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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- JUNE 29 - 30, 2002.
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HEADLINES
--------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Suu Kyi warms hearts again, but has
political dialogue gone cold?
AFP - Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi wraps up trip
to Mandalay
IRNA - Myanmar bans Thai goods as ties hit a
low
Tehran Times - Myanmar
Says It Is Serious About Fighting Drugs
The Australian - Democracy in Burma like the
(albino) elephant in the room
The Hoovers - Authorities deny Foreign Exchange
Certificates to be withdrawn
NSTP - Suu Kyi draws the crowds
JT - Japan-Myanmar panel set to hold final
meeting
The Nation - Patch-up signal from Burma
The Nation - Burma
destroys Thai MSG
The Nation - Bumbling approach to Burmese
generals
Bkk Post - Anti-Thai pitch annoys people
Bkk Post - Thaksin vows to maintain policy
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday June 30, 10:32 AM
Suu Kyi warms hearts again, but has political dialogue gone cold? (AFP) - As pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi caps off a triumphant tour of Myanmar's north, observers in
Yangon wonder whether any real progress has been made since her dramatic release
from house arrest.
Generals in the military junta have largely ignored the Nobel peace
laureate since her release on May 6 from 19 months of detention, diplomats and
other observers say.
Even Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy
(NLD), has expressed concern that no true gains have emerged from the talks
between "The Lady", as she is popularly known here, and the junta which began in
secret in October 2000.
"It has not stalled," NLD spokesman U Lwin told AFP, referring to the
political dialogue, "because it hasn't even started yet."
Speaking at the NLD's dilapidated headquarters, darkened by one of the
all-too-frequent power cuts, U Lwin's tone reflected exasperation over the pace
of change in Myanmar, the former Burma, where he said people "have more patience
than anywhere else in this world."
He explained how a channel of communication was indeed open between the
opposition party - which won a sweeping 1990 election victory that was never
recognised - and the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
"We have had the opportunity to talk with the generals, but not about
political dialogue," he said.
The UN-brokered talks were meant to eventually address the thorny issue of
national reconciliation - a euphemism for the transition to democracy in a
country driven to ruin through the regime's "Burmese way to Socialism" begun in
the early 1960s.
"But even the government doesn't say that substantive political dialogue
has started," a Yangon-based diplomat points out.
Instead, U Lwin said, as the talks have concluded their so-called
confidence-building phase, they have turned to the release of political
prisoners, and logistics such as security for Aung San Suu Kyi and the addition
of new telephone lines at NLD headquarters.
Important as such details are, says a second diplomat, "there is no real
substantive dialogue yet on political issues."
Since her release Aung San Suu Kyi has taken pains to eschew confrontation,
a tactic which the diplomat says helps avoid embarrassing and belittling the
junta. "And the government is cutting her some slack."
The junta's new found tolerance was evident this past week as Aung San Suu
Kyi arrived in the northern city of Mandalay on her first trip outside Yangon
since travel restrictions on her were lifted.
Police did not interfere with her activities, and she made several spirited
addresses to supporters, many of whom clamored for a glimpse of her.
"The junta has done more than we have expected," U Lwin admitted. "Before,
there was very much hostility and confrontation."
Several observers say the two political camps have clearly softened their
approaches towards one another - although it remains unclear just why the junta
is attempting conciliation.
"Two years ago the government was hell-bent on putting the NLD out of
business," the second diplomat said. Now, he said, the junta may even be
"willing to accept the NLD in a process towards a parliamentary system."
Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi's triumphant return trip to Mandalay - where
she told supporters that "there is no turning back" - is a stark reminder to the
military regime that it faces the risk of a resurgent political groundswell
spinning out of control.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday June 29, 3:15 PM
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi wraps up trip to Mandalay (AFP) - Myanmar democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi has left the northern city of Mandalay, winding up her
first political trip outside the capital since being released from house arrest
last month, party sources said.
"She left Mandalay at around 9:30 am (0300GMT) Saturday and will stop for
lunch at Meiktila," a source from the National League for Democracy (NLD) told
AFP.
Despite the success of the trip, in which her freedom of movement was not
hampered, an expected meeting with Mandalay's military commander, Major General
Ye Myint, did not happen.
NLD sources had said Friday that such a meeting would have been a
"significant development".
"She did not meet with any high-ranking officials as was expected," said
NLD official Maung Maung Than, joint secretary of the NLD Mandalay organising
committee, who put it down to a "misunderstanding".
Suu Kyi and the ruling military regime have been engaged in secret talks on
national reconciliation since October 2000, but observers have expressed
concerns over the pace of the talks, particularly since her release has yielded
no further political developments.
However, Suu Kyi was invited to the Mandalay's Palace City, the former
residence of the last Myanmar king, which is now the regional military
headquarters.
She was given a one-hour tour, Maung Maung Than said.
Suu Kyi is expected to visit government projects along her return route,
such as Paunglaung dam in Pyinmana, and will probably spend the night there
before completing the return journey to the capital Sunday.
The immensely popular leader left Yangon a week ago for her first political
trip outside the capital since she was freed from 19 months' house arrest on May
6.
A trip such as this was expected by observers to be a true test of the
regime's undertaking to grant her complete freedom of movement, and so far NLD
sources say this is what she has enjoyed.
The trip is particularly significant because Mandalay, lying some 695
kilometres (430 miles) north of Yangon, was the city the ruling military regime
blocked her from travelling to in September 2000.
Soon afterwards the regime confined her to her famed lakeside villa in the
capital.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand-Myanmar
Myanmar bans Thai goods as ties hit a low Kuala Lumpur, June 29, IRNA --
Myanmar has banned Thai products following a border crisis and a subsequent war
of words that have brought ties to a new
low.
According to the Thai newspaper, the Nation, Myanmar has discouraged the
use of consumer goods from Thailand, ordering its state-run companies and ethnic
Wa-controlled businesses to import more from China despite higher
costs.
Myanmar citizens who violate the ban face harsh
punishment.
Myanmar newspapers have reported that the junta confiscated and destroyed
three tons of monosodium glutamate from Thailand over the past
month.
"The government is investigating cases of imported prohibited good,s and
action is being taken against those found guilty," the Nation quoted the Myanmar
state-controlled `New Light of Myanmar' said on
Thursday.
But ordinary Myanmar nationals were complaining because of the flooding of
overpriced consumer goods and the closure of border crossings, the Thai official
said.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Friday that relations with
Myanmar were at their
worst.
The latest verbal spat between the two neighbors follows the Myanmar
junta's shunning of a Thai protest against perceived insults of Thailand's
monarchy in articles in the official media
there.
Thaksin said Myanmar had yet to respond, but he was keeping the door open
for
dialogue.
On Thursday, in what appeared to be his strongest condemnation of Yangon
since the crisis began, Thaksin came out in support of the Thai Defense
Ministry's retaliation to a series of insults, saying bilateral relations "could
be at a
crossroads."
Meanwhile, Thai Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh blasted one of the
authors of the articles as a "national
enemy."
He said the Thai military would continue its own propaganda war against
Myanmar through its media channels after he repeatedly asked the junta not to
attack Thailand's most revered institution, the
monarchy.
Relations soured badly last month after clashes occurred along the border
in which ethnic Shan rebels overran Myanmar military
bases.
Myanmar accused Thailand of providing support to the rebels, a claim
Bangkok has
denied.
After both countries exchanged protests on May 20, Yangon slammed shut its
border checkpoints with Thailand, banned official visiting delegations and
launched a patriotic tirade against Thailand in its
press.
Myanmar has banned any mention of Thailand in the press, which now refers
to it as "Yodaya," a centuries-old name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Tehran Times - June 29, 2002
Myanmar Says It Is Serious About
Fighting Drugs
YANGON -- Myanmar's military government on Wednesday torched a pile of
seized drugs and insisted it was committed to fighting illegal narcotics despite
international accusations that the ruling junta profits from the drugs
trade.
At a ceremony to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse, Myanmar set
ablaze a heap of illicit drugs that it said had a street value of some $1.1
billion. The haul included more than three tons of opium, 240kg of heroin and
nearly 35 million stimulant tablets, officials said.
"We wish for this burning to stand as a symbol to the world of our
commitment to eradicate illegal drugs within our country," government spokesman
Colonel Hla Min said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Burma's military rulers have been widely accused of at best turning a blind
eye to dug production, and at worst, of actively profiting from it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Australian
Democracy in Burma like the
(albino) elephant in the room
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent June 29, 2002 BURMA'S white elephants don't appear to be taking to their new job with
much enthusiasm.
The two albino beasts keep their backs turned to the dozens of Rangoon citizens who make the mud trek to see them in their newly built pagoda, and spend their days rocking from one foot to the other in the small square of freedom allowed by their chains. The elephants are the strongest symbols of Burma's future offered by the
State Peace and Development Council. Revered because of the colour white's
association with royalty, the albino beasts are heralded as a sign of new
prosperity for Burma.
The larger animal, captured last month, is a dramatic pink. The other,
captured in the western jungle last October, looks rather brown. Apparently it
qualifies under a strict set of criteria for its number of white bits, but it is
impossible to tell.
After being searched, presumably for weapons of sabotage, visitors are kept
a fire-range length away from the elephants and are forbidden to take
photographs.
Not so across the road where up to 30,000 worshippers a day climb a hilltop
pagoda to come face to foot with the largest white marble Buddha in Burma. The
massive sculpture, like most things here, has a political spin. Over the past
two years, millions of Burmese kyat have been spent transporting, carving and
erecting the 12m monument in its perfumed chamber.
The expenditure, at the direction of Secretary 1 Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt, came after the discovery of a giant white marble monolith in an area with
a name much like that of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to the underground myth, the general was determined to eradicate
any potential association of the auspicious marble with the Nobel peace
laureate.
Such big spending doesn't trickle far. Rangoon's streets are clogged with
20-year-old cars and World War II-era buses, and there is little sign of
economic movement in the city that was once the British empire's jewel in the
east.
At the central Bogyoke market, dozens of gemstone and jewellery stalls hint
at the country's riches, but many shopowners only switch on their lights when
customers enter the store. Diesel fuel to power their generators during frequent
blackouts is rationed to 9 litres per day, although a black market feeds demand.
There are black markets for other commodities outlawed or restricted for
economic or symbolic reasons: cooking oil, US dollars, Thai-made Red Bull soft
drink ? and information.
Burma's media this week made no mention of the military regime's greatest
symbolic gesture over recent months: the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from 20
months of her most recent house arrest and her travels this week in the central
region of Mandalay, where she was swamped by cheering supporters.
Most of the crowd only knew about her trip through word of mouth.
Information on the people's great hope for political change has been transferred
that way since her National League for Democracy won 1990 elections that were
never honoured by the nation's military regime.
Sometimes it is the small symbols that reveal the most. Two years ago, the
generals attempted to close down the ramshackle Rangoon headquarters of the NLD
and many of its members were imprisoned simply for listening to its leader
speak.
This week, it was a bustle of activity, hosting lessons in law, a health
clinic for children and a curtain-making sewing circle.
A boy doorman perched himself on a plastic chair opposite visitors waiting
to speak to secretary U Lwin ? the only member apart from Aung San Suu Kyi
authorised to give public comments. Every few minutes, the young man sought to
catch the eye of his guest. Then he beamed and pointed to the NLD badge on his
chest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hoovers
Burma: Authorities deny Foreign Exchange
Certificates to be withdrawn
June 28, 2002 8:43am
Deputy Finance Minister Brig-Gen Than Tun last week denied the rumours
suggesting that government might withdraw the Foreign Exchange Certificates
[FEC] soon. He told a media conference last Wednesday [19 June] that FEC would
continue to be a legal tender for the convenience of the foreign travellers in
Myanmar [Burma] and local people who engaged in transactions in American
dollars.
Central Bank of Myanmar introduced FEC in 1993 for circulation in the place
of US dollars, the use of which is legally restricted to specific sections of
the population. Only those who earn foreign exchange through lawful means can
handle the hard currency. One FEC has an official value equal to that of the
corresponding US dollar bill.
"FECs are fully backed by the Central Bank against the acquisition of US
dollars, and even if they were to be withdrawn, the bank would hand out the
greenback equivalent," a central Bank official told Myanmar Times. The rumours
speculated after the government instructed the Ministry of Post and
Telecommunication recently to accept the payment of telephone bills in kyats
from those phone users who were before mandatory have pay their bills in FEC.
Brig-Gen Than Tun said the government' move was aimed at reducing the
exchange rate between Kyat and FEC, which was tumbled down in its value by 15
per cent over the past few month after the new government regulation was
introduced. Brig-Gen Than Tun said the foreigners and Myanmar citizen who have
been making transactions in foreign currencies will still have to pay their
telephone bills in FECs. The government has made it clear that it has no plan to
withdraw any of the currency currently under circulation.
Source: The Myanmar Times web site, Rangoon, in English 24 Jun 02
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press
Suu Kyi draws the crowds By AFP MANDALAY, June 29. ? Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi left the
northern city of Mandalay today, winding up her first political trip outside the
capital since being released from house arrest last month, party sources
said.
But despite the success of the trip, in which her freedom of movement was
not hampered, an expected meeting with Mandalay's military commander, Maj-Gen Ye
Myint, did not occur.
Sources within Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) had said
yesterday that such a meeting would have been a "significant development".
"She did not meet with any highranking officials as was expected," said NLD
official Maung Maung Than, joint secretary of the NLD Mandalay organising
committee, who put it down to a "misunderstanding".
Suu Kyi and the ruling military regime have been engaged in secret talks on
national reconciliation since October 2000, but observers have expressed
concerns over the pace of negotiations, particularly since her release has
yielded no further political developments.
However, Suu Kyi was invited to Mandalay's City Palace, the former
residence of the last Myanmar king, which is now the regional military
headquarters where she was given a one-hour tour, Maung Maung Than said.
The immensely popular leader left Yangon a week ago for her first political
trip outside the capital since she was freed from 19 months' house arrest on May
6.
A trip such as this was expected by observers to be a true test of the
regime's undertaking to grant her complete freedom of movement, and so far NLD
sources say that is what she has enjoyed.
The trip is particularly significant because Mandalay, lying some 695km
north of Yangon, was the city the ruling military regime blocked her from
travelling to in September 2000.
Soon afterwards the regime confined Suu Kyi to her famed lakeside villa in
the capital.
The Nobel peace laureate was mobbed by crowds numbering in the thousands
wherever she visited in Myanmar's second largest city and its surrounds,
demonstrating that her popularity continues unabated despite her prolonged
confinement.
Some 5,000 cheering people turned out to welcome her on her arrival
Wednesday at the NLD headquarters.
The celebratory mood in Mandalay since her arrival is in contrast to a more
ambivalent atmosphere in Yangon, where observers remain concerned about the pace
of the national reconciliation process.
Yesterday, Suu Kyi attended a dinner given in her honour by businessmen,
retired officials, and families of NLD members who remain in jail.
Thousands waited outside the hall hoping to catch a glimpse of her as she
arrived. She spent ten minutes speaking to them, thanking them for their warm
welcome and support, witnesses said.
During her dinner speech, Suu Kyi called for the on-going support of
Mandalay's people in helping the NLD achieve democracy.
"I again remind you not only to focus on business matters, but also to help
the NLD achieve democracy for the betterment of all," she said.
The NLD leader is expected to visit several Government projects, such as
Paunglaung dam in Pyinmana, on the return route of her journey and will probably
spend the night there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Japan Times: June 28,
2002
Japan-Myanmar panel set to hold final meeting By HISANE MASAKI Staff writer Amid a rapid easing of political tension in Myanmar, a key joint economic
panel of Japanese and Myanmar government officials and private-sector experts
will hold what is supposed to be its last meeting next month.
According to government sources, the joint panel will meet in Tokyo around July 20 to wrap up nearly two years of discussions on ways to resolve structural problems that have hobbled the impoverished Southeast Asian country's economic development. The panel will then compile a final report on its findings by the end of
the year for submission to top leaders of the two countries, the sources said.
The final report is expected to contain policy recommendations on a wide
spectrum of areas, from financial and monetary affairs to industrial and
agricultural matters.
The panel's meeting will come less than three months after Myanmar's
military regime released prodemocracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi from house arrest, on May 6.
Japan rewarded the military regime, the State Peace and Development
Council, for Suu Kyi's newly granted freedom only four days later by signing an
official document with Yangon on providing a 628 million yen grant for a
hydroelectric power project.
This is the first installment in grants-in-aid worth an estimated 3 billion
yen to 3.5 billion yen that Japan plans to extend for the rehabilitation of the
superannuated Baluchaung No. 2 Hydro Power Plant, the largest Myanmar power
plant accounting for roughly a one-fourth of the power-strapped country's total
power generation.
The joint Japanese and Myanmar economic panel was inaugurated as part of
Japanese technical cooperation in June 2000 in accordance with an agreement in
November 1999 between then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Than Shwe, chairman
of the SPDC.
Obuchi and Than Shwe held talks in the Philippines during the so-called
ASEAN-plus-three summit, the first top-level meeting between Tokyo and Yangon
since the military took power in Myanmar in a 1988 coup. Two years later, the
military nullified the results of an election in which Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy won a landslide victory.
The ASEAN-plus-three summit has been held annually in recent years among
top leaders from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China
and South Korea. Japanese ODA consists of yen loans, grants-in-aid and technical
cooperation.
The former U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton objected to the
Japan-Myanmar economic panel, claiming that it would only spoil the SPDC by
signaling that Japan condones its lack of progress on democratization and
human-rights protection.
But Japan has gone ahead with the panel's work, advocating a policy of
"constructive engagement," instead of isolating Myanmar from the international
community, as a means of bringing favorable changes to the country.
The U.S. and Europe have toughened economic and other sanctions against
Myanmar during the past decade. Japan has also frozen large-scale economic aid
for new projects in principle, but what it classifies as humanitarian projects,
like the Baluchaung rehabilitation, have been exempted from the freeze.
The 1997-1998 Asian financial and economic crisis dealt a severe blow to
the Myanmar economy, which had already been struggling amid international
economic sanctions.
"Because of politically motivated objections from the U.S. and Europe, no
loans have been extended to Myanmar from the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund, over which they wield strong influence," one senior Japanese
government official said. "The joint economic panel between Japan and Myanmar
was launched to provide intellectual assistance to help Myanmar meet economic
conditions for receiving fresh lending from such international institutions once
political conditions are met sometime in the future."
The official said, however, that it remains to be seen whether the joint
economic panel will actually be disbanded after compiling a final report by the
end of the year.
"Everything depends on how strongly the SPDC will be willing to heed such a
panel's advice and carry out structural reforms of the economy," the official
said. "Although the SPDC has a deep distrust of the U.S. and Europe, it has been
willing to listen to what Japan says."
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Patch-up signal from Burma Published on Jun 30, 2002 Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said that the Burmese
government had signalled willingness to restore soured Thai-Burmese relations by
agreeing to stop its media from publishing articles that offend Thailand's
monarchy.
The message was conveyed by General Maung Aye, deputy chairman of the
National Peace and Development Council, who made it clear that the military
junta had never had any intention to defame the Thai monarchy, the prime
minister said.
He said Maung Aye had also expressed gratitude to Their Majesties the King
and Queen for granting him an audience when he visited Thailand in April.
"It's a good sign . . . General Maung Aye also reaffirmed that his
government still respected all bilateral agreements on economic and other
international collaboration it had signed with us," Thaksin told reporters at
Parliament House.
The Burmese ambassador to Thailand also met Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai to receive the Thai government's letter of protest against the
newspaper articles.
Thaksin said that the government had also informed the ambassador that
Thailand suspected that Burmese troops had encroached onto Thai soil.
The ambassador promised that his government would look into the matter and
in future correct such mistakes within 24 hours of being informed, Thaksin said.
Surakiart said the Burmese junta had ordered its media to stop publishing
articles deemed insulting to Thailand's past monarchs after the Foreign Ministry
made its written protest.
The Burmese foreign minister also pledged to blacklist media agencies that
published such articles and take action against them, Surakiart said.
Surakiart said the Foreign Ministry had not asked the Burmese government to
apologise. "We just wanted them to stop," he said.
Articles criticising Siamese kings, written by columnist Dr Ma Tin Win, had
been recently published in the New Light of Myanmar, a Burmese state-run
English-language newspaper.
Surakiart said that as far as he knew the New Light of Myanmar was not a
popular newspaper in Burma. The Thai Ambassador to Burma, Oum Maolanon, said
that the New Light of Myanmar had stopped publishing articles derogatory of
Thailand.
He said the articles in question were about King Naresuan the Great and
King Narai the Great.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Burma destroys Thai MSG
Published on Jun 28, 2002
continuing its anti-Thai campaign, Burma has confiscated and destroyed
three tonnes of monosodium glutamate (MSG) from Thailand over the past month,
state-run newspapers reported yesterday.
Burmese authorities have put a ban on the import of MSG on health grounds,
saying it is harmful to people. However, smugglers have imported the chemical,
widely used for cooking in the country, illegally.
Some three tonnes of MSG from Thailand, seized last month in Hpa-an
township 100 kilometres west of the border opposite Mae Sot district, went up in
flames, said the state-controlled New Light of Myanmar.
"The government is investigating cases of imported prohibited goods and
action is being taken against those found guilty," it said.
Burma has imposed restrictions on the use of Thai commodities after the
recent border tensions to demonstrate its displeasure with Bangkok. Burmese
citizens who violate the ban face harsh punishment, said a Thai official who
monitors Burmese affairs.
The junta has tried to discourage the use of consumer goods from Thailand,
ordering its state-run companies and ethnic Wa-controlled businesses to import
more from China despite higher costs, the official said.
Ordinary Burmese are complaining because of overpriced consumer goods and
the closure of border crossings, he said.
Tension between the two countries flared last month after repeated
exchanges of artillery fire across the border and skirmishes between government
troops and Shan rebels.
Lt-General Udomchai Ongkasing, commander of the Third Army Region, said the
Shan State Army (SSA) is fighting off an offensive by Rangoon's troops.
Fierce fighting is taking place near Chiang Mai's Mae Fa Luang district as
the junta's troops and its allies, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), is trying to
capture the SSA's stronghold at Doi Kor Muang. But is it not easy to predict
when the fighting would end and who will win, he said.
The Army commander said he had ordered smoke shells to be fired to warn
Burmese troops after they crossed into Thai territory.
A military source said the pro-Rangoon UWSA had mobilised more troops from
Tachilek to beef up its force to help government troops in the fight against the
SSA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
SIDELINES: Bumbling approach to
Burmese generals
Published on Jun 30, 2002
The war of words the Defence Ministry waged with Burma for two days has
ended abruptly, for an assessment of results perhaps. In a way, it was just like
a return of fire using a Howitzer against the zip gun shot by a Burmese
academic. Her negative writing about Thailand in an aura of patriotic zeal was
quite effective in luring our generals into her trap.
The way we conduct our diplomacy in the bilateral relationship with Burma has never shown a clear pattern. It has been a mixture of personal deals, chummy contacts, routine official channels and, at times, underhanded negotiations, depending on prevailing circumstances. The members of the Thaksin administration have been practising these methods with gusto, trusting their own instincts that they have various wavelengths in communications with Rangoon. Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and his handful of aides have longstanding personal contacts with the top junta leaders. They obviously believe that this relationship, like a talk between soldier and soldier, will cultivate harmony and professional courtesy and lead to stronger ties than normal diplomatic contacts. Alas! Such heart-to-heart communications, for national interests or otherwise, have proved even more fragile than formal contacts. The Chuan administration maintained a respectable distance in its relationship with the cut-throats in Rangoon after witnessing what they did to the democratic movement and students opposing the dictatorial regime. There were periodic clashes on the border, as had happened in past centuries but they never escalated to the virtually full-scale war of words ordered by Chavalit a few days ago. The Chuan administration did not try to go solo in its relationship with Burma, always keeping in mind world opinion about the situation in Burma and the fact that it is content to remain a pariah state, as it has been since the launch of the "Burmese way to Socialism" 40 years ago. Yet during those years there were also low-key contacts and trade deals by
military generals and business partners for their own enrichment, sparking
Burma's distrust for all that. Of course, vested interests carried more weight,
while national interest was secondary if it was ever in their minds at all.
The worst conflict in many years was hardly expected, especially after
General Maung Aye, the deputy leader of the Burmese junta, had been given the
red-carpet treatment and an audience with His Majesty the King during his visit
to Bangkok barely two months ago.
That much-heralded event raised many eyebrows, for the visitor was not a
head of state to deserve such honours, but indeed a member of a much-despised
regime responsible for ruthless human-rights violations that have been condemned
worldwide.
Surely the diplomatic make-believe was Thaksin's initiative to convince the
peoples of the two nations that it was time to sweeten the centuries-old
on-and-off sour ties and get on with business as usual. For whose benefit
eventually? That needs long debate and scrupulous evaluation.
At one point, after border skirmishes between Thai and Burmese forces,
complicated by the protracted war Burmese troops have been waging with ethnic
rebels, chiefly Karen and Shan, Thaksin blurted out that Thailand would no
longer tolerate the existence of the "buffer-state" policy.
Whether Thailand has ever had such a policy has never been declared
publicly. The statement reflected naivety, with Thaksin undercutting his own
position in dealing with Burma.
If previous administrations had ever maintained clandestine contacts with
the Shans or Karens, Thaksin made it clear that he was prepared to sell them
down the Salween.
Thaksin has antagonised Burma's ethnic rebels living on either side of the
Thai-Burmese border. During this low point in the relationship with Rangoon, he
has practically no friends. Sensing that the Army was virtually silent during
the war of words, it must have dawned on Thaksin and Chavalit that fast-mouth
diplomacy and shooting from the hip were in no way carrot-and-stick diplomacy.
That's why they switched off the microphone, ending the verbal barrage pretty
quickly.
What is the collateral damage? A lot of business deals are in jeopardy,
perhaps. Thaksin received some words from Maung Aye but no apology or _expression_
of regret. Our Foreign Ministry explained that the Rangoon junta was not
inclined that way.
All things considered, it does not take an educated guess to know who
eventually will get the upper hand.
For the sake of vested interests it might not be a bad idea for some people
to go down on their knees and seek reconciliation to ensure mutual personal
benefit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Sunday 30 June 2002
Anti-Thai pitch annoys
people
Young forced to work as porters on front
Larry Jagan
The Burmese capital is awash with nationalist sentiment in an anti-Thai
campaign mounted by the military junta. Burmese flags adorn the houses and
government buildings. Every street is a sea of red. Cars, taxis and bicycles
have the flag prominently displayed. The newspapers are full of anti-Thai
rhetoric.
Burmese flags are raised in front of houses and government buildings on the
order of the junta government.
But the reality is that most people do not share the military government's renewed nationalist fervour. ``We only fly the flag because the military tell us we must,'' says an
elderly man in one of Rangoon's satellite towns.
This is the view of many of Burma's citizens. They do not trust the
government.
In fact the anti-Thai campaign causes resentment, particularly among the
country's gamblers and football fanatics. As a result of the ban on Thai goods,
local Burmese television has not been able to show live coverage of World Cup
football matches.
The closure of the Thai border is bumping up the price of goods. The kyat
has begun to fall against the dollar, because the informal border trade was a
major source of dollar bills. Toiletries and medicines have increased in price,
as far fewer are being smuggled into Burma from Thailand.
Diplomats in Rangoon fear that the Burmese generals are also using border
tension to deflect attention away from the internal political situation.
``It gives them an excuse for not talking to [opposition leader] Aung San
Suu Kyi about substantial political reform and at the same time try to
strengthen the army's position,'' says a Rangoon-based diplomat who requested
anonymity.
When a government fails to unite its people its final option is
xenophobia,'' says a Burmese journalist. ``It's typical Burmese strategy, one
which was often used by the former dictator, Gen Ne Win,'' he said. But many in
Rangoon also feel that the country's leader, Gen Than Shwe, is using the border
fighting to unify the army.
Since the discovery of an alleged plot by the Ne Win family to overthrow
the government, Burma's military chiefs have feared regiments in the army might
have divided loyalties.
The border tensions have given Gen Than Shwe the opportunity he needed to
eliminate any divisions among the rank and file.
For the generals, the policy has inherent dangers. Already the military's
nationalist pride has taken a beating. The number of casualties has shocked army
leaders.
More than 700 Burmese troops, Wa soldiers and civilians have died since the
fighting erupted in mid-May, according to military experts in Rangoon. Injuries
are also high, and most of them have been evacuated to Rangoon.
Military deputy intelligence chief Kyaw Win says only 50 Burmese soldiers
and militia have died, and with another 30 wounded.
So far the army has been able to keep the casualty figures hidden.
Newspapers are forbidden from publishing the obituaries of people killed in the
fighting and families of the dead are discouraged from conducting funeral
rites.
The authorities have been press-ganging into service many young men,
particularly among the poor in the satellite townships of Rangoon. There's an
informal curfew in place throughout the city. Most parents prevent their sons
from going out after 10pm for fear that they will be abducted and taken to the
front as porters.
The junta insists the government is not using forced labour for porters.
But police sources have confirmed that young men are indeed being picked up
under article 30D for loitering on the road at night.
The government has been angered by what it sees as Thai duplicity.
Over the last few years, the Thai army has continuously blamed the Wa for
the flow of amphetamines into Thailand, whereas the Burmese believe the Shan
rebel army is just as heavily involved in the trade and gets active support and
sanctuary from the Thai military.
``We know the Shan Army are involved in drugs,'' says Brig-Gen Kyaw Thein,
the chief military intelligence officer behind Burma's battle against
drugs.
But there are hints that Burma may now be prepared to accept Thailand's
offer to discuss their problems.
Foreign Minister U Win Aung believes the two sides will talk soon, and that
relations would return to normal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok post - Sunday 30 June 2002
Thaksin vows to maintain policy Military action may be used as `last resort' Yuwadee Tunyasiri The government has reaffirmed its policy of settling border conflicts with
Burma through diplomatic channels.
Emerging from a meeting with the foreign minister and the head of the
National Security Council, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the
government's stand of non-interference in Burmese internal affairs would be
maintained.
``Our policy remains the same,'' he said. ``We will not interfere in any
country's internal affairs, and we will not allow our territory to be used to
launch attacks against a neighbouring country.''
The premier made the statement after Rangoon accused the government of
backing Shan rebels fighting Burmese troops near the border.
However, Mr Thaksin did not dismiss the possibility of military action in
dealing with border disputes, which he said would be a ``last resort.''
The country's sovereignty would continue to be protected, he said.
The policy on Burma had been reaffirmed to ensure all state agencies were
aware of the government line, he added.
Mr Thaksin earlier said he had received a positive gesture from Rangoon in
the form of a message from Gen Maung Aye, Burma's second in command, who
expressed deep respect for Their Majesties the King and Queen.
``The vice-chairman of Burma's State Peace and Development Council said he
would never intentionally insult the monarchy,'' he said.
Burma's government mouthpiece, New Light of Myanmar, sparked a war of words
last week after it published articles attacking Thai royalty.
Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkasing, third army chief, said troops had been deployed
to verify reports that about 50 Burmese soldiers had crossed the border.
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