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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 16,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar Torches Confiscated Thai Goods In
Border Town
AP - Amnesty: Myanmar Still Holding 1,800
Political Prisoners
The Boston Globe - Editorial - Burmese opportunity
IHT - Stand Up for
Burma
Bkk Post - Warplane purchase no cause for
alarm
Bkk Post - Border patrol boost after big drug
bust
Bkk Post - Top brass
put off golf game
The Nation - BURMESE ARMS PURCHASE: Thaksin
brushes off MiG buy
The Nation - Can Asean be rid of drug scourge?
Xinhuanet - China, Myanmar Sign MOU on Geology,
Mineral Resources Cooperation
ST - Yangon's little 'electric fishermen'
NMG - Junta blacklists
foreign correspondent
---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday July 16, 12:42 PM
Myanmar Torches Confiscated Thai Goods
In Border Town
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP)--Myanmar
authorities have torched an estimated 700 million kyats of smuggled Thai
commodities seized at the border between the two countries, Myanmar merchants
said Monday.
A Myanmar trader, who declined to be named, said the goods including
monosodium glutamate, drinks, medicine and edible oil were destroyed over the
weekend in Myawaddy, on the Myanmar side of the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.
The trader was speaking in Mae Sot, on the Thai side of the bridge, 370
kilometers (230 miles) northwest of Bangkok.
There is a bustling black market in Thai goods smuggled into military-run
Myanmar, also known as Burma, where some commodities and consumer products are
scarce. Merchants seek to avoid taxes or circumvent trading restrictions.
Traders in Mae Sot say the Myanmar government is encouraging people to buy
cheaper Chinese goods to lessen its dependence on imports from Thailand.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday July 16, 6:49 PM
Amnesty: Myanmar Still Holding 1,800
Political Prisoners
BANGKOK (AP)--Amnesty
International urged Myanmar's military regime to release more political
prisoners Monday, saying that despite recent releases, there are still at least
1,800 under detention.
Amnesty said its activists were sending petitions with thousands of
signatures of people from across the Asia-Pacific region to the Myanmar
government this week, calling for releases and human rights reforms.
"The recent release of some prominent political prisoners is a step in the
right direction, but at least 1,800 political prisoners are still held, often in
appalling conditions," the London-based group said in a statement received in
Bangkok.
"The petitions show the extent of regional concern about these and other
violations."
Amnesty said at least 41 political prisoners have recently been released,
including 38 members of parliament elected in the May 1990 elections, most from
the National League for Democracy of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The vast majority of them had been detained in government "guest houses"
since 1998 without charge or trial after the NLD set up an ad hoc parliament
because of the junta's refusal to honor the party's 1990 general election
victory.
But hundreds of other prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are
still held, including politicians, students, doctors, farmers, teachers,
journalists, writers, lawyers, comedians and housewives serving long prison
terms in very poor conditions, Amnesty said.
The statement mentioned Win Tin, 71, a journalist and founding member of
the NLD, imprisoned in 1989 and serving a 20-year sentence for his peaceful
political activities. He is in very poor health, Amnesty said.
"The government of Myanmar should release more prisoners of conscience and
take further steps to improve the human rights situation for all the people of
Myanmar," Amnesty said.
Torture and ill-treatment continue unabated and ethnic minorities are still
subjected to a range of violations, including forced labor, the statement said.
Since the start of the year, a total of 140 political prisoners have been
freed, apparently the result of secret talks between Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize, and the military, which has ruled Myanmar, also known as
Burma, since 1962.
Suu Kyi and her top two aides, party president Aung Shwe and vice chairman
Tin Oo, remain under house detention, enforced since Sept. 22 when Suu Kyi tried
to travel outside Yangon in defiance of official restrictions.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Boston Globe
Editorial - Burmese
opportunity
7/16/2001
S SECRETARY of State Colin Powell prepares to attend the Ministerial
Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations later this month in Hanoi,
he would do well to follow the advice offered to him in a letter signed by 36 US
senators. The letter urged Powell to ''reaffirm US commitment to democracy and
human rights in Burma.''
This is not merely an idealistic stance that sounds good in a press
release. Burma's military dictatorship is a major exporter of heroin, refugees,
cross-border warfare, HIV/AIDS infections, and strategic threats to
neighbors.
If Powell fails to place America four-square on the side of the oppressed
people of Burma and of that country's anxious neighbors, he will inevitably
raise doubts about Washington's reliability as a defender of stable development
and the rule of law.
The junta thwarts the will of citizens who voted overwhelmingly in 1990 for
the National League for Democracy, the political party of Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The generals have transformed what was a prosperous,
highly literate country into an impoverished society intimidated by government
informants.
The senators' letter, co-sponsored by Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont
and Tom Harkin of Iowa as well as Republicans Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and
Jesse Helms of North Carolina, asks that Powell in Hanoi ''address the
production and transshipment of illicit drugs from Burma, including heroin and
methamphetamines.''
The wisdom of the senators' counsel ought to be evident. The regime of the
generals running Burma has become a fountain spouting many of the transnational
ills that haunt the contemporary world. The letter calls on Powell to raise the
issue of hundreds of thousands of people from Burma who were forced to flee the
depradations of the junta and seek refuge in Bangladesh or Thailand. The
senators also ''respectfully request'' that Powell bring up ''the twin evils of
child and forced labor,'' suggesting that as a career soldier he must be
particularly sensitive to the horror of Burma's ''estimated 50,000 child
soldiers, the highest number in the world.''
Another ominous aspect of the junta's rule not mentioned in the senators'
letter is the extent to which the military has made Burma a client state of
Beijing. Not only does the junta spend obscene sums buying arms from China. It
has also caused considerable concern in India by making Burma a platform for the
projection of Chinese power in Asia.
Powell should seize the opportunity he will have in Hanoi to prod ASEAN
countries to demand that the junta release imprisoned members of the National
League for Democracy and conclude the current talks with Suu Kyi by permitting a
revival of Burmese democracy.
---------------------------------------------------------------- International Herald Tribune
Stand Up for
Burma
THE WASHINGTON POST Monday, July 16, 2001
Few foreign policy questions have totally clear answers. Every choice
carries risks, every option has trade-offs. But Burma is the exception that
proves the rule. The ruling junta is so exceptionally inept, immoral and
corrupt, and the oppressed opposition so exceptionally deserving of recognition,
that only one policy toward Burma is defensible. As the Bush administration
enters a season of Asia-focused diplomacy, it should use Burma to prove its
commitment to democracy around the world.
. Burma's thuggish ruling elite trafficks in drugs and in people - in forced labor, child labor, slave labor. It throws people into medieval torture chambers at the slightest pretext: for owning a fax machine, for making jokes about the regime, for listening to foreign broadcasts. There are some 1,800 political prisoners. Universities have been shuttered for much of the past decade, and poverty has deepened. . There is a democratic opposition, ready and entitled to govern. In 1990 the National League for Democracy won four out of every five seats in a parliamentary election, but the generals never allowed the Parliament to meet. Many of those elected were jailed. The party's leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 56, has been under house arrest pretty much ever since. But she has never abandoned her commitment to a nonviolent struggle for democracy. . The generals manage to enrich themselves even as their population suffers. A few companies, such as Unocal, are happy to do business with the regime. Textile imports from Burma into the United States are growing. Japan is ever eager to slip sanctions and resume development aid to better position its corporations. . From time to time there are reports of compromise and dialogue between the junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and a few prisoners are turned loose. The generals know they are ruining their country, but they do not dare relinquish power. Dialogue may be useful as a transitional tool, but the only thing that can save Burma is to seat the democratic government that was elected 11 years ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 16,
2001.
Warplane purchase no cause for
alarm
Thaksin says it is not a threat Burma's plan to procure MiG-29 jet fighters from Russia does not worry key
figures like Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Deputy Defence Minister
Yuthasak Sasiprapa who view the issue as normal defence preparations.
Mr Thaksin said yesterday that he did not consider the plan a threat
because any government had the duty to have weaponry for national defence.
"Today, Thai-Burmese relations have returned to normal. Burma is developing
itself in many aspects. We are ready to co-operate on development. We would like
to see our neighbour improve," the premier said.
Gen Yuthasak said that the Burmese air force needed to upgrade its fleet
because its existing aircraft were out of date.
"Of course, a new procurement must mean modern aircraft. They have a
capability close to Thailand's F-16s.
"What will matter are the arms to be equipped on board. In this case, the
Amram missiles (advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles) are considered
perfect," the deputy defence minister said.
He said it was normal for Burma to need new aircraft for defence because it
bordered India and China.
In Thailand's case, Singapore and Malaysia had strengthened their weaponry,
but posed no problems to relations with Thailand, he said.
"In the future, economic problems will be more important than military
issues," Gen Yuthasak said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 16,
2001.
Border patrol boost after big drug
bust
METHAMPHETAMINE -- Forty million speed pills on their way The Third Army has stepped up drug suppression patrols along the border
with Burma after learning that 40 million methamphetamine pills are ready for
gradual smuggling into Thailand.
The 2.6 million pills seized following a clash in Mae Sot district of Tak
on Friday were believed to be part of the stockpile, a Third Army source
said.
A Thai soldier, Sgt Seksan Suwansilp, was killed in the clash between the
smugglers and a joint patrol of Task Force 399 and the Fourth Infantry Regiment
Task Force.
Sgt Seksan was a member of Task Force 399, which was trained in drug
suppression by special warfare troops from the United States. The US soldiers
are still in Thailand. They will continue to provide training for two infantry
companies, one special warfare company and one Border Patrol Police company
until next month.
The source said the Third Army has stepped up patrols along the border in
Mae Ramat, Mae Sot and Phop Phra districts of Tak province on reports that Red
Wa, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and Kokang tribesmen produced about 40
million speed pills and planned to gradually smuggle them across the border into
Thailand.
At the next meeting of the bilateral Regional Border Committee, which has
still to be scheduled, Third Army commander Lt-Gen Watanachai Chaimuanwong and
Burma's Regional Triangle commander Maj-Gen Thein Sein were expected to discuss
the destruction of drug production plants in Burma.
Thai intelligence services earlier estimated 600-700 million speed pills
would be produced this year inside Burma.
Lt-Gen Watanachai said the 2.6 million speed pills seized on Friday were
from drug plants opposite Chiang Mai. The drugs were brought down to an area
opposite Mae Sot and then taken across the Moei river in a long-tail boat.
On the Thai side, the drugs were taken aboard a six-wheel truck with four
armed men as guards. The truck was to head for Mae Sot town to load cattle
before leaving for the Northeast along the Tak-Sukhothai-Phitsanulok-Phetchabun
road. The delivery was foiled by the patrol that spotted the truck.
Truck owner Chak Wuthikraithe was a former employee of Padaeng Industry Co.
Apart from the drugs, soldiers recovered from the truck a list of 11 drug
traders in Thailand, one of them a tambon chief, and their telephone numbers.
Lt-Gen Watanachai said he would raise the issue with Burmese leaders when he
accompanies Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh on a visit to Rangoon on July
23.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 16,
2001.
Top brass put off golf
game
A friendly round of golf between officers of the Third Army Region and
Burma's Regional Triangle Force scheduled for July 23 has been postponed
indefinitely, according to the director of the civil affairs unit of the Third
Army Region.
Col Chucheep Srisomboon said the postponement was in response to a request
by Maj-Gen Thein Sein, the Regional Triangle commander.
At a Regional Border Committee meeting in Kengtung in May, the two sides
agreed to hold a friendly round of golf on July 23 at Waterford Golf Course in
Chiang Rai.
Col Chucheep said Maj-Gen Thein Sein may be busy during that time. However,
plans for the game is still on and can be held whenever Burma is ready.
A Third Army source said the venue for the Regional Border Committee
meeting, which was originally to be held in Pattaya, may have to be moved to
Phitsanulok instead.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 16,
2001.
BURMESE ARMS PURCHASE: Thaksin
brushes off MiG buy
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday downplayed a Burmese plan to
purchase a squadron of MiG-29 supersonic fighter aircraft, saying it was common
for any government - especially a military government - to do so.
Thaksin, who visited Rangoon last month on a fence-mending mission, said
Thailand had nothing to fear since the countries now had normal relations.
But he deftly side-stepped questions about reports that the junta had
bought the sophisticated Russian aircraft with profits from the joint
Thai-Burmese gas-pipeline project.
Thaksin said Thailand wanted to see Burma develop and prosper.
A US senator has raised serious concern over these latest military
purchases, saying the move has the potential to destabilise Southeast
Asia.
Mitchell McConnell said last week, quoting Jane's Defence Weekly, that
Burma's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had signed a contract to
purchase 10 MiG-29 fighter aircraft from the Russian Aircraft-building
Corporation. These fighters were built in the early 1990s and have been stored
at the Lukhovitsy machine-building plant in the former Soviet Union.
The total cost to Burma of the 10 MiGs is US$130 million (Bt5.9 billion),
30 per cent of which will be paid up front and the balance settled over the next
decade.
McConnell said this development was troubling for several reasons and
underscored the fact that despite its name the SPDC was committed neither to
peace nor to the development of Burma.
Thailand and the United States should, he warned, be concerned about the
acquisition of these aircraft, whose addition to the Burmese arsenal boosted the
junta's capabilities well beyond the 42 Chengdu F-7M and Nanchang A-5C
aeroplanes currently sitting on Burmese runways.
Tensions between Thailand and the junta have already spilled over into
exchanges of gunfire, and any escalation leading to an air war would be
destabilising for the entire region, he said.
McConnell said China might be the only country to view the sale in a
positive light, since the deal strengthened the military capability of one of
its staunchest allies in the region.
From drug dealing to the forced conscription of child soldiers, the Burmese
military has distinguished itself as one of the world's leading violators of
human rights and dignity, the US politician said.
"This purchase serves as evidence that the regime is committed to remaining
in power at any and all costs.
"The international community must now double its efforts to ensure that
even greater human-rights abuses are not waged against the innocent people of
Burma by the military, which is corrupt to the core.
"The acquisition of MiG fighters adds 10 more reasons why the United States
should view with scepticism the discussions between Rangoon's thugs and thieves
and Burma's legitimate leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
The senator said this new contract with Russia sent a signal that despite
all the rhetoric and the release of a few prisoners the talks might be
hollow.
He asked: "What meaningful concessions can the generals make to Suu Kyi if
they are arming themselves?"
He also questioned the financial source of the$130-million contract, adding
that the junta had consistently failed to make the welfare of the people of
Burma a priority. "From an escalating HIV/Aids crisis to forced labour
practices, the junta has yet to demonstrate the political will to tackle the
hardships the Burmese face every day," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 16,
2001.
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Can Asean be
rid of drug scourge?
KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
Asean is proud that it discussed combating drugs as early as 1972, even
though little progress has been made since then. Before 1992, Thailand was the
only Asean member that was part of the notorious Golden Triangle, the world's
largest heroine-producing area. Now all the triangle countries (Burma, Laos and
Thailand) are in the same 10-member grouping. But the scourge of drugs has not
been eradicated.
There are some hopes that future Asean efforts on illicit drugs will yield
more results as Burma, the region's biggest drug producer, is now part of the
grouping and has pledged to cooperate fully with its members.
During the past two decades, the Asean effort to combat drug abuse and
trafficking has been rather half-baked. The member countries preferred to do
things their own ways. Concrete cooperation was very limited.
In this case, more than other Asean country, Thailand has suffered the
most. Given the proximity to the drug-producing areas, many Thais have succumbed
to the flood of illegal narcotics over the border. Asean countries still viewed
these problems at that time as merely social and health issues, which needed to
be settled domestically. The fact that the Asean members suffered from narcotics
problems in different ways meant they wanted to seek their own solutions.
Asean's change of heart and approach began in the late 1980s. The grouping
decided to go for a more regional approach in trying to prevent drug abuse and
trafficking. Since then, Asean has been trying to speak with one voice on drug
policies and strategy. Meanwhile several agreements have been signed and the
first action plan on drugs agreed upon. One of the recommendations of the plan
was to incorporate measures to reduce both supply and demand and to increase the
rule of law and order in each member country.
It would take another decade before Asean felt the need to work closely
together to combat this menace. At the Kuala Lumpur summit in 1997 the Asean
leaders set a goal of making the region drug-free by 2020.
At the upcoming Asean annual meeting in Hanoi later this month Thailand
wants to see more cooperation from Asean members and their dialogue partners.
Both China and the US have been singled out as the countries that could help the
region most in the fight against drugs.
Suchitra Hiranpreuck, Asean director-general, said Thailand would propose
at the meeting that 2003 be designated an Asean anti-drug year to highlight the
danger of widespread drug abuse and trafficking and to boost cooperation among
the member countries.
Thailand has been in the hot seat because of the continuing influx of
amphetamines, popularly known locally as yaa baa, or mad pills, from Burma over
the past five years. The proliferation of yaa baa has serious implications for
Thai security. The Thai authorities have already accused Burma of trying to
weaken national security by exporting the drugs across the border.
In fact, this singular concern was the main focus of the previous
government in dealing with Burma and narcotics. The Chuan government argued that
drug trafficking was considered a serious threat to national security. That
helped to explain why there was uniformity of approach among concerned agencies
and authorities - something lacking in the Thaksin government. Furthermore
Thailand also sought assistant from China and the US.
Bangkok viewed Beijing's cooperation on anti-narcotics programmes as
pivotal because of its close ties with the regime in Rangoon and with Laos. At
the end of last year the Chuan government had successfully engaged the Chinese
and solicited Beijing's willingness to participate in the regional effort.
Subsequent follow-ups by the Thaksin government have led to China's pledge to
convene a drug summit to be attended by Thailand, Burma and Laos.
Meanwhile US assistance has been aimed at helping Thailand improve its
anti-drug suppression operations along the Burmese border. Over the past two
years, Thailand's ability to detect and intercept drug shipments has been
boosted by modern equipment provided by the US.
Now the question is whether Thailand can convince Asean that illicit drugs
are a security threat to regional interests, not just to Thai security.
Furthermore its efforts to garner assistance from China and the US are
imperative for the region to combat drugs.
When Bangkok hosted the Asean annual meeting last year, the grouping agreed
to move up the time frame for creating a drug-free Asean from 2020 to 2015. The
new time frame will intensify anti-narcotics cooperation within Asean and with
its dialogue partners.
Thailand believes that through a regional framework, Burma will be under
pressure to be more cooperative, especially if it is part of the shared Asean
goals. During the Cambodian conflict, Thailand was able to mobilise Asean to
stand firm against the foreign occupation of Cambodia because the grouping
viewed it as a common threat.
Now Bangkok hopes to transform what is perceived to be the Thai-Burmese
drug problem into a regional issue. A drug-free Asean can become a reality only
if Burma fully cooperates with the grouping as it has promised without any
condition.
---------------------------------------------------------------- China, Myanmar Sign MOU on
Geology, Mineral Resources Cooperation
2001.07.16 19:57:15 YANGON, July 16 (Xinhuanet) --
The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources and the Myanmar Ministry of
Mines reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in
geology and mineral resources here Monday.
The MOU designates that the two parties will encourage scientific
research institutions and enterprises in geology and mineral resources
under their respective ministries to establish and conduct the cooperation
to promote investments on exploration, mining and utilization of mineral
resources.
The MOU also designates that the areas of cooperation shall include,
but not be limited to the six areas including mineral resources assessment
and planning, mineral resources exploration and mining, and establishment
of mineral resources information system.
The MOU adds that the two parties agreed to set up a Joint
Cooperative Committee which shall meets in Beijing and Yangon
alternately.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - July 16,
2001.
Yangon's little 'electric fishermen'
YANGON - They work by night, the urban fishermen of Yangon, a dozen or so
boys with rattan pith helmets and homemade stun guns.
At dusk they alight from the 'circular train' - a railway that rings the
capital and is the cheapest public transportation - to rendezvous at the station
for the middle-class neighbourhood of Kanbe.
From there they set out on foot on their mission: electrocuting as many
fish and eels as they can in the storm drains.
With luck each team of two will get a catch weighing 3.2 kg to 6.4 kg,
which they will sell to vendors.
Win Myint, 15, who helps his parents during daytime at their massage
business, says: 'You put the charge in the water first, then see the fish come
up to surface. Even those hiding in the holes come up.'
They do it every night of the week because their families need the extra
income.
Win Myint has eight brothers and sisters, and every day he hands over to
his parents his night's earnings - 300 kyat (90 Singapore cents), which is more
than half a day's wages for an unskilled labourer in Yangon. --AP
---------------------------------------------------------------- Network Media Group
Junta blacklists foreign
correspondent
Mae Sod, July 16
A foreign correspondent who produced a video documentary which was aired on
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was recently blacklisted by the Burmese
Junta.
The Junta gave instructions to all immigration officers that Evan Williams,
who sent the documentary to ABC's current affair program, was blacklisted and
that he could not be approved any kind of visa to enter Burma.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's current affair program aired the
documentary reported by "foreign correspondent" reporter Evan Williams on the
Burmese Junta's involvement in Drug production and trafficking on the evening of
June 19.
Evan Williams's report stated that a huge amount of methamphetamine pills
was captured at the Junta's military base, which was raided by the Shan State
Army, which is currently fighting an independence war with the Junta.
Evan Williams traveled to the Thai-Burma border with Professor Des Ball
from the Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Study Center in
June 2001 to produce the documentary. "In the case of the methamphetamine
production labs, you've got Burmese troops actually guarding the plants, you've
got military intelligence guys providing the escorts of the trafficking caravans
and military people who allow it to actually cross the border into Thailand,"
said professor Des Ball in the report, as mentioned in The Nation on June
20.
Whether Professor Des Ball has also been blacklisted by the Burmese Junta
is not yet known.
Network Media Group
E-Mail:
netmedia@xxxxxxxxxx
Phone:
+66 1 530 2837
Network Media Group is an independent media group collecting information on
Burma and disseminating to Burmese language and international media.
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