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Friday March 7, 12:58 PM
Thai rights commissioner "desperate" over drugs war death
threats
BANGKOK, March 7 (AFP) - A Thai human rights commissioner said
Friday he was "desperate" over death threats issued on him and his family after
he criticised Thailand's controversial drugs crackdown in a presentation to a UN
conference.
"I have been threatened for three or four nights now.
They said they would kill me if I spoke to the UN again," Pradit
Charoenthaitawee told AFP.
"I am quite desperate because it's not
only me myself suffering but also my family. When my wife receives the calls and
lifts the phone up she has to answer this is not Dr Pradit's house.
"They said they had put a bomb under my car, or would send
amphetamines to my house, or burn my house down."
At the
invitation of the UN High Commission on Human Rights, Pradit addressed a rights
conference in Islamabad last month during which he highlighted concerns over the
kingdom's three-month drugs blitz, which left more than 1,100 dead in its first
month.
Police have admitted responsibility for just 31 of the
killings.
The government blames the vast majority of deaths on
drugs gangs members killing traffickers to protect themselves, but rights groups
are concerned the authorities are implicitly condoning and carrying out
extra-judicial killings.
Pradit said he had raised concerns over
such killings and "all the cases of people being been shot dead not being
investigated properly, no autopsies (being carried out) and cases not getting to
the courts at all."
The spokesman of the ruling Thai Rak Thai
party, Suranan Vejjajiva, has threatened Pradit with dismissal by the Senate,
which appoints members of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission, because
of his criticisms.
The support of 125 of 200 senators would be
required to dismiss him.
Pradit said he felt the strength of the
ruling party in parliament and the Senate could lead to his dismissal.
"They have taken over most of parliament and the Senate so they
can do anything they like," Pradit said.
Amnesty International and
the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) issued statements
urging the government to protect Pradit and his family.
"Amnesty
International is gravely concerned that Dr Pradit Chareonthaitawee... has
received death threats from an anonymous telephone caller to his private
residence," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
"The Royal Thai Government should do everything in its power to
provide protection to Dr Pradit and his family. It should also immediately
initiate an investigation into these repeated death threats."
Forum-Asia secretary-general Somchai Homlaor said: "What happens
to Dr Pradit has seriously worsened the already disturbing human rights
situation in the context of Prime Minister Thaksin's war on drugs."
Thailand's drugs blitz is focusing on methamphetamines, which
flood into the kingdom from Myanmar.
Five percent of Thailand's 63
million people abuse the drug according to health ministry figures cited by the
International Narcotics Control Board.
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Friday March 7, 4:55 PM
Thai Company To Manage
Myanmar's First Private Hospital
BANGKOK
(AP)--A subsidiary of Thailand's
luxurious Bumrungrad Hospital will manage Myanmar's first private hospital,
which is scheduled to open later this year in the capital of Yangon, the
hospital said.
Bumrungrad Hospital International has agreed to
manage the Pun Hlaing International Hospital, a US$20 million facility,
according to a statement on Bumrungrad's Web site.
"Bumrungrad is
very proud to play an integral role in the birth of Myanmar's private health
care system," Chai Sophonpanich, the hospital's chairman, was quoted as saying
at a ceremony in Yangon.
Construction of the 104-bed hospital is
nearly complete, with developers planning to eventually expand the facility to
accommodate 350 beds. It will be located on the grounds of a golf resort in
Yangon's Thar Yar township.
The developers - Serge Pun &
Associates - operate more than 40 businesses in military-ruled Myanmar, also
known as Burma.
BHI will manage the Myanmar hospital for an
initial period of six years, providing an international staff and management
team from Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital, Southeast Asia's largest private
hospital.
BHI was established in 2002 as the management and
consulting arm of Bumrungrad Hospital.
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Christian leader says Myanmar junta sympathetic to
complaints of discrimination
Thu Mar 6, 9:45 AM ET
By UAMDAO NOIKORN, Associated
Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The head of the World Council of Churches
said Thursday that Myanmar's military government has agreed to investigate
complaints of discrimination and abuse against Christians.
WCC
General Secretary the Rev. Konrad Raiser met with Gen. Khin Nyunt, the
third-ranking member of Myanmar's ruling junta, during a March 3-5 visit to
Myanmar's capital Yangon, part of a four-nation Asian tour.
The
Geneva-based council represents more than 340 Christian churches, denominations
and fellowships worldwide.
Raiser spoke to reporters in Bangkok a
day after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Myanmar as one of six
"countries of particular concern" for severe violations of religious freedom.
The others were China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Sudan.
Raiser
said he told Khin Nyunt not only of concerns about alleged second-class
treatment of Christians in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar, but also allegations
of forced conversions, arson of churches and Christian women being raped by
government soldiers.
He said Khin Nyunt was fully aware of the
allegations, particularly those involving rape of members of ethnic minority
groups along the border, such as the predominantly Christian Karen.
Khin Nyunt "said that his government has sent a team to probe
those reports and also offered to take appropriate measures on future
complaints," Raiser said.
In the course of their one-hour talk,
Khin Nyunt stated that Christians would be treated properly and welcomed the
WCC's ongoing involvement with its member churches in Myanmar, Raiser said.
The U.S. State Department in its most recent annual International
Religious Freedom Report 2002, said Myanmar's junta "has imposed restrictions on
certain religious activities and frequently abused the right to freedom of
religion."
While stating that people of all faiths face
repression, it said "the government continued to discriminate against members of
minority religions, restricting the educational, proselytizing, and building
activities of minority religious groups," including Christians.
Almost 90 percent of Myanmar's 42 million people are Buddhist,
with about 4 percent Christian and 4 percent Muslim.
Raiser has
already visited Laos and Thailand on his Asian tour, and heads next to
Pakistan.
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New Straits Times
Myanmar acquitted of culpable homicide
charge
Jaspal Singh
TELUK INTAN, March
7: The Sessions Court today acquitted a Myanmar national without
calling for his defence on a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder
of another Myanmar national.
Sessions judge Allaudeen Ismail
said the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Lailanizha Ayob, failed to prove a
prima facie case against Aungko Ukyawkhin@Ah Chai, 31.
Aungko was
charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder of Pow Tun Port at Lot
15, 2A Simpang Empat, Jalan Sabak Bernam, Hutan Melintang in Hilir Perak about
12.30pm on July 31, 2001.
Allaudeen, in agreeing with counsel
M.Saravanan's submissions, said the prosecution had failed to produce material
witnesses to establish a link between the accused and the
offence.
Furthermore, he said, the court found the evidence
presented by the prosecution inadequate to order the accused to enter his
defence.
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Washington File
06 March 2003
Senator McConnell Condemns Burma's Use of Child
Soldiers
(Senator cites Rangoon's "gross abuse of human rights")
(840)
Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky), the
second most powerful Republican in the Senate, condemned Burma's military junta
for using child soldiers to commit atrocities against ethnic
minorities.
McConnell, who is the chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, said in remarks to the Senate
March 4 that Rangoon's military rulers maintain power through the "gratuitous
use of military force against ethnic minorities and political
dissidents."
He added that the evidence "is overwhelming that the
junta exploits children as young as 11 years old in pursuit of greater coercive
military power."
The Kentucky Republican cited Human Rights Watch
reports that Burma's army of 350,000 "includes nearly 70,000 boys under the age
of 18."
These child soldiers, he added, after brutal training, "are
then forced into combat, often against domestic Karenni and Shan
minorities."
McConnell charged that as part of "ethnic cleansing
and intimidation campaigns the Burmese junta has conducted against these ethnic
minorities for decades, these children soldiers are often encouraged to torture,
rape, and kill innocent villagers."
Following is the text of
Senator Mitch McConnell's September 4 remarks from the Congressional
Record:
(begin text)
THE BURMESE
JUNTA'S PERSISTENT USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS
Senate
March 04,
2003
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, Reports of widespread
use of child soldiers, forced labor, and human rights abuse come as no surprise
to anyone with even casual knowledge of recent Burmese history. Tragically,
these recent reports are not ``news,'' but rather business as usual in one of
the world's most repressive countries.
While the corrupt military
junta has recently been conducting a propagandistic offensive to convince naive
Western diplomats that Burma can be a responsible member of the international
community, the continual flow of evidence regarding Burma's gross abuses of
human rights illustrates how hollow recent Burmese ``reform'' has
been.
Anyone duped into believing that the junta's decision to loosen the
shackles that bind Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma
who has spent nearly a decade under house arrest, represents a liberalization of
the junta should think again. Proof that the Burmese junta continues its
repression of democracy came yesterday when the Defense Ministry announced that
it had detained seven members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy Party, NLDP, members. Their treasonous crime appears to be
distributing
anti-government leaflets.
The Burmese junta
maintains power through its gratuitous use of military force against ethnic
minorities and political dissidents. Now, the evidence is overwhelming that the
junta exploits children as young as 11 years old in pursuit of greater coercive
military power. Human Rights Watch reports that Burma's army of 350,000
includes
nearly 70,000 boys under the age of 18.
If these
children are fortunate enough to survive the physical and emotional abuse heaped
on them by their military superiors during their ``training,'' they are then
forced into combat, often against domestic Karenni and Shan minorities. As part
of the ethnic cleansing and intimidation campaigns the Burmese junta has
conducted against these ethnic minorities for decades, these children soldiers
are often encouraged to torture, rape, and kill innocent villagers. In one
instance, Burmese military commanders ordered some of these child soldiers
to force Karenni villagers to clear a minefield by walking through it. The
children were subsequently ordered to shoot villagers who refused to walk
through the minefield.
Recently, the Burmese junta has sought to
improve its standing in the international community by touting its supposedly
more intense efforts to curb the production and trafficking of heroin. Mr.
President, this claim is laughable. American State Department officials should
not be deluded into believing that Burma has become a partner in the war against
drugs. Burmese child defectors from the army who now live in refugee camps in
Thailand have corroborated reports that the Burmese military has fueled its
soldiers by making them take amphetamines,
washed down with whiskey, before
going into combat. Countries that force drugged children into deadly combat
should not be considered allies by the United States in any war.
In
response to Human Rights Watch's report, a Burmese military spokesman denied
that Burma ``recruits'' underage soldiers and incredulously asserted that
Burma's military is an all-volunteer army. Such brazen lies should convince no
one that the Burmese government has changed its repressive ways.
If
Than Swe, as head of the Burmese government, is committed to upholding
international standards of human rights, it can begin by enacting meaningful and
verifiable economic, political, and judicial reforms. It should release the
seven NLDP members it has unjustly arrested and all other political prisoners,
and it should allow Aung
San Suu Kyi to meet and communicate freely with
Burmese citizens throughout the country, as well as with international
representatives. Until the Burmese junta agrees to hold free and fair elections
to allow the Burmese people the opportunity to choose their own leaders, it must
be aware that American sanctions will continue.
(end
text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information
Programs, U.S.Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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Bangkok Post - Friday 07 March
2003
Rangoon says Thai military base encroaching on its side
Wants troops moved, `terrorists' expelled
Teerawat Kumtita
A Thai military base
is encroaching on Burmese soil near Doi Lang in Chiang Mai, Burmese military
brass told yesterday's Township Border Committee meeting.
Thailand
should withdraw its troops, the delegates said, and drive away 500
``terrorists'' led by Chao Yod Suek from Doi Tai in Mae Hong Son's Mae La Noi
district, 150 ``terrorists'' led by Tin Ker from the Muang Na area of Chiang Dao
district of Chiang Mai, 150 others from Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai and
400 anti-Rangoon guerrillas from Mae Sai district of Chiang
Rai.
TBC chairman Col Apichart Meesommon denied Thailand supported
anti-Rangoon groups.
The border demarcation committee would be
asked to look into Burma's encroachment complaint.
Thailand also
asked for Burma's help in stepping up security along the border, ahead of a
visit by Her Majesty the Queen to Doi Phahompok, Col Apichart
said.
Mae Sai customs checkpoint chief Patchara Sinsawat invited
Burmese leaders to a fair on April 5 to celebrate the opening of a new customs
office between Chiang Rai's Mae Sai and Burma's
Tachilek.
Cross-border trade was improving, he said, with tariffs
totalling more than one million baht collected last month.
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The Nation
Bumrungrad inks Burma deal
Published on Mar 7, 2003
Bumrungrad Hospital
International (BHI) last week signed an agreement to manage Burma's first
privately licensed hospital, a statement released yesterday
said.
The US$20-million (Bt847 million) Pun Hlaing International
Hospital in Rangoon is owned by Serge Pun and Associates, which has spearheaded
many development projects in Burma and operates more than 40 businesses in the
country.
It will be first management project for BHI, which was
established by Bumrungrad Hospital last year with the aim of providing
international-standard healthcare consulting and management services throughout
Asia.
The new hospital is just outside central Rangoon in the Pun
Hlaing Golf Estate in Hlaing Thar Yar Township.
The 104-bed
facility is already 90-per-cent complete, and is being constructed according to
modern specifications, with the aim of providing advanced medical services.
Future expansion plans allow for the capacity to grow to up to 350
beds.
BHI is the management and consulting arm of the luxury
Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, which was founded in 1980 and is now Southeast
Asia's largest private hospital.
BHI will be responsible for
managing the Burmese hospital for an initial six-year period, during which it
will be run by an international, full-time professional management team from
Bumrungrad.
Bumrungrad treats more than 850,000 patients a year -
270,000 of them from overseas - and is the only hospital in Asia to be certified
by the US-based Joint Commission on International Accreditation.
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Gulf News
Dhaka, Yangon may set up
joint trade commission
Dhaka |By Nazmul Ashraf |
07-03-2003
Bangladesh and Myanmar are expected to set
up a joint trade commission during Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's visit to Yangon
later this month.
A joint foreign ministerial commission will also
be established to oversee relations.
The two neighbours will sign
agreements to introduce "accounts trade" and coastal shipping links to boost
trade. Thailand will later be included in the shipping deal, making it a
tripartite arrangement, sources said. Khaleda is expected to leave Dhaka for
Yangon on March 19 on an invitation from Chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council of Myanmar, Than Shew.
Foreign Minister M.
Morshed Khan, Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and other
senior officials are expected to accompany Khaleda.
It was not
known whether any agreement on repatriation of the Rohingya refugees of Myanmar
will be signed. Sources said Myanmar has assured that the refugees will be taken
back after their identities have been verified.
"Both sides are
optimistic that the issue will be resolved soon," a source at the foreign office
said. The neighbours will also modify the existing border trade agreement signed
in 1994 to prohibit trading of third-country products, commerce ministry sources
said.
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