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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 20, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NYT - The Ruin of Myanmar
AFP - India lauds Myanmar cooperation in
battling border insurgency
Asia Pulse - India, Myanmar to Improve Bilateral
Business Ties
The Boston Globe - Penalizing Burma
Kyodo News - Myanmar, hill-tribe girls replace
Thai child prostitutes
The Times of India - Myanmar Dy PM calls for better economic ties
Bkk Post - Thai tourism drive in Burma to help
fight against drugs
Bkk Post - ASEAN - Burma offers to host annual
army commanders' meeting
The New York Times
November 19, 2000 The Ruin of Myanmar he Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar is a case study in repression and
misgovernment. For 12 years a secretive military junta has ground down the
liberties and living standards of 50 million people. By banning most contact
with the outside world and buying off the leadership of restive ethnic
minorities, the junta has deflected serious challenges to its rule, despite the
dismal failure of its economic policies and spreading social ills.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, when it was known as Burma.
After the violent suppression of a democracy movement in 1988, an even more
ruthless set of generals took charge. They permitted elections in 1990, then
ignored the results when democratic forces led by Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi won an
overwhelming victory. She has spent 6 of the past 11 years under house arrest.
Other leaders of her party have been relentlessly persecuted, university
students have been relocated from the cities, and unions and civic associations
have been prohibited. The junta has banned computer modems, e-mail and the
Internet and made it a crime for people to invite foreigners into their
homes.
The Times's Blaine Harden recently reported that Myanmar, which a
half-century ago had one of Asia's best health care systems and highest literacy
rates, is now near the bottom in these and many other measures of development as
government spending has been diverted from schools and health care to the
military. Most people now live on less than a dollar a day. Drug smuggling and
AIDS have grown explosively and threaten to spill over to neighboring countries
like China and Thailand.
The United States has led international efforts to isolate Myanmar through
economic sanctions, including a ban on new investment. But other Asian countries
have been reluctant to apply pressure. China, in particular, has helped sustain
the junta through military aid. But an increasing number of countries are losing
patience. Last week the 175- member International Labor Organization took the
unusual step of condemning the junta's use of forced labor and invited member
countries to impose sanctions. A good start would be restricting trade and
investment in areas of the economy that profit from forced labor. Washington too
should consider additional steps like encouraging disinvestment by American
companies. Myanmar's people deserve international support in their struggle
against a destructive tyranny.
Monday, November 20 11:33 PM SGT
India lauds Myanmar cooperation in battling border insurgency NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (AFP) - New
Delhi on Monday lauded Myanmar's military junta for extending cooperation in
battling cross-border insurgency on the borders of India's northeastern region,
officials said.
Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh made the statement during his talks
Monday with General Maung Aye, the number two in Myanmar's military regime, an
official from the Indian foreign office said.
The two sides also discussed issues relating to bilateral relations and
felt the need to take effective steps to establis security in the border areas,
the official said after the talks.
The two sides also decided to enhance cooperation in sectors such as
tourism and the development of infrastructure in each other's countries.
Maung Aye said there was "immense potential" for cooperation in the energy
sector. Singh promised to send a team to Myanmar to study a power project
there.
Maung also spoke about the potential for cooperation in deep sea ports and
supply of natural gas to India, a foreign ministry spokesman added.
When asked whether Singh raised the issue of Myanmar's return to democracy,
the spokesman said New Delhi was committed to "democracy and non-interference in
the internal affairs of other countries."
India has vigorously campaigned for international sanctions against
Pakistan since the military coup in October 1999.
New Delhi's engagement of the Myanmar junta has provoked controversy as
India is also sympathetic to the pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Indian and Myanmar troops have cooperated in fighting insurgency in India's
northeastern states.
Earlier this year, they carried out a joint operation in which five
militant camps in Myanmar belonging to the Nationalist Socialist Council of
Nagaland were destroyed.
India is also keen to engage Myanmar to counter the growing Chinese
influence in the country.
Maung Aye during his week-long visit invited Indian businesses to invest in
Myanmar, in areas including agriculture, fisheries, pearl cultivation,
infrastructure, oil and gas, mining and tourism.
Monday, November 20 10:50 AM SGT
India, Myanmar to Improve Bilateral Business Ties NEW DELHI, Nov 20 Asia Pulse -
India and Myanmar have proposed to increase bilateral co-operation in the fields
of infrastructure development, tourism, agriculture, agro-based industry, IT and
the environment with a view to achieving a trade target of US$2 billion by
2003.
A high level business delegation, led by Gen Maung Aye, vice-chairman of
State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar now on a visit here,
has pointed out the tremendous opportunities for investment between the two
countries.
Addressing a meeting hosted by the apex body Confederation of Indian
Industries [CII] here, Maung Aye said that foreign investment in the country was
permitted in a large range of industries including agriculture, livestock and
fisheries to mines and minerals and invited India to invest in the same.
He said that a Myanmar Investment Committee had been set up by the
government to facilitate foreign investment, the services of which could be
utilised by India.
The visit of the Myanmarese delegation would be followed by a visit of an
Indian team of businessmen sponsored by CII to Myanmar in mid-December, in order
to carry forward the bilateral relationship, a CII release said.
India is currently the fourth largest export market for Myanmar, accounting
for US$163.4 million, although India barely accounts for 1.1 per cent of the
foreign investment in Myanmar.
A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL
Penalizing Burma Nov 20, 2000. TOO LITTLE ATTENTION has been paid to a showdown this past week in Geneva,
where the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization debated
punitive measures against the military junta in Burma for what an ILO Commission
of Inquiry called ''widespread and systematic'' use of forced labor.
The ILO's decision to impose sanctions on the junta represents a principled
stand by the oldest UN agency against the horrific human rights violations
perpetrated by the illegitimate regime in Rangoon. The ILO's Commission of
Inquiry reported in 1998 that forced labor ''on the scale practiced in Burma,
amounted to a crime against humanity.''
Because of the international composition of the ILO, the decision to ask
its members - labor groups and employers as well as governments - to punish the
Burmese junta becomes a paradigm for multilateral sanctions.
It was to prevent such a precedent that certain countries, anxious to
protect their own right to abuse their peoples or to invest anywhere, sought to
delay any definitive action by the ILO. With Malaysia in the lead, China, India,
Russia, and Japan backed a dilatory amendment. But to no avail. The junta had
been given five months to cooperate with the ILO but did nothing in that time to
change its laws or cease its practice of dragooning villagers into unpaid and
hazardous labor.
In Geneva, Andrew Samet, the undersecretary for international affairs at
the US Department of Labor, noted that the junta had not complied with an
ultimatum that the ILO issued last June. To make his point vividly, Samet
described the human meaning of forced labor under the Burmese military rulers.
''Workers are subject to frequent beatings or physical abuse by soldiers,''
he said. ''Some are killed. Women who perform compulsory labor are raped.
Deaths, rapes, and beatings - there are no harsher measures than these.''
This is the first time in its 81-year history that the ILO had to invoke
its Forced Labor Convention against a member (Burma ratified the Convention in
1955). Henceforth, the unions, employers, and governments that are the ILO's
constituents must review their relations with the Burmese dictatorship to make
certain they are not taking any action that might contribute to forced labor in
Burma.
Thailand in particular deserves praise for vetoing an effort by its
neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to oppose ILO sanctions
against the junta. A million victims of the Burmese junta have fled into
Thailand. The Thais have suffered corollary damage from the Burmese inferno.
Thanks to the ILO's just action, the rest of the world may come to understand
that all peoples have a stake in helping protect the people of Burma.
BANGKOK, Nov. 20 Kyodo News
Myanmar, hill-tribe girls replace Thai child prostitutes Education and declining fertility are reducing the number of child
prostitutes in Thailand's northern provinces, but the continuing high demand for
sex with prostitutes are luring children from neighboring Myanmar and from Thai
hill tribes into the business, an expert said Monday.
In Thailand's northern province of Chiang Rai, which is noted for
prostitution, children who are at risk of turning to prostitution have
increasingly continued studying even after primary school, said Simon Baker, an
expert who did a study on prostitution in the province.
The Times of India - Nov 20,
2000.
Myanmar Dy PM calls for better economic ties PUNE: The vast potential for trade and investment in the industrial and
service sector in Myanmar needs to be tapped by Indian industrialists, deputy
prime minister of Myanmar Lt Gen Tin Hla has said.
Addressing the members of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here
Saturday night, he said, "there exist immense possibilities for collaboration
between the two countries, both in the public and private sectors".
Lt Gen Hla said economic and technical cooperation between India and
Myanmar has increased since the bilateral trade agreement in 1994. Even after
this positive development the volume of trade and investment between the two
countries remained 'disproportionately low' in relation to the potential that
exists, he added.
He said Myanmar has adopted a market oriented economic system in 1988
abandoning the centrally planned system and the Union of Myanmar Foreign
Investment Law (FIL) was promulgated the same year. The law provides for a
number of incentives and guarantees to foreign direct investors and prepares an
investment-friendly environment, he added.
He said FIL provides for investment in the form of 100 per cent foreign
ownership or a joint venture with a Myanmar partner, from private, cooperative
or state sectors. The state-owned economic enterprise law prevents private
sector in 12 economic activities but these could be allotted to the private
sector if deemed beneficial for the state, he added.
Hla said the law provides for tax holiday of three years which could be
extended. Foreign investors could lease land and immovable property from the
government initially for 30 years and extend it for three terms of five years,
he added.
He said Myanmar possesses vast land areas for cultivation and priority has
been given for the development of agro-based industry. Rich marine resources,
availability of metallic and non-metallic minerals along with the forestry and
energy sector provide vast opportunities for foreign investment, he added.
He said Myanmar has a comparative wage advantage with availability of a
literate labour force. The foreign investment law guarantees that the foreign
investment under this law is not nationalised and allows repatriation of capital
and net profit, he added.
In a joint venture, foreign participation should not be less than 35 per
cent of the total equity capital. The minimum amount of foreign capital
stipulated for each investment is $500,000 for manufacturing and $300,000 for
services, he added.
He expressed hope that his visit would strengthen the bonds of friendship
between the two countries.
Bangkok Post - Nov 20,
2000.
Thai tourism drive in Burma to help fight against drugs Thailand will help Burma promote tourism in areas opposite Mae Hong Son to
pave the way for co-operation in drug suppression, the interior minister
said.
Banyat Bantadtan said while tourism was a major income earner, both
countries would have to work more closely to prevent tourists smuggling
drugs.
Mr Banyat said the military was tightening checks on drug trafficking in
border areas following reports of a rise in production.
Prevention and suppression strategies will be built into the Ninth National
Economic and Social Development Plan, taking effect in 2002.
Mr Banyat declined to say if the government would agree to calls from
judges for an executive decree giving the military special drug-fighting
powers.
The minister, however, said the military now had full authority to search
border areas and arrest narcotics producers.
Bangkok Post - Nov 20,
2000.
ASEAN - Burma offers to host annual army commanders' meeting Wants to make up for its absence Burma has offered to host the annual Asean army commanders' meeting in
2002, an army source said.
Singapore and Vietnam had earlier put in bids for the meeting.
Burma's representatives made their proposal at the shooting competition
which precedes the first military chiefs meeting in Cha-am, Prachuap Khiri Khan,
from Nov 21-22.
Burmese army chief Gen Maung Aye turned down an invitation to attend this
year's meeting. Next year's meeting is in the Philippines. "Burma wants to make
amends for Gen Maung Aye's not attending this year's meeting, because he was
unhappy Thailand invited US army chief of staff Gen Eric Shinseki to be the
guest speaker," the source said. "However, Gen Maung Aye still wants to tighten
relations with Asean army leaders and he has offered to host the meeting in
2002."Sharpshooters from all 10 Asean nations, including 40 from Burma, are
competing in this year's shooting competition, which began on Friday at the
infantry centre, Prachuap Khiri Khan. On Nov 22, army commanders of eight Asean
countries will test their shooting skills at the closing ceremony.
The source said Burma had paid eight million baht to a Thai firm for an
automated target system which would be used in the 2002 shooting event. |