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BURMA RELATED NEWS - MAY 14,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Suu Kyi wants immediate talks with
Myanmar junta
Reuters - Myanmar releases nine opposition
members from jail
Reuters - Myanmar political prisoners must be
freed -Suu Kyi
WT - Burma's beacon
CSM - Burma's slow
freedom push
Dow Jones - China, Asean Officials Begin Talks
On Free Trade Area
AP - Myanmar junta releases nine prisoners as
Suu Kyi meets senior Japanese official
AP- Myanmar opposition leader Suu Kyi meets
Japanese official
BBC - Burma releases political
prisoners
VOA - Aung San Suu Kyi Calls For New
Talks
Japan Today - Mitsubishi manager, Myanmar
woman found slain in hotel
Xinhuanet - More UNICEF Funds on Myanmar's
HIV/AIDS Projects
Xinhuanet - Regional
Meeting on Singapore-Kunming Rail Link Opens in Myanmar
LA Times - The People's Voice in Myanmar Must
Not Be Muffled
Hoover's News - Opening up Burma is fraught with risk
IRNA - India, Myanmar border trade get jolt with
transporters strike
Bkk Post - Suu Kyi travel plans debated at
seminar
----------------------------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi wants immediate talks with
Myanmar junta
Mon May 13,12:39 PM ET By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released last week from 19 months of house
arrest, called on Monday for an immediate start to reconciliation talks with the
ruling military junta.
The 56-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner also said her top priority was to
get other members of her pro-democracy movement freed from jail.
"We believe these kinds of talks and meetings should happen immediately in
view of our national interest," the charismatic leader of the National League
for Democracy (NLD) said in a telephone interview with the local language
service of Voice of America radio.
In a separate interview with CNN monitored in Bangkok, Suu Kyi said her
support for economic sanctions on the military-ruled country, formerly known as
Burma, remained unwavering.
"There are many things that we have to do at the same time, but I have to
say that our main priority is the release of all political prisoners who still
remain in jail," she said.
Suu Kyi and her NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990, but the
military did not allow them to rule. Instead, members of her party have been
imprisoned and harassed by the authorities.
About 1,500 members of her party and other political prisoners remain in
Myanmar's jails, according to Amnesty International.
Suu Kyi, released from house arrest on May 6, said any humanitarian aid to
the impoverished Southeast Asian country must be monitored by her party.
"Matters of policy remain unchanged because conditions remain unchanged,"
she told CNN.
"We have always said that the minimum necessary requirement (for aid) is
independent monitoring, and certainly the National League for Democracy should
be part of the independent monitoring process, as a basic requirement."
NEED FOR CHANGE
After four decades of military rule, Myanmar is one of the poorest nations
on earth, its economy in tatters.
Diplomats say the country suffers from chronic bad management and sanctions
by countries including the United States and the European Union (news - web
sites) have also taken a heavy toll.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past decade under house arrest, said her
stand on sanctions against the Myanmar junta was motivated by the need for
change and she was not concerned that it could affect her popularity.
"I have never worked for my own personal popularity," she said.
"It is very important to remember that most of the foreign investment in
Burma are not American investments, but investments made by countries which have
not imposed economic sanctions on the country. If other businesses have decided
not to come, they have decided not to come for purely economic reasons."
Secret talks between the junta and the NLD aimed at a transition to
democracy in Myanmar began in late 2000 under heavy international pressure after
Suu Kyi was confined to her home for defying orders not to travel outside the
capital Yangon to meet party supporters.
Those talks have so far made little progress, beyond securing her release
from house arrest. Both sides say they remain stuck in the confidence-building
phase.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 14, 5:38 PM
Myanmar releases nine opposition members from jail YANGON (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar released nine members of the pro-democracy opposition from jail on Tuesday, the first political prisoners to go free since their leader Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from house arrest last week. The junta said in a statement the nine were all members of Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the country's last elections in
1990 but has never been allowed to govern.
"They are all in good health and reunited with their respective families,"
the statement from the office of the military spokesman said.
After mounting international pressure, Suu Kyi was released from 19 months
of house arrest on May 6 and has called for immediate substantive talks with the
military government aimed at political reform.
She has also said her top priority was the release of her NLD party members
still in jail. More than 1,000 are still in Myanmar's jails, according to
Amnesty International.
Secretive reconciliation talks between the military and NLD began in late
2000, but have yielded few concrete results beyond the release of Suu Kyi from
house arrest and the release of some 250 party members from various jails.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday May 13, 9:19 PM
Myanmar political prisoners must be freed -Suu Kyi BANGKOK, May 13 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, newly released from 19 months' house arrest, said on Monday her top priority was to get other members of her pro-democracy movement freed from jail. The 56-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner also told CNN in a telephone
interview that her support for economic sanctions on the military-ruled country,
formerly known as Burma, remained unwavering.
"There are many things that we have to do at the same time, but I have to
say that our main priority is the release of all political prisoners who still
remain in jail," the charismatic leader of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) said in a broadcast seen in Bangkok.
Suu Kyi and her NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990, but the
military did not allow them to rule. Instead, members of her party have been
imprisoned and harassed by the authorities.
About 1,500 members of her party and other political prisoners remain in
Myanmar's jails, according to Amnesty International.
Suu Kyi, released from house arrest on May 6, said any humanitarian aid to
the impoverished Southeast Asian country must be monitored by her party.
"Matters of policy remain unchanged because conditions remain unchanged,"
she told CNN.
"We have always said that the minimum necessary requirement
(for aid) is independent monitoring, and certainly the National League for
Democracy should be part of the independent monitoring process, as a basic
requirement."
After four decades of military rule, Myanmar is one of the poorest nations
on earth, its economy in tatters.
Diplomats say the country suffers from chronic bad management and sanctions
by countries including the United States and the European Union have also taken
a heavy toll.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past decade under house arrest, said her
stand on sanctions against the Myanmar junta was motivated by the need for
change. She was not concerned that her position could affect her popularity.
"I have never worked for my own personal popularity," she said.
"It is very important to remember that most of the foreign investment in
Burma are not American investments, but investments made by countries which have
not imposed economic sanctions on the country. If other businesses have decided
not to come, they have decided not to come for purely economic reasons."
Secret talks between the junta and the NLD aimed at a transition to
democracy in Myanmar began in late 2000 under heavy international pressure after
Suu Kyi was confined to her home for defying orders not to travel outside the
capital Yangon to meet party supporters.
Those talks have so far made little progress, beyond securing her release
from house arrest. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Washington Times
EDITORIAL ? May 11, 2002 Burma's beacon To the people of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi symbolizes democracy and freedom.
Her release last week from house arrest by the drug-trafficking,
human-rights-violating, military government of Burma will allow the forces of
liberty to gain some traction.
But the military is allowing democracy to gain only so much momentum. No
date for elections has even been set. Although the military junta has released
about 600 political detainees in recent months, more than 1,000 are still
imprisoned. And in 1995, the junta had freed Mrs. Suu Kyi from confinement, only
to arrest her again, solely because she tried to leave Burma's capital, Rangoon.
In 1991, Mrs. Suu Kyi wasn't even able to collect her Noble Peace Prize, awarded
for her courage in confronting the thuggish regime.
The junta claims it is merely serving as the guardian of Burma's stability
until the country is ready for democracy. The junta's claim is clearly
self-serving, and its 14-year rule clearly exposes its duplicity. The people of
Burma have demonstrated they are quite ready for democracy. In 1988, the year
the junta took power, the generals crushed mass pro-democracy demonstrations.
Mrs. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the
seats in parliament in a 1990 election, which the junta promptly nullified.
Since then, many nations have imposed diplomatic sanctions on the regime
and restricted foreign aid. The United States cut off all bilateral assistance
to Burma in 1988 and doesn't grant it the trade preferences it gives other poor
countries. The Clinton administration imposed a ban on new investments in Burma.
These measures don't represent traditional trade sanctions, which would ban the
country's exports, but appear to have helped prod Rangoon to release Mrs. Suu
Kyi. Perhaps the approach used to sanction Burma ? through diplomatic censure,
restriction of aid, and denial of trade preferences ? could serve as a less
draconian yet effective model for penalizing other countries. If Rangoon follows
up with other democratically-oriented measures, these sanctions could be
gradually dismantled. The Clinton-era ban on investments, for example, could be
the first to be relaxed.
But perhaps more significant than the sanctions is the people's unwavering
desire for democracy. Mrs. Suu Kyi's resilience and graciousness is also
difficult for the junta to counter through brute force. She will surely, some
day, set Burma on the path to freedom.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Christian Science Monitor
Burma's slow freedom
push
May 13, 2002
By Dan Murphy | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
BANGKOK, THAILAND ? Burma's military rulers released Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi last week in the hopes that biting international economic
sanctions would be eased.
But can the diminutive Ms. Suu Kyi now revive Burma's (called Myanmar by the ruling junta) withered pro-democracy movement? The answer lies somewhere between the ruling military's desire to keep
power and the continuing cost of being an international pariah. Experts question
if Suu Kyi's release is the first step toward concrete and long-term changes or
if it's window dressing to receive aid from the international community.
The democracy movement's greatest asset will be the increased visibility of
Suu Kyi herself. After 19 months of house arrest, in which her phone lines were
cut and she was rarely allowed visitors, she is now rebuilding the hobbled
movement and refocusing international attention on the regime. Suu Kyi is now
meeting with diplomats and party members at her home and working to revitalize
external party supporters.
For her part, Suu Kyi and her aides have taken a less defiant tone after
her release unlike the period following her arrest in October 2000. During this
time, she provoked a standoff with the regime over its ban on her traveling to
meet supporters.
"We believe that the first priority is to have good relations with the
SPDC, so that we can have a political answer to Burma's problems," says Dr. San
Aung, a minister in Suu Kyi's exiled shadow government in Thailand.
The junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), says it seized power because democracy is too dangerous given the
differences among Burma's ethnic groups.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of assassinated independence hero Aung San, says she
is committed to an ongoing dialogue with the junta. Though technically free to
move about the country, aides say she won't do anything to risk another
detention now.
"By releasing her, the military has put the responsibility squarely on her
shoulders to keep talks on track," says Aung Naing Oo, a former
student-democracy activist who lives in exile in Thailand. "I don't think she
will do anything that is detrimental to that process."
Suu Kyi did say this weekend in an interview with Oslo-based Democratic
Voice of Burma that, "my movement is a lot freer. I can go anywhere, and no one
is following me. They allow me to meet whoever I want."
Talks between Suu Kyi and the junta began at the prompting of the United
Nations shortly after her latest detention began, but have focused only on
preliminaries such as the release of political prisoners. About 160 democracy
activists have been freed since 2000.
Suu Kyi is expecting to breach the issue of political power. "Both sides
agree that the phase of confidence building is over," Suu Kyi said shortly after
her release. "We look forward to moving across to a more significant
phase."
Suu Kyi says that she hopes the deter- iorating economy will help pry the
first real democratic opening since 1990, when the military annulled free
elections that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide.
Though she is publicly opposed to more aid, analysts say she is likely to
approve more money for the regime if it makes democratic concessions.
While the NLD opposes development aid, it agrees with humanitarian aid if
it is funnelled directly to the the Burmese people.
"To be so [directly delivered], there should be accountability and
transparency [in the handling of the assistance]. Furthermore, the minimum
requirements for the channeling of the assistance must be independently
monitored," she said, noting that her party would like to monitor the
humanitarian assistance.
Japan announced this past Friday that it was giving $5 million to Burma to
renovate power plants, something analysts said was a reward for the release of
Suu Kyi.
The military's adoption of the "Burmese Way to Socialism," a mix of Marxism
and mysticism that crippled the economy has been followed in recent years by
both massive corruption and international sanctions, which have fueled the
economy's downward spiral.
The Burmese kyat has lost more than half its value in the last year alone;
the UN says that fewer than half of Burmese get enough to eat; the World Health
Organization ranks Burmese medical care 190 out of 191 countries.
"They released her because the economy is so bad; they're worrying about a
mass mobilization, an uprising," says Zaw Min, a spokesman for the Democratic
Party for a New Society, a minor party that supports the NLD.
Zaw Min says that the military is counting on international help to take
the edge off the humanitarian crisis. But he and most other democracy activists
are concerned that more aid could prop up the regime. "The international
community should be very careful," Zaw Min says.
"The NLD's position is that the humanitarian crisis is not natural, it is
man made," says Dr. San Aung. "Humanitarian assistance should not damage the
process of democratization by helping the SPDC shift money from health and
education to the military."
San Aung has no illusions about the odds against the movement. The
military's media monopoly hasn't mentioned Suu Kyi's release, or the talks
between the democracy leader and the junta. "So most people in Burma know less
than the rest of the world," he says.
Suu Kyi can't risk a phone call to opposition leaders in exile since the
regime says such contact is illegal. "If she and I spoke on the phone, they
could throw her in a labor camp for 30 years," says San Aung. More than 1,000
democracy activists remain in jail, 19 of them legislators elected in
1990.
"Frankly speaking, we can't find any proof yet that the military is willing
to make democratic concessions," San Aung says. "The first good steps it could
take would be to release all of the political prisoners. Then we need a free
media."
The US, which withdrew its ambassador and imposed sanctions after the
military annulled the 1990 elections, has vowed to keep the pressure on the
regime. The US has also helped cut off aid flows to Burma from the World Bank
and the International Monetary Funds.
The country has eight ethnic groups and more than a dozen private armies.
The majority Burman ethnicity, which Suu Kyi and most of the military leaders
belong to, accounts for about 65 percent of Burma's 50 million people.
Large portions of Burma's border are under the de facto control of
insurgents and ethnic warlords. These lawless regions are major producers of
heroin and amphetamines, and the international community worries about their
potential to export more problems if the Burmese state fails completely.
The United Wa State Army, with 20,000 men, is a tribal force along Burma's
Western border and is heavily financed by narco-trafficking. Jane's Defense
Weekly says it has an arsenal that includes surface-to-air missiles.
In its statement on Suu Kyi's release, the SPDC alluded to its position:
"We shall recommit ourselves to allowing all our citizens to participate freely
in the life of our political process while giving priority to national unity,
peace, and stability."
The NLD agrees that healing the country's differences among the country's
ethnic minorities are crucial, but says the junta's claims that national
disintegration will follow democracy is fiction. Most of the major ethnic groups
want autonomy, not independence, and Suu Kyi says that they should eventually be
given a seat in negotiations with the government.
"This is going to be a very long process, and there are no guarantees of
success, says Zaw Min, the supporter of the NLD. "Will Burma be democratic in
two years? I don't think so. In five years? Maybe."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday May 14, 4:26 PM
China, Asean Officials Begin Talks On Free Trade Area BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- Officials
from China and the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations Tuesday began their first formal talks on establishing a massive free
trade area covering all of their economies.
"We can definitely reach a win-win agreement on establishing a free trade
area with 1.7 billion consumers, $2 trillion in GDP and $1.2 trillion in trade,"
China's Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Long Yongtu said
in a statement.
His ministry said the talks will last three days and are aimed at
establishing the goals, principles and schedule for future negotiations on the
free trade area, proposed to take effect within the next 10 years.
The idea was first raised by China late last year but has been eagerly
embraced by Asean officials, who see it as a way to turn to their advantage
China's recent rise as East Asia's preeminent destination for foreign
investment.
That challenge has also given new momentum to an older initiative to drop
trade barriers within Asean, one that business leaders say is necessary to
maintain the region's competitiveness - especially now that China has entered
the World Trade Organization.
China, on the other hand, has used the proposal to counteract rhetoric that
its growing economic strength is a threat to its neighbors, and has tried to
demonstrate its sincerity in advancing regional economic cooperation.
"The set-up of the free area will not only strengthen the friendly
cooperation between the two sides, but will advance the development of the two
sides' economies, expand the size of bilateral trade and raise the region's
overall competitive strength," Long said.
The proposed free trade area could have a profound impact on trade flows
within Asia, as both Asean and China now sell more to the U.S. and Japan than
they do to each other. While trade between the two has grown strongly over the
past decade, Asean is only China's fifth-largest trading partner, while China is
Asean's sixth-largest.
According to a joint study by China and Asean, the launch of the free trade
zone will cause China's exports to Asean countries to jump by 55% and Asean's
exports to China to surge by 48%.
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar junta releases nine
prisoners as Suu Kyi meets senior Japanese official
Tue May 14, 5:02 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Myanmar's military government released from prison nine members of Aung San Suu
Kyi's pro-democracy party Tuesday, as the newly released opposition leader met
with a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official.
Taeko Takahashi, director of the Southeast Asia division of Japan's Foreign
Ministry, met with Suu Kyi at her Yangon residence. She is the most senior
foreign official to visit Suu Kyi since her release from 19 months of house
arrest on May 6.
No details of the one-hour meeting were immediately available. A Japanese
Embassy official said on condition of anonymity that Takahashi was conveying her
"best wishes" to Suu Kyi on her release.
The nine prisoners freed Tuesday were all members of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party that won 1990 general elections by a landslide but
which was never allowed to take power by the military.
About 290 political prisoners, mostly from the NLD, have been released
since the ruling junta started reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October
2000, but human rights groups say about 1,500 more remain in jails.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate, was confined to her house for
defying a government travel ban. Since her release, she has met members of her
party, as well Yangon-based diplomats and friends.
Suu Kyi is expected to meet later Tuesday with Brig. Gen. David Abel, a
minister in Myanmar's military regime who handles economic affairs.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar opposition leader Suu Kyi
meets Japanese official
Tue May 14, 2:44 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday met with a visiting Japanese
Foreign Ministry official, the latest in a string of diplomats she has seen
since her release last week from 19 months of house arrest.
Suu Kyi met for about an hour at her lakeside residence with Taeko Takahashi, director of the Southeast Asia division of Japan's Foreign Ministry, who arrived in Yangon Monday. "She (Takahashi) is meeting today to convey her best wishes for her
release," said a Japanese Embassy official on condition of anonymity. No other
details of the meeting were immediately available.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate who has led a struggle to bring
democracy to Myanmar, was placed under house arrest for defying a government
travel ban.
Suu Kyi has met with several diplomats and friends since her celebrated
release, which has raised hopes that the military junta may make concessions to
the pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi is expected to meet later Tuesday with Brig. Gen. David Abel, a
minister in Myanmar's military regime who handles economic affairs.
----------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 14 May, 2002, 10:45 GMT
11:45 UK
Burma releases political prisoners Burma's ruling military junta has freed nine jailed members of the National
League of Democracy - the first political prisoners to be released since their
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, emerged from house arrest last week.
"They are all in good health and reunited with their respective families,"
said a statement from the office of the military spokesman.
About 290 political prisoners, mostly from the NLD, have been released
since the ruling junta started reconciliation talks with Aung San Suu Kyi in
October 2000, but human rights groups say about 1,500 more remain in jails.
The NLD leader said, on her release from 20 months of incarceration, that
freeing not only her supporters, but all political prisoners, was one of her
priorities.
Japanese visit
The nine NLD members' release came as the Nobel laureate met a top Japanese
Foreign Ministry official, Taeko Takahashi - the most senior official to visit
Aung San Suu Kyi since her release.
The pro-democracy leader is reported to have said that she plans to visit
Japan, Burma's biggest aid donor, some time this year.
Aung San Suu Kyi is also expected to meet Burmese economic minister
Brigadier General David Abel later on Tuesday.
Burma's military government said last week that it will resume national
reconciliation talks with Aung San Suu Kyi soon, aimed at breaking the country's
political impasse.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the military refused
to hand over power.
But the junta has come under increasing pressure in recent months, as the
international community has threatened tougher trade sanctions unless Burma
reforms.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific Aung San Suu Kyi
Calls For New Talks
VOA News 13 May 2002 17:43 UTC Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a new round of talks with the country's military government. In an interview with VOA's Burmese Service, the Nobel Peace prize winner
said resuming the talks and winning the release of more jailed opposition
members are her two top priorities. She said all political prisoners should be
set free without conditions.
An estimated 1,500 such prisoners are in Burma's prisons.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 56, was freed last week from 19 months of house arrest.
During her confinement, she had been engaged in on-again, off-again
reconciliation talks with the military leadership. Those talks have so far made
little progress, other than to secure her freedom.
The pro-democracy leader told VOA her position on foreign economic
sanctions against Burma has not changed. Several other countries imposed
sanctions after the current military government seized power in 1988 after
crushing a pro-democracy uprising.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Japan Today
Mitsubishi manager, Myanmar woman
slain in hotel
Tuesday, May 14, 2002 at 18:00 JST YANGON ? A Mitsubishi Corp office manager was found stabbed to death in his
hotel room in Yangon on Monday, Japanese Embassy officials said Tuesday.
Shuho Yamanokuchi, 52, the company's Yangon office manager, was found dead
of multiple stab wounds in his room at the Renaissance Inya Lake Hotel, where he
resided, the officials said.
Information gathered from hotel, company and police sources said
Yamanokuchi's body, which had 27 stab wounds, was found together in the room
with that of a married, middle-aged ethnic Karen woman who had been stabbed four
times.
The sources said that when a company car went to fetch Yamanokuchi at his
hotel on Monday, there was a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the doorknob.
After failing to get a response to their knocks on the door, hotel management
opened it and found him and the woman dead.
Yamanokuchi was believed to have been killed Saturday since he had not come
down to have breakfast since Sunday, the sources said.
They said he had lived in Myanmar for some six years, and moved to the
hotel two years ago.
In Tokyo, Mitsubishi officials said that two company employees have been
sent to Yangon along with Yamonokuchi's wife.
----------------------------------------------------------------- More UNICEF Funds on Myanmar's
HIV/AIDS Projects
Xinhuanet 2002-05-14 12:20:33 YANGON, May 14 (Xinhuanet) --
The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) plans to increase its funds up to 2.5 million
U.S. dollars from the originally proposed budget of 2 million to be spent on
HIV/AIDS projects in Myanmar this year, the latest issue of the local weekly
journal The Myanmar Times reported.
The projects cover HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention activities.
Quoting the UNICEF Yangon Office, the report said the spending is covered
by the agency's plans for 2002-2005 which give priorityto preventing mother to
child HIV transmission (PMCT).
The PMCT programs, which were conducted in seven townships in Myanmar last
year, are planned to expand to five more areas this year, namely Taunggyi,
Magway, Pakkoku, Meiktila and Myeik.
The report disclosed that of 12,000 pregnant women, who have sofar been
counselled as part of the program, about 2,200 have expressed willingness to be
examined for HIV.
Myanmar has instituted proactive measures at national level against
HIV/AIDS since a decade ago, forming a multi-sectoral National AIDS Committee in
1989.
A master strategic plan for the upgraded and expanded response to HIV/AIDS
infection was then also developed with the objectives of expanding the existing
program activities reaching all areas and population groups of the country.
HIV/AIDS, a national concern in Myanmar, is recognized by the Myanmar
Ministry of Health as one of the three priority communicable diseases --
malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB).
According to the latest report of the World Health Organization,3,817 AIDS
cases were reported and 510,000 HIV infections estimated in Myanmar as of the
end of 2000 with 760 cases per 100,000 population.
The combined budget of the Myanmar government, the U.N. system,local and
international non-governmental organizations was also estimated to amount to
about 3 million dollars annually.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Regional Meeting on Singapore-Kunming
Rail Link Opens in Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2002-05-14 13:24:47
YANGON, May 14 (Xinhuanet) -- A
special meeting on the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) opened here Tuesday.
The two-day meeting, which is the third of the working group ofSKRL, is
attended by representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia,Myanmar, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam, ASEAN dialogue partners -- China, Japan and Republic of
Korea, and ASEAN Secretariat and those of Asian Development Bank.
The meeting will discuss the implementation of the missing links/spur lines
of their respective rail sections, especially thekey missing link of 48
kilometers (km) from Sisophon to Poipet andrestoration of 330 km existing
railway line from Sisophon to PhnomPenh which would complete the Bangkok-Phnom
Penh railway line.
The SKRL project was initiated by Malaysia and the Special Working Group on
the project was formed in June 1996 to make feasibility of the link both from
the technical and financial point of view. The working group has not met for
five years since their second meeting in Malaysia in 1997.
At the Seventh Summit of the Association of the Southeast AsianNations
(ASEAN) in Brunei in November 2001, regional leaders reaffirmed their
endorsement of the project, calling for consideration as a priority and urging
all the governments directly concerned to include the construction of the
missing linkand the upgrading of the existing railroads in the SKRL into
theirnational infrastructure development programs.
It is believed that after completion of the SKRL project, it will have
long-lasting and beneficial achievement towards the region.
As part of the SKRL project, Myanmar has been building a combined
rail-cum-road bridge across the Thanlwin river to connectMottama and Mawlamyine
since 1999. After completion of this bridge,the spur line of Myanmar portion can
be linked with the existing lines in Myanmar.
Myanmar has added 1,714 km of new railway track to the existing4,495
km.
----------------------------------------------------------------- May 14, 2002
COMMENTARY The People's Voice in Myanmar Must Not Be Muffled By KAVITA MENON When the military government in Myanmar announced the release from house
arrest of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, an official statement made a
tantalizing promise: "We shall recommit ourselves to allowing all of our
citizens to participate freely in the life of our political process."
What could the generals in charge possibly mean? The last time the junta
allowed citizens to participate in the country's political life was in 1990, and
the government ignored the election results when it became clear that the regime
had lost, badly.
Suu Kyi's release came after months of secret talks between the opposition
leader and the ruling generals. It's time to let the public in on the
discussion. If the government is serious now about permitting the public a voice
in the country's affairs, then the first step toward political reform must be to
lift state censorship of the media. Myanmar, which was known as Burma before the
junta renamed it, is a country in crisis. The economy is a shambles. One-third
of all children under 5 are malnourished, according to the United Nations, and
more than half a million citizens are HIV-positive. The country is one of the
world's leading exporters of opium. Its jails hold more than 1,000 political
prisoners.
Yet information about these issues is hard to come by because real
journalism is nearly impossible. Local journalists are forbidden by state
censors to publish almost anything of substance and are subject to imprisonment
for simply expressing a dissenting view. "The censorship board has told us we
must not write about AIDS, corruption, education or the situation of students,"
an editor said last year. "We also cannot write about any bad news, and we must
be careful about everything political. That does not leave very much for us to
publish."
Witness Suu Kyi's release, which grabbed headlines around the world--but
not in Myanmar, where state-controlled newspapers and TV neglected to mention
it.
Censorship used to be obvious, with the Press Scrutiny Board either inking
over or ripping out offending sections from magazines and books. In the past few
years, however, the censors have become subtler, forcing editors themselves to
make the required cuts and adjust layouts to hide the damage. Because these
last-minute changes can be costly, self-censorship is widespread. And even when
journalists do tackle sensitive topics, they often write in an elliptical style
that is designed to confuse the censors but can be equally puzzling to ordinary
readers.
Restrictions on foreign correspondents also have helped ensure that
Myanmar's problems do not receive the international attention they
deserve.
The regime announced that "national unity, peace and stability" must
accompany any moves toward democratization. But these worthy goals will never be
born of repression. To get there, the junta must consult the people and this
time listen to what they have to say. A national conversation, carried through
free media, would be a beginning.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Hoovers News
Opening up Burma is fraught with
risk
May 13, 2002 10:48pm
The high feelings over the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the hopes for improved transport and communications in her country should be tempered by the recognition of the expanding threat to cultural integrity there. The Shan are mostly crushed and the Wa will likely soon also be. If Burma opens up to Western trade, diminishing the Chinese influence
there, Burmese culture, well preserved to date, will begin to crumble through
insidiously encouraged materialism.
The human rights situation may improve insofar as there could be less fighting and forced labour, but abuses are sure to continue. There's little hope for the prosecution of offenders. And cultural diversity appears destined to further diminish. Manufacturing and tourism may grow, and perhaps fewer resources will be
wasted on the military. Drug labs and cultivation will rebound wherever, and
drug addiction seems unlikely to decline.
The major beneficiaries of the coming change will be Thai, English and
American businessmen; the greatest losers, the tribals. Money will undo cultural
continuity where guns could not.
The best hope seems a faint one _ that freedom will lead to an upsurge in
quality education. Is it possible to hope American and Thai businessmen will
encourage that?
----------------------------------------------------------------- India-Myanmar Trade
/WRD/
India, Myanmar border trade get jolt with transporters strike Guwahati, May 13, IRNA --
Border trade between India and Myanmar has been affected after transporters in
the northeastern state of Manipur called a strike to protest "heavy tax"
collection by a tribal separatist group, officials Sunday
said.
"The Isak-Muivah faction of the outlawed National Socialist Council of
Nagaland (NSCN) have issued fresh demands to bus and truck operators to pay
heavy security money which they call tax ranging anything between Rs 500 to Rs
700 per trip", Manipur police chief A A Siddiqui told IRNA by
telephone from capital
Imphal.
Vehicles plying from Imphal to Moreh, the last Indian township bordering
Myanmar, have come under attack from the NSCN militants forcing the Manipur
Vehicles Owner's Association to call an indefinite
strike.
The NSCN, fighting for an independent tribal homeland in the adjoining
Nagaland state, have well-entrenched bases inside Manipur.
The NSCN is currently operating a ceasefire with the federal government
with the two sides engaged in peace talks to bring an end to 54-years of violent
insurgency in the
region.
"Unless we are provided with adequate security cover, we shall not ply any
vehicles on the highway from Imphal to Moreh", an Association spokesman
said.
The NSCN has warned of "dire consequences" if the truckers failed to pay
the "tax" fixed by them. The transporters strike has severely hit the daily
border trade between India and
Myanmar.
Border trade at Moreh has been on since the past six years after the two
countries signed an
agreement.
Indian automobile components, fruits, grains, vegetables, textiles and
cotton yarn find a strong demand on the other side of the
border.
In the other direction, Indian traders are strongly interested in importing
electronic gadgets, synthetic blankets, teak, gold, and semi-precious
stones that the Myanmarese bring - most of the goods are smuggled from China and
other South East Asian
nations.
It is estimated that the daily transaction at the Moreh border market is
about Rs 3
million.
The police chief said the NSCN has been collecting tax "quietly" for the
past several years from truckers and bus operators plying in the area. "We are
taking some action but the standoff continues with the vehicle owners bent on
the boycott call", Siddiqui said.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Tuesday 14 May 2002
Suu Kyi travel plans debated at
seminar
Re-entry ban not a problem, says Kraisak
Achara Ashayagachat
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could work for her country from
abroad if she were banned from Burma after visiting Norway, senator Kraisak
Choonhavan said yesterday.
The chairman of the Senate foreign affairs committee said he was not
worried about a possible ban on her return to Burma.
She had the necessary ``network'' to work for improvements in her country
from outside.
``I have confidence in her ability,'' senator Kraisak said after taking
part in a seminar on Burma organised by Thammasat University.
Mrs Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest in Rangoon on May 6, says
she would like her first overseas trip to be to Norway, home of the Nobel Peace
Prize she was awarded in 1991.
She earlier held out against travelling abroad because the military junta
had made it clear that she would not be allowed to return.
Mr Kraisak said he had asked to see Mrs Suu Kyi during a proposed June 8-9
visit to Burma. He has also asked to meet Burmese Foreign Minister Aung Win and
members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, as well as the
Norwegian ambassador and American charge d'affaires.
Mr Kraisak said his delegation hoped to gauge the situation in Burma and
the impact of Thai government policy.
There was still no guarantee Mrs Suu Kyi's release would result in real
change in Burma, Mr Kraisak told the seminar. He would await the outcome of her
dialogue with the SPDC.
The ruling junta had released Mrs Suu Kyi from house arrest before, in
1995, and still detained as many as 1,500 political prisoners, he said.
Somchai Homla-or, secretary-general of Forum Asia, believed Mrs Suu Kyi
should ensure her ability to return to Burma before going to Norway.
Mr Somchai said the government should strengthen Burmese ethnic minority
groups to boost chances of national reconciliation in Burma. It should also
establish direct relations with Mrs Suu Kyi and her opposition National League
for Democracy without waiting for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to
forge a position, he said.
Charnvit Kasetsiri, an historian, said Thammasat should test Mrs Suu Kyi's
freedom of movement by renewing its invitation for her to come to Bangkok to
receive an honorary degree in political science.
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