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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 04,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- San Francisco Chronicle - A cruel welcome in
Thailand
AP - Tribal Separatist Grp Rejected
Myanmar Junta Truce Offer
Channel NewsAsia - Driver smuggling illegal immigrants into
S'pore nabbed at Woodlands Checkpoint
IHT - Burma to Cooperate With Forced-Labor Probe
Bkk Post - Rangoon asks for a delay
Bkk Post - UN seeks Thai action against stubborn Burmese camp
refugees
NSTP - HR Ministry strategic review of HR development in
technology ---------------------------------------------------------------- San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, July 3, 2001 A cruel welcome in Thailand
Burmese refugees fleeing poverty and war endure brutal treatment in neighboring nation Mae Sot, Thailand -- This story is one in a series on Pacific Rim issues
and culture that appears every Tuesday in The Chronicle World section.
Thousands of Burmese migrants who have fled poverty, war and forced labor
are subject to cruel punishment by Thai officials, who are rarely charged with
any crime, human rights workers say.
"They are fair game, treated worse than animals," said Ko Thet Hmu, a member of a migrant workers' support group called the Yaung-Chi-OO Organization. Take Ma Se, one of many young women who came to Thailand to avoid forced
labor demanded by Burma's repressive military government.
"We were forced to work for months on road building," recalled the 18-year-
old refugee, who insisted on using a pseudonym. "My mother and father told me to
escape over the border (to Thailand)."
Shortly after arriving in this bustling border town last year, Ma Se was
thrown into a police car after she failed to produce identification papers. She
said she was driven to a deserted field outside town and raped by a police
officer before she managed to escape.
"No legal action will be taken, even though there were at least two
witnesses to Ma Se's abduction," said Ko Thet Hmu.
In recent months, undocumented workers have also been systematically ill-
treated before deportation, according to Amnesty International. When caught,
they are typically placed in cage-like trucks and carted off to detention
centers, where they are beaten, shackled continuously for months at a time, held
in solitary confinement for extended periods or held in extremely crowded
conditions. Immigration police Col. Rutchata Sibasai says the government aims to
return 300,000 illegal immigrants to their countries by September.
Previously, foreign workers were tolerated because they provided low-wage
labor, but after the economy took a sharp downturn in 1997, they have been
regarded as a burden.
ETHNIC MINORITIES IN BURMA
The number of Burmese refugees is difficult to assess because the number
rises and decreases according to military strikes by Burmese soldiers against
rebel groups along the border and periodic crackdowns by Thai immigration
officials. Most refugees are from the Karen, Kareeni and Shan ethnic minorities
who are fighting the Rangoon government.
The lucky ones find protection in camps under the auspices of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some estimates say there are 1 million
illegal immigrants in Thailand from poorer neighboring countries such as Burma
and Laos. In Mae Sot, there are an estimated 60,000 in a town of 28,000
permanent inhabitants with factories that use cheap migrant labor to churn out
consumer products for the export market.
The Burmese are fleeing one of the region's most repressive regimes; Burma
has an annual per capita income of about $400 and an average life span of just
55 years.
Last year, the International Labor Organization voted to urge governments
and international donors to impose sanctions on Burma for its policy of forced
labor. In 1997, the Clinton administration banned new American investments
there.
Burmese migrants -- including legitimate asylum seekers under international
law -- have few legal options once they arrive in Thailand, because there is no
law to determine whether a refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for
reasons of race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or membership in a
particular social group, the usual basis for establishing such status.
Human rights activists say abuses against Burmese refugees stem partly from
the failure of the Thai government to ratify the 1951 U.N. Convention on the
Status of Refugees, the treaty that legally protects refugees.
The result is a lawless limbo that leaves many illegals prey to police and
immigration authorities, employers and criminal gangs. And while Burmese men are
victims of robbery and murder, women appear to be the main target.
"We must always be careful where we go," said Ma Se, who now works at a
rubber-gloves factory, earning $1.50 a day for an 8-hour shift, less than half
the nation's minimum wage. "I usually stay near the factory where I work because
it is safer."
Ko Thet Hmu says that in Mae Sot, there are an average of two reported
rapes a month of Burmese women.
And in a report released last year by the Women's Commission for Refugee
Women and Children, a nongovernmental organization in New York, Dr. Cynthia
Maung, a prominent physician who runs a border health clinic, told the
commission that the bodies of Burmese women are often found burned and abandoned
on local farms or roads. Maung said, "Rapes and murders of Burmese women occur
here regularly."
In a telephone interview, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Bangkok, who refused to give her name, said her ministry saw no need to
investigate such accusations "since we have not received any evidence. We have
only unclear allegations."
Human Rights Watch in New York has criticized the UNHCR for not taking a
stronger stance. While acknowledging the United Nations' need to maintain
cordial relations with Thai authorities, the group claims the UNHCR "has been
unnecessarily weak in its efforts to challenge Thai policies that undermine
refugee protection."
Moreover, the latest U.S. State Department human rights report on Thailand
criticized the fact that "there is no legislation regarding the treatment of
refugees." The annual report to Congress also indicated that even though the
Thai government has investigated extrajudicial killings, it has prosecuted few
police or military officers accused of such crimes.
"Most cases were eventually dismissed because regulations outlined in the
Criminal Code required public prosecutors to rely exclusively on recommendations
of police when determining whether to bring a case for criminal prosecution,"
the report said. "Police investigators routinely determined that police took no
wrongful action."
Lt. Col. Sorrapol, former head of immigration in Mae Sot, reflected such
thinking in discussing the widely known beating of a 15-year-old Burmese girl
last year at a detention center then under his jurisdiction.
"The men in my department wouldn't do such a thing. It must have been
another agency," he said in a recent interview. "Bring the girl to me and then
perhaps we can investigate."
However, a witness to the beating who asked not to be named said he feared
identifying the assailant. Activists say many witnesses return to Burma in fear
for their lives.
Activists say the situation for Burmese migrants will not improve until
there is a policy change in Rangoon.
Human Rights Watch says that even though Burmese officials issued a decree
last year abolishing forced labor, they have violated their own ban by
continuing to allow local leaders to requisition village labor to "build roads,
dams, maintain military bases, construct temples, guard villages and porter
for military patrols."
"Villagers receive no pay, must supply their own food and have been
threatened with imprisonment should they refuse to participate," said a Human
Rights Watch report.
Wednesday July 4, 4:41 PM
Tribal Separatist Grp Rejected Myanmar
Junta Truce Offer
GAUHATI, India (AP)--A tribal
separatist group that operates along the India-Myanmar frontier said Wednesday
it has rejected a truce offer from the military junta in Yangon.
Myanmar asked for a truce after the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
entered into a cease-fire with India in April, said an NSCN leader on condition
that he not be identified by name.
"We are against signing any agreement with a military regime that does not
favor democracy," the rebel leader told the Associated Press by telephone from a
base in India's northeastern Nagaland state.
The NSCN is divided into two factions which have been fighting a
50-year-old bush war for an independent homeland comprising Naga dominated areas
in India and Myanmar. Both factions have signed a truce with India.
However, Kitovi Zhimomi, general secretary of the NSCN faction led by
S.S.Khaplang, said in a newspaper interview this week that his group's struggle
against the military junta in Myanmar would continue despite the cease-fire with
India.
Zhimomi told The Telegraph newspaper that the Naga-inhabited areas in
Myanmar were among the most backward parts of the world, lacking medical
facilities and communications.
The Khaplang branch of the NSCN has bases in several northeastern Indian
states as well as in Myanmar. The group says there are approximately 1.3 million
Nagas in areas they control.
More than 25,000 people have been killed since the Naga insurrection began
soon after India attained independence from Britain in 1947. The separatists say
they are alienated from the rest of India and neglected by the federal
government, and that their indigenous culture is under threat.
The Naga rebels have said they will continue their campaign against Myanmar
- also known as Burma - until they reach an agreement with the military junta.
"There can be no rest till all Naga inhabited areas are integrated under
one administrative umbrella," Zhimomi said in an interview in The Telegraph
newspaper.
Channel NewsAsia
Wednesday July 4, 10:21 PM
Driver smuggling illegal immigrants into
S'pore nabbed at Woodlands Checkpoint
A 25-year-old Malaysian's attempt to smuggle 4 illegal immigrants into Singapore was foiled at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday night. Immigration officers say at about 7.30pm, a Malaysian-registered metallic green Nissan Serena was signalled to stop for checks at the arrival bay. They then noticed an unusual bulge under the chassis, which suggested the
car had been modified.
When officers lifted the carpeted floorboard, they found 4 illegal
immigrants - 3 Myanmar men and a 21-year-old Indian national - hiding in a
specially-built compartment, which had 2 ventilation tubes to supply air.
Immigration officers then seized the car and arrested all the 5 men,
including the driver.
They will be charged in court and if convicted, they could be jailed, caned
and fined.
International Herald Tribune -
Wednesday, July 4, 2001
Burma to Cooperate With Forced-Labor
Probe
Thomas Crampton RANGOON Seeking to stem a flood of allegations about the widespread use of
forced labor, Burma's government is vowing to cooperate fully with international
investigators even as it continues to defend its record on workers' rights.
. The government, likening threatened economic sanctions to nuclear war, said it would offer complete access to a team expected to arrive in September to investigate the accusations. . Speaking in a rare interview, members of the government delegation to a June 11 meeting about Burma at the International Labor Organization in Geneva said that Burma had instituted important changes in labor practices. . U Win Mra, director-general of the international organizations and economic department in Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cited what he called a new spirit of dialogue with international organizations. . "The ambiance has changed," U Win Mra said. "Up to now, the world has not been treating us fairly." . Last November the labor organization, a UN affiliate with 175 member countries, called for sanctions against Burma, saying the military government frequently forced villagers to do unpaid work. . But U Win Mra said that a recent in-depth self-assessment by the government did not find forced labor and, in addition, a national mechanism would stop incidents of forced labor from occurring. . The government's finding sharply contrasts with investigations by numerous independent international human rights groups that concluded there was widespread use of forced labor. Bangkok Post - July 04,
2001.
Rangoon asks for a
delay
Too busy to meet Chavalit just now Wassana Nanuam
Burmese military leaders, citing their tight work schedule, have asked
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to put off his July 28-29 visit to Burma
until August, a source in the Supreme Command said.
The change of plan will cut short Gen Chavalit's trip to neighbouring
countries.
Since he was not going to Rangoon, he would be back in Thailand after his
July 27-28 visit to Phnom Penh for a military meeting, the source said.
Gen Chavalit and Gen Sampao Chusri, the supreme commander, would meet their
Cambodian counterparts, Tea Banh and Kae Kim Yan, at that meeting, the source
said.
Gen Chavalit and Gen Tea Banh would sign an agreement on bilateral
co-operation against vehicle thefts and arms smuggling. Thailand would also
pledge to help Cambodia with road construction. The Thai army is helping build a
road in Cambodia's Koh Kong province. Phnom Penh also wants Thailand to help
build a road to Siem Reap to improve access to Angkor Wat, its most popular
tourist attraction.
Cambodian authorities would also ask for the extradition of Sok Yoeun, a
former Cambodian MP wanted for suspected involvement in an assassination attempt
on Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Two years ago Sok Yoeun was granted temporary refugee status when he fled
to Thailand.
He was arrested in December 1999 for illegal entry after Phnom Penh asked
for his extradition. He was re-arrested after serving a six-month jail term
here.
Bangkok Post - July 04,
2001.
UN seeks Thai action against stubborn
Burmese camp refugees
Yuwadee Tunyasiri Thailand has been asked by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees to take action against 400 illegal Burmese immigrants remaining at
Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchaburi.
Yesterday, a UNHCR representative met National Security Council
secretary-general Kachadpai Burusapatana to discuss the UNHCR-monitored
repatriation of Burmese students at Maneeloy centre.
Mr Kachadpai said Maneeloy centre is expected to be closed down by the end
of this year since the UNHCR had sent 1,786 Burmese students from there to third
countries and would repatriate 400 more in a few months.
The UNHCR wants Thai authorities to seek legal action against some 400
Burmese residing at the centre who will not be included in the repatriation
programme.
Mr Kachadpai said these Burmese will be sorted out and treated differently
depending on whether they are students, illegal immigrants or other
groups.
The New Straits Times Press - July 04,
2001.
KUALA LUMPUR
HR Ministry strategic review of HR development in technology by Ahmad Suffian The Human Resources Ministry has embarked on a strategic review of the
country's human resources development efforts in view of the rapid changes in
technology.
Its deputy minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said workers needed to upgrade
their knowledge and skills to ensure their respective organisations continued to
remain competitive in the global economy.
The vast changes taking place around us present great economic challenges
which, if not addressed, would result in us being sidelined or left
behind.
The key to achieving the country's vision 2020 is to make the transition
into a knowledge-based economy.
In this respect, he said the ministry's strategic thrust to develop a
dynamic and competitive workforce was to:
* Improve the effectiveness of the skill delivery system;
* Promote life-long learning;
* Inculcate the training culture amongst employers and workers;
* Improve accessibility to pre-employment training;
* Establish strategic alliance with training providers and the industry;
and
* Upgrade the labour information system.
There must be a strong partnership between the Government, business
community and education and training providers, he said at the ASIA Trainers
Meet Trainers Conference (TMT2001) held at Shangri-La Hotel here.
Dr Latiff's speech was read by the ministry's deputy secretary-general
Rohani Harun.
The three-day conference Knowledge Management for the Digital Age is
organised by Specialist Management Resources (SMR) and is participated by about
350 professionals and practitioners from Myanmar, India, Australia, South Korea,
Singapore and here.
He said two key management challenges which were occurring simultaneously
were changes in the world economy and management practices.
The convergence of learning and knowledge management is the key to the
growth of every organisation's intellectual capital.
Success in the Digital Age rests entirely on an organisation's ability to
create knowledge, make the knowledge accessible and how to use it
effectively.
Dr Latiff said it could not be denied that the main driver of the country's
economic growth was its human resources.
Malaysia needs to develop its human capital in terms of knowledge-based and
skills to ensure the country's sustainable growth and also to produce economic
miracles again.
He added that knowledge management was all about capturing, sharing and
using the information throughout an organisation.
It is a challenge but a much greter challenge is to retrain the knowledge
workers and manage them effectively.
Among the conference speakers were Accelerated Learning Society of
Australia vice president Kevin Lohan, AC Nielsen (Malaysia & Singapore)
managing director Lennart Bengstsson and Tenaga Nasional Berhad's group
vice-president (human resources) Engku Hashim Al-Edrus.
About 40 exhibitors are also showcasing their latest multimedia and
training equipment outside the conference hall.
This is the 24th year that SMR is organising the TMT Conference for human
resources
development. |