Burma Related News - June 29, 2000.

Last year, authorities set up the military-led Northern Narcotic Suppression Centre, which now has 164 working groups, including 81 intelligence units and 75 operational task forces to deal with the illicit drug problem in the four northern provinces of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mea Hong Son and Tak.

In the first six months, the centre confiscated more than five million speed tablets, 36 kg of heroin, 22kg of opium and 250kg of caffeine, an essential ingredient in speed. Fourteen drug traffickers were killed in clashes during that period.

The army moved to set up the civilian militia after nine villages were massacred by Myanmar drug traffickers in the northern town of Ban Mae Soon Noi last year.

Beside being anxious to stem the loss of life, the authorities are also concerned that frightened villagers forced off their lands could hand the rebels ready-made bases for drug manufacturing.

The Thai military now considers amphetamines to be the country's "top national security threat" and preventing it and other drugs from flooding into Thailand is its biggest priority.

Thailand believes up to 46 amphetamine factories are scattered on the border along its three northern-most provinces, which churn out an estimated 600 million amphetamine tablets every year for Thai consumption, reports The Straits Times.

In another report by the same newspaper, one drug-plagued village in northern Thailand houses 67 orphans whose parents were either killed by drug gangs or in police suppression operations.

Situated along the Thai-Lao border, the Ahi village in Loei province is reputed to be an important transit centre for drug runners and a distribution centre for speed pills from Laos.

Drug trafficking is so profitable that many villagers have completely abandoned their farms to engage in the drug trade. "About 80 percent of households in the Tha Li village are now involved in the drug trade. The use of drugs is also rampant in the village," said Police Colonel Suthep Kuhavilai.

Bangkok Post - June 29, 2000.

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

City police round up 1,063 workers in second swoop

City police have rounded up another 1,063 illegal aliens in the latest crackdown, which began on Tuesday night.

Some of the 1,063 illegal migrants rounded up in separate raids in Bangkok between Tuesday night and yesterday morning, as part of an on-going crackdown on illegal foreigners.

The arrested are Burmese, Cambodian, Lao, Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals.

Last week, police arrested 1,112 illegal immigrants in Bangkok. They were to be deported under the immigration law.

Pol Lt-Gen Wannarat Kotcharak, the metropolitan police chief, said the crackdown would continue with his deputy Pol Maj-Gen Pongsak Rohitopakarn in charge.

At the same time, police were trying to track down human-smuggling gangs believed to have brought illegal aliens into the city. Pol Lt-Gen Wannarat said people giving shelter to illegal migrants would also face drastic action. No employers of illegal foreign labour have been arrested.

Bangkok Post - June 29, 2000.
Hilltribe speed makers to lose their Thai citizenship
Supamart Kasem in Tak

Tribespeople will be stripped of their Thai citizenship if they are found to be involved in illicit drug activities, the Third Army chief has warned.

The army was keeping a close watch on tribespeople suspected to have been hired by Wa forces to produce speed pills, said Lt-Gen Watthanachai Chaimuenwong.

"We have been monitoring hilltribe people following reports they have been hired to work in Wa-run drug plants," he said.

Some 200,000 of the estimated 800,000 tribespeople have been granted citizenship, and the Interior Ministry and the National Security Council are considering applications from the rest.

Lt-Gen Wattanachai gave the warning during talks on drug suppression, also attended by officials, including Customs Department head Somchaineuk Ieng-trakul, Tak governor Nirat Vatjanaphum and the chiefs of five border districts.

He also proposed that more checkpoints be set up to stem the flow of drug precursors to neighbouring countries.

On June 22, authorities seized a large amount of chemicals which could be used to produce 72 million methamphetamine pills. The chemicals were believed destined for Burma.

Bangkok Post - June 29, 2000.

Commentary

Military's drug fight primed to backfire

Sanitsuda Ekachai

We cannot solve our overwhelming drug problem by punishing scapegoats. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Thai military is doing with its border resettlement programme.

Last week, the military organised a press trip to update the media about drug warlords' criminal businesses and the military's border clean-up programme. With tacit support from the Burmese junta, the ethnic warlords in Burma are setting up drug factories right across the border. Their ant armies are making use of the long and mountainous terrains along the border seams to carry the goods into Thailand.

It is expected that 600 million tablets of methamphetamine will soon inundate Thailand. Much of them will end up in the hands of our children, ruining their lives and families. Unquestionably, the drug influx will shake morals, destroy communities, intensify social problems and criminalise Thai politics even further. Understanding the severity of the problem and agreeing with the military's solutions are two different things, however. The military wants to stem the ant armies by "rearranging" border villages, or "jad rabiab chai daen" in Thai. It involves resettling scattered border villages, mostly hilltribes, into one same area for easier control. And training them into self-defence settlements. The military hopes that by simultaneously limiting the hilltribes' farmlands, it can solve deforestation in the mountainous areas.

It also hopes to win these hill peoples' hearts and minds by giving them income-generating development assistance. Unfortunately, that will be too much to hope for.

All Buddhists know that we cannot solve any suffering or problem unless we know the root causes and tackle them earnestly. What causes the mushrooming drug trade? On the Burmese side, it is the Burmese government's hypocrisy and the drug warlords' criminal businesses. On our side, it is money politics that involves corrupt leaders and godfathers at all levels. Their collusion with corrupt officials as well as police and military officers are common knowledge. International drug racketeers are also cashing in on the methamphetamine trade that grows on the huge gap between drug production costs and market prices. At four baht a tablet, they can command sale prices of 120 to 150 baht in Bangkok. The villagers who want quick money are also to blame. But they are a small part in the ya ba trade. By playing tough with only the underlings, the military crackdown will end up hiking ya ba prices even further. And the big fish in the drug trade will become even bigger.

Other problems lie ahead for the military's draconian, uniform resettlement policy that cannot accommodate local differences.

Diverse hill tribe people live along the 2,400-kilometer Thai-Burmese border. They differ in their cultures and farming methods. Some are war refugees. Some are new settlements. Many are century-old communities. But the military put them all in the same kettle. "They are all aliens," said a high-ranking military officer. "Only our national unity counts." Such a concept of unity is based purely on racism. And no policy based on this open ticket for oppression and exploitation can win friends.

Given local complexities, the border clean-up programme might work in some areas, but they will surely fail in many others because the authorities never ask what people want.

Under any guises, resettlement breaks up communities. It impoverishes people and intensifies land use, leading to more use of farm chemicals and more environmental degradation. It will also destroy indigenous knowledge on local plants. Ironically, the scheme to contain the drug trade will end up pushing the poor right into the arms of smiling drug traffickers.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post. e-mail: sanitsuda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Nation - June 29, 2000.
Refugees claim Thai soldiers beat them

TAK - Displaced Burmese in Mae Hla camp will submit a complaint to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai that they were beaten by Thai soldiers, a source in the camp said yesterday.

The complaint will be submitted when the premier makes a visit to the camp this Sunday, the Burmese source said.

"The Thai soldiers beat us several times. We are under pressure particularly after the seizure of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last year and the takeover of a hospital in Ratchaburi province in January," he said.

Chuan is scheduled to make his first visit to Mae Hla camp in Tak province's Tha Song Yang district on Sunday, during which he will be briefed on the camp's operation and related problems.

Meanwhile, Nerdah Mya, the Karen National Union's deputy secretary for foreign affairs, said Mae Hla camp and Baan Umpium camp in Tak's Pop Phra district are big markets for amphetamines produced in factories operated by United Wa State Army (UWSA) along the Thai-Burma border.

"We have learnt that there are some 20 factories belonging to UWSA and Democratic Karen Buddhists Army (DKBA) in areas opposite Tak and Mae Hong Son provinces that have produced millions of amphetamine tablets," Nerdah Mya said. DKBA was a splinter group of the KNU and is now under control of the Burmese government.

Tak and Mae Hong Son are also used as a transit point for distribution of the amphetamines to other areas of Thailand.

KNU will soon attack the factories along the border, Nerdah Mya said, adding that the UWSA and DKBA pay an "illegal tax" to the Burmese government.

Meanwhile, a senior Thai security source said the UWSA has bought young hill-tribe boys from Mae Hong Son's Pai and Pang Mapha districts to train them to join their drug-running activities.

Many parents agreed to sell their children although they know they will work in the UWSA's narcotics smuggling ring, he added. Mae Hong Son's security authorities will discuss the matter this month.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said other countries have accepted 545 Burmese students from Maneeloy camp in Ratchaburi province for resettlement.

New Zealand, the United States and Finland were among six countries that agreed to accept students who fled the repression in Burma to Thailand.

Some 320 students from Maneeloy camp have already left Thailand for resettlement abroad and 132 others are scheduled to depart this month for New Zealand.

Thailand called for the UNHCR to speed up resettlement of the students after the Ratchaburi hospital takeover. in January. five Burmese students, some from the camp, seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok last year. The camp residents were also among those who seized a hospital in Ratchaburi province in January.

BBC-Thursday, 29 June, 2000, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK

Bridge-building mission to Burma

The Burmese military shows little sign of relinquishing power

By regional analyst Larry Jagan

The United Nations' special envoy for Burma, Razali Ismail, has arrived in Rangoon for talks aimed at encouraging dialogue between the military government and the opposition National League for Democracy.

It will be his first official visit since the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed him earlier this year after the resignation of his predecessor, Alvaro de Soto.

During the three-day visit Mr Razali will also be assessing the human rights situation in a country frequently the target of strong western criticism on the issue.

The UN has been involved in trying to break the deadlock between Burma's military leaders and the pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi for more than 10 years.

But successive envoys to Burma, including a human rights rapporteur, have made little progress in getting the two sides to talk to each other.

The international community is now hoping that Mr Razali, a senior Malaysian diplomat and close confidant of Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, may be able to produce some concrete changes.

Unlike his predecessor, Alvaro De Soto, the new envoy has been mandated to work solely on Burma.

Asian diplomat

Following his appointment in April, Burma's Foreign Minister, U Win Aung, remarked cautiously that as an Asian, Mr Razali ought to understand more about the region than did his predecessor.

Many Asian diplomats have also welcomed his appointment, hoping that Dr Mahathir's support may help Burma's Generals recognise the need for democratic change in the country.

According to diplomatic sources in Rangoon, Mr Razali's visit is being seen as a fact-finding and exposure trip.

He is expected to meet Burma's head of State, General Than Shwe and the military intelligence chief Lt General Khin Nyunt as well as Aung San Suu Kyi.

Malaysian sources close to Mr Razali said he wanted his visit to be a low-key affair and wasn't going to make his itinerary public.

Developing trust

They said Mr Razali hoped to make frequent visits to Rangoon in future and try to develop trust on both sides through regular contact.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations is also anxious to see Burma be more conciliatory towards the opposition leader.

It is keen to convince the generals that economic development and democracy go hand in hand.

However, Burma's military rulers have steadfastly refused to hand over power to a civilian government, even though the National League for Democracy convincingly won the national elections 10 years ago.

So far Burma's Generals have ignored Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD's frequent appeals for the military to enter a meaningful dialogue on the country's political future.

Western and Asian diplomats alike are hoping that the Malaysian envoy may have more success than his predecessors have had.

BBC-Thursday, 29 June, 2000, 15:09 GMT 16:09 UK
Burma rejects WHO ranking

The government in Burma has reacted angrily to a report of the World Health Organisation which ranked its health system as being among the worst in the world.

A senior official of the military government, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, said the report had used false data provided by opposition groups, and had insulted Burma's dedicated health workers.

The W-H-O office in Burma has expressed concern at what it called the distress caused by the report.

In a statement, the regional office says it will set up a high-level taskforce to review the data.

A WHO spokesman in Geneva says organisation stands by the methodology used in the report, which it hopes will seen as a constructive rather than a critical tool for improving health systems. The WHO report, released last week, compared the health systems of almost two-hundred countries and concluded that Burma and Sierra Leone have the worst, while France has the best.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

The Straits Times - June 29, 2000.

Asian drug lords plan ecstasy invasion

Prices reduced to boost trade among Thai youth

BANGKOK -- Asian drug warlords who churn out heroin and amphetamines from their factories in Myanmar plan to begin mass production of cheap ecstasy, narcotics-control sources in Thailand said.

The United Wa State Army, stung by Thai military strikes against its opium poppy plantations, is now being forced to produce ecstasy and smuggle it via new routes into Thailand, the source said.

The Wa army, the most feared of Myanmar's rebel insurgencies, plans to slash the price of an ecstasy pill from the current price of US$20 (S$34) to about US$5 to US$8 to penetrate the fast-growing Thai youth market.

Ecstasy is catching on in Thailand and the authorities seized 24,205 tablets last year, up from 4,517 tablets in 1998.

But while ecstasy may be the business of the future, the authorities say amphetamines are without doubt Thailand's top national security threat.

The Wa army does a roaring trade in the stimulant, with about 600 million tablets brought over the border last year.

But since the Thai authorities began clamping down on amphetamines, traffickers have resorted to new routes to get their product across.

To bypass the Thai military's heavy presence in the northern provinces, shipments are sent via air or sea to Ranong, a town on the southern border between the two neighbours, and are then transported to Bangkok.

The alternative route is to travel east and slip into Laos before moving south and crossing into Thailand.

The United States has identified Myanmar and Afghanistan as the world's ""headquarters for the heroin business'' and has expressed concern over the growing threat of the Wa army's activities. --AFP