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BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
22, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Star - Manila: Asean may form anti-terror
front
Dow Jones - Money Laundering Methods Grow, And
So Do Countermeasures
BBC - Burma opposition leader
blocked
AP - Myanmar Opposition Reopens
Office
The Daily Star - Suu Kyi marks one year under
house arrest
Bkk Post - EDITORIAL - Burma takes a step in
right direction
Bkk Post - Neighbours could be
asked
Bkk Post - More than 500,000 likely to apply for
their papers
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Machinery Import Up in
First Half
NSTP - Myanmar nationals nabbed
ST - 10 monks caught in drug raid
SCMP - Myanmar leader to visit
SCMP - Activist making waves despite
isolation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Star Network
Saturday September 22, 8:00 AM Manila: Asean may form anti-terror front President Arroyo said Friday she would push for the creation of a regional
anti-terrorist front at the annual meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in
November.
The government put forward the idea as Washington called for a global war
against terrorists suspected to be behind the terror attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon last week.
Arroyo's plan is in line with opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara's call for
Malacañang to take the initiative build a network of cooperation against
terrorism, secessionist, separatist and terrorist groups in the Asean
region.
Vice President Teofisto Guingona, who is also the foreign minister, has
"already started to sound out the other two" on setting up a regional
anti-terrorism coalition, Arroyo said, referring to Indonesia and Malaysia.
"In the course of sounding out, there was an idea that arose that it might
even graduate into a major agenda item in the next Asean summit," Arroyo told a
news conference.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders next meet in Brunei
on November 5-6. The grouping also includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Kuala Lumpur Wednesday said it was awaiting further details on the
proposal, noting that nothing official had been transmitted by Manila.
The neighbors face growing rebellions by Muslim separatists believed to be
slowly linking up with each other.
The urgency of setting up a coalition was underscored by Malaysian leader
Mahathir Mohamad last month when he warned that a Malaysian-based group of
Islamic radicals had forged links with Philippine and Indonesian separatists.
Money and weapons
Also, an expert said Friday that Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has
supplied money and weapons for Indonesians and other Islamic fighters waging a
"holy war" against Christians in the Malukus.
Al Chaidar, an academic who has written 18 books on radical Muslim groups
in the world's most populous Muslim nation, said in an interview that bin Laden
and his network channel funds and weapons to a militant Islamic network in
Jakarta called the "Darul Islam" to fight the jihad in the Malukus, Indonesia's
fabled 'Spice Islands'.
The links were forged when 30,000 Indonesians fought alongside the
mujahideen from 1983 to 1989 against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, he
said.
Bin Laden, considered by the U.S. as the chief suspect behind the September
11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, was among the key backers of
the mujahideen fighters.
Al Chaidar said the 15,000 Indonesian fighters who returned home make up
the core of the Darul Islam, which he described as a clandestine network that
conducts terrorist operations in Indonesia.
"They maintain contact with the international mujahideen network, including
Osama bin Laden's group. Wherever a jihad is in force, this network provides
money and weapons and all tools needed for the jihad, and they mobilise fighters
to go to the jihad area," Al Chaidar added.
"This is exactly what is happening in the Malukus. Osama bin Laden is one
of those who have sent money and weapons to jihad fighters in the
Malukus."
Al Chaidar estimated that bin Laden supplied up to 50 million rupiah
(US$5,300) for the first wave of 7,000 jihad fighters sent to the Malukus in
1999.
"The majority of Darul Islam leaders make contact directly with Al Qaeda
and Al Qaeda directly sends funds. Al Qaeda has supplied money and weapons for
the jihad in the Malukus," he said.
An estimated 4,000 people have died in three years of sporadic fighting
between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands.
Smuggled
In Manila, retired general Eduardo Ermita, a security adviser to President
Arroyo, has also said that Indonesian authorities have alerted Manila to
firearms being smuggled by Filipino rebels to Islamic separatists in Indonesia's
Aceh province.
"In all probability" the guns could have been provided by the Abu Sayyaf, a
small group of self-style Islamic freedom fighters holding hostage 18 U.S. and
Filipino hostages in the south, he said.
Philippine officials say the Abu Sayyaf once received aid from bin Laden,
wanted by the U.S. dead or alive for the September 11 attacks.
Also on Friday, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon held the first briefing of the United
Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime at the Senate committee
on foreign affairs level. Biazon sits as chairman of the committee.
He said the correct step to take now, in relation to a cooperative network
against terrorism, is to hasten the passage of a law that would address
organized crime groups, including terrorists.
"Transnational crime is a major non-traditional security challenge that
confronts all states. It is a transnational challenge to the viability of
societies, independence of governments, integrity of financial institutions and
the functioning of democracy," Biazon said.
Angara agreed, saying it is timely that the country takes advantage of the
growing consensus of rage against international terrorism.
Manila backs U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a global war against
terrorists, with Arroyo earlier offering the use of the country's airports for
refuelling or transshipment points for US forces.
Military sources also said three US F-18 fighter jets from the U.S. base in
Okinawa, Japan landed at the Mactan International Airport in central Cebu city
on Friday for refuelling. They stayed only 30 minutes before leaving on an
unspecified mission. (Sunnex/wires)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 21, 11:11 PM
Money Laundering Methods Grow, And So Do Countermeasures By Debra Marks DUBLIN (Dow Jones)--The ways to
evade detection of ill-gotten gains are growing - and so are the methods and
means at governments' disposal to catch the crooks.
The issue is fast moving up the political agenda, not least because of last
week's terrorist attacks in the U.S., which are alleged to have been carried out
by people funded by businesses linked to prime suspect Osama bin Laden.
Experts say the shift in focus onto the terrorists and away from drug
cartels and organized crime is clearly underway. Tax havens that once turned a
blind eye towards untraceable loot are also coming under sharper scrutiny.
"No matter how vigilant a government is, there is always the possibility
for funds to be redirected or misused," said a Cayman Islands auditor, a
specialist in white collar crime, who asked for anonymity. "How difficult is it
to launder money? There are so many ways of doing it that it only depends on how
well hidden you want the funds to be."
The auditor said governments are desperately trying to keep up with the
myriad of money laundering techniques.
"Money launderers are always looking to be one step ahead of law
enforcement," he said. "That's the nature of their business. And governments are
in a mad dash to find not just the funds but the new ways to channel the funds
away from detection."
The auditor said establishing corporate and trust vehicles that make it
difficult - or nearly impossible - to establish and track beneficial owners of
businesses or trusts are a preferred method of operation for money launderers.
"Not knowing beneficial ownership doesn't mean it's impossible to find the
money launderers but it makes it fairly difficult," he said.
Meanwhile, offshore financial centers are on a high state of alert. The
Cayman Islands Monetary Authority said this week that it's prepared to help
investigate whether offshore funds were used to fund last week's terrorist
attacks.
"The Cayman Islands has long been aware of the risk to our financial
services industry of its use by criminals and their confederates," said John
Bourbon of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.
The issue is so hot around the globe that European Union finance ministers
and central bank governors will discuss it at their monthly meeting Saturday.
The group will also try to hammer out ways to tackle terrorism and the money
used to finance such activities, as well as ways to strengthen the role of
authorities that supervise markets.
Moves were afoot last year to try to fortify a 1991 banking directive that
would have gone a long way towards combatting money laundering, but the European
Parliament raised objections that have held up its adoption.
This may be about to change.
Currently, E.U. rules oblige bankers to only report suspicions of money
laundering in cases involving drug trafficking. The new proposals would extend
the rules to other professions, including lawyers and accountants, and cover
"all serious criminal activities."
To avoid undermining lawyer-client confidentiality, the directive exempts
lawyers from reporting information they receive from clients during criminal
proceedings.
Parliament, however, is pushing for a broader exclusion for lawyers. A
conciliation committee began meeting this week and has up to eight weeks to find
a compromise, said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for E.U. Internal Market
Commissioner Frits Bolkestein.
Both sides agreed that in the light of recent events, public opinion won't
accept a failure to reach agreement, Todd said.
Already operating under the umbrella of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development is the little-known Paris-based Financial Action
Task Force on Money Laundering.
FATF is an intergovernmental body which crafts and promotes policies and,
in its own words, tries to create the "political will necessary" to bring about
changes to combat international money laundering efforts.
FATF helps members and non-members alike to set up effective
anti-money-laundering systems, reviews new laundering techniques, and helps
implement laundering countermeasures in non-member countries.
FATF's 29 member nations are made up of the industrialized world. Just this
month, the FATF updated its list on "non-cooperative jurisdictions" which are:
the Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Guatemala, Grenada, Hungary, Indonesia,
Israel, Lebanon, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia,
St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Ukraine.
And only in June, the FATF took off its "non-cooperative list" the nations
of the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Lichtenstein and Panama, saying it would
"monitor closely future developments" in those countries. It also said Egypt,
Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Myanmar and Nigeria continued to have "serious
deficiencies."
This week, the Bush Administration said it plans to set up permanent
law-enforcement teams in San Francisco and Chicago to combat money laundering by
suspected terrorists, illustrating the quick shift away from monitoring drug
dealers and more towards the bigger threat of terrorists.
"We're going to follow the money trail wherever it leads," said U.S.
Treasury Undersecretary for Enforcement, Jimmy Gurule.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Saturday, 22 September, 2001,
11:41 GMT 12:41 UK
Burma opposition leader blocked By the BBC's Larry Jagan in Bangkok Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is marking the first
anniversary of her confinement under house arrest in Rangoon.
Her movements were restricted after she attempted to travel outside the
capital.
Senior members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were
also detained.
The NLD won elections held in 1990, but the military never allowed it to
govern.
Talks
Aung San Suu Kyi is no stranger to confinement. She was originally put
under house arrest in 1989 and spent six years there.
But this time it has been different. The country's military rulers have
begun to talk to her. She is not actually meeting the senior generals, an NLD
spokesman told the BBC, but there is regular contact between the two sides.
The talks are being held in secret and no one knows what is actually being
discussed.
Diplomats in Rangoon say the talks are still at a confidence-building
stage.
Since the dialogue process began, more than 200 political prisoners,
including two senior NLD leaders, have been freed.
Human rights groups say there are more than 1,500 political prisoners in
Burma's jails. The NLD spokesman told the BBC that all political prisoners had
to be released if the talks were to move beyond this initial trust-building
stage.
Meetings
Many critics believe the Burmese generals are not serious about political
change, and have only entered the dialogue process in an effort to deflect
international criticism and in the hope that it might also lessen their
international isolation.
In the past year Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet senior members
of her party, senior diplomats and UN officials.
A Burmese Government spokesman says Aung San Suu Kyi is under voluntary
confinement, but that is not how the NLD spokesman sees it. He told the BBC that
Aung San Suu Kyi wanted all restrictions on her movement lifted immediately,
including being able to travel outside Rangoon. Only then, say diplomats, will
the dialogue process actually be making real progress.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Opposition Reopens
Office
The Associated Press, Sat 22 Sep 2001 YANGON, Myanmar (AP) —
Myanmar's democratic opposition reopened a party branch office on Saturday, the
first anniversary of the house arrest of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The country's military rulers confined Suu Kyi to her Yangon villa on Sept.
22, 2000, after she defied government travel restrictions.
They have also attempted to hobble her National League for Democracy,
arresting its members and closing many of the party's 40 offices in and around
the capital.
Party spokesman Lwin said the 19th office was allowed to be reopened in the
northern Yangon suburb Mingaladon. Twenty party branch offices still remained
closed in the Yangon area, he said.
Asked if the NLD will issue any demand for Suu Kyi's release to mark the
anniversary, Lwin said: ``No special statement will be released. We have always
demanded her release.''
``Despite the restriction, (she) is well informed of party activities and
reorganization work. She is fully occupied reading, receiving guests and
meditating,'' he said in a telephone interview.
Over the past year Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet a number of foreign
officials, including U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail and U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State Ralph Boyce.
Soon after her house arrest and after Razali's visit to Myanmar, the
military and Suu Kyi began talks in October to break a long-standing deadlock.
The regime has since released 168 political prisoners, including some
senior NLD leaders. But there are no signs that the military will ease its grip
on power.
Suu Kyi, who led a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, was placed under formal
house arrest from 1989 to 1995. Short-term restrictions on her movements were
imposed in following years, and last September she was again confined to her
residence after attempting to travel by train to the northern city of Mandalay
for party activities.
Since the 1988 uprising was suppressed, Suu Kyi has spent seven out of 13
years under restriction.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily Star - Sep 22,
2001.
Suu Kyi marks one year under house arrest AFP, Yangon Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will by Saturday have spent one year
confined to her lakeside home on the orders of Myanmar's junta, which has given
no sign of when she could be released.
Despite the restrictions, the Nobel peace laureate has had a productive 12
months, embarking on landmark talks with the military and receiving a stream of
high-profile international visitors.
The political atmosphere in Yangon has thawed since the talks began,
leading to the release of nearly 200 opposition figures including senior members
of her National League for Democracy (NLD).
The opposition leader has also been allowed to receive top officials from
her party, as well as envoys from the United Nations, the European Union, the US
State Department and the International Labour Organisation.
"Despite her incarceration she is well informed about what is going on
inside the party and elsewhere," a close family friend told AFP.
As a devout Buddhist, Aung San Suu Kyi has used the periods of house arrest
during her long struggle against the generals in Yangon as an opportunity to
hone her renowned mental and spiritual toughness.
The family friend said the 56-year-old maintained a simple, somewhat
austere lifestyle, and found the isolation agreed with her.
"She exercises and meditates regularly and is in good health," he
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Sep 22,
2001.
EDITORIAL - Burma takes a step in right
direction
Although the situation in Burma is not high among the concerns of world
leaders this week, it is nonetheless coming under intense scrutiny from the
International Labour Organisation (ILO).
In an unprecedented move last November, the ILO urged its 175 member
governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with Burma to ensure
the government is not abetting forced labour.
The job of the team now touring that country is to investigate developments
and decide if the junta has ended this odious practice.
There is a lot riding on the report they will file at the end of their
three-week trip. It will be considered by the ILO governing body, which will
meet at the agency's headquarters in Geneva in two months to decide if further
punitive action is warranted.
This is not the first ILO fact-finding team to visit Burma but it is by far
the most important, a fact recognised by the ruling junta which, for the first
time, has granted it permission to travel around the country to make its own
direct assessment of the forced labour situation.
The high-level multinational team intends to interview victims and
villagers, not government functionaries, and the members demonstrated their
resolve by meeting foreign diplomats and Aung San Suu Kyi within hours of flying
into the Burmese capital.
The ILO team has also had talks with other leaders of what remains of her
National League for Democracy party.
Burma has done the right thing by allowing unrestricted access for the
investigators and in guaranteeing that no reprisals will be taken against anyone
they interview. This is a sign of maturity and a retreat from the xenophobia
which used to characterise its dealings with the outside world. Its membership
of Asean has clearly had a positive influence.
The International Labour Organisation also deserves to be congratulated for
its refusal to shy away from controversy, not always a hallmark of United
Nations' agencies.
Regardless of who might be offended, the ILO frequently singles out erring
nations and doles out criticism or praise, more often the former. Over the past
decade, Burma's use of forced labour and suppression of human rights and
democracy has placed it in the firing line and made that country-a signatory to
the 1930 International Labour Organisation Convention-a prime target of its
wrath.
Burma's military rulers used to claim its citizens were happy to work long
hours for free because they wanted to make merit. This canard was abandoned
after military intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt finally admitted that forced
labour had occurred in the past but was no longer considered necessary.
That failed to placate the UN High Commission for Refugees, which said that
it had "received information that, in order to reduce disruptions in adults'
income-earning activities, families had resorted to sending children to perform
labour in place of adult members of the families". Nor did it impress the ILO,
which added that "no action seems to have been taken to punish those exacting
forced labour".
Reports published by international bodies and non-governmental
organisations have consistently made claims of up to two million civilians being
press-ganged to work without pay on the construction of roads, railways and
bridges, usually on the orders of the military. Of course, there is no way to
validate these figures, which is exactly why the present ILO investigation has
become necessary.
If compulsory labour and abuse of workers' rights is becoming a thing of
the past we can expect to see fewer Burmese fleeing into Thailand to seek a
living, which would be a welcome development.
And, if the ILO team can give Burma a clean bill of health, it will be an
indication that real progress has been made in an area where it is most
needed.
If not, Burma could pay a high price for its inaction.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Sep 22,
2001.
Neighbours could be asked Any U-tapao request needs consultation Wassana Nanuam Thailand will have to consult its Asean neighbours if the United States
asks to use U-tapao airbase to carry out military operations against terrorism,
the defence minister said yesterday.
Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the question of whether the US should be
allowed to use its former airbase in Chon Buri's Sattahip district for military
operations was a sensitive issue.
The decision would affect not only Thailand but also its neighbours, he
said.
If the US asked to use U-tapao, Thailand would have to gauge the views of
its people and raise the matter with other Asean countries, Gen Chavalit
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Sep 22,
2001.
More than 500,000 likely to apply
for their papers
Permits to be issue din just three hours The labour ministry expects more than 500,000 alien workers to turn up for
registration running from Monday to Oct 13.
The ministry said it hoped to process applications and issue work permits
within three hours.
Dej Bunlong, the labour minister, said registration would benefit employers
and workers alike.
Employers would no longer have to pay kickbacks to keep their workers.
Workers, in turn, would be entitled to health care coverage.
The government would launch a crackdown on unregistered workers and the
companies employing them once the deadline lapsed.
Employers should contact labour offices for an appointment ahead of
registration to save time, he said. An appointment would enable officials to
complete the process within three hours.
The ministry was well-prepared to cope with the 20-day registration
expected to attract some 500,000 alien workers.
Police had also approved a ministry request to take from workers prints of
all ten fingers instead of two as earlier proposed, for enhanced reference and
security purposes.
The cost of registration to be borne by the employers included an initial
payment of 3,250 baht a worker including health insurance, repatriation
guarantee money, and six-month work permit fee.
Another 1,200 baht would be collected when the permit was renewed.
In Bangkok, registration venues would be opened at the labour market on
Buddha Monthol Sai 3 road, the employment office in Ratchaburana, and Laksi
Plaza on Chaeng Wattana road.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's Machinery Import Up in
First Half
Xinhuanet 2001.09.22 10:43:03 YANGON, September 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar's import of machinery
equipment was valued at 421.16 million U.S. dollars in the first half of
this year, up 11.52 percent from the year-ago period, according to
the latest data published by the country's Central Statistical
Organization Saturday.
During the six-month period, the import value of such machinery equipment
accounted for 27.33 percent of the country's total import value which was
registered at 1,541 million dollars.
Of this, the import value of electric machinery apparatus amounted to
119.65 million dollars, rising by 24.89 percent, while that of non-electric and
transport equipment reached 301.51 million dollars, up 6.97 percent.
According to official statistics, in 2000, Myanmar imported 628. 05 million
dollars' worth of machinery equipment.
Myanmar, an agricultural country, has to depend on import for the
majority of its different machinery equipment in need.
The country is trying to produce agricultural implements as
import-substitute goods, getting aid from China in the implementation of
two agricultural machinery factory projects which will produce walking
tractors and reapers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press - Sep 22,
2001.
PENANG Myanmar nationals nabbed By S.Shankar Police have detained four Myanmar nationals for allegedly collecting
donations from the public to build a mosque in Klang Valley.
Acting on information, a Seberang Perai Utara (SPU) district police team
picked up the four in a house in Tasek Gelugor during a raid between 3pm and
5pm.
The raiding party also seized several authorisation letters, purportedly
issued by the Selangor and Federal Territory Islamic Religious Departments, and
several blank letter-heads of the departments.
Initial police investigations revealed that three of the suspects had
entered the country illegally a few months ago.
The other suspect, however, has a valid passport with him.
The suspects had been going round Seberang Prai Utara informing the
residents that they were authorised by the Selangor and Federal Territory
Islamic Religious Departments to collect donations to build a new mosque in
Klang Valley.
The four are believed to have used false authorisation letters from the
departments to substantiate their claims.
Confirming the case, SPU Criminal Investigation Department chief Deputy
Superintendent Tajuddin Md Isa said police were investigating whether the four
had been collecting donations in other districts in the State as well as other
States.
The suspects have been remanded for a week.
Meanwhile, the State narcotics division nabbed two youths and seized from
them 20 plastic packets of heroin weighing 200gm in Air Itam last night.
The duo were riding a motorcycle in Bandar Baru Air Itam at 11pm when a
raiding party led by the division's operations deputy chief Assistant
Superintendent Abdul Rahman Ahmad stopped them.
Upon checking, the police party recovered the packets in a small box kept
in the motorcycle carrier.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - Sep 22,
2001.
10 monks caught in drug raid A temple raid in Thailand leading to five monks being defrocked highlights the widespread problem of drug abuse BANGKOK - Five Thai monks have been defrocked after confessing to using
methamphetamines, while another five caught in a drug raid also face being
ousted from religious life, police said yesterday.p> Acting on a complaint
from local worshippers, police carried out urine tests on 26 monks living at a
temple in the central province of Ratchaburi on Thursday and found 10 of them
had drugs in their system.
Five confessed immediately and further tests were being carried out to
confirm the guilt of the remaining five, said Lieutenant-Colonel Krisana Sapdej
of Ratchaburi police.
In a similar raid several weeks ago, he found another four drug-using monks
who were also defrocked, he said.
The drug-using monks uncovered on Thursday have been sent to a provincial
hospital for rehabilitation.
Lt-Col Krisana said drug abuse was a widespread problem among monks because
parents often sent their drug-addicted sons to temples in the belief they would
give up once they entered religious life.
Thailand faces a huge drug addiction crisis fed by methamphetamines which
are churned out in clandestine drug factories on the Myanmar border.
The authorities said earlier this year that the amount of drugs flowing
into Thailand has skyrocketed over the past three years, despite efforts to curb
trafficking.
About 700 million amphetamine tablets are expected to enter Thailand this
year, a big jump from the 100 million tablets estimated for 1998.
An estimated 6 per cent of Thailand's 62 million people are believed to be
addicted.
Religious Affairs Department official Manop Polpairin said earlier this
year that about 10 per cent of Thailand's 300,000 monks and novices have fallen
prey to drug abuse and have sought treatment at rehabilitation centres. --AFP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Saturday, September 22, 2001 MALAYSIA - Myanmar leader to visit ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur Myanmar's military ruler will make a rare trip abroad next week, to
Malaysia one his regime's strongest allies, the national news agency Bernama
reported on Saturday.
Senior General Than Shwe, the chairman of Myanmar's ruling State Peace and
Development Council, will hold talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad on Tuesday. Bernama said the leaders are expected to sign several
bilateral agreements, but did not elaborate.
The Myanmar leader, whose last visit to Malaysia was in 1996, will tour
Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers the world's tallest buildings on Wednesday
before departing for Langkawi island, a holiday resort in northern Malaysia on
the same day, Bernama reported. He leaves for Myanmar on Thursday.
Malaysia is emerging as a broker between Myanmar's generals and the
opposition, and in helping end decades of isolation in the impoverished
country.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Saturday, September 22, 2001 MYANMAR - Activist making waves despite isolation AUNG HLA TUN of Reuters in Yangon Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent the past year locked inside
her Yangon house, cut off from contact, her voice silenced. Yet she is closer
than ever to a political breakthrough.
In the early hours of September 22 last year, police forcibly ended an
attempt by the 56-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate to leave Yangon and
escorted her back to her lakeside house.
For the past year she has remained there, with her telephone cut and with
only a few foreign diplomats permitted to see her.
But while the ruling generals have tried to keep her out of sight, they
have also begun an unprecedented dialogue with her on Myanmar's future, and
offered olive branches to the opposition after years of repression.
Few details of the talks have emerged, and the dialogue has not passed
beyond the confidence-building stage.
But for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which
won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but was never allowed to
govern, the talks have provided hope.
"There was no understanding or mutual confidence between us before
September 22, 2000. We have now gained some understanding," NLD secretary U Lwin
said. "But there is still plenty of room for improvement. As you all know, our
leader still faces restrictions and there are a number of our members in
prison."
The start of dialogue was welcomed by the international community and
representatives of Myanmar's many ethnic groups. But the goodwill will not last
forever. Opposition members and ethnic groups are pressing for more transparency
and concrete proof that the dialogue is more than just a public relations
exercise.
"Of course nobody can expect too much too quickly, but there is still real
doubt about whether the Government is serious about these talks," a Western
diplomat in Yangon said. "Until Aung San Suu Kyi is free to speak her mind, and
to give her verdict on the talks, that doubt will stay."
Ms Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San,
who was assassinated when she was a child. Over the past decade, hundreds of NLD
members have been harassed and detained.
Last year Ms Aung San Suu Kyi twice tried to travel outside Yangon. When
her car was blocked south of Yangon in August she spent more than a week in a
roadside stand-off that drew international condemnation of the military
Government.
Her attempt to travel to the city of Mandalay by rail a year ago was also
blocked.
The Government claimed no tickets were available and removed her from the
station before launching a crackdown on the NLD.
But the start of talks with Ms Aung San Suu Kyi in October last year marked
a thawing of the military's stance. More than 150 NLD detainees have been
released over the past year, and the NLD and Government have agreed to stop
public attacks on each other.
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