[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Jan 08, 2003.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January  08, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - China lends Myanmar 200 million dollars
AP - Authorities in four countries freeze US$11 million assets of convicted
Thai drug trafficker
PD -Jiang Holds Talks with Myanmar Head of State
Bkk Post - Military denies forcing Karen to Burma
Oneworld - Thai Authorities Pushed Karen Villagers into Burma
Bkk Post - Smugglers of alien workers `will feel heat'
Bkk Post - Rangoon refuses to lift ban
The Nation - Army 'pushed 11 Karen' into Burma
The Nation - IN BRIEF: PM plans Rangoon trip
GuamPDN - Determined woman leads people of Burma in hope for democracy
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China lends Myanmar 200 million dollars

BEIJING, Jan 8 (AFP) - China said it will give Myanmar 200 million US
dollars in preferential loans for economic development as the junta's leader
met vice-president Hu Jintao Wednesday.

Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of Myanmar's State Peace and Development
Council, is on his second trip to China and vowed closer ties with his
neighbour.

"We place great importance upon developing good relations with China," he
said after meeting Hu.

State press said the loans were offered to deepen bilateral economic
cooperation. On Tuesday the two sides signed six bilateral agreements on
health, sport and trade.

President Jiang Zemin said the two sides should continue to cooperate on
regional and international issues, and within the framework of multilateral
mechanisms such as the United Nations and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Sino-Myanmar relations have generally been strong, except for a brief period
during the 1960s when the Cultural Revolution swept across China and spilled
over the border into Myanmar.

Analysts say China has boosted its influence in Myanmar in a bid to secure
strategic access to the Andaman Sea, where it is funding a sea port. It is
also interested in offsetting India's growing links with the junta, they
say.
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Authorities in four countries freeze US$11 million assets of convicted Thai
drug trafficker
Wed Jan 8, 2:25 AM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Anti-money laundering authorities have frozen
US$11.62 million in assets that a convicted Thai drug trafficker has stashed
away in four countries, an official said Wednesday.

After a five-year probe, assets and bank accounts linked to Prasert
Laonapharung were frozen in Thailand, Singapore, Luxembourg and Switzerland,
said police Col. Peeraphan Premputi, the secretary-general of Thailand's
Anti-Money Laundering Office.

Prasert was arrested in 1995 in Bangkok for trafficking 20,000
methamphetamine pills. He was sentenced to three years in jail in 1997, but
has remained at liberty while waiting for Thailand's Supreme Court to hear
his appeal.

Prasert later declared himself bankrupt and divorced his wife. But Peeraphan
alleged that Prasert used the divorce as a pretext to launder drug money
through his wife's name, which she changed four times.

Officials last month searched three houses of Prasert's ex-wife and froze
about 288 million baht (US$6.72 million) worth of cash, debentures, jewelry,
cars and property after she was unable to explain how she acquired the
assets, Peeraphan told The Associated Press.

With the cooperation of foreign anti-money laundering authorities, police
last week froze another US$4.9 million in the wife's bank accounts in
Singapore, Luxembourg and Switzerland, Peeraphan said.

Peeraphan said his office will ask legal authorities to have the assets
confiscated. Neither Prasert nor his wife have been arrested.

Authorities said they also have evidence linking Prasert with fugitive Wei
Hsueh Kang, an ethnic Chinese drug lord in Myanmar who is wanted in the
United States on charges of heroin trafficking.

The U.S. government has offered a US$2 million reward for his capture. He is
also wanted by Thailand to serve a life imprisonment imposed in 1987 on drug
trafficking charges. Wei fled after jumping bail at that time.
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People's Daily Online
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 08, 2003
Jiang Holds Talks with Myanmar Head of State

China is to offer 200 million US dollars in preferential loans to Myanmar to
aid its economic development, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Tuesday.

During his talks with visiting Chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council of Myanmar Than Shwe in the Great Hall of the People this afternoon,
Jiang said the two countries should further strengthen economic cooperation,
adding that China would support Chinese enterprises conducting cooperative
ventures in Myanmar.

He expressed the wish that Myanmar keep improving its investment environment
so as to facilitate Chinese investment and cooperation.

He said the two countries should expand cooperation in such fields as
science, technology, culture, education, sports, public health and tourism.

He said the two sides should continue to coordinate and cooperate on
regional and international issues and within the framework of multilateral
mechanisms such as the United Nations and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Than Shwe said Myanmar is satisfied with the progress in Myanmar-China
cooperation in agriculture, exploration of human and natural resources, and
construction of infrastructural facilities.

He said Myanmar, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), was ready to help China strengthen its relations with ASEAN.

After the talks, Jiang and Than Shwe attended the signing ceremony for three
agreements on economic and technological cooperation, cooperation in public
health, and sport cooperation.
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Bangkok Post - Wednesday 08 January 2003
Military denies forcing Karen to Burma
Wassana Nanuam

The military has denied forcing Karen villagers in Kanchanaburi to move into
Burma, according to Maj-Gen Mana Prachakchit, commander of the Surasi Task
Force.

Maj-Gen Mana said 11 villagers in Sangkhla Buri district had returned to
Burma of their own volition.

Their departure last Friday was in response to warnings from the military,
which was clamping down on illegal workers.

The commander said the villagers had no evidence to verify Thai citizenship.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development has voiced concern, saying
the villagers were Thai who had lived in the area for decades. Some had ID
cards issued by Thai authorities but these were destroyed when their houses
were burnt down by armed defence volunteers during a raid in 1993.
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Oneworld
Thai Authorities Pushed Karen Villagers into Burma

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is concerned
about reports that Karen villagers in Sakhlaburi district were forcefully
pushed into Burma.

On 3 January 2003, troops from the Ninth Infantry Division of the Army and
armed defense volunteers of Sakhlaburi district administration rounded up 11
Karen villagers, including a two months-old baby and old women, and
forcefully sent them into Burma.

The arrest and deportation were carried out after the Thai authorities
issued a warning to 65 Karen villagers in Wia Ka Di village, tambon Nong Lu,
Sakhlaburi district, Kanchanaburi Province on 24 December 2002 to evacuate
their homes within three days. Villagers appealed for help from the National
Human Rights Commission and the Low Society of Thailand, which could
temporarily stop the deportation after the end of a three-day deadline on 27
December 2002. But troops from the Ninth Infantry Division and officials
from the local administrative authorities told villagers in the morning of 3
January 2003 that they would all be pushed across the border.

The incident in Wia Ka Di village was explained by the Ninth Infantry
Division as "a regular crackdown on illegal migrants".

However FORUM-ASIA has firsthand information confirming that all of the 11
Karen villagers were from local communities in Sangkhlaburi district, and
their families have settled down in Thailand for many decades. Some of them
possessed identification cards issued by the Thai authorities, but their
documents were destroyed when their houses were burned by armed defense
volunteers of Sakhlaburi district administration during the raid in 1993.
More important, even Karen villagers without identification cards were
protected by the Thai Cabinet Resolution on 27 August 2002, which provided
them a whole year for the verification process and no deportation order
could be issued against them until at least August 2003. FORUM-ASIA also
finds out that all of the 11 villagers did not have a chance to have their
status verified, as it should be according to normal procedures in the
arrest and deportation of illegal migrants.

The deportation of 11 Karen villagers, including small children and old
women, has put their lives in great danger. By having their citizenship
denied by the Thai authorities, these villagers are now stateless and highly
vulnerable to abuses and persecution by the Burmese authorities.

The Thai government was recently criticized by the international community
after troops from the Ninth Infantry Division rounded up 65 Karen villagers
in Wia Ka Di village on 24 December 2002 and gave them a three-day deadline
to leave the country. During the raid, there were reports that three huts
and stocks of rice paddy belonged to villagers were burned.

[Ends]

For Further information or comments contact: Sunai Phasuk, FORUM-ASIA
Spokesperson + 66 (0) 1 632 3052
Posted on Monday, January 06 @ 03:19:08 EST by forumasia
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Bangkok Post - Wednesday 08 January 2003
Smugglers of alien workers `will feel heat'
Wassana Nanuam

The army will renew efforts to stop the smuggling of illegal Burmese workers
as their number continues to grow.

Maj-Gen Mana Prachakchit, commander of the Surasi Task Force, said the
smugglers collected 3,000-5,000 baht from each worker. Some Thais had also
collected a 200-baht passage fee from workers who sneaked into the country
via any of 92 channels along the border.

Tough action awaited smugglers as members of anti-Rangoon minority groups
had entered Thailand among the workers, Maj-Gen Mana said.

``From now on the Surasi Task Force will also immediately deport illegal
workers. In the past we were lenient by giving them some time.

``Soldiers will be stationed at Morakha and Wia Kati border villages in
Kanchanaburi's Sangkhla Buri district, and deport Burmese and tribesmen
without identity cards,'' he said.

While action would be tough, violence would not be used, Maj-Gen Mana said.

The closure of offices of 10 minority groups in Sangkhla Buri district had
upset their supporters, he said. ``But we have to comply with the
government's policy not to let minority groups from outside carry out
activities on Thai soil.''
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Bangkok Post - Wednesday 08 January 2003
Rangoon refuses to lift ban

Burma has turned down a request to lift an entry ban on 14 Thai journalists.

Third Army commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing said the request was made
during the Regional Border Committee meeting in Moulmein in Dec.

The Burmese military junta blacklisted the journalists, saying they had
belittled the Rangoon government and written anti-Burma articles since May
last year.

The journalists work for two English-language newspapers, the Bangkok Post
and the Nation, and six Thai-language newspapers. The ban was imposed
shortly after Thailand blacklisted Ma Tin Win, a columnist of Burma's
official New Light of Myanmar newspaper for her scathing articles about
Thailand and its monarchy.
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The Nation
Army 'pushed 11 Karen' into Burma
Published on Jan 8, 2003

A leading human-rights organisation yesterday blasted the Royal Thai Army
for violating an international convention by forcibly pushing 11 ethnic
Karen villagers, including women and an infant, back into Burma. The Asian
Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia) said yesterday the Ninth
Infantry Division had placed the group in danger by forcibly sending them
back across the border despite their long-term residence in Kanchanaburi's
Sankhla Buri district.

Sporadic fighting between Karen rebels and Burmese government soldiers has
been common in the area recently, the group said. Some of those allegedly
forced back into Burma had been issued with Thai identification cards, Forum
Asia said, but their documents were destroyed when their houses were burned
by "armed-defence volunteers" from the Sankhla Buri administration during a
raid in 1993.

The rights group said the villagers were given a chance to have their status
re-verified, as it should be according to normal procedures in the arrest
and deportation of illegal migrants.
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The Nation
IN BRIEF: PM plans Rangoon trip
Published on Jan 8, 2003

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told yesterday's Cabinet meeting that he
would travel to Burma next month to discuss cooperation in the suppression
of drug trafficking.

He added that the government would organise a workshop on drug suppression
on January 12 at the Suan Dusit Rajabhat Institute.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh will visit Rangoon
on January 27 to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including drug
suppression.
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Guam Pacific Daily News
Wednesday, January 8, 2003
Determined woman leads people of Burma in hope for democracy

After his ninth mission to Burma in late November 2002, U.N. special envoy
Ismail Razali admitted frustration at his failure to get the Rangoon
generals to revive talks with dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

After months of quiet diplomacy and delicate maneuvers by the United Nations
to get the generals to talk to Suu Kyi on transition from military rule to
democracy, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest May 6, 2002. There was an
atmosphere of optimism all around, in spite of junta leader Khin Nyunt's
warning that such transition must not be "done in haste and in a haphazard
manner."

But the cautiously optimistic Suu Kyi told BBC Dec. 10, "We are confident
change will come -- not as quickly as most of us would wish, but it will
come." Not within months, because talks have "some way to go." A devout and
gentle Buddhist, Suu Kyi was conciliatory and expressed no animosity toward
the military men who denied her freedom for years.

Suu Kyi was put under house arrest for the first time in July 1989 for
"endangering the state," after she vowed at her mother's funeral in January
1989 to serve the Burmese people without fear of the personal cost. She
campaigned for reforms. The junta agreed to let her leave Burma then, but
she declined to be exiled from the land of her birth.

International pressure and sanctions won Suu Kyi's release in July 1995, but
she was prohibited from traveling outside Rangoon. In 1996, hundreds of
political activists, her followers, were arrested and detained. In March
1999, the junta even denied an entry visa to Suu Kyi's British husband,
Michael Aris, who had cancer. He died without having been reunited with his
wife.

Between 1998 and 2000, Suu Kyi attempted to leave Rangoon several times to
visit her followers in the provinces. She was stopped each time and was
returned home. In September 2000, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest
again, this time for 19 months, until her release in May 2002, with a
promise of freedom to travel.

Suu Kyi told her people that, "My release is not a major triumph for
democracy; my freedom is not the object of our struggle," and that she was
committed to achieving democracy.

After her release, Suu Kyi made five trips out of Rangoon. All went fine
until the incident during her fifth trip, when she traveled to Rakhine state
some 300 miles away.
On Dec. 18, the authorities sent baton-wielding police and a firetruck to
disperse 20,000 people who came to greet her. She saw what was happening,
stepped out of her car, climbed atop the fire engine, and told the local
authorities that their job was to serve the people, not to hurt them. The
authorities withdrew. Suu Kyi thanked the crowd for welcoming her and told
them to go home. They did. On Dec. 31, she accused the central authorities
of harassment.

Suu Kyi never planned to lead the dissidents. She was happy to be the wife
of a British scholar of Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford, and the
mother to their two sons, Alexander, born in 1973, and Kim, born in 1977.
However, things changed after a phone call from Rangoon March 31, 1988, that
informed Suu Kyi of her mother's severe stroke. She flew home the next day.
She arrived in Rangoon as thousands took to the streets to protest a
currency devaluation and to demand reforms. The protest culminated in a mass
uprising Aug. 8, 1988, that spread countrywide, and resulted in the deaths
of 6,000 to 10,000 protesters.

Suu Kyi was born in June 1945. She was only 2 years old when her father,
Burma's independence hero, was assassinated. She was raised by her mother,
Ma Khin Kyi, a nurse at Rangoon General Hospital, and was schooled in
Rangoon until she was 15. When her mother became Burma's only woman
ambassador in 1960, Suu Kyi followed her to her post in New Delhi. There,
Suu Kyi studied politics at New Delhi University, developed friendships with
Indira Gandhi's sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, and became attracted to Mahatma
Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance and religious tolerance. That
powerful political socialization process molded Suu Kyi.

In 1964 she moved on to Oxford, where, in 1967, she earned a B.A. in
philosophy, politics and economics. It was at Oxford that she met Aris. They
were married in 1972.

Suu Kyi returned to Rangoon in 1988 as important events unfolded. On Aug.
26, she gave her famous Shwedagon Pagoda address to a crowd of half a
million people: "I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to
all that was going on."

When the National League for Democracy was created Sept. 24, 1988, Suu Kyi
became its secretary-general, and became a threat to the generals. Though
under house arrest at the time of the elections, Suu Kyi's NLD party won 82
percent of the legislative seats in Burma's first general election, on May
27, 1990. The military junta annulled the result.

Suu Kyi's story continues to offer lessons on the values of determination
and hope.
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