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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar uprising marked by exiles in
Thailand
AP - Myanmar
Dissidents Mark 12th anniversary of uprising behind barbed
wire
NSTP - National: 75kg of ganja seized, nine held
in raids
The Nation - Police crack down on people
smugglers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL
PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ON AUG 8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, August 8 5:22 PM SGT
Myanmar uprising marked by exiles in
Thailand
BANGKOK, Aug 8 (AFP) - Myanmar
opposition groups in Thailand marked the anniversary of the bloody 1988 Yangon
student uprising Tuesday with low-key ceremonies, as the violent rebel protests
of the last year forced them to scale down commemorations.
At the Maneeloy refugee holding centre near the Myanmar border, exiled
activists marked the occasion with Buddhist rituals to honour the students who
died.
In Mae Sot, another border town in the west, the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) gathered to map out diplomatic and political strategies
to counter the military regime in Yangon.
We urge the Yangon junta to "immediately enter into political dialogue with
the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi," the ABSDF said in a
statement.
"Despite the severe loss of lives and the violence" of 1988, "the spirit of
the people can never be destroyed through fear," it said.
Hundreds of democracy demonstrators were gunned down on August 8, 1988,
paving the way for a junta to take power the next month from longtime military
strongman Ne Win.
The junta allowed free elections in 1990, which Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won convincingly, but the military
still refuses to recognise the result.
During last year's anniversary of the "four eights", more than 200 exiled
students slashed their arms with knives and soaked Myanmar flags with blood in a
protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.
But this year commemorations were toned down in light of a crackdown on
dissident activity, after the October siege on the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok by
rebel gunmen, and the occupation of a provincial hospital in January where 10
rebels were killed.
For the first time since the uprising, there were no plans for a protest
outside the Myanmar embassy here Tuesday.
Debbie Stothard, coordinator of ALTSEAN-Burma, a network of activist
groups, said that since the sieges there had been a significant clampdown on
pro-democracy events and protests were now "frowned on".
"Traditionally on the key events such as the anniverary of the elections
and August 8, 88, students from the (Maneeloy) safe area usually organise some
sort of protest or public event outside the Burmese embassy," she said.
"But since the October incident of the embassy siege and the Ratchaburi
hospital tragedy there's a general understanding that these sorts of protests
won't be held."
The activist community was sure the Thai authorities would react "quite
harshly" if demonstrations went ahead, she said.
"Most of these activist groups have been severely cracked down on by the
Thai authorities so their capacity to carry out such a protest, and the security
factor, would definitely discourage most activists from doing such a
thing."
Tuesday, August 8
4:34 PM SGT
Myanmar Dissidents Mark 12th anniversary
of uprising behind barbed wire
By THAKSINA KHAIKAEW, Associated Press Writer
MANEELOY HOLDING CENTER, Thailand (AP) - Nearly 300 Myanmar dissidents penned in behind the barbed wire fence of a Thai refugee camp paid tribute on Tuesday to thousands of protesters gunned down in a nationwide uprising for democracy in their homeland 12 years ago. Refused permission by Thai authorities to demonstrate in Bangkok, instead they protested against Myanmar's military regime within the confines of Maneeloy camp near the Thai-Myanmar border, which holds 1,580 student exiles awaiting resettlement abroad. Wearing the red headbands with the fighting peacock symbol of the Myanmar pro-democracy movement, they demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and an end to human rights violations by the military. ``Our aim is to get democracy. We go on strike, we go on strike,'' the exiles chanted, repeating slogans they once shouted on the streets of Yangon. There on Aug. 8, 1988, a student-inspired national strike began that nearly toppled three decades of military rule. The so-called 8-8-88 uprising ended in bloodshed and the military has since consolidated its power, despite losing a general election in 1990. The regime refused to hand over power to the victorious National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi. Yangon was quiet Tuesday, with no sign of demonstrations. Suu Kyi said last month that the league would not commemorate 8-8-88 as it was a day when Myanmar nationals had shed their blood. Opposition to the regime inside Myanmar, also known as Burma, has withered over the past 12 years. Hundreds have been jailed and many more have fled to neighboring Thailand. Dozens of the student veterans' children - born during exile - joined the two-hour demonstration at Maneeloy, as Thai camp security officers looked on. Like their parents, the children carried banners with pictures of Suu Kyi and slogans demanding: ``Military return to the barracks.'' In previous years, the students would hold their demonstrations outside the Myanmar Embassy in the Thai capital, but their political campaigning has been dramatically scaled back this year. Thai authorities have restricted the movements of all exiles since a small group of radicals stormed the Myanmar Embassy in October and then took hostages at a Thai hospital in January. Thailand is now pushing for third countries to accept all the students for resettlement. ``There is no future here in Thailand, especially now when the Thai authorities are tough on us and the villagers around here don't like us,'' 29-year-old protester Min Min told The Associated Press from inside Maneeloy camp. ``It's better to go to the third country where we can continue to fight for democracy in Burma.'' Min Min fled Yangon as an 18-year-old high school student and is now hoping to be sent to France or Australia. His bid for asylum in the United States was rejected. An official of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that since October, some 580 Myanmar exiles have been resettled abroad. Thailand wants the other 1,580 inside Maneeloy moved by the year's end. Tuesday, August 8 6:31 PM SGT
The New Straits Times National: 75kg of ganja seized, nine held in raids SHAH ALAM, Mon. - Police have arrested nine people, including three Thais
and two Myanmar, and seized 75.3kg of compressed ganja in four separate
operations in Cheras, Selayang, Ampang and Kuang in operations mounted since
Thursday.
In the first operation on Aug 3, a team of Kuala Lumpur narcotics officers nabbed a Myanmar couple, aged 33 and 38, at a house in Jalan Besar, Selayang about 1.30am. There, the officers seized 1.3kg of compressed ganja. In the second operation 15 hours later, a team of Kajang and Shah Alam
narcotics officers picked up a 38-year-old Thai in Jalan Cheras Perdana, Cheras,
about 4.30pm.
Police found 61 slabs of compressed ganja weighing about 61kg in the man's
four-wheel drive vehicle bearing Thai registration plates.
Two days later, another team from Kuala Lumpur raided a house in Taman
Ampang Dagang, Phase Three in Ampang, where a 30-year-old man was picked
up.
From the house, the police seized several boxes containing 3kg of
compressed ganja.
Follow up operations led the team to another house in Kuang, where five
people, including a Thai couple, were nabbed early today. They also seized 10
slabs of ganja weighing about 10kg.
The Nation - Aug 8,
2000.
Police crack down on people
smugglers
BY LAURENA CAHILL
IMMIGRATION police are cracking down on Thai syndicates running lucrative
smuggling rackets involving illegal immigrant workers.
In the past month, 100 traffickers have been charged with illegal smuggling
- mostly across the Thai-Burmese border.
The move to crack down on smugglers comes as immigration officials admit
the tide of illegal immigrants across Thailand's borders with Burma, Laos and
Cambodia is rising to record levels.
"This is profitable activity for Thai smuggling gangs," Pol Col Jinabhadra
Tansrisakul, Immigration Superintendent at Suanplu, the country's largest
detention centre, in central Bangkok.
Col Jinabhadra estimates illegal traffickers get paid between Bt3,000 to
Bt6,000 per head from Burmese immigrants desperate to get work in Thailand.
Many of these gangs are importing illegal immigrants to order, for Thai
factory owners in Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard.
"We believe that 70 per cent of migrant workers wind up in the greater
Bangkok areas and in the industrial zones of the eastern coast.
"The best way to clamp down on this racket is to catch the smugglers in the
act, which takes a lot of work and police manpower, but this is where we have to
concentrate our efforts," he said.
Although precise figures on the influx of illegals are sketchy, Pol Maj
Supote Prungthanyaphurk, of the Immigration Investigation Division, confirmed
that 100,000 illegals have been repatriated overland to Burma, Laos and Cambodia
over the past nine months.
"We are uncertain how many illegals have entered Thailand in recent months,
but we know that 100,000 have been returned since last November and that is the
highest figure we have seen, so far."
At Suanplu Detention centre, Col Jinabhadra is anxious to return detainees
as quickly as possible in a bid to keep numbers at manageable levels. Right now
the detention centre is running at full capacity with 1,200 inmates. Sixty per
cent are Burmese, mostly men in the 18-to-40 age group. A further 30 per cent
are from Cambodia and the remaining 10 per cent from Laos. Detainees from the
latter countries tend to reflect a wider spread of age and gender variation than
the Burmese.
Detainees are kept for two to three days and then rushed back across the
border. They are fingerprinted during detention, but immigration officials admit
identifying illegals is problematic. Many detainees refuse to give personal
information to the police.
"We cannot really follow up identification through fingerprinting because
we may not have enough accompanying information to make a proper ID," Jinabhadra
said.
"None of the detainees from neighbouring countries have passports or ID
papers.
"I know from seeing the same faces that some detainees have been held here
before - some have been here seven or eight times in the past."
The detention centre chief admits further new strategies have to be adopted
in addition to cracking down on smugglers.
"We need to clamp down more heavily on factory owners who make use of
migrant workers. We need to upgrade our use of information and set up Internet
links with all Immigration border crosspoints so we can coordinate information.
"This should help cut delays in returning workers back to their own
countries."
But the Immigration official denied that Immigration police act on tip-offs
from factory owners wanting to avoid paying workers their wages. It has been
alleged some bosses work in cooperation with the police, who swoop to make
illegal labor raids on factories before pay-day.
"It is simply not true," said Jinabhadra.
"Factory bosses have to pay these immigrants once a week or every 10 days
at the maximum. So they are really never in a position to save a lot of money by
blowing the whistle on them. This is not what happens and we do not work with
them."
The detention centre head admitted he and his department had no instant
solutions to stop the flood of cash-strapped migrants flooding across the
country's porous borders. "We do the best job we can, but we need more resources
and equipment, and I am confident that we will get the budget to allow us these
improvements." -------------------------------------(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.) |