|
Dear BRN readers
From the 31st of August, my computer was broke down and
cannot send the daily newsletters related to Burma. The hardware problem cause
to my computer, and now it was repaired. If anybody who subscribe to this
newsletter, excluse from the list, please send mail to me again.
Thanks
Tin Kyi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
05, 2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar's Than Shwe to hold
talks with Malaysia's Mahathir
FEER - Burmese Refugees Face Forced
Return
FEER - Rangoon's Reason to Deploy
MiGs
NYT - Hints of Change in
Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar intelligence chief
wraps up Thailand visit
AFP - Southeast Asian
parliamentarians call for anti-crime measures
AFP - Top security for Myanmar
intelligence chief's audience with Thai King
Reuters - Lee Kuan Yew says trade
pacts the way for Asia
Reuters - Hanoi says trade talks
should not be side-tracked
BBC - Burma general flies
home
IHT - Go Slowly With Burma
Bernama - Thailand-Myanmar To
Cooperate In Tourism
Bernama - Tourist Arrival In Myanmar
Declines In First Four Months
Bkk Post - B20m fund to boost Burma's
promised drugs crackdown
National Post - Myanmar junta's
airport a great white elephant
Xinhuanet - Thailand, Myanmar
Satisfied with Khin Nyunt's Visit
SCMP - Junta leader
accepts smuggling intolerable
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 5, 5:47
PM
Myanmar's Than Shwe to hold talks with Malaysia's Mahathir KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (AFP) - Myanmar's powerful leader, Senior General
Than Shwe, will visit Malaysia for three days from September 25 to discuss
domestic political development and reinforce bilateral ties.
A senior Malaysian government official told AFP that Than
Shwe's visit is on the invitation of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who
visited Yangon in January.
"Top of the agenda will probably be issues related to
trade and investment," the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said Malaysian investors had expressed concern about
investing in Myanmar over red tape, land lease and ownership, and
taxation.
Than Shwe is keen to learn Malaysia's strategy in wooing
foreign investments and related laws, he said.
Malaysia is ranked fourth among foreign investors in
Myanmar. Total investment stands at 587 million dollars -- mostly in timber,
hotel construction, tourism and trading.
This is Than Shwe's third visit to Malaysia.
The official said the paramount leader would also discuss
Myanmar's political developments with Mahathir.
Describing ties between the countries as "warm and
cordial", he said Myanmar had always considered Malaysia "a close friend in
ASEAN."
"They have always looked to PM Mahathir," he
said.
Military ties between Kuala Lumpur and Yangon entered a
new phase after Myanmar last month agreed to send a technical team to Malaysia
to study the country's defence technology.
Defence Minister Najib Razak said Myanmar's military was
keen to acquire local defence technology and in turn Malaysia would tap the
investment opportunities there.
The official said Malaysia hoped for political
reconciliation in Myanmar but opposed any form of pressure for change on the
country.
"We want Myanmar to emerge out from its shell. We want to
see the negative stigma on Yangon removed. Our policy of engagement has shown
some results," the official said.
"We want to see a stable and developed Myanmar. That is
good for Southeast Asian countries," he added.
UN envoy Razali Ismail in August made a four-day visit to
Yangon.
During the trip the Malaysian envoy met twice with
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the progress of the talks -- her
first with the junta since 1994 -- which began in October.
Razali remained characteristically tight-lipped during the
visit, but business people and diplomats whom he briefed said he remained
quietly optimistic that the dialogue would pave the way for democratic
reforms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review
INTELLIGENCE - Burmese Refugees Face Forced Return Issue cover-dated September 06, 2001 More than 100,000 refugees along the Thai-Burmese border
face forced repatriation. During his July 23-24 visit to Rangoon, Thai Defence
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh agreed to work hand-in-hand with the Burmese
military government to send all refugees back across the border. "[The junta]
will come with us to bring them back," Chavalit told the REVIEW on August 20,
saying the process will be open and conducted "according to the law." Both the
Thai and Burmese governments insist that Burma's civil war with its ethnic
minorities has ended and it is safe to repatriate refugees. Most humanitarian
groups working inside Thailand disagree. In late August, when the Thai National
Security Council attempted to deport more than 5,000 refugees from the Mae La
refugee camp in northwest Thailand's Tak province, the United Nations urged the
Thai government to rethink the move. Fighting between the separatist Karen
National Union and the Burmese army continues close to the camp. The Mae La plan
was temporarily suspended, but repatriation in other refugee camps has begun,
say aid workers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review INTELLIGENCE - Rangoon's Reason to Deploy MiGs Issue cover-dated September 06, 2001 The military government in Rangoon may have good reason to
want to deploy advanced Russian-made jet fighters as soon as possible. Some
Western diplomats in Bangkok believe two Thai F-16 fighters sent to buzz Burmese
troops who strayed into Thailand in June may have dropped two bombs. The Burmese
claimed at the time that they were bombed, while the Thais said their U.S.-made
planes only carried out reconnaissance missions. Either way the Burmese
withdrew, partly because of Thailand's display of air power unmatched by any of
its neighbours, apart from Malaysia. It has two squadrons of F-16s. Rangoon
plans to spend $130 million on buying 10 MiG-29s from Russia. The multi-role
fighters have roughly the same air combat and strike capabilities as the
F-16s.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New York Times
September 3, 2001
Hints of Change in
Myanmar
Recent weeks have brought signs that the repressive
military junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1988 may be reconsidering its
stranglehold on the country's democratic forces, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Washington and other governments should encourage
this process, but must maintain economic sanctions against the junta until the
generals agree to end their tyrannical rule.
Last week, a United Nations special envoy, Razali Ismail,
visited Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, for four days of meetings with Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi and military leaders. Regrettably, the junta's leader, Gen.
Than Shwe, declined to meet with Mr. Razali. But the opposition and the military
have been talking since last fall, and last week two senior leaders of Mrs. Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were released from house arrest.
Nearly 200 N.L.D. members have been freed since the dialogue with the military
began. But more than 1,500 people remain jailed for political reasons, including
29 N.L.D. members of the parliament elected in 1990 but never convened.
The military is being pushed toward dialogue by the feeble
state of Myanmar's economy. International aid and foreign investment have been
drastically curtailed since the 1988 coup. The economic pressure has triggered a
debate within the junta, and some members now argue for compromise with the
N.L.D. and the country's non-Burmese ethnic minorities. To be meaningful, such a
compromise would have to include liberating Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest and releasing all imprisoned N.L.D. members. The party must be allowed to
function freely, with new democratic elections scheduled and the junta pledging
to abide by the results. There must also be an end to forced labor, which
remains widespread in Myanmar.
Unfortunately, Japan seems unwilling to wait for such
steps. It recently announced a resumption of development aid and is now weighing
a grant of more than $20 million to modernize a power plant that serves military
as well as civilian needs. The prospect of resumed foreign aid can be a useful
incentive for further steps by the junta. That aid should not be granted
prematurely.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 5, 2:58
PM
Myanmar intelligence chief wraps up Thailand visit BANGKOK, Sept 5 (AFP) - Myanmar's powerful chief of military
intelligence, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, left Thailand Wednesday after a
three-day trip aimed at smoothing over a row centred on border issues and the
drugs trade.
Thai authorities clamped a heavy security presence around
the junta number-three during the visit, fearful that exiled dissidents would
embarrass the government by staging disruptive protests.
A major focus of the operation was the journey to King
Bhumibol Adulyadej's seaside palace in Hua Hin, three hours drive south of
Bangkok, where Khin Nyunt was granted a royal audience Tuesday.
According to the official itinerary which was confirmed by
police, the intelligence chief was to travel in motorcade trailed overhead by a
military helicopter as it skirted sensitive areas including a camp for exiled
students.
But a Special Branch source said Wednesday that in fact
Khin Nyunt had flown to Hua Hin in a C-130 military transport plane, and that
the motorcade had driven south without him, before picking him up at the local
airport and taking him to the place.
The press were barred from accompanying Khin Nyunt for
much of his three-day program, where he met with Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra and Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.
Surakiart promised Wednesday to brief the press later in
the day on progress made during the trip.
But Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh -- who has
close ties with Myanmar's junta -- was quoted as saying the old foes were "best
friends" again after resolving the argument which raged for the first half of
this year.
"I would like to repeat what I said 10 years ago (during a
visit by former Myanmar leader General Saw Maung) that our best friend is our
neighbour. I have proven this," he told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
"We could reach agreement on 10 issues in only about an
hour, since we are friends," he said.
Khin Nyunt returned the sentiment, saying he viewed
Chavalit as his "big brother".
"Coming to Thailand this time, I feel so good because of
the warm welcome from General Chavalit," he said of the former Thai army
chief.
The comments were a far cry from the slurs and insults the
countries exchanged earlier this year, as they accused each other of involvement
in the rampant drugs trade along their common border.
The row was set off in March when the two national armies
staged a half-day clash after becoming embroiled in fighting between rival
ethnic militias accused of involvement in drug trafficking.
Thaksin's inaugural visit to Myanmar in June largely
defused the argument and Chavalit has since declared that relations are "back to
normal".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 5, 6:44
PM
Southeast Asian parliamentarians call for anti-crime measures BANGKOK, Sept 5 (AFP) - Southeast Asian parliamentarians wrapped up
a meeting in the Thai capital with a call for ASEAN countries to fight
transnational crime and introduce reforms to boost economic growth.
Some 250 lawmakers from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nationsoutlined problems facing the region in a joint statement after this
week's general assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organisation
(AIPO).
"The assembly expressed concern that the proliferation of
transnational crime ... could have potentially serious impact on regional peace
and stability," it said.
"(It) therefore calls on ASEAN member countries to
strengthen cooperation to combat these new security threats," the delegates
said, noting that various forms of trafficking, money laundering and illegal
migration were of concern.
The group also took aim at corruption "as a scourge that
requires intensified efforts at the national and regional levels," urging member
countries to push ahead with anti-corruption legislation.
The assembly mulled the "negative impact of globalisation"
and the 1997-98 economic crisis in particular, saying regional governments had
to deal with political, economic and legal shortcomings that had made them
vulnerable.
Delegates at the meeting encouraged their constituents to
quickly lift trade "tariff and non-tariff barriers" to create an ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA) that would make Southeast Asia a globally competitive region.
They also deployed a task force to consider a proposal for
an "ASEAN University" that would boost cooperation among universities in the
region.
"The emerging consensus is there would be no single
campus," said Philippines House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia. "For
example, a campus in Manila would have a specialty in liberal arts, in Singapore
it would be information technology."
Also at the meeting, the committee agreed to follow up a
proposal by Malaysia to set up a group to examine choking haze while another
team will tackle regional drug issues, including crop substitution
programs.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra opened the meeting
Monday with a call for regional governments to be "more united and sincere" in
tackling their common problems.
Observers from Australia, Canada, China, Europe and the
United States are attending the conference, which runs until
Friday.
The inter-parliamentary organisation comprises delegates
from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
The other two ASEAN members not part of the AIPO grouping,
Brunei and Myanmar, have no legislatures but will attend the meeting as
observers.
AIPO was launched by Indonesia in 1974 and officially
established as an organisation in 1977. The 23rd AIPO general assembly will be
held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from September 8-13, 2002.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday September 4, 7:04
PM
Top security for Myanmar intelligence chief's audience with Thai King BANGKOK, Sept 4 (AFP) - Myanmar's intelligence chief
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt made a tightly guarded trip to the seaside resort
of Hua Hin for an audience with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Tuesday,
police said.
Khin Nyunt's motorcade was trailed by a Thai military
helicopter for the three-hour journey south which skirted sensitive areas along
the Myanmar border including a camp for exiled student activists.
Special Branch police said the journey to the king's
seaside palace was a major focus of security operations during Khin Nyunt's
three-day official visit which began Monday.
After holding talks with Thai leaders on the first day of
the trip, Khin Nyunt spent Tuesday visiting the ground operations centre for
Thailand's satellite telecommunications network.
"He wanted to see the fundamental structure of this
technology," said Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who invited the
influential junta number-three to Thailand.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai also hosted a
luncheon in Khin Nyunt's honour Tuesday.
Thailand has laid on "maximum" security precautions for
Khin Nyunt, intent on preventing demonstrations from shadowing the visit which
cements a return to friendly ties after a bitter six-month row over the border
drugs trade.
Dissident sources said that activists had assembled in
Bangkok to mount a protest, but were dissuaded from taking action by Thai
intelligence officers who had them under 24-hour surveillance.
Khin Nyunt is due to depart for Myanmar on Wednesday
morning after spending the night in Hua Hin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 5, 11:33
PM
Lee Kuan Yew says trade pacts the way for Asia KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Singapore's Southeast Asian neighbours
should follow its footsteps in forging a new trade pact with Japan to weather
China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew
said on Wednesday.
The bilateral pact with Tokyo was expected to be signed
during Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Singapore in
mid-September as part of a tour of the region.
Malaysia has voiced concern that Singapore's bilateral
deals outside the region could undercut the Asian Free Trade Agreement between
members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"If you say that life is going to go on as usual, that we
will export and become roaring tigers again when China is a full member of the
WTO and enjoy investment and exports at the same favourable rates we do, I will
say no because this is a different world," Lee told a news conference at the end
of a four-day visit to Malaysia.
Lee said the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership (JSEP),
pact will be beneficial for tiny but rich Singapore, especially after China
joins the WTO.
"Once China joins WTO, our exports and China exports to
Japan will be on par. At the moment, we enjoy an advantage over China because
China is not a member of WTO and therefore does not enjoy most-favoured nation
treatment," he said.
Although products made by Japanese companies in China and
Singapore will enter Japan at the same tariff rates under the WTO, those
manufactured in Singapore will enjoy freer entry thanks to the JSEP, Lee said.
"Therefore, that (pact) will help Japanese companies to
continue investment in Singapore, which I think other ASEAN countries should
consider."
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 5, 7:54
PM
Hanoi says trade talks should not be side-tracked By David Brunnstrom HANOI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Wednesday discussions
between European and Asian trade ministers in Hanoi next week should take into
account the interests of the developing world and not get side-tracked by
non-trade issues.
Delegations from 25 Asian and and European nations will
hold two days of talks in the Vietnamese capital from Monday that will include
efforts to start a new round of world trade talks.
The meetings will be followed by a five-day ministerial
meeting involving the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the
bloc's northeast Asian dialogue partners Japan, China and South Korea, and
Australia and New Zealand.
Vietnam's Vice Minister of Trade Luong Van Tu told a news
conference discussions of ways to boost trade and investment would include
issues related to the November 9-13 World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial
meeting in Doha, Qatar.
Asked about prospects for the launch of a new trade round
in Doha, Tu said developing countries were more concerned about full and proper
implementation of existing WTO regulations.
"I see some hinderances to this round of negotiations
because a number of developing countries have requested that existing WTO
regulations be accurately and adequately implemented," he said.
"The WTO has had lots of regulations, but the
implementation of these regulations has been slow and insufficient."
LABOUR, ENVIRONMENT
Referring to disputes over non-trade issues like labour
rights and the environment that have dogged efforts to find common ground
between the developed and the developing worlds, Tu said:
"We are talking about trade, and therefore I think we
should not include any non-trade issues in these discussions."
Last month seven South Asian nations -- India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan -- agreed a new round of WTO
talks should not be held until previous trade commitments were met.
India said the previous Uruguay Round of 1994 had brought
hardly any worthwhile gains to developing countries even though they had been
told they stood to benefit massively.
The seven, from the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation, also strongly opposed linking trade with labour standards and the
environment.
Despite this, last weekend, trade ministers from the
United States and the European Union said after a meeting in Mexico of rich and
developing countries that they saw an improved chance of launching world trade
talks this year.
Participants in the Mexico discussions also included
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Japan,
Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania and Uruguay.
Singapore is a member of ASEAN, which also groups,
Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia
and Myanmar.
The WTO's last attempt to launch world trade talks failed
in December 1999 when members failed to agree on an agenda.
In addition to differences between developed and
developing countries, the United States and the EU were also split on what
topics should be included in the negotiations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Wednesday, 5
September, 2001, 09:59 GMT 10:59 UK
Burma general flies home One of the leading figures in the Burmese military junta,
Khin Nyunt, has ended his visit to Thailand and flown home, saying his talks had
been very satisfactory.
In a reference to the brief border clash between Thai and Burmese troops in mid-February, General Nyunt said they had patched up their relations and were again neighbours, as he put it, like one family. The Thai Defence Minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, told
reporters they had reached agreement on how to settle the border problems of
narcotics and refugees.
General Chavalit also said General Nyunt had told him he
saw the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi every two weeks, as part of
the reconciliation process, and that - as he put it - they understand each other
very well.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The International Herald Tribune
Go Slowly With
Burma
Wednesday, September 5, 2001 Recent weeks have brought signs that the repressive
military junta which has ruled Burma since 1988 may be reconsidering its
stranglehold on the country's democratic forces, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Washington and other governments should
encourage this process but must maintain economic sanctions against the junta
until the generals agree to end their tyrannical rule.
. Last week a United Nations special envoy, Razali Ismail, visited Burma for four days of meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military leaders. Regrettably, the junta's leader, General Than Shwe, declined to meet with Mr. Razali. But the opposition and the military have been talking since last fall, and last week two senior leaders of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were released from house arrest. Nearly 200 NLD members have been freed since the dialogue with the military began. But more than 1,500 people remain jailed for political reasons, including 29 NLD members of the Parliament elected in 1990 but never convened. . The military is being pushed toward dialogue by the feeble state of Burma's economy. International aid and foreign investment have been drastically curtailed since the 1988 coup. The economic pressure has brought on a debate within the junta, and some members now argue for compromise with the NLD and the country's non-Burmese ethnic minorities. To be meaningful, such a compromise would have to include liberating Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and releasing all imprisoned NLD members. The party must be allowed to function freely, with new democratic elections scheduled and the junta pledging to abide by the results. There must also be an end to forced labor, which remains widespread in Burma. . Unfortunately, Japan seems unwilling to wait for such steps. It recently announced a resumption of development aid and is now weighing a grant of more than $20 million to modernize a power plant that serves military as well as civilian needs. . The prospect of resumed foreign aid can be a useful incentive for further steps by the junta. That aid should not be granted prematurely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysian National News Agency
September 05 , 2001 12:54PM Thailand-Myanmar To Cooperate In Tourism BANGKOK, Sept 5 (Oana-TNA) -- Rangoon and Bangkok have
agreed to join forces in promoting tourism of the North of Thailand and some
cities in Myanmar, according to a radio news report.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters
after meeting with visiting Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of Myanmar's
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), here yesterday that the two
close neighbouring countries agreed to enhance tourism cooperation, particularly
that between the northern resort province of Chiang Mai and Myanmar's Bandaley
and Phukam provinces, said the news report of the Pacific News Centre.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon discuss with
Thai Airways International Plc. (THAI) to increase its flights linking Chiang
Mai with Bandaley and Phukam", he was quoted by the news report as saying.
An agreement on the cooperation would be signed between
Foreign Ministers of both countries in December, disclosed Surakiart.
The Thai Foreign Minister also said that Thailand would
host a quadruple summit among leaders of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand late
this year or early next year to forge for cooperation in addressing drugs
problems in the region.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysian
National News Agency
September 05 , 2001 11:51AM
Tourist Arrival In Myanmar Declines In First Four Months YANGON, Sept 5 (Oana-Xinhua) -- A total of 51,291 foreign
tourists visited Myanmar in the first four months of this year, dropping by 44.2
percent compared with the corresponding period of 2000, the country's Economic
Indicators said in its latest issue.
The declination of tourists arrival was obvious in the
number of those travelling across border, reaching only 4,771 during the
four-month period and constituting a fall of 89.4 percent in the cross-border
arrivals from the same period of 2000 when it was 45, 378.
The sharp reduction of cross-border tourists arrival was
seen as being due to the outbreak of border clashes between Myanmar and Thailand
in February which lasted until June.
Thailand is one of Myanmar's two neighbouring countries
supplying most of the tourists to the country.
According to official statistics, in 2000, the number of
tourists arrival was registered at only 234,900, falling by 9.3 percent from
1999. Of them, 49 percent entered the country by land through border
points.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Sep
05, 2001.
THAI-BURMESE RELATIONS B20m fund to boost Burma's promised drugs crackdown Working lunch chews over fishing problems Saritdet Marukatat Sa-nguan Khumrungroj Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has agreed to allocate
20 million baht to Thai drug fighters so they can give technical aid to Burma's
drug suppression efforts.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Mr Thaksin
approved the fund for the Office of the Narcotics Control Board on Monday night
after talks with Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, first secretary of Burma's ruling State
Peace and Development Council.
At a working lunch hosted by Mr Surakiart yesterday,
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt stressed Burma would take part in a planned drug summit with
Thailand, China and Laos without reservations.
Mr Surakiart said Thailand would host the summit, probably
at the end of this year or early next year.
To pave the way for the summit, the four countries were
co-ordinating efforts to ensure implementation of the results of the Aug 27-28
ministerial meeting in Beijing, Mr Surakiart said.
``If about half of the agreements [reached by the
ministers] can be realised, I think a meeting of heads of government could be
possible,'' Mr Surakiart said.
But if the ministers' agreements could not be applied in
real terms, then there would be nothing to discuss at the summit level, he
added.
The Beijing meeting agreed to step up cross-border police
co-operation in tracking and arresting drug traffickers, including information
sharing.
Also, Mr Surakiart said Thailand was ready to sign an
information agreement with Burma that would provide for media
co-operation.
Mr Surakiart also spoke of a possible resumption of
flights between Chiang Mai and Mandalay to promote tourism.
Dhammarong Prakobboon, head of the Fisheries Department,
would visit Burma soon to discuss a joint fishery investment project with his
Burmese counterpart.
Ten Burmese legal officers would come to Thailand as
guests of the Foreign Ministry, to study Thai experience in international law
and international agreements.
Suriya Juengrungruangkij, the industry minister, Somsak
Thepsuthin, the PM's Office minister overseeing tourism, Gen Thammarak
Issarangkura na Ayutthaya, the PM's Office minister overseeing drug suppression,
joined the working lunch.
Earlier in the day, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt visited the Thaicom
service station at Lat Lumkaew in Pathum Thani.
Burma's MRTV has rented a Thaicom satellite transponder
from Shin Satellite Plc, Thailand's sole satellite operator.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- National Post Online
- September 4, 2001
Myanmar junta's airport a great white elephant Mandalay International Nicole Veash MANDALAY, Myanmar - When Rudyard Kipling wrote about the
"road to Mandalay," he conjured up an exotic land of pagodas and temple wind
chimes. Today, travellers are greeted by an altogether more surreal sight.
In a desolate landscape of parched farmland, under the intense Burmese sun, stands a gleaming state-of-the-art airport that puts stylish, modern terminals in the developed world to shame. However, Mandalay International Airport has encountered a
few unforeseen hiccups: a bumpy runway, few passengers and no foreign
flights.
This great white elephant of an airport is the latest
vanity project undertaken by Myanmar's ruling military junta.
The unelected government-- an international pariah because
of its appalling human rights record and refusal to recognize democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi -- has sunk US$150-million into building the airport, which it
had hoped to recuperate by attracting hordes of foreign visitors.
The only trouble is that the airport is a no-go zone for
large airplanes such as 747s, used to fly internationally, because the runway is
not flat enough for the jets to land safely.
Even if they could, it is doubtful whether tourists would
be queuing up to go to Myanmar anyway.
Conscientious travellers have voted with their feet not to
visit the beautiful Golden Land, as it is known. They are unwilling to
contribute to the junta's coffers by providing it with hard currency -- on
arrival, visitors have to change a mandatory US$200 into "tourist money," known
as Foreign Exchange Certificates. Last year, just 240,000 tourists visited
Myanmar, a drop of 14% from 1999.
This boycott poses a problem for Mandalay International
Airport. More than an hour's drive from the historic city in northern Myanmar,
it is standing empty apart from about three domestic flights each
day.
It has everything an international airport requires. A
spacious parking lot, landscaped grounds, clocks showing time zones across the
world and stacks of baggage trolleys.
But it is deserted. The check-in desks are closed and as
pristine as the day they were installed, as are the six baggage conveyor belts.
The security guards sit around twiddling their thumbs because no one is going
through the X-ray machines and staff in Café Kipling have no customers to serve
their dry-as-cardboard snacks.
Apart from the problems with the runway, the level of
engineering used to build this startlingly modern airport is quite something.
Built around a central glass atrium, the airport is light, airy and
architecturally appealing.
Its designers have avoided the blandness that afflicts
many airports around the world by building the roof in the style of a typical
Burmese pagoda.
Leading up to this airport in the middle of nowhere is a
new but deserted two-lane highway. Newly tarmacked, it stretches for kilometres
and rarely sees traffic, let alone jams.
"[Myanmar's] junta is still hoping that jumbo jets full of
big-spending tourists and businessmen are going to be winging their way into
Mandalay airport from Europe and Japan," said Anthony Davis, a regional analyst
who has spent 20 years writing on Asia for publications such as Jane's
Intelligence. "The only thing to say about this is, 'Dream on, generals,'
because it ain't going to happen."
The junta's attempts to attract more foreign visitors with
such megaprojects as Mandalay airport are due in part to its mismanagement of
the country's economy.
Myanmar is facing its biggest financial crisis in recent
years, with inflation rising sharply and the prices of some consumer goods
increasing 100% in the past few months.
A British colony until 1948, resource-rich Myanmar was
once among the most developed countries in the region. Before the Second World
War, it was the world's biggest rice supplier.
However, after the assassination of independence leader
General Aung San, father of Ms. Suu Kyi, in 1947, the country has effectively
been ruled by an unelected military junta.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand, Myanmar
Satisfied with Khin Nyunt's Visit
Xinhuanet 2001.09.05 20:03:23 BANGKOK, September 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand and Myanmar said
Wednesday that the Thai visit of Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, secretary-1 of the
Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), promoted the mutual
understanding and friendship between the two countries.
A joint press statement said that Thailand and
Myanmar determined to consolidate the friendly ties and beneficial
cooperation between the two countries.
They wanted to turn their common border into a border
of friendship, harmony and prosperity and believed that the success
of their endeavors would contribute to peace, stability and development of
the region, it said.
Before ending his official visit Wednesday morning, Nyunt
said at a press conference that his three-day official visit
was successful, as negotiations on all issues led to good results as
expected.
He did not elaborate details of issues he discussed with
the Thai government, but said they discussed issues of mutual
interests fields, such as border trade, fishery, alien workers,
repatriation of illegal workers and immigrants.
Meanwhile, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister
Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was quoted by the Thai news agency as saying that
Khin Nyunt's visit should be considered a greatest success, which could be
recorded in the history of relations between the two neighboring
countries.
During the visit, Nyunt had an audience with Thai King
Bhumibol Adulyadej and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning
Post
Wednesday, September 5, 2001
DRUGS - Junta
leader accepts smuggling intolerable
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok Thai officials said yesterday they had finally "got
through" to the military regime in Myanmar, which they have long accused of
being soft on the drug trade.
Yangon's powerful First Secretary and intelligence chief,
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and his 37-strong entourage, who are visiting the
Thai capital, had accepted that the drug trade on the border was intolerable,
said a senior Thai official.
"The thrust of our complaints appears to have struck home.
I think they know we have a strong case - that we can't allow this flood [of
drugs] to continue," he said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra claimed after meeting
General Khin Nyunt on Monday that the ethnic Wa - allies of the regime - would
shun the drug trade "in a few short years". Thai security officials more
cautiously described this as a "target" yesterday and pointed out that most
observers understood the central Government could not influence the entire
Myanmar drug industry.
Thailand and Myanmar have traded insults and accusations
for years about responsibility for the massive drug industry in Myanmar's Shan
state, from where heroin and amphetamine-type drugs pour over the border.
Growing frustration over the trade in amphetamines has
resulted in increasingly blunt accusations by Thai officials that Yangon is
complicit in the industry.
General Khin Nyunt's visit - his third to Thailand - is
important because he has been responsible for cementing, and monitoring, nearly
20 ceasefire deals with Myanmar's ethnic minorities in the past decade,
including key drug-producing groups such as the Wa.
"He deals directly with these people. No one has influence
on them like he has. He may be the best friend they [groups like the Wa] have,"
said a Thai narcotics agent in Chiang Mai.
Mr Thaksin said shortly after his January election victory
that his administration would swiftly solve all problems with Myanmar by
personal diplomacy. "We cannot but deal with these people. We can help them and
they can help us. Hostility must be a thing of the past," Mr Thaksin said.
He made a rare visit by a Thai premier to Yangon in May.
Mr Thaksin's predecessor, Chuan Leekpai, refused to visit. Mr Chuan's foreign
minister, Surin Pitsuwan, attempted to introduce the concept of "flexible
engagement" into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' agenda so that
Myanmar could be criticised.
Although many observers have been sceptical of what some
see as Mr Thaksin's efforts to overturn centuries of mutual hostility, Yangon
appears prepared to play along.
Analysts note that it may not have much choice, since
China - the regime's closest ally - has been increasingly vocal about the
dangers posed by drug production in the Golden Triangle near its southwestern
border area.
Following a recent meeting hosted by China and involving
Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, leaders of the four nations will hold the first of
their agreed regular summits on tackling the drug problem later this year in
Thailand, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said yesterday.
The ruling generals might also be co-operating because
they wanted to shore up their legitimacy in negotiations under way with
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said one observer.
"If there is ever to be some kind of settlement in Burma
[Myanmar] that leaves the military with a share of power, then they have to pose
as selfless patriots. They need to distance themselves from the drug trade," he
said.
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