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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 24, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - SE Asia embraces Internet
Age,even Myanmar salutes
Reuters - Thai PM approved killing of
Myanmar convicts-paper
Reuters - China takes big strides in Asian
diplomacy
Reuters - SE Asia puts accent on English
in e-dream quest
Reuters - ASEAN gets on board bold
Trans-Asia rail project
AFP - ASEAN-India summit proposal put on
hold
AFP - Environmental alliance demands halt
to mega dam projects
AP - Asian Nations'
Trade Pact Weakened
AP - Taboos
Broken in Southeast Asia
LA Times - Ethnic Karen Losing in Myanmar Struggle
The Star - Myanmar included in RM9b rail
project
The Nation - Police comb woods for last Burmese
escapee
The Nation - Pyongyang, Rangoon to restore diplomatic ties The Nation - Asean leaders close ranks to
support Burma
SCMP - Burma, EU to attend meeting
Friday November 24, 8:03 am Eastern
Time
SE Asia embraces Internet Age,even Myanmar salutes By Simon Cameron-Moore SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's military government signed an accord with other Southeast Asian
nations on Friday to promote use of the Internet, even though it is currently
banned for ordinary citizens.
The 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed
an e-ASEAN Framework Agreement to promote electronic commerce and help hook up
people, technology and businesses in the region.
Senior General Than Shwe signed for Myanmar. His government has been
fiercely criticised over its human rights record and suppression of the
pro-democracy movement led by the imprisoned Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Some European Union governments are expected to send junior delegations to
an EU-ASEAN ministerial meeting in Laos next month to protest against Myanmar's
record, which was also raised during Friday's summit.
Brigadier General David Abel, representing Myanmar on a panel of ASEAN
economic ministers, told a news conference his country was drawing up new laws
covering the Internet.
Currently only the government and 10 state firms are allowed Internet
access.
``Once you are on the web its hard to keep things away. There are bad
things there are good things,'' Abel said, in response to a question how his
government would handle connecting schools to the Internet while controlling the
potential proliferation of dissent down the Net.
``Today we have a certain amount of websites functioning. There are bad
things, there are good things. We just accept it as it is,'' Abel said.
``But, if things get out of control...things coming in the Net that are
detrimental to security or things like that, then we'll have to deal accordingly
with the law. The law is being written up right now,'' he added.
Roberto Romulo, chairman of the e-Asean task force, was optimistic that the
government's cautious embrace of the Internet was a sign that Myanmar was
beginning to think about opening up after decades of keeping the shutters down
on the outside world.
``There's a political challenge, but at the same time they are excited and
committed. They have created an e-national committee made in the mirror image of
the e-ASEAN task force and Singapore's IDA (Infocomm Development Authority),''
he said.
``Censorship or no censorship, the beauty of Internet is that individuals
are empowered and once they are enabled they will be on their modems and you
can't stop them. So if they are encouraging Internet access maybe they are
opening up to the world,'' Romulo added.
Currently, anyone caught in possession of an unlicensed computer modem in
Myanmar could face a seven to 15-year jail term. Access to fax and electronic
mail is also limited.
Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997 to end decades of self-imposed isolation, but
its membership has given the organisation diplomatic headaches.
Under the E-ASEAN pact the six more advanced members -- Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- will liberalise intra-ASEAN
trade in information, communication and technology (ICT) by January 2003.
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, where very few people have access to a
personal computer, have pledged to eliminate duties and non-tariff barriers on
ICT products by January 2008.
All ASEAN members will work toward creating favourable legal and policy
environment for ICT, and laws governing electronic commerce will be based on
international norms.
WIRE:11/23/2000 22:44:00 ET
Thai PM approved killing of Myanmar convicts-paper BANGKOK, Nov 24 (Reuters) -
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai approved a plan for security forces to kill a
group of Myanmar convicts who took hostages in a dramatic 21-hour jailbreak from
a Thai prison, the Bangkok Post said on Friday.
The daily quoted an unidentified military source as saying Chuan agreed
with the action at a meeting with top police and military officers late on
Wednesday.
Officials in the prime minister"s office were not immediately available for
comment on Friday. Thai police marksmen shot dead all nine armed fugitives in a
roadside ambush after they had escaped from a jail in Samut Sakhon, 40 km (25
miles) southwest of Bangkok.
The gang had taken seven prison officials hostage and killed a volunteer
who taught Buddhism in the prison. "The meeting agreed the hostage-takers must
die to set a precedent for other people, because they had killed a Thai official
and committed a serious crime," the newspaper quoted the the military source as
saying.
On Thursday after the killings, Chuan told reporters it was "good news"
that the hostage-takers did not go free. "It is good news that the hostages are
okay and that the culprits did not get away," he said. "(They) had conspired to
kill people and that is a crime punishable by execution. It is good that none of
them escaped." Chuan said an enquiry would try to find out how the convicts
obtained the weapons used in the jailbreak.
Siva Saengmanee, head of the Corrections Department charged with running
Thailand"s prisons, said on Friday the police could not allow the convicts to
escape. "As a matter of principle, officials of the Corrections Department could
not let the convicts get away," he told a Thai radio station. "When we assign
them (police commandos) to carry out the operation, they should have the full
discretion to do their job without interference," he said. "In our efforts to
intercept the convicts, we tried our best to secure the safety of the
hostages...the law gives officers assigned by the Corrections Department
discretion to make any decisions in the course of their duty," Siva said.
WIRE:11/24/2000 04:16:00 ET
ANALYSIS-China takes big strides in Asian diplomacy BEIJING, Nov 24 (Reuters) -
China is mounting a diplomatic drive in Southeast Asia, mending historical
fences and trying to dispel fears it will swamp its smaller neighbours with
exports. Twice in a week, Southeast Asia has rolled out the red carpet for the
top leaders of China, giving Beijing forums to ease old political worries and
address new economic ones. Premier Zhu Rongji is meeting leaders of the 10
nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and of Japan and
South Korea at a "10 + 3" informal summit in Singapore. China"s economic tsar is
hot on the heels of political supremo President Jiang Zemin, who attended the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) informal summit last week and made
state visits to APEC host Brunei, Cambodia and Laos. To audiences whose
Southeast Asian members mostly overlap -- only ASEAN"s Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar are not in the 21-member APEC -- Jiang and Zhu dangled economic
opportunities and played down threats from China"s export juggernaut. Zhu said
China"s neighbours could expect competition but no threat when it joins the
World Trade Organisation. "We would rather not join the WTO if we were a
threat," he told reporters after arriving in Singapore. BIGGER STICK, BUT SOFTER
TALK With Japan and South Korea, who like China are striving to stay on top of
the dramatic emergence of North Korea on the world diplomatic stage, Zhu agreed
to deepen economic talks that could one day expand to become a political and
security forum. A formal East Asian Forum, which diplomats say is sorely needed
but which China has long shied away from, was a "good idea," Zhu said after
talks with the leaders of Japan and South Korea. With sweeping territorial
claims on the South China Sea, often provocatively pressed -- and an arms
buildup -- China"s leaders carry a lot of baggage to Southeast Asia. But the
high-powered Chinese road show appeared to be playing well with neighbours which
remember both ancient imperial Chinese dominance and China"s modern radical
phase, when Beijing was bent on exporting Maoist revolution. Jiang"s visit to
Cambodia was marred by protesters demanding an apology for China"s 1970s backing
of the murderous Khmer Rouge, and he toured Laos after bombings that prompted
theories about struggles between pro-China and pro-Vietnam factions there. But
Beijing"s sympathetic messages appeared to go down well with leaders in lands
scorched by recent economic crisis and wary of U.S.-led globalisation. SELF
INTEREST TRUMPS U.S. RIVALRY In Brunei, Jiang sided with the cautious countries
of APEC who fought U.S. and Australian calls for a swift launch of fresh
tariff-cutting WTO talks. In Phnom Penh, he supported the government in its
insistence that Khmer Rouge figures be tried by Cambodia alone. The Southeast
Asian push follows successful Chinese moves to shore up ties with Japan, low-key
but helpful support for North Korea"s emergence and a steady barrage of
anti-U.S. commentary in China"s state media and in government documents. A
recent defence "white paper" professed China"s peaceful intent while blaming the
United States for most of the world"s dangers. China also contrasts its respect
for the ASEAN mantra of mutual non-interference with an often hectoring United
States. But Beijing-based diplomats said China was not designing a diplomacy to
succeed at U.S. expense, however keen Beijing is to forge a multi-polar world to
counter U.S. global influence. "The multi-polar world is still only a figment of
China"s imagination," said a military diplomat. "What we have is economic
globalisation." To better weather globalisation and dramatic regional
geopolitical change, China needs faster economic growth, which in turn requires
peaceful borders and trusting, trading neighbours. "With the whole face of this
part of the world being revamped, it"s only natural that the Chinese who have
such a stake in all of this would want to keep their hands in several different
pies and get deeply involved," said a Western diplomat.
WIRE:11/24/2000 02:28:00 ET
SE Asia puts accent on English in e-dream quest SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (Reuters) -
Southeast Asian leaders agreed on Friday to promote English as a first or second
language so their people can reap the benefits of the New Economy.
The leaders of the 10 countries in the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) discussed an experts" report on "Vision 2020" that emphasised
the need to bridge the digital divide between hi-tech savvy developed economies
and their own.
"This is an important decision by the ASEAN leaders that you need to have
English (in order) for their countries to be able to transfer into the
knowledge-based IT economy, so as to be able to compete with the other
economies," Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told a news conference.
The report says ASEAN governments should prepare their people to capitalise
on the huge advances made in the areas of information, communications and
technology. "Unless you are able to master English we will not be able to get
our population to use IT...and take advantage of the new economy," Goh said.
"Some would do this as a first language, like in Philippines and Singapore,
others would do it as a second language, but it"s going to be a very important
second language," Goh said.
The summiteers signed an e-ASEAN Framework Agreement that aims to promote
electronic commerce in the region by connecting people, technology and
businesses. Singapore is leading Asia"s stampede into the Internet age, but
several other countries with large, young populations lack the resources to
prepare for the challenges of the new era. While nearly one in three
Singaporeans surfs the Internet, only one in 15,000 Cambodians logs on.
In Laos, the number is so small as to be statistically negligible. "I think
it will take some time for these countries to actually take advantage of
e-ASEAN," Goh said. The more advanced ASEAN members, like Singapore and
Malaysia, have agreed to help equip their poorer neighbours catch up. ASEAN
groups Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia plus
Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
WIRE:11/24/2000 07:52:00 ET
ASEAN gets on board bold Trans-Asia rail project SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (Reuters) -
What is it about Asian summits and grandiose railway projects? Last month Asian
and European Union leaders gave their backing to an "Iron Silk Road" that would
reconnect a severed rail link between North and South Korea and then join up
with the Russian Trans-Siberian railway to carry passengers and goods to the
heart of Europe.
Not to be outdone, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea, threw their weight on Friday
behind a similarly ambitious project -- a 5,513-km (3,420 mile line) from
Singapore all the way to Kunming in China"s Yunman province.
The Trans-Asia railway would wind its way through Malaysia, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam. Spur lines would be built to benefit two other members of
the bloc, Myanmar and landlocked Laos.
The only ASEAN members that would miss out are the island nations of
Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia. The question of who would foot the
estimated $2.5 billion bill for the line has not yet been answered, but
optimistic ministers believe the railway, first mooted in 1996, could be
completed by 2006.
Most of the track already exists and Premier Zhu Rongji was quick to put
down a marker on behalf of Chinese companies to help fill the gaps. "We are
interested in building the railway project in the southern part of your
country," Zhu told Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, whose government
is the main driving force behind the scheme. "We give you our full support and
will work hard to make it a reality," Zhu added.
Friday, November 24 3:59 PM SGT
ASEAN-India summit proposal put on hold SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian leaders on Friday put on hold a proposal to include India in
their annual summits, dashing New Delhi's hopes of being treated on the same
level as regional powers China, Japan and South Korea.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told journalists after the morning
session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit that "it
will be difficult to have an ASEAN Plus Four summit."
ASEAN plus Three is the name given to the year-end gatherings of the
10-member grouping with China, Japan and South Korea, their main trading and
security partners in the region.
"ASEAN plus three is more an East Asian get-together," Goh said.
"But we could consider ASEAN-India as a separate forum. This matter was
discussed and the view was that it's a bit too early to consider this request
because the ASEAN Plus Three is still a new process and we would rather
concentrate on forging this new process," Goh said.
He also stressed the need for ASEAN itself to promote solidarity.
"We discussed several measures to ensure that ASEAN will function more as a
united whole," Goh said.
"This is not to suggest that ASEAN is not united, but it is more to see
that we present ourselves solidly as a group in international meetings and how
to overcome the gaps which are now there and which prevent ASEAN from being more
integrated as an economy."
ASEAN has been criticized for its seeming helplessness in addressing the
1997-98 regional financial crisis, cross-border air pollution from forest fires
and other problems, as well as its failure to exert a strong, single voice in
international diplomacy.
A Singapore government spokesman said Thursday that the city-state was
backing India's bid to become a summit partner of ASEAN following a request by
Indian President K. R. Narayanan, who recently visited Singapore.
But delegates from other economies said India's inclusion was likely to be
rejected by other ASEAN members, noting that other countries would demand
similar treatment.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
India is already a dialogue partner of ASEAN at the foreign minister's
level and takes part in the ASEAN Regional Forum on security hosted by the
organization every summer. The forum also includes the United States, Russia and
the European Union, apart from the three East Asian powers.
Friday, November 24 3:38 PM SGT
Myanmar ducks ASEAN's IT spotlight SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (AFP) -
Myanmar officials at the ASEAN summit Friday refused to directly answer
questions on Internet access, in an embarrassing moment for regional leaders
launching an information-technology programme.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said it was attempting
to bridge the digital divide with the signing of an "e-ASEAN framework
agreement."
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong singled out Myanmar as an ASEAN
member which would get special assistance to foster a knowledge-based
society.
But Myanmar's Economic Minister David Abel was evasive when questioned by
reporters on what would be the requirements to have Internet access in his
country which requires people to have a permit for fax machine use.
"We have the Net set up in Myanmar but we don't have the law yet. We are
writing up the law, so the Net is available and it is set up as required," Abel
said.
The use of the telephone and fax machines "has to be worked out according
to the law," he added.
Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said Kuala Lumpur allowed pro and
anti-government websites and also had "various legislation in place that will
take care of any undue aberrations or distortions that come about through the
negative or wrong use of the internet."
Further pressed on what requirments would be imposed for Internet access in
Myanmar, Abel said: "Today, we have a certain amount of our websites
functioning. Bad things are there, good things are there, we just accept
it.
"But I think, like Rafidah says, if things get out of control or things
coming through the Net detrimental to national security, then we will have to
deal accordingly with the law and the law is being written up right now."
The e-ASEAN initiative launched on Friday is designed to help ASEAN members
compete in a global economy and will "transform ASEAN into one seamless,
borderless market of 500 million consumers instead of 10 fragmented markets," a
forum statement said.
One of the aims of the agreement is to set up a "free trade area for goods,
services and investments for the information-communications
industries."
Friday, November 24 8:12 PM SGT
Environmental alliance demands halt to mega dam projects BANGKOK, Nov 24 (AFP) - Asian
environmental groups Friday called for an immediate halt to the construction of
mega dams in the region while a new report by the World Commission on Dams (WCD)
is reviewed.
The report, released in London last week, said the dams had failed to
deliver promised benefits and had caused serious harm to rural communities, as
well as environmental devastation on a massive scale.
Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia, a network of organisations working to
restore the region's waterways, said construction must stop until efforts were
made to compensate dam-affected communities.
"We demand a moratorium on large dam construction in east and southeast
Asia until the recommendations of the WCD have been implemented by all
dam-building agencies," it said in a statement.
Anti-dam organisations from around the world met in the Thai capital Friday
to discuss the implications of the report by the independent body.
The two-year study, prepared by engineers, ecologists, government officials
and indigenous people, had the backing and participation of the World Bank.
However, it stopped short of calling for a moratorium on dam construction.
"Indigenous peoples have unique needs and if these are ignored it may
result in a tragedy one may term cultural ethnocide," said Shamila Annie
Mohammed Ariffin of Friends of the Earth Malaysia.
Families affected by the Bakun Hydroelectric project in Sarawak were
subsisting on one meal a day of rice and salt after losing the river which had
been the source of their livelihood, she said.
"More often than not, dams bring these people more economic exclusion ...
nowhere more so than in the Mekong Delta Basin," considered by many to contain
the world's most abundant untapped resources, said Ngun Win of Oxfam
America.
Ngun said the WCD report "confirmed that people whose lives most need
improvement barely benefit from the construction of dams."
The WCD studied 10 dams worldwide, including the controversial Pak Moon
project in Ubon Ratchathani which has been bitterly opposed by villagers in the
region.
Dam construction projects elsewhere in Asia have caused major
controversy.
In India, a high-profile campaign against the 3.9 billion dollar Narmada
dam in the western state of Gujarat has been led by social activist Medha Patkar
and celebrated novelist Arundhati Roy.
U Sai Win Pay from the organisation Salween Watch said that in Myanmar's
Shan state, the planned Tasang dam has already resulted in the displacement of
over 3,000 villagers in the military-run country.
"We Shan can do nothing. People of Shan state ... who depend on the river
(Salween) for our livelihood deserve a say in how it can benefit society," he
said.
"We have a saying -- As long as Salween river flows, our Shan land will
exist."
Thursday November 23 4:18 PM ET
Asian Nations' Trade Pact Weakened By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer SINGAPORE (AP) - Southeast
Asian nations on Thursday diluted their free trade pact by allowing members to
delay tariff reductions, but endorsed greater trade with China and Japan.
The developments set the stage for a heads-of-government summit on Friday
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations amid political and economic woes
in the region.
Philippine President Joseph Estrada, facing an impeachment trial next
month, left Manila for Singapore saying it was ``business as usual'' with his
government. On arrival, he put on a bold face, vowing to remain in office and
assuring local business leaders that the Philippines is still the ``right
choice'' for their investments.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, facing calls to step down for his
failure to control separatist and ethnic violence, arrived in Singapore with his
family and said: ``I need to take a rest.''
Earlier, the economic ministers of ASEAN signed a protocol to protect its
members' industries that face ``real difficulties.''
Malaysia's trade minister, Rafidah Aziz, dismissed concerns that the
agreement would torpedo the region's plan for the ASEAN Free Trade Area, or
AFTA, which envisages eliminating most regional tariffs by 2002.
The protocol has a ``limited scope'' and is ``not all encompassing,'' she
said. ``It is not like everything is going to be unraveled.''
The agreement was first crafted in October to prevent commercial disputes
from flaring into open trade wars. It resulted from Malaysia's decision to delay
opening its automotive sector by two years. Thailand, which has the region's
biggest automotive industry, threatened to retaliate.
The protocol allows members to ``temporarily delay'' the lifting of tariffs
on products deemed to require protection from foreign competition.
Members using this privilege must pay compensation to other countries most
affected by the extended tariffs.
If no accommodation is reached within 180 days, the affected country would
have the right to retaliate with similar tariffs on other products, according to
the protocol.
Malaysia says it needs to protect some crucial industries that still
haven't recovered from the impact of the 1997 financial crisis, which also drove
away foreign investors.
ASEAN still hasn't been able to draw all the investment back, and is
competing with Northeast Asia and China for the money.
ASEAN hopes to deal with competition by co-opting its competitors. Its
leaders will meet with the heads of governments of Japan, China and South Korea
over the weekend.
Some ASEAN members said they would welcome a reported initiative by China
to enter into a free-trade pact with the regional group.
``We welcome them and ... we look forward to developing closer economic
relations between ASEAN and China,'' said George Yeo, Singapore's trade
minister.
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who arrived in Singapore Thursday, said his
nation's expected entry into the World Trade Organization will not be a threat
to Southeast Asia.
``It will only bring good,'' he told reporters.
But Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi sounded a note of
caution.
He said the economic reality is that China competes directly with Southeast
Asia for foreign investment and draws more investment.
Meanwhile, a panel of ASEAN experts urged Japan to work harder to open up
its markets and form stronger and more equal ties with the region.
After decades of presenting a public face of unity, ASEAN is grappling with
internal differences also, including how to deal with its most criticized
member, Myanmar.
Some ASEAN members led by Thailand are uneasy about the denial of political
rights to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, which won
elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by Myanmar's military
rulers.
The Myanmar issue has jeopardized ASEAN's scheduled meeting with the
European Union next month in Laos. ASEAN is comprised of Singapore, Thailand,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Friday November 24 11:44 AM ET
Taboos Broken in Southeast Asia By REGAN MORRIS, Associated Press Writer SINGAPORE (AP) - Southeast
Asian leaders gathering this week in Singapore are enjoying a new openness,
breaking a long-standing taboo that kept them from speaking up about their
neighbors' domestic affairs.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's offer this week to serve as a
go-between in negotiations with the leader of a Philippine Muslim rebel group is
proof of the changing tone in the region, Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo
Siazon said. And closed-door discussions among Southeast Asia's leaders are much
more candid now than they once were, Siazon said in an interview with The
Associated Press.
``Before, you didn't discuss anything. It was so polite, sometimes too
polite,'' he said.
Human rights - traditionally the most sensitive of all Southeast Asian
regional issues - are no longer a taboo topic, with nations criticizing
everything from Malaysia's treatment of a jailed former finance minister to
Myanmar's refusal to recognize election results.
``For too long, regional cooperation has been limited by concerns about
national sovereignty,'' parliament member Simon Tay said in an editorial in
Singapore's Straits Times newspaper on Thursday.
No one expects Southeast Asia to become an arena for mutual policing.
Respect for nations' sovereignty remains a central tenet of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, whose leaders convened for four days of meetings which
conclude Saturday.
Last year, ASEAN sat on the sidelines when East Timor (news - web sites)'s
secession from Indonesia triggered a violent backlash. An Australian-led
international peacekeeping force stepped in instead.
But globalization and the need to attract foreign investment have raised
the cost of ignoring issues such as human rights. European Union (news - web
sites) ministers, for instance, are threatening to stay away from a December
meeting with Southeast Asian officials to protest ASEAN's lack of action against
Myanmar, which has been accused of human rights violations.
Southeast Asia appears to be slowly getting the message.
At a recent meeting of the International Labor Organization, where members
decided to impose sanctions on Myanmar over the use of forced labor, Thailand
did not join other +ASEAN+ nations in defending Myanmar's military rulers, to
the dismay of Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung.
Human rights also are on the agenda for an +ASEAN+-backed conference of
non-governmental organizations being held on the Indonesian island of Batam this
weekend.
The Los Angeles Times - Nov 24,
2000.
Ethnic Karen Losing in Myanmar Struggle By DAVID LAMB, Times Staff Writer MAE SOT, Thailand--Their battle for self-rule is one of the world's longest
wars, a struggle that spans 52 years and generations of death. But today the
ethnic Karen of Myanmar are facing a harsh awakening: Their long, lonely journey
may be leading them nowhere.
Here along the Thai border with Myanmar, often referred to by its previous name, Burma, more than 100,000 Karen are cloistered in 11 camps of bamboo huts spread out along the frontier. There are thousands more refugees living outside the camps. International attention to their plight--minimal in the best of times--is waning. Their military capability is dwindling. Their refugee population is growing, at the rate of 500 a month, and even Thailand, their traditional protector, increasingly considers them a burden, which some Thai politicians want eased with their repatriation within three years. The Karen, along with a similar number of East Timorese in the Indonesian province of West Timor, represent the last large concentrations of externally displaced people in Southeast Asia, where the refugee population has sunk to its lowest level in more than 20 years with the resettlement of the masses who fled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. "We look to the East, and we see nothing," said Saw Tay Tay, director of the Karen Refugee Committee, who works out of a garage adorned with pictures of Myanmar's dissident leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. "But we look to the West, and we see moral support, maybe even a solution, because of its opposition to the Burma government. We know where our bread is buttered. "But times have changed. We're no longer under any illusion that we can defeat the Burmese army and achieve independence. And we realize that countries should not be divided. We feel people can coexist if they are treated fairly. If we can be assured our dignity, that would be enough. We could live at peace with the Burma government." If the Karen have scaled back their aspirations, it is largely because they have had no choice. Myanmar's army overran the Karen National Union, or KNU, stronghold at Manerplaw in 1995 and continues to nibble away at its border enclaves, pushing the Karen--many of whom fought for Britain during World War II even as Burma supported Japan--near or into Thailand. The KNU's fighting strength has dwindled to 2,000 to 3,000 men, and the war has ebbed into spasms of platoon-level engagements. Meanwhile, Myanmar's government, a repressive band of soldiers known as the State Peace and Development Council, has signed peace treaties with the country's 15 other ethnic groups. In return for laying down their arms, some of the groups, such as the Wa, have been given a large degree of autonomy and the OK to produce drugs, which flood into Thailand and make their way to distant corners of the world. The Karen, many of whom were converted to Christianity by U.S. missionaries two centuries ago, have never played by the same rules. They have shunned the drug trade and held nothing more than preliminary peace talks with the Myanmar government. But their influence inside Myanmar has diminished with their falling numbers, as tens of thousands fled to Thailand, some to escape fighting, others to seek economic opportunity. "There's no jobs in Burma, not enough food, very little medicine," said Aung Kyaw, 26, as a medic at Dr. Cynthia's Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, examined his sick daughter. After two years in Mae Sot, Aung Kyaw, a high school dropout, earns the equivalent of $50 a month as a gardener, more than a university professor with a doctorate would make in Myanmar. Aung Kyaw is one of an estimated 100,000 illegal Myanmar immigrants, many of them Karen, in Thailand, in addition to those in the overflowing refugee camps. Over the course of many years, dating back to the Vietnam War, Thailand has been Southeast Asia's most hospitable country for refugees. But its patience is running thin with Myanmar refugees after two embarrassing incidents that could result in the welcome mat being withdrawn. In October 1999, five Myanmar rebel gunmen took over the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, the Thai capital. After releasing their hostages unharmed, the rebels were allowed to go free, much to the annoyance of the generals in Myanmar. Then in January, 10 Karen rebels stormed a Thai provincial hospital and held the staff and patients hostage. The rebels were killed by Thai commanders. On both occasions, the goal of the attackers was unclear. Thailand responded to the crisis by sending about 200 Karen back across the Friendship Bridge that spans the Moei River on the border and increasing security at the camps. Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who toured several camps, said, "The refugee situation is a problem, which must be urgently solved." Myanmar, though, is reluctant to accept returnees who are political dissidents and an economic burden. "It's a very difficult situation, a day-to-day struggle, because young people are leaving Burma to get jobs to support their families and the Thais don't really want them here and the government in Yangon does not want to take them back," said Dr. Cynthia Maung, a refugee who set up her clinic in Mae Sot in 1988. The Karens' struggle today, said one Western refugee specialist, isn't so much about independence or autonomy as it is about geopolitics and economics. Along the border, they represent a convenient buffer for forces inside Myanmar battling for control of the teak forest industry and the drug trade. To countries such as the United States and Britain that want to isolate Myanmar because of human rights abuses and involvement in drugs, the Karen are a welcome destabilizing force against the generals in Yangon, Myanmar's capital. So Saw Tay Tay, in his garage in Mae Sot, sharing tea with a guest, paused and had to think hard when asked what 52 years of armed struggle had achieved for the Karen. "Well," he said after a while, "perhaps not much. The situation isn't getting any better." The Star - Nov 24,
2000.
Myanmar included in RM9b rail project SINGAPORE: Asean leaders are expected to endorse the Malaysia-proposed
Trans-Asian rail link at their two-day 4th informal summit starting today.
The plan will also see a slight yet significant change in the rail route to include Myanmar. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said once
the proposal was endorsed, Thailand, which chairs the steering committee for the
project, would find ways to finance the multi-billion ringgit project.
"We will leave it to Thailand to draw up the proposal,'' she said.
Rafidah said the decision to include Myanmar in the plan was to ensure the
country could also reap the economic benefits that would come with the project.
The estimated RM9.5bil rail link connecting seven Asean countries with
China is projected to be completed by 2006.
The Nation - Nov 25,
2000.
Police comb woods for last Burmese escapee BY PONGSAK BAI-NGERN DOZENS of police officers aided by search dogs were combing 700 rai of bush
in Kanchanaburi yesterday in pursuit of a Burmese jail-breaker who narrowly
escaped a deadly commando assault on his eight collaborators on Thursday
morning.
Ra, the fugitive, was saved by the call of nature as he left the getaway
station wagon shortly before the commandos unleashed a hail of gunfire on the
vehicle.
During the shooting eight Burmese escapees and a Thai convict were killed.
One hostage, Samut Sakhon prison commander Somwong Siriwej, was critically
injured, but the two other captives were rescued and a second Thai convict
arrested with only slight wounds.
Col Puwadol Wuttikanok, head of a Kanchanaburi border-police patrol unit,
recalled seeing Ra leave the station-wagon before the commandos stormed it.
"We saw him getting out of the vehicle, but by then it was time for the
commandos to go in," he said, "and we forgot about the guy."
After the operation was over, Puwadol saw Ra lying low under a tree. The
Burmese convict was carrying a gun.
"Onlookers were all over the place. I was worried about them if we tried to
take him dead. I fired shots into the air to threaten him, but he ran into the
bush, throwing away his shirt," Puwadol said.
About 40 officers set off on a hunt. Houses in the area were searched and
their owners warned against any stranger coming to ask for food or water.
The search team yesterday afternoon found the fugitive's sandals and hat
several kilometres from the road.
Somwong remained in the intensive-care unit at the Police Hospital
yesterday. He was shot four times during the rescue operation. One bullet hit
him in the head, causing bleeding and swelling in the brain.
An investigation into the dramatic jailbreak still yielded few clues as to
how the nine Burmese and two Thai prisoners had acquired weapons which included
pistols, knives and home-made bombs, officials said.
"There remain many possibilities," said Siwa Saengmanee, director-general
of the Corrections Department. "The weapons could have come in food trucks or
other trucks. They could have been smuggled in by visitors or thrown in over the
walls, or some corrupt officials could have provided them, or the weapons could
have come in pieces to be reassembled inside the prison."
The department has ordered all prisons nationwide to implement stricter
measures regarding foreign convicts, he said.
"The strict measures are always there, but the problem is implementation,"
he said.
"After this incident we need to step up our security measures, but with
prisoners overcrowding the jails, the wardens outnumbered and equipment so
unsophisticated, there's always a chance of this kind of incident happening
again."
The Nation - Nov 25,
2000.
Pyongyang, Rangoon to restore diplomatic ties BY SA-NGUAN KHUMRUNGROJ NORTH Korea is expected to normalise relations with Burma next year, ending
a 17-year diplomatic freeze that was triggered by a failed assassination attempt
on South Korea's former president in Rangoon by North Korean agents, a source
said yesterday.
The negotiations to restore ties are in their final stage, the source said.
"Now, for us (North Korea) the time is ripe and we are ready to restore
diplomatic ties with Burma some time next year," the source quoted a North
Korean senior official as saying.
In recent years, Pyongyang and Rangoon have been using Bangkok, Vientiane
and Hanoi as venues for negotiations on the re-establishment of ties, the source
said.
A Burmese delegation quietly visited Pyongyang a few days ago to prepare
for the normalisation of relations, he added.
Burma is the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member
that has no official relationship with Pyongyang. The Philippines established
ties with North Korea in July.
Rangoon severed links with Pyongyang on November 4, 1983 after a dramatic
but unsuccessful attempt by North Korean agents to assassinate then South Korean
president Chun Doo-hwan by detonating a bomb at the Aung San Mausoleum. The
attack killed 21 people, including four South Korean cabinet ministers, and
injured 46.
But after Burma became an Asean member in 1997, Pyongyang launched a series
of diplomatic overtures urging the group and China to persuade Rangoon to
reconcile. Rangoon has insisted that Pyongyang acknowledge its terrorist act and
issue an official apology.
However, Rangoon's attitude began to soften in the wake of the historic
North-South Korean Summit in June and after Pyongyang became a member of the
Asean Regional Forum on security the following month. Contacts and negotiations
between both sides subsequently began to increase.
A Western diplomat based in Rangoon said the two countries had for years
been trading with each other despite the diplomatic stalemate. In 1995, North
Korea dispatched a delegation to Burma to negotiate a rice purchase to alleviate
its severe food shortage after Thailand cut off rice supplies due to Pyongyang's
failure to repay a long-overdue $94-million (Bt4.09 billion) rice debt.
"Pyongyang hoped the economic relations through this 'rice diplomacy' would
help improve its long-lost relations with Burma," he added.
The Nation - Nov 25,
2000.
Asean leaders close ranks to support Burma BY MARISA CHIMPRABHA SINGAPORE - The 10 Asean leaders yesterday closed ranks in support of
Burma's membership, agreeing on a policy that tells outside countries seeking
meetings with the group to "take all 10 of us or none at all".
The new policy meant that if one Asean member was not invited to a meeting,
then no meeting would occur, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudwinai.
The new approach was decided at the first gathering of the 10 Asean heads
of state for an informal summit being held here, Don said, declining to name the
leader who suggested it.
"The leaders endorsed a new approach that says, 'We come in as a group and
should be accepted as a group'," he told reporters after the meeting.
The move toward such a policy, Don said, was motivated by the Asean
leaders' desire to demonstrate unity in their joint efforts and increase the
group's bargaining power in its negotiations with non-Asean countries.
Asean comprises Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In the past, Western communities have usually banned Burma from any
assistance or participation in meetings, due to the dictatorship of country's
military junta, its acceptance of forced labour and its dismal human-rights
record. Asean, meanwhile, has strongly supported Burma.
One sign of the shifting attitude can be seen in the recent developments
surrounding the Asean-Europe Ministerial meeting, which had been postponed for
more than two years with Burma at the centre of controversy.
The meeting, which is finally to be held in Vientiane, is now caught in
dilemma caused by the EU's displeasure with Burma.
The Asean leaders who gathered yesterday also agreed to push for some Asean
members that have not yet been admitted to international groupings such as the
Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), to
join those groups as soon as possible.
Cambodia, Laos and Burma, for example, have not yet joined Apec.
The leaders also agreed that each Asean member would have to strengthen
itself before the group could present a strong, collective front.
This, they agreed, is no small challenge, given the continuing impact of
the economic crisis through much of the region.
Identifying the challenges facing Asean, the summit said the grouping
should take measures to bridge the gap between new Asean members (Burma,
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) and old ones, narrowing the differences in areas
such as human-resource development.
From now on, the Asean grouping must take a wider view of regional
problems, so that such gaps could be filled sooner, Don said.
To strengthen the grouping, transportation linkages should be made
combining roads, railways and sea routes, so that all Asean countries and their
people have the means to communicate with one another. The transportation
linkages would also open access to trade, markets, business and investment for
new Asean members.
Cultural ties should also be strengthened, the leaders agreed. To this end,
they decided to join forces in conducting such events as Asean Cultural Week, an
idea proposed by Vietnamese leader Pham Van Khai, who also offered to host it
for the first year.
Besides these, Asean is considering joint events such as a road show and
trade fair to showcase the members' trade and cultures to other countries.
The spokesman added that Burma expressed a need for more investment, and
that if other countries weren't willing to help, then Asean members should step
forward.
The leaders began the summit with a "retreat meeting" at which no
translators or foreign ministers were present.
South China Morning Post
Friday, November 24, 2000 ASEAN SUMMIT Burma, EU to attend meeting THOMAS ABRAHAM Strained ties between the military regime in Burma and the European Union
appear to be easing with the announcement that EU officials have agreed to meet
Asean foreign ministers, including the Burmese representative, at a summit in
Laos next month.
The EU had refused such a meeting for the past two years in protest against Burma's admission into Asean. Asean officials said the EU had taken the initiative in restarting the
foreign minister-level meeting and had not set any conditions on which countries
could attend.
A senior Laotian diplomat, Bounkeut Sangsomak, said 11 EU members and the
European Commission had confirmed attendance at the meeting in Vientiane on
December 11 and 12.
Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands had not confirmed
attendance.
Asean diplomats said there was some discussion among Asean foreign
ministers about whether the EU would send foreign ministers to the meeting, or
be represented by lower-level officials.
Some Asean countries made it clear they would not send ministers to the
meeting unless EU ministers were also present.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the EU had indicated that
"it had every intention of attending the Vientiane meeting" and that Malaysia
would attend.
Since Burma's admission to Asean, the only forum for Asian and European
leaders to meet has been Asem, the Asia-Europe meeting. This brings together
leaders of the major Asian and European countries, but does not include Burma.
Asean and the EU have not met as groups since Burma's admission to Asean in
1997.
Asean leaders have made it clear that they regard Burma as a full and equal
member of the organisation. Asean foreign ministers have just announced that
they intend to meet in Burma for an informal retreat early next year.
Some Asean countries, such as Thailand, have expressed disquiet about the
organisation's embrace of Burma's military regime. |