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BURMA RELATED NEWS - October
14, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - UN rights envoy tours Myanmar's northern
border area
The Guardian - British oil firms accused of
Burma abuses
Reuters - U.N. envoy sees progress on human
rights in Myanmar
Kyodo News - U.S.
State Dept. official calls on Suu Kyi
BBC - EU probes Burma pipeline
abuses
Bkk Post - Economic agency to handle
investments
Bkk Post - Refugee influx hurts fragile
ecosystem
The Nation - Illegal
labourers' deadline extended
SHAN - Ex-Shan leader passes away
SHAN - Poppy growers looking forward to bumper
harvest
Irrawaddy online - Security Measures Influence New Bridge
Irrawaddy online - KNPP Claim Firsthand
Knowledge of Forced Labor
Irrawaddy online - Incense or Tamarinds
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday October 13, 2:30 PM UN rights envoy tours Myanmar's northern border area YANGON, Oct 13 (AFP) - United
Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro was due to meet with minority
and democratic opposition leaders in Myanmar's north as part of his second visit
here, official sources said Saturday.
Pinheiro was expected to leave Yangon early Saturday for the northern Shan
state capital of Lashio, with planned stops at points near the Chinese border.
He is due back in Yangon on October 19.
The Brazilian academic will first visit Muse before journeying to the
Kokang and Wa regions, where he is expected to meet with ethnic militias that
have signed ceasefire agreements with Myanmar's junta.
According to an official itinerary, he will travel to the ancient capital
of Mandalay, 540 miles (860 kilometres) north of Yangon, for a meeting with
leaders of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
For the remainder of his tour, Pinheiro will visit Myintkyina, in the
Kachin State.
While there, he is expected to talk with military and government officials
as well as leaders from the Kachin Independence Organisation, the political wing
of the minority Kachin Independence Army.
Returning to Mandalay on Tuesday, he will go to the ancient city of Bagan,
to stay overnite and visit cultural and religious sites.
On Thursday, he will visit the capital of southern Shan state to meet
leaders from another minority group that has signed the ceasefire pact, the Pa-o
National Organization.
The UN envoy is expected to meet with NLD leader and Nobel peace prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on his return from the upcountry trip.
Pinheiro, the first UN human rights envoy allowed to visit Myanmar since
1996, is to end his visit on October 20.
Both sides expressed satisfaction with the results of the April trip, and
the working relationship was cemented Monday when the junta released five top
political prisoners to mark Pinheiro's arrival.
During his first visit Pinheiro was allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi, who
has remained under house arrest for the past year, and spoke of an atmosphere of
"cautious optimism" for possible change in the country.
The UN Human Rights Commission passed a resolution in April with the
support of 53 countries saying rights abuses and persecution of the political
opposition in Myanmar were at an unacceptable level.
But Myanmar's junta insisted the resolution failed to accurately portray
the situation, particularly because it relied on information supplied by the
UN's previous rights rapporteur.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Guardian
British oil firms accused of Burma abuses Andrew Osborn in Brussels Friday October 12, 2001 Burmese soldiers retained by the British companies Premier Oil and
TotalFinaElf are guilty of multiple human rights abuses and subject local
peasants to forced labour, extortion and beatings, the European parliament was
told yesterday.
At a hearing organised by the British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, a
non-governmental organisation accused the two of complicity in and direct
knowledge of "egregious human rights abuses for the benefit of western oil
companies".
"The soldiers have committed and continue to commit these violations,"
Marco Simons of Earth Rights International said. "Civilians are conscripted by
the military and forced to carry heavy supplies, beaten and left for dead.
"Forced labour has not stopped in Burma in the pipeline region and instead
of acting as good corporate citizens and terminating their complicity in human
rights abuses, it is denied."
He called on the companies to either take steps to ensure that the soldiers
- whom they retain to protect two gas pipelines - cease these abuses or pull out
of Burma altogether.
Mr Howitt claimed that peasants are being threatened at gunpoint and, in
exceptional cases, used as human minesweepers.
"This is a brutal case of human rights abuse," he said.
ERI backed up its allegations with a report containing hundreds of witness
statements taken in Burma as recently as as last month which, it said, proved
that the situation was as bad as ever.
Both companies were present at the hearing.
Premier Oil, which has been active in Burma since 1990, despite the
continued presence of a military dictatorship, said it could not be held
responsible for the behaviour of troops it retained to protect its pipeline and
employees.
"There are no international sanctions that do not allow our operation to go
ahead there," its corporate social responsibility officer, Richard Jones, said
in an interview with the BBC.
"None of the things we've been accused of is in fact so. We believe human
rights and related issues are a part of our business and we've been training the
Burmese government in human rights over the past year.
"This is an ongoing programme and certainly something we take very
seriously."
Jean-Pierre Cordier of Total FinaElf said the allegations were "without
foundation" and told the hearing that it was "unimaginable" that his company
would have recourse to forced labour.
"Respect for human rights and for decent working conditions in Burma are
the same as we apply all over the world," he added.
The Burmese government had issued two decrees outlawing forced labour, he
said, which were prominently displayed in all the villages adjacent to his
company's pipeline in Yadana.
But human rights activists said these decrees were not worth the paper they
were printed on, and claimed that villagers were still being intimidated into
doing back-breaking work for the troops and were forced to pay "fines" or worse
if they refused.
Mr Howitt claimed that evidence showing that the two companies were aware
of what was effectively being done in their name was "serious and telling".
He urged them to follow the example of companies such as Pepsi, Texaco and
Apple computers, which have pulled out of Burma because of the problem of doing
business with the repressive military junta which has been in power since 1962.
Voluntary codes of conduct which can be flouted by the companies which draw
them up are not good enough, he said, calling for a binding code of conduct for
European multinationals.
"Premier Oil should be ashamed of themselves," he said. "Who are they to
make moral judgments that they're helping the situation in Burma when the whole
international community disagrees?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday October 12, 6:57 PM
U.N. envoy sees progress on human rights in Myanmar By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - The U.N.'s
human rights envoy to Myanmar believes the military-ruled country has made some
progress on human rights in recent months, foreign diplomats said on Friday.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N.'s special rapporteur for human rights in
Myanmar, arrived in Yangon on Tuesday and is due to stay in the country till
October 20, meeting government officials, opposition and diplomats, U.N. sources
said.
Diplomats who met Pinheiro on Thursday said he gave a fairly optimistic
view of recent developments in Myanmar, where secretive talks between the ruling
military and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been continuing for a year.
"He said he sensed more progress in the situation on human rights since he
last came here in April," one diplomat from a Southeast Asian country told
Reuters.
Military governments have ruled Myanmar for most of the last four decades,
locking up opposition and allowing little dissent.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been under de facto
house arrest since September 2000. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won
the country's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed
to govern.
But a year ago, talks began between Suu Kyi and leaders of the ruling State
Peace and Development Council and since then many pro-democracy activists have
been released from detention and public criticism between the two sides has
virtually ceased.
On Tuesday, the day Pinheiro arrived, five more NLD prisoners were
released, bringing the total number of NLD detainees sent home by the
authorities to 174.
Pinheiro, a Brazilian, first visited Myanmar in April after being appointed
as a special envoy in February by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
A report written by Pinheiro and released by the U.N. last week welcomed
efforts by Myanmar's ruling military to improve human rights in the country, but
repeated calls for the release of all political prisoners.
Amnesty International says there are more than 1,500 political detainees in
Myanmar.
The international community has welcomed the dialogue between Suu Kyi and
the government. But the talks have so far yielded no concrete political deal and
opposition activists have become increasingly pessimistic over their progress.
Pinheiro's predecessor, Rajsoomer Lallah, was never allowed to visit
Myanmar, and in his final report last October he accused the military of
torturing, raping and executing civilians.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. State Dept. official calls on Suu
Kyi
YANGON, Oct. 13, Kyodo - A U.S.
State Department official in charge of U.S.-Myanmar relations met Saturday with
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon.
Judith Strotz, the Myanmar desk officer at the State Department's Bureau of
East Asian and Pacific affairs, met the National League for Democracy (NLD)
leader at her house in Yangon, where she has been under effective house arrest
since Sept. 22 last year.
Strotz arrived in Yangon Friday and was due to leave Yangon later Saturday
after meeting Suu Kyi, according to diplomatic sources.
Her visit marks the third by a State Department official to meet Suu Kyi
since the beginning of the year when news surfaced of secret dialogue ongoing
between Suu Kyi and the military government.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ralph Boyce visited Suu Kyi on Feb. 26
and again on Aug. 2.
Strotz's visit came amid that by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, special rapporteur
of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on the human rights situation in Myanmar,
who arrived in Yangon on Tuesday for a 12-day investigative mission, his second
to Myanmar this year after having visited in April.
Pinheiro left Yangon on Saturday to assess the human rights situation in
the countryside, having already held talks in Yangon with senior junta figure
Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, Foreign Minister Win Aung, the ambassadors of Southeast
Asian and Western countries, representatives of ethnic minorities and welfare
organizations.
Pinheiro will visit Shan State and Kachin state and will inspect a prison
in central Myanmar where political prisoners are being held.
The junta has since January released from prison or from detention centers
174 NLD-affiliated political prisoners, including 53 NLD members who were
elected to Parliament in the 1990 general elections, which the NLD won by a
landslide but was blocked from coming to power by the military.
He is due to meet with Suu Kyi and NLD leaders on his return from the field
trip, according to diplomatic sources.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Friday, 12 October, 2001, 16:50
GMT 17:50 UK
EU probes Burma pipeline abuses By Shirin Wheeler in Brussels Members of the European Parliament have accused two of Europe's leading oil
companies of complicity in human rights abuses by the military forces in Burma.
The allegations arose out of a report by the pressure group, Earth Rights
International, which claims local villagers have been subjected to forced
labour, rape and even murder by army units working for the oil companies to
protect the pipelines.
At the opening of a hearing before the parliament's Development and
Co-operation committee the oil companies - British owned Premier Oil and the
French company TotalFinaElf - were on the defensive, protesting their commitment
to uphold human rights.
They totally rejected the allegations that indirectly they and their
partners had been responsible for crimes committed by the Burmese authorities.
Forced labour
It is now widely understood that forced labour is imposed on the civilian
population in Burma and particular concerns have been voiced about pipeline
building projects in the country's Kanbouk region.
The latest allegations from Earth Rights International concern the army
units used by oil companies to guard the pipelines.
Dozens of witness statements collected in the last year claim they have
forced villagers to work as porters, attacking and intimidating those who
refuse.
British MEP Richard Howitt tabled a parliamentary resolution last year
calling for a code of conduct to govern how EU based companies operate abroad,
and for annual hearings to investigate particular allegations.
"Premier Oil and Total are directly responsible through a link of
complicity with the use of slave labour by the Burmese Military," he said this
week.
"These so called porters are forced to carry arms and supplies... they are
threatened with shooting if they escape or forced to make payments to avoid that
forced labour."
In recent years many companies, including oil giant Texaco, have pulled out
of Burma.
But despite pressure from the British Government, Premier Oil is staying.
The company says its health and education programmes, as well as its human
rights training for army units and a new human rights monitoring system, are
evidence of good intentions.
'Constructive engagement'
Premier Oil's corporate responsibility officer, Richard Jones, believes the
company is improving the lives of local people.
But he admits it is not always easy to know what the army units used by the
companies are up to.
"Reports from people like Earth Rights international and Amnesty
International have helped us come to this stage where we recognise that we just
do not have the capacity ourselves at this point in time to give everybody a
full assurance that we understand exactly what is going on in the pipeline
area," he says.
Asked why, if he couldn't guarantee human rights are being respected,
Premier Oil was still in operation in Burma, he said: "That is exactly what we
are working towards - a system of human rights monitoring and training that
would allow us to assure that there aren't any of those alleged human right
abuses going on."
But Marco Simons from Earth Rights International, rejected the oil
companies' arguments that constructive engagement with Burma's repressive regime
is better than isolation.
"If it is indeed impossible for them to operate in Burma without pervasive
and egregious human rights abuses then they have no business working there at
all," he said.
Members of the European Parliament are now calling for the EU to follow the
example of the US by banning all new investment in Burma.
They want the oil companies to compensate the victims of violence by the
Burmese military - and in the longer term they are hoping that strict guidelines
on how EU based companies operate abroad will be enshrined in law.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - October 14,
2001.
Economic agency to handle investments Fisheries chief to hold talks tomorrow Wassana Nanuam All talks on investment between Thailand and Burma will have to go through
the Thai-Burmese Economic Friendship Association, said Gen Sanan Kachornklam, an
adviser to the defence minister.
He said Burma's Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, of the ruling State Peace and
Development Council, informed all Burmese agencies to go through the
association.
The association was founded last month by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and Defence
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.
Gen Sanan led a delegation to Rangoon for talks with senior Burmese
military officers on Oct 9-11.
``Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt believes Thailand and Burma will no longer have
problems but will co-operate for economic development. He gives us full support.
If state-level talks fail, the private sector can talk via the association,'' he
said.
Thailand and Burma would set up special industrial zones and bamboo paper
factories in the Tachilek-Chiang Rai, Myawaddy-Tak, and Kawthaung-Ranong
areas.
To promote tourism, more tours to Burma would be arranged and joint tourism
offices set up in Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthaung, in Burma, and in Bangkok.
To boost cultural ties, the nations would join hands to organise Loy
Krathong festivities, cultural exhibitions and student exchanges.
Gen Sanan said Burma still refused to grant fishing concessions to Thais
except for joint-venture investments. But the fisheries chief would hold talks
on the issue tomorrow with Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - October 14,
2001.
Refugee influx hurts fragile ecosystem Western forest now `severely degraded' Kultida Samabuddhi The refugee influx from Burma has severely degraded Thailand's western
forest complex, one of the most pristine ecosystems in Southeast Asia,
environmentalists said yesterday.
Thirteen refugee camps with around one million displaced people, mostly
ethnic minorities from Burma, have been set up along Thailand's western border,
which was part of the forest, said Ratchada Chaisawadi, of the Union for Civil
Liberty.
``The government's unstable policy on the western border issue and refugees
are causing negative effects on soil, water and biological resources in the
country's largest protected forest area,'' she said.
Rataya Chanthien, of Sueb Nakasathien Foundation, said the camps, packed
with people, had depleted a great deal of natural resources.
Problems relating to refugees and the border were intractable, related as
they were to national security and Thailand's relationship with its
neighbour.
``Even the government is unable to tackle these problems,'' Mrs Rataya told
a forum on the western forest complex, organised by the Thai Society of
Environmental Journalists.
Covering 11.7 million rai, the forest consists of six wildlife sanctuaries,
10 national parks, and one forest reserve. They include the natural World
Heritage sites Thung Yai and Huay Kha Kaeng wildlife sanctuaries.
The complex is home to more than 2,500 varieties of plant, 150 types of
animal and 470 bird species.
It is also the last habitat for large and near-extinct animals such as wild
elephants, tigers, gaurs, bantengs, tapirs.
Chatchawal Pisdamkham, head of the Western Forest Complex Ecosystem
Management Programme (Wefcom), said degradation of the forest arose from misuse
of forest land.
People lacked knowledge about forest ecology.
Wefcom is a three-year project, initiated by the Forestry Department with
financial support from the Danish Co-operation for Environmental
Development.
``Some sensitive areas, such as Khao Ban Dai in Huay Kha Kaeng wildlife
sanctuary, must be saved as a strictly natural area, a place free from human
activity, to protect the fragile ecosystem of fauna and flora,'' he said.
Anak Pattanavibool, Wefcom's wildlife ecologist, said activities
threatening the forest included state development projects such as dams and
roads, depletion of natural resources by minority groups, the camps, and
poaching wild animals.
``There are still poachers in the protected areas. Most of them hunt for
wild elephant tusks,'' he said.
Panelists also expressed concern about mining concessions in the forest,
including two mines at the south of Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary.
Mrs Rataya said mine operators had applied for concessions covering more
than 20,000 rai of land and were waiting for permission from the Forestry
Department.
``The department should not allow mining in the forest and should
immediately annex the area to the proposed Lam Klong Ngu national park,'' she
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - October 14,
2001.
Illegal labourers' deadline extended
Published on Oct 14, 2001
Up to 670,000 illegal foreign workers in the country were expected to register with the government after yesterday's registration deadline was extended to October 25. Elawat Chandraprasert, permanent secretary for labour, said the
registration of illegal workers in the South already reached nearly 100,000,
making it the country's largest home for these workers.
The latest figures show that 427,072 workers had registered with the
government since September 24.
According to Elawat, the final tally could reach 670,000 against the
government's target of 500,000.
Registration fees cost Bt4,450 each person per year. Of this amount, the
first Bt3,250 is collected first and was good for the first six months of the
registration. Another Bt1,200 will have to be paid later to cover the remaining
six months.
Elawat said many business operators had applied to register their foreign
workers but could not complete the registration process by the original October
13 deadline. So the government has decided to postpone the deadline to October
25.
Besides these operators, the extended deadline was also expected to cover
those who had not started the registration process. The latter group will have
to provide acceptable reasons to officials in order to qualify.
The breakdown of such workers regionally were as follows: a total of 97,
182 workers in the South had registered; followed by 91,969 in the Central
region; 83,524 in Bangkok; 64,693 in the North; 46,706 in the East; 33,480 in
the West; and 9,518 in the Northeast.
Workers of Burmese nationality topped the list, followed by those from Laos
and Cambodia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHAN No: 10 - 04:
October 12, 2001.
Ex-Shan leader passes
away
Major Nawmong Awn, 60, from Shan State Peace Council, died at 03:28 on
Monday (8 October), reported a source from Tachilek, opposite Chiangrai.
Nawmong, a native of Langkher, joined the resistance in 1959. He served as
a radio operator and intelligence officer in the Shan State Army. He also served
as Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Front, following the assassination
of Col Hsengharn, his predecessor, in 1982.
He suffered a massive stroke on 14 May in Lashio and was hospitalized, said
the source.
He funeral was held on Wednesday (10 October) at Khaisim, the SSPC's
headquarters in Hsipaw.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHAN No: 10 - 03:
October 12, 2001.
Poppy growers looking forward to bumper
harvest
Poppy farmers along the Thai border are predicting a rich yield of opium
this season compared to last year when poor weather ruined countless fields,
according to sources.
Many fields across Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai are already near
harvest. Farmers said they expected another harvest in December and a third one
in January.
Apart from the weather condition, there were other favorable factors, they
told S.H.A.N..
"For one thing the arrival last year of Wa troops in the areas where the
Shan State Army used to be active against both the Burma Army and drug operators
has turned the scales in the favor of the investors both from within and
without," he said. "The SSA has been less active since."
Anti-narcotics operations of the SSA, led by Col Yawdserk, who is avowedly
against drugs, led to retaliations by the Burma Army that escalated into
military confrontations between Rangoon and Bangkok early this year.
"The SSA is clearly in a bind," said one border watcher. "It cannot fight
both the Wa and the Burmese at the same time like Khun Sa did before his
surrender in 1996. His military campaigns against the Burmese in the meanwhile
are increasingly frowned upon by Bangkok. And if he does war with the Wa, he is
only helping Rangoon."
The SSA have strongholds opposite Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai
provinces of Thailand.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Irrawaddy online - October 14,
2001.
Security Measures Influence New
Bridge
By Maung Maung Oo
October 12, 2001—Burma’s decision to build a second bridge linking Mai Sai
in Thailand with Tachilek in Burma’s Shan State is not simply an attempt to
boost bilateral trade. The move is primarily aimed at better controlling the
flow of vehicles heading in and out of Burma, according to sources in Tachilek.
"The mixed flow of pedestrians and vehicles on the old bridge creates a
rather chaotic scene for border officials," said a man in Tachilek.
The new bridge will only be used for motored vehicles, while the current
bridge will deal with foot traffic. The bridge is projected to be finished in
two years.
The source added that the decision was also based on a recent incident
involving a group of high-ranking Thai officials who entered Burma unnoticed and
who were eventually kidnapped by soldiers from the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
The UWSA is an armed guerilla group that is widely believed to be the number-one
producer of both methamphetamines and heroin in Burma.
"Rangoon does not want to face another problem like this in the future,"
said an intelligence source in Tachilek. The Thai officials were released
unharmed after a delegation of Burmese officials brokered their release.
The border crossing was closed for almost five months this year after a
series of border clashes between the two countries. The border crossing reopened
in July.
"Business is only back to about half of what it was before the closure,"
said a businessman in Tachilek. The Burmese government is still prohibiting the
import of certain Thai products such as MSG and some energy drinks."
Last Sunday, Burma’s Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai inspected the new bridge site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Irrawaddy online - October - 14,
2001.
KNPP Claim Firsthand Knowledge of Forced Labor By Tony Broadmoor and Doh Say October 11, 2001— Members of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karenni
People (CIDKnP) have found evidence of forced labour as well as recently planted
landmines in the Karenni State, according to a spokesman from the Karenni
National Peoples Party (KNPP).
The fact-finding mission traveled to areas around the old Taungoo Road in
District Two of the Karenni State and found local residents clearing a section
of the road located ten miles from Mawchi. The KNPP told The Irrawaddy that the
Burmese junta plans to use the road again. KNPP officials said that one Karenni
village has been ordered to clear a one-mile stretch of road as well as
thirty-feet on both sides of it.
According to the CIDKnP each village was to receive 8000 kyat (US $17) and
two sacks of rice for their work. Villagers said they were given no choice in
the matter and that the headman of their village was called to the Burmese
military headquarters in Mawchi to answer as to why villagers had not reported
to work.
Other villagers told the CIDKnP that they had offered the military troops
10,000 kyat in return for not working but were required to work any way. The
KNPP has said that despite the nominal fee paid to villagers this still
constitutes forced labour.
The CIDKnP’s mission concluded just as the International Labor Organization
(ILO) began its fourth trip to Burma to investigate the continued use of forced
labour. The ILO’s trip is now also finished although the results of the
investigation will not be available for some time.
Brief history of the Taungoo Road:
The Mawchi -Taungoo road was built during World War II. The Burmese
Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) later used the road to send military supplies
from Taungoo to Mawchi. The road was abandoned twenty years ago. The road is
ninety-six miles long with roughly a third of it in the Karenni State and the
remainder in the Karen State.
In 1991, the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) began
repairs on the road using forced labour to clear and reconstruct a twelve-mile
section from Mawchi heading towards Taungoo. During that period, villagers from
the Karenni State, including the elderly, women and children were ordered to
repair the road.
During this period, there are numerous reports of villagers being killed or
maimed by SLORC land mines. Now in addition to these older land mines, newer
land mines have been laid by Burmese military troops, perhaps even as recently
as this year. These newer land mines remain on the very stretch of road that
Karenni villagers are being forced to clear. Military soldiers also remain near
the Karenni villagers as they work, according to the KNPP.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Irrawaddy online- October 14,
2001.
Incense or
Tamarinds
By Zarny Win and Ko Thet
October 11, 2001--Burma is not know as a country with a penchant for
resource conservation or environmental stability. As seen in a recent report
released by the Geneva-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Burma
was among the top ten countries in the world for net losses of forested area
since 1990.
The latest resource thought to be endangered in Burma is the tamarind tree.
According to sources in Burma, tamarind trees have been disappearing throughout
central Burma as a result of a booming incense industry—an industry that relies
heavily on tamarind trees as a raw material.
The rise in popularity of incense, or joss sticks as they are known in
Burma, can be traced to an increase in television commercials that portray joss
sticks as a necessary and important part of life. There are only three televison
channels in Burma and the channel predominantly watched in Burma airs only
commercials. Many Burmese, after years of watching propaganda-filled newscasts,
have switched to the easier-to-watch commercial channel for regular
viewing.
"Joss stick commercials have been appearing more and more on televison to
promote them throughout the country.The actors in the commercials say that
everything will be okay if you burn joss sticks. Unfortunately, the more people
who use the joss sticks, the faster the tamarind trees will disappear," said a
teacher from Burma’s Dagon University.
Many Burmese are worried that the disappearance of tamarind trees will also
threaten central Burma’s dry zone.
Lu Du Daw Ahmar, a highly acclaimed writer and social critic, wrote last
year that, "It will be very sad if the tamarind trees disappear because of this
business."
Magway Division’s Yasegyo Township is famous for its tamarind grooves.
"In Yasegyo, the tamarind trees are almost all gone because the local
people have been selling them to joss stick manufacturers," said a man in
Yasegyo. "Even the trees inside Buddhist monasteries have been cut down."
Historically joss sticks have only been used by Buddhist practitioners and
also by some ethnic-Chinese living in Burma.
Joss stick makers have been replacing the more tradtional Indian names with
more powerful Burmese names to help attract consumers. They have changed some of
the names to Aung Tate-di ("power"), Lo-ta-ya ("get whatever one wishes for"),
Kan Pwint ("lucky"). The customers appear to be falling for the names, as sales
continue to soar throughout Burma.
Nobody is exactly sure how many of the trees have been logged, but the
state-run MRTV television station advised people to stop using the whole tree
when cutting it for wood, according to a tutor from Ye Zinn Institute of
Agriculture in Mandalay Division.
Wood-apple trees or elephant-apple trees have already disappeared in
Mandalay Divison’s Pyinmana Township and surrounding areas due to the joss stick
business. Wood-apple trees were also used as a raw material for joss
sticks.
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