AP - Myanmar health authorities
gear up to fight SARS
AFP - Mekong region countries should adopt
regional strategy: PATA
Asia Pulse -
China's Renminbi Strong Currency in
Asia
The Nation - Opinion - Burma's political dialogue:
stalled yet again
The Nation - Letters - Who will provide defence in the
absence of America?
Frontline - A case revived
IB - Teknaf Land Port to be
operational soon
Bernama - 30 Indonesians Held For
Fighting At Night Market
JP - Borobudur festival lures
foreigners
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar health authorities gear up to fight
SARS
Mon Mar 31,04:17 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar
(AP) _ Myanmar's Health Ministry
said Monday it has deployed medical personnel at airports and seaports to
identify visitors suffering from symptoms of the perplexing flu-like illness
spreading across the globe.
Passengers arriving from the high-risk
countries _ Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada _ are being asked to
fill in questionnaires on whether they are suffering from symptoms of the
disease, said a Myanmar Airways official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
About 60 people have died around the world and more than 1,600
infected by the disease, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
Its symptoms include high fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. No cases
have been reported in Myanmar.
One of the doctors conducting the
checks at the Yangon international airport told The Associated Press that the
medical team immediately checks passengers who have a cough or appear feverish.
The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity.
``An ambulance is on
standby to take passengers with symptoms for further checkup but so far no case
of SARS has been detected,'' the doctor said.
Hospital sources
also said that a few beds have been prepared at a contagious diseases hospital
in a northern Yangon suburb.
Since March 19, the Health Ministry
has launched a media campaign to educate public on the illness. All three
state-run newspapers in the military state have carried SARS prevention
warnings.
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Sun Mar 30,03:34 PM ET
Mekong region countries should
adopt regional strategy: PATA
HANOI, March 30 (AFP) - The countries of the Mekong
subregion should adopt a regional approach to boost the local tourism industry,
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) officials said here on Sunday following a
regional forum.
"It is an unnatural thing for
national administrations to work together. But these countries come to realize
that it is clever to have a regional approach," said Les Clark, consultant for
the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Eighth Mekong Tourism
Forum gathered the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), which
oversees development projects involving
Cambodia,
Laos,
Myanmar,
Thailand,
Vietnam and the
Chinese province of
Yunnan.
Years ago "the six countries
were not communicating with each other. Over time, every one has been
increasingly more confortable", Clark said.
The forum was organized as the
industry struggles to resist the fallout from the
Iraq war and the
outbreak of a deadly pneumonia .
"What we have advised is
communication with consumers, travel industry and media to have a clear
indication of what the situation is," Peter Semone, PATA's vice-president said
during a press briefing.
"All destinations have to be
reasonnably conservative," he said, stressing that the organization had followed
World Health Organization (WHO) screening and monitoring guidelines.
In 2002, GMS countries
received more than 16.2 million visitors, up 8.6 percent on 2001, professionals
said.
Specialists believe the
industry will benefit from customers increasingly interested in two or
three-country vacations, with sites like Angkor Wat in
Cambodia,
Sukkhotai in
Thailand and
Luang Prabang in
Laos becoming
complementary rather than competitive destinations.
"Our remaining task is how to
wake up such potentials and turn them into a momentum boosting tourism growth
and bringing a better life for all people living in the area," Vietnam's
deputy-prime minister Vu Khoan said in his welcome adress Saturday.
Mana Chobtham, director of the
Agency for ccordinating Mekong tourism activities (AMTA)
warned the GMS countries would face considerable competition in the years ahead.
"We expect there will be a
major rush for the Indian and Chinese markets, now seen as the most promising
growth markets of the future."
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Monday
March 31, 1:17 PM
China's
Renminbi Strong Currency in
Asia
CHONGQING, March 31
Asia Pulse - Millions of Chinese
traveling in neighboring Asian regions are taking the Chinese Renminbi (RMB)
with them, using the currency as a means of payment, as it enjoys a status never
credited it before -- a strong currency.
Last year, nearly three
million well-off Chinese packed up to travel to places outside
China, some as
far as western Europe,
Australia,
Egypt, and the
Maldives in
South Asia.
Prior to this year's seven-day
Spring Festival holiday, when many Chinese chose to travel overseas, stores in
the shopping districts of downtown Hong Kong declared they would accept the RMB
for payment, hoping it would stimulate the consumption of hundreds of thousands
of mainland Chinese tourists arriving in Hong Kong.
Zhang Fan, a clerk who has
worked many years in Hong Kong, said most shopping
districts in the city now welcome the RMB, and some drug stores even put up a
sign saying "One RMB yuan equals one Hong Kong dollar."
The official conversion rate for Hong Kong dollar to RMB
is about 100:106.
Statistics show that
Hong Kong now has a reserve of RMB notes worth more than
50 billion yuan (US$6 billion).
In
Vietnam's Ha
Tuyen province, which borders southwest
China's
Yunnan
Province, Chinese travelers could use
the RMB freely to buy goods like fruits, bottled mineral water and various kinds
of souvenirs.
The
Myanmar
government recently raised its customs duty-free ceiling to 5,000 yuan (US$602),
in an attempt to attract more Chinese tourists to visit the
country.
Even in economically
underdeveloped
Mongolia, the
RMB is also circulating on markets in the capital Ulan
Bator as imports of China-made commodities are rising. In
some hotels, the RMB is accepted.
Although an increasing number
of Chinese travel abroad, fewer conversion trades have been reported with
foreign exchange authorities at home. Usually Chinese going abroad have to buy
foreign currencies for use overseas.
In
Chongqing, the booming municipality
in west China,
40,000 local residents traveled overseas in 2002, but they only bought less than
US$500,000 for their trip. In the previous years, some 31,000 local residents
traveling overseas bought US$12.4 million in foreign currencies, according to
the city foreign exchange administration.
But it was a quite different
story in the early 1990s when traveling abroad began to be easier and
individuals had a chance to purchase foreign currencies. Most people bought
foreign currencies at the exchange administration and tried to save as much the
foreign money as possible as inflation protection.
The acceptance of the RMB in
neighboring countries and regions means a lift in the currency's credit and its
promotion as a strong currency in Asia, indicated
officials with the Chongqing office
of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
Economists also attributed the
elevation to growing direct investment by Chinese enterprises in surrounding
countries and regions, which helped increase RMB circulation.
Chinese enterprises in areas
bordering Southeast Asia have eyed lucrative markets
there, and looking beyond merely promoting their products on local markets, they
have also invested in building factories in
Vietnam,
Indonesia and
other countries in the region.
Analysts said the Chinese
RMB's steadfastness during the financial crisis that swept
Asia in 1997, dragging down the world economy,
transformed it from a weak currency into a tower of strength in the economic
storm.
It is natural that a strong
economy would prop up a strong currency, analysts noted.
Last year,
China's GDP
exceeded 10 trillion yuan (US$1.2 trillion) and its foreign currency reserve
reached US$280 billion, ranking second in the world, which will ensure the
stability of the RMB.
Experts say that, on the basis
of the present growth rate,
China's share in
the global economy is expected to rise from 3.7 per cent in 2000 to 8 per cent
in 2020, and is likely to become the world's second largest economic power by
2030.
During the financial crisis,
China maintained
its policy of not devaluating the RMB, and a stable Chinese currency helped the
neighboring countries survive the hardship and made room for their exports as
their own currencies depreciated sharply.
China's
new Premier Wen Jiabao said recently that a strong and stable RMB would benefit
Asia and the world at large.
Sun Jie, an economist at the
International
Finance
Center under the
Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, said RMB
circulation in neighboring countries was the first step to its acceptance
globally, but there is still a long road ahead before the RMB becomes one of the
world's leading currencies.
Analysts noted that the
on-going Iraq
war has produced negative effects on
China's economy,
and the RMB has been under increasing pressure to appreciate.
Gao Huiqing, an expert at the
development research department under the
State
Information
Center, warned that once the RMB was
forced to appreciate by a big margin, the Chinese economy would suffer much as
Japan's did, and
fall into recession.
Many economists shared the
consensus that keeping the RMB's conversion rate in a comparatively long period
of time will be beneficial not only to
China's economic
growth, but also to other Asian economies.
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The Nation
Opinion - Burma's political dialogue:
stalled yet again
KAVI
CHONGKITTAVORN
Published on Mar 31, 2003
The war in Iraq has had a great dampening effect on the
future prospects of the reconciliation process in Burma. The Burmese junta
leaders know full well that world attention is no longer focused on their
ongoing suppression of the Burmese people.
The much-heralded
release of opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi last May has remained only a
gesture. The regime is still reluctant to genuinely start the much-awaited
political dialogue to proceed towards power-sharing and building democratic
institutions.
Burma is also facing an economic malaise of its own
making. The fallout of its banking crisis in recent weeks will have far-reaching
ramifications on its poorly managed financial markets and the economy in
general.
In such a dire situation, the dialogue process has now
become the regime's most efficient diplomatic instrument to increase
international support and recognition. Apart from delaying further sanctions and
weakening support of the opposition, the junta aims to sideline democracy and
strengthen its grip on the lives of the Burmese people.
The latest
incident encountered by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro pointed to Burma's ulterior motives in international engagement.
Pinheiro cut short his visit to Rangoon last week after finding a hidden
microphone inside the room he used to interview political prisoners. Later he
told reporters in Bangkok he was frustrated by the slow progress of both the
reconciliation dialogue and the release of political prisoners.
The UN has been pressuring the Burmese regime to set free more
prisoners to show its seriousness in the dialogue process. So far, the regime
has released around 600 political prisoners. Nobody knows the exact numbers, but
Bangkok-based diplomats said that at least 500-600 were still in prison. Given
the circumstances now, the reconciliation process will run according to the
regime's timetable and at its own choosing.
This tactic has served
the junta leaders well in engaging the world over the past three years. On the
surface, they have displayed a willingness to talk with the opposition in order
to confuse international opinion about their goodwill and to soften demands for
tough measures against the Burmese regime. That explains why the international
community cannot agree on measures to isolate and punish the
regime.
Within Burma, the junta leaders have choreographed their
moves so precisely that the reconciliation process has been used as an alibi to
weaken the opposition party. While Suu Kyi is free to travel, the junta has
instigated incidents to mar her visits.
Now, returning diplomats -
who have access to both regime and opposition leaders - talk more about the
regime's need for more humanitarian assistance to alleviate the HIV/Aids
epidemic, ignoring the opposition's eagerness to begin dialogue. Suu Kyi has
clearly stated she is ready to enter the dialogue without any conditions. But
the junta leaders continue to dodge the talks and ignore her appeals. Indeed,
the regime has continued to enjoy this win-win situation. As long the status quo
persists, nobody will pay much attention anyway.
Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra said last week that he wished he could seize Muang Yuon, the
town inside Burma across the Thai border controlled by the Wa army. Muang Yuon
has been used as a base for manufacturing and transporting amphetamine pills, or
ya ba.
Obviously, like Pinheiro, Thaksin has been hamstrung by
slow progress on the anti-drug effort pledged by the Burmese
leaders.
Despite much hullabaloo over the past two years, Thaksin
has not succeeded in his Burmese policy. His willingness to comply with the
regime's requests has become routine, while issues affecting Thai-Burmese
security have remained unchanged, not to mention unresolved. The removal of Thai
generals responsible for firm and tough Burmese policies and the amputation of
Task Force 399 have weakened the Thai defence capacity along the border as never
before.
One disturbing trend, according to a Thai military
intelligence source, is the dramatic improvement of Burmese military capability
over the past two years. Despite financial woes, money from the cross-border
trade and the Yadana gas pipeline has increased the Burmese regime's purchasing
power for new weapons and new technology. Security concerns remain as always at
the top of Burma's list of priorities, while the Thaksin government naively
believes the economic incentives it offers will subsequently alter the regime's
perceptions.
As long as Thailand continues its current Burmese
policy, the reconciliation process in Burma will suffer. The Thaksin government
has single-handedly transformed this endeavour, once fully backed by the
international community, into a bilateral burden. No wonder the junta leaders
keep demanding that Thaksin do more, especially security measures at the
Thai-Burmese border through the removal of ethnic groups. Recently Thaksin has
even made an overture to be a mediator between the regime and the ethnic groups.
Burma's increased intransigence is the result of the junta
leaders' illusion that they can get away scot-free with thwarting the free will
of the Burmese people. As a willing accomplice, the Thaksin government is being
used to bear the responsibility for the lack of progress in the dialogue
process. A case in point is that the regime repeatedly uses border insecurity
and ethnic problems as a pretext to delay political dialogue with the
opposition.
Unless Thailand changes its present course, the country
will be further sucked into the regime's sleight-of-hand games.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Letter to Editor
Who
will provide defence in the absence of America?
Published
on Mar 31, 2003
I am very alarmed by suggestions that
the US, in response to Thailand's neutrality on Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on
terror, will withdraw its commitment to defend Thailand in case of
attack.
It is not hard to imagine that Burma will one day start
developing weapons of mass destruction, stir up anti-Thai feelings among the
Burmese people, and threaten Thailand. In such an event, will our neighbours
Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia come to our defence? Will Islamic insurgents in the
south, aided by Jemaah Islamiyah members from Malaysia and Indonesia, try to
take advantage of the situation?
If Thailand asked the UN for help,
would France veto UN action in order to protect French oil and gas interests in
Burma? If we asked China to help, what would the Chinese want in
return?
The Thaksin administration should explain to the Thai
people its plan for ensuring Thailand's defence in the event the US, quite
understandably, withdraws its commitment to Thailand's
defence.
Rattana Butrnoi
CHIANG MAI
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Frontline
Volume 20
- Issue 07, March 29 - April 11,
2003
A
case revived
NAUNIDHI KAUR
The trial of Soe Myint, who
with Kyaw Oo hijacked an airplane 12 years ago in an act of defiance against the
military government in
Myanmar, is set
to begin soon. Does his re-arrest indicate a shift in New
Delhi's policy towards the regime in
Yangon?
ON November 11, 1990, when Soe Myint and Htin Kyaw
Oo were arrested at the Kolkata airport, it was obvious that they were not
perturbed by the consequences of their action - the hijacking of the Thai
International Airways TG-305 airplane, which was flying from
Bangkok to
Yangon, carrying 220 passengers. The next day, smiling
and waving at the crowd outside the court of the Subdivisional Judicial
Magistrate at Barrackpore, Myint said: "I am greatly inspired. I never expected
to get such a spontaneous response. I am sure our dreams will come true." Htin
Kyaw Oo ruefully added: "Even my girlfriend does not know I am in
India. I long to
go back home but I am afraid of being executed by the military." Their
exuberance showed the nationalistic zeal which led them to undertake their
mission.
Now, sitting in his
New Delhi office, 35-year-old Myint
recalls somberly how over the past 13 years he has been carrying on his campaign
against the military junta, which rules
Myanmar
(Burma). Myint
has set up an Internet news service named Mizzima (Pali word meaning `middle
path'). The news agency, which currently has 1,500 e-mail subscribers, has been
a source of information on the military government's atrocities. It releases
news in the Burmese and English languages. However, with the Indian government
reviving the hijacking case against Myint, the future of the news agency seems
bleak. The trial of Myint will start in April. Said his lawyer Nandita Haksar:
"If found guilty, he will be given the sentence of life imprisonment. Now it is
up to the West Bengal government to withdraw the case and
strengthen the pro-democracy forces in
Burma."
Recalling the hijacking, Myint
says: "We had no option before us. We were desperate to draw the world's
attention to the plight of our people. We decided to do something dramatic to
attract the attention of the world media." Myint hijacked the airplane using a
laughing Buddha statue wrapped in tissue paper, which he claimed was a bomb. The
hijackers earned the goodwill of the people, many of whom supported their cause.
Says Myint: "We asked for permission for a press conference from the Indian
government. They were very sympathetic and gave us permission to hold two press
conferences." The demands put forward by them included the release of all
political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; the withdrawal of martial law
and the abolition of all military tribunals; the reopening of the universities,
which were closed down after the 1988 military coup; and the handing over of
power to the National League for Democracy, which scored a landslide victory in
the 1990 general elections.
Myint recalls how Jyoti Basu,
the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, had assured them of asylum status from
the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The Thai
Airways did not file a complaint or make any further enquiries about the case.
On the Indian side, more than 30 Members of Parliament appealed to Prime
Minister Chandra Shekhar to grant Myint political asylum.
Myint and Kyaw Oo were
released in February 1991, after spending three months in jail. They were
recognised as refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR. The charge-sheet stated
that the two hijackers were not armed. It was clear that the Indian government
was sympathetic to the pro-democracy forces of
Myanmar and that
it was willing to take a lenient view.
The case has been pending in
the Second Additional District and Sessions Court, Barasat, 24 Parganas, for the
past 12 years. In 1995, the Public Prosecutor had recommended to the
West Bengal government that the case be withdrawn. The
State government requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to withdraw the case.
Recently, the Public Prosecutor recommended the withdrawal of the case on the
grounds that there was little chance of getting sufficient evidence to prosecute
Myint, since the Thai Airways crew was unlikely to appear in the court.
Ignoring these
recommendations, in April 2002, the West Bengal police
arrested Myint at midnight from his
residence in Delhi. Myint's
supporters said that the arrest was an example of the present government's
lenient approach towards the military government. They point out that Myint was
arrested in the same week when External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh returned
from his visit to
Myanmar, on
April 3 and 4.
When he hijacked the airplane,
Myint was a 22-year-old final year degree student in
Rangoon
University, where he was studying
International Relations and International Administration. Kyaw Oo was a final
year degree student of Physics in 1988, when the pro-democracy movement in
Myanmar was
being crushed by a brutal army repression. Myint decided to go to the
Thai-Myanmar border and join the students who were engaged in organising
resistance to the military rule. He was among a group of 50 persons who crossed
the border on a boat. Recalls Myint: "It took us two nights and the boatman did
not take money from us."
In 1989, the military put
pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi under house arrest for five years. Her National
League for Democracy had campaigned vigorously and won 81 per cent of the
parliamentary seats. However, the military backed the National Unity Party,
which won a mere 2 per cent of the votes. The military refused to hand over
power to the elected representatives. For Myint and the other students on the
Thai-Myanmar border, hopes of returning home faded. It was in this mood of
growing frustration that the student groups decided to hijack planes to refocus
international attention on
Myanmar.
The first such attempt, when
some students hijacked a Burmese Airways plane flying from
Myanmar to
Thailand, proved
successful. They demanded the revocation of martial law, the release of
political prisoners and the restoration of democracy. The Thai government
released Ye Yint and Ye Thiha, the students who carried out the hijack, after
they were pardoned by the Thai King.
Myint and his friends were
overwhelmed by
India's
sympathetic response to their pro-democracy campaign. Meanwhile, Myint got
offers for further studies from foreign universities. Kyaw Oo took up one such
offer and is now in Europe. Although the case against him
has been revived, Myint does not regret staying back in
India. He said:
"India is very
important for us. Its proximity to
Myanmar makes it
an important place to carry our campaign forward. Until now successive Indian
governments have remained sympathetic to our cause. I hope that the
West Bengal government will take back the case and help
us."
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Independent-Bangladesh,
31-03-2003.
Teknaf Land Port to be operational soon
BSS,
Chittagong
March 30: The government is taking necessary
measures for building a full fledged land port at Teknaf on the bank of Naf
river to boost two-way trade with Myanmar.
The proposed port will
be built in Teknaf upazilla under Cox's Bazar district. Teknaf is the township
bordering Bangladesh-Myanmar in the south-eastern corner of the country.
Teknaf is one of the 12 land ports the government has decided to
upgrade to meet the need of the hour. The government has already set up a new
body styled as 'Bangladesh land Port Authority' (BLPA) which will supervise the
functioning of the land ports (LPs) including the one in Teknaf.
Sharif Atiqur Rahman, chairman of BLPA told BSS over telephone
that BLPA had already completed the tender floating process and gave the work
order last week for building the infrastructure of Teknaf LP on BOT basis (Build
Operate and Transfer). The concerned company is to hand over the port to BLPA
after two years of operation. The facilities in the land port include a jetty,
two sheds, one warehouse and procuring handling equipment, he
added.
BLPA chairman hoped that the construction work of Teknaf
Land Port will start within a month and likely to be completed by the end of
October this year. Export- import trade through this port is expected to be in
full swing at the end of the current year. Besides improving physical facilities
to cope with potential flow of two-way trade, National Board of Revenue (NBR)
has decided to upgrade its customs station at Teknaf Bringing it under the
direct supervision by an assistant commissioner. At present Teknaf station is
under Cox's Bazar divisional office.
ATM Sarwar Hossain,
commissioner of Customs (VAT) Chittagong told BSS that the station had been
upgraded by office order, but matters relating to providing necessary facilities
to it like vehicle, telephone and mobile phone and support staff to make Teknaf
in a full fledged LP remained pending.
He said the Customs VAT
authority had earned about Taka 18 crore 69 lakh in the first eight months of
the current financial year against a target of Taka 11 crore 73 lakh. The
earning on same account for the entire period of fiscal 2001-2002 was Taka 11
crore 79 lakh.
During the period under study nearly 26 items were
imported from Myanmar. The items are betel-nut , gas lighter , cumin-seed,
cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, battery, sweet cumin-seed, dry fish, frozen
fish, ginger, cigarette paper, cane, bamboo and rice, he
added.
Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has said
recently that Bangladeshi businessmen would be benefited if they take advantage
of look east policy of the government. He said in a bid to reduce trade
imbalance Bangladesh and Myanmar have decided to go for "Accounts
Trade".
Meanwhile , shipping Minister Akbar Hossain has directed
the Mercantile Marine Department to issue fitness certificate to vessels after
proper inspection as prospects of coastal trade with Myanmar likely to start
soon following the Coastal Trade agreement signed during the recent visit of
Prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia to Yangon.
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Malaysian National News Agency
March 31 , 2003
16:10PM
30 Indonesians Held For Fighting At
Night Market
MELAKA, March 31 (Bernama) -- Thirty Indonesian factory workers
involved in a gang fight at the night market in Pantai Tanjung Puteri was
detained by the police here, Sunday night.
Textile factory workers
from Pantai Puteri, living in a hostel, clashed with another factory employees
from Bukit Rambai.
Melaka CPO SAC 1 Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee
said three locals who tried to break up the fight were injured including one who
was admitted at the Melaka Hospital.
"The fight between the two
gangs that started in Jalan Tun Ali bus stop at 8pm was believed to have sparked
off because workers from both group were unhappy with each other," he told
reporters here, Monday.
What started as a feud exploded into a
fight about an hour later when the textile workers suddenly attacked workers
from Bukit Rambai at the night market located in front of their hostel.
"The fight between both gangs started with stone throwing but
later became serious when the group from the hostel began to use a parang and
sharp iron," Wan said.
Several villagers and the night market
traders who tried to stop the fight were also beaten. Two were given outpatient
treatment while a person was treated for head injuries.
Following
a public complaint, Wan said police rushed to the area and detained the 30
workers from the hostel but the rival group members escaped.
"They
are held at the Melaka Tengah police lock-up and police recovered a parang and a
1.3m-long iron bar," he said Initial investigations showed the group were
involved in a fight about four months ago.
Wan said the textile
factory employed about 1,000 foreign workers -- mainly from Myanmar, Bangladesh,
Vietnam and 200 Indonesians.
-- BERNAMA
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The Jakarta Post - March 31, 2003
Borobudur festival lures foreigners
SEMARANG: Despite the Iraq war, six foreign
countries have confirmed that they will take part in the International Borobudur
Festival in June.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto said over the
weekend that Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Italy would
send delegates to the festival, which will be held at the Borobudur Temple
between June 11 and June 17.
The festival is aimed at boosting the
country's tourist industry, which has suffered since the Sept. 12, 2002,
bombings in Bali.
Mardiyanto said more delegates were expected to
participate in the festival, with the organizing committee approaching foreign
countries with cultural links to the world's largest Buddhist temple.
The governor said he had also notified the Czech Republic, Austria
and China of the upcoming event. -- JP
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