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BURMA RELATED NEWS - February 11,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------------- World Oil - Daewoo plans Myanmar
drilling
VOA - UN Rights Envoy Meets with Burma's Foreign
Minister
AP - Thailand Gets Its First Woman
Monk
Bkk Post - Burmese arrested with speed
pills
Bkk Post - Troops on alert after attack Three
Burmese hurt during firefight
Bkk Post - Border closed as inquiry ordered
The Nation - Drugs and
cash seized by police
Reuters - U.N. Myanmar envoy says talks moving but slowly AFP- Thailand ups drugs bounty for amphetamines
seized by police
Reuters - UN rights envoy meets Myanmar's
military rulers
Reuters - Thailand shuts Myanmar crossing in
murder probe
Kyodo News - U.N.
human rights rapporteur meets Myanmar junta leader
ST - Karaoke fad fuels video boom in Myanmar
NMG - Burmese Police to take training course in
China
NMG - More than 200 Burmese illegal
workers sent back to Myawaddy
----------------------------------------------------------------------- World Oil
HANOI: Daewoo plans Myanmar drilling
11/02/2002 10:55:54
Daewoo is reportedly planning to commence oil and gas exploration at an
offshore reserve at block A1, off the western Rakhine state's Sittwe, by the end
of 2002.
According to Myanmar's Energy Planning Department, Daewoo will take 40
percent of the gas drilled at the reserve, under a project agreement with
Myanmar. The area is estimated to have a gas reserve of 396.2 billion
cubic-meters.
Myanmar state aims to sell the gas to India and Bangladesh.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific UN Rights Envoy Meets
with Burma's Foreign Minister
VOA News 11 Feb 2002 09:05 UTC A top United Nations human-rights envoy has met with Burma's foreign
minister at the beginning of a 10-day trip to assess the plight of political
prisoners in the military-ruled country.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met in Rangoon with Foreign Minister Win Aung this
(Monday) morning. No details of the meeting were released. He is expected to
meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi later in the day.
Mr. Pinheiro arrived in Burma Sunday amid increasing frustration among
Burmese dissidents about the slow pace of the dialogue between the government
and Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads Burma's National League for Democracy.
The Nobel Peace laureate has been under virtual house arrest since she
tried to travel outside Rangoon a year ago, in defiance of official
restrictions. Her National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in
Burma's 1990 elections, but the military refused to recognize the results and
never agreed to turn over power.
The government has released more than 200 political prisoners since the
talks with Aung San Suu Kyi began 16 months ago, but there have been no major
breakthroughs. The human-rights group Amnesty International estimates that Burma
has more than 1,500 political prisoners in custody.
Mr. Pinheiro is making his third trip to Burma. His last visit was cut
short in November when he became ill. He will report to the U.N. Commission on
Human Rights at its session in Geneva in April.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand Gets Its First Woman
Monk
The Associated Press, Mon 11 Feb 2002 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) ? A
55-year-old Buddhist nun has been ordained as Thailand's first female monk,
presenting the most open challenge to the country's all-male clergy that gives
only men the right to be monks.
Varanggana Vanavichayen was ordained Sunday by a Sri Lankan woman monk in
the presence of a male Thai monk. Theravada scriptures, as interpreted in
Thailand, require that for a women to be ordained a monk, the ceremony must be
attended by both a male and female monk.
Seven other female monks ? three Sri Lankan, two Taiwanese and one
Indonesian ? also attended the ceremony, which marks a new chapter in Thai
Buddhism, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.
The ceremony was conducted at a temple in Nakorn Pathom, 30 miles west of
Bangkok, which is run by Chatsumarn Kabilasingha, another woman who shook the
Buddhist establishment by getting herself ordained as a monk in Sri Lanka and
returning to Thailand last year. The clergy allows only female nuns.
``I know that there might be resistance. But I am prepared, knowing that I
am doing the right thing,'' Varanggana, a diploma in business management from an
Australian college, was quoted as saying by the Post.
She was a nun for nine years, before which she worked as a secretary and
translator. The mother of two divorced her husband to fulfill a vow of celibacy
before joining the clergy
Varanggana and Chatsumarn were not available for comment on Monday.
Chatsumarn's ordination and her temple are not recognized by the Sangha
Council, as the official Buddhist clergy is known, or by the government's
Religious Affairs Department, which oversees the functioning of the clergy.
However, in practical terms, there is little that they can do to prevent
Chatsumarn from following and practicing Buddhist precepts. The same is likely
to happen with Varanggana.
Her ordination will revive a debate on maintaining traditional religious
beliefs to deprive women the equal rights promised by Thailand's constitution.
Suthiwong Tantayapisalsuth, deputy chief of the Religious Affairs
Department, said Monday that Varanggana will not be recognized as a monk by the
department.
But he admitted that the ordination and the department's refusal to
recognize it has exposed a clear conflict: While the Constitution prohibits
religious or gender discrimination, a law on clergy states that a layman who
dresses as a monk will face a two-month jail term.
Women can be ordained as monks in Sri Lanka, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and
South Korea, with most of these countries dominated by the Mahayana school of
Buddhism. Female ordination is not practiced in Japan, Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Burmese arrested with speed
pills
Bangkok Post, Mon 11 Feb 2002 Police seized 498,000 methamphetamine pills and arrested a Burmese man for
drug trafficking yesterday.
The man, identified as Jam, 25, was stopped for a search while riding a
motorcycle through the Tachilek-Mae Sai border checkpoint.
Police found 18,000 speed pills in his possession.
He said he was taking the pills to two traders who ordered them from
Tachilek.
Police searched their houses in Mae Sai district.
Police found 478,000 speed pills at Nuan Namwong's house. They found
another 4,000 pills and 2.3 million baht in cash at Somsak Chumjai's house. The
two suspects fled before the police arrived.
Mr Jam said he delivered between 10,000 and 20,000 methamphetamine pills at
a time to the two men.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Troops on alert after attack Three
Burmese hurt during firefight
Bangkok Post, Mon 11 Feb 2002 Troops at Doi Lang have been put on alert after a Burmese army patrol was
attacked just across the border, opposite Mae Ai district in Chiang Mai, and at
least three of them were wounded.
Sources said it was unclear what happened. Except for Burmese soldiers and
their Wa supporters, there were no other Burmese minority forces in the
area.
Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkasing, Third Army commander, said Thai troops had been
told to refrain from using their guns unless absolutely necessary.
Thailand and Burma have deployed troops at Doi Lang since 1996, each
country claiming ownership of the 32-square-km of land, which was the former
stronghold of opium warlord Khun Sa.
They reached an agreement last year to avoid resorting to arms without
first consulting on any conflict that may arise during a confrontation.
Col Sampan Sriratbuapan, commander of the Thai ranger unit at Doi Lang,
said he was not sure what actually happened on the Burmese side of the
hill.
``We heard several shots fired and we are checking with the Burmese. We
haven't heard from them yet,'' he said.
Local military sources said at least three Burmese soldiers were wounded
and were taken from the Doi Lang base for medical treatment.
The gunfire lasted about half an hour.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post, Mon 11 Feb 2002
Border closed as inquiry ordered Hundreds of police brought in to help Supamart Kasem / Mae Sot, Tak The army has shut border checkpoints in Mae Sot and Mae Ramat districts
while an inquiry continues into the unexplained deaths of 17 people whose bodies
were found in a stream last week.
A major investigation has been set up into the murders, involving hundreds
of police from Mae Sot, Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang districts and border patrol
police from the 345th and 346th companies.
They have been ordered to establish the motive for the killings.
The Thai military and Burmese authorities in Myawaddy are
co-operating.
The border closure was ordered yesterday by Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, the
Third Army commander.
Pol Maj-Gen Sewek Pinsinchai, the provincial police chief, said crossings
at Wang Kaew and Mae Kit Mai villages in Mae Sot district and Wang Pha village
in Mae Ramat district were temporarily closed.
The murder investigation was being headed by Pol Lt-Gen Boonpen Bampenboon,
he said.
``At least 10 people have been interrogated,'' Pol Maj-Gen Sawek said. ``We
suspect either smuggling of workers or drug trafficking across the border was
the motive. As far as we know, those killed were not Thais. We are trying to
determine if they were killed at the spot where their bodies were found, or
taken there from elsewhere.''
On Jan 27, before the first seven bodies were found, 61 illegal Burmese
immigrants were arrested by local authorities and troops near Mae Phasa village
in Mae Sot district.
They were led to the village from the border by Som Jaikaewthi, 33, and
were about to go separately to various provinces for jobs.
Those arrested were handed over to the Tak immigration office pending
deportation. Mr Som was charged with smuggling aliens into the country.
Shortly afterwards, it was reported that Thai and Burmese job brokers met
near the village. A few days later the first seven bodies were found.
Thongmuan Sithikaew, Wang Pha village chief, and local residents found the
first bodies in Mae Lamao stream, about 4km from the Moei river, on Jan 30.
Three of the dead were women. Mae Lamao stream is a branch of the Moei
river.
On Jan 31, seven more bodies, four of them women, were found about 500m
from the first spot.
Mr Thongmuan reported the findings to border patrol police at Wang Pha and
to Ramat district police.
The Mae Lamao stream supplies tap water for the village so the residents
dumped the 14 bodies downstream, where they would float down into the Moei
river.
On Feb 3, seven bodies were plucked from the Moei river in Mae Ramat
district. They were believed to be some of the 14 bodies dumped by Wang Pha
villagers.
Two additional bodies were found in Mae Lamao stream on Feb 4 and another
on Feb 6, making 17 altogether.
Police have recovered 10 bodies for examination, seven from the Moei river
and three from Mae Lamao stream. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 11, 3:48 PM
U.N. Myanmar envoy says talks moving but slowly By Barani Krishnan KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (Reuters)
- Reconciliation talks between Myanmar's military junta and the opposition are
progressing but not as fast as expected, U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail said
on Monday.
"It's moving along, maybe not as fast as it should," Razali, who returns to
Myanmar next month for his seventh official visit, told Reuters on the sidelines
of a news conference in the Malaysian capital.
"These kind of things are difficult, they take time," said the veteran
Malaysian diplomat.
Razali has shuttled between pro-democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi and
Than Shwe, the top leader of the Myanmar's military government, since his
appointment in April 2000 but as yet to limited effect.
Talks have help yield the release from prison of 207 members of Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy and the opening of 32 NLD township offices in
Yangon Division.
Suu Kyi met Than Shwe last month, according to unconfirmed reports, as
speculation simmered she may soon be freed from house arrest, a move diplomats
see as crucial to progress in a dialogue aimed at ending the political deadlock.
The NLD says more than 800 of its members remain in jail, with their
release being another requirement for progress.
Diplomats have warned that unless talks between Suu Kyi and the military
produce concrete results soon, pro-democracy activists and Myanmar's many ethnic
groups will lose patience.
The 1991 Nobel Peace laureate has been confined to her home since September
2000, with outings only to meet military leaders in confidential talks the two
sides began in October 2000.
Suu Kyi's NLD won the country's last democratic elections in 1990 by a
landslide but has never been allowed to take over power from the ruling
military.
Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win said on Saturday Razali
would visit Myanmar for four days from March 19.
Razali said he was coordinating his efforts with U.N. human rights envoy to
Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who arrived in Yangon on Sunday for his third
official visit, which is expected to touch on the question of prisoner
amnesties.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 11, 5:30 PM
Thailand ups drugs bounty for amphetamines seized by police BANGKOK, Feb 11 (AFP) - The
Thai government Monday raised a drugs "bounty" offered to police, saying
officers will now receive two baht (five cents) for every methamphetamine pill
they seize.
National police chief General Sant Sarutanont said after a meeting with
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that the premier had also lifted a ceiling on
the reward which previously capped it at 100,000 tablets.
He also promised to fast-track payment of the reward, which would
compensate narcotics police for their "high-risk" duties.
"The prime minister has set aside a special budget for the reward and he
has promised that the money can be drawn on immediately if it is proven that the
seized drugs are amphetamines," he told reporters.
Sant said that in other new anti-narcotics measures, police will be ordered
to monitor suspected traffickers more carefully, and submit a list of their
names to Thaksin within a month.
The military and the corrections department will work more closely to
handle the legions of drug addicts, which are proving a heavy burden on already
overcrowded jails, he said.
As well, police in northern and northwestern parts of Thailand are to be
put on a state of higher alert for an indefinite period because of their
strategic location next to drug-production regions inside Myanmar.
Thai officials have estimated that some 800 million methamphetamines, a
cheap and extremely addictive drug known here as "ya baa" or crazy medicine,
will be trafficked across the border from Myanmar this year.
More than four percent of Thais from all walks of life are already addicted
to the substance which has largely replaced heroin addiction in the
country.
Major drug seizures have become relatively common, especially since Thaksin
declared a "war on drugs" after coming to power a year ago.
Last month Thai narcotics officials seized one million methamphetamine
tablets in a raid on a house in central Bangkok, and in December another million
pills were seized along with materials to make 30 million.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 11, 2:46 PM
UN rights envoy meets Myanmar's military rulers YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military rulers, long criticised for their human rights record, met the United
Nations human rights envoy on Monday in a bid for international legitimacy which
could lead to more aid and investment.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro is on his third visit to Myanmar in less than a year
to complete a report to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in
April.
Many Western countries, including the United States and the European Union,
have criticised Myanmar's military rulers for widespread human rights violations
and placed limited sanctions on the poverty-stricken country.
A report from Pinheiro citing progress could help soften the stance of
decision makers in Brussels and Washington.
Pinheiro met Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung and his deputy Khin Maung
Win on Monday morning. He was expected to meet opposition leader and Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the afternoon.
Yangon has also received visits by European Union officials and last year
accepted a delegation from the International Labour Organisation investigating
claims of forced labour.
Yet despite Yangon's attempts to clean up its image, many governments say
more needs to be done before they give the green light for aid and full
political and economic relations.
NLD leader Suu Kyi still remains under house arrest and, according to
Amnesty International, some 1500 political prisoners still languish in Myanmar's
jails.
Promised unlimited access while in Myanmar, ruled by the military since the
1960s, Pinheiro also plans to spend three days in northern Kachin state and is
due to leave the country on February 19.
After years of political isolation, Myanmar's military rulers have shown a
few signs in the last two years of opening up to the international community on
the issues of human rights and democracy.
Late in 2000, U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Ismail Razali persuaded the
generals to start talks with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),
which has never been allowed to govern, despite a landslide election win in
1990.
Last year, the government allowed the NLD to reopen some offices and
released dozens of political prisoners seized in crackdowns on democracy and
ethnic minority groups in the 1990s.
Razali has hinted that some form of democracy could emerge in the next
three years, but there are signs the opposition is becoming disillusioned with
the lack of progress.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 11, 12:34 PM
Thailand shuts Myanmar crossing in murder probe BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand
has closed a border crossing with Myanmar after a spate of murders and has
reinforced troops at another following fighting inside Myanmar, officials said
on Monday.
Thai officials said they were investigating the murder of 17 ethnic Karen
tribespeople. The deaths have sparked fears of violence by human smuggling
gangs.
The bodies were found last week gagged and bound with their throats cut in
streams entering the Moei River, which forms the border near Thailand's Mae Sot
district.
Officials said Thai Regional Army Commander Udomchai Ongkhasing ordered the
Mae Ramat checkpoint closed on Sunday to help establish a motive for the
killings between late January and last Thursday.
Mae Ramat is about 37 km (24 miles) north of the busy Thai border town of
Mae Sot and 460 km northwest of Bangkok.
Thai officials said the murder victims, including women, were believed to
be ethnic Karen immigrants seeking jobs in Thailand. There are estimated to be
more than a million Myanmar workers in Thailand, most of whom work as illegal
unskilled labour.
In northern Thailand, General Udomchai told reporters that about 150 Thai
troops were dispatched to Doi Lang in Chiang Mai province after about 30 armed
men attacked a Myanmar army post across the border on Sunday.
Udomchai did not identify the attackers, but Thai border sources said they
were elements of ethnic Shan groups fighting Myanmar government soldiers along
the border area.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Drugs and cash seized by police
Published on Feb 11, 2002
Nearly 500,000 methamphetamine tablets and Bt2.6 million in cash were
seized during police raids at properties of two suspected drug dealers in Chiang
Rai yesterday.
The raids followed the arrest yesterday morning of a member of a Burmese
ethnic minority group - a 25-year-old man identified only as Jam. He was caught
with packets containing 18,000 speed pills strapped to his torso while wading
across a stream bordering Thailand and Burma, police said.
The suspect's interrogation led police to the house of Somsak Chumjai and
fruit orchard of Tan Namwong's, both located in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
At Somsak's house, another 4,000 speed pills were discovered along with Bt2.6
million in cash, of which Bt1.8 million was found in a refrigerator.
A search of Tan's fruit orchard discovered 476,000 speed pills hidden in a
secret compartment of a pickup truck, police said.
Somsak and Tan managed to escape arrest. Police also seized land title
deeds, three television sets and more than 20 other electrical appliances, and
bank passbooks with deposits of about Bt800,000.
Samnao Sukrakan, deputy commander of the Chiang Rai police, said yesterday
that the gang was part of a drug-smuggling ring with links to the Red Wa army in
Burma.
Meanwhile, the dismembered body of a man was found in a remote pond in Mae
Sai district late yesterday morning.
The victim was identified as Monsang Chantakad, 53, a villager suspected of
involvement with drug smugglers. The man was last seen on Thursday and police
believe the drug gang killed him in revenge for unpaid debts of more than Bt1
million.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. human rights rapporteur meets
Myanmar junta leader
YANGON, Feb. 11 Kyodo - U.N.
human rights rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro held talks Monday with Lt. Gen.
Khin Nyunt, head of Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council,
official sources said. The meeting at the Defense Ministry lasted over an hour,
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - February 11,
2002.
Karaoke fad fuels video boom in Myanmar The number of video-related enterprises increased to 36,000 in 2001 BANGKOK - Myanmar's video industry enjoyed a boom last year thanks partly
to the growing popularity of karaoke in the military-ruled state, a news report
said yesterday.
The number of Myanmar's video-related enterprises, including karaoke
businesses, filming, editing, copying and producing videos, reached 36,000 in
2001.
This represents an increase of 10,000 from 2000, the Myanmar Times
reported.
The country's Video Censorship Board reportedly approved 900 locally-made
movie, music and karaoke videos last year, up from 700 in 2000.
The weekly said official statistics reflected the industry's growth, with
nearly 20 movies produced in Myanmar in 2001 and just 12 in 2000.
Mr Thein Tun Aung, director of the state-run Myanmar Motion Picture
Enterprise, told the paper that revenue from videos hit 113 million kyat
(S$298,000) in 2001, an increase from 98 million kyat in 2000.
He was quoted as saying: 'Videos are easy to produce and the tapes are easy
to carry. It is easier to screen video pictures than motion pictures.
'There are many video halls in small towns and videotapes are penetrating
even into village tracts.'
While Myanmar's video industry has prospered as a result of the boom, many
find the growing trend an irritation.
Myanmar newspapers carry letters complaining of noisy karaoke lounges and
video booths.
They also express concern over the circulation of pirated, uncensored and
'immoral' video tapes.
Mr Thein was quoted as saying that the Myanmar authorities were cracking
down on video piracy, and that 14 people were handed jail terms of up to nine
years and three months in January.
'Those who break laws protecting intellectual property rights or who show
videotapes which have not been passed by the censor board can expect severe
punishment,' he said.
'We will protect the national culture.'
A total of 800 obscene videotapes and laser discs, all made overseas, were
seized and destroyed by the Video Supervisory Committee last year and police,
the Myanmar Times said. --AFP
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Network Media Group
Burmese Police to take training
course in China
Mae Hong Son, February 10, 2002
Burmese Police personnel will take a training course on illicit drug
control in the Yunnan Province of China, starting on February 23, as a part of
Sino-Burma joint drug control program, according to a source from the Sino-Burma
border.
The training will be held at Yunnan People's Security College in Kunming, a
city in the Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China.
Police personnel from Burma will reach the Jae Gong checkpoint near the
border town of Ruili on February 19, and Chinese authorities will be delegated
to take care of them.
Burmese police will be allowed to wear their own Burmese police uniforms
during the training.
The training is part of the two countries' drug control program. There will
also be a meeting on February 16 between Chinese and Burmese drug control
personnel at Pansan, a border town in the Wa area, where the Headquarters of the
United Wa Solidarity Party is based. Wa and Lahu ethnic leaders will be included
in this meeting, where they will discuss a Crop substitution program, according
to the information from Thai-Burma border.
China is facing an increase in the number of HIV infected people every year
because of the commercial sex industries and illicit drug use. Although the
official Chinese statement cites 20,000 cases of HIV/AIDS, Chinese health
personnel say there are more than 600,000 persons infected with HIV in China,
mentioned in reports from international news agencies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Network Media Group
More than 200 Burmese illegal workers sent back to Myawaddy Chiang Mai, February 10, 2002 More than 200 Burmese illegal workers were arrested in Mae Sod yesterday
and sent to Myawaddy this morning at the start of a three-month long crackdown
against illegal workers, a source from Mae Sod said.
Although the Thai government planned to start the three-month long
operation against illegal workers on the 10th of February, they began yesterday
with more than 200 illegal workers arrested in Mae Sod, a town on the Thai-Burma
border.
The workers arrested yesterday were handed over to Immigration officers in
Myawaddy this morning. To show that they were arrested workers, Thai immigration
imprinted a stamp on the hands of individual workers before handing them over to
Burmese immigration officials.
The arrested workers were detained in the newly built detention center near
the Friendship Bridge in Myawaddy.
"This morning there were some arrests in Mae Sod. Thai police took a
truckload of people this morning to the immigration detention center. There may
have been about 60 or 70 people in the truck. But, we haven't heard that they
were sent to the Burmese side." said a leader from Moe Thauk Pan (Aurora)
Workers group.
Agreements to send back illegal workers from Thailand to Burma were reach
both in the Foreign Ministerial meeting held in Phuket in early January and
during the Thai foreign minister's recent visit to Nga Pali, a famous beach in
Burma.
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