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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 11,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar Sacks Telecoms Minister
in Reshuffle
Reuters - ILO should back off Myanmar, says
Southeast Asia
Reuters - Myanmar ready to join regional effort
to fight drugs
Reuters - Southeast Asia says watchdog should
back off Myanmar
Reuters - Myanmar urges ADB to resume suspended
aid
AFP - Six countries sign UN agreements to stamp
out drugs
AFP - Ministers defend Myanmar, reject trade
link to labour standards
Dow Jones - ADB: Myanmar Urges Bank To Resume
Lending Program
Dow Jones - Unocal:Hldr Call For Worker Code No
Impact On Myanmar Ops
AP - Myanmar: Thailand Made Airstrikes
BBC - Asian countries target drug-producing
chemicals
ABC - UN says vulnerable
Asian nations risk becoming new drugs outpost
The Times of India - 'Myanmar provoking Thailand
to win support at home'
Asia Times - Thai villagers put their foot down
on Myanmar border
The Nation - Two
helicopters to be enlisted next year
The Nation - Opinion -
Sandbagging the Burmese front
The Nation - Opinion -
Thailand must flex muscles against puppet armies
The Nation - Burma
accuses Thailand of launching air strikes on its territory
The Nation - Army talks tough on Wa troops
BKK Post - Sonic boom scares enemy
away
SCMP - Malaysia mulls expanding military ties
with junta
NYT - Myanmar's
Incorrigible Leaders
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11 12:40 AM ET
Myanmar Sacks Telecoms Minister in Reshuffle BANGKOK (Reuters) -
Military-ruled Myanmar has dismissed a cabinet minister and appointed two new
members in a minor cabinet reshuffle, official Myanmar Radio and Television have
reported.
Brigadier General Win Tin, Minister for Telecommunications, Post and
Telegraph, was replaced by Brigadier General Thein Zaw, chairman of Magway
Division Law and Order (news - Y! TV) Restoration Council, the state-owned
television said late on Thursday.
The report did not say why Win Tin was replaced but during his term in
charge of the ministry there has been a long delay in the implementation of a
digital mobile phone project.
State-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and Sky-Link
Communications Ltd of the British Virgin Islands agreed last year to provide a
system serving 135,000 GSM mobile phones in 13 cities across Myanmar.
The $144 million project has still not been implemented.
Tin Win, Myanmar ambassador to the United States, was appointed as Minister
at the Office of the Prime Minister to succeed Brigadier General Lun Maung, who
was killed in a helicopter accident in February.
Hlaing Win, Deputy Minister for Science and Technology, was appointed
deputy minister for Social Welfare and Relief.
Chan Nyein was appointed to replace Hlaing Win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday May 11, 4:10 PM
ILO should back off Myanmar, says
Southeast Asia
By Marty Logan KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Reuters)
- The International Labour Organisation (ILO) should note that Myanmar has made
moves to end forced labour and should not punish the Southeast Asian country for
the practice, its neighbours said on Friday.
Labour ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
issued the call after a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Myanmar government has taken all the necessary steps, so we hope that
the ILO will view these actions positively...and would not subject the
Myanmarese people to any punitive action," said Malaysia's human resources
minister Fong Chan Onn.
Last October Myanmar's military government declared that recruiting forced
labour is illegal.
But the ILO, which meets in Geneva next month, voted overwhelmingly in
November that the country had not complied with a global treaty banning forced
labour.
It asked governments, businesses and trade unions to review relations with
the military-ruled state.
Opponents of the Myanmar government and human rights groups have long said
the use of forced labour was widespread, particularly on projects such as roads,
irrigation works and in portering for the army during operations against ethnic
minority rebels.
For years Myanmar's ruling generals denied the existence of forced labour,
saying there was a long tradition of voluntary work on public projects.
But the U.S. Department of State said in February forced labour, including
child labour, is a continuing problem in Myanmar.
ASEAN NON-INTERFERENCE
Fong, chairman of the ASEAN meeting, said the ILO had visited the country
twice and could send more missions to verify progress.
"Certainly they had the chance to look at the working environment. We, on
our part, are merely reporting these facts... If ILO needs to they could send
further technical missions," he told a news conference.
ASEAN groups Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos,
Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines.
The countries have long endorsed a policy of non-interference in each
other's domestic affairs.
Representatives from China, Japan and South Korea joined ASEAN labour
ministers for talks on Friday.
Fong said those countries "noted" the group's support for Myanmar.
He also said the labour ministers were concerned about the trend of linking
labour standards to international trade.
"Linking the two together would impose a burden on some countries who are
still in no position to comply with some of the conditions."
"Of course all of us expressed a concern that labour standards, labour
conditions, should be improved," Fong said.
The ministers also said they could best react to the slowdown in the United
States economy by upgrading workers' skills and boosting their productivity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 9:33 PM
Myanmar ready to join regional effort to
fight drugs
By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar said
on Friday it was ready to cooperate on a "sub-regional level" to fight drug
production and trafficking in an apparent conciliatory gesture towards
neighbouring Thailand.
Thailand has been urging Myanmar's military government to help stem an
estimated 700 million metamphetamine tablets flooding across the border from
Myanmar every year.
The Thai army has said the main drug producers are the Yangon-backed Wa
ethnic group.
Myanmar has recently replied with stinging verbal attacks on Thai
authorities, accusing them of carrying out a public relations campaign over
drugs while secretly protecting and aiding drugs trafficking from Myanmar by a
Shan rebel army.
But Khin Nyunt, the powerful Secretary One of Myanmar's ruling State Peace
and Development Council government, told a United Nations-sponsored drug
conference on Friday that Myanmar was ready to cooperate with other countries in
the region.
"Since the narcotics problem is a tran-national issue, national initiatives
must be accompanied by international, regional and even sub-regional
co-operation if our fight against narcotic drugs is to be successful," he said.
The comments came after Myanmar and five other countries in the region
announced a $1.8 million project to control chemical precursors -- chemicals
used to produce or enhance drugs.
Under the project, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
will co-operate on cross-border law enforcement, poverty reduction and drug
control advocacy.
A statement issued by the six "Greater Mekong Sub-region" countries said
development in ethnic minority areas would be a key part of the project.
"The participants further recognised the importance of integrating drug
abuse prevention strategies into programmes for poverty alleviation, especially
among ethnic groups in the highlands of southeast Asia," it said.
WARNING
But in an apparent warning to Thailand and the United States, which has
also been deeply critical of Myanmar's drugs issue, Khin Nyunt told the
conference other countries should not be judgemental of Myanmar's record.
Referring to the United States' list of "certifying" drug producing
countries which are actively fighting the drug trade, he said, "...the so-called
certification and decertification process does not serve anybody".
He added, "Sometimes such actions are undertaken after turning a blind eye
to the nation's achievements in anti-narcotic endeavours.
"What is worse is that the decisions to undertake such measures are based
on political grounds or in disguise for reasons to interfere in the national
affairs of other states."
The United States has placed Myanmar and Cambodia on a black-list of
countries deemed to be doing so little to stop drug production that they deserve
virtually no foreign aid.
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, China are among those "certified" on the U.S.
list.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 4:19 PM
Southeast Asia says watchdog should back
off Myanmar
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The
International Labour Organisation (ILO) should note that Myanmar has made moves
to end forced labour and should not punish the Southeast Asian country for the
practice, its neighbours said on Friday.
Labour ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
issued the call after a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Myanmar government has taken all the necessary steps, so we hope that
the ILO will view these actions positively...and would not subject the
Myanmarese people to any punitive action," said Malaysia's human resources
minister Fong Chan Onn.
Last October Myanmar's military government declared that recruiting forced
labour is illegal.
But the ILO, which meets in Geneva next month, voted overwhelmingly in
November that the country had not complied with a global treaty banning forced
labour.
It asked governments, businesses and trade unions to review relations with
the military-ruled state.
Opponents of the Myanmar government and human rights groups have long said
the use of forced labour was widespread, particularly on projects such as roads,
irrigation works and in portering for the army during operations against ethnic
minority rebels.
For years Myanmar's ruling generals denied the existence of forced labour,
saying there was a long tradition of voluntary work on public projects.
But the U.S. Department of State said in February forced labour, including
child labour, is a continuing problem in Myanmar.
ASEAN NON-INTERFERENCE
Fong, chairman of the ASEAN meeting, said the ILO had visited the country
twice and could send more missions to verify progress.
"Certainly they had the chance to look at the working environment. We, on
our part, are merely reporting these facts... If ILO needs to they could send
further technical missions," he told a news conference.
ASEAN groups Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos,
Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines.
The countries have long endorsed a policy of non-interference in each
other's domestic affairs.
Representatives from China, Japan and South Korea joined ASEAN labour
ministers for talks on Friday.
Fong said those countries "noted" the group's support for Myanmar.
He also said the labour ministers were concerned about the trend of linking
labour standards to international trade.
"Linking the two together would impose a burden on some countries who are
still in no position to comply with some of the conditions."
"Of course all of us expressed a concern that labour standards, labour
conditions, should be improved," Fong said.
The ministers also said they could best react to the slowdown in the United
States economy by upgrading workers' skills and boosting their
productivity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 8:21 AM
Myanmar urges ADB to resume suspended
aid
By Andrew Marshall HONOLULU (Reuters) - Myanmar's
finance minister urged the Asian Development Bank on Thursday to resume
assistance to the impoverished military-ruled country after a suspension of more
than a decade due to political concerns.
Myanmar has been isolated by much of the international community because of
accusations of systematic human rights violations and suppression of the
pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The ADB says its governors regard a resumption of aid to Myanmar as
inappropriate at this time.
But Myanmar's military government insists it is committed to building
democracy, although it says the country would disintegrate into anarchy if
political reform moved too quickly.
"It is regrettable that the Bank has overlooked Myanmar's endeavours in
developing the country and has suspended its financial assistance since 1986,"
Finance Minister Khin Maung Thein told the ADB's annual meeting in Hawaii.
"I would therefore like to urge the Bank to resume its financial assistance
to Myanmar as before."
Japan recently announced an end to a freeze on aid to Myanmar, saying it
planned to honour a suspended $29 million commitment to help upgrade a dam.
Japanese officials said the decision was a reward for the start of talks
between the Myanmar government and opposition. The government began confidential
talks with Suu Kyi last October, a development widely welcomed by the
international community.
But fears are growing that the talks have hit an impasse. Diplomats in
Yangon say the negotiations have been stalled for several weeks.
Khin Maung Thein said Myanmar was striving to boost its economy and
maintain political stability.
"The Myanmar government has been striving for all-round development� to
pave the way for the emergence of a peaceful, tranquil and new modern developed
nation," he said.
"As a result of these efforts, political stability has been achieved in
Myanmar. At the same time, it contributes to poverty alleviation and uplifts the
standard of living of the people."
Analysts and diplomats say Myanmar is desperately in need of increased
investment and more foreign exchange. Its currency, the kyat, has been on the
slide for months, recently hitting record lows near 700 to the dollar on the
black market.
The official exchange rate of six kyat to the dollar has not been changed
in more than three decades.
In its 2001 Asian Development Outlook, the ADB said critical structural
reforms were needed if Myanmar was to achieve broad-based growth and reduce
poverty. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 4:16 PM
Six countries sign UN agreements to
stamp out drugs
YANGON, May 11 (AFP) -
Ministers from six Asian nations agreed Friday to boost cooperation in stamping
out the regional narcotics trade, particularly the new menace of
methamphetamines and the chemicals used to manufacture them.
Following two days of meetings between senior officials from Cambodia,
China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the ministers approved UN plans to
restrict drug chemical ingredients and launch programs in vulnerable neighboring
countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
"The production, trafficking and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants in
this region is increasing, and it represents today one of our greatest common
concerns," said Sandro Calvani, regional representative of the United Nations
International Drug Programme (UNDCP).
"(Amphetamines) have proliferated to become the key growth sector in the
global drug market. Our region is one of the most affected in the world,"
Calvani said.
He said regional cooperation was the key to undermining drug criminals who
move freely across borders, seeking out weaker countries where "the rule of law
can be bought at discount prices."
Calvani added Southeast Asian nations needed to take a more active role in
curbing the narcotics trade because international funding, which currently
provides all support for regional anti-drug programs, may some day
disappear.
In a keynote address to ministers and UN officials, the Myanmar junta's
number two, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, said Myanmar had made "universally
acknowledged" progress in eradicating opium production, but amphetamines posed a
new and formidable threat.
"Even as the fight against opium-based narcotic drugs is attaining
significant success, a new manace has emerged in recent years. This is the
threat posed by amphetamine-type stimulants," he said.
But Khin Nyunt insisted that materials used to manufacture the drugs came
from outside Myanmar, which is at the heart of the amphetamine crisis and has
been long accused of drug production within its borders.
"The raw materials, the precursor chemicals, the required equipment and
machinery, the producers, chemists and technicians as well as the funds all came
from outside the country," he said.
The six nations are all signatories to a 1993 pact which bound them to work
together in the war on drugs by reducing demand, boosting law enforcement and
encouraging crop substitution.
Their ministers meet every two years to evaluate the progress of
cross-border anti-narcotics projects and approve new initiatives devised by the
UNDCP.
The UNDCP said earlier the six nations represented East and Southeast
Asia's major trafficking and production centers.
Collectively they were responsible for more than 75 percent of the world's
amphetamine seizures last year, up from 22 percent a decade ago, with China and
Myanmar the major culprits.
UNDCP officials have singled out India and China as major sources of
precursor chemicals such as ephedrine and acetic anhydride that are used in the
production of amphetamines and heroin.
The chemicals can be monitored relatively easily by governments due to the
quantities required in drug production and the difficulties of transporting
them, Calvani told AFP.
"Experience shows chemical precursors are extremely easier to control than
drugs. Why? Because they're big," he said.
"You cannot transport them in your pocket or in the back of your car. You
need millions of liters of these chemicals and you have to transport them in
tanks, a tank or container that's not easily hidden."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 2:32 PM
Ministers defend Myanmar, reject trade
link to labour standards
KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian labour ministers urged the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) on Friday not to punish Myanmar over forced labour, saying it is doing all
it can to stamp out the practice.
Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), winding
up a two-day meeting, also reiterated opposition to any linkage between trade
and labour standards.
They said the global economic slowdown threatens to undermine the region's
recovery from the 1997/98 financial crisis and called for their countries'
workforces to move up-market to reduce vulnerability to downturns.
Last November the ILO called on its members -- workers and employers'
groups, and countries -- to review relations with Myanmar and to ensure that
these ties did not help to continue or extend the practice of forced
labour.
"The ASEAN position is that the Myanmar government has implemented various
steps both in terms of issuing directives and legislative action to resolve the
problem," said Malaysian Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn.
"They have assured other members they are working as hard as they could (to
resolve the problem).
"So we hope the ILO will view these actions positively and support the
Myanmar government in resolving this problem and wiil not subject its people to
any punitive action," Fong told a press conference.
Ministers from the 10-member ASEAN on Friday met their counterparts or
senior officials from Japan, China and South Korea.
The ASEAN ministers asked the East Asians "to give their support in seeking
the understanding of the ILO" on the forced labour issue when the labour body
meets next month.
Asked how improvements in Myanmar can be verified, Fong said the ILO had
sent two missions and he felt it could send more if necessary.
Fong also said ministers noted an "increasing tendency" by international
organisations to link labour standards to trade. He said ministers accepted that
labour conditions should be improved.
"But linking the two together would impose a burden on some of the other
(ASEAN) countries who are still not in a position to comply."
Ministers noted that Southeast Asia's traditional cheap labour advantage is
being eroded in the era of new economies and said the region must now work on
upgrading skills.
This should also become part of a strategy to cope with economic downturns,
they said.
Effors to narrow the digital divide, expand education in information and
communications technologies and continuously upgrade workforce skills "would
enhance the long-term competitiveness of the region and reduce its vulnerability
to economic downturns."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 7:32 AM
ADB: Myanmar Urges Bank To Resume
Lending Program
HONOLULU (Dow Jones)--Myanmar
Thursday urged the Asian Development Bank to resume financial assistance to the
impoverished Southeast Asian nation, which had its ADB borrowing rights
suspended in 1986 because of its repression of democracy and human rights.
Myanmar has been struggling with limited resources to develop its economy,
and needs ADB loans to take care of "basic human needs," Finance and Revenue
Minister Khin Maung Thein told the ADB's board of governors at the bank's annual
meeting.
He said the Myanmar government "has been striving for all-around
development in political, economic and social fields to pave the way for the
emergence of a peaceful, tranquil and a new modern developed nation."
"Myanmar has a right to ask for and receive financial assistance from the
bank like other members. ADB should have an optimistic view on the country's
development and ought to provide necessary financial assistance for
environmental and basic human needs supported projects, without political
influence," he said.
Myanmar has been a member of the ADB since 1973, but has not been able to
borrow from the bank since 1986 when the bank's board of directors halted
lending to the country.
An ADB spokesman said the bank continues to monitor developments in
Myanmar, but added that there is no ongoing discussion on the suspension of
lending to Myanmar.
The ADB warned in a recent report that unless Myanmar undertakes more
comprehensive and consistent structural reforms, and mobilizes additional
domestic and external resources, economic growth there will remain sluggish.
The country's foreign exchange market also remains highly distorted, the
bank said, with a parallel market rate of 460 kyat to the dollar compared to an
official rate of MMK6 to the dollar.
As a result of Myanmar's repression of the democratic opposition, in April
1997 the U.S. imposed economic sanctions, banning new investments by American
companies. The European Union (EU) agreed to withdraw Myanmar's eligibility for
Generalized System of Preferences trade benefits on agricultural and industrial
products.
Myanmar also is a large producer of the opium poppy, and will likely
continue to attract U.S. sanctions. Myanmar has vowed to eradicate opium
production by 2014.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 6:36 PM
Unocal:Hldr Call For Worker Code No
Impact On Myanmar Ops
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--A
shareholders' resolution calling for Unocal Corp. (UCL) to adopt and enforce a
code of conduct based on the United Nations International Labor Organization, or
ILO, conventions on workplace human rights is unlikely to materially affect
Unocal's Myanmar operations, a company spokesman said Friday.
In the supporting statement, the sponsors of the resolution link its five
points - the right to form unions, free workplace access for worker
representatives, no discrimination, no forced or prison labor and no child labor
- to Unocal's natural gas project in Myanmar.
Human rights activists and local villagers have accused the Myanmar
government of abuses during the construction of a pipeline linking gas fields in
the Andaman Sea to Thailand.
The resolution "has no impact on plans for Myanmar," California-based
Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said.
He added that, as the gas pipeline is complete and the Yadana field is
producing at or above contracted levels, Unocal currently has no further
investment plans for Myanmar.
U.S. sanctions against Myanmar prohibit companies from making additional
investments there.
Totalfina Elf SA (TOT) operates the Yadana field, while partners are PTT
Exploration & Production PCL (H.PTT) and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
Unocal holds a 28.26% share.
Gas is also piped to Thailand from the neighboring Yetagun field, which is
operated by Premier Oil Co. (PMOIY). Partners in Yetagun are Malaysia's
Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (P.PET), or Petronas, MOGE, PTTEP and Nippon-Mitsubishi
Oil Corp. (J.NPO).
Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn Thursday called on the
ILO not to adopt sanctions against Myanmar, media reports said. Fong was
speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' labor ministers meeting.
He said that the Myanmar government had banned forced labor.
Last November, the ILO called on its members to review relations with
Myanmar, or face sanctions. The ILO is a U.N.-affiliated organization of labor
unions.
A second shareholders' resolution calls on Unocal to "link executive
compensation with the company's ethical and social performance," again citing
its Myanmar involvement.
This year is the first for these resolutions, Lane said, although similar
measures have been submitted in the past.
Unocal's management urged shareholders to vote against the resolutions,
citing its existing code of conduct. The shareholders' meeting will take place
May 21.
A U.S. district court in California in September dismissed a 1996 lawsuit
accusing Unocal of human rights abuses associated with the $1.3 billion Yadana
pipeline project. The onshore pipeline was completed in 1997.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11 9:04 AM ET
Myanmar: Thailand Made Airstrikes BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -
Thailand launched two airstrikes inside Myanmar close to the two countries'
mountainous border, injuring six people, including two children, Myanmar's
military regime said Friday.
Thailand dismissed the charge as ``totally groundless,'' but residents at
the border, who requested anonymity, said two jets had fired rockets, but that
they landed inside Thailand and caused no injuries.
The airstrikes by F-16 fighter jets on Thursday were ``unnecessarily
escalating and aggravating the prevailing unhappy situation on (a) certain area
of the common border,'' a Myanmar government statement received in Bangkok
said.
Prapass Jiemchawee, the Thai air force spokesman, said an F-16 had flown
two routine reconnaissance sorties over the Thai-Myanmar border - the scene of
recent armed skirmishes involving Thailand and ethnic armies allied to Yangon -
but had not launched any missiles or bombs.
Loud bangs and shaking heard by Thai villagers were caused by sonic booms,
Thai officials said.
Relations between Thailand and Myanmar are at their lowest level in years,
principally because of a dispute over illegal drugs that Thailand says are
smuggled in huge quantities from Myanmar's border regions.
The Myanmar statement said that in one of the airstrikes, an F-16 had fired
two rockets near the town of Mong Yawn in eastern Shan State about two miles
from the border, injuring six people, including two children, and killing three
cattle.
Thailand claims Mong Yawn is a major center for production of
methamphetamines by the United Wa State Army allied to the Myanmar regime. This
ethnic army is reputed to be the largest drug producer in Southeast Asia's
Golden Triangle.
In the other airstrike, two rockets landed in Kyauket and Gawli, two
villages in eastern Karen State and about 500 yards from the Thai border. The
statement mentioned no injuries.
Myanmar's Foreign Ministry had sent a protest letter to the Thai
authorities, the statement said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Friday, 11 May, 2001, 11:44 GMT
12:44 UK
Asian countries target drug-producing chemicals Government ministers from six Southeast Asian countries have pledged to
increase cooperation to tackle the drug trade.
At a meeting in Rangoon, the ministers agreed to monitor and control the
export of the chemicals which are used to manufacture drugs around the region.
A representative of the United Nations drug control programme, Sandro
Calvani, said large drums of chemicals were needed for drug production and it
was easier for the authorities to monitor their production and sale.
The six Southeast nations, China, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and
Vietnam signed a pact in 1993 to work together to tackle the drugs trade.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting
Corporation
May 11, 2001.
UN says vulnerable Asian nations
risk becoming new drugs outpost
United Nations officials say more Asian nations must join the region's
fight against the burgeoning narcotics trade or risk becoming new outposts for
traffickers.
Senior officials from Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam
are holding talks in Rangoon aimed at improving cross-border cooperation on drug
control strategies.
The United Nations Drug Control Program says the six nations represented
East and Southeast Asia's major trafficking and production centers, responsible
for more than 75 percent of the world's amphetamine seizures last year.
But, the agency's law enforcement advisor warned that neighboring countries
were fast becoming new outposts of the narcotics industry, saying Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines are being targeted under a new plan to stamp out
the illicit trade.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India - May 11,
2001.
'Myanmar provoking Thailand to win
support at home'
MAE SOT, Thailand: A coalition of Myanmar rebels and dissidents accused the
country's ruling military regime on Thursday of provoking Thailand in a bid to
win support for itself among the Myanmar public.
Khing Soe Naing Aung, general secretary of the National Democratic Front,
or NDF, said the regime was creating trouble at the Thai-Myanmar border with the
help of allied ethnic armed groups involved in the drug trade.
By doing so, the regime was trying to distract attention from Myanmar's
political and economic problems, he said.
Relations between Thailand and Myanmar are at their lowest in years after a
spate of border skirmishes involving ethnic guerrillas from Myanmar, also known
as Burma.
The Myanmar government "thinks Burmese people who hate them will change
their minds and support them if a war (with Thailand) occurs," Khing Soe Naing
Aung said at a ceremony at the Thai-Myanmar border to mark the NDF's 25th
anniversary.
The NDF was founded on May 10, 1976 by nine ethnic rebel groups opposed to
military rule in Myanmar. The regime has reached peace deals with most major
ethnic armies over the past decade. It began secret talks with the main
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in October, but keeps her under house
detention.
State-dominated newspapers have stopped their diatribes against Suu Kyi,
but currently print harsh commentaries everyday against Thailand, accusing it,
among other things, of supporting the drugs trade and helping insurgents.
The main source of bilateral discord is that Thailand feels Myanmar does
little to stop vast amounts of methamphetamines being produced and smuggled over
the frontier. (AP)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Times - May 11,
2001.
Thai villagers put their foot down on
Myanmar border
By Teena Amrit Gill CHIANG MAI, Thailand - A grass-roots campaign that blocked the shipment of
equipment destined for a coal-fired power plant in Myanmar near the Thai border
is proof that citizens groups can be a potent force in health and environmental
protection.
Though the lignite facility is being put up not on Thai soil but in
Myanmar's border town of Tachilek, it still sparked protest among Thais in the
northern part of the country because it is to be located on their doorstep.
When in late April, the Myanmese regime tried to bring in overland through
Thailand Chinese-made equipment for a planned lignite-fired plant being
constructed in Tachilek, citizens groups were up in arms. While the 44-container
shipment had already been stopped by the Thai Army in the Thai border town of
Mae Sai, it was the threat by local groups to burn the containers which sent the
trucks scurrying out of Mae Sai back to the port where they first entered the
country.
Myanmar plans to complete the construction of a small lignite fired plant,
located some five kilometers from the Thai border later this year. The plant's
construction is to be supervised by Chinese engineers, and most of the machinery
is being imported from China.
The Thai Third Army commander in charge of the area, Lieutenant-General
Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, is believed to have prevented the convoy from entering
Myanmar, because of annoyance that the Myanmese continue to keep their border
crossing closed, after clashes with the Thai army in February this year. Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, however, claimed Thailand's move was based on
environmental concerns.
But environmentalists and activists doubt this, given Thailand's wholesale
promotion of lignite-fired plants within the country, and its inability to clean
up its largest coal faciltiy in Mae Moh in northern Thailand.
"The Thai government can claim anything," said an activist based in Chiang
Mai. "But no one believes they have any concern about local people. The disaster
in Mae Moh says enough about this," he said, referring to the coal plant that
spewed dangerous fumes that caused ailments among villagers.
What is clear however, is that local citizens groups, including residents
from the neighboring district of Mae Chan, are becoming increasingly vocal about
their opposition to any planned coal plants in or near the country.
"If the government allows the cargo to return to Mae Sai, I can bet it
won't have a chance to cross the border or even another chance to return to
Bangkok. Mae Sai and Mae Chan villagers are ready to fight to the end because
they know well what the power plant will bring," warned Pang Polajai,
secretary-general of the "Love Mae Sai" club.
Many have learned the hard way and don't want history repeated. In October
1992, sulphur dioxide fumes spewed out of 13 low grade coal-fired plants in Mae
Moh valley in the northern province of Lampang and were trapped under a cool air
current. A deadly acid rain formed, damaging crops and severely affecting the
health of thousands of local residents.
The government, under growing national and international pressure, rushed
ahead to install "scrubbers" so as to filter out the sulphur dioxide in the
plant's exhaust fumes. But again, in mid-1998, local residents began complaining
of all too familiar symptoms - sore throat, burning eyes and lungs, headaches
and nausea. It was reported that sulfur dioxide levels for two days during this
period were as high as 2,200 micrograms per cubic meter, or more than eight
times the internationally acceptable standard. According to plant officials, all
the scrubbers in the plant malfunctioned simultaneously.
Annoyed by the government's failure to clean up the 2,625 MW plant, or to
address the immediate and pressing health problems faced by villagers in the
area, more than a thousand local residents blocked a road leading to Mae Moh
demanding that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, which owns the
plant, pay compensation to hundreds of residents who contracted severe
respiratory disorders, in addition to reducing the production capacity of the
plant.
They failed to reach any agreement and the government took no real interest
in the issue, say activists. "Excessive sulphur dioxide and lignite dust emitted
from the power plant and mine-digging activities have affected thousands of
villagers. But it is strange that the issue has never been raised in Parliament.
No politician seriously tackled the problem," said Dr Nidhi Eoseewong, a social
critic and former lecturer at Chiang Mai university who closely followed the
situation in Mae Moh.
Lignite is a low grade coal with only a 70 percent content of carbon, but
significantly high levels of sulphur and other minerals, and burning it results
not only in large carbon dioxide emissions, a proven contributor to global
warming, but also the release of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, resulting
in a range of cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
Learning from these unsuccessful dialogues, and inspired by the protests in
Mae Moh, thousands of local villagers staged yet another rally against the
planned construction of three more lignite-fired power plans, in Prachuap Khiri
Khan along the Gulf of Thailand. Local villagers feared that the acid rain
created by the plants would not only destroy their health but also their
fisheries and farms, and took to the streets. They blocked the main highway to
the south of the country and threatened to march to Bangkok unless plans to
build the plants were scrapped.
Then deputy interior minister Pinit Charusombat agreed that the government
would not approve the construction of the power plants as long as he remained in
his post. The situation has still not been resolved. And may not easily be, say
social scientists and critics, because of the government's severe dependence on
coal for electricity.
The 13 lignite units in the Mae Moh plant produce over 15 percent of all
the electricity consumption in Thailand, lignite being the third largest source
of electricity after natural gas and power from outside the country. By the year
2011, government forecasts that coal will account for 25 percent of all
electricity generated in the country. Given Thailand's commitment to coal,
especially as the country still boastslarge lignite reserves, and its
unwillingness to seriously tackle its detrimental impact on people's health
within the country, few believe it can be serious in discussing this issue
outside of the country.
Already Thaksin is using the planned construction of the lignite plant in
Tachilek to further his ongoing anti-drugs campaign on the border arguing that
its construction can further help Myanmese drug producing groups.
"We are not protesting against drugs but against the coal-fired power plant
that will pollute our environment," emphasized Pang Polajai, who wants to see
the site of the proposed project moved at least 80 kilometers from the border.
And in Myanmar a defeaning silence ensures that no one will ever know what
people there think of the project.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 11,
2001.
Two helicopters to be enlisted next
year
Piyanart Srivalo
Tensions along the border with Burma are the result of Rangoonâ??s inability
to control drug trafficking by Burmese minority groups, PMâ??s Office Minister
Thamarak Isarangura said yesterday.
To facilitate its war on drugs, the Army has earmarked a special budget to
procure two helicopters next year. The helicopters will be equipped for night
navigation and rapid deployment in drug raids, Defence Minister General Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh said.
While stepping up drugsuppression activities, the Thaksin government will
seek to reassure Burma of its noninterference policy regarding Burmaâ??s ethnic
groups, in return for assurance from Rangoon that it does not condone drug
trafficking or production aimed at the Thai market, Thamarak said.
â??The drug problem and ThaiBurmese border affairs are intertwined,â?? he said.
â??The exchange of gunfire along the border is often the result of drug raids.â??
Thamarak, scheduled to attend an antidrugs conference tomorrow in Rangoon,
said he would raise the dual issues of border security and drug trafficking with
his Burmese counterparts.
â??I want to reiterate our policy of noninterference regarding the Burmese
minority groups and I also want clarification from the Burmese government that
it has no role in drug trafficking, which often spills over to Thailand,â?? he
said.
Thamarak said he planned to propose the opening of drugcontrol offices in
the countriesâ?? respective embassies to facilitate cooperation on narcotics
suppression.
The minister said the ThailandBurma border situation remained tense as Thai
soldiers tried to repel intruding United Wa State Army (UWSA) forces.
About three of the UWSAâ??s eight or nine leaders are implicated in drug
trafficking and are acting beyond the Burmese govern¬mentâ??s control, said
Thamarak, who attributed the border tension to the Waâ??s involvement with illicit
drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 11,
2001.
Opinion - Sandbagging the Burmese
front
Sukit Bejrsuwana
Chavalit has made a serious blunder by ordering the unilateral ceasefire
with Burma. Though Chavalitâ??s personal interests (logging, etc) with Burma
cannot be substantiated, this order provides circumstantial evidence that
something is amiss.
Thailandâ??s dignity has been hurt, but more importantly, he has put our
frontline soldiers and border villages at risk for his own gain. This is the
same imbecile that spent almost all of Thailandâ??s foreign reserves to â??defend
the baht at all costsâ??. Maybe itâ??s time someone sent him to the front lines, to
serve in place of sandbags for our bunkers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 11, 2001
Opinion - Thailand must flex
muscles against puppet armies
Captain Ketchup - Bangkok
I commend the excellent letters that were published in your letters section
yesterday [May 10] by Sunee and retired US Major Mark A Smith. Both made
excellent points regarding that lame excuse for a leader Chavalitâ??s attempts to
become involved with parts of the government he is neither qualified for nor
wanted for: diplomacy or intelligence gathering and use.
Day after day, week after week and month after month I read about the
complete disrespect the military junta of Burma and their ethnic drug producing
puppet armies have for Thailand. The Third Army Commander General Wattanachai
seems to have his hands restricted by Chavalit and others who seem to think that
bending over backwards to please drug lords and armies that donâ??t care about
relations with Thailand is possible.
Enough is enough! People, tell the government to halt the manipulations of
the intelligence field and the military because of any dealings with Burma.
Chavalit certainly is not the ideal candidate to work with Burma.
Lastly, while I am not suggesting a proxy war be attempted, maybe the
government should consider surgical strikes against: 1) troops of various armies
occupying Thai territory; and 2) drug factories flooding Thailand with drugs
where evidence can be produced of illegal trade and smuggling and where Thai
troops and civilians are fired upon from positions across the border.
Maybe itâ??s time for Thailand to step up and flex a significant amount of
muscle. Enough is enough.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Burma accuses Thailand of launching air
strikes on its territory
Filed at 02 : 00 pm (THLD time)
RANGOON, May 11 (AFP) -- Burma Friday accused Thailand of
launching air strikes on its territory, saying rockets fired by an F-16 fighter
on sorties over Karen and Shan states had left six villagers injured.
Thailand was "unnecessarily escalating and aggravating the prevailing
unhappy situation on certain areas of the common border," a senior spokesman for
the junta said in a statement.
Burma's foreign ministry has lodged an official protest over Thursday's
attacks, it said, adding two children were among those injured in settlements
lying close to the Thai-Burmese border.
Thailand said Thursday that after four days of fighting in the northern
border region it had reclaimed a strategic outpost in Chiang Mai province from
an ethnic rebel army aligned with Rangoon.
But the military denied that it used air strikes to dislodge the United Wa
State Army (UWSA), saying an F-16 fighter had merely performed a fly-over along
the Thai side of the border.
Air force officials said the jet was unarmed and on a routine training
mission, but that a sonic boom unleashed when it dived to avoid thick clouds had
alarmed soldiers and residents.
Relations between Burma and Thailand have been tense since February, when
fighting between the UWSA and the rival Shan State Army -- reputedly aligned
with the Thai military -- sparked a clash between the two national armies.
Since then the neighbours have traded accusations over who was responsible
for the rampant drug trafficking which is reputedly controlled by the UWSA, also
known as the "Red Wa".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 11,
2001.
Army talks tough on Wa troops Drastic measures will be taken to dislodge a group of United Wa State
Army (UWSA) soldiers still occupying a strategic hill on the Thai side of the
border near Chiang Mai province, said senior defence officials yesterday.
Action would be taken if the UWSA troops have not moved by tomorrow, the
officials said.
Their stern message came after Burma's military government denied that any
of the soldiers were government troops. With diplomatic channels exhausted,
restraint is wearing thin among the military quarters.
Two 15-man units of Wa soldiers are still holed up on Hua Lone Hill, about
400 metres inside Thailand. They were forced to withdraw yesterday during a dawn
offensive by the Thai troops but later returned to take up their position, which
triggered a second consecutive day of heavy shelling. More than 10 Wa soldiers
were killed as the sides traded fire for several hours, Thai military sources
said.
"We could not dislodge them, not because there are many but because they
positioning on a vantage point," said Deputy Defence Minister Gen Yuthasak
Sasiprapha.
He downplayed a prospect of an all-out offensive but said the Army would
use force to capture the outpost by today or tomorrow at the latest.
The foreign forces, believed to be comprised of both Burmese and Wa,
entered Thailand between May 1 and Sunday at Chiang Mai's Fang district after
successfully retaking three strategic bases from the Shan rebels. Their presence
and ensuing fighting forced the Thai authorities to evacuate more than 600
villagers from the area. The evacuees are said to suffer from malaria, chicken
pox, typhoid and diarrhoea.
"Whenever the Burmese troops enter [Thai territory], we will have to expel
them. We will not succumb to the Burmese," said Yuthasak.
Col Somkuan Saengpattaranetr said the Wa had ignored a warning to withdraw
as well as a protest letter submitted through the Township Border Committee
(TBC).
"The Burmese troops in the area claim that they cannot control the Wa who
intruded into out territory. Now it is our duty to drive out the intruders who
have violated our territory," Somkuan was quoted as saying by the Associated
Press.
Third Army Commander Gen Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said he was not convinced
by the Burmese explanation that the Wa had carried out the operation on its own.
He said he believed the UWSA - an ally of the Rangoon regime - is just a proxy
for the government's army, which did not want to encroach into Thailand. On the
other hand, the junta has accused Thailand of assisting the SSA.
In Rangoon, Prime Minister's Office Minister Gen Thamarak Isarangura
reportedly held a closed-door meeting with his Burmese counterpart yesterday on
the sidelines of a regional anti-drug conference. Details of the talks were
unknown.
Before attending the meeting Thamarak said he would ask the Burmese to
issue a withdrawal order.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 11,
2001.
Sonic boom scares enemy
away
F-16 flight clears hilltop, saves money Post Reporters
Thai troops yesterday pushed Burmese and Wa soldiers out of Thailand,
bombarding a hilltop position they had held for three days.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, the Third Army commander, said Hua Lone
hill was retaken by Thai troops about noon. The intruders entered Thailand on
Monday and were forced back after taking more than 200 artillery shells.
Soldiers and sniffer dogs will inspect the hilltop today, looking for
landmines they may have left behind.
A unit of the Pha Muang force will set up a position on the hilltop to
prevent further intrusions and block drug trafficking routes, he said.
In what was seen as a show of strength, an air force F-16 jet flew overhead
along the border before the Thai troops reached the hill.
However, AVM Prapas Jiamchawee, the air force secretary, denied there was
any intention to provoke the Burmese and Red Wa intruders. He said the jet was
on a routine reconnaissance mission.
It left Nakhon Ratchasima air base about 9.30am and flew along the border
over the provinces of Kanchanaburi, Tak and Chiang Mai.
While flying over Chiang Mai about 10.20am, the jet increased speed and
dropped altitude to avoid thick clouds. The dive caused a loud sonic boom, which
sounded as if the aircraft had dropped a bomb.
The jet was flying over Thai air space and was not carrying weapons, he
said, insisting it would only be used in a large-scale battle.
"We had no intention of provoking the Burmese soldiers. It was just a
scheduled training flight," AVM Prapas said.
Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the defence minister, said he would visit
military units along the northern border and discuss the situation with Lt-Gen
Wattanachai.
He denied ordering a halt to military action to dislodge the intruders and
said he just wanted to see the border dispute solved militarily and
politically.
Gen Chavalit said attempts by some people to drive a wedge between him and
Lt-Gen Wattanachai were unsuccessful.
Gen Surayud Chulanont, the army chief, would accompany him on his
inspection trip.
Gen Surayud admitted yesterday budget constraints were a big problem.
Since border problems shifted from the east to the west, more troops had
been sent to defend the border with Burma and this was costing money.
"Although soldiers are ready for combat action, we also have to think about
our pockets," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Friday, May 11, 2001
BURMA - Malaysia mulls expanding
military ties with junta
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is considering boosting military ties with Burma, possibly
including joint exercises, the chief of the Malaysian armed forces said on
Friday.
The move is likely to raise international controversy. Burma's military, which has ruled the country since 1962, is widely criticised for suppressing democracy and human-rights abuses against rebellious ethnic minorities. General Zahidi Zainuddin received Burma's air force chief Lieutenant
General Kyaw Than and was quoted by the Malaysian news agency Bernama as saying
talks were under way to enhance ties between the air forces and armies of both
countries.
"I fully endorse measures towards strengthening military ties between
Malaysia and (Burma),'' said General Zahidi, adding that joint exercises were a
possibility in the future.
Malaysia has long been a defender of Burma, and was instrumental in
bringing the country into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1997.
Malaysia has argued that sanctions many countries impose on Burma are
counter-productive and make change harder.
Thailand, a neighbour of both countries, has accused the Burmese government
of staging incursions on Thai territory and supporting armed ethnic groups that
traffic heroin and methamphetamines.
The Golden Triangle area where the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos
converge is one of the world's biggest production centres for heroin and
methamphetamines.
Elements in both the Thai and Burmese armies have been accused of abetting
and profitting from the trade.
General Zahidi said that General Than told him that Thailand and Burma were
talking to ensure that there would not be a repeat of border clashes earlier
this year, but warned that Burma was ready for any eventuality.
The Burmese government is committed to rid the entire area from drug
production and develop it, General Zahidi quoted General Than as saying.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New York Times
May 11, 2001
Myanmar's Incorrigible
Leaders
A few months ago it looked as if the military junta in Myanmar might ease
its repressive rule slightly. The regime was talking with the country's
courageous pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and there even seemed to
be a possibility that she would be liberated from the prolonged house arrest the
government has enforced. But those hopes have all but vanished. If the Bush
administration means to speak out against human rights abuses abroad and
pressure governments to treat their citizens humanely, Myanmar would be a fine
place to start.
The military leaders of Myanmar, formerly called Burma, are among the
world's cruelest violators of human rights. The junta has tortured and executed
political opponents, exploited forced labor and condoned a burgeoning traffic in
heroin and amphetamines. In the clearest indication that the regime has little
intention of reforming, the United Nations special envoy who acted as a catalyst
for the talks between the government and Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been denied
permission to visit the country since January. Also, an anticipated release of
political prisoners has failed to materialize, as has a pledge by the junta that
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, would be
allowed to resume activity.
Earlier this year the junta released 120 mostly youthful members of the
party who had been imprisoned the previous year, but it is still believed to be
holding as many as 1,700 political prisoners, including 35 people who were
elected to Parliament in 1990. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's party won more than
three-quarters of the seats in that election, but the junta annulled the
results.
The United States and the European Union have cooperated to isolate
Myanmar, and in 1997 the Clinton administration banned new American investments
there. But some Asian countries have been reluctant to join in sanctions. China,
in particular, has helped sustain the junta with military aid. Regrettably, last
month Japan broke ranks with a Western-led 12-year ban on non-humanitarian
assistance to Myanmar by approving a $29 million grant for a hydroelectric dam.
Last year the International Labor Organization, responding to concerns
about forced labor, voted to urge governments and international donors to impose
further sanctions on Myanmar. Washington should consider a ban on imports from
that nation, including textiles. Myanmar is rapidly increasing apparel exports
to the United States. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's allies have argued that the
hard-currency earnings primarily benefit the military, not the laborers who make
the garments. Washington should certainly be using its influence with Japan and
other Asian countries to deter any further non- humanitarian assistance.
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