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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 07,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar Students Press Junta To Free Many
Dissidents
The Nation - Junta, NLD 'to form govt'
Xinhuanet - Physicians Conduct Sixth Kidney
Transplant in Myanmar
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Cooperatives Play Active
Role in Economic Development
SCMP - Dissidents demand release of student
prisoners
SCMP - MALAYSIA - More students face arrest as
campus unrest grows
---------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday July 7, 7:01 PM Myanmar Students Press Junta To Free
Many Dissidents
BANGKOK (AP)--Myanmar student
dissidents Saturday urged the ruling military junta, which is currently holding
talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to release large numbers of
students jailed for political activities.
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions said "thousands" of students are
detained in prisons in Myanmar, also known as Burma. It said student unions are
outlawed and can only work as underground organizations.
"Although the military regime and Aung San Suu Kyi have been involved in
secret talks, these students have not been released and live in terrible
conditions," the ABFSU said in a statement issued in neighboring Thailand.
Since October, the Myanmar government and Suu Kyi have held their most
significant talks in a decade of political deadlock, leading to the release of
dozens of activists from her National League for Democracy.
However, the dialogue has taken place in secret and no details of their
content have emerged. Suu Kyi and her two top aides have been kept under house
detention for nearly ten months.
Suu Kyi's party won general elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take
power by the military, which has ruled since 1962.
The ABFSU demanded the release of its leader Min Ko Naing, whose real name
is Paw U Tun. He was the most prominent student activist involved in Myanmar's
abortive 1988 popular uprising against military rule, in which hundreds of
protesters were gunned down by the army and police.
Min Ko Naing completed his 10-year sentence for agitating unrest more than
two years ago but wasn't freed.
"As the regime is currently talking about national unity, democracy and the
transitional process, Min Ko Naing and other student activists should be
immediately released," the statement said.
According to a U.S. State Department report issued in February, Myanmar has
at least 1,800 political prisoners.
The ABFSU statement marked the 39th anniversary Saturday of the demolition
of the Myanmar students' union building in Yangon on July 7, 1962, during a
crackdown on student and other independent organizations by the military.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 07,
2001.
BURMESE POLITICS: Junta, NLD 'to
form govt'
Defence Minister Chavalit optimistic about peaceful settlement between
military leaders and opposition
The Burmese junta and its opposition are poised to set up a national
government, wrapping up months of secret negotiations, according to Defence
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.
Chavalit, who broke the international political embargo against Burma in
1988 by visiting the military leadership as the Thai army commander-in-chief,
said that it was always Thailand's wish to see all the political parties and
ethnic minorities in its troubled neighbour patch up their differences with
dignity.
"Once all the groups are engaged in forming a national government and get
to work, confidence among the former rivals will soon be established. After a
while, a new election should be called," the retired general told The Nation in
an interview.
Chavalit did not say what led him to believe that there had been
encouraging developments inside Burma but the minister, who boasts of a having a
personal rapport with Burma's leaders, said it was a step in the right
direction.
The minister said that after the Burmese national government is in place,
all the Burmese illegal immigrants and refugees in Thailand would be repatriated
and settled in communities where they could find enough work to earn a decent
living. He referred to various projects Thailand has proposed to Burma including
the construction of a road from Kanchanaburi to Tavoy and the diversion of the
Salween River.
Chavalit's optimism was in stark contrast to the growing frustration among
Western nations and Burmese overseas dissidents as well as observers over the
apparent lack of progress in talks between First Secretary Lt-General Khint
Nyunt and National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The
outsiders have expressed concern the dialogue might be in jeopardy following
months of silence on both sides.
The only positive sign has been Rangoon's continuing release of political
prisoners. Since January, 129 NLD members including nine NLD MPs have been
freed. Seven were released yesterday.
The observers also contended the two-way dialogue would not represent
genuine national reconciliation without the participation of pro- and
anti-Rangoon ethnic minorities. Two armed insurgency groups - the Karen National
Union and the Shan State Army - still refuse to enter into a cease-fire with
Rangoon.
Thailand has pledged not to support the rebels' anti-Rangoon activities so
that an environment could be created conducive to national reconciliation,
Chavalit said.
Chavalit is due to visit Burma sometime this month after receiving
clearance from Rangoon on convenient dates. The visit appears to signify a
normalisation between the two neighbours' armies following a build-up of tension
over the flow of illegal drugs into Thailand, which has erupted into sporadic
border clashes since February.
Chavalit said he would take along senior military officers responsible for
policing the border with Burma, including outspoken Third Army Commander General
Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, to acquaint them with their Burmese
counterparts.
"It will be just a casual trip to get together since everything was already
agreed upon during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's official visit to Rangoon
last month. I'll just go there to meet with senior Burmese military leaders whom
I've not seen for a long time and play some golf," he said.
But his aides said Chavalit will tie up some remaining loose ends including
how joint patrols along the border could conduct drug suppression operations
with due regard to the sovereignty and domestic security sensitivities of both
sides.
The minister was confident that cooperation could be firmed up enough that
a joint patrol along the rugged border could efficiently stem the flow of
drugs.
Both Thailand and Burma see the need to engage the United Wa State Army
(UWSA) so that it can ease its dependence on drug money for sustenance. The Wa
have signed a cease-fire agreement with Rangoon to keep their own autonomous
region in return for helping Rangoon wage a proxy war against the Shan
separatists.
Chavalit said China was more than willing to help defuse the internal
strife since its drug problems are much more serious than Thailand's, especially
the influx of Burmese drugs into Yunnan, bordering Burma's Shan state where the
Wa are based.
The drug meeting with Thailand, Burma and Laos that China will be hosted in
Kunming this year would be a crucial step in tackling the drugs trade, the
defence minister said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Physicians Conduct Sixth Kidney
Transplant in Myanmar
2001.07.07 13:29:05 YANGON, July 7 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar physicians have been performing a kidney transplant, which is the
sixth in the country, on a 42-year-old patient at the New Yangon General
Hospital here since Friday, according to the Myanmar Ministry of Health
on Saturday.
The kidney of the patient, U Tin Maung Win, an ethnic Palaung from
Namhsan township in Shan state, will be transplanted with the kidney donated by
his 20-year-old son, Aung Lay Win.
The whole kidney transplant operation, which is being conducted by a
12-member medical team led by professor Dr Paing Soe and a 14- member nurse
team, will take five days till next Tuesday.
All the former patients who had undergone kidney transplant
operations in previous five times are well and healthy, the report added.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Cooperatives Play Active
Role in Economic Development
2001.07.07 09:06:08 YANGON, July 7 (Xinhuanet) --
Cooperatives in Myanmar under the Ministry of Cooperatives have been
playing an active role in the country's economic development, contributing
partly to its gross domestic product (GDP).
Since Myanmar promulgated its Cooperatives Law in 1992 in line with
its market-oriented economic system, a total of 18,156 cooperatives have
been formed in the whole country with about 2.8 million members.
The cooperatives formed in different sectors cover agriculture, industry,
finance and trade.
Among them, there are 8,236 agricultural cooperative societies
engaging in crop cultivation, 977 industrial producers' cooperatives
taking part in producing commodities and goods, and 2, 018 credit cooperatives
extending financial services to the people.
The country's Cooperative Export-Import Enterprise (CEIE), formed in
July 1994, represents an organization in the trade sector through which
the cooperatives annually earned about an export value of 20 million U.S.
dollars.
The CEIE exported to Asian countries and regions Myanmar's
agricultural products such as seas mum, corn and major beans and pulses,
fishery products including sea-fish and sea-prawn, and forest products
including timber, handicrafts and embroidery.
To find extensive foreign markets for its products, the cooperatives
of Myanmar took part in different trade fairs in South Korea, Israel,
Indonesia and Philippines in 1993, 1996 and 1997 respectively.
The cooperatives of the country are also seeking joint venture
operations with foreign firms or individuals to expand its
business.
Meanwhile, the products of Myanmar cooperatives are gaining markets
at home especially with its import-substitute goods. Except
high-technology goods, almost all merchandises including household and
personal goods are being produced by the cooperatives.
According to official statistics, the cooperatives-owned factories
exceeded 630 out of 51,738 in the country.
The country's cooperative sector contributes 2.1 percent to its GDP. In the
three main goods sectors which contributed most to the GDP, the cooperatives
share 2.1 percent in its output value in agriculture, 1.4 percent in meat
and fish and 0.9 percent in manufacturing.
The cooperatives took up 1.3 percent in services value in the
transport sector, while making up 2.3 percent in volume in the
sector.
Along with other countries in the world, Myanmar observes the
International Day of Cooperatives on the first Saturday of July beginning
1995 according to a resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in
December 1994.
---------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Saturday, July 7, 2001
Dissidents demand release of student
prisoners
Burmese student dissidents on Saturday urged the ruling military junta,
which is currently holding talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to
release large numbers of students jailed for political activities.
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions claimed that ''thousands'' of
students are detained in prisons in Burma. It said student unions are outlawed
and can only work as underground organisations.
''Although the military regime and Aung San Suu Kyi have been involved in
secret talks, these students have not been released and live in terrible
conditions,'' the ABFSU said in a statement issued in neighbouring
Thailand.
Since October, Burma's government and Ms Suu Kyi have held their most
significant talks in a decade of political deadlock, leading to the release of
dozens of activists from her National League for Democracy.
However, the dialogue has taken place in secret and no details of their
content have emerged. Ms Suu Kyi and her two top aides have been kept under
house detention for nearly ten months.
Ms Suu Kyi's party won general elections in 1990 but was never allowed to
take power by the military, which has ruled since 1962.
The ABFSU demanded the release of its leader Min Ko Naing, whose real name
is Paw U Tun. He was the most prominent student activist involved in Burma's
abortive 1988 popular uprising against military rule, in which hundreds of
protesters were gunned down by the army and police.
Min Ko Naing completed his 10 year sentence for agitating unrest more than
two years ago but was not freed.
''As the regime is currently talking about national unity, democracy and
the transitional process, Min Ko Naing and other student activists should be
immediately released,'' the statement said.
According to a US State Department report issued in February, Burma has at
least 1,800 political prisoners.
---------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Saturday, July 7, 2001
MALAYSIA - More students face
arrest as campus unrest grows
IAN STEWART in Kuala Lumpur More Malaysian undergraduates are expected to face arrest or disciplinary
action as part of an official crackdown on anti-government activities in
universities following the detention of a student activist under the Internal
Security Act.
A recent surge in demonstrations and protest meetings on Malaysian campuses
and student participation in opposition gatherings has prompted senior members
of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the dominant government
party, to call for tougher action against college rebels.
Commenting on the arrest on Thursday of Khairul Anuar Zainuddin, an
engineering student at the government-funded Mara Training Institute, Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad said students could not expect any special treatment.
"Students are not above the law," he said.
Dr Mahathir said they would have to face action under the relevant
legislation if they were found to be involved in activities detrimental to
national security. The Act used to arrest Khairul provides for indefinite
detention without trial.
Earlier, a student was expelled from the Mara Technology University after
taking part in a demonstration against the Act outside the National Mosque.
Students from the Islamic International University are also facing disciplinary
action over activities against the Act.
But the main hotbed of anti-government ferment is said to be the University
of Malaya.
The circulation of two pamphlets fiercely attacking Dr Mahathir and other
government ministers led to complaints by Umno officials that university
authorities were not acting firmly enough in dealing with student dissidence.
They said the university should take action under the University and Colleges
Act, which prohibits students from engaging in political activities.
One of the pamphlets called on students to stop Dr Mahathir from entering
the campus for a symposium he was due to address last Sunday, denouncing him as
anti-Malay, anti-Chinese and anti-Islam. The destruction by fire of the building
scheduled as the venue of the symposium last Friday aroused speculation that it
was a case of arson.
Police are still investigating the cause of the blaze and Dr Mahathir spoke
without incident at a replacement site on the campus. But the university
authorities continued to come under criticism.
Azalina Othman Said, who is head of a new young women's wing of Umno and a
graduate of the University of Malaya, said her organisation was worried the
"culture of militancy" would spread to other campuses around the
country.
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