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ASAHI
NEWSPAPER
SATURDAY, 20 MAY 2000
Double Taxation on the Myanmar
Citizens in Japan
The Myanmar Embassy levies the
Myanmar citizens before their return
Many Myanmar people are falling in a predicament when they cannot pay 10,000 yen
every month as they are requested by the Myanmar Embassy upon their application
for passports and other documents necessary for their return trip to Myanmar
after their visas expired. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked
the Myanmar Embassy for clarification on this matter and warned them that the
levy would be violating the international law if it is forced on the
citizens. The Myanmar Embassy answered that the tax has been paid
voluntarily. However, the burden of double taxation has not been
eased. In many cases, the applicants’ return trips to Myanmar were delayed
and their illness became worse while they prepared the money to pay the
levy.
The Myanmar government demands obligatory payment of income tax from the Myanmar
citizens outside Myanmar. Most countries tax on those who have resided in
their territories for more than one year regardless of the residents’
nationalities. Since there is no ‘taxation agreement’ between Myanmar and
Japan to prevent double taxation, the Myanmar citizens cannot be exempted from
any tax even if they asked for exemption from the Japanese Tax Bureau on the
ground that they are already paying tax to their home country.
According to the Myanmar Embassy, the stipulated rate of income tax inside
Myanmar is ten percent. In Japan, the Myanmar Embassy collects 10,000 yen
per month regardless of the amount of salary, and charges additional 10,000 yen
per year as penalty on those who failed to meet the monthly payment. Many
Myanmar people visit the Embassy to extend their passports and have temporary
passports issued so that they can arrange their trips back home after
overstaying in Japan with expired passports. The Embassy informs them of
the amount of tax upon their visits, instructs them to pay it into its bank
account in Tokyo and transfers it to Myanmar.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Myanmar Embassy stuff for
clarification on this matter in March two years ago. Whether two countries
may have concluded a formal treaty on taxes or not, if a government collects tax
in another country without the country’s agreement, that would be considered as
violation of sovereignty and the ‘general international law’ which is
established as a common law.
The Embassy responded to the enquiry stating that ‘we are neither collecting tax
with force nor imposing it as a condition for the issues of passports.’
However, approximately ten problematic cases were found in the last three years
through the investigations of the statements and documents conducted only by the
Asahi Newspaper.
For instance, a twenty-nine year old Myanmar man in Itabashi Ward of Tokyo, who
entered Japan with a tourist visa in January 1994, discovered at the beginning
of last year that he had contracted HIV. When he visited the Embassy at
the end of the year to apply for a temporary passport, he was asked by an
Embassy stuff to pay approximately 800,000 yen as tax for the past six
years. His health deteriorated as he stayed in his friend’s house not
knowing how he could pay the tax and he was eventually hospitalised in Tokyo in
late April.
Another twenty-eight year old man without a permanent address was suffering from
hallucinations and buzzing in the ears when he came around to the Embassy last
January. He paid 10,000 yen of initially required 757,000 yen and return
to Myanmar with a temporary passport issued in August that year. His
acquaintance explained that the Embassy originally refused to accept his
application because ‘the tax must be paid first’ but that his friends who were
concerned with his worsening condition continued negotiation for over six months
and finally won his return trip by paying only the partial amount.
Myanmar is still under the economic sanction against its anti-democratic
military regime and inflation as well as the lack of foreign currencies are
obstructing its economic development. In this condition, 10,000 yen is
equivalent to several month salary of an average government official in
Myanmar.
Comments from the Myanmar
Embassy
The Embassy merely calculates the amount of tax and informs people of it.
We do not go out to collect it. We understand that we are not violating
Japanese sovereignty. Since Myanmar consists of many races and languages,
a person’s tax payment is an important factor to decide whether the person is a
Myanmar citizen or not upon the application for a passport. However, we
treat those who are sick in hospitals or detained by the Immigration Control
Bureau in a humanitarian way by giving them certain discounts. It is not
due to the tax that people overstay even longer in Japan. There must be
other reasons for that.
New U.N. relief official starts work in Iraq BAGHDAD, May 22 (Reuters) - A new United Nations relief official has started as head of the World Food Programme in Iraq, a U.N. official in Baghdad said on Monday. Gonzalo Ribo Dieguez, a Spanish national, succeeded Jutta Burghardt of Germany who resigned earlier this year in protest at the failure of U.N. humanitarian programmes in Iraq. The WFP is linked to the oil-for-food programme which
allows Iraq to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian
needs for the Iraqi people.
The WFP also distributes food aid to nearly one
million
Iraqis affected by the tough U.N. sanctions imposed on
the country for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Last month, Tun Myat, a Myanmar national, took up his job
as head of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, succeeding Hans von
Sponeck of Germany who resigned in protest at the impact of U.N.
sanctions.
Dieguez has held senior U.N. positions in Mexico, Africa
and the WFP headquarters in Rome. His most recent post was WFP
country director in Morocco.
Monday May 22, 9:08 pm
Eastern Time
Group calls for 3 oil companies to leave MyanmarLOS ANGELES, May 22 (Reuters) - A human rights group called Monday for three western oil companies to end all investment in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, saying that the military government is allowing forced labour to be used in building natural gas pipelines there. EarthRights International, a human rights and environmental group, issued a 170-page update of a 1996 report on construction of the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines in the former Burma by Unocal Corp. (NYSE:UCL - news), Britain's Premier Oil Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: PMO.L), and France's TotalFina . The updated report urges Unocal, Total, Premier and any other western companies involved with the pipelines to ``immediately withdraw'' from the projects until a democratic government is in place there. ``In the nearly four years since the publication of the (1996) report, the violence and forced labour in the pipeline region have continued unabated,'' EarthRights said in the report. The group said the Burma military has also been responsible for ``suppression of dissent, environmental destruction, forced relocation, torture, rape and summary executions'' in the pipeline regions. ``The abuses are not incidental or unrelated to the pipelines,'' the report concludes. ``They are a direct result of Western companies' investments.'' Meanwhile, about 100 demonstrators protested outside a Unocal shareholders meeting in a Los Angeles suburb to protest the oil giant's refusal to cut ties with the pipeline projects and were turned away by company security and police. A spokesman for Unocal said the company had no intention of pulling out of the former Burma and said pipeline construction there had actually improved the quality of life for locals. ``We're very, very proud what we've accomplished there,'' said Unocal spokesman Barry Lane. ``I wish there were 10, 20, 100 similar projects like this. We'd have a much broader positive impact on the country.'' Lane added: ``Its a question of whether you bring about social change through engagement or isolation. We argue for engagement.'' Environmental activist Pam Welner said that more than 100 protesters conducted a ``very lively demonstration'' at the meeting in the Los Angeles suburb of Brea that featured giant puppets of Roger Beach, Unocal's chief executive officer, and a Burmese general. She said two demonstrators climbed trees outside the property to hang a large banner reading: ``Burma Slaves Shame of Unocal,'' but were stopped by Unocal security and police officers. Lane called the protest ``pretty routine'' and said there was no link between the pipelines and any human rights abuses going on in Myanmar. ``We're not even sure if there's any (human rights abuses) going on in the pipeline region,'' he said. ``The evidence we see is that there's been an improvement in the way people live there. In fact the population has been increasing.'' Lane said EarthRights was ``long on rhetoric and short on facts'' and said a U.S. State Department report found no evidence of forced labour on the pipelines. Tuesday, May 23 12:41 PM SGT Myanmar military still in charge 10 years after pollsYANGON, May 23 (AFP) - Ten years ago this week, the people of Myanmar voted to send the army back to the barracks in a crushing rejection of decades of isolationist military rule. Stunned by the defeat of its front party, the military, dispensing power under the acronym SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) annulled the election, claiming foreigners and communists had rigged the results. Instead of embracing a new dawn of democracy, the people of Myanmar have since suffered painful years of economic and social decline. Myanmar's poisoned political drama ended the decade where it began -- with the generals and their nemesis opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi locked in a bitter stalemate. The junta's decision to ignore the poll results stoked the fury of Western critics who also shun Myanmar as one of the world's top drugs producers. "Calling elections was the worst mistake the government ever made," said a Yangon-based diplomat. "They were convinced they would win but by annulling the result turned the anger of the world upon them." Myanmar is regarded as a pariah state on a par with Iraq or Libya, reviled in Western capitals and facing a punishing range of economic restrictions. So tight is the current grip of military intelligence that dissent is impossible and the press is a mere propaganda tool. "The main objective of the military is political stability, continuing in power," said one analyst here, speaking like all observers living in Myanmar, on condition of anonymity. To safeguard that power, the junta, now rechristened the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has set out to cripple Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). Hundreds of party workers have been detained in several purges and state-backed campaigns are underway in the countryside calling for the NLD to be banned. Aung San Suu Kyi, although released from house arrest in 1995, is still barred from leaving Yangon -- and is followed everywhere she moves by squads of secret policemen, motorcylists and soldiers. Several attempts to bolt from the capital in 1998 were emblematic of the stalemate between the Nobel laureate and the government -- as she became locked in a standoff with troops in her car parked on a bridge. "The government has basically tried to isolate Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of the party in Yangon and severed their contact with people outside," another Yangon-based diplomat said. As the campaign against the NLD intensified, many people started to believe the party was on the verge of extinction, or at least posed little threat to the military. But a wave of arrests last month of 40 young NLD activists and a senior party member Aye Tha Aung have been seen as evidence that the military still considers it a dangerous adversary. NLD vice chairman Tin Oo told AFP that the party realised it would not come to power soon, but was taking a long-term strategy. "Our older workers have been put in jails, but we are going to reorganise with younger blood," he said, adding that despite its iron grip on the country, the junta was paranoid. "Whenever the NLD is reorganising they are very scared, they try to oppress and try to suppress the organisation," he said. The NLD leadership still believes it has the overwhelming if necessarily muted support of the people and that its campaign for non-violent change will eventually succeed. The military counters that it is the only institution capable of delivering peace and stability, warning that Aung San Suu Kyi-style democracy would splinter within weeks. Its promise made in 1990 to hand over power once a new constitution has been drafted still stands, but leaks from a convention drafting the document indicate that a system modelled on Suharto's Indonesia, with the military in full control, is contemplated. The military regards a string of ceasefire agreements it reached with many of Myanmar's warring ethnic groups as its signal achievement. "We have been fighting against each other for many, many years, a lot of bloodshed has been seen," Foreign Minister Win Aung said this month. "We are trying to find solutions which would mean that all the people in the country would live together happily, and to live happily we need a very strong constitution." Trade sanctions and the exit of many foreign firms from Myanmar have crippled the economy, leading some observers to hope the military will lose its grip. But while many people are poor, they are not yet at the critical point where they would risk lives and launch popular protests. "We have not reached the desperation factor, not the government, nor the people," said an analyst. Attempts to incite an uprising last September foundered on the military's total control. And a World Bank offer of aid in return for reform has met with junta intransigence. The military nevertheless faces a string of challenges. An accelarating AIDS epidemic could drastically reduce life expectancy in the next 10 years and increase the "desperation" factor. If the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar joined in 1997, develops along the lines of its more liberal members, the junta could come under increasing pressure. The generals watched the fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia with dismay, observers say. Such is the military's power, many analysts believe reform will only come to the country if it has first coursed through the military. "Control is everything, there won't be any change unless the change is from within. They are the only ones to decide what is good or not good for the country," said a Burmese observer. "They are pleased with themselves, and see no threat from the opposition." Tuesday, May 23 4:50 PM SGT ILO mission to Myanmar on forced labourGENEVA, May 23 (AFP) - A delegation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was to travel to Yangon Wednesday for talks on implementation of ILO recommendations against forced labour, alleged to be widely in use in Myanmar. The three-man mission would hold "discusssions on the implementation of the recommendations of a 1998 commission of inquiry which found the use of forced and compulsory labour (in Myanmar) to be widespread," a statement said. ILO Director Juan Somavia said: "The sole purpose of the visit of the team is to establish with the government a credible plan of action to ensure the full implementation of the commission's recommendations." An ILO commission of enquiry in a report last August found compulsory labour in Myanmar was practised in a "systematic manner with a total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health" of the people. The ILO governing body ordered Myanmar's case to be raised at the organisation's assembly in June, and in March invoked for the first time an ILO article allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the offending party to comply. On May 12, a meeting in Manila of Southeast Asian labour ministers said military-ruled Myanmar had agreed to accept an international mission. Myanmar's Labour Minister Tin Ngwe told the meeting the request for an ILO "technical cooperation" mission was made "without preconditions," a statement issued after the talks said. Meanwhile, oil companies Unocal (US), Total (France) and Premier (Britain) were aware that forced labor was used in Myanmar before they agreed to build a gas pipeline in that country, the non-governmental EarthRights International group said in Washington. Unocal officials "knew forced labor was likely to be used before they went to Burma, and they knew with certainty no later than 1996 that forced labor was, in fact, endemic to their project," EarthRights co-director Tyler Giannini said here Monday. "Despite this knowledge, they went forward in their business partnership with the Burmese military, and continue the partnership today," he added. Giannini also accused Total and, for the first time, Premier of profiting from forced labor and other human rights violations. EarthRights International said it based its charges on witness accounts from victims of forced labor and from internal company documents. The Total group (TotalFinaElf) for years has been singled out for what human rights advocates allege is its indirect support of Myanmar's military junta during the gas pipeline project. Premier Oil has refused to bow to pressure from London to pull out of Myanmar, saying it is working with human rights groups and providing aid to the local population. Tuesday, May 23 4:06 PM SGT Exiled Buddhist Group Repeats Threats Vs Myanmar GovtBANGKOK (AP)--A group that said it represented Buddhist monks opposed to the military regime in Myanmar issued a second warning Tuesday that the government must begin talks with the democratic opposition or face unrest. The first warning last month from the All Burma Young Monks' Union, whose exile base is in Thailand, gave the government until Thursday to begin talks or face mass protests. The new letter from the monks' group urged foreign investors and tourists to leave the country immediately. It repeated plans to make monasteries the centers for protest strikes and to march on the capital, Yangon. A spokesman for the British Embassy said it had issued no special security warnings and believed other embassies had done likewise. The rumors are clearly being used as a form of psychological warfare to rattle a regime which is openly paranoid about dissent. Since the monks' union issued its original letter last month, rumors about the possibility of unrest have circulated widely inside Myanmar opposition circles and among refugees in Thailand. A government spokesman Monday denied the rumors, saying they were just stories planted by antigovernment activists. New Straits Time
Tuesday, May 23 6:30 PM SGT
National: Anti-smuggling unit seizes
450kg of rice
KOTA BARU, Mon. - The State Anti-Smuggling Unit seized 45 sacks of rice
weighing about 450kg in a raid at a house in Bukit Bunga last Saturday. The rice
was believed to have been smuggled into the State for distribution. The raid was
conducted following a tip-off. Meanwhile, the unit detained a 24-year-old
Myanmar at Jalan Padang Licin in Rantau Panjang last night for entering the
State illegally. The immigrant was found hiding in a bush about 10.20pm.
Tuesday, May 23 8:31 AM SGT
Despite Protests, Unocal Refuses To Pull
Out Of Myanmar
BREA, California (AP)--Protesters hoisting puppet effigies and making
passionate pleas failed to persuade stockholders at Unocal Corp. to tie
executive pay to the company's human rights record.
About 75 protesters gathered Monday outside the company's headquarters, banging on empty oil drums and holding signs urging "Unocal out of Burma," - a reference to the company's participation in the Yadana pipeline, a $1.2 billion conduit that carries gas from wells off the coast of Burma, also known as Myanmar, to customers in Thailand. Inside at the company's annual shareholder's meeting, activists accused the
company of ignoring reports that the Burmese government forcibly relocated
residents and used slave labor in conjunction with the pipeline's construction.
The charges were strongly denied by Unocal Chief Executive Officer Roger Beach.
"There were no human rights violations on our project and that's a fact,"
Beach said.
A resolution that sought to tie executive compensation to an annual,
independent review of the company's compliance with its social responsibility
guidelines failed, garnering only 16.4% of shareholder votes. A 51% vote needed
for approval.
The resolution was supported by 11 religious groups - including Maryknoll
Fathers and Brothers - which together hold 360,000 Unocal shares.
"Unocal is not supporting its principals. It has lost its soul," said the
Rev. Joseph LaMar, a Maryknoll priest who introduced the resolution.
A representative of the group EarthRights International released a report
at the meeting which allegedly showed Unocal knew forced labor was likely to be
used before they began the pipeline project and discovered no later than 1996
that human rights abuses were happening.
Beach detailed steps the company has taken to build schools and health
centers and to make sure workers who were hired by the military to work on the
pipeline were paid. Activists sought to place the pipeline allegation in a
broader context linking it to charges from human rights organizations that the
military government uses forced labor throughout the country.
"We did not use slave labor on our project," Beach said. "What goes on
outside our project I can't attest to."
Unocal owns 28% of the project, which was completed in 1998. Paris-based
Total Fina Elf operates the pipeline and is the largest partner with a 31%
share.
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, May 23, 2000
BURMA Indonesian held over illegal
communications system
DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR Authorities have detained an Indonesian man on charges of illegally
operating a communications system out of his Rangoon hotel room.
Irawan Sidaria was detained at the weekend after authorities discovered 15 communication devices, including a small satellite dish, in his rented room at the Asia Plaza Hotel, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said yesterday. Sidaria and Filipino Jayvee Shahjib Robert Sencio reportedly entered Burma
in April and rented a room in the hotel on the pretext of opening a company
office, the report said.
US citizen Jeffry Craing Leseur entered Burma on April 13, when he brought
in the telecommunications equipment, which allegedly included a satellite dish
tuned to the Thai communications system named Inmarsat, which covers the Indian
Ocean.
Mr Shahjib and Mr Leseur reportedly left Rangoon before the forbidden
equipment was discovered. The report claimed the equipment in Sidaria's room was
worth about US$100,000 (HK$778,000).
The Straits Times - May 23,
2000.
Monks' unrest not true: Yangon
Exiles planted the rumours, says junta BANGKOK -- Myanmar's military government yesterday denied widespread rumours that Buddhist monks are planning unrest, saying the stories were planted by anti-government activists. The rumours apparently originated from an exile group based in Thailand, the All Burma Young Monks Union, which last month circulated a letter threatening mass action unless the regime started a dialogue with the democratic opposition by May 25. The letter called for the government to enter into talks with Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy, otherwise monasteries throughout the country would be declared "strike camps". A statement from the government spokesman's office said the threat of unrest "was created by a group of bogus monks based on the Thai side of the border." It asserted that Myanmar's monks are actually "quite fed up and frustrated" by anti-government attempts to destabilise the country and create the impression that "the religious community is about to start a revolution". The statement denied a report that 29 monks had been arrested in the southern city of Mergui. The report originated with the Norway-based opposition radio station, Democratic Voice of Burma. The May 25 deadline falls two days before the 10th anniversary of a general election won by the National League for Democracy. Monks and students have traditionally played a vanguard role in political dissent but have been passive in recent years. -- AP The Straits Times - May 23,
2000.
Man held over illegal phone service YANGON -- The Myanmar authorities arrested an Indonesian man accused of
installing satellite communications equipment that allows callers to bypass the
state telephone company, the state-controlled press reported yesterday.
Two local technicians were arrested together with the Indonesian, Irawan
Sidaria, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
A satellite dish and other communications devices were seized from a hotel
in downtown Yangon, the paper said.
Post and Telecommunications Minister Brig-Gen Win Tin warned
telecommunications officials on May 12 that outsiders using sophisticated
equipment were engaged in illegal international telephone and e-mail service
activities.
He told officials to put a stop to such behaviour, warning that it
represented a drain on the ministry's resources.
The military retains firm control over international telecommunications and
does not allow access to information that may help political opponents. --
AP
Bangkok Post - May 23,
2000.
Editorial
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