Burma Related News - Aug 5, 2000.

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HEADLINE

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Kyodo News - Myanmar rebels hijacking Thai boats for ransom: Thai officer

The Japan Times - A step forward in Asian cooperation

Virtual New York - Burma outraged at religious intolerance label

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INTERNATIONAL PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ON AUG 8.

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Myanmar rebels hijacking Thai boats for ransom: Thai officer

RANONG, Thailand, Aug. 5 (Kyodo) -- Myanmar antigovernment guerrillas have been hijacking Thai boats near the southern Myanmar port town of Murgui and holding them for ransom, a Thai military officer said Saturday.

According to the officer, who declined to be identified, minority groups such as the Karen National Union, the Arakan Army, the Arakan Liberation Party and the All Burmese Students' Democratic Front have been taking fishing vessels and holding them for between 300,000 and 5 million baht per boat, he said.

The groups operate in the Andaman Sea near Murgui, where all Thai fishing vessels have to pass before entering the southern Thai province of Ranong.

When the trawlers are seized, rebel agents in Ranong contact the ship owners and demand a ransom. Some owners are paying 500,000 baht every six months, he said.

''The reason Myanmar authorities revoked Thai fishing concessions in its waters was to cut a major financial resource for the antigovernment minorities,'' he said.

The two powerful Arakan groups, which are based in Myanmar's western coastal state of Arakan, operate not only near Thailand and Myanmar but also in the Malacca Straight.

They are armed with weapons and high-speed boats, and possess the ability to hijack heavy cargo ships, he said.

Since Myanmar ended Thai fishing concessions last October, following the siege at its embassy in Bangkok, the pirates have increased weapons smuggling, the officer added.

The Arakan and Karen groups trade weapons from the former battle zone of the Khmer Rouge to Lankan rebels, Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Naga National Council, an antigovernment minority based in west Myanmar.

''But the weapons from the now-defunct Khmer Rouge are in low demand since they are old and outdated. The Tamil Tigers, the biggest customer, is now looking for modern arms from Singapore,'' the official said. $1=40.65 baht.

The Japan Times: Aug. 6, 2000

A step forward in Asian cooperation
By JOHN BARRY KOTCH
Special to The Japan Times

SEOUL -- Asia is gradually moving toward a security framework dramatically different from that in Europe, consisting of processes rather than institutions between and among nation-states -- many of which have outstanding political, ideological or territorial conflicts. And in Asia, unlike the case in Europe, the principle of nonintervention in sovereign affairs has been traditionally taken as a mantra -- particularly for China -- whether under the guise of humanitarian intervention or conflict prevention. (In this regard, it remains unclear whether Indonesian intervention in East Timor constitutes a one-time exception or the harbinger of a new process.)

The process that began in Southeast Asia three decades ago as an economic association between six Southeast Asia states -- Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines -- now has 10 members, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and a partially ostracized Myanmar.

But equally significant is the way ASEAN has grown externally as well as internally. ASEAN Plus Three incorporates the three major northeast Asian countries, China, Japan and South Korea, as ASEAN dialogue partners. These nations, unable to form a Northeast Asia regional security dialogue, have latched onto ASEAN as a next best choice.

Further removed, ASEAN has reached westward to extra-regional -- but nonetheless Asia-Pacific powers -- Australia and Canada, as well as eastward to the European Union, making each a dialogue partner. The former are both APEC members while the latter forms the European arm of ASEM (the biannual Asia-Europe meeting).

The most creative initiative at this year's ASEAN meeting was the adoption of the so-called troika formula, under which the sitting, future and previous chairs are empowered to bring an immediate security threat in the region to the attention of ASEAN members in a manner somewhat analogous to the prerogative of the U.N. secretary general to bring a threat to international peace and security to the attention of the U.N. Security Council.

Externally, the most innovative initiative to emerge from ASEAN has been the ASEAN Regional Forum, an ASEAN spinoff that combines the ASEAN countries plus all its dialogue partners, and primarily focused on maintaining security in the Asia-Pacific region. It is to this body that North Korea was invited and formally inducted in Bangkok last week as its 23rd member.

ARF has clearly broken new ground in moving beyond the economic to a dual focus on security and economic concerns. And in providing the only venue outside of the United Nations in which North Korea is a participant rather than a recipient, it has made an important contribution to regional security. In effect, the two Koreas now have a place to go to and an audience to listen whether to air grievances or solicit support for cooperative undertakings of an economic, political or security character.

The bilateral meetings at the foreign-minister level that took place in Bangkok between North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and his South Korean, Japanese and U.S. counterparts augur well for ARF as a forum for constructive engagement focusing on confidence-building and preventive diplomacy. However, because ARF functions on the basis of consensus decision-making, it must earn its wings every meeting. And it must tread carefully, for the two Koreas will brook no foreign-authored formula for changes in peninsula political or security arrangements.

Like ASEAN, ARF is also reaching out beyond the region, sharing information experience and expertise with counterparts such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization of American States and the U.N., as well as encouraging its members to annually provide an individual security outlook.

In a region where the absence of a regional security structure is at once notable and regrettable, ARF appears prepared to render a most important service. In addition to its unique regional role, it has broadened the concept of security to include economic, social and human components -- in particular with reference to the impact of globalization. Such an approach is all to the good.

John Barry Kotch is associate professor of political science, Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Seoul.

Virtual New York
Burma outraged at religious intolerance label
Friday, 4 August 2000 7:41 (ET)

RANGOON, Burma, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- State-controlled media in Burma reacted with outrage Friday at the recommendation of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to continue to designate Burma as a "country of particular concern".

The official New Light of Myanmar (Burma) quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying criticism of religious intolerance in Burma was totally unfounded.

"The U.S. Commission's characterization of Myanmar as a land lacking in religious freedom is a misrepresentation of the highest degree and the Myanmar government completely refutes the allegation."

"Anyone who has lived and worked in Myanmar or visited the country even as a tourist will be able to attest to the harmony that exists among the diverse religious communities in the country," it said. "Even though nearly 90 percent of the population are devout Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and others are free to practice their faith without let or hindrance. It is not uncommon to see pagodas, churches, mosques and temples coexisting peacefully side by side in cities and towns across the country."

Burma's military government has been condemned by the United States. and other Western nations for using forced labor and for arbitrary arrests and torture of prisoners.

It has also been accused of persecuting Buddhist monks who have dared to speak out against the ruling junta.

The country's minority Karen population, which is predominantly Baptist Christian, has been the target of military suppression since 1962.

During nearly 40 years of military rule in Burma, the country's Indian minority, primarily Hindus and Muslims, have faced systematic
discrimination, according to human-rights activists.

Nevertheless, the foreign ministry statement claimed religious tolerance was a hallmark of the military regime.

"The people and government of Myanmar attach great importance to promoting harmony among religions in the country and are proud of their achievement," it said. "Material and financial assistance is provided to religious groups without discrimination to help promote their work.

"Religious tolerance is a reality in Myanmar. To allege otherwise, as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom does, is to turn a blind eye to reality."