REUTERS in Rangoon
The Myanmar Times, a weekly whose editor-in-chief is Ross Dunkley, hit the streets this week.
The state-run newspapers publish dull pro-government articles, often denouncing the opposition National League for Democracy led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the West.
The tabloid paper, printed in four colours on high-quality imported paper, looked more breezy than existing publications.
A government spokesman said the regime had no involvement in the new paper, except to give it permission to publish.
"Actually, this new project is launched by the private sector working with an Australian firm," he said.
He declined to identify the Australian firm.
Free copies of the nation's second English-language daily were being distributed through a book store.
The paper joins a host of government-run weekly journals, two Burmese-language and one English-language paper, the New Light of Myanmar, published and circulated in Burma.
The new tabloid is owned by a joint venture between local and foreign partners called Myanmar Consolidated Media.
In a front-page announcement, the Myanmar Times said: "The joint-venture journal is the first major step in aiming to broaden the world's perspective on Burma.
"The publication is a private venture between both foreign and local partners and as such is the first truly free press in the nation for more than three decades."
Dunkley said: "I am optimistic about the future of this journal. It is aimed at a white-collar audience and 60 to 70 per cent of its readership will comprise Myanmar [Burmese] people."
A staff member said the owners hoped to sell about 5,000 copies a week in Burma and abroad.
Friday, February 18 2:07 PM SGT
Cambodia keen to enhance bilateral ties with India: Hun Sen
NEW DELHI, Feb 18 (AFP) -
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen began an official two-day visit to India on Friday with a call for closer trade and cultural relations.
"There are many fields in which the two countries can have cooperation ranging from culture to agriculture and trade," Hun Sen told reporters after his official welcoming ceremony.
The first Cambodian premier to visit India in more than 20 years, Hun Sen was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the presidential palace and was met by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ahead of official-level talks.
Cambodia and India hope the current visit will give a boost to bilateral annual trade which is currently stagnating at around 14 million dollars.
Hun Sen is accompanied by a high-profile delegation including Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Commerce Minister Cham Prasith and Tourism Minister Veng Sereyvuth.
The Cambodian leader will meet Indian President K.R. Narayanan later on Friday.
The two countries, who have shared close ties over several decades, will sign an agreement on a joint commission to promote cooperation in the fields of trade, economy and science and technology.
The two sides will also sign accords on cultural exchanges and tourism, as well as a fourth protocol on cooperation in agriculture.
India is likely to extend a 10-million dollar credit to Cambodia for its agriculture sector during the visit, Indian officials said.
After his visit here, Hun Sen will leave on a two-day visit for Myanmar, the first such trip by a Cambodian premier to the military-ruled nation since Phnom Penh's entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last year.
News Bytes
Friday, February 18 2:37 PM SGT
Internet Update Asia
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 2000 FEB 18 (NB) -- By Adam Creed, Newsbytes.
This is a roundup of new and updated resources and services around Asia's Internet including: the Asian Art Newspaper, photographs of Myanmar, Ravi Shankar plays sitar, discovering Mongolia, Falun Dafa resources, Mount Fuji live.
The Asian Art Newspaper
Art collectors, dealers and enthusiasts will find plenty to peak their interest at the Asian Art Newspaper. Dedicated exclusively to Asian art, the monthly publication searches the world to bring readers the latest news and events and features on every aspect of Asian art. The site also includes an international listings section. World Wide Web: http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/
Photographs Of Myanmar
Ayeyarwady is a photographic exploration of Myanmar (formally known as Burma). Japanese photographer Goto Osami has visited the country 400 times since 1987, and a collection of many of his photographs have been placed online, including images of towns and cities, nature, people and festivals. The site can be read in English or Japanese. World Wide Web: http://www.ayeyarwady.com/index-e.htm
Ravi Shankar Plays Sitar
The Ravi Shankar Foundation was established to collect, document and archive the vast works of Indian sitar musician Ravi Shankar. The Web site contains background and stories about Ravi's life, his music, Indian music more generally, a photo gallery and news and events. World Wide Web: http://www.ravishankar.org/
Discovering Mongolia
This information site provides an introduction to the wild and exotic lands of Mongolia - which provided a home to the warlord Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan, holds the Gobi desert and whose capital city is Ulaanbaatar. The site includes background and travel information, photographs and details of hotels. World Wide Web: http://www.discover.mn/
Falun Dafa Resources
Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, has been making Asian and international headlines in the past months as the Chinese government cracks down on the spiritual practice. This resource site, Minghui Net, was developed in North America, but provides a large source for news and recent articles regarding Falun Dafa, as well as statements and experiences from practitioners throughout the world. Extensive coverage of the events in China are provided. World Wide Web: http://minghui.ca/eng.html
Mount Fuji Live
A 24 hour live camera taking pictures of Mount Fuji and updating them on this Web site. If it's gray and cloudy you can check out an archive of the best pictures of this classic Japanese picture postcard view. Now includes a BBS where people can share and inform others about their experiences and knowledge of the mountain. World Wide Web: http://www.sunplus.com/fuji/
How Can We Improve?
If you have any ideas about things you want to see in Internet Update Asia please tell us about them. We also accept any criticism about features and areas we currently cover - so tell us what's on your mind! Our e-mail address is inbox@xxxxxxxxxxxxx . Internet Update Asia is a weekly feature of the Newsbytes News Network.
Friday, February 18 2:03 PM SGT
Suu Kyi Says 90% Of Myanmar Still Wants Democracy
PHNOM PENH (AP)--Myanmar pro-democrat leader Aung San Suu Kyi believes that 10 years after her party heavily beat the ruling military regime at the polls but was barred from taking power, 90% of the people still want democracy.
Yet those who fight for political freedom are in a minority because of fear of the military, which has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962, Suu Kyi said in an interview published Friday in the Cambodia Daily newspaper.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won over 80% of the seats in the 1990 general elections, but parliament was never convened. Hundreds of her followers and opponents of the regime have since been jailed, and party offices shut.
"I think I could say with great confidence that 90 percent of the people of Burma want democracy," said Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
"Of course, of those who want democracy, those who dare to...fight for it...are in a minority because there is so much oppression by the military government as there is tremendous fear."
But Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for six years and whose movements are still severely limited by the government, said her party wanted to provide security for the military as well as the rest of the people.
"We're not trying to destroy or annihilate the military regime. They are always threatening to annihilate us, but that's not the purpose of our movement," she said.
Myanmar dissident group closes all offices in Thailand
|
| ||||
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The main political group for exiled students opposed to Myanmar's military regime said Thursday it had closed all its offices in Thailand under pressure from Thai authorities.
The closure could be a crippling blow to the All-Burma Students Democratic Front, which has been under heavy Thai pressure since Myanmar rebels crossed the border last month and took hundreds of hostages at a Thai provincial hospital.
The siege ended with Thai commandos killing all 10 rebels, who included members of the radical Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors and God's Army, a fringe ethnic Karen group led by twin 12-year-old boys.
Though the front has disavowed the actions, Thailand, for years tolerant of Myanmar dissidents, has made clear it does not want the mainstream group to maintain a presence there.
Authorities have tightened security at the border with Myanmar, also known as Burma, where around 700 members stay.
"If our offices cannot open here anymore, we shall go back into the jungle of Burma," said Kyaw Kyaw, a central executive committee member.
On Wednesday, Thai police raided two of the group's offices in Mae Sariang district in northern Mae Hong Son province, 400 miles north of Bangkok. Three students were sent to a refugee camp along the border.
A third office in the district was immediately closed by the front itself, a member told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
A Thai official in Mae Sariang, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed the closures, saying it was Interior Ministry policy to "keep all refugees in a camp."
The front says its other offices have already shut.
The front was formed by students who fled the Myanmar military's bloody crackdown on a mass uprising for democracy in 1988.
BBC-Friday, 18 February, 2000, 11:49 GMT
Japan launches new immigration
law
A new immigration law comes into effect in Japan on Friday.
Under the new regulation, those who are caught after entering Japan illegally face possible criminal charges, causing alarm among the country's growing population of undocumented immigrants.
Over the past few weeks the main immigration office in Tokyo has been inundated by thousands of desperate people who have been trying to avoid new penalties.
Under the new law, illegal immigrants can no longer avoid the possibility of being fined or imprisoned after being here for three years.
And once deported, they are now going to be banned from coming back for five years.
Most immigrants are unaffected
Lawyers say that in practice the impact on most illegal aliens will not be very different.
Only a few are likely to be prosecuted and most probably won't ever be caught.
But the new law has been so poorly explained that there is fear and confusion among the more than a quarter of a million undocumented immigrants.
So they are turning themselves in to the authorities in the hope of more lenient treatment.
Japan has in the past strictly controlled immigration and immigrant communities are still relatively small and inconspicuous compared to other industrialised countries.
But their numbers are growing as Japanese companies seek cheaper labour from abroad for the jobs the Japanese no longer want to do.