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Monday July 14, 3:55 PM
Myanmar accuses West of
meddling
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers, under
growing international pressure to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
have accused Western nations of "blind and prejudiced meddling" in its internal
affairs.
The comments, made in an article carried on Monday by several
newspapers considered mouthpieces for the junta, also warned of an "endless
cycle of military coups" if a Western-style democracy was imposed on the
Southeast Asian country.
The government has so far resisted pressure to
free Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who was arrested on May 30 following a clash
between her supporters and pro-government groups while she was on a tour outside
the capital, Yangon.
Key donor Japan has suspended new aid to Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, and the United States and European Union have
threatened harsher sanctions if she is not released.
"This blind and
prejudiced meddling in Myanmar's home affairs, supporting one side while
opposing the other by America and its West European allies, have adversely
affected the nation's internal stability," the commentary said.
"It has
created obstacles and hindered the nation's efforts to establish peace and
stability in the country and to set up a democratic state and a market-oriented
economy," it added.
Myanmar's economy is in tatters after years of
misrule and international sanctions.
The junta has repeatedly said its
ultimate goal is a national reconciliation and a transition to democracy, but
that moving too quickly could lead to instability.
"If such were the
situation, there would follow an endless cycle of military coups with military
rule leaving the house by the front door and entering it again from the window,"
the newspaper commentaries said.
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.
After her arrest, witnesses who fled to neighbouring Thailand said
hundreds of pro-government supporters had attacked Suu Kyi's convoy, killing
dozens of people.
The junta denied the claims, blaming Suu Kyi for the
clash in which it says four people were killed.
Yangon responded to
international pressure by sending two senior ministers on a tour of Asian
capitals earlier this month, showing pictures of Suu Kyi in detention in efforts
to allay concern.
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Monday July 14, 1:20 PM
Australian police say Thais, Myanmar and Russians being
forced into sex
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Thai, Myanmar and Russian women are
being smuggled into Australia to work for little or no pay as prostitutes, a
newspaper reported Monday, days after the country's first cases of sex slavery
went to court.
The Age newspaper reported that women recruited overseas
were being forced by brothel operators in the southern city of Melbourne to
service up to 800 clients for virtually no pay until they have repaid the cost
of their passage to Australia.
After six months of being paid a
pittance, the women were allowed to keep half their earnings, said the report,
which cited unidentified police sources in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria
state.
Dave Spencer, a spokesman for the Victorian state police force,
said a police investigation, expected to take several months, began two weeks
ago. Police have not yet gauged the extent of the sex slavery and how many women
are involved, he said.
The probe, involving local authorities and sex
worker groups, has found illegal brothels in the state. It aims to find better
ways to police the sex industry.
Last week, Australia's first sexual
slavery cases began under new laws to stamp out human trafficking.
Four
people appeared in a court Friday charged with the enslavement and sexual
enslavement of five Thai women after federal police raids on a Melbourne
brothel. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Police believe
two immigration scams are used to smuggle women into Australia for prostitution,
the Age reported.
The first involved mainly poor Thai and Myanmar women
who had money deposited into their bank accounts so they could apply for a
tourist visa.
Once in Australia, the women claimed refugee status and
then were made to work in brothels for 12 months until their cases were heard.
The second scam, the newspaper reported, involved Russian women who were
paid up to 50,000 Australian dollars (US$33,000) to marry Australian men.
Once in the country, the women worked in brothels to repay debts
supposedly incurred in bringing them into the country.
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Monday July 14, 5:41 PM
Myanmar suggests U.S. and European intervention in its
affairs
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Military-ruled Myanmar lashed out at the
United States and Europe on Monday, claiming the Western powers were hindering
its efforts to become democratic and suggesting that their intervention could
lead to a series of coups.
The comments in all three state-run
newspapers come as the United States and the European Union _ both of which
already have political and economic sanctions against Myanmar _ have slapped
even tougher measures against the Southeast Asian nation because of its latest
detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The commentary did not
directly mention the sanctions, but in an apparent reference to them it said
that it would be ``totally wrong'' to assume that greater hardships ``will cause
unrest in the name of democracy in Myanmar today.''
It said that a rise
in poverty would lead to an increase in gangsterism.
``If such were the
situation there would follow an endless cycle of military coups with military
rule leaving the house by the front door and entering it again from the
window,'' the commentary said. ``In such a state of affairs there will be no
other option but a military coup.''
The commentary accused the United
States of ``launching limited wars, imposing economic sanctions and applying
pressures through the U.N.'' to topple established governments and appoint its
``minions'' to rule.
It said Western powers have tried to foist their
vision of democracy on Myanmar and meddle in its affairs unsuccessfully for 15
years.
``It has created obstacles and hindered the nation's efforts to
establish peace and stability ... to set up a democratic state and a
market-oriented economy,'' the commentary said.
The commentary
identified Aung Moe San as its writer, however it was not clear who this person
was.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military for more than four decades.
The current regime took power after crushing a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.
The opposition National League for Democracy party, led by Nobel peace laureate
Suu Kyi, won 1990 elections, but was never allowed to rule.
Suu Kyi and
the other NLD leaders were detained after a May 30 clash between opposition
supporters and a pro-government mob. NLD offices were also shut nationwide.
An imminent U.S. ban on imports from Myanmar is expected to cut its
export earnings by up to a third. The European Union earlier this month
broadened an arms embargo against Myanmar, accusing the junta of serious human
rights violations.
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Monday July 14, 7:51 AM
India, Myanmar to Boost Joint
Trade Ties
NEW DELHI, July 14 Asia Pulse - Aiming to further boost bilateral
trade ties, India and Myanmar will soon ink a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU]
for creation of a Joint Trade Committee.
The MoU, to be signed during
the visit of India's Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley to Myanmar
beginning July 14, will pave the way for setting up of a trade committee which
will meet at regular intervals to explore the possibilities of boosting
bilateral trade, official sources said here.
Jaitley is scheduled to
meet his Myanmarese counterpart and Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister during his
3-day visit is also expected to look into the difficulties faced by Indian
companies operating there due to discontinuation of import and export licences
to foreign trading firms.
In April-September 2002, Myanmar's exports to
India were to the tune of US$194.22 million while its imports stood at US$59.91
million.
India's total exports to Mayanmar were at US$39.26 million as
against imports worth US$197.32 million.
Their total trade which stood
at about US$328 million in 1997-98 has witnessed a rise with balance of trade in
favour of Myanmar.
Myanmar is the 2nd largest supplier of beans and
pluses and 5th largest supplier of timber to India while India exports steel,
steel bars, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cotton yarn, auto parts betel nut, resins
and medicinal herbs.
India entered into a border trade agreement with
Myanmar in 1994 for trade on barter basis at the traditional border.
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Monday July 14, 1:52 PM
Asean Ministers Agree to
Accelerate Integration Process
JAKARTA, July 14
Asia Pulse - ASEAN ministers of
trade and industry have agreed to accelerate the integration process of their
economy as an effort to anticipate increased global challenges, a spokesman said
yesterday.
"ASEAN won't compete effectively in global trade unless trade
and investment have become stable," Brunei's Minister for Industry and Primary
Resources Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman Taib, chairman of the Special Informal Meeting
of the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM), told reporters.
Abdul Rahman said
ASEAN members had so many problems to be addressed to in the spirit of good
relations.
He said the ministers in their two-day meeting which ended on
Sunday discussed various issues to solve such disputes rising among the ASEAN
members as regulations on the origin of goods, standardisation, customs
procedures and related issues with increased intra-Asean trade and investment.
According to him, they also touched on non-tariff barriers in the
region.
Indonesian Industry and Trade Minister Rini Suwandi said
different procedures on customs among ASEAN members were needed to be harmonized
to boost trade among its members.
"These cause Indonesia and Singapore
release different figures on their bilateral trade," she said.
Rini said
the ministers agreed to appoint coordinating countries to handle priority
industries.
Rini did not tell the reasons for these countries
appointment as coordinators.
The result of their work will be reported
to the 35th AEM meeting in Cambodia in September 2003.
ASEAN comprises
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the
Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN general secretary Ong Keng Yong
also attended the meeting.
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Channel NewsAsia
Monday July 14, 8:17 PM
Singapore's Q3 economic performance to be significantly better:
George Yeo
Singapore's economic performance should be
significantly better in the third quarter of this year, Trade and Industry
Minister George Yeo has said.
He gave this optimistic assessment on the
sidelines of the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Jakarta.
With the
Iraq war and SARS hitting the region, it was not surprising that Singapore's
economic performance in the second quarter, was, as Brigadier-General Yeo said,
"unusually bad".
So, in a sense, Singapore hopes the worst is over.
"It's already clear the third quarter would be significantly better and
we hope that, barring unforseen circumstances like the return of SARS or some
acts of terrorism, the second half will be significantly better than the first
half. That's our expectation," General Yeo said.
On bilateral ties with
Indonesia, General Yeo, who met his Indonesian counterpart Rini Soewandi while
in Jakarta, said progress has been made over the release of trade data.
This issue had cropped up in recent weeks when Indonesian accused
Singapore of not being transparent.
Singapore maintains it hasn't been
hiding anything.
"They have now accepted that we have always released
the trade statistics to them and it was the decision of successive governments
in Jakarta not to release those stats. This was an agreement going back to
1974," General Yeo said.
But future disagreements among ASEAN members
could have a new platform.
The economic ministers have agreed to work
towards a tribunal where trade disputes can be legally and independently
addressed.
"If we can agree to this in Bali, I believe we will really
break new ground and bring ASEAN to a new level," General Yeo said.
"It
will give tremendous confidence to investors that when they have problems, these
problems will be resolved in an objective and impartial manner according to the
agreement we have made," he said.
The new initiative is some way off as
old problems still sting relations between and among ASEAN countries.
ASEAN has recently moved to censure Myanmar and the historical baggage
which has burdened the grouping needs also to be addressed candidly.
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The Straits Times - JULY 14, 2003
MON
Asean plans tribunal to settle trade rows
Singapore
hails the move, saying it will allow independent handling of disputes and keep
them from becoming politicised
By Derwin Pereira
JAKARTA - Asean economic ministers are working on a plan to
establish an independent tribunal to resolve trade disputes.
In an effort
to boost trade and investment in the region, the ministers, ending a two-day
meeting here yesterday, also agreed to harmonise Customs procedures and work
with the private sector to boost the competitiveness of Asean's key
industries.
Brunei's Trade Minister, Abdul Rahman bin Dato Mohammad
Talib, who chaired the discussion among the 10 ministers, told
reporters:
'These issues have been considered as hampering the
implementation of the Asean free trade area. We will discuss the more concrete
steps at the Asean summit in Bali in October.'
Top on the agenda,
however, appeared to be Asean's plan to create a tribunal.
Singapore's
Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo said that it would 'really break new
ground and bring Asean to a new level'.
The idea, he said, stemmed from a
need to create a dispute-settlement mechanism like in other trading blocs such
as the North American Free Trade Area and in Europe. He noted that in Asean,
disputes handled by ministers tended to become politicised. With independent
tribunals, there was little chance of that happening.
'If anything, the issue
is depoliticised,' he said.
'It will be legal arguments based on
agreements that have been drawn up. This will give tremendous confidence to
investors that when they have problems, they will be resolved in an objective
and impartial manner.'
He said the ministers would discuss the matter
next month when they meet in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, before raising it formally
with Asean leaders at a summit in Bali in October.
The overall objective,
he said, was to move in the direction of an Asean economic community.
He
said: 'The more we are one economic space, one productive space and one market,
the more we will strengthen our competitive position with respect to other
regions in the world, and the more we will be able to attract
investments.'
An Asean report said recently that South-east Asia, which
in the 1980s and early 1990s attracted capital from around the world, was now
struggling to lure investors whose focus has shifted to China since Beijing
joined the World Trade Organisation more than a year ago.
The task had
been complicated by the Bali bombing in October last year that highlighted the
growing threat of terrorism in the region.
But the Asean economic
ministers appeared to rise to the challenge by identifying ways to bring money
in. Besides reducing trade obstacles like barriers and harmonising Customs, they
also laid out a proposal to work with the private sector.
According to
their plan, Singapore will coordinate e-business and health care, the
Philippines will become the coordinator for the electronic industry and
Indonesia will coordinate the wood-based and automotive
industries.
Myanmar will focus on the agro-based industry and
fisheries.
Thailand will be in charge of airlines and tourism, and
Malaysia will take charge of rubber-based products, textiles and garments.
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The Taipei Times
ASEAN outlines a
coordinated policy on customs rules
BLOOMBERG
Monday, Jul 14, 2003,Page 12
Nations in Southeast Asia will harmonize customs procedures and
dispute settlement mechanisms in an effort to boost trade and investment within
the region.
Economic ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, or ASEAN, agreed to cooperate in settling issues such as the rule
of origin, customs procedures, dispute settlement mechanism, and standard and
performance of goods and services, Brunei's Minister of Industry and Primary
Resources Abdul Rahman Bin Dato Mohammad Taib said.
"These issues have
been considered as hampering the implementation of the ASEAN free-trade area,"
Taib, who was serving as the chair of a two-day ASEAN economic ministers
meeting, told reporters in Jakarta.
"We will discuss the more concrete
steps at the ASEAN summit in Bali in October," he said.
The ministers
also agreed to appoint coordinators to cooperate with the private sector in an
effort to boost the competitiveness of ASEAN's key industries, Taib said.
The Philippines will become the coordinator for the electronic industry.
Indonesia will coordinate the wood-based and automotive industry; Myanmar for
agro-based and fisheries.
Thailand will be in charge for airlines and
tourism, Malaysia for rubber-based, textiles and garments. Singapore will
coordinate e-business and healthcare, Taib said.
The region, which in the
early 1990s attracted capital from around the world, is struggling to lure
investors whose focus has shifted to China since the world's fastest-growing and
most populous nation joined the WTO more than a year ago, an ASEAN report said.
The task has been complicated by the Bali bomb attack in October last
year that highlighted the growing threat of terrorism in the region.
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have arrested members
of the Jemaah Islamiyah group, which they say has links to al-Qaeda.
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The Washington Post
Editorial - Stop Stalling on Burma
Monday, July 14, 2003; Page A20
U.N. SECRETARY
GENERAL Kofi Annan is scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House
today. Ahead of time, U.N. officials said they expected the two men to discuss
Liberia, the Middle East and other matters. We trust that among those other
matters will be a subject about which both leaders have claimed to be highly
concerned: the crackdown on democracy activists in Burma. The leader of that
Southeast Asian nation's democracy movement -- the rightful leader of the
country, in fact -- remains in captivity, and neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Annan has
rallied to her defense as strenuously as one would expect.
It's been a
month since Secretary of State Colin L. Powell promised prompt action to
penalize the generals he referred to as "the thugs who run the Burmese
government." The time had come, he said in an op-ed article in the Wall Street
Journal, to freeze their financial assets and ban remittances to Burma. But the
administration has taken no such steps. It's been six weeks since the junta sent
3,000 vigilantes, armed with wooden bats and sharpened iron rods, to beat and
stab Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters as they traveled with her in the hinterland.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, apparently escaped injury but was
taken into custody and, except for one brief interview with a U.N. envoy, has
not been heard from since. The Senate shortly thereafter approved a measure
banning imports from Burma, where the generals control most companies, but the
bill has yet to emerge from the House. It's scheduled for action this week; the
House should vote and the president should sign the bill quickly into
law.
And the United Nations? You might think the Security Council would
have swung into action to demand freedom for one of the world's most courageous
leaders and for her colleagues and to address the threat to regional stability
posed by the increasingly erratic junta. After all, there is no dispute as to
her legitimacy; the party she leads overwhelmingly won an election in 1990 but
has never been permitted to take its rightful place in government. So far,
however, the chief U.N. response has been the election of Burma -- or Myanmar,
as the generals call it -- to the vice presidency of the General Assembly for
the session that begins in September.
For many years now, the United
Nations and the United States have supported dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi
and the nation's junta leading toward peaceful democratization. She has
consistently endorsed such a nonviolent process, even during many years of house
arrest. With their murderous attack of May 30 and subsequent incarceration of
her, Burma's leaders have shown contempt for the idea, and so far they have paid
little price. The president and the secretary general could begin to change that
equation today.
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The Nation
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: New
EU strategy: moving closer to Asean
KAVI
CHONGKITTAVORN
Published on Jul 14, 2003
The
new EU strategy for Southeast Asia has rejuvenated the spirit of Karlsrule in
1994 when its "Towards a New Asia Policy" was first announced. It sharpens the
focus on the region during an age of globalisation.
The new strategy is
comprehensive and deals with the whole gamut of EU-Asean relations, as befitting
Asean's oldest dislogue partner, dating back to 1972. It also reflects a
realistic assessment by the US of the Southeast Asian region and Asean. Gone is
the notion of the region's indestructible economic potential, known "the Asian
miracle".
The EU strategy will not only deepen cooperation but also
build a broad-based partnership for all pivotal issues: economic and business
links, development cooperation and political and security dialogue as well as
the fight against terrorism, organised crime and the drug trade. The EU is also
proposing a regional trade-action plan, the Trans-Regional EU-Asean Trade
Initiative (Treati), to promote investment in Asean and bring down trade
barriers.
The EU is Asean's third largest trading partner, after the US
and Japan. Treati will pave the way for Asean or its individual members to enter
into a free-trade agreement with the EU in the near future.
The EU also
reiterates that cooperation in human rights, good governance, justice and issue
of law and order are also high on the agenda. In the past, the EU was more
discreet. Discussing these issues officially reflects the maturity of EU-Asean
relations. More than both sides would like to admit, they realise that the full
potential of their relations has not yet been met because they have been
hampered by the divergent views and political orientations of Asean members.
Since the EU defined a common position towards Burma in 1996, Asean-EU relations
have been held hostage by Burma's domestic politics and worsening human-rights
record.
The situation only got worse after Burma's admission into Asean
in 1997. The May 30 incident and subsequent detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has sunk the grouping's reputation with the outside
world. This time around, while EU toughened its reaction, Asean also took Burma
to task and called for Suu Kyi's release.
At the moment, Burma is not
party to Asean-European Commission cooperation. The commission refuses to
include Burma until a solution to the current political stalemate is found. But
the EU agreed to conduct dialogue with Asean, with Burma's participation in
2000, as part of a bloc-to-bloc meeting. The grouping's new attitude on Burma
augurs well for the EU new approach because the EU, and Asean members as well,
do not want to link the whole EU-Asean dialogue process with the political
crisis in Burma.
Before the May incident, as a rule, Asean would have
automatically defended Burma as the grouping has done faithfully for six years.
Asean even frequently criticised the EU for discriminating against Burma.
With Suu Kyi in detention, Burma has undermined its own future ties with
EU, which had expressed its wish to start a meaningful political dialogue with
Burma. Now it has also become more difficult to admit Burma, along with Laos and
Cambodia, as new members of the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) despite Asean's firm
support. Earlier, Asean leaders agreed that the three should be admitted to Asem
together. Now it is an open secret that Laos and Cambodia do not want to wait
until Burma is ready.
The EU new strategy is flexible as it enables
those Asean members which are ready to enter bilateral agreements with the EU.
Doubtless this approach will strengthen the overall EU presence and cooperation
in the region. In other words, the EU will respond to the same level of ambition
put forward by Asean.
It remains to be seen how EU-Asean ties can evolve
with the Burmese crisis unresolved. One hopes that the bilateral agreements
signed between the EU and individual Asean members will provide enough incentive
for other members to change and catch up with the rest of the group. Singapore's
free-trade agreement with the US has already propelled other Asean countries to
do the same.
In comparison with other regional organisations such as the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the African Union, despite
the Burmese hiccup, Asean still has one of the closest relations with the EU.
Proactive priorities will cement relations further.
Finally, the
strategy will also pave the way for Asean to learn more from the EU experience
in economic and political integration. Despite its diversity, Asean is moving
towards establishing an Asean Economic Community and is now mulling over the
Indonesian-proposed Asean Security Community. Asean will find EU experience in
these areas most valuable.
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