Reuters - Myanmar to Export Heavy Metal to
U.S.
Reuters - ASEAN must act to counter China FDI pull--US
group
Reuters - House to Vote on Three-Year Myanmar Import
Ban
AP
- Germany extends funds for humanitarian aid in Myanmar
Asia Pulse - China's Luoyang Yituo Exports 100 Road Rollers to
Myanmar
Asia Pulse - India's Icc Wants More Trade Routes Opened to
China
Asia Pulse - Asean Nations to Remove Trade Barriers
PD - Editorials - Sanction only Burma's
leaders
NJ - House considers economic sanctions against Myanmar
WP - Engage Burma
Jang - 'Western interference in Myanmar could cause
coups'
Bkk Post - Road map idea wins support
The Nation - opinion - Xenophobia has no place in
Thailand
TI - India seeks more naval strike
capability
Asian Tribune - Burmese Army Generals? unending foolish
acts - must regret
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 8:05 PM
Myanmar to Export Heavy Metal
to U.S.
By Dominic Whiting
BANGKOK
(Reuters) - Five long-haired Burmese
men, calling themselves Iron Cross, are looking to conquer the United States
after taking military-ruled Myanmar by storm.
The heavy-metal musicians,
who have packed open-air stadiums across the insular Southeast Asian country for
a decade, plan to head off this month for a tour taking in New York, Los Angeles
and San Francisco.
While international attention hones in on the
detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by Myanmar's ruling generals,
lead singer Lay Phyu wants the world to hear his Burmese-language stories of
love, which have been influenced by counterfeit Metallica cassettes censored by
the military.
"You can't talk about ... politics to me. It's just
music," Lay Phyu told Reuters in a telephone interview from Myanmar's capital
Yangon. "Our songs are about love and life, experiences, this and that."
Iron Cross raised the hackles of Myanmar's junta by naming an album
"Power 54" in 1995, when Nobel peace prize winner Suu Kyi -- whose house number
was 54 -- was freed from the first of two spells of house arrest.
Former
colonial power Britain says the junta is now holding her in the notorious Insein
jail, the biggest prison in the British empire before 1945, following a clash
between her supporters and pro-military youths on May 30.
"There's
obviously fear," said Aung Zaw, editor of a Thailand-based magazine run by
Myanmar exiles. "The group has had problems in the past with Power 54."
Lay
Phyu said he changed the album's name to just "Power."
"I had to do it.
I wanted to," he said. "It's a long story."
BAN ON LADY IN RED
A military censorship board screens all lyrics before they are
recorded, looking for any, however oblique, reference to Suu Kyi, her National
League for Democracy (NLD) and its red flag.
The NLD won a landslide
election victory in 1990 but was prevented from taking power by the army, which
has ruled the country in various guises since a 1962 coup.
"If they're
not happy they will summon writers to their office and ask for the meaning of
songs," Aung Zaw said.
"There are no rules. Sometimes you can't mention
the color red. You can't talk about a lady who is brave because it might
resemble Aung San Suu Kyi."
A few poets, artists and singers jailed in
the early 1990s for opposing the military regime have been released in recent
years. But the United Nations says some 1,200 political prisoners still languish
in Myanmar's jails.
Lay Phyu says he leaves the lyrics to others.
Aung Zaw said the band had not recorded any of the propaganda songs
often commissioned by the junta extolling the message that the army is vital to
nation building in the ethnically diverse country, formerly known as Burma.
Singers who have gone along with the government line get invited to
military events but are often hit by a slump in popularity.
"I don't
write a single lyric. We have so many songwriters," Lay Phyu said. "But we're
the best in Myanmar because the songs are just quality. And the other guys in
the band do very good stuff."
Iron Cross are waiting to clear U.S. visa
complications for their drummer before setting off on the tour.
The
United States, which has threatened harsher sanctions on Myanmar's rulers for
their treatment of Suu Kyi, hosts thousands of Myanmar migrants and hundreds of
dissidents who fled a 1988 crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 5:55 PM
ASEAN must act to counter
China FDI pull--US group
SINGAPORE, July 15
(Reuters) - Southeast Asian nations
must tear down remaining trade barriers if they want to lure investment from
U.S. companies reluctant to put all their eggs in the China basket, a U.S.
business group said on Tuesday.
The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council
identified energy, agribusiness and infrastructure as potential magnets for
increased foreign direct investment if governments acted promptly to complete
AFTA, the free trade area of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
"If ASEAN's ready to move forward, there's a lot of supply in
terms of capital and technology waiting to come into ASEAN from the United
States," Ernest Bower, the council's president, told reporters after a two-day
meeting of the group in Singapore.
Unocal Corp Chairman Charles
Williamson, who chairs the council's board, said the independent energy driller
would probably invest more than $900 million in ASEAN this year.
"There's large volumes of natural gas that have been discovered in the
ASEAN region that still have not come to market, so there'll be some large
investments," he said.
Total U.S. investment in the 10 countries that make
up ASEAN stood at $52.4 billion at the end of 2001, according to the council.
But Bower said exemptions from AFTA tariff cuts that took effect in
2002, notably an opt-out for Malaysia's car industry, sapped the confidence of
potential investors in ASEAN.
"When they see Asia, there's a big neon
sign that says China," Bower said.
He urged countries with elections
next year, including the Philippines and Indonesia, not to cave into
protectionist pressure for further AFTA opt-outs.
"If those countries do
that, they not only undermine the investment profile in their own countries but
they're undermining AFTA," Bower said. "It gives momentum back to China in terms
of the competitive race for FDI.
Instead, ASEAN should scrap its
traditional insistence on consensus and permit members that want to liberalise
quickly to get on with it. An "open skies" agreement to deregulate air travel
could be one prize of such an approach, Bower said.
He said the impact
of last October's Bali bombing, the three-month outbreak of SARS and
anti-American sentiment stoked by the Iraq war had dampened the interest of some
medium-sized U.S. companies in setting up shop in Southeast Asia.
But
China's initial attempt to cover up the extent of severe acute respiratory
syndrome had also underscored the political risk to a foreign investor in Asia
of counting exclusively on China.
"So our message is: use that $50
billion in embedded investment that the Americans have (in ASEAN), use that base
and don't throw that away as you go for a China bet," Bower said.
ASEAN
groups Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
--------------------------------------------------------------
House to Vote on Three-Year Myanmar Import
Ban
Mon Jul 14, 5:30 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives was
poised on Monday to approve a three-year ban on imports from Myanmar, where
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held by the government since May
30.
The latest congressional action comes as the Southeast Asian
country's military rulers have accused Western nations of "blind and prejudiced
meddling" in its internal affairs.
The junta has faced growing
international pressure to free Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize laureate whose party won
national elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to take power.
Last month, the Senate voted 97-1 to ban imports from Myanmar, subject
to annual congressional renewal, until the country has a democratically-elected
government in place.
The pending House bill would limit the import ban
to three years to address U.S. business community concerns about the difficulty
of lifting sanctions once they have been imposed.
The House was expected
to vote late Monday on the legislation. The Senate could approve the House
version in coming days and send a final bill to President Bush who is expected
to sign it, congressional aides said.
The United States imported $356
million worth of textiles, clothing, footwear and other goods from Myanmar in
2002.
The Myanmar government arrested Suu Kyi on May 30 following a
bloody clash between her supporters and pro-government groups outside Yangon,
the country's capital. She has spent more than half of the last 14 years in
detention in her home in Yangon.
After Suu Kyi's recent arrest, key
donor Japan suspended new aid to Myanmar and the United States and European
Union threatened harsher sanctions.
Myanmar's military leaders reacted
negatively to that pressure on Monday in an article carried by several
newspapers considered mouthpieces for the junta.
"This blind and
prejudiced meddling in Myanmar's home affairs, supporting one side while
opposing the other by America and its West European allies, have adversely
affected the nation's internal stability," the commentary said.
The
junta has repeatedly said its ultimate goal is a national reconciliation and a
transition to democracy, but that moving too quickly could lead to instability.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Germany extends funds for humanitarian aid in Myanmar
Mon
Jul 14, 8:10 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Germany will donate 131,000 euros
(US$147,000) to provide health and sanitation services and water to a town in
central Myanmar, a German Embassy statement said Monday.
The project, to
be carried out by German aid organization Malteser Hilfsdienst Deutschland, is
aimed at helping about 72,000 people in the Thongwa township, about 50
kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the capital, Yangon, the statement said.
MHD is one of the biggest charitable organizations in Germany and has
been active in Myanmar since 2001.
The European Union and the United
States recently stiffened political and economic sanctions against Myanmar's
military government after the regime detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi in May. But the EU sanctions do not affect humanitarian aid programs to
boost health and basic education, the statement said.
The sanitation
project is scheduled to begin in October, an embassy spokesman said on customary
condition of anonymity.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military for more
than four decades. The current regime took power after crushing a pro-democracy
movement in 1988. The opposition National League for Democracy party, led by Suu
Kyi, won 1990 elections, but was never allowed to rule.
Suu Kyi and the
other NLD leaders were detained after a May 30 clash between opposition
supporters and a pro-government mob. NLD offices were also shut nationwide.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 1:43 PM
China's Luoyang Yituo Exports
100 Road Rollers to Myanmar
ZHENGZHOU, July 15
Asia Pulse - China has exported 100
road rollers, worth over US$1.2 million, to its Southeast Asian neighbor
Myanmar.
The machines, under the brand of "Luoyang" were manufactured by the
Luoyang Yituo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. in Luoyang City, in central
China's Henan Province.
The Chinese company beat two dozen domestic and
overseas competitors for the contract in open bidding by the Myanmar government,
the sources said.
China is one of the largest machine builders in the
world and in recent years local manufacturers have been trying hard to export
more electrical and mechanical equipment.
Luoyang is a major industrial
production base in China.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 4:47 PM
India's Icc Wants More Trade
Routes Opened to China
KOLKATA, July 15 Asia Pulse - The Indian Chamber of Commerce has
made a strong pitch to open up more trade routes through the North-eastern
states and Myanmar to access the bustling business hubs of South-Eastern
China.
Calling for a new step in this direction, called 'Initiative for
India China Cooperation', ICC president, Vikram Thapar, said in a statement here
that the recent Sino-Indian joint agreement for opening up the Nathu La pass in
Sikkim was a symbolic gesture which heralded a new era of an easy business
environment between the two countries.
"However, the real gains of trade
and business opportunities would be felt by opening up of land routes from the
North-East through Bangladesh and Myanmar to Kunming in China. This could then
be linked up to the proposed Asian Highway to link up with Laos, Cambodia,
Vietnam and onward to the south east Asian countries," he said.
He
emphasized that the recent enhancement of economic cooperation between India and
China could bring in a significant business opportunities for eastern and
north-eastern India. However, that would require a focus on looking east, to
really maximize the potential for Sino-Indian business cooperation, he
said.
Kolkata could be the key location for connecting the eastern region
to the rest of the sub-region, Thapar said, adding that he foresaw strong
business potentials and synergy between the eastern and north-eastern states in
India and China.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday July 15, 3:37 PM
Asean Nations to Remove Trade
Barriers
CEBU CITY, July 15 Asia Pulse - The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) will again get the commitment of its members to remove their
respective trade barriers.
According to Asean Coordinating Committee on
Investments chairman Lim Jock Hoi, a document that seeks to renew the political
will of Asean members to remove trade barriers in their respective countries
will be presented during the First Asean business summit in Bali, Indonesia on
October.
"The document, which will contain an economic plan of action,
will be presented to the members to renew their political will to create a
single market for the region to be able to attract foreign direct investments
(FDIs)," he said.
The members of the Asean are Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
The Asean has been convening since last year to create and
implement measures that would make the region attractive to FDIs.
One of
these measures is the Asean Investment Area (AIA) commitment.
The
members of the Asean signed a memorandum of agreement in October 1998 on the
implementation of the AIA, which aims to establish a competitive Asean
investment area, with a more liberal and transparent investment environment, to
increase the flow of investments into the Asean from both Asean and non-Asean
sources.
One of the agreements of the Asean is to gradually transfer the
products listed in its sensitive list to a temporary list, then eventually to a
list with no more restrictions.
The sensitive list contains products
with tariffs for an indefinite period of time.
The temporary list, on
the other hand, is the list of products with tariffs but only for a specified
period of time.
Lim said Asean had also arranged free trade agreements
with other countries such as Korea, India and Japan, aside from China.
He said the Asean's partnership with Japan is broader and more
comprehensive.
Lim earlier said Japan still finds Asean a priority
market for its FDIs, as long as the region strengthens its intra-trade
agreement.
Lim had told the press that most FDIs are now trying to get
into China because of its large population of 1.3 billion.
The combined
population of the Asean is 530 million.
"Asean's alliance with China
will benefit the region in general. This is why the Asean has negotiated for a
free trade area agreement with China by 2010," Lim said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Plain Dealer
Editorials - Sanction only Burma's
leaders
07/14/03
Burma's military junta has signaled
its disdain for, and even fear of, Burma's people by throwing democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi into the notoriously harsh Insein prison and holding her
virtually incommunicado. The May 30 move, after thugs ambushed her traveling
caravan, has been followed by other ominous signs of a crackdown on independent
thought, including closure of schools and a campaign of innuendo against Suu Kyi
and her followers.
The United States must not compound the hurt being
done Burma's sorely put-upon multitudes by adopting sweeping trade sanctions. An
embargo would only punish working people and help the regime by giving it a
better target for invective and hate. Already, a concerted media campaign
accuses Suu Kyi of being in league with the United States.
The George W.
Bush administration so far has gone the far wiser route of securing the help of
Burma's main investors and donors to crack down on this rogue regime with
targeted sanctions, more effective military embargoes and an end to regime aid.
Washington has taken this approach since the mid-1990s. Already, Thailand has
taken off its kid gloves and allowed Burmese dissidents on its airwaves. Japan
is ending $78 million in annual aid. The European Union widened military
sanctions.
It's still not enough. The generals who rule what they call
Myanmar are unfazed - mainly because China is still handing out help by the
hundreds of millions. That's where U.S. pressure now needs to be applied: on
Beijing.
Instead, frustrated by Burma's intransigence, the White House
has decided to support sanctions working their way through Congress that would
bar all Burmese imports and could throw hundreds of thousands of women
textile-makers out of work. The sanctions passed the Senate June 11 and await
House action.
"We support efforts to restrict imports from Burma as long
as the president is given an appropriately flexible waiver authority," Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly told lawmakers June 25, signaling the
administration's willingness to sign the legislation.
The Bush team,
however, must resist this temptation unless sanctions are limited to firms tied
to the junta. To do otherwise would undercut Suu Kyi's efforts and her "crimes"
of speaking the truth, arousing the hopes of her people and having in mind a
brighter future for her long-suffering nation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
New Jersey
House considers economic sanctions against
Myanmar
By JIM ABRAMS
The Associated
Press
7/14/03 6:09 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Monday
took up legislation to punish the military government in Myanmar for its latest
acts of repression by imposing economic sanctions and freezing the government's
assets in the United States.
The legislation would expand the current
ban on visits to the United States by Myanmar leaders and codifies the current
policy of opposing new international loans or technical assistance to Myanmar,
also known as Burma.
The bill was expected to pass overwhelmingly when
the House votes Tuesday.
The Senate on June 11 passed a similar bill on
a 97-1 vote. The two measures must be reconciled before the legislation can be
sent to President Bush, who is expected to sign it into law.
The bill
would strengthen previous actions taken against Myanmar, including visa
restrictions on its military leaders and a 1997 ban on new investment by U.S.
companies.
The decision to further tighten economic sanctions is tied to
the military government's May 30 arrest of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and
the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement she has led the past several
decades.
The military seized power in 1988 and stepped in to void the
1990 elections that would have given power to Suu Kyi and her National League
for Democracy. Suu Kyi was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again for 19
months before her release in May 2002. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
After Suu Kyi was released, Congress last year held off on similar
legislation banning imports. But her re-arrest in May following clashes between
her supporters and government backers revived momentum to ostracize the military
government of the already isolated and impoverished nation.
"It is clear
that dialogue is dead, national reconciliation is dead and it is equally clear
that we must adopt a new approach toward Burma and that new approach must
include economic sanctions," said Rep. Tom Lantos of California, top Democrat on
the International Relations Committee and sponsor of the bill.
"These
are tough measures but no tougher than Burma's ruling thugs deserve," he said.
The House trade ban would affect Myanmar exports to the United States
that reached some $356 million in 2002, mostly in garments. The measure also
directs the Secretary of State to encourage other nations to cut off support for
the Myanmar government and assist the country's democratic movement.
Language attached to the bill also singles out Myanmar's two neighbors,
China and Thailand, as countries that need to do more toward ending repression
in Myanmar. Those countries "must recognize that national reconciliation will
not happen under the current regime, and stop their economic and political
patronage of the Burmese dictatorship."
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Washington Post
Engage Burma
By David I. Steinberg
Tuesday, July
15, 2003; Page A19
Burma gets the world's attention only in times
of political crisis -- that's when the international media rally around. But
there is, in that potentially rich but benighted country, a destructive malaise
that is generally ignored by the rest of the world. It has serious effects
throughout Burma's ethnically diverse population of about 50 million.
The
basic problem, after four decades of military rule, is the bifurcation of the
society into a military that is effectively a state within Burma and the
unresolved issue of power-sharing between the majority Burman population and the
one-third of the people who are members of minority
groups.
Strategically, Burma is pivotal in India-China relations and in
other regional relationships. Moreover, its poverty, mismanagement and
suppression of opposition groups have driven more than a million Burmese into
neighboring countries, spreading social and health problems in that part of the
world.
The latest crisis is the deplorable incident in central Burma in
which the opposition National League for Democracy entourage, led by Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was attacked by a military-backed mass mobilization
group, with an unknown number being killed and wounded. Aung San Suu Kyi was
taken into custody along with other leaders of her party, and party offices were
closed. She needs to be released immediately. After she was freed from modified
house arrest in May 2002 (her second confinement), there was international
euphoria about a military-opposition reconciliation process. But it has never
really taken place. The prospects of political conciliation are now even less
encouraging.
The military leadership of the country is exceptionally
hierarchical in structure, and those at the top have been secluded from global,
even internal, realities. Their education is parochial, their international
experience and information minimal and their contacts with the outside world
carefully controlled. It appears that some are so isolated they do not even
comprehend Burma's internal problems, let alone international
affairs.
The military thinks it can remain withdrawn from the world, as
it has been for decades, and still survive because of the country's natural
wealth. But in fact, population growth, whimsical economic and social policies,
insurrections and fear have transformed what should be the richest country in
the region into one of the poorest.
In 1997 the United States imposed
sanctions on new investment in Burma and prohibited that country's senior
military from visiting here. Now, in reaction to the current crisis, it has
widened the travel ban. Meanwhile, Congress will likely pass legislation
prohibiting garment and textile imports of more than $300 million, and Burmese
assets will probably be frozen. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said the
Burmese ambassador to Washington should be declared persona non grata to
indicate our displeasure, even though he is one of the few positive links to
that state.
These responses may be morally comforting to all of us who
wish the world were more democratic, but have they been or are they likely to be
effective? What the United States has been doing is to drive the Burmese back
onto themselves and more closely into the Chinese sphere of influence.
We
seem to believe that sanctions and a broader policy of political and economic
quarantine will force change -- a highly dubious proposition. The sanctions of
1997 did not work, and no country on Burma's borders wants them. More sanctions
mean simply more isolation. We are cutting off effective contact, reinforcing
diplomatic and economic purdah and, rather than bringing change, are virtually
mandating a xenophobic military response. We thus limit our potential
influence.
The Burmese military has been inept. Some of its stated goals
-- national unity, better health and education, cultural preservation -- sound
acceptable. But the military cannot achieve such goals with its repressive
internal policies and external relations.
The United States should not
foster Burma's isolation. It should, with Japan, the European Union and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, engage that state to encourage positive
changes. It should induce China to warn the Burmese of their
predicament.
Simply to wish or try to force the military from power will
not work. The military will be important in Burma, as it has been since
independence in 1948, under any civilian administration. Its members need to be
educated to the reality that the interests of the Burmese people, and indeed the
military as a Burmese institution, require compromise and compassion. The
present and planned U.S. policies will not achieve the ends we all hope
for.
The writer is director of Asian studies at Georgetown
University's School of Foreign Service.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jang Group
'Western
interference in Myanmar could cause coups'
Tuesday July 15,
2003
YANGON: Military-ruled Myanmar lashed out at the United
States and Europe on Monday, claiming the Western powers were hindering its
efforts to become democratic and suggesting that their intervention could lead
to a series of coups.
The comments in all three state-run newspapers come
as the United States and the European Union _ both of which already have
political and economic sanctions against Myanmar, have slapped even tougher
measures against the Southeast Asian nation because of its latest detention of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The commentary did not directly
mention the sanctions, but in an apparent reference to them it said that it
would be 'totally wrong' to assume that greater hardships will cause unrest in
the name of democracy in Myanmar today. It said that a rise in poverty would
lead to an increase in gangsterism.
"If such were the situation there
would follow an endless cycle of military coups with military rule leaving the
house by the front door and entering it again from the window," the commentary
said. "In such a state of affairs there will be no other option but a military
coup.''
The commentary accused the United States of 'launching limited
wars, imposing economic sanctions and applying pressures through the UN' to
topple established governments and appoint its 'minions' to rule.
It said
Western powers have tried to foist their vision of democracy on Myanmar and
meddle in its affairs unsuccessfully for 15 years.
"It has created
obstacles and hindered the nation's efforts to establish peace and stability ...
to set up a democratic state and a market-oriented economy," the commentary
said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Tuesday 15 July 2003
Road map idea wins support
No response so far from
Rangoon
Achara Ashayagachat
Thailand's
sketchy proposal for a road map to democracy for Burma has been received with
interest by Austria, considered a moderate European nation on the issue of
Burma.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai suggested establishing
widely-accepted monitoring steps to measure progress in democratisation in
military-ruled Burma when he met Austrian Foreign Minister Benita
Ferrero-Waldner in Vienna.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner expressed concern to Mr
Surakiart that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been held in ``special
custody'' by the junta since May 30.
Rangoon needed to do more to show
the world it was sincere in its efforts towards reconciliation, she
said.
``The EU has a strict position on Burma but it is also important to
listen and see if Burma is trying to open up in some ways or not.
``Rangoon's permission for [UN special envoy] Ismail Razali's meeting
with Mrs Suu Kyi [last month] reflected the Burmese awareness on the issue,''
she said.
Mr Surakiart said the Austrian minister shared Thailand's view
that the early release of the National League for Democracy leader would be a
good first step to show to the world the national reconciliation process had not
been derailed.
Austria asked Thailand to present a proposal detailing
what common steps should be taken by both Rangoon and the international
community to measure developments in Burma and they would further discuss it
among the EU partners.
Mr Surakiart said he had already floated the idea
with Burma but had yet to receive any feedback.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Xenophobia has no place in Thailand
Pravit Rojanaphruk
Published on Jul 15, 2003
Ill treatment of Burmese refugees and workers will come back to
haunt us
Like a recurring epileptic fit, xenophobic anti-Burmese
outbursts recently struck again. Illegal migrant workers were rounded up prior
to the Apec meeting and the UNHCR, as well as former pro-democracy Burmese
student activists in Thailand ended up on the receiving end of Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra?s wrath.
Historical enmity, threats to national
security, the supposed ?ungratefulness? of the Burmese people ? all these old
canards are cited whenever a crackdown is launched.
So what are the
options of sensible Thai people who value good neighbourly relations with the
Burmese people? Can ordinary Thais do anything to patch the rift?
There
are a few good reasons why Thais, especially the civil society, should make an
effort to amend past mistakes and current mistrust.
First, the public
should be more caring towards migrant labourers, legal or otherwise, as well as
former student activists who are seeking refuge in the Kingdom. There are surely
bad people amongst them, just as there are surely bad people amongst Thais, but
that doesn?t make all of them evil.
The fact is, many irregular migrant
labourers from Burma, usually referred to as illegal migrant labourers, are
routinely exploited by different parties. Unscrupulous employers treat them as
slave labour. Corrupt police extort money from them. And the public simply turns
a blind eye ? some saying they deserve it for what Burma did to Siam more than
100 years ago.
Many of the 300,000 or so Burmese labourers who are
registered to work here have their registration cards withheld by their
employer, on top of having registration fees deducted from their meagre pay.
It?s not uncommon for migrant construction workers to be told they will be paid
at the end of month ? only to face immigration police rounding them up instead.
It?s a form of cynical ?cost-cutting? that appeals to profit-minded
employers.
That?s just the general brushstroke of injustice. It doesn?t
include individual examples of cruel treatment, such as the case of Ma Suu, an
18-year-old ethnic Mon maid who was beaten, burnt and left for dead. Ma Suu said
she was accused of stealing but the person she said had employed her denied even
knowing her. Ma Suu eventually succumbed to her wounds and died saying she hoped
that her next life wouldn?t end up like this one.
There?s no reason why
these people deserve to be treated badly, especially when Thais expect
foreigners to treat their own labourers abroad decently, whether in Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan or Japan.
It?s questionable whether the ethnic
minorities who make their way here are descendants of the people who sacked
Ayutthaya twice and burnt it to the ground. Some, in fact, themselves fought the
conquering armies. Yet many relish their plight now, saying it?s what they
deserve for those long-ago wars. These people risk becoming slaves to history
rather than its students. When this occurs, as it seems to be doing in Thailand
at the moment, hatred simply begets more hatred.
What?s more, most
irregular migrant workers are engaged in so-called 3D jobs that most Thais are
no longer willing to take. These jobs, which include processing fish on
trawlers, factory work and agricultural labour are either dirty, dangerous, or
demeaning ? or all of the above.
This, labour experts say, constitutes
the reality of the global market. Such jobs will need doing for the foreseeable
future, and not by those clamouring loudest for those doing them to
disappear.
Despite the fact that they?re generally referred to as
?illegal?, it doesn?t make migrant workers ?criminals?. The real criminals are
exploitative employers, human trafficking rings and corrupt police officers who
systematically extort money from the trade in migrant labour. Using migrant
labour and rebel students as scapegoats only serves to blind the public from
seeing the structure of exploitation that is such a part of Thai
society.
Many Thais genuinely fear what will become of these workers and
their children once they?ve secured their place in the country. Will they have a
sense of loyalty to Thailand? There?s no easy answer but it is important to
remember that our country has long been a nation of multi-ethnicity and
migrating populations.
Those who truly believe the Kingdom would be
better off without large numbers of migrant workers and dissident students
should realise that the best way to accomplish this is for Thais to support the
democratisation of Burma. Sadly, it?s possible history will say that we let our
neighbours down in their time of need on two fronts ? both ignoring their plight
in their own country and turning them away when they beg for refuge in
ours.
If such a climate of hatred and indifference continues, Burmese
history texts written sometime in the near future may read like this: ?For
decades after the military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement led by Aung
San Suu Kyi, dissidents and workers fled to Thailand. However, neither the
government nor public did very much to help them. Hundreds of thousands of
migrant workers were exploited in near slavery conditions. Such remembered
injustices do little to improve current Thai-Burmese relations, which have been
shaky since democracy was finally restored in Burma.?
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TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2003
THE TIMES OF
INDIA
India seeks more naval strike
capability
C R JAYACHANDRAN
NEW
DELHI: With growing concern over Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean and
the hostile posture adopted by Pakistan, India is likely to expedite the
acquirement of P3 Orion multi-mission maritime aircraft equipped with Harpoon
anti-ship missiles.
A high-level delegation of Lockheed Martin
Corporation, vendors for the P3 Orion, is currently in New Delhi to discuss the
pricing of the multi-mission maritime aircraft, in which India has evinced a
keen interest.
The Indian Navy is looking for maritime reconnaissance
version of the P3 Orions from the United States to keep the Indian Ocean under
surveillance.
The P3 B Orions, which India is planning to purchase, are
the best four-engined long range Maritime Recce aircraft in the world. According
to defence officials, the Indian Navy can easily fit Brahmos missile on them to
make them strike capable.
Defence ministry officials were quoted by the
Defence News as saying that India had told the US government that it wanted to
buy eight used P3 Orion maritime surveillance planes under the US Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) programme.
India plans to buy the P3 C version of
the aircraft at a cost of about $10 million each. But as the C variant was not
available through FMS because of its advanced surveillance equipment, the US
would consider selling B variants to India, officials were quoted by the
weekly.
The negotiations with the visiting American delegation will hinge
on what "package" India wants on board the aircraft and according to sources,
talks between the Indian team and Lockheed Martin have so far been positive.
Since the talks are directly between the company and the Indian
government, no request has been made to the US administration for the
aircraft.
According to defence officials, the hostile posture adopted by
Pakistan is well known. The Pakistani navy has substantial punch with the
acquisition of P3 C Orion aircraft with anti-ship missiles and Agosta 90 B
submarine from France which are capable of firing Exocet anti-ship
missiles.
A ministry of defence note on the modernisation and upgradation
of the Indian Navy had also expressed serious concern over the fact that Chinese
navy ships and nuclear submarines have been making sorties in the Indian region.
Though New Delhi and Beijing have strengthened their bilateral relations
after the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee last month, the Indian
Navy continues to be wary of Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean and the
strengthening of China?s ties with Indian Ocean rim countries. Beijing's direct
military assistance to Islamabad is also cause for concern for New
Delhi.
The ministry had noted that there was a need to take note of the
inroads made by China in the Indian Ocean rim with countries like Myanmar,
Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which could
impact India adversely.
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Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-07-15
Burmese Army Generals? unending foolish acts - must
regret
U Soe Win, a Member of Parliament from Pa-go
Constituency No.1 and also a Committee Member of Committee Representing the
People?s Parliament (CRPP) was arrested by State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) authorities and subsequently released after 24 torturous days of
detention survived the ruthless ordeal but was hospitalized by his family
members as he could not barley speak or walk.
The National Council of the
Union of Burma (NCUB)in a media released condemned, ?. Even though the SPDC are
facing the condemnation and denunciation from the its own people and the
International Communities after the Dae-pae-yin terrorist assassination attack,
they have proved that they will not stop their foolish acts, but still
advance.?
?We strongly condemn the torture of the SPDC which, bearing a
grudge to its own people, and prompt the people of Burma and the International
Community to increase pressure? NCUB decried in its statement.
The full
text of the press release of the NCUB is given below:
1. (a) U Soe Win,
a Member of Parliament from Pa-go constituency No.1, and also a committee member
of CRPP, was arrested by the SPDC authorities on June 06, 2003.
(b) The
SPDC authority tortured him so severely that he was close to committing suicide
during his arrest.
(c) The condition of U Soe Win's health rapidly
worsened from the continuation of several kinds of torture during his 24 days of
arrest. The SPDC released him on June 29, 2003. U Soe Win needed five stitches
to his head and he had black eyes. His family had to send him to hospital, for
he could barely walk and speak.
(d) U Soe Win did not accompany Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi to Dea-pae-yin on her tour, upcountry. The SPDC have been trying to
arrest the NLD members and Members of Parliament of National League for
Democracy (NLD.)
2. Even though the SPDC are facing the condemnation and
denunciation from the its own people and the International Communities after the
Dae-pae-yin terrorist assassination attack, they have proved that they will not
stop their foolish acts, but still advance.
3. It has been shown that
there is no Rule of Law or the guarantee of the security of the people from
torture like U Soe Win, a Member of Parliament from Pa-go constituency No.1,
also committee member of CRPP.
Therefore, we are very much concerned for
all the arrested persons together with all the people of Burma.
4. We
strongly condemn the torture of the SPDC which, bearing a grudge to its own
people, and prompt the people of Burma and the International Community to
increase pressure.
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