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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 12-14,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP -
Dissident group warns UK Myanmar protestor faces torture
AFP - EU
beefs up sanctions on Myanmar
AFP -
Myanmar junta complains Aung San Suu Kyi's party youth breaking law
AFP -
Myanmar's opposition denies junta's allegations of law-breaking
AFP -
Myanmar's water festival splashes on despite economic woes
AP - Suu
Kyi party says junta harassed her supporters during Chin state
AP -
Myanmar's gas export earnings rose last year
Asia Pulse - Increases in Philippine MFN Tariff Rates to be
Implemented Soon
Asia Times
- Myanmar: Iraq invasion poses tough questions
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Dissident group warns UK Myanmar protestor faces
torture
Sat Apr 12, 8:11 AM ET
BANGKOK, April 12
(AFP) - An exiled Myanmar student
group Saturday warned the British government that a protestor sheltering in the
country's embassy in Myanmar faced torture if he was handed back to the
country's ruling junta.
The protestor sought refuge in the embassy
earlier this month when authorities arrested another man he was demonstrating
with, but diplomats have so far made no comment on what they plan to do with
him.
The Thai-based All-Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU)
said in a statement that the unnamed man was a member of the 19-member Oway
Peoples Student Front (OPSF), formed in February this year.
"We,
ABFSU, are very concerned about his present condition. We are sure that if the
military regime seizes him, he would be punished by at least imprisonment," the
group said in an open letter to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw included in
the statement.
"Moreover, he would suffer torture by the military
intelligence, an arm of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
"We would love to hear more about on his condition. We would like
to urge to you to please implement an action on his case," the group said.
In the statement ABFSU spokesman Min Naing also called on
Myanmar's military regime to release all political prisoners, resume a
UN-sponsored dialogue with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and legalise
the free movement of all political parties and groups.
The ruling
SPDC maintains an iron-tight grip on Myanmar, despite Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) winning a landslide election victory in
1990.
All forms of demonstrations are strictly illegal in Myanmar,
although individuals occasionally flout the law to wage protests, usually
against the military's ongoing rule, and are promptly arrested.
The European Union in October 1996 banned all contacts with
members of the junta and later imposed an arms embargo and economic sanctions,
aimed at encouraging the regime to shift towards democracy.
EU and
US sanctions also include investment bans and restrictions on lending to Myanmar
by international financial bodies.
The EU will Monday extend its
sanctions against Myanmar for another year.
--------------------------------------------------------------
EU
beefs up sanctions on Myanmar
Mon Apr 14, 6:19 AM ET
LUXEMBOURG, April
14 (AFP) - EU foreign ministers
agreed Monday to extend and beef up sanctions against military-ruled Myanmar for
another year.
The ministers also decided to extend the list of
people subject to a visa black list and freezing of assets.
"The
Council (of ministers) can find no credible reason to account for the failure of
political will on behalf of the Burma/Myanmar authorities to agree to a
definitive timetable for the return of democracy," they said.
The
ministers also agreed to strengthen the arms embargo, on or before October 29,
unless ministers decide otherwise.
The EU in October 1996 banned
all contacts with members of the Myanmar junta and later imposed an arms embargo
and economic sanctions, including a freeze on assets held in EU countries by
members of the regime.
EU and US sanctions also include investment
bans and restrictions on lending to Myanmar by international financial bodies
that have contributed to a marked deterioration in the country's economy.
The latest 12-month EU sanctions package was due to expire on
April 29.
The package includes a 153-strong list of Myanmar junta
members and associates who are banned from entering EU territory. The visa
blacklist is topped by Senior General Than Shwe, the junta's number one.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar junta complains Aung San Suu Kyi's party youth
breaking law
Sun Apr 13, 6:31 AM ET
YANGON, April 13
(AFP) - Myanmar's junta complained
Sunday that youth members of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party were breaking
laws by harassing people who were taking photographs or filming the leader
during her trip to Chin state.
Aung San Suu Kyi is wrapping up a
political visit to the western state, during which she has opened National
League for Democracy (NLD) offices and met with party officials and thousands of
supporters who have flocked to see her.
The military junta said in
a statement that NLD youth, who are providing security for the pro-democracy
leader, were involved in two incidents where they "grabbed" cameramen seeking to
photograph or film her.
The first incident, at Matupi township,
involved NLD youth accosting photographer Aung Aung, who tried to photograph
Aung San Suu Kyi while she was addressing a crowd, the statement said.
"They not only grabbed him forcibly but took mugshots of him,
handed him over to the police and demanded that he be arrested," it said.
A second incident in Hsaw involved several cameramen seeking to
film Aung San Suu Kyi and whom the NLD youth similarly sought to have arrested,
the statement said.
"Looking at the incidents involving the
cameramen, one can conclude that these (NLD) youth were acting contrary to law,"
it said.
Myanmar's infamous military intelligence is known to
trail Aung San Suu Kyi, but usually keeps a low profile.
"If the
NLD would cooperate with the local authorities and be more understanding and
forgiving towards the people, we believe they would easily be able to overcome
any minor difficulties," the statement added.
NLD party spokesman
U Lwin told AFP that he had not seen the statement and was unaware of the
incidents.
"I don't know what went wrong. This morning I had
contact with her people but they didn't say anything about Matupi," he said.
In Hsaw, members of the junta's Union Solidarity Development
Association (USDA) -- officially a social organisation with some 19 million
members -- "shouted slogans against her and also announced to the townspeople
that she is a follower of Western countries, don't listen to her," U Lwin said.
Such shouting occurred in several towns while logs were placed in
the middle of some roads she attempted to travel on, he said.
"But
it was much better than those days spent moving around Arakan state, it was
better," U Lwin added, referring to western Rakhine state, which she toured late
last year.
During a stop in the town of Myauk-Oo on that trip,
Aung San Suu Kyi clamoured aboard a fire engine to prevent it from dispersing a
crowd of 20,000 people with high-pressure hoses.
The Nobel peace
laureate's visit to Chin state, which borders India and is home to Myanmar's
ethnic Chin minority, is her seventh outside the capital since her release from
19 months of house arrest last May.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's opposition denies junta's allegations of
law-breaking
Mon Apr 14, 5:27 AM ET
YANGON, April 14
(AFP) - Myanmar's opposition party
on Monday denied allegations from the ruling military junta that its youth
members had broken laws during a trip to western Chin state by opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Sunday the junta issued a statement alleging
that youth members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) acting as security
for their leader had "grabbed" cameramen seeking to photograph or film her.
One incident involved several cameramen and another a single
photographer, whom the NLD were alleged to have asked police to arrest.
"No such things happened during the trip. They never happened,"
NLD spokesman U Lwin told AFP.
However, he said, at one stop on
Aung San Suu Kyi's exhaustive 11-day visit to Chin state, members of the junta's
USDA -- a pro-Yangon social organisation with some 19 million members --
surrounded her car too tightly.
"At one place members of the group
USDA surrounded her car so close that the students, the youth around her, had to
defend her. At the same time ordinary NLD members went between and tried to turn
down the heated situation," he said.
"There was no fight, no
struggle with those people who wanted to get close to her and take a photo."
In another town though, NLD members did confiscate a camera from a
man who tried to take Aung San Suu Kyi's photograph intrusively, and asked him
to collect it later, U Lwin said.
"But he didn't turn up...
Whoever is the lawful owner can claim it," he said. "They are not supposed to
take her photo without her permission."
Aung San Suu Kyi had
declared the trip a success on her return Sunday, particularly in the rugged
Chin hills where many people turned up to greet her, U Lwin said.
"Especially in Chin hills people turned out as much as they could
under these circumstances," he said, repeating an earlier complaint that local
authorities had warned people not to attempt to see her.
During
her visit, the Nobel peace laureate reopened the Chin state NLD office and five
township offices as part of ongoing efforts to revitalise her party since her
release from 19 months of house arrest last May.
Her party won a
landslide victory in 1990 elections but has never been permitted to rule by the
military junta.
Landmark UN-brokered talks between the junta and
Aung San Suu Kyi that began in October 2000 aimed at national reconciliation are
widely believed to have slowed to a halt.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's water festival splashes on despite economic
woes
Mon Apr 14, 3:10 AM ET
YANGON, April 14
(AFP) - Thousands of exuberant
revellers took to the streets for wet celebrations of the Thingyan festival in
Myanmar's capital Monday in the lead up to the local calendar year of 1365,
oblivious for the moment to the country's ongoing economic woes.
"There is no indication that the happy-go-lucky Burmese intend to
let anything spoil their fun," one foreign diplomat told AFP, using the
country's former name of Burma which was abolished by the current ruling
military regime.
Major streets were lined with dozens of
elaborately decorated wooden water-throwing stands, or "pandals," with many
clustered around Yangon's Inya Lake to make the most of a plentiful water supply
used to inundate crowds with ritual splashes.
Petroleum companies
such as France's Total and multinational Schlumberger sponsored huge pandals
blaring Western-style rap music, which jostled with others set up by brewery and
cigarette companies advertising their products.
City authorities
decreed that each township within the Yangon area erect at least one pandal,
with businesses asked to contribute 5,000 to 10,000 kyat (five to 10 dollars at
commonly-used blackmarket rates).
"This is obviously to make sure
that revellers have enough pandals to move between inside the city, apart from
the showcase Yangon mayor's pandal," one Yangon resident told AFP.
People spent up big on the traditional holiday despite the
military state's chronic economic woes, which have worsened in recent months on
the back of a debilitating banking crisis.
"We're paying 70,000
kyat per day over four days for the use of this Japanese pick-up, excluding
petrol," young reveller Maung Maung, who is sharing the cost with 15 others,
told AFP.
"It's going to be worth it," he enthused.
Petrol prices have already been jacked up due to the festival,
selling for over 1,000 kyat per gallon compared to the usual subsidised price of
180 kyat.
During the four-day annual Thingyan festival, which this
year wraps up on Wednesday before Myanmar's year 1365 is ushered in the
following day, Buddhists flock to pagodas to seek merit and pray for better
things in the year ahead.
Meanwhile, chaotic celebrations take
place on the streets, where traffic police usually face an uphill battle keeping
any semblance of order.
Despite official warnings that misconduct
and impolite behavior would not be tolerated, the water festival is one time of
year that authorities turn a blind eye to noisy public gatherings, as long as
they stay strictly non-political.
But one water-throwing pandal in
the capital this year is conspicuously absent: the "Army Brats" pandal, usually
run by the family of late dictator Ne Win.
The former strongman's
son-in-law and three grandsons are now languishing in the notorious Insein Jail
with a death sentence hanging over their heads, having been convicted of
conspiring to overthrow the military government in September last year.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mon Apr 14, 11:57 AM ET
Suu Kyi party says junta harassed her supporters during
Chin state
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi returned
to the capital Sunday after an 11-day tour of the northwestern Chin State that
was marred by state-sponsored harassment, her spokesman said.
The
Union Solidarity and Development Association, a civilian organization affiliated
with the military government, warned people against greeting Suu Kyi. They
played loud music and Buddhist sermons on loudspeakers when she addressed the
crowd, spokesman U Lwin told The Associated Press.
The harassment
added to concern that the junta was trying to prevent Suu Kyi from expanding her
political activities after releasing her from house arrest under international
pressure.
The visit to Chin state was Suu Kyi's sixth political
tour of the Myanmar countryside since her release in May last year. She opened
six party offices during the trip.
On her last party
organizational trip in December to the northwestern Rakhine State, she faced
unprecedented interference from local authorities, who placed trucks, boulders
and barbed wire across streets to stop her vehicle. At other places, people were
warned not to attend her rallies.
U Lwin said Suu Kyi did not face
any ``direct obstructions'' of that kind this time, but her supporters and the
local populace were strongly discouraged from meeting her.
The
government did not immediately react to U Lwin's allegations, but released a
statement saying Suu Kyi and her supporters violated the law by taking away a
camera from a person who was taking pictures of the opposition leader and
handing him over to police.
It did not say who the person was, but
intelligence agents in civilian clothes routinely photograph and videotape Suu
Kyi's public activities.
The junta came to power in 1988 after
crushing pro-democracy protests. It called elections in 1990 but refused to give
up power when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won.
It started reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000 to
break the political deadlock, but no tangible progress has been reported except
for the release of a few hundred political prisoners.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mon Apr 14, 1:38 AM ET
Myanmar's gas export earnings rose last year
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar earned US$872.3 million from gas
exports in 2002, a rise of about 62 percent compared to 2001, according to
official statistics.
The National Planning and Economic
Development Ministry said in a statement received Monday that the 2002 earnings
constitute around 28 percent of the country's total export value of US$3.07
billion.
The exports and import value are calculated at the
official exchange rate of about 6.5 kyat to a dollar. The unofficial or free
market exchange rate is about 900 kyat per dollar.
Myanmar exports
most of its gas to Thailand via pipelines run by TotalFinaElf of France and
Britain's Premier Oil.
The official statistics indicate an around
25 percent increase in the overall export value in 2002, compared to the export
earning in 2001.
But the volume of foreign trade remains
relatively unchanged, showing only 0.5 percent increase, as the amount of
imports in 2002 dropped by about 21 percent to US$2.36 billion.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monday April 14, 11:19 AM
Increases in Philippine MFN Tariff Rates to be Implemented
Soon
MANILA, April
14 Asia Pulse - Increases on
most-favored nation (MEN) tariffs will take effect this year and not next year
as planned to give immediate relief to some sectors that need urgent assistance
from the government via tariff relief.
A top ranking
official said that Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, who is
chairman of the Tariff Related Matters (TRM) committee, has directed the body to
come up with an urgent decision as soon as possible.
Under the
comprehensive tariff review on the MFN rates (meaning tariffs applied to
non-ASEAN member countries), tariff adjustments are scheduled for implementation
in 2004.
Based on the
Philippine commitment before the World Trade Organization, MFN rates are
scheduled to go down to a minimum of 5 per cent by next year. But local
industries feel the reduction was too fast compared to other competitor
countries.
Among the
sectors which tariffs may be raised include the petrochemicals sector because
its tariff under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) of ASEAN is
maintained at 15 per cent until 2004. Existing MFN rate for petrochem is also at
15 per cent.
Steel
products may also receive a higher tariff cover in light of the government's
move to attract investors into moribund National Steel
Corp.
The MFN
tariff review was ordered by President Gloria Arroyo last year to the DTI,
National Economic and Development Authority and the Tariff
Commission.
According to
a source, the DTI is swamped with industry petitions to delay the reduction of
the MFN tariff. This directive was contained under Executive Order 264 known as
the Tariff Reform Program in 1996.
While Roxas
was amenable to delaying the tariff cuts on MFN which refers to tariffs meted to
products from countries outside of ASEAN, the Secretary has made it clear it
could not be applled universaliy which means this would be limited to a few
crucial industries such as automotive and petrochemicals.
It could be
recalled the government committed more products when it acceded to the General
Agreements on Tariffs and Trade in 1947; More items bound by the government
acceded to the WTO in 1994.
Binding of
tariff under the WTO auspices means that the government has agreed to put the
maximum tariff possible for a particular product.
Once the
government has committed to bind the tariff on a particular product, it can no
longer raise the tariff beyond its bound rate but it can only lower the bound
tariff rate.
This makes
the MFN review limited to products whose tariff rates have not been bound in the
previous government undertakings.
In advocating
for a review of the MFN rates, Roxas earlier said he was not bound by the
commitment entered into by his predecessors, an Industry source
said.
So far tariff
rates of automotive and petrochemical industries are not bound. The two
industries are deemed crucial to the industrial development of the country
although the automotive industry is only seeking for the retention of the
existing 30 per cent MFN tariff.
According to
the source, local Industries have pushed for the delay in the reduction of MFN
tariffs because they fear it could not yet compete with the rest of the world
particularly with the entry of
China.
Local
industries though have already accepted the ASEAN tariff, which started going
down to 0 to 5 per cent at the start of this year.
The major
concern now in the region is the 2010 deadline, which is the end date for the
trade liberalization in the region for the original six ASEAN members and 2015
for the new members
Cambodia,
Laos,
Myanmar and
Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times - Apr 12, 2003
Myanmar:
Iraq invasion poses tough questions
By Aung Zaw
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - The question of outside military
intervention to unseat a ruthless regime, such as what is currently taking place
in Iraq, is a tricky one for many in military-ruled Myanmar.
To
some exiles, the US-led invasion of Iraq brought to mind debates about how to
bring about democracy in Myanmar: Should it, can it, come from within the
country, or is there, should there, be a role for outside intervention?
Some writers and intellectuals who have criticized the invasion
have come under fire from people, including the political opposition against
military rule in Yangon, who say the United States has been helping the
democratic cause in Myanmar and should be not be attacked for its actions on
Iraq. They also say that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had it coming, because
of his human-rights atrocities against his own people.
Some
critics of the Myanmese military are also uncomfortable with the fact that the
government has, understandably, been supportive of articles that have appeared
in local media and elsewhere, written by anti-Yangon activists, that criticize
the United States' unilateral decision to bomb Iraq.
Speaking to
the Burmese Service of the British Broadcasting Corp, opposition leader and
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said: "If possible, we want all problems
over the world to be solved by just peaceful means."
But Moe Thee
Zun, a former student leader in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, said: "We
shouldn't forget who is the real culprit. It was Saddam Hussein. Iraqi people
have been looking for liberation under his rule."
Gen Saw Bo Mya,
Karen insurgent leader, said: "Saddam Hussein is a dictator - a dictator who
suppresses his own people." But Padoh Mahn Sha, who like Saw Bo Mya belongs to
the Karen National Union, said that while he accepts that a dictator such as
Saddam Hussein should be removed, "that doesn't mean I support colonialism".
The invasion of Iraq is resonating in other, deeper ways among the
Myanmese. While Washington has given no sign that it wishes to remove the regime
in Myanmar, called the State Peace and Development Council, those Myanmese who
had wanted armed intervention to overthrow it might think twice after seeing the
invasion of Iraq.
Interestingly, too, some armed dissident groups
based along the border with Thailand are taking a non-violent stance.
"I have been asked whether I would agree if the US offered to take
the same measure for the freedom of the Burmese people," said Kyaw Thuya of the
rebel group All Burma Students' Democratic Front. "My answer is firmly 'no'.
"I don't expect that the United States and others would provide
arms and ammunition for our movement. It would be effective for the freedom of
the Burmese people if the international community could increase its existing
pressure on the Burmese junta with both diplomatic and economic means," he
added.
Dr Zarni, director and founder of the Washington-based Free
Burma Coalition (FBC), drew criticism for the anti-war messages on his website,
including from FBC supporters. Zarni, who has taken political asylum in the
United States, says many Myanmese political exiles in the US are confronted with
a serious moral dilemma.
"Should we, as principled and committed
democrats, shut our mouths up when we are witnessing - and are living through -
something as extremely unprincipled and unspeakably callous as the US invasion
of Iraq simply because we have sought refuge in this country?" he asked.
Zarni said supporting the war on Iraq would be "prostituting our
conscience for our own survival ... simply because our democracy movement [and
its leadership] has become overly reliant on the United States' support for its
sustainability and sustenance".
Inside Myanmar, Yangon-based
editors and writers are careful of what to publish in their papers, but not only
because of draconian press laws. Some editors say publishing anti-war and
anti-US articles is playing into the hands of military junta. "If you print
articles that are critical of the US and the war, authorities are very pleased,"
a magazine editor in Yangon said.
Myanmar's official newspapers
have published articles attacking the US war on Iraq. Maung Maung Soe Tint, a
former ambassador, wrote in an official newspaper, "The [US] unilateral act will
not bring about that country's peace and security. Instead, it will perpetrate
hatred and terrorism."
Ironically then, perhaps for the first time
in many years, the Myanmese military government and some dissidents see eye to
eye.
Veteran journalist Sein Win in Yangon got into trouble not
with the censorship board, but with the opposition National League of Democracy
(NLD), whose leaders consider the United States an important ally and thus
maintain that criticism of its war actions should be withheld.
US
President George W Bush "has shown his cowboy attitude," Sein Wein said. "I
wanted to ask when he said he wanted to liberate the Iraqi people and the
country, 'is Bush a god?' Look at world history, how many countries do you see
that have been saved or liberated because of US or UN intervention?"
Myanmar's peace movement has a history of airing its discontent
with the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, its writers and intellectuals
were active in the global peace movement, speaking out against the war in
Vietnam and showing their respect for Ho Chi Minh.
Myanmese exiles
are also split on the US-led invasion of Iraq, with activists speaking out
against it being attacked as being "anti-America". Some opposition groups in
exile, who depend on assistance and funding from the United States, have fallen
silent for fear of losing this support, although they oppose Washington's action
in Iraq.
Plenty of Myanmese, however, are urging the United States
to take tough action against Yangon. Some exiles have even suggested that the
United States include Myanmar in its "axis of evil" to justify efforts to remove
the regime. Then again, others say, invading Myanmar would be futile and would
only produce a regime of similar ilk.
(Inter Press
Service)
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