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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 20,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Impoverished Asian nations hail
access to cheaper AIDS drugs
Channel NewsAsia - SIR arrests human
trafficker, 4 immigration offenders
Reuters - Malaysia concedes IMF role in
Asia forex swap deal
Reuters - Asian AIDS groups applaud deal
on drugs
The Age - Beijing blocks debate on rights
record
AP - Myanmar, at the bottom of the list of 123
of the world's economies
Bkk Post - Traffickers forced to shift
routes
Bkk Post - Three
million tried speed
Bkk Post - Factories blamed for
pollution
NST - Firm police measures to curb student
junkies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 20, 9:09 PM Impoverished Asian nations hail access
to cheaper AIDS drugs
HONG KONG, April 20 (AFP) -
Asian nations, unable to pay for expensive medical treatment to combat the AIDS
epidemic, have hailed the backdown by the world's pharmaceutical giants to allow
cheaper, generic drugs.
Companies in Thailand and India, where HIV and AIDS is rife, were set to
kick-start their production of cheap anti-AIDS drugs following the landmark
decision in South Africa.
The world's big pharmaceutical manufacturers on Thursday abandoned a
lawsuit against the South African government, leaving it free to buy cheap
anti-AIDS drugs and paving the way for other countries to do the same.
"This is a momentous decision because it will mean cheaper drugs for the
people who need them in the poorest countries in the world," the chief executive
of Hong Kong AIDS Concern, Graham Smith, said.
Medicins Sans Frontieres board director in Hong Kong, Emily Chan, said the
decision sent a message to governments in Asia that they did not have to be
bullied by the world's pharmaceutical giants.
Thailand, which has been under seige by the multi-nationals for producing
cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs, has been nervously awaiting the outcome of the
South African battle.
"They have been threatened with economic sanctions and legal action," Chan
said.
"But with the success of the South African fight, the situation in Thailand
is more optimistic.
"It's no longer a David versus Goliath battle and the South African
situation shows if there is political will from governments, they can fight for
the rights of their people and win."
Thai NGOs Friday urged their government to follow the South African example
and allow the local manufacture of a full range of AIDS drugs.
"Thai NGOs have been calling for the companies to end their lawsuit for a
long time for humanitarian reasons," said Supatra Nacapew, director for the
Center for AIDS Rights.
More than 755,000 people, or 2.15 percent of the adult population, suffer
from HIV in Thailand.
French specialists from the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia holding a two-day
meeting in the capital Phnom Penh also hailed the South African government's
"victory."
Cambodia has one of the worst AIDS records in the region with at least
170,000 people, or 3.2 percent of the population, suffering HIV.
"What has happened in South Africa is a very good thing," Francoise
Barre-Sinoussi said.
"The situation is on the way to being unblocked for poor countries, which
can't offer these specific treatements for AIDS."
But medical experts also warned millions of desperately poor HIV and AIDS
sufferers in the region would continue to miss out on treatment because of other
political, social and economic barriers.
Chan said many governments in Asia, such as Myanmar and Laos, did not know
how many people had HIV, which meant it was impossible for NGOs and medical
authorities to deal with the problem.
And in many remote, inland areas of China, people were so poor they would
be unable to pay for the drugs regardless of their cost, Chan said.
Smith, from AIDS Concern, said many health care systems in the region were
so poor and under-developed, they would be unable to deliver the cheaper drugs
to patients.
"The regions that are hardest hit by the epidemic are the poorest regions,
which tend to have the least developed health care systems," Smith said.
Other barriers to effective treatment of AIDS and HIV include community and
government attitudes to sex workers, homosexuals and drug users, three groups of
people most in danger of contracting the disease.
"If they are ostracised, they miss out on the health care," Smith
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel NewsAsia
Friday April 20, 2:10 AM
SIR arrests human trafficker, 4
immigration offenders
Immigration officers have thwarted a man's attempt to smuggle 4 suspected
offenders out of Singapore early Thursday morning following an operation near
the Woodlands Checkpoint.
The Singapore Immigration and Registration says its officers saw a driver
of a Malaysian registered car behaving suspiciously, and decided to check on the
man and his car which was parked in front of Block 1A, Woodlands Centre.
The 4 offenders - 3 men from Myanmar and a female Thai national - were
found hiding in the boot.
5 people have been arrested and will be charged in court.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 20, 12:01 PM
Malaysia concedes IMF role in Asia forex
swap deal
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia will bow to a majority decision on whether the IMF plays any role in an Asia-wide currency swap safety net aimed at protecting countries facing balance of payments problems, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said. Malaysia's concession removes the main obstacle to ministers from 13 Asian
countries signing an accord to set up a web of emergency credit lines when they
meet on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank annual meeting in Honolulu in
early May.
"We have no choice," Mahathir told reporters in the Genting Highlands
resort outside Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, according to Bernama news agency.
"If everybody thinks its important to refer to the IMF, then we are a lone
voice, but that is our stand," he said, adding that Malaysia had argued its case
strongly.
Malaysia said the Washington-based IMF gave poor policy advice to Asia at
the time of the 1997 crisis, and advocated the setting up of an Asian Monetary
Fund more in tune with the region's needs.
The Chiang Mai Initiative, named after the Thai city where it was conceived
last May, aims to avert a repeat of Asia's 1997 balance-of-payments crisis by
creating a network of central bank currency swaps among the 10-strong
Association of South East Asian Nations plus Japan, China, and South Korea
(ASEAN+3).
At an ASEAN finance ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month,
Malaysia said it should be up to each country to agree who would monitor its
policies if it requested support.
It also pressed for an increase in the size of the initial disbursement
from the earlier envisaged 10 percent of total available credit line.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 20, 6:11 PM
Asian AIDS groups applaud deal on
drugs
By Erin Prelypchan BANGKOK (Reuters) - Groups
fighting AIDS in Asia applauded drug makers on Friday for dropping a legal
battle which would have stopped South Africa importing cheaper, generic drugs.
Public health workers said the case would have created a dangerous
precedent in the developing world where cost is a major barrier to treatment,
but added that even cheap generic drugs would remain out of reach for most
HIV/AIDS patients in Asia.
Although the AIDS epidemic is no where near as bad in Asia as it is in
Africa, an estimated 6.44 million adults and children in the region are living
with the infection.
Over 70 percent of the world's 36.1 million cases are from sub-saharan
Africa, however, where in some areas over a quarter of the population is
infected.
"This is a major triumph for all of us," said I. S. Gilada,
secretary-general of the People's Health Organisation, which treats and counsels
HIV-AIDS patients in Bombay.
AIDS patients cheered the ruling as well.
"I am really happy the firms dropped the case... AIDS drugs are very
expensive here, so I've been taking traditional medicines," HIV-positive Long
Sothea, a 30-year-old Cambodian, told Reuters.
Cambodia has the highest infection rate in Asia, with over four percent of
adults carrying the virus that causes AIDS.
The South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea said it was encouraged that
pharmaceutical companies had dropped the court action.
Peter Waliawi, deputy director of the Papua New Guinea AIDS Council, said
PNG did not have access to any medicine to treat AIDS and other related
illnesses.
"We don't have any money and at the moment we don't have any treatment. We
rely on a public message to try and curb the increase in HIV-related diseases,"
Waliawi told Reuters.
DANGEROUS PRECEDENT AVOIDED
"I am glad that it has set a precedent so that other companies will come in
the picture and with more drugs available the prices will crash even more," said
Jerajani Rajeev, a psychiatrist and chairman of the Kripa Institute of Training
Foundation in Bombay.
Similar court actions to block imports of copycat, generic drugs had been
planned in India and Thailand. It is not clear whether they will now go ahead.
An estimated 3.7 million of India's 1 billion people are HIV positive,
according to the U.N., but few can afford AIDS drugs on a monthly basis, Rajeev
said.
Thailand, which with Cambodia and Myanmar has among the highest adult rates
of infection in Asia, said even generic drugs would only be available to few
people.
"Generic drugs are very good and improve the life of those taking them,"
said Stephane Seebacher of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Cross Societies in Bangkok.
"But even cheap drugs are very expensive. A whole family would have to make
the commitment to put a patient on these drugs."
CHEAP DRUGS NOT A PANACEA
Money remains the most significant barrier to treatment in Asia, AIDS
groups said.
"The most urgent issue really is how to lower prices, what can we do to
lower costs," said Ofelia Monzon, president of the AIDS Society of the
Philippines, a microbiologist and a pioneer in AIDS medical service since 1981.
"Prices are prohibitive enough and a combination of drugs have to be taken.
Apart from prices, people taking drugs have to be monitored at clinics so the
cost goes even higher,"
AIDS activists and public health workers cautioned that even access to
cheap drugs did not guarantee better care for Asia's AIDS patients.
"There will still be significant budgetary implications for cheaper drugs.
Even when governments get cheaper drugs, getting people diagnosed and treated is
a major exercise," said Professor John Kaldor of Australia's National Centre in
HIV Epidemiology.
UNAIDS agreed. "Expanded access to drugs will yield significant benefits
only if certain preconditions are met: that prices are lowered and their lower
level maintained, that increased resources for prevention and care are
forthcoming both domestically and internationally," it said in a statement.
Steven Kraus of UNAIDS in Bangkok said cheaper drugs were a small part of a
heavy financial burden for people with HIV/AIDS.
"For people with this virus, affording housing and food can even be a
challenge."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Age
Beijing blocks debate on rights
record
By BARBARA
CROSSETTE
NEW YORK Friday 20 April 2001 China has succeeded in striking from the agenda of the UN Human Rights
Commission an American resolution calling attention to Beijing's human rights
record.
The procedural manoeuvre, which effectively bars all debate on China at the
annual six-week session of the commission in Geneva, was supported by Russia and
major Asian, African and Arab nations.
But human rights groups were quick to condemn the tactic, which only China
continues to use. Only once in the past decade, in 1995, has China lost a vote
to preclude discussion.
"With this vote, every human rights victim in China, from tortured Falun
Gong practitioners to those imprisoned for advocating democracy, has been turned
away at the door, which among all others, should be open to them," said Xiao
Qiang, executive director of Human Rights in China, a New York-based
organisation.
In a marathon day-long session, the 53-member commission condemned Israel
on Wednesday for its "disproportionate" use of force in Palestinian territories,
and adopted resolutions condemning Iraq and Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.
A resolution welcoming contacts between Burma's ruling military and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but expressing grave concern over "systematic
persecution" of her National League for Democracy and deploring gross violations
including executions, mass arrests and forced labor also won consensus.
The main UN rights forum is holding its annual six-week session in Geneva
until April 27 to examine abuses worldwide.
The US also failed to get support for a vote condemning Cuba in as strong
terms as Washington wanted. But a Czech-sponsored resolution passed that
mentioned political repression and urged Cuba to honor promises to be more
democratic.
On China, the US had proposed a relatively mild resolution that credited
China's advances in improving the lives of its people while also pointing out
areas still of concern in political, religious and civil rights.
But China mustered 23 votes in the 53-nation commission to kill debate
before it could begin.
The voting followed a traditional pattern, leading some Western diplomats
to conclude that the stand-off between Beijing and Washington over the American
spy plane did not significantly alter the results. China's ambassador to the
United Nations in Geneva, Qiao Zonghuai, did call attention to the incident in a
speech, however.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Study: Hong Kong Has Freest
Economy
The Associated Press, Thu 19 Apr 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) — Intensely
competitive and innovative, Hong Kong has the world's freest economy, just
edging out another Asian competitor, Singapore, a new report says.
But Hong Kong is tied to China, ranked 81st in the study, and faces an
uncertain future, said the ``Economic Freedom of the World: 2001 Annual Report''
released Thursday.
``But at least for now it continues to be the world's freest economy,'' the
report said.
At the bottom of the list of 123 of the world's economies
are Algeria and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, said the
report, produced by the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think
tank, in association with institutes in 50 countries.
Researchers used 21 objective criteria, including size of government,
economic and legal structures, monetary policy and price stability, to produce
the economic freedom index.
New Zealand came in third and the United States slipped from fourth to
fifth. The rankings of other major countries include Britain, fourth; Canada,
13th; Germany, 15th; Japan 20th; Italy, 24th; and France, 34th. Russia ranked at
117th, just above Romania.
Hong Kong and Singapore — also ranked first and second last year — topped
the list for most of the past decade.
The report's authors, James Gwartney and Robert Lawson, said the core
ingredients of economic freedom are ``personal choice, protection of private
property and freedom of exchange.''
They acknowledged that no index of this sort is perfect.
``There are numerous trade-offs necessary along the way,'' they wrote in
the report. ``For instance, the desire to cover a large number of countries
means that we can include in the index only those types of infringements that
occur widely and systematically across countries and only those for which data
can be relatively easily obtained.''
This year, the authors added several new features to the report, including
a more comprehensive index of economic freedom and a trade openness index.
The comprehensive index examines 58 countries in more detail, taking into
account such factors as size of government, freedom to trade and regulation of
labor markets.
In this index, Hong Kong again was No. 1, followed by Singapore, with the
United States in third place.
Western European countries ranked high in all areas except size of
government and labor market regulation. Former socialist countries and much of
Latin America ranked poorly for excessive business regulation and quality of
their legal systems.
In the trade openness index, Hong Kong and Singapore again lead. But
several former communist countries do well, including Estonia, third; the Czech
Republic, 10th; and Lithuania, 19th. A former British colony that returned to
Chinese sovereignty in 1997, Hong Kong has retained its capitalist system and is
run by a highly autonomous government.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April - 20.
2001.
Traffickers forced to shift
routes
Smuggling likely to intensify Subin Khuenkaew
Tight security beef-ups by the Third Army along the northern border in
Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai has forced drug traffickers to change transit
routes.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, the Third Army chief, said drug gangs had
shifted their routes to the lower North since February when more troops were
deployed along the border in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
Drug smuggling would intensify in Mae Hong Son, Tak and Kanchanaburi
provinces, he predicted.
He also said the Red Wa had joined hands with the pro-Rangoon Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army to trade in drugs.
On Monday, Third Army troops seized 7.6 million speed pills in Tak's Phop
Phra district after a brief clash with a band of drug-smuggling DKBA
guerrillas.
The seized drugs were believed to be part of some 30 million speed pills
the Red Wa planned to smuggle into the country during the Songkran
festival.
A source at the northern narcotics control office said the seized pills
were from a drugs factory run by a group of ethnic minority Kokang Chinese
headed by Hpong Kya Shin.
The drugs were transported from the Chinese border to Wa-controlled areas
along the Thai-Burmese border before being smuggled into Thailand. The shipment
was meant to be delivered to Hmong and Chinese Haw dealers in Phop Phra, the
source said.
The Third Army will call a meeting with anti-drugs agencies in Chiang Mai
on April 24-26 to work out measures to block the flow of drugs across the
border.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has asked the army to find out who was
behind the attempt to smuggle the pills seized in Phop Phra.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 20.
2001.
Three million tried
speed
Some three million people have at one time or another taken
methamphetamines over the past few years, a Prime Minister's Office minister
said. Responding to inquiries raised in the House by Thai Rak Thai MP Poom
Sarapol, Gen Thammarak Issarangkul na Ayudhya said up to 5% of the population
had used speed pills with some 300,000 people getting therapy and
rehabilitation.
Some 81.6 million speed pills were seized last year, but with public
awareness increasing the number of addicts was likely to drop, he said.
Thailand would join five neighbouring countries in a ministerial-level
conference on drugs in Rangoon on May 8, he said.
Mr Poom said residents in about 30,000 villages were found to have either
used or dealt in speed pills, an "appalling" figure.
Deputy Education Minister Chamlong Krudkuntod said the news was better for
schools, with less than 1% of students thought to have taken speed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 20,
2001.
Factories blamed for
pollution
Community leaders file complaints Supamart Kasem
The senate's environment committee is looking into claims that four garment
factories in Mae Sot were contributing to the pollution affecting a community
there.
Panas Thassaneeyanont, the chairman, said members would visit Mae Sot on
May 14-15 to gather information about alleged pollution from four knitware
factories which had affected more than 1,000 local residents for two
years.
Complaints had been filed by community leaders and Mae Sot Civil Society,
he said.
"If we find that the problem remains unsolved, we will submit findings to
the government," Mr Panas said.
The complaints say the factories, owned by the Tak Foung, Tai Sun and New
Product Knitting companies, have discharged wastewater into streams, fouled the
air and polluted public places in Bua Khoon community in Mae Sot.
Rice fields where waste water from New Product Co's plant had been drained
had not been arid for two years while water from nearby wells had been
contaminated. In February, complaints were lodged by the MCS and 15 community
leaders in Mae Sot to the provincial industry office and Mae Sot mayor Cherdkiat
Shinsoranan. Somjit Pa-ai, leader of Bua Khoon community, said local people
wanted the factory to be moved out of a residential area after water quality
tests by the provincial industry office turned up toxic. On Feb 26, the
factories promised to solve the problem in a month. Late in March, New Product
Co's factory was ordered closed but allegedly continued its operation at
night.
On April 3, police raided the plant and caught more than 500 illegal
Burmese workers who were later sent home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times
April 20, 2001.
KANGAR
Firm police measures to curb student junkies by Shahrum Sayuthi Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai has instructed the State
police to take firm measures to curb the increasing number of drug abuse cases
among students in Perlis.
He said police statistics indicated that 37 students had been tested
positive for drug abuse in the State over the last three months which was a 20
per cent increase over the same period last year.
"Although this may seem small compared to the number in other States, the
percentage is actually alarming considering the small size of the Perlis.
"I would therefore like the State police to take firm action to check drug
abuse among the students here.
"Others, including parents and the school authorities, must also take the
initiative to help police in solving this problem," he told reporters after
attending a one-hour briefing by the State police on efforts to curb drug abuse
and smuggling activities at the police headquarters here today.
Also present was State police chief Datuk Mohd Razali Shah Lason.
Norian, who was on a one-day working visit here also pointed out that there
was a need for State police to keep up its efforts to stop Perlis from being
transformed into the main entry point of illegal immigrants.
He said the State's long border line with Thailand made it an ideal
transit-point for the illegal immigrants especially those from Myanmar.
"The State police need to further tighten its enforcement efforts to stop
the illegal immigrants from using the land and sea route into Perlis," he
said.
Norian nevertheless commended the State police for their recent success in
foiling attempts by illegal immigrants to enter the country following a spate of
arrests made over the past few months.
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