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Myanmar coup plotters headed for dustbin of history
Wed Mar 5,10:45 PM ET
By AYE
AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer
YANGON,
Myanmar (AP) - A year ago, the news
that relatives of former dictator Ne Win had been arrested for treason hit
Myanmar like a thunderbolt.
But what had been stunning news in a
land grown largely blase to politics after four decades of military rule seems
now like fading thunder.
Strongman Ne Win, who staged a coup in
1962 and then lead the country toward disaster, died last Dec. 5 at age 91.
What really killed him, many believe, was a broken heart,
triggered by the despair of seeing his beloved heirs arrested, imprisoned and
sentenced to die for treason.
Aye Zaw Win, the husband of Ne Win's
favored daughter Sandar Win, and the couple's three sons ? Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne
Win, and Zwe Ne Win ? were arrested unexpectedly on March 7, 2002, for allegedly
planning a coup.
They were sentenced on Sept. 26 to death for
treason, a ruling upheld by Myanmar's Supreme Court on Dec. 24.
They now await their fates in Insein Prison on the outskirts of
Yangon, a home shared with many other political prisoners, mostly members of the
country's pro-democracy movement with whom they have nothing in common except
life behind bars.
Most ordinary people shared Ne Win's surprise
over his family's fate, but not his grief. Ne Win had been widely despised for
turning Myanmar, known in his time as Burma, from one of Southeast Asia's
richest nations into a beggarly police state, a condition from which it has yet
to emerge.
If people did have a shred of sympathy for Ne Win, it
was because he was one of the small band of heroes who led the country to
independence from Britain in 1948. But any sympathy certainly did not extend to
his kin.
His family ? particularly daughter Sandar Win and the
four arrested members of her family ? flaunted their influence, flouted the law,
intimidated adversaries and amassed a large business fortune.
Even
if they loathed them, most people had considered Ne Win, and by extension his
family, untouchable. Perhaps Ne Win was no longer running the show behind the
scenes, as some believed, but he still commanded the respect that military men
traditionally accord their patrons.
Stories abounded in
Yangon about the uncouth, even thuggish behavior of Ne Win's grandchildren ?
tales about violent motorcycle gangs, beatings in discos, fighting between rival
siblings' bodyguards.
But Ne Win's family apparently crossed the
line when they poked their noses into politics, which in Myanmar means messing
with the military.
As the army has demonstrated with its
long-running repression of the country's pro-democracy movement, this is not
something to be undertaken lightly.
But lightly ? or ineptly or
cockily ? is exactly how the family acted, according to evidence presented at
their trial.
The truth can be difficult to discern in Myanmar's
courts, not generally seen as paragons of justice. But the case presented by the
government rang true in its pathetic details, even if it hardly suggested the
accused were a serious threat to state security.
By their own
admission, the accused approached senior officials to voice disgruntlement at
the state of the state.
They paid generous stipends to their
army-supplied bodyguards in an evident effort to ensure their personal loyalty.
Special uniforms were prepared. Black magic practitioners were employed to give
advice. (Ne Win was notoriously superstitious.)
On March 7, 2002,
the hammer dropped when Sandar Win's family was arrested while dining with a key
military contact whom they sought to recruit to their alleged plot, but who
instead turned them in, the court said.
Ne Win and daughter Sandar
were put under house arrest. Overnight, the security forces outside their
residence turned from guards to jailers.
Ne Win was cremated on
Dec. 6 in a low-key ceremony. The imprisoned members of his family were not
allowed to attend any memorial ceremonies.
Sandar Win remains
isolated. She has not been allowed to visit her imprisoned family members, nor
has anyone been allowed to see her except her brother Pyo Wai Win, who visited
from overseas.
The four convicted family members are kept in
separate buildings inside Insein prison, according to prison sources.
They can still make a special appeal to the Supreme Court of their
death sentences but their lawyers have not done so yet, legal sources said. The
sentences could also be commuted by an executive order.
The men's
only recent visitors have been two representatives of the London-based human
rights organization Amnesty International, who made a fact-finding visit to
Myanmar in January.
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Myanmar ethnic leader asks U.S. to inspect anti-drug
efforts
Wed Mar 5,11:02 PM ET
LAUK-KAI,
Myanmar (AP)- An ethnic leader in
northern Myanmar has declared the Lauk-kai region, known for opium poppy
cultivation, free of the drug-producing crop and invited United States
anti-narcotics officials to visit.
"To avoid misunderstanding, we
would like to invite the United States to visit and to open a U.S. narcotic
representative office," ethnic Kokang leader Phone Kyar Shin said.
Lauk-kai in Shan State is under the authority of the ethnic Kokang
minority led by Phone Kyar Shin, a former rebel leader who reached a peace
agreement with the ruling military junta in January 1989. Lauk-kai is more than
800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of Yangon.
The 72-year-old
leader told reporters visiting the remote area on a trip Tuesday sponsored by
Myanmar's military government that he could not accept allegations by "malicious
elements" that most of the country's narcotic drugs came from the Kokang region.
"Knowing the menace of narcotic drugs to humanity, we strive our
utmost to eliminate narcotic drugs despite a myriad of difficulties we face due
to lack of expertise and financial support," he said.
Phone Kyar
Shin added that while local authorities expected to wipe out illicit drug
production from the area by 2005, the task had been accomplished by 2002.
He said they had been able to eradicate the cultivation of
poppies, which are used to make opium and heroin, through crop-substitution
projects sponsored by the governments of China and Japan.
The
Kokang leader said further assistance would be needed to sustain the anti-drug
efforts.
Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium
after Afghanistan, even though opium production declined from 2,560 metric tons
(2,822 U.S. tons) in 1996 to 630 tons (694 U.S. tons) in 2002, according to U.S.
figures.
Jungle laboratories along the Thai-Myanmar border are
also producing vast quantities of the stimulant methamphetamine, Thai officials
say.
The Myanmar regime has long been criticized for failing to
crack down on illegal drug production, allegedly turning a blind eye to
trafficking by drug lords and ethnic armies in mountains bordering Thailand and
Laos.
Western aid for Myanmar's anti-drug efforts has been limited
because of the junta's poor human rights record and failure to hand over power
to a democratically elected government.
The United States has
repeatedly refused to certify Yangon's government as meeting its standards for
drug crackdowns, effectively denying almost all U.S. aid to every government
sector.
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U.S. leaves unchanged list of religious
offenders
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday named
six countries -- China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan -- as
``countries of particular concern'' for violating religious freedoms.
The annual list, unchanged from last year, is a congressional
requirement under the International Religious Freedom Act passed in 1998.
``Regrettably, the status of religious freedom has not
significantly improved in any of these countries since that time (last year),''
the State Department said in a statement.
Members are liable to a
range of economic and diplomatic sanctions but in past years the sanctions have
merely replicated measures imposed under other U.S. legislation. A State
Department official said the administration had not decided whether to impose
additional sanctions.
When the State Department issued its annual
report last October on the state of religious freedoms around the world, a U.S.
official said the United States would have to look carefully at the case for
listing Saudi Arabia, where the State Department says that religious freedom
does not exist.
But the new list contains neither Saudi Arabia nor
any of the new U.S. allies severely criticized in the annual report, such as
Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
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The Telegraph
?Open? house for Myanmar
OUR SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, March 5: George Fernandes has
finally answered the question that has been bothering many of his supporters for
years. He has said there is no contradiction in championing the pro-democracy
movement in Myanmar and engaging with its junta.
Fernandes was
releasing Burma File: A Question of Democracy by Soe Myint, a Myanmarese
journalist and a key member of the pro-democracy movement living in exile in
Delhi for over a decade.
The defence minister said: ?My house has
always remained open for my Burmese friends and will remain so in
future.?
Fernandes indirectly brought up the Tehelka controversy
while talking of keeping an ?open house? when he said ?a gang? took advantage of
it and tried to prove his house was being used for taking bribes in defence
deals.
The minister recalled his first encounter with Burmese
student activists when he was still an Opposition MP. The activists had sought
his help when Indian authorities asked them to leave the
country.
?I made arrangements for them to stay at my house as I
knew the consequences of what would happen if they were forced to return to
Myanmar,? Fernandes said.
His support for the pro-democracy
movement in Myanmar, he said, did not contradict his engagement with the State
Development and Peace Committee, the military regime in
Yangon.
Fernandes emphasised close cooperation and regular
interaction with the Myanmar government had helped India in dealing with the
insurgency in the Northeast as many of the militants had camps in that
country.
?If by engaging with them, it helps us in tackling the
insurgents, and as the defence minister if I can save the life of my soldiers, I
see nothing wrong in doing so,? he said. Fernandes was quick to say there might
be some ?constraints? when one was in government.
Emphasising that
engagement with the committee can work out in everybody?s favour, Fernandes
said: ?We have to persuade them that democracy in Myanmar is not going to
adversely affect the military in the country as, like the political leadership,
the army also has an important role to play.?
Soe Myint, who was
involved in hijacking a Thai Airways Bangkok-Rangoon aircraft and diverting it
to Calcutta over a decade ago, is once again being ?harassed? by the Indian
authorities.
The hijacking, Soe claimed, was his attempt to draw
the world?s attention to Myanmar?s pro-democracy movement.
Soe?s
case was revived by the authorities last year though all charges against him
were dropped earlier. He will now go on trial in the hijacking case next
month.
Fernandes said like in the past, he would ensure Soe is
?liberated? from his troubles. He, however, did not go into any details of how
he proposed to do this.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 06 March
2003
Indian government plans to try Burmese suspect after 12 years
Editor finally charged with diverting airliner
Dinesh C Sharma
In a surprise move,
the Indian government has decided to put on trial a Burmese journalist living in
exile in India for the hijacking of a Thai Airways International plane 12 years
ago.
The journalist, Soe Myint, is founding editor of the Mizzima
News Service, run from New Delhi by Burmese exiles since 1998.
He
was arrested last year for the hijacking and is currently on bail. A charge has
been filed against him in a Calcutta court, where the trial will begin on April
2. The flight was bound for Rangoon from Bangkok before it was diverted to
Calcutta.
If convicted, Soe Myint will be jailed for life under the
provisions of the Indian Anti-Hijacking Act. Charges of criminal conspiracy have
been dropped, and Soe Myint faces only hijacking charges. His associate left
India a few years ago.
``I have been living in this country for the
past 12 years and it is difficult to believe that India has decided to put me on
trial,'' Soe Myint said. ``We hijacked the plane for a political cause, we had
no weapons. We just wanted to hold a press conference in Calcutta to explain our
viewpoint.''
He recalled that after the hijacking in November 1990
not only were he and his colleague allowed to hold a press conference in
Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, but they also had a meeting with the
state's chief minister.
No case was brought by THAI or passengers
of the plane.
Soe Myint said New Delhi's sudden move could be part
of its war against terrorism, or part of India's policy of constructive
engagement with the military junta in Rangoon.
``Burmese
authorities may be pressuring India to proceed against me since Mizzima's
influence among Burmese in exile, as well as those inside Burma, is growing,''
he said.
Burmese students and pro-democracy activists living in
India have always been supported by human rights activists and civil society
here. A leading supporter of pro-democracy movement in Burma is socialist leader
and defence minister George Fernandes. In fact, the Burmese students
organisations operate from the minister's official residence in New
Delhi.
Mr Fernandes and several other members of civil society were
present at a function organised here on Tuesday evening to release Soe Myint's
book called Burma File: A Question of Democracy.
``I am aware of
the problems of Soe Myint. This has been addressed but could not be resolved. I
have made efforts to see that he is out of danger. We will continue to do that
and we will succeed,'' Mr Fernandes said after releasing the
book.
Referring to contradiction in the government policy and his
support to pro-democracy activists, he said: ``I have my convictions upon which
I have acted over a lifetime, I will continue to hold them without any break. My
party will continue to be with the people of Burma.''
At the same
time, Mr Fernandes defended the government's policy of constuctive engagement
with the Burmese junta.
``We have a problem of insurgency in
India's North-East. The insurgents most often operate from the Burmese soil. Our
soldiers are killed. Asking a neighbour's help in fighting insurgents, to
protect our borders and lives of our soldiers, is not immoral.''
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 06 March
2003
Army will seal border with Burma
Troops redeployed
amid pill influx fears
Post reporters
The army has been told to seal the border with Burma to
stop drugs getting in.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the
military, police and local administration officials to work together in their
drug suppression drive on the border with Burma, the main drug route, to prevent
a new influx of methamphetamines.
Defence Minister Gen Thammarak
Issarangura na Ayudhya said Mr Thaksin was worried trafficking might increase
given the shortage of methamphetamines inside the country since the campaign
began.
The price of yaa baa on the other side of the border was
much cheaper, so smuggling could be an attractive option.
Prime
Minister Thaksin yesterday presided over a drug meeting at Government
House.
``We discussed measures for sealing the border to prevent an
influx of drugs,'' said the defence minister.
The military would
have to work with police and the Interior Ministry.
The Government
House meeting was attended by army commander Gen Somdhat Attanand, navy
commander Adm Thasweesak Somapha, national police chief Pol Gen Sant Sarutanond
and Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai Wansathit, secretary-general of the Office of Narcotics
Control Board.
Pol Gen Sant said border patrol police and
immigration police would be told to work with the military.
``We
have to step up our cooperation to make our fight against drugs on the border
more efficient,'' he said.
Pol Gen Sant said drug traffickers had
opened new drug routes on the border in Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani,
Kanchanaburi and Ranong.
The Third Army, meanwhile, has reorganised
its forces along the border. It has moved 70% of its regular forces from the
so-called inner zone to a deeper area 30-50 kilometres from the
border.
Third Army commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasingh said half
of his forces, around 14,000 troops, had been positioned along the border in the
past year.
``We have to adapt our strategy by moving our forces
deep inside to counter the spread of drugs,'' said Lt-Gen
Udomchai.
Border villages suspected of being drug storage points
would be searched. Troops would work closely with government agencies and
community leaders.
Lt-Gen Udomchai said the Internal Security
Operation Command planned to reorganise border villages. Villagers would be
trained to help the government fight drugs.
His forces had been
told to concentrate more on border villages whose leaders had close ties with
the ethnic minority United Wa State Army, which sends hundreds of millions of
methamphetamines across the border from Burma.
Lt-Gen Udomchai said
55 drug plants controlled by the UWSA were still churning out drugs along the
Thai-Burmese border.
``We have a report that the UWSA is also
responsible for five new drug factories along the Thai-Lao border opposite
Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen,'' he said.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 06 March
2003
Police arrest 119 Burmese refugee camp escapees
Supamart Kasem
A patrol
yesterday rounded up 119 Burmese who had slipped out of Tha Song Yang refugee
camp to collect banana leaves for sale and now face
deportation.
The refugees, including 14 women, were handed over to
Tak immigration authorities. Police said many other refugees had escaped from
the camp and were being hired to illegally cut trees in nearby forests or were
collecting wild products for sale.
In a second raid, 18 illegal
Burmese workers were arrested in Mae Ra Mat district while waiting for job
brokers to send them to other provinces. In Muang district, border patrol police
arrested 41 Burmese who had sneaked into the country and hidden in the jungle
for three days.
A police officer and his wife were also arrested at
a checkpoint in Muang district for smuggling in two Burmese
workers.
Sgt-Maj Suwan Puekpong, 51, of tambon Pawor police
station, claimed the two Burmese had hired them for 6,000 baht to take them to
see their relatives in Bangkok. Police said Sgt-Maj Suwan has long suspected of
smuggling foreign workers to factories in Bangkok and other provinces.
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Gold Mining, Nets Imperil Rare Dolphin, Groups
Say
John Pickrell
for National
Geographic News
March 4, 2003
Researchers warn
that dwindling populations of the Irrawaddy river dolphin may soon become
extinct in the Myanmar (formerly Burma) river from which it takes its name. The
mammal is known for its habit of assisting fisherman fill their nets. A recent
survey of the Irrawaddy river dolphins tallied 35 percent fewer sightings than
five years ago.
According to the survey, river dolphin populations
are so depleted that concerned researchers plan to submit a proposal that the
Ayeyarwady population be classified as critically endangered on the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of species at
risk of extinction.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) led
the assessment of the Ayeyarwady River (formerly Irrawaddy) in Myanmar.
Surveyors tallied 35 percent fewer sightings than a 1998 assessment of the same
segment of the river. Poisoning from chemical processes used by the local gold
mining industry and illegal and destructive fishing practices are suspect
influences in the dolphin's population decline.
"Irrawaddy river
dolphins are among the cetaceans at greatest risk of population extirpation and
perhaps extinction," said Brian D. Smith, a conservation researcher in Myanmar.
Smith is affiliated with the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society of the U.K. (WDCS).
Without protection from human activities, Irrawaddy dolphins may
soon disappear altogether from Myanmar and neighboring nations, he warns.
Beluga-Like
The two- to
three-meter-long (6.6- to 10-foot-long) Irrawaddy river dolphin (Orcaella
brevirostris) is similar in appearance to the better-known Beluga whale. The
river dolphin habitat is coastal tropical waters and mangrove swamps across
Asia, from India to northeastern Australia and the Philippines.
River-dwelling populations of the dolphin are found in Indonesia's
Mahakam River on the island of Borneo; in the Mekong River, which forms a border
between Thailand and Laos and meanders through Cambodia and Vietnam; and in the
Ayeyarwady River which serves as the cultural and economic lifeblood of Myanmar.
Two small lake-bound populations in India and southern Thailand are also known.
"The three river populations are indeed some of the most
endangered cetacean populations known," said dolphin conservation scientist and
WCS researcher Isabel Beasley, at the James Cook University in Townsville,
Australia.
Irrawaddy dolphins are appreciated by local fishermen
in some parts of Myanmar for their habit of working with them to drive fish into
old-fashioned throw nets. The dolphins may benefit by catching stunned and
scattered fish.
"The fishermen's catch increases greatly when they
fish with the dolphins," said Smith. "They have cooperated with dolphins while
fishing for at least several generations, and they claim long term relationships
with individual dolphins," he said.
Smith led the survey team who
estimated that only a few Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the 2,170-kilometer-long
(1,350-mile-long) river. Participants in the research team included conservation
workers from the WCS, the WDCS, the Myanmar Department of Fisheries and Forests,
and the University of Yangon.
Charting Demise
Using a hodgepodge of local watercraft, the team
conducted a 27-day survey of the river's entire length in November and December
2002. In 1998, a tally of 14 separate sightings led to a population estimate of
59 dolphins in the upper part of the river at the time. However, only nine
sightings were chalked up during the latest, more extensive survey.
The survey numbers suggest that the population has been reduced to
as few as 37 dolphins, said Smith. More surveys would be required to confirm
this though, he added.
In addition to a rapid plunge in total
dolphin numbers, the species has retreated far into the range it once occupied,
he said. British Naturalist John Anderson reported in 1879 that the species
could be found a further 500 kilometers (800 miles) downstream from the current
limits of its range.
"The decline in their range and the low
numbers observed indicate that this population is critically threatened," said
Smith.
The primary threat affecting dolphins in the Ayeyarwady
river is gill net entanglement. Fishermen increasingly prefer them over
traditional throw nets. Fishermen anchor gill nets to the riverbed. The nets
indiscriminately trap fish, dolphins, and other animals that swim into them.
Eighty percent of the dolphins killed in Indonesia's Mahakam River
are entangled in gill nets, said Danielle Kreb, a conservation biologist with
the Conservation Foundation for the Protection of Rare Aquatic Species of
Indonesia, in Samarinda, East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. Kreb estimates
that as few as 65 dolphins may remain in the Mahakam River.
Destructive Fishing Practices
A
further threat to the Ayeyarwady dolphin population is the illegal practice of
electric fishing. Electric fishing uses high voltage to kill everything in
range, allowing fishermen to easily gather dead fish from the surface of the
water. The practice often occurs clandestinely at night, said Smith.
Probable poisoning from the lucrative and culturally important
gold mining industry is another likely reason for the dolphin's demise. "Gold
plays a huge role in the ornamentation of pagodas and Buddhist worship in
Myanmar," said Smith. Mercury, which is used in chemical processes to extract
gold, leaches into the river and may be slowly poisoning the dolphins and other
organisms.
"Accidental catch in local fishing gear is by far the
largest current threat also facing the Mekong [river] population," said Beasley,
who studies Irrawaddy dolphins in that river. "If this threat could be mitigated
I have no doubt that the potential survival of the population would increase 100
fold," she said.
Conflict between humans and dolphins arises
because of severe poverty in these developing nations, said Beasley. "It's not a
simple matter of banning gill nets and other destructive fishing practices?local
communities depend solely on the fisheries resources for their livelihoods," she
said. The answer may lie in persuading local people to implement conservation
and management initiatives, she said.
"I believe there would be
good support for a site-based conservation program," said Smith, citing the
obvious affection the throw net fisherman have for the dolphins. He envisages a
conservation scheme that encourages throw-netting with the incentive of
lucrative eco-tourism. "A protected area could preserve both the dolphins and
the traditional fishing practice of cooperating with the dolphins," he said.
Smith is Asia coordinator for the Cetacean Specialist Group of the
IUCN. He plans to submit a proposal that the Ayeyarwady population be listed as
critically endangered on the IUCN red list of extinction-prone species.
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Asia Times - Mar 7, 2003
Tobacco giant
under gun for Myanmar JV
By Bob Burton
CANBERRA - Ahead of its mid-April annual general meeting,
British American Tobacco (BAT) is facing increasing pressure from human-rights
groups in Asia and elsewhere to withdraw from a joint-venture partnership with
the military government of Myanmar.
The Australian labor-movement
aid organization Union Aid Abroad/Apheda is organizing protests urging BAT, the
world's second-biggest tobacco firm, to withdraw from its joint venture.
"We are calling for a withdrawal of trade investment in Burma
following on from International Labor Organization [ILO] reports and the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' [ICFTU] own investigation
which found that forced labor in Burma is actually increasing," said Marj
O'Callaghan, national program manager with Union Aid Abroad.
In
June 2000, the annual ILO Conference backed a resolution on Myanmar urging
governments, unions and trade unions to "cease any relations that might aid its
military junta to abet forced labor".
Last October, the ICFTU
released a 350-page report that concluded that "trade-union groups are becoming
the focus of violent attacks and foreign multinational investment is helping
keep the junta afloat as the world's governments look on".
While
BAT proclaims that it plans on staying in its joint-venture partnership with
Rangoon, the director of London-based Burma Campaign UK, John Jackson, predicts
that BAT will buckle under the glare of public attention.
"We have
no doubt that they will eventually withdraw. We will find every point of
pressure that we possibly can, and we will continue to push until we succeed,"
he said.
BAT openly acknowledges that Rothmans of Pall Mall
Myanmar is 40 percent owned by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH), a
government-owned company. Although the company commenced operations in 1995, it
only became part of the BAT stable of companies when it merged with Rothmans in
1999. Last week, BAT announced that it made US$3.3 billion in profits last year.
Zin Linn, spokesman for the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma, the Myanmese government-in-exile (the junta changed the
country's name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989), says it welcomes the "pressure on
the tobacco company, or any foreign investments".
"People know
that the income from the tobacco [multinational] helps the generals. That is
always the case," he said. "Many people say even if they are suffering from
sanctions, they welcome the pressure on the military regime because of the
suppression they have to live with."
Activists hope that by
year-end, campaign groups in 20 countries will be publicizing BAT's Myanmar
project.
"They could pull out tomorrow without affecting the
company's overall financial position, and they could do this honorably by
providing a generous redundancy package that would more than meet the needs of
their workers for at least a one-year period," Jackson said.
To
deflect the controversy over its joint-venture project, in early January BAT
contributed some $50,000 to a four-day human-rights awareness workshop on
"capacity-building that may help the country to move closer to international
conventions on women's human rights". But this "allows the regime to present a
facade of concern about these issues, when they could simply order their
commanders to stop [abuses]," Jackson said.
According to the Burma
Campaign UK, BAT's joint-venture factory is in the military-owned Pyinmapin
Industrial Zone in the Yangon division of the Mingaladon township.
"This industrial zone was upgraded in 1996 by construction crews
made up of child laborers. UMEH contributed the land and the factory building to
the venture," Burma Campaign charged in a November report on BAT's operations.
BAT does not challenge the accuracy of the allegation. "We are
disturbed to learn of this allegation, of which we have no knowledge," BAT wrote
in a background paper on its Myanmar operations late last year.
Asked whether it had subsequently undertaken investigations into
the claim, BAT did not respond.
The company defends its operations
in Myanmar by saying that contributing to the economy makes improvements in
human rights possible. "We believe that economic prosperity is an important
catalyst for other forms of social advance," BAT argues.
But
Myanmese exiles in Thailand disagree. Soe Aung, external-affairs director of the
Network for Development and Democracy, said: "Any kind of investment in Burma
will in one way or another support the income of the military regime.
"The military regime is known to launder money it gets through the
drug trade to keep its foreign reserves from falling," he said. "Investing in
Burma has no guarantees at all."
Jackson estimates that $16
million in taxes paid by BAT's joint venture have gone directly into the coffers
of the regime.
"BAT are pumping millions of dollars into a regime
that is impoverishing 41 million people. A few projects by BAT do not compensate
for the damage done by a regime that BAT is helping to sustain," Jackson said.
The campaign has already embarrassed the deputy chairman of BAT,
Kenneth Clarke, who chairs the board's corporate social responsibility
committee. In November, Burma Campaign released a copy of a letter that Clarke -
who is also a Conservative member of the British parliament - wrote to a
constituent, "I must admit that I do sometimes feel uncomfortable about
investment in that country.
"The problem in Burma arises when
companies start collaborating with an extremely unpleasant regime which is
totally contrary to our notions of civil liberties and democracy," he wrote.
Clarke later told the British Broadcasting Corp, "I don't think companies can
have a rule about not doing business with dictatorships."
BAT's
sponsorship of the human-rights workshops mimics the funding by Britain's
Premier Oil of similar workshops. Last September, Premier Oil finally ended its
involvement in the Yetagun gas project after a seven-year campaign by the Burma
Campaign UK and other groups (see Oil firm's pullout buoys Myanmar lobby,
October 11, 2002).
BAT points to community projects, from support
for health projects, food support and orphanages, as evidence of the benefits
that locals would miss out on if the company withdrew.
But Jackson
said: "Fund a brutal military dictatorship, have little regard to the impact of
your investment, and then in order to allay public criticism, throw a little bit
of money to a few villages to illustrate how positive your presence in the
country is. It's a bit like having dinner with the jailers while throwing crumbs
to the prisoners."
(Inter Press Service)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-06
Anti-India rebels have camps in Bangladesh, Myanmar,
Bhutan.
New Delhi, Mar 5 (IANS): Anti-India rebel
groups from the northeastern states and West Bengal have established several
camps in neighbouring Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, Minister of State for Home
Affairs Harin Pathak said Wednesday.
Pathak said the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the dominant rebel group in tea and oil-rich
Assam state, reportedly had camps in Bhutan, Bangladesh and
Myanmar.
The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, a rag-tag insurgent
group from northern West Bengal with links to the ULFA, had camps in Bhutan,
Pathak said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya
Sabha.
"The ULFA is reported to be sharing some camps with the
(Khaplang faction of the) National Socialist Council of Nagaland in Myanmar, he
said.
S.S. Khaplang, a Naga tribal from Myanmar, leads this rebel
group, which has agreed to a ceasefire with the central
government.
Besides, Pathak said the National Liberation Front of
Tripura and the All Tripura Tiger Force - rebel groups from Tripura state -
reportedly had camps in Bangladesh.
"The government has been
sharing its concerns from time to time with regard to terrorist training camps
in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan," Pathak said.
He said the
governments of the neighbouring countries had assured "their full cooperation
and help in containing terrorism".
State governments from the
restive northeast, where more than two dozen rebel groups are active, however,
say New Delhi needs to do more to curb the activities of anti-India extremists
operating from neighbouring countries.
Tripura Chief Minister
Manik Sarkar has said his state's 856-km border with Bangladesh should be
immediately fenced and sought additional border guards.
"Extremist
groups like the NLFT have camps in Bangladesh and their cadres cross through the
border which is completely porous. (Pakistan's) Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) agency is also active in Bangladesh," he told reporters here Monday.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-06
Defiant Shans will not submit to pressure either from Thailand or
Burma to lay down their arms.
Bangkok, March 06:
Though the issue of surrendering arms to whom is so far not clarified, Shan
State Army have shown its defiance in the issue of surrender. Chairman Yawdserk
has clearly stated that he would not submit to any pressure forthcoming from any
corner to lay down their arms.
Following orders from Bangkok to the
Thai army to 'play hard ball' with the Karen and Shan rebels reportedly to bring
them to the negotiating table with Rangoon, a number of Shan State Army
commanders said they would continue to keep their arms.
"Chairman
Yawdserk, if he thinks he's had enough of it all, can surrender," said one of
his top commanders this morning. "But many officers and I have resolved that we
will never submit to any pressure by anybody to lay down our
arms."
"We didn't start this war," he argued. "We have only been
defending our land and fights against the aggressors. It would therefore be
wishful thinking on the part of those who say this war will come to an end by
our surrender."
The current confusion arose when Gen Thammarak
Issangkura na Ayuddhya, Thailand's Defense Minister, made a surprising
announcement that he had instructed the Thai Third Army to 'give a hard time' to
the rebels. "We felt perplexed", said one Thai security officer, "because the
order came right after the Shans and their allies released their official
communiqué welcoming the Prime Minister's overture (on 10 February to act as a
mediator between Rangoon and the ethnic rebels).
The joint
statement by Karen National Union, Restoration Council of Shan State (the SSA's
political wing) and their three other allies, namely, Karenni National Progress
Party, Arakan Liberation Party and Chin National Front on 25 February, also
declared their desire that the venue should be in a neutral country and that
they would meet Rangoon's delegation together.
"The rebels' demands
rising out of their concerns were understandable and we naturally thought our
superiors would be happy," the officer continued. "So we were completely caught
off guard when the Defense Minister responded by ordering the army to get tough
with them instead. It has put many of us in doubt whether it was for the rebels'
total submission, and not for their coming to the peace talks, that he had
agreed with Rangoon in the first place."
Thaksin Shinawatra was in
Rangoon on a 2-day visit last month, 9-10 February.
Thailand's
pressure plus sanctions had contributed to the Mon ceasefire agreement in 1995
and warlord Khun Sa's surrender a year later.
The Shan State Army
'South' led by Col Yawdserk fields 8 'brigades' and 3 mobile columns. It is
active in southern and eastern Shan State, where most of the human rights abuses
by the army are taking place.
- SHAN -
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shan Herald
Agency for News
No: 03 - 03/2003
Politics - Yawdserk can
go, but we will not, say defiant Shans
Following
orders from Bangkok to the Thai army to 'play hard ball' with the Karen and Shan
rebels reportedly to bring them to the negotiating table with Rangoon, a number
of Shan State Army commanders said they would continue to keep their arms.
"Chairman Yawdserk, if he thinks he's had enough of it all, can
surrender," said one of his top commanders this morning. "But many officers and
I have resolved that we will never submit to any pressure by anybody to lay down
our arms."
"We didn't start this war," he argued. "We have only
been defending our land and rights against the aggressors. It would therefore be
wishful thinking on the part of those who say this war will come to an end by
our surrender."
The current confusion arose when Gen Thammarak
Issangkura na Ayuddhya, Thailand's defense minister, made a surprising
announcement that he had instructed the Third Army to 'give a hard time' to the
rebels. "We felt perplexed", said one Thai security officer, "because the order
came right after the Shans and their allies released their official commuique
welcoming the prime minister's overture (on 10 February to act as a mediator
between Rangoon and the ethnic rebels).
The joint statement by
Karen National Union, Restoration Council of Shan State (the SSA's political
wing) and their three other allies, namely, Karenni National Progress Party,
Arakan Liberation Party and Chin National Front on 25 February, also declared
their desire that the venue should be in a neutral country and that they would
meet Rangoon's delegation together.
"The rebels' demands rising
out of their concerns were understandable and we naturally thought our superiors
would be happy," the officer continued. "So we were completely caught off guard
when the defense minister responded by ordering the army to get tough with them
instead. It has put many of us in doubt whether it was for the rebels' total
submission, and not for their coming to the peace talks, that he had agreed with
Rangoon in the first place."
Thaksin Shinawatra was in Rangoon on
a 2-day visit last month, 9-10 February.
Thailand's pressure plus
sanctions had contributed to the Mon ceasefire agreement in 1995 and warlord
Khun Sa's surrender a year later.
The Shan State Army 'South' led
by Col Yawdserk fields 8 'brigades' and 3 mobile columns. It is active in
southern and eastern Shan State, where most of the human rights abuses by the
army are taking place.