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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 21,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Reports: Religions Clash in
Myanmar
AP - Myanmar, Singapore To Hold Economic Talks
This Week
AP - Buddhists, Muslims Clash In Northern
Myanmar Town-Reports
AP - China, Thailand Agree In Principle On
Currency Swap Deal
AP - Malaysia Deported 103,730 Illegal
Immigrants In 2000
Reuters - Politics in back seat as EU, Asians
meet in China
Dow Jones - Unocal
Hldrs Reject Myanmar Code Of Conduct Resolution
BBC - Burma hit by Indian rebels
BBC - 'Ten dead' in Burmese sectarian
riots
SMH - Patience of
Changi and Burma railway victim rewarded
The Nation - Three
join Shan 'party'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22 3:43 AM ET
Reports: Religions Clash in Myanmar YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A curfew
has been imposed in a northern town of Myanmar where simmering tensions between
Buddhist and Muslim residents erupted into rioting last week, travelers said
Tuesday.
Members of the two communities in Toungoo town attacked each other with
sticks and stones, while several mosques were set on fire, said a Yangon
resident who returned from Toungoo on Monday.
A Muslim resident of Toungoo who fled to neighboring Thailand told The
Associated Press in the Thai border town of Mae Hong Sot that Buddhist monks and
laymen killed four Muslims, including a 60-year-old woman.
The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Buddhists set
fire to about 140 Muslim houses and 14 mosques, eight of which were
destroyed.
Telephone lines to the town were disconnected, and the account could not be
independently confirmed. A terse Myanmar government statement said ``some
clashes took place ... after a brawl started between some locals last
week.''
A curfew has been imposed, and the ``situation is under control and
contained. An official investigation is in progress,'' the statement said,
without elaborating.
Muslims comprise 3.9 percent of Myanmar's 51 million people, while
Buddhists form nearly 89 percent. Myanmar's military junta allows freedom of
worship to all faiths, but clashes between people of different religions are not
uncommon.
Toungoo, a trading town known for its betel nut crop, is on the highway to
Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, and is 155 miles north of the capital,
Yangon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 3:52 PM
Myanmar, Singapore To Hold Economic
Talks This Week
SINGAPORE (AP)--The top
economics minister from Myanmar's military regime will hold talks with
Singapore's trade minister this week, the Singapore government said Tuesday.
Wealthy Singapore is Myanmar's largest foreign investor. In 2000, Singapore
had US$1.51 billion invested in the country - 21% of the total investment in the
Myanmar.
Brig. Gen. David Abel, a Myanmar government minister, will meet Singapore's
Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo in Singapore Friday for the fourth Joint
Ministerial Working Committee between the nations, the government said in a
statement.
The first such meeting was held in 1996 and has led to projects in
agriculture, tourism development, transportation and trade development, the
statement said, adding that more than 1,000 Myanmar officials participated in
the joint programs.
Asian companies have continued to invest in Myanmar despite calls from
human rights groups to boycott the country to protest against its human rights
record.
Myanmar is also known as Burma.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 1:30 PM
Buddhists, Muslims Clash In Northern
Myanmar Town-Reports
YANGON (AP)--A curfew has been
imposed in a northern Myanmar town where simmering differences between Buddhist
and Muslim residents erupted into riots last week, a traveler said Tuesday.
Members of the two communities in Toungoo town attacked each other with
sticks and stones while several mosques were set on fire, said a Yangon resident
who returned from Toungoo Monday.
The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were
unconfirmed reports of several deaths and injuries.
The government didn't immediately respond to a faxed statement by The
Associated Press in Bangkok, requesting information about the riots. Telephone
lines to the town were disconnected.
The traveler from Toungoo said the trouble started May 15. The cause wasn't
known, but he quoted residents as saying there had been tensions between the two
sides since late February.
He said a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew has been in force in the town since May
16 when the violence reached its peak, but the situation now is under control.
He said troops were patrolling the streets and truck loads of soldiers were
also seen on the highway to Toungoo, apparently to prevent Buddhists from other
places coming to the town to join the rioting.
He quoted some Muslim residents as claiming the problem started when some
Buddhist monks demanded a mosque situated near a popular temple be relocated.
But Buddhist residents blamed the Muslims for starting the violence, saying some
men had teased Buddhist women.
The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted the chairman of the national Muslim
association, U Thein, as saying Tuesday that anti-Muslim sentiments had been
high in Myanmar since residents saw on satellite television the destruction of
two Buddha statues by the Islamic Taliban regime of Afghanistan in March.
But a Buddhist monk in Yangon said this was unlikely since only a handful
of people have access to satellite television in Myanmar, where the media is
strictly controlled. Official newspapers had never reported the destruction of
the statues.
Toungoo, a trading town known for its betel nut crop, is situated on the
highway to Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, and is about 250 kilometers
north of the capital, Yangon.
It has a large Muslim minority community, but the majority of the town's
people are Buddhists.
Muslims comprise 3.9% of Myanmar's 51 million people while Buddhists are
nearly 89%.
Myanmar's military junta allow freedom of worship to all faiths, but
clashes between people of different religions are not uncommon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 5:32 PM
China, Thailand Agree In Principle On
Currency Swap Deal
BANGKOK (AP)--Thailand and
China have agreed in principle to set up a standby pool of money from which
either country could borrow to protect its currency from large fluctuations.
The agreement was announced Monday night by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra during a four-day official visit by Chinese Prime Minister Zhu
Rongji. Zhu is scheduled to leave Wednesday.
Thaksin said the two countries' central banks would work out the details.
The Nation newspaper on Monday quoted Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan
as saying that Thailand had requested a $4 billion standby fund with China.
Thailand already has a $3 billion swap arrangement with Japan.
The aim is to bolster each other's currencies in the event of a new
financial crisis like the one that hit regional economies in 1997.
The finance ministers also discussed arrangements for individual bilateral
currency support deals with China, Japan and South Korea.
Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
However, critics have said the benefits of such arrangements are limited
since the currency pools would prove to be inadequate to protect currencies if
they come under attack.
The currency swap arrangements are mostly seen as a political statement
aimed at international lending agencies that the Asians are united and are
capable of looking after themselves, analysts have said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 5:01 PM
Malaysia Deported 103,730 Illegal
Immigrants In 2000
KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--The
Malaysian government deported 103,730 illegal immigrants last year, nearly twice
as many as the roughly 60,000 people repatriated in 1999, Parliament was told
Tuesday.
Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said 88,241 illegal immigrants, or
85% of the total figure, were from neighboring Indonesia, which has been
battered by political and economic turmoil.
The rest included 4,913 people from Myanmar, 3,535 Thais, 2,280 Indians,
1,808 Bangladeshis, 1,257 Pakistanis, 116 Chinese and 105 Filipinos, Zainal was
quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.
He said authorities have tried to curb the problem by stepping up patrols
in sea channels used by illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigration to Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest
countries, has surged since the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis, which rattled
Malaysia but hurt its poorer neighbors more.
Malaysian officials have said they expect to deport more than 100,000
people this year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 3:13 PM
Politics in back seat as EU, Asians meet
in China
By Paul Eckert BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) -
European Union and Asian foreign ministers will hold talks in Beijing this week
highlighting the EU's deepening engagement in Asia, but wary host China appears
determined to keep tough political issues off the agenda.
Human rights, Tibet and the question of military-run Myanmar joining the
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) appear to be off limits when the 26 participants
gather later this week, diplomats and Chinese officials said on Tuesday.
Such touchy subjects for China and some of its Asian guests appear set to
get short shrift at the meetings on Thursday and Friday after explicit
statements by China's Foreign Ministry.
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told Thai counterpart Surakiart
Sathirathai in Bangkok last week that China wanted ASEM ministers to focus on
economic and social issues and not become a forum for human rights and politics,
Thai media reported.
Another Chinese official told reporters ASEM ministers would discuss arms
control and nonproliferation, including U.S. anti-missile shield plans which
China and many Asian and European states oppose.
China's hosting of ASEM, which fits in with its goal of forging a
multi-polar world to counter U.S dominance, comes as Beijing and Washington are
at odds over Taiwan, the festering spy plane episode and China's detention of
U.S. academics.
EUROPEAN AMBITION, ASIAN CAUTION
In the run-up, the EU unveiled a revised China strategy calling for deeper
political dialogue and a stronger role in the region for the EU, based on its
growing economic and political clout and enlargement plans.
"China, and Asian countries generally are ... recognising that the European
Union is both an economic power with a single currency and a growing political
power with a common -- though not single -- foreign and security policy," said
Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for External Affairs.
Patten, in Beijing for bilateral EU-China talks before the ASEM gathering,
cited his recent visit to North Korea with other EU leaders as an example where
assertive European diplomacy could play a role in Asia.
He said on Monday the EU hoped a focused political dialogue would "support
China's transition to an open society based upon the rule of law and the respect
for human rights".
Tibetan activists have urged the visiting EU envoys to raise concerns about
human rights and to avoid statements endorsing Chinese rule in the Buddhist
region as China marks the 50th anniversary of its takeover of Tibet on
Wednesday.
In one of many signs of Chinese wariness at the EU embrace, Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference in Bangkok on Sunday
that China "would not welcome any attempt" by EU ministers to criticise its
human rights record.
BILATERAL FIREWORKS
EU diplomats involved in planning ASEM ministerial meetings said they
struggled with Chinese attempts to shorten the political dialogue and load up
the schedule with ceremonial speeches by Chinese leaders.
"The Chinese took an expansive view of their role as host," said one.
He said China appeared to have worked closely with Vietnam, a fellow
Communist state that shared China's caution in raising sensitive political
issues and is current chairman of the 10-member Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
Some political fireworks are assured from the bilateral meetings on the
ASEM sidelines, in which China and South Korea are likely to grill Japan over
Japanese history schoolbooks they say whitewash Tokyo's wartime aggression in
Asia.
The weeks before Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's maiden overseas
mission have seen demands from Seoul and Beijing that Japan revise the books and
protests over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to visit a controversial
war shrine.
Patten said on Monday that a key EU priority -- which analysts say is
shared by ASEM partners -- was completing China's accession to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
The five-year-old ASEM groups the 15 EU members, the European Commission
with China, Japan and South Korea and the Asean states excluding Laos, Cambodia
and Myanmar.
China has called for the inclusion in ASEM of the three authoritarian
Southeast Asian states, opposed by the EU on human rights grounds.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 22, 8:16 PM
Unocal Hldrs Reject Myanmar Code Of
Conduct Resolution
By Pat Maio - Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--A shareholders' resolution calling for Unocal Corp. (UCL) to adopt and enforce a workplace code of conduct for the oil company's Myanmar operations was defeated Monday, a company spokesman said. Of the shareholders who own 90% of Unocal's 250 million shares of
outstanding common stock, 22% voted in favor of the resolution at the company's
annual shareholders meeting in Brea, Calif., said Unocal spokesman Barry Lane.
"Seventy-eight percent of the votes cast support our code of conduct, and
believe that our guiding principles are appropriate," Lane said. The board
regularly reviews its code of conduct.
The code of conduct resolution was the first ever considered at a Unocal
annual meeting that dealt with the El Segundo, Calif., company's Myanmar
operations.
Similar resolutions have been offered recently - and defeated - at other
companies with operations in Myanmar, including Haliburton Co. (HAL), Rio Tinto
Ltd. (RTP) and McDermott International Inc. (MDR).
The resolution was based on a code of conduct adopted by the United
Nations' International Labor Organization. Its sponsors want the right to form
unions on Unocal's natural gas project in Myanmar, and for the country's
military dictatorship to end human rights abuses.
"This is a large enough vote where the company's board can no longer ignore
what's going on in Myanmar," said Dieter Waizenegger, research analyst with the
AFL-CIO's office of investment, in a phone interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
Lane said the resolution has no impact on the company's plans for Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.
Unocal arrived in Myanmar in 1993 to help build the Yadana offshore gas
pipeline to Thailand, now among Myanmar's most profitable operations.
Washington sanctions bar U.S. companies from setting up new business deals,
but Unocal, as an established outfit, is allowed to remain.
Critics say forced labor was used to build Yadana, but companies involved
in the project disagree. Lane said Unocal owns 28% of the Yadana project, with
Totalfina Elf S.A. (TOT) and PTT Exploration & Production PCL (H.PTT) owning
the rest. The owners of the pipeline deliver 525 million cubic feet of natural
gas through the line a day.
A second shareholders' resolution calling on Unocal to "link executive
compensation with the company's ethical and social performance," again citing
the company's Myanmar involvement, was defeated, Lane said.
Last year, 85% of the company's shareholders rejected the resolution. This
year, 86% voted against it, Lane said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 22 May, 2001, 09:41 GMT
10:41 UK
Burma hit by Indian rebels By Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta
At least 50 Burmese soldiers are said to have been killed in heavy fighting
with separatist Indian rebels inside Burma.
Two rebel groups say they have beaten back a Burmese military offensive on
their bases along a remote frontier region.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and the United Liberation
Front of Assam (Ulfa) rebel groups say the fighting broke out earlier this month
in the upper Sagaing division of north-western Burma.
Both these Indian rebel groups and some of their allies from the country's
north-eastern region have maintained bases in the region for more than three
decades.
But earlier this month they were faced with a Burmese military offensive
backed up by Indian forces.
An Ulfa spokesman told the BBC that the rebels had also suffered some
casualties but was unable to say how many.
Rangoon's move
It is not yet clear if Burma, which has played down the offensive from the
very beginning, has reacted to the outcome.
Indian military officials say they have not been informed by the Burmese on
whether the operation has been discontinued.
But they are still deploying large numbers of troops on the Indian side of
the border anticipating that the rebels, if further pressed, may break up into
small groups to sneak back into Indian territory.
This is the second time in the past 15 years that the Burmese have tried to
dislodge the north-east Indian rebels from upper Sagaing, a hilly area so remote
that maintaining logistics, particularly with the onset of the monsoon, is a
real challenge.
India and Burma have improved their bilateral relations in the past two
years, particularly in the sphere of combating separatist movements along their
lengthy border.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Monday, 21 May, 2001, 22:22 GMT
23:22 UK
'Ten dead' in Burmese sectarian riots A government-approved Islamic organisation in Burma says at least ten
people have died in riots between Muslims and Buddhists.
A spokesman for the Burma Islamic Council Haji U Thein said the clashes
broke out in the town of Toungoo after Buddhists saw television news reports
about the destruction of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.
The spokesman said a curfew was still in force in the town after a week of
clashes and that the situation was still tense.
At least 10 people died in similar sectarian clashes in the western town of
Sittwe two months ago.
The violence was sparked after Muslim youths were accused of harassing a
Buddhist girl.
There is a long history of sporadic violence between Burma's Buddhist and
Muslim communities, particularly in the west of the country towards the Burmese
border with Bangladesh.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sydney Morning Herald May
22, 2001.
Patience of Changi and Burma railway
victim rewarded
By Andrew Stevenson
The biggest lesson Jack Scott learnt on the Burma railway was optimism.
Patience, too, has its own rewards and, 56 years after he was liberated, Mr
Scott is to be paid some compensation by the Federal Government.
More than 22,000 Australian soldiers were taken prisoner by the Japanese in
World War II; 8,000 died in captivity and only 2,700 remain alive today.
When Mr Scott walked off a United States aircraft carrier in Sydney Harbour
in October 1945, he had just turned 24 and his life was about to begin again. He
weighed only 40 kilograms, had malaria, beri-beri, dysentery and pellagra, a
disease induced by vitamin deficiencies.
Army doctors checked his health and sent him home, no mention given to
counselling or the psychological impact of four long years as a prisoner. And no
mention either of compensation, although that is when Mr Scott believes it
should have been paid.
"But we didn't talk about compensation; we were just pleased to get home,"
he said.
His marriage to Gloria also stemmed from the war, as she explains. "I was
doing his job at [finance company] AGC and the boss came up and said 'you've got
to go, John Scott is back'." They married in February 1946.
Mr Scott, now 79, is the only survivor from his section. "I was always of
an optimistic bent but pessimists died in prisoner-of-war camps. It cured me of
any pessimism I might have had.
"I came back determined to be happy, to let nothing worry me if I could
help it."
Mr Scott, who has Parkinson's disease, says he won't be rushing out to
waste the $25,000 the surviving veterans are expecting from tonight's
Budget.
"Practically it means that when I go my family will live in some sort of
comfort. I'll try not to spend any of it," he said.
It also means his support for the Coalition. "I never thought it would come
to pass. Mr Howard has got my vote, which is the reason I think we're getting
the money."
He remembers - "It's a hard thing to forget" - the experiences of Changi,
the Burma railway and the coalmines of Japan, but has never dwelt on them.
Mr Scott marched once, on Anzac Day in 1946, and never went back. Nor did
he seek out other survivors. "I met them occasionally but bringing up five kids
is enough of an occupation."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation -
May 22, 2001
Three join Shan 'party'
Rangoon fumes as television couple, singer take part in National Day
celebrations for Burmese rebel group
Three thai celebrities could find themselves in trouble for joining Shan
rebels in celebrating their National Day yesterday.
The three, Noppol Komarachoon, Preeyanuch Panpradab and Surachai
Chantimathorn, were invited along with other foreigners and journalists by Shan
State Army (SSA) leader Colonel Yawd Serk to attend the lively ceremony, in
which about 5,000 rebel troops participated at Loi Tai Lang in Shan State.
Loi Tai Lang is over the border from Ban Pang Mapha in Mae Hong Son
province. Smaller ceremonies were held in 12 other bases on the Thai-Burmese
border.
Actor turned TV producer Noppol and his actress girlfriend Preeyanuch
planned to shoot a new TV series, using Shan locations, after their success with
"Keb Phaen Din" ("Preserve Our Land") which Noppol produced and directed and
Preeyanuch scripted.
The series, broadcast last year on military-run television Channel 7,
depicted the struggle and suffering of another ethnic Burmese insurgent group,
presumably the Karen. Surachai, veteran songwriter and musician, wrote the score
and sang a song for the series, showing sympathy for the minority
struggle.
A guerrilla officer confirmed to the Associated Press yesterday that
Surachai had performed his nationalist song for the troops.
Another singer, Yuenyong Opakul, who had recorded a song in support of the
Shans' struggle, did not attend the ceremony but sent 50 cases of beer, said a
Shan officer who did not wish to be identified.
Thai immigration officers said yesterday the three would face arrest and a
Bt2,000 fine for illegally leaving Thailand and their films would be
confiscated.
Sources close to the celebrities said they expected them to return to
Thailand today.
The Shans' celebration of Resistance Day normally attracts a small group of
foreign media, but this year's, the 43rd, was deliberately enlivened to boost
morale.
The minority group is among a few armed ethnic rebel groups still resisting
Burmese rule.
Reports that the three attended the ceremony further infuriated Rangoon,
which has been accusing Thailand over the last three months of supporting the
Shan rebels.
Thai Immigration Police feared the three celebrities might face arrest by
Burmese authorities or be caught in the fighting amid intelligence reports that
Burmese troops planned to launch a major offensive against the Shan rebels to
coincide with their national day.
But heavy downpours yesterday turned out to be a blessing for the rebels
since the bad weather discouraged the planned attacks by Burmese troops
supported by Wa rebels.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 22,
2001.
Three join Shan 'party'
Rangoon fumes as television couple, singer take part in National Day
celebrations for Burmese rebel group
Three thai celebrities could find themselves in trouble for joining Shan
rebels in celebrating their National Day yesterday.
The three, Noppol Komarachoon, Preeyanuch Panpradab and Surachai
Chantimathorn, were invited along with other foreigners and journalists by Shan
State Army (SSA) leader Colonel Yawd Serk to attend the lively ceremony, in
which about 5,000 rebel troops participated at Loi Tai Lang in Shan State.
Loi Tai Lang is over the border from Ban Pang Mapha in Mae Hong Son
province. Smaller ceremonies were held in 12 other bases on the Thai-Burmese
border.
Actor turned TV producer Noppol and his actress girlfriend Preeyanuch
planned to shoot a new TV series, using Shan locations, after their success with
"Keb Phaen Din" ("Preserve Our Land") which Noppol produced and directed and
Preeyanuch scripted.
The series, broadcast last year on military-run television Channel 7,
depicted the struggle and suffering of another ethnic Burmese insurgent group,
presumably the Karen. Surachai, veteran songwriter and musician, wrote the score
and sang a song for the series, showing sympathy for the minority
struggle.
A guerrilla officer confirmed to the Associated Press yesterday that
Surachai had performed his nationalist song for the troops.
Another singer, Yuenyong Opakul, who had recorded a song in support of the
Shans' struggle, did not attend the ceremony but sent 50 cases of beer, said a
Shan officer who did not wish to be identified.
Thai immigration officers said yesterday the three would face arrest and a
Bt2,000 fine for illegally leaving Thailand and their films would be
confiscated.
Sources close to the celebrities said they expected them to return to
Thailand today.
The Shans' celebration of Resistance Day normally attracts a small group of
foreign media, but this year's, the 43rd, was deliberately enlivened to boost
morale.
The minority group is among a few armed ethnic rebel groups still resisting
Burmese rule.
Reports that the three attended the ceremony further infuriated Rangoon,
which has been accusing Thailand over the last three months of supporting the
Shan rebels.
Thai Immigration Police feared the three celebrities might face arrest by
Burmese authorities or be caught in the fighting amid intelligence reports that
Burmese troops planned to launch a major offensive against the Shan rebels to
coincide with their national day.
But heavy downpours yesterday turned out to be a blessing for the rebels
since the bad weather discouraged the planned attacks by Burmese troops
supported by Wa rebels.
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