|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - November
04, 2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Slowing Southeast Asian economies move to
sharpen competitive edge
AFP - Thai women also forced to work as WWII sex
slaves: report
Reuters - Japan's Asian leadership role faces a
reality check
Kyodo News - 8 nabbed
in Myanmar with over 2 mil. stimulant tablets
VOA News - Japan Gives Burma $15 Million in Debt
Relief
Xinhuanet - Myanmar PM Leaves for ASEAN Summit
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Rice Export Up Sharply in
First Eight Months
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of
Stimulant Drugs
NSTP - Padiberas signs second deal with
Myanmar
Mizzima - NSCN-K wants
Indian govt. to start dialogue
Mizzima - CDs with
Osama voice and pictures seized in Assam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 4, 12:38 PM
Slowing Southeast Asian economies move to sharpen competitive edge AFP - Southeast Asian economies
undergoing their second economic crisis in four years are seeking ways to boost
their competitiveness and hasten tariff reductions to forge a free-trade
area.
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
who will meet here Monday, will stress the need to sharpen the resource-rich
region's competitive edge and remain on the reform track despite slowing
economic growth on the back of an export slide, officials said.
The ASEAN leaders will announce the establishment of a task force to
conduct "a study to assess Southeast Asia's strengths and weaknesses in
comparison with other regions," ASEAN spokesman M.C. Abad told AFP.
"The leaders will reaffirm their commitment to remain in the competition,"
he stressed.
The study would take between six and nine months to complete and may
emphasise the need to speed up regional integration as a prescription for
countering the US-led global slump, Abad said.
The interim results of the study would be ready for assessment by ASEAN
economic ministers when they meet in the latter half of 2002, he said.
To be conducted in consultation with the private sector as well as ASEAN's
major trading partners, the study will identify factors dampening the region's
competitiveness edge.
"These factors should take into account the nature of existing industries
and the similarities and differences in the ten ASEAN economies," according to a
draft ASEAN report obtained by AFP.
"The study will identify specific industry clusters where ASEAN has or can
develop competitive advantages," the report said.
ASEAN stands to gain more if member economies worked together as an
economic unit, the report said.
"Individually, the ASEAN economies are small. However, as an integrated
market, ASEAN can better maximise complementarities and develop competitive
clusters."
The Southeast Asian leaders are also expected to discuss steps to boost
economic integration as a response to the current slowdown.
"I think ASEAN has already indicated that in response to the economic
effects of the global slowdown, they will further deepen their economic
cooperation," said ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino.
"The question here is whether to accelerate the schemes and how fast and to
what extent," he said.
Under the ASEAN free trade scheme, for example, much of the tariffs in key
economies would be slashed to between zero and five percent by January
2002.
Monday's meeting among ASEAN leaders is the first since the September 11
terror attacks in the United States which worsened the US-led global economic
slump.
Singapore, ASEAN's strongest economy, is projected to see a three percent
contraction in gross domestic product this year, from a sizzling 9.9 percent
expansion in 2000.
Malaysia's growth in 2001 is expected to slow down to 1-2 percent, Thailand
to 1.3-1.8 percent, Indonesia to 3.5 percent and Philippines to 3.3 percent,
government economists say.
The other ASEAN members Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are
also forecasting slower GDP growth, according to analysts.
ASEAN leaders will also discuss a proposal to set up the world's largest
free trade zone covering Southeast Asia and China as part of a bid to attract
sagging investments and boost regional trade, officials say.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 4, 1:01 PM
Thai women also forced to work as WWII sex slaves: report BANGKOK, Nov 4 (AFP) - A new
study has uncovered the first evidence that Thai women were used as sex slaves
by the Japanese military during World War II, alongside some 200,000 other young
Asian women, a report said Sunday.
The Sunday Nation newspaper said the report, sponsored by the Women Study
Centre at Chiang Mai University, discovered that the brutal practice of forcing
"comfort women" to work in Japanese army brothels extended to Thailand.
The author Sopida Virakultewan told the daily that she interviewed several
witnesses who confirmed the abuse did take place.
"There was a missing link when this (comfort women) network was earlier
exposed, to the extent that many women in Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines
and Indonesia were forced to provide sex services to Japanese armies," Sopida
said.
Korean and Chinese women have led the charge for an apology and
compensation from the Japanese government for their wartime suffering.
"(But) here in Thailand we have had scant information about it despite the
fact that Japanese forces occupied our country for three or four years," Sopida
said.
The study found that Thai women travelled from "recruitment centres" in
Bangkok to the western province of Kanchanaburi, where the Japanese army was
supervising the construction of a railway to Myanmar.
Thai pimps helped funnel women to the military camps, which were made
famous in the film "The Bridge Over the River Kwai".
One 75-year-old former brothel keeper recalled he would charge the Japanese
20 baht (45 cents) a time, about 40 times the rate for local men.
Sopida said the "comfort women" network in Thailand depended heavily on the
local prostitution trade.
"These Thai women, despite their background, were however compelled to
serve Japanese soldiers exclusively. It was a similar type of sexual slavery,"
she said.
Historians say at least 200,000 young women -- mostly Korean, but also from
Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia -- were forced to serve as sex
slaves in Japanese army brothels during World War II.
A number of former comfort women have filed court cases in Japan against
the Japanese government but the courts have consistently refused to rule in
favour of direct compensation.
The Japanese government has also avoided volunteering direct compensation
for former sex slaves, instead setting up a private group -- the Asian Women's
Fund -- to offer payouts.
Many women, however, have refused to accept money from this group because
it does not amount to formal compensation from Tokyo accompanied by an
apology.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 4, 12:39 PM
Japan's Asian leadership role faces a reality check By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi heads to Brunei
on Sunday to meet his Southeast Asian counterparts, but his nation's ambitions
to take on a regional leadership role face obstacles as rarely before.
For not only does Japan's poor economy limit the chequebook diplomacy of
the past, it also faces a growing challenge to its influence from an
increasingly confident China.
In addition, Tokyo's backing of U.S. strikes on Afghanistan by enacting a
law to let its military provide non-combat support means it has to step
delicately at the meeting.
The session, which starts on Monday, brings together the Association of
Southeast Asian (ASEAN) nations plus Japan, China and Korea.
There are several Islamic nations among the 10 that make up ASEAN. Two of
those -- Indonesia and Malaysia -- have spoken out strongly against the attacks
on Afghanistan.
The group is set to issue a declaration pledging to counter the threat
shown by the September 11 attacks on the United States, but without reference to
the bombing of Afghanistan, according to draft copies circulated on Saturday.
"There's no question that promoting leadership this time will be harder
than before," said Yasuhiko Yoshida, a professor of international relations at
Osaka University of Economics and Law.
"Japan is in a very tricky position."
Other analysts agreed.
"Koizumi will have to move carefully," said Hisao Iwashima, a diplomatic
commentator. "In fact, the best thing might be to try not to exert any
leadership at all and just listen instead."
PROMOTING, EXPLAINING
Koizumi will likely spend time explaining the U.S. support law enacted last
Monday, which clarifies the role Japan's military could play in the U.S.-led
actions without violating the nation's war-renouncing constitution.
Japan's military could be deployed for rearguard logistical support as
early as the end of November, a move that has the potential to stir controversy
in Asia, where memories of Japan's World War Two actions run deep.
Koizumi will also be meeting his Chinese and South Korean counterparts for
the third time in less than one month in an annual three-way forum kicked off in
1999.
The earlier meetings managed to halt a deterioration in ties sparked by
Koizumi's controversial August visit to a shrine for war dead with right wing
associations and publication of a nationalist history textbook.
Japanese officials are hoping that clears the way for substantive
discussions on a fishing row with South Korea.
Koizumi will also meet the leaders of some of Asia's poorest nations, Laos
and Myanmar, during the two-day meeting.
TIGHT PURSE, CHINA CHALLENGE
But economic troubles at home, where the economy is teetering on the brink
of recession, may limit Japan's influence.
Tokyo has long used its overseas development assistance (ODA) programme as
a powerful diplomatic tool, and it was the world's top aid donor for the 10th
straight year in 2000.
But in August, the government lopped 10 percent off ODA for the fiscal year
starting in April 2002 in an effort to tackle its huge public debt.
"With the ODA cuts, Japan can't make the kind of aid promises that used to
be a hallmark of these meetings," Yoshida said. "It may make a lot of verbal
promises of cooperation, but the reality is that it can't give much money
anymore."
Other analysts said that perhaps one of the best things Japan can do for
Asia, in fact, is to fix its own ills.
"Japan's role is to help its own economy recover," said Tetsuya Ozeki, a
diplomatic commentator. "What the ASEAN nations most want is to have Japan's
economy stronger, so it can buy more of their products and invest more." Another
potential challenge to Japan is the growing stature of China, boosted by its
robust, imminent entrance into the World Trade Organisation, and selection as
host to the 2008 Olympics.
"China is certainly looking to expand its influence in Asia," said Yoshida.
"Its confidence is growing, while Japan's presence on the scene grows fainter."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 nabbed in Myanmar with over 2 mil.
stimulant tablets
YANGON, Nov. 4, Kyodo - Eight
people were arrested and more than two million stimulant tablets were seized
Oct. 27 in Lun Kyaing village near Tachilek, 550 kilometers northeast of Yangon
on the Thailand border, state-run newspapers reported Sunday.
An anti-drug squad raided a house in the village and seized 1,852,000
stimulant tablets, 1 kilogram of ephedrine powder, two pistols and ammunition.
Three men and one woman were also arrested at the scene, the reports said.
Based on information from those arrested, an anti-drug squad raided another
house in the same village. Three men and one woman were arrested there with
440,000 stimulant tablets, 4 kg of caffeine power and two pistols, according to
the reports.
Of the eight arrested, five were from Pang Sang, 680 km northeast of Yangon
on the Chinese border in Wa state, two from Tachilek and one from Lashio, the
reports said. Pang Sang is about 130 km north of Tachilek.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan Gives Burma $15 Million in
Debt Relief
VOA News 2 Nov 2001 13:59 UTC Japan has granted Burma nearly $15 million in debt relief.
The Japanese embassy in Rangoon says the agreement was signed Thursday by
Ambassador Shigeru Tsumori and Burma's Deputy Finance Minister Than Tun.
Japan is Burma's largest aid donor. It halted non-humanitarian aid to
Rangoon after the military takeover in September of 1988, but earlier this year
announced plans for a $28 million financial aid package for a dam project.
Before 1988, Japanese financial assistance to Burma made up about 60
percent of the southeast Asian country's foreign aid.
The United States and European Union have extended economic sanctions
against the military government in Rangoon, despite nearly year long talks with
detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy won Burma's general elections in 1990.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar PM Leaves for ASEAN Summit
Xinhuanet 2001-11-04 10:58:54 YANGON, November 4 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar Prime Minister Senior-General Than Shwe left here for Bandar Seri
Begawan, Brunei on Sunday to attend the 7th Summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and meetings of ASEAN leaders and leaders of
China, Japan and Republic of Korea on November 5 and 6.
Than Shwe, who is also Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), is accompanied by SPDC First Secretary Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt and Foreign Minister U Win Aung.
At the summit, leaders of the ten ASEAN nations are set to discuss channels
to enhance the unity and role of ASEAN in international community, and the
speed-up of future cooperation as well as the global economic problems, China's
entry into the World Trade Organization and reduction of development gap among
ASEAN members.
The discussions also cover the issue of anti-terrorism.
During the summit, the Myanmar leader will meet separately with some other
government leaders taking part in the meeting.
The 6th ASEAN summit was held in Hanoi, Vietnam in December 1998.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Rice Export Up Sharply
in First Eight Months
Xinhuanet 2001-11-04 10:17:47 YANGON, November 4 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar exported 346,500 tons of rice in the first eight months of this year,
up 330.97 percent compared with the same period of 2000, the country's Central
Statistical Organization said in its latest data.
The foreign exchange, earned through the export of rice during the period,
amounted to 40.63 million U.S. dollars, up 218.92
percent from the corresponding period of 2000, it added. Although Myanmar's rice export had dropped from 111,700 tons in1998 to
63,700 tons in 1999, it picked up to 141,600 tons in 2000.
To meet its food demand and to export, Myanmar has since November 1998
leased out 467,370 hectares of vacant, virgin,
fallow and wetlands for cultivation by private entrepreneurs. At the same time, it has also exempted the import customs duties levied on
agricultural implements including pesticide,
fertilizer, improved variety and machinery. Myanmar's cultivable land stretches 18.225 million hectares, of which
10.125 million have been put under crop, while 8.1 million remain to be
utilized.
The country's agriculture accounts for 42 percent of the gross domestic
product and 25 percent of the export value.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of
Stimulant Drugs
Xinhuanet 2001-11-04 11:13:57 YANGON, November 4 (Xinhuanet)
-- The Myanmar authorities seized 2.29 million tablets of stimulant drugs in
Tachilek, the country's eastern Shan state, near the end of last month,
according to the Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Sunday.
The seizure was made by a combined team comprising local intelligence unit
and the police force when they raided two houses in a village tract in the
township on October 27.
Along with the stimulant drugs, 31 rounds of ammunition were also
confiscated, the sources said.
Eight people were arrested in connection with the case, it said, adding
that they were punished under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Law.
Official statistics show that during the first half of this year, the
authorities exposed a total of 1,536 drug-related cases, seizing 474.91 kg
opium, 27.89 kg heroin, 8,371 kg of marijuana, 6.14 million stimulant drug
tablets, 1,889 kg of ephedrine and 269.28 liters of phensedyl, and punishing
2,187 drug offenders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press
November 04, 2001. KUALA LUMPUR Padiberas signs second deal with Myanmar Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas) signed a second counter agreement with
Myanmar Agriculture Produce Trading (MAPT) yesterday to further improve and
strengthen their trade ties.
This counter trade agreement sees Bernas supplying padi processing
equipment, spare parts for factories producing bran oil, insecticide and
laboratory equipment. In return, Bernas will purchase rice and other commodities
including onions, dried chillies and beans from MAPT.
The signing ceremony was held in Yangon.
Bernas Group managing director Yahya Abu Bakar said the total rice import
from Myanmar is expected to increase to 20,000 metric tonnes next year.
The company imported more than 10,000 metric tonnes of rice from Myanmar
this year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- NSCN-K wants Indian govt. to start
dialogue
By Our
Correspondent; Mizzima News
Guwahati, Nov. 4: Disappointed with Government of India's stand on the
ceasefire agreement, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang
(NSCN-K) General Secretary N Kitovi Zhimomi hinted that the situation of eastern
Nagaland (western Burma) would be more volatile if the Government of India
ignores the Khaplang faction in the ongoing peace process.
The militant group, operating from different hideouts in Burma, had reached
a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India in April last to pave the way
to the vexed insurgency problem in Nagaland. Zhimomi's resentment was apparent,
as the government of India is yet to initiate a formal discussion with the
Khaplang faction after the ceasefire pact. Zhimomi, who is also the
self-styled ¡°Prime minister of the Government of People's Republic of
Nagaland¡± claimed that it is enjoying support from the majority
of people of the state and so Government of India should start dialogue as early as possible. His disappointment lies on the fact that, the Union government has already
held several rounds of talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
-Issac-Muivah faction (NSCN-IM). "Since the NSCN-IM has failed to woo support
from the people we should be taken into confidence by the Government of India",
the self-styled Prime minister claimed.
Despite a unity move initiated by different organizations in the state with
an eye to solve the perennial militancy problem, the two groups seem to be
indifferent refusing to come together .The situation of the hilly state is
getting more complicated now due to the hatred among the cadres of the two
militant groups. The hatred came to the fore on October 24, when a group of
armed militants of the Khaplang faction attacked the ceasefire monitoring office
of the NSCN-IM located at Dimapur in Nagaland.
Giving the rational behind the attack, Zhimomi claimed that ¡°it was
misused by the NSCN-IM cadres for extortion, kidnappings and killings¡±.
"The attack was a warning to the Muivah faction so that it could learn a
lesson¡We have sent feelers through Naga Baptist Church Council (NBCC) with
an eye to remove our hatred¡±, he added.
The NSCN was divided into two groups in 1987 following a clash. Since then
they have been launching operations and counter operations. Zhimomi also
admitted that people of Nagaland want a peaceful solution to the problem, as
they are completely disappointed with prolonged insurgency problem.
Meanwhile political observers monitoring the ceasefire agreement said that
the situation of Nagaland would be more complicated if both the groups do not
give up their hatred. "The result of the ceasefire agreement entirely depends on
their patience that is how much they can restrain from killing each other", an
observer added. The Naga Ho-Ho is learnt to have started a process
of unification of both the groups for a permanent solution to the problem.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CDs with Osama voice and pictures seized
in Assam
By Our
Correspondent, Mizzima News
Guwahati, Nov. 5: Security has been beefed up in Assam, one of the North
Eastern states of India following seizure of video Compact Disks with recorded
voice and pictures of most wanted Osama bin Laden in Tezpur on Friday last. The
CDs titled “path to paradise” beneath which was written on true story behind the
World Trade Centre bombing was recovered from one Shahidul Sheikh. These CDs
brought from Bangladesh across the international border by a foreign militant
group and distributed to various parts of the region as claimed by Shahidul.
He also claimed that altogether 20 such CDs procured from Siliguri in
neighboring West Bengal were distributed in various parts of the region with an
eye to expand the activities of Osama bin Laden. “We have been asked to
distribute the CDs in a bid to disseminate the information of Osama bin Laden,
who is actually a true son of Islam", Shahidul revealed during
questioning.
Meanwhile, the Muslim fundamentalists who are active in Assam in the
aftermath of the US attacks on Afghanistan, are trying to destabilize the
situation causing a matter of concern. The fundamentalists set a fire on the
famous Durga temple of Puranigudam in
Nagaon district on Thursday last. The 100-year old temple, famous for wooden idols of Durga, Lakhsmiand Shwarashwati, were however unscathed by the fire. On spurt in activities of the Muslim fundamentalists in the state,
highly-placed government official sources said that foreign mercenaries are
trying to abate terrorism in the region with the help of some local militancy
organizations. “We have kept strict vigilance along the international border to
foil their possible attempts", sources said. On the seizure of CDs, they said
that several books of Osama bin Laden were also seized from Dhubri district
(bordering Bangladesh) last week meant for the distribution.
"According to our reports Muslim fundamentalists have started regrouping in
the region in order to expand their activities. This has been established by an
arrested militant recently”.
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) SC
Srivastav informed that the night patrolling has been intensified along the
Indo-Bangladesh border in the wake of stepped up activities of the Muslim
fundamentalists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- |