|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS
- December 23, 2002.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFP - Myanmar's democracy leader
political trip deemed a success
AFP - Myanmar rejects fresh US
rape accusations
AP - Myanmar opposition accuses
authorities of further interference PD - Chinese Jingdezhen Ceramics
Exhibition Opens in Myanmar
WP - Close Shave on Burma
The Nation - The long shadow of Ne
Win's legacy
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar's democracy leader
political trip deemed a success
YANGON, Dec 23 (AFP) - Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday wrapped up a week-long political trip to western Rakhine state, her party deeming it a success despite attempts by authorities to keep people away from the popular leader. "Aung San Suu Kyi's present trip to Rakhine state in western Myanmar has been an unqualified success despite numerous attempts by the authorities to keep the crowds in their thousands away from her," the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman U Lwin told reporters. The most serious confrontation with authorities occurred in Myauk-Oo, an ancient town the state, where the Nobel peace laureate climbed on top of a fire engine to prevent it from dispersing a crowd of 20,000 people with high-pressure hoses. It was also the most blatant case of interference since Aung San Suu Kyi began travelling around the country in May, after being released from 19 months of house arrest with a promise of freedom of movement by the ruling junta. Despite the confrontation, U Lwin said Aung San Suu Kyi was pleased with the trip. "The trip has highlighted the fact that the local population are fully behind me... that the people came not just to see me... but took great risks to give their encouragement and show their support," he cited her as saying. U Lwin said that intervention from more senior members of the military regime had managed to knock down various obstacles created by minor officials along the way. "Official intervention from higher authorities smoothed out most of the problems," he said, adding that authorities had promised to take action against those officials who had hindered her if they could be specifically identified. The leader managed to stop in all of the townships she intended to visit despite the arduous conditions of the journey, which included a 36-hour continuous drive. "She would not stop anywhere to eat or drink during this whole time, except for a few short stops to stretch her legs," U Lwin said. The leader and her entourage are expected to arrive back in the capital within the next day or two after travelling through a long stretch of hills called the Arakan Yoma which are difficult to negotiate throughout most of the year. The hills effectively divide Rakhine state from the rest of Myanmar. Earlier this month the NLD leader completed an extensive tour of Shan state in northeast Myanmar. After that trip, the NLD complained there had been excessive surveillance of their leader. During this trip, which began last Monday, security laid on by the military government was extremely tight due to the presence of Muslim extremists in the region which borders Bangladesh. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar rejects fresh US rape
accusations
YANGON, Dec 23 (AFP) - Myanmar's military government on Monday rejected fresh charges of gang rape and torture made by the United States last week that resuscitated controversy over earlier allegations. "The recent release by the US of additional specific allegations of rape as a weapon of war in a 'preliminary' study... is a rehash of the Shan Human Rights Foundation study in order to further attack and isolate Myanmar," government spokesman Hla Min said in a statement. The State Department said last Wednesday that the US consulate in the northern city of Chiang Mai had found evidence supporting accusations by rights groups -- including the Shan Human Rights Foundation -- that Myanmar troops used gang rape of ethnic Shan women as a weapon of war. The groups released a report earlier this year documenting 625 sex attacks on Shan women and girls by Myanmar soldiers. It drew international outrage and has been repeatedly rejected by the Yangon junta. During a short preliminary investigation, State Department officials said they found many victims whose stories were similar to those documented in reports by non-governmental organisations. "Of the 12 rape victims interviewed, all stated that they had been gang-raped by Burmese soldiers sometime over the past five years," the department said in a fact sheet. "Most also reported knowing several other women or girls who had been raped and/or killed. The most recent incident was reported by a 13-year-old girl who said that she was raped in June 2002." But spokesman Hla Min denied it had ever ordered, supported or condoned rape in any form. "We condemn rape in the strongest possible terms. It is not, nor has it ever been an instrument of government policy," Hl Min said. "We are committed to finding and severely punishing the individuals guilty of committing these heinous crimes, if the allegations are true." Washington has already called on the Myanmar government to investigate such abuses and to punish those responsible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar opposition accuses
authorities of further interference
Dec 23 8:00 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Military authorities in northwestern Myanmar allowed thousands to gather for a visit by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the weekend ? but according to her party she wasn't allowed to speak. Some 5,000 supporters congregated on Saturday in Taungup, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Yangon, but Suu Kyi was blocked from using a public address system by authorities who said it was against the law, U Lwin, spokesman for her National League for Democracy said on Monday. However, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate still managed to speak to members of the crowd for about five minutes, thanking them for coming out despite the attempts by officials to interfere with the meeting, U Lwin said. Suu Kyi's trip to Rakhine state is the latest test of the ruling junta's willingness to allow her political freedom since releasing her from house arrest on May 6. The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, for 40 years and keeps a tight grip on public and political meetings. State-run organizations periodically organize pro-government rallies, but before Suu Kyi's release, mass opposition gatherings were virtually unprecedented in recent years. "Daw Suu and the party have faced a variety of inconveniences throughout the Rakhine trip," U Lwin said. Daw is an honorific. U Lwin said last week that a crowd of 20,000 gathered to see Suu Kyi at a stopover in Maruk Oo, about 530 kilometers (330 miles) northwest of Yangon, and was ordered to disperse by local military officials. "In Maruk Oo, authorities did not want crowds to gather, but in Taungup, they allowed crowds to gather but did not allow the use of the public address system," U Lwin said. He said the opposition leader, who is traveling with NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo and a group of young NLD members, had erected a party signboard in Sandoway, a town 270 kilometers (170 miles) northwest of Yangon, on Monday afternoon. The group will visit the town of Gwa, in southern Rakhine state, and several towns in the Irrawaddy delta before returning to Yangon in the next few days. The trip is Suu Kyi's fifth such political tour of the Myanmar countryside since her release in May. Suu Kyi's release from house arrest was the result of reconciliation talks with the junta. But the talks have achieved no real progress in ending the country's political deadlock. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when the NLD won a thumping victory. The junta says the country is not yet ready for democracy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The People's Daily
Online
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 23, 2002 Chinese Jingdezhen Ceramics Exhibition Opens in Myanmar A 12-day exhibition of fine ceramic products of China's Jiangxi Jingdezhen opened at the Yangon Trade Center Monday. Attending the inaugural ceremony were Myanmar Minister of Commerce Brigadier-General Pyi Sone, Chinese Ambassador to MyanmarLi Jinjun, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy Jin Honggen, Chairman of the Myanmar China Huanyu Thama (Group) (MCHTG) Co Ltd Zhao Jidong and Deputy General Manager of the China Jingdezhen International Economy and Technique Cooperative Company (CJIETCC) Ning Ruhe. Ambassador Li said at the ceremony that Jingdezhen city is China's most famous origin of ceramic products. This exhibition will display to Myanmar people ceramic products featuring a complex of traditional handicraft and modern arts, classic cultureand modern civilization, showing a development trend of China's ceramics in the new era and enabling Myanmar people to know more about China's ceramics culture. He hoped that through the exhibition, it will deepen the exchange of ceramics culture and links between the two countries and promote their friendship and cooperation in the ceramic field. At the ceremony, Vice-General Manager Ning said the year 2002 is the first year after China's entry into the World Trade Organization and is also the opening year when China's economy heads for the junction linking the world in all aspects. This exhibition also builds a platform of carrying out productsdeal and information exchange for China's ceramics culture, havingan important significance in speeding up the link of China's traditional ceramics culture with international junction and development of China-Myanmar bilateral trade, he added. The exhibition is jointly sponsored by the MCHTG Co Ltd and theCJIETCC. Participating in the exhibition are 36 manufacturers with theirproducts of more than 2,000 kinds in six categories. It is the first Chinese ceramics exhibition to have been held in Myanmar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Washington Post
Close Shave on Burma By Al Kamen Monday, December 23, 2002; Page A17 Who can forget that fateful chat then-Ambassador to Iraq April C. Glaspie had with Saddam Hussein in 1990, just before the Iraqi president invaded Kuwait? Of course, it was policy then to kow-tow to Hussein. But it appears she may have started a diplomatic trend, for now we have our top official in Burma saying nice things about the military thugs who run the country. Worse, chargé d'affaires Carmen M. Martinez -- our top diplomat there -- did it in an "exclusive interview" in the weekly Myanmar Times, a rag that makes the old Pravda look like a hard-hitting investigative journal. Word leaked out in November that the State Department was considering recommending that Burma be certified as cooperating in the war on drugs. Such a move would have given the military, once known by its initials as SLORC, a major political and economic boost. Furious editorials and congressional protests, plus a Time magazine Asian edition story detailing the repressive regime's links to major drug dealers, helped persuade State to reverse course. The department may have been in the process of that course correction Dec. 3, when Martinez praised the regime for "a good job on counternarcotics efforts." Martinez, according to the paper, said Washington supported democracy, but the Burmese have to find a solution in "their style of government." A lot of Burmese probably thought they did just that when they overwhelmingly elected Aung San Suu Kyi's party in 1990, just before the military arrested her. "We are not trying to impose our style on this country," Martinez said. "We can understand how it is difficult to have a democracy in a multiracial and multireligious society," she observed. "There are similarities between our country and this country; we have diverse ethnic groups, diversity of religions." It might be a whole lot less difficult if the Burmese army would stop using rape as a weapon against those minorities. "We wish that foreign journalists could be permitted to visit the country," she said, "because there are positive things going on . . . and the story of this country will be written by the press." There would be no need for foreign journalists, of course, if the pond scum in charge would allow the opposition to publish a newspaper. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
The long shadow of Ne Win's legacy DR PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN Published on Dec 23, 2002 The recent death of ex-despot General Ne Win received little fanfare despite his high-profile political career in the past. But do not let his political legacy disappear like the release of his ashes into the Rangoon river. There is much to remember, and more importantly much to remind the Burmese of the political and economic misfortunes they are facing today. One of Ne Win's legacies that left a deep scar in Burmese politics was his attempt to perpetuate authoritarianism while normalising it as though it was a part of Burmese culture. From Ne Win's assumption of power in 1962, the new political regime was ideologically linked to militarism and a cult of the leaders with the intention to make them acceptable and legitimate to the Burmese people. But what allowed Burmese despotism to thrive in spite of the fact that the level of the people's political consciousness was no less than in other countries in Southeast Asia? Ne Win fully recognised that Burma had long been suffering from political disintegration with various ethnic groups seeking to destabilise his centralised power. He thus proclaimed in the wake of political uncertainties that Burma was urgently in need of a martial regime and leadership. As a result, the Panglong Agreement which guaranteed a certain degree of autonomy among the Shans, the Kachins and the Chins was further abandoned. On these grounds, Ne Win bluntly reproached European imperialism for causing national fragmentation by its divide-and-rule policy. In the meantime Ne Win also exploited the concept of Western colonialism by designing a new power structure for Burma, based on, or inspired by, examples of European colonial administration that had ruled the country until the outbreak of the Second World War. In other words, he created a mini-Burmese colony dominated by himself. This legacy has been inherited down to the present day. Whereas the SPDC remains unchallenged, the current ethnic insurgencies largely contribute to the absolutism of the military regime, though there is nothing new in employing Ne Win's old tricks to hold on to power. The new face of Burma, led by the three eminent military officers General Than Shwe, General Muang Aye and Lt-Colonel Khin Nyunt, continues to treat ethnic insurgencies as the number-one enemy of the state. By ostracising the ethnic rebels, Ne Win's old recipe yields legitimacy to the military institution in protecting so-called national survival and interests while committing genocide on those considered as national traitors. The same tactic has also been applied to curb local supporters of democracy. Democracy, condemned as a vestige of Western hegemony, is perceived as foreign political thought. The assassination of Suu Kyi's father, Aung San, in 1947, might have thrown Burma into a state of flux and eventually to the verge of collapse in the hands of Ne Win. But some had high hopes that Aung San Suu Kyi, his only daughter, would come to rescue of Burma, only to see her put under house arrest for a decade. Another memorable legacy of Ne Win is the spread of corruption within the Burmese bureaucracy. In retrospect, the raison d'etre behind the introduction of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" was to generate social equality while supporting an egalitarian economy among poor Burmese farmers. But the doctrine was abused by Ne Win himself. Financial self-aggrandisement permitted Ne Win to build an economic empire together with the rise of nepotism. Today corruption is the norm in Burmese politics and is continually expanding in intensity. The narcotics trade has become part of this vicious cycle. Some among the military elite and inn government service are involved in the drug business,which helps sustain the Burmese regime in the face of international condemnation. Here, Ne Win's legacy is bitter medicine. It is required to prolong a frail system but also hard to swallow. This explains why the Burmese military government simply ignored the death of Ne Win, once a national hero. The SPDC is greatly concerned about the international image it tries so hard to establish. Particularly since joining Asean in 1997, the SPDC has intended to show its civilised side by supporting national reconciliation and subsequently offering freedom to Suu Kyi. Any official recognition of Ne Win's death would only jeopardise its pretentious projection of being a peaceful nation. Domestically, it would also resurrect anger among those who were deprived by the Ne Win regime, those who were victims of his racist warfare and those who were robbed under the pretext of Burmese socialism. To show political purpose, the SPDC had already frozen the assets, economic enterprises and financial accounts of Ne Win's daughter, Daw Sander Win. Moreover, some of his family members have been sentenced to death for conspiracy. In the end what all that appeared in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper was a tiny obituary put in by Ne Win's family. An attempt to underplay the death of Ne Win may show the SPDC's awareness of international denigration. But does it really cover the smell of bad governance and long years of suppression of the people's liberty? Only the Burmese government has the answer to that. Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a guest lecturer in the Thai Studies Section of the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |