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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 16,
2001.
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Headlines
-------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Rebel Twins Reunited With Mom
AP - Myanmar Closes Another Border
Crossing With Thailand
AP - Myanmar Opens
Thai Border Crossing After One Day Closure
Channel NewsAsia - Suspected Myanmar
illegals hidden in car nabbed
BBC - 'Buddha's hair' found in China BBC - Fernandes: Popular but controversial
minister
Asiaweek - The problems of having Myanmar next door
The Nation - Pressure on Burma to host border meeting
The Nation - Burma closes
a second crossing
The Nation - Speed pills from Burma seized The Nation - Fake ID prompts probe
The Nation - EDITORIAL: Burma up to its old trick of niggling
Thais
Bkk Post - Pagoda Pass
checkpoint closes down
Bkk Post - House sets up
border panel
Bkk Post - Suspected
speed dealers questioned
Xinhua - Myanmar to Hold
Cooperative Products Exposition
Friday March 16, 5:20 AM
Rebel Twins Reunited With
Mom
By JIRAPORN WONGPAITHOON, Associated Press Writer SUAN PHUNG, Thailand (AP) -
Holding her baby on her lap, a mother of twin boys who led the God's Army rebel
group was reunited with her sons Thursday for the first time in more than a
year.
The mother, Mah Kae, arrived Tuesday at the border patrol force base where
Johnny and Luther Htoo have been held since their surrender to Thai authorities
on Jan. 16. The boys are believed to be 15 years old but look much younger.
The boys were separated from their mother 14 months ago during fighting
with Myanmar troops.
As they posed for photographers, Mah Kae said she learned of the boys'
capture after they sent a letter to the refugee camp where she and other family
members were staying.
Their father is expected to join them soon as the family awaits a
government decision on whether to give them refugee status, said police Lt. Col.
Somchai Visutsuwan.
``We will continue to confine them here until further notice from higher
authorities,'' Somchai, the chief of the border patrol base, told The Associated
Press.
The twins' parents already have refugee status and have been living in the
Ban Ton Yang refugee shelter nearby. The area is about 100 miles west of the
Thai capital, Bangkok.
Asked what they thought would happen to them, the soft-spoken twins replied
shyly: ``It's in the hands of God.''
God's Army, which at its peak had about 150 fighters, had provided minor
resistance in a wider guerrilla war by ethnic Karen rebels fighting for autonomy
in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
They acquired near-legendary status around 1997, when Myanmar troops came
to their village during a sweep of Karen areas. The mainstream guerrillas group,
the Karen National Union, reportedly fled while the twins rallied some local men
and directed a successful counterattack.
After that, the twins' followers said the boys - who are Christians - had
powers from God. Their followers believed bullets couldn't hit them and mines
wouldn't explode under their feet.
God's Army stopped fighting after they lost their base at Ka Mar Pa Law,
just inside Myanmar, in early 2000. During the fighting, they became separated
from their parents, who trekked to Thailand.
Johnny, Luther and their small band held out for another year before
arriving in Thailand, driven by hunger and exhaustion. Fifteen followers who
surrendered with the twins are also staying at the police base.
The twins became icons for youthful rebels around the world after the
widespread circulation of an Associated Press photograph showed the
angelic-looking, long-haired Johnny next to his tougher-looking,
cigarette-puffing brother, Luther.
Thai authorities allowed photographers and television crews into the base
Thursday to take pictures of the twins, who did not speak much, except to say
they are happy to be with their mother.
Asked how they felt about being the focus of journalists' attention, Johnny
said: ``I am afraid.''
Friday March 16, 12:56 PM
Myanmar Closes Another Border Crossing
With Thailand
BANGOK (AP)--Myanmar has halted
vehicle traffic at a border crossing with Thailand in what may be retaliation
for the Thai government's exposure of widespread drug trafficking from that
country, a Thai official said Friday.
All vehicles were stopped Thursday from entering Myanmar at the Three
Pagoda Pass checkpoint, 260 kilometers southwest of Bangkok.
But local villagers were allowed to pass back and forth across the
frontier, said Maj. Gen. Mana Prachakchit, the regional commander, in a
telephone interview.
Mana said his Myanmar counterpart, Lt. Col. Aye Tun, gave no explanation
for the ban, merely saying the order came from higher places.
The move followed border clashes last month between the two countries and
detailed descriptions by the Thai government of how methamphetamines and heroin
are flooding into the country from Myanmar.
"I think the latest closure is an act of retaliation for the exposure,"
Mana said.
The Three Pagoda Pass action came four days after Thailand reopened its
checkpoint at Mae Sai, in northern Thailand. But the Myanmar side of that border
crossing remains closed.
Mana said that Myanmar, also known as Burma, was closing crossings which
were lucrative to Thai businessmen but keeping open those necessary for vital
imports, including oil, rice and medicine, from Thailand.
Thai loggers and furniture makers are active in the Three Pagoda Pass area,
which is also a destination for Western backpackers.
Despite the tensions two of the three key frontier checkpoints, at Ranong
and Mae Sot, remain open. The third important one is at Mae Sai.
Myanmar has accused the Thais of aiding Shan rebels, who have been waging a
guerrilla war against the military regime in Yangon. The fighting spilled over
into Thailand and led to Thai-Myanmar clashes.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, declaring a war on drug
traffickers, last weekend gave a graphic presentation to senior officials about
Mong Yawn, a town just inside Myanmar he said was built with drug money.
The town is controlled by the United Wa State Army, an ethnic guerrilla
group believed to be kingpins of the regional drug trade. The group has close
ties with Myanmar's military rulers.
Friday March 16, 4:59 PM
Myanmar Opens Thai Border Crossing
After One Day Closure
BANGKOK (AP)--Myanmar, also
known as Burma, Friday reopened a border crossing with Thailand that was closed
for a day in what Thai officials said may have been a show of protest against
the Thai government's disclosure of widespread drug trafficking from Myanmar.
All vehicles were stopped Thursday from entering Myanmar at the Three
Pagoda Pass checkpoint, 260 kilometers southwest of Bangkok.
Myanmar authorities opened the gates after a Thai delegation visited them
and talked about the need to maintain tourist flow, Maj. Gen. Mana Prachakchit,
the regional commander, said in a telephone interview.
He said local villagers were allowed to pass back and forth across the
frontier during the closure.
The move followed border clashes last month between the two countries and
detailed descriptions by the Thai government of how methamphetamines and heroin
are flooding into the country from Myanmar.
Mana said he thought the closure was "an act of retaliation for the
exposure."
Meanwhile, the Thai army said on on Friday it arrested three people
smuggling one million methamphetamine tablets worth 5.6 million baht ($1=THB
43.95) into the northern province of Chiang Mai from Myanmar.
Major Gen. Padungkiat Sithidej, the commander of Pa Muang area, said of
those arrested was a Thai village (Singapore: THVI.SI - news) headman.
The Three Pagoda Pass action came four days after Thailand reopened its
checkpoint at Mae Sai, in northern Thailand. But the Myanmar side of that border
crossing remains closed.
Mana said that Myanmar, also known as Burma, closed crossings that were
lucrative to Thai businessmen, but kept open those necessary for vital imports,
including oil, rice and medicine, from Thailand.
Thai loggers and furniture makers are active in the Three Pagoda Pass area,
which is also a destination for Western backpackers.
Despite the tensions, two of the three key frontier checkpoints, at Ranong
and Mae Sot, remain open. The third important one is at Mae Sai.
Myanmar has accused the Thais of aiding Shan rebels, who have been waging a
guerrilla war against the military regime in Yangon. The fighting spilled over
into Thailand and led to Thai-Myanmar clashes.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, declaring a war on drug
traffickers, last weekend gave a graphic presentation to senior officials about
Mong Yawn, a town just inside Myanmar he said was built with drug money.
The town is controlled by the United Wa State Army, an ethnic guerrilla
group believed to be kingpins of the regional drug trade. The group has close
ties with Myanmar's military rulers.
Channel NewsAsia
Friday March 16, 2:10 AM
Suspected Myanmar illegals hidden in car
nabbed
An attempt by two suspected illegal Myanmar nationals to enter Singapore by
hiding in a car compartment was foiled by alert officers at the Woodlands
Checkpoint.
Police say officers from the Police Dog Unit and Woodlands Joint Operations
Command were conducting a combined mini-operation on motorcars when their
suspicions were aroused by the nervous driver of a Malaysian-registered car.
A check of the car boot revealed a hollow base, which concealed a secret
compartment behind the rear seat.
Crouching under the specially constructed space were the two Myanmar men.
Both were arrested together with the driver, a 35-year-old Malaysian.
Three men will be charged in court with immigration offences.
BBC -Friday, 16 March, 2001, 15:05 GMT
'Buddha's hair' found in China By Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai
Archaeologists in China say they have unearthed a miniature gold box
believed to contain the hair of the Buddha.
The box, thought to have been buried for more than a thousand years, was
dug up during the excavations of a famous ruined pagoda in the eastern city of
Hangzhou.
The excavation has attracted much media interest in China.
But some experts say it should never have been carried out.
Media frenzy
China's Communist-controlled media have been in a frenzy of excitement over
the discovery of the apparent Buddhist relic.
Journalists waited for days outside the local museum in Hangzhou for
experts to open the heavy iron case which contained it.
The case was found in a cellar under the ruins of the famous Leifeng
Pagoda, which was built in 976 AD but collapsed after repeated attacks by relic
thieves in 1924.
China's official news agency said the case contained a 35cm-high gilded
silver pagoda, carved with scenes from the story of the Buddha Sakyamuni.
Buddha's hair
Visible inside the pagoda is a tiny gold box, which experts say is believed
to contain the hair of the Buddha - but the Shanghai Daily newspaper quoted
experts as saying the box would not be opened for fear of damaging it.
The former head of the local cultural relics protection bureau was quoted
in another newspaper, the Guangzhou Daily, as saying he had opposed the
excavation in the first place.
He said he feared that the relics could not be properly protected.
Reports said this is thought to be the second piece of the Buddha's hair
found in China - a similar relic was discovered in the north of the country in
the 1970s.
Pieces of the Buddha's hair are also believed to be contained in temples in
Burma, Cambodia and Thailand.
And a relic revered as a tooth of the Buddha, normally kept in a Beijing
temple, attracted huge crowds when it was put on display in Hong Kong in May
1999.
Archaeologists have yet to uncover any trace however of the Lady White, a
mythical figure who according to Chinese legend is entombed under the Leifeng
pagoda.
BBC -Thursday, 15 March, 2001, 22:50
GMT
Fernandes: Popular but controversial minister Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, who resigned on Thursday over a
bribery scandal, is a popular figure among the military rank and file. But his
outspoken character often caused ripples within the government.
Mr Fernandes, aged 70, was first elected to parliament in 1967 and founded
his own Samata party in 1994.
He has held several ministerial portfolios including communications,
industry, railways and defence and was the only Christian minister in Prime
Minister Vajpayee's cabinet.
He came into prominence in 1975 when he took on then prime minister Indira
Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency and worked as an underground activist.
He was once detained on charges, later dropped, of smuggling dynamite to
blow up government establishments in protest against the state of emergency.
His first term as defence minister of the country was in 1998 when India
conducted its shock nuclear tests.
Rift with China
Following the nuclear tests, Mr Fernandes caused a diplomatic rift with
China, which he described as India's "enemy number one."
He later denied the statement, saying it was wrongly interpreted.
A year later, the Kargil conflict with Pakistan-backed forces on the
disputed Kashmir border again thrust him into the limelight.
Controversy hit Mr Fernandes early in his ministerial tenure when he held a
convention of organisations supporting Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) on the lawns of his official residence.
Aung San Suu Kyi supporter
Mr Fernandes openly supported the LTTE's struggle for a separate state in
northern Sri Lanka.
He is also a high-profile supporter of the Burma pro-democracy movement,
displaying a wall-size picture of Aung San Suu Kyi in his official bungalow,
where Burmese underground leaders are frequent visitors.
As a minister, however, Mr Fernandes was particularly popular among
soldiers on the front.
He made 18 visits to the icy heights of the Siachen glacier, "the world's
highest battlefield" where Indian and Pakistani troops guard their respective
stretches of the glacier through the year.
He was also known for overseeing a huge increase in India's defence budget
as compared to the allocations made by previous governme
Asiaweek
From Our Correspondent: Those Rowdy Neighbors
The problems of having Myanmar next door By DOMINIC FAULDER Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Web posted at 12:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12:30 a.m. GMT My friend could scarcely contain his amusement at the perfect crime, Thai
style. He lives in a pleasant middle-class housing estate in the eastern suburbs
of Bangkok. His neighbor, like many Thais, has an illegal-immigrant Burmese
maid. She seldom ventures out in case the local police harass her and challenge
her to sing the Thai national anthem. At night, she and other illegal servants
emerge like moths to play badminton beneath the estate's fluorescent street
lamps. One day, with only the maid at home, three "electricians" turned up
unexpectedly. They told the maid to stand by the fuse box with her finger poised
over the master switch ready to throw it in an emergency. As the electricians
moved around the house checking the wiring in every room, they kept calling down
to ensure she was in place and alert. After 15 minutes, the job was done. The
trio bade the maid a cheery farewell and marched off. The house had, of course,
been comprehensively burgled. And the owner knew full well that this was where
the matter ended. He could hardly ask his illegal maid to make a statement at
the local police station.
Burmese maids in Thailand are a phenomenon of the 1990s. They started to
come in when young Thai women from the provinces began to shun appallingly paid
jobs in domestic service in favor of shift work in the factories, offices and
hotels that sprouted during the bubble-economy years. By some estimates, as many
as 700,000 Burmese have worked as domestics, builders, fishermen, sex workers -
indeed in any underpaid (or unpaid) job that Thais prefer to avoid. Labor
regulations have often been relaxed or openly flouted to accommodate this cheap
and exploitable influx. They don't just come from Myanmar. Child beggars from
Bangladesh occasionally surprise tourists with their impressive English. In
Cambodia, I once met a former Khmer Rouge who had been building Bangkok
skyscrapers until the economy collapsed in 1997. In one luxury Bangkok housing
estate, the only non-Cambodian security guard stands at the front entrance.
But it is the Burmese who are by far the most numerous. Apart from
"economic migrants," over 120,000 Karen, Mon, Shan and Karenni refugees shelter
in crude camps along the porous 2,000-km border Thailand shares uncomfortably
with Myanmar. These people have fled not for economic gain but in fear of their
lives before brutal dry-season military pacification campaigns that are often a
prelude to forced resettlement. The junta in Yangon calls these displaced people
"alleged refugees" who support ethnic insurgency. Unfortunately for this claim,
the junta also insists it has signed ceasefire agreements with most of the same
ethnic minorities. Who to believe?
A recent Burmese military push against Shan insurgents spilled into
Thailand. A key border town, Mae Sai, had to be evacuated after two civilians
were killed in shelling. Tachilek, on the Myanmar side, was also shelled, but
most of the casualties there appear to have been military. It was probably the
most serious incident involving the armies of two ASEAN member states in the
regional groupings three-decade-old history. What did ASEAN have to say? Not a
word. Tensions have yet to be defused.
It isn't only the minorities on the Myanmar-Thai border who are deeply
unhappy and mistrustful. In 1991, a quarter of a million Muslims in Myanmar's
Arakan state fled into Bangladesh in a similar state of terror. (An almost
identical exodus occurred in the late 1970s.) It took the UNHCR until mid-1997
to repatriate the Rohingyas, as they are called, though about 20,000 still
shelter in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. India, which was deeply critical of the
military repression in Myanmar in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has normalized
relations as far as possible. It decided it simply could not afford to close
dialogue channels with an immediate neighbor.
The flood of Burmese maids is of no concern to most Thais. What does worry
them is the fact that their country is awash with methamphetamine tablets
produced by syndicates protected by the allegedly pro-Yangon United Wa State
Army. The factories in the Mong Yawn area (newly established as a kind of
methamphetamine enterprise zone) are so close to the Thai border they can be
seen from it. Thai authorities estimate that over 800 million of these speed
tablets flow each year into Thailand to be used by everyone from the lowliest
stevedores to the children of cabinet ministers. It is often said that
methamphetamine addiction is the single most serious social problem facing the
country. Certainly it has become far more serious than traditional narcotic
abuse.
Even so, Myanmar is still the second-largest opium-producing country in the
world, after the so-called Golden Crescent in West Asia/Afghanistan, generating
80% of Southeast Asia's deadly harvest. "On balance, the United State's
government remains concerned that Burma's efforts are not commensurate with the
extent of the illicit drug problem within its borders," was the dry assessment
of a recent U.S. State Department report. Money laundering and harboring
internationally recognized criminals were two other gripes about Myanmar that
the Americans repeated.
Where there's drugs, there's usually another misery-seeking missile: AIDS.
China today has an estimated 500,000 HIV-positive citizens. The lethal contagion
spread in large part through Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar. The AIDS
crisis is a worldwide phenomenon in which apportioning blame is a pretty
pointless endeavor. But both Myanmar and China have suppressed AIDS information
and education in the past, living in a fool's paradise of denial. Had the
situation in northeastern Myanmar been handled differently, it's a fair bet that
China today would have less of an AIDS crisis on its hands.
The New Light of Myanmar newspaper has plenty to say about neighborly
relations. The state organ has been sermonizing endlessly on the "Five
Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence" that purportedly govern official Burmese
foreign policy. They are: mutual respect for territorial integrity and
sovereignty; non-aggression; non-interference in one another's affairs; equality
and mutual benefit; and peaceful co-existence. "Though Myanmar lives in accord
with these principles, Thailand among the neighbors has failed to follow the
code of conduct of a good neighbor," journalist Chit Kyiyay Kyi Nyunt wrote in
the New Light.
If Myanmar seriously imagines its present regional conduct is that of a
good neighbor, try to imagine what it might get up to if it decided to be a
"bad" one. A chilling thought.
The Nation - March 16,
2001
Pressure on Burma to host border meeting
Filed at 03 : 54 pm (THLD time)
BANGKOK, March 16 (The Nation)
-- Supreme Commander Sampao Chusri said Thailand would continue to ban export of
goods categorised as war supplies, including fuel and building materials, to
Burma at least until the scheduled meeting of the joint regional border
committee takes place on April 1-3.
Gen Sampao said Thailand was still awaiting a reply from Burma whether they
would agree to host the meeting headed by regional army commanders from both
sides.
Burma has ignored Thailand's reopening of the Mae Sai checkpoint opposite
Thachilek by keeping its border closed. The border had been closed for a month
following clashes between Thai troops and Burmese intruders in February.
The Nation - March 16,
2001
Burma closes a second
crossing
RANGOON yesterday stepped up its retaliation against the Thai government's
get-tough policy with Burma, sealing a second border crossing opposite
Kanchanaburi's Sangkla Buri District.
The closure of this temporary crossing point opposite Three Pagoda Pass
will prevent tourists and goods from Thailand entering Burma. But local
villagers will still be allowed to cross into Burmese territory.
District chief Chatchawan Siriphant said the situation was not worrisome
but added that Thai villagers will be discouraged from crossing to the other
side in order to prevent further problems.
There are three permanent checkpoints and a dozen crossing points dotted
along the 2,400-kilometer long Thai-Burmese frontier. Trade volume for each
temporary crossing point was estimated at Bt100,000, a figure considered minimal
compared to the volumes at the permanent passes.
Major Gen Mana Prachakchit, commander of the army's 9th Infantry Division,
said the Burmese did not give a reason for the closure. "I was only informed
that the order came from their top command," he said.
"We keep watching the situation but right now our side of the border
remains open," he added.
This second closure came a few days after Rangoon decided to keep its side
of the border opposite Mae Sai shut despite the reopening of the Thai side on
Monday.
The move was believed to be a tit-for-tat against Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's high profile campaign against drugs, which highlighted a production
centre in Burma, thus embarrassing Rangoon.
Thai authorities reopened the Mai Sai checkpoint after a month-long closure
to pressure Rangoon to settle a border skirmish between the two armies.
Rangoon maintained it had not received notice from Bangkok about Monday's
reopening.
The Burmese authorities also slapped a ban on Thai consumer goods such as
gasoline, Monosodium glutamate, and Red Bull energy drink, maintaining the ban
would not hurt them.
Thai Ambassador to Rangoon Oum Maolanond said yesterday that Burma is
facing a shortage of goods in the capital, with the price of goods rising 20 per
cent.
Oum said the Thai business community was also getting frustrated, saying it
was difficult to do business because of the actions taken by Burmese
authorities.
Without providing a name, he said he had heard a complaint from a
Thai-based Nestle Company representative whose products had been blocked at the
border.
In Ranong province meanwhile, a regional border working committee was
preparing to send a protest note to Rangoon over Wednesday's attack on a Thai
fishing boat off the province, Ranong's deputy governor Winai Buapradit said
yesterday.
The Thai side believed that Burma overreacted in the incident, in which two
Burmese crew members on the Thai vessel were slightly wounded, Winai said.
The province has also repeated its warnings to Thai fishing boats to use
caution when fishing near the overlapping sea zones and not to poach in Burmese
waters.
On Wednesday, a Burmese navy vessel fired at a Thai fishing boat, slightly
wounding two crew members on board and causing minor damage to the boat.
The Thai side has said that the Burmese vessel trespassed into Thai waters
in pursuit of the Thai fishing boat, which was illegally fishing in Burmese
territory.
Oum said he was still waiting for Burma's official account of the incident.
Winai added that last year Thai and Burmese vessels confronted each other
27 times and that Burma confiscated 46 Thai boats.
Since January this year, Burmese authorities have confiscated eight Thai
boats in four incidents.
Since 1979, Thai authorities in Ranong province have sent 19 protest notes
to Burma regarding alleged incidents of trespass.
Defence Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said that Thailand and Burma
need to discuss issues like this in order to solve ongoing problems, rather than
engaging in a battle of words or gunfire.
The army is waiting for Burma to set a date for the meeting of the Regional
Border Committee to settle border problems that escalated last month when
fighting between Burmese troops and armed rebels of the Mong Tai Army spilled
over Thailand's Northern border.
Speed pills from Burma seized
March16, 2001
Filed at 12 : 17 pm (THLD time)
MAE SAI, March 16 (The Nation)
-- Army troops this morning arrested a village headman and seized 1.2 million of
speed pills which the suspect and two other accomplices had smuggled into the
northern province of Chiang Rai from Burma's Thachilek province.
The village headman, identified as Anan Techaweesak of Tambon Sri Don Moon
in Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen district, was charged with possession of illicit
drug with intent to sell.
Soldiers intercepted the pickup truck in which the suspect and two others
were travelling in Mae Sai district near the Burmese border. Two other suspects
managed to escape.
The Nation - March 16,
2001
Fake ID prompts
probe
WATTHANA district officials in Bangkok are being investigated over the
issuance of an ID card to a nephew of former drug lord Khun Sa, officials said
yesterday.
Interior Minister Purachai Piamsomboon said the officials must face a
disciplinary investigation.
A report yesterday in a Thai-language newspaper, Matichon, said Arlak
Lason, a nephew of Khun Sa, has several Thai ID cards, one of which was issued
by Watthana district.
Watthana district director Surakiat Limcharoen said he had set up an
investigative panel, which should report its findings to him next week.
Surakiat said the ID card was issued in 1999 when he was posted at the
Bangkok City Clerk's office.
He said Watthana district did not originally issue the ID card to Arlak but
had renewed a card that was likely falsified in a northern province.
"Normally the process to renew an ID card is not strict as a new
registration,'' Surakiat said.
An official source said ID cards are regularly falsified in districts and
provinces that do not have computerised systems. It would be more difficult to
falsify if every district were computerised, the source said. The Civil
Registration Division will check the accuracy of ID cards in 20 provinces
believed to have a high number of registration errors.
The provinces include Samut Sakhon, Kanchanaburi, Lopburi, Bangkok, Trat,
Ubon Ratchathani, Loei, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Nakhon Sawan, Petchaboon and
Surat Thani. The checks should be completed by the end of July.
Police on Wednesday arrested Khun Sa's sister-in-law, Intira Sae Chern, 27,
in Tak's Mae Sot district after they raided her house and found Bt2 million in a
bag and some amphetamine powder, Pol Col Watchara Sirirattana, superintendent of
Mae Sot district police station said yesterday.
Watchara said police found more than Bt10 million in her bank account and a
telephone book that has the list of her suspected customers.
Police said they would use the money laundering law against Intira.
The Nation - March 16,
2001
EDITORIAL: Burma up to its old trick of
niggling Thais
The Burmese junta leaders' decision to close down a temporary crossing
opposite Kanchanaburi's Sangkla Buri District, ostensibly as retaliation for the
Thaksin administration's crackdown on drug trafficking, will not be the last.
Even though it was reopened yesterday, there's nothing to say that it could be
closed down again at any time upon the whim of the generals. This trend will
continue until Thailand's decision-makers give way under pressure. Why? Because
the generals want to play games with the Thaksin government and its policies.
For years, this has been the pattern of Thai-Burmese relations, especially
since 1988 when there was more interaction between the two countries. The
crossing in Sangkla Buri is one of 12 temporary border checkpoints that dot the
2,401 kilometre-long frontier. These border passes are mainly meant to help
people living along the border to undertake trade and other things. It would be
an interesting development were Burma in the future to completely seal off the
three international checkpoints, one of which the junta has already refused to
open.
Burma is trying to blackmail Thailand, especially those gullible
businessmen and provincial officials with vested interests. Every time Burma
closes one checkpoint, there is an immediate outcry from this group. In the
past, it would rattle the decision makers. But this time around it remains to be
seen whether it will be the Thais or the Burmese who break first. Though this
action of sealing off a border crossing can hurt the locals reliant upon daily
trade and people-to-people contacts, ultimately it can only affect the Burmese
more. Of late, Burma's ties with India and Bangladesh have improved and the
junta therefore can utilise more of these types of crossings with its western
neighbours. However, most of the essentials that the Burmese need are to be
found in Thailand.
These efforts to create economic strangulation will not work if the Thai
authorities carefully consider the junta's tactics. The shooting incident
involving a Thai trawler on Wednesday was nothing new either, as this sort of
thing happens quite frequently, whether there are border incidents elsewhere or
not. Sometimes, Burmese fishermen working on the Thai trawlers are the victims
of the junta's aggression.
The border situation seems tense as both sides are manoeuvring themselves
into a corner. Thailand has long declared war on drugs, but this latest move is
possibly the hardest strike yet at Burma's intransigence and its refusal to
cooperate on narcotics suppression. With the junta raising the stakes, Deputy
Prime Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who is also the defence minister,
apparently is preparing for a visit to Burma. He foolishly believes that he
alone can ease the tension and solve demarcation problems. He must be out his
mind to think that the Burmese leaders, who are facing mounting economic
trouble, will respond to his personal diplomacy.
The junta knows that Chavalit wants to prove to his fellow countrymen that
he has been right all along. Yes, it is quite possible that he will have some
success because he and the Burmese military leaders are old chums. But it is
impossible to expect, given the intransigence of the junta, that he will achieve
anything but short-term, band-aid solutions.
Making things that much more difficult between Thailand and Burma have been
certain statements emanating from Rangoon's embassy in Bangkok, which went a bit
too far in criticising the Armed Forces and the Thai government. The criticisms
were a breach of protocol under international standards.
The junta has resorted to these niggling tactics time and again because
they have proven to work against successive prevaricating administrations. Will
it be the same this time? Far too often we have seen the unity and solidarity of
Thai authorities put to the test by the wily junta. If the new government is
serious about combating the drug menace, then it will have to hang tough as the
Burmese generals try once again to play their little games of
brinkmanship.
Bangkok Post - March 16,
2001
Pagoda Pass checkpoint closes
down
Rangoon admits it is feeling trade pinch Burma has closed the Three Pagoda Pass border checkpoint in Kanchanaburi to
tourists and commerce.
Only local people are being allowed across the border in Sangkhla Buri
district.
Maj-Gen Mana Prakchakchit, head of the Surasee Task Force, said closure of
the crossing at Phayatongsu town, effective from 10.30am yesterday, was ordered
by Lt-Col Aye Tun, chairman of the township border committee of Burma.
In Chiang Rai, Thailand has unilaterally opened the crossing at Mae Sai,
but the Burmese checkpoint opposite at Tachilek remains closed.
Army chief Surayud Chulanont said the bilateral Regional Border Committee
meeting scheduled in Kengtung, Burma, on April 1 was expected to lead to an
improvement in relations.
"We must deal with our neighbours with patience since we can't move away,"
Gen Surayud said.
Gen Boonrod Somthas, armed forces chief-of-staff, said he did not think the
release of pictures of Mong Yawn at the national drug conference last weekend
was the reason Rangoon was keeping the Tachilek border shut.
"We talked only about the Red Wa, not Burma. We also did not show the
picture of Khin Nyunt, secretary one of the State Peace and Development Council,
visiting Mong Yawn," he said.
Supreme Commander Sampao Chusri said as long as the relations with Burma do
not improve he would not make a farewell trip to Rangoon before he retires in
September.
Thai ambassador to Rangoon Oum Maolanond reported to the Foreign Affairs
Ministry that Burma did not reopen the Tachilek checkpoint because officials
said they did not have time to prepare.
He was told that senior Burmese leaders in Rangoon were informed in advance
of the opening of Mae Sai.
The ambassador said in a telephone interview yesterday that the general
atmosphere in Rangoon was not good. Prices had soared 20% with some goods in
short supply, especially Thai goods.
Bangkok Post - March 16,
2001.
House sets up border
panel
Surasak Tumcharoen The House yesterday set up a special panel to address Thai-Burmese border
problems with emphasis on drugs, illegal immigration and other crime.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said local Thai-Burmese border
committees had reached some agreement, while a regional panel was to discuss
problem areas on April 1.
Rangoon, he said, had assured him it would co-operate with the anti-drug
campaign launched by the government.
"The matter of clashes on the border is finally coming to the negotiating
table," Mr Surakiart said.
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the problems could be solved,
and he denied ordering the Third Army to ease off along the northern
border.
Charoen Kanthawong, a Democrat, said Gen Chavalit had confused the Third
Army by planning talks with Rangoon when its forces were launching attacks on
Thai territory.
Gen Chavalit-criticised for making "too friendly" gestures towards
Burma-said local and regional talks between Thai and Burmese authorities were
bearing fruit.
Democrats alleged Gen Chavalit had vested interests in Burma, including
logging, given his close ties with the junta. Gen Chavalit dismissed the
allegations. M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, former deputy foreign minister, urged
the government to speed the process of demarcating the border. Itthidet
Kaewluang, a Thai Rak Thai MP, said Thailand was losing 50 million baht a day
from the closure of the Mae Sai pass.
Bangkok Post - March 16,
2001.
Suspected speed dealers
questioned
Supamart Kasem Two Burmese people and a Thai woman are being questioned by police in Mae
Sot district after being found with two million baht cash.
Local police took into custody Chanthira sae Chen, 27, the Thai woman, and
Jaboshi Seri, 24, and Maway, 27, from Burma after finding two briefcases
containing two million baht cash along with small fragments of speed pills in a
raid at D Fast Food restaurant on Intarakhiri Road on Wednesday night.
The raid followed a tip-off that the restaurant was a methamphetamines
outlet.
Ms Chanthira said the money was for her business.
Police have laid initial charges of sheltering Burmese aliens.
Myanmar to Hold Cooperative
Products Exposition
2001.03.16 11:27:14 YANGON, March 16 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar will hold a cooperative products exposition and sales festival at
the country's Cooperative Trade Center here on April 2, the official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The week-long exposition and sales festival is to be jointly
organized by the Cooperative Department, Cottage Industry Department and
Cooperative Export and Import Enterprise under the Myanmar Ministry of
Cooperative.
Cooperative products covering personal and household goods,
foodstuff, garments, electronic equipment, stationery, handicraft, construction
and industrial materials, farming equipment, fertilizer and furniture will
be exhibited at the exposition, the report said.
Other products of state-own economic organizations, local and foreign
companies will also be displayed on the occasion, the report
added.
There is so far a total of 18,159 cooperative societies in Myanmar
which were formed since the country promulgated its Cooperative Law in
1992 in line with its market-oriented economic system.
Among them, there are 8,236 agricultural cooperative societies
engaging in crop cultivation, 977 industrial producers' cooperatives
taking part in producing commodities and goods and 2,018 credit cooperatives
extending financial services.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's Central Cooperative Society joined the
International Cooperative Alliance as a member in 1993.
The cooperatives in Myanmar contribute 2.1 percent to the country's
national gross domestic product.
Myanmar-Malaysia Bilateral Ties
Strengthened
2001.03.16 11:17:53 YANGON, March 16 (Xinhuanet) --
A Malaysian delegation, led by Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism
Sheikh Fadzir, just ended its eight-day visit to Myanmar and left Yangon
for home on Tuesday.
As a follow-up, another 52-member Malaysian delegation, led by
Minister of International Trade and Industry Rafidah Aziz, arrived in Myanmar
again on the same day and will take part in a Myanmar- Malaysia economic seminar
here.
In recent years, Myanmar-Malaysia bilateral ties made rapid
development and got continuously strengthened.
Myanmar and Malaysia, both located in Asia, belong to developing
countries and are fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
The two countries share a wide range of common views on many major
issues such as safeguarding state sovereignty and opposition to hegemonism and
power politics.
The two countries mutually support each other and closely cooperate
in international and regional affairs, becoming trustworthy and
cooperative partners.
The mutual trust and political support have laid an important
cornerstone in the friendly and cooperative relations between the two
countries.
Malaysia once made major contribution to Myanmar's joining of ASEAN.
In intra-ASEAN, Malaysia agrees to the adoption of the " constructive
engagement" policy towards Myanmar.
Besides, Malaysia also firmly stood on the Myanmar side over issues
of human rights and labor and so on, opposing to the sanctions imposed by
western countries and the International labor Organization.
In the last few years, there were frequent exchange of visits at high
level between the two countries. In August 1996, Chairman of the Myanmar
State Peace and Development Council and Prime Minister Senior-General Than
Shwe paid a state visit to Malaysia.
In March 1998, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad made his
first tour to Myanmar since Myanmar joined ASEAN in July 1997. In January this
year, Mahathir visited Myanmar again.
These exchange of visits at high level has dynamically pushed forward
the development of the two countries' friendly and cooperative
relations.
In recent years, Myanmar and Malaysia have signed an agreement on
economic, scientific and technical cooperation; an agreement on avoidance of
double taxation and prevention of tax evasion; a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) on mutual exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic and
official passports; and an MOU on bilateral trade promotion, investment
and enhancement of cooperation in agriculture and livestock
breeding.
According to official statistics, up to now, Malaysia has injected
587 million U.S. dollars of investment in 25 projects in Myanmar, ranking
the fourth largest foreign investor after Singapore, Britain and Thailand
among the 25 countries and regions investing in Myanmar.
Another official statistics show that in the first ten months of
2000, bilateral trade between Myanmar and Malaysia reached 214 million
dollars, up 24.7 percent as compared with the same period of 1999.
Myanmar's imports from Malaysia amounted to 159 million dollars,
while its export to Malaysia was valued at 55 million dollars.
Malaysia has become Myanmar's third largest trading partner after
Singapore and Thailand among ASEAN member nations. Their bilateral trade
accounted for 6.54 percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade.
Myanmar and Malaysia established diplomatic relations in 1958. The
already existing friendly and cooperative relations are bound to reap rich
fruits in the new
century. |