Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi sowing unrest,
chaos
Mon Jul 7, 3:04 PM ET
YANGON, July
7 (Reuters) - Myanmar's
ruling military accused detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday
of sowing chaos and squandering chances to engage the government in talks on the
country's political future.
The comments, made in the third instalment
of a commentary carried in all state-run press, said Nobel Peace Prize winner
Suu Kyi was detained after trying to stir up unrest while touring the country.
''The real aim behind the trip was to confuse the political situation
all along the way, and to further inflame and confound it to cause chaos,'' the
commentary said.
Suu Kyi was arrested on May 30 following a clash
between supporters and pro-junta groups as she visited supporters outside the
capital, Yangon.
The government has so far refused to bow to
international pressure to release her.
Witnesses to the violence who
fled to Thailand, say hundreds of pro-government supporters set upon a convoy in
which Suu Kyi was travelling, killing dozens of people.
The junta denies
the claims, blaming Suu Kyi for the clash in which it says four people were
killed.
The newspaper commentaries on Monday were accompanied by undated
photos of Suu Kyi meeting junta chief General Than Shwe and other military
leaders and said Suu Kyi had failed to make the most of opportunities for talks
with the government.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won
1990 elections in Myanmar but has never been allowed to take power, says the
government has refused to begin substantive dialogue.
Official
newspapers quoted General Khin Nyunt, chief of military intelligence, on Sunday
as saying international sanctions to press Myanmar to release Suu Kyi were acts
of bullying and a violation of international law.
The general said every
nation had the right to prevent unrest, hinting that Suu Kyi would not be
released any time soon.
International anger with the regime has mounted
in recent weeks, with the European Union and the United States threatening
harsher sanctions and key donor Japan suspending new aid.
Myanmar has
responded by sending its foreign minister and deputy foreign minister on a tour
of Asian capitals, showing pictures of Suu Kyi in detention in efforts to allay
concern.
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Myanmar rebuts witness accounts of violence against Suu
Kyi convoy 5 24
Mon Jul 7, 5:24 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar
(AP) - Myanmar's military
government said Monday that two dissidents who fled to Thailand and claimed to
have witnessed an attack on a convoy led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi never saw the incident.
Khin Zaw, 50, and Wunna Maung, 26, testified
Friday before a Thai Senate panel, providing graphic details of the May 30
violence that led to Suu Kyi's detention and a crackdown on her National League
for Democracy party.
The accounts given by the two dissidents had
appeared to lend weight to unconfirmed reports from exiled groups that as many
as 70 people were killed when government-backed thugs attacked the convoy in
northern Myanmar. The government has said that four people were killed in a
clash provoked by Suu Kyi's supporters.
In a statement Monday, the
Myanmar government described Khin Zaw as an errant gems broker who did not
follow the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on her upcountry tour. It cited unnamed
NLD members in northern Myanmar as saying Wunna Maung was only a junior NLD
member ``who cannot be a member of Daw Suu Kyi's motorcade.'' Daw is an
honorific.
The statement also refuted statements by the dissidents that
Suu Kyi's lieutenant, Tin Oo, was injured in the melee, citing reports from the
International Committee of the Red Cross that he was unhurt.
Last month,
the ICRC visited prisons in the north of the country and met those who were
detained in connection with the May 30 violence, including Tin Oo, who was
rumored to have been seriously injured.
The ICRC was not allowed to
visit Suu Kyi, whose whereabouts have not been disclosed by the government
despite an international outcry over her detention and demands for her release.
After providing the testimony on Friday, the two men, fearing arrest for
illegally entering Thailand, went to the United Nations office in Bangkok to
apply for status as political refugees, a process that takes some time.
A senior Thai Foreign Ministry official said later that a deal was
reached with them under which Thai authorities would not arrest them as long as
they did not speak to the press.
Both men told the Senate panel they
were in Suu Kyi's convoy and witnessed the nighttime attack outside Depayin
village in northern Myanmar.
Khin Zaw said they were ambushed by attackers
using iron rods and spears, bamboo sticks and wooden bats while Wunna Maung said
the attackers pounded the heads of victims against the stone surface of a
road.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar junta slams Aung San Suu Kyi as media campaign
gains momentum
Mon Jul 7, 2:17 PM ET
YANGON, July 7
(AFP) - For the third day running
Myanmar's junta blasted opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Monday as an ongoing
media campaign against her and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party
gained momentum.
A series of biting articles in the official press from
Saturday have blamed the collapse of reconciliation talks on the detained leader
and charged she was ungrateful for the opportunities the junta says it presented
to her.
A photograph splashed across the front page of the state-run New
Light of Myanmar Monday showed Aung San Suu Kyi sitting at a table with the
junta's top leader, Senior General Than Shwe.
"Although Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi had gotten a chance to have frank and open discussions with head of state
Senior General Than Shwe, she could not make a peaceful transition to the
nation's future and enliven the party's role," the caption read.
"It can
be assumed that she could not utilise the opportunity," it scorned.
Inside the paper, the third installment of a series of articles
purportedly written by a disenchanted member of the NLD claimed the political
tour Aung San Suu Kyi was making when her motorcade was attacked on May 30 was a
"charade".
The leader was subsequently placed under "protective custody"
by the ruling military, which has given no indication when she will be released.
"The real aim and plan behind the trip was to confuse the political
situation all along the way and to further inflame and confound it to cause
chaos," the article said.
"We were travelling with animosity close to
our hearts armed with sticks, catapults, pebbles and stones in our cars ready to
attack others" although the "expressed aim was apparently to launch a political
campaign or to start on a trail of democracy talks," it said.
Two NLD
members who witnessed the clashes and gave the first direct account of the
incident last week after escaping into Thailand however said some 3,000
attackers used rods to smash their way into Aung San Suu Kyi's car.
They
said she only narrowly escaped a beating while women in the NLD convoy were
dragged out of their vehicles, stripped and bashed and others were beaten to
death with iron bars and bamboo staves.
Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta
launched UN-brokered talks aimed at shifting the country to democracy in October
2000, which are now in tatters.
--------------------------------------------------------------
ICRC begins first visit to Myanmar's Insein prison since
start of
Mon Jul 7, 6:59 PM ET
YANGON, July 7
(AFP) - The International Committee
for the Red Cross (ICRC) Monday made its first visit to Yangon's notorious
Insein prison since the May 30 violence which led to the detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an official said.
The ICRC visit is routine and
expected to continue for two weeks, but the team expects to meet with prisoners
arrested in connection with the clashes in northern Myanmar, ICRC deputy head of
delegation Alfredo Mallet told AFP.
"For us visiting Insein is a really
routine thing. It's a jail we used to visit several times a year and a huge team
of ICRC delegates is there inside," he said.
"Of course after the events
of May 30 we are a little more cautious and we are trying to perform a more
careful visit but it remains a routine matter for the ICRC visiting."
Mallet said all political prisoners at Insein were entitled to be
visited by the ICRC under its agreement with the military government, but its
team would make a particular effort to meet new prisoners.
He added that
"nothing very clear from the authorities" had been received on its request to
meet Aung San Suu Kyi. The group has been barred from seeing the 1991 Nobel
peace prize winner, who was being held at Insein jail before she was moved at
the end of June to an undisclosed location.
The ICRC has confirmed that
the junta has jailed at least 30 pro-democracy activists following a nationwide
democracy crackdown in the wake of the violence between Aung San Suu Kyi's
supporters and a pro-junta mob.
"With the days going on I think the
figure will increase a bit," Mallet said.
Insein prison has a reputation
as Myanmar's harshest and most sinister jail, home to torture chambers used to
interrogate political prisoners and gallows.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990 but has never been permitted to
rule by the military.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monday July 7, 8:56 AM
Asean to Look at China as
Partner, Not Rival
CEBU CITY, July 7 Asia Pulse - As the volume of foreign direct
investments (FDI) shrinks, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
has agreed to look at China as its partner rather than competitor in attracting
FDI.
"The world is now competing for a smaller pie. FDI is decreasing.
China is a very large economy. We should not look at China as a competitor but
our partner," Asean Coordinating Committee on Investments (CCI) chairman Lim
Jock Hoi said.
The Asean has been convening since last year to create
and implement measures that would make the region more attractive to FDIs. One
of these measures is the Asean Investment Area (AIA) commitment.
The
members of the Asean have signed a memorandum of agreement on the implementation
of the AIA, which aims to establish a competitive Asean investment area, with a
more liberal and transparent investment environment, to increase the flow of
investments into the Asean from both Asean and non-Asean sources.
Asean
member-countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Lim told the press that
most investors are now trying to get into China because of its large population
of 1.3 billion. The total population of the Asean is only 530 million.
Asean's alliance with China will benefit the region in general. This is
why the Asean has negotiated for a free trade area agreement with China by 2010,
Lim said.
"Being China's partner can boost the Asean market and
competitiveness. Asean can be a platform to serve the China market. We can
produce food for China... We (Asean) can attract the Chinese market with our
tourist attractions... If Asean has a free trade agreement with China, FDIs will
consider putting their investment in Southeast Asia," he said.
Asean, as
China's nextdoor neighbor, should also capitalize on the increasing outside flow
of China's FDIs.
As regards attracting investments, Lim said the Asean
believes that a free flow of trade within the region would make Southest Asia
attractive again to FDIs.
"Asean was the magnet for FDI 10 years ago.
But now, many are going to China and India ...At the moment, investors see Asean
as very fragmented. But Japanese still see the Asean as number one priority as
long as it (Asean) will strengthen its intra-trade agreement," Lim said.
This is why the Asean has been encouraging its members to open up their
economies to facilitate the free flow of goods.
Lim said the Asean has
major agreements for closer economic integration. These include the Asean Free
Trade Area (Afra) and the AIA.
The Afra aims to create free trade among
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei by 2010 and for
Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam by 2015.
The Asean CCI's three-day
seminar at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel ended Friday.
Members of the CCI
discussed the individual action plan (IAP) of each country.
The IAP
provides information on the measures taken and those that will be implemented by
each member-state to improve its investment environment, Lim said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Cold Shouldered by World, Myanmar Junta Gets Warmth from
Bangladesh
2 hours, 7 minutes ago
Sharier Khan,OneWorld South Asia
DHAKA, July 7 (OneWorld) - The diplomatically isolated Myanmarese
junta found a new ally after neighboring Bangladesh assured its visiting Foreign
Minister U Win Aung Sunday, that it will not allow its territory to be used
against Myanmarese interests.
It was a classic
I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch mine situation. After Win Aung's two-day visit
ended Sunday, Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said that
as a quid pro quo Myanmar had agreed to repatriate its stranded Rohingya
refugees, step up construction of a key highway and support Bangladesh's
membership in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
For Myanmar's generals it
wasn't a bad tradeoff. Win Aung's wangling of the declaration comes as the
country's military regime faces intense diplomatic pressures on the democracy
front and is getting veiled military threats from the US.
Bangladesh's
friendship at this juncture seems important to Myanmar, especially when US
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) during a stop-over in the
capital Dhaka last month sought Bangladesh's support for its Iraqi operations.
Chowdhury justified Bangladesh's brazen support to an unjust military
regime, declaring that, "Of course, we want democracy in Myanmar, but we oppose
any kind of external intervention in Myanmar's internal affairs."
The
visit follows relentless pressures from the US and other Western nations to
release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and improve human rights in
Myanmar.
Win Aung handed over a letter on behalf of his country's leader
to Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, seeking assurances that Bangladesh
would not allow any country the use of its land, air or sea for military
operations against Myanmar.
"Non-interference in the internal affairs of
another country is our principled stand," said the foreign secretary.
Choudhury ducked the question about political instability and rights
abuses in Myanmar. "We want no foreign interference in Myanmar. We want
stability, development, cooperation and wish Myanmar well," he said.
Win
Aung's visit caused a patch up between the two countries just as trade between
Bangladesh and Myanmar was on the decline and diplomatic relations under strain
over the issue of Rohingya refugees.
The visit also highlights the fact
that the two neighbors remain strategically important to each other. Last
December, Myanmar's Prime Minister had visited Dhaka and a follow-up visit by
the Bangladesh Prime Minister in March have strengthened ties.
Supporting dictators with double standards is not a problem for Dhaka.
The cordiality stems from the fact that Myanmar was supportive of Bangladesh's
liberation war against Pakistan. "Our relationship is historical," the foreign
secretary declared.
Though the two countries negotiated their common
borders in 1980, the settlement of the maritime boundary remains a sore point.
Dhaka is hopeful that the final delineation of the maritime boundary will be
done soon.
According to Chowdhury, Win Aung assured Dhaka that the
21,000 stranded Rohingya refugees would be repatriated soon. "We're working with
Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to finalize this
issue," he stated.
The refugees are staying in camps close to the
Myanmar border. The government had planned to send them back home by June, but
the repatriation was postponed due to various reasons, including reluctance on
Myanmar's part.
Over 250,000 Rohingyas crossed the border and took
shelter in Bangladesh between October 1991 and June 1992 to escape persecution
by Myanmar's military.
Of them, around 230,000 were repatriated starting
September 1992 after Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement.
Bangladesh has a 243-km land border with Myanmar along the
strategic Naaf river that divides the two countries near the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral trade is also nothing to write home about.
Last year, Bangladesh imported US $18 million worth of goods from Myanmar while
exports to Myanmar fetched it just US $2.4 million.
The foreign
secretary said Myanmar expects Bangladesh to be the first country to obtain ARF
membership. Aung Win also discussed details of the construction of the highway
that will link Dhaka and the Myanmarese capital, Yangon.
The highway
issue is idling for the past several years as India wants a different route to
connect its remote North-East region through the proposed Asian highway.
Myanmar's search for friends isn't over. Instead of heading back home,
Aung Win flew to New Delhi, where he is expected to ask for support for
non-interference in his country's internal affairs from another of Myanmar's
neighbors, and one of the junta's harshest critics, India.
--------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News
Burma Vows to Resist Pressure to Free Aung San Suu
Kyi
Nancy-Amelia Collins
Bangkok
05
Jul 2003, 11:39 UTC
The official Burmese press has run a
commentary critical of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, indicating the
government will continue to resist international pressure to set her free. The
articles appear a day after two people gave graphic accounts of the violent
attack on Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy that preceded her detention.
Khin Zaw and Wunna Maung are members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party, or NLD. They gave the Thai Senate Committee on
Foreign Affairs what they said was an eyewitness account Friday of the attack on
an NLD convoy passing through northern Burma on May 30.
Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi was making a tour of the region with members of her party when the attack
occurred. She escaped unharmed in her car, but was later detained along with
dozens of supporters.
The two witnesses said the convoy was attacked by
a crowd of around 3,000 men, wielding iron rods, bamboo spears and wooden bats.
They said the attackers were mostly drunk, and some were disguised as monks.
They said the attackers shouted ''Die! Die!'' as they ambushed the NLD
convoy from the front and the back, pulling NLD members out of the cars and
beating them viciously to the ground. They said villagers who had come to greet
the pro-democracy leader were also attacked.
The two men's testimony was
the most detailed account yet of the attack, which led to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi
being taken into what the government says is "protective custody." The
government says the attack claimed four lives, while Burmese exiles say as many
as 70 people were killed. The two witnesses could say only that "many" had died.
Amnesty International said Friday it was concerned for the safety of at
least 90 people still missing since the attack. No information on the
whereabouts of anyone, including Aung San Suu Kyi, has been provided by the
government.
A day after the testimony, the official Burmese press ran a
commentary critical of Aung San Suu Kyi, indicating the government was digging
in its heels despite unprecedented pressure from the international community for
her release.
Photographs showing the democracy leader dining with the
ruling generals appeared in all three official newspapers, along with a
commentary calling her a "willful and hard-headed person liable to rash
judgments followed by blind action."
Sunai Phasuk, of the human rights
group Asia Forum and an advisor to the Thai Senate committee, says he hopes
Friday's testimony will persuade the international community to continue to
press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters.
"The world
will find [it] more and more difficult to believe in the sincerity of the
military junta and their allies," he said. "I think this [eyewitness account]
will be very important for the international community to decide to increase the
pressure on the military junta."
After their testimony, both men asked
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for status as political
refugees.
An official from the Thai Foreign Ministry said a deal has
been reached with the two: they have agreed not to talk to the press, and in
exchange they will not be arrested for entering Thailand illegally.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE NATION
Photos of Suu Kyi fail to
clear doubts
Marisa Chimprabha
Published on Jul 7, 2003
Security agencies remain unconvinced
that photos taken of Aung San Suu Kyi are proof she is safe and healthy as
claimed by Burmese government, a senior security official said yesterday.
Last week, Burma's military junta sent Deputy Foreign Minister Khin
Maung Win to Thailand to meet Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bid to
explain the detention of Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in custody at unknown location since May
30 following a clash with government-supported protestors.
The Burmese
minister showed Thaksin photos of the pro-democracy leader in a "safe house".
Thaksin later said Aung San Suu Kyi looked healthy in the photos.
But
other officials are yet to be convinced, saying there is no proof about when and
where the photos were taken.
The senior security official, who saw the
photos, said an album with about 30 photos was presented by the Burmese
minister.
"The photos have not convinced us that what Burma has claimed
about the health and safety of Aung San Suu Kyi is to be believed," the official
said.
The official said some were of a house, while others were of Aung
San Suu Kyi either in a room or shaking hands with the Burmese military junta
chairman General Than Shwe.
None looked like they were of Aung San Suu
Kyi within the safe house.
"With those photos, we could not believe what
Burma claimed," the official said.
The shots Thaksin saw included Aung
San Suu Kyi shaking hands with the chairman, were published in the state-run New
Light of Myanmar at the weekend.
The security official said he thought
the photos were taken in January, months before Suu Kyi's detention.
Several countries have strongly criticised the detention of Aung San Suu
Kyi and have demanded her immediate release.
Japan has threatened to
suspend new financial assistance unless she is released.
Khin Maung Win
and Foreign Minister, Win Aung, have visited several countries, including Japan,
Malaysia and Bangladesh, in an attempt to clarify the situation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Monday 07 July 2003
Students no longer pose unrest threat
Dissidents at
holding centre under close eye
Mae Hong Son
Burmese student
activists taking refuge in holding centres in Mae Hong Son province have ceased
their political activities after a crackdown by provincial
authorities.
Provincial governor Supoj Laowansiri said authorities were
closely monitoring the students to prevent them from creating unrest or staging
political protests.
Earlier, Rangoon reportedly warned the government
that student dissidents were planning to infiltrate the Burmese embassy in
Bangkok and kidnap the ambassador to bargain for the release of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Some students had escaped from a holding centre
in Mae Hong Son to join up with other political exiles in Ratchaburi, Mr Supoj
said.
There was a total of about 39,000 dissidents and refugees staying
at four holding centres in Mae Hong Son, he said.
Mr Supoj said the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees had been asked to inform provincial authorities
of its plans to issue Person of Concern (POC) status to student
dissidents.
Local authorities wanted to participate in the scheme to keep
tabs on the number holding POC cards, he said.
During his weekly radio
address, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra repeated his call for the UNHCR to
aid local authorities by restricting the movements of Burmese dissidents in
designated areas.
The government would extend humanitarian assistance to
refugees, those holding POC cards and migrant workers, he said.
However,
any who violated the law would be deported.
``All must accept the rules
because they are staying unlawfully in Thailand, but we are treating them with
kindness,'' Mr Thaksin said.
``They must respect our sovereignty, our
laws and our people.''
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Monday 07 July 2003
Factories issue threat to close over labour row
127
operators closely following pay dispute
Supamart Kasem -
Tak
More than 120 factory owners along the Thai-Burmese border
have threatened to move or close if the operator of a knitting factory here
loses a labour dispute worth 4.6 million baht.
Suchart Wisuwan, chairman
of Tak's industrial council, said 127 operators were closely following the
dispute between the Nut Knitting Partnership Limited and 34 Burmese
workers.
``If both sides can reach an agreement, they all win. But if the
operator loses, both sides will lose in the end.
``Factory operators may
relocate or simply close. A production system worth more than 8 billion baht
will stop and about 50,000-60,000 jobs will disappear,'' he said.
On
Friday the factory management and workers will discuss a proposal that the firm
pay 25% of the first 100,000 baht and 40% of the remaining sum of
120,000-150,000 baht in compensation to each worker. Earlier, the firm refused
to pay the workers as ordered by the Labour Ministry's welfare office, and
sought a court ruling.
The workers claimed they were paid 77 baht a day
during Oct-Dec 2000 and Jan 2001-Oct 2002 while minimum wage rates were 130 baht
and 133 baht.
Meanwhile, members and executives of Tak's industrial
council say they will ask the government to extend the existing policy on alien
labour, saying abrupt policy changes would hurt their businesses
badly.
The industrial council, the provincial chamber of commerce and the
Employment Department would also be asked to recruit Thai workers to fill the
jobs.
Direk Tachan, of the Tak employment office, said the office was
ready to help if the proposal doesn't interfere with government
policy.
Asked about another labour dispute between almost 400 Burmese
workers and King Body Concept Co Ltd, a knitting factory, he said the office is
waiting to hear from the workers.
A total of 379 Burmese workers were
fired on June 23 after they went on strike for one week in demand for a 20-baht
wage increase, from 60 baht to 80 baht.
The factory management claimed
the workers had breached their contract by missing work for three consecutive
days. The sacked workers were deported to Burma and advised to file a lawsuit
against the firm later.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times
Myanmar goes on diplomatic
offensive
By Larry Jagan
Jul 8, 2003
BANGKOK - Stung by criticism from its neighbors, Myanmar's junta
has launched a diplomatic offensive against mounting international pressure,
especially from Asian countries, to release Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and
resume the dialogue process with the opposition leader.
Both Foreign
Minister Win Aung and Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win are on separate
whirlwind tours of the region, urging the governments of Southeast Asia to be
patient and give the generals in Yangon time to get the national reconciliation
process back on track.
Both Khin Maung Win and Win Aung have been
appointed special envoys to Myanmar's top general Than Shwe.
They have
asked to see most of the leaders of Asia and are carrying personal letters from
Than Shwe and an album of photographs of Suu Kyi since the opposition leader was
detained more than a month ago to show that she is in good health and not being
held in the notorious Insein prison.
In this strategy of photo
diplomacy, the envoys are urging Asian leaders to allow Yangon to introduce
political and economic change in its own way and not put a deadline on Suu Kyi's
release.
Suu Kyi was detained and put under "protective custody" after a
violent attack on her group north of Yangon on May 30, an incident that critics
and dissidents blame on pro-government vigilantes.
At their June summit
in Cambodia, the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) told their Myanmar counterpart that they expected the opposition leader
to be freed by mid-July - a month after the summit.
It was an informal
deadline. But it has stung Myanmar's military rulers, who had counted on their
Asian neighbors' support to resist the growing moves in the United States and
Europe to increase Yangon's international isolation.
Khin Maung Win has
already been to Bangkok, where he met Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and
Foreign Minister Dr Surakiart Sathirathai. He has also gone to Tokyo, where he
met Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, and Kuala Lumpur, where he met Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He is scheduled to visit Singapore and Jakarta.
Meanwhile the other envoy, Win Aung, has already visited Beijing and
Dhaka. He plans to travel to Delhi, but is awaiting official approval from
Indian authorities.
So far, Myanmar's photo diplomacy seems to have
produced few results.
In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi snubbed
Myanmar's envoy and refused to see him. "There's no way the prime leader could
have agreed to meet a senior Burmese government minister while Aung San Suu Kyi
is in prison," said a government official.
Foreign Minister Kawaguchi
told her visitor that nothing less than Suu Kyi's immediate release would
satisfy the Japanese government. If that did not happen soon, she warned Khin
Maung Win, then Tokyo would have to consider suspending all economic
cooperation.
Immediately after Suu Kyi was detained, Japan stopped all
new humanitarian and development aid. Now Tokyo is threatening to suspend all
financial support, including trade and investment.
The Myanmar deputy
foreign minister's current mission is primarily aimed at the ASEAN countries.
But the photo album and Than Shwe's personal letters are unlikely to have much
impact, as many Southeast Asian leaders have made it clear that nothing short of
the immediate release of the opposition leader and the resumption of the
national reconciliation process would be acceptable.
At present, Myanmar
is more anxious to scotch the possibility of an ASEAN ministerial mission
visiting the country and insisting on seeing the opposition leader.
At
the Cambodian summit, ASEAN foreign ministers agreed in general to send a
ministerial mission to Yangon to impress upon Myanmar's top generals that they
must release Suu Kyi and restart talks with her. It is now up to Indonesian
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda whether the mission goes ahead or not.
Yangon knew that the United States and Europe would step up pressure
after Suu Kyi was put under protective custody in late May. But it has been
taken aback by the vehement reaction from their neighbors who they had come to
believe were unbending allies.
For ASEAN now, Myanmar has become a major
international embarrassment that has tarnished the organization's reputation
internationally - and could affect the region's tourist industry and economic
recovery.
"Burma is a dilemma for ASEAN, which must be tackled now,"
Indonesia's Hassan Wirajuda reportedly told his colleagues in Phnom Penh last
month. Burma is the old name for Myanmar, renamed by the junta in 1989.
There is no doubt that Asia - ASEAN and Japan - are now committed to
increasing pressure on Yangon's generals to introduce economic and political
change as soon as possible.
By dispatching two envoys to Asian capitals,
Yangon has shown that it does care about international pressure.
Now
Myanmar is trying to use a form of photo politics internally. The state-run
media - which seldom run photographs of the opposition leader - suddenly ran a
picture spread showing Suu Kyi meeting the country's top military leaders during
the weekend. The newspapers sold out within hours as people ran to purchase
their souvenir editions.
One interpretation of the photo essay is that
it is meant to convey an impression of a honeymoon period between the two sides,
one that was destroyed by Suu Kyi's combative approach that the regime says led
to the violent events of May 30 in the north of the country - and the opposition
leader's subsequent detention.
But it could just as easily be the
regime's first step in an attempt to prepare the people of Myanmar for a
significant change - real, substantive talks with Aung San Suu Kyi once she is
released.
It is far too early to tell which interpretation may be
correct, but it certainly reflects a battle within Myanmar's top military
leadership over what to do with Suu Kyi.
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Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-07-07
Burmese Students Exhorts for the Immediate Release of Aung
San Suu Kyi and Others
Students of Burma extended a
vociferous appeal that an independent commission should be set-up to investigate
and reveal the truth of the May 30th terrorist attack on democracy leaders and
activists.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the All Burma Federation of
Student Unions (ABFSU) further urged: ?To free all political prisoners in Burma,
including U Tin Oo, Vice-chairperson of National League for Democracy (NLD), Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of NLD, and Min Ko Naing, Chairperson of
ABFSU.?
Today the students marks the 41st anniversary of the July 7th
1962 student crackdown, decried: ?In the current political situation in Burma,
the military junta continues to use its old model to suppress political activism
and maintain its illegitimate rule.?
The full text of the statement
released by the The Foreign Affairs Committee of the All Burma Federation of
Student Unions to mark the 41st anniversary of the July 7th Students crackdown
is given below:
1. Today marks the 41st anniversary of the July 7th 1962
student crackdown. On that day, Rangoon University's students staged a peaceful
protest against restrictions on the university students. Since students had
objected to the military coup in 1962, the regime had harbored a grudge against
students and brutally crushed down the peaceful student demonstration. Many
students were killed, arrested, and tortured by the military forces. In
addition, the regime dynamited Rangoon University's historic student union
building on the morning of July 8th. Since 1962, Burma's student unions have
been forced go underground. The truth behind the events of July 1962 is still
disclosed by the military regime, but we believe that Ne Win's military group
has sole responsibility for that crime.
2. The July 7th repression was a
state-sponsored terrorist attack towards a peaceful movement and an abuse of
civil rights, committed by Burma's military regime. Following July 7th, the
regime continued to suppress all peaceful movements calling for the abolishment
of military rule, national reconciliation, and a democratic government. The
regime killed, arbitrarily arrested, and tortured many people including monks,
students and workers during the 1974 student strike, the 1976 workers' strike,
the 1976 student march, the mass student demonstrations of March and June 1988,
and the country-wide protests of August and September 1988. These crimes against
civilians will not be forgotten by the student masses. On May 30th 2003, Burma's
military junta, led by Than Shwe, plotted and attempted the assassination of the
people's leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other democracy activists.
3.
The truth of these acts cannot be kept secret and must be revealed by an
independent commission to prevent further violence and crimes against humanity.
All world governments have a moral obligation to prevent and condemn such
inhumane state-sponsored terrorist acts for the sake of world civilization and
peace. We, the All Burma Federation of Student Unions Foreign Affairs Committee,
strongly condemn the inhumane activities of the military clique in Burma,
including assassination, violence against peaceful political activism, abuses of
civil rights, crimes against humanity, and so forth. These acts should not be
forgiven and must be ended for a future democratic Burma, with a transformed
modern army system.
4. In the current political situation in Burma, the
military junta continues to use its old model to suppress political activism and
maintain its illegitimate rule. It is obvious that the regime has no intention
for national reconciliation and democratization in Burma. We, the student masses
and all democratic groups of Burma, have struggled for a peaceful political
transition to democratic governance, national reconciliation, and the country's
development to ensure a good education system in Burma. However, the military
regime has failed to join in the common task of all nationalities to work for
Burma's national interests. Ignoring the present economic and social crisis in
Burma, the military regime continues to avoid dialogue with democratic forces
and national groups to peacefully solve the political problems in Burma.
Instead, they have tried to eliminate these groups and establish Burma as a
military state. Therefore, while all Burmese nationalities are striving for
democracy in Burma and to abolish military rule in Burma, the international
community should work to weaken the military and end any assistance to its rule
in Burma.
5. We honor and salute the martyrs who scarified their lives
for democracy, justice, and peace in Burma on that unforgettable day in history,
July 7th 1962. We, the student masses, vow to sustain our strength and mind for
the cause of democracy in Burma. We demand, urgently and unconditionally, of the
present military regime:
1. To set up the independent commission to
investigate and reveal the truth of the May 30th terrorist attack on democracy
leaders and activists;
2. To free all political prisoners in Burma,
including U Tin Oo, Vice-chairperson of National League for Democracy (NLD), Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of NLD, and Min Ko Naing, Chairperson of
ABFSU;
3. To legalize all political activism in Burma and civil
associations, including student unions;
4. To transfer state-power to the
elected body of the 1990 general elections; and
5. To abolish all
military mechanisms in civil administration, and the military dictatorship in
Burma.
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