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Wednesday May 28, 4:57 PM
Southeast Asia Considers
Human Rights In The Region
BANGKOK (AP)--Eight Southeast Asian countries Wednesday
discussed plans to create a human rights commission that would investigate
allegations of violations from throughout the region.
The commission was
initially proposed in 2000 but no progress has been made.
"It is thus
high time to move from mere intention to more concretization," a statement
issued at the conference said.
About 60 representatives from member
countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were taking part in the
three-day meeting that began late Tuesday.
Vietnam and Brunei aren't
attending. The other Asean members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The commission would
investigate violations and to take petitions from throughout the region. But its
rulings would be nonbinding. It would merely make recommendations to
governments.
The meeting Wednesday also discussed trafficking of women
and children, and human rights in the war on terrorism.
"Respect for
human rights is the best arsenal against terrorism because it removes the
sources of grievance that have spawned terrorism and denies terrorists of their
mass support and recruits," Sorajak Kasemsuwan, Thai vice minister of foreign
affairs, said in his keynote address.
He didn't directly refer to the
scathing criticism his government has faced for violations of human rights in
the wake of a controversial war on drugs, during which more than 2,300 people
were killed. Human rights groups say most of the deaths were extra-judicial
killings.
A U.N. human rights envoy, Pakistani lawyer Hina Jilani, told
a news conference Tuesday that respect for human rights in Thailand has
diminished since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in 2001, and
that human rights activists are working in a "climate of fear" because of
state-sponsored harassment.
In response, Thaksin has lambasted Jilani,
and said his government respects the rule of law.
Sorajak, the deputy
foreign minister, also said the administration is committed to Thailand's
reformist 1997 Constitution.
"This constitution stands as a fundamental
pillar for respect of human rights in Thailand," he said. "The government is
committed to the spirit of the constitution by cultivating the spirit of human
rights and achieving the goals of human rights for all."
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Wednesday May 28, 5:07 PM
Torture, killings continue in Myanmar despite Suu Kyi
release: Amnesty
LONDON, May 28 (AFP) - Myanmar has continued to arrest and torture
political dissidents despite the release of pro-democracy campaigner Aung San
Suu Kyi in May of last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Forced labour and extra-judicial killings of ethnic minority civilians
also continued in Myanmar, formerly Burma, in 2002, the London-based rights
watchdog said in its report on 2002.
"Reports of torture of political
prisoners during initial interrogation by the Military Intelligence continued to
be received," Amnesty said, adding that three political prisoners had died in
custody during the year.
"Extrajudicial executions continued to be
reported in most of the seven ethnic minority states," it added.
The
report said about 50 political prisoners were detained during the year and about
300 released, bringing to 500 the total number of prisoners set free since
January 2001. However, about 1,300 political prisoners remained in jails.
The group noted no progress had been made in talks between the military
government and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy, despite three visits to the country by the UN secretary general's
special envoy Razali Ismail.
Amnesty highlighted the case of former
ruler General Ne Win, who was placed under de facto house arrest with his
daughter and later died.
His daughter remained under house arrest and
his son-in-law and three grandsons were arrested and sentenced to death. The
family was believed to have come into conflict with the junta over its business
interests.
Eighteen members of parliament-elect, who won seats in the
unrecognised 1990 democratic election, also remained in jail.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday May 28, 5:57 PM
War on terror blackens Asian
human rights record
LONDON (AFP) - Asia's dubious human
rights record plunged to new lows last year with government anti-crime drives
and the US-led war on terror implicated in some of the worst abuses, Amnesty
International said.
Few of the region's leaderships escaped scathing
criticism for their handling of the turbulent months after the September 11,
2001 attacks on the United States with Amnesty's annual report highlighting a
litany of concerns.
"Human rights abuses worsened in many Asia Pacific
countries, particularly in the context of armed conflict, the 'war against
terrorism' as well as 'crackdowns on crime'," the London-based human rights
group said.
"In the name of combating 'terrorism', governments stepped up
the repression of their political opponents, detained people arbitrarily, and
introduced sweeping and often discriminatory laws that undermined the very
foundations of human rights."
The US role in detaining suspected al-Qaeda
members in Afghanistan came under heavy scrutiny by Amnesty, which also rounded
on anti-terror campaigns in Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia,
Pakistan and South Korea.
"Grave human rights abuses and armed conflict
continued in Afghanistan," Amnesty said, making reference to prisoners held
without trial in a US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at the US-run
Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
The US-backed Afghan government was also
attacked for housing prisoners in apalling conditions while Pakistan authorities
were criticised for handing more than 400 people into US custody "without
adequate human rights safeguards".
Amnesty's report on 2002 accused other
governments of arbitrary arrests under heavy-handed anti-terror measures, namely
Bangladesh's Special Powers Act and India's Prevention of Terrorism
Act.
Indian authorities also came under fire for failing to protect
people in the western Indian state of Gujurat where hundreds of people were
killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in February 2002.
The report
criticised Australia's strict detention of asylum seekers, many fleeing war in
Afghanistan, which led to rioting, hunger strikes and lip-sewing protests and
prompted Amnesty to call for a policy review.
China's ongoing "strike
hard" campaign against crime, said to have resulted in more than 1,900 death
sentences and 1,060 executions following "unfair" trials marked another blot on
Asia's human rights record.
The group condemned arbitrary arrests and
anti-free speech measures in communist Laos, North Korea and Vietnam as a rising
number of dissidents took to cyberspace to vent their
frustrations.
"Increasing numbers were detained and held, among others in
China and Vietnam, for expressing their views on the Internet or for downloading
information critical to the governments or related to the human rights
issues."
Alleged unlawful killings, "disappearances" and torture by both
sides in what was the sixth year of Nepalese Maoists' anti-government "people's
war" were once again spotlighted.
And concerns were renewed over "gross
human rights violations against women" in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India,
Pakistan, the Philippines and other countries.
In Sri Lanka, Amnesty
reported a breakthrough following a ceasefire and peace talks between the
government and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate
homeland.
Optimism was also expressed over democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's release from house arrest by the Myanmar military junta, although the
report noted "no progress in confidential talks about the future of the
country".
--------------------------------------------------------------
Burma in the balance
Should you go? The
politics of traveling to Asia?s most controversial destination
By Steve Hendrix
THE WASHINGTON
POST
May 28 ? It would easy to mistake this
postcard-perfect sunrise over Burma?s ancient city of Bagan for a travel cliche.
But it?s not a cliche. It?s a metaphor. Take a closer look: A rosé horizon
backlights a black skyline of spires and domes. A thin morning fog lies on the
plain, torn by temples that rise beyond number above the treetops. They stretch
to every horizon, squat pagodas to soaring Buddhist cathedrals, more than 2,000
shrines dating to an 11th-century religious building boom. Watching the tide of
dawn creep across this antique world is like meditating on a just-opening lotus
blossom.
IN THE QUIET, a bulge detaches itself from a temple to the north
and floats smoothly into the brightening sky. The bulge resolves into three
separate hot-air balloons that drift tranquilly among the holy ramparts. A flare
of gas lights up a cluster of tourists peering over a gondola, followed a beat
later by the soft roar of propane. From high on a temple ledge, other foreigners
click shutters and murmur appreciations at the surreal and beautiful scene of ?
here comes the metaphor ? tourism taking off in Burma.
More and more
international visitors are making it to this long-shunned corner of Southeast
Asia. The government?s own statistics ? notoriously suspect ? show almost a
half-million foreigners arriving last year, more than doubling since it began a
major tourism push in 1996. No matter how inflated those figures, outside
observers agree that tourism is climbing, particularly after last year?s bombing
in Bali sent travelers in search of alternate Asian beaches.
?Last year
was our best year; we were up 20 percent,? says Juergen Voss, the German manager
of the high-end Bagan Hotel, a plush resort on the banks of the Irrawaddy River
and in Bagan?s archaeological district.
As he sips club soda on a hotel
terrace, small groups of German and French guests arrive at the hotel?s masonry
gates, mostly retirees on package tours. They climb down from donkey carts,
patting the animals and tipping their local drivers for a few hours of
sightseeing among temples as stirring as better-known sites like Angkor Wat or
Tikal.
?Myanmar is becoming very popular,? says Voss. ?It?s a completely
new destination for Westerners.?
TOURISM: BANE OR BOON?
More people are coming, but the question is,
should they? Arguably more than any other country, Burma presents the
conscientious traveler with a dilemma: Will my visit help or hurt the local
people?
Burma, also known as Myanmar, enjoys both pearl and pariah
status in Southeast Asia. It?s a largely preindustrial preserve of stirring
panoramas, ornate Buddhist architecture, connoisseur-class artisanship and
culture that is deep and welcoming, even by the graceful standards of the
region. And it?s all under the control of what human rights activists say is one
of the most vicious governments on Earth.
Many of those activists ? led
by Burma?s own indomitable opposition hero, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi ? say tourist dollars prop up an all-controlling regime that?s guilty of
torturing and killing dissidents, wholesale narcotics trafficking, forcing
citizens to build roads and hotels, conscripting children to fight in the army
and holding more than 1,000 political prisoners. But others, who also condemn
the atrocities, argue that tourism is just the kind of ?engagement? with the
outside world that will improve the lives of some ordinary Burmese, increase
global awareness of Burma?s plight and, ultimately, hasten the regime?s fall.
?My opinion is that tourists should go,? says David Steinberg, director
of Asian studies at Georgetown?s School of Foreign Service. ?I?m a great admirer
of Aung San Suu Kyi, and I?d very much like to see her come to power. But I
disagree with her on this point. Tourism provides a rare channel of
communication for the Burmese, it provides jobs and it allows foreigners to
learn about this culture.?
Jeremy Woodrum doesn?t buy it. ?They?re one
of the world?s most brutal military regimes, cut and dried, and tourism provides
them with a significant amount of hard currency,? says Woodrum, director of the
Washington office of the Free Burma Coalition. ?We think tourists who travel to
Burma play right into the regime?s hands.?
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The
flying tourist loop in Burma is small and well established, limited to the few
areas where foreigners are allowed to wander: Bagan for the ancient temples;
Mandalay, Burma?s second-largest city, for a brief homage to Kipling; and
finally over to the floating villages of lovely Inle Lake. (More recently, many
visitors are adding a side trip to Ngapali or one of the other beach resorts
appearing on the Andaman Coast.)
But almost all visits begin in the
capital, known as Rangoon to Westerners and Yangon to locals. And all visits
begin with a government shakedown: Foreigners at the airport must exchange $200
for an equivalent handful of Monopoly script known as Foreign Exchange Credits,
a dollar-pegged tourist currency accepted only by major hotels, restaurants,
shops and a few savvy cab drivers. (Reports are common that officials will, for
a little side gratuity, lower the $200 minimum substantially.) The street
currency is the kyat (pronounced ?chat?), with a laughable official exchange
rate of about six kyat per dollar. The real rate, available through ubiquitous
freelance money changers and hotel concierges, fluctuates around 1,000 to 1,200
kyat to the dollar.
The streets of central Rangoon are crowded with
bicycles, cars and trucks overloaded with passengers. Buddhists monks are
everywhere, walking the streets and jammed robe-to-robe in pickup truck beds.
Rangoon feels like a slow-motion version of Hanoi before its boom ? tree-lined,
lush and largely decrepit. (It?s without Hanoi?s handsome French architecture
but also without its nerve-jangling swarms of motor scooters.) Near the crowded
downtown, bottles with flowers line the curb as a signal that someone has
rationed gasoline to sell. At one corner, evening headlights play across a
massive tree trunk that?s draped in vines and packed with small figurines and
fairylike houses ? the fanciful shrines to spritelike Buddhist spirits called
nats.
On Mahabandoola Street, shabby taxis wait for Westerners to emerge
from the labyrinthine Scott Market, the main tourist shopping zone for silks,
carvings and Burma?s signature lacquerware bowls and platters. A couple of boys
scurry across a dangerous intersection, struggling under the weight of the
10-foot wooden sign they carry ? it reads ?Neurosurgery? in neat, hand-painted
letters. Nearby, in a vacant lot, a group of shirtless young men perform
gravity-defying tricks with a chinlon, a woven cane ball that players keep aloft
with feet only. It?s what Hacky Sack would look like if they played Hacky Sack
in ?The Matrix.?
SHWEDAGON PAGODA
Rangoon?s biggest tourist attraction by far is the colossal Shwedagon
Pagoda, a mountainous Buddhist shrine that dominates the capital horizon. A
group of a dozen Westerners, having paid their $5 fee and dutifully removed
their shoes, shuffles along in bare feet as a backward-walking Burmese narrates
in French. Like most men in Burma, he wears a Western-style button-up shirt over
the traditional wraparound sarong called a longhi. Many of the women, even the
urbanites of Rangoon, wear the traditional Burmese swipe of pale mud on their
cheeks, a natural sunscreen made from bark called thanakha.
The circling
tourists flow slowly around the many locals engaged in a hundred acts of
reverence ? palms together, heads to the ground ? in front of countless placid
Buddha statues. Shwedagon is very much a working holy place for the Burmese. Its
centerpiece is a bell-shaped golden spire that towers over Royal Lake. The
surrounding open-air complex is filled with acres of smaller shrines and domes
called stupas. Tourists and supplicants alike enter through one of four grand
arcades, long staircases lined with vendors selling flowers and souvenirs. The
air is rich with chanting, incense and the coo of doves roosting on curlicue
rooflines. Bells jingle and the occasional boom of a gong startles the birds and
shivers the ribs of tourists.
It?s tranquil and grand. But some of the
larger Buddha heads are wrung with jarring halos of Vegas-style flashing lights.
And it?s all so supersized, you wonder if this is the cathedral Oral Roberts
might build if he were to accept Siddhartha as his personal savior. A sign
advises foreigners that ?it is not allowed to wear the short pants, shameless
dresses and not good looking dresses.?
QUIET DEVOTION TO SUU KYI
A middle-aged man in a green plaid longhi watches Shwedagon?s evening
exodus. ?How do you find Myanmar?? he asks. ?It is very beautiful, yes? Do
people in America think Myanmar is a bad place??
It?s a question you get
from almost every Burmese you talk to, an eager request for impressions. This
man, like most locals interviewed for this story, is willing to discuss the
country?s problems if his name is not printed. Typically, he condemns the
government ? ?They are only for themselves.? ? and whispers devotion to Suu Kyi
? ?She is our great lady.? Asked if he thinks tourists should come to Burma, he
seems surprised by the question. ?They should come,? he says. His brother works
at a hotel, he says by way of explanation.
Whether or not they agree
with her on the tourism boycott, Suu Kyi is clearly ? if quietly ? beloved by
the Burmese. After her party won a landslide victory in the 1990 general
election, the junta ignored the vote and put her under house arrest until 1995.
She was arrested again in 2000 and released last May with a promise of
meaningful political negotiations with the regime. But a year has passed, no
real negotiations have begun and Suu Kyi continues to be harassed. One tourist
from New York reported walking through Bagan with her Burmese guide and being
invited in for tea by a local woman. ?I had my guidebook and there was a picture
of Aung San Suu Kyi in it,? she says. ?The government media never shows her, so
they all gathered around and their faces just lighted up.?
Ironically,
Suu Kyi herself has become something of a Rangoon tourist attraction. Taxi
drivers coming in from the airport will vaguely point out the road along Inya
Lake that leads to her house or her opposition party?s headquarters a few blocks
from Shwedagon. The storefront office, next to a woodcarver?s shop, is always
under the watch of sunglass-wearing military intelligence officers. Still, it?s
something of a dare among informed backpackers to go in and purchase small
handmade pins baring the likeness of the laureate. I visited the office without
incident, but other tourists have reported being stopped and questioned
afterward, and having their Suu Kyi souvenirs confiscated.
MONEY AND THE TOURIST ZONE
?Many, many people are becoming dependent on tourism,? says a Burmese
who works in the travel industry. This person recalls the period of violent
political oppression in 1988 when tourism completely dried up. ?In Bagan, there
is almost nothing but tourism. People in Bagan were in the river looking for
gold. Without tourists to buy lacquerware, there is no money for food.?
Today in Bagan, a short flight from Rangoon, there are plenty of
tourists to buy lacquerware, hire donkey carts and shop the many micro-markets
that locals set up around the temples. Many of the peddlers hawk their wares
inside the shrines, with T-shirts, knockoff ceramic idols and calligraphy laid
out for sale at the very feet of giant Buddhas. Often it?s young girls doing the
selling, wheedling and haggling with an ad hoc vocabulary of English, French,
German and Japanese. ?Good price, good price.? For many, it?s the only schooling
they get.
A few years ago, the government uprooted the main village of
Bagan and moved it a few kilometers outside the tourist zone where most of the
temples are concentrated. But every day, dozens of locals walk or bike back to
sell to the tourists or work in the hotels. In some of the major stupas, like
the giant Shwezigon Paya, vendors push with surprising aggressiveness ?
sometimes turning a sales pitch into a plea for money.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Even so,
with literally thousands of ancient structures packed into the region, it?s easy
to find solitude in one of the world?s great archaeological wonders.
?It?s as good as I?ve seen anywhere,? says Gerald Lewis, a well-traveled
officer of a U.S. Christian relief agency based in Bangkok. ?I?m surprised by
how intact it all is.?
Lewis and his wife, visiting on a weekend
vacation, are staying at the Bagan Hotel. It?s a comfortable place of rolling
lawns, huge tropical plantings and polished teak rooms. During the high season
from January through April, the hotel is often completely booked. This weekend,
it?s filled with three separate bus-based groups of Germans. (?Here come the
Panzer Divisions? is how one waggish Irish guest announced a group?s arrival at
the lavish outdoor breakfast buffet.) The hotel is privately run, as is the
major hotel next door and most of the other properties in the region. Once all
government-controlled, the regime recently opened the door to private foreign
investment, and Japanese, Thai and German companies came in. Although the
government owns most of the land and all hotels must have a Burmese partner,
Voss, the Bagan Hotel?s manager, insists the government takes nothing from his
revenues beyond a 10 percent tax. It?s a promising development, but democracy
activists say the regime still has ways of getting a cut.
?There just
aren?t many people with money to invest in these enterprises who aren?t in some
way connected to the regime or the drug syndicates,? says John Jackson, head of
Britain?s influential Burma Campaign. ?Burma just doesn?t have a very
broad-based middle class.?
REFLECTIONS ON INLE LAKE
One hotel that seems truly independent from
the regime is perched on skinny bamboo pilings at one end of another major
Burmese tourist zone, Inle Lake. Reachable only by boat, Golden Island Cottages
is a spider web of long sturdy piers connecting dozens of bamboo bungalows to a
roomy central lodge. Each cottage sports a private veranda, an immensely
pleasing place to muse on the sunrise over the lake?s misty waters and, even
better, the lake?s unique fleet of fishermen. An Inle fisherman, using a huge
conical net, is famous for the one-footed way he finesses his wooden dugout
around the shallows; with his paddle wrapped around one ankle he works the net
with his free hand (think of how you wield a broom wrapped around one arm with
the dustpan in the other).
The cottages were built not by the military
regime but by one of the many local tribes that has waged civil war against it.
The Pa?O people, from the mountains surrounding Inle Lake, had been fighting an
armed insurgency when the government allowed them to build this hotel as part of
a ceasefire in the mid-1990s. The whole community donated money, labor and
materials, and it opened in 1996 with 40 rooms. Now, the hotel employs 58 people
and is second only to jade mining as a source of revenue for the Pa?O tribe. A
committee of 30 elders dispenses the money for road building, scholarships and
other basic needs Rangoon can?t meet.
?This money goes directly to our
people,? says a Pa?O who is part of hotel management. ?We didn?t even have
electricity before tourists started coming.?
The hotel is nearly full.
This time it?s a British tour group that arrives in canoe after canoe, each
being greeted at the landing by a traditional drum and cymbal band. (Every
arriving boat gets this treatment; it?s very welcoming but a bit much if you?re
just dashing back for some forgotten sunscreen.) Over the next two days ? in
long canoes driven by unmuffled two-stroke motors ? the Brits will ply the
lake?s chief attractions: villages built over the water; whole farms constructed
on floating rows of sod; silk looming workshops, blacksmith shops, cigar
factories; an overly touristy floating market; and finally, a floating monastery
where monks with a lot of time on their hands have taught house cats to jump
through hoops.
WHY BOYCOTT BURMA?
?My favorite was the jumping cats,? says Daniel Hill, a 15-year-old from
Melbourne, Australia, sitting in the hotel?s open-air dining room. It?s past
dusk and the red and yellow lights on the cottages cast long neon streaks across
the black water. His mother, Rikki Hill, brought Daniel and his sister to Burma
after reading that tourism was beginning to open here. She was aware of the
boycott but decided to come anyway.
?By the end of two weeks, yes, I
think we?ve contributed to the local economy,? she says. ?It?s all well and good
for people to get on a high horse, but some of those same people will go to
China or Indonesia or Malaysia where things are also not too good.?
It?s
a fair question. Ask an activist why Burma deserves a tourism boycott when other
oppressive states don?t ? China, Tibet and Cuba come to mind as popular
destinations with dodgy human rights records ? and they cite the dynamic role of
Suu Kyi.
?There are three key factors that make Burma unique,? says
Jackson of Burma Campaign. ?You have an elected party that?s never been allowed
to take power that is asking people not to come. You have a government that
tries to promote tourism specifically to raise desperately needed hard currency.
And you have systemic, pervasive human rights abuses used to build the very
infrastructure tourists use when they go there.?
How firmly committed
Suu Kyi is to the boycott is a matter of debate, according to Western diplomatic
sources in Rangoon. Clearly, her party is not about to give up any bargaining
points before the regime begins long-promised, long-delayed negotiations. But
Suu Kyi has softened her opposition to certain kinds of humanitarian aid to
Burma. And on tourism, her spokesman seemed to allow a little wiggle room in a
recent phone interview, suggesting that some kinds of targeted tourism are more
acceptable than others.
?My party?s official position is that unless we
have a dialogue [with the government] we will not change our stance,? said U
Lwin. ?My personal view is that it is up to the individual tourist. Does their
money go to the local people? Sometimes, yes. But most of them are not serious.
They are looking at the countryside on a bus.?
?In Burma,? he says,
unnecessarily, ?things are a little bit different.?
DETAILS: BURMA
The call to
boycott tourism to Burma is voluntary, not official. The U.S. government
maintains strict trade sanctions against the country but doesn?t prohibit travel
there. And Burma is not on the State Department?s current list of countries
travelers should avoid. However, the department does warn about political
tensions: ?Popular unrest and violence continue to be possible. U.S. citizens
traveling in Burma should exercise caution and check with the U.S. Embassy for
an update on the current situation.? Details: www.travel.state.gov/burma.html.
For more information on the boycott, contact the Free Burma Coalition in
Washington (202-547-5985, www.freeburmacoalition.org) or Britain?s Burma
Campaign (www.burmacampaign.org.uk).
If you decide to visit Burma, here
are some things to know.
Getting there: Several major Asian airlines fly
into Rangoon, including Thai Airlines via Bangkok and Singapore Air?s Silk Air
through Singapore. Round-trip fares from Washington are all over the map, but
seem to range within $2,000 to $5,000. One way to save money is to shop for
bargains to Asia, then add on the relatively cheap hop to Rangoon (about $200
from Bangkok right now).
Visas: Burma grants 28-day tourist visas for
$20; contact the Myanmar Embassy in Washington (2300 S St. NW, 202-332-9044).
Currency: At the airport in Rangoon, all arriving foreigners are
required to exchange $200 in cash for dollar-pegged Foreign Exchange Credits,
which are accepted by hotels, larger restaurants and shops. For the kyat, the
official exchange rate of six to a dollar is universally ignored in favor of
street rates closer to 1,000 to 1,200 kyats to the dollar.
Where to
stay: Whether Burmese hotels are controlled, directly or indirectly, by the
military regime is a matter of mystery and debate. Here are some that purport to
be as independent as possible: the Savoy (129 Dhammazedi Rd.,
www.savoy-myanmar.com) in Rangoon, pricey but excellent at $210 a night during
the high (dry) season of January to April; the Bagan Hotel (
www.myanmars.net/baganhotel; about $55 a night in high season), a comfortable
tropical hotel in the archeological zone of Burma?s ancient city; and Golden
Island Cottages (011-95-1-571513; $42 a night), built by a local hill tribe on
pilings in Inle Lake.
What to eat: Burmese food reflects the country?s
crossroads status between Thailand and India ? rich curried stews, chicken, fish
and pork satays, stir-fried vegetables. Excellent Thai and Chinese food is also
readily available, particularly in Rangoon. Market lunches cost about $3 per
person, nice restaurants, $10; five-star places, $20.
Tours: The
easiest, and probably most common, way to visit Burma is with one of the many
package tours. Two that reportedly make in-country arrangements in a politically
sensitive way are Rangoon-based Myanmar Travel (www.myanmartravel.net), offering
eight-day and longer tours staring at $860 per person, double occupancy; and New
York-based Absolute Asia (800-736-8187, www.absoluteasia.com), with eight-day
itineraries beginning at $1,860.
Activists, however, say group travel
often sends the most hard currency to the regime. Independent travel, on the
other hand, allows tourists more chances to target their spending. You may have
to make some of your plans after you arrive. Many Rangoon travel agents are
savvy and sensitive enough to help you book, for example, privately run Air
Mandalay over government-run Myanmar Airways; ask a hotel concierge to recommend
a travel agent.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 28 May 2003
Inquest delay threat to ties with Burma
Situation could
incite workers to violence
Leader of a human rights group worries
that any delay or foul play in an inquiry into the murders of six Burmese
workers in Tak's Mae Sot district will badly affect Thai-Burmese
ties.
Six Burmese construction workers identified as Aye Min, 22, Min
Hein, 28, Thein Naing, 33, Ah Nge Lay, 19, Maung Maung, 24 and Ah Nyar, 22, who
went missing on May 14 were found dead last week in a forest close to the Huay
Kalok village, Mae Sot. Their bodies had reportedly been incinerated.
The
six were last seen in the custody of uniformed Thai officials believed to be
local police after being involved in a fight with some Thai workers.
They
had been handcuffed and taken away in a pick-up truck, witnesses said.
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia)
secretary-general Somchai Homlaor yesterday warned that ``any delay and cover-up
in investigating these heinous crimes would only hurt Thai-Burmese
relations''.
He also warned that a failure to deliver justice could
create more frustration, fear and anger among Burmese living in
Thailand.
``This situation might force Burmese workers to resort to
violence to defend themselves from exploitation and abuses,'' Mr Somchai
said.
Forum-Asia urged the government to look into the brutal killings
immediately for the sake of justice to the victims and their
families.
``Thailand is a country governed by the rule of law,''
Forum-Asia said. ``Regardless of the victims' nationality, race and social
status, their cases must be treated fairly and without discrimination. Those
responsible for their death must be brought to justice.''
The group
called for the establishment of a mechanism to interview and protect key
witnesses in the cases who might be worried about their safety.
Local
officials were allegedly involved in the six deaths.
Forum-Asia said
there had been many murders of migrant workers in border areas of
Tak.
The group said ``rampant corruption'' among law enforcement officers
allowed criminal gangs to torture and murder with impunity, and local
authorities paid no attention to cases in which the victims were not Thai
nationals.
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The Nation
IN BRIEF: Burma bombings
Published on May 28, 2003
Govt probes charge of Thai
involvement
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said the
gov¬ernment was investigating an alle¬gation made by Rangoon that Thai soldiers
were involved in the recent bomb attacks in the Burmese border town of Tachilek.
Thaksin said Burma?s military government understood very well that
Thailand did not meddle in its internal affairs.
The prime minister
added that it was not his government?s policy to interfere with minority groups.
Thaksin described the allegation as mere suspicion on Burma?s part.
Third Army Region commander LtGeneral Picharnmate Muangmanee expressed
concern over the border situation following the bombings, but downplayed talk
that the incident could sour rela¬tions between the two countries. ? The
Nation.
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Shan Herald Agency for News
28 May 2003
Shan rebels deride Rangoon conference
Shan
State Army commanders have dismissed statements made by junta spokesmen at the
Rangoon press conference on Monday (26 May) as "a total farce".
Referring to the allegation that the bombing operation on 21 May and the
ambush on the following day were carried out by the "SURA drug trafficking
insurgents (Central)" especially Hsantit (Burmese pronunciation of Hsarmtip, a
common name in eastern Shan State) with the rank of company commander, Lt-Col
Khurh-ngern assured S.H.A.N. that the group's structure did not allow for the
establishment for an independent command. "All of our units except for a few
mobile combat forces and the Kengtung Front have identification numbers," said
Khurh-ngern.
Lt-Col Kawnzuen, whose Kengtung Front operates west
of Tachilek, also disclaimed having any company commander with the name of
Hsarmtip. "That's absolutely untrue," he insisted.
Observers also
noted that Rangoon's briefing paper provided very little detail about Hsarmtip,
the suspected saboteur, and "how, when and with whom he did what he did" to
enable them to look into.
A counter statement issued by the SSA
yesterday promised it is "inquiring to find the real culprit."
The
press conference had rejected allegations of Wa involvement in the attacks as
"fabricated news."
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Network Media Group
India urges Burma
to stop helping North-East rebels
May 27 (NMG) - India government urged its Burmese
counterparts neither to assist ?the separatists? groups in North-East regions
nor to rebuff the fact, stated in the meeting minutes of talks between India and
Burma on third week of May in Aizawl, Mizoram State.
According to
official meeting minutes, India pointed out the facts on Burma?s supports and
its continuous denial of the facts on their supports to Northeast "separatist"
groups namely, National Socialist Council of Nagaland(NSCN-K), People?s
Liberation Front(PLA), United National Liberation Front(UNLF) and United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
India authorities blamed Burma?s
reluctant to allow investigation on separatists leaders of UNLF, A. K. Meghen
and K.K. Mangang who were arrested inside Burma earlier, though both parties
agreed in the May 2002 sectoral meeting between two countries.
Two sides
were unable to reach an agreement till 10 pm of May 21 not reaching an agreement
concerning security issues and only on the next day, the MoU between two
countries was signed at 8 pm.
The reports from Indo-Burma border are
highlighted that Burma is, in some way, helping the "separatists" groups of the
Northeast regions such as Nagaland and Minpur States in India and these groups
are allowed to go freely to and fro inside Burmese border towns such as Tamu and
Kalay, said local peoples in these areas.
UNLF, based in Manipur State,
is comprising of several insurgent groups who are trying to get "independence"
from India and NSCN(K), based in Manipur and Nagaland, is recently negotiating
for peace with India union government.
During that 11th ?sectoral
meeting? between two countries held on May 20 to 22 in Aizawl, Mr Rajeev Agarwal
who is joint secretary of North-East Home Ministry, is heading 21-member India
team and 17-member Burmese delegation were headed by U Maung Win who is deputy
director general of Administrative Department.
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