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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 23 -
24, 2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - U.N. envoy to Myanmar in talks to free
Suu Kyi
Reuters - Myanmar currency hits record low,
dealers arrested
Reuters - U.N. envoy arrives in Myanmar in bid
to save talks
CNN - Envoy ups pressure on Myanmar
generals
Reuters - Envoy Razali's charms lost on Myanmar
generals
Reuters - Remnants of Jewish diaspora fade in
Myanmar
Time - Thirteen Years Of Solitude
AFP - UN envoy to meet with Aung San Suu
Kyi amid pressure for her release
Reuters - Coal-fired plants put Thailand in
policy dilemma
AFP - Record heroin busts in China reflect
growing drug use: police
Reuters - Mystical advisers star in Myanmar
politics
AP - Japan to give Myanmar multimillion-dollar
grant for hospital equipment
AP - U.N. envoy meets with top junta official in
latest peace mission
AP - U.N. envoy to Myanmar hopeful of progress
in a few weeks
BBC - Burma's
opposition leader meets UN
----------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. envoy to Myanmar in talks to
free Suu Kyi
Wed Apr 24, 1:46 AM ET By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - A top U.N.
envoy met Myanmar's military leadership on Wednesday to try to secure opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest and breathe life into
slow-moving talks between the two sides.
A government official told Reuters U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail met
powerful military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, officially number three in the
ruling military council, and two junior ministers, but gave no details.
Diplomats say Razali is lobbying hard for immediate freedom for Suu Kyi,
who he is scheduled to meet later in the day. They suggest the Malaysian
diplomat could even resign if he leaves Myanmar empty handed -- a move that
would seriously jeopardise the talks he brokered 18 months ago.
On arrival in Myanmar on Tuesday, Razali said he was "always optimistic"
and told representatives of several of Myanmar's ethnic minorities he hoped for
progress in the dialogue between Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and the ruling military.
"Razali promised to work harder to step up progress in the dialogue," a
senior official from one ethnic minority group told Reuters after meeting
Razali.
But opposition activists and several of Myanmar's neighbours are showing
increasing signs of impatience with the lack of progress in the talks that have
so far yielded the release of about 200 political prisoners but little else.
Diplomats say only Suu Kyi's release can help allay growing scepticism that
the talks are being used by the ruling generals merely to end the
poverty-stricken country's isolation and lift crippling sanctions imposed by
many countries, including the United States and Europe.
"I think Razali will insist the (government) shows concrete progress," an
Asian diplomat based in Yangon told Reuters. "The easiest way to do it is to
release Aung San Suu Kyi."
The military has ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1962. Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won 1990 elections by a landslide,
taking more than 80 percent of the seats, but the military refused to relinquish
power, saying the country was not ready for civilian rule.
The charismatic daughter of independence hero General Aung San, Suu Kyi has
been under house arrest since before the talks began and hundreds of her
followers have been in jail for years.
She was also kept under house arrest from 1989 to 1995.
SUU KYI SILENCED
Diplomats say the ruling generals are afraid of Suu Kyi's popularity and
are divided over how much freedom to give her and the NLD. They say rivalry is
fiercest between the relatively moderate Khin Nyunt and army chief Maung Aye,
second in the junta command, who is considered a hardline opponent of political
change.
Maung Aye flew to neighbouring Thailand on Tuesday and will not be
available to meet Razali.
The talks between Suu Kyi and the junta, kick-started by Razali in late
2000, were at first hailed by the international community as a breakthrough.
Since then, the junta has released some NLD members from jail and ended its
daily attacks on Suu Kyi in state media.
But human rights watchdog Amnesty International says more than 1,500
political prisoners still languish in Myanmar's jails, and the government has
been silent on the talks.
Suu Kyi has also remained silent. Her telephone line is cut, she is
confined to her lakeside home in Yangon and her visitors are screened by the
military and limited to a handful of diplomats.
The NLD sees Suu Kyi's release as the only way to lift the party's public
profile, damaged by years of repression.
Diplomats say the NLD is unlikely to accept any form of power-sharing,
preferring to increase its popularity and wait for the regime to voluntarily
leave power or collapse.
Razali's mediation is seen by many diplomats as the only hope for peaceful
political change in Myanmar. The experienced U.N. diplomat has a close
relationship with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who holds some sway
in Yangon.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 24, 7:38 PM
Myanmar currency hits record low, dealers arrested YANGON, April 24 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's kyat currency plunged to a record low on Wednesday, with dealers
quoting between 980 and 1,000 to the dollar, as political and economic isolation
and galloping inflation forced businesses to operate in dollars.
Myanmar's military authorities reacted to the sharp fall, from around 910
kyat to the dollar on Monday, by arresting several currency traders, witnesses
told Reuters.
The government, which has often blamed the currency's fall on
"dealers and speculators", has detained currency traders in the past,
usually for a few days, in a bid to disrupt black market trade.
The kyat is officially pegged at 6.9 to the dollar but this rate is only
quoted by official government outlets.
Most currency dealings are on the black market where the value of the
Myanmar currency has fallen from 798 per dollar a month ago.
The economy of military-ruled Myanmar is largely moribund with huge swathes
of activity conducted off balance sheets, currency traders and diplomats say.
Foreign diplomats say massive macro-economic mismanagement and a severe
slump in investment since the 1997 Asian economic crisis have crippled the
economy.
They say the government is increasingly worried that spiralling import
prices and economic hardship could spark public unrest.
Prices for fuel, food and consumer goods have rocketed in recent months.
This week, gold dealers said 24-carat gold bars now cost 156,000 kyat per tical
(0.525 troy ounce), up from 84,200 kyat in April 2001.
No reliable inflation figures are available.
In an effort to stem the collapse in the currency, Myanmar banned all
foreign trading firms earlier this month, saying the measure was necessary to
protect local companies.
But dealers say the measures have merely exacerbated the problem, eroding
confidence in the kyat and further isolating the country. Most businesses have
no option but to buy dollars in order to purchase essential goods, they say.
Many Western countries, including the European Union and the United States,
have imposed trade and aid sanctions on Myanmar in response to what they say are
violations of human rights by the military and its failure to move towards
democracy.
Myanmar's military has been in power for the best part of four decades. In
1990, it held a general election which was won by the National League for
Democracy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but it then refused to give up
power.
The ruling junta says its economy is growing rapidly and estimates growth
in 2000 as high as 13.6 percent, but independent assessments are far more modest
at closer to six percent.
In real terms, they say the economy is stagnant. ----------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. envoy arrives in Myanmar in
bid to save talks
Tue Apr 23, 3:19 AM ET By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - A top U.N.
envoy arrived in Myanmar on Tuesday to try to spur talks between the military
junta and opposition which diplomats say may be the last chance for the generals
to show they are serious about political change.
U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, who brokered the dialogue 18 months ago, is scheduled to visit pro-democracy leader Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi twice at her lakeside residence where she has been confined since September 2000. On arrival, Razali said he was hopeful of progress in the long-running
talks. "I'm happy to be here," he told reporters. "I'm always optimistic."
But diplomats say patience is running thin and concrete results are
required for the generals to show the talks are not just a sham aimed at ending
the poverty-stricken country's isolation and lifting crippling sanctions imposed
by many countries, including the United States and Europe.
"I think Razali will insist the (government) show concrete progress," an
Asian diplomat based in Yangon told Reuters. "The easiest way to do it is to
release Aung San Suu Kyi."
The military have ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1962. Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won 1990 elections by a
landslide, but the military refused to relinquish power.
The charismatic daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San has
been under house arrest since before the talks began and many of her followers
have been in jail for years.
Razali plans to meet Myanmar's top generals during his visit, including
powerful military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, who is officially number three
in the military junta.
However, army chief Maung Aye, second in the junta's command, flew to
neighbouring Thailand on Tuesday and will not be available to meet Razali. Maung
Aye is considered a hardline opponent of political change in Myanmar.
"BIGGEST TEST"
Diplomats in Yangon say if Razali fails to find signs that real progress is
being made, he could resign, causing the talks to unravel.
"This is probably the biggest test he has had," a senior Western diplomat
said. "If he leaves Burma at the end of this visit with nothing, then it could
be all over."
The NLD says it has little alternative to the Razali-brokered talks even
though they appear to be going nowhere.
On Monday, NLD Secretary U Lwin told Reuters that Razali was unlikely to
throw in the towel if he left empty handed this week.
"He's not that sort of person, he won't give up," he said.
The talks between Suu Kyi and the junta, which have now lasted more than 18
months, were at first hailed by the international community as a breakthrough.
Since then, the junta has released more than 200 political prisoners and
ended its daily attacks on Suu Kyi in state media.
But human rights watchdog Amnesty International says more than 1,500
political prisoners are still in jail, and the government has been silent on
what progress the talks have made.
SUU KYI SILENT
Suu Kyi has remained silent. Her telephone line is cut, she cannot leave
her house, and her visitors are screened by the military and limited to a
handful of diplomats.
The NLD wants to lift its public profile, damaged by years of repression,
and play a role in forming social policy to help the millions of people slipping
below the bread-line.
But diplomats say the party is unlikely to accept any form of
power-sharing, preferring to increase its popularity and wait for the regime to
voluntarily leave power or collapse.
Razali himself has said progress in the talks has been too slow. Foreign
diplomats say the credibility of the dialogue is now on the line, and recent
political developments in Myanmar don't bode well.
The military said last month it had foiled a coup bid by relatives and
cronies of elderly former dictator Ne Win, a number of whom were arrested.
Many analysts doubt a coup was ever seriously planned, and say the
allegations are being used by the military as cover for a purge which has
strengthened the hand of hardliners opposed to making any concessions to Suu
Kyi.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Cable News Network
Envoy ups pressure on Myanmar generals April 24, 2002 Posted: 3:54 PM HKT (0754 GMT) YANGON, Myanmar -- United Nations envoy Razali Ismail has held talks with
one of Myanmar's top generals in an effort to push the country's military rulers
to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and resume talks.
The meeting with military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt took place behind
closed doors in Yangon and -- as is usual -- neither side made any comment about
the outcome.
Officially number three in the Myanmar government Khin Nyunt is regarded as
one of the most powerful figures in the country's secretive military regime.
Razali's visit, his seventh in the space of some 18 months, is being seen
by diplomats as a last chance for Myanmar's rulers to demonstrate they are
serious about political change and not merely mouthing words in an effort to
ease international sanctions.
One particular focus of his visit will be the continued detention of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being held under unofficial house
arrest and has not been seen in public for several months now.
Razali was scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi later Wednesday,
although once again the meeting is expected to take place behind closed doors.
Arriving in Myanmar on Tuesday, Razali said he was "always optimistic" that
progress would be made on his trip but refused to elaborate on what that might
be.
Stalled dialogue
Myanmar's ruling generals are under pressure to show they are serious about change Razali was instrumental in setting up talks between the military government and opposition leaders a year and a half ago, but since then the dialogue has largely stalled. Amid growing impatience many diplomats say they will be looking for Aung
San Suu Kyi's release as the generals' surest sign of commitment to talks.
Although the government insists she is not under formal house arrest, she
cannot leave her compound, her telephone line has been cut and visitor access is
strictly controlled.
Razali's visit was originally scheduled to take place last month, but was
abruptly postponed amid talk of a reported coup plot in Myanmar.
At the time a government spokesman said investigations were underway into
the alleged plot with former ruler Ne Win and several members of his family
detained for questioning.
'Coup' doubts
However, several observers and diplomats have cast doubt on the veracity of
the plot rumors saying the allegations may stem from disagreements among the
ruling generals over how to proceed in talks with Aung San Suu Kyi and other
opposition leaders.
What may have happened instead they say, is a purge of senior ranks by
hardliners seeking to strengthen their hand in the leadership.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been under military rule since a coup
in 1962.
Once one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia, years of political
isolation have left it one of the least developed in the region.
In 1990, facing international pressure, the military called nationwide
elections sparking a landslide vote for the National League for Democracy (NLD)
headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Caught off guard, the military refused to recognize the result of the
election placing hundreds of NLD officials and members under arrest.
Human rights group Amnesty International says more than 1,500 political
prisoners remain held in Myanmar jails.
Tuesday April 23, 1:39 PM
NEWSMAKER-Envoy Razali's charms lost on Myanmar generals By Patrick Chalmers KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Reuters) - The second anniversary of Razali
Ismail's appointment as United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar fell this month
with his coaxing of the military junta towards democracy having yielded little.
The top U.N. diplomat, a Malaysian, returns to Yangon on Tuesday, trying
once more to persuade Yangon generals to move forward in painfully slow national
reconciliation talks.
Razali's arrival in a country condemned internationally for crushing
democracy, peddling drugs and using prisoners as slave labour, marks a
crossroads for a man chosen for his Asian and diplomatic pedigree.
The tall, affable 63-year-old enjoys strong support from regional and
Western countries alike, but few people know what impact he's had as yet.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James
A. Kelly met Razali in Kuala Lumpur this month.
"We compared notes on what we didn't know," was how Kelly characterised the
meeting, though he saw Razali's impending return to Myanmar as a good sign.
Razali's early warm words and optimism have turned to frustration as months
passed with no major prisoner releases or freedom from house arrest for
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It's moving along, maybe not as fast as it should," the diplomat told
Reuters in rare off-the-cuff remarks in February.
Since then, the release and amnesty of several dozen prisoners was followed
by reports of a coup plot in March and postponment of a Razali visit due around
that time.
Activists in Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won
Myanmar's last election in 1990 but was barred from power, are getting restless
at the slow progress.
More than 1,000 political prisoners remain in jail, and the government is
silent on what talks have achieved -- if anything.
Skepticism about the generals' good faith, around since the start of the
latest initiative, has mounted.
Western diplomats in Yangon say Razali may resign if this week's trip
yields nothing, a prediction seen in Kuala Lumpur as premature though not
impossible.
More likely for the former U.N. General Assembly president would be a
period spent as diplomatic conduit and good guy while the United States, Europe
and Japan hike economic pressure.
If that tack falls flat, he may just admit defeat and quit.
DIPLOMATIC MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
"If anybody can do it, it's Razali," said a Western diplomat in Kuala
Lumpur, who asked not to be identified.
"If he doesn't succeed, I think it's 'Mission Impossible'".
Razali has better credentials than most to tease results from a xenophobic
Myanmar regime, mixing 10 years of experience as Malaysia's permanent U.N.
representative with top-level diplomatic postings in Asia and the West.
During more than three decades in Malaysia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Razali's assignments took him to Britain, France, India and Laos as well as
various senior U.N. jobs ranging from security to the environment.
"Everybody is aware of Razali's conclusions for the reform of the U.N.,
which are still the basis for discussions and negotiations years after he left,"
said the diplomat.
Known among New York-based diplomats at the time as bright, conscientious
and controversial, Razali cut a refreshing dash in his maiden speech as General
Assembly president.
"Delays and long lunches, which lead to more delays, at enormous cost, are
over," he said. "So too, I trust, the torture of long, unfocused speeches."
Razali, who avoids divulging the substance of his talks with the generals,
enjoys the ear of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whom he serves as
special adviser.
Mahathir, as self-styled defender of developing countries against the West,
is one of the few voices Yangon's rulers heed.
The veteran southeast Asian leader championed Myanmar's entry into the
Association of South East Asian Nations in 1997, defying calls by Washington and
European capitals for a delay intended to pressure the generals to change.
But the policy of engagement has yielded little, and Razali's patience may
be wearing thin.
"He is a free man. He doesn't say it but I think he's a little bit fed up
with these generals," said the diplomat.
"They do not keep their promises, they say something, they do something
else," he added.
A keen golfer, businessman, environmentalist and academic, who is married
with three children, Razali has lots else to do.
"If he resigns, that means nothing can be expected soon."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday April 23, 10:22 AM
Remnants of Jewish diaspora fade in Myanmar By Dominic Whiting YANGON (Reuters) - Moses
Samuels sits in front of Myanmar's only synagogue, thinking back to his
childhood in the days before most of the country's Jews were forced out by its
military rulers.
"There were plenty of Jews. We had a school, the upstairs of the synagogue
was full with women on a Friday evening and the gents were downstairs," said
Samuels, 51, the synagogue's trustee and Jewish community leader in
predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.
"My father had plenty of friends, and every Saturday they came and we ate
together."
But in 1964, military dictator Ne Win unleashed a socialist-inspired
nationalisation drive, forcing Yangon's once thriving Jewish community, which
numbered around 2,500, out of business and out of the country en masse.
Only 20 Jews from eight families remain now, and many plan to leave,
choosing the economic promise of Israel over impoverished Myanmar.
"I will soon send from here two or three families," said Samuels. "Most
haven't got jobs. Business is slowing down and they want to go to Israel."
A letter from Israel's president posted at the synagogue entrance urges
Jews to move to the country.
"If the majority of Jewish people lived among us, the peace process with
the Arab nations would progress more quickly and effectively," it says.
HALAL DIET
Samuels says most of his friends are Muslim. The cool blue stone synagogue,
built in 1893, lies among run-down but bustling shops offering fishing nets,
paint, and shoes in the middle of Yangon's main Muslim community.
"I've got plenty of friends in these streets," Samuels said.
"In the hot season they come and sit inside the synagogue. They use my
water, and during the high holidays, if I can't get electricity I get it from
the Muslim shops for two or three hours," he said, lamenting Myanmar's almost
daily electricity cuts which can last for hours.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle East politics are not
conversation topics.
"They don't discuss it with me. They talk business and then they go to the
mosque and I go to the synagogue," Samuels said.
Samuels is a descendant of Iraqi Jews, who started to arrive in Myanmar --
formerly called Burma -- in the 1850s. Like most in the community, his
grandfather and father had a trading company, sending cotton, rice and textiles
to British India.
The synagogue follows traditional Iraqi design, and is easily spotted from
the busy street by a navy blue Star of David that Samuels hammered on to the
front of the building.
Inside, two wooden balconies overlook the main aisle where a handful of
worshippers, usually including three or four people from the Israeli embassy,
congregate for major Jewish holy days.
The services are led either by Samuels' son, Sammy, or the Israeli
ambassador.
"The last time a rabbi came here was in 1967, from India. A rabbi can't
stay very long because there's no kosher food," Samuels said.
"I eat halal, there's plenty around here," Samuels said, referring to the
Islamic method of preparing meat.
"A MIRACLE"
Samuels spends much of his time welcoming visitors. Some are the sons and
daughters of Yangon Jews who left for Israel, the United States, Britain and
Australia in 1964.
"Thank you for keeping the Jewish spirit alive in Yangon," a New Yorker
wrote in the visitors book.
"A miracle," an Israeli wrote of Myanmar's surviving Jewish community.
Most visitors also go to the nearby Jewish cemetery to see the 700 curved
concrete tombs that, lined together in more than 20 rows, resemble a rough
corrugated roof.
The cemetery has been officially closed since 1997, when the military
government ordered Samuels to move the graves to a new site on the outskirts of
Yangon. Samuels says the government wants to build on the land, but he will not
abandon the cemetery until the ruling generals force him.
"It's sad but what can I do, all the land belongs to the government here,"
Samuels said.
While Jewish funerals are dying out, even Samuels finds it hard to remember
the last wedding or birth.
"It's a long time since the last marriage, it must be about 30 years," he
said.
Samuels said his two daughters will probably emigrate to Israel, but he
hopes Sammy will find an Israeli wife and return to keep the Jewish community
alive in Yangon.
"There are no Jewish boys or girls here, everyone's old," Samuels said.
"Now Sammy has to study the religion and Hebrew and then he can think about
marriage."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Time Magazine (Apr 23,
2002)
Thirteen Years Of Solitude To bring Burma democracy, AUNG SAN SUU KYI has lost both family and her own
freedom. Andrew Marshall delves into the psyche of a lady trapped in a
not-so-gilded cage
A few years ago, The New Light of Myanmar, Burma's Orwellian state
newspaper, did something extraordinary: it published a piece of actual news. The
country's factories, it proudly reported, now produced so much barbed wire that
they had begun exporting it. This was a revelation indeed. For in the gulag that
is modern Burma?a nation once described as "a prison with 47 million
inmates"?bushels of the stuff have already been unfurled to separate one woman,
Aung San Suu Kyi, from the millions of people who support her.
On a sweltering Rangoon afternoon in 1996, I stood by the barricades
surrounding Suu Kyi's home on University Avenue and watched a heart-stopping
event unfold. Nearby, in full view of armed troops and government spies, her
supporters were gathering. First only a handful, then a few dozen, finally a
50-strong crowd, all hoping to cross the barricades. Suddenly, three army trucks
roared up, more soldiers jumped out, and the entire crowd was prodded into the
vehicles at bayonet point and driven off. It was a dramatic illustration of the
almost suicidal loyalty Suu Kyi commands among ordinary Burmese.
She has earned it?and not just because she is the daughter of Aung San, the
independence hero who helped free Burma from the British in 1948, and who
founded the army that, ironically, now imprisons his daughter. To fight what she
terms "the second struggle for independence," she has sacrificed much, above all
her own freedom. She can easily end her ordeal by simply leaving the country.
But she refuses to give the generals that satisfaction or abandon her fellow
Burmese in their fight against oppression.
Such was the life-transforming choice Suu Kyi made in 1988, when she
returned to Burma to nurse her ailing mother and was swept up in Burma's great
pro-democracy uprising. "I could not as my father's daughter remain indifferent
to all that was going on," she told a crowd of over half a million Burmese at
Rangoon's revered Shwedagon pagoda, the first of a thousand speeches she would
deliver across the country.
The military crushed the democracy movement by shooting hundreds of unarmed
protesters in cold blood and imprisoning thousands more. It nullified the
results of a 1990 general election?which should have put the National League of
Democracy into power?and placed Suu Kyi, its leader, under house arrest. As a
child, she conquered a fear of the dark by standing alone at night in her
family's rambling lakeside home. Now 56, she has spent the best part of 13 years
confined to it. She battles her isolation with the same single-mindedness,
sustained by her faith?she is a devout Buddhist?and by what a friend from her
days at Oxford University recognized as "her rooted reluctance to accept
defeat." In 1995, when the restrictions were briefly lifted, she claimed that
house arrest had made her "spiritually stronger."
Indeed, it elevated her to secular sainthood. People nicknamed Suu Kyi the
"Angel of University Avenue" and placed her portrait atop household shrines.
They also credited her with near-mystical powers. After the 1990 election there
were reports that Buddha statues across the country were growing breasts. There
was a rational explanation: when worshippers apply gold leaf to Buddha statues
they often place it over the heart, thus the bulging chest. But the
superstitious Burmese interpreted the phenomenon as a cosmic endorsement of Suu
Kyi's leadership. At the time the regime was so worried that some temples were
cordoned off by troops.
Her enduring popularity baffles and enrages the generals, who seem unaware
that their aggression only helps sustain it?just as the brute force of British
imperial rule helped create one of her heroes, Gandhi, whose tactics of
nonviolent confrontation she champions. The junta has responded with tactics
both brutal and bizarre. Suu Kyi's car was attacked by a well-orchestrated mob
armed with stones and iron bars; a senior military officer publicly called for
her assassination. Girls with astrological charts suggesting strength of
character have been banned from state-run beauty contests for fear their success
might augur a rise in Suu Kyi's power. Commentaries in state-run newspapers have
blamed Burma's crippled economy on her repeated calls for sanctions (rather than
on the generals' operatic greed and ineptitude). Accompanying cartoons have
depicted her as a shaven-headed, toothless crone?a "democracy sorceress"
spitting invective.
Suu Kyi is also "Mrs. Aris," a sneering reference to her marriage to the
late Oxford don Michael Aris, a choice of husband (according to the regime) that
renders her patriotism suspect. She has defused the accusation with winning
humor. At a public speech at Meiktila in central Burma, an elderly man once
asked her why she had married a foreigner. "I married a foreigner because I grew
up in foreign places," she replied. "If I had grown up in Meiktila, then perhaps
I would have married?you." The old man blushed, and the crowd roared with
delight.
Ten years later, a terminally ill Aris tried to visit his wife to say
goodbye. Callously, the regime denied him entry and suggested Suu Kyi visit him
and her two children in Britain instead. Knowing that if she left Burma she
would never be allowed to return, she stayed put and never saw her husband
again. The decision must have been heartbreaking, but nobody who knew her was
surprised?least of all the long-supportive Aris.
Suu Kyi would roundly disapprove of this issue of Time. "There is no room
for hero worship in a true political profile," she once wrote. (The Nobel
Committee disagreed, awarding her the Peace Prize in 1991.) She prefers to laud
the unrecognized heroism of ordinary Burmese, who have now endured 40 years of
military rule. She and the generals are currently engaged in reconciliation
talks. Nothing has come of them, prompting the suggestion that someone with less
principle, less defiance and more pragmatism might be better able to wring
concessions from a junta famous for its calculated mendacity.
Propaganda aside, that's as strong a criticism as one is likely to hear of
Suu Kyi. Nobody in Burma is as widely loved and admired, or as trusted by the
various ethnic minorities whose cooperation is vital to the nation's future
stability. There is a subtle but crucial difference between power and strength,
and Aung San Suu Kyi has proved it. Burma's generals fail to see the
distinction. Until they do, no amount of barbed wire will contain her.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 24, 4:56 PM
UN envoy to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi amid pressure for her release YANGON, April 24, (AFP) - UN envoy Razali Ismail is expected to meet with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as pressure mounts for the military regime to release her after 18 months under house arrest. Razali, a Malaysian diplomat who has acted as the catalyst for a fledgling
political reconciliation process in Myanmar, is due to arrive at Aung San Suu
Kyi's lakeside residence early Wednesday evening, diplomats said.
Earlier Wednesday he held two-hour talks with the junta's number three,
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, the influential chief of military
intelligence.
On Thursday he is scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi's lieutenants,
the Central Executive Committee of her opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD).
The committee members are among a select group allowed regular access to
Aung San Suu Kyi and visit her residence three times a week.
And Razali is expected to see the Nobel peace laureate once more on Friday
before wrapping up his seventh visit to Myanmar as the personal envoy of UN
chief Kofi Annan.
Rumours have swirled through the diplomatic community this week that the
junta is poised finally to release Aung San Suu Kyi, perhaps during or shortly
after Razali's visit.
The move would signal a substantial step forward in talks with the junta
that she embarked on in October 2000, at the urging of Razali, who has been
trying to break a decade of political deadlock.
"There are some rumours that the announcement will be made by the
government during Razali's visit. Some said Suu Kyi might be released. It is
difficult to guess what could happen," one diplomat said.
However, others were more cautious, saying that despite high hopes among
the international community, there was no concrete sign the junta was preparing
for such a dramatic gesture.
"There's very little evidence and a lot of speculation... We are just going
to have to wait and see what Mr. Razali says," another diplomat told AFP.
When he arrived in Myanmar on Tuesday Razali carried with him hopes that he
would finally prompt a breakthrough in the reconciliation talks, which have
proceeded at a painfully slow pace and behind closed doors.
The NLD said earlier this month that it was hopeful the contacts would soon
conclude an initial "confidence-building" phase and start discussing a political
transition to end four decades of military rule.
NLD secretary U Lwin said the dialogue was nearing that point last month
when it was derailed by the regime's announcement that it had foiled a coup plot
mounted by relatives of former dictator Ne Win.
"I'm rather optimistic that we are getting near," he told AFP earlier this
month, adding that Razali's latest mission would be key to any
breakthrough.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN's special envoy on human rights in Myanmar,
also said at the weekend that Razali's visit could provide the momentum needed
to create a civilian government.
The military prevented the NLD from taking power in 1990 after it won a
landslide election victory.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 24, 1:50 PM
Coal-fired plants put Thailand in policy dilemma By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK, April 24 (Reuters) -
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has a tough decision to make on two
controversial coal-fueled power plants in southern Thailand, seen as a test of
his government's commitment to its fuel diversification policy.
Net energy importer Thailand must strike a balance between strong
opposition from environmental groups and a steadily rising demand for power as
it aims to shift some of its fuel dependence from natural gas to coal.
Thaksin, under pressure from residents of nearby fishing and agricultural
communities to scrap the proposed Japanese-funded power plants or face unrest,
has said he will decide on the fate of the plants by April 30 after several
deferrals.
Thailand's National Energy Policy Office (NEPO) says the projects, with a
combined capacity of 2,100 MW, planned by Union Power Development and Gulf Power
Generation, are necessary to maintain power reserves as industrial and domestic
demand grow.
The proposed plants, to be located in Prachuab Kiri Khan province, 280 km
(175 miles) south of Bangkok, are two of the three privately-run, coal-fired
plants planned under NEPO's 1996 policy to diversify fuel sources and deregulate
the industry.
NEPO plans to lower the proportion of natural gas in power production to 55
percent by 2011 from 74 percent last year, and get more power instead from coal,
renewable fuels and neighouring countries' hydroelectric plants.
Two decades ago Thailand used fuel oil for 90 percent of its power
generation.
Now it wants to increase its use of imported coal in power generation to 19
percent in 2011, from around three percent in 2001. Local coal, or lignite,
accounts for 13 percent of power production. Lignite is less clean burning than
imported coal.
NEPO projects power demand to rise by 1,300 MW a year over the next 15
years from 16,126 MW last year, and says the country's power reserve margin
could be halved to 15 percent and the gas-fueled electricity generation ratio
could rise from 70 to 80 percent in 2007 if the proposed plants are scuppered.
THREATENED VIOLENCE, LAW SUITS
The government faces a dilemma: whether to please foreign investors or Thai
villagers and environmentalists.
Hundreds of villagers are staging a sit-in on the proposed construction
site of the Union Power plant and have threatened violence.
"What we want from the prime minister now is his confirmation that the
projects will be scrapped or we will burn them," Jintana Kaewkao, leader of the
protesters told Reuters.
Investors in both power projects say they will sue the government for
hundreds of millions of baht if compensation if the projects are scuppered.
Union Power Development is 29 percent owned by Japan's Tomen Corp
<8003.T>. Hong Kong Electric <0006.HK> holds 26 percent, while
Japan's Chubu Electric Power <9502.T>, Toyota Tsusho Corp
<8015.T> and Thailand's Union Energy each own 15 percent.
Gulf Power is 50 percent owned by Thailand's Electricity Generating Plc ,
49 percent owned by Electric Power Development of Japan and one percent owned by
Thai firm Mitsiam International Ltd.
The Japanese government owns two thirds of Electric Power Development, with
the rest split among nine Japanese power utilities.
Proponents of the diversification from gas to coal say further expansion of
gas-fueled power generation could put the country at risk of disruptions if gas
grids were hit by accidents or enemies in war.
WEAK ARGUMENTS
A government-appointed panel on the impact of the proposed coal-fired
plants also said in a report released last week that gas prices were closely
tied to oil prices, which looked set to rise over time.
"The more Thailand depends on natural gas, the more risk the country will
face," the report said. "Possibilities of major accidents or sabotage could hit
the country's security as a whole, not just power supply."
But pro-gas Thai energy agencies, including state-run petroleum operator
PTT Plc , say the country has not fully utilised the environmentally-friendly
fuel, extracted locally from the Gulf of Thailand and piped in from Myanmar.
A Bangkok-based analyst with a private energy consultancy told Reuters the
global trend for power plants was gas.
"They (NEPO) have obviously committed themselves to these coal plants, so
they're bringing up every excuse they can think of. Some of the reasons they
have are a bit weak, especially diversification," the analyst said.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 24, 2:14 PM
Record heroin busts in China reflect growing drug use: police (AFP) - China is seizing record
amounts of heroin along its southwestern border with the "Golden Triangle"
poppy-growing region, a phenomenon that senior officials say reflects growing
illegal drug consumption in the country.
Chinese police last year confiscated a record 12.3 tonnes of heroin, most
of which came from the region alongside Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Of this,
eight tonnes was found in the far southwestern province of Yunnan alone.
"The drug problem in the Golden Triangle is a very complicated and a
long-term arduous task for us," said Sun Dahong, the head of Yunnan's Anti-Drug
Committee.
"Increasing foreign drug production is threatening and continuously doing
harm to Yunnan," he told reporters during a media trip to the region earlier
this week.
Yunnan police last year arrested nearly 13,800 suspected drug traffickers,
up 33 percent over the previous year, while the eight tonnes of heroin
confiscated in the province represented a massive 163 percent increase over
2000, Sun said.
However, this haul is only a small fraction of the 1,800 tonnes of heroin
that Chinese police estimate is produced in the Golden Triangle, mainly by
Myanmar and Laos, which share porous borders with China.
Of around 92,400 hectares (230,000 acres) of poppy fields in the Golden
Triangle, 87,000 hectares are in Myanmar. According to Chinese police maps, a
wide belt of poppy plantations sits just inside the Myanmar side of the
country's 1,400 kilometer (840 mile) border with China.
It is not clear how much is shipped into China, police say, but since the
1980s, drug traffickers have increasingly routed heroin to the United States and
Europe via China and through either Hong Kong or Taiwan.
The street value of the heroin confiscated in China last year reflects the
enormity of the trade.
Calculated at a price of 200 yuan (24 dollars) for a gram of pure heroin,
the 12.3 tonnes confiscated was worth 2.46 billion yuan (296 million dollars) on
the streets of Kunming, Yunnan's capital city.
However the drug could fetch 10 times as much in the southern province of
Guangdong neighbouring Hong Kong, said Ma Mingai, vice president of the Yunnan
Public Security College.
And in New York, the same amount of pure, uncut heroin could make its
Kunming yuan price in dollars, he said.
After having effectively eradicated drug use in the early 1950s, the
Chinese government began finding narcotics reemerging in the late 1980s, Sun
said. Demand for hard drugs has grown ever since, he added.
"By the 1990s, both the consumption phenomenon and the transit phenomenon
existed in China," Sun said.
"Now there is an increasingly high frequency of drug use in China with the
number of Chinese drug addicts growing."
By the end of 1998, China had 681,000 registered drug addicts, which soared
to 910,000 by the end of last year, he said.
Police refuse to estimate how many Chinese have tried heroin or use it
recreationally, but they readily admit that heroin and other drugs like ecstasy
and methamphetamines are easily available in bars and night clubs around the
country.
"The drug phenomenon is a complicated social problem that is due to many
factors, of which the economic situation is one," Sun said.
China's increasingly prosperous living standards since it opened up to the
outside world from the late 1970s have created a climate for drug use, as people
become richer and have more free time, he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 24, 9:58 AM
Mystical advisers star in Myanmar politics By Dominic Whiting YANGON (Reuters) - In a narrow,
dimly lit office in central Yangon's Bogyoke Aung San market, Myint Lwin waits
for his next customer, a folder full of lunar, solar, and stellar charts on his
tatty wooden desk.
A young, well-dressed couple, who travelled over 400 km (250 miles) from
Taunggyi in central Myanmar, have just left the office smiling.
"They wanted to know whether they should get married," Myint Lwin says. "I
said yes. The two horoscopes are very good, but they'll have just one or two
children. And their parents are rich traders so they do not worry about money."
In Myanmar, almost anyone who can afford it will see an astrologer before
making an important decision, whether personal or work-related -- even the
government.
The political and economic destiny of the country, formerly called Burma,
has been intertwined with mysticism for decades.
Last month, the military government arrested members of former dictator Ne
Win for plotting to overthrow the junta with the help of an astrologer using
voodoo dolls.
During his rule, mysticism-obsessed Ne Win introduced 45 kyat and 90 kyat
banknotes because the numbers are divisible by, and their digits add up to, his
lucky number nine.
"Everybody believes in astrology," says Myint Lwin, vice chairman of the
Myanmar Astro Research Bureau, which claims to bring together a handful of the
country's most eminent astrologers to train budding wizards.
CIVIL SERVICE CAREER
Myint Lwin asks $10 for a consultation -- around one month's salary for a
civil servant if you use the latest black-market rate of the free-falling kyat
currency. But the bureau's teaching services are free.
Having reached the pinnacle of his career, Myint Lwin said he should now
pass on the knowledge that he gained from his father and grandfather, who were
both astrologers. But he leaves government work to others, including his
disciples.
"We are the best 11 people in Myanmar but VIP persons do not see us, they
see other people because teaching is our major subject," Myint Lwin said. "We're
a private association, but our students can go on to work for the government."
The civil service for an astrologer could mean relatively mundane
predictions of auspicious times and dates for meetings and signing international
agreements. But high-flyers give personal advice for Myanmar's omnipotent junta.
"All top leaders have their own family astrologer, just like having a
family doctor," said Aung Zaw, editor of Bangkok-based Irrawaddy magazine.
"Their wives especially listen to astrologers, who say what to wear, what
to eat, which day to travel," he said.
"And the wives will tell their husbands, 'darling don't go today -- it's
not safe'."
Although not known to be superstitious, Nobel laureate and leader of the
pro-democracy opposition Aung San Suu Kyi has a close relationship with a highly
revered Buddhist monk called Thamanya Sayadaw, who many believe has supernatural
powers.
"Many people said he went to see her during her house arrest...people
believe sometimes he's invisible," said Aung Zaw.
The ruling generals have kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for the last 18
months.
She was also confined to her home for much of the early 1990s after the
military government refused to recognise their election defeat to her National
League for Democracy in 1990.
"RICH AND SUCCESSFUL"
Astrologers say they have seen their freedom of speech curtailed in recent
years.
The Myanmar new year festival in mid-April is a time when sages release
their country forecasts for the coming year. They are likely to be upbeat.
"Government officials tell them not to make negative predictions for the
country, like drought or other catastrophes," said Aung Zaw. "They could face
imprisonment, that could happen in Burma," he said.
At the Astro Research Bureau, Myint Lwin declined to divulge what the
future holds for Myanmar's military rulers or Suu Kyi.
But despite current economic difficulties -- including frequent electricity
black-outs, near hyperinflation and trade and aid sanctions imposed by many
Western countries -- Myanmar has a very bright future, he said.
"I think the country will become rich and successful. Our raw materials are
many, many -- minerals, jewels, oil."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Japan to give Myanmar
multimillion-dollar grant for hospital equipment
Mon Apr 22, 9:53 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Officials from Myanmar and Japan signed an agreement Monday for Tokyo to provide
a grant of 792 million yen (dlrs 6.09 million) to purchase medical equipment for
hospitals in Myanmar's capital, Yangon, the Japanese Embassy announced.
It will be the first grant for Myanmar in more than 10 years under Japan's
official Overseas Development Assistance foreign aid program.
Following the lead of Western nations, Japan stopped most direct financial
assistance to Myanmar after the ruling military junta's violent 1988 crackdown
on pro-democracy protests and its refusal to hand over power to an elected
government.
Before 1988, Japan's grants to Myanmar, then called Burma, made up 60
percent of all foreign aid and grants going into the country.
In late 2000, the junta began closed-door talks with opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace prize laureate, in an effort the break the
country's political deadlock.
Since then, Japan's has eased its attitude toward the military regime. Last
month, Japan agreed to donate 35 million yen (dlrs 2.7 million) to Myanmar for
foreign language training.
Monday's agreement on hospital equipment was signed by Myanmar Health
Minister Maj. Gen. Ket Sein and Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar Shigeru Tsumori,
said a Japanese Embassy press release.
----------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. envoy meets with top junta
official in latest peace mission
Wed Apr 24, 1:02 AM ET By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A United
Nations envoy met with a top leader in Myanmar's military junta on Wednesday in
his latest attempt to coax the government to restore democracy and to mend
fences with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Razali Ismail, appointed as special U.N. envoy to Myanmar two years ago,
held talks for one hour with Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the chief of military
intelligence. Razali did not speak to reporters after the talks and the
government did not give any details.
Razali is scheduled to meet later Wednesday with Suu Kyi at her lakeside
Yangon residence where she has been kept under virtual house arrest since
September 2000.
Razali, a retired Malaysian diplomat who arrived Tuesday on his seventh
peacemaking visit, helped broker ongoing closed-door reconciliation talks
between the junta and Suu Kyi in October 2000.
But the last 18 months have seen little progress. The only tangible results
have been the junta freeing 258 political prisoners and allowing Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party, or NLD, to reopen 35 of more than 300
branches it once had in Yangon. However, critics point out that more than 1,000
political detainees remain in jail.
The current group of generals came to power in 1988 after a bloody
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. The junta called general elections in
1990 but refused to hand over power when the NLD was declared winner.
It is hoped that Razali's efforts will force the junta to accept a
political role for the NLD and Suu Kyi in a future civilian government.
However, the snail-paced progress of the reconciliation talks has increased
the NLD's and the international community's exasperation with the junta, which
is also facing criticism for alleged human rights abuses, use of forced labor
and its inability to control powerful drug lords. Meanwhile, the impoverished
country's economy continues to be in a tail spin.
Razali is also scheduled to meet later Wednesday with foreign business
people and leaders of the Shan ethnic community. He is also expected to meet
junta leader Gen. Than Shwe before leaving on Friday. The No. 2 junta leader,
Gen. Maung Aye, is currently on a visit to Thailand.
----------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. envoy to Myanmar hopeful of
progress in a few weeks
Wed Apr 24, 6:08 AM ET By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar - A United Nations envoy on a mission to coax Myanmar's
military junta to restore democracy is hopeful that some progress will be made
in a few weeks, according to business people who met him Wednesday.
Razali Ismail expressed his optimism after a 1 1/2-hour meeting with Lt.
Gen. Khin Nyunt, the chief of military intelligence and the No. 2 leader in the
junta.
The U.N. diplomat later met with foreign businessmen based in Yangon and
leaders of ethnic parties to discuss the progress of reconciliation talks he
brokered in October 2000 between the junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
The pro-democracy opposition and the international community have expressed
frustration at the apparent lack of progress in the talks. Razali, a retired
Malaysian diplomat, arrived in Myanmar Tuesday on his seventh visit to push the
junta to make more concessions.
During his talks with the foreign businessmen, Razali said he had "a good
meeting" with Khin Nyunt, a Southeast Asian businessman said.
"He (Razali) said he is optimistic there will be some manifestation of
progress in a few weeks," said the businessman.
An ethnic Shan leader also quoted Razali as saying that Khin Nyunt has
assured him the talks are making progress. The Shan leader and the businessman
spoke on condition of anonymity.
Razali's comments are the most optimistic summary in recent months of the
reconciliation process. Since the talks began 18 months ago, the junta has freed
258 political prisoners and allowed Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
party to reopen 35 of more than 300 branches it once had in Yangon. But critics
point out that more than 1,000 political detainees remain in jail.
Razali is scheduled to meet with Suu Kyi later Wednesday at her lakeside
Yangon residence where she has been kept under virtual house arrest since
September 2000.
The current group of generals came to power in 1988 after a bloody
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.
----------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Wednesday, 24 April, 2002, 11:49
GMT 12:49 UK
Burma's opposition leader meets UN A United Nations special envoy has met Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi in an attempt to break years of political deadlock.
Razali Ismail, a retired Malaysian diplomat, is trying to negotiate an end
to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, as part of reconciliation
talks with the ruling military junta.
There were no details of his talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the
National League of Democracy (NLD), which were held at her lakeside residence.
Earlier he met the junta's number three, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, the
influential chief of military intelligence.
Neither Mr Razali or the Burmese Government made any official comment on
those talks either.
But the UN envoy is reported to have told local businessmen afterwards that
he had "a good meeting" with General Khin Nyunt.
A South-East Asian businessman told AP news agency that Mr Razali was
optimistic of progress "in a few weeks".
Ongoing dialogue
This is Mr Razali's seventh visit to Burma since he initiated secret talks
in October 2000.
On arriving in the country on Tuesday he said he was "always optimistic"
and told representatives of Burma's ethnic minorities he hoped for progress in
the dialogue between the pro-democracy leader and the ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC).
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a
landslide but the military junta refused to give up power.
The opposition leader has been under house arrest since September 2000 when
she tried to take a trip outside the capital Rangoon. Rumours have been rife in
diplomatic circles that the junta might be about to release her, perhaps during
or shortly after Mr Razali's visit.
Crunch time
UN officials say Mr Razali's visit is a make-or-break trip because the
international community is growing increasingly impatient at the lack of
concrete results.
But privately, UN officials have told the BBC that the prospects for a major breakthrough are dim. The negotiations have so far resulted in the release of about 200 political
prisoners, but have achieved little else. Mr Razali has hinted he might resign
if he leaves the country empty-handed this time.
Diplomats say that only Aung San Suu Kyi's release can counter growing
suspicion that the junta is using the negotiations as a means of ending the
poverty-stricken country's isolation and lifting crippling sanctions.
"I think Razali will insist the [government] shows concrete progress," an
Asian diplomat based in Rangoon told Reuters. "The easiest way to do it is to
release Aung San Suu Kyi."
Mr Razali is also to meet Senior General Than Shwe, the leader of Burma's
junta at some point during his four-day visit.
He will again meet Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, party officials said.
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