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HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Asia Faces Social And Cultural Battle Against AIDS Reuters - Myanmar papers say opposition NLD should be banned TDS - 369 Myanmar nationals languishing in
jails
SCMP - Junta explores diplomatic ties beyond
China
BBC - Thailand arrests more illegal Burmese migrants Wednesday July 5 10:01 AM ET
Asia Faces Social And Cultural Battle Against AIDS By Sugita Katyal NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Just a
few years ago, Mala was the quintessential middle-class Indian housewife. She
cooked, cleaned and looked after her two small children. Last year, her life
took a tragic turn: her husband died of AIDS, and she was diagnosed
HIV-positive. Her mother-in-law took her children away from her, saying they too
would get the disease.
``When friends dropped in for a visit she would introduce me saying, 'She
is my son's widow. She has AIDS','' said Mala.
Until now, Asia has been more successful in holding the AIDS virus at bay
than Africa, where the disease has killed about 12 million people and many more
carry the HIV virus. But with millions like Mala trapped in a web of
misconceptions, myths and prejudice, AIDS is now threatening to engulf many of
Asia's poverty-stricken countries.
According to a new UNAIDS report, only three countries in Asia--Cambodia,
Myanmar and Thailand--have HIV infection rates exceeding one percent among 15 to
49-year-olds.
But the low rates conceal huge numbers of affected people.
In India, for instance, 3.7 million are infected, more than in any other
country except South Africa. In China, an estimated 500,000 people, mainly drug
users, live with HIV/AIDS.
Gordon Alexander, senior country programme adviser for UNAIDS in India,
estimates that the number hit by the scourge in Asia will climb to about eight
million over the next five years from about six million.
``We've got a serious epidemic in Asia or at least in South Asia,'' he
said.
In India the disease is spreading from traditionally high-risk groups such
as commercial sex workers, drug users and homosexuals to large rural swathes and
urban areas.
Although the disease is concentrated in southern India, the western state
of Maharashtra and the northeast, rural areas in other parts of the country are
highly vulnerable because of large-scale migration and repressive attitudes
towards women.
``The dimensions of the AIDS epidemic in India are different from others
because here AIDS isn't a health issue but a development problem,'' said Neelam
Kapoor, joint director of the government's National Aids Control Organisation.
India is not alone. In Thailand, where a thriving sex industry has
contributed significantly to the spread of the virus, about one million of the
country's 60 million people are HIV infected. ``Thailand's infection rate is one
of the worst in Asia, with one in every 60 people infected,'' said Jon
Ungphakorn, director of the AIDS Access Foundation and a Thai senator.
In many countries like India, China and Singapore, the battle against HIV
is a social and cultural one against the social stigma attached to the disease.
Last year, China--where health experts say there are about 800,000 HIV
carriers--broke a long-standing taboo against public discussion of sexual health
and launched a nationwide media campaign to curb the spread of HIV through
unsafe sex.
The country has also launched pilot projects, among them a drive to place
condom vending machines in bars, karaoke halls and universities, but these have
been stymied by conservative officials who believe the problem is largely a
foreign one.
Last December, China's first-ever condom advertisement featuring a cartoon
prophylactic fighting off HIV was banned by the State Administration for
Industry and Commerce because it was thought to be promoting sex products
illegally.
In Singapore, more than 3,000 foreigners and about 1,200 Singaporeans have
been officially reported to have been infected with the AIDS virus since 1985.
But Brenton Wong, honorary secretary of Singapore's Action For AIDS, says
the actual HIV incidence in the city state of 3.9 million people is at least
eight times higher than official data. ``Stigmatisation and denial is still
very, very common so people are afraid to get tested and many times won't even
tell their families if they test positive,'' said Wong.
Cultural taboos such as public discussion about sex and condoms remain the
biggest difficulties for anti-AIDS campaigners in communist-run Vietnam, where
the number of people detected with HIV has increased by 15-20 percent annually.
According to official reports, nearly 20,000 have been tested HIV positive
in Vietnam, but official media reported this month that the actual number of
people with the virus is expected to reach 135,000-160,000 by the end of 2000.
In the Philippines, where health department officials estimate the number
of people afflicted with the HIV virus is between 35,000 to 40,000, opposition
to condom use by the powerful Roman Catholic Church has been a big hindrance.
Josie de la Cruz, a project officer with the AIDS Society of the Philippines
says ``many people, although aware of the danger, maintain an 'it won't be me'
attitude.''
Thailand is the one success story in Asia where a government-sponsored
condom promotion campaign and a drive to change sexual behaviour have helped
control the spread of HIV.
``During the last four to five years we have noticed some decrease of
prevalence of HIV among pregnant women, army conscripts and commercial sex
workers,'' said Anupong Chitwaraporn, director of the AIDS division at the
Ministry of Public Health. ``If there are no programme changes, by 2005 we
should see a drop of new cases to about 17,000-20,000 each year,'' he added.
Prejudice against AIDS is widespread in Japan, again forcing many to
conceal their condition, and it is legal to test for HIV without the consent of
the people whose blood is being tested.
The number of HIV carriers and AIDS patients in Japan was a relatively low
6,912 as of October 31, 1999. But in the first half of 1999 the number of new
AIDS cases made its sharpest ever increase over a six-month period, with 145 new
ones reported.
In what could be a sign of changing attitudes, on June 12 a court ruled
that the dismissal of an HIV-positive Japanese-Brazilian man from his job
following an HIV test conducted without his knowledge was illegal. Such
victories are more the exception than the rule.
And, as the AIDS virus spreads across Asia, the UN report warns: ``It may
be just a matter of time before infections reach a critical level...Certainly
there is no room for complacency.''
WIRE:07/05/2000 05:43:00 ET
Myanmar papers say opposition NLD should be banned YANGON, July 5 (Reuters) -
State-run Myanmar newspapers called on Wednesday for the banning of the
main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), saying the party
was colluding with terrorists to undermine the country. The newspapers, mouthpiece of Yangon's ruling generals, accused the NLD, led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, of "inciting unrest to cause disintegration of the Union." The commentary, entitled "It is time NLD was dissolved," was carried
in two of Myanmar's official newspapers, the sole English language daily,
"The New Light of Myanmar," and the Myanmar language "Myanma Alin."
"The NLD party is found to be constantly committing acts causing a
great disservice to the Union of Myanmar," it said.
"There is ample evidence it is colluding with the terrorists active
at the border in violation of the existing laws."
"An objective study will show that the NLD party is not in a position
to carry out political activities in the Union," the commentary said.
"Hence, the NLD should be outlawed in the interest of the people."
The media attack on the NLD follows a visit to Myanmar by United
Nations special envoy Razali Ismail earlier this week to try to encourage
a dialogue between the military and the NLD and restore democracy and
human rights.
Razali met Myanmar's power military intelligence Khin Nyunt as well
as Suu Kyi.
NLD officials were unavailable for comment.
The NLD swept to an overwhelming victory in Myanmar's last democratic
elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern.
Instead, dozens of NLD members of parliament elected in the 1990
polls have been arrested along with many thousands of ordinary party
members and NLD branches have been closed down by the Myanmar
authorities.
Official Myanmar media have reported that around 50,000 NLD members
have resigned from the party in recent years. But NLD members say they
have been forced to quit the party.
The newspaper commentary said the NLD was a defunct party with
dwindling members and the entire Myanmar people wanted the government to
dissolve it.
It was also accepting more outside assistance than in the past and
colluding with armed groups outside Myanmar, it said.
The Daily Star
Repatriation uncertain 369 Myanmar nationals languishing in
jails
From Nurul Alam CHITTAGONG, July 4: Repatriation of 369 Myanmar nationals who have already
completed their terms of imprisonment has become uncertain due to lack of
clearance from Myanmar's border guards NASAKA, said a government source.
They were arrested in the last ten years on charges of illegal fishing,
poaching and trespassing and are now languishing in the jails in Chittagong,
Cox's Bazar, Noakhali, Comilla and Mymensingh, the source added.
On May 12 this year, 108 Myanmar nationals who completed jail terms here were pushed back into their homeland following an inconclusive flag meeting between the border guard officials of the two neighbouring countries at Teknaf point, the source said. The Myanmar border guard officials declined to take back 369 nationals as they could not yet verify and confirm their identities, the source further said. BDR authorities lodged protests with NASAKA in this regard, but no clearance has so far been received against those 369 people, sources concerned said. Efforts are on to take up the issue of repatriation of 369 Myanmar nationals at foreign ministry level, they added. Meanwhile, over 500 other Myanmar nationals are reportedly staying in different jails as under-trial prisoners after arrest on different charges. South China Morning Post
Wednesday, July 5, 2000 BURMA Junta explores diplomatic ties beyond
China
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok The first visit by a Burmese foreign minister to Moscow in 21 years is a
signal of the ruling junta's determination to pursue an independent foreign
policy, even under China's long shadow.
Win Aung, accompanied by officials from the defence, energy, industry and railway sectors, arrived in Moscow on Monday, and received a warm reception. His Kremlin counterpart, Igor Ivanov, said Russia considered Burma to be "a promising partner in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region in general". The Rangoon regime is still far from abandoning its close ties with
Beijing, but the visit shows it wants to avoid putting all its eggs in one
basket, analysts said.
"India, the rest of Asean [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations], a
lot of people, want to pull Burma away from China. Only in their dreams will
they wholly succeed," one military observer said. "But this indicates that some
of the concerns of neighbours are probably reflected within the military
establishment in Rangoon, too."
In recent years, Russia's presence in Burma has been a shadow of the Soviet
Union's during the Cold War, when the communist empire's huge embassy in Rangoon
was supposed to have been turned into a regional listening centre. Delegations
from the Soviet Union made frequent trips to Rangoon after the dictator General
Ne Win embraced his own quirky brand of socialism soon after his 1962 coup.
Ne Win withdrew from the non-aligned states' conference at a meeting in
Cuba in 1979, signalling that he would not allow what he perceived as Soviet
meddling in the meeting to jeopardise Burma's relations with China. Even so, the
wily old general liked to keep the country roughly equidistant from the two
regional powers, India and China.
This policy was abandoned, to the consternation of the rest of the region,
when the military junta, a pariah after the army's vicious suppression of
dissent in 1988, was forced to accept China's offer of political and arms
support. Few of China's rivals, Russia and India included, like the idea of
China gaining easy access to the Indian Ocean or the prospect of Burma being
turned into another Tibet.
Some Burmese officers also appear worried. "There are reportedly strong
differences within the armed forces now over the degree to which Burma has come
to rely on China for its arms, their indifferent quality and the access that
China has apparently been given to some Burmese military facilities," said
Andrew Selth, an Australian expert on Burma's military.
In the early 1990s India aligned itself with the democratic movement in
Burma, but there has been a noticeable softening towards the military regime in
recent years. The Indian army chief of staff, General V. P. Malik, arrived in
Rangoon yesterday for his second visit in six months.
In 1996 the junta wanted to order a number of Russian MiG-29 jet fighters
but had to shelve the order for lack of funds. It has, though, obtained at least
four squadrons of Mi-2 and Mi-17 helicopters from Russia.
The details of the so-far limited relationship between post-Soviet Moscow
and Rangoon are not really the point, however: the fact is that Rangoon is
looking for new friends or reviving old relationships - and is succeeding.
Even as the Indian general arrived, powerful junta member
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt led a 20-member delegation on a visit to India's
arch-rival, Pakistan, said diplomatic sources, confirming an initiative that
went unreported in state media.
BBC - Wednesday, 5
July, 2000, 12:30 GMT 13:30 UK
Thailand arrests
more illegal Burmese migrants
Thai authorities say they have arrested about four-thousand illegal Burmese workers in several factories and will be deporting them shortly. Immigration officials said the workers were illegally employed in garment and textile factories in the Mae Sot district in Tak province, northeast of Bangkok. Since late last year, Thailand has deported tens-of-thousands of an estimated one-million illegal migrants, most of them from Burma. From the newsroom of the BBC World Service |