Burma Related News - Aug 3, 2000.

New Straits Times
Thursday, August 3 6:30 PM SGT
Sport: Malaysia meeting an old `foe' on Sunday

THE national soccer squad preparing for the Merdeka Tournament will be up against an old "foe" in the form of former Brunei coach David Booth (left) when they take on Myanmar in a friendly on Sunday.
Booth, who has vast knowledge of the standard of soccer here, is now coaching Myanmar.

He has been largely responsible for the rise in Brunei's form in the past few years, which culminated in them winning the Malaysia Cup last year.

Booth knows Malaysian players inside out and that will stand him in good stead as he prepares his new team for the coming match.

He had left Brunei during the Malaysia Cup competition last year, handing over the reins to current coach Michael Jones, to take up an appointment with a club in Ghana.

However, things did not work out well with the club and he left for Myanmar in February to take up the national coach's job.

His team's first assignment was the Asian Cup qualifying round in South Korea in April, where Booth was satisfied with their performance despite failing to qualify for the final round.

In the qualifier, Myanmar beat Laos 4-0 and Mongolia 2-0 but lost 4-0 to South Korea, only after stoutly defending for the first 65 minutes.

Booth, in a telephone interview from Myanmar last night, said he has made some changes to the team that played in South Korea.

He said: "The two friendly matches in Malaysia will be the first time the new squad will be playing together. These will give me a good indication of the team's strengths and weaknesses."

Myanmar, just like Malaysia, are also preparing for the Tiger's Cup in Thailand in November.

Booth said after their two matches in Malaysia, the team will head home before competing in a invitational tournament in Jakarta later this month.

"We need as many matches as possible to ensure the team play well in the long run, because they usually lack exposure and experience.

"I am enjoying my work in Myanmar and intend to see the team do well in the Tiger's Cup, which will see us give our opponents a run for their money."

Thursday, August 3 8:36 PM SGT
Hackers Close Down Myanmar Government Web Site

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Myanmar telecommunications engineers were trying Thursday to restore the military government's Web site after hackers shut it down, a military intelligence officer said.
An officer of the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence said myanmar.com was closed down by hackers Wednesday, but declined to elaborate. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

The Web site gives the military regime's side in a propaganda war dominated by overseas supporters of the democratic opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won general elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power.

It also gives information in English, French and Japanese to visitors to Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Only government ministries and some business organizations in Myanmar have access to the Web, and just a few hundred domestic users have e-mail. The government keeps tight control on all media.

Thursday, August 3 2:35 PM SGT

Asean Econ Mins To Discuss Free Trade In Thai Oct Meeting

BANGKOK (AP)--Economic ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet in Thailand during Oct. 2-7 to discuss issues including the group's plans for a free trade area, the state Thai News Agency reported Thursday.

The 32nd Asean Economic Ministers' Meeting, to be held in the northern province of Chiang Mai, will discuss the Asean Free Trade Area, or AFTA, a draft pact on e-commerce and a proposed free trade agreement between Asean and Australia and New Zealand.

Representatives of the European Commission will attend the economic minister's meeting for the first time, for talks on expanding trade and investment and eliminating trade barriers between the two trade blocks, the TNA reported.

Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Under AFTA's free-trade plan, six of the 10 Asean members have agreed to cut tariffs on a list of manufactured and agricultural products to between zero and 5% by 2002.

In a move seen as clearing a key obstacle to AFTA but casting doubts over Asean's resolve in setting up a free trade block, trade ministers agreed in May that Malaysia could extend protection of its car industry to 2005.

Malaysia says it needed a delay, saying it needs more time to rehabilitate the industry after being hurt by the Asian economic crisis.

UNHCR postpones relocation of Myanmar dissidents

BANGKOK, Aug. 3 (Kyodo) -- The regional office in Bangkok of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday it would postpone relocation of Myanmar dissidents to a refugee camp in the border town Mae Sot.

The UNHCR said the decision to postpone the ''voluntary movement'' from Bangkok of ''persons of concern'' from Myanmar to the Ban Um-piam-mai Camp in Mae Sot in Tak Province, about 500 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, was made at the request
of the Thai government.

Mae Sot residents who protested the plan said the Interior Ministry and the UNHCR office planned to relocate 85 dissidents from the Maneeloy holding center in Ratchburi Province to the Ban Um-piam-mai camp for displaced persons.

But the UNHCR denied the ''persons of concern'' are those who live at the Maneeloy holding center, which currently houses some 1,700 former dissident students from Myanmar, including some 500 ''persons of concern.''

Mae Sot residents had blocked the Tak-Mae Sot highway, which was the expected route to be used in transporting the dissidents.

The protesters called on the government to revoke the plan, saying the dissidents might have a different attitude toward Myanmar than the 25, 000 people already residing in the camp.

The government wants to close the Maneeloy center, used to house some of the rebels involved in hostage-taking incidents at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok last October and at a hospital in Ratchaburi in January.

The Ban Um-piam-mai camp, which is 10 km from the Myanmar border and 80 km south of Mae Sot, houses 25,000 displaced persons from Myanmar, most of whom are Karens.

According to Thailand's Foreign Ministry, there are about 102,000 displaced persons fleeing the Myanmar junta living in refugee camps in Thailand along the border with Myanmar. Most of them are Karens.

In Mae Sot, there are about 80,000 displaced persons held in three camps.

Aug 03, 2000: Earth Times
The Burmese Connection: Heroin and AIDS

By CÉSAR CHALELA and CHRIS BEYRER
© Earth Times News Service

Burma continues to be among the largest sources of illicit opium and heroin in the world, with poppy cultivation almost doubled since 1988. To make matters worse, drug abuse-particularly intravenous drug use-is on the rise both in Burma and in neighboring countries, and is contributing to the alarming increase of HIV- infected people throughout the region. As a result, the combined impact of heroin and HIV/AIDS has been devastating in the health status and quality of life of people not only in Burma, but in neighboring countries as well.
According to Burmese official statistics, townships have rates of injecting drug use (IDU) behavior among 1.7 percent to 25 percent of adults. Government statistics estimate the drug-addicted population at 66,463. The UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working in the health sector, however, estimate their number in 400-500,000.

In 1994, the World Health Organization helped the National AIDS Program measure HIV infection among addicts. The results showed that HIV infection rates among Burma's addicts are the highest among addicts worldwide: 74% in Rangoon, 84 percent in Mandalay, and 91 percent in Myitkyina, capital of the distant Kachin State on the Chinese border. The lethal drugs-AIDS combination is particularly found in ethnic minority areas that are the source of the drugs. Because most addicts are men, this facilitates the fast
spread of the infection to women. According to figures form the National AIDS Program, of all the HIV infections estimated to have occurred by 1995, 50 percent were among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics.

According to Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS's executive director, Burma has presently at least 440,000 people infected by HIV/AIDS, the second worst AIDS epidemic in Asia after Cambodia. The Southeast Asian Information Network (SAIN) and other non-governmental organizations have confirmed Dr. Piot's estimates. The Burmese junta, however, claims that there are in Burma only 21,503 confirmed HIV cases and 2,854 AIDS cases.

One of the reasons for the very high rates of HIV infection among drug users in Burma is needle sharing, practiced among addicts because of the extremely short supply of syringes in the country. Also, the "paraphernalia" laws in Burma make carrying needles without medical license a crime. Habitual injectors work in "tea stall" shooting galleries, where they reuse needles and transmit HIV through that mechanism.

Another reason for the combination of high rates of heroin use and HIV are the young Burmese internal migrants working in the jade and ruby mines in Shan or Kachin states. People come from all over the country to work in the mines, in numbers that in the dry season may reach the hundreds of thousands. Because many of the HIV positive young adults in central Burma have worked in the mines, they probably have played a key role in the wide dissemination of HIV across the country.

The HIV epidemic among drug users in Burma has led to HIV epidemics in other border countries, such as China and India. The heroin route through western Burma, across the Indo-Burma border, as well as in the northeast Indian State of Manipur, has led to an explosive parallel outbreak of injection drug use and HIV spread. Something similar has occurred along Burma's eastern border, particularly in China's Yunnan province.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Health states that 80.4 percent of all HIV infections in China have been detected in Yunnan, and 60.0 percent of all confirmed AIDS cases. The Chinese province of Guangxi, on the border with Yunnan and Vietnam, has recently experienced outbreaks of HIV and IDU associated with a third route from Burma and Laos, through northern Vietnam and into China. Drug users in the Indian state of Manipur have among the highest rates of HIV infection in India. In 1994, WHO estimated that the HIV
infection rate among drug users in Manipur state was 56 percent, and is spreading rapidly into the general population.

Based on studies from a variety of fields, including molecular epidemiology studies of HIV, narcotics investigations, and behavioral studies of injecting drug users, one can assert that Burmese heroin export routes are playing a crucial role in the spread of both injecting drug use and HIV infection throughout South and Southeast Asia. The failure of the Burmese junta to deal effectively with the epidemic of injecting drug use bodes ill for their ability to cope also with the AIDS problem. By all practical measures, the Burmese junta has become a health threat not only to Burma's own citizens, but to those of neighboring countries as well.

(Dr. César Chelala is an international medical consultant and the author of "AIDS: A Modern Epidemic." Dr. Chris Beyrer is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training Program and the author of "War in the Blood: Sex, Politics and AIDS in Southeast Asia.")

Thais protest relocation of Myanmar dissidents

BANGKOK, Aug. 2 (Kyodo) -- About 100 residents in the Thai border town Mae Sot protested Wednesday against Interior Ministry and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to relocate dissident students from Myanmar to a refugee camp in the town, which is about 500 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, a report from Mae Sot said.

Pan Montib, the protest leader, said they will block the Tak-Mae Sot highway, the expected route to transport the dissidents from the Maneeloy holding center in Ratchaburi Province to Mae Sot's Ban Um-piam-mai camp for displaced persons Thursday.

They urged the government to revoke the plan, saying the dissidents might have different attitudes toward Myanmar than the 25,000 people already residing in the camp. The group also said the students should be sent to third countries because they may provoke unrest in Mae Sot.

The protesters marched through central Mae Sot with placards and loud speakers and their representatives went to hand a letter of protest to Mae Sot District chief, who was not in his office. The letter was received by his aide.

They also went to a UNHCR office in the district, but no official came out to take the protest message.

It is believed 85 Myanmar dissidents from Maneeloy will be moved to Mae Sot on Thursday. The government wants to close the Maneeloy center used to house some of the rebels involved in hostage taking incidents at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok last October and at a hospital in Ratchaburi in January, according to Pan.

The Ban Um-piam-mai camp, which is 10 km from the Myanmar border and 80 km south of Mae Sot, houses 25,000 displaced persons from Myanmar, most of whom are Karens.

Trade Between Myanmar, Other ASEAN Members on Rise

YANGON (Aug. 3) XINHUA - Bilateral trade between Myanmar and five other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- totaled 1.674 billion U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 1999-2000 which ended in March, accounting for 43.8 percent of the country's total foreign trade in the year, according to the latest figures published by Myanmar's Central Statistical Organization.

Of Myanmar's bilateral trade with these ASEAN member countries, that with Singapore accounted for the highest volume with 883.1 million dollars or 23.1 percent of the country's total foreign trade, followed by that with Thailand 393.83 million dollars or 10. 32 percent, that with Malaysia 255.41 million dollars or 6.7 percent, that with Indonesia 139.5 million dollars or 3.6 percent and the Philippines 2.18 million dollars or 0.05 percent..

Meanwhile, Myanmar also trades with northeast Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea with their bilateral trade volume respectively accounting for 400 million dollars or 10.48 percent, 321.92 million dollars or 8.44 percent and 262.12 million dollars or 6.87 percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade.

ASEAN, in addition to being Myanmar's largest trading partner, is also the country's largest investor. Of Myanmar's 55.61 million dollars' total foreign investment in 1999-2000, that from other ASEAN member nations took up 21.703 million dollars or 39 percent.

Bangkok Post - Aug 3, 2000.
TAK RESETTLEMENT

Locals oppose transfer of Burmese exiles
Protesters fear rise in border tension
Supamart Kasem

Local people yesterday protested against today's relocation of 85 former Burmese students from Bangkok and Ratchaburi to Phop Phra district, warning it could heighten tension along the border with Burma.

About 100 villagers from Mae Sot and Phop Phra districts demonstrated along roads in the town of Mae Sot against the students' transfer to Umpium refugee camp.

Led by Tak Chamber of Commerce chairman Panithi Tangphati, they marched to the Mae Sot district office to present a letter of protest addressed to governor Nirat Vajanaphum.

They later gathered outside a branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where they also submitted their protest letter.

The protesters dispersed after agreeing to gather at Wong Wian Yai, a doorway to Mae Sot town, today to block the vehicles carrying the former Burmese students, scheduled to reach the town this morning.

Mr Panithi said the Interior Ministry should not have rejected the UNHCR's proposal to gather local opinions on the relocation before going ahead with the transfer.

Yesterday morning, thousands of leaflets issued by Mae Sot Civil Society Network were distributed all over the town, encouraging local people to reject the relocation and warning of a security threat.

Mr Panithi also submitted a protest letter to National Security Council chief Kachadpai Burusapatana.

Placards saying "We oppose the relocation of Burmese students to the border" and "NSC secretary-general Mr Kachadpai, please take care of security along Tak's border" were erected at many places in Mae Sot.

In the letters, the private sector voiced concern for national security. The former Burmese students were wanted by Rangoon for allegedly violating Burma's security law. Their presence could intensify border tension.

The chamber of commerce has suggested the students be instead transferred to a third country or other places in Thailand.

The NSC chief is scheduled to meet the chamber of commerce in Mae Sot on Aug 12 to discuss border problems.

Bangkok Post - Aug 3, 2000.
Editorial - The attractions of illicit drugs

The attacks on drug suppliers over the past three decades are simply not getting the job done. The government continues to expand its attacks on those who make, smuggle and sell the drugs that flood Thai markets. But it is time to face the fact that there are more drugs, in greater variety, at lower prices, and doing more harm to Thai society than ever before. One great failing that authorities must repair is their lack of attention to those who demand and use drugs.

By all evidence and statistics, the demand for illicit drugs in Thailand is greater than ever. Millions of Thais, literally, have used narcotics and, recently, speed pills. Perhaps as many as one million of the 60 million Thai people use illegal drugs regularly. Opium and heroin remain a major threat to our nation. But the drugs of choice these days are the dangerous, anti-social methamphetamine, ecstasy and other so-called night-club drugs.

Some argue that a million Thais can't be wrong, and fewer anti-drug laws or legalisation of drugs would help. They are wrong. A million Thais can be as wrong as a million lemmings following each other off a cliff-but far more dangerous to our culture, our traditions and our survival. Drug traffickers exploit the weak members of the Thai nation, and that will continue.

Authorities perhaps have not yet got the correct mix of laws, treatment, education and compassion. We have long argued, in fact, that they have not. Our governments have correctly installed, supported and encouraged attacks on drug suppliers. This programme has been successful. We have run Khun Sa and his ilk out of Thailand, jailed many big shots and driven hundreds of dealers out of business. Our programme is known, and admired, around the world. Our crop-substitution projects have liberated farmers from virtual slavery and are the envy of many countries.

We have ignored, at our obvious peril, the demand side of drugs. Up and down Thailand, our youth, our villagers, our students are using and abusing drugs. The idle rich of Bangkok have taken to using night-club drugs such as Ecstasy. Methamphetamines have become our Number One national security risk-ahead of border disputes, illegal immigration and territorial threats from neighbours.

The lack of a cohesive anti-drug programme was always Thailand's Achilles heel. The drug peddlers, traffickers and smugglers have rushed to sell their evil products to a Thai population that is-in the matter of drugs-un-educated, naive and vulnerable. It is past time to change that.

Government efforts to educate young people about drugs are poor. Kindergarten students are to receive sex education, but high school students and adults remain unaware of the dangers of drugs. University students do not know that a Canadian academic has recently shown that Ecstasy use can cause life-long depression by destroying the neurotransmitter serotonin. In street jargon, it's a "down" that lasts a lifetime. In Toronto, Ecstasy kills one person a month. Thais do not know that methamphetamines are both addictive and depressing.

Halting and encouraging steps have been taken to address demand for illicit drugs. Communities have begun anti-drug programmes, with a heavy emphasis on peer pressure-a highly effective tactic in rural areas. It remains impossible, however, to see a national policy.

Authorities in Bangkok have done little to support such programmes. That is partly because the campaigns on drug traffickers get the attention, the money and the publicity. Reducing the demand for drugs is at least as vital, and could be more effective. We have one of the world's most respected anti-drug administrations. It is time it devised workable, supportable policies that attack illicit drugs from all sides.

The Nation - Aug 4, 2000.
Relocation of Burmese delayed
BY MARISA CHIMPRABHA

THE UN High Commissioner for Refugees yesterday postponed relocation of a group of Burmese exiles to a camp in Tak province at the Thai government's request following protests by local people.

About 100 people, including local businessmen, held a protest outside the UNHCR office in Tak's Mae Sot district on Wednesday to oppose the shifting of the exiles to Umpiam camp in the province.

"At the request of the Royal Thai government, the UNHCR Regional Office in Bangkok has postponed until further notice the voluntary movement from Bangkok of Persons of Concern from Myanmar [Burma] to Umpium Camp in Mae Sot district of Tak province," read the UNHCR press release.

The protesters claimed that the exiles include student political activists who would cause trouble with Burma, the source of trade and labour for local businesses.

They put the number of the Burmese to be moved to Umpium at about 400.

However the UNHCR's press release stated that the group of volunteers scheduled to leave Bangkok yesterday morning involved only four people.

Meanwhile, National Security Council chief Kajadpai Burutpat dismissed a claim by the protesters that the group comprised Burmese students from a detention centre in Ratchaburi province.

"They are not Burmese students. They are those who fled the inland fighting from Burma to Thai soil. They are under UN protection and the UN officials think that they should return to the border," Kajadpai said.

The government will explain the issue to the local people in Tak province so that they have better understanding of the situation, he added.

Thai communities have called for the closure of the detention camp in Ratchaburi after a number of Burmese students staying there were involved in a series of crimes in Thailand in December last year and in January.

The government then vowed to step up its cooperation with the UNHCR to send them to third countries.

A source said that initially about 400 Burmese applied for relocation to the border camp following a police crackdown on illegal immigrants.

"Although they are under UN protection, they could be arrested, so they decided to go. But, for unknown reasons, they changed their minds and decided to stay in Bangkok, reducing the number to four," the source said.

The source added that the Burmese in Ratchaburi camp should no longer be called Burmese students as they were not students like when they fled persecution and suppression from Burma to Thailand in 1988.

"They should be called the former Burmese students," the source added.

YANGON, Aug. 3 Kyodo News
Myanmar refutes U.S commission report on religious freedom

Myanmar's Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected a report by a U.S. commission on religious freedom in Myanmar as ''a
misrepresentation of the highest degree.''
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report dated July 28 characterized Myanmar as a land lacking in religious
freedom.

BBC - Thursday, 3 August, 2000, 11:26 GMT 12:26 UK
Burma website hacked

The military authorities in Burma have blamed the opposition for closing down the government's website.
Officials said that activists had committed a "computer crime" by altering files on the site, which promotes tourism and foreign investment in the country.

Burma keeps tight control on Internet access

Reports said visitors to www.myanmar.com could only see its opening screen, which featured a national flag.

All other pages had been shut down - including the English, French and Japanese-language introductions to business and travel in Burma.

Campaign

The site appeared to have been fully restored by Thursday evening local time.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been run by the military since 1962.

In 1988, a crackdown on pro-democracy groups caused many citizens to flee to Thailand.

Reports say activists campaigning against the regime try to overload Burmese leaders' private accounts by bombarding them with e-mails.

Internet access in Rangoon is still restricted to locations approved by the ruling junta such as luxury hotels.

BBC- Thursday, 3 August, 2000, 03:28 GMT 04:28 UK

Hackers close down Burmese web site

The military authorities in Burma have blamed the opposition for closing down the government's internet web site.

Officials said that activists had committed a computer crime by altering files on the site, which promotes tourism and foreign investment in the country.

Computer hackers broke into the site on Wednesday, preventing internet users from gaining access to it.

Among the areas affected were guides for holidaymakers and businessmen in English, French and Japanese.

Officials said it would take some time to restore the site. Activists campaigning against the Burmese government share information over the internet and say they try to overload the military leaders' private accounts by assailing them with electronic mail.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

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(Send your protest letter to Japanese Government and Japanese Bussiness
Companies before August 8. Stage demonstration in front of Japanese
Embassies around the world on Aug 8.)