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BURMA RELATED NEWS - February 28
- March 02, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Afghanistan
topples Myanmar as top heroin producer: US
AFP - UN envoy
urges world to recognise change in Myanmar
AFP - US classes
fight against illegal drugs as part of war on terror
AP - Bangladeshi
prime minister to visit Myanmar to bolster ties
AP - Myanmar leader
warns of destructive forces trying to undermine government
efforts
AP - Asian economic
summit to look for ways to build economic momentum
Reuters - Myanmar
seeks U.S. help in battle on drugs
Asian Tribune -
Appalling working conditions of the Burmese workers in Malaysia
exposed
Asian Tribune -
Myanmar FM arrives tomorrow
Asian Tribune -
International Community should suspend all aid and assistance to Burma
forthwith.
Asian Tribune -
Secretary 1, reassures public that private banks in
Myanmar are
safe
ABC online - Thai
PM tries to start Burmese peace process
CT - Searching for
the truth in Myanmar
Bkk Post - Army
told to give rebels a hard time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday March 2,
11:53 AM
Afghanistan topples Myanmar as top heroin producer:
US
WASHINGTON, March 1 (AFP) - Afghanistan has toppled Myanmar as the
world's top source of illicit opium, but the southeast Asian state is streaking
ahead as the region's number one producer of amphetamines, the United States
said.
In a major drugs strategy report, Washington backed up
figures released by the United Nations last week showing an increase in poppy
cultivation since the ouster of Afghanistan's former Taliban
rulers.
It also said it was profoundly troubled by unproven
allegations that North Korea is trafficking in narcotics as a source of
desperately-needed foreign currency.
"The size of the opium harvest
in 2002 makes Afghanistan the world's leading opium producer, the report
said.
"Trafficking of Afghan opium and heroin refined in numerous
laboratories inside Afghanistan creates serious problems for Afghanistan and its
neighbors."
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report,
collated by the State Department said that opium cultivation in the country last
year reached 30,750 hectares.
The figure rose from a low of 1,685
hectares in 2001 after the fundamentalist Taliban, later ousted by a US-led war
banned opium production.
The report credited US-backed President
Hamid Karzai, who was in Washington this week, with taking a number of important
early steps in a British-sponsored effort to cut drugs
production.
The drive has been complicated by political upheval and
uncertain security conditions.
Although the report found that
Myanmar was still a major source of opium, it concluded that production had
declined for the sixth straight year to 630 metric tonnes in 2002 down 26
percent from a year earlier.
It called on the military regime in
Yangon, which earns frequent criticism here for its human rights record, to
carry on the fight against narcotics -- which it said had yielded "measurable
results."
But the report found Myanmar delinquent in cracking down
on bans on opium production in areas controlled by ethnic Wa
groups.
It branded the country as Asia's top source of
amphetamine-type products, and said it had not taken "significant steps" to stop
the trafficking of the tablets.
President George W. Bush in January
accused Myanmar of failing to adequately battle drugs production, in a body blow
to Yangon's bid to shed its reputation as "narco-state."
The
decision featured in the president's annual report to Congress listing countries
which fail to meet US standards for combating the drugs trade, and which are
therefore liable for US sanctions.
Saturday's report is billed as
the factual basis for those assessments which saw Bush designate 23 countries as
major drugs producers.
With Washington locked in a standoff with
North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, the drugs report raised serious
questions about Pyongyang's complicity in the global narcotics
trade.
"Allegations of North Korean state complicity in the illicit
narcotics trade and in other criminal enterprises remain profoundly troubling,"
the report said, but admitted the United States could find no concrete evidence
that abuses were taking place.
Elsewhere, the report surveyed
efforts by other Asian countries, many on the roots of drugs traffickers or in
traditional narcotics growing areas.
Pakistan was praised for
"excellent" cooperation with US anti-drugs efforts, Cambodia's conduct was seen
as "spotty and ineffective" and China won kudos for "strong measures" against
the narcotics trade.
Laos meanwhile was chided as the world's
third-largest source of illicit opium and the Philippines was said to be facing
a "pivotal" year in the war on drugs.
Thailand's drive against
corruption among public officials was seen as a boon for the anti-drug war, and
it won new US praise for "one of the most successful drug crop control programs
in the world."
But there was no detailed analysis into the Thai
government's controversial drugs crackdown, which has left more than 1,120
people allegedly linked to the drugs trade dead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday March 2, 02:36 AM
UN envoy urges world to recognise change in Myanmar
YANGON, March 2 (AFP) - A UN envoy has urged the international
community to drop its high expectations for transition in Myanmar and recognise
the incremental changes taking place, the Myanmar Times said in its edition to
be published Monday.
The United Nations special human rights
rapporteur on Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, also reiterated his call for
countries to engage and not isolate military-ruled Myanmar, the semi-official
weekly said.
"It is time to take stock of, acknowledge and
evaluate the ongoing effects of incremental change which have taken place," the
Brazilian academic wrote in a report to be presented to a meeting of the UN
Human Rights Commission in Geneva starting this month.
"It is high
time to replace the high expectations of the ideal game scenario and the writing
of constitutional models, with a down-to-earth discussion of less prescriptive
requirements which will be able to stimulate a real process of change," he
wrote.
He stressed that "the policy option now should be engagement, not
isolation."
"The sooner the international community is ready to
assist, the better and smoother the change will be in Myanmar," Pinheiro said in
the report.
"The people of the country should not be held hostage
to a political transition."
He said the United Nations would
compile a report on the basic needs of the population of impoverished Myanmar,
formerly called Burma, and urge the international community to consider being
actively involved.
Western governments have led the push for
Myanmar to be subject to sanctions until its military rulers makes concessions
to the democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
They have
said they would not consider comprehensive aid for the country, which is
battling malnutrition, poor education and a burgeoning AIDS crisis, until the
regime commits to a full political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.
The United States threatened last month it would consider further
sanctions against the country in light of a lack of political reform.
Aung San Suu Kyi said last month that international pressure
should be maintained to force progress in Myanmar, according to Jody Williams, a
fellow Nobel peace laureate who visited her.
Williams said Aung
San Suu Kyi was "very clear that pressure both inside and outside the country
are critical to bringing about democracy in Burma."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday March 1, 14:26 PM
US classes fight against illegal drugs as part of war on
terror
WASHINGTON, March 1 (AFP) - The fight against illegal drug trafficking
is part of US efforts to defeat international terrorism, according to the US
State Department.
"The US campaign against global terrorism in
2002 highlighted the importance of our international drug control programs," the
department said in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy report,
released Saturday.
"As the single greatest source of illegal
revenue, the drug trade has long been the mainstay of violent political
insurgencies, rogue regimes, international criminal organizations and terrorists
of every stripe," it added.
"Whether through the heroin that
financed the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan or the cocaine that sustains
the decades-old insurgency in Colombia, the drug trade generates the money that
is the lifeblood of the violence that increasingly threatens global peace and
stability," it stressed.
The report restated a list of 23
countries released in January which Washington considers producers or major
transit points: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar),
China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India,
Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand,
Venezuela and Vietnam.
The US government considers Afghanistan to
be the world's top heroin producer, and Colombia the top cocaine producer.
The report also listed countries considered "major sources of
precursor or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics" --
including the United States, plus Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany,
India, Mexico, and the Netherlands.
It also identified "major
money laundering countries" and jurisdictions as those "whose financial
institutions engage in currency transactions involving significant amounts of
proceeds from international narcotics trafficking."
They were:
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar),
Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominica, the
Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Haiti, Hong Kong,
Hungary, India, Indonesia, the Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey,
Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Nauru, the Netherlands,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Spain,
Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United
Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladeshi prime minister to visit Myanmar to bolster
ties
Sat Mar 1, 5:42 AM ET
YANGON,
Myanmar (AP)- Bangladesh's prime
minister is expected to visit Myanmar later this month to strengthen trade and
diplomatic relations between the neighboring countries, an official said.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will visit March 19-20, becoming the
first Bangladeshi leader to travel to Myanmar since the current government took
power in 1988, a Myanmar diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Zia will discuss establishment of a road link between the
countries, improved trade ties and other issues, the diplomat said Friday.
The state visit would come just three months after Myanmar junta
leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe traveled to Bangladesh for the first time in two
decades.
During the December 2002 visit, the two countries agreed
to improve cultural exchanges and hold annual meetings between their foreign
ministers to strengthen bilateral ties.
Bangladesh and Myanmar
have long had historical ties and conduct both informal and official trade,
mostly in raw materials, agriculture products and consumer goods.
Relations between the countries, which share a 256-kilometer
(159-mile) border, were strained in 1991, when more than 2.5 million Muslims
fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state to escape alleged
persecution by the junta. Western governments and human rights groups have
accused the junta of widespread rights abuses.
More than 230,000
Muslims have returned to Myanmar since 1993, when the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees began a repatriation program. About 22,000 Muslim refugees are still
waiting to go back, according to the agency.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar leader warns of destructive forces trying to
undermine government efforts
Sun
Mar 2, 1:05 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ The leader of Myanmar's ruling junta warned
Sunday that ``destructive elements'' and neocolonialists were trying to
undermine government efforts to stabilize and develop the country.
Senior Gen. Than Shwe did not name the destructive elements, but
the term has been used in the past to refer to opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, her National League for Democracy and anti-Yangon groups.
``The internal and external destructive elements, in collusion
with neocolonialists, are making attempts and disseminating fabrications and
rumors to disturb peace and stability of the state,'' Than Shwe said in a
statement published on the front page of Myanmar's three official newspapers.
His comments marked the 41st anniversary of Peasant's Day.
The forces are trying to ``destroy the developing economic
foundations, spoil the success of the border development efforts, break up
national unity and hamper the pace of the anti-narcotic drive,'' the statement
said.
He added that destructive acts must be ``opposed and
thwarted'' by all people in Myanmar, ``including the peasants.''
The ruling junta came to power in Myanmar, also known as Burma,
after crushing a pro-democracy movement in 1988. It called elections two years
later but refused to honor the results, which gave the National League for
Democracy, led by Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, a landslide victory.
The two sides have been holding reconciliation talks since late
2000, but no real progress appears to have been made.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian economic summit to look for ways to build economic
momentum
Sat
Mar 1, 4:17 AM ET
SINGAPORE (AP) - Asian government, business and civil
leaders will debate how to increase economic growth in the region, which is
already outperforming the rest the world, when they gather in Singapore in
October, the World Economic Forum's Asia director said Saturday.
Frank-Juergen Richter said the East Asia Economic Summit, Asia's
equivalent of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will also
focus on geopolitical developments, including the fallout from the Iraq crisis
and the rising importance of Islam.
While other regions have
slowed economically, Asia has generally continued to grow _ driven by rapid
development in China, he said.
The summit _ to be held Oct. 12-14
_ will grapple with how to manage crises in a world where people have lost trust
in business, governments and international organizations, Richter said.
He noted surveys showed trust in religious groups has risen.
``What we saw in Davos was international institutions that we used
to believe in like NATO, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization
have lost their appeal and people do not trust them anymore,'' Richter told
reporters.
``We will integrate discussions on the clash of
civilizations, religion, and role of Islam. These are all important elements
because we know business is not being conducted in a room of clear determining
factors,'' he said.
The Singapore summit aims to bring together
800 leaders. Sessions will also look at ways to remove trade barriers and bridge
cultural gaps between China, Japan, Korea and the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, Richter added.
ASEAN comprises Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines,
Singapore and Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar seeks U.S. help in battle on
drugs
YANGON, March 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government urged the
United States on Sunday to help it fight drug production and trafficking or risk
losing out to powerful drug lords.
The United States has put
Myanmar, considered one of the world's top opium sources, on a list of countries
it says have done so little to fight drugs that they are ineligible for U.S.
aid, but helps conduct an annual poppy survey in the country.
But
the impoverished southeast Asian nation said it had slashed opium production 70
percent in the past five years to around 600 metric tonnes in 2002, a drop of 26
percent from 2001.
``By working together, we can win the war on
drugs. But if we fail to work together, the drug traffickers gain the
advantage,'' a government statement faxed to Reuters said.
This
year's joint U.S.-Myanmar poppy survey is due to finish on Monday.
Myanmar's views come a little more than a week after it invited
the United States to enter dialogue on the country's political future following
U.S. criticism of Myanmar's human rights record and stalled transition to
democracy.
The military, which has wielded power in various guises
for four decades, refused to recognise a 1990 landslide election victory by
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party.
The
ruling junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest last May, raising hopes of a
democratic transition, but has so far been reluctant to enter into talks with
her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-02
Appalling working conditions of the Burmese workers in Malaysia
exposed
By arrangement between the Myanmar and
Malaysian governments thousand of workers were legally sent to work in Malaysia.
But it is learnt all those Burmese workers are in a spot and find life miserable
over there.
It is now reported, according to a news report of the
BBC Burmese language service, the working condition in Malaysia is appalling and
the Burmese workers are paid pittance compared to the earnings of the illegal
workers in over there.
It was reported by some Burmese workers in
Kuala Lumpur that many have quit their jobs due to conflicts with their
employers. Recently, one of them told the BBC that they were worse off than the
illegal Burmese working there. It was told that one U Ko Ko went to Malaysia
personally and interviewed the Burmese workers and he gave this report to the
BBC.
It is estimated that there are thousands of Burmese workers in
Malaysia as arranged and agreed upon by the two governments. At the end of one
year it was found that a large number have left their
placements.
Ko Thet Tun Aung is one of them and he told: â?? Because
this was an arrangement between the mighty bosses, we thought it would be
alright. On arrival here we were paid 18 kyats per day. Sometimes we can work
overtime. Not always. Though kyats 3.50 per hour are the rate for overtime, we
are paid only 2.00. We have to buy our own food, cooking utensils, beds,
mattresses, and pillows. There are lots of illegal workers and they are able to
negotiate and are better paid. Now I am out of that arrangement and I get more
money.â??
He referred about the workers compensation:-
â??
Some have sustained injuries in the collar bone, but the employers only provide
treatment and no compensation is paid. A friend of mine who worked in an office
injured his hand. He was only given medicine and nothing by way of compensation.
They consider medical treatment as compensation.â??
Ko Thet Tung Aung
found that quite a large number of legal workers have left because of
unsatisfactory working conditions.
According to Ko Thet Tung Aung,
the employers do not return their passports to them when they quit, therefore
these workers are now considered as illegal. If such people want to return back
home in Burma, they have to slip into Thailand illegally and then sneak into
Burma. There are many who are facing such difficulties. Some are apprehended,
and some have to pay bribes to escape the long arm of the
law.
There are two categories of workers. One category pays its own
way to work in Malaysia. The other category consists of children of retired
military personnel and USDA members who are subsidized at first by government
and subsequently deductions made from their earnings. Both categories experience
the same difficulties and the number of quitters is increasing by the day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-02
Myanmar FM arrives tomorrow
Yangon,
March 01: Foreign Minister of Myanmar Win Aung arrives in Dhaka tomorrow
(Sunday) on a brief visit to Bangladesh to deliver formal invitation letter to
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia from Myanmar Prime Minister General Than Shew
to visit Yangon.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister is due to pay an
official visit to Myanmar on March 19-20, which the Myanmar Ambassador to
Bangladesh has described as a goodwill one.
The envoy said that
during the visit the two heads of government will hold a summit meeting and
discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and
international issues of common concern.
The Myanmar Foreign
Minister will also meet with his Bangladesh counterpart M Morshed
Khan.
On the occasion, Bangladesh will arrange in the Myanmar
capital a single country trade fair, food festival, fashion show and a cultural
function.
The Myanmar Prime Minister, during his visit to Dhaka in
December last, extended an invitation to his Bangladesh counterpart to visit his
country.(The Independent)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-01
International Community should suspend all aid and assistance to
Burma forthwith.
Washington, Feb. 26: International
organizations and agencies are urged to suspend all forms of aid and assistance
the ruling junta in Burma until a political change towards genuine democracy in
Burma is perceived.
The Federation of Trade Unions ? Burma, in a
hard hitting statement regarding the collapse of the banking business in Burma,
has warned that the entire banking system of Myanmar is on the verge of
collapse, the hard-earned money and savings of the public, together with the
private banking business of the military authority and its cronies shall vanish
into thin air.
Exiled workers and students who had participated in
the 8 August 1988 peoplesâ?? uprising formed the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma
(FTUB) in 1991. Today it is a trade union with office located in Washington DC
and Hla Oo, the president is an elected people's representative of the 1990
general election in Burma.
The FTU Burma was organized with the
view to -
To uphold democracy and human rights in Burma
To establish free
trade unions
To achieve equal distribution of wealth by emphasizing equal
opportunity.
The FTU Burma in its statement flayed the State Peace
and Development Council for the messy state of affairs in the banking sector.
They added: â??This nasty catastrophe is obvious evidence that without any
political change and reform, the country's economic and social aspects shall
remain in deplorable conditions. Therefore it is urged that international
organizations and agencies to suspend aid and assistance until a political
change towards genuine democracy in Burma is perceived."
The full
text of the statement is given below:
# On 14/ 02/ 03 the Central
Bank of Myanmar issued a directive, restricting the private bank on the
withdrawals of money. After that, the private banks were faced with the problem,
of cash exhaustion. Therefore not only the private economic sector but also the
general public and the people in government service all are facing difficulties
in procuring money. As the entire banking system of Myanmar is on the verge of
collapse, the hard-earned money and savings of the public, together with the
private banking business of the military authority and its cronies shall vanish
into thin air.
# Economists observed that in the predicament of
soaring costs and economic downturn, the private banks are now faced with a
financial crisis that started with the failure of the (14) Financial Services
established lay the junta and its followers. The main shareholders of the
Savings and Loan associations, Private Construction Industries and Banking
Business are the SPDC general and their supporters, the drug
lords.
# Since the military seizure of power in 1988 and up to this
day, it is the SLORC/SPDC military government that has planned, decided and
implemented the financial and economic plans and projects to which the
population has followed without any questions. Because of the junta's
incompetence and mismanagement, inflation is spiraling out of control and the
populace at large suffers in dire poverty and is miserably hard-pressed. The
SPDC alone has the sole responsibility for the ill effects that shall ensue as a
consequence of such failure in the banking business.
# In 1999, the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had extended to help for
the reform of the country's Economic and Financial system in accordance with the
international procedures. Fearing their tight control of power might loosen and
fearing the emergence of a true market economic system in the country, the junta
declined the offer.
# This nasty catastrophe is obvious evidence
that without any political change and reform, the country's economic and social
aspects shall remain in deplorable conditions. Therefore it is urged that
international organizations and agencies to suspend aid and assistance until a
political change towards genuine democracy in Burma is perceived.
#
The population of Burma is economically impoverished and socially disadvantaged
because of serious errors committed by the SPDC military government in all
avenues of social, political and economic sectors. It is exhorted that to be
free from such ills, cooperation of the entire population plays a vital role in
exerting for the democratic reformation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-03-01
Secretary 1, reassures public that private banks in
Myanmar are
safe
By Win Kyaw Oo and Moe
Zaw Myint
Secretary 1, General Khin
Nyunt, last Friday reassured the business community and hundreds of thousands of
bank customers nationwide that their money was safe despite some short- term
concerns within the private sector financial institutions.
Speaking at the annual meeting
of the Ministry of Commerce, he said: "Now many people are withdrawing their
deposits from the private banks in a rush because of rumors. Some are
withdrawing their money for need in their business operations, but some are
withdrawing money because of fear of loss," he said.
"Actually, the banks are
safe." "For the people who have unnecessarily withdrawn money, there is no safer
place for them to keep money than in the banks. "Now, the government is also
providing the necessary support so that people do not face (financial)
difficulties. So, regarding the banks I want to tell the public not to panic and
to go about their business as usual."
The words from General Khin
Nyunt are certain to allay fears that a run on savings accounts at the big banks
during the past seven days had been swiftly dealt with by the government. To
solve the predicament the Central Bank stepped in to avoid a costly run on
privately owned banks, said Minister Brig-Gen Abel, a high-ranking government
minister.
"The Central Bank of
Myanmar helped
the dozen or so private banks through an inter-bank loan scheme between them,"
said Brig-Gen Abel, the minister for the Office of the Chairman of the State
Peace and Development Council. He said the government had an inalienable
commitment to the banking sector at a time of distress.
His comments came last week to
ease fears of a larger scale meltdown after thousands of confused and irrational
customers rushed to the banks in all parts of the country to withdraw cash,
sparked ostensibly by unfounded rumors of the nationalization of a private bank.
"Some private banks were found to be not operating in line with the Financial
Institutions Law," the minister said, referring to instances of just a few of
the 20 private banks which gave loans more than they have been permitted to
under Myanmarç?´
law.
Those laws stipulate that
private banks are obliged to keep 20 per cent of their deposited funds in cash
while 80 per cent of funds can be used for loan purposes. "We have granted loans
of up to about 85 per cent of deposits to borrowers. But, when people want all
their deposits back, how can we give them back immediately? We couldn�
do anything, apart from taking the blame," said U Thein Tun, chairman of Tun
Foundation Bank. U Thein Tun said he believed the Central Bank was right to
solve the problem and view actions as urgent.
Meanwhile, banks, which are
releasing depositors, cash in a limited way, assured customers that banks would
fulfill the requirements of all the depositors with the help of the Central
Bank. "The problem we face can be worked out soon, and it is a temporary
problem," U Zaw Win Naing, the managing director of Kanbawza Bank, a major local
bank, told Myanmar Times.
The Myanmar Times 24 February
ã?»02
March ã?»
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABC Radio Australia News
28/02/2003 10:17:12
Thai PM tries to start Burmese peace process
An alliance of Burma's rebel groups says it
welcomes a promise from Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to
instigate peace talks with the Rangoon government.
Mr Thaksin says
he tried to persuade the junta to negotiate with rebel groups during a visit to
Rangoon earlier this month and the leaders told him they will talk with minority
groups.
Rebel activity along the Thai-Burma border has been a
perennial irritant to relations between the two countries.
A
spokeswoman for the umbrella Shan group, Restoration Council of Shan State, says
its members appreciate the Thai proposal, but cautiously welcome the Burmese
leaders' response because they have a history of breaking
promises.
She says the rebels have not received any official
information or invitation on the matter from Rangoon or the Thai government
yet.
The statement came after a meeting of the Military Alliance
Group, of five rebel organisations, including the Shan State Army and Karen
National Union held in a Burma's border region with Thailand.
They
meeting on Monday was called to prepare for future peace negotiations with the
military regime.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Tribune
Searching for the
truth in Myanmar
Democracy on hold in nation on
edge
By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
Published March 2,
2003
YANGON, Myanmar -- In a totalitarian nation where the
grapevine has replaced the media as the trusted source of information, two
rumors this month--one false, one true--have stirred this nation's simmering
cauldron of discontent.
The economy had been on a downward spiral
long before the first rumor struck--that the commercial banks were about to go
bankrupt. Although false, it created a run on banks that prompted some to
restrict withdrawals.
So when the second rumor--that Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi was headed to jail again--turned out to be true, passions were
already high. Soon nearly 2,000 protesters gathered outside a Yangon courthouse,
an uncommon occurrence in this nation where a military junta has ruled since
1988.
On Feb. 21, a court found Suu Kyi, the leader of the National
League for Democracy, guilty of wrongful restraint in a civil suit and gave her
the choice of paying a 50-cent fine or spending a week in
jail.
"The Lady," as she is affectionately known here, chose
jail.
The suit stemmed from an altercation last year, two days
after Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Her cousin, Soe Aung, punched her
after she refused to allow him inside her compound.
Suu Kyi filed a
lawsuit against her cousin for assault, and he filed a countersuit. Soe Aung
also was found guilty and ordered to pay a $1 fine or spend a month in jail. The
outcome of his sentence was unclear.
The military, faced with a
volatile crowd and the uncomfortable prospect of sending the hero of millions of
Myanmar people to prison just eight months after her release from a second house
arrest, ordered Suu Kyi's sentence suspended.
Though Suu Kyi won a
minor victory, the path toward democracy has made no headway since her
release.
"It's obvious the process has stalled," said a Western
ambassador, who like most diplomats, political activists and residents spoke
only on condition of anonymity.
Relations between the military and
Suu Kyi's league are extremely tense. Hope for a political reconciliation, which
followed Suu Kyi's release May 6, has given way to despair and frustration
within the league and among its supporters.
Suu Kyi's conviction
follows the arrest of seven National League members and five other democracy
activists two weeks ago.
"The general sense is that the [democratic
process] is going nowhere, and we are extraordinarily disappointed with that," a
Western diplomat said.
Washington is a staunch critic of the
Myanmar junta and a strong supporter of Suu Kyi, and the U.S. has imposed an
investment ban, travel restrictions for Myanmar officials and an arms embargo,
among other sanctions, on the country.
An olive branch to
U.S.
Just this month, Myanmar's junta extended a surprise
invitation to the U.S. to enter a dialogue on the country's political future.
But Western diplomats here played that off as a public-relations move to ward
off new sanctions rather than a serious offer.
The appeal followed
hints by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner that Washington would
impose new sanctions on the former Burma due to a lack of progress in political
dialogue with Suu Kyi and other democracy advocates.
The junta,
which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council, is supposed to be
engaged in UN-brokered talks on national reconciliation with Suu Kyi. The talks
began in October 2000.
Even so, rather than negotiate, the military
regime is conducting a smear campaign against the National League and Suu Kyi in
particular, said league spokesman U Luwin.
He noted a cartoon
published recently in a Yangon newspaper that depicted Suu Kyi and senior league
members tarnishing the image of Myanmar.
According to local and
foreign experts on Myanmar's laws, the trial and eventual finding against Suu
Kyi appeared fraught with legal abnormalities.
National League
officials "believe there is an orchestrated political campaign to embarrass her,
to diminish her and make her look ordinary," a Western diplomat said. "The
irregularities with the way this case was handled support that."
In
its defense, the junta said that under Myanmar law "all citizens are treated
equally" and that the charge of playing politics in the civil suit "is
completely untrue."
But the Suu Kyi conviction was just the latest
shock to Myanmar. Current events here have the populace on edge and even
prompted the UN to issue a warning last week to its employees here to exercise
caution.
The banking crisis, coupled with rampant inflation, is
threatening to grind the economy to a halt. Since the beginning of 2002, prices
for rice, cooking oil and gasoline have risen more than 100
percent.
Though another Western diplomat said the reasons behind
the price increases were murky, the consequences were potentially
devastating.
"The poorest could face an increasingly difficult
situation here," he said. "It's hard to imagine starvation, but malnutrition,
which is already a problem, could increase."
Talk of
discontent
Interviews with taxi drivers, hotel clerks,
educators and health-care workers here all point to high discontent with the
state of affairs in what was previously one of Asia's wealthiest countries. A
taxi driver, his voice trembling and rising as he spoke, said he thinks there
"will soon be an explosion."
Due to the pervasive presence of
military intelligence personnel, such "interviews" are conducted in hushed tones
at the back tables of tea houses or in private vehicles--when they take place at
all.
Fearing imprisonment or disappearance, most Myanmar citizens
simply shake their head and walk away when asked about any matters concerning
the military government.
Some 1,300 political prisoners remain
jailed and executions and forced labor continue to be reported in ethnic
minority areas, according to Amnesty International.
Those people
who do talk paint a picture of a society deeply frustrated with its plummeting
standard of living and an inept government that people blame for their myriad
ills.
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Bangkok Post - Sunday 02 March 2003
Army told to give rebels a hard time
Thammarak wants
peace talks to start
Wassana Nanuam
The army has been told to play hard-ball with armed
ethnic rebels along the Thai-Burmese border to make them go to the negotiating
table with Rangoon.
Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na
Ayudhaya said he had told the Third Army, which oversees the northern region, to
give the Karen National Union and the Shan State Army a hard
time.
``These troops must be pushed out of the country. We must not
allow them to come in, even for goods. Give them a hard time and they will
negotiate,'' he said.
The move follows Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's remark after his return from a visit to Rangoon that Thailand would
help bring about national reconciliation in Burma.
Five ethnic
rebel groups had earlier agreed to the proposed reconciliation
dialogue.
They are the KNU, the SSA, the Karenni National
Progressive Party (KNPP), the Chin National Front (CNF) and the Arakan
Liberation Party (ALP).
Gen Thammarak said his involvement in
resolving border disputes between Thailand and Burma could be traced to border
tension at Khao Hua Lone hill in Mae Fa Luang district in May
2001.
He said he had called deputy army chief Gen Watanachai
Chaimuanwong, then assistant army chief, and told him to hold fire while he was
negotiating with senior Burmese authorities.
As for drug problems,
Gen Thammarak said it would be more practical to join forces with China, which
is thought to have influence over drug-running groups like the
Wa.
Thai authorities have been working closely with Beijing in
trading intelligence. A Thai military officer has been dispatched to Beijing and
his Chinese counterpart sent here to maintain close ties.
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