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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 16,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Estrada
freed on bail after arrest order
Reuters - Malaysian
detainees' case against police delayed
The Nation - Net Gain:
Zero
The Nation - EDITORIAL:
EU sends useful reminder to Burma
Reuters - ASEAN talks guns,
piracy
The Star - Trans-Asian railway to be linked to
major ports
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WIRE: 04/16/2001 8:22 am ET
Estrada freed on bail after arrest
order
By Malou Mangahas
MANILA, April 16 (Reuters) - A
Philippine court ordered the arrest of disgraced former president Joseph Estrada
on Monday, took his fingerprints after he surrendered himself to custody and
realeased him on bail ahead of his trial on corruption charges.
Toppled from the presidency in a "people power" revolt in January, Estrada
looked crestfallen as court officers took his fingerprints five times in a
graphic demonstration of his long fall from grace.
"I am here with my lawyers. I will post bond," Estrada, dressed in a
national "barong" shirt, told a court sheriff before signing a paper signifying
his voluntary surrender after the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court ordered his
arrest.
The presidential palace was nonchalant on the news of the arrest order.
"That comes as a matter of course," presidential spokesman Renato Corona
told reporters, adding Estrada's posting of a small amount of bail meant he
would not "spend a single night in jail."
The court issued two warrants for his arrest in connection with twin
charges of graft and perjury which were among a total of eight criminal
complaints filed against him by state prosecutors.
He has six other charges pending against him, one of which -- economic
plunder -- is a non-bailable offence and punishable by the death penalty.
The charges, stemming from allegations that Estrada had enriched himself
during his 31 months in office, also included three graft cases and a charge of
illegally using an alias.
No warrant has so far been issued on the six remaining cases.
The graft charge which prompted Monday's warrant dealt with
allegations that Estrada and four others had pocketed 130 million pesos
($2.6 million) in excise taxes intended to benefit tobacco farmers.
Graft is punishable by a maximum 15 years in jail, and perjury by a maximum
two years.
Estrada has denied any wrong and said the charges against him are part of
campaign to disgrace him by the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,
who took power after Estrada's ousting on January 20.
STILL AN IDOL
Riot troops guarded the court-house in the Manila suburb of Quezon city and
police stood in hallways as Estrada -- with his wife, a son and a battery of
lawyers -- arrived in a convoy of luxury vehicles.
Dozens of supporters, carrying colour pictures of him when he was still
president, picketed the court-house. About 100 others set up barricades outside
an upmarket suburb where he lives, warning they would not allow their idol to be
arrested.
The arrest orders came while Estrada was in the midst of a political
campaign for his party's candidates in the May 14 legislative elections. His
wife, who is also facing a graft case, is running for the Senate.
The anti-graft court also ordered immigration officials to bar Estrada from
leaving the country. This was on top of a travel ban issued recently by the
Justice Department.
The court fixed a bail of 30,000 pesos -- an amount governed by court rules
-- on the graft charge and 10,000 pesos on perjury.
The eight cases against will be heard by the court's five divisions.
Estrada went to each division for his fingerprints to be taken.
Altogether, Estrada's lawyers paid a total bond of 150,000 pesos for the
seven bailable cases except plunder.
The other cases involved allegations that Estrada took bribes from illegal
gambling syndicates and used an alias to hide his alleged bank deposits.
Prosecutors alleged Estrada had amassed more than four billion pesos while
in office, far in excess of his declared assets of 35.8 million pesos in
1999.
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WIRE: 04/16/2001 7:46 am ET
Malaysian detainees' case against police
delayed
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian opposition activists detained
under the country's draconian security laws began a legal fight for their
release on Monday but ran into an immediate delay, defence lawyers said.
The case involving five supporters of jailed former Malaysian finance
minister Anwar Ibrahim, among seven arrested last week by police ahead of a
planned weekend demonstration, was delayed a day when the presiding judge
disqualified himself.
High Court Judge Abdul Wahab Patail withdrew from the hearing on learning
his brother Abdul Gani Patail would lead prosecutors' arguments against habeas
corpus applications lodged by defence lawyers to bring their clients to court.
The applications require the activists, who were arrested under the
country's Internal Security Act (ISA), to be produced in court and for the
authorities to justify their detention.
"Now we have been told the matter will be fixed for hearing tomorrow,"
defence lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah told Reuters.
Lawyers have yet to file applications for the two other detainees, who are
being held outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Police arrested all seven last week, accusing them of having explosives and
of planning a potentially violent mass rally at the weekend, allegations
dismissed as shameful by the opposition.
Criticism of the government's use of the ISA rained down with The Malaysian
Bar Council - which represents the country's lawyers - Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch all weighing in.
Under the ISA, police can detain without trial those suspected of posing a
security risk for up to 60 days. Thereafter, the Home Ministry must review the
case and decide whether to hold suspects for anything up to two years.
Anwar, who was sacked by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad two and a half
years ago, is serving 15 years for sex and graft, crimes he says were made up to
stop his challenge to Mahathir.
Mahathir has described Anwar as immoral and unfit to rule.
Saturday's rally, marking the second anniversary of Anwar's corruption
conviction, saw several thousand people gather in central Kuala Lumpur.
They dispersed quietly after an opposition delegation led by Anwar's wife
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail delivered a memorandum to Malaysia's Human Rights
Commission demanding civil rights reform and the repeal of tough security laws
including the ISA.
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The Nation - April 16,
2001.
Focus
Net Gain: Zero
The fishing industry in Mahachai is manned mostly by Burmese migrants
hoping to improve the lot of their families back home. But in most cases they
have little to show even after years of hardship. Subhatra Bhumiprabhas reports.
IT was the late afternoon when the Rue Lak Khoo (two trawlers with a net in
between) chugged into port at Saphan Pla in Samut Sakorn province. On board the
boats, young men smiled. Home again. Thao Kae, the boat's owner, was waiting on
the jetty next to the trucks from a fish sauce factory.
It takes about two hours to unload the tons of small fish onto the trucks,
so the crew can reckon on being with their families again by sunset after their
eight days at sea.
"They have to back here again at midnight to unload the larger fish for the
Saphan Pla market," said Thao Kae, "and tomorrow afternoon, the Taikong
(captain) will take them back out to sea for another ten days."
Thao Kae is about 45 and inherited the business from his father who started
running fishing boats out of Mahachai (Samut Sakorn) 40 years ago. The Taikong
has been working with his family for decades. Although Thao Kae is always there
when the boats come in to take care of business, out at sea the day-to-day
operations are left to the 50-year-old Taikong - one of only two Thais on Thao
Kae's boats. The other 15 men were migrant workers.
"There are three Burmese and 12 Mons," he revealed.
With 30 years experience on fishing boats, the Taikong has taught many
young men to accept the life of a seaman.
"They know they only have a few hours on shore, then it's goodbye and back
to work," he said. It's a tough life.
However, having spent years at sea he knows all too well how the men get
homesick. But in this case most of his crew are not just pining for shore leave;
they are longing to return with their families to their real homes - in Burma.
"They say they will go home when they have saved enough," said Taikong, but
as they only earn Bt4,000-Bt5,000 a month and have to feed their family here,
returning home remains a distant dream.
"Yao" is now 28 and comes from Yangkon. He began working in Ranong province
as a seaman when he was only 13 years old. The boat he was working on got caught
in Burmese territorial waters and Yao was jailed in Burma's Insein Prison for
three years. After his release, Yao came back to Thailand and worked on a boat
out of Samae-sarn (in Sattaheep district). This time he saved a little money and
returned home to marry.
On his third venture in Thailand Yao came alone and signed a three-year
contract to work on a large deep sea trawler that fished the waters around
Indonesia.
"But I changed my mind after working for a year and asked to leave when the
ship docked in Pattani Port. My employer agreed but refused to pay me anything,
claiming I had broken the contract." Yao watched speechless when he saw his
employer pay his Thai colleagues who had also decided to quit the job - as an
illegal migrant worker there was nothing he could do.
When he found a new job with a fishing boat at Mahachai, Yao was paid
Bt4,000 a month. "But my health is really bad and I can no longer work as a
seaman. I will have to quit," he said.
What's more, his wife had only arrived in Mahachai three months ago and Yao
had to spend Bt6,500 of his savings to the broker who brought her here.
"So I don't have money to see a doctor and can only take five bags of yah
thamjai (cheap pain killers) every day," he said. "I feel ashamed to see my wife
working alone to earn our living," he said despairingly, adding that he is
thinking about giving himself up to the police and getting sent back to Burma.
"If I stay here but can't work hard enough, I know I won't be paid," he
said.
There are almost 2,000 fishing ships in Samut Sakorn. Depending on the size
of the ship, crew numbers can vary from 10 to over 100 men. It is no secret that
around 95 per cent of these crews are illegal migrant workers from Burma. This
doesn't include their family members in the town that make Mahachai seem like
'Little Burma' today.
The men go to sea while the women and children work in the factories and
shrimp markets. These people somehow survive on the pitifully low wages for long
hours of work.
"I would ask the Thais to understand that these people don't take jobs from
Thai workers. They came because the brokers said they were needed," said Thon,
another Mon who has been living in Thailand for 30 years. Thon has a special
card granted by an initiative of the late Mother Princess that allows people
from ethnic groups to live in Thailand.
"This is from the kindness of Somdej Yah (the Princess Mother)," said Thon,
proudly showing the card. He now works as a volunteer for a non-governmental
organisation that provides information about HIV-Aids to migrant workers and
their families in Mahachai.
"I'm an unpaid volunteer but I'm happy to do something for these
unfortunate people," said Thon, adding "as far I can see they are working at
jobs in conditions that that no Thai would accept."
Thao Kae agrees with Thon and admitted that he used to pay a broker Bt3,000
for every migrant worker. He can't remember how long it was since Thai workers
refused to work on his boats. "Maybe it was seven years ago. In any case, I paid
them much more money than these Mon and Burmese," he said.
Meanwhile "Sa", an 18-year-old Burmese woman said she had paid Bt6,000 to
the broker who brought her to work in a shrimp factory in Mahachai. Sa shares a
room with 20 other Burmese women, and wakes up at 1am. An hour later, they have
to leave to start work. At the factory, everyone wears boots and rubber gloves
while they clean however many shrimps the employer has ordered.
"Normally we work until 5.30pm," said Sa, and complained that sometimes her
hands continued to work after she falls asleep. "I cry everyday because I miss
home. I don't know how long I'll continue working here. I only know I won't
return home before I have saved money."
Sa's dream is no different from many other migrant workers around the
world. But she is well aware that her wage of Bt500 to Bt1,000 (depending on the
weight of shrimp) per ten days makes her dream seem just that - a dream. At the
moment, all she can do is send money home to her parents via the broker.
The young woman looks down at her hands and notices how raw and chapped
they have become from wearing rubber gloves 12 hours a day. Yet, these hands can
still earn money for the five members in her family back in Burma.
"My parents have no job and my three younger sisters are still in school,"
she said.
Like other migrant workers, Sa knows that her job in Mahachai will end on
August 31, due to the government's planned deregulation law that forbids certain
industries from using illegal migrant workers.
"I still have no plans, but if I can continue working here I will. I don't
want to go home poor."
Good luck to both her an all migrant workers who dream that one day they
can earn enough to go home.
************************************
Harsh Truths From The Field
Sompong Seakaew, Project Co-ordinator, CARE International in Thailand
Rak Thai Foundation, has spent the past two years introducing himself to
members of the Burmese community in Mahachai in order to help improve the health
conditions of the migrant workers, especially those who have worked at sea.
As a field worker, Sompong has received plenty of first-hand information
which is much more revealing than any official report.
"The official number of work permits granted for migrant workers in Samut
Sakorn is 20,000, but the real amount is about ten times more - and about 95 per
cent are from Burma," he revealed.
Sompong has found that these migrant workers have played a very important
part in helping the fishing industry grow in the province.
"I heard that most Thais don't want to work as seamen ever since Typhoon
Gay (that devastated Chumphon province and killed many fisherman in 1989). It's
also the nature of the work, which takes the men far away from their families -
so migrant workers are needed for the boats," said Sompong.
"The shrimp factory needs labourers to work long and difficult hours but
can't attract Thais even though they are paid twice as much as the Burmese," he
explained, adding that it isn't hard to find migrant workers who get just
Bt2,500 per month.
"I would ask employers to show more concern about the rights of workers
whether they are Thais or migrants."
Since the demand for workers and the official quota allowed in Mahachai are
completely out of balance, money is demanded at many levels. For example,
Sompong continued, when the public health department visited an area to provide
health care to undocumented workers, the police would also visit the same area
to arrest them.
And the only way to avoid arrest was to pay money.
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The Nation - April 16,
2001.
EDITORIAL: EU sends useful reminder to
Burma
Rangoon's angry reaction to the European Union's decision last week to
extend its sanctions against Burma for another six months was to be expected.
Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung said that the regime would disregard the EU's
"bullying tactics", calling Burma "a dignified country that refuses to beg".
Behind the strong words though was probably a certain amount of relief.
With Burma's economy in freefall, Western sanctions and the "local agents
of foreigners" have provided the junta with their last refuge from attacks they
have led the country to ruin. If not for the sanctions, the only explanations
left for Burma's dire predicament would be gross economic mismanagement and
private greed.
Rangoon actually has nothing to "beg" for. The generals simply need to make
some genuine progress on their seven-month-old talks with the opposition and
begin paving the way for handover of power to a democratically elected
government, as they promised to do 12 years ago.
As the EU foreign ministers, who announced their decision in Luxembourg
following their monthly meeting, explained, none of that has yet happened.
Despite the release of a few token political prisoners and a muzzling of the
libellous state-run press, there have been no signs of a substantial improvement
in Burma's human rights situation.
And the EU had already eased its pressure on Burma, granting the country a
duty-free access to the European market as a least-developed country as of last
month. The sanctions that remain include an arms embargo and a ban on
non-humanitarian aid and visas for members of the Burmese regime.
Whether sanctions actually work remains the subject of much debate - even
many exiled activists aren't convinced of their effectiveness. The new Bush
administration is also reviewing the sanctions the US has imposed on 75
countries, including Burma.
Whatever the doubts, the EU's action serves as a timely reminder that
little has materialised to date from the talks in Rangoon, which started last
October.
Rangoon has released some political prisoners, and by talking to Aung San
Suu Kyi, granted de-facto recognition of her importance on the political
landscape in Burma.
But elsewhere little has changed. As last November's International Labour
Organisation report on the use of forced labour in the country, and other human
rights reports have noted, the country remains a grim, repressive source of
regional instability. And as the Mae Sai border clash earlier this year
demonstrated, living next door to dictatorship is never easy.
Sanctions may not do much to change Rangoon's behaviour but they are an
important indicator of Rangoon's legitimacy.
Burma has much to do.
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ASEAN talks guns,
piracy
Monday, April 16, 2001 at 19:00 JST
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters News)
Southeast Asian nations and their neighbours will discuss sea piracy, illegal
immigration and arms smuggling when they meet in Kuala Lumpur later this week,
an official said on Monday.
Officials from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 13
neighbouring countries began preparing on Monday for the two-day meeting that
starts on Wednesday.
Those countries make up the security grouping known as the ASEAN Regional
Forum.
Results of the gathering will be forwarded to ARF foreign ministers who
will meet in May, the official said.
Sea piracy jumped 57 percent worldwide last year with Indonesian waters
recording the highest number of attacks.
The Malaysian coastguard and navy are also trying to stem the tide of
illegal immigrants crossing over from the Indonesian islands in search of jobs
and a more secure life.
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The Star - April 16,
2001.
Trans-Asian railway to be linked to
major ports
By NATHANIEL XAVIER THE proposed Trans-Asian rail link from Singapore to Kunming, China would
be connected to major container terminals, depots, sea and river ports, and main
industrial and agricultural centres in those countries involved in the project.
"Besides encouraging intermodalism, it will also boost cross-border trade
which is on the increase,'' said KTM Bhd general manager freight services Abdul
Radzak Abdul Malek said.
He said having good connection would provide links to important origin and
destination points and integrate land, sea and rail networks.
Abdul Radzak made these observations in a paper entitled Port/Intermodal
Developments in Malaysia - the Rail Viewpoint at the Intermodal Australia 2001
in conference in Melbourn recently.
Statistics by KTM showed that the value of cross-border trade between
Thailand and Malaysia in 1999 amounted to 300,000 mil baht and 60,000 mil baht
between Thailand and Myanmar.
As for Thailand and Laos, cross-border trade was valued at 50,000 mil baht
and between Thailand and Cambodia it was 20,000 mil baht in 1999.
Abdul Radzak said currently there was no rail track between Arayaprathet in
Thailand and Sisophon, Cambodia. The 'missing link' was 48km long.
He said the cost of builiding the track would be US$50 mil.
"Currently, consultants sponsored by the State Railway of Thailand have
been engaged to carry out an engineering study. However, the project needs funds
from a donor country,'' he explained.
Abdul Radzak said Malaysia had acted as chairman of the Trans Asian railway
link study and a final consultancy report had been submitted to the Asean
transport ministers meeting held last year.
Myanmar and Thailand had now taken over as the current secretariat and they
would be responsible for conducting a detailed study on the link and to
implement the project.
KTMB now operates 28 containerised landbridge services a week between Port
Klang and Bangkok and Singapore and Bangkok and vice-versa.
In future, it plans to start links from Port Klang to Yangon, Phnom Penh,
Danang (where), Laos and Kunming.
Abdul Radzak said Malaysian ports would continue to play an important role
in developing KTMB's landbridge and intermodalism in the country.
He said Port Klang was expected to handle between 2.4 mil and 2.7 mil TEUs
of hinterland cargo in the year 2005 and between 1.6 mil to 2.3 mil TEUs of
transhipment cargo.
"Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) has been projected to do between 3.6mil to
6.8 mil TEUs in transhipment in 2005 while Penang Port is projected to handle
900,000 mil TEUs of hinterland cargo.
"Port Klang will retain its role as the major gateway to the Malaysian
hinterland whilst PTP is positioned to participate in the regional transhipment
market. Penang Port will still be the major gateway for the South Thailand
hinterland,'' he said.
There are now rail connections to some of the Malaysia's major sea ports
including Port Klang (North Port and West Port) and North Butterworth Container
Terminal.
A 35km track to PTP is being constructed and is scdlued to be completed by
year end. Future projects include a link to Kuantan Port.
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