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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January
23, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Thailand to host ASEAN senior economic
officials' meeting
AFP - Thailand to press on with plan for
controversial media office: report
TI - OVL, GAIL pick
stake of Myanmar Daewoo arm
Bkk Post - Army chief
admits `mistakes'
Bkk Post - Rangoon
urged to arrange more sites for returnees
Bkk Post - Golden
Triangle likely to yield more drugs
Bkk Post - EU unlikely
to ease restrictions
Kyodo News - 8 NGOs,
UNDCP to join in combating Myanmar drug problems
NSTP - Hardly out of prison, ex-convict
returns to bad old ways
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 23, 6:31 PM
Thailand to host ASEAN senior economic officials' meeting BANGKOK, Jan 23 (AFP) -
Thailand will next week host a meeting of senior economic officials from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), officials said Wednesday.
The two-day meeting will focus on drawing up an action plan for the group's
"Vision 2020" goal to create free trade and investment agreements within the
10-nation group, the Department of Business Economics said.
Officials will also discuss the formation of free trade agreements with
trading partners including Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan and South
Korea.
They will also consider holding a third round of talks on the
liberalisation of the services sector.
The meeting will include a retreat at the seaside resort town of Pattaya
Thursday, followed by a day-long session in Bangkok.
ASEAN comprises the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 23, 1:00 PM
Thailand to press on with plan for
controversial media office: report
(AFP) - Thai officials have vowed to go ahead with plans to set up a media office governing news coverage at state-run radio and TV stations, but will change its name and mandate, a report said. The proposed Centre to Improve Public Understanding, which has caused an
uproar among rights activists who say it would curb press freedom, will be run
partly by academics and the media, the Bangkok Post reported.
Prime Minister's office permanent secretary Yongyuth Sarasombat reportedly
said the media center would be renamed the Information Service Centre for Public
Interests and would merely assess public opinion.
The opening of the center, scheduled for Wednesday, would be put off
indefinitely, but the government would pursue the scheme "aimed at making the
state-controlled media produce the maximum benefit for the public," he
said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has moved to deflect mounting opposition
to the plan, saying the media center would not be a government mouthpiece that
would present propaganda as news.
The creation of the center has raised the hackles of Thai journalists and
press freedom campaigners wary of the plan they say will stifle liberty and
allow the government to dictate news coverage.
The Thai Journalists Association and the South East Asian Press Alliance,
an advocacy group, have slammed move as an attempt by the Thaksin administration
"to manipulate the news."
Since Thaksin took office after a landslide election victory last January,
he has had several brushes with the media.
Earlier this month, Thai police ordered the seizure of an edition of the
weekly Far Eastern Economic Review because of an article on Thaksin's relations
with the Thai monarchy -- a strictly taboo subject.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India
OVL, GAIL pick stake of Myanmar Daewoo
arm
PTI [ TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2002 4:48:44 PM ]
NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) have picked up 30 per cent stake of Daewoo International Corporation in its natural gas development project in block A-1 in Myanmar. OVL, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), will take
20 per cent participating interest in the the Bay of Bengal gas block (Rakhine
offshore), located northwest of Myanmar, while 10 per cent will go to
GAIL.
"OVL will buy 20 per cent stake of Daewoo International in the offshore
exploration block which is estimated to hold about 10 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas," ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha said in New Delhi.
GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Prashanto Banerjee also confirmed the
deal saying an agreement for taking participation interest in the block would be
signed next week.
Under the agreement, ONGC and GAIL would make some investment in
feasibility tests at block A-1, and would invest more than 400 million dollar in
the development stage.
Both Raha and Banerjee declined to give any further details on the
deal.
"The feasibility tests would cost more than 20 million dollars and gas
development costs would exceed 1 billion dollar," company sources said.
Exploratory drilling would be decided in 2003 and commercial production was
expected to begin in 2008.
After the sale, Daewoo, the operator of the field, would have 60 per cent
interest in the block while Korea Gas Corp. has the remaining 10 per cent.
Sources said Daewoo had agreed to farm out 30 per cent stake in the A-1
block to OVL and GAIL, provided the two were prepared to bear 200 per cent of
the participating interest through the first extension period ie., the drilling
stage.
"The South Korean company has agreement to give 20 per cent stake to ONGC
and another 10 per cent to GAIL on the condition that they provide funding for
the gas exploration project in excess of their stakes," sources said.
Daewoo International, the developer of the block A-1 in Myanmar, had last
month sold a 10 per cent stake in the block to Korea Gas Corp.
"Daewoo was awarded the block in August 2000. Since then, it has been
conducting preliminary feasibility studies and is now doing further studies
toward beginning a drilling program by 2003, with first production in 2008,"
sources said.
Banerjee said GAIL and OVL would explore the possibility of bringing the
gas produced from the block to India through a pipeline.
"All this is under consideration stage. We haven't firmed up any plans as
yet. The results of exploration phase would determine the future course of
action," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 23,
2002.
Army chief admits `mistakes'
Probe launched into death of Akha man
Wassana Nanuam
Some soldiers were wrong in using violent means to discipline hilltribe
people involved in drugs and they will be punished, army chief Gen Surayud
Chulanont said yesterday.
His remark followed a report that an Akha man had been tortured to death
during an army-run drug detoxification programme in Chiang Rai early last
month.
Gen Surayud said initial investigations found that soldiers sometimes
resorted to violence to deal with hilltribe people involved in drugs in villages
bordering Burma.
Those soldiers would be punished and transferred, he said. ``Absolutely,
there have been mistakes,'' he said.
That was because inappropriate measures had been applied in such
detoxification programmes without authorisation and reports to superiors, Gen
Surayud explained. They included the detention of drug addicts in soil
pits.
Inquiries have been launched at the levels of the Third Army and the Pha
Muang 1 Task Force. He said he wanted to know all the facts behind such drug
rehabilitation courses in order to launch right solutions. The inquiries will
also look into the death of the Akha drug addict, Ajuuh Cheh Mooh Gooh.
The army chief thanked the Bangkok Post for revealing news of the
maltreatment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 23,
2002.
Rangoon urged to arrange more sites for
returnees
Renewal of permits set for February 24
Penchan Charoensutthipan
Rangoon will be asked to arrange two more sites to accommodate its
nationals working illegally in Thailand who are to be sent back.
Paisarn Preutiporn, secretary-general of the Office of the Administrative
Commission on Irregular Immigrant Workers, said Thailand will hold talks with
Burma next month.
Burma will be asked to arrange two more sites: Phaya Thongsu town opposite
Kanchanaburi, and Kawthaung (Victoria Point) opposite Ranong, to shelter Burmese
sent back for failure to renew their work permits with Thai labour offices
within the March 25 deadline.
Burma earlier agreed to arrange a site in Myawaddy town, opposite Tak, to
accommodate those deported for working here illegally.
Workers, mostly from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, must register with labour
offices and undergo medical check-ups before their work permits are
renewed.
Alien workers are required to have their work permits renewed every six
months.
Following expiry of the first registration period last Oct 1, a total of
26,040 illegal workers were caught by police, and 50 employers were arrested for
hiring illegal workers.
Sources said the second registration period for workers to renew their
permits will be from Feb 24 to March 25.
Immigrant workers found suffering from tuberculosis, leprosy,
elephantiasis, syphilis, alcoholism or mental illness will not have their work
permits renewed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 23.
2002.
Golden Triangle likely to yield more
drugs
Wassana Nanuam
Drug problems in Thailand will intensify this year with increases in
methamphetamine production and opium poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle
area, an anti-drug agency deputy chief predicts.
Thirapat Santimetaneedol, deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control
Board, said more speed pills were being produced as several new smuggling routes
opened in the region, including in Cambodia's Koh Kong province.
The Golden Triangle would become the world's largest opium source, he said,
because the opium production capacity in Afghanistan had dropped to 17,000 rai
last year from 40,000 rai in 2000 as a result of the fighting in that
country.
``So, more opium will be cultivated in the Golden Triangle area from
northern Thailand to Burma and Laos. It is estimated the amount will rise to
2,500-3,000 tonnes from 1,000 tonnes last year,'' he said.
Mr Thirapat said more than 250 tonnes of heroin could be produced from some
3,000 tonnes of raw opium.
Satellite surveys on Jan 18 showed some 5,500 rai of opium cultivation in
the North, he added.
Thailand receives a 25-million-baht subsidy from the US each year in
support of anti-opium operations.
Meanwhile, Lt-Gen Pongthep Thetpratheep, deputy army chief-of-staff,
confirmed news reports that the Red Wa ethnic minority group in Burma was
increasing its capacity to produce more than 700 million speed pills and more
heroin this year.
``But we are still confident the army will do better than last year since
the Special Task Force 399 has been well-trained by the US and has modern
equipment. This will ensure efficiency for methamphetamine suppression,'' Lt-Gen
Pongthep said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 23,
2002.
EU unlikely to ease restrictions
Political conditions are not yet right
Anuraj Manibhandu
The European Union is unlikely to change its policy on Burma but would
welcome any progress Thailand might achieve there through warming relations with
the junta, the Spanish ambassador said.
Ambassador Jose Eugenio Salarich, whose country took up the EU presidency
on Jan 1, said the EU's rigid framework and lack of political improvements in
Burma work against ``spectacular'' changes in the EU's policy towards that
country.
However, he added in an interview with the Bangkok Post, ``anything which
would advance the situation in Burma promoted through Bangkok, through specific
co-operation or specific input ... will be of course supported.''
The form this support would take depended on what the Thai and Burmese
governments wanted and what would be ``feasible'', he added.
Thai-Burmese contacts have stepped up since Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra visited Rangoon in June last year, a step his predecessor Chuan
Leekpai resisted.
The ambassador said the ``political conditions'' the EU sought from Rangoon
included respect for the results of the 1990 elections, release from house
arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and release of all political
prisoners in Burma. It has also pushed hard to end forced labour in that
country.
The EU's common position on Burma, last reviewed in October, calls for the
continuation of an arms embargo, suspension of bilateral aid except what is
strictly humanitarian, and travel restrictions against members of the Rangoon
regime.
It also offers ``incentives'', such as help in the fight against HIV-Aids,
and a promise to invite the Burmese foreign minister to the Asean-EU meeting in
Europe later this year.
The ambassador, however, cautioned against any expectation that Spain would
bring dramatic changes to what is a legally binding document at the next review
due in April.
``We don't intend to do a spectacular thing because there is no room to
make a spectacular move from our part. We have a very rigid framework of action
... which is this common position and we intend to apply this strictly because
this is something that our governments have agreed upon.'' he said.
Though Spain could not make any ``prejudgments'' at this stage, he said,
the situation in Burma ``since many years has not changed enough for us to
change our policy.''
The EU and Thailand, he said, have ``identical'' interests in seeing a
stable political situation in Burma where people can live and trade in peace and
``where political refugees will no longer be necessary''.
While admitting the presence of 100,000 Burmese refugees in Thailand posed
``enormous political problems'', the ambassador said the EU would continue to
extend financial support to improve camp conditions in Thailand rather than
resettle the refugees.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 NGOs, UNDCP to join in combating
Myanmar drug problems
YANGON, Jan. 23 Kyodo - Eight
nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and the U.N. Drug Control Program (UNDCP)
signed an agreement in Yangon on Wednesday to join in countering drug problems
in Myanmar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press - January
23, 2002.
KUANTAN
Hardly out of prison, ex-convict returns to bad old ways by Jason Gerald An ex-convict released from the Sungai Buluh prison last November for killing a man at Jalan Raja Laut in 1997 has been re-arrested together with a Myanmar woman for possessing ecstacy pills, syabu and two pistols. Police found on them 280 ecstacy pills and 10 packets of Syabu with a
street value of RM15,000, and two Thai-made pistols, one which is similar to a
Browning Automatic and the other a .38 Smith & Wesson, as well as 21
bullets.
The arrest as well as the seizures of the amphetamine-type stimulants,
syabu and pistols wwhen they raided a house at Kubang Buaya at 11am on Sunday.
Police also found on the ex-convict an identity card and driving licence
not belonging to him.
State Criminal Investigation Department chief Acting Assistant Commissioner
Mohd Hashim Othman said both the suspects are believed to be involved in drug
distribution in the district.
He said the 280 ecstacy pills were of various colours and the 10 packets of
Syabu or better known in the market as Ice Baby were packed in large, medium and
small sizes.
Further search in the house, police found two pistols and ammunitions in a
small bag hidden inside an empty container on the first floor, he said.
Pahang Narcotics Department Acting Chief Assistant Superintendent Mohd
Kashim Mohd Ram said
Police also frozen the ex-conmvict's assets of two cars, two bank accounts
with about RM50,000, electrical appliances and jewellery worth about
RM150,000.
Checks on the cars showed that the Honda Civic was repossessed but not
returned to the finance company while the Proton Wira was reported to be stolen
from Subang in Selangor, he said.
The man had been staying in the rented house with the woman, who has a
working permit as a maid, since the past five months.
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