--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday February 16, 3:10 PM
Myanmar says rumours aggravate bank deposit
runs
YANGON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A senior Myanmar leader has blamed
``destructive elements'' for spreading false rumours that aggravated public runs
on deposits at the country's 20 privately owned banks, a state-run newspaper
reported on Sunday.
The Myanmar-language Kyemon newspaper quoted
Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the ruling military government, as issuing a
warning on Saturday that the bank deposit runs could hurt the Myanmar economy if
left unchecked.
``There were rumours about the private banks due
to fabrications by the destructive elements... They are doing what should not be
done. It is necessary to notice that if the banks suffer losses because of these
maliciously fabricated rumours, the country will also suffer losses,'' Khin
Nyunt told a meeting of teachers.
Runs on private banks started
last week after the collapse in recent months of 16 deposit-taking companies
that faced financial troubles from their business of offering clients
exorbitantly high interest rates.
The closed non-bank companies
had offered depositors annual interest rates of up to 70 percent, compared with
an average of 10 percent at state-run and privately owned banks.
The runs on Myanmar banks continued despite an assurance of their
viability by the Myanmar central bank last week. They forced the government to
impose limits on bank deposit withdrawals last Friday.
``Nothing
to worry about the private banks. All 20 private banks are operating
successfully and they all are under the systematic control of the central
bank,'' Central Bank Governor Kyaw Kyaw Maung told a press conference last
week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Straits Times - FEB 16, 2003
SUN
In Myanmar... Husband awaits death in prison
In Singapore...
Wife hangs on - for kids' sake
Five Singaporeans are languishing on death row in
Myanmar. They were arrested at Yangon's international airport in 1999 for trying
to smuggle heroin out of the country. In all, they tried to take out nearly 11
kg. K.C. VIJAYAN talks to their families here.
NANCY last saw her
husband, Peck Guan Hock, 43, in April 2001, in Yangon's Insein
Jail.
He had been there since Nov 5, 1999, when he and two others
were prevented from boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur with more than 5 kg of
heroin strapped to them.
'When a person is desperate for money, he
will do anything,' said Nancy (not her real name), a slim-built woman in her
30s.
She took two of their three children to see their father in
jail. Their eldest child is 14.
Usually, prisoners and visitors
communicate by telephone across a barrier. But there was a blackout, so they
were allowed to meet.
She said: 'We were lucky. He was able to hug
our two daughters.'
He wore a sarong and a shirt, and looked neat
but much thinner. He gets rice porridge with vegetables, and often goes
hungry.
'He gets meat once a week, but he can buy canned food and
is allowed to cook some meals inside.'
Until recently, she used to
send him $100 a month for food. But she ran out of money, so she can't visit him
or pay for any more appeals.
When he was tried in 2000, his
lawyer's fees cost her several thousand dollars.
She remains
curiously loyal though she describes him as a layabout with a passion for
gambling and that she struggled to raise their children on her own, holding down
two jobs to pay off his bills, car summonses and mounting
debts.
Even now, loan sharks come knocking at the door of their
four-room flat in Bukit Panjang demanding the more than $30,000 he owes
them.
'I was not scared. I told them to look for him in Yangon,'
she said.'
She once considered divorce, but feared he would harm
the children.
'If I divorce him, he will have no one else to
support him as he is an adopted son and is not liked by his own family,' she
said.
Now that he's on death row, divorce is the last thing on her
mind. She's physically and mentally tired, she said.
'When I learnt
from his father that he was in jail, I could not afford to collapse because my
children will also collapse. I must remain steady.'
She recalled
what he said on her last visit: 'He told me he had done many wrong things in his
life and there was nothing he could do about it now.
'It is the
same with me. It was my choice that I married him and now I stick to it as my
fate.'
Arrested along with Peck were Chua Eng Yeow, 33, and Goh Eng
Joo, 30.
Goh's mother, Madam Teo Ah Tee, 50, showed off a picture
of her son, a tall, broad-shouldered former cook.
She spoke of him
as if he were just on an extended adventure: 'I last saw him about two years
ago. He said he was going overseas. He is old enough and I expect him to look
after himself.'
Two other Singaporeans on death row, Soh Ban Chuan,
30, and Ng Chiong Beng, 34, were arrested on Oct 28, 1999, a week before Peck
and his friends.
Ng's sister, Donna, a 40-year-old clerk, said she
sends him $100 a month and saw him last April.
The family has
visited him three times and they exchange messages through the Singapore Embassy
in Yangon and the Red Cross.p> Ms Ng said her parents doted on him because he
was the youngest but he became wayward.
'My brother said he was
forced to do the job because somebody held his passport and identity card,' she
said.
'My mother was broken-hearted. She did not get to see him
before she died in 2001.'
He has asked to see their father, she
said, but the father is 78 and is too frail to travel.
'We have
learned to accept his fate and hope for the best. I told him the five of them,
being the only Singaporeans, should look out for one another in
prison.'
She added: 'Till today, I am scared of any Singapore
official coming to see me because I am afraid he might have some bad news about
my brother.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Straits Times - FEB 16, 2003
SUN
Drug traffickers' fate still up in the air
MYANMAR'S government is considering the fate of
the five Singaporean drug traffickers currently on death row, more than two
years after its Supreme Court rejected their appeals.
All have
asked for clemency, said Myanmar's drug enforcement chief, Colonel Hkam Awng,
adding that there was no indication when the outcome would be known. In the
predominantly Buddhist nation, death sentences are often commuted to life
imprisonment.
Advertisement
Myanmar, part of the
notorious poppy-growing Golden Triangle, is the world's second largest producer
and trafficker of heroin, according to the United States State
Department.
But Col Hkam Awng cited two recent and separate
surveys, by the US State Department and the United Nations Drugs Control
Programme, which show dramatic drops in opium production.
'Both
surveys show a drop within the last five years, from 2,600 tonnes in 1996 to
below 900 tonnes last year,' he told The Sunday Times by telephone from
Yangon.
Myanmar gets little anti-drug aid. US aid has been
suspended since 1988, after the Myanmar government suppressed the pro-democracy
movement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hindu - Sunday, Feb 16,
2003
Seeking support for the Myanmarese cause
By C. Maya
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Feb. 15. For the past 12 years, Tint Swe, a doctor from Myanmar, has been
working from a quiet corner in his tiny apartment in West New Delhi, trying to
help a scattered community stick together and all the while lobbying support for
the repressed people of his country.
A Member of Parliament of the
National League for Democracy, the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi,
which went on to win 82 per cent of the seats in the elections held in May 1990,
Dr. Swe has never been able to go back to his homeland.
``I cannot
go back, because I was sentenced to prison for 25 years and my clinic and my
house was sealed by the military regime. Several of my friends and party workers
are still in jail. I lost my mother during my exile and could not see her,'' he
says.
Dr. Swe was on a visit to the city, along with two other
Burmese exiles, Nyo Htun and Phyo Phyo Kyaing, as part of a tour of south India,
sponsored by Amnesty International, seeking solidarity and support for the cause
of the Burmese people.
Dr. Swe, who had been working with the
socialist government in Myanmar for over 15 years, had to quit when the military
regime ordered all those who were involved with political activities to quit. In
the elections held in May 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) went on to win a landslide victory. Dr. Swe had also won a seat, from the
Pale constituency.
``But even after three months, the junta
refused to convene the People's Assembly (Parliament) and we organised a series
of secret meetings to discuss the situation. But the intelligence agencies came
to know about this. My house was surrounded by the military, but I managed to go
underground for 15 days and then six of us crossed the Indo-Myanmar border,'' he
says.
He managed to flee but the regime targetted his family in
Myanmar. His wife, who had been working with the women's wing of NLD, was jailed
on a false charge of theft. His younger brother too was put in prison for a
three-year term, for `helping his brother escape'. It was only in 1995 that Dr.
Swe managed to bring his wife and four children to India.
Meanwhile, the elected representatives of NLD managed to meet on
the Thailand-Myanmar border on December 18, 1990 and formed a
Government-in-Exile. They established offices in Washington in the U.S., in
Thailand and in India. These groups have been doing the lobby work, meeting
Governments, pressure groups and NGOs, soliciting support for the repressed
people of Myanmar.
Today, there are about 2,000 exiles, including
four of NLD's MPs, in New Delhi and about 200 on the Manipur-Mizoram border,
doing intelligence work. They are subsisting on the meagre aid given by UN's
Refugee Commission. Dr. Swe no longer has his practice, but has been running a
free medical service for refugees.
``In Myanmar, the situation is
changing every day. Suu Kyi is officially free, but the regime is now targetting
her supporters. The economic situation has worsened, there are the very rich on
one side, while the ordinary people are mired in poverty and starvation.''
``There is so much frustration, that we fear further unrest. Our
country cannot stand another uprising and chaos, which is why we are pressing
for dialogue. We believe in Gandhiji's philosophies,'' says Dr. Swe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Sunday 16 February
2003
Karen Union welcomes govt offer
No approach yet on
getting sides together
Supamart Kasem
The Karen National Union yesterday welcomed the Thai
government's will to push for national reconciliation in Burma.
KNU
president Pado Saw Bathin Sein said Thailand's involvement as a mediator was
more than welcome, following Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's recent remarks
on his return from a visit to Burma.
Mr Thaksin said Thailand would
play a supportive role in bringing about national
reconciliation.
Mr Pado said the government had yet to approach the
KNU.
``No government officials have contacted us, only some
senators. Our door is always open to anyone who wishes to use peaceful means to
resolve the conflict and create unity,'' he said.
KNU and the
Burmese junta government have held several rounds of talks since 1949 to put an
end to the armed struggle, but there has been no progress.
National
League Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Rangoon recently held talks in
attempts to kick-start the national reconciliation process.
Mr Pado
also suggested that small rebel groups hold talks to find common ground before
going to the negotiating table.
The KNU president backed Kraisak
Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, who called on
the government to set up a special committee to pursue the
matter.
Representatives from five armed rebel groups last week
called on the Burmese junta to resolve the conflict through peaceful
means.
The KNU, Karenni National Progressive Party, Chin National
Front, Arakan Liberation Party and Shan State Army said they would maintain
their military alliance to pressure Rangoon to pursue a peaceful
settlement.
Kun Saen, a representative, said the rebel groups
should not be pressured or forced to negotiate with the Rangoon military
junta.
She said some armed groups had reached ceasefire agreements
with the junta only to secure benefits for their leaders.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Kachin from Burma join Sigpho Festival in Assam
Lekhapani (Assam, India)
Mizzima News
(www.mizzima.com)
February 16, 2003:
Till the
other day, the people of North East India had a nagging attitude towards the
people of Kachin area of Burma for the militancy problem.
But,
with the passage of time the attitude seems to be changing gradually. This has
been possible due to exchange of culture through festivals.
Sigpho, one of the oldest communities of Assam in the North East
India, organizes a festival every year in the bordering areas of the state in
order to strengthen the relations between India and Burma.
This
year a cultural group of Kachin State of Burma participated in the festival led
by Khaong Imphum, a Kachin girl. The group enthralled the audience by their
traditional dance.
Khaong belongs to Myitkyina, Capital of Kachin
State of Burma, dressed in traditional attire (manmou khing) performed three
hours dance along with her colleague.
She was cynosure of the
audience while performing dance. "Our aim is to cement the relation among the
people of Burma and India. And we hope that the relations would continue", said
Khaong immediately after her programme.
It is generally said that
the culture does not have any geographic boundary rather it binds the people
together. The Burmese cultural group has proved this as it came from Burma on
foot defying all-odds.
"We have to attend the festival after 15
days walk because we have very good relation with the Singpho community?, the
group members told Mizzima correspondent.
The three-Day festival
was inaugurated at Lekhapani in Assam State by Mr. Bisanong, Chief of the
Singpho community. In his inaugural speech, he said that this festival would
bring peace to the region. There are 12,000 Singpho families in Assam who are
facing extinction due to apathy of the authorities concerned. Ever since, the
festival is organized for the entire Singpho community spread over Arunachal
Pradesh and Assam and it is common to receive guests from Burma as well.
?We had invited several troupes of Burma but due to security
reasons many of them could not participate in the programme?, the organizers of
the festival said.
?The Singpho people living in Kachin State of
Burma are very keen to exchange their cultural relations with us and hence they
are generally invited to our festival?.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Shan Herald Agency for News
No: 02 -
15/2003
16 February 2003
War: Rebel leader: Odds on another border
conflict
Despite the initiatvive of Thailand to
broker a mediation, the winds of war have risen up to 70%, said Col Yawdserk,
leader of the Shan State Army 'South', during a recent interview at his Loi
Taileng base, opposite Maehongson.
"Reinforcements, supplies, heavy
weapons and even armored vehicles have continued to arrive in border areas east
of the Salween", he told S.H.A.N.. "The presence of artillery pieces and tanks,
pointless as they are against us, suggests Rangoon is determined to use them
against Thai forces that might get in their way."
The military
authorities of Burma might also employ another means to soften the Thai resolve
to protect its territorial integrity as well as its citizens living close to the
border, he continued: "Unilateral closure of border checkpoints by Rangoon had,
in the past, produced desired results. We can therefore expect another one of
this kind when the offensive starts."
The 45-year old Yawdserk, who
also doubles as Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State, assured he
was not looking forward to the upcoming conflict. "Soldiers on both sides die
and people suffer in war," he said. "I would therefore prefer a political
resolution. However, if negotiated peace is not on their agenda, we are prepared
to fight for our cause like
hornets. We can even abandon our Loi Taileng, if
necessary, but we shall never give up the struggle of our
people."
Surrender, he said, was out of the question. "The Mong Tai
Army surrendered (in 1996) with more than 10,000 fighters and 7,000 weapons. The
result was the loss of homes, lands and lives of our people on an unprecedented
scale. This experience should serve as a reminder to those who say surrender is
the solution."
According to Dispossessed, a report produced by Shan
Human Rights Foundation, the 1996 Shan submission was followed by three-year
long forced relocations of 1,500 villages in central Shan State, comprising at
least 300,000 people, of whom no less than 660 were killed by the Burma Army.
Most of the rape cases described by in License to Rape
(http://www.shanland.org/shrf/License_to_Rape/license_to_rape.htm), another
report by Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Action Network,
also took place during the period.
Later on 13 February, Yawdserk
released a statement saying Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's success in the
proposed mediation process depended entirely on the sincerity of the generals in
Rangoon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------