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BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
01, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jakarta Post - ASEAN people give cool
reception to war against terrorism
Bkk Post - Italians deported but
escape time in prison
AFP - Offshore Myanmar gas field
potentially huge: report
Xinhuanet - Six persons receive
Ramon Magsaysay Award in Manila
Xinhuanet - U.N. provides aid for
Myanmar's anti-AIDS program
Xinhuanet - Myanmar steps
up fight against malaria
------------------------------------------------------------------------ ASEAN people give cool reception to war against
terrorism Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali A few weeks ahead of the commemoration of the Sept. 11 tragedy, the United States has not gained wholehearted support of the Southeast Asian people for its global war against terrorism. Participants of the ongoing ASEAN People's Assembly have expressed concerns that the U.S-led crackdown on terrorism has continued to be used by the country to garner support for its unilateral actions and by other governments to oppress their own citizens. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, a Thailand member of Parliament, said after Sept. 11 it has been easier for powerful regimes to exploit the issue of terrorism for their own interests. Israel, for instance, uses the issue to destroy the Palestinian people, and Russia can now more easily justify its policy against Chechnya. China and Indonesia are no exception, he said. "Indonesia uses the terrorism issue to exert pressure on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)," he said, referring to the separatist rebel group who have been struggling for independence since 1976. Paribatra was speaking in the first panel discussion at the second ASEAN People's Assembly here on Friday night. He said ASEAN members, including the Philippine and Indonesian governments, had begun to cooperate more closely with the U.S. on a bilateral level a few months after the attacks which were blamed on the extremist group al-Qaeda led by Saudi Arabian-born businessman Osama bin Laden. "We should not tie ourselves to a U.S. policy that may be dangerous to the region," Paribatra said. Criticism has been raised against the U.S. military exercises in the Philippines, which included the direct involvement in fighting Muslim rebels under Abu Sayyaf. Paribatra suggested that ASEAN countries eventually extend their collaboration among member governments in combating terrorism, which includes a more systematic region-wide data and intelligence sharing; provision of money and military hardware; and preparations for joint law enforcement or and when necessary, joint military operations. But even this enhanced cooperation will not be sufficient, as "the region's structural vulnerabilities" remain unsettled, Paribatra said. Describing the vulnerability, he cited Southeast Asia's great diversity of races and ethnic groups. The region is also a point of convergence for three of history's greatest civilizations and belief systems. But Southeast Asia is also home to a number of alleged terrorist groups. A number of them are reportedly involved in separatist struggles, which complicates the problem. "Terrorism has always been linked to Islam and here in the region, Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country. The Sept. 11 tragedy has made Islam a center of attention and suspicion," he said. Since the mid l960s, Indonesia has been a strong pillar of regional cooperation. "Islam has been an integral part of the region's peace and progress. Therefore the threat of radical Islam should not be exaggerated, and it must be stressed that the region's Muslims are peaceful and wish to live in peace among themselves and with others," Paribatra said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Sunday
01 September 2002
Italians deported but escape time in prison Eight Italians face deportation and suspended jail terms for illegally crossing the border into Burma to help ill Karens. The Mae Sot Provincial Court on Friday sentenced the six men and two women from Italy to four months' imprisonment for crossing the border of Ban Ya Phor, Phop Phra district, into Burma illegally on Thursday. However, the sentences were halved and commuted to suspended jail terms because the defendants confessed. The eight told the court they had had no intention to do wrong but simply wanted to treat sick Karen people along the border like they had done before. They were taken to Muang Tak immigration checkpoint for deportation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Offshore Myanmar gas field
potentially huge: report
YANGON, Sept 1 (AFP) - An offshore gas field near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh could be significantly larger than Myanmar's other two operating fields and eventually be piped to India, a report here said. The reserves could be more than double those found at either the Yadana or Yetagun gas fields, a report in the Myanmar Times cited South Korea's Daewoo International as saying. There "is most likely around 13.4 to 47.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the site where we are going to drill a test well in November next year," H D Lee, deputy managing director of affiliate Myanmar Daewoo, told the weekly in its edition to be published Monday. The reserves at Yadana and Yetagun are 6.7 and 3.2 trillion cubic feet respectively, he was quoted as saying. Daewoo International holds a major interest in an exploration project at the field, the report said, which plans to start seismic interpretation and geological surveys of the field off western Rakhine state in October. The company reportedly signed a production-sharing contract with Myanmar's Ministry of Energy in August 2000 and in January assigned 20 percent and 10 percent stakes respectively to India's Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Gas Authority. Depending on the quantity of gas found, the consortium will consider transporting the gas by ship or through a direct pipeline to India, the report added. The issue of gas pipeline construction in Myanmar is controversial. Last week France's TotalFinaElf faced accusations that it had used forced labour in the construction of the Yadana pipeline, which carries gas from Myanmar to Thailand. In June, a US court ruled that a lawsuit against Unocal, a partner of TotalFinaElf on the pipeline, would go ahead this month. The suit also alleges forced labour was used to build the pipeline. Rights activists have estimated that the junta receives around 150 million dollars annually from the Yadana pipeline, cash that they allege bankrolls its oppressive rule. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Six persons receive Ramon
Magsaysay Award in Manila
MANILA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide and five other persons from Asia received the 2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award Saturday for their outstanding work in certain fields. They received the award, regarded as Asia's version of Nobel Prize, from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at an award presentation ceremony here. Davide won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service. Other winners of the award include Dr. Ruth Pfau, a German nun in Pakistan, for Community Leadership; and Dr. Cynthia Maung, a Karen doctor from Myanmar, for Community Leadership. Bharat Koirala, founder of the Nepal Press Institute, won the award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts; Pomnyun Snim, a South Korean Buddhist monk, for Peace and International Understanding; and Sandeep Pandey of India, for Emergent Leadership. The award, established in 1957, was named after late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957). It has been given every year since 1958 by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation to outstanding persons or institutions in Asia. The award carries a certificate and a medallion bearing the likeness of the late president with inscriptions indicating the basis of selection, and a prize of 50,000 US dollars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.N. provides aid for
Myanmar's anti-AIDS program
Xinhuanet 2002-09-01 12:59:27 YANGON, Sept. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has allocated 2.5 million US dollars of aid to Myanmar for the country's 2002 to 2004 anti-AIDS program, according to the UNDP Office here Sunday. However, the aid, which is part of the 22 million-dollar aid for Myanmar's fourth-phase human development programs, is said to be only enough to cover the cost of the anti-AIDS activities in 90of the country's 324 townships. The UNDP attributed the financial limitations in Myanmar's anti-AIDS activities to a global funding shortfall which has hampered the agency's ability to extend the activities on a nationwide scale and to strengthen the existing projects. The UNDP, one of the UN agencies involved in the U.N.-Myanmar joint action plan against HIV/AIDS, has helped establish the national AIDS program and facilitate the international and national non-governmental organizations to take part in the HIV/AIDS activities during the past 10 years. HIV/AIDS is recognized as one of the three priority communicable diseases in Myanmar. The other two are malaria and tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organization, 3,817 AIDS cases were reported and 510,000 HIV infections estimated in Myanmar by the end of 2000, with 760 cases per 100,000 people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar steps up fight against
malaria
Xinhuanet 2002-09-01 11:24:02 YANGON, Sept. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar has stepped up its fight against malaria, one of the top three diseases in the country in terms of fatalities. In collaboration with the World Health Organization and the U.N.Children's Fund, the Myanmar Ministry of Health has so far provided 80,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets for population living in high-risk areas in the country, said a latest report of the ministry. About 80 percent of Myanmar's population live in malaria-prone areas. Besides, the ministry has also planned to distribute thousands more of such nets to other areas in Kayin, Tanintharyi, kachin, Ayeyawaddy and Mon divisions and states to intensify the fight. Official figures show that there has been a significant declinein Myanmar's mortality rate since 1996. In 2001, 1.2 percent of its population contracted malaria and the disease accounted for about six deaths in every 100,000 people. However, the ministry admitted that there remains difficulties with the expansion of its preventive and treatment campaigns on account of the availability of financial resources and equipment shortage in disease identification. Meanwhile, Japan, Myanmar's major donor nation, is making a survey on establishing an intervention project covering four areasin the country's Shan state. Moreover, other latest report said the European Union has recently allocated two million euros (about 1.96 million US dollars) to Myanmar under an aid package announced in last August for the country's malaria prevention and treatment programs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |