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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- October 12, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar security forces seize 5
million methamphetamine pills
AFP - EU calls for end to political
detentions in Myanmar
Reuters - Asian Games-Women's wushu
gives Myanmar first gold in Pusan
Bkk Post - Suspects still held in
Burma
The Nation - Groups demand junta
free paper distributors
Xinhuanet - Myanmar strengthens int'l
cooperation in drug control
Xinhuanet - ASEAN+3 high-level seminar opens in
Beijing
FT - Burma: to go or not to
go...
Kyodo News - ASEAN, China
to enhance cooperation on transnational issues
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar security forces seize
5 million methamphetamine pills
Sat Oct 12, 06:08 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Security forces seized more than five million methamphetamine tablets, nearly 42 kilograms (92.4 pounds) of heroin and assorted weapons during drug raids in eastern Myanmar last week, a state-owned newspaper reported Saturday. The raids, in which 13 people were arrested in the border town of Tachilek, were the result of information shared by anti-drug officials from other countries, said the New Light of Myanmar daily. Although the report did not mention which countries, Tachilek is just across the border from Thailand, a major destination for illegal drugs produced in Myanmar. A Myanmar anti-drug squad on Oct. 4 raided a house in Tachilek, 550 kilometers (340 miles) northeast of Yangon, and arrested six persons, which led to the seizure of the methamphetamines tablets and heroin from two other houses. Also seized were 338 kilograms (743.6 pounds) of ephedrine powder _ which is used in the production of methamphetamine _ and 10 weapons, including three assault rifles, with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Seven more people were detained. ``This is the largest amount of stimulant tablets seized under the information exchange program among the international drug eradication teams,'' the newspaper reported. Myanmar lies in the Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia's main drug-producing region. The military government has faced international criticism for the prolific production of narcotics and illegal stimulants within the country's borders, but the regime says it does all it can with limited resources to fight the trade. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday October 11, 10:15 PM
EU calls for end to political detentions in Myanmar COPENHAGEN, Oct 11 (AFP) - The European Union on Friday criticised a recent spate of arrests in Myanmar, describing the detentions as unjustified and demanding the military junta stop politically-motivated arrests. While welcoming "the release of over 300 political prisoners in the past 18 months... this modest progress is undermined by the completely unjustified resumption of politically-motivated detentions and arrests" a statement said. The Danish EU presidency document expressed concern over recent arrests "including the detention of several students in August and, most recently, of 30 people in the last week of September." Myanmar's junta said Thursday it had freed 31 political prisoners, including seven pro-democracy opposition members, in one of the largest of a series of releases announced over the past two years. Dissidents began being released from custody in small batches early last year, soon after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi began talks with the military regime aimed at ending a 14-year political deadlock. But up to 1,500 political prisoners are still being held in the country's jails, despite recent releases, according to estimates by human rights groups. In Yangon, a government spokesman said that the detainees, including the group belonging to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), were released from various jails early Thursday. The EU statement also urged Myanmar's military regime to use a forthcoming visit by senior UN officials "to make urgent progress towards the promotion of national reconciliation, respect for human rights and the return of democracy." -------------------------------------------------------------------- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12,
2002 10:10:44 AM
Asian Games-Women's wushu
gives Myanmar first gold in Pusan
PUSAN, South Korea, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Khaing Khaing Maw broke Myanmar's gold medal drought on Saturday with a title in women's taijiquan, part of the wushu martial arts competition, among the most unusual events of the Asian Games. Her total score of 18.96 points in combined taijiquan points topped silver medallist Li Fai of Hong Kong and third-place Singaporean Liew Yin Yin. Based on Buddhist training methods, many Asians practice wushu in parks or at work as a way of relaxing and focusing the mind. Introduced as an official event at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, wushu -- or kung fu -- has hand-to-hand and non-combat forms. Routines are performed solo or in groups, either barehanded or with traditional Chinese weapons. Impoverished and isolated Myanmar are 24th in the medals table among the 44 countries and territories competing in Pusan, with one gold, five silvers and five bronzes. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post -
Saturday 12 October 2002
Suspects still held in Burma Good news expected soon on extradition Wassana Nanuam Gen Vichit Yathip expects to hear good news from Burma soon regarding the extradition of four suspects in the June 4 school bus attack in Ratchaburi, now being detained in Rangoon. The suspects are highlanders holding Thai identification cards, said Gen Vichit, chairman of the army advisory board. Thailand has requested their extradition from Burma. Gen Vichit said the suspects were not Burmese nationals, but tribesmen who had fled into Thailand. He was speaking on his return from Rangoon where the suspects were being detained following their arrest in the Burmese town of Mergui. Gen Vichit said he expected to hear from Burma soon. ``We need to give the Burmese authorities time. We should receive good news soon,'' he said. Two of the suspects, he said, had admitted the shooting had something to do with the bus driver, Thongmon Khemthong. Three children were killed in the attack on the bus in Ratchaburi's Ban Kha sub-district on June 4. A 36-year-old Karen named Jobi, arrested in July, is also thought to have been involved. A source said two suspects, identified as Bo Kroh and Ja-U, were highlanders while the other two were in fact from the Karen National Union. In another development, Gen Vichit said Burma had agreed to hasten moves to demarcate the border. The matter would be discussed at next month's Regional Border Committee meeting. Third Army commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasingh would lead the Thai delegation to Moulmein, lower Burma. Rangoon has yet to decide on the date, but the meeting will probably be held on Nov 18-22 or Nov 22-26. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The
Nation
BURMA: Groups demand junta
free paper distributors
Published on Oct 12, 2002 Press rights watchdog organisations have condemned the military government of Burma for the recent arrest of dozens of people who distributed banned newspapers. In a statement issued yesterday, Reporters Without Borders
and the Burma Media Association (BMA) called on the junta to release the
detainees.
"This new crackdown is evidence of the military regime's hostility towards the pluralism of information," said Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) secretary-general Robert Menard. "It is intolerable that dozens of Burmese people should be imprisoned simply for having read or distributed a newspaper," he wrote in a letter to Burma's Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing signed jointly by BMA president U Thaung. RSF said some 30 activists, mostly former political prisoners, were arrested and interrogated by intelligence services late last month for possessing opposition publications including Thai-based newspaper Khit Pyaing. More than a dozen people are still being held in undisclosed locations, it added. The US Department of State earlier this month sharply criticised the arrests of the 30 opposition activists, calling it a "significant step backwards" for hopes that the junta is easing its grip on political activity. Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed since the dialogue began, but between 1,300 and 1,500 are believed to be incarcerated. According to RSF and the BMA, almost 40 people have been arrested over the last two years for having distributed or read an opposition newspaper printed in Thailand. The two organisations also asked Burma's Home Affairs Ministry to do all it can to persuade the military junta to allow the opposition National League for Democracy to launch its own newspaper. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Roundup: Myanmar strengthens
int'l cooperation in drug control
Xinhuanet 2002-10-12 01:31:13 By Duan Tingchang YANGON, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- In the full realization of the grave danger narcotic drugs pose for the country and the international community, the Myanmar government has been taking various measures in drug eradication, with top priority put on theinternational cooperation in the war on the drug. In accordance with an agreement on drug control reached betweenMyanmar and the United Nations, the UNDCP started in 1999 implementing a five-year alternative development project in the country's southern Wa region of Shan state. The project is aimed at improving transport, education and health in the region as well as the cultivation of poppy-substitute agricultural and economic crops there. The UNDCP has since provided a total of 7.98 million US dollars for the project. More importantly, the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) and the Myanmar government jointly conducted a survey on Myanmar's drug status for the first time from December 2001 to the second week of March 2002. The survey was conducted by means of both field survey and satellite photos, covering five zones of the country -- Lashio, Taunggyi, Kengtung, Wa Special Region and Mongpauk -- and involving 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) of opium poppy fields at 2,000 villages. Through the survey, a plenty of first-hand data with regard to Myanmar's poppy cultivated areas, opium production and the number of drug addicts were obtained. In addition to enhancing cooperation with the United Nations indrug eradication, Myanmar has also strengthened bilateral cooperation with other countries in this regard. Since the 1990s, in a positive response to the request made by the United Nations to reduce drug supply, China has strengthened effective cooperation with Myanmar and through labor force, capital and technical assistance, it helped to grow agricultural and economic crops to substitute poppy in northern Myanmar, thus pushing the socio-economic development of the region. According to incomplete statistics, China's Yunnan Province hasinjected more than 300 million yuans renminbi (some 40 million US dollars), cultivating 25,000 hectares of various opium-substitute crops in northern Myanmar and sending experts to the area to help train agricultural technicians. In 2001, Myanmar also signed with China an accord on drug control cooperation. Between Feb. 25 and March 2, 2002, Myanmar and the US Criminal Narcotics Center jointly carried out a field survey on poppy plantations in Myanmar's eastern and northern Shan state. This wasthe eighth joint field survey conducted by the two sides since 1993. In June 2001, Myanmar and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in drug control, agreeing to strengthen information exchange in the sector and set up three border points along their common boundary in combating drug trafficking. Moreover, according to a proposal made by Thailand in November 2001, Thailand has decided to provide Myanmar with 20 million baht(476,000 dollars) to help the country establish a drug-free model village in Monghsat township, Wa region of northern Shan state. Meanwhile, starting in 1997, Japan has provided Myanmar with buchwheat seeds to grow the crop to substitute poppy. Upon harvest,Japan purchased the buckwheat from Myanmar, using it as a raw material to produce Japanese noodle. Besides, Myanmar also signed drug control cooperation accords or MOUs with Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and the Russian Federation. According to the latest figures released by the Myanmar CentralCommittee for Drug Abuse Control, during the 14 years between 1988and 2002, Myanmar destroyed more than 50,000 hectares of poppy plantations, and since 1990, it has carried out public destructionof narcotic drugs in the capital of Yangon for 16 times, burning up nearly 58 tons of various drugs in total. Myanmar started implementation of a 15-year drug elimination plan in 1999, covering 54 drug cultivating and producing townships.But, although Myanmar has made some achievements in drug control, the country, as one of the three major nacortic drug producing areas in the world, still has a long way to go in eliminating drug. According to a UN report issued on Aug. 27, 2002, Myanmar's poppy cultivated areas was 200,000 acres (about 81,400 hectares) in 2002, while opium production was estimated at 828 tons in the year. Of the country's population aged 15 and above, 2.4 percent smoke opium. So, Myanmar still needs to make a long-term and tireless efforts in drug eradication. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN+3 high-level seminar opens in
Beijing
Xinhuanet 2002-10-11
11:45:13
BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Leading financiers gathered here Friday to discuss issues related to short-term capital flow and capital account liberalization at an ASEAN plus China, Japan and Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) high-level seminar. The seminar, hosted by the People's Bank of China (PBC), is being held in accordance with a promise made by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at the 2001 ASEAN+3 informal summit. Zhu met with some of the financiers, Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao made a key-note speech to the seminar, and central bank Governor Dai Xianglong presided over the opening ceremony. About 70 senior government officials and noted financiers from the 10+3 countries and international financial institutions attended the seminar. ASEAN+3 includes the ten ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The cooperative mechanism between the ASEAN and the three nations was established following the Asian financial crisis. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Financial Times
Burma: to go or not to go... By Jeff Mills Published: October 11 2002 19:03 | Last Updated: October 11 2002 19:03 It was a tough decision. Should I stay inside and take afternoon tea cocooned in the colonial-style luxury of The Strand hotel in Rangoon or brave the torrential tropical downpour beating against the windows and go sightseeing? Having travelled all this way, I borrow an umbrella and head for the pagoda. High above the benign shambles that is Burma's capital city, the rain bounces off the priceless white-marble ground and soaks my bare feet and trousers as thoroughly as it does the elegant longyi (the kind of wrap-around skirt worn by both men and women) of my guide. My only other companion, a designer-clad Park Avenue princess from New York, is more concerned that she may catch athlete's foot from walking barefoot in the humid conditions. We are exploring the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda, a gold-domed wonder of the world, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites since it was constructed to enshrine the Buddha's relics - eight hairs of his head, according to the locals. There is a plus side to the rain. It not only makes the soaring temperature more manageable but also keeps all but the most devoted visitors away. If you are paying homage at one of the world's great monuments you do not want to share it with other tourists. Not that mass tourism is a problem here. Some of the actions of the country's military regime have meant virtual obliteration from the tourist map. Many stay away to avoid the possibility of their tourism money helping fund further human rights atrocities. The other view, though, is that tourism is a surefire way to expose a dictatorial regime to a disapproving world and persuade those in power that oppression and aggression are not acceptable. It is only relatively recently, with a slight easing of tension since Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for Democracy was released from house arrest, that Burma is slowly opening up. My entry into the country was easier than I had expected. True there is a total ban on mobile phones - there is no signal anyway - and there are restrictions on cameras. Also, unless you are on a package tour, you have to change at least $200 worth of hard currency into Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) or the local currency, the Kyat. But getting through ramshackle Rangoon airport is more time-consuming than difficult. My accommodation was the Strand hotel, a magnificent colonial-style building near the city centre. It was built in 1901 when Rangoon was one of the gems of British India. Indeed, it was described in a guidebook of the period as "the finest hostelry east of Suez". Most of my fellow guests were simply staying the night before flying on to Mandalay, Burma's second city, from where the real adventure was to start, a journey up the Irrawaddy river. I survived the Air Mandalay flight, which seems to adhere more to the whim of the pilot than to a timetable, and boarded "The Road to Mandalay", a former Rhine cruiser operated by Orient-Express, the company best known for its luxury trains and hotels. There are far worse ways to penetrate the northernmost reaches of the river than on this five-star vessel. The ship takes up to 118 passengers in 66 cabins, ranging from small singles to large (for a ship) state cabins. I just have time to find the bar, restaurant and sun deck before we drop anchor off Mingun. The entire village turns out to greet us as we make our way along the dirt path, which serves as the main road, to view the huge brick-built pagoda. Smiling children, small boys in the rich ruby reds of novice monks and curious adults accompany us to see what is said to be the largest uncracked bell in the world. I make a donation to the friendly nun who seems to be its keeper and am allowed to ring it, three times - I get a Buddhist blessing into the bargain. We are not in uncharted territory yet, though. These people have seen tourists before. They even have goods to sell. Crudely-painted pictures of village and river life. I buy a longyi to wear at the evening's on-board cocktail party. It is not until a few days later, after we have passed through the third and second "defiles" - gorges of outstanding beauty that tower above the boat on both sides of the river -that we start to come across small villages where hardly a "trouser-man" (the local term for westerners) has been seen. We reach the small town of Katha, where trishaws provide the perfect way to see the sites. We visit the bustling market selling everything from locally produced vegetables and dried fish - the staple diet when they are transformed into the favourite local delicacy, a greasy though fairly mild curry - to pots and pans made from recycled tin cans. There is even a small and rarely used railway station, yet another relic of British rule, where we board an antique train to the forest station of Naba. The villagers offer flowers to the women in our party, while the ever-present military keep a watchful eye on proceedings. The ship anchors off the island of Shwe Paw and we troop ashore - past the solidly built teak houses on stilts from which young women, their faces decorated with thanaka, an ochre-coloured paste, peep shyly at us - to visit yet another pagoda. Eventually we reach our ultimate goal, Bhamo, a town just 50 miles from the Chinese border in the foothills of Yunnan, which can be seen clearly to the east. We jolt along in the back of a truck to a jungle village, past paddy fields where water buffalo are the main power source and where poisonous snakes lie in wait for the unwary. But never far away are the home comforts of the ship. Comfortable accommodation, three good meals a day, after-dinner entertainment by local singers and dancers, lectures about the country and, always, the outstanding scenery slipping quietly by across the fast-flowing muddy waters of the Irrawaddy. There can be few more comfortable ways to explore one of the last remaining undiscovered countries on earth. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN, China to enhance
cooperation on transnational issues
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 12, Kyodo - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China agreed here Saturday to intensify cooperation to fight transnational security threats such as terrorism, ASEAN sources said. The 10-member ASEAN and China will adopt a joint declaration on the so-called non-traditional security issues when their leaders meet in the Cambodian capital in early November, the sources said. In addition to terrorism, the non-traditional security issues cover such issues as trafficking in illegal drugs, people smuggling, sea piracy, arms smuggling, moneylaundering, international economic crime and cyber-crime, they said. In the joint declaration, both sides are likely to vow to strengthen information and personnel exchanges and training, as well as to step up research on such issues. ASEAN, which consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and China are scheduled to hold a summit on Nov. 4 on the sidelines of an annual ASEAN summit to be held on Nov. 4 and 5. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |