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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 09,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar junta downplays reports of
breakthrough in Suu Kyi talks
Channel NewsAsia - 3 M'sian men charged with
murder of Myanmar national
BBC - Chinese miners block railway
SMH - Burma poised for
new government, elections
The Scotsman(UK) - Secret Burma talks may mean freedom for Aung San Suu
Kyi
Bkk Post - Junta general agrees to join Pattaya
talks
Bkk Post - Border row
claims 4
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Population Reaches 52
Mln
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Hosts Insurance Agency
Dealers Conference
Bernama - Foreign
Visits By High-Ranking N.K. Officials
Kyodo News - Japan extends Myanmar aid for judo
equipment
NSTP - Myanmar stabbed to death, brother
injured in quarrel with countrymen
---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday July 9, 4:33 PMMyanmar junta downplays reports of
breakthrough in Suu Kyi talks
YANGON, July 9 (AFP) -
Myanmar's military government Monday downplayed speculation that it is poised to
release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and announce a new national
government.
"There has been too much speculation going on," a senior spokesman for the
regime said in a statement.
Talk of a breakthrough in Myanmar, where the ruling junta has been meeting
with Aung San Suu Kyi behind closed doors since October, was sparked by comments
from Thai Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.
Chavalit, a former army chief who is known to have close ties with the
generals in Yangon, expressed optimism at the weekend that 40 years of military
rule in Myanmar would soon come to an end.
"Once all the groups are engaged in forming a national government and get
to work, confidence among the former rivals will soon be established," he told
The Nation newspaper in Bangkok.
"After a while, a new election should be called," he said.
However, diplomats in the Myanmar capital said there was no sign of an
imminent development in the talks, which have been progressing slowly in
complete secrecy.
"All of us here have not seen any signs that there's going to be any
dramatic movement or development," one observer said.
"This is just going to take some time to work it out and there's no sense
among anybody, in the atmosphere or little hints and gestures or any obscure
signals, that something dramatic is about to happen."
But Chavalit's comments were backed by General Chetta Tanajaro, another
former army chief and a senior adviser on Myanmar to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra.
"I think Myanmar's military government and the NLD (National League for
Democracy) are starting to understand each other," he told AFP Monday.
"A new government in Myanmar would be a good thing for this region and I
think it will happen soon."
Despite the optimism among Thai government circles, dissident and rebel
groups have voiced frustration at the slow pace of the dialogue and their
exclusion from the process.
However, confidence in the process has been boosted in recent weeks by the
release of dozens of NLD MPs, elected in the disallowed 1990 ballot, who had
been held in government guesthouses.
In light of this, Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to emerge briefly from her
home, where she has been detained since September, to attend the July 19
ceremony marking the 1997 assassination of her father General Aung San.
Previously she had declined to leave the lakeside residence on any personal
missions, even deciding not to attend the funeral of her much-loved aunt who
died in the family compound earlier this year.
The junta is believed to be keen to have the Nobel peace laureate attend
the televised Martyrs Day ceremony at Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda, to send a
signal that national reconciliation is progressing well.
"I think people are expecting to see her in public on Martyrs Day as
happens every year on that day," one diplomat said.
"If she doesn't go it will be interpreted negatively and in fact would be
seized upon by everybody as a sign that things are not going well," he said.
In the past Aung San Suu Kyi had consistently refused to cooperate with
propaganda stunts intended to give a veneer of respectability to the political
situation in Myanmar, the diplomat said.
"But the recent releases might have a bearing on it -- they may be enough
to coax her into going."
The junta declined to confirm whether Aung San Suu Kyi was expected to
attend the ceremony, saying only that an invitation had been extended to "all
the family members of the martyrs".
"It is up to the individual to attend the ceremony or not," the spokesman
said.
However, most observers believe the NLD leader will not be released from
house arrest until both sides are ready to make a statement on the content and
progress of their talks, a stage which may still be a long way off.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Channel NewsAsia
Monday July 9, 6:21 PM
3 M'sian men charged with murder of
Myanmar national
Three Malaysian men were charged with the murder of a Myanmar
national.
The court heard that Jeffrey Anak Randi, 26, Anak Bukok, 20, and Jamal Anak
Nyalau, 19, attacked the deceased between 3am and 4am last Saturday at the back
lane between Lorong 22 and Lorong 24 Geylang.
The deceased, 36-year-old Thet Lwin, died of serious head injuries.
The three accused are in police custody for a week for
investigations.
Their case will be heard again next Monday.
---------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Monday, 9 July, 2001, 14:03 GMT
15:03 UK
Chinese miners block railway As many as 10,000 miners and their families have blocked a railway line in
north-east China demanding nearly a year and a half of unpaid wages.
Hundreds of police are reported to have been sent to the scene, at Jishu
village in Jilin province, and local officials are trying to negotiate an end to
the stand-off.
If the reported figures are accurate this is one of the biggest labour
protests in China in recent months.
The miners occupied a station and have blocked the mainline to Harbin - the
biggest city in China's far north-east.
They are reported to be demanding 30 months of unpaid wages.
Protests grow
An official of the state-run mine where they work told the French news
agency, AFP, that the mine cannot pay its workers because it is unable to sell
its coal.
She denied that corruption in the mine's management was the reason for
non-payment of salaries and pensions.
BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says such protests are becoming
increasingly common, especially in China's north-east, centre of its antiquated
state-run heavy industries.
Millions of workers in the north-east have been laid off over the last
decade of economic reform.
By some estimates there are now as many as 100,000 worker protests in China
every year and their size and frequency is growing.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Sydney Morning Herald
Burma poised for new government,
elections
By Mark Baker, Herald Correspondent in Singapore
A senior Thai minister claims the Burmese Opposition leader, Ms Aung San
Suu Kyi, and the country's military leaders are poised to announce the formation
of a new national government and an election timetable.
The Defence Minister, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, said months of secret
negotiations between Ms Suu Kyi and senior military officers had reached
agreement on a plan to end the decade-long political crisis that has crippled
Burma's economy and left the country an international pariah.
"Once all the groups are engaged in forming a national government and get
to work, confidence among the former rivals will soon be established. After a
while a new election should be called," he told Bangkok's Nation newspaper.
General Chavalit, who has served as both prime minister and Thailand's
armed forces commander, did not say when a deal would be announced, and would
not reveal the source of his information. But he is known to be close to senior
members of the Burmese regime and is preparing for an official visit to Rangoon
later this month.
His dramatic announcement came as the regime released another group of
political prisoners, fuelling speculation that Ms Suu Kyi, who has not been seen
in public for nine months, is about to emerge from virtual house arrest.
Seven members of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were released
on Friday, bringing to 29 the number of detainees freed since the middle of last
month. All seven were elected MPs in the 1991 elections which the NLD won before
being blocked from taking power by the military.
But Ms Suu Kyi, the NLD chairman, Aung Shwe, and vice chairman Tin Oo
remain confined to their homes in Rangoon after being stopped on September 22
last year as they attempted to travel outside the capital.
Some NLD officials believe preparations are being made for the three to be
freed before Burmese Martyrs Day on July 19 - the anniversary of the
assassination in 1947 of Ms Suu Kyi's father and Burmese independence hero,
General Aung San.
Ms Suu Kyi has been meeting regularly since late last year with the deputy
chief of military intelligence, General Kyaw Win, but both sides have refused to
discuss details of their talks.
Senior officials said in March that the meetings were going "very well" and
the head of the regime, General Than Shwe, gave a speech in which he cautiously
praised democracy.
However, some observers remain sceptical of a breakthrough.
"I don't think anyone here thinks there is that kind of movement in
prospect in the near term," a senior regional diplomat based in Rangoon told the
Herald.
"Nobody knows what's going on in the talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the
Government. No one is in a position to really know. But the release of the
detainees is contributing to a more positive atmosphere."
Sources close to Ms Suu Kyi and the military negotiators have previously
outlined a scenario in which the armed forces and senior NLD officials would
form an interim administration while preparations were made for new
elections.
It is understood Ms Suu Kyi has privately indicated she would accept
military demands that she not play an active role in politics, provided there
were guarantees of a return to democracy.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Scotsman(UK) - July - 09,
2001.
Secret Burma talks may mean freedom for
Aung San Suu Kyi
Foreign staff
THAILAND’S defence minister suggested this weekend that Burma’s opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be freed from house arrest to join an interim
national government with the military.
He told Bangkok newspapers that secret talks between the Nobel peace prize
winner and Burma’s military rulers were aimed at forming an interim government
ahead of new elections.
The minister, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, is said to be close to the
Burmese junta.
New speculation that Ms Suu Kyi could be freed could easily be premature.
But publicly at least Burma’s military is moving to accommodate supporters of
one of the world’s most celebrated champions of democracy.
"Once all groups are engaged in a national government and get to work,
confidence among the former rivals will soon be established," said Gen.
Yongchaiyudh. "After a while, a new election should be held."
Burma has been under military rule for about forty years.
Ms Suu Kyi returned to Burma in the late 1980s. Her party won general
elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power. Burma’s generals ignored
the results and placed her under arrest.
Last week Burma released seven members of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy, among the last of more than 200 elected lawmakers who were detained
three years ago when the party tried to convene a parliament.
In a brief statement the regime announced that seven MPs "staying at
government guest houses in Rangoon have left the guest houses to return home to
their families".
However, a senior official of the NLD said that at least three elected
representatives remained in detention.
Suu Kyi and her top two aides, party president Aung Shwe and vice chairman
Tin Oo, also remain under house detention, enforced since September when Suu Kyi
tried to travel outside Rangoon, in defiance of official restrictions.
The secret talks have been called the most significant direct contact
between the two sides in a decade of bitter political deadlock.
Dozens of detainees have been freed. Since June, 29 NLD members who won
seats in the 1990 elections have been released from government "guest houses,"'
a euphemism for detention centers mostly located on military camps.
According to the NLD, nearly 965 party members, including 203 of its
elected representatives, were rounded up in 1998 and put in such guest houses,
soon after the NLD set up a committee which it said represented parliament.
The NLD won 392 of the 485 contested seats in the 1990 elections. It set up
the committee as the military had ignored its repeated demands that a proper
parliament be convened.
Last month the party won permission to reopen a branch office outside the
capital.
About 30 members and leaders of the National League for Democracy attended
a ceremony to fix a party signboard on a rundown thatch and bamboo hut scheduled
to serve as the party office in Taikkyi town.
It was the first party office allowed to be reopened since a crackdown in
1998 closed many of the 40 branches in and around the capital, Rangoon. A party
executive committee member called it "an auspicious moment" and a result of the
talks.
For good luck, a bunch of euginia leaves was tied to a pole atop which a
faded party flag fluttered. About 15 plainclothes intelligence officers and
police, however, took photos and video of the proceedings.
Authorities have also given the NLD permission to reopen 18 branch offices
around Rangoon, out of which nine will be allowed to put up party signboards.
The boards are the only visible symbol of the opposition in a country that
remains firmly in the grip of the military.
The current group of generals came to power in 1988 after crushing a
pro-democracy movement in which thousands were killed. The junta called
elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 09,
2001.
Junta general agrees to join
Pattaya talks
Golf diplomacy helps pave way Burma's Regional Triangle commander agreed to join the 19th Regional Border
Committee meeting in Pattaya next month, it was reported.
During a round of golf on Saturday in Tachilek, opposite Tak province,
Maj-Gen Thein Sein reportedly told Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, Third Region
Army commander, he would participate in the high-level border meeting.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai said his casual meeting with Maj-Gen Thein Sein was an
amicable one.
The generals agreed to avoid violence and settle border disputes through
dialogue, but specific issues were not raised during the golf game for fear of
dampening the atmosphere, he said.
The issues requiring immediate attention would be brought up at the RBC
meeting. The agenda was expected to be dominated by the joint narcotics
suppression efforts. The co-operation was acknowledged at the last RBC forum in
Burma in April.
Thailand would relay to Rangoon information on some 50 narcotic production
bases scattered along the common border so suppression could be launched in
accordance with bilateral agreements.
Initially, help from Rangoon would be sought to destroy a few major
production bases.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai said the Joint Operation Command (JOC) 103 would liaise
in the meeting and arrange the meeting agenda.
He said the border demarcation issue would be left to Joint Boundary
Meeting to be organised jointly by the Thai and Burmese foreign
ministries.
A defence ministry source said Rangoon asked Defence Minister Gen Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh to postpone his July 19-20 visit because July 19 is Burma's
national day.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 09,
2001.
Border row claims
4
Three Karen National Union fighters and one member of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army were killed when the two rebel forces briefly traded fire near the
Thai-Burmese border opposite Tak's Mae Ramat district.
Border police said 50 DKBA men, led by Lt-Col Maung Chit Tu from the Kokko
camp opposite Ban Wangpha, tambon Maejarau, attacked the KNU's Seventh Division
at Doi Noi, about six kilometres from the border.
They used 60mm and 81mm artillery guns in the 30-minute attack.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Population Reaches 52
Mln
2001.07.09 12:32:48 YANGON, July 9 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar's population has reached 52 million with half of them as women,
according to the Myanmar Ministry of Immigration and Population
Monday.
The country's population grows at 2.2 percent and its population
density is 74 inhabitants per square kilometer, the sources said, adding
that Myanmar is sparsely populated and still has enough space for the
growing population compared to neighboring countries.
The Myanmar government is making efforts for food sufficiency not
only for the present 52-million population but also for the 100 million'
in the future by extending the cultivated areas, per- hectare yield, cultivation
of double or triple crops and application of modern cultivation technique
as well as increased investment in the sector and exemption of import
duties of agricultural implements such as fertilizer, pesticide,
machinery and improved variety.
Out of 18.225 million hectares of cultivable land in Myanmar, 10.4085
million hectares have been utilized with 7.8165 million hectares remaining
to be reclaimed.
According to official statistics, Myanmar annually produced 18. 97 million
tons of paddy and exported 81,200 tons of rice in the last four fiscal
years.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Hosts Insurance Agency
Dealers Conference
2001.07.09 10:19:24 YANGON, July 9 (Xinhuanet) --
An Insurance Agency Dealers Conference between Myanmar and Malaysia is due
to begin here later Monday to seek ways and means of developing Myanmar's
insurance market following the step-in of Japanese investors in the
sector.
The one-day conference, co-sponsored by the Myanmar Tourex Travel
Services Ltd and the MCIS Insurance Co of Malaysia, is to be attended by
165 insurance agents of Malaysia and their Myanmar counterparts.
Aimed at developing insurance market following the liberalization of
its financial market and banking, Myanmar enacted its first Insurance
Business Law in June 1996, granting local private companies as well as
foreign investors to run insurance business in the country which cover
life insurance, fire insurance, cash-in-safe insurance and fidelity
insurance.
Meanwhile, the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Japan is
making preparation to initiate a joint venture (JV), which will be the
first insurance JV in Myanmar, with the state- run Myanma Insurance (MI)
following the reaching of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between them
in 1997, during which two other Japanese insurance companies, the Mitsui
and the Tokio, also signed similar MOUs respectively with the MI to set up such
joint ventures in the country.
Besides Myanmar's insurance business law, the country's Foreign Investment
Law also emphasizes that foreign firms investing in the country shall buy
insurance policies compulsorily from the MI.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysian National News Agency
July 09, 2001.
Foreign Visits By High-Ranking N.K.
Officials
By Shim Sun-Ah
Seoul, July 9 (Oana-Yonhap) -- North Korea has been showing considerable
diplomatic initiative recently and most notably in the form of overseas travel
by high-ranking officials.
Kim Yong-Nam, the communist country's ceremonial head of state, is
reportedly set to visit Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for ten days starting
Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry announced last Thursday
that Kim will make a state visit to Hanoi from July 11 to July 14 at the
invitation of President Tran Duc Luong. Kim, chairman of the Presidium of the
Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), will also visit Cambodia from July 17-20,
according to Cambodian officials.
His entourage will consist of 40 high-ranking officials, including Trade
Minister Lee Kwang-keun and Cultural Minister Kang Nung-Su.
The North has yet to officially announce the visit, however, North Korean
watchers said his trip is aimed at promoting economic and cultural cooperation
and, as explained by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman, "to promote
traditional friendly relations between the two countries."
Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun visited Australia from June 28 to 30 to
reciprocate for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's November trip to
Pyongyang.
The two countries recently restored diplomatic relations that were severed
25 years ago.
Peak, who became the first North Korean official to visit Australia,
discussed political developments in both countries and international issues of
common interest.
They also signed a joint communique on exchanging permanent missions.
Accordingly, North Korea will open its mission in Sydney in 2001 and Australia
in Pyongyang during the 2002-2003 fiscal year.
The North Korean Foreign Minister also met Prime Minister John Howard to
convey leader Kim Jong-Il's greetings.
A friendship mission, led by secretary-general of the SPA Presidium Kim
Yun-Hyok, will fly to China Tuesday. During the five-day stay, the mission will
attend celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the two countries' alliance
treaty, reports said.
Also worthy of attention is the North Korean military and economic
delegations' visit to foreign countries.
A high-ranking delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Gil-yon made a
three-day visit to Yangon on June 20-22 to discuss cooperation in the defense
industry with Myanmar's Deputy Defense Minister Khin Maung Win.
The visit followed a secret trip to Pyongyang last November by a Myanmar
government delegation for talks with high-ranking North Korean officials.
In addition, North Korean trade and agricultural missions visited Japan.
A delegation from the Committee for the Promotion of International Trade,
led by secretary-general Chong Rak-Jun, travelled to Japan from July 25 to July
4, to discuss technological cooperation with its Japanese counterparts and
inspect production facilities across the country.
An agricultural delegation led by Vice Agricultural Minister Yun Won-sun
flew into Japan June 25 looking for technological exchanges to improve the
growing and processing of potatoes.
On the hosting end, between the end of June and early July, Pyongyang
welcomed a Cuban military delegation led by its vice defense minister, a
Nigerian upper house parliamentary mission, a friendship mission from the
Chinese Communist Party and a friendship delegation from China's committee for
cultural relations with foreign countries.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Japan extends Myanmar aid for judo
equipment
YANGON, July 9 Kyodo - Japan
has agreed to provide 40 million yen for use by the Myanmar Judo Federation to
buy mats, uniforms and training equipment, the Japanese Embassy in Yangon said
Monday.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press - July 09,
2001.
KUALA TERENGGANU
Myanmar stabbed to death, brother injured in quarrel with countrymen by Nik Imran Abdullah A 28-year-old Myanmar national was stabbed to death while his brother was injured during a quarrel with three fellow countrymen at Kampung Bukit Merah, Dungun, yesterday. Ali Nor Alam and his brother Yassir, 25, were believed to be attacked by
three other Myanmars over a debt in the 3am incident.
It is believed Ali had asked his fellow countrymen to settle their debt but
the assailants refused.
State police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Jaafar said Ali's death had been
classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
The weapon used in the stabbings had yet to be found.
He said a Myanmar had been detained at the Kertih industrial site in
Kemaman today to facilitate investigation. The man did not have a identification
document or a work permit.
"We are still tracking down two other Myanmars suspected to be involved in
the attack," he told a Press conference today.
Mohd Yusoff said Ali and his brother had slipped into the country illegally
two months ago and had worked at a project site in Paka, Dungun.
Police believed the three assailants were also illegal immigrants.
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