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BURMA RELATED NEWS - February - 03, 2001. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xinhua - Myanmar Reviews Healthcare System
in Hospitals
The Independent - After decades of isolation, Burma prepares to step into the
unknown
Bkk Post - Burma being urged to end import
ban
ABC online - Burmese opposition leaders discussing pardons for junta
The Times of India - EU ministers to discuss developments in Myanmar
The Times of India - Thaksin to visit Myanmar on first official trip
The Straits Times - Why Myanmar is taking soft approach
Dow Jones - China Govt Firm Building Dry
Dock In Myanmar - Report
The Nation - Rangoon Coup
Rumours
Bkk Post - Investors turning away from
region
BBC - Burma stops controversial dam
project
Myanmar Reviews Healthcare System
in Hospitals
2001.02.02 12:15:50 YANGON, February 2 (Xinhuanet)
-- A workshop began here Thursday to review Myanmar's cost-sharing
healthcare system practiced in the country's hospitals since the end of
1993, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported
Friday.
The two-day workshop is sponsored by the Myanmar Ministry of Health
and the World Health organization.
Myanmar Minister of Health Major-General Ket Sein told the workshop
that trust funds have been set up in 398 hospitals in the country, adding that
arrangements are being made to give free medical care to the poor and
needy with the use of these trust funds.
He disclosed that in last year, about 550,000 poor and needy patients
were given free medical care.
According to the report, main drugs project under the system is being
undertaken in 45 townships in Myanmar.
The cost-sharing healthcare system was said to have been introduced
on account of the limited ability of the government to bear all the
national health expenditures alone.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is implementing a five-year national health plan
which has started in 1996. The plan covers areas such as community
healthcare, disease control, hospital care, environmental health and
health system development.
The Independent
After decades of isolation, Burma
prepares to step into the unknown
In Foreign Parts: A new dawn comes up on the long and deceptive road past Mandalay By Calum MacLeod in Rangoon 3 February 2001
As pariah nations go, Burma rather disappoints. My first acquaintance with
North Korea, its fellow outcast, had excited an almost reassuring terror.
Pyongyang delivers George Orwell's 1984 nightmare of authoritarian madness,
a grey and regimented society watched by an all-knowing, all-seeing Big Brother.
Rangoon also boasts massive monuments to an all-powerful being, but Buddha's
shrines are much nicer than those to Kim Il Sung. From the barefoot monks
gathering alms to the fading grandeur of colonial mansions, the Burmese capital
lulls visitors with the languid charms of South-east Asia.
Given the brutal reputation of its ruling junta, there is a disconcerting
lack of guns and uniforms in the streets. Burmese, clad almost to a man in
traditional longyi sarongs, are keen to engage foreign travellers and quick to
list the achievements from Britain's many years in charge – roads, railways and
schools. But what of today's regime?
"Government spies are everywhere," whisper my newfound friends, quickly
steering the conversation to safer ground such as the British football that
dominates Saturday night screens. "Did you see our 'Oscars'?" asks a taxi
driver, his tongue loosened by Mandalay rum. The Burmese film world had just
gathered for its annual back-slap. "Every winner thanked the military." He spits
in disgust. "But they don't thank from their hearts."
The lies perfected by Burma's acting profession are repeated countrywide.
Most families harbour bitter grievances, but the choice is clear – bare your
heart and go to jail, or learn to live with the junta. Than, a tour guide in
Rangoon, was reading philosophy when the government shut all universities in
1996 to teach the students a lesson. Like his classmates, Than had voted in 1990
for the democratic coalition of Aung San Suu Kyi, and watched in despair as the
regime ignored her landslide victory. "It has been an illusion since then," he
says. "Now we can't trust anything the government says." The universities
eventually reopened, transplanted to distant suburbs to dampen thoughts of
protest, and Than got his degree.
Like many Burmese in the service sector, Than resents Suu Kyi's high-minded
call on foreigners to boycott her nation until the election results are
respected. "We need evolution not revolution," he says. "The more people who
come, the better. We need foreign investment and foreign technology. We want to
swim in the ocean again."
After decades of selfimposed isolation, the government says it is ready to
take the plunge. "I hope the international community will not force us into a
corner," said the Foreign Minister, U Win, in December. "We can stay in the
corner, but we don't want to." Burma's Asian neighbours are prepared to embrace
their awkward cousin, while the West demands improvements to its atrocious human
rights record.
Hopes have been raised by the generals who run Burma holding secret talks
with Aung San Suu Kyi, the embattled torchbearer for democracy, confined to her
house or city limits since 1990. A European delegation met her this week, after
the visit in January of a UN envoy. Like Tibet's Dalai Lama, a fellow Nobel
Peace Laureate, she remains a potent symbol of an oppressed people, yet "The
Lady" is hardly the regime's only concern.
Bernard Pe-Win, a British businessman born in Burma, says: "The only way to
change the situation in this country is by engaging it." His Forum club in
Rangoon is a talking-shop for the city's small expatriate community. "The
military government is not as good as we would want them to be, but they are a
far cry from how they have been painted." He says the West has little leverage
to bring down the military government, because resource-rich Burma can feed
itself, and most other essentials slip across the 1,362-mile border with China.
Some observers believe the international focus on Ms Suu Kyi serves the
government's aims, by denying support and negotiating space to Burma's restless
minority groups, victims of the worst human rights abuses. A British oil
executive in Rangoon says: "This place could be like the Balkans." Burma's
borderlands are home to rebel insurgents, drug traffickers and a confusion of
ethnic and religious agendas.
"I take trouble to hire Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and animists, and
they work well together. But left to themselves, they would just hire their own
kind. The 'do-gooders' call for democracy, but where will they be when the
trouble starts?"
Bangkok Post - February 03,
2001.
Burma being urged to end import ban The government will be asked to negotiate with Rangoon a ban it placed on
Thai goods.
Anan Laothammathat, chairman of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, said
Burma's ban on 25 imported items had caused cross-border trade in several
northern provinces to plummet.
Meanwhile, Chiang Rai governor Samroeng Punyopakorn blasted Burmese
soldiers for arresting five Thai villagers on Wednesday.
They were caught while working in lychee plantations in the disputed
Kotemayong mountain border area in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
All were released after 8,000 baht was paid to Burmese soldiers, which was
later returned. Burma claims it suspected they were about to create
unrest.
ABC online - February 03,
2001.
Burmese opposition leaders discussing pardons for junta A senior minister of Burma's government-in-exile says opposition
politicians are weighing up whether to grant an amnesty to Burmese leaders,
accused of widespread human rights violations.
The revelation comes as a delegation of European Union officials met
members of the military junta, and opposition leader, Aung Sun Suu Kyi.
Opposition minister Tein Oo says he believes a breakthrough in the 11-year
old political deadlock could be just weeks away.
But he says the members of the junta are fearful they could face
prosecution.
That is very important, because a lot of crime are committed by the
military regime so if there is no amnesty order it is very dangerous for them,
but on the other hand the civilians suffered very painfully so we need to
comfort them and (give) compensation to the civilians in our country so we are
considering very seriously both sides..
The Times of India - February 03,
2001.
EU ministers to discuss developments in Myanmar BANGKOK: European Union foreign ministers will decide what action should be
taken over a delegation's findings that recent developments in Myanmar are the
most significant in a decade, officials said on Thursday.
A European Union (EU) delegation on Wednesday completed a three-day mission
to Yangon to investigate a thaw between the military regime and opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Initial contacts between the two sides which could herald their first
official dialogue since 1994 were "promising but yet not irreversible," the
five-member team said on their arrival in Bangkok.
"We had the impression that the contacts were the most interesting thing to
happen since (elections in) 1990," said Borje Ljunggren, representing the EU
presidency.
An EU council will now discuss their report and recommend what issues
should be taken up at the ministerial level, a spokesman for the European
Commission in the Thai capital said.
The foreign ministers will meet to discuss the developments before April,
when the EU makes its regular review of sanctions against Myanmar.
"They will decide what will come next and whether any action will be
taken," the spokesman said.
The five-member EU delegation met with Aung San Suu Kyi for more than two
hours Tuesday at her home where she has been confined by the military regime
since September 22.
It also held talks with the junta's number-three Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt who has met with the opposition leader at least twice over the last few
months.
Ljunggren, the head of the Asia Department in Sweden's Foreign Affairs
ministry, told reporters that Aung San Suu Kyi was "in a very good mood and well
in all respects".
He confirmed that the Nobel peace laureate was "cautiously optimistic"
about the developments and hopeful they would lead to a more substantial
dialogue.
However, both sides maintained strict confidentiality on the content of the
talks. "We respect their decision," he said.
Ljunggren said the team visited Yangon at "an interesting but delicate
moment."
After extensive meetings with government ministers, opposition National
League for Democracy leaders and ethnic minority groups, they formed a positive
view about the future of the process.
"The discussions were frank but held in a good atmosphere, helped by recent
developments," he said, referring to the release of dozens of political
prisoners last week.
"Both sides seem to want to pursue them ... but you need something more
substantial to consider them irreversible," he said, adding that the contacts
were "still at an early stage".
Aung San Suu Kyi's meeting with the European officials was her first
confirmed contact with foreign diplomats since UN envoy Razali Ismail visited
her twice earlier this month. (AFP)
The Times of India - February 03,
2001.
Thaksin to visit Myanmar on first official trip BANGKOK: Thaksin Shinawatra said on Thursday he plans to start addressing
strained relations with Myanmar by making it the destination for his first
official visit as Thailand's prime minister.
"We have many problems with Myanmar, particularly with regard to trade
along the border, fishery disputes, and the drugs trade," he told
reporters.
Thaksin said he had not yet decided which other countries he would visit,
but he is expected to call on fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) members before venturing further afield.
The billionaire businessman said he expects Thailand's new parliament to
vote him in as prime minister within a week, allowing him then to unveil his
cabinet and deliver a policy platform.
The new 500-seat House of Representatives is due to convene on Sunday, with
a three-party coalition led by Thaksin's Thak Rai Thai party at the helm.
(AFP)
Why Myanmar is taking soft
approach
Economic sanctions by the US and European Union and punishment for using forced labour may have driven the junta to the negotiating table By James East
STRAITS TIMES THAILAND BUREAU BANGKOK - There seems to be no outward reason for Myanmar's hardline junta
to even be talking with its political enemies and 'interfering outsiders' like
the European Union about reconciliation.
Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy has been
suppressed by mass jailings, its lower ranks intimidated into resignation, while
the party leader herself has been consigned to house arrest.
Myanmar's rebellious ethnic minorities have also been crushed with military
offensives, a series of cease-fire deals and poverty.
Only a few guerilla battalions remain of what, until the mid-1990s, was a
serious military threat.
The reins of government appear firmly in place.
The hope of exiled activists that the military might tear itself apart has
come to naught.
The command and control structure is apparently as strong as ever even if
the generals are divided into camps that back either intelligence chief and
Secretary One Lt-General Khin Nyunt or General Maung Aye, the conservative
deputy chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
But the one opposition force the regime has been unable to control is the
international band of hardball players - the US, the EU, and of late, the
International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Asian diplomats in Bangkok now acknowledge that US and EU sanctions, and
the November decision by the ILO to apply its own punishment for Myanmar's use
of forced labour, seem to have finally driven the junta to the negotiating
table.
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the regime's intellectual, is the front man for the
talks, having met Ms Suu Kyi twice, according to reports.
But he must have been backed by Army commander-in-chief General Maung Aye
and SPDC chairman Senior General Than Shwe who hold higher ranks.
This indicates an across-the-board softening by top brass. How the
sanctions message got through remains unclear.
Although poverty stricken, Myanmar's economy has crawled along for years
and China's trade-what-may attitude has helped shore up what drug money could
not. The junta could have continued for years.
But the message that elections and a softening of the grip might be a
better way forward was conveyed not by the US and the EU but an Asean friend
last month - Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who may
have helped persuade the junta that change was required.
The EU troika, after a fact-finding mission to Myanmar this week, liberally
sprinkled comments on the SPDC-Suu Kyi negotiations with words like 'fragile',
'cautious' and 'delicate'.
The SPDC has begun releasing NLD activists and stopped blasting Ms Suu Kyi
in the press. It has also talked with the EU about political prisoners, forced
labour, the ILO decision and its goal to introduce democracy.
The EU mission also got to meet representatives of the ethnic minorities.
It is unlikely that the SPDC would take these measures if it was not
serious about making progress.
With the EU due to reassess sanctions in April - they automatically expire
every six months - Asean, the EU and the US are waiting to see if the talks are
merely an attempt by the regime to wheedle its way out of sanctions or are the
prelude to lasting political change.
Friday, February 2 5:12 PM SGT
China Govt Firm Building Dry Dock In Myanmar - ReportBEIJING (Dow Jones)--A Chinese government company broke ground Friday on a multimillion-dollar dry dock in neighboring Myanmar's capital city, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.Shandong Agricultural Industry & Commerce Group Corp. will build the 12,000-deadweight ton facility at the state-run Myanmar Shipyards in Yangon, according to Xinhua. The report said the project is being backed by a $25.45 million seller's credit from China. It listed total investment in the project as an estimated MMK1 billion kyat, or about $167 million by Myanmar's widely ignored official exchange rate of six kyat to the dollar. On the black market, the dollar now fetches well over MMK400, and has strengthened significantly in recent months. The project was initiated in a contract signed in October 1999 between Myanmar and the Chinese company, which is owned by the government of coastal Shandong province. An official at the Shandong company's main office, surnamed Wang, said the delay stemmed from technological difficulties and funding problems on the Myanmar side. She was unable to provide other details. Under the contract, the 168-meter-by-28-meter dry dock was originally scheduled to be completed within two years, according to Xinhua. When finished, it will be used to build and repair ships. The Myanmar port's existing dock now has a capacity of just 1,000 deadweight tons, and is in "urgent" need of an expansion to at least 10,000 deadweight tons, the report said.
The Nation - February 4, 2001. Rangoon Coup Rumours RUMOUR of a coup in Rangoon spread around Bangkok
yesterday, a source said.
However, the source conceded that the rumour had been
circulating for a while. Another rumour circulated that some elements of the
military had been in touch with veteran Burmese politician Bo Mhu Aung, who
recently wrote to the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) calling
for "political change". The source said the SPDC ordered every military unit in
the country to report every three hours, and has prohibited all officers from
having any contact with Bo Mhu Aung.
Meanwhile, the Third Infantry Division of the Royal
Thai Army has ordered an alert along the border.
Bangkok Post - February 03,
2001.
ASEAN Investors turning away from region Singapore blames political instability Asean democracies are struggling but Singapore also has
problems to solve, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
"Some pessimists might see this as a negative
development, driving away investors and creating uncertainties," ministry
spokesman Pradap Pibulsonggram said of the struggles of Asean
democracies.
"But for us, it's the best way to ensure a true durable
peace, stability and prosperity. We have seen again and again that good
governance, transparency, accountability and responsibility finally win the
day," he added.
Lee Hsien Long, Singapore's deputy prime minister, on
Wednesday was reported to have cited cheating in the Thai elections, corruption
in the Philippines, Indonesia's difficult transition to democracy and the rise
of Islamic politics in Malaysia as problems that were turning investors away
from the Asean region.
Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are the other
members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
According to Mr Pradap, Mr Lee at the same time
admitted Singapore has five problems to address if it wants to continue being
successful.
These are: to open up government further, to have the
right team at the helm, to build a harmonious multiracial and multi-religious
society, to narrow the widening gap between the rich and the poor and to root
Singaporeans to Singapore.
Mr Pradap said Singapore had prospered with its Asean
neighbours in the past and remained bound to the region for the
future.
Asean would have to adjust political and economic
co-operation if it wanted to build a community of "caring societies" conscious
of historical and cultural linkages by the year 2020, he said.
BBC - Friday, 2 February, 2001, 18:30
GMT
Burma stops controversial dam project Bangladeshi officials say the Burmese authorities have agreed to abandon
the construction of a controversial dam on the Naf River between the two
countries.
The project began last month and led to both sides deploying troops along
their border.
The two parties have also agreed to withdraw the troops with immediate
effect and to hold regular meetings.
The moves follow a two-day visit to the area by a joint survey commission,
set up to defuse the tension along the border.
Burma also agreed to dismantle what had been built of the dam and to
consult its neighbour on future projects. Bangladesh claimed the dam violated a
previous agreement, and would cause flooding and erosion in its territory.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service.
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