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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 12,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - France's Cegelec buys nearly half of
Alstom Malaysia, boosts Asia presence
VOA News - Senior US Diplomat Calls for Release
of Aung San Suu Kyi
BBC - BURMA DIALOGUE:
US urges junta to move faster, release Suu Kyi
The Nation - BURMA DIALOGUE: US urges junta to
move faster, release Suu Kyi
Bkk Post - Burma
shoots Thai drug informant in botch-up
Special - "Real Inside Story of Burma's
Princes"
----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 12, 3:57 PM
France's Cegelec buys nearly half of Alstom Malaysia, boosts Asia presence KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (AFP) -
French electrical engineering group Cegelec announced Friday it has acquired
industrial firm Alstom Malaysia in a move to strengthen its presence in
Asia.
Cegelec president Claude Darmon told a news conference the group had sealed
a pact to buy a 49 percent stake in Alstom Malaysia from its French-based parent
company Alstom Industry.
The other 51 percent is held by three Malaysian shareholders.
"We believe the crisis is now over in Malaysia and we see a very brilliant
prospect for the country and that this is a good time now to invest here," he
said.
Alstom will be renamed Cegelec Malaysia, he said.
The Malaysian firm currently has book orders of 35 million ringgitmillion
dollars) and aimed to multiply its annual turnover from 40 million ringgit to
160-200 million by 2005, he added.
Apart from Malaysia, Cegelec also operates in Singapore and
Indonesia.
Damon said the group, which is involved in engineering, infrastructure, oil
and gas, and maintenance works, was also eyeing projects in Thailand, Myanmar,
Vietnam and Brunei.
But he said Cegelec was not interested in the China and Indian markets,
describing them as "very difficult countries" to work in due to strict local
conditions.
"We forecast 15 percent of our growth will come from Asia in the next five
years... Asia's growth is fuelled by infrastructure and the potential for
development is much higher here than in Europe," he said.
The group, which employs 25,000 people in 24 countries, records annual
sales of around three billion euro (2.6 billion dollars) but aims to raise this
to four billion euro over the next five years, he added.
Cegelec was an offshoot of Alstrom's contracting arm but came out on its
own following a management buy-out in July last year.
----------------------------------------------------------------- VOA News
Senior US Diplomat Calls for
Release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Ron Corben - Bangkok 11 Apr 2002 13:38 UTC The United States is renewing its call for Burma to release opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. A senior U.S. State Department
official will discuss the issue this week with the United Nations envoy
brokering talks between Burma's leadership and the opposition.
James Kelly, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said Washington would
prefer that Aung San Suu Kyi be released "sooner rather than later." He has
planned to voice his concerns later this week when meeting with the United
Nations' special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail.
Mr. Razali has been brokering talks between Burma's military government and
Aung San Suu Kyi. His shuttle diplomacy has helped win the release of about 250
political prisoners from Burmese jails.
Mr. Kelly is on a tour of Asia and has been meeting with foreign ministers
and senior officials.
At a press conference Thursday, he said the U.S. hopes to see other
improvements in Burma's political system. "We want to see, as I said before,
Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest. We want to see a more open and
transparent political process than we have had before. We want to see court
procedures that are more transparent and do not involve the unexplained
disappearances of citizens. We hope that Burma will do these things better," Mr.
Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly said he thought Mr. Razali's work had made some gains in Burma's
political situation over the past year.
But he seemed disappointed over the lack of substantial progress in the
dialogue between the military government and Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Although it shows some promise, it just goes on and on, and so slow, and
we are a little impatient. But this is a long-standing problem and to have an
experienced diplomat from the region such as Ambassador Razali going there to
work on it is good news," Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Kelly will talk with Mr Razali
during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, which starts Friday. The U.S. diplomat is also
expected to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Malaysia is seen as having a key role in prodding the Burmese government
toward political reforms, and Prime Minister Mahathir strongly backs Mr.
Razali's efforts.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
BURMA DIALOGUE: US urges junta to
move faster, release Suu Kyi
Published on Apr 12, 2002
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said yesterday that he would ask the UN special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, whom he will meet in Kuala Lumpur this weekend to seek the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. "We were pleased with the release of several NLD [National League for
Democracy] people this week, but it is our view that the leader Aung San Suu Kyi
should be released from house arrest," he said.
Razali, whose visit to Burma has been delayed by the round-up of members of
former dictator Ne Win's family, who were charged with allegedly plotting a
coup, will make his seventh trip to Rangoon soon after the coming Songkran
holidays to continue his efforts for national reconciliation.
With Razali acting as mediator, generals from the ruling junta have met
with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to conduct what they have called a
"dialogue for confidence building".
"But I don't think it is clear to anybody outside Burma what is going on.
Whose power is increased and whose has been decreased?" Kelly said, adding that
he will ask Razali why the previous visit to Rangoon was delayed.
The US official said he would also offer Washington's help if the UN envoy
believed it would facilitate the dialogue. "I have a good feeling about what
ambassador Razali has done. He has a lot of patience, however, although there
are some promising signs, the process goes too slowly. I will ask him if we can
take some measures [to speed it up]," Kelly said.
Analysts said the recent round up of a group of Ne Win's family members and
friends would further delay national conciliation.
Kelly declined to speculate on the recent incident, saying only that he had
no idea what had happened in Rangoon during the past weeks.
"We hope to see the government in Rangoon do a better job. We hope Aung San
Suu Kyi will be released and want to see a transparent and open political
atmosphere," he said.
Kelly arrived in Thailand on Wednesday for an official visit as part of a
tour that will take him to Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong. He leaves today.
He met with several Thai officials, including Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai, but discussed no specific topics.
Kelly said that the US government's recent decision to scrap the automatic
six-month visa for those entering the US would not effect Thai visitors, as the
visa application process had not been changed.
"Visitors must now inform US immigration upon the arrival how long they
intend to stay in the US and for what particular purpose," he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Friday 12 April 2002
Burma shoots Thai drug informant in
botch-up
Rangoon asked to stop heroin dealers, but wrong man
shot
Anucha Charoenpo
A police drugs ``sting'' went badly wrong when Burmese officials shot a
Thai informant and seized nearly 38kg of heroin in Burma's Tachilek border town
_ following a tip-off from Thai border authorities.
Now the Narcotics Suppression Division is asking Burma to hand back the
informant, who was wounded.
Pol Maj-Gen Adithep Panjamanont, the division commander, said the arrest
and shooting of Noppakhun Duangkham, 27, by Burmese security officials on April
1 was a misunderstanding.
Mr Noppakhun was not a drug trafficker, Pol Maj-Gen Adithep said.
He was a police informant who had connections with a Thai drug dealer who
was able to contact Wa traffickers for supplies of heroin.
Mr Noppakhun drove a Land Rover from Mae Sai to Tachilek to pick up the
heroin after a police sting operation in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai was
blown, said Pol Maj-Gen Adithep.
The sting initially called for the delivery of the drugs in front of a
hotel in Mae Sai to undercover police posing as buyers. It was hoped a drug
network would be exposed.
The plan was called off at the last minute when the Wa became suspicious
and told the Thai dealer to pick up the heroin in Tachilek instead.
Mr Noppakhun was sent as a go-between to buy the heroin in Tachilek. The
dealers agreed to load the drugs aboard the vehicle but declined to accompany Mr
Noppakhun back to Mae Sai, where payment was supposed to be made.
Pol Maj-Gen Adithep said Mr Noppakhun parked the vehicle in front of Dipa
Kyaw Bazaar near the border bridge in Tachilek.
A few minutes later a group of Wa drug dealers arrived, loaded the drugs
onto the vehicle and told Mr Noppakhun to return to Mae Sai and then bring back
the money for the heroin.
However, Burmese security officials decided to inspect the vehicle.
Two people aboard the vehicle resisted the inspection, leading to a scuffle
and brief clash in which Mr Noppakhun was shot in the leg.
When the vehicle initially failed to return, Thai drugs officials realised
something had gone wrong.
Pol Col Auayporn Jintakanont, deputy commander of the narcotics suppression
division 1, contacted the Thai joint chairman of the Township Border Committee,
Col Surasak Boonsiri,
He asked Burmese authorities to help block the escape of the heroin dealers
and capture them.
When Burmese security officials moved in, Mr Noppakhun was shot and wounded
in the leg.
Pol Maj-Gen Adithep denied his sting operation was initially planned to be
made inside Burma, and said it was not necessary to give advance information to
Burmese authorities.
Rangoon was disturbed over the incident, insisting there was no advance
co-ordination and Thai officials made contact through the local border committee
office only at the last minute after the plan went awry.
It was unclear whether Rangoon had filed charges against Mr Noppakhun, who
was believed to have been sent for further interrogation in Rangoon.
----------------------------------------------------------------- "Real Inside Story of Burma's
Princes"
Submitted By MM Prince March 15, 2002 I have written these comments as feedback to the world's journalists who
did not really cover the inside story (in Burma) but only wrote stories based on
rumors and unreliable information. The world will never know how Burma's VIP
generation is getting special privileges and how they bullied the civilians of
Burma.
As one of Myanmar's high-society, I knew a lot of sons of VIPs and rich
kids and I know the true story behind the curtain. Let me start with Kyaw Gyi,
a.k.a. Kyaw Ne Win, and how he truly saw himself. Among us Kyaw Gyi and his
brothers, Aye Ne Win, a.k.a. Ko Aye, and Zwe Nay Win, a.k.a. Zwe, were known as,
"The Crown Princes of Burma". There are also more princes around (Burma) but
these are the most famous.
First of all I would like to clear the rumor about their association with
the Scorpion Gang. They are neither leaders nor members of the gang but they
often used them at times and supported them, as most of the Scorpions are their
friends. They also used another gang called the White Snakes.
Kyaw Gyi is a crazy guy. He always acts like a VIP or royalty. He was so
proud of himself that he even thought S1 (Sec-1 Lt Gen Khin Nyunt) was scared of
him. His actions and moves were insulting to the current government. Kyaw Gyi
and his brothers would show off their power in public by always going with long
queues of vehicles. In Yangon nightclubs dozens of bodyguards would also
surround them like the President of the USA.
The biggest illegal thing Kyaw Gyi did was smuggling and selling unregistered vehicles, which was strictly prohibited by Myanmar Authorities. They used license plates that nobody was allowed to use in Myanmar: 3B/99, 4B/99, 5B/99. In selling the cars they were joined by another prince, Wai Lin San the grandson of former President U Aye Ko who is also close to U Ne Win. They teamed up with others from the VIP generation and formed the Royal Gang and insulted authorities and harassed civilians. Military Intelligence (MI) and police dared not take action against them because S1 was giving the gang lots of favors. One of the stories that nobody outside the society knows is he (Kyaw Gyi)
was a great enemy with another prince, Sit Thway Aung, the younger son of
Burma's Forestry Minister. They nearly killed each other once, but friends
stopped them before anything happened. Sit Thway and Kyaw Gyi have been
competitors in driving great cars like Land Cruisers, Mercedes, BMW X5 SUV and
Mega-Cruiser SUV and also in showing off their power.
Another unknown story is that they once arrested a guy named Nyan Soe Moe,
the grandson of a well known and respectable business man named R.A. U Hla Htun,
after Kyaw Gyi and him got in an accident while racing their cars. Kyaw Gyi's
newly bought Mercedes SL 500 was totally destroyed. Two days later Kyaw Gyi and
a group smashed into Nyan Soe Moe's Land Cruiser with their unregistered Toyota
Hilux SR 5, injuring Nyan Soe Moe. After that, Kyaw Gyi said he had Nyan Soe Moe
arrested for one day by MI to teach him a lesson.
So those are only a few stories about Kyaw Gyi and VIP kids. Here is a list
of princes in Burma, although there are a lot more of untouchable rich kids in
Yangon including sons and daughters of ex-guerilla leaders like Kaung Myant Thu,
son of U Nay Win Htun an economic advisor for the Pa-Oo Group.
(1) Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne Win, Zwe Ne Win, grandsons of U Ne Win (2) Thar Gyi, son of Agriculture Minister (3) Sit Taing Aung and Sit Thway Aung, sons of Forestry Minister (4) Zaw Naing Oo and Ye Naing Win, sons of Sec-1 (5) Min Zeyar Hlaing, son-in-law of Yangon Division Commander (6) Win Htway Hlaing, son of Home Affair's Minister (7) Thaung Su Nyein, son of Foreign Affair's Minister (8) Sein Than Wai, son of Brig Gen Sein Lay (9) Daughter of General Maung Aye (10) Sons of Sr Gen Than Shwe (11) Wai Lin San, grandson of ex-president U Aye Ko (12) Sons of Police Chiefs (13) Si Thu Moe Myint, son of famous businessman U Michael Moe Myint (14) Son of businessman U Moe Kyaw Thaun ----------------------------------------------------------------- |