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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January 02, 2002.
(II)
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pulse - Indonesia's Cement Padang Secures
New Export Contract
AFP - Vietnam sentences 55 to death for drug
trafficking in 2001
Reuters - Singaporean faces possible death
penalty in Thailand
AP - God's Army Twins Moved to Thai
Camp
Ananova - Thai-Burma rail track to go on display
Xinhuanet - 2001 Marks Greater Diplomatic Achievements for
Myanmar ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 2, 12:33 PM
Indonesia's Cement Padang Secures New Export Contract JAKARTA, Jan 2 Asia Pulse -
State-owned cement maker PT Semen Padang said it has won a new contract to
export 1.5 million tons of cement to the United States and several European
countries including the Netherlands, Britain and Belgium.
Cemex, a Mexican cement giant which owns 25 per cent of PT Semen Gresik,
the holding company for Semen Padang, had no role in securing the contract,
Semen Padang president Ikhdan Nizar said Monday.
Cemex has pledged to increase cement exports by Semen Gresik using its
market networks in international markets.
Nizar said Semen Padang has regularly exported cement to Bangladesh,
Myanmar and Thailand long before Cemex was involved in Semen Gresik, and since
1981 attempts have been made to expand export markets to Singapore, Sreilanka,
Egypt, Germany, Nigeria and the Maldives.
Semen Padang has also exported clinker to Bangladesh, Srilanka and African
countries.
Nizar said Semen Padang has also received orders that it could not fully
accept from a number of others countries as the company would concentrate
meeting the domestic requirement.
Exports by that company in 2001 were estimated at 1.86 million tons, up
from 1.75 million tons in 2000.
Last year its production was estimated to reach 4.67 million tons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 2, 4:52 PM
Vietnam sentences 55 to death for drug trafficking in 2001 (AFP) - A total of 55 people were sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam last year, according to an annual report published by an official paper. Fifty-nine other drug traffickers were sentenced to life in prison,
according to the Gia dinh va Xa Hoi (Family and Society), citing statistics from
the national committee in charge of the fight against drugs.
At least 85 people were handed the death penalty for drug offences in 2000,
compared with 76 in 1999 and 58 in 1998.
The fall in the number of death sentences last year followed an amendment
to anti-drug legislation under which possession of 300 grams (10.5 ounces) of
heroin attracted capital punishment, compared with 100 grams (3.5 ounces)
previously.
Last year Vietnamese courts tried 8,039 people in 6,205 drug cases among
the total number of 12.811 cases, up 24 percent over 2000 according to official
statistics.
Five police officers were killed last year in the fight against drugs which
is becoming "tougher and more complicated" in Vietnam where the number of drug
addicts continues to rise, especially in the large cities, the paper said.
Drugs are generally imported into Vietnam from the infamous "Golden
Triangle" drug producing region of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, and the country
is also a transit point for shipments of amphetamines and ecstasy produced in
the area and destined for Western markets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 2, 6:55 PM
Singaporean faces possible death penalty in Thailand BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Singaporean man has been arrested at Bangkok airport and charged with attempting to smuggle 5.8 kg (12.9 lb) of heroin to Amsterdam, Thai officials said on Wednesday. Tan Teck Swee, 49, could face a maximum penalty of death if found guilty by
a Thai court, officials said.
"Trafficking just 100 grams of heroin already carries a death sentence, but
this guy had 5,800 grams," a spokesman at the anti-drug police office told
Reuters.
Thai customs said in a statement Tan, who allegedly hid the drug in a
specially made vest, was caught on Tuesday evening while boarding a KLM flight
to the Netherlands.
Thailand forms part of the notorious "Golden Triangle" -- where the Thai,
Myanmar and Laotian borders meet -- one of the world's top heroin-producing
regions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 2 5:40 AM ET
God's Army Twins Moved to Thai Camp By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The
teen twins who led the Myanmar rebel group God's Army have been discreetly moved
from a Thai police base to a camp for ethnic Karen refugees on the Thai-Myanmar
border, officials said Wednesday.
Johnny and Luther Htoo, 13, had been staying in a cramped two-story house
at the police base in Ratchaburi province since they surrendered to Thailand
last January, after their three-year jungle rebellion against the Myanmar
military regime crumbled. Like other refugees, the Htoos are confined to the
camp but have freedom of movement.
``We couldn't keep them at the border patrol police base forever,'' said
Payakkaphan Phokaew, a member of the Ratchaburi provincial border committee.
He said the committee decided to move the twins because an application to
resettle them to the United States was taking too long.
A U.S. embassy official in Bangkok said the case was still under
consideration pending an immigration service interview with the twins.
In November, the Htoos told The Associated Press in an interview that they
did not want to go to the United States and would prefer to stay in a refugee
camp in Thailand, where more than 120,000 people from their Karen ethnic group
currently shelter from civil strife.
Karen and other ethnic minority rebel groups have been fighting for more
autonomy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for five decades.
For about three years, the cheroot-smoking, devoutly Christian twins guided
a ragtag army of mostly child soldiers in a guerrilla war near the Thai border.
They were reputed by followers to be invulnerable to bullets and land
mines.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ananova
Thai-Burma rail track to go on display
Story filed: 04:34 Wednesday 2nd January
2002
An original section of the Thai-Burma railway, which cost the lives of
thousands of Allied prisoners during the Second World War, is to have a
permanent home in Britain.
The 30-metre stretch of track, complete with sleepers and spikes, is to be
transported to the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.
It is the culmination of several years of talks with the Thai authorities
who agreed to release the section for transport back to the UK.
The remnants will form a lasting tribute to the estimated 16,000 men who
died constructing the 415km "Railway of Death" and their comrades who were
either killed by their Japanese army captors or died of malnutrition, cholera,
dysentery and other diseases in camps.
David Childs, director of the National Memorial Arboretum, said: "It is the
first time that a section of the track will be on display to the general
public.
"It will remind people of the horrors of that time and the definite need
not to get ourselves in a position where they are repeated in the 21st
century."
A collection of paintings by Fred Seiker, which depicts his time as a PoW
between 1942 and 1945 enduring forced labour on the railway, is already housed
at the site.
Last year, the 150-acre Arboretum unveiled a memorial to about 700 Allied
soldiers and native forced labourers who died building the Sumatra
railway.
The Thai-Burma track is scheduled to be unloaded from the Royal Navy
frigate HMS Northumberland in Devonport on Monday and delivered to the Arboretum
the following day.
Arboretum officials say a further ceremony is planned for August 15 where
it is hoped more Far East former prisoners of war will attend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 Marks Greater Diplomatic
Achievements for Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2002-01-02 17:13:22 YANGON, January 2 (Xinhuanet,By Duan Tingchang ) --
Year 2001 was one in which the Myanmar military government has scored greater
achievements on itsdiplomatic front since it took over power in 1988.
The frequent exchange of visits at high levels between Myanmar and foreign
countries highlighted Myanmar's diplomatic achievements in this year.
According to incomplete statistics, in 2001, the presidents of China,
Pakistan and Indonesia, prime ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, Lao
National Assembly president, deputy prime minister of Thailand and
vice-president of Laos visited Myanmar.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) and Prime Minister Senior-General Than Shwe successively toured Malaysia
and Brunei, and SPDC First Secretary Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt went to
Thailand and Brunei.
These exchange of visits at high levels has enhanced the
mutualunderstanding and expanded the common views, paving the way for
strengthening bilateral friendly and cooperative ties in the new century.
Another fact that signified Myanmar's diplomatic achievements is that the
country hashosted a series of regional meetings in 2001.
These meetings were the Retreat Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Third Meeting of Trade and
Economic Ministers of the BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and
Thailand-Economic Cooperation), Regional Committee Meeting of the World Health
Organization South East Asia Region, Ministerial Meeting of Six MOU countries (
China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) on Drug Control in the
Subregion of East Asia and the Pacific, Senior Officials Meeting Among China,
Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on Drug Control, Meeting of the SME (small and medium
enterprises) Agencies Working Group of the ASEAN and Tenth Ministerial
Conference on Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation.
These meetings have expanded Myanmar's diplomatic space to certain extent,
adding to the degree of popularity of the country internationally and enhancing
the development of its friendly and cooperative ties with foreign countries.
During this year, Myanmar also successively forged diplomatic ties with
Uzbekistan and Uruguay, bringing to 88 the total number of countries with which
Myanmar has diplomatic links in the world.Up to now, Myanmar has opened 30
embassies, two permanent missionsand two consulates-general in the world.
In 2001, Myanmar's military diplomacy also bore rich fruits. During the
year, high-level military delegations of India, Pakistan, China, Thailand,
Russia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia have visited Myanmar.
A fleet of Pakistani naval vessels, comprising a sub-marine, a destroyer
and a tanker, made a nearly-week-long friendly call at Myanmar's Yangon Port,
registering the first ever visit to a Myanmar port by foreign military vessels
in several decades.
In addition, Myanmar and Russia also signed a contract in August 2001 on
the sale of 10 Russian MIG-29 fighter aircrafts to Myanmar worth 130 million
U.S. dollars. It was the first time for Russia to sell such fighters to Myanmar.
Equipped with these advanced fighters, Myanmar air force's fighting capability
will greatly increase.
A fact that deserves special mention is that in 2001, Myanmar made a
break-through in breaking the sanctions imposed by western nations. A convicing
example is that Japan, ignoring the strong pressure exerted by the
United-States-led "Rich-Country Club", absolutely resumed its Official
Development Assistance to Myanmar that had been terminated for 13 years.
Besides, during the year, the Japanese government also provideddebt relief
to Myanmar for two times totalling as high as 3.594 billion yens (about 29.22
million dollars).
Despite some achievements made on its diplomatic front, Myanmaris now still
facing many difficulties and challenges.
Under the pretext of human rights, democracy and labor issues, western
countries continuously put pressures on Myanmar. Up to now,the U.S. and member
nations of the European Union have not yet lifted their sanctions against
Myanmar for many years.
Myanmar has upheld the following basic principles as part of its present
foreign policy -- the observance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,
adherence of the U.N. Charter,and maintenance of friendly relations with all
countries in the world, particularly its neighboring countries.
It has strongly opposed the interference, aggression and control of a
country by another. In defiance, Myanmar has stand firm in accepting foreign
assistance only without any pre-conditions attached.
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