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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January
30, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Amnesty says UNHCR cavalier on Myanmar
asylum seekers
Reuters - World meeting on terrorist funds
begins in Hong Kong
BBC - Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma
general
The Star - Firms with big orders
exempted
Bkk Post - Paperless
foreign workers facing police harassment
Bkk Post - More women
abused by their bosses
The Nation - Mekong plan approved
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Newspaper Emphasizes Outside
Assistance in Poverty Elimination
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Leader Stresses Importance
of Education
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 29, 7:04 PM
Amnesty says UNHCR cavalier on Myanmar asylum seekers KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 (Reuters)
- Human rights group Amnesty International criticised the United Nations refugee
agency on Tuesday for handing over Myanmar asylum seekers to Malaysian
immigration officials.
Three Muslim families from Myanmar, who sought refuge in the grounds of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Malaysia last Friday, were
handed over to immigration officials the following day.
"The cavalier manner in which they were handed over to the police, with no
apparent regard to their safety, does not inspire confidence in the UNHCR,"
Amnesty International in Malaysia said in a statement.
The 28 men, women and children from three ethnic Rohingya families had
entered the compound seeking asylum, saying they fled to Malaysia several years
ago to escape persecution in Myanmar.
Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department deputy director Ahmad Ismail said on
Saturday his officers were questioning the immigrants to determine their status.
He said it was not known when they would be sent back to Myanmar, adding
they would be held at a detention camp for immigrants in the western state of
Negeri Sembilan during investigations.
"We also urge the Malaysian government not to deport the Rohingyas, who
will almost certainly face persecution if they are repatriated to Myanmar,"
Amnesty said.
The refugees have seen their plight exacerbated by a crackdown on illegal
immigrants in Malaysia. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Rohingyas live in Malaysia.
Last February, about 450 Rohingyas were killed in clashes with Buddhists
around Akyab town in Myanmar, according to a statement released by Arakan
Rohingya National Organisation.
Malaysia, with a population of 23 million, has two million immigrants, less
than half of whom are legal.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 30, 5:40 PM
World meeting on terrorist funds begins in Hong Kong By Dominic Lau HONG KONG (Reuters) - An
international taskforce to combat money laundering began a three-day meeting in
Hong Kong on Wednesday to review how much governments and banks have done to
stop terrorist funds since the September 11 attacks.
Cutting off money to terrorists has topped the agenda for the Paris-based
Financial Action Task Force since the attacks in the United States left more
than 3,000 dead.
In an emergency meeting in Washington in late October, the 29-nation group
came up with eight recommendations aimed at tracking and blocking terrorist
funds.
Delegates at the Hong Kong gathering will assess members' progress in
meeting those recommendations, which include making financing terrorism a
criminal offence, freezing and confiscating terrorist assets, and getting
financial institutions to report suspicious transactions.
Taskforce members will also discuss and update the annual list of nations
deemed non-cooperative in fighting money laundering. Any offender can face
international sanctions.
The tiny Pacific island of Nauru was slapped with international sanctions
late last year after the taskforce said it had failing to crack down on money
laundering.
Other countries or territories on the blacklist are Russia, Ukraine, the
Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria, Israel, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Myanmar, Cook
Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Niue, St. Kitts and
Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
"We have made substantial progress in breaking the back of money
laundering. But new threats have arisen, in the form of terrorist attacks of
unprecedented scale," Hong Kong's deputy leader Donald Tsang said as he opened
the meeting.
"Tackling money laundering in support of such heinous acts remains one of
the greatest challenges facing the civilised world," he said.
The Hong Kong government is expected to propose new laws early this year to
block all funding to terrorist groups or organisations or companies which are
suspected of having links to them. Many other governments are also considering
beefing up their laws since the attacks.
The taskforce was founded by major industrialised nations in 1989 to combat
international money-laundering.
The 29 members include the United States, Britain, Australia, Japan,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina,
Spain and Switzerland.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Wednesday, 30 January, 2002,
10:57 GMT
Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burma general By the BBC's Burma analyst in Bangkok Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has secretly met one of Burma's
senior leaders.
According to diplomatic sources in Rangoon, Aung San Suu Kyi may even have
met the country's head of state, General Than Shwe.
It appears to be the first meeting with a senior general for some time and
is being seen as a sign that the dialogue process may be on the verge of a
significant break-through.
The meeting has again raised hopes that she may be released from house
arrest in the very near future - at least before the next visit of the United
Nations envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, currently scheduled for early March.
The Burmese military government has been in secret talks with the
opposition leader, who is under house arrest, for more than a year.
However in recent weeks there had been growing fears that the dialogue
process had stalled again.
Significant meeting
Diplomats in the Burmese capital Rangoon are certain that Aung San Suu Kyi
secretly met either General Than Shwe or Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt when she
left her compound last week.
The opposition leader has seldom been permitted to leave her residence,
although she has been allowed a string of visitors, since she was placed under
house again 18 months ago.
Diplomats say it would have to have been a significant meeting for the
opposition leader to come out of her home. She did not even attend the Martyr's
Day ceremony last year which marks her father's assassination.
Despite more than a year of contact between Aung San Suu Kyi and the
Burmese military leaders - mainly through a military intelligence liaison
officer - there have been few tangible results from the dialogue process, which
has been brokered by Mr Razali.
More than 200 political prisoners have been released - but as international
human rights groups point out, there are still more than 1,500 political
prisoners in Burma's jails.
Many diplomats in Rangoon fear the generals have been dragging the process
out with little intention of discussing real political reform.
Pace of change
The UN envoy though has been urging the military regime to step up the
dialogue process. For this to happen, the two sides would have to start taking
about substantive issues.
The main obstacle to that remains the pace of the release of political
prisoners and the lifting of the restrictions on the opposition leader herself.
Mr Razali has told the generals that Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house
arrest was a necessary pre-requisite for the dialogue process to progress.
As the talks between the two sides are being conducted in strict secrecy,
it is impossible to know what was discussed at last week's meeting. But the
issue of political prisoners must have been high on the agenda.
Aung San Suu Kyi has insisted all along that the remaining elected members
of parliament would have to be freed before she would consider being released
herself.
UN sources say Aung San Suu Kyi and the generals had been considering a
proposal that would allow the opposition leader to be freed, but with some
continued restrictions - at least temporarily.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 Firms with big orders exempted KULIM: The Government will allow factories with large export orders to hire
foreign workers if they are unable to recruit local workers, Human Resources
Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn said yesterday.
He said this was a temporary measure, adding that his ministry would
continue holding discussions with factories to understand their needs because it
did not want the country’s economy to be adversely affected.
“We, however, encourage them to hire workers from countries such as
Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand,” he told reporters after
performing the ground-breaking for Sinliplas Holding Sdn Bhd’s additional
factory building here.
Dr Fong stressed that the Government aimed to reduce the number of foreign
workers, especially from Indonesia, in the long term by encouraging companies to
use automated processes.
He said factories, which upgraded their production techniques, would not
only reduce their dependence on foreign labour but be able to optimally use
their local workers and eventually enable Malaysia to compete with China.
Dr Fong said Indonesian workers whose employment permits had expired could
be replaced by workers from other countries.
“There are problems getting Malaysians to work in plantations and
non-electronics industries such as textile and plastic factories,’’ he added.
In his speech earlier, Dr Fong said Malaysia lost out to China in labour
costs even with the use of foreign labour as statistics showed that the labour
cost in Malaysia was US$2 (RM7.60) per hour compared with US 50 cents (RM1.90)
in China.
In Ipoh, Vietnam’s ambassador to Malaysia Tran Trong Toan said his country
was ever willing to allow its people to work in Malaysia.
“Vietnam had applied to the Malaysian Government about a year ago to allow
our people to work in Malaysia but have not received a reply yet,’’ he said,
adding that he was confident the application would be successful now that the
Government had decided to take fewer Indonesian workers.
Tran also said Vietnamese had been working overseas over the past six years
in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and in the West.
“We have sent professionals, such as medical officers and nurses, as well
as unskilled workers.
“The unskilled workers will be taught English and given training on their
respective areas of work to make them more credible and more professional,” he
added.
In his speech earlier, Tran said Vietnam planned to be an industrialised
nation by 2020.
He said the country’s plan in the 21st century was to build Vietnam into a
prosperous country with wealthy people, and an equitable, democratic and
civilised society.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 30,
2002.
Paperless foreign workers facing police
harassment
Onnucha Hutasingh
Many employers refuse to hand work permits to their immigrant workers, who
face police arrest for not carrying employment papers.
Registered alien workers were given only copies of their work permits
instead of the original ones, said Sompong Sakaew, of CARE (Thailand), a
non-governmental organisation studying problems of immigrant workers.
Preeya Kanchanaroj, of the Samut Sakhon employment office, admitted some
employers kept work permits of their employees as they feared the workers would
escape and they would lose their guarantee money.
She said officials would be sent to ask employers to hand the permits to
their workers.
Without the papers, many workers fell victim to police extortion, Mr
Sompong said.
Some officers allegedly tore up the copies of work permits and demanded
money from the workers, he said.
He was also critical of the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry's
regulations on alien worker employment, in which workers were prohibited from
changing employment for a period of one year.
This prevented workers whose contracts were terminated from finding a new
job.
Mr Sompong said immigrants who fell foul of their bosses and lost their
jobs automatically became illegal workers.
He criticised the government for failing to protect alien workers
registered with labour offices.
He also blamed the Labour Ministry for its poor public relations work to
urge alien workers to register with authorities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok post - January 30,
2002.
More women abused by their bosses
Onnucha Hutasing
More female foreign workers are being tortured and sexually abused by their
employers and have to pay exorbitant fees to crooked job brokers to get them
alternative employment.
Sombat Niwetrat, from the Employment Department, said most female victims
did not complain because their employers threatened to lay them off.
Those who did complain were afraid to proceed with prosecution.
The female workers must tolerate the abuse because of a new regulation on
foreign labour which prohibits them from changing employment.
Those who lose their patience have to secretly pay illegal brokers to seek
new employers.
Foreign maids and waitresses are also abused as their salaries are frozen
at 2,000-2,500 baht.
Mr Sombat said the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry registered 560,000
illegal foreign workers as of late last year. About 320,000 were men and 240,000
were women.
Some of the female immigrants were prostitutes working in restaurants and
karaoke shops. These alien labourers also brought in about 50,000 friends and
relatives.
The ministry's alien labour management panel asked the International
Organisation for Migration and the UN to solve the problems, Mr Sombat
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Mekong plan approved
Wichit Chaitrong, Nantiya Tangwisutijit Published on Jan 30, 2002
Cabinet yesterday approved a project to improve transportation on the Mekong River that would include blasting a series of natural rapids. The project is a joint project between four Mekong riparian countries:
Thailand, China, Laos and Burma. According to the plan, 11 rapids, including
nine on the section of the Burma-Laos border, one on the China-Burma and the
last on the Thai-Lao border in Chiang Rai's Chiang Khong district (the Kon Pi
Luang rapid) will be blasted to improve the channel.
The plan drew criticism from environmental groups, who said it would change
the river's ecosystem and fish habitats and potentially affect the landscape of
the lower Mekong basin.
"I don't see the need for river transportation right now as the existing
habours are under-used," said Witoon Permpongsacharoen of the Towards Ecological
Recovery and Regional Alliance (Burma-Indochina). "Even companies promoting
cruise tourism have gone out of business because of the natural limitations of
the Mekong River. There is hardly enough water in the dry season."
Although government spokesman Yongyuth Tiyapairat said a joint experts'
committee would be set up to investigate the project's environmental impact
before work began, Witoon said it was still unclear who would be in charge of
approving the study because the Mekong was an international river.
Moreover, the joint project did not include the other two countries in the
lower Mekong, Cambodia and Vietnam, even though they were likely to be affected
by the changing course of the river.
Yongyuth said the Chinese government would be responsible for the
Bt200-million cost of the project.
He said the Harbour Department, as the core cooperative authority for the
project, would officially inform a joint project meeting in China next month
about yesterday's Cabinet approval.
Apart from the blasting of 11 rapids along a 331-kilometre section of the
Mekong, the budget will also be used to build six crossings and bridges,
Yongyuth said.
"The project aims to make transportation on the Mekong River safer in order
to boost tourism and trade development in the region, benefiting all four
countries," Yongyuth said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Newspaper Emphasizes
Outside Assistance in Poverty Elimination
Xinhuanet 2002-01-30 13:47:56 YANGON, January 30 (Xinhuanet)
-- The New Light newspaper emphasized the importance of outside assistance
in poverty elimination in Myanmar, saying that such aid for rural development
undertakings will accelerate momentum in launching poverty-elimination
projects.
The paper attributed the poverty of Myanmar to the existence of the
development gap between the urban and rural areas for various reasons which
caused the low standard of living of rural people.
"Due to the obstruction of the big nations which have no clear outlook on
Myanmar, the country has not received outside assistance for a long time except
for a small amount of aid presented by United Nations, the paper
complained.
It also blamed that the total assistance provided by the U.N. agencies in
2000 was less than one U.S. dollar per person, comparing to the amount of such
aid received by other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam (about 15
dollars per person), Cambodia (about 42 dollars per person) and Laos
(about 82 dollars per person).
However, the paper went on to say that due to "bold and correct" policies
of the country, Myanmar is achieving marked progress in poverty
eradication.
The paper added that the nation is gaining success to a certain degree in
reducing poverty in the rural areas based on self-reliance efforts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Leader Stresses Importance
of Education
Xinhuanet 2002-01-30 12:15:39 YANGON, January 30 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe has stressed the importance of
education, calling on intellectuals to equip themselves with advanced education
at a time when globalization is in progress and science and technology are the
dominant factor.
Than Shwe, Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council,
made the remarks when meeting trainees of a primary teachership course here,
official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
"If we fail to acquire the advancing science and technology to apply them
for the progress of the nation and the people, we will be left behind in the
process of globalization," he warned.
According to official statistics, Myanmar added 6,180 basic education
schools in the whole country in 13 years' time since
1988 when the present government took office and the total number of such schools has reached 39,927 now. Meanwhile, the number of students receiving education in these basic
education schools grew by 1.82 million during the 13-year period, reaching 7.05
million now.
Besides, the government built 110 universities and colleges during the
period, bringing the total number of institutes of
higher learning to 142 at present. During the 13 years' time, the number of students studying at these higher education institutions increased by 416,719, bringing their total number to 556,456. In addition to the regular education, multi-media classrooms have also been
opened at 481 schools and 203 electronic learning centers have been set up in
the whole country.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is implementing a 30-year long-term plan for basic
education from the current fiscal year of 2001-02 to 2030-31 in six phases each
lasting for 5 years, aiming at bringing about rapid development of qualified
human resources in the country to meet the challenges of the present knowledge
age.
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