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Sunday May 25, 6:14 PM
Myanmar junta links bomb attack to Thailand's organised
crime crackdown
YANGON, May 25 (AFP) - Myanmar's military junta on Sunday linked a
series of bomb attacks in one of its border towns last week to Thailand's
forthcoming crackdown on organised crime.
Four Myanmar nationals,
including two policemen, were killed Wednesday in separate blasts in Tachilek,
which lies opposite Thailand's Mae Sai town. The junta immediately blamed the
Shan State Army (SSA), one of few rebel outfits still fighting against Yangon
rule, who denied responsibility.
In its Sunday statement, the junta said
that the bomb attacks were a result of tensions in the build-up to Thailand's
planned blitz on "influential figures" or gangsters due to begin July 1.
"We are already seeing the counter-measures taken up against both
governments by these elements," the statement said.
"Recent bomb attacks
on the border town of Tachilek... had proved to be an obviously desperate
attempt to derail the friendship, cooperation and joint efforts our two nations
(have) enjoyably achieved," the statement said.
The junta also refuted
months-old claims that the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a Yangon-aligned group,
had put a price on Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's head, and insisted
they were not behind the attacks.
In March, amid a three-month drugs war
which ended April 30, security for Thaksin was beefed up after the government
said a bounty had been placed on his head by a group outside the country.
Drug lords from Myanmar's UWSA, blamed for producing most of the
methamphetamines that flood Thailand, were cited as suspects at the time.
The issue returned to the spotlight last week after Thaksin revealed his
intelligence agencies had warned him to stay away from large gatherings. He has
since cancelled two public engagements.
"As the allegation launched
against the Wa leaders of masterminding the assassination plot against Prime
Minister Thakins failed, the 'influential figures' have concocted the recent
second attempt to blame the Wa people for the bomb blast in Tachilek and ambush
of a truck convoy," the statement said.
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was cited in a weekend report as saying the UWSA were more
likely to be responsible for the bombings than the SSA.
Local media
reported that gunmen on Thursday attacked a convoy of eight Thai-owned trucks 30
kilometres outside Tachilek, injuring two.
Thailand and Myanmar saw
relations spiral to a low in May 2002 after similar attacks in the area last
year, with Yangon accusing Thailand of assisting the SSA during border clashes
with Myanmar troops.
Relations were normalised in August after
Thailand's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai made a fence-mending
visit.
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Sunday May 25, 1:49 PM
Development slated for Kandawgyi area in Myanmar capital:
report
YANGON, May 25 (AFP) - An area adjacent to Yangon's famed
Shwedagon Pagoda is slated for a multi-million dollar development project to
begin in July, according to a media report here.
Some 93 hectares (230
acres) surrounding the Kandawgyi, or Royal Lake, in military-ruled Myanmar's
capital, is set to be transformed into a major park, a report in the forthcoming
Monday edition of the Myanmar Times said.
Yangon authorities, as well as
two private companies, Zaykabar and the Woodlands Group, are reportedly
overseeing the development.
"The project is estimated to cost at least
2.5 million dollars but might go as high as five million dollars," managing
director of Woodland Group U Win Aung was quoted as saying.
The new park
will feature a cable car, walking trails, boat club, museum, aquarium, a
fountain shooting water to a height of 50-metres (164-feet) and other
facilities, according to the report.
The cable car will operate 19
metres above ground level along a 1.2 kilometre triangular route linking the
shore with two islands at the eastern end of the lake, while a wooden boardwalk
will skirt more than one kilometre of the southern edge of the natural lake, the
report said.
Myanmar's military government has embarked on several
beautification projects ahead of 2006, when it is due to host an Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit.
The United Nations
expressed concern earlier this month over the junta's plans to build a 60-metre
observation tower at the ancient city of Pagan.
UNESCO, the UN's
cultural body, is in the midst of protracted negotiations with Yangon to list
Pagan as the country's first World Heritage site.
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Sunday May 25, 1:11 PM
Myanmar to introduce online visas: report
YANGON, May 25 (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar is set to become the
first country in Asia to introduce online visas for visitors arriving by air,
according to a media report here.
The project is to be implemented
within the next few months, an official involved in the project, who declined to
be named, said in a report in the forthcoming Monday edition of the Myanmar
Times.
"We are holding discussions with the 12 airlines which fly to
Myanmar to finalise arrangements for the system," he was quoted as saying.
Visa applications will be made at visa.gov.mm, with those approved
receiving a print-out to present to immigration officers on arrival, the
official added.
The only countries currently offering online visa
applications were Australia, Canada and Russia, according to the official.
Myanmar has a notoriously strict immigration policy, especially with
regard to international media and members of non-government organisations (NGOs)
operating within the country.
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Police officer arrested for smuggling illegal workers
Sunday May 25, 7:28 PM
BANGKOK,
Thailand (AP) - A Thai police
officer on Sunday was arrested for allegedly helping to smuggle illegal
immigrants, after he was caught driving 15 Myanmar women toward Bangkok,
officials said.
Police Capt. Anand Nitiphiranand, 45, was charged with
misconduct and facilitating illegal immigration. But he claimed he did not know
the women were illegal migrants, and said he was transporting them for a
relative, said police Capt. Boonruang Puengton.
If convicted, he faces
up to 10 years in jail.
Police discovered the women when Anand's van was
stopped at a traffic intersection in Phrae town, 490 kilometers (300 miles)
north of Bangkok.
The women, aged between 17 and 25, told police they
had paid 3,500 baht (US$80) each to Anand for the ride from the border province
of Nan to the capital, Boonruang said.
He said the women were charged
with illegally entering the country and will be deported.
More than 1
million Myanmar migrants work in Thailand in low-paying jobs. Many are illegal
migrants.
Lack of jobs and extreme poverty in their country force many
Myanmar people to seek work in Thailand despite frequent physical abuse and
discrimination by their employers.
On Friday, police in western Thailand
found charred human remains and bones in a jungle, believed to be those of six
Myanmar migrant workers who disappeared earlier this month. They were apparently
killed and their bodies set on fire.
Last year, a female domestic worker
was beaten and burned by her employers last year. She died after being dumped on
a roadside.
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Bangkok Post - Sunday 25 May 2003
Burma urges shootings probe
Burmese
authorities have demanded an inquiry into the deaths of six Burmese workers who
were murdered and their bodies burnt in Tak.
Senior officials of Burma's
foreign ministry yesterday asked Thailand to look into the disappearance of the
Burmese, whose bodies were found in Mae Sot district on May 21.
Rangoon
considered it a serious matter and wanted an explanation of what happened as
soon as possible.
They said a complaint had been filed with the National
Human Rights Commission by the victims' relatives, that the six were seen
apprehended by Thai police before they disappeared, after a fight with a group
of Thai construction workers in Mae Sot.
Rangoon had written to the
Foreign Affairs Ministry demanding an investigation and the prosecution of all
suspects.
Police said they had contacted Myawaddy authorities yesterday
to summon Burmese witnesses in the case.
Mae Sot police chief Pol Col
Songkran Sangkhakorn said they had sufficient evidence to arrest the
suspects.
Some were influential local officials and police needed
cooperation from Myawaddy authorities to question more witnesses and ensure they
did not wiggle off the hook.
An earlier examination of the crime scene,
in a forest of Ban Huay Kolok, found three .38 spent shells, four .45 spent
shells, two set of handcuffs and a single handcuff.
A further check
yesterday uncovered an 11mm bullet, an 11mm spent shell, a .38 spent shell, a
set of handcuffs and another single handcuff. Pol Col Songkran said witnesses in
Tak told police they saw 4-5 armed men claiming to be police officers arrest 6-7
Burmese workers near Mae Sot Ceramics Co in Ban Mae Pa Tai.
The arrested
Burmese were handcuffed and photographed in front of the factory before being
taken away in a white pick-up truck belonging to a local influential figure. The
spent shells at the scene show that they fired at the victims until they ran out
of bullets, then reloaded and shot them some more.
The six victims were
identified as Min Hein, 28, Thein Naing, 33, Aye Min, 22, Ah Nge Lay, 19, Maung
Maung, 24, and Ah Nyar Thar, 22. _ AFP, Bangkok Post
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Bangkok Post - Sunday 25 May 2003
Split in Wa command blamed for bombings
Shan not
involved, insists SSA leader
Subin Khuenkaew and Wassana
Nanuam
Last week's bombings in the Burmese border town of
Tachilek were linked to conflicts among Wa drug traffickers, Shan State Army
leader Yawd Serk said.
``We have nothing to do with this kind of
terrorism.
``We are a political movement fighting for independence for
Shan people and will not resort to killing innocent people,'' Yawd Serk said,
speaking from his Doi Tai Laeng military headquarters, opposite Mae Hong Son's
Muang district.
Yawd Serk blamed dissident groups within the United Wa
State Army (UWSA) for the bombing of a government building and ambush of a
convoy of trucks and oil tankers.
``Khin Nyunt knows the motive and who
was behind it,'' Yawd Serk said, referring to Burma's first secretary Gen Khin
Nyunt, known to have a special relationship with several key figures of the UWSA
including the notorious Wei Hsueh-kang, commander of the UWSA's 171st special
corps.
``This is caused by conflicts of interest in the drug trade among
traffickers who are influential Wa in the area,'' he said.
The UWSA are
the biggest drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle.
Seven Burmese were
killed in the explosions on Wednesday, at the same time the SSA celebrated the
45th anniversary of the Shan resistance movement.
``Our troops were
taking part in celebrations here [in Doi Tai Laeng] and none was deployed for
military operations,'' said the SSA leader.
The attacks came two days
after a meeting between Thailand and Burma in Tachilek, witnessed by Gen Khin
Nyunt, when the countries agreed to build a new bridge linking Chiang Rai's Mae
Sai and Tachilek.
A Thai intelligence official also said he believed that
conflict between senior leaders of the UWSA could be behind the
bombings.
Bao Yu Hua, the youngest brother of Bao You-xiang, a UWSA
commander, was in conflict with both Wei Hsueh-kang and the Burmese junta, he
said.
The junta wanted Bao Yu Hua to move his people back from the border
area with Thailand to Pang Hsang, a border town with China.
Bao Yu Hua
and his Wa people are now near Khong Kong, 4-5km north of Chiang Rai's Chiang
Saen border town, which is believed to house a major drug-producing
plant.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said people who wanted to create
conflict and misunderstanding between Thailand and Burma were behind the
attack.
Strict measures taken by Rangoon against ethnic minority groups
might have caused discontent.
Defence Minister Thammrak Issarangura na
Ayudhya said conflict of interest was to blame for tension at the Thai-Burmese
border, although it was too early to blame any specific group.
``But we
will deny resistance groups use of Thailand as a springboard to attack Burma.
``This won't happen,'' the defence minister said.
Col Apichart
Meesommon, chairman of the Thai-Burma Township Border Committee, yesterday wrote
to his Burmese counterpart expressing his condolences over the bombings and
deaths.
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DVB News (23 May 2003)
More political
prisoners released
The released prisoners are U Sai Nyunt
Lwin, the Secretary of Shan NLD, and three members of Arakan (Rakhine) NLD.
U Sai Nyunt Lwin was released on the 20th of May from Insein Prison and
U Shwe Saw Oo, the Secretary of Myauk [Mrauk] U Arakan NLD, the Joint-Secretary,
U Tha Tun Aung and a member, U Khin Maung Kyi were released on the second week
of April.
DVB : They have released you unconditionally? They have not
sentenced you with anything?
U Sai Nyunt Lwin : There is nothing.
Nothing. There is no political understanding (deal). They didn't restrict me
with rules.
DVB : Could you tell us what happened to you the day they
arrested me? Could you tell us how they arrested you and with what charge?
U Sai Nyunt Lwin : The Military Intelligence agents came to see me and
told me that they wanted to talk to me. I didn't know and I went to where I was
summoned. There, the person I was helping, Ko Khin Win was in trouble. He
accused me that I helped him and so I was also arrested.
DVB : You have
been in that prison or interrogation centre for three or four months. What is
the condition there like?
U Sai Nyunt Lwin : I was there for three and
half months. They treated me like a proper leader. They didn't treat me like
others and it was quite normal. There was nothing new for me but I was on my own
in the prison. I could not do anything. I had no contact with the outside world.
I only met my family when I was out.
DVB : Are you going to resume your
political activities?
U Sai Nyunt Lwin : Yes. I have rested for awhile
and I am resuming now. I am reading what I have missed. On my part, I am being
shot with air gun [criticised]. The people I was arrested with are from the NLD
members and Daw Suu's circle. I was released because I became the government's
witness and the like.
DVB : As far we know, U Khin Win was sentenced to
life and the like. What I mean is to do with what you said just now. What do you
have to say about that?
U Sai Nyunt Lwin : To say the truth, it was made
by them. I had nothing to do with it. I was not part of it. I knew nothing about
it. It's nothing to do with my party. They appointed me to be their witness and
I had to accept it. They went to jail not because of my confession. They
themselves admitted it at the court. It is their own making that they went to
prison. I feel sorry for them. Their lawyer said to me that I tried to escape on
my own. I didn't do it because I have no promise between them and me. I was
there because they invited me. I will resume my duties and our members in Shan
State are fully behind me. My party itself is waiting for me during a meeting.
What I mainly want to see is - I was the government's witness but there is no
political understanding [deal] between me and the authority. There are not
restrictions on me with rules and no political deal. That's all I want to say.
Although U Sai Nyunt Lwin was released, five members of the NLD and two
ex-NLD members who were arrested with him were given life sentences. U Lwin told
the DVB as follows about it:
U Lwin : Ko Khin Win given life sentence
with Emergency Act 3 and three years with Illegal Organisation Act,17b. His life
sentence would be commuted and he will get 22 to 23 years. Ko Maung Maung
Myint's sentence is the same as before but he was given 5 extra years with
Immigration Act. He will get 28 years. U Maung Maung Aye was charged with
illegal organisation act. He got three years. He got 5 more years for Acts
6&7. I think it is to do with immigration. He also got 5 more years with Act
13a. He got 13 years in total. U Tun Yin, U Tin Sann, U Moe Aye, U Khin Soe;
they each got five years.
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DVB News (23 May 2003)
Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi still in Mogok
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team are
still resting in Mogok but one NLD MP and two party organisers in Monywa, the
scheduled destination of the team were arrested by the Military Intelligence and
sentenced to two years each in prison.
The three arrested are from
Monywa, Sagaing Division and, they are the chairman of Dipeyin Township NLD and
elected MP U Win Myint Aung, Treasurer, U Win Maung and Chief Organiser, U Tin
Hlaing. They were arrested more than a week ago and each sentenced to 2 years to
prison only yesterday, said U Lwin:
U Lwin : They went to rally people
in Dipeyin Township before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's visit. U Win Myint Aung, the
chairman of Dipeyin Township NLD and the elected MP, and the Treasurer U Win
Maung and U Tin Hlaing were arrested with the charge of 'talking against the
government', tried and sentenced to 2 years to prison yesterday.
DVB : U
Tin Haling was released not long ago, wasn't he?
U Lwin : I don't know
which U Tin Haling you are talking about. He was summoned and interrogated but
he never came back. We don't know where he was taken to or what was done to him.
What he said during the rallying trips to villages were not in accordance with
the rules and he is being interrogated for that, I heard. They came to his house
and took away some papers. Five or six villagers were also interrogated. They
were tried in prison and sentenced to two years
each. We heard from their
families as they came down to Rangoon.
DVB : We haven't heard about that
in the previous trip. What have you said to the authorities about that?
U Lwin : We have to lodge the appeals according to the law. Another
thing, we will only learn now with what they were charged or whether they were
sentenced one-sided or not as they have no rights at court in their case.
Whatever the case, we can lodge appeals legally for them. Only when we know the
details, we will be able comment politically.
These arrests are the
second arrests for taking part in party politics after the release of Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi. The first arrests were at Kengtung with Shan NLD members and U Sai
Phat died during the detention. Despite the arrests, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
team will go to Mandalay Division and continue to Monywa. The team are expected
be back in Rangoon on the 4th of June, said U Lwin as follows:
U Lwin :
If they depart tomorrow from Mogok, they will only reach Mandalay if they travel
the whole day. I think they might stop at Madaya and the like on the way. They
will raise signboards at Monywa, Ye-U, Dipeyin, Sabe and Butalin in Sagaing
Division. We are expecting them to be back on the 4th of June. After raising
signboards at Chindwin Valley towns in Sagaing Division, they have to raise the
signboard at Pakokku. They will go to Pakokku via Mandalay. After raising the
signboard at Pakokku, their rallying duty will be finished. They would only have
to return to Rangoon. We are expecting them to be in Rangoon before the 4th of
June.