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BURMA RELATED NEWS - August 01,
2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------ Reuters - UN envoy on mission to revive Myanmar
dialogue
AFP - Shan rebels release captive Myanmar
soldiers, police
AFP - UN
special envoy returns to Myanmar August 2-6
AFP - New
ASEAN chief out to restore "distorted" Southeast Asian
image
AFP - Malaysia arrests 135 illegal migrants seeking to escape tough new
laws
AFP - US-ASEAN anti-terror pact to deny sanctuary to
terrorists
AP - Myanmar minister downplays U.N. visit expected to press for
swifter dialogue with Suu Kyi
UN - Annan
dispatches envoy back to Myanmar in hopes of spurring national reconciliation
WP - Behind Burma's Bars
Bkk Post - PM urges Surakiart to go to Rangoon
Bkk Post - Inside Politics - Tales of rape and
denial, Drugs fight `stays local'
Bkk Post - Reef blasting plan on hold for a
review
The Nation - Status means little to refugee
The Nation - FM invited to Burma in bid to
defuse tension
Xinhuanet - Japanese FM to visit Myanmar
JT - New envoy to
Myanmar
------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday August 1, 1:54 PM UN envoy on mission to revive
Myanmar dialogue
By Andrew
Marshall
BANGKOK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar arrives in the country for his latest visit on Friday on a mission to get the ruling junta to at last agree to meaningful talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The hope generated by the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest in May has begun to evaporate -- the 57-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has been allowed freedom of movement but her calls for substantive political dialogue have gone unheeded. Analysts say the main task facing envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat trusted by both sides, is to persuade the junta that it is time to sit down and talk. "Dialogue is the next step. Razali has to get them talking, and that means real talks, not just empty meetings," said a Western diplomat in Yangon. "They have to start working out a framework for political change." The military government began confidential talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000 -- a breakthrough which owed much to Razali's efforts behind the scenes, diplomats say. But the talks are still stuck at what the junta calls a "confidence-building phase" and have yet to even begin addressing substantive political issues. Analysts say the junta softened its stance towards Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) mainly in an effort to get international sanctions lifted and revive the crippled economy. But since Suu Kyi's release on May 6 she has had no meetings with any of the country's senior ruling generals, diplomats say. The five-day visit is Razali's eighth since he began his diplomatic mission two years ago and his first since Suu Kyi's release.
SMALL SIGNS OF HOPE Suu Kyi's release was not the only sign that the junta's stance towards the opposition was thawing. Suu Kyi has since made two major political trips to drum up support outside Yangon, unhindered by the authorities. She was greeted by cheering crowds in Myanmar's second city Mandalay in June and in southern Mon state in July. Gradual releases of political prisoners have continued and the contentious issue of how many NLD members remain in jail has been settled. But the NLD says the pace of prisoner releases remains too slow -- more than 200 NLD members are still behind bars and there are hundreds of other political prisoners. The NLD won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a wide margin, but the military refused to hand over power. The junta says moving too quickly towards democracy risks unleashing anarchy in the multi-ethnic country, formerly known as Burma. After trying to crush the NLD through the 1990s, and worsening its international isolation in the process, the junta is now trying a different tactic -- being nice. Diplomats say the military government may have decided that it can risk giving Suu Kyi freedom of movement without seriously weakening its grip on power. "There is a worry they are doing this for show and that they have no intention of making real concessions," the diplomat said. Razali is due to meet Suu Kyi on Saturday, according to NLD Secretary U Lwin. He will also meet senior generals and representatives of Myanmar's many ethnic groups -- some of which have accused the junta of promoting mass rape and torture to end ethnic insurgencies. Myanmar denies the accusations. Razali's trip coincides with a visit by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, who arrives on Saturday. It is the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister to Myanmar since 1983. Japan has shown more willingness to engage Myanmar than most Western countries, and Kawaguchi's visit is seen as an effort to urge meaningful dialogue. A three-way meeting between Razali, Kawaguchi and Suu Kyi has not been ruled out, officials say.------------------------------------------------------------------ Shan rebels release captive Myanmar soldiers,
police ------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday August 1, 3:38 AM
UN special envoy returns to Myanmar
August 2-6
(AFP) - Razali Ismail, the UN Secretary General's special envoy to Myanmar, will travel there August 2 to 6 to help "the national reconciliation process." Ismail will meet with government leaders, ethnic leaders, and senior members of the National League for Democracy, including Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has been under intermittent house arrest since the 57-year-old rallied the nation a dozen years ago with a passionate democratic groundswell that alarmed Myanmar's military rulers. Myanmar's military government said earlier in the day it had released 13 political prisoners from jail, bringing to 43 the number freed ahead of Razali's visit. Razali, a Malaysian national, brokered landmark talks between the military regime and Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2000. Prisoner releases are routinely announced on the eve of his missions. Since Aung San Suu Kyi was freed in May after a 19-month stint under house arrest, she has said her party's number one priority is to secure the release of all political prisoners in the country. Around 1,500 political prisoners are estimated to be held in Myanmar's jails. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed hope that Razali's mission, his eighth to Myanmar since his appointment in April 2000 and the first since Aung San Suu Kyi was freed, "will provide the process with an added momentum so that the two sides can start their substantive dialogue in the near future." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday August 1, 12:22 PM
New ASEAN chief out to restore
"distorted" Southeast Asian image
(AFP) - The new secretary-general of ASEAN said among his first tasks is to rectify what he termed the distorted image of Southeast Asia which is dampening efforts to woo investors and tourists. Ong Keng Yong, an ex-diplomat and currently press secretary to the Singapore Prime Minister, said some people tend to have an impression that the region was reeling from riots or kidnappings when such cases were in fact isolated. "Whenever there is a riot in any of our countries in Southeast Asia, they assume that everything is like that in Southeast Asia, everywhere they go," the 48-year-old Ong told reporters on the sidelines of a flurry of ASEAN meetings in Brunei. "I remember when I was visiting New York, people asked me how do we cope with this kidnapping of tourists. Actually, this kidnapping of tourists happened only in one part of Southeast Asia. "This drives home the point that people outside of Southeast Asia do not have sufficient knowledge of us. So we must go and tell people that this is not the case." Ong will take over the powerful post from incumbent Filipino free trade campaigner Rodolfo Severino, who is retiring. The Singaporean said he would build on efforts made by Severino to promote the region, praising his predecessor for "a great job keeping ASEAN moving in the last five years, which have been economically hard times for the whole region." Ong, who read law in Singapore before obtaining a post-graduate degree in Arab studies from Georgetown University in Washington, said he was awaiting a "specific and clear mandate" from the ASEAN leaders meeting in November. Severino told AFP his successor could be given "greater leeway and a stronger mandate." At the last ASEAN summit in Brunei, the leaders sought a stronger mandate for the secretary-general, who is the chief administrator of the Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat, and directed officials to work out the "specific terms." Pending the mandate, Ong said "the overall philosophy would be to continue making ASEAN known to the rest of the world - get investors to come, get business people to come. Southeast Asia once led world economic growth and was a magnet for foreign investment but lost its lustre after a financial crisis swept through the region in 1997, analysts said. Ong said "the world outside sees Southeast Asia as more or less the same kind of territory - what happens in case of riots or clashes between religious communities, well they see as symptomatic of the whole region. "So this is an image we need to correct." "Just like Europe, that patch of territory has 15 to 25 countries. What happens in a European country around the Mediterranean coast is not likely to be repeated in the European territory around Copenhagen or the Baltic Sea. Ong said it was important for ASEAN business leaders to explain the "true" picture of Southeast Asia to those outside the region. "If you are promoting Singapore, promoting Malaysia or promoting Thailand in terms of any particular business or investment, it is necessary also to sort of set the context that we are part of Southeast Asia, which is so big. Ong said efforts should also be made to make the peoples of Southeast Asia "more gungho" about ASEAN. "We may have our own respective national interest but at the end, it can be to our advantage if we are able to have all the citizens of ASEAN countries when they travel around or when they interact with foreigners to play up this thing about we are part of ASEAN, this is a place where there are many opportunities, there are things that you can do." ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday August 1, 1:14 PM
Malaysia arrests 135 illegal
migrants seeking to escape tough new laws
(AFP) - Malaysian police have arrested 135 illegal immigrants seeking asylum outside the UN refugee agency here in a bid to escape jailing and whipping under tough new laws. The immigrants, including women and children, were picked up outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) centre in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday after the expiry of a Wednesday midnight amnesty deadline, a police spokesman told AFP. "They are mostly Rohingyas from Myanmar, Acehnese and other Indonesians. All of them have no legal documents and will be handed over to the immigration department," he said. It was up to the department to decide if the detainees would face harsh new immigration laws effective Thursday, he said, adding that more arrests were expected. Under the new laws, both illegal immigrants and their employers face a mandatory six months in jail and possibly up to six strokes of the cane. Thousands of desperate illegal immigrants flooded Malaysia's ports this week in a panicked rush to return home ahead of the expiry of the amnesty Wednesday. Immigration Director-General Mohamad Jamal Kamdi was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying that some 300,000 illegal immigrants had left under the four-month amnesty which began March 22. He has said that illegal immigrants who can prove they are willing to leave the country will be granted a one-month grace period before being arrested. "While we welcome foreign labour, we want to have a law that reflects Malaysia's status as the region's key economic player and that our laws must be taken seriously," he added. Indonesians, who make up the bulk of Malaysia's migrant population, topped the list of those who have returned home with 243,772 people, followed by Indians at 18,933 and Bangladeshis 16,648. A spokesman for the national police headquarters said police and immigration officers would begin nabbing illegal workers following the end of the amnesty. "We are going to launch major sweeps on certain areas with large communities of illegal workers," he told AFP. Malaysia, which is home to some 750,000 legal foreign workers and hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, blames the immigrants for contributing to a growth in crime and other social problems such as two riots by Indonesian workers early this year.------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday August 1, 4:04 PM
US-ASEAN anti-terror pact to deny
sanctuary to terrorists
(AFP) - An anti-terrorism agreement due to be signed between Southeast Asian nations and the United States is crucial in preventing terrorists from establishing a sanctuary in Southeast Asia, officials said. Terrorism has dominated ministerial meetings in Brunei this week, and in wrap up talks Thursday it was tackled "in the context of transnational crimes, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary General Rodolfo Severino said. Domingo Siazon, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo's special envoy to the meetings, said the ASEAN-US "Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism" would "deny sanctuaries" for terrorists in the region. It was also significant that all 10 ASEAN countries are involved in the pact, he said. The accord would include provisions for technical assistance but does not allow the deployment of US troops. Defence analysts have raised concerns that remnants of the al-Qaeda terror network could seek refuge in Southeast Asia after a US-led bombing campaign destroyed their bases in Afghanistan. Terrorist cells linked to al-Qaeda have already been uncovered in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and have been associated with militant groups in Indonesia. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will sign the counter-terrorism document with Brunei Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, this year's chairman of the ASEAN Regional Forum. Powell has been taking his anti-terrorism message on a swing through Southeast Asia which has already made stops in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He is due to leave Brunei late Thursday for Indonesia and then the Philippines, where US forces have wrapped up a six-month mission to train local troops in hunting down Abu Sayyaf gunmen linked to al-Qaeda. "The signing of the ASEAN-US declaration is a demonstration of ASEAN's solidarity with the international community to eliminate some of the threats to peace in the region and beyond," said ASEAN spokesman M.C. Abad. Indonesian senior foreign ministry official Makarim Wibisono said the agreement "is good for Indonesia" as it seeks to restore full military ties with the US which have been downgraded in 1999 over alleged military abuses in East Timor. The joint declaration is to serve as a "framework for cooperation to prevent, disrupt and combat international terrorism through the exchange and flow of information and intelligence," according to a draft of the document seen by AFP. It is aimed at enhancing the efficacy of efforts to fight terrorism and lists several areas of cooperation, including intelligence exchange on terrorist financing, the development of counter-terrorism policies and compliance to UN resolutions. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda has said the agreement does not include the deployment of US forces. It was up to individual countries on whether they want American soldiers on their soil, he said. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar minister
downplays U.N. visit expected to press for swifter dialogue with Suu Kyi
Wed Jul 31,11:47 PM
ET
By JASBANT SINGH, Associated Press
Writer
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei - Saying his country was on track with democratic reforms, Myanmar's foreign minister Thursday played down a visit by a U.N. special envoy who may press for a quicker dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The envoy, former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, will arrive in Myanmar on Friday for the first time since helping to engineer the military government's release of Suu Kyi from 19 months of house arrest in May. "We are going to talk to him and we have been receiving him regularly," Foreign Minister Win Aung told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum. "It is a usual visit." Win Aung declined to say whether he expected Razali to push the government to hold direct talks with Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her still-frustrated effort to bring about a democratic government. Win Aung said Myanmar was "moving forward" with democratic reforms, but warned that his government will not be pushed. "We are doing the right things, the correct things and we are doing them at a pace we are comfortable with," Win Aung said. "We are not moving backward or sideways. We are moving forward, ahead." The country, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962. Shortly after Suu Kyi's release, Razali said the United Nations should seize the momentum and push for an early transition to democracy. With Razali's mediation, the government and Suu Kyi have been holding closed-door reconciliation talks since October 2000, raising hopes of an eventual political settlement. Razali said in May that reconciliation should include the release of political prisoners, greater political activity, and the ability of Suu Kyi and others to deal with issues confronting the country. During his upcoming visit, Razali is expected to meet government leaders, Suu Kyi and senior members of her National League for Democracy, and leaders of some ethnic groups, many of which have been in revolt against the government during the past half-century. Myanmar briefed the 24 members of the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia-Pacific's biggest annual meeting on security issues. The forum issued a statement welcoming improvements and hoping they would continue. "Everybody seemed to appreciate what we are doing," Win Aung said. "I don't see any negative attitude toward us." The current military government came to power in 1988 after crushing street protests and two years later annulled the results of a general election that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. She has spent much of the past 14 years under house arrest or with her movements and actions severely curtailed, though since being released in May she has enjoyed more freedom to travel than ever before. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Annan dispatches envoy back to
Myanmar in hopes of spurring national reconciliation
United Nations, Aug
01, 2002
31 July ? The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, will send his Special Envoy to Myanmar early next month in a bid to help
facilitate the country's national reconciliation process, a UN spokesman
announced today.
Razali Ismail will travel to Yangon from 2 to 6 August to meet with leaders of the Government, senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and some leaders of various ethnic nationalities, spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "The Secretary-General hopes that Mr. Razali's mission, the first since political freedom was restored to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in May, will provide the process with an added momentum so that the two sides can start their substantive dialogue in the near future," Mr. Eckhard told the press in New York. Since being appointed Special Envoy in April 2000, Mr. Razali's has visited Myanmar seven times. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Behind Burma's Bars
In a Distant Prison Cell, a Young Man Found a Powerful New Freedom By Alona
Wartofsky
Special to The Washington Post Thursday, August 1, 2002; Page C01 NEW YORK Most people in Burma would not willingly place themselves on the wrong side of that country's military junta. But for James Mawdsley, who in 1999 was facing a 17-year sentence for handing out pro-democracy fliers in the Burmese village of Tachilek, everything was going according to plan. And it was not his first time: Mawdsley, a British citizen, had been held in Burmese prisons twice before. Each time, he came back for more, driven by his religious convictions and his absolute certainty that if he were to confront Burma's wicked regime and gain the media attention that an imprisoned foreigner often receives, he would help the millions of Burmese people who suffer under brutal repression. That last time, Mawdsley spent more than a year in prison before his eventual release. It's hard to measure how much he achieved. Burma continues to have one of the worst human rights records of any nation. Forced labor and relocations are widespread, and human rights organizations allege that the regime has systematically used rape as a weapon against ethnic nationalities. An estimated 1,000 political prisoners are being held in Burmese prisons. Why would anyone volunteer to join them? One of Mawdsley's closest childhood friends was from Burma, and he developed an early interest in the country's landscape and culture. As a young adult, he became obsessed with the place. Unlike most of us, who might pore over newspaper accounts of atrocities in faraway places while munching our breakfast cereal but then quickly redirect our attentions to, say, getting to work on time or paying the bills, Mawdsley found himself deeply troubled by accounts of Burma's horrors. "There was a screaming in my heart," says Mawdsley, 29. "I felt I had no option except to go and confront the regime." He knows that many people think he's crazy. But really, he says, he's not so different from anybody else. "Deep down, we're all the same. Everybody cares about these things when they read about them. Nobody likes injustice. Then the question is 'What can I do about it?' and most of us, if we're sensible, realize: very little," he says. "I think it's worth doing very little, because that's infinitely more than doing nothing." Very little may require a few minutes or a few days. "You can write to a congressman, or donate a bit of money to charity, or, if you're willing to, read a book to learn more about it," he says. "I think if you persistently refuse to act, then you deaden your senses and you can look at injustice without feeling moved." An Early Passion
Now, nearly two years after his release, he is visiting the United States to promote his cause and his memoir, "The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma," published here last week by North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Mawdsley arrives for a promotional appearance at Trinity Bookstore in Lower Manhattan looking perfectly ordinary. He is dressed in a maroon oxford shirt and beige slacks and wears well-worn hiking boots that look as if they, too, might have been to Burma. His dark blond hair is close-cropped, his nose slightly crooked. During his third incarceration, he sustained several beatings by guards, one of which broke his nose. Whether because it is the depths of summer, or because the event was not sufficiently publicized, or because Mawdsley is not as well known here as in Britain, the author speaks to an audience of four. Two of them are bookstore staff. Undaunted, Mawdsley talks passionately about Burma, about truth, about justice. And about God. The son of an Australian-born nurse and an English father who was in the military, Mawdsley was raised in a village in Lancashire. Though his father was Anglican, James and his three siblings were raised in the faith of their mother, a Roman Catholic. Religion played a prominent role in his childhood. "Even as an 8-year-old I was intensely envious of the apostles," he writes. "They had seen Christ, seen the Messiah raising people from the dead, and therefore (so I thought) they need have no doubt at all." When Mawdsley was 13, a Burmese boy came to his school and the two became fast friends. The boy told Mawdsley about his country -- "It seemed a far-off land, a magical one -- so ancient, so different, so interesting," he writes -- and his intense interest in Burma was born. Mawdsley studied physics and philosophy at the University of Bristol, but dropped out after a year and a half. He was dissatisfied, confused and overwhelmed by the world's injustice. He writes: "Could it possibly make sense for me to pursue a degree, a career, a mortgage, a happy family life while all around the world people were starving to death and living in unspeakable fear?" When he was 20, he attempted suicide. He says now that the episode brought him closer to God. He traveled for a while, working in Australia and New Zealand. During that time, he learned more about Burma, a former British colony that has been ruled by dictatorships since it won independence in 1948: About how the National League for Democracy won the 1990 elections, which were annulled by the ruling junta (which calls the country Myanmar) and how the regime's subsequent campaign against the democracy movement included murder, torture, rape and forced labor and relocation of the Burmese people. About the beloved opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent the better part of a decade under house arrest. By the summer of '96, he could bear it no longer. He started to plan his one-man assault on the Rangoon regime. That December he traveled to Thailand, then made his way to the Minthamee village in Burma's southeastern state of Karen, where he spent two months teaching English. When the village was overrun by government troops in 1997, he returned to Thailand. Seven months later, in September 1997, he launched his first protest in Burma. He handed out pro-democracy fliers, chained himself to the gate of a school and scrawled the word metta -- a Buddhist term meaning "loving-kindness" -- on a wall. He was arrested, detained and then quickly deported. He slipped back into Burma the following year and began a similar solo protest in Moulmein, playing songs associated with the democracy movement on a cassette recorder. That time, he served 99 days of a five-year sentence in a Rangoon prison cell. He became so weak from hunger that he passed out, and Burmese authorities refused to give him medications provided by the British consul. He says he sank into deep despair, then experienced an ecstatic reawakening of faith. "I felt God's love, overwhelming, terrifying, everlasting love, bubbling up within me and overflowing," he writes. "What glorious joy." The third arrest came in August 1999, for distributing letters and stickers demanding the release of political prisoners. For 416 days he was kept in solitary confinement in Keng Tung, a jail in the northeastern part of the country. An international campaign was launched on his behalf. Vigils were held around the world. One in London took place at Westminster Cathedral. His mother gave speeches, wrote articles and spent two months in Burma trying to help her son. "It was difficult," Diana Mawdsley says now. "But at least I always knew where James was." Her son was freed in October 2000 after serving 14 months of a 17-year sentence. They left Burma together. Neither Hero nor
Saint
A few years ago, Mawdsley was lucky to get a bowl of weevil-infested rice. Now he's dining on tender lamb chops in an upscale Wall Street hotel a few blocks from Trinity Bookstore. It is a mistake to ask him whether, after all those months in jail, it was difficult to adjust to normal life. "This isn't normal," he says, gesturing in the direction of his lamb. "New York or London aren't normal. Two billion people in the world live on less than $2 a day. That's normal." His book advance was 150,000 British pounds, about $227,000. The book took six months to produce: six weeks to complete the proposal, six weeks to write the manuscript, three months to edit. Since then, he has promoted the book in the U.K., where it was published last fall. He established and runs the Metta Trust for Children's Education, which raises money for educating the children of Burmese refugees. He works for the nonprofit activist organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and tonight at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Massachusetts Avenue NW, he'll speak at the launch of Freedom Now, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience. He has also become active in British politics. He campaigned for Conservative Party candidates in the most recent elections and frankly says he'd like to be one. "I can lobby [members of Parliament], or I can be one myself and then do the work from there," he says. "I'm still trying to learn as much as I can about what people are going through around the world, what possible solutions are, how our own political systems can address that." What did Mawdsley accomplish by spending time in Burmese jails? Jeremy Woodrum, director of the Washington office of the Free Burma Coalition, says he raised the profile of Burmese political prisoners. "If you're Burmese, and you're arrested inside Burma for an act of civil disobedience, you could get locked up for anywhere from 20 years to life and tortured severely. And no one would know about it," Woodrum says. "James was trying to draw attention to those people. . . . When all the newspaper articles came out about him being arrested, they went into detail about all the political prisoners in Burma." Aung Din, director of policy for the Free Burma Coalition, also spent time in a Burmese jail -- 4 years 3 months for his role in a 1989 civil disobedience campaign. He says Mawdsley is well regarded in Burma. "Many people there know who he is, and they respect that he has helped our cause. They really admire him," says Aung Din, who immigrated to the United States. But Mawdsley has his detractors. Some in the Burmese democracy movement grumble that he drew more attention to himself than to his fellow political prisoners. In June of last year, the Guardian, a British newspaper, ran a story that painted an unflattering portrait of the activist. The story, which questioned Mawdsley's dedication to Burma, suggested that his stints there had endangered Burmese people and resulted in more government scrutiny of aid workers in the region. The article quoted a former aide of Suu Kyi's as saying, "[Western] college students play at being freedom fighters, but it is we Burmese who pay the price for these empty heroics." The story also said that Mawdsley's Burma activism had helped launch his career in British politics. Mawdsley, who says he was "blindsided" by the story, sued the Guardian for libel. This week a British judge ruled that the story was "false and defamatory." The Guardian says it will pay Mawdsley damages of 10,000 pounds and publish an apology. More than a year after it appeared, that article still rankles Mawdsley. "The reason they ran that story is I'm a Tory and a Christian, and they don't like Christians and they don't like Tories," he says sharply. "If someone wants to say that I went to Burma for the sake of an adventure and I was reckless and endangered Burmese people, now that's possible. It's just not actually true," he says. "People think I'm a hero. They're wrong. People think I'm a saint. They're far, far, far wrong. . . . I've done disgusting things, still do. So it's wrong to say I'm a hero, and it's wrong to say I'm a saint. But it's also wrong to say that I'm purely motivated by selfish thoughts." He talks about the hundreds of newspaper articles and hours of TV and radio coverage of his case, which led millions of people around the world to think about Burma. There's the money he has raised for schools for Burmese children -- more than 25,000 pounds, he says. And there were also contacts he had with some of the prisoners. "They know for sure now the outside world knows about them and is willing to act for them," he says. But there are other, more personal triumphs. Mawdsley, who has announced that he will not return to Burma, says his own tormented soul has found peace. "Before, I was in this kind of turmoil. The knowledge that you can never do enough to fix all the problems, that's hard to bear," he says. "I'm at rest now compared to how I was 10 years ago. . . . When I read about injustices now, it doesn't devastate me like it used to do. It more just spurs me to carry on activism." The Struggle Outside
As incredible as it may sound, he says that in some ways being here in the West can be harder than being in Burma's jails. "The effects of your actions when you're in prison are very immediate, and that's rewarding," he says. Once, he witnessed a prisoner being beaten. He started hollering and the guards stopped. Many times, he was able to slip extra food to other prisoners. "It's a big deal," he says. "That feels good. "And when you come out here, you still got to carry on working, but you have no idea whether you're being practical or not. If you write an MP or congressman or give a talk, how has that changed the lives of people in Burma? You don't know and you'll never know. Out here, you got to act in a way a lot more on faith." Sometimes he contemplates going back to prison. "I don't think it would be fair to my family. I don't think it's the most effective thing I can do. But I am so tempted sometimes. When things don't go right for me here, when I keep running into brick walls, when I've got this libel case in the U.K. . . . I think if I go back to the jungle or back to prison, at least I can just do the work and not bother with all the commentary." But he says he is quite certain he won't willingly return to a Burmese jail. "I'm more afraid of my mum than I am of the regime." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Thursday 01
August 2002
THAI-BURMESE TIES
PM urges Surakiart to go to Rangoon Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Anuraj Manibhandu
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has told Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai to accept any invitation to go to Rangoon for
talks on reopening the border and trade relations.
``Mr Surakiart asked if he should go. I told him he should do so after getting a formal invitation,'' he said. Mr Surakiart had reported on his meeting with Burmese counterpart Win Aung in Brunei, he said. Burma's confidence in the Thai government was restored and it was ready for talks, Mr Thaksin said. Mr Surakiart said in Brunei that he was waiting for a formal invitation. His Burmese counterpart Win Aung had invited him verbally during their talks on the sidelines of an Asean ministerial meeting. Mr Surakiart added that Win Aung had told him the Burmese authorities had cautioned writer Ma Tin Win to be more circumspect in writing about the Thai monarchy in her New Light of Myanmar articles. She claimed she had written nothing about the present Thai monarchy but only referred to historic events involving former kings, Win Aung said. ------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Thursday 01
August 2002
Inside Politics - Tales of rape and
denial
Poor old Burma, it just can't seem to rid itself of a
contemptible image. If it's not imprisoning political opponents, it's being
accused of supporting the rape of its ethnic minorities. - Certain quarters of
the army are subject to rumours but those who believe they know think the real
target is the army chief. - And the jockeying has already begun should the army
chief not be in the same position after this year's reshuffle.
The Burmese military dictatorship has strongly dismissed
allegations by two Shan NGOs that it supported the systematic rape of hundreds
of ethnic minority women and girls in Shan state by its soldiers.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Network recently released a report, "Licence to Rape", in which they accuse Rangoon of officially condoning rape as "a weapon of war" against civilian populations. The report was released last month and attracted the attention of two American congresswomen, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Cynthia McKinney. The congresswomen said the rapes were a breach of the Geneva Convention and they demanded urgent US pressure on Rangoon for protecting and encouraging such criminal behaviour. Ms Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House international relations sub-committee on international operations and human rights, is said to have condemned the Burmese junta during a debate on the House floor early this month. The US State Department later contacted Rangoon to express its outrage and ask for a full investigation of the allegations. Rangoon has taken the issue seriously as it deals a severe blow to its international standing. Over the past three weeks, the mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar, has run three separate reports denying the allegations and calling them an attempt by the "drug-trafficking Shan State Army" to slander Rangoon. The paper admitted such crimes had taken place along the border with Thailand but said it was SSA insurgents, not Burmese soldiers, who had raped the Shan women. The paper strongly rebuked the two congresswomen, and one columnist suggested that they would be better employed protecting the young women and girls of Okinawa who have been subject to rape and assault by US soldiers based on the Japanese island. In an exclusive report on July 29, the Bangkok Post told the tale of 11 Shan girls and women, including one 12 years old, who claimed to have been brutally raped by Burmese soldiers near the border. This dealt Rangoon another blow as it tries to rebuild contacts with Washington and have US economic and other sanctions removed. This latest report could not come at a worse time for the dictatorial regime headed by Gen Than Shwe. A recent report in the Washington Post newspaper said Rangoon had agreed earlier this year to pay more than $450,000 (19 million baht at today's rate) to a lobbying firm with ties to President George W. Bush to help push for the normalisation of ties between Washington and Rangoon. Drugs fight `stays local' The army's Task Force 399 is in the front-line of the war on drugs crossing the border into northern Thailand, but has been the subject of rumours for some time now that it has carried this effort across the border into Burma. Many in army circles see these rumours as an attempt to discredit the army and its commander-in-chief, Gen Surayud Chulanont. One of Gen Surayud's aides said he was convinced this was part of a plan to drag down the army chief. Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, whose appeasement policy towards Rangoon has been roundly criticised by the opposition, is just one person known to be upset with the army chief. He is also said to be in the bad books of the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr Surakiart has blamed the army in parliament of undermining relations with Rangoon. There have also been articles in the Thai-language press accusing the army chief of dancing to America's tune as tensions along the Burmese border worsened in recent months. These newspapers and magazines claim the United States does not want to see an improvement in our relations with Rangoon. "The reports in some papers were quite misleading and the army chief feels that a clarification has to be made to avoid public confusion over allegations that the [Task Force 399] unit is involved in cross-border drug operations in Burma," said Gen Surayud's lieutenant. The army, through its spokesman Col Somkhuan Saengpattaranetr, denied the allegation during a meeting on Monday. This was the first time it had rejected the accusations against the task force publicly. "The army chief wants to set the record straight to avoid public confusion," Col Somkhuan said. The spokesman said Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, commander of the northern 3rd Army, told the meeting that Task Force 399 had never been involved in drug suppression efforts outside Thailand. Col Somkhuan said the task force also had received no financial backing from Washington although it did get help from the US army in terms of military training and how best to arrest armed drug traffickers. Gen Surayud has been very happy with the performance of the task force, which was only put into the field in January, including its seizure of 7 million speed pills in different operations in Lampang and Tak in its first six months. The task force consists of four companies _ a border patrol police company in charge of law enforcement, a special warfare company handling intelligence, and two infantry companies _ in a rapid-deployment force. Col Sitthipol Nimnual of the army's Intelligence Directorate said the Surasi 143 military exercises held in the upper north near the Burmese border in May scared the drug traffickers and forced them to use smuggling routes in the Northeast rather than the North. The total number of methamphetamine pills confiscated by the army in the first six months is: 70,000 by the 1st Army covering the Central region, 80,000 by the 2nd Army covering the Northeast, 7 million by the 3rd Army in the North, and 12,000 by the 4th Army in the South. ------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Thursday 01
August 2002
MEKONG RIVER
Reef blasting plan on hold for a review Demarcation of Lao border given priority Kultida Samabuddhi The four-nation plan to clear reefs in the Mekong river to
allow commercial shipping has been put on hold after the Defence Ministry called
for a review.
The ministry said it wanted time to examine the possible impact of reef blasting on the demarcation of the border with Laos. ``The plan to blast reefs between Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen districts in Chiang Rai province will be suspended until the Defence Ministry has completed defining the Thai-Laos river boundary,'' Preecha Phetwong, director of the Harbour Department's Waterways Transport Division, said yesterday. Speaking at a forum on the Mekong Navigation Project organised by the Thai Society of Environmental Journalists, he said Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh recently called for a review of the Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project. The first meeting between the Defence and Transport ministries was convened on Tuesday to examine the plan's impacts. Initiated by the Chinese government in 1992, the project aims to improve international trade links by enabling passage for larger cargo ships. China, Burma, Laos, and Thailand last June signed an agreement to widen the navigation channel of the 5,594-kilometre-long Mekong river. Under the project, 11 reefs, including Khon Phi Luang in Thai waters, would be blasted in the first phase. Another 51 reefs would be blasted in the second phase so vessels of up to 500-tonnes displacement could cruise straight from a Chinese port in Yunnan to Luang Prabang in Laos. Environmental groups and affected villagers yesterday submitted a petition to Gen Chavalit and transport ministers of China, Burma, Cambodia and Laos calling for a halt to the project until comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment studies are conducted. ``The most serious impact of the project is the clearance of many rapids, shoals and scattered reefs to facilitate navigation. Blasting the rapids and reefs could damage several rare species such as the Mekong giant catfish, which spawns in the rapids,'' said Chavalit Withayanont, an ichthyologist of the Fisheries Department. The Mekong river is home to around 1,200 fish species, including the critically endangered giant catfish. Around 200 fish species inhabit the reefs in Chiang Rai province, many of which are marked to be blasted. Niwat Roikaew, a Chiang Khong villager, said the rapids, known as Khon Phi Luang, were the most important area for the villagers because countless fish species spawn there. ``Blasting the islets and rapids would cause great damage to the villagers and small fishermen because they are a source of food and income for us,'' said Mr Niwat. He also lashed out at the Harbour Department, which is responsible for the project, for failing to assess environmental and social impacts after the project is completed and the river is full of large cargo vessels. Pakorn Prasertwong, the department's environmental officer, admitted that the project's environmental impact assessment, was not conducted comprehensively because the Thai environmental law does not require an EIA study of the project. ------------------------------------------------------------------
THE NATION
Status means little to refugee Published on Aug 1, 2002 Subhatra Bhumiprabhas, Nantiya Tangwisutijit Although the latest Magsaysay Award winner Dr Cynthia Maung and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi have never met, the two women have a lot in common. Most importantly, perhaps, is their determination to improve the welfare of the Burmese people as well as restoring democracy to their homeland. Without doubt, they greatly admire each other. Maung, 43, said she had been
inspired by the strength of Aung San Suu Kyi and her determination to bring
peace and democracy to the people of Burma.
"I would love to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," said the humanitarian doctor. "I wish we could work more closely. We strongly believe we together can change the situation in Burma". When Maung received the John Humphrey prize in 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi made a speech in honour of the dedicated doctor who offered free medical services to victims of the violent oppression of the pro-democracy movement in Burma. "We need more people like Cynthia Maung," remarked Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy Party (NLD), three years ago. "I am particularly happy that she belongs to the Karen ethnic group, because it helps the world to realise that Burma is a country of many peoples. "[Burma] is not just made up of the majority Burmese, but others like the Karen, the Mons, the Kachins, the Chins, the Shans, the Arakanese, and many other smaller ethnic groups." By winning the prestigious Magsaysay Award, dubbed the Nobel Peace prize of Asia, Maung has earned prominent social standing for her contribution to the well being of her fellow countrymen. Yet her political status is no more than a displaced person in Thailand. In 1988, Maung followed the waves of students, intellectuals and pro-democracy activists who fled into Thailand during the violent political oppression of the military junta. Wounded, she walked through the jungle, crossed the border and was accepted into the Huay Kaloke refugee camp in Mae Sot. Since arriving on Thai soil, she has waited for the day she and her fellow refugees could return home. But luck was not on her side. The next 14 years saw more and more people fleeing Burma everyday. "The fact that I and hundreds of thousands of other refugees are unable to return to Burma testifies to the continuing lack of basic human rights in our country. Refugees and migrants are continuing to flee Burma in huge numbers," Maung said in 1999. In 1989, the Karen doctor opened a makeshift medical clinic on the border to treat people who fled and were wounded from the war in Burma, regardless of their ethnic background. Realising the plight of those who had been hiding along the border and were isolated from the eyes of the world, Maung came up with her own way to help them. The doctor set up field clinics and trained other refugees in providing healthcare and community services. Although the doctor prefers a low profile because she is a refugee, Maung is well known among the world community. Prior to winning the Magsaysay Award, she had already received five other international humanitarian awards, all for her dedicated work with refugees from Burma. In 1999, the same year she was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award by the Canadian International Human Rights Group, Maung also received the Jonathan Maun award for Global Health and Human Rights from the Global Health Council. In 2000, she was honoured by receiving the President's Recognition Award from the American Medical Women's Association. Last year, Maung received another two awards. After 14 years as a refugee, Maung still hopes to return home with the other people along the border. "No one wants to leave the country for good," she said. On this occasion Maung wishes her voice could be heard, especially by the ruling group in Rangoon. "Every family wants to stay together. No children and no mother want to be separate from each other. My hope is to see everybody live peacefully in Burma," she said. Maung called her first son "Peace". ------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation, DPA
FM invited to Burma in bid to defuse tension Published on Aug 1, 2002 Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai will soon visit Rangoon at the invitation of Burma in an attempt to defuse border tension, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday. Burma's Foreign Minister Win Aung invited Surakiart when they met in Brunei
during the Asean Ministerial Meeting on Tuesday, Thaksin said.
"Surakiart informed me from Brunei about the invitation and asked whether he should go. I told him that he should," the PM said. The invitation is the first such move since the countries became embroiled
in a series of border conflicts and verbal attacks earlier this year. The
government considers that sending the foreign minister to Burma is the only way
to defuse the problems.
Thaksin did not say when Surakiart would travel to Rangoon, and declined to
reveal details of the discussions between Surakiart and Win Aung at the Asean
meeting.
Asked about Burma's closure of the border, Thaksin said that when the
Thai-Burmese relationship returns to normal, the border would be re-opened.
In Brunei, Surakiart said he was now much more confident that a
normalisation of bilateral ties could be achieved.
He did not say specifically what steps need to be taken to achieve this,
but added that he and Win Aung had agreed to meet again "in the near future" to
discuss the details.
On Tuesday, the Burmese military government accused the Thai authorities of
giving "leftover arms and ammunition" from joint US-Thai military manoeuvres to
anti-government guerrillas in Burma.
Burmese Military Intelligence Colonel San Pwint said the weapons, which
were left over from annual US-Thai Cobra Gold military training exercises in
May, had been used to arm the Karen National Union (KNU), a Christian-led
insurgent group formerly led by General Bo Mya.
The KNU is one of the last insurgent groups still holding out against the
Rangoon government.
"The leftover arms and ammunition from the Cobra Gold Operations were
transported by the Yodaya police force to Chiang Mai under the supervision of Bo
Mya's son on July 18," San Pwint said. "The Yodaya police force was paid
Bt340,000 for their services."
"Yodaya" is the term Burmese authorities have been using for the past four
months to refer to Thailand. It is a corruption of Ayutthaya, the former Thai
capital, which was sacked by the Burmese army in 1767.
San Pwint claimed 250 weapons had been handed over to the KNU, but he did
not specify what kind of weapons they were or where he obtained the information.
The accusation is the latest in a series of bitter attacks on Thailand
since March 20, when Burma accused Thai forces of taking part in an ethnic Shan
rebel assault on a string of military bases along the border.
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Japanese FM to visit Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2002-08-01 11:13:49 YANGON, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi will pay a three-day official visit to Myanmar soon, thefirst by a Japanese foreign minister since 1983, according to an official announcement Thursday. But the announcement did not disclose the exact date of the visit.
The announcement said the Japanese foreign minister is expectedto meet
Myanmar government leaders and have talks with her Myanmarcounterpart U Win Aung
on bilateral relations, Myanmar's national reconciliation process and matters of
mutual interest. process.
Kawaguchi will also meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) who was
released on May 6 after a 19-month house arrest.
Shortly after ASSK's release, the Japanese government expressed welcome
over the move taken by the Myanmar government, saying it will support Myanmar's
efforts towards nation-building in a more active manner.
As the first aid after Aung San Suu Kyi was free, the Japanese government
decided to provide a financial aid of 628 million yen (about 5 million US
dollars) to Myanmar for the rehabilitation of ahydropower plant in Baluchaung in
eastern Kayah state.
Japan is Myanmar's largest donor country. It resumed humanitarian aid in
1995 after its suspension in late 1988 when the Myanmar military came to
power.
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The Japan Times: Aug. 1,
2002
New envoy to Myanmar Yuji Miyamoto, director general of arms control and scientific affairs at the Foreign Ministry, assumed the post of ambassador to Myanmar on Wednesday. ------------------------------------------------------------------ |