Burma Related News - May 20, 2002.

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - MAY 20, 2002.

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HEADLINES

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The Economist - A new page?

AFP - Angelina Jolie to donate 100,000 dollars to refugees in Thailand

AFP - ASEAN urged to cripple financial network of terrorists

Reuters - Angelina Jolie gives $100,000 to Myanmar refugees

Reuters - Southeast Asia struggles to define terrorism

Reuters - Angelina Jolie says she wants to adopt another child

Kyodo News - Myanmar does not see U.S. lifting sanctions soon

Reuters - Thai army trades fire with Myanmar drug force

DS - Myanmar's lady with the lamp

IHT - Burma's rule of silence

Bkk Post - Editorial -Time is no longer an ally of Burma

The Star - No protests in Myanmar after Suu Kyi?s release

The Star - Detainees are criminals, says Myanmar

The Nation - Wa army will be no pushover

Reuters - Thai troops clash with drug militia

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A new page?
May 19th 2002 | YANGON
From The Economist print edition

THE small crowd that gathered this week to await the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's Nobel-prize winning dissident, could not contain its excitement. Rumours of her imminent arrival at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) caused the waiting activists to surge up and down the street outside the building, knocking over television cameras. When she finally did arrive to make her first public appearance after nearly 20 months of house arrest, the elated onlookers listened rapturously as she reiterated her determination to bring democracy to

Myanmar, after 40 years of military misrule. Miss Suu Kyi's 18-month dialogue with Myanmar's junta finally seemed to be bearing fruit.

But most Burmese are wearier and more cautious than the excitable cadres of the NLD. Fewer than 1,000 people turned out for Miss Suu Kyi's release. Passengers in passing buses twisted and craned to catch a glimpse of her?but none dared stop. Hardly anyone on the streets of the capital, Yangon, risked discussing the matter with foreigners, and those who did affected a lack of interest or expressed mistrust of the junta's intentions. Myanmar's democrats have suffered too many false starts and setbacks over recent years to take the military regime's announcement of ?a new page? at face value.

After all, Myanmar has been through all this once before. In 1995, six years after the generals first detained her, and five years after the NLD won a landslide election victory that they never honoured, Miss Suu Kyi was set free under similar circumstances. Then, as now, the step was supposed to pave the way for talks on the country's future between the NLD and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta calls itself. But in late 2000, after inconclusive contacts and frequent rows over Miss Suu Kyi's attempts to travel outside Yangon, the SPDC changed its tune and re-arrested her.

Relations between Miss Suu Kyi and the SPDC may prove smoother this time around. For starters, the question of her freedom of movement seems to have been resolved: both she and a government spokesman agree that she can go wherever she wants?though how long this will last is anyone's guess. Furthermore, the two sides have been careful to foster a less confrontational atmosphere. As a show of good faith, the junta has allowed the NLD to reopen some branch offices, released some political prisoners, and promised to go on releasing others. A government spokesman recently described Miss Suu Kyi as ?a prominent person?, a far cry from the normal label of ?neo-colonialist stooge?. She, in turn, took pains to point out that she did not plan any marches or protests, would inform the government of any plans to travel outside Yangon, and did not consider her past treatment ?cruel?.

Yet as Miss Suu Kyi herself pointed out, ?The phase of confidence-building is over.? Talks are now supposed to move on to weightier topics, such as the shape of a new constitution or a framework for a reversion to civilian rule. Few observers believe that the SPDC is willing to relinquish ultimate control. A common view is that the junta resorted to dialogue only in the hope of winning foreign aid and investment. Yet Miss Suu Kyi insists that none of her party's policies have changed, including its discouragement of any foreign support for the economy. She herself admitted that the SPDC has not yet set a date for more talks.

If further negotiations do take place, progress is likely to be glacial. It took 18 months to reach agreement on the relatively minor, if symbolic, step of releasing Miss Suu Kyi. More substantial measures would presumably cause more dissent and delay, especially among the regime's top brass. And there is, anyway, no guarantee that the SPDC would stick to whatever deal it might reach. Many of the ethnically based rebel groups that signed ceasefires with the government in the 1990s now seem to regret it. Having persuaded the insurgents to lay down their arms, the SPDC is busily undermining the autonomy it granted them. There is no reason to imagine that the NLD would receive better treatment. As one diplomat put it, ?The SPDC does not do anything in good faith.?

That is why western governments have resorted to an elaborate system of carrots and sticks to prod the regime. America, for example, has banned firms from investing in Myanmar, while the European Union refuses to give visas to senior SPDC officials. The American Congress has long threatened further punitive action if the human-rights situation deteriorates, while signs of progress earn some reward. One diplomat notes the junta's delight at even the tiniest show of support, such as the EU's recent decision to back Myanmar's entry into the International Hydrographic Organisation. But even this leverage tends to be undermined by some countries' willingness to do business with the SPDC. Japan and Australia, among others, stress engagement over isolation. China and other Asian nations, meanwhile, display very few qualms about dealing with Myanmar's dictators. Miss Suu Kyi's release will only heighten this divide.

In other words, for all the fanfare, Miss Suu Kyi's release does not mark the end of her dispute with the SPDC, but rather the beginning of an even more fraught and fragile phase. The vaunted ?new page? may yet turn out to be just another leaf from the familiar old book.

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Monday May 20, 3:46 PM
Angelina Jolie to donate 100,000 dollars to refugees in Thailand

(AFP) - Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie will donate 100,000 dollars to refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border, a United Nations official said.

Jolie, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) goodwill ambassador, on Sunday visited the Tham Hin refugee camp on the border where some 9,000 predominantly ethnic Karen refugees have sheltered from Myanmar's ruling military regime since 1997.

"She confirmed after her visit yesterday (Sunday) that she will donate 100,000 dollars to vocation and educational training activities for the refugee camp and the surrounding host communities," said UNHCR's senior regional liaison officer Indrika Ratwatte.

Jolie, who is in Thailand shooting her latest film, said she hoped the money would help prepare the refugees for a future back in Myanmar one day.

"I'm praying that there will be change (in Myanmar) in the next few years. I'm optimistic it will happen. So to prepare them for what they're going to be, training will help," Jolie was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying.

During the visit, Jolie donated a television, video, generator and sports equipment to the camp, and gave a sarong to each refugee woman.

She also met individual refugees, refugee camp leaders, Thai authorities and aid workers.

"I've been to camps that are better and worse, but here I was surprised that they said they were comfortable with the situation (in the camp) and didn't complain," Jolie said.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2000 for "Girl, Interrupted", became a goodwill ambassador in August last year.

"Since then she has really made a personal commitment to travelling to various parts of the world to see refugee situations," the UNHCR's Ratwatte told AFP.

Jolie has visited camps in several countries in Africa, Pakistan and Cambodia. She donated one million dollars to Afghan refugees in September.

"She has not only committed time and personal financial resources, but she has also devoted a great deal of interest to refugee women and children, and refugees in general. This is an _expression_ of that commitment," he said, referring to her donation.

Jolie and her husband, actor Billy Bob Thornton, adopted a Cambodian baby in March. They plan on raising the nine-month-old boy, Maddox, in both Cambodia and the United States.

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Monday May 20, 3:15 PM
ASEAN urged to cripple financial network of terrorists

(AFP) - Malaysia urged Southeast Asian nations to focus on removing the financial network of terrorist groups threatening the region to permanently cripple them.

"We must step up efforts towards crippling the terrorists' financial network by freezing assets," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Monday at the opening of a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) home ministers.

He urged the 10 ASEAN nations to also condemn countries that sponsor terror and implement measures to prevent the proliferation of cybercrimes and bioterrorism.

Islamic groups wanted to create a "regional cellular structure with franchised terror operatives and groups stationed in different countries," he said.

"We must be uncompromising with such groups and ensure that they are permanently crippled, lest they are resurrected to poison the minds of our people again."

ASEAN should be united against the threat of terrorism even if they failed to agree on its definition, he added.

"We may not be able to agree on a definition of what terrorism is but I hope this will not stop or derail our efforts to fight terror," he said.

"The fight against terror is a long, drawn out war against an unseen enemy. We are fighting a war of attrition in the dark.

"It is therefore imperative that we move in a coordinated manner where sharing rather than secrecy, and regional stability rather than national interests, were paramount concerns."

Malaysia has sought to obtain an ASEAN definition of terrorism to boost measures against it in the region but senior officials at a preparatory meeting Saturday failed to agree on the matter.

Officials said Singapore and the Philippines, both close allies of the United States, objected as they feared an ASEAN definition would make it cumbersome for them to act against new forms of terrorism.

Abdullah, who is also home minister and is chairing the meeting, blamed a "politics of language" for the global stalemate in defining terrorism, saying some countries disagreed on including freedom fighters and state terrorism which would implicate Israel.

He reiterated Malaysia's stand that "armed and other forms of attacks against civilians" by any individuals, groups or states should be regarded as terrorism, including by Palestinian suicide bombers

"While we support the struggle for liberation fought by the Palestinian people through legitimate means, we cannot condone the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians," he said.

"Liberation delivered through terror will be a pyrrhic victory. Terror invites terror, violence begets violence and the cycle will never end."

Abdullah added that the Middle East problem was a root cause of terrorism and must be resolved to ease Muslim anger.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Monday May 20, 6:15 PM
Angelina Jolie gives $100,000 to Myanmar refugees

BANGKOK, May 20 (Reuters) - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, shooting in Thailand for her latest film, has donated $100,000 to help train refugees from Myanmar for new jobs, the U.N. refugee agency said on Monday.

Jolie, who is goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, visited the Tham Hin refugee camp on Thailand's border with Myanmar, 180 km (112 miles) west of Bangkok, on Sunday.

Most inmates of the camp are Myanmar ethnic minorities who have fled fighting and oppression by the country's military government.

"Living in a camp is a horrible situation. They need educational and vocational training to help them prepare for when they might go home," Jolie told reporters at the camp on Sunday.

Thailand is home to more than 120,000 refugees in camps, mainly from Myanmar's ethnic Karen minority.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for her role as an unhinged teenager in "Girl, Interrupted", forged strong ties to the region when she adopted a young Cambodian boy after shooting the action film

"Tomb Raider" there.

She is now shooting "Beyond Borders", a love story about aid workers in refugee camps in Cambodia and Africa.

Jolie said she was impressed by how the refugees coped with the cramped conditions.

"She has a strong personal commitment to refugees and it has given this humanitarian issue the profile it should have," said Indrika Ratwatte, a UNHCR spokesman on Monday.

On Sunday the actress said she wanted to adopt another child.

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Monday May 20, 2:53 PM
Southeast Asia struggles to define terrorism

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Southeast Asian ministers sought a coordinated response to terrorism on Monday but were expected to agree to differ on what terrorism means.

The Association of South East Asian Nations is battling to shed the region's image as a haven for militancy and draw back some of the foreign investment that flowed out even before the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"We gather primarily to forge a political consensus on the issue of terrorism," Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in an opening address to ASEAN interior ministers.

"We may not be able to agree on a definition of what terrorism is but I hope this will not stop or derail our efforts to fight terror wherever it lurks."

Bomb attacks in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia and the discovery of militants in Singapore and Malaysia believed linked to Osama bin Laden have raised fears that Southeast Asia may become the new battleground in the international war on terror.

U.S. forces are already helping the Philippine military to fight the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim militant group linked to bin Laden, and have joined war games in Thailand with Thai and Singaporean forces.

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, the three countries with the region's largest Muslim populations, signed an agreement this month to fight terrorism and crush a militant network they say is bent on turning all three into a single Islamic state.

Militancy among Southeast Asian Muslims came under the microscope after Washington launched its global war on terrorism following the September 11 attacks for which bin Laden and his al Qaeda network are the prime suspects.

Thailand, and possibly Myanmar, may join the pact later while the mostly ethnic Chinese island state of Singapore, wedged between Malaysia and Indonesia, has pledged to increase cooperation with its neighbours.

Philippine authorities last month seized two Muslim militants they said had been trained in bomb-making in Malaysia.

In the past 12 months, Malaysia has detained dozens of militant suspects while last December, Singapore arrested members of a cell it said planned to attack U.S. targets on the island.

Indonesia has drawn criticism for its lack of arrests as neighbours, notably Singapore, say ringleaders of a suspected regional network are based there.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Philippine Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina told reporters officials preparing for the event failed to tie down what was meant by terrorism.

"It will not be easy for the ministers to come up with a definition," he said. "I am not very optimistic that there will be a definition."

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Sunday May 19, 8:43 PM
Angelina Jolie says she wants to adopt another child
By Katie Hunt

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, taking a break from shooting her latest film to visit a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, said on Sunday she would love to adopt another child.

Jolie, who went to the camp as part of her work for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), adopted a young Cambodian boy with her actor husband Billy Bob Thornton in March after shooting the action film "Tomb Raider" in neighbouring Cambodia.

"I would love to adopt another child, from wherever there is a need," she told reporters. "My husband's nervous every time I go to another country."

"For me it makes perfect sense to go to an orphanage and find a child that needs a home," said Jolie, wearing a tribal embroidered smock given to her by the refugees.

Swarms of refugee children came out to greet Jolie at the camp, in a jungle-clad valley 180 km (112.5 miles) west of the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for her role as an unhinged teenager in "Girl, Interrupted", was named a goodwill ambassador by the UNHCR last August and has visited camps in Cambodia and Namibia.

She said her visits had helped prepare her for her latest film, a love story shot in Thailand about a volunteer doctor who worked in refugee camps in Cambodia and Africa during the 1980s, called "Beyond Borders".

"Having been to these camps, I've never been so nervous that a film does justice to the people involved," she said. "My heart's more for here than the film business."

Thai camps are home to some 120,000 refugees, mainly from the Karen ethnic minority, who fled fighting between Myanmar troops and ethnic independence armies.

The actress donated a television, video player, sports equipment and over 4,000 sarongs -- one for every woman in the camp.

Jolie said she was impressed by how the refugees coped with the camp's cramped conditions and hoped they would be able to return home in the near future.

"I'm always surprised by the people. They seem very happy with what little they have. But obviously, as human beings and after what they have been through -- they should have more."

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Myanmar does not see U.S. lifting sanctions soon
Monday, May 20, 2002 at 09:30 JST

(Kyodo News)

KUALA LUMPUR ? Myanmar does not expect the United States to lift sanctions against it following the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar Home Affairs Minister Tin Hlaing said Sunday.

"The Myanmar government released Aung San Suu Kyi and a lot of party members. We did this for the benefit of the nation. We are not hoping for any reciprocal acts from the U.S. or other countries," he told reporters.

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Thai army trades fire with Myanmar drug force

CHIANG MAI, May 20 (Reuters) ? Thai troops traded cross-border artillery and mortar fire with a Myanmar ethnic minority drug militia on Monday, military sources said, in a possible prelude to larger-scale clashes along the frontier.

Sporadic shelling erupted in areas bordering Thailand's Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai provinces. There was no word on any casualties.

Senior Thai officers in northern Chiang Mai told reporters on condition of anonymity that Thailand fired at least six mortar bombs on positions of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of the world's most powerful drug militias, after shelling by the group into Thailand.

The officers said thousands of Thai soldiers, backed by hundreds of tanks, had been dispatched to Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and two other border provinces in early May for month-long military exercises.

Last week senior Thai officers said that Thai forces planned a major incursion into Myanmar to seize the UWSA's headquarters close to the border.

They said Thai troops were planning the strike against the UWSA, which signed a ceasefire deal with the Myanmar military government in 1989, after being given the go-ahead by Myanmar in a bid to smooth relations with Thailand.

But the Thai officers on Monday denied the reports that their troops were planning a push into Myanmar.

The UWSA has some 20,000 troops and an arsenal that includes surface-to-air missiles, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

International anti-narcotics agencies say the group produces large amounts of heroin and Thailand says it expects to be flooded with more than 900 million methamphetamine stimulant pills produced by the UWSA this year.

Thai troops have clashed with the UWSA sporadically in recent years along the 2,400 km (1,490 miles) border.

A Thai army spokesman in Bangkok on Monday said Thai forces would operate only inside Thailand.

''We will drill within areas under Thai sovereignty. We can move anywhere in the four Thai provinces but we cannot violate their (Myanmar's) sovereignty,'' he said.

A Thai military statement said recent clashes between forces of the UWSA and another ethnic minority guerrilla group, the Shan State Army (SSA), had pushed some 500 Shan refugees into Thailand since May 7.

Major General Pichanmeth Muangmanee, deputy commander of the northern region, told reporters in Chiang Mai about 150 refugees fled to Thailand on Monday after a morning clash between the UWSA and SSA.

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The Daily Star - Mon. May 20, 2002

Myanmar's lady with the lamp

M Abdul hafiz

Whatever turn the course of events take in Myanmar the path for democracy will continue to be arduous. The texture and tenor of democracy to be achieved through a hard bargaining will largely depend on how the UN's special envoy Razali's skill cuts through the web of intrigues that must have been laid out by the military to ensure its sway over the key aspects of country's power structure.

EVEN if the release of the NLD (National League for Democracy)'s Nobel laureate leader Aung San Suu Kyi early this month appeared dramatic -- the process leading to the freedom from her 18-month long confinement in her own villa in Yangon -- was under way for several years. Under the auspices of none other than UN Secretary General, Razali Ismail, an astute Malaysian diplomat kept both NLD and Myanmar's military junta, officially known as SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) who were in the words of Razali "remained committed to national reconciliation and democracy", effectively engaged since October, 2000. Although the NLD leaders in Yangon insisted that the talks were still in the confidence building stage because many of the their political supporters had not been released; yet, the ongoing dialogue constituted the most serious effort to arrive at a political compromise since the junta refused to hand over power to the NLD in 1990 when Suu Kyi led the party to a landslide victory in the country's first ever general election since 1962 military takeover by General Ne Win.

The statements emanating from the United Nations after its special envoy Razali Ismail's sixth visit to Myanmar when Razali was quoted as saying that he hoped to see 'tangible result' and a 'clear roadmap by 2002' were clear pointers of Suu Kyi's imminent release. But in true tradition of mystery that often surround the country's politics, little information to this effect could be earlier available for the people of Myanmar; neither did a circumspect Sun Kyi said a word about the dialogue after it commenced.

Notwithstanding, Sun Kyi's release which she was granted also earlier, Myanmar's military junta still seems set against a meaningful democratic change despite a fading economy, pressures from outside the country and rumblings within its ranks. General Ne Win, considered, father of all military regimes that ruled Myanmar and one who enjoyed special clout in national politics had himself ruled the country with an 'iron hand' for 26 years since 1962. Even after his formal quitting in 1968 he maintained close links with the top leaders of the junta, particularly Khin Nyunt, the powerful intelligence chief himself a protege of Ne Win.

On the part of SPDC, now engaged with NLD for what the former terms as national reconciliation, it is however a hard task to put a bitter past behind and develop mutual trust between the two sides after the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), as the junta described itself earlier, dumped the 1990 election result and meted out a high-handed treatment to NLD leaders including charismatic Suu Kyi with her populist image. Therefore, the SPDC has been apparently trying to make a clean break both with Ne Win and the SLORC and has backed away from their shadow and clout. Speaking recently on National Armed Forces Day, the senior General, Than Shwe, the SPDC chairman and prime minister openly blamed Ne Win for plunging the country into turmoil when he had a showdown with pro-democracy forces in Yangon in the late 1980s. Than Shwe also hinted that the political stalemate the country faced since 1990 was the result of military's refusal to hand over power to the NLD.

The SPDC's decision to engage with a woman they frequently derided as a "foreign stooge" came after its apparent disapproval of the roles both of Ne Win and later the SLORC for Myanmar's present predicaments with the international community imposing sanctions on the impoverished country. The Generals have now put Ne Win and his family who long enjoyed state patronage under various garb under house arrest in March after he allegedly plotted a coup against the present ruling dispensation. The arrest, it is widely speculated, has brought an end to the era characterised by isolation and repression. Suu Kyi's release, although overdue, is a significant step in that direction.

According to Than Shwe "untiring efforts are being made to ensure that when the time comes to hand over the responsibilities of the state, succeeding governments will be able to provide leadership with rectitude and continuity to a nation when favourable conditions of peace and stability prevail." Yet none is sure "when the time for democracy" will come. They are also not sure whether the military authorities will ever hand over power to democratically elected government. Even if there is agreement that a new government will assume power after fresh election and not on the basis of 1990 election result, the military will continue to dominate the country's power structure.

Many analysts believe that the military feels insecure and loath to give up all its privileges to a civilian government after they remained entrenched in absolute power for last four decades. The current round of UN-sponsored dialogues are at the best aimed at reaching a 'compromise' formula for power sharing. The junta's acceptance of Sun Kyi now as an interlocutor in the dialogue points to the possibility of striking a fair 'deal' directly with the person who would matter most in a future dispensation. In the meantime, the SPDC repeatedly stated that the changes in Myanmar will be a gradual process. The military government also announced that the persons arrested in March for plotting coup would have to face trial on charges of high treason.

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The International Herald Tribune

Burma's rule of silence
Kavita Menon Saturday, May 18, 2002

Press freedom

NEW YORK When the military government in Burma announced the release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the opposition, 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."
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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.
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Suu Kyi's release came after months of secret talks between the opposition leader and the ruling generals. Now it's time to let the Burmese public in on the discussion.
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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.
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Burma 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 have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The country is one of the world's leading exporters of opium. Its jails hold more than 1,000 political prisoners.
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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 simply for expressing a dissenting view.
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"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."
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Witness Suu Kyi's release, which grabbed headlines around the world - but not in Burma, where state-controlled newspapers and television neglected to mention it.
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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.
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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.
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Restrictions on foreign correspondents also have helped ensure that Burma's problems do not receive the international attention they deserve.
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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.
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The writer, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based press freedom advocacy group, contributed this comment to the Los Angeles Times.

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Bangkok Post - Monday 20 May 2002

Editorial -Time is no longer an ally of Burma

The Burmese military regime is running out of time. Events are rapidly coming to a head for the most violent and blatantly anti-democratic regime in our region. The junta members may believe that the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has bought time. If so, they are once again sadly mistaken. It is time for the Rangoon authorities to take the steps necessary to bring their nation into line with the world.

The generals risk major upheaval if they continue their stubborn insistence and brutal repression. Pressure is building from two directions, and the junta is putting the country in peril by trying to ignore them. The military leaders truly have only two choices. They can help to turn their country's government to a democratic form under rule of law, in a civilised manner. Or they can see the country torn from within and sanctioned from the outside until they are driven from power.

The release of Mrs Suu Kyi from yet another cruel and illegal round of house arrest two weeks ago was certainly the beginning of the end of 40 years of unhappy and often ruthless military rule. The risk is that the generals will see the release of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as the end of yet another chapter of holding power. It is clearly, however, the start of the last chapter. The difference between this month's political events and the past are stark and vital.

Mrs Suu Kyi has never been charged with a crime in Burma. Until recently, the generals locked her up when it pleased them _ usually when her popularity was becoming too much for them to bear. Her longest period under military arrest began during the 1990 elections, which the army lost. Her latest illegal arrest came when she tried to travel upcountry to talk to Burmese citizens.

But this time, she won her release from military detention as a result of unrelenting, no-nonsense pressure from the international community. Burma's neighbours and friends put up with the arrest of Mrs Suu Kyi for more than a year. The generals and democrats had opened negotiations, and Mrs Suu Kyi's detention was one of several considerations. For a while, the generals maintained they were serious about discussing a transition of the Burmese regime from ruthless dictatorship to democracy. They claimed they wanted to bargain the details of such a change.

Not even the United Nations fell for that. Neither Secretary-General Kofi Annan, special envoy Razali Ismail, nor Burma's friends from Kuala Lumpur to Washington believed the claim for long. After a year, pressure began building on Rangoon: Produce some political change or feel the heat. The UN, Europe and North America said they were fully prepared to increase the sanctions on Burma _ not just economically, but also politically.

Burma's support for drug trafficking has become too much to bear. The country is the world's leading supplier of opium, heroin and methamphetamines. The Burmese traffickers are colluding with Chinese drug gangs, triads and money launderers. The generals are colluding with the Burmese traffickers. Something must be done.

Time is against the junta. The United Nations is no longer willing to wait while the generals think up more ways to extend their dictatorship. The time to stop drug trafficking is past due as well. The war on terrorism has given new urgency to fighting cross-border crime.

The generals have promised to crack down on poppy farmers. They have promised to talk with Mrs Suu Kyi. That is not enough. Burma must close off its major drug traffickers. The generals must open talks with the clear goal of turning over political power to democrats and Burmese citizens. The generals can help these two processes and leave office with goodwill and honour. The alternative is not pretty.

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The Star

Sunday, May 19, 2002
No protests in Myanmar after Suu Kyi?s release

KUALA LUMPUR: The Myanmar Government is monitoring the security situation in the country following the recent release of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Its Director of International Affairs Pol Col Sit Aye said although there were growing concerns about the security in Myanmar, the situation was stable and peaceful.

?For the time being, there are no demonstrations. She (Aung) has not been involved in any such activities,?? he told reporters at the second Annual Asean Senior Officials Meeting here yesterday.

Col Aye said Suu Kyi could travel without any restriction as her release was unconditional.

On whether Asean should come up with a definition on terrorism if it wished to ?harmonise? laws to fight terrorism, Col Aye said the member countries had not discussed the matter.

National Central Bureau (Interpol) chief Pol Brig-Gen Drs Dadang Garnida said Indonesia would not take any repressive actions to counter terrorism without conducting investigations and having concrete evidence.

He said that to deal with such criminal activities, evidence must be produced before prosecution could take place.

Although there were certain parties that labelled Indonesia as supporting terrorist activities, the government reacted calmly and worked towards co-operating with neighbouring countries on this issue, he said.

?Only when we possess enough evidence, could we deliberate on the issue of whether or not Indonesia is a den for terrorist activities,? he added.

Dadang said the country faced the common problem of internal and external security concerns, like neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

?We have to discuss ways on how we can face transnational crime, especially terrorism,? he told reporters.

At the meeting, all 10 Asean nations presented working papers on strategies to counter terrorism.

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The Star

Monday, May 20, 2002
Detainees are criminals, says Myanmar

KUALA LUMPUR: Myanmar regards imprisoned National League for Democracy members as criminals with terrorist links and not as political prisoners.

Its Home Minister Col Tin Hlaing said there were 200 NLD members under detention as they had close links with terrorist groups and were involved in terrorist activities.

?We don?t have any political prisoners at the moment as those under detention have co-operated with terrorist groups involved in terrorist activities including bombing of cinemas and public passenger trains.??

Speaking to reporters prior to the Special Asean Ministerial meeting on terrorism here yesterday, he said the NLD members were detained for security reasons.

Hlaing pointed out that the media had wrongly reported that the Myanmar government had arrested 1,500 NLD members.

?We would like to stress that officially we have arrested 500 NLD members out of which 300 have been released.

?We will release the rest when they no longer pose a threat to our nation?s security,?? he said.

He said there were four terrorist groups in the country namely Karen National Union, Shan United Revolution Army, Kayan National Union and remnants of the Mong Thai Army operating in the jungle and along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Hlaing also said although some of the groups were backed by foreign agencies, there was no evidence linking them with international terrorist networks.

?Following the Sept 11 incident, the government beefed up security to ensure that these groups do not make contact with international terrorists.?

?We control, monitor and take deterrent action against them,? he said, adding that these groups were not a big threat and were confined within the country.

Asked when talks between the government and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi would take place he said: ?When it is convenient for both sides.??

When asked whether fresh elections would be held soon to replace the military government, Hlaing said it was the government?s intention to establish democracy but they would have to take into consideration the views of the political parties and ethnic groups.

He said the present government had introduced civil administrative systems to win support from grassroot levels.

He said it had the same aim as Suu Kyi, which was to bring development to the country, adding they would give her full co-operation.

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The Nation

Wa army will be no pushover

Published on May 20, 2002

CHIANG RAI - Thai military units on the northern border preparing for strikes against the Wa drug army are likely to face stiff resistance. A senior Thai Army intelligence officer said yesterday the Wa had stepped up security in the area, mobilising units from their stronghold deep inside Burma.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said the operation to take out United Wa State Army positions along the border would not be smooth sailing.

Thai Army officers on the border said they were "spoiling for a fight with the Wa" and only awaiting the order to attack.

Armoured vehicles, Special Forces units, Cavalry squadrons and artillery have been seen getting into position on the border in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.

Military sources said the Burmese army would not object to the plan and had given the Wa plenty of warning to end their illicit activities.

Third Army Region spokesman Colonel Paichate Sukphongphisit, however, dismissed reports that the military would enter Burma and called the build-up part of a major military exercise to strengthen the border.

The intelligence officer nonetheless insisted that the mobilisation was more than just an exercise and said Wa positions on the border would be taken out under the pretext of "hot pursuit" of commander Wei Hsueh-kang, though he conceded that Wei had left the area about a month ago.

and was believed to be meeting the UWSA leadership in Panghsang, the group's headquarters on the Chinese border.

Burma-watchers said the tactical agreement between Thailand and Burma could put Rangoon on a crash course with other armed ethnic groups that have made cease-fire agreements with the junta.

The 20,000-strong UWSA, a remnant of the now defunct Communist Party of Burma, made such a pact in 1989 in return for limited self-rule.

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Thai troops clash with drug militia
May 20, 2002 Posted: 7:58 PM HKT (1158 GMT)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Reuters) -- Thai troops have traded cross-border artillery and mortar fire with a Myanmar ethnic minority drug militia, military sources said, in a possible prelude to larger-scale clashes along the frontier.

Sporadic shelling erupted in areas bordering Thailand's Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai provinces. There was no word on any casualties.

Last week senior Thai officers said that Thai forces planned a major incursion into Myanmar to seize the UWSA's headquarters close to the border.

But the Thai officers on Monday denied the reports that their troops were planning a push into Myanmar.

The UWSA has some 20,000 troops and an arsenal that includes surface-to-air missiles, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

Refugees flee

Thai troops have clashed with the UWSA sporadically in recent years along the 2,400 km (1,490 miles) border.

A Thai army spokesman in Bangkok on Monday said Thai forces would operate only inside Thailand.

"We will drill within areas under Thai sovereignty. We can move anywhere in the four Thai provinces but we cannot violate their (Myanmar's) sovereignty," he said.

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