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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 09,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Amnesty Asks SE Asia To End Drug Dealers'
Death Penalties
AP - Thai Army Says Myanmar Artillery Supporting
Wa Intruders
AP - Myanmar Accuses Shan Rebels Of Market
Bombing Last Week
AFP - ASEAN, partners struggle to reach
consensus on surveillance plan
AFP - Globalisation means more company
responsiblity: rights groups
AFP - Six Asian nations begin anti-drug talks in
Yangon
BBC - Asian nations discuss drug
problems
The Star - 'Stay
focused on Taiwan's tourism marker'
The People's Daily - Myanmar Endeavors for
Reducing Foreign Trade Deficit
Southnexus - India not concerned by Pak's ties
with Myanmar, Vietnam
WorldNews.com - Asian Economies On A Knife
Edge
The Nation - Army fails to dislodge Wah
intruders
The Nation - BORDER FLARE-UP : Army talks tough
on Wa troops
Bkk Post - Intruders to face full
strike
Bkk Post - Foreign workers to be included in
plan
Bkk post - Envoys head north for drugs
briefing
Xinhuanet - ASEAN Labor Ministers Not to Discuss
Labor Migration
Xinhuanet - 41st ASEAN COST Meeting Opens in
Cambodia
SCMP - Thailand accuses junta of supporting Wa
intruders
The Straits Times - Group to discuss
rights in Myanmar and layoffs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 8:03 PMAmnesty Asks SE Asia To End Drug
Dealers' Death Penalties
BANGKOK (AP)--Amnesty International urged Southeast Asian governments Wednesday to stop using the death penalty against drug traffickers, saying that capital punishment isn't an effective deterrent. The call came before ministers of China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos
and Vietnam were due to hold talks Friday at a United Nations sponsored meeting
in Yangon on cooperating in fighting illicit drugs.
"Tackling the illicit drug trade in Southeast Asia is a huge challenge for
governments in the region. But it will not be solved by executing drug
traffickers and wasting more human life," the London-based rights group said in
a statement received in Bangkok.
Southeast Asia is a leading source of opium and its deadly derivative,
heroin. In recent years, the Thai-Myanmar border area has also become a big
production center for methamphetamine stimulant pills.
Amnesty said that in the past month it had written to the governments of
Thailand, Laos and Vietnam urging them against executions.
It said there was no evidence the death penalty curbed the drug trade,
noting that more than half the world's countries have abolished capital
punishment in law or practice.
"Imposition of the death penalty is especially dangerous when trials are
not fair, and may result in fatal miscarriages of justice. This risk is
compounded by the use of torture and ill-treatment by police to coerce
confessions," the statement said.
Responding to the drug scourge, Thailand recently vowed to show no mercy to
drug offenders. It executed five people amid great publicity last month and said
six more executions are imminent.
On April 10, the National Assembly of communist Laos approved an amendment
to the penal code to allow the death penalty for drug trafficking and possession
offenses for the first time.
In Vietnam, more than 90 people were sentenced to death for drug offenses
in 2000. Executions are only rarely publicly reported.
China routinely uses the death penalty against convicted traffickers. Using
incomplete public records, Amnesty International recorded at least 483 death
sentences passed in 1999 for drugs offenses.
Myanmar, the region's leading drug producer, also sentences people to death
for drug trafficking, including two Singaporean nationals last year, Amnesty's
statement said. But no executions have been carried out in Myanmar for years.
Cambodia does not have the death penalty.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 12:47 PM
Thai Army Says Myanmar Artillery
Supporting Wa Intruders
BANGKOK (AP)--The Thai army
accused Myanmar Wednesday of firing artillery to support a small group of ethnic
Wa fighters on Thai soil, and vowed to use all means to drive them out.
The warning is certain to raise tensions between Thailand and Myanmar,
whose relations are at their lowest point in years, following a direct armed
confrontation in February and a spate of border skirmishes in the past three
months involving Myanmar's ethnic armies.
The Thai army said between 30 and 60 guerrillas of the pro-Yangon United Wa
State Army dug in on Hua Lone hill 500 meters inside the border in northern
Thailand. Tuesday, they resisted heavy Thai artillery and mortar fire to
pressure them to withdraw.
The army claimed that Myanmar government troops on a nearby hill on the
Myanmar side of the border responded by firing 19 105mm artillery shells at Thai
forces. The hill in Thailand is of strategic importance to the Myanmar army in
its fight against antigovernment rebels.
"The incident has clearly shown that Myanmar troops are supporting the Wa,
because the Wa rebels do not have such heavy artillery," said Col. Somkuan
Saengpattaranetr, a Thai army spokesman.
Since Myanmar "ignored our diplomatic overture, then it is legitimate for
the army to use all means of force to drive out the intruders who are violating
our sovereignty," Somkuan said.
Myanmar's military regime denies Thailand's contention that it uses the Wa
army - which reached a cease-fire with Yangon a decade ago - as its proxy. It is
yet to make a comment on the latest skirmish.
According to Thai and U.S. narcotics experts, the Wa army is the leading
producer of illegal drugs in Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle. Much of it is
exported to Thailand.
Myanmar rejects accusations it does little to stop the Wa from smuggling
heroin and methamphetamines. It also says that Thailand is giving military
support to other armies along the border that are opposed to its rule.
About Thai 1,000 villagers have been moved to safety but there have been no
reported casualties on the Thai side.
There was no sound of gunfire Wednesday morning, according to Thai
officials at the scene of the standoff, in Fang district, about 780 kilometers
north of Bangkok.
A Thai army official at the border said Thailand may change tactics by
sending in a ground force instead of relying on heavy weapons.
Early Wednesday, the Thai army reported that it clashed briefly with six
pro-Yangon ethnic Karen guerillas, who were trying to cross the border in Tak
province, about 400 kilometers to the south of Chiang Mai province.
The guerrillas withdrew after a five minute exchange of gunfire. Last week,
three Thai villagers were killed and five others injured during an intrusion at
the same spot.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 5:46 PM
Myanmar Accuses Shan Rebels Of Market
Bombing Last Week
YANGON (AP)--Myanmar's military
regime Wednesday accused ethnic Shan rebels of carrying out a bombing last week
that injured eight people at the main market in the country's second city,
Mandalay.
Lt. Col. San Pwint, a senior military intelligence officer, said the Shan
State Army (South) led by Yawd Serk was retaliating for government attacks
against rebel camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.
San Pwint's remarks were the first comments by the Myanmar authorities
about Friday's explosion. It went unreported in the state-run media, which
usually plays down negative news.
The Shan army, which the regime calls the Shan United Revolutionary Army,
is fighting for independence in eastern Myanmar, also known as Burma. It denied
it planted the bomb.
Tern Serng, secretary-general of the Restoration Council of Shan State, a
political wing of the rebel army, told The Associated Press in Bangkok that the
army had no role in the bombing and had a policy against committing terrorist
attacks.
But San Pwint, a member of the Office of Strategic Studies, a military
intelligence think tank, told a news conference that the government has
information about possible "terrorist acts" in the country by the Shan rebels.
"Whenever, Myanmar army launched offensives against the SURA, the rebels
often carried out such terrorist attacks within the country as a diversion," he
said.
He cited a bomb explosion at a cinema in Mandalay two years ago when
Myanmar army launched offensives against the Shan rebels. Mandalay lies 560
kilometers north of Yangon.
Although a number of ethnic armies fight wars of resistance against the
Myanmar regime in remote border regions, bombings in urban areas are rare. The
military has run the country since 1962.
In his description of Friday's blast, San Pwint said a suspicious package
had been found in the west wing of the four-story Zay Cho market. People were
told to clear the premises but it detonated before the military arrived. Falling
glass caused the injuries, he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 2:03 PM
ASEAN, partners struggle to reach
consensus on surveillance plan
HONOLULU, Hawaii, May 8 (AFP) -
Senior southeast Asian finance and central bank officials labored into the night
here Tuesday to forge a consensus on expanding a regional surveillance mechanism
to serve as a tripwire against future financial crises.
Officials began discussing a draft communique in the early afternoon on the
eve of a finance ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and their counterparts from China, Japan and the United States.
The closed-door session drifted into the evening with some signs of
exasperation during increasingly periodic breaks. One ASEAN official told AFP
that "the discussion seems to be going round in circles."
Malaysia is chairman of the meeting, which would be a follow-up to a
similar conference in Kuala Lumpur last month that examined the region's
preparedness for another financial crisis of the sort that struck in
mid-1997.
"Tomorrow is the ministers'. We have to finish it tonight," a member of the
Malaysian panel said.
A key issue is the inclusion of Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo in an ASEAN
surveillance process, designed by the now 10-member grouping in late 1998 to
help each other detect signs of recurring vulnerability, delegates said.
The monitoring process, which is supported by the Philippines-based Asian
Development Bank (ADB), releases a twice-yearly surveillance report to ASEAN
finance ministers and also provides a forum under which the ministers can
exchange views to consider unilateral or collective action.
Finance ministers of ASEAN -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and those of China,
Japan and South Korea are to hold a single meeting here on Wednesday on the
sidelines of the ADB annual meeting.
The overall objective is to keep up the level of investor confidence in the
Far East, where massive foreign direct investment flows have transformed
formerly plantation-based economies into manufacturing powerhouses until capital
all but dried up in 1997.
Observers said difficulties could also be due to the different levels of
economic development among the participating countries.
Japan is the world's second largest economy while Myanmar is just emerging
from a hermit status, Cambodia is rebuilding from civil war, and Vietnam is
scrambling to complete the shift from a command economy to one more closely
based on the free market system.
The surveillance process takes on an added significance amid the spectre of
a cooling US economy, the main market for many.
The ADB last month forecast economic growth in Southeast Asia would slow to
four percent this year from 5.1 percent in 2000.
Growth for the newly industrialized economies including South Korea would
be almost halved to 4.3 percent from 8.4 percent last year, but with China just
mellowing slightly to a 7.3 percent clip from eight percent previously.
Officials said the finance ministers would also continue discussions on a
network of bilateral swap arrangements involving ASEAN and their three major
Asian trading partners.
The initiative -- named after the northern Thai resort of Chiang Mai where
it was formed last year, would link the reserves of these countries as a defense
against future crises.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 4:57 PM
Globalisation means more company
responsiblity: rights groups
HONG KONG, May 9 (AFP) -
Companies must show greater responsibility and ensure the of respect human
rights rather than exploit the opportunties thrown up by globalisation, rights
campaigners told business leaders here Wednesday.
Too many of the world's poorest people were being left behind as
governments becoming increasingly in thrall to corporations, they said.
Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology
and Ecology said millions of Indian peasant farmers and fishermen had lost their
livelihoods in the last year as major corporations drove down agricultural
prices.
"What we are witnessing is a hijacking of governance by corporations. The
poor are the ones screaming loudest but their voice is not getting heard," she
said.
Companies who invest in developing countries should do more than ensure
that working practices and environments complied with local laws, said Sidney
Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.
Citing the examples of China, Myanmar and Vietnam, she (eds: correct) said
companies who tried implement good practice with independent monitoring of
conditions in the workplace could still find their best intentions
thwarted.
"If workers are afraid to talk to any foreigners coming in you have real
problems doing anything about it."
Companies could not operate in a vacuum and software companies, for
example, had an obligation to pay attention to state controls on the
Internet.
Shiva, addressing delegates at the Global Economic Forum in Hong Kong, said
India had set up and invested in institutes of technology only to have foreign
companies poaching students after their training.
Globalisation did not drive the investment in education and training. "It
benefitted from it, it cherry-picked from it," she said.
She called for the creation of universal principles, adding "global
corporations must be way ahead of everyone else in standing for them.
"We need global corporations to be first and foremost global
citizens."
But Goran Lindahl, an advisor to the United Nations' Global Compact, said
that globalisation should not automatically take the blame for all
failures.
Citing the example of corruption, Lindahl said: "Globalisation gets the
blame for lots of things that were there already."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 9, 6:37 PM
Six Asian nations begin anti-drug talks
in Yangon
YANGON, May 9 (AFP) - Senior
officials from six Asian nations Wednesday began mapping out strategies to
improve cooperation in the war against drugs, against the backdrop of a brewing
row between Thailand and Myanmar over the illicit trade.
Representatives from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
are holding preparatory talks before their home ministers meet on Friday to
approve new inititives to close down the narcotics industry.
The Myanmar hosts will then torch mountains of heroin and methamphetamines
on Saturday in a ceremonial burning.
But even as the officials completed a round of bilateral talks and began
evaluating the progress of cross-border drug control projects, fresh salvos were
being fired in a months-long wrangle between Thailand and Myanmar.
The neighbours have been trading accusations over who is responsible for
rampant drug trafficking along the border since February, when rival ethnic
militias in the region sparked a rare clash between the national armies.
Renewed fighting has flared up in recent days as the Thai military attempts
to dislodge the Yangon-allied United Wa State Army -- widely accused of being
deeply involved in the drugs trade -- from a position it took on Thai
soil.
Myanmar's ruling junta Wednesday lashed out at Thailand for helping the
rival Shan State Army (SSA) overrun Myanmar border outposts, saying it was
giving succour to drug dealers.
"Regretfully, all these groups are now being given sanctuary and refuge
inside Thailand ... Thailand is being unbelievably quick and active in defending
these groups as freedom fighters cum drug busters," it said.
Meanwhile, Thailand's minister attending the meeting, Thamarak Issarangkun
Na Ayutthaya, said he would press Myanmar to agree to three-way cooperation with
China on drugs suppression.
"Tripartite cooperation is necessary. If the three countries exchange
information, the problem will be solved easily," he said.
Thamarak said he would be careful to acknowledge Yangon's anti-narcotics
efforts, but "Myanmar must show that they are not involved with amphetamines so
that the drugs problem can be solved successfully."
The six nations attending this week's talks are signatories to a 1993
agreement which bound them to work together in the war on drugs by reducing
demand, boosting law enforcement and encouraging crop substitution.
They meet at a ministerial level every two years to evaluate the progress
of cross-border drug control projects and to approve new initiatives devised by
the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).
The United States has played an increasingly important role in the regional
fight against trafficking through its support of Thai anti-drugs units and
cooperation with Myanmar in cross-border investigations.
A Bangkok-based representative for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA),
William Snipes, said this week's meetings would boost cooperation in combatting
the drug problem that has spread throughout Southeast Asia.
"There has to be cooperation. These bilateral meetings are important. The
drug problem is a regional problem," he said. "We're not going to be as
effective (by ourselves) as we could be (working together)."
Snipes said that while this week's high-level meetings were a step in the
right direction, cooperation also needed to reach down to street-level
investigations.
"At the DEA, we would like to see regional cooperation on a working level
also. We're trying to organize a working meeting ... for investigators," he
said.
UNDCP officials have said that during this week's meeting they will present
two new anti-narcotics projects -- on cross-border law enforcement cooperation
and drug control advocacy and capacity strengthening in East Asia.
The second project "aims to present a common strategy for raising awareness
about the danger of drugs in the region and (to help) governments produce public
information materials and campaigns," an official said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC -Wednesday, 9 May, 2001, 14:53 GMT
15:53 UK
Asian nations discuss drug problems Officials from six east Asian countries have begun talks in Burma on how to
tackle the region's drug problems.
A United Nations official at the meeting stressed the need for greater
co-operation.
But the talks come amid renewed tension on the border between Thailand and
Burma, with both countries accusing the other of supporting drug-producing
militias fighting in the area.
Thai forces have, this week, been shelling members of the United Wa State
Army, who have captured a small amount of ground inside Thai territory.
Government ministers from the six nations - China, Cambodia, Laos,
Thailand, Vietnam and Burma - are due to meet on Friday.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star - May 09, 2001.
'Stay focused on Taiwan's tourism
marker'
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should stay focussed to tap Taiwan's tourism market
in facing increasing competition from Vietnam and Myanmar in the industry.
Deputy Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said
Malaysian eco-tourism and sports like golf had become favourite tourist products
among the Taiwanese.
Tourist arrival from Taiwan had improved by 45%, from 16,517 tourists in
January last year to 24,049 the same period this year, said Dr Ng.
"But there were about 45,000 Taiwanese tourists who visited Thailand and
some 14,000 tourists who went to Vietnam this year.
"Vietnam and Myanmar are now opening up. We have to be very focussed in
attracting the Taiwanese tourists," she said yesterday at the briefing on the
one-week road-show to promote Malaysia in Taiwan last month.
Noting the importance for more focussed travelling, Dr Ng said the ministry
encouraged Mandarin Air to schedule direct flights from Taipei to Kota Kinabalu.
She said 9,147 Taiwanese tourists visited Sabah in January this year.
Presently, China Airline has direct flights from Taipei to Penang while
Mandarin Air operate the Taipei-Kuantan route.
Dr Ng said the Far Eastern Transport started operating its direct flights
from Taipei to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching in April.
"We are encouraging more chartered flights to Malaysia from Taiwan," she
said.
In 1998, tourist arrival from Taiwan hit 121,893 but dropped drastically to
59,836 in 1999 because of the haze and Nipah Virus episodes in the country, Dr
Ng said.
"Last year, the number of Taiwanese tourists to the country recorded
118,506. We hope to reach our target of 300,000 tourists this year," she said.
On the road-show in Taiwan, Dr Ng said they had formed a Taiwan Cultural
Troupe comprising 34 Malaysian students and one Taiwanese student.
Dr Ng said they also gave a tourism seminar to about 400 travel agents from
Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The People's Daily - May 09,
2001.
Roundup: Myanmar Endeavors for
Reducing Foreign Trade Deficit
As deficit in foreign trade has become a major economic problem puzzling
the Myanmar government for a longed period, the government has in recent years
made great efforts to solve the problem and scored some achievements to certain
extent.
According to the latest figures published by the country's Central
Statistical Organization, in 2000, Myanmar's foreign trade totaled 4.086 billion
U.S. dollars, of which imports amounted to 2.567 billion dollars, while exports
were valued at 1.519 billion dollars, the trade deficit being 1.048 billion
dollars.
The first measure taken by the government in bringing down trade deficit is
that it adopted the "sell more, buy less" and "export more, import less"
strategies, encouraging its people to use home-made goods, use less foreign
goods and substitute imported goods with domestic products as much as possible.
Secondly, it greatly supported enterprises engaged in producing export
goods, providing privileges in accordance with its policy.
Thirdly, it added more border trade points, simplified related formalities,
appropriately adjusted its standard of charge collection, strictly controlled
the import of high-grade consumers goods and luxury ones.
Fourth, it strove for the promotion of production, ensured goods supply and
tackled the phenomena of shortage of locally-manufactured commodities.
The main reasons for Myanmar to cause foreign trade deficit for consecutive
years could be as follows:
Myanmar is an agricultural country. The majority of its required capital
goods including machines and equipment depends on import, whereas such goods
mostly contain high degree of technology and highly-added value, and the prices
are relatively costly in comparison.
In 2000, Myanmar imported capital goods worth of over 600 million dollars,
accounting for 28.2 percent of the country's total imports.
In addition to relying on import of capital goods, Myanmar still has to
spend much foreign exchange annually, importing a large quantity of consumers
goods to ease the phenomena of shortage of locally-manufactured consumers goods.
In 2000, Myanmar's import value of consumers goods took up 44.2 percent of
the country's total import.
Myanmar's main export goods are primary products such as agricultural
products, marine products and timber. The prices of these primary products in
international market are low, constituting a great contrast against capital
goods which contain high degree of technology and highly-added value.
For a long period, the structure of Myanmar's export goods has been unitary
and commodities available for export has also been much limited.
Besides, Myanmar products lack good quality and competitiveness in the
world market.
Total settlement of the deficit problem could not be brought about
overnight. The realization of the target is up to the adjustment of the
structure of Myanmar's export goods, improvement of products in quality as well
as the uplifting of the degree of industrialization and level of science and
technology.
The number of countries and regions having trade links with Myanmar is only
over ten, of which the main trading partners are Singapore, China, Thailand, the
Republic of Korea and Malaysia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southnexus
India not concerned by Pak's ties with
Myanmar, Vietnam
ISLAMABAD, May 08: India is not concerned by Pakistan's move to develop
relations with Myanmar and Vietnam as New Delhi shared long-standing friendship
with the two countries which military ruler General Pervez Musharraf visited
last week.
"I do not think General Musharraf's visit to the two countries is going to
impact in any major way and cause major concern to India," Indian High
Commissoner to Pakistan V K Nambiar told Indian reporters here on Monday.
Asked about security implications for India over Pakistan's attempt to
develop defence cooperation with Myanmar, he said, both the Indian and
Myanmarese leaderships were "sufficiently confident of sustaining our
relationship."
With regard to Vietnam, Nambiar said, New Delhi and Hanoi shared extremely
friendly relations. "Politically also there is a great deal of understanding."
Referring to Gen Musharraf's references to Kashmir during his talks with
the leaders of Vietnam, Nambiar said, "we have received from Vietnam a fair
degree of understanding" on India' position on the problem.
About India's developing ties with Iran, he said,it was not directed
against anyone but at the same time was focussed on certain issues which have
become more germane in the current international context.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Economies On A Knife
Edge
WorldNews.com, Wed 9 May 2001 The two key questions troubling East Asian policymakers and markets are how
long the downturns in the US, Japan and the global electronics industry will
last, an how severe they will be, the International Herald Tribune (p. 9)
reports.
Still, the World Bank says it expects the global economy, led by the US, to
start reviving later this year, with global GDP climbing to 3.3 percent 2002
from 2.2 percent in 2001. Kunio Saito, the Asia-Pacific director of the IMF,
noted recently that, despite the global slowdown, many Asian economies are still
expanding "at a very respectable rate" and that many forecasters are predicting
a return to better conditions by the end of the year.
Jemal-ud-din Kassum, the World Bank regional vice president for East Asia
and the Pacific, said that prospects for a prolonged regional slump are slim and
that the countries of East Asia are in a much stronger financial position than
they were four years ago. In a report published in March, the Bank predicted
that, despite the slump in demand form the US and the electronics industry, most
East Asian economies would grow by an average of 3 percent to 7 percent this
year.
Kassum pointed to a number of areas that needed attention if East Asia was
to regain its former strength. He said that business and investor confidence,
both foreign and local, is being "diminished by the slow pace and questionable
quality" of financial and corporate restructuring in the region, and slowness in
liberalizing trade and investment and carrying out judicial, public sector and
governance reform.
Poverty levels have fallen almost to pre-crisis levels. But with nearly
half the populations of East Asia living on less than $2 a day, poverty remains
a major unresolved issue. Progress has also been slow and uneven in achieving
some other social development goals, especially in education and health, Kassum
said, while East Asia's environment, which suffered from exploitation in the
period of rapid growth before the crisis, is now a victim of policy
neglect.
In a related story, the IHT (p. 9) reports on the Chinese Great Western
Development Campaign. Launched last year, the campaign is an ambitious top-down
effort to steer state investment, outside expertise, foreign loans and private
capital into the parts of China most in need but the least likely to attract aid
on their own. In support of the Western development drive, the ADB has shifted
virtually all of its roadway financing for China away from the richer areas in
the east where, according to Bruce Murray, resident representative in China for
the ADB, there is enough commercial potential to support publicly listed or
privately invested highways.
The World Bank likewise supports the western development initiative, and
plans to apply half of its $3 billion China lending portfolio over the next
three year to projects in the western region, according to Kassum.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Army fails to dislodge Wah
intruders
Filed at 04 : 16 pm (THLD time)
BANGKOK, May 9 (The Nation) --
The Third Army has failed to dislodge scores of United Wa State Army (UWSA)
guerrillas who had dug in on a strategic hill inside Thai territory in the
northern province of Chiang Mai, according to a regional army spokesman.
Third Army spokesman Col Chucheep Srisomboon despite heavy artillery
bombardment and mortar shelling of the Hua Lone hill in Fang district, the
intruders continued to occupy the position located about 400 metres from the
border with Burma.
"Pushing out the intruders is well within the capability of the regional
army," Chucheep said.
However, the spokesman said he could not say when the regional army would
flush out the Wah guerrillas.
About 40-50 UWSA guerrillas, believed supported by Burmese troops, have
occupied the strategic hill in question since May 1.
Army Commander in Chief Surayuth Chulanon said the army had lodged protests
with Rangoon and Township Border Committee over the intrusion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation - May 09,
2001.
BORDER FLARE-UP : Army talks tough
on Wa troops
Drastic measures will be taken to dislodge a group of United Wa State Army
(UWSA) soldiers still occupying a strategic hill on the Thai side of the border
near Chiang Mai province, said senior defence officials yesterday.
Action would be taken if the UWSA troops have not moved by tomorrow, the
officials said.
Their stern message came after Burma's military government denied that any
of the soldiers were government troops. With diplomatic channels exhausted,
restraint is wearing thin among the military quarters.
Two 15-man units of Wa soldiers are still holed up on Hua Lone Hill, about
400 metres inside Thailand. They were forced to withdraw yesterday during a dawn
offensive by the Thai troops but later returned to take up their position, which
triggered a second consecutive day of heavy shelling. More than 10 Wa soldiers
were killed as the sides traded fire for several hours, Thai military sources
said.
"We could not dislodge them, not because there are many but because they
positioning on a vantage point," said Deputy Defence Minister Gen Yuthasak
Sasiprapha.
He downplayed a prospect of an all-out offensive but said the Army would
use force to capture the outpost by today or tomorrow at the latest.
The foreign forces, believed to be comprised of both Burmese and Wa,
entered Thailand between May 1 and Sunday at Chiang Mai's Fang district after
successfully retaking three strategic bases from the Shan rebels. Their presence
and ensuing fighting forced the Thai authorities to evacuate more than 600
villagers from the area. The evacuees are said to suffer from malaria, chicken
pox, typhoid and diarrhoea.
"Whenever the Burmese troops enter [Thai territory], we will have to expel
them. We will not succumb to the Burmese," said Yuthasak.
Col Somkuan Saengpattaranetr said the Wa had ignored a warning to withdraw
as well as a protest letter submitted through the Township Border Committee
(TBC).
"The Burmese troops in the area claim that they cannot control the Wa who
intruded into out territory. Now it is our duty to drive out the intruders who
have violated our territory," Somkuan was quoted as saying by the Associated
Press.
Third Army Commander Gen Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said he was not convinced
by the Burmese explanation that the Wa had carried out the operation on its own.
He said he believed the UWSA - an ally of the Rangoon regime - is just a proxy
for the government's army, which did not want to encroach into Thailand. On the
other hand, the junta has accused Thailand of assisting the SSA.
In Rangoon, Prime Minister's Office Minister Gen Thamarak Isarangura
reportedly held a closed-door meeting with his Burmese counterpart yesterday on
the sidelines of a regional anti-drug conference. Details of the talks were
unknown.
Before attending the meeting Thamarak said he would ask the Burmese to
issue a withdrawal order.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 09,
2001.
Intruders to face full
strike
Heavy shelling fails to push them back Subin Khuenkaew and Wassana Nanuam
The Third Army will mount a full military strike today after a heavy
artillery bombardment failed to dislodge Burmese troops and their United Wa
State Army allies from Hua Lone hill. Mortar emplacements inside Burma fired
back in response yesterday.
Pha Muang task force commander Maj-Gen Nakorn Sripetchphan ordered the
strike against the insurgents, who occupied the southern part of the hill, 500m
inside Thai territory.
The Pha Muang task force's 2nd cavalry regiment fired more than 200 mortar
and artillery shells onto the hill yesterday, seized a day earlier when Burmese
troops and their allies crossed the border. Five of the 30 intruders were
reportedly killed.
Burmese troops at Hua Nok hill, about 1km from Hua Lone hill, countered the
shelling with mortar shells.
No Thai casualties resulted. Villagers from Ban Khob Dong and Ban Norlae
were evacuated on Monday.
Col Chaovalit Sirisuk, the 2nd cavalry regiment commander, said his
instructions were to dislodge foreign forces from Thai soil "at any cost". Army
commander Gen Surayud Chulanont had approved "drastic measures". The Pha Muang
task force, in charge of security along the border opposite Chiang Mai and
Chiang Rai, would lead the offensive this morning, sources said.
The clash comes as Gen Thammarak Issarangkul na Ayudhya, a minister heading
the government's drug fight, visits Rangoon for a four-day drug meeting held by
the UN International Drug Control Programme.
A Pha Muang task force officer said the hill was not regarded as a
strategic position and the intruders caught Thai troops off guard.
The Third Army had planned a forward outpost on the hill in a move to stem
the flow of illicit drugs.
"It was once used as a drug route by the UWSA," said a drug official.
Army spokesman Col Somkhuan Saengpataranetr said Burma was using the UWSA
as its proxy in the clash.
The area was the scene of heavy fighting last week as hundreds of Burmese troops battled with rebels from the Shan State Army and recaptured Takhi outpost, seized earlier by the SSA. Burma accused the Pha Muang task force of firing shells in support of the
SSA. The army dismissed the allegation as groundless.
Deputy Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha said Thailand had handled the
Hua Lone hill problem through agreed channels. A protest was lodged through the
township border committee, but there had been no reply. Thailand would not
tolerate foreign troops on her soil, but military efforts to push them back
would not intrude into Burmese territory either, he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 09,
2001.
Foreign workers to be included in
plan
Employers will be responsible for cost Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
Immigrant workers will be included in the government's 30-baht medical care
scheme, but their employers should be responsible for the funding, the health
minister said yesterday.
Sudarat Keyuraphan said since the scheme is to be launched next month in a
number of provinces where there are a lot of foreign workers-mostly Burmese,
Cambodian and Lao-they would be included in the scheme.
However, the per-head budget to be allocated to hospitals should be put up
by their employers.
The 15 provinces where the 30-baht scheme starts next month are:
Nonthaburi, Saraburi, Sa Kaeo, Phetchaburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surin, Nong Bua
Lamphu, Si Sa Ket, Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani, Sukhothai, Phrae, Chiang
Mai, Phuket and Narathiwat.
The scheme was initially launched in six provinces on April 1: Phayao,
Yasothon, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Sawan, Samut Sakhon and Yala.
Ms Sudarat said the matter will be discussed with the Interior
Ministry.
"It will otherwise be difficult to administer the 30-baht scheme because
the doctors will have to take care of the health of the patients anyway, whether
they have money or not, even if they are not Thais," said Ms Sudarat.
The ministry has allocated 1,197 baht per person per year to hospitals
under the scheme, which provides health care for 30 baht a visit.
The health minister said by making employers of immigrant workers pay for
their medical expenses, the government would save up to 300 million baht.
Health authorities were not only concerned about the cost of taking care of
immigrant workers, they were also very worried about the re-emergence of
previously controlled communicable diseases.
Health permanent secretary Mongkol na Songkhla said medical schools would
have to be given more funds if they were to be included in the 30-baht
scheme.
Dr Mongkol said the 1,197 baht per person to be given hospitals joining the
scheme would not be sufficient for medical schools to cover their
expenses.
"The medical schools will have to be given more funding because they have
to invest in research and development of medical technology as well," he
said.
Dr Mongkol said it would be difficult for medical schools to separate
training of doctors and research on medical technology from treating patients,
since the studies were made on patients.
The ministry intended that medical schools would be made responsible only
for tertiary care of patients who required complicated medication.
Dr Mongkol said the ministry would discuss the matter with the Ministry of
University Affairs, to settle on the appropriate funding to be allocated to
university hospitals.
Private hospitals are allocated the same as hospitals under the
ministry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 09,
2001.
Envoys head north for drugs
briefing
Wassana Nanuam Ambassadors to the United Nations will visit the northern border for a
briefing by the Third Army on drug trafficking.
Envoys from 15 countries will travel to the area on May 24-25, to seek ways
to help the military in its war on drugs, said Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong,
the Third Army chief.
It was an opportunity for Thailand to tell the UN how serious the drug
situation was, and that the United Wa State Army and the Pro-Rangoon Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army were working together.
The seizure of 13 million speed pills showed that drug gangs were trying to
move methamphetamines in bulk.
The Wa and the DKBA were making cross-border raids to divert attention from
drug suppression to border defence.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN Labor Ministers Not to
Discuss Labor Migration
2001.05.09 17:53:25 KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 (Xinhuanet)
-- The 15th meeting of ASEAN Labor Ministers beginning here Thursday will not
discuss the migration of labor among member states, a senior official of
the Human Resource Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry's Secretary General Syed Muhamad Syed Abdul Kadir said
the migration of labor among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) member states would not be discussed as it was not on the agenda
of the meeting.
"It is not part of the agenda...every country has its own mechanism
to deal with the problem and it is not alarming in global terms," he
briefed reporters at the ASEAN Senior Labor Officials Meeting.
He said ASEAN countries had previously reached a broad consensus that
this issue would be dealt not under the ASEAN banner but on a bilateral
basis.
At the meeting Myanmar Labor Minister Tin Ngwe will talk about the
alleged forced labor in his country.
This issue was brought up by the International Labor Organization and
is expected to be debated at the organization's meeting in Geneva next
month.
"Before we make any collective stand on the matter we need to hear
from Myanmar on the exact situation...we will also be giving suggestions
on how they can handle the problem," he added.
The secretary general however said ASEAN would only make suggestions
and recommendations, but not compel Myanmar to come up with concrete proposals
for implementation.
"Although it is not in the ASEAN spirit to interfere in the internal
matters of another member state, we want to know what they have done to
contain the problem and how we as ASEAN members can contribute," he
added.
The ASEAN labor ministers would also meet their counterparts from
Japan, China and South Korea on Friday.
ASEAN groups Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia,
the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Brunei.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41st ASEAN COST Meeting Opens in
Cambodia
2001.05.09 18:07:03 PHNOM PENH, May 9 (Xinhuanet)
-- The 41st Meeting of the ASEAN Committee of Science and Technology
(COST) opened here Wednesday at the InterContinental Hotel.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 41st ASEAN COST Meeting, Suy Sem,
Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, said that during the
past two years since Cambodia became a member of ASEAN, Cambodia has made
great many efforts to actively share the valuable experience with and
learn from ASEAN countries and other international organizations in order
to develop its science and technology.
He noted that ASEAN COST has been playing an important role in
promoting close cooperation among its members and with outside partners,
and has yielded considerable benefits to the region in terms of the
development of new capacities and human resources.
The 3-day meeting will exchange views on policy issues and strategic
matters such as follow-up actions to the fourth ASEAN Informal Summit,
Mid-term Review of Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA), a Policy of Genetically
Modified Organism (GMO), and other matters.
The COST, COST Sub-committees and ASEAN Secretariat have taken a
number of follow-up actions in response to the initiatives made by the
leaders during the fourth ASEAN Informal Summit held in Singapore in
November 2000. Those follow-up actions include economic cooperation within
ASEAN members countries, ASEAN Network for Rapid Exchange of Strong Earthquake
Data.
The ASEAN COST meeting also will discuss Status Report on ASEAN COST
Projects. There are a total of 79 projects, of which three have been
completed, 27 are on-going, 32 are pending in various stages of
development, 10 are new project proposals and seven are to be dropped from
the project list.
The 41st ASEAN COST Meeting will be followed by ASEAN COST Plus 3 (China,
Japan and South Korea) Meeting on May 12, 2001.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Wednesday, May 9, 2001
BURMA- Thailand accuses junta of
supporting Wa intruders
ASSOCIATE PRESS in Bangkok Thailand's army accused Burma on Wednesday of firing artillery to support a small group of ethnic Wa fighters on Thai soil, and vowed to use all means to drive them out. The warning is certain to raise tensions between Thailand and Burma, whose relations are at their lowest point in years following a direct armed confrontation in February and a spate of border skirmishes in the past three months involving Myanmar's ethnic armies. The Thai army said between 30 and 60 guerrillas of the pro-Rangoon United
Wa State Army dug in on Hua Lone hill 500 metres inside the border in northern
Thailand. On Tuesday, they resisted heavy Thai artillery and mortar fire to
pressure them to withdraw.
The army claimed that Burmese government troops on a nearby hill on the
Burma side of the border responded by firing 19 105mm artillery shells at Thai
forces. The hill in Thailand is of strategic importance to the Burmese army in
its fight against anti-government rebels.
"The incident has clearly shown that Burmese troops are supporting the Wa,
because the Wa rebels do not have such heavy artillery," Colonel Somkuan
Saengpattaranetr, a Thai army spokesman, said.
Since Burma "ignored our diplomatic overture, then it is legitimate for the
army to use all means of force to drive out the intruders who are violating our
sovereignty," the colonel said.
Burma's military regime denies Thailand's contention that it uses the Wa
army - which reached a ceasefire with Rangoon a decade ago - as its proxy. It is
yet to make a comment on the latest skirmish.
According to Thai and US narcotics experts, the Wa army is the leading
producer of illegal drugs in Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle. Much of it is
exported to Thailand.
Burma rejects accusations it does little to stop the Wa from smuggling
heroin and methamphetamines. It also says that Thailand is giving military
support to other armies along the border that are opposed to its rule.
About Thai 1,000 villagers have been moved to safety but there have been no
reported casualties on the Thai side.
There was no sound of gunfire on Wednesday morning, according to Thai
officials at the scene of the standoff, in Fang district, about 780 kilometres
north of Bangkok.
A Thai army official at the border said Thailand may change tactics by
sending in a ground force instead of relying on heavy weapons.
Early on Wednesday, the Thai army reported that it clashed briefly with six
pro-Rangoon ethnic Karen guerrillas, who were trying to cross the border in Tak
province, about 400 kilometres to the south of Chiang Mai province.
The guerrillas withdrew after a five-minute exchange of gunfire.
Last week, three Thai villagers were killed and five others injured during
an intrusion at the same spot.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - May 09,
2001.
ASEAN LABOUR MINISTERS MEETING
Group to discuss rights in Myanmar and layoffs US economic woes are the main worry for the ministers KUALA LUMPUR - Fears about massive job losses as a result of the United
States economic downturn and accusations of forced labour in Myanmar emerged as
central issues for a meeting of Asean labour ministers this week.
Asean officials opened talks here yesterday to set the agenda for a meeting
of labour ministers from the 10-country grouping, as well as Japan, China and
South Korea. The ministers will meet tomorrow and Friday.
Said Mr Bounnhou Phommavongsa, the deputy director-general of Laos' Labour
Ministry: 'The US economic issue is the main problem. That will be a starting
point for the ministers to discuss.'
Thousands of jobs have already been shed in export-dependent South-east
Asia this year as the global slowdown begins to bite.
Among the worst hit have been countries such as Malaysia and Singapore,
which rely on US demand for electronics components and products.
Mr Syed Muhamad Abdul Kadir, the secretary-general of Malaysia's Human
Resources Ministry, said urgent action was needed to curb layoffs.
'The important thing is to take immediate action to curb massive
retrenchments,' he said.
Officials also indicated that ministers would agree to a unified stand in
support of Myanmar's military government against persistent claims that forced
labour continued in the reclusive country.
In November, the International Labour Organisation recommended that its 175
member states, employers, workers and international organisations review their
dealings with Myanmar to make sure it was not abetting forced labour.
While Myanmar says it has outlawed the practice, human-rights groups say
the ban is simply an attempt to deflect criticism and that abuses
continue.
Mr Seine Myint, the deputy-director of Myanmar's Labour Department, said
yesterday that the government would ask for Asean's support against further
criticism expected at the ILO's next meeting in Geneva next month.
Asked about the issue yesterday, officials from Malaysia, Indonesia and
Vietnam said Myanmar would get Asean's support.
'We have called for cooperation between the ILO and the government of
Myanmar to address the issue,' said Mr Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy
director-general of the Vietnam Labour Ministry's international relations
department.
'We are against the application of any kind of sanctions or penalties to an
Asean member country,' he said. 'The victims of the sanctions would be the
people and the workers.'
Describing Myanmar as a 'close friend,' of Asean, Mr Syed Muhamad said the
grouping would strive for a common stance, 'so when the topic is discussed in
June, at least Asean will have some stand'.--AP
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