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BURMA RELATED NEWS - November
21, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pulse - Gas Authority of India Hopes to
Find Natural Gas Off Digha Coast
AFP - Myanmar
political prisoners get additional sentences
CNW - Shame! Six Canadian companies linked to
Burma
VOA - Burma Rejects Presence of Labor
Organization
Bkk Post - Chinese request on power generators
to be discussed
Bkk Post - Burmese deportees to get job training
first
Bkk Post - Burma suffers deepening crisis
The Nation - Tachilek convoy gets security pass
Xinhuanet - ASEAN Armies to Cooperate Against
Terrorism
SCMP - MYANMAR - Labour body barred from opening
office
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday November 21, 8:23 AM
Gas Authority of India Hopes to Find Natural Gas Off Digha Coast KOLKATA, Nov 21 Asia Pulse -
Gas Authority of India Limited [GAIL] is hopeful of finding a huge quantity of
natural gas in the shallow waters off Digha coast, West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said Tuesday.
"Very recently, the CMD of GAIL informed me about this prospect,"
Bhattacharjee told Bengal Chamber of Commerce, at its 147th annual general
meeting here.
GAIL is drilling offshore on the Digha coast under a consortium with
GAZPROM of Russia, he said.
Bhattacharjee said GAIL is also negotiating with the government of Myanmar
for importing natural gas straight to West Bengal through a network of offshore
pipelines.
In the Ranigunj area of the state, Great Energy Development Corporation,
which is assigned a block for extracting coal-based methane gas, would start
drilling in three pilot production wells from December six, the chief minister
said.
"These are encouraging developments for West Bengal and has opened up
immense possibilities for setting up gas-based industries," Bhattacharjee
said.
"I have already initiated action for formation of a task force for drawing
up a comprehensive plan for promoting gas-based industrial units at convenient
locations," he added.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar political prisoners get
additional sentences
BANGKOK, Nov 20 (AFP) -
Myanmar's ruling military junta has extended the sentences of 10 political
prisoners, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio reported on late
Monday.
The 10, including Kyaw Mya, Than Naing, and Bo Bo Han, are currently held
in a prison in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, the Oslo-based
station's Burmese (Myanmar) language service said in a broadcast monitored
here.
Their terms were extended by an additional seven years for violation of
prison rules, the radio said quoting official sources in Yangon. No further
details were given.
Opposition radio also reported that the military junta has released four
other political prisoners of the country's main opposition party, the National
League for Democracy (NLD).
Maung Kyaw, Tin Aung, San Lwin Lay and Hpoe Aye were freed on Monday from
Mandalay's prison, according to its official sources in Yangon, it said. "They
are all in good health and are reunited with their families," it added.
The latest release brought to 200 the number of NLD members freed this
year. The ruling military regime has also held the NLD's leader, the Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest since September last year after
she attempted to go to Mandalay in defiance of a travel ban.
The pro-democracy party has demanded the release of an estimated 1,500
political prisoners still being held in Myanmar's jails. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada Newswire
Shame! Six Canadian companies linked to Burma OTTAWA, Nov. 20 /CNW/ - The names of six companies based
in Canada, including Air Canada and Ivanhoe Mines, made the list of 250
companies with links to the oppressive state of affairs in Burma, released by
the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).
"Cases of forced labour have and continue to be
documented in Burma, so much so that it is the only country on the planet the
International Labour Organization (ILO) is boycotting," said Canadian Labour
Congress President Ken Georgetti, pointing out that the ILO is a tripartite
organization of labour, governments and employers, all of which support the
boycott.
The ICFTU has compiled a database of companies with
business links to Burma, based on publicly available information. The following
Canadian companies appear:
- Air Canada
- CHC Helicopter Corporation - based in Richmond, BC and St.John's NF - East Asia Gold Corp. - based in Toronto - Leeward Capital Corp. (Amber-Gems.com) - based in Calgary - Mindoro Resources Ltd. - based in Edmonton - Ivanhoe Mines - based in Vancouver A military dictatorship has ruled Burma for years. There
are not only forced labour and other serious human and trade union rights abuses
on a large scale, there is not freedom of association and no democracy. The
international trade union movement believes that it is impossible to conduct any
trade or engage in other economic activity with Burma without providing direct
or
indirect support, mostly financial, to the military junta. "Any business involvement in Burma is an accommodation
with tyranny. It supports a corrupt and repressive military regime that has
never been granted any legitimacy by the people of Burma," said Georgetti.
For more information about these companies, and their
links to Burma, visit this web page:
http://www.global-unions.org/burma/default.asp-Order=Country The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the
labour movement, represents 2.5 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings
together the majority of Canada's national and international unions along with
the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 132 district labour
councils. Web site: www.clc-ctc.ca.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOA News
Burma Rejects Presence of Labor Organization Scott Bobb, Bangkok 20 Nov 2001 10:06 UTC The government of Burma has rejected a call by the International Labor
Organization to allow it to set up a permanent presence in Burma. The ILO issued
the call after sending a team on an unprecedented visit to Burma in order to
monitor complaints about forced labor practices.
Burma's foreign ministry has issued a statement saying the government will
not allow the ILO to open a permanent office, but it will continue to cooperate
with the organization where possible.
The comments come after an ILO fact-finding team issued a report from its
unprecedented visit in September to monitor the implementation of new laws
banning forced labor.
The Burmese statement calls some of the ILO's conclusions constructive and
positive, but adds that other points are difficult to accept.
The report praised the Burmese government for allowing the ILO team
unrestricted access to various parts of the country. It concluded that the
government has shown a commitment to spreading information about the new laws,
but that this has had little effect.
The report says forced labor continues in areas under military control,
where the government is battling several insurgencies, and on some farms run by
military commanders.
The ILO is also recommending the Burmese government set up an independent
agency (ombudsman) to investigate and prosecute cases of forced labor.
International labor and human rights organizations have criticized Burma's
military government for failing to punish those who force people to work without
pay. Many are pressing international corporations to withdraw business links to
Burma.
However some governments in the region say the best way to combat this
problem is for the international community to engage the Burmese government,
since sanctions have not brought social or political freedoms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - November 21,
2001.
Chinese request on power generators to be discussed Shipments to Burma unlikely to be stopped Thirawat Khamthita and Subin Khuenkaew A meeting will be held in this northern province tomorrow to discuss
China's request to allow a shipment of power generators via Mae Sai district to
Tachilek, a Third Army officer said yesterday.
The meeting, to be chaired by National Security Council deputy chief Prakit
Prachonpatchanuek, will include Rungrit Makarapong, the Chiang Rai governor,
Decha Satthapphon, Mae Sai district chief, and representatives of the Third
Army, Science, Technology and Environment Ministry and members of the Mae Sai
conservation group.
The purpose of holding the meeting is to make the people, who oppose the
power plant, understand the Defence Ministry's co-operation policy with
China.
``We have been instructed to fulfil this task because Burma has confirmed
its intention to go ahead with the power plant project and China has found,
through a research study, that the plant would not cause any adverse
environmental impact,'' said the officer who asked not to be named.
The National Security Council also held a meeting last month to discuss the
matter, but not in the presence of people's representatives. It assigned the
Third Army to talk to the people to clear the air.
A convoy of 14 trailer trucks carrying generator parts from China was
stopped at the Mae Sai border checkpoint in Chiang Rai on April 20. The Third
Army said the checkpoint was not yet open and stopped the trucks from crossing
into Burma. The trucks had to return to Bangkok.
Thai-Burmese relations at the time were also tense.
The generator parts were intended for a lignite-powered electricity
generating plant in Tachilek.
The people of Mae Sai district had rallied to oppose their shipment, saying
the power plant would cause serious environmental problems on the Thai side of
the border, citing its similarities with the lignite-fired power plants in
Lampang's Mae Moh district.
Pang Polchai, an adviser to the Mae Sai conservation group, said the people
of Mae Sai will persist in blocking the delivery of the parts to Tachilek unless
there is a written agreement that if the plant becomes a source of air
pollution, Thais affected by it must be compensated and the plant immediately
stopped from running until the problems were solved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - November 21,
2001.
Burmese deportees to get job training first Supamart Kasem About 100,000 Burmese refugees in Thailand will be given occupational
training before their repatriation.
Pairot Promsarn, the Interior Ministry's deputy permanent secretary, said
he agreed with a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees proposal to have
refugees undergo occupational and skill training before repatriation.
Mr Pairot yesterday led senior ministry officials on an inspection of Mae
La refugee camp in Tak's Tha Song Yang district. He also held a meeting with
deputy Tak governor Phan Ta-in and refugee camp representatives.
Thailand and UNHCR have agreed to repatriate some 100,000 Burmese living in
holding centres and refugee camps across Thailand. A camp official said about
300 Burmese illegally entered Thailand every month, adding most people fled
Burma to escape economic hardship.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - November 21,
2001.
Burma suffers deepening crisis The investors are leaving, there are regular long blackouts, the price of foodstuffs is increasing, there are worries about the currency. Wherever you look in Burma, the outlook is decidedly gloomy. LARRY JAGAN The Burmese economy continues to crumble. Inflation is spiralling out of
control, trade is slowing to a standstill, and the country faces an energy
crisis which threatens to totally dissolve any hope of greater prosperity.
The latest symptom of financial crisis involves the country's largest
banknotes. ``No one wants to hold 1,000 or 500 kyat notes,'' a Burmese
businessman said last week, ``for fear that the government is planning to
withdraw them from circulation.'' Burma has withdrawn large denomination notes
overnight before in the past, instantly devaluing many people's savings.
The government has been quick to quell these fears. ``As long as the
military government is in charge, there will be no withdrawal of the official
currency notes, be it the 1,000 kyat note or the 500 kyat note,'' the country's
deputy chief of military intelligence, Major-General Kyaw Win, said at the
weekend.
While the government's intervention has stopped the panic selling of the
larger kyat notes, it has not stemmed the fall of the value of the kyat on the
informal market. ``It's been sliding downwards for several months now,'' a
Rangoon-based analyst said. ``It's virtually in free-fall against the
dollar.''
The exchange rate is now more than 800 to the dollar, and money changers in
Rangoon expect it to fall even further in coming weeks.
``The country's rampant inflation has also caused many people to buy
dollars, gold and imported cars as a hedge against price increases,'' said a
Rangoon-based journalist. The price of cars has more than doubled in the last
two months.
The fall in the kyat is also forcing the price of imported goods like
medicines and cosmetics to rise. A recent visitor to Rangoon said many women
were no longer buying cosmetics. ``Residents in the capital are continuously
complaining about rising prices,'' said a Asian diplomat in Rangoon.
The price of eggs, vegetables and peanut oil have all more than doubled in
the last two months. ``One egg,'' complained a resident, ``now costs more than
30 kyat.'' Although meat prices have only increased marginally, many families
have given up eating meat to be able afford the other essential foodstuffs which
have increased in price astronomically.
Rice, of course, has remained relatively stable because of government
intervention to control its price. The military authorities have long feared
that large rice price increases would provoke food riots.
Privately, UN officials fear a massive humanitarian crisis is looming. They
estimate that one child in three is already malnourished. If the economic crisis
remains unchecked, they fear this could double within the next 12 months. The
situation, they say, is particularly critical in the countryside.
On top of this, the residents of Rangoon are increasingly facing power
shortages. According to one resident, almost every day for the last two months
people in residential areas have had no electricity for more than eight hours a
day. The situation in Mandalay is even worse, according to residents
there.
The acute lack of diesel has caused the closure of two major fertiliser
factories in the past month, said one Burmese economist. An international
petroleum company executive, who knows Burma well, said that if the generals do
not do something soon to ensure the the country improves the power supply, ``the
lights in Rangoon will start to go out in March next year''.
Many businessmen now are also complaining about the economic crisis. More
than half of the Singaporean businessmen have left in the last 12 months.
Diplomats say there are now only 85 Singaporeans compared to more than 300 two
years ago.
Many of the South Koreans now are also planning to leave. Siemans is also
considering relocating its general manager in Rangoon to Singapore.
The military government is increasingly worried about the country's
spiralling inflation and the falling value of the kyat.
Analysts believe the government's conciliatory attitude towards the
international community has been prompted by the Burmese generals' realisation
that only international financial assistance and increased foreign trade and
investment can save Burma from economic collapse.
The country's deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, has privately told
diplomats that economic recovery will only come when the country has solved its
political problems. The international community is hoping the Burmese military
authorities realise that this can only mean agreeing to some form of
power-sharing with the country's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Larry Jagan is the BBC regional editor for Asia and the Pacific. He is
currently based in Bangkok.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Tachilek convoy gets security pass Published on Nov 21, 2001 Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh yesterday gave a preliminary
green light for the cross-border transportation of equipment from Tak province
for the construction of a controversial lignite power plant in Burma's Tachilek
town.
However, Chavalit said the delivery could be made only after the Thai
government considered a report that the plant would not have a negative impact
on the environment in the area and on the health of local Thais.
The transportation of heavy equipment from China for the plant earlier this
year caused an uproar by the people of Tak, who feared that they would be
affected by the burning of lignite by the plant.
They staged a mass protest, prompting the army that oversees border
security to block and suspend the transportation of the equipment.
"The security aspects for the shipping of the equipment to Tachilek town
have been cleared, and they can proceed if it is proved there will be no
environmental impact. Authorities concerned will have to explain to the people
that they must be more understanding," he said.
Yesterday the National Security Council reportedly held a meeting with
Chiang Rai officials who became concerned when they were informed about the
matter.
Pang Polchai, an adviser to the environmentalist organisation Rak Mae Sai,
said the local people would not stand idly by if the transportation of the
equipment proceeded.
"We want the government to make an environmental study before taking any
decision. However, if no one can guarantee health and environmental safety, we
will certainly move to block it," he said.
He said that this time local villagers might choose a violent way to
protect the area, such as burning the equipment.
He also called for the government to promise villagers compensation if the
Burmese plant harmed the environment or their health. "The plant is to be built
on Burmese soil close to our border, so Thai villagers have the right to protect
ourselves," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN Armies to Cooperate Against
Terrorism
Xinhuanet 2001-11-21 12:33:17 BANGKOK, November 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Armed forces of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will cooperate in the war against terrorism, but
not to the extent of multilateral war games, the state-owned radio reported
Wednesday.
Thai Army Chief Surayudh Chulanont was quoted as saying that ASEAN army
chiefs agreed at their meeting last week in Manila to work together through the
exchange of anti-terror information.
However, he said military might was not the only means of countering
terrorism. "It required multi-faceted cooperation and dissemination and
trading of intelligence and news between ASEAN members."
The threat of terrorism varied from country to country, and so approaches
needed to be adjusted accordingly, said Surayudh.
Two or more ASEAN countries might engage in multilateral anti-terrorist
agreements, but none stretched as far as joint military operation, he
said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 MYANMAR - Labour body barred from opening office Myanmar says it will not allow the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
to set up a permanent office in the military-ruled country but will co-operate
with the body, which accuses Yangon of failing to stop forced labour.
The announcement late on Monday followed a high-level ILO mission to the
country and the publication of a report that said an official decree to abolish
forced labour last year had failed to stamp it out.
"It was found that some of the ILO governing body's conclusions include
some points that are difficult for Myanmar to accept, as well as some
constructive and positive ones," the Myanmar Foreign Ministry said.
"Myanmar is not in a position to allow the opening of a permanent
resident's office of the ILO at the moment . . . Myanmar will continue to
co-operate with the ILO where possible."
Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told heads of foreign missions in
Yangon the Government found all the ILO's forced-labour complaints groundless.
"Following the transmission by the high-level team of some complaints
regarding forced labour, the authorities concerned launched thorough
investigations," he said. "These investigations showed the allegations were
baseless and false."
In Geneva last week, the ILO urged Myanmar to accept a permanent presence
for the United Nations agency. It also called on Myanmar to set up a special
ombudsman's office to investigate abuse allegations.
A high-level ILO mission, which visited Myanmar about two months ago,
reported that while there had been some progress in eliminating forced labour,
it was still widespread in areas under military control.
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