I know he's not going to do 10 years. James is on a real one-to-one with God . . . He is prepared to sacrifice his life for this."
Rachel Donnelly may be contacted at rdonnelly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Friday, April 28 2:04 PM SGT
Japan mulls unified e-commerce rules for Asia
TOKYO, April 28 (AFP) -
Japan is mulling unified rules for electronic commerce in Asia to boost the region's presence in the emerging online trade, an official said Friday.
"We are considering it, but we are still in the process of mapping it out," said a trade ministry official who declined to be named. He did not elaborate.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Japan's Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya would propose the rules at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations "Plus Three" on May 2 in Myanmar.
Japan is to urge the Asian countries to adopt Japanese standards in e-commerce regulations in areas including consumer protection and dispute settlement, the business daily said.
Tokyo will also offer financial and technical assistance to the nations in laying high-speed Internet networks, in a bit to help Asian nations develop their e-commerce infrastructure, it said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Japan, China and South Korea are scheduled to join the group in the upcoming meeting in Yangon.
BURMA
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Rangoon
Aye Tha Aung, a member of the party's 10-member representative committee, was arrested by police at his house on Monday night.
The party said it did not know why he was arrested or where he was being held. Military officials confirmed the arrest but said only that Mr Aye Tha Aung had been placed under "temporary custody".
Mr Aye Tha Aung is closely connected to three now-defunct ethnically based branches of the party, the Arakan League for Democracy, the Mon League for Democracy and the Zoemi League for Democracy.
The party said leaders of all three sections were already in jail.
Mr Aye Tha Aung is the first member of the party's representative committee to be arrested.
Nobel laureate Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was contained under house arrest between 1989 and 1995 and her movements are still severely restricted.
The party is allowed little more than to hold regular meetings in its headquarters in downtown Rangoon and is the target of a bitter political campaign by the Government.
Ten years ago this month, the party won a sweeping general election victory but the junta has refused to hand over power.
The committee was set up in 1998 to try to convene the 1990 parliament, a move that triggered a government crackdown which has crushed the party's ability to organise.
Hundreds of opposition activists and party members were arrested and government-sanctioned campaigns have multiplied calling for the party to be banned.
The representative committee includes party luminaries like Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and party deputy leader Tin Oo.
Mr Aye Tha Aung's arrest came a few weeks after Burma was castigated in a UN report for gross human rights violations and mistreatment of ethnic minorities in the country.
Commerce secretary P.P. Prabhu told the Senior Trade and Economic officials of the group here on the eve of the Trade ministers conference that there was need to give a definite direction to sectoral cooperation and suggested the end of 2000 as the target date.
Thai Pete, EGAT In Talks On Increased Yadana Gas Use -PTT
PTT would like to try to minimize the effects of a "take-or-pay" stipulation in its contract with Yadana developers by using more natural gas from the field, the PTT official said.
Under the 25-year take-or-pay deal PTT made in 1998 with the Yadana consortium, led by Total Fina SA (TOT), PTT is obligated to pay the full amount for gas it contracted to purchase, despite the fact that it has taken delivery of only a fraction of that so far.
PTT paid the Yadana group US$50 million in the first year of the contract and was due to pay US$280 million for the second year's supply by the end of March.
PTT and EGAT met earlier in the week to determine who should be responsible for the financial burden incurred from the PTT's failure to take delivery of gas it contracted to buy.
The National Energy Policy Office is acting as mediator in the dispute and would like PTT and EGAT to share the costs, the PTT official said, but EGAT claims that PTT didn't tell EGAT about the take-or-pay stipulation.
EGAT officials couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
Delays in the construction of EGAT's 3,600-megawatt Ratchaburi power plant, which uses natural gas for fuel, meant PTT couldn't take delivery of the gas as contracted.
After an 18-month delay, the power plant began operations in December when a 200-megawatt gas turbine came online. EGAT put a second generator online in February, raising Ratchaburi's capacity to 900 megawatts.
PTT is now taking about 230 million cubic feet of gas a day from Yadana - much less than the 525 mmscf/d it has contracted to buy.