Burma Related News - July 12, 2000.

Foreigners arriving in Thailand will be reminded that drug traffickers face the death penalty, in a new campaign aimed at warning off the hundreds of Westerners arrested here with drugs every year.

Thailand's neighbours Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia topped the table of drug traffickers arrested by narcotics police last year.

But Britain came in fifth after 59 of its nationals were nabbed in 1998 for acting as drug mules, up from 41 the previous year.

Travellers from Australia, Germany, the United States and Italy were also pulled up on drugs charges in far higher numbers than in 1998.

As a result, videos will soon be screened in planes en route to Thailand, warning passengers that anyone caught with drugs faces death by firing squad, or a long stretch in the country's notoriously tough jails.

"Ending up in a Thai jail is not fun, as many foreigners have found out. And Thailand does not need them there in the first place," the government's public relations department said in a statement.

"The new campaign will give them the picture of the trouble that they will face if they come to Thailand to do drugs," it said.

Department spokeswoman Chintana Phandfark said Thailand was trying to help foreigners who might be lured into the drugs trade without being aware of the full consequences.

"The campaign will warn them of the penalties they will get if they break our laws."

Narcotics Control Board spokeswoman Laddawal Choawiwat said the video will first be screened on Thai Airways International flights arriving into Thailand, possibly as soon as September.

"Although travellers may already know that the punishment is severe, we want to warn them again, like they do in Singapore, Malaysia and other regional countries. Until now we have not made this so clear."

Tourists in Bangkok's shopping and nightlife districts will also be handed free postcards warning them against getting involved in the drugs trade.

Advertising agencies will later this month pitch to the Narcotics Control Board for the 1.5 million baht (37,500 dollar) media campaign which will also include radio spots, leaflets and posters.

Thailand has won international praise for its warn on drugs. The United States described its anti-narcotics drive as a "remarkable" effort which had virtually stamped out heroin production in just two decades.

But it faces a grave new threat from amphetamines, which are increasingly being produced along the Myanmar border, often by syndicates which have given up farming opium.

And drug war lords are now turning to ecstasy as the latest addition to their product range. Reports said Wednesday that the first batches of cheap Myanmar-made ecstasy have already hit Bangkok's streets.

Mitsubishi To Buy Condensate From Myanmar Gas Project

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Mitsubishi Corp. (J.MIB or 8058), a leading Japanese trading house, plans to purchase as much as 40% of condensate output from the Yetagun natural gas development project offshore Myanmar, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The Yetagun gas project, which involves Premier Oil Plc (PMOIY) of the U.K., Malaysia's state-run Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (P,PET), Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. (J.NPO or 5001) and Petroleum Authority of Thailand, is slated to start full-fledged production by the end of July, he said.

The gas field is expected to yield 200 million cubic feet a day of natural gas, and 6,500 barrels a day of condensate.

Natural gas will be be supplied through the pipelines to Thailand, while condensate will be stored at a floating storage off-loading facility which Mitsubishi will lease, and 40% of which will be sold to Japan and other Asian countries by Mitsubishi, the spokesman said.

The Japanese trading giant will invest $70 million to build the FSO facility which will have a capacity of 625,000 b/d, and lease it to Premier Oil under a 15-year contract, he added.

Malaysian National News Agency - BERNAMA

WORLD NEWS

July 11 , 2000 19:08PM

ASEAN SENIOR OFFICIALS' MEETING ON FORESTRY HELD IN MYANMAR

YANGON, July 11 (Oana-Xinhua) -- A meeting of senior officials on forestry of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is being held here, attended by delegates of all ASEAN member countries except Singapore.

The three-day third meeting, which began on Monday, is the first of its kind hosted by Myanmar and is also attended by officials from ASEAN Secretariat.

The meeting covers discussions on prevention of forest fire in the ASEAN region, signing of memorandum of understanding on boosting production of forest products, and implementation of strategy on cooperative work of forestry in the region and its progress.

Papers on laying out the same standard and norm for the forest products of ASEAN nations, forming of ASEAN forest production service and setting up of a central department for control of forest fire are read.

Before the senior officials' meeting here, ASEAN expert groups had held meetings on herbal and medicinal plants, and on research and development for forest products as well as an ASEAN seminar on current international issues affecting forestry and forest products.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

-- Oana-Xinhua

South China Morning Post

Wednesday, July 12, 2000
BURMA

Student muster devalues degrees
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok

The military regime is creating a "lost generation" of unwanted graduates by sweeping a backlog of students swiftly through its university system.
The Government said yesterday that all university classes would be allowed to restart by July 24 after years of delay. The universities were shut in 1996 after political protests. Only after taking extraordinary precautions have the authorities dared to reopen them.

As many as one million Burmese students have suffered a truncated education over the past 12 years. Some 400,000 students have seen their education put on hold since 1996.

In their hurry to push semi-educated students through to graduation the university year had been trimmed to four months, a Rangoon-based observer said yesterday.

"They are downgrading the value of a degree. The danger is that future employers and clients are simply going to shun the current generation of graduates. It's a crying shame," the observer said.

Most universities have only been open for a total of three years since 1988 when student demonstrations triggered nationwide marches against military rule. Some third and fourth year classes were allowed to resume as a trial "soft opening" last September. Now first year and second year students are being allowed to join them.

The extended closure of all but a handful of military and medical colleges has prompted even relatively sympathetic countries like Japan to warn the ruling generals that they needed to turn the education tap back on.

Even without the backlog problem there are serious doubts about the quality of an education system that noticeably deteriorated when the best teachers fled during the three decades of eccentric socialism under former dictator Ne Win.

Now many students complain bitterly that they are merely taught how to memorise the answers to exam questions.

"It's awful. These people are desperate for a real education yet they can only attend these ghastly cram sessions," said a Rangoon resident.

The two main universities in the capital, traditionally a hotbed of dissidents, Yangon University and the Yangon Institute of Technology, appear to have been turned into post-graduate institutions. Undergraduate campuses in Rangoon and in the second city Mandalay have been shifted to the outskirts of town near to police or army offices.

Students from the provinces have been told to attend new universities that are being set up across the country - presumably to break up any dangerous concentrations of potential dissidents.

It is difficult to find out exactly what is happening - many students may choose or be forced to continue with government-run distance learning courses.

Inside China

Yunnan Executes Five Drug Traffickers; Three Burmese Nationals

Jul 12, 2000 -- (BBC Monitoring) On 26th June in Kunming, the Intermediate People's Court of Kunming city held a "meeting to deal a blow to drug-related crimes." At the meeting, the court openly announced verdicts on and executed according to law five serious criminals, on charges of smuggling, trafficking in, and transporting drugs. Three of the five criminals were from Burma.

The three Burmese drug-criminals were drug traffickers Ying Han [name as transliterated] and Sai Yanzhan [name as transliterated], and drug courier Li Jie [name as transliterated.]

Criminal Ying Han, male, was also called Yin Han [name as transliterated]. He was born in the Union of Burma in 1957. He was a farmer from Manglinzhaizi [name as transliterated], the Union of Burma. On 15th September 1996, this criminal secretly transported heroin to China. He was arrested when trafficking in heroin at the brigade number one of Lawan Farm of Zhangfeng Town of Yunnan Province's Longchuan County. A total of 3,299 grams of heroin were seized on the spot.

Criminal Sai Yanzhan, male, was also named Yanzhan [name as transliterated.] He was born in the Burmese Federation in 1965 and engaged in business in the city of Shanbangbenjie [name as transliterated]. He smuggled drugs in conspiracy with drug trafficker Yan Zai, a private householder in Jiegao Village of the Jiegao Economic Zone of Yunnan Province's Ruili city, and criminals Chen Yuwu and Sai Yiang (who all have been sentenced). On 14th March 1996, Sai Yanzhan and Sai Yi'ang secretly brought four lumps of heroin to Jiegao Village of Yunnan Province's Ruili city. Then, Yan Zai, Chen Yuwu, and Sai Yanzhan jointly took the heroin to Kunming. Yan Zai and Chen Yuwu were seized when trafficking in heroin at Kunming's Donghua area on 20th March. A total of 1336 grams of heroin were seized on the spot. Sai Yanzhan and Sai Yi'ang, who had been ready to get illicit gains, were arrested afterwards.

Criminal Li Jie, male, was also called Yanba [name as transliterated]. He was born in the Burmese Federation in 1957. He was a farmer living in Qingshuihe [name as transliterated] Special Region under the Burmese Federation. Li Jie was arrested on the outskirts of Kunming city on 20th August 1998 while taking a bus from Yunnan Province's Zhenkang County to Kunming. A plastic bag with 1004 grams of heroin was found in Lie Jie's pocket then and there.

Having heard the cases related to the above three Burmese criminals and criminal Yan Zai, the Kunming city Intermediate People's Court confirmed their crimes and acquired real and sufficient evidence. The court maintained that their criminal activities had all violated the Criminal Law of the State, constituted crimes, and seriously produced great sabotage to society. Therefore, these criminals were sentenced to death, with the permanent deprivation of political rights. Following the announcement of the judgments, these five criminals refused to accept the rulings and lodged appeals, respectively. Having tried these cases, the Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court affirmed that the intermediate court clearly acknowledged and accurately determined these criminals' crimes, accurately applied the law to impose proper penalties, and legally observed judicial procedures. So, the provincial court decided to reject all appeals and to maintain the original judgments. The Supreme People's Court of the PRC ratified the capital punishments on drug smugglers Ying Han and Sai Yanzhan and drug courier Li Jie. In the meantime, the Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court ratified the death penalties on drug smugglers, including Yan Zai, with rescinded political rights for life.

After having been identified by the Kunming city intermediate people's court, the five criminals, namely Ying Han, Yan Zai, Sai Yanzhan, and Li Jie, were escorted to the execution ground and executed this morning.

Source: Zhongguo Xinwen She news agency, Beijing, in Chinese 26 Jun 00

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Indonesian labour union pickets Burma embassy

A group of Indonesian trade unionists has picketed Burma's Jakarta embassy, to press for a halt to Rangoon's use of forced labour.

A statement issued by the protestors, from the Sejahtera independent union, called on Burma to halt what it called the systematic and widespread use of forced labour for military interests.

The 40-strong group of prostestors also said Rangoon should abide by international conventions on forced labour, and Jakarta should cut ties with the regime until it did.

During the demonstration, the protestors climbed the front gate and fence and festooned it with posters.

China Daily(07/11/2000)
Myanmar says 60,000 students to resume classes

Around 60,000 Myanmar college students are set to restart classes on July 24, officials said, as the military government gradually reopens campuses shut down more than three years ago after anti-government rallies.

"Classes for second-year, third-year and first-year students, those who matriculated in 1996, will be opened on July 24. Total student numbers in these classes will be 60,000 in the whole country," a senior Ministry of Education official said.

Yangon's ruling generals ordered the closure of more than 30 universities and colleges a few days before final examinations in December 1996, after student demonstrations at campuses and on the streets of the capital.

More than 100,000 students were affected, and hundreds of thousands more who finished school since 1996 are still awaiting the chance to start university studies.

The education ministry official said fourth year classes for arts and science subjects reopened at universities and colleges throughout the country on June 27.

"Classes for those matriculated in 1997, 1998 and 1999 will begin about three, six and nine months later, respectively... After that the academic year for all classes will be normalised," he said.

An official at the Ministry of Science and Education said classes for fifth and sixth-year students at the technological universities in Yangon, Pyi and Mandalay had also re-opened in June, while first and second-year classes had been going on in these institutions since January.

"They are all now pursuing their studies peacefully," he said.

Myanmar's university's and colleges have long been hotbeds of anti-government dissent. Universities and colleges were closed for years after the military destroyed a student-led, anti-government uprising in 1988.

More than 400,000 students have passed matriculation exams since the closure of universities and colleges in 1996.

Some are still waiting to start university, but many have joined the University Distance Education (UDE) correspondence course scheme to pursue their studies, officials say.

"UDE programmes are becoming more and more popular among the students. They can work while studying," one UDE official said.

Official statistics show there were 105 universities and colleges in Myanmar in November 1999.

The Bangkok-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) opposition group said this week education in the country was in crisis despite the reopening of classes.

"Only 40 percent of qualified students have so far enrolled because of the junta's economic and educational mismanagement," it said in a statement.

"The students face transportation difficulties because the new sites of some colleges and universities have been relocated...far away from urban centres, purposely located close to military and riot-police bases."

It said reopened institutions lacked sufficient accommodation, equipment and trained teachers, and added many young people had left the country in search of work.

"Most of those who remain in the country can barely afford to feed themselves and their families, let alone pay for education fees," the ABSDF said.

Bangkok Post - July 12, 2000.
Dialogue on fishing in Bay of Bengal may start soon

Burma not ready for joint fishing ventures
Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Achara Ashayagachat

Fisheries officials were hopeful that dialogue would soon resume with Burma and Bay of Bengal countries to secure new fishing grounds for Thai fishermen.

Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said a delegation was sent to Rangoon to discuss the reopening of Burmese waters, which were closed to Thai fishermen in October.

Burma said it would contact Thailand through diplomatic channels when it was ready to reopen its waters in a manner that would ensure the sustainable conservation of its resources.

Since then, meetings have taken place between Thailand, Bangladesh, Burma, India and Sri Lanka to discuss joint fishing rights in the Andaman Sea and prevent future misunderstandings.

Mr Surin said the private sector also required clear, continuous and transparent policy statements from Rangoon, which was not ready to enter into a joint fishery venture with Thailand. He dismissed reports that Burma was allowing Singapore and Malaysia to fish in their waters and insisted that Rangoon was looking for the best way forward. Thailand's fishing technology, expertise and experience was widely recognised in the region, he said. The foreign minister also slammed rumours that Burma had sold fishing concessions to Malaysia in retaliation for Thailand's delayed payment for natural gas.

The natural gas issue was a matter for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, he said. Sources said the Bimst-Ec economic co-operation talks between the Bay of Bengal countries would not work because Sri Lanka and Thailand were the only countries keen to accelerate fisheries co-operation.

"There is only one Thai operator [Hartford company] teaming up with local partners in Bangladesh and only a few Ranong boats are fishing under Indian flags near Nicobar Islands. The Thai fishermen are not so interested in these areas," the source said.

Sri Lankan fishermen were not even encouraged to fish there, he said.

BBC - Wednesday, 12 July, 2000, 14:16 GMT 15:16 UK
144m Asian children stunted

More than 140 million Asian children suffer from stunted growth due to poor nutrition and repeated illnesses, according to a United Nations report.

Of the 209 million young children worldwide who have stunted growth, nearly three-quarters, or 144 million, live in the Asia-Pacific region.
Stunted growth in Asia
Korea 62%
Cambodia 56%
Bangladesh 55%
Nepal 54%
India 52%
Pakistan 50%
Laos 47%
Burma 45%
Vietnam 44%
Regional average 44%

North Korea has the second highest rate in the world, two percent behind Ethiopia, with 62% of its under fives smaller than they should be.

Other countries in Asia where children suffer from poor growth include Cambodia with 56%, Bangladesh with 55% and Nepal with 54%.

Inadequate nutrition and care in the first critical years of childhood not only impair physical development, but can damage cognitive ability.

Many stunted children do poorly at school, suffer from ill health and have generally lower social and behavioural abilities throughout their lives, according to Unicef's Progress of Nations 2000 report.

Girls who are undersize are more likely to grow up to become mothers of low birth weight infants, perpetuating the cycle of impaired development.

Aids

The report which also focuses on Aids and HIV shows Asia has some of the highest rates of infection behind countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

In Cambodia one in 33 young women and one in 50 young men are infected.

Burma suffers one of the fastest growing epidemics in Asia with an estimated 530,000 people infected, while Thailand has close to 755,000 victims.

Recent surveys also reveal how alarmingly little many young people, particularly girls, know about HIV/Aids.

In Nepal, for example, 80% of girls think that a person who appears to be healthy cannot be infected.

Infant mortality

The Unicef report also looks at infant mortality. Cambodia has the highest rate in Asia, with 163 out of 1,000 dying before the age of five in 1998.

It is followed by Pakistan with 136, Laos and Bhutan with 116, and Burma with 113. Japan had the lowest with 4.

The Japan Times: July 13, 2000
Visa overstayers file appeal to remain
26 foreigners petition the justice minister for special residence permits

Twenty-six foreigners who have overstayed their visas jointly filed petitions Wednesday with immigration authorities to remain in Japan.
The 26, comprising an individual and seven families with 13 children, are the third group of overstayers to apply for special residence permits from the justice minister via the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, after groups petitioning in September and December last year.

There are no set guidelines for granting special permission to stay in Japan and decisions are at the justice minister's discretion.

The latest group comprises two families from Iran and one each from the Philippines, Peru, Myanmar, Colombia and China, plus a Bangladeshi, according to the Asian People's Friendship Society, a support group for undocumented migrant workers in Japan.

The fathers of the families have all lived and worked in Japan for about 10 years. They said they decided to petition for normalized status to enable their children to continue studying in schools here.

The Justice Ministry granted special residence permits to a total of five families, comprising 20 people, from the first two groups of overstayers to apply.

The fathers of those five families have all lived in Japan for about 10 years and their children have progressed through the Japanese education system to junior high school level.

Justice Ministry officials said that "cases in which the children would have trouble studying or living in their home countries" were considered when granting permission to stay.

The first group of petitioners comprised five families with a total of 21 members, while the second comprised five families with a total of 17 members.