--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC - Fears for defiant Suu Kyi
AP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi Gets More
Support
SMH - Australia gives Suu Kyi no help
AFP - No resolution in sight in Aung San Suu Kyi
standoff
The NewYork Times - Popular Burmese Leader
Tests Wills With Junta
Reuters - Annan tells Myanmar end standoff
with Suu Kyi
AP - Suu Kyi gets more world support in clash
with military rulers
AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi enduring "deplorable"
conditions, party says
AP - Nordic Foreign Mins Blast Myanmar
Over Suu Kyi Treatment
Reuters
- Canada Condemns Myanmar Over Suu Kyi Standoff
The Times of India - 'Chins being forced back to Myanmar'
Bkk Post - Burma is
given topmost priority
Bkk Post - Officials stumble on illegal logging
gang
AP - U.N. chief urges
Myanmar government to end stand-off with Suu
Kyi
LA Times - Myanmar: A Test Case for U.S.
Principles
The Nation -
Sergeant At Arms
ST - Standoff
over Suu Kyi "bad for Asean'
The Nation - Defiant Suu Kyi to 'stand her
ground'
The Nation - Wrists slashed
The Nation - Seeking balance on foreign workers
The Nation - Letters - Call for action on losing
drug war
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED
NEWS
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BBC -Tuesday, 29 August, 2000, 23:23 GMT 00:23 UK
Fears for defiant Suu Kyi
The Burmese military government is facing growing international criticism
over the stand-off with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
stranded with supporters for six days on a road outside the capital.
The European Union and United Nations, among others, expressed concern for
Ms Suu Kyi and condemned the military for blocking the path of the opposition
leader's car.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for a quick and peaceful resolution
to the matter.
Saying he was "monitoring the situation closely", Mr Annan also called for
a national reconciliation, urging both sides to engage in political dialogue.
Ms Suu Kyi and a dozen officials from her party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), were on their way to a meeting with supporters last Thursday
when they were stopped by police.
As a protest against the restriction on their freedom of movement, they
have remained in the muddy, mosquito-infested area in the two vehicles they were
travelling in.
This is the first time Miss Suu Kyi - who was previously under house arrest
for six years - has tried to leave Rangoon since a similar confrontation in
1998, which ended after 13 days when she fell ill and had to return home.
Umbrellas and bathroom
The military regime rejected criticism, saying it had provided the group
with food, water and other amenities.
A government website, the Burmese National Homepage, said authorities had
given Ms Suu Kyi beach umbrellas and a mobile bathroom to ensure "her maximum
comfort".
The NLD said the government shouild be held responsible for any
deterioration in Ms Suu Kyi's help.
In an angry attack on Tuesday, the regime accused Ms Suu Kyi of damaging
the nation's economy by urging foreign governments to impose sanctions and trade
boycotts.
It said people resented her actions, and that the authorities now had to
take this action to protect her from attacks by citizens.
"The people realise that they are being used as sacrificial lambs by the
NLD," it said.
The NLD won elections in May 1990, but Burma's military rulers refused to
hand over power.
International concern
The United States,Thailand, Canada and Nordic countries were among those
voicing concern over the stand-off.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan warned it could tarnish the image of
the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which controversially
admitted Myanmar in 1997.
"Again, we deplore the attempts to restrict the movements of Aung San Suu
Kyi," US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
Mr Reeker said the United States had been in touch with the Red Cross to
facilitate the delivery of food, water and medicines to the 55-year-old Nobel
peace laureate.
Wednesday August 30 3:54 AM ET
Myanmar's Suu Kyi Gets More Support
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, stranded on a road for a seventh day
Wednesday, received more international support in her standoff with Myanmar's
military government.
Five Nordic countries on Tuesday condemned the government for preventing
Suu Kyi from traveling out of Yangon to conduct party organizational work in the
countryside of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Her car, and a pickup with 12 supporters, were stopped by police Thursday
in the Yangon suburb of Dala, and moved to a muddy mosquito-infested area. Suu
Kyi and her party have refused to go back to Yangon, and have stayed there,
sleeping in the vehicles or under makeshift tents.
At an annual meeting of Nordic foreign ministers, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden issued a statement saying they ``condemn the Burmese
government's infringement of Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic rights and express
worries about her safety and health.''
Also Tuesday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Secretary-General Kofi Annan
``is increasingly concerned about the well-being'' of Suu Kyi, 55, and the other
leaders of her National League for Democracy.
``The secretary-general believes that the latest situation underlines the
necessity for national reconciliation and urges the two sides to engage, as soon
as possible, in a substantive political dialogue,'' he said in New York.
The United States also has condemned the government's actions.
Suu Kyi has been at odds with the government since she led a pro-democracy
uprising against the military in 1988. She was put under house arrest a year
later and let out in 1995, but her movements remain severely restricted.
Myanmar has had no constitution since the 1974 Socialist constitution was
annulled after the military took over in September 1988.
On Tuesday, the government signaled that its patience with Suu Kyi's
defiance is wearing thin.
It said in a statement that Suu Kyi and the others were prevented from
traveling beyond Dala to ``protect them from being harmed by those who have
sound reasons for resentment and indignation toward her.''
The statement said people are angry with her for ``breaking their rice
bowls'' by advocating anti-foreign investment and anti-tourism policies which
have caused unemployment.
Suu Kyi had last tried to leave Yangon in 1988. That time also she was
blocked and she had remained in her car for 13 days.
Journalists have not been allowed to go near the area where her car is
parked.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Australia gives Suu Kyi no help
By CRAIG SKEHAN, Herald Correspondent in Bangkok
Aug 30, 2000.- Australia has declined to join a United States and British
diplomatic push to visit the Burmese democracy campaigner Ms Aung San Suu Kyi at
a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Rangoon.
Ms Suu Kyi and a dozen supporters were yesterday building up food supplies
for a long stand-off after being blocked by the military regime from travelling
to rural areas last Thursday.
On Saturday, the British Ambassador, Mr John Jenkins, and the US chargé
d'affaires, Ms Priscilla Clapp, challenged Burmese officials who stopped them
boarding a ferry to visit Ms Suu Kyi.
Sources said that Australia, which has split with the European Union and
Washington in an attempt to develop closer diplomatic relations with Burma,
ruled out joining the move.
Britain and the US subsequently lodged formal requests for a reversal of
the tough Burmese line, but Australia again abstained from involvement in the
representations.
The Burmese Foreign Ministry yesterday sent a note to foreign embassies in
Rangoon warning that demands by foreigners to visit Ms Suu Kyi would not
rejected and that outside intervention was inappropriate.
The advisory went on to say that official attempts were not being made to
stop food and other supplies getting to the group and that Burmese authorities
had provided its members with a mobile toilet.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader is fighting for her right to
freedom of movement, rejecting government claims that ethnic insurgents would
pose a threat in the area she wants to visit.
Ms Suu Kyi's camp has a tarpaulin suspended between two vehicles on a
side-road only a 10-minute ferry ride from the capital. It is surrounded by
government officials and military intelligence agents who monitor and photograph
their activities.
Diplomatic pressure on Burma intensified yesterday when the Thai Foreign
Minister, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, criticised the regime's actions.
Dr Surin said Ms Suu Kyi's treatment was "of much concern" to the
international community and threatened to affect the image of the 10-member
Association of South-East Asian Nations, which includes Burma.
While NLD members have portrayed the area of the camp as a
mosquito-infested swamp, counter propaganda from the regime suggests that Ms Suu
Kyi is enjoying a holiday in a charming, rustic location.
Diplomats said the official Burmese media had not carried reports on the
stand-off, which mirrors an encounter in 1998 which lasted for 13 days.
Because Burmese authorities are allowing the group to receive supplies,
many observers believe the latest test of resolve may last even longe.
Wednesday, August 30 2:00 PM SGT
No resolution in sight in Aung San Suu
Kyi standoff
YANGON, Aug 30 (AFP) -
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi stood her ground in a roadside test of wills
with Myanmar's military Wednesday as international pressure mounted for the
regime to resolve the week-long standoff.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the authorities to find a
peaceful solution to the crisis as the regime showed signs of becoming
increasingly irritated over the confrontation.
Annan said the situation "underlines the necessity for national
reconciliation" and urged the two sides to "engage as soon as possible in a
substantive political dialogue."
Aung San Suu Kyi and a dozen supporters have spent six nights camped in
their vehicles in countryside outside Yangon after being stopped Thursday as
they tried to reach a meeting of the party's youth wing.
Observers say that compared to her last attempt to challenge a ban on
leaving the capital two years ago, which ended when she became ill and
dehydrated, conditions were more relaxed in the latest confrontation.
The group was able to move around nearby Dallah township and take
deliveries of food and water, and were so far all in good health. Aung San Suu
Kyi had been seen leaving the car for short walks.
"The more the status quo remains, the more it will work in favour of Aung
San Suu Kyi as this will mean more supportive reaction from outside," one
diplomat told AFP.
Monsoon rains have drenched the Yangon region for much of the last week,
making conditions uncomfortable for the opposition party but lowering the risk
of dehydration and exhaustion.
Witnesses who reached the area where the group's two vehicles are parked
under military guard said that in a sign they were preparing for a long haul the
encampment had been improved and bamboo struts were used to turn tarpaulins into
makeshift tents.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has vowed their
leader will stay put until the military lifts the travel ban or forces her to
return home.
The government insists the group was stopped for its own safety in an area
where it faced attack by "armed insurgent groups".
In a sign it is losing its patience over the standoff, it unleashed a
barrage of criticism at the opposition leader Tuesday, accusing her of
sabotaging the nation's economy and harming ordinary workers.
"The government of Myanmar is responsible ... for preventing prominent
persons like Daw Suu Kyi from being harmed by those who have sound reasons for
resentment and indignation towards her," it said in a thinly veiled
warning.
Thailand's Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has said the Myanmar
government's latest row with Aung San Suu Kyi will damage confidence in
Southeast Asia as a whole if it is not resolved quickly.
"It is important not to create the impression of more tension, instability
and insecurity which could erode confidence in the region," Surin said
Tuesday.
Foreign ministers from the Nordic states have joined the chorus of
condemnation over the military's treatment of its foremost critic and expressed
concern for her safety and her health.
"Dialogue is the only path to democratic development and national
reconciliation," the ministers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
said Tuesday.
They also called on the junta to embark on a dialogue with the NLD. The
party claimed victory in 1998 elections but has been denied power by the
military which has controlled the country in one guise or another for the past
four decades.
The New
York Times August 30, 2000
Popular Burmese Leader Tests Wills With
Junta
By SETH MYDANS - The Associated Press
The car carrying Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was stopped by the authorities at a
roadside in Dalla. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democratic leader, tried
to drive to meet with supporters outside the capital.
BANGKOK, Aug. 29 -- Her car has been shunted to the side of the road. The
air has been let out of its tires. The military authorities say they are
offering her food and medical care, but they are also making sure she is going
nowhere.
The pro-democracy leader of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been camped
in her car for six days now near a small country town in a symbolic attempt to
travel to meet with her supporters.
She has done this four times before, in 1998, sitting stubbornly in her
small white Toyota for as long as 13 days at a time, unharmed but firmly
prevented from carrying out her political activities.
An official of her party, the National League for Democracy, described the
standoff as a "war of endurance." It is a phrase that applies equally well to
her 12-year battle of wills with the military rulers of her country, the former
Burma.
"The story hasn't changed very much over the years," a Western diplomat
said. "It's a standoff between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi and her
movement. It's perhaps worse to the extent that the government now seems engaged
in an attempt to destroy her party definitively, once and for all."
As the years have passed and her party members have been jailed or forced
to halt their political activities, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's options have
narrowed. She has been struggling just to keep her movement alive and to hold
the attention of foreign governments that is perhaps her political lifeline.
The Burmese military junta is equally stubborn.
In 1988, when the people rose up against three decades of military
repression, the army crushed huge demonstrations by force, taking hundreds of
lives.
In 1990, with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, her party won an
overwhelming victory in a surprisingly free parliamentary election. The military
reacted by annulling the results and tightening its grip on power.
In 1995 she was freed from formal house arrest but found herself surrounded
by security officers and restricted in her movements and political activities.
When her husband, a British scholar, was dying of cancer two years ago, the
government denied him permission to visit her, suggesting that it would be more
appropriate for her to visit him abroad. She refused, convinced that the
government would prevent her from returning, and he died without seeing her.
Her current foray out of the capital, Yangon -- the former Rangoon --
demonstrates the weakness of her position as well as its strength. It shows how
few options she has to challenge Myanmar's leaders but also how little she needs
to do to draw international attention.
"She needs to keep people, not only in Burma but the rest of the world,
aware of the continuing repression and deprivation of rights in Burma," said
Sunai Phasuk, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Her
gesture drew immediate support from the United States and Britain, as well as
the London-based rights organization Amnesty International.
"The United States condemns this abridgment of Aung San Suu Kyi's right to
freedom of movement and her right to visit whomever she chooses," said Philip
Reeker, a State Department spokesman.
But beyond statements of support, there is little that foreign governments
can do to affect the political situation in Myanmar. The United States has
banned new investment there and barred visits from its leaders. The European
Union has shunned Myanmar at international meetings.
But Myanmar's leaders have only hunkered down, apparently comfortable with
an international isolation that they first imposed on themselves in the early
1960's.
In its public statements about the current confrontation, in the town of
Dalla just across the river to the south of Yangon, the government has taken a
lighthearted tone verging on ridicule.
Asserting that "security conditions" do not permit her to travel farther,
it portrays her -- and 14 supporters traveling with her in two vehicles -- as
enjoying a pleasant rural interlude.
"Daw Suu Kyi and her travel companions are still continuing taking a rest
at Sarpachaun Ward of Dalla Town, a small but charming and scenic town which is
a 10-minute boat ride from Yangon," read a statement issued on Monday. "While
Daw Suu Kyi visits some homes in Sarpachaun Ward, her travel companions and
attendants enjoy visiting downtown Dalla as well as taking daily dips in
Sarpachaun stream."
It said that a doctor and six medical assistants were standing by. And it
suggested that she "return home and continue her political activities in a more
secure environment."
The government-controlled press joined the fray today, though it did not
mention Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's attempted car trip, deriding her as a "democracy
princess" and asserting, "She'll go down the drain eventually."
The government also took the opportunity to argue against economic
sanctions, which she and her party support, saying the sanctions had cost jobs
in manufacturing and tourism.
"Although the party claims to be promoting human rights," an official
statement said, "in reality the very rights of the people of Myanmar to enjoy a
better and fuller life have been undeniably violated and abused by the very same
people calling for democracy and human rights."
Photographs released by the government show two vehicles parked amid
shrubbery, joined by a makeshift tent and surrounded by pink-shirted supporters,
most of them members of the youth wing of her party.
Witnesses said the cars were parked on a dirt trail about 180 yards off the
main road, blocked from going further by two trucks. They told Agence
France-Presse that the air had been let out of her tires and that party members
were taking turns standing by her car with a large umbrella to shield Mrs. Aung
San Suu Kyi from the hot sun.
Calling the travelers "a determined group," party members reached by
telephone in Yangon said they were sending extra food, medicine and mosquito
repellent in preparation for a long stay.
WIRE:08/29/2000 13:59:00 ET
Annan tells
Myanmar end standoff with Suu Kyi
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
called on Myanmar"s military government on Tuesday to resolve a standoff with
pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, holed up with a group of
supporters in two vehicles for the past five days. "The secretary-general is
increasingly concerned about the well-being of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other
leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who have been denied freedom
of movement near a small town on the outskirts of Yangon since last Thursday," a
statement issued through a U.N. spokesman said. Annan is monitoring the
situation closely "and calls on the government of Myanmar to take the necessary
steps to quickly resolve the current stand-off in a peaceful manner," the
statement said. Annan believed the latest situation "underlines the necessity
for national reconciliation and urges the two sides to engage, as soon as
possible, in a substantive political dialogue," as called for by a series of
resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. HUman Rights
Commission, the spokesman added. The United States and the European Union have
also demanded that restrictions on Suu Kyi be lifted. She, her driver and 14 NLD
members were halted by police in the town of Dala as they headed south of
Yangon, the capital, in two vehicles, and have been there since. It was the
first time Suu Kyi had tried to leave Yangon since another roadside
confrontation in 1998 that ended after 13 days, when deteriorating health and
dehydration forced her to return home in an ambulance. Suu Kyi was under house
arrest for six years until 1995 and her movements remain severely
restricted.
WIRE:08/30/2000 08:29:00 ET
Suu Kyi gets
more world support in clash with military rulers
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _
Myanmar"s government on Wednesday accused opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of
craving international attention as her six-day-old roadside standoff with
authorities received more support around the world. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy campaign in Myanmar, prepared to spend a
seventh night in the open in the Yangon suburb of Dala. She was stopped there by
police Thursday while driving to the countryside for party work. She has refused
to go back to Yangon, the capital. She and 14 other party members have spent the
past week in a makeshift camp set up in the muddy, mosquito-infested area where
their two vehicles were moved. In Yangon, a government statement said Suu Kyi"s
National League for Democracy party should cooperate in "a responsible and
meaningful way to (fulfill) national goals instead of flashing symbolic gestures
designed merely to attract attention." It said other countries should encourage
the National League "to become a responsible and constructive force." A Myanmar
government Web site has published daily pictures of Suu Kyi"s party members
washing themselves, buying food or exercising. The government has described them
as taking a rest in the "charming town" of Dala. Despite such comments,
Myanmar"s military government has come under criticism from around the world.
Neighbor Thailand warned that the standoff could hurt relations between the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union, which has imposed
sanctions on Myanmar for its human rights record. Myanmar, or Burma, is a member
of the 10-nation association. "Thailand has expressed concern over the
situation," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudvinai said in Bangkok. At
an annual meeting of Nordic foreign ministers Tuesday, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden said they "condemn the Burmese government"s
infringement" of Suu Kyi"s democratic rights. The United States has condemned
the government"s actions. And U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Tuesday that
Secretary-General Kofi Annan "is increasingly concerned about the well-being" of
Suu Kyi, 55, and other National League leaders accompanying her. Suu Kyi has
been at odds with the government since she led a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.
She was put under house arrest a year later and let out in 1995, but her
movements remain severely restricted. Thursday was the first time she had driven
out of Yangon in two years. The last time was in August 1998, when her car was
stopped and she stayed put in the vehicle for 13 days. Myanmar has had no
constitution since the 1974 Socialist constitution was annulled after the
military took over in September 1988. Despite the government"s attempts to
downplay the standoff, it appeared that its patience with Suu Kyi was wearing
thin. The government said late Tuesday that Suu Kyi and the others were blocked
to "protect them from being harmed by those who have sound reasons for
resentment and indignation toward her." It said people are angry with her for
"breaking their rice bowls" by advocating anti-foreign investment and
anti-tourism policies which have caused unemployment. The National League for
Democracy party dismissed such reactions as stage-managed propaganda. "We
believe that the public love her and no harm can ever come to her from the
ordinary public," a senior National League leader, Nyunt Wai, told The
Associated Press.
Wednesday, August 30 8:52 PM SGT
Aung San Suu Kyi enduring "deplorable" conditions, party
says
YANGON, Aug 30 (AFP) -
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is being subjected to "deplorable" conditions
during her roadside test of wills with Myanmar's military, her party said
Wednesday.
Aung San Suu Kyi and a dozen supporters have spent a week camped in their
vehicles in countryside outside Yangon after being stopped Thursday as they
tried to reach a meeting of the party's youth wing.
"The place is full of mud and slush and is infested with poisonous animals
and insects and totally unprotected from the vagaries of weather," the National
League for Democracy (NLD) said in a statement.
"We condemn this unlawful action and urge that Aung San Suu Kyi and her
companions be allowed to go on their legitimate business."
Myanmar's generals are coming under mounting pressure to resolve the
week-long standoff, and are showing signs of becoming increasingly irritated at
the affair.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan Tuesday urged the junta to find
a swift and peaceful resolution.
The situation "underlines the necessity for national reconciliation" and
the two sides must "engage as soon as possible in a substantive political
dialogue," he said through a spokesman.
The NLD said that no matter how bad the situation became, their leader was
committed to forcing the junta to lift its ban on her travelling outside the
capital.
Apart from their cars, the group has only a collection of tarpaulins and
umbrellas to shelter them from the monsoon rains and there were complaints over
the weekend that they were running out of food and water.
The opposition has said Aung San Suu Kyi would refuse medical help offered
by the authorities, and US officials said they had learned she was refused
access to her own physician.
The 55-year-old Nobel laureate's last attempt to test the military's
restrictions, in August 1998, ended after 13 days when she became ill and
dehydrated.
Myanmar's government had been warned by the international community that it
would be held accountable for her safety during the stand-off on the outskirts
of Dallah township.
But diplomatic observers said that while conditions were extremely
uncomfortable, the situation was more relaxed than during the August 1998
confrontation on a bridge outside Yangon, and that could mean a lengthy
confrontation is in the offing.
The group is able to move around Dallah and take deliveries of food and
water, and are so far all in good health. Aung San Suu Kyi has been seen leaving
the car for short walks.
"The more the status quo remains, the more it will work in favour of Aung
San Suu Kyi as this will mean more supportive reaction from outside," one
diplomat told AFP.
Witnesses who reached the area where the group's two vehicles are parked
under military guard said that the encampment had been improved and bamboo
struts were used to turn tarpaulins into makeshift tents.
The government insists the group was stopped for its own safety in an area
where it faced attack by "armed insurgent groups" -- a claim that has been
dismissed by foreign governments and the NLD.
The junta has also unleashed a barrage of criticism at the opposition
leader, accusing her of sabotaging the nation's economy and harming ordinary
workers.
Thailand's Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said the Myanmar government's
latest row with Aung San Suu Kyi would damage confidence in Southeast Asia as a
whole if it was not resolved quickly.
Myanmar exile students living in a refugee camp outside Bangkok said they
would go on a hunger strike as a gesture of support for Aung San Suu Kyi's
battle.
"Fifty of us will go on hunger strike and more than 200 will sit outside
the administration buildings today to show our solidarity with Aung San Suu
Kyi," spokesman Then Oo told AFP.
The NLD claimed victory in 1990 elections but was denied power by the
military which has controlled the country in one guise or another for the past
four decades.
Wednesday, August 30 2:53 AM SGT
Nordic Foreign Mins Blast Myanmar Over Suu Kyi
Treatment
COPENHAGEN (AP)--The five
Nordic foreign ministers condemned the Myanmar government Tuesday for
restricting the movements of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed
worries about the Nobel peace laureate's health.
Suu Kyi is stranded on a
road outside Yangon, the Myanmar capital, in a standoff with the military
government.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden "condemn the Burmese (Myanmar)
government's infringement of Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic rights and express
worries about her safety and health," the five foreign ministers said at their
annual regional meeting.
Suu Kyi, 55, and a group of party supporters have been stuck since Thursday
in a swampy, mosquito-infested area. Despite the hazard, Suu Kyi won't accept
any medical help from the government.
In a statement, the Nordic countries "stressed her and her party
colleagues' rights to move freely in (Myanmar)" and "ask that all restrictions
on (their) freedom of movement and on legal political activities are removed."
Police stopped Suu Kyi and her group after they left Yangon for party
organization work. The government said she could be in danger from "terrorists,"
a claim dismissed by the her own party, the National League for Democracy.
Suu Kyi, awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has long been at odds with
Myanmar's military rulers. She was freed from seven years of house arrest in
1995, but her movements remain restricted.
The Nordic ministers started the two-day meeting Tuesday by dealing with
regional cooperation and EU matters, including the bloc's expansion into Eastern
Europe. The EU is seeking to deepen ties with Russia and prepare the Baltic
region for inclusion in the EU.
On Wednesday, Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, and
the foreign ministers of the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
were to join discussions in Middelfart, 220 kilometers west of Copenhagen.
Solana planned to address the EU's common European security and defense
policy, and relations with Russia, the region's eastern neighbor.
Canada Condemns Myanmar Over Suu
Kyi Standoff
Updated 4:32 PM ET August 29, 2000
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada on
Tuesday condemned Myanmar's military government for its treatment of
pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been sitting with a
group of supporters in two vehicles for the past five days.
Suu Kyi, her
driver and 14 members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) were stopped by
police in the town of Dala on Thursday as they headed south of the capital
Yangon and have been there since.
"I strongly condemn the Burmese military regime for its continued
harassment of pro-democracy leaders," said Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd
Axworthy. Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.
"This latest incident is a clear violation of Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom of
movement and association and we hold the Burmese government fully responsible
for her health and safety," Axworthy said in a statement.
It was the first time Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, had tried to leave
Yangon since another roadside confrontation in 1998 that ended after 13 days,
when deteriorating health and dehydration forced her to return home in an
ambulance.
Suu Kyi was under house arrest for six years until 1995 and her movements
remain severely restricted. In May 1990 the NLD won a landslide election victory
but the country's military leaders refused to respect the result.
'Chins being forced back to
Myanmar'
The Times of India News
Service
Aug 30, 2000.
NEW DELHI: Concerned with the arrests and deportation of Chin refugees to
Myanmar by the Mizoram government, Friends of Burma, an association supporting
their cause, filed a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
last Friday. On Monday the commission sent notices to the Mizoram government,
and the Union home and external affairs ministries.
The complaint highlights the human rights implications of this move.
According to it, though the Chins have been allowed to remain in Mizoram since
the 1988 military coup in Myanmar, since July, 1300 of them have been arrested
out of whom 183 have been sent back. This move deprives the arrested Chins the
opportunity to seek formal acknowledgement as refugees. Persons similarly
situated earlier and able to reach the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) have been granted refugee status. And since the UNHCR is not
allowed to function in border areas, applicants have to reach its office in New
Delhi.
According to the complaint, this goes against the policy of the Indian
government so far, which granted staying facilities to pro-democracy activists
and other persecuted people from Myanmar. India is also a signatory to the
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights as also the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights. Article 3 of the latter forbids the return of a
persecuted person to a country that poses the threat of torture to him. Also,
Article 51 (C) of the Constitution enjoins India to respect international law
and treaty obligations.
The complaint also acknowledges the sociological and economic reasons
behind the Mizos' disgruntlement with the Chins and suggests that asylum seekers
be shifted to different parts of the country and also to other
countries.
Bangkok Post
- Aug 30, 2000.
ANALYSIS /
PROTECTING OUR BORDERS
Burma is given topmost
priorityThe threat from the Communists in
the east has been replaced by the multi-pronged danger posed by the drug
dealers, the illegal and possible disease-carrying refugees, and the
power-obsessed military in the west.
Saritdet Marukatat And Wassana Nanuam
The army's strategic changes along our
national borders underline the nature of the new security threats faced by
Thailand since the end of the Cold War.
In October, most soldiers guarding the eastern borders with Cambodia and
Laos-but not those based in Chanthaburi and Trat provinces as these come under
navy command-will be removed and their duties taken over by paramilitary rangers
and border patrol police.
The main emphasis on border security will shift to the western border with
Burma through a hefty injection of reinforcements.
The shift is in line with the latest analysis on the type of threats Thailand
and other countries face in the post-Cold War world.
Back when the ideological gulf between East and West divided the region,
Thailand poured most of its resources into the defence of its borders with Laos
and Cambodia, where there was a perceived communist threat. There was little
more than a handful of troops along the Burmese side.
But the country then had the help of the controversial buffer zone policy
which made use of armed ethnic groups composed largely of Karens standing
between Burmese and Thai forces in order to limit the chances of
confrontation.
But since the end of the Cold War, there is more occasion for more
traditional problems, such as ethnic conflicts, to come to the fore.
Though Thailand is not being torn apart by these problems, there are nearby
examples where the central government has lost control. Indonesia was forced to
grant independence to East Timor, and is now faced with increasingly louder
calls for secession from such places as Papua and Aceh.
Security officials in Thailand point to the potential for disputes over
poorly demarcated borders with neighbours like Burma, Cambodia, Laos and
Malaysia.
And there are other, new security threats including health epidemics, drugs
and the influx of illegal labour. Security members of the Asean Regional Forum,
which include many of the world's major players, say these are threats not only
to Thailand but to the entire region.
The reasons for the movement of Thai forces from east to west underline
Thailand's concerns about the source of the main dangers to national
security.
Most illegal labour in the country is from Burma, the methamphetamines
flooding Thailand and posing such a risk are produced mainly by ethnic
minorities just inside Burmese territory, and the re-emergence of such diseases
as elephantiasis can be traced to Burmese immigrants and refugees.
Foreign Ministry staff, in a recent briefing on regional issues to Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai, expressed concern about the tardiness of demarcating the
border with Burma, compared with the headway being made in determining the
borders with Cambodia and Laos.
Along the 2,400km border with Burma, only 59km has been demarcated. Talks on
determining the rest haven't even begun. More than half the border with Laos has
now been defined, and an agreement on border demarcation has been signed with
Cambodia.
The border with Burma has become much more sensitive in recent years since
Rangoon reached ceasefire deals with all armed ethnic groups except the Karen
National Union. And now even the KNU is thought to be weakening and seeking
talks with Rangoon on ending their decades-long conflict.
A Thai security official said he was worried that Rangoon's agreements with
the ethnic groups were giving Burmese government forces access to areas closer
to Thailand which previously had been off-limits.
Given the fragile ties between our two countries, the closer proximity of our
armed forces, the unsettled borderline and Thailand's growing unhappiness with
the inflow of drugs, the western front has clearly become our foremost
priority.
But even with these new security fears, there may be a silver lining. The
Cold War compelled all nations to arm to the teeth, to spend huge proportions of
their GNPs on ensuring they were equal to or could surpass their perceived
rivals in terms of armed military might. The new order of things doesn't require
quite such wild-eyed spending.
Arms purchases and general spending on defence by Thailand and other Asian
countries has remained largely stable for more than a decade-with the exception
of Taiwan as it further builds up its defences against possible attack by a
China wanting to bring it back into the fold, according to a study by David
Kieffer, an economist at the University of Utah in the United States studying
the links between economics and the arms trade.
"I don't see an upward trend [in the purchase of arms] in Asia," he said
recently in Bangkok.
Mr Kieffer's outlook seems all the more encouraging in economic terms because
any new conflict in our region is unlikely to make use of sophisticated weaponry
or those of mass destructive, similar to the ethnic conflict which tore apart
Yugoslavia.
"Brutal wars can be waged without the large-scale import of expensive
equipment," he said.
Bangkok Post - Aug 30,
2000.
BURMESE BORDER - Officials stumble on illegal
logging gang
Furniture importers accuse deputy chiefs of
corruption
Supamart Kasem in Tak
Forestry officials yesterday confiscated a number of logs near a furniture
manufacturing factory close to the Burmese border in Tha Song Yang
district.
About 50 officials led by Tak district chief Vachira Muangkaew found eight
elephants hauling timber near Mae Pho factory while looking into reports of
illegal logging in Tha Song Yang forest reserve.
A total of 31 logs worth about 500,000 baht were seized, but the suspects
fled into the forest, Mr Vachira said.
The Taiwanese factory owner was not charged since no illegal logs were
found in his compound, Mr Vachira said.
The confiscated logs were believed to have been stolen from nearby forest
reserves. About 1,000 logs were recently felled illegally and 800 went
missing.
Officials planned to fell 20,000 dead trees, mainly teak and Krayaloei, in
1,000 rai of national forest reserves in Tha Song Yang and Mae Ramat districts
in a process to raise state revenue.
The provincial authorities also suspended the operating licence of Thong
Thara sawmill for illegal processing of timber and illegal logging.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Mrs Patcharee, wife of Lt-Gen
Mongkol Boonserm, former officer attached to the Supreme Command.
Mrs Patcharee reportedly leased the sawmill from Promsanti Phiewnuan, its
owner.
Officials and police raided the sawmill in June and seized 10,000 items of
processed timber and furniture.
Twelve Burmese workers and three Thais were arrested in the raid, which
involved 100 officials.
Meanwhile, importers of Burmese furniture demanded the transfer of three
assistant district chiefs they accused of corruption.
About 100 members of the importers association rallied outside the district
office yesterday to press for the transfer.
Naruemol Kowin, the association secretary, accused the three Phop Phra
District assistant chiefs-Yodchai Yodthongdee, Somchai Traithipchartsakul and
Phumin Kittinarotkosol-of seizing wooden window frames worth 500,000 baht and
charging a truck driver with possessing illegal items with intent to sell.
Ms Naruemol said the driver, Samai Kongmano, 33, was arrested by the
officials and his truck and frames impounded.
She insisted the goods were properly and legally brought into the country
from Burma.
The assistant chiefs refused to acknowledge proof of import duty and told
Ms Naruemol she must pay 50,000 baht in return for the driver's freedom and the
release of the goods.
Ms Naruemol, who said she was also threatened by the officials, later filed
a police complaint against them for extortion and illegal detention.
Mr Somchai lodged a counter-complaint on defamation charges against her and
Channel 9 reporters, who covered the alleged extortion.
Ms Naruemol said the association fell out of favour with Mr Somchai because
they refused to pay him off.
Heavy rains hindered cross-border freight transport and reduced the number
of furniture imports.
The importers asked for "bribe discounts", but this was rejected by the
officials.
Deputy governor Veeradech Surasee said a fact-finding investigation would
be ordered into the incident.
The assistant chiefs would face criminal and disciplinary measures if
evidence pointed to their involvement in the alleged bribes.
- In Mae Hong Son yesterday, five Burmese soldiers, two ethnic rebels and a
villager were killed in a pre-dawn attack on a Karen National Union outpost,
military sources told Agence France-Presse.
About 250 soldiers from a force made up of Burmese and the loyalist
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army stormed the rebel base opposite Thailand's Phop
Phra district.
The one-hour gunbattle against the sixth regiment of the rebel army was the
latest attack in an offensive designed to destroy the logging business that
represents the KNU's financial lifeline, the source said.
U.N. chief urges Myanmar government to end
stand-off with Suu Kyi
August 30, 2000
Web posted at:
6:29 AM HKT (2229 GMT)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Expressing
concern about the well-being of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Myanmar government Tuesday to quickly and
peacefully resolve a standoff with the opposition leader.
Suu Kyi, whose movements have been severely restricted by the military
government, spent a sixth day Tuesday stranded on a road outside the capital
Yangon. Her drive out of Yangon last Thursday was the first time she had left
the capital since August 1998, when she was blocked in a similar way.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan "is increasingly concerned about the
well-being of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for
Democracy, who have been denied freedom of movement near a small town on the
outskirts of Yangon."
Annan is "monitoring the situation closely," he said.
"The secretary-general believes that the latest situation underlines the
necessity for national reconciliation and urges the two sides to engage, as soon
as possible, in a substantive political dialogue, as called for by a series of
resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights,"
Eckhard said.
Suu Kyi, 55, has refused to go back to Yangon and has stayed in a muddy
mosquito-infested area where her car was moved along with a pickup carrying 12
supporters. Two septuagenarian party leaders, suffering from hypertension, also
are with her. All have slept in the vehicles or on the ground under makeshift
tents.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has had no constitution since the 1974
Socialist constitution was annulled after the military took over in September
1988.
Suu Kyi led a pro-democracy uprising against the military that year, and was
put under house arrest a year later. She was let out in 1995, but her movements
remain severely restricted.
Los Angeles Times - Aug 30,
2000.
Myanmar: A Test Case for U.S. Principles
By JIM MANN
WASHINGTON--Myanmar may seem like a faraway place,
yet it serves as the best indicator in the world today of the role of values and
principles in U.S. foreign policy.
And it raises
questions of considerable importance to the presidential campaign: How might a
new Bush-Cheney administration, with close ties to the U.S. oil industry,
reconcile the conflict between commercial interests and democratic ideals in a
place like Myanmar?
Over the last few days, Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been trapped in a muddy field outside
Myanmar's capital city of Yangon (Rangoon) because Myanmar's military junta
refuses to let her travel around the country.
Aung
San Suu Kyi, a disciple of nonviolence, is often referred to as the leader of
Myanmar's opposition forces. But in a way that term is misleading, because by
rights she should be considered the country's elected leader.
Her party, the National League for Democracy, won
Myanmar's only election in 1990 with an overwhelming 82% of the nationwide vote.
But the military leaders refused to give up power. Aung San Suu Kyi spent much
of the last decade under house arrest.
She is now
challenging the restrictions that have prohibited her from leaving Yangon. Last
Thursday, she and 14 supporters left the capital to try to meet with party
leaders in a town 30 miles away. Police vehicles blocked the road and forced
them into a field, where they have remained for several days, sleeping in their
vehicles or in tents.
Myanmar's military leaders
say they want to keep Aung San Suu Kyi safe from "terrorists" or others who
might want to harm her.
Exactly who might want to
hurt her? Perhaps the regime or its supporters, the government's own statements
suggest. On Tuesday, the government added a chilling Orwellian twist to its
earlier rationalizations: Aung San Suu Kyi needs to be protected, it asserted,
because there are "sound reasons for resentment and indignation toward her." It
accused her of encouraging foreign governments to impose economic sanctions
against Myanmar.
The United States is among the
countries that have imposed sanctions. However much the Clinton administration
has wavered in its policies toward other countries, notably China, it has been
consistent and relatively tough over the last eight years in dealing with
Myanmar.
A 1996 law supported by the Clinton
administration prohibits new American investment in Myanmar. The United States
also has blocked international lending to Myanmar. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright has repeatedly voiced strong personal support for Aung San Suu Kyi and
for democracy in Myanmar.
Privately, Clinton
administration officials argue that Myanmar represents a classic example of
where economic sanctions are justified.
The regime
is unusually repressive, and the sanctions deny it legitimacy, administration
officials say. American commercial interests in Myanmar are minuscule in
comparison to China. And the U.S. sanctions serve to restrain other governments,
like Japan, from moving too quickly to invest in Myanmar.
This week, the Clinton administration issued a
strong statement supporting Aung San Suu Kyi's right to travel freely. "Freedom
of movement is a fundamental, internationally recognized human right," the State
Department noted.
Still, the administration's
unusually firm stand against Myanmar has been unpopular with the business
community. The anti-boycott organization USA*Engage, set up and funded by U.S.
corporations, has urged Congress to lift the sanctions against Myanmar. Oil
companies like Unocal, the leading American investor in Myanmar, have been eager
to expand their operations there.
What would a new
Republican administration do? To what extent would it support Aung San Suu Kyi's
movement for democracy? Would it stick with the Clinton administration's
policies of keeping economic pressure on the Myanmar junta?
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the GOP
presidential ticket, are former oil executives. Cheney, in particular, has been
especially fervent in his opposition to the use of unilateral American
sanctions. "They almost never work," he argued in a speech two years ago.
Those facts would seem to suggest that a new Bush
administration would ease up on the existing Clinton-Gore policy toward Myanmar.
And yet within the Republican Party, there are also currents in the opposite
direction.
During the middle to late 1980s, the
Republicans developed a strong tradition of support for democratic leaders and
movements in Asia.
The Reagan administration
pressed successfully for democratic changes in the Philippines and in South
Korea. Some of the leading alumni of that administration, such as Richard L.
Armitage and Paul Wolfowitz, are now serving as foreign policy advisors to Bush.
Moreover, one of Aung San Suu Kyi's strongest
supporters has been Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has pushed to tighten, not
loosen, the sanctions against Myanmar.
So as Aung
San Suu Kyi and the military junta continue their standoff in Myanmar, the
question in Washington is what will happen to American policy there if the
Republicans take the White House.
Will Big Oil win
out and gain an end to U.S. sanctions in Myanmar? Or will the Republicans
support Aung San Suu Kyi in 2001, as they did the Philippines' Corazon Aquino in
1986?
In short, what kind of foreign policy would
we get in a new Republican administration? Maybe the candidates can tell
us.
The Nation
August 30,
2000
Once a partner of notorious drug warlord
Khun Sa, Colonel Yawd Serk now commands the Shan State Army. Following his split
with Khun Sa in 1995, he has based his army along the Burmese frontier, just
across the border from Thailand's Pang Mapha n Mae Hong Son province. He and his
men have been accused of involvement in drug production. But in an interview
with The Nation's Preecha Sa-ardsorn, Yawd Serk claimed his army was attempting
to purge drugs from both Burma and Thailand and had recently destroyed two large
amphetamine laboratories. The following are edited excerpts from the
interview.
How do you view the narcotics situation in
Burma?
It has been difficult for the authorities so far. It will continue to
be so because their efforts are misdirected.
What do you mean by 'misdirected'?
The
traffickers - the brains behind the trade. These people have never been
targeted. Only the small-fry - the carriers - are ever caught, while the real
traffickers always get away scot-free.
We need cooperation from all sides - the
international community, Thailand, the Shan State - to bring these bigwigs to
justice.
Secondly, the international community must
do more to help farmers dependent on opium for their income.
They must provide them with alternative
means of livelihood.
We also need democracy.
This is the only way to end trafficking in
narcotics, its production and use.
Is Thailand taking the right
approach?
Thailand's efforts have been unilateral - vigorous but ineffective.
All sides need to cooperate.
Who are the main perpetrators of the drug
trade?
I don't believe the drug problem is the responsibility of any
particular group. It is the handiwork of individuals. It would be racist to
blame it on any particular ethnic group. This simply complicates the issue.
However, people must realise that the big drug traffickers are being assisted by
the junta in Rangoon.
Is the Burmese government behind the drugs
trade?
Absolutely. Vested interests are involved. Bangkok and Rangoon have
engaged in endless discussions about this problem over several decades. What's
happened? Nothing. In fact, the drug problem has grown worse. Burma has promised
to work with Thailand to fight the trade in drugs. But why is it that the drugs
production bases remain on Burmese soil?
How does this benefit Burma?
Rangoon
would have suppressed the trade a long time ago if it didn't benefit from it. To
maintain its international status, Rangoon encourages individuals to produce
drugs. Burma also benefits from international efforts to fight the drug trade.
It receives money to do so. It actively raises money supposedly for fighting
drugs trafficking. Instead, Rangoon has used the money to buy weapons. Rangoon
collects a percentage of the profits from the drug trade. Rangoon is waging a
covert war on Thailand by flooding it with drugs.
How long will it take Burma to win?
In
10 years' time, Thailand will become a nation of junkies. Arms will no longer be
necessary because everyone will be on amphetamines. One a haul of 1000 tablets
was considered large - worthy of notice. Now, a million tablets hardly raises an
eyebrow. The longer the narcotic situation persists, the more the country will
be devastated.
Given the chance of a talk with Thai
authorities, what would you say?
I would ask them to cooperate with us and
find a common solution.
Would not leave Thailand vulnerable to
accusations that it is interferring in Burma's internal affairs?
We would be
joining hands to crack down on drugs, and the world community should be
encouraged to participate in our efforts. It is not a war of land grabbing, but
a war against narcotics. Such a task requires careful planning and we have to
trust each other.
How do you answer accusation that your own
army is directly involved in narcotics production?
Such rumours have been
spread by journalists who have never been given a true picture of life here, or
any insight into our efforts to stop the drug trade. We are always happy to
provide information to the media.
Why has the Shan State Army been tainted
with these accusations?
That is exactly what they are - 'accusations'. Our
policy is to crackdown on narcotics. Traffickers are upset because there's a lot
of money at stake. Are you saying categorically that you are not involved in the
narcotics trade?
We have said so several times via the media. We are not,
however, in a position to explain that to Thailand's anti-drug agencies. But I
believe the press will be able to deliver that message, in a free and fair
way.
Is it possible that some elements of the
Shan State Army are involved in narcotics trafficking?
It is possible for
anyone to get involved in drugs - members of the Shan State Army are no
exception. But it is unfair to accuse everyone. Take the ethnic Wa for instance,
you cannot accuse every Wa of being involved. Accusing us of being involved is
unfair. We have consistently cracked down on narcotics. Is mid-July we destroyed
two amphetamine factories, we set them on fire.
So what is the difference between the time
when you worked with Khun Sa and now?
Drug problems existed before Khun Sa,
they existed when Khun Sa was active and they exist now that Khun Sa is gone.
How do you regard Burma which you accuse of masterminding the drug
trade?
Burma has always been our enemy. I do not fear the junta.
The Straits Times - Aug 30,
2000.
Standoff over Suu Kyi "bad for
Asean'
Restrictions on Myanmar opposition leader's right to travel give an
impression of instability, Thai Foreign Minister Surin says
BANGKOK -- The standoff between Myanmar's government and opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi will damage confidence in South-east Asian nations if it drags
on much longer, Thailand's Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said.
""It is important not to create the impression of more tension, instability
and insecurity which could erode confidence in the region,'' he said.
He urged the opposing sides to resolve their differences and said Thailand
was willing to provide any assistance it could.
National League for Democracy (NLD) figurehead Ms Suu Kyi has spent six
days in a roadside standoff on the outskirts of Yangon after being blocked on
Thursday as she attempted to travel to a party meeting outside the capital.
The 55-year-old Nobel peace laureate was released from house arrest in 1995
but her movements are closely monitored by her ever-present military escort.
She refused the military's request to turn back and her party says she will
stand her ground until she is allowed to continue her journey or is forced to
return home.
Mr Surin said the situation was ""of much concern'' to the international
community.
""We ourselves don't want the problem to continue because it may affect the
image of Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a whole,'' he said.
The Foreign Minister also said he was concerned the confrontation would put
a dampener on talks between Asean and the European Union in Vientiane later this
year.
Ties between the two blocs have been frosty since Myanmar was admitted as a
member despite objections from the Europeans.
He said he was confident the newly-appointed United Nations Special
Representative to Myanmar, Mr Razali Ismail, a Malaysian, would do his best to
resolve the standoff with Ms Suu Kyi and avoid any repercussions.
Several countries, including the United States and European Union, have
demanded that she be allowed to travel freely.--AFP, Reuters
The Nation - Aug 31,
2000.
Defiant Suu Kyi to 'stand her ground'
RANGOON - Associated
Press, As the United Nations joined the international
condemnation of Burma's ruling junta, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
yesterday dimmed any hopes of an end to her six-day roadside confrontation with
the military rulers by vowing to continue her travels to the countryside.
The military government also showed no signs of compromising, and accused
Suu Kyi of jeopardising national interests to win international sympathy.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) should cooperate in "a
responsible and meaningful way to [fulfil] national goals instead of flashing
symbolic gestures designed merely to attract attention", the junta said.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel peace prize for her pro-democracy campaign,
yesterday prepared to spend a seventh night in the open in the Rangoon suburb of
Dala, where she was stopped by police last Thursday while driving out of the
city for party work.
Suu Kyi "will definitely not return to Yangon [Rangoon] until she reaches
her destination and accomplishes party organisational duties," the NLD said.
"Thus we demand that the military leaders urgently remove the
restrictions," it said.
The NLD was buoyed by growing international support for Suu Kyi, who along
with 14 other party members have set up a makeshift camp in a muddy area along
the road where their two vehicles were stopped.
The NLD said the windy area, lashed by daily rains, is full of mosquitoes,
flies and poisonous creatures, making it unfit for human habitation.
"It is obvious that the military dictators wish Aung San Suu Kyi's health
to fail and become critical," it said.
On Tuesday, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was
closely monitoring the situation and "is increasingly concerned about the
well-being" of Suu Kyi, 55, and other NLD leaders with her. Eckhard noted that
they "have been denied freedom of movement".
Criticism of Burma's government has come from other quarters, too.
At an annual meeting of Nordic foreign ministers on Tuesday, Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said they "condemn the Burmese government's
infringement" of Suu Kyi's democratic rights. Canada yesterday issued a similar
statement.
Suu Kyi has been at odds with the government since she led a pro-democracy
uprising against the military in 1988. She was put under house arrest a year
later and let out in 1995, but her movements remain severely restricted.
Last Thursday was the first time she had driven out of Rangoon in two
years. The previous time was in August 1998. She was also stopped then, and
stayed in her car for 13 days before succumbing to health problems.
Hoping to portray Suu Kyi's actions as a publicity stunt, the government
yesterday said people "seem indifferent to this incident and are carrying on
with their daily life as usual".
A Burmese government website has published daily pictures showing Suu Kyi's
party members washing themselves, buying food and exercising. The government has
described them as taking rest in the "charming town" of Dala.
Meanwhile, a dissident group, the Karen National Union, called for
international pressure on Rangoon to allow Suu Kyi to travel freely.
The group described as untrue the junta's claim that their action was meant
to protect Suu Kyi from insurgents in the area, saying no one but the government
wanted to harm her.
"Suu Kyi, as a Burmese, has the right to travel freely, to wherever she
wants," said KNU deputy secretary Lt Col Ner Dah.
Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra urged that the stand-off
be ended, warning that the longer it continued, the more damage it would inflict
on Asean's image and its relations with the European Union.
Sukhumbhand said the stand-off could jeopardise planned high-level talks
between Asean and the EU, which Thailand helped restore. The resumption of the
ministerial talks, scheduled for December in Vientiane, had been suspended after
Asean admitted Burma to the group in 1997.
Sukhumbhand did not rule out the possibility that an "Asean Troika",
recently established by Asean to mediate in conflicts affecting the group, could
intervene in the conflict in Burma.
"We leave the decision with the Asean chairman," he said.
Vietnam took over the Asean chairmanship from Thailand last month.
The Nation - Aug 31,
2000.
Wrists slashed
TWELVE Burmese, including six seven-year-old boys and girls, slashed their
wrists in a Ratchaburi holding centre yesterday to protest over the Burmese
government's treatment of Aung San Suu Ky.
After using their blood to write "Free Suu Kyi" on a placard, the group was
taken to a medical care inside the centre. Doctors said they suffered minor
wounds.
They were among about 300 Burmese in the centre who for a third day
protested against the Burmese government. Thirty of them, mostly former students
who fled suppression from Burma, yesterday continued their hunger strike.
Police meanwhile arrested and brought to Bangkok four Burmese leaders in
the centre in an attempt to quell the protests. They are now detained in an
immigration detention centre. About 50 border patrol officers have been deployed
around the centre to monitor the situation.
The Nation - Aug 31,
2000.
EDITORIAL: Seeking balance on foreign
workers
The Cabinet's decision to extend for another year the grace period to allow
employment of migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia in 18 lines of work
in 37 provinces was a foregone conclusion. The Chuan administration was acting
on the recommendation of a committee on immigrant workers, which reasoned that
Thailand still needs alien labourers.
Foreign workers continue to be in great demand to fill a large number of
openings for hard, menial work on factory floors and on plantations, to serve as
domestic helpers and to crew fishing trawlers, among other jobs turned down by
Thais.
The number of alien workers allowed for legal employment between now and
August 31, 2001 is 106,684. The actual number of illegally-employed immigrant
workers should be several times higher than that. Some estimates put the total
number of foreign labourers, most of them illegal immigrants, at between 700,000
to one million.
The government has promised to take tough action against employers who
employ illegal immigrants, whom they tend to exploit ruthlessly. At the same
time, the authorities have also vowed to round up and repatriate illegal
immigrants.
The aim is to ensure that the employment of immigrant workers is better
regulated. A better regulated foreign labour force is supposed to be beneficial
to all involved.
First, it will help the government to formulate a more effective employment
policy to make sure that unemployed Thais who are desperately looking for work
can find employment.
Second, employers can continue to benefit from having enough foreign
workers to fill jobs that would otherwise be left vacant, and at a low
production cost.
Third, foreign workers can be taxed and accorded with protection under the
labour law. The Labour Ministry's announcement that foreign workers will be
provided with better protection, including rights to the daily minimum wage, is
welcome news.
However, the government has so far consistently failed to achieve a
significant improvement in regulating foreign workers with efficiency and
effectiveness to maximise intended benefits.
When the Banharn government decided in 1996 to legalise employment of
migrant workers, its main argument was that there was a serious Thai labour
shortage in such key industries as fishing, agriculture and construction.
Foreign workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia were necessary as a substitute
workforce.
Only about 300,000 foreign workers turned up to register by the end of 1996
while the rest remained illegally employed and suffered some of the worst forms
of exploitation and abuse.
As a result of this policy, many Thai and foreign-financed industries -
especially garment, textile, footwear, plantation and food processing factories
- have relocated to provinces where foreign workers are allowed in order to take
advantage of the cheap labour.
Many unscrupulous employers not only exploit cheap foreign labour in
defiance of the law but they also selfishly shift the heavy economic and social
burdens resulting from an unregulated alien workforce on to taxpayers.
An unregulated foreign workforce means that illegal immigrants in poor
health are now bringing in with them communicable diseases that had previously
been eradicated in Thailand. This is taxing on the country's public health
system. Rising crime rates are also attributed to unregistered foreign workers
and the subsequent difficulty in tracking immigrant criminals whose personal
records are not readily available.
Failure to treat foreign workers with respect for their human dignity and
provide them with basic protection also goes against humanitarian principles and
does not make economic sense in the longer term.
International labour-rights movements have been more vigilant in
campaigning against inhumane treatment of foreign workers everywhere, which
sometimes results in trade sanctions against certain products of offending
manufacturers. Thai authorities have been too often accused of turning a blind
eye to such exploitation and, to make matters worse, some corrupt officials are
known to extort protection money from poor foreign workers.
The illegal foreign workforce is a complicated issue that requires
clear-cut policy, consistent and transparent implementation, and regular reviews
so that the benefits to be derived can be maximised for the benefit of all
involved.
Allowing government policy on immigrant workers to float adrift without
proper regulation could result in rising unemployment among Thais in the long
run as employers continue to defy labour laws with impunity.
The use of low-cost foreign labour - which is supposed to help Thailand buy
the time it needs to shift from labour-intensive industries to high value-added,
technologically-intensive ones - should not be permanent. Failure to regulate
foreign workers coupled with an inability to upgrade the Thai workforce could
mean a disaster for Thailand whose international competitiveness has been on the
wane for several years.
Above all Thailand, as a democratic country, has the duty to itself and the
international community to treat foreign workers well, which is surely an
admirable move that makes good economic, social and political sense
The Nation - Aug - 31,
2000.
Letters - Call for action on losing drug
war
The interview of Colonel Yawd Serk of the Shan State Army (The Nation,
August 28) was very timely and thought-provoking. The questions put were
specific, the answers sometimes ambivalent. Conclusions however can fairly be
drawn.
1. Real drug traffickers are not targeted. 2. The military junta in Burma
is assisting the traffickers. 3. Thai efforts are ineffective. 4. The
international community lacks a proactive role. 5. The drug problem has grown
worse even though Bangkok and Rangoon have engaged in endless discussions about
the problem over several decades. 6. The war against narcotics requires careful
planning.
Drug production and trafficking has become an alarming problem not only for
Burma and Thailand but for the entire region. The imperative need is to come out
with a status report to understand the magnitude of the menace, not to depend on
news reports and articles only, although they are valuable. The areas can be
identified. The priorities can be settled. Action plans can be implemented. The
million-dollar question is who will bell the cat? The vicious circle may get
wider and wider. We will have to live with the evil.
BK Sen
VIA INTERNET
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