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BURMA RELATED NEWS - October
16, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asiaweek - Desperately Seeking Ne Win
AFP - Thailand fishery officials visits
Myanmar
AFP - EU watchdog body tentatively approves
Philippines money laundering law
AFP - India's Fernandes no stranger to
controversy
BBC - Burma rejects EU charges
BBC - Asia hit by anthrax scares
The Star - Ricomal to
explore foreign markets
The Moscow Times - Hotels Block Asian Cities' Historic
Sites
LA Times - Myanmar - Natural
wonderland
Bkk Post - Burma
situation discussed
Bkk Post -Nationwide
crackdown on illegal labour begins in two weeks
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Not Facing Food Problem:
Leader
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Holds Arts Competition to
Raise National Values
Kyodo News - Myanmar
man nabbed for brokering export of stolen machine
Mizzima - Tourism affected in
North East
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asiaweek
Desperately Seeking Ne Win A correspondent's search for an interview with Myanmar's elusive patriarch By ROGER MITTON Friday, October 12, 2001
Web posted at 01:40 p.m. Hong Kong time, 01:40 a.m. GMT When I started reporting on Myanmar several years ago, I set my heart on
trying to interview pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the man regarded
as her counterpart in the military regime, Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. I accomplished
this, but there is one other person I have been even more determined to meet --
the former dictator, Gen. Ne Win, widely known simply as Number 1. So far, I
have not succeeded, but neither have I given up. Recent news, however, makes me
worry that the Grim Reaper might beat me to him.
Ne Win was rushed to hospital in Singapore after suffering a heart attack
last week. His family, including favorite daughter Sanda and son Pyo gathered at
his bedside. After a week in hospital, during which he had a heart sensor
implanted, the 90-year-old general returned to his palatial lakeside home on
Maykha Road in Yangon on Oct. 11. Given his healthy interest in women, his
otherwise abstemious lifestyle, and his former sporting prowess, I always
suspected that he would survive. I hope he has recovered enough to grant me a
short interview. Hey, it could be mutually rewarding.
After all, he is keen on history and concerned about his own role in modern
Burma being recorded properly. Message to the patriarch: I'm here. Sanda has my
fax number. Just message me and I'll be there with notebook and recorder. It's
not like I haven't been trying. Two years ago, after lunching with a banker at
L'Opera in Yangon, I told the taxi driver to take me to Shwegondine Road. It was
the anniversary of the 1990 elections and I knew Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy would be holding a special meeting of some sort. On the way there, I
suddenly had a whim and told the driver to go to Maykha Road.
We drove to the end of the mansion-lined lane bordering Inya Lake and
stopped at a checkpoint. The guard was asleep and when I roused him he seemed no
more aware of reality than when asleep. But a more senior officer arrived.
Explaining that I had flown all the way from Bangkok, I handed over a letter I
had written addressed to Ne Win, asking for an interview. I also left a box of
chocolates for the general.
I heard nothing. A couple of days later, I lunched with a former member of
Ne Win's government who told me that the old man was in good mental and physical
health, though he required a cane to walk. He said Ne Win favored traditional
medicines, meditated quite a lot, and liked to read historical books of a
religious bent. On that same day, I interviewed Suu Kyi at Tin Oo's house. The
latter, a former brigadier-general, was once Ne Win's chief of staff. He told me
a bit about his former boss, with whom he had traveled to the U.S. in 1965 at
the personal invitation of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Tin Oo told me, as
many do, how Ne Win was an admirable man in his early career; but he added that
he was sure he would never agree to see me.
I was not going to let that daunt me. So the following March I wrote to his
daughter, Daw Khin Sanda Win, and asked if I could see her. I was pretty upfront
about indicating I hoped she would assist me in meeting her father. I was
surprised when Daw Sanda replied by fax, explaining that she knew about me, that
I had interviewed other important people in Myanmar, but she would not agree to
meet me as she preferred a quiet, unpublicized lifestyle. I thought that was
fair enough -- but being a journalist, I could not let fairness put me off. I
wrote to her a few more times, but never heard from her again.
It was time to try a different tack. I had been given the name of a German
businessman, Hannes Schlemmer, who lived next door to Ne Win on Maykha Road. I
called him up to ask if we might meet some time. He promptly invited me round to
his house for tea. I equally promptly accepted. It was rather odd to be sitting
next door to Ne Win and for Hannes to tell me he had recently been invited over
for a chat. I asked Hannes if he thought Ne Win would agree to meet me.
Absolutely not, he replied. It sounded pretty definitive.
Still, I never gave up. Yet another tack was possible: Ne Win's current
(but estranged) wife, Daw Ni Ni Win. I had heard Daw Ni Ni was head of the
Historical Institute at Yangon University. So I faxed her office and she agreed
to an interview. I met her last October. I took along a copy of a pictorial book
about Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. The book had a section about Ne Win that was
rather complimentary. I thought he would like to see it. I gave the book to Daw
Ni Ni and she promised to give it to Ne Win. I attached a short note saying I
hoped he liked the book -- and attached my card in case he might like to contact
me. Nothing.
I have still not given up. On my next trip, I'll go to Paungdale, near
Prome, where Ne Win was born in 1911. Maybe I can rustle up some old family
connections that might help me strike a chord with him. If that doesn't work, I
may just send him another letter telling him that we have something in common:
we are both former mail clerks. Old posties stick together. But I'm open to
other ideas. Please send them in quickly as time is running out. If Ne Win reads
this, I'm ready when you are. And I've got another box of chocolates.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday October 16, 12:23 AM
Thailand fishery officials visits Myanmar BANGKOK, Oct 15 (AFP) - A
high-ranking official delegation from Thailand's fisheries department arrived in
Yangon on Monday to meet Myanmar authorities to discuss re-deployment of Thai
fishing trawlers in Myanmar waters, state media said.
A 13-member Thai mission, headed by Dhammarong Prakobbon, Director General
of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry's Fisheries Department, was
welcomed at Yangon airport by their Myanmar counterpart, TV Myanmar reported
late Monday.
The official invitation to the Thai mission was made under the agreement of
bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries, it said without
eleborating further details.
Myanmar cancelled Thai fishing licenses in October 1999 after the Thai
government supplied an escape helicopter to five anti-junta gunmen in exchange
for the release of hostages held captive at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok.
Since then, Thai Fishery Department and Foreign Ministry officials have
travelled several times to the military-ruled nation in the hope of negotiating
a workable deal for Thai trawlers.
Despite a series of talks, the two sides have failed to reach agreement on
the revival of fishing concessions in a stand-off that has cost Thai fishermen
dearly.
The relations between the two neighbouring countries has improved following
the two leadership's recent goodwill visits. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra visited Yangon in June and the Myanmar junta's number three, military
intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, travelled to Bangkok last month.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday October 16, 7:23 PM
EU watchdog body tentatively approves Philippines money laundering law LUXEMBOURG, Oct 16 (AFP) - An
EU watchdog body seeking to choke off terrorist cash has approved recently
passed Philippines money laundering laws but turned down similar legislation on
the south sea island state of Nauru, EU ministers learned here Tuesday.
Draft conclusions of a joint council of EU finance and interior ministers
said their Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had recommended the Philippines be
removed -- pending verification -- from a "black list" of countries sanctioned
from doing financial transactions with EU banks.
The Philippines has had some of the world's strictest banking secrecy laws
and is considered a magnet for dirty money, including that bound for terrorist
activities.
Anti-money laundering legislation recently passed by Nauru, which hosts
some 400 offshore banks, was deemed by the FATF "to have several deficiencies
and does not adequately address the major money laundering problem," said the
draft.
FATF, said the draft, "therefore decided EU states should implement
countermeasures against Nauru unless appropriate legislative amendments are
enacted by November 30."
It added that the countermeasures against the Philippines be suspended
"pending verification" that the money laundering legislation "has in fact been
enacted."
The ministers, according the draft conclusions seen by the AFP, were also
to include a ban on EU-based banks opening branches in blacklisted states, and
an obligation for those banks to account for any large financial transactions
with banks in blacklisted countries.
In that regard, the draft conclusions said FATF had recommended stringent
requirements for identifying clients...and...beneficial owners before business
relationships are established with individuals or companies from these
countries.
The 15 EU member states had already reached an agreement in principle to
identify and sanction non-cooperative countries and territories (NCCTs) in
fighting money-laundering.
"The council emphasizes the urgency of taking strong action against the
financing of terrorism...," said the document, and "...to use the FATF mechanism
for co-ordinated counter-measures against" countries "that harbor, support or
provide safe havens to terrorists and their means of financing."
It also urged the 13 candidate countries awaiting EU membership,
particularly Hungary, which is also the non-cooperative nation list, to "fully
implement" EU measures "on the fight against terrorism, money laundering and
financial crime."
The NCCT list now includes the Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Guatemala,
Grenada, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, the Marshall Islands,
Myanmar (Burma), Naurua, Nigeria, Niue, the Philippines,
Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Ukraine.
FATF enjoins its member states' financial institutions to "give special
attention to business transactions with persons...companies and financial
institutions of those countries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday October 15, 7:10 PM
India's Fernandes no stranger to controversy NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (AFP) -
George Fernandes, reinstated as India's defence minister Monday, seven months
after he resigned over an arms bribery scandal, is popular among the military
rank and file but his outspoken character has often caused ripples within the
government.
The former trade union leader with a chequered political career had to quit
office in March after an Internet news site broadcast video showing a top army
general, officials of his ministry and leaders of his Samata Party accepting
bribes from journalists posing as arms dealers.
A staunch nationalist, Fernandes, 70, has time and again raised the banner
of stiff socialist opposition against multi-national companies trying to enter
India.
In the 1970s, he shot to fame for briefly forcing Coca-Cola to withdraw its
operations from the country.
Fernandes came to prominence in 1975 when he took on then prime minister
Indira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency.
He was once detained on charges, later dropped, of smuggling dynamite to
blow up government establishments in protest against the state of
emergency.
His first term as defence minister was in 1998 when India conducted its
shock nuclear tests.
Following the tests, Fernandes caused a diplomatic rift with China, which
he described as India's "enemy number one." He later denied the statement,
saying it was wrongly interpreted.
A year later, he was thrust back in the limelight when India and Pakistan
engaged in a bitter border conflict in Kashmir which was triggered when
Pakistan-backed forces occupied key heights in the Kargil sector.
Fernandes took a degree of flak for his handling of the 10-week Kargil
conflict, especially over the failure of defence intelligence agencies to detect
the initial incursions.
As a minister, however, he was a morale booster for the armed forces, and
was particularly popular among soldiers on the front.
He made 18 visits to the icy heights of the Siachen glacier, "the world's
highest battlefield" where Indian and Pakistani troops guard their respective
stretches of the glacier through the year.
His interaction with the forces at all levels from officers to the soldiers
helped him gain the confidence of the troops, and he was also known for
overseeing a huge increase in India's defence budget.
But controversy accompanied him. In 1999 when he held a convention of
organisations supporting Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelamon the
lawns of his official residence.
Fernandes openly supported the LTTE's struggle for a separate state in
northern Sri Lanka.
The same year he had a highly public spat with then navy chief Admiral
Vishnu Bhagwat, who he sacked for alleged insubordination.
Bhagwat responded by accusing Fernandes of riding roughshod over the wishes
of his service chiefs and accused the minister of handing out dodgy
contracts.
He is also a high-profile supporter of the Myanmar pro-democracy
movement.
In his official bungalow, Fernandes has a huge portrait of Burmese
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Myanmar students and underground
leaders are frequent visitors.
Born in 1930, Fernandes was first elected to parliament in 1967 and founded
the Samata party in 1994.
He is the only Christian minister in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's
cabinet.
Throughout his career he has held several ministerial portfolios including
communications, industry, railways and defence.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 16 October, 2001, 11:09
GMT 12:09 UK
Burma rejects EU charges By BBC Burma analyst Larry Jagan The Burmese Government has rejected allegations made by European MPs last
week that the army was still using forced labour.
The Government spokesman told the BBC that the MPs had made up their minds
without examining the real situation.
Evidence was submitted to hearing at the European Parliament that British
and French oil companies in Burma were dependent on forced labour to lay their
pipeline to Thailand and that the Burmese army colluded in this practise.
The Burmese Government remains convinced that most of its critics are
politically motivated.
In a statement to the BBC the military spokesman Colonel Hla Min said the
European MPs had ignored the facts and were not prepared to acknowledge the real
developments that had taken place in the country.
ILO investigation
On the issue of forced labour, Burma's military leaders have good reason to
feel aggrieved - especially at the timing of the MP's renewed allegations. After
all, the Burmese government has just allowed in a major investigative mission
from the International Labour Organisation to assess Burma's efforts to stamp
out the use of forced labour.
Many of the documented incidents of forced labour tabled at the European
Parliament occurred more than a year ago. The government says it outlawed forced
labour officially late last year.
The ILO mission has now completed its research and is currently preparing
its report for the organisation¿s meeting in Geneva next month.
It is going to be more thorough than any other UN investigation so far held
into Burma's human rights record.
Courage
While in Burma, the four-member team travelled independently of the army to
locations they wanted to visit and used their own interpreters to gather
testimonies.
According to ILO sources, the team were impressed with the courage of those
who came to talk to them.
The mission then spent a week in northern Thailand talking to refugees -
Shan, Karen and Karennis - who had fled Burma to escape being used by the army
as porters.
The ILO is remaining tight-lipped about the mission and say it will all be
in the report when its published.
Engagement
In the meantime, the Burmese Government continues to insist the
international community still has not given it credit for reforms implemented
over the past year.
The EU has already signalled its willingness to review its policy of
isolating Burma if Rangoon is really committed to introducing political change.
For Burma's part, the military spokesman told the BBC, the government
always welcomed constructive, realistic and meaningful engagement.
But the question remains to what extent are Burma's ruling generals
actually willing to reciprocate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 16 October, 2001, 09:56
GMT 10:56 UK
Asia hit by anthrax scares Confirmed cases of anthrax in the United States have sparked fears of
attacks throughout Asia.
One of the worst affected is Australia where Prime
Minister John Howard said 57 suspected attacks were reported on Monday - of
which seven involved powdery substances - but all appeared to have been hoaxes.
Further scares emerged on Tuesday, including an incident at the offices of
the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (ACCA) where a Christmas card was
opened that contained a white granulated powder.
An ACCA spokeswoman said their offices in Sydney had received similar
envelopes that were being investigated.
Politicians have called for hoaxers to be made liable for the full cost of
deploying the emergency services to deal with the scare.
In Hong Kong, the authorities on Tuesday sought to calm
fears after police reported two separate incidents involving suspicious letters
the day before.
Security officials said there was no intelligence suggesting Hong Kong
might be a target, and that local hospitals were capable of dealing with the
virus.
Postal workers have been given guidance on how to handle possibly
contaminated mails and parcels.
Meanwhile in China checks have been ordered on suspicious
mail.
Security is already tight in the southern city of Shanghai, which is this
week hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, including a summit of
leaders of the 21 member countries at the weekend.
In Japan eight people received precautionary treatment
after an envelope containing unidentified white powder was found at a post
office in the northern city of Fukushima.
The authorities later said no trace of anthrax or any other germ had been
detected in the incident.
Japan has tightened postal checks and urged its citizens to report all
suspicious mail to the police.
Post offices are using x-ray machines to screen all international mail and
parcels that have no return address, and at the central post office in Tokyo,
workers have started wearing masks.
New Zealand suffered an anthrax scare on Tuesday when a
post office in the town of Eltham, about 200km (125 miles) north of Wellington,
was evacuated after a suspicious powder was found in a mail bag.
Four postal workers were decontaminated and the powder was taken for
analysis.
"Everybody's on edge. When something happens out of the ordinary you put
the worst interpretation on it," Foreign Minister Phil Goff said.
In South Korea postal workers handling international mail
have started using gas masks and gloves.
All major public and private facilities in the capital - such as subway
stations, cinemas, department stores - have been asked to hold at least one
drill by November. They have been told to stock up on gas masks.
In Thailand and the Philippines, people
have been advised to inspect their post carefully for stains or powder marks
before opening.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Government has said it will
co-operate fully with US investigations into a letter bearing a Malaysian
postmark, containing anthrax, which was sent to an office of software giant
Microsoft in Reno, Nevada.
But Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was still waiting for the US to
display the evidence.
"They don't give us any information," he said. "Once we get the
information, we will investigate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star - October 16,
2001.
Ricomal to explore foreign
markets
By JACK WONG in Kuching
RICOMAL Industries Sdn Bhd is exploring several overseas markets for its
transformer oil, lubricating oil and petroleum derivates.
The bumiputra-owned company was zooming in on Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to
expand its markets abroad, said its managing director Roslan Abdul Ghani.
“We are also trying to make inroads into the China market through Hong
Kong,” he added after the opening of Ricomal Industries’ first branch office in
Kuching on Sunday by Sarawak Assistant Minister for Housing Dr Abang Abdul Rauf
Abang Zain.
Roslan said about 20% of the company’s production was exported to South
Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nepal and Thailand, and was
targeting to increase this to 30% by next year.
The company’s specialty products for automotive, industrial and marine
appli-cations are marketed under the brand name Rexoil.
Roslan said after the Sept 11 attacks, Ricomal Industries had to pay double
the insurance premium to import base oil, raw material for its production, from
Houston.
The company imports about 10 million litres of base oil a year from US and
Sweden.
He said the higher production costs had trimmed the company’s profit margin
by 2% to 3%.
According to Roslan, Ricomal Industries had now identified alternative
sources in Europe for base oil.
The company, which reports annual turnover of RM25mil a year, had plans to
set up more branches in major towns in the country by next year.
Ricomal Industries also markets laundry detergent and royal jelly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Moscow Times
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2001.
Hotels Block Asian Cities' Historic
Sites
By Denis D. Gray The Associated Press
YANGON, Myanmar -- For centuries, the gilt spire of the Sule Pagoda soared
over Yangon's roofs and palm tops, unchallenged on the skyline of a city rich in
colonial architecture and exotic Asian atmosphere.
Then, foreign developers perpetrated what residents say is comparable to
planting a high-rise next to Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral.
Twin, 20-story towers were illegally erected some 100 meters from the
pagoda, located at the geographic heart of the capital. The skyscrapers, one
slated to be a French-run hotel, not only shattered the uniform skyline but
desecrated, in the eyes of many, a shrine that legend says was built 2,000 years
ago to contain a hair of the Lord Buddha.
Yangon is hardly singular. Across Asia, local and foreign entrepreneurs
have put up hotels that violate natural and cultural environments. Others have
razed unique, historic buildings to replace them with the globalized world's
look-alikes.
In Thailand, the beginning of the end of Hua Hin as a charming royal
retreat is often dated to 1992, when Thai developers knocked down a teak palace
to drop a 17-story hotel smack in the middle of a traditional fishing village.
"Does it fit? It's questionable. We are a kind of landmark from the skyline
point of view," admits Dirk de Cuyper, general manager of what is now the Hua
Hin Hilton.
Cuyper said the hotel was built during Asia's boom years, when the "sky was
not the limit" and the heated rush was on for profits rather than conservation.
Regulations limiting building heights to that of palm trees were routinely
ignored on pristine beaches in Thailand and elsewhere in the region. Zoning
laws, if they existed, were flouted in cities where developers ran roughshod
over old Chinatowns, colonial villas and areas of greenery.
"Urban planners have no say in urban planning in Southeast Asia, and
business does not care about the living environment in Asia," says Alexander
Koenig, a German town planner. "They only follow economic rules."
Corruption and cronyism are the prime enemies of those who would save
Asia's heritage, conservationists say.
In Myanmar, it has never been explained how LP Holding Co., a group of Thai
investors behind the Sofitel Yangon Hotel near the Sule Pagoda, was able to sign
a contract with the military regime's tourism minister, General Kyaw Ba. Before
construction, the minister had said that regulations prohibited high-rises near
religious structures.
The Sofitel was to have opened in 1997 as a 270-room, five-star property
managed by the French hotel chain Accor. But the Asian financial crisis struck
that year, and the unfinished twin towers loom as hideous, rusting hulks.
"High-rise hotels are frequently parasitic in function," says William
Logan, editor of the forthcoming book "The Disappearing Asian City." "They tower
over the cultural landscape so that the house guests have a nice view, but care
little for the negative impacts the hotel has on everyone else's view."
Conservationists have scored some victories.
In one of the first public protests on an environmental issue in communist
Vietnam, citizens stopped the construction of the Golden Hanoi Hotel on the
edges of Hoan Kiem Lake in the historic core of the capital.
The hotel, hatched by Hong Kong-based developers and locals, would have
risen to 11 stories, despite a five-floor limit for the area that includes the
graceful lake and surrounding French colonial and Sino-Vietnamese quarters.
Started in the mid-1990s, construction was stopped when the fourth level was
reached. It stands incomplete today.
Heritage groups on the Malaysian island of Penang were able to block
demolition of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, lavishly built in 1904 by a Chinese
shipping and trading tycoon. Restoration of the mansion, now a stunning 16-room
inn, won an award from UNESCO last year.
But the groups were unable to halt a 22-story extension of the Hotel
Continental that went up in 1996 just 4 meters from the elegant residence. A
legal battle over cracked walls and other damage to the mansion continues. "The
monstrosity now stands next to this fabulous jewel of Penang," says Lin Lee
Loh-Lim, one of the restorers.
Besides putting up unsuitable buildings, developers have "renovated"
historic hotels beyond recognition. To maximize profits, classic 19th- and early
20th-century hotels like Bangkok's Oriental, Singapore's Raffles and The
Peninsula in Hong Kong have added high-rise annexes.
When Japan's Okura hotel chain took over Shanghai's French Club in 1989, it
ripped up the indoor swimming pool to lay foundations for a 34-story tower that
stands atop the one-time center of French life in pre-World War II China. Almost
all the old art deco interior was torn out, replaced by the kind of modern
lobby, coffee shop and boutiques that can be found in Manhattan.
Some conservationists say awareness of the value -- both aesthetic and
economic -- of preserving heritage and natural sites is growing.
Koenig, a member of the Penang-based Asia and West Pacific Network for
Urban Conservation, disagrees.
Pro-conservation forces are puny, he notes. The Penang Heritage Trust, for
example, takes in less than 15,200 ringgit ($4,000) from annual membership dues,
while the local chambers of commerce and other pro-development groups with close
ties to decision makers have millions to spend on lobbying for their projects.
"I don't think that the situation has changed. It is just the economic
crisis and slowdown that have stopped such high-rise projects," he says.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Los Angeles Times
Myanmar - Natural wonderland In a country that's been off-limits to most tourists for years, it's finally possible to explore one of the most beautiful beaches in the world By Carl Duncan Special to the Los Angeles Times Originally published October 14, 2001 As the sun rose above a curtain of coconut palms in Myanmar, the honey
light revealed a scene along Ngapali Beach so achingly photogenic that it felt
unreal.
Twenty oxcarts and women with bamboo baskets hanging from poles across
their shoulders waited on the sand for the night fishing fleet. Many of the
solid old boats -- with square sails, long oars and not a motor among them --
undoubtedly dated to the days of these fishermen's grandfathers. The men landed
and dragged their iron anchors onto the beach. Two by two, men and women,
smiling and laughing, ferried baskets overflowing with silver fish to immense
plaited mats, where the fish were spread to dry, sparkling like mirror shards.
The oxcarts were pulled slowly into the water alongside the boats and took on
the bigger fish, the barracudas and the yellowfin tuna that would be taken fresh
to the morning market or to the kitchens of the beach resorts.
This was pure old Burma, whose tangled and troubled past wiped it off the
tourist map decades ago. Burma's leaders squandered the wealth of what was once
the richest nation in Southeast Asia, hobbled its people and, as the world
watched disapprovingly, drove the country into an abyss of isolation, slamming
the door shut on the world.
The people, 42 million divided among 132 ethnic groups, many of whom do not
speak a common language, carried on in a place where the cultural clock stood
still, without access to outside media, international phones, the Internet and,
in many cases, visitors.
And yet here I was on the beach, among these friendly villagers, everyone
wearing grass sandals and longyis (the traditional Burmese sarong), the men
tucking theirs up short and the women letting theirs swirl in the water as they
brought in the night's catch. I took one last look and turned around, heading
back to the beach resorts and the 21st century, to the new Myanmar, a country
quietly inviting the world back by opening the tourist infrastructure to private
enterprise and foreign investment and all but eliminating travel
restrictions.
"You try to guard yourself by saying it is not real," Somerset Maugham once
wrote of Burma. "It is a beauty that batters you and stuns you and leaves you
breathless." Maugham knew it, and now Myanmar wants the world to know it,
too.
on this fine february morning, i ended my run at the Bayview Resort and
walked over to the pool deck, where Maria, my traveling companion, sat sipping
English tea. I ordered robust French coffee, eggs benedict, half a papaya with
lime, and chilled orange juice. And some warm, just-made croissants.
The gracious waiter, a local Rakhine, smartly attired, impeccably polite,
said in his soft English, "May I repeat your order, please?" and did, just to be
sure he had written down my $5 breakfast selection correctly.
Out on the beach, a couple of early birds had already claimed their
favorite cushioned beach chairs. A small fenced enclosure nearby bore a wooden
sign: "These turtle eggs protected by order of Mr. Oliver."
Along the curving shoreline, scattered pods of beach chairs and shade
umbrellas were the only indications of the six hotels hidden under the palms. A
dot just offshore marked the limit of my vision. Peaceful Islet, accessible at
low tide. Beyond that was the fishing village. There are other fishing villages
scattered on other palm-lined beaches up and down this country's undeveloped
coastline and out among its many islands, but only here on Ngapali Beach
(pronounced "Napoli," like the Italian town) will you also find private
European-owned and -managed luxury beach resorts.
The two here are the country's first. The Bayview (German management) and
the Sandoway (Italian), just into their second full season when we visited, were
already operating near capacity through the season. Both are products of the new
tourism here, and since they opened, they have drawn a well-heeled international
clientele in search of something off the usual tourist circuit.
For years, Burma was completely off the circuit. Since the early '60s, the
country has been ruled first by a military despot and then by the military
itself. Then, a glimmer of light: The first free multi-party elections in 30
years, held May 27, 1990, gave the main opposition party, led by Aung San Suu
Kyi, a decisive victory. But the light faded quickly; the military refused to
hand over power and has been ruling since.
When the government organized a "Visit Myanmar Year 1996/97," Suu Kyi,
daughter of one of the country's early heroes and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace
Prize, and her party called for a tourist boycott, saying the proceeds would go
into military coffers, not to the people.
In those days, when tourists were forced to use overpriced government
hotels and inefficient government transportation almost exclusively, the boycott
made sense to many. "Visit Myanmar Year" was a flop. It embarrassed the
government and disheartened the people, tens of thousands of whom lost their
jobs when the expected tourists never arrived.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis further strained the economy. Together they
helped galvanize the government into making much-needed reforms. New ministers
replaced old; government red tape was cut; liberal privatization laws encouraged
foreign investors and local entrepreneurs; and travel restrictions were lifted.
A new era of internationalism had begun.
Today tourists can use private hotels, airlines and travel agencies and
countless private entrepreneurs exclusively as never before. With privatization
and a growing free market, tourist dollars are directly supporting growing
numbers of local people, and enthusiasm for the tourist boycott has dwindled.
Even Paris-based UNESCO now favors increased international tourism to Myanmar
and disagrees with leader Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, who
still oppose the development of the tourism industry.
The tide is turning, but the numbers are still small. Last year, according
to official Myanmar statistics, 200,000 foreigners entered the country, although
those numbers may be inflated. That's a trickle in a nation the size of England
and France combined.
Those who do visit, however, find a warmth and a welcome that are touching,
even overwhelming. One afternoon, while I stood on the platform below the
immense golden Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon, now called Yangon, an elderly monk
making his meditational rounds stepped up beside me and lowered his fan. "What
country are you from?" he whispered in cultured British English. When I told him
America, he smiled.
"So glad you're here!" he said.
The new spirit of international tourism, with its nearly unrestricted
geographical freedom, has finally opened up the coast, one of the last natural
wonderlands of Southeast Asia, and made it easily accessible to independent
travelers.
The beaches of Myanmar loop south from Bangladesh nearly to Phuket in
southern Thailand, a 1,760-mile coastline that includes more than 850 tropical
islands (the largest of which is larger than Tahiti). Much of this area is
virgin territory to the tourist. Ngapali Beach (known as Sandoway to the British
who once ruled the country) on the Bay of Bengal in the sparsely populated state
of Rakhine is the shining exception.
We had heard about this beach years ago from an old Asia hand who had been
there. "If you ever get the chance," he had said, "check out Sandoway Beach.
Best-kept secret in Southeast Asia."
So we were drawn here, as are others, by a culture that is authentic and
undiluted, by a people who are deeply religious and respectful, by a place that
is stunningly beautiful and unmarked by the masses.
At Sandoway, sea turtles swim ashore at night to lay their eggs in the
still-warm sand. And just off the beach you could swim with huge whale sharks,
docile, vegetarian creatures that congregate offshore during their winter
migration.
In the past, travel along the coast was slow and difficult. Now our
50-minute flight to Thandwe from Yangon saved us about 15 hours by car or five
days by ancient coastal vessel. We flew northwest over a rugged mountain range
that still isolates Rakhine state from the rest of Myanmar. Until 1783, this
coastal region was an independent kingdom called Arakhan. (The fabulous ruins of
Mrauk U, about 175 miles north of Ngapali, was the capital.) No taxis waited
outside the sleepy airport, just a half-dozen small buses beside the banana
trees, one from each of the beach hotels.
Fifteen minutes and two thatched villages later, we pulled into the Linthar
Oo Lodge, a mid-range cabana hotel that sits in its own shady compound in the
middle of the beach. We chose one of the older wood-and-fan bungalows at the
northern end, liking the feel of these inexpensive units more than the newly
upgraded concrete and air-conditioned cabanas on the other side. Ours had two
beds and a cold-water shower, and a pleasant porch looking under the palms to
the beach.
The Linthar Oo had a stock of well-used bikes for rent for less than a
dollar a day, so we kept ours for the week. On bikes we easily explored the
seven miles of beachfront from the south end of Ngapali at the fishing village
to the airport. We found there were actually five beaches, split into gentle
coves, each with its own clean sand and turquoise waters. One beach was called
Kipling Cove; local legend had it that Rudyard Kipling began writing his Jungle
Books here. Author George Orwell, then known as Eric Blair, was stationed in the
nearby town of Thandwe in the '20s. The teak and tin-roofed town, with its
colorful morning market and traditional teahouses, still uses the original 1930s
telephone exchange left by the British and is a delight to visit.
It was the British, ruling this region as a colony until 1942, who named
this country Burma after the dominant ethnic group, the Burmans (although, at
first, England referred to it simply as "further India"). Yangon was anglicized
into Rangoon, and Thandwe ended up, poetically enough, as Sandoway, a name that
attached itself also to the nearby beach. In 1989 the military government
changed the official country name to Myanmar, reviving the formal, pre-British
name. Many other names on the map followed.
Our beach was the only one with any development. Five new hotels, however,
all private and locally owned, are scheduled to open along the airport beach
within the next two years, according to Oliver Thet, resident manager of the
Bayview Resort. An enthusiastic 40-year-old from Germany with a progressive
vision and a Schwarzenegger accent, he's the "Mr. Oliver" of the turtle egg
sign.
I asked him about that sign, and, like so many things in Burma, there lay a
story within the story.
"Turtles bury their eggs at night all along the beach," he said. "They're
endangered hawksbill sea turtles, and the fishermen dig the eggs up and sell
them at the morning market." A few weeks earlier, he explained, he and a group
of hotel guests were at the Thandwe market and saw some of the
Ping-Pong-ball-sized turtle eggs for sale.
"I bought them all and told the vendors I'd buy any others that came in."
Oliver (as he likes to be called) reburied the eggs under a naturalist's
supervision in front of the hotel, where he could keep an eye on them. The
village fishermen now let Bayview buy the turtles caught in their fishing nets
and, with a bit of fanfare to help raise local awareness, the hotel then
releases them. "In this way, the fishermen don't lose their traditional
livelihood and the turtles are being saved," Oliver said. A catch-and-release
program, Ngapali beach style.
The Bayview -- with its catamarans and kayaks for rent and a shimmering
pool -- sitting just a few yards from our bungalow, became our local beach
hangout. Lunch at the tiny Sunset Bar, with its teak tables in the sand and full
menu from the hotel's superb restaurant, became our daily routine.
One afternoon, after a lunch of green curry chicken and crisp salad, and
with a cold Mandalay beer to sip, I asked Oliver his opinion of the tourist
boycott.
"Tourism breaks chains," he said. "That's why I never could understand Aung
San Suu Kyi and the boycott. A few months ago, I was driving my guests past the
old government hotel here. There was a group of prisoners working on the road
wearing their white longyis and white shirts. They had chains on their legs. It
was hard to explain to the tourists what they were seeing."
All prisoners, he said, must work, and hard labor shortens their prison
time. "I wrote the minister of tourism a long letter and suggested it was not a
good image for the tourists to see when the West thinks so badly of Myanmar
anyway. Maybe, I suggested, the prisoners could wear their chains under their
longyis so they wouldn't be seen. "Well, three weeks later I drove by the same
prisoners again. I noticed this time they wore their longyis over their chains.
Then the next time I saw them I couldn't believe my eyes. There they were in
their white prison longyis, carrying axes and machetes, and they had no chains
at all. I said to myself, 'Now the minister has gone too far. He's not only
taken away their chains, he lets them go about armed!' That's when I realized
that tourism can break chains."
My travels have taken me all over Asia, so I've seen my share of beaches.
I'd rank Ngapali as the most relaxing beach I've visited. Our afternoons were
given over to rejuvenating siestas. We whiled away the hours in the half-shade
and read and snoozed. Our sole distraction was deciding where to dine. Thursday
night was easy: That was the big beach barbecue at the Bayview, with tuna and
barracuda and a dozen kinds of pasta for just $10 per person.
A half-dozen local restaurants a few yards away on the beach road offered
traditional Burmese and local Rakhine dishes for the more adventurous palate. A
melange of Indian, Chinese and Thai cooking, Burmese cuisine adds liberal doses
of ngapi, a pungent paste made from dried fish or shrimp, and hot chiles, the
latter especially favored by the Rakhines. If Thai food just doesn't get hot
enough for your taste, you'll love the local curries (the hottest in Burma), and
just about everything else.
For Italian food, the best on the beach is the Sandoway. One evening, under
yet another stunning Bay of Bengal sunset, we took a 30-minute stroll down the
beach to the upscale resort. Outside dining is on the wood deck over the sand,
with coconut palms thrusting up artistically among the hand-carved tables.
Although it was already 7, there were no diners yet, but we noticed that all the
tables were reserved. While a waiter set up a spare table for us, we had a look
around. Entry to the open-air lobby is over a fishpond on a wooden walkway that
branches off to the two-story bungalows. The bungalows, with their 12-foot
exposed-beam ceilings, like the rest of the hotel, are constructed largely of
dark ironwood. The furniture is neat rattan, the walkway railings are thick
bamboo, and Burmese carved artwork is everywhere. Like the more family-oriented
Bayview, the Sandoway is a small resort, and the manager takes a personal
interest in his guests. Alberto Peyre, from Milan, Italy, is not only the
general manager but also the hotel architect. He oversaw the production, hired
the local labor and chose the local material.
"You have to be a bit crazy to work here," he said. "Myanmar is crazy. But
Myanmar is one of the last countries in Southeast Asia where you see the people
with the natural smile." From the menu, printed on handmade paper, we ordered a
classic antipasto, then a grouper ravioli, eggplant, and tomato fondue dish for
starters, and main courses of grilled prawn and tender beef filet.
As we opened a bottle of Italian wine, candles were being lit around the
beach chairs in the sand, and we realized that all the tables had quietly
filled. Maria and I shared a hot chocolate cake with English cream for dessert
and then, as the full moon silvered the palm trees, we walked back up the beach
to our own little bungalow.
on our last morning in ngapali, we joined a dozen Bayview guests for a
predawn drive up to the top of Nadaw (Buddha Bone Relic) Pagoda Hill to watch
the sunrise over Thandwe. The half-hour jaunt in the hotel's rugged diesel truck
took us up a rutted road in the dark to the pagoda and small monastery.
Till, the Bayview's beverage manager and our driver, had brought thermoses
of coffee and tea, as well as pound cake and apples. We enjoyed our breakfast as
the sun rose over the hills, revealing an unbroken carpet of jungle steam and
shaggy palms. Down there somewhere was Thandwe, with its morning market and its
teahouses. But the town was invisible to us, suggesting some truth in the fable
of how Thandwe got its name.
Long ago, the town was called Dwayarwady, which meant "The City That Can
Fly to the Sky." It was said to do this whenever danger approached. It happened
that a king from Bangladesh came searching for the town, and, when he finally
found it, he erected pagodas on each of the three surrounding hills and placed a
holy relic of the Lord Buddha in each one. The little town, unwilling to fly off
and abandon the pagodas, stayed fixed to the ground as if held down by
chains.
Thus the clever king captured Dwayarwady and changed its name to Thandwe,
meaning "iron chain."
Bumping back down the hill toward town, I thought about those iron chains,
and other chains, and how glad I felt, just then, to be a tourist on this
beach.
Carl Duncan, who lives in British Columbia, last wrote about Hong Kong for
the Los Angeles Times' Travel section, to which he is a frequent
contributor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - October 16,
2001.
Burma situation discussed
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and British ambassador Lloyd Smith
met yesterday to discuss the national reconciliation process in Burma, a defence
source said.
Mr Smith said he was concerned about a reported conflict among the junta
leaders which could pose a setback to the process, said the source.
Gen Chavalit assured the ambassador there was no conflict among Burmese
strongmen Gen Than Shwe, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and Gen Maung Aye.
The minister said he was confident the process would get under way soon.
Gen Chavalit has close ties with the Burmese military leaders.
A dialogue process is under way between Rangoon and opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt has asked Gen Chavalit to get the rebel groups
talking.
The minister would begin with the Kaya rebels and the Karen National Union.
The Shan State Army would be left until later as it had set a large number of
conditions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - October 16,
2001.
Nationwide crackdown on illegal labour
begins in two weeks
Nationwide crackdowns on illegal alien labour will begin on Oct 29 after
the extended registration period ends, says Labour Minister Dej Boonlong.
Workplace inspections would start the day before and a proposal to fine
lawbreakers would go to cabinet soon. Officials were already preparing for the
crackdown, the minister said.
The official deadline expired on Saturday. Foreign workers who failed to
tell the Labour Ministry about their intention to register are no longer
eligible to register during the extended period.
A small number of foreign workers turned up at registration centres
yesterday but many requests were rejected because they had come in too
late.
Employees serving restaurants, hotels, bars, massage parlours and karaoke
bars made up the biggest group of applicants before yesterday, 94,279 of whom
were Burmese, 20,816 from Laos, and 7,519 others from Cambodia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Not Facing Food Problem:
Leader
Xinhuanet 2001.10.16 14:38:16 YANGON, October 16 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar leader Lieutenant- General Khin Nyunt claimed on Tuesday that his
country does not face any food problem, saying that it will never face the
problem in the future either.
Speaking at a ceremony here marking the World Food Day, Khin Nyunt
noted that in addition to fulfilling its local demand, his country will
also help fulfill the local and international food requirements to the
best of its ability.
He told the ceremony that Myanmar's surface area and population are in a
proper proportionate ratio.
He said the Myanmar government is applying various means to extend
cultivated areas, to supply adequate amount of irrigation water and to
develop farm machinery manufacturing enterprises as well as making
arrangements to develop the use of modern agricultural methods and
high-yield crop strains.
He called for cooperation among all developed and developing nations
to ensure food sufficiency for the whole civilization to be free from
poverty and hunger.
Myanmar's agricultural sector, in which 65 percent of its labor force are
engaged in, contributes to the country's gross national product by 42
percent.
The cultivable area of Myanmar's agricultural sector is 18.225
million hectares, of which 10.125 million have been put under crops, while
8.1 million remain to be utilized.
To promote agricultural development, Myanmar government has exempted
the import duties of agricultural implements including fertilizer,
pesticide, improved variety and machinery.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Holds Arts Competition to
Raise National Values
Xinhuanet 2001.10.16 12:52:05 YANGON, October 16 (Xinhuanet)
-- An annual Myanmar traditional cultural performing arts competition is
held here, aiming at vitalizing people's patriotism and nationalism,
preserving and safeguarding the cultural heritage and national character,
and preventing influence of alien culture.
The 9th Myanmar traditional cultural performing arts competition with
2,538 contestants began on Monday and will last until the end of this
month. The competition includes contests in singing, dancing, music and
song-composing.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, first Secretary of the Myanmar
State Peace and Development Council Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt said
that cultures and standards of large countries with upper hand in
technology and economy have been breaking up, overwhelming and changing
national values and traditional cultures of smaller ones in the course of
changes in the world due to progress in science and technology.
In the wake of these facts, he warned, "young people are the main
targets and due to errors in these young people, own cultures tend to break up
and decay."
He stressed the high need for the young people themselves to take
part in preserving national culture and national characteristics.
Myanmar holds the competition annually since 1993.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar man nabbed for brokering export
of stolen machine
SHIZUOKA, Japan, Oct. 16 Kyodo
- Police arrested a 26-year-old Myanmar national Tuesday on suspicion of
purchasing stolen construction equipment and exporting it to Myanmar.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tourism affected in North
East
By our correspondent Mizzima News Guwahati, Oct. 16: The tourism industry in the North East of India is
likely to be affected severely as foreign tourists have started to cancel their
bookings in the wake of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Travel agencies are
concerned by the development as they have recently undertaken large-scale
investment in local infrastructure.
Hundreds of foreign tourists visit the region every year between November
and April to have a glimpse of wild life sanctuaries, undulating forest coverage
and historical monuments. Now, however, they are reluctant to visit the region,
so much so that the war in West Asia is perceived to cause a major setback to
the tourism industry in the North East of India. Young entrepreneurs who have
recently supported the harnessing of the region's tourism potential continue to
be optimistic that the situation will improve soon.
A cross section of travel agencies and tour operators contacted by this
correspondent revealed that there have been substantial numbers of cancellations
of bookings by prospected visitors from countries like Japan, Germany, Britain
and the Netherlands due to alarm raised by government agencies in many states
about visits to the South Asian region in the aftermath of the commencement of
the war in Afghanistan. Tourist-oriented enterprises, on the other hand, need to
attract tourists to the region soon in order to pay back their heavy investment
in local infrastructure projects.
. "We will be finished if the situation doesn't improve soon because we have invested heavily in our business", said a group of tour operators in the North East Indian state of Meghalaya. They further said that foreign tourists have shown a preference for visiting the hilly state, which is known to be peaceful; even so, the tourism sector is now facing a tough time. In Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, too, the state governments rely on the
tourism business, which is attracted by these states' exquisite natural beauty
in order to generate revenue. Moreover, state governments need to generate funds
from the tourism sector in order to maintain wildlife and game
sanctuaries. In the face of the current situation, a reduction in such
funds is very likely.
A tour operator who runs a lodge in the famous Kaziranga National Park of
Assam found that, so far, about 30 percent of tourist bookings have been
cancelled – a loss of business, which has become a matter of concern.
Mr Arijit Purkayastha of Network Travels told this correspondent that a
group of 34 Japanese and 4 Americans who were supposed to come to the region
have cancelled their booking at the eleventh hour in view of ongoing war in
Afghanistan. Mr Purkayastha was, however, optimistic that the situation will
improve very soon.
"We are yet to receive confirmation about the arrival of foreign tourists
and hence we are in a fix", said Mr Barua of Rhino Travels. He also expressed
astonishment over the development saying it would seriously impact on the
tourism industry.
Despite the paucity of the infrastructure, the tourism industry in the
region has been gaining momentum due to the inflow of foreign tourists, which
adds a large sum of money to government coffers but recent geopolitical
developments are likely to affect the industry to a large extent.
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