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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - January - 19, 2001. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Albright Hopeful About Myanmar
FEER - A Ray of
Hope
SCMP - General rejects notion of Western
democracy
AP - US Secy Of State Albright Hopeful About
Talks In Myanmar
Xinhua - Myanmar Building Hill Resort to Promote
Ecotourism
City Press SA - Myanmar troops torch
homes
SHA - Border Township
Becoming Crowded
The Nation - Thais yet to 'love their
neighbour'
Thursday January 18 3:27 PM ET
Albright Hopeful About Myanmar WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright expressed hope Thursday that talks between Myanmar's
military government and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi represent a genuine
effort at national reconciliation.
Speaking to reporters, Albright noted the United States has imposed
sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, to promote democratic change and
has worked to keep the country's democratic opposition alive.
According to U.N. officials, secret talks between government officials and
Suu Kyi began last October. They were officially disclosed last week.
Besides national reconciliation, Albright said Myanmar needs ``swift and
concrete progress toward ending abuses of human rights, which regrettably
continue.
``Burma needs a new beginning, not another false dawn,'' she said.
Relations between the military and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
have long been bitter. In 1990, two years after the military seized power, the
league won a landslide victory in general elections, but the military refused to
acknowledge the results or yield power.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Albright said she and President Clinton have been concerned about the
continued use of forced labor by the Myanmar government. She noted that the
International Labor Organization has urged governments, businesses and trade
unions to review their relations with Myanmar and to respond with appropriate
measures.
Far Eastern Economic
Review.
BURMA
A Ray of Hope
Talks between the junta and Aung Sang Suu Kyi are
greeted with cautious optimism
By Bertil Lintner/BANGKOK
Issue cover-dated January 25, 2001
BURMA'S MILITARY LEADERS may appear to have made a New Year's resolution to
make up with the opposition, but don't bet on it. Hopes of a breakthrough
followed the unexpected announcement in early January that the generals had
opened a dialogue with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the
beleaguered opposition National League for Democracy.
The news was generally welcomed with cautious optimism, though analysts did
note that it comes at a time when both sides have their backs against the
wall.
The government has been under growing international pressure to open a
dialogue with the opposition and improve its human-rights record, while the
economy is in a desperate state and faces further ruin from International Labour
Organization sanctions imposed in November because of the continuing use of
forced labour.
The NLD, meanwhile, has been virtually wiped out as a functioning
opposition. Suu Kyi and most of the top leadership are in detention, while
thousands of followers have been arrested and hundreds of offices
shuttered.
The announcement that Suu Kyi and the junta's powerful intelligence chief,
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, had met several times came after Razali Ismail, the United
Nations special envoy on Burma, concluded a five-day visit to the country on
January 9. He talked to both sides during his trip.
"Mr. Razali was able to confirm that the two sides had started a direct
dialogue since last October and that they were satisfied with the results
achieved so far in the area of confidence building," the UN said in a statement,
adding: "The two sides are expected to start more substantive discussions
shortly."
There were soon further signs that the government was adopting a change of
approach in its dealings with Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since she
tried to visit party workers in the northern city of Mandalay in late
September.
For the first time in five years, state-run newspapers halted their vicious
daily attacks on Suu Kyi, apparently at the request of Razali. Then junta
officials visited NLD headquarters and said 86 jailed supporters would be
allowed to receive food parcels and letters.
This is all welcome news. The Thailand-based All Burma Students' Democratic
Front hailed the talks as a "historic breakthrough" and "the most positive sign
we've seen since the general election held in 1990." In that election, the NLD
won 392 out of the 485 seats contested in the first multiparty polls in Burma
since 1960. The irate army nullified the results and the assembly has never
met.
But most diplomats and analysts are wary, while some fear the junta's real
intention is simply to persuade the international community to ease the pressure
on Rangoon before it reverts to its bad old ways. "It is a start, but we must
not expect results overnight," says Harn Yawnhee, Brussels-based spokesman for
the pro-democracy movement in exile. "There is a lot of ground to be covered and
a lot of mistrust to be overcome. Anything can happen to derail the process and
both sides will have to work hard to keep the process alive. It could be a long
process, with many ups and downs and stops before it goes anywhere."
But a Bangkok-based analyst says: "The generals will use the ruse of
democracy to get the international community off their backs. They plan to
legitimize the status quo under a different guise." He and others say the litmus
test of the generals' sincerity will be if they release Suu Kyi and all other
political prisoners and allow the reopening of opposition-party offices.
The pessimists note that it's not the first time the generals have held
talks with Suu Kyi. She met twice with Khin Nyunt and junta chief Gen. Than Shwe
in 1994, during her first long stretch of house arrest. But the talks went no
further after Suu Kyi said she was not trying to strike a deal. The difference
now is that while there was no significant outside involvement in the earlier
talks, the latest ones have been pushed by strong regional interests and the
United Nations.
The catalyst for change appears to have been the appointment of Razali, a
Malaysian, as special envoy to Burma. His appointment came amid mounting
frustration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations--especially in
Thailand--at the debilitating effect Burma's membership was having on the bloc's
relations with the West, particularly Europe. Burma was inducted as a member in
1997, largely at the behest of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Razali visited Burma as a representative of the United Nations, but it was
no coincidence that Mahathir was in the country at the same time on an official
visit. Razali said Mahathir's visit "definitely helped the UN effort" but was a
separate Malaysian initiative.
MALAYSIAN CONNECTION
Mahathir, apparently keen to redeem a reputation tainted by his harsh
treatment of the opposition back home, focused on the carrot of business and
investment in his talks with the Burmese. Diplomats say much of the political
spadework was done just before his trip by a visiting team of high-ranking
Malaysian officials.
Mahathir and these officials made it clear to the generals that donor
nations would never accept a situation in which they went ahead and passed a new
constitution without the opposition. The generals needed to do more if they were
to win Western aid, which was cut after the army crackdown on pro-democracy
protests of 1988.
Clearly the generals were feeling the pressure from sanctions and their
overseas allies to shape up. But some Burmese fear they will return to past
practices by holding a couple of rounds of talks, letting them break down and
then blaming it all on Suu Kyi; then they will pass a new constitution to
legitimize their rule.
"We have to be cautious. I think sanctions, including the ILO's, are
working," says pro-democracy magazine editor Aung Zaw, adding in reference to
tensions within the junta: "It also shows that internal conflicts among the top
three are tense. Not only the NLD, but the junta itself is in deep trouble. I
think Khin Nyunt has to do that as he has been pushed in a corner by his
rivals." Those rivals are Than Shwe and army chief Gen. Maung Aye.
Harn Yawnhee is more optimistic. "Given the involvement of Dr. Mahathir,
Asean, Razali and the UN secretary-general, I think it will not be a repeat of
1994. I think both sides realize the need to find a solution for the sake of the
future of Burma as a nation. Let us wait and see."
South China Morning Post
Friday, January 19 8:30 AM SGT ASIA: General rejects notion of Western democracy The military has dampened hopes of a breakthrough in moving the country
towards democracy, with a senior leader quoted yesterday as saying democracy
will take time to build and will never follow the Western model.
News this month that senior members of the ruling military held secret
talks with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi raised hopes that
the country's political stalemate could finally be broken. But the official
Kyemon newspaper quoted Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the
ruling State Peace and Development Council, as saying Burma would resist
international pressure to adopt Western-style democracy.
"It can be witnessed that some big neo-colonialist countries are
interfering and applying pressure on Myanmar [Burma] on all fronts to force the
adoption of a democratic system identical to theirs," General Khin Nyunt told an
audience of teachers in the capital on Wednesday. "In fact, it is impossible to
introduce the same democratic system to all countries as they differ in
historical backgrounds, geographical conditions, national characters, traditions
and culture, and the evolution of their political, economic and social
conditions.
"A certain period of time is needed to implement the national policy and
create a disciplined and durable democratic system which will be the most
compatible with the desires of all nationalities," the powerful intelligence
chief said.
Burma's military, which has ruled since 1962, insists it is committed to
building democracy but says premature political reform would cause anarchy and
national disintegration.
The opposition National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 by a
landslide, but the junta has never allowed it to govern.
However, the military now appears to be taking a more conciliatory line
with its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Newspaper articles and cartoons attacking the
league have suddenly ceased.
But chances of a quick breakthrough remain remote. General Khin Nyunt said
foreign countries should stop meddling in Burma's affairs. "Such undue influence
and interference will hinder the democratisation process," he was quoted as
saying.
In Thailand, meanwhile, the twin boys who lead the ethnic Karen rebel
Burmese group God's Army were said to be anxious to meet their parents -
refugees in a Thai camp - after emerging from the jungles where they lived
fugitives' life for 12 months. Johnny and Luther Htoo, believed to be 13 or 14,
have also promised to cut down on smoking, said Payakkaphan Phokaew, the chief
of the Suan Phung district where the twins and 12 young followers surrendered to
Thai authorities on Tuesday, ending an ineffective, three-year armed campaign
their ragtag guerilla group had carried out against the Burmese military.
Friday January 19, 6:47 AM
US Secy Of State Albright Hopeful About Talks In Myanmar WASHINGTON (AP)--U.S. Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright expressed hope Thursday that talks between Myanmar's
military government and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi represent a genuine
effort at national reconciliation.
Speaking to reporters, Albright said the United States has imposed
sanctions against Myanmar to promote democratic change and has worked to keep
the country's democratic opposition alive.
According to U.N. officials, secret talks between government officials and
Suu Kyi began last October. They were disclosed officially last week.
In addition to national reconciliation, Albright said Myanmar needs "swift
and concrete progress toward ending abuses of human rights, which regrettably
continue."
Myanmar, she said, "needs a new beginning, not another false dawn."
Relations between the military and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
long have been bitter. In 1990, two years after the military seized power, the
NLD won a landslide victory in general elections but the military refused to
acknowledge the results and to yield power.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Albright said she and U.S. President Bill Clinton have been concerned about
the continuing use of forced labor by the Myanmar government. She noted that the
International Labor Organization has urged governments, businesses and trade
unions to review their relations with Myanmar and to take appropriate measures
in response.
Myanmar Building Hill Resort to
Promote Ecotourism
2001.01.19 11:17:19 YANGON, January 19 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar is building one more hill resort station in Thandaung, southern
part of the country, in addition to the existing two in the north, to add more
place for rest and recreation for holiday-makers, especially
foreign holiday-makers.
Permission has been granted by the authorities for free use of land
and altogether 20 local companies are engaged in the project, official newspaper
The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The construction project is being implemented with the cooperation of
the Myanmar Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races.
Myanmar has introduced ecotourism opening mountain resorts in the
country, mostly in northern Mandalay division.
In addition to building hill resorts, Myanmar has also opened some
islands including the Thahtay Island in Kawthoung opposite to Thailand to
foreign investors to build beach resorts to promote tourism
industry.
According to official statistics, the number of foreign tourists
visiting Myanmar came to 151,970 in the first eight months of 2000,
falling by 17 percent over a year earlier. Foreign investment in the country in
the hotels and tourism sector stood at over 1.04 billion U.S. dollars in
41 projects as of 2000.
City Press SA
18/01/2001 22:13 - (SA) Myanmar troops torch homes Bor Wi, Thailand - The latest refugees of a guerrilla war between ethnic
Karen rebels and the Myanmar regime said Thursday they were forced to flee to
Thailand after Myanmar troops torched their homes.
Sheltering under tarps propped up by bamboo at a temporary camp, some 81
ethnic Karen villagers said they had to leave more than 40 of their old and sick
relatives who were unable to make the arduous journey.
One of the villagers, Pert, 24, said the group had walked eight days
through jungle after Myanmar troops raided their settlement at Mae Kong Ni in
eastern Myanmar, killing one Karen man and taking a 17-year-old woman away. Her
fate is not known.
"I can't remember how many times we've moved on. We have to hide in the
jungle to save our lives," said Pert, who uses one name. "I miss home but I
don't dare to go back," he said at the camp, set up 10km inside Thailand.
Hundreds Trapped
A volunteer who works with displaced Myanmar civilians at the border,
feared there could be hundreds more trapped inside Myanmar.
The volunteer, who requested anonymity, believed that 200 or more villagers
had been heading toward the border near Bor Wi, but had either gotten lost or
were forced into hiding in the forest.
"When the 81 who got here arrived three weeks ago, I saw the children
sitting down, not even looking up, just grabbing the food and stuffing it in
their mouths. I don't know how long it had been since they'd eaten," the
volunteer said.
About 100 000 Karens, Myanmar's largest ethnic minority, have taken refuge
in Thailand after being displaced in a campaign by the military regime to flush
out rebels fighting a guerrilla war for more autonomy for their people.
The war is led by the Karen National Union, but its influence has waned
under withering assaults from government forces. Other rebel groups have also
fought ineffectual battles, including God's Army, a ragtag group whose twin
teen-age leaders surrendered on Tuesday to Thai authorities. -
Sapa-AP
Shan Herald
Agency
Border Township Becoming
Crowded
Mongton, the township opposite Chiangdao and Wianghaeng
districts, Chiangmai Province, have suddenly become a crowded area following
recent influx of Wa people from the north, according to local sources.
Since New Year, hundreds of trucks had been coming into the
township through Mongpiang and Monghsat to unload thousands of their hilltribe
people in Shan villages scattered throughout the township. The flow eased only
towards the end of the second week of January.
Sang Zing, a local source, said he was told up to 8,000
households (about 40,000 people) were to be relocated in the area. (Another
source however said the target number of households was 5,000.)
"Even villages across the border, Na Mark-Lwe and Nawng
Htalang, have become packed with hundreds of newcomers," said a Thai source.
The farthest village in the west so far resettled by the Wa
is Mongjawt, between Monghta and Nakawngmu, the village on the Mongton - BP1
highway. Sang Zing said he saw at least 100 new households there.
Shan Herald
Agency
Tens of Thousands of Wa Waiting to
be Relocated
Travelers who came through Panghsang, the Wa capital near
Chinese border two weeks ago, said they saw tens of thousands of people outside
the town in temporary shelters waiting to be transported to the Thai border in
Mongton Township.
"The townspeople told us these people were forced out from
mountain villages," one said. "Not all of them were Wa. We saw many Lahus,
Chinese and even some Shans among them."
The Nation - January 19,
2001.
Letters to the Editor - Thais yet to 'love their neighbour' BY MIN ZIN. THE spectre of Bang Rachan and a century of nation building still cast
shadows over Thais' perception of Burma and the Burmese.
Watching the Thai film "Bang Rachan" is an uncomfortable experience for
Burmese as the story portrays the sacrifice of brave Siamese villagers fighting
to the death against superior Burmese invaders.
When the two forces engage each other, resulting in the death of the "evil"
Burmese, the Thai audiences respond with enthusiastic hurrahs and applause. And
as the corpses of Siamese pile up and are set aflame, Thai girls start sobbing.
"You can hardly feel any sense of humanity in the theatre, where instead all
negative feelings are predominantly overwhelmed," says Ko Myo, a Burmese who has
seen the movie.
Though there is little historic evidence to support the film's narrative,
it succeeds in reinforcing deep-seated Thai prejudice against Burmese. The plot
is in fact derived from a well-known national myth which students are exposed to
in school. The project was filmed without consulting any historians.
"We intended to [film without consulting historians] for fear that a
dramatic element of story telling would be destroyed by factual information and
subsequently all enjoyment would be lost. We made it real only to convince the
audiences," says the director, Thanit Jitnulkul.
Pornpol Sarnsamak, 23, a senior student of history at Chiang Mai
University, is unimpressed. "Invented nationalism has been commercialised again
in a highly sophisticated manner. It is not a healthy thing to instil patriotism
among people through the use of distorted accounts. I don't think we should be
that biased," he says.
The roots of such bias are surprisingly shallow, but nonetheless complexly
interwoven. Although most Siamese and Thais have always tended to regard Burma
as their enemy, the national identities of both countries are relatively recent
creations. The pre-modern kingdoms that covered much of their present
territories did not fully encompass either country, and there was considerable
overlapping. In some Siamese chronicles, for instance, the city and province of
Chiang Mai, now known as Thailand's "second capital", was identified as part of
the Burmese Empire. According to the "Ayutthaya Chronicles", Lan Na (present-day
Chiang Mai) had sided with the Burmese virtually from the beginning of their
1563 invasion of Siam.
Not only politically but also culturally the two countries were not so
easily distinguished from each other. Both were - and still are - extremely
heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity, further blurring the line between them. In
the Chiang Mai region, which remained an important vassal state of Burma from
1558 to 1774, cultural and religious influences especially ran deep in both
directions. It was only with the sacking of the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya in
1767 that the Siamese began to draw a strong black line between "us" and "them".
The destruction of Ayutthaya, the pride of classical civilisation, was an
unmitigated disaster for relations. It would be difficult to over-estimate the
impact of this episode on the subsequent development of Siamese perceptions of
Burma.
Krom Phrarawangboworn Mahasurasrihanat, a chronicler of Siamese history,
gave full vent to the sense of outrage that still simmers in the hearts of many
Thais: "The sinful Burmese ravaged our villages and cities. A great number of
our citizens [were killed], and many temples were . . . ruined. Our peaceful
kingdom was abandoned and turned into forest. The Burmese showed no mercy to the
Siamese and felt no shame for all the sins they had committed."
A leitmotif of much Siamese historical commentary since Ayutthaya has been
the image of the cruel and ineffably evil Burmese. Even in other genres, such as
the writings of learned monks, the Burmese emerge as dangerous enemies of all
that is precious to the Siamese, including their Buddhist faith, something that
even now is an integral part of both nations' identities.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such stereotypes had become
fodder for the cause of nationalism, the ideological underpinning of Siam's
efforts to build a modern nation state. Anti-Burmese sentiment was
systematically inculcated in the mind of every Siamese, through oral tradition,
historical literature, textbooks, plays, music and movies, in order to instil a
sense of national pride. Thus ancient battles between rival rulers suddenly
became wars between nations.
"The negative attitude toward the Burmese does not occur solely as a result
of the past relationship," says Dr Sunait Chutinatranond of the Institute of
Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "It is, rather, the
outcome of political manoeuvres by Thai nationalist governments, especially
military regimes. It is an attempt to stir up a sense of nationalism and at the
same time legitimise their ruling authority by claiming that they, like all
their brave ancestors who fought against Burma, take as their primary concern
the task of protecting the nation, religion and monarchy from external
invasion."
In more recent years, other factors besides nationalist propaganda have
also contributed to Thais' negative view of Burma. The steady deterioration of
social and economic conditions in Burma after decades of misrule under
successive military regimes has added a sense of worldly, as well as moral,
superiority to many Thais' self-image vis-à-vis their neighbour. With the fall
of the Burmese currency, the kyat, from three times the value of the baht in the
1970s to just one-tenth of its value since the late 1980s, Burma's degradation
as a nation seems complete. Thai businessmen, setting their watches back 30
minutes as they fly to Burma, may feel that they have in fact regressed 30 years
upon reaching their destination.
The shades of discrimination that Burmese now face in Thailand are far more
nuanced than in the past. According to Pornsuk Koetsawang, author of "In Search
of Sunlight", a book about the plight of Burmese illegal immigrants living in
Thailand, "regarding discrimination against Burmese, [legal] status is far more
determinant than being Burmese". But in the minds of many Thais the words
"illegal" and "Burmese" are almost inextricably connected, as not only "illegal"
people, but also illegal substances such as yaa baa (methamphetamines) continue
to flow across the border in torrents.
As the "illegal Burmese" supersedes the "evil Burmese" in popular
imagination, even educated Thais are often incredulous when they meet Burmese
who don't fit the "illegal" image.
"Whenever I introduce myself as a Burmese student of Assumption University,
many Thais just can't believe it," says one 20-year-old Burmese with a valid
passport and a student visa who attends classes at the prestigious Bangkok
university.
Despite a tendency to attribute their neighbour's troubles to some inherent
flaw in the Burmese character, there is a growing recognition amongst Thais that
all is not rotten in Burma. The emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi as the courageous
and charismatic leader of the pro-democracy movement has done much to inspire
admiration and sympathy for the Burmese struggle. This, coupled with their own
bitter but relatively brief experience of military rule, has made many Thais
realise that the use of sheer brute force by the government, rather than a lack
of will on the part of ordinary citizens, has been the major impediment to
Burma's desire to rejoin the ranks of civilised nations.
Burma has also become more attractive to Thai investors. With their own
natural resources greatly depleted after decades of high growth, Thais have
discovered the enormous potential of the land beyond their western frontier.
Indeed some Thai analysts believe that as globalisation takes hold of
Thailand and the country enters the international economic mainstream history
itself is losing its significance. Education and culture are seen increasingly
in terms of their commercial value and less as a means of constructing national
identities based upon interpretations of the past.
King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910), the father of modern Thailand, once
mentioned that his ancestors had put a curse on future generations of the royal
family to prevent them from forming close ties with Burma. This curse, it seems,
still has hold over many Thais, whether they acknowledge it or not. Even Pornsuk
admits legal status alone would not make much of a difference to her own
family's perceptions of the Burmese: "If I had a Burmese boy-friend, my family
and relatives would feel very bad even if he had legal status." Perhaps nothing
short of a miracle - or a radical change in the political realities of
modern-day Burma - will redeem the country and its people in the eyes of its
closest neighbour.
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