|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - August 13-
15, 2002.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reuters - East Timor fears ASEAN membership will drain
budget
Reuters - Reports say Malaysia lifted ban on
Indonesian workers
AP - Myanmar's Karen
rebels say attacks must stop before peace talks
AP - Myanmar Doctors
Separate Twin Girls
AP - Illegal
immigrants from Indonesia, Myanmar sentenced to prison, whipping
AP - Swedish tourist
joins Myanmar guerrilla group
AP - Myanmar to launch
controversial electronic passport system
Xinhuanet - Myanmar to reopen checkpoints one by
one: Thai FM
Xinhuanet - Myanmar workers reportedly killed in
fire at Thailand's warehouse
Scotsman - Memorial for Burma Railway War
Veterans
Bkk Post - Japan to help launch project in Burma
Bkk Post - Tachilek to host border talks on Sunday Bkk Post - Police to check on activists
Bkk Post - Villagers sign peace agreement
The Nation - KNU 'soldier' says news report was
fabricated
The Nation - Shan
refugees look outside Thailand
The Nation - 'Vanja' gets marching
orders
The Nation - PLEASING THE JUNTA: Thailand-based
dissidents 'face crackdown'
BBC - Burma to launch Razali's
e-passport
TI - Thailand rejects claim on Myanmar
dissidents crackdown
ST - DIPLOMAT FACES CONFLICT OF
INTEREST
Kyodo News - U.N.
adopts resolution on rape, sexual slavery
NSTP - More jailed over illegal
entry
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday August 13, 6:15 PM
East Timor fears ASEAN membership
will drain budget
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Newly independent and poverty-stricken East Timor said on Tuesday it is in no hurry to join its south east Asian neighbours' trade and cooperation pact, fearing hectic rounds of meetings could bust its meagre budget. "To be a full member of ASEAN means money," its Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told a meeting of business executives during a five-day visit to Malaysia. "As far as I know, there are 360 meetings in ASEAN context during a year, (one) every day," he said in reply to questions from the floor. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. "Full membership of ASEAN means we have to open at least 10 embassies. We still have no money for this, that is why we are making a study of the costs and benefits," he added. East Timor, one of Asia's poorest countries, is trying to develop its mainly farm-based society, though it expects revenue from oil and gas production from late 2004. Of the six embassies it has opened to date, only those in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta are in ASEAN states. The impoverished country, which is keen on ASEAN observer status, wants foreign investment to help build its tiny economy after ruinous violence in 1999 when it voted for independence. A United Nations administration ran East Timor after its citizens decided to break from 24 years of Indonesian rule, before handing over to a new government in May. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday August 15, 10:27 AM
Reports say Malaysia lifted ban on
Indonesian workers
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has lifted a ban on the recruitment of Indonesian workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors due to a labour shortage after a recent clampdown on illegal immigrants, newspapers reported on Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the move was effective immediately, the newspapers said. Abdullah said developers and manufacturers faced an acute worker shortage as many returned to Indonesia during the four-month amnesty for illegal immigrants that ended on July 31. "The construction and manufacturing industries, which are now facing such shortages, have already appealed to us to consider allowing them to take in new Indonesian workers to replace those who have left the country," he was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying. "We evaluated the appeals before deciding to relax the blanket ban imposed on Indonesian workers for the two sectors," Abdullah added. The government imposed the ban in February following a series of violent incidents involving Indonesians, saying they could only be hired as maids and plantation workers. They are supposed to be replaced by workers from countries like Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar but employers have complained these workers are less skilled than their Indonesian counterparts. Around half an estimated 600,000 illegals left the country before the government's amnesty ended to escape new tough immigration laws that include caning. Under the new laws, which took effect on August 1, illegal immigrants and those convicted of harbouring them face jail terms of up to five years, fines and up to six strokes of the cane. Since then dozens, mostly Indonesians, have been sentenced to one to three strokes of the cane and jail terms of up to three years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's Karen rebels say
attacks must stop before peace talks
Mon Aug 12,11:27 AM ET
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Leaders of Myanmar's main Karen ethnic rebel group said Monday they stand ready to hold peace talks with the country's ruling junta when military attacks against them cease. Karen National Union leaders repeated their long-held position, and appeared to contradict a U.N. special envoy's view that Myanmar is moving quickly to reconcile political differences between the junta and opposition groups. KNU elder statesman Gen. Bo Mya said his group was prepared to talk with the government if the junta stopped attacking Karen villages. "If they would like to solve the problem politically, we're ready to accept it," he said at a ceremony marking Karen Martyrs Day, which commemorates the death of a former KNU leader in a battle with government troops in 1950. The release in May of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 19 months of house arrest had raised hopes that the military regime was moving toward resolving the country's political problems. These include the hand-over of power to a democratically elected government and greater autonomy for ethnic minority groups. But closed-door talks between Suu Kyi and the junta have not resumed since her release, and there has been no effort to address the concerns of ethnic minorities. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 general election but was not allowed by the military to take power. Instead, pro-democracy activists were harassed and jailed. Last week U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail said he saw progress in his efforts to end the political deadlock in Myanmar, also known as Burma, during his recent visit. But KNU general secretary Mahn Sha disagreed. "There's no sign of change in Burma as Razali said. There needs to be international pressure for political change in Myanmar," he said Monday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar Doctors Separate
Twin Girls
Tue Aug 13, 5:38 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Surgeons in northern Myanmar have separated a pair of 1-year-old twins born joined at the hip, and the girls are recovering well, the medical team leader said Tuesday. The twins, born prematurely and underweight in July 2001 at the Mandalay Women's hospital, were separated Sunday in a 14-hour operation, said Dr. Aung Kyi. "Their condition is stable and they are recovering. The operation went very well," Aung Kyi told The Associated Press. He said the girls were joined at the bladder and pelvic bones, and shared a colon. One of the girls, Moe Pa Pa Aung, has had three previous surgeries to remove fluid from her head, while the other, Moe Ma Ma Aung, has a congenital heart problem. A pair of Guatemalan twins who were joined at the head were separated in a 22-hour operation in Los Angeles on Sunday. Such cases occur in fewer than one in 2.5 million live births. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illegal immigrants from
Indonesia, Myanmar sentenced to prison, whipping
Tue Aug 13, 6:41 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)- Malaysian courts ordered two groups of immigrants from Indonesia and Myanmar who were working illegally in Malaysia to be jailed and caned under tough new immigration laws, officials and news reports said Tuesday. Five men and one woman from Indonesia, aged between 20 and 34 years, pleaded guilty Monday to immigration offenses and were sentenced to eight months in prison by a magistrate in the southern state of Johor, said court official Aloyah Othman. The men were also each sentenced to one stroke of a rattan cane. Under Malaysian law, women are not caned. Separately, five men from Myanmar were sentenced to six months in prison Tuesday in the northern state of Perlis, the national news agency Bernama reported. Four of them were sentenced to two strokes of a cane. Amnesty International urged the Malaysian government not to impose further whipping sentences, calling them "cruel, inhuman and degrading." "International standards make clear that such treatment constitutes torture," the London-based rights group said in a statement. "Such a punishment should have no place in today's world." Meanwhile, immigration officials said they arrested 22 Thais in central Selangor state who were also suspected of working illegally in Malaysia. Officials would seek stiff penalties under the new laws as a deterrent, a spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. The arrests are part of a crackdown on illegal workers in Malaysia that has caused an exodus of hundreds of thousands in recent weeks and unsettled some neighboring countries. Malaysia began enforcing laws Aug. 1 that provide for fines of up to 10,000 ringgit (dlrs 2,600), mandatory prison terms of up to five years and up to six strokes of the cane. During an amnesty period allowing illegal immigrants to leave without punishment, more than 300,000 people ? mostly Indonesians ? fled Malaysia. Officials estimated that before Aug. 1 up to 600,000 illegal workers formed a labor black market in Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest countries and a magnet for migrants fleeing poverty and violence in the region. The first punishments under the new laws were handed out last Saturday, when three Indonesians and a Bangladeshi were ordered whipped and jailed. The new laws have caused some friction between the Malaysian and Indonesian governments. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad held talks on the issue last week and signed agreements on worker recruitment, training and immigration controls. But Indonesia's labor minister boycotted the talks and criticized Malaysia for punishing Indonesian workers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swedish tourist joins
Myanmar guerrilla group
Tue Aug 13,11:45 AM ET
By MARY LONGMORE, Associated
Press Writer
WALAYKHEE, Thai-Myanmar Border (AP) - A petite 19-year-old Swedish backpacker has taken up arms alongside an ethnic Myanmar rebel group to help its fight for autonomy against the country's military government. "They have a really good cause. They have no nation, they have no country, they have no freedom, they have no justice," Vanja told The Associated Press Monday. She requested her full name not be used. Vanja said she came to the Thai border district of Mae Sot as a tourist three months ago, but is now a sergeant in the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, or KNU, based in a jungle camp in Myanmar. The KNU is the main rebel group among Myanmar's minority ethnic Karens, who are predominantly Christians. Thousands of ethnic Karens have fled to neighboring Thailand to escape the decades-old fighting between the guerrillas and government soldiers, who are mostly Buddhists. The war has killed thousands of people on both sides. Vanja, a former firefighter, said she began teaching English to Karen refugees living in camps on the Thai border, but soon moved to the KNLA camp across the border from Thailand's Tak province where she continued teaching medics and soldiers. About 170 guerrillas live in the camp, a cluster of about a dozen thatched roof huts around a muddy yard in a valley surrounded by jungle-clad hills. Vanja, who stands 1.6 meters (5 feet 3 inches), said she was moved into helping the Karens after she saw a badly wounded Karen soldier in his 20s who had stepped on a land mine. The soldier died in a hospital in Thailand. "I had not seen anything like that before. As a fireman, I had seen injuries, but nothing done on purpose" said Vanja, who comes from the central Swedish province of Dalarna. Battalion commander Ner Dah Mya said he initially found the idea of accepting Vanja as a fighter "a bit odd" but said after 2 1/2 months she has proven herself and he has already promoted her to sergeant. "She is just like a motivator for the soldiers. She's not even Karen, but she is fighting for the cause." The other fighters have readily accepted her, despite finding her strict vegetarianism ? which often restricts her to plain rice while others dine on chicken ? bemusing. "She is strong, like a man," said one fighter, Htee Syee, as others nodded in agreement. "She is stronger than a man. Some people got sick during training but she didn't." Vanja's parents ? both doctors ? were "in shock" when she broke the news to them, and begged her to come home. But now they have accepted it and are even planning to visit for Christmas. She said she has great admiration for the Karens. "Even if they have nothing, they will share, they will break a cigarette in half ? and they are still happy, smiling, never complaining." While foreign soldiers have helped train the KNLA, Vanja ? the only woman in the camp apart from a handful of medics ? is the first foreign woman to do so, Ner Dah said. Ner Dah said he will assess her skills after her training is complete, regarding her wish to fight on the front lines against Myanmar soldiers. On Monday, KNU leaders said they were ready to hold peace talks with the country's ruling junta, but could not negotiate as long as the government kept up military attacks against them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar to launch
controversial electronic passport system
Wed Aug 14, 6:08 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar will launch a high-tech electronic passport system this week, using technology developed by a company partly owned by a U.N. envoy brokering political reconciliation in the country. The new system will involve embedding passports with a microchip containing information about the holder, including photographs and fingerprints, said a government statement received Wednesday. It said the passports will be checked at automatic gates installed in the departure terminal of the Yangon international airport. The process will take 10 seconds. "If there were no problems, the gates would automatically allow the passport holder to pass through," the statement said, adding that Myanmar is the first country in Asia to use this system. It said 5,000 of the passports would be issued this week to Myanmar diplomats, officials and selected members of the business community as part of a pilot program. It was not clear when the passports would be available to people not connected to the country's military regime. Most members of the public face severe restrictions on foreign travel. Passports are issued only after extensive checks and people have to surrender them after returning from overseas. The new passports use technology developed by a Malaysian-based company, IRIS Technologies, whose chairman is Razali Ismail, the special U.N. envoy to Myanmar. In May, Razali denied there was a conflict of interest, saying he did not play any role in negotiations to secure the deal. "I have not even once talked to the leaders in Myanmar about IRIS," he told The Associated Press at the time. Razali said IRIS had been offering electronic-passport technology to other Southeast Asian countries, not just Myanmar, well before he became the U.N. special envoy in April 2000. The United Nations has also said the kind of part-time contract that Razali has with the organization doesn't carry any restrictions on business activities. With his persistent diplomacy, Razali, a Malaysian, helped start a reconciliation dialogue between Myanmar's military junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2000. He also helped secure her release from 19 months of house arrest in May. But no substantive dialogue has taken place between the ruling generals and Suu Kyi since then. Myanmar's current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won overwhelmingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar to reopen checkpoints one by
one: Thai FM
Xinhuanet 2002-08-15 11:32:53 BANGKOK, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai confirmed that Myanmar agreed to reopen border checkpoints one by
one but when it will start doing so is not yet known, the Nation newspaper
reported Thursday.
He was quoted as saying that Myanmar did not tell the Thai
authorities when it would allow border crossings to resume, and the Thai side
only had been informed that the checkpoints along the Thai-Myanmar border would
be reopened one by one.
But Surakiart added he would not be surprised if Myanmar
startsthis from Sunday.
According to the local press, the Thai-Myanmar Township
Border Committee (TBC) would hold d meeting in Myanmar's Tachilek opposite
Chiang Rai province's Mae Sai district, 700 kilometers north from Bangkok on
Sunday.
The TBC meetings would lead to the reopening of
Tachilek-Mae Sai and Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoints, the Bangkok Post reported.
Myanmar closed all three permanent checkpoints to Thailand
and suspended all border committee meetings after border skirmishes and a
propaganda war in May.
Surakiart paid a fence-mending trip to Yangon earlier this
month and announced that normal relations between the two countries would be
resumed soon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar workers reportedly killed in
fire at Thailand's warehouse
Xinhuanet 2002-08-14 10:55:50 BANGKOK, Aug. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Fire raged through a rubber
warehouse complex and its neighborhood for seven hours in Trang province, 850
kilometers south from Bangkok, reportedly killing several Myanmar workers and
causing more than five million baht (11,000 US dollars) in damage, the Nation
newspaper said Wednesday.
Wadol Kongkaew, an inspector at Trang city police station,
was quoted as saying that the fire damaged the warehouse and more thana dozen
houses August 13, meanwhile several Myanmar workers were reportedly killed in
the blaze but this could not be verified.
Charoen Kongkij, a 32-year-old local resident whose house
was partially damaged, said the fire broke out at noon and spread quickly. He
said about 50 fire engines from Trang city and nearby areas rushed to handle the
fire but fire engines were unable to contain the early stages of the fire
because they had to leave thescene for more water.
Trang province governor Sa-nguan Chanta-aksorn said police
had not yet determined the cause of the fire and had not yet been ableto
question Sudarat Arayasongsak, the warehouse owner, who was still in a state of
shock and cannot even give her name.
The governor confirmed that his office would provide
assistance to the fire victims. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scotsman
Thu 15 Aug 2002, 2:50am (UK)
Memorial for Burma Railway War Veterans By Rod Minchin, PA News More than 300 veterans of the notorious Thai-Burma railway were today expected to gather on the anniversary of the end of the Second World War for the dedication of a permanent memorial to the thousands of Allied troops who died constructing the ?Railway of Death?. A 30-metre section of the 415km line was brought to the UK in January from the Far East. The memorial, at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, lies in an area dedicated to all those who served as prisoners of war in the Far East. An estimated 16,000 Allied soldiers either died constructing the railway, were killed at the hands of their Japanese army captors or succumbed to disease such as dysentery and malaria in the harsh labour camps. The dedication service was being led by the Rev Ray Rossiter, now 80 and living in Sale, Greater Manchester, who was a prisoner of war after being captured in Singapore in 1942. He said the memorial was important in order to provide a lasting focus for survivors and their families and a lesson to younger generations. ?It?s all too easy to forget,? said the Anglican churchman, a former signalman in the Royal Corps of Signalmen. ?Future generations must be made to realise that the freedom they now enjoy was won by these people. ?It?s also important for the widows and families of those who died to have some object on which they can focus their memories. They have no graves to visit.? The track was brought to the UK following work by the Kwai Railway Memorial Group and the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre in Thailand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Wednesday 14
August 2002
Japan to help launch project
in Burma
Alternative to opium growing to be offered Bhanravee Tansubhapol Japan will join hands with Thailand to launch a crop
substitution project in Burma, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai
said.
Mr Surakiart said after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, that Tokyo would send its new ambassador to Rangoon to discuss the plan with a senior Thai Foreign Ministry official in charge of East Asia. The Japanese envoy also would visit royal projects in Thailand, which could be used as a model for Burma, Mr Surakiart said. Thailand wanted Japan to purchase crops to be produced under the project to assist Burmese growers, he added. Thailand believed encouraging the Burmese and ethnic minorities in Burma to switch to cash crops from opium and other drug crops would help end the influx of narcotics into the kingdom. Mr Surakiart said Thailand and Japan shared the view that Burma's national reconciliation would be possible only if the military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council, opened a dialogue with Noble Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, and other ethnic groups. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Wednesday 14
August 2002
Tachilek to host border talks
on Sunday
Activist group warns exiles of crackdown Wassana Nanuam A meeting of the Thai-Burmese Township Border Committee
will be held in Burma's Tachilek opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district on
Sunday. An army source said the Burmese TBC had informed its Thai counterpart that Burma would host a TBC meeting in Tachilek province on Aug 18. The Thai TBC is chaired by Col Surasak Boonsiri, commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment. There were also reports Rangoon had ordered that another TBC meeting be held on the same day in Myawaddy opposite Tak's Mae Sot district. The source said it was still uncertain whether the TBC meetings would lead to the reopening of Tachilek-Mae Sai and Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoints, which have been unilaterally closed by Burma since May. Burma has suspended all border committee meetings since its relations with Thailand soured over alleged Thai military assistance to Shan rebels. The scheduled talks follow a visit to Rangoon by the foreign minister, and the recent transfer of army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont, who is seen to have adopted a hardline stance on Burma. Next month, a Regional Border Committee meeting is expected to be held in Moulmein. The Thai delegation will be led by Lt-Gen Udomchai Onkhasing, chairman of the Thai RBC. Meanwhile, an anti-Rangoon Burmese group yesterday alleged in a press release that Thai authorities were planning to crack down on Burmese exiles in a bid to appease Rangoon. The Burma Campaign UK claimed to have received the information from ``reliable sources'' in Thailand. Bangkok was planning a massive crackdown on Burmese dissidents and ethnic leaders based in Thailand, it said. Those targeted included offices of pro-democracy and human rights groups and Burmese dissidents. The move was thought to be an attempt by the Thai government to appease Burmese military leaders, the group said. John Jackson, the group's director, said in the press release: ``Such a crackdown would be a massive blow to Burma's pro-democracy and ethnic movements. People who have already fled oppression in Burma now face arrest and detention in Thailand''. The group also quoted some activists as saying they were prepared to risk arrest and confiscation of their assets rather than go into hiding. A Bangkok-based observer was quoted as saying: ``The authoritarian rule of Rangoon's military seems to be contagious. If the Thai authorities crack down on Burmese dissidents here, they will create a stronger, more confident and more aggressive dictatorship across their border. That won't be good for Thailand or Burma.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Thursday 15
August 2002
Police to check on activists
Claims that NGO groups cross border to help minorities Anucha Charoenpo The Immigration Bureau is looking into the activities of
activists who cross the border into Burma to join ethnic minority groups
fighting the Rangoon junta.
Pol Maj-Gen Manote Sattulee, chief of the 3rd Immigration Division, who oversees nationwide border checkpoints, said yesterday the National Security Council had recently asked the bureau to keep the border area adjoining Burma under surveillance. Pol Maj-Gen Manote said the NSC had expressed concern that there might be Thai and foreign activists making moves to cross the Thai border into Burma to join ethnic minority groups campaigning against the Burmese government on issues of freedom and human rights violations. He said the NSC did not name the non-governmental organisations under which the activists carried out their work. They just wanted the immigration police to report to them if they found suspected activists. ``It's very difficult to classify who are NGO activists but we'll try the best for the image of the country,'' Pol Maj-Gen Manote said. The NSC was afraid that relations between Thailand and Burma would turn sour if Thai and foreign activists were held captive in Burma. However, police had no authority to ban travellers suspected of being NGO activists from going to Burma or other countries, he said. They would impose such a ban only on those who had committed crimes in the country and were now wanted by the police. Pol Maj-Gen Manote said he did not know if a Swedish tourist, known only as Vanja, who joined the Karen National Union rebel army fighting the Burmese government, had crossed the Thai border into Burma legally or not. He is looking into the matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Thursday 15
August 2002
Villagers sign peace agreement
Thais give Buddha images to Burmese Supamart Kasem Residents of Thai and Burmese villages along the Moei
river opposite Mae Sot district entered a peace agreement after the Thais gave
Buddha images to a Burmese temple yesterday.
The move was planned to ease the rift between the governments of the two countries. About 500 Thai and Burmese villagers, led by Kamnan Narong Huayphad and Min Lat Pan Union Solidarity and Development Association chairman Myint Oo, joined in a ceremony to present a temple in Burma's Min Lat Pan community with two Buddha images from Mae Sot's Ban Mae Konekane. The Buddha images were taken across the Moei river by boat to the Burmese temple, where around 1,000 Burmese people were waiting on the river bank opposite Ban Mae Konekane. The 13th Infantry Regiment task force had earlier mediated talks between the villagers and coordinated the presentation of the two Buddha images. Lt-Col Thanit Sanitchon said Thai and Burmese villages along the river bank agreed to maintain good ties, to respect both countries' sovereignty, help each other in case of natural disaster and to cooperate in combatting drugs. U Myint Oo said he was impressed by the atmosphere of friendship between the Thai and Burmese villagers living along the Moei river. He wanted Rangoon and Bangkok to have the same good feeling toward each other. Naresuan task force commander Maj-Gen Suthep Phothisuwan also witnessed the ceremony. He said it was the first time that Thai people had officially given Buddha images to Burmese people. The fact both sides agreed to live together peacefully could go a long way to ensuring border security in the area, Maj-Gen Suthep said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nation
KNU 'soldier' says news report was fabricated Nelson Rand Published on Aug 15, 2002 A Scotsman who featured in an English-language daily newspaper report that said he had joined the Karen Nation Union, yesterday denied that he had spoken to the press, saying that he had only dressed up in a KNU uniform "for fun." "This is completely and utterly false," he said, referring to the report,
which described him as a "public health officer" in the KNU.
Fisher, 47, said he was invited to KNU Martyr's Day celebrations on Monday
by Karen friends as he provides the Karen with donations for medical supplies
and a clinic at the KNU base camp opposite Tak province where the celebrations
took place. He said a KNU medic friend told him to dress up in a uniform and
carry a rifle "for fun".
"I felt sick when I read the story." he said.
"I don't know where they [the Thai newspaper] got their information from."
He said he had planned to use his picture in uniform for "English Week" at
his school, when teachers were asked to pin their photographs on an exhibition
board.
"I was just playing around. It was a joke. I am not a soldier, I don't even
know how to fire a gun," he said.
He said he was furious that his picture had been taken and used in the
newspaper, and astonished that he was quoted in the story when he had never been
interviewed in the first place.
"It is made up. Just lies," he said.
Fisher said he is now worried that the false report would affect his career
as an English teacher in a Bangkok school.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shan refugees look outside Thailand
PENNAPA HONGTHONG, THE
NATION
Published on Aug 15, 2002 Shan refugees in Chiang Mai's Wiang Haeng district asked that a third country accept them as refugees after their request for a permanent camp in Thailand was rejected, said an independent Shan media group. A statement issued by the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) said a request
for a camp to house about 500 Shan people who have been stranded in Thailand for
about two months, was recently turned down by the Wiang Haeng district chief.
A source from the district told The Nation that the government had no
policy to provide shelter for refugees. Once the war between the Shan and the
Burmese army was over the government would repatriate them, the source said.
Shan spokesperson Sai Leng told SHAN that they did not want to go back to their
homeland because there was no guarantee of their safety. He told the news agency
that four villagers who had recently returned home had been killed by the
Burmese military.
The Shan villagers, who are temporary sheltered in Nawngkawk and Banjawng
temples in Wiang Haeng, were displaced by the May-June war between the Burmese
military and the Shan United Revolution Army. They are the first group of Shan
refugees to be allowed to take temporary shelter on Thai soil.
An official from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok said the
refugees' request for transfer to a third country must be approved by both the
Interior Ministry and the third country.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 Shan have entered Thailand since
1996, the year the leading Shan resistance group's leader Khun Sa surrendered to
the Burmese junta.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nation
'Vanja' gets marching orders Published on Aug 15, 2002 KNU Secretary General Mahn Sha yesterday said that a Swedish woman who was reported to be a KNU soldier in the local and international press on Monday was a tourist dressed in uniform. Mahn Sha said that his army had already forced the Swedish woman to leave
KNU territory because she had made the story up and badly affected the KNU's
reputation.
KNU Commander Lt-Colonel Ne Da had earlier confirmed that the Swedish
tourist, who identified herself as "Vanja", was a KNU soldier and used to fight
against Burmese troops.
Newspaper reported that Vanja was doing military training with the KNU, and
carried pictures of her bearing a rifle and a grenade.
Most foreign KNU "volunteers" are trained, professional soldiers who have
served in other armies before joining the KNU.
"She gets her picture taken in the press like it's a souvenir that she can
take home and hang on her wall," said a 15-year veteran relief worker in
Thailand who declined to give his name. "The implications of her actions are not
confined to Karen State," he said. The Burmese will put pressure on the Thais to
inquire about how foreigners "illegally" exit Thai territory into
rebel-controlled parts of Burma, he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nation
PLEASING THE JUNTA: Thailand-based dissidents
'face crackdown'
Published on Aug 14, 2002 Activists said yesterday that they had learned of a planned crackdown on Burmese dissidents and ethnic leaders based in Thailand to appease the military junta in Rangoon. The move is thought to include raids on pro-democracy groups and offices of
human rights organisations, the arrest of dissidents and confiscation of
sensitive documents, they said.
"Such a crackdown would deal a massive blow to Burma's pro-democracy and
ethnic movements. People who have already fled oppression in Burma, now face
arrest and detention in Thailand," John Jackson, director of the London-based
Burma Campaign UK, said in a statement.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra recently reaffirmed to Rangoon that his
government had no policy to provide shelter or support to Burmese rebels.
An official at the Internal Security Operation Command said authorities
were monitoring the movement of dissident groups and armed ethnic minorities in
case they create friction with Burma.
"We need to enforce government policy outlawing anti-government movements
from using Thailand as their base to attack neighbouring countries," the
official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
It remains unclear when the crackdown is to commence, and how strictly it
will be enforced.
Northern-based activists have said they are prepared to risk arrest and the
seizure of their assets rather than go into hiding.
Burmese women of Shan and Akha origin in the North have been prevented from
carrying out human rights activities by Thai police and are under investigation.
Others Burmese groups have closed their offices in Chiang Mai and destroyed
sensitive documents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ BBC - Tuesday, 13 August, 2002, 21:30
GMT 22:30 UK
Burma to launch Razali's e-passport The authorities in Burma have announced that an electronic passport system is to be launched this week in Rangoon. It involves the embedding of a microchip in the passport which contains
information about the holder, including photographs and fingerprints.
The passports are to be checked at automatic gates installed in the
departure terminal at Rangoon international airport.
The e-passports use technology developed by a Malaysian-based company, Iris
Corporation, which is partly owned by the UN envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail.
Mr Razali said that 5,000 e-passports would be issued this week to Burmese
diplomats, officials and selected members of the business community as part of a
pilot programme.
The company hopes that the passport will eventually be introduced in all
East Asian nations.
Concerned
But some groups are said to be worried that the information might be
misused by the Burmese military government.
Mr Ismail dismissed such fears as unfounded, saying Burma's leaders had
changed.
"If you're talking about 10 years ago that may be valid," he told the BBC.
"Must you think of things in such sinister terms? Anyway, it's only for
those people who want to travel outside. In most cases those will be government
people."
Conflict of interest
Mr Razali also rejected suggestions that his position as UN envoy may have
helped Iris seal its deal with the Burmese government.
"There is no conflict of interest," he said. "I've never spoken about this
to leaders in government."
Iris' passport concept and interests in Burma predated Mr Razali's
assignment as special envoy, he added.
"I have never had to promote it at in any sense at all. I don't know how
any watchdogs of right and wrong should pass any judgement on this."
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Times of India
Thailand rejects claim on Myanmar dissidents
crackdown
AFP [ TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2002 9:12:47 PM ] BANGKOK: Thailand on Tuesday dismissed claims by a London-based rights group that it planned to launch a crackdown on pro-democracy Myanmar exiles in the kingdom. "There is no need for the Thai government to have such a policy," government spokesman Yongyuth Tiyapairath told AFP in response to allegations by the Burma Campaign UK. "If they come and make trouble for Thai people, Thai authorities have the right to respond. But if they come into Thailand legally, we cannot do anything." Burma Campaign UK, quoting sources in Thailand, warned of a "massive crackdown" on exiled Myanmar dissidents and ethnic leaders based in the kingdom. It said the government action could include raids on pro-democracy and human rights offices and the arrest of dissidents. Thousands of exiles and migrant workers from Myanmar, the former Burma, reside in Thailand, and there is an extensive dissident community here, some of whom advocate military force against Myanmar's ruling military junta. The Burma Campaign UK said in its statement that Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had recently bowed to pressure from Yangon and that it was "rumoured" that Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, known to be close with some Myanmar generals, had argued for suppression of Myanmar activists. "Rumour is rumour," Yongyuth replied. Sources in Northern Thailand close to both the military and dissident groups said they had no information of any impending crackdown. Last month Thailand's National Security Council vowed to clamp down on dissident groups, including refugee Myanmar students who oppose the military junta in Yangon. Thai-Myanmar relations soured badly in May due to deadly border clashes that led to a closure of the border, which remains in effect, a halt to bilateral trade, and a vitriolic anti-Thai press campaign in Yangon. Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai traveled to Yangon last week and said upon his return that ties had been "normalised". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Straits Times - AUG 15, 2002
THU
DIPLOMAT FACES CONFLICT OF INTEREST UN envoy's business deal with Myanmar raises eyebrows YANGON - Myanmar will launch a high-tech electronic passport system this
week, using technology developed by a Malaysia-based company partly owned by the
UN envoy to the country.
In a deal that raised questions of conflict of interest, the technology has
been sourced from Iris Technologies, whose chairman is Mr Razali
Ismail.
Mr Razali, a Malaysian, helped start a reconciliation dialogue between
Myanmar's military junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2000.
But he hotly denied that there was a possibility of a clash in his business
and diplomatic interests in the country.
He told the BBC in an interview yesterday: 'There is no conflict. I have
never spoken about this to the leaders in the government. In fact, this idea of
Iris and its interest in Myanmar predates me being special envoy. Are you
suggesting that I should resign from Iris or from the UN?
'I have never had to promote it in any sense at all. I don't know how any
watchdogs of right and wrong should pass any judgment on this.'
He also said Iris had been offering the technology to other South-east
Asian countries too, well before he became the UN special envoy in April 2000.
According to the UN, the kind of part-time contract that Mr Razali has with
the organisation does not carry any restrictions on business activities.
An AP report said that the new system would involve embedding passports
with a microchip containing information about the holder, including photographs
and fingerprints.
It quoted a government statement saying that the passports will be checked
at automatic gates in the departure terminal of the Yangon international
airport. The process will take 10 seconds.
Myanmar is the first country in Asia to use this system, it added, saying
that 5,000 of the passports would be issued this week to Myanmar diplomats,
officials and businessmen as part of a pilot programme.
The BBC report said some groups were worried that the information in the
chips might be misused by the government.
But Mr Razali dismissed the fears as unfounded, saying Myanmar's leaders
had changed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.N. adopts resolution on rape,
sexual slavery
GENEVA, Aug. 15,
Kyodo - The U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection
of Human Rights on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution on systematic
rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices.
The commission ordered states to promote human rights education on the basis of accurate historical events to tackle the problems of sexual abuse during armed conflicts. Although the resolution declined to directly point the finger at Japan, it seems to allude to Japan and its actions during World War II, including when it forced thousands of women and girls to serve as sexual slaves or ''comfort women'' for the Imperial Japanese Army across Asia. Japan has been criticized at home and abroad for glossing over such wartime atrocities in recently published textbooks. The draft of the resolution called on the international community to ''promote human rights education on the issues of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflicts, paying special attention to the accuracy of textbooks on historical events, in an effort to prevent the recurrence of such violations.'' But the reference to the historical textbooks was deleted due to the opposition from some members in the commission. A similar resolution adopted two years ago was restricted to monitoring on-going violations. But this time the resolution dropped that restriction, allowing the U.N. to investigate past violations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Straits Times - Aug 14,
2002.
More jailed over illegal entry KUALA LUMPUR, Tues An Indonesian woman and a Myanmar national pleaded guilty in separate magistrate?s courts today to entering Malaysia illegally. Suriana Sanusi, 22, and Ali Chon Yit, 26, admitted entering the country
without proper passes or permits.
Magistrates Syafeera Mohd Said and Hazizah Kassim postponed sentencing to Sept 18 and Sept 19 respectively. Suriana was arrested at Hotel Raja Bot in Jalan Raja Bot, about 11.30pm on Aug 1 while Ali was arrested at Pusat Bandar Utara, Km12, Jalan Ipoh about 8.15pm on Aug 4. They were charged under section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/ 1963 (amended 2002) punishable under section 6(3) of the same Act. Under the new law, illegal immigrants face a maximum five-year jail sentence, RM10,000 fine or both and are also liable to be given up to six strokes of the rotan. Immigration officers M. Chandran and Soed Shafiei prosecuted. In Pasir Mas, 14 foreigners, including five women, were jailed between 10 and 20 months after they pleaded guilty to entering Malaysia and staying in the country illegally. Magistrate Ahmad Bazli Bahruddin sentenced Haslina Ibrahim Khan, 48, Salbiah Ibrahim Khan 42, Kassim Bhai, 40, Basir, 32, Ayub 38, Harun, 22, Ali, 21 and Yasin, 27, all Myanmar nationals, to 20 months' jail for the offence committed in Rantau Panjang on Aug 4. He sentenced Bilal, 20, also a Myanmar national, Suriati Lazim, 30, Neng Ismail, 20, Naowaran Mangmee, 32, Khamsak Tharesa, 32, and Kari Che Wei, 30, all Thais, to 10 months' jail. Bilal, Suriati, Neng, Naowaran and Khamsak also committed the offence in Rantau Panjang on Aug 4 while Kari committed the offence at Kampung Tekar in Bunut Susu, here, on Aug 3. Immigration officer Mohd Zaidi Che Morad appeared for the prosecution. The accused were unrepresented. In another case, Ahmad Bazli fined Dee Yahuatai, 56, and Waeausman Toulayong, 29, both Thais, RM10,000 or 10 months' jail each for overstaying. In a third case, the court fined Samphao, 26, a Thai and Han Khor, 33, a Myanmar national, RM10,000 each for possessing false social visit stickers. Meanwhile six Malaysians were fined RM400 each after they pleaded guilty to entering the country through an ungazetted route. Nge Fong Hiew, 63, Fauzi Mamat, 46, Razali Zakaria, 37, Abdul Aziz Awang Hamat, 49, Loi Hiu Chiew, 37, committed the offence at an illegal jetty in Rantau Panjang about 4am on Aug 8. Immigration officer Mohd Zaidi Che Morad, who appeared for the prosecution, told Ahmad Bazli that the six were caught by policemen from the General Operations Force. Muhammad Hasif Hasan, who represented the six, said the court should consider the fact that this was his clients' first offence. In Alor Star, old age saved a Myanmar national from the rotan for entering the country illegally but his four countrymen were not so lucky. The magistrate's court sentenced the four ? Zaw, 18, Htoo, 19, Than Soe, 22, and Aung, 43, to six months' jail and two strokes of the rotan each for entering the country without valid documents on Aug 3. However, 56-year-old Kyaw Myint got only the jail sentence. Under the law, those above 50 are spared the rotan. All pleaded guilty. Magistrate Wan Nor Zanuar Wan Ahmad ordered the sentence to start from the date of their arrest on Aug 3. Senior immigration officer Mahani Mahmood prosecuted while the accused were not represented. The five were seeking jobs here and were detained by the AntiSmuggling Unit at Tasoh. Meanwhile, state Immigration chief Rosli Mahmod said 19 more illegals will be brought to court for the same offence on Thursday and Friday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |