# Please sign on to the Burma Freedom Petition to be
submitted to US
President, All Representatives in United States and World
Leaders.
http://www.burmafreedomcampaign.org/burma-freedom-campaign-petition.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 23,
2003.
--------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
--------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters - Chirac
Backs Mahathir's Efforts to Free Suu Kyi
Reuters - Myanmar
foreign minister to visit Thailand
Reuters - Myanmar
frees 91 detainees
Reuters - ASEAN to
strongly urge Suu Kyi release-Philippines
AP - Malaysia's
Mahathir says no ``regime change'' by ASEAN in Myanmar
AP - Myanmar
official media accuse Suu Kyi of destroying hopes for
reconciliation
AP - Southeast Asia steps up pressure on Myanmar, after EU
warns
AFP - Asian,
European ministers to demand release of Myanmar's democracy
icon
AFP - Four Myanmar
journalists arrested over football article: media
groups
ENN - Myanmar's
tigers face extinction
The Nation - Dr
Mahathir shows himself a model of accountability for his actions on
Burma
PD - ASEAN Waiting
Response from Myanmar
--------------------------------------------------------------
Chirac
Backs Mahathir's Efforts to Free Suu Kyi
Tue Jul 22, 1:06 PM
ET
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac on
Tuesday backed Malaysia's policy of Asian-style diplomacy to persuade Myanmar's
military junta to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has argued that an Asian
policy of constructive engagement was more likely to persuade the junta to relax
its grip than heavy-handed Western pressure.
At the weekend Mahathir was
reported as saying Myanmar could eventually be expelled from the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) if it failed to free Nobel peace laureate Suu
Kyi, who was detained on May 30 after clashes between her supporters and
pro-government groups.
During a six-hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur,
Chirac met Mahathir and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who will succeed
Asia's longest serving elected leader when he steps down in October after 22
years in charge.
At a brief news conference before Chirac took a
midnight flight to New Caledonia, the two leaders voiced common viewpoints over
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
"We may still get a response from
Burma, from Myanmar. But whatever we do we must not think about invading Myanmar
in order to achieve regime change," said Mahathir.
Chirac said: "My
sentiments exactly."
"I do not approve of the attitude of the Burmese
authorities and, of course, I favor democracy in Burma and that means releasing
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political opponents," he said.
Like Chirac,
the Malaysian leader has been a vocal critic of the U.S.-led war on Iraq. The
two leaders were meeting for the fifth time in less than a year.
Myanmar
will be a burning issue at a meeting of Asian and European foreign ministers on
the Indonesian island of Bali on Wednesday.
Mahathir's warning of
expulsion from ASEAN was particularly significant because he championed
Myanmar's admission to the grouping in 1997.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 23, 8:21 PM
Myanmar foreign minister to
visit Thailand
BALI, Indonesia, July 23 (Reuters) - Myanmar's foreign minister will visit
Thailand next week on a tour of Asian countries to brief neighbours on the
treatment of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Thai Foreign Minister said
on Wednesday.
The detention by the military government of Nobel laureate
Suu Kyi since May 30 has embarrassed and brought criticism from Southeast Asian
neighbours and sparked outrage in Europe and the United States.
The
issue is also dominating a meeting of Asian and European foreign ministers this
week on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Foreign Minister Win Aung will
visit Bangkok on July 31 after a trip to Jakarta scheduled for July 28 to brief
fellow members of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) on
the latest situation, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters
in Bali.
The Thai foreign minister said he had already spoken by
telephone with his Myanmar counterpart to discuss the situation.
"Each
of us has some communication with Myanmar," he told reporters on the sidelines
of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Bali.
But he said a suggestion by
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that Myanmar could eventually be
thrown out of ASEAN if it did not respond to the group's demands that it release
Suu Kyi and promote a return to democracy was "premature".
"We can't
achieve peace in the region or democracy in Myanmar by expelling it from ASEAN,"
he told reporters.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 23, 5:45 PM
Myanmar frees 91
detainees
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON
(Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar,
under growing pressure to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, says 91
activists have been freed since a bloody clash in late May sparked a fresh
crackdown on dissent.
The announcement, which made no mention of Suu Kyi
herself, came as ministers from Asia and Europe prepared to open annual talks in
the Indonesia resort island of Bali, with Myanmar among the top items on the
agenda.
The detainees, most of them members of Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy (NLD), were released over several weeks with the last group on
July 18, a government spokesman told Reuters.
Suu Kyi was taken into
what the military called "protective custody" on May 30 after her followers
clashed with pro-junta youths. Despite international outrage and threatened
sanctions, Myanmar has shrugged off demands for her release.
"A total of
91 detainees, both NLD and non-NLD members who had been under detention in
connection with May 30, have been released on separate occasions," the
government spokesman said.
One NLD official, who said he was held for
more than 20 days but was not at the scene of the clash, said he faced intense
questioning, but was not mistreated.
"I have no idea how many were
detained and how many were still left. I have heard that some people have fled
the country," said the official, who declined to be named.
The NLD swept
to victory in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to take power by the
military, which has ruled in various guises since a 1962 coup. Party offices
have been sealed since the crackdown began in late May.
Witnesses who
fled to Thailand said Suu Kyi's convoy was touring central Myanmar when it was
attacked by club-wielding youths, resulting in dozens of deaths.
The
government denies orchestrating the violence, which it blames on Suu Kyi, and
says four people died.
MORE RELEASES SEEN
International anger against Myanmar's ruling generals has mounted in
recent weeks, including threats of tougher sanctions by the United States and
the European Union. Key donor Japan has blocked new aid.
News of the
freed activists broke after Myanmar's foreign ministry faxed a letter to
embassies in Yangon on Tuesday -- on the eve of this week's Asia-Europe
conference in Indonesia where officials have struggled to find common ground on
Myanmar.
"Of course it coincides with the upcoming meeting, but these
releases were done a few weeks ago. We can expect more releases," one foreign
diplomat in Yangon said.
Foreign ministers from the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) attending the Indonesian conference were due to hold
separate talks on Myanmar this week.
"There will be a strong statement
from the ASEAN ministers," Philippine Foreign Minister Blas Ople told reporters
in Bali.
Asked what kind of statement, he said: "Nagging the Myanmar
junta to release Madam Aung San Suu Kyi."
Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad has argued that an Asian policy of constructive engagement was
more likely to persuade the junta to relax its grip than heavy-handed Western
pressure. But he was quoted in reports last weekend Myanmar could be expelled
from ASEAN as a last resort if the junta did not free Suu Kyi.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 23, 2:46 PM
ASEAN to strongly urge Suu
Kyi release-Philippines
By Jane Macartney and Jerry
Norton
BALI, Indonesia, July 23 (Reuters) - ASEAN countries will urge Myanmar this
week to release Aung San Suu Kyi, the Philippines foreign minister said on
Wednesday, but it was unclear if an Asia-Europe conference would criticise the
junta.
"There will be a strong statement from the ASEAN ministers,"
Philippine Foreign Minister Blas Ople told reporters on the sidelines of the
meeting on this Indonesian resort island.
Asked what kind of a
statement, he said: "Nagging the Myanmar junta to release Madam Aung San Suu
Kyi."
Foreign ministers and senior officials of the regions have been
struggling to find a common position on the junta since the May 30 detention of
Suu Kyi embarrassed fellow members of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and outraged Europe and the United States.
ASEAN has
already made clear it wants Myanmar to free pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi, but has
been reluctant to see the annual meeting of Asia-Europe (ASEM) foreign ministers
make it an issue, especially given the stiff language on human rights some
Europeans favour.
A fresh statement from ASEAN alone could deflect some
of the pressure for ASEM, of which Myanmar is not a member, to issue a hardline
condemnation of the junta. Asian members are keen to keep the issue as low key
as possible, a European diplomat said.
"There is still a great
possibility for us to find a consensus paragraph on Myanmar," Indonesian Foreign
Minister Hassan Wirajuda, who will issue the concluding statement, told a news
conference. Europe, too, was divided between those who see Myanmar as the most
important issue and others who feel that given Europe's low turnout of just two
foreign ministers they should not antagonise their Asian hosts.
Diplomats from Austria, which wants an ASEM statement, said they still
hoped for something constructive to emerge by the time the meeting ends on
Thursday.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has been held before by the junta,
was detained again on May 30 after a clash between her supporters and a
pro-government mob.
Southeast Asian foreign ministers will gather on the
sidelines of ASEM to discuss the international concern over Myanmar and agree
their statement, and officials hinted at disappointment at Myanmar's failure so
far to respond to a proposal to allow an ASEAN mission to visit.
"We are
impatiently awaiting a response," Wirajuda said.
Myanmar's foreign
minister is expected in Jakarta next week to brief Indonesia -- current chair of
ASEAN -- on the Suu Kyi situation that has embarrassed ASEAN on the
international stage.
MALAYSIA MORE OUTSPOKEN
Malaysia has been outspoken. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said at the
weekend Myanmar eventually could be thrown out unless its generals freed Suu
Kyi.
Expulsion "might be too drastic a recommendation" until Myanmar has
more time to respond to pressure to democratise, the Philippines Ople said.
The issue is pertinent for European countries, angered at what they see
as human rights violations, but also preparing for the expansion of ASEM next
year when EU enlargement takes effect.
That expansion will bring demands
from the 10 Asian members that Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar be admitted to ASEM.
The ASEM meeting on Bali brings together most of East Asia's foreign ministers,
including Li Zhaoxing of China and Yoon Young-kwan of South Korea, and all are
expected to agree on a strong statement condemning North Korea's nuclear
ambitions.
The North Korean weapons crisis was certain to find its way
into a final separate statement being hammered out by its nearest neighbours --
China, South Korea and Japan.
The statement was expected to circumvent
the issue of multilateral talks with Beijing eager to stick to negotiations
involving China, North Korea and the United States and Washington keen to bring
in neighbouring Japan and South Korea.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Malaysia's Mahathir says no ``regime change'' by ASEAN in
Myanmar
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
said Tuesday that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will not launch a
``regime change'' against Myanmar to force the military government to free
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The comments follow Mahathir's
recent warning that ASEAN could expel Myanmar _ admitted in 1997 with strong
Malaysian support _ as a last resort if Suu Kyi was not released. The message
has since been qualified with statements that expulsion could only come after
the group reaches a consensus, not a likely near-term prospect.
Appearing at a joint news conference Tuesday after receiving a visit
from French President Jacques Chirac, Mahathir indicated that harsh action was
not imminent.
``We may still get a response from Myanmar, but whatever
we do, we must not think about invading Myanmar in order to achieve a regime
change,'' Mahathir said, invoking the phrase the United States wielded against
Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq.
``I can only endorse the wisdom of
that statement,'' Chirac replied laughingly. ``I do not approve of the attitude
of the Burmese authorities. I favor democracy, and that means releasing Aung San
Suu Kyi and other political opponents.''
Both Mahathir and Chirac were
staunch opponents of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Malaysian Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Monday that ASEAN was under increasing
international pressure to get tough with Myanmar's ruling generals, who have
kept the Nobel Peace Prize winner in custody for nearly two months.
But
on Tuesday, Syed Hamid underscored that ASEAN could only decide by consensus _ a
tradition since the group was founded in the 1960s.
``In order for us to
reach that result, there is a need for it to be discussed and for the ASEAN
countries to arrive at a consensus,'' he told reporters. ``The most important
thing _ our concern _ is the credibility of ASEAN.''
Suu Kyi has been
detained by the government since a clash between her supporters and a
pro-government mob left an unknown number of people dead May 30.
She has
been seen only once since then, by Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian diplomat
who is the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, also known as Burma. The
junta claims that she is fine and in protective custody.
On Tuesday,
Razali said Mahathir's recent comments were ``a progressive statement, because
it indicates the need to have (a minimum) standard of behavior within ASEAN,''
the Malaysian news agency Bernama reported.
Razali said ASEAN leaders
should have a firm stance in this matter, but there was no need to impose a
deadline for Suu Kyi's release.
``It is not a business deal, so why a
timeframe?'' Razali was quoted as saying. ``I know the urgency is there, but
these are things that are so intricate and need a lot of efforts to get things
done.''
Last month, ASEAN called for Suu Kyi's release, a major breach
with the organization's tradition of noninterference in internal affairs of
member states. A similar appeal is likely to be issued during a meeting this
week between Southeast Asian and European foreign ministers in Bali, Indonesia.
ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar official media accuse Suu Kyi of destroying hopes
for reconciliation
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's official newspapers on
Wednesday said pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's ``provocative'' attitude
has dashed hopes for reconciliation with the military government.
The
commentary _ the last in a 12-part series against the Nobel laureate _ was
purportedly written by a disgruntled member of her National League for Democracy
party, who blamed Suu Kyi for the May 30 clash with junta supporters that led to
her arrest.
Western diplomats have dismissed the stinging commentaries
as fabricated given the little credibility that Myanmar's military government or
its state media have.
The latest segment _ published in all three
official newspapers _ said Suu Kyi's release from house arrest last year had
raised hopes for an end to the country's political deadlock, which began when
the junta took power after crushing a pro-democracy movement in 1988.
``Just when we had begun to see a ray of hope, it has been dashed to the
ground with a tragic incident caused by the lack of insight and good judgment on
our party,'' said the commentary, signed by party member Maung Yin Hmaing.
Suu Kyi was arrested on May 30 after what witnesses and dissidents say
was a planned attack on her motorcade by pro-junta thugs in northern Myanmar.
They say many people were killed in the attack.
The government denies
any hand in the violence and says four people were killed in a clash that
started after Suu Kyi's motorcade plowed through a crowd of government
supporters.
It says Suu Kyi is being kept in temporary ``protective
custody'' for her own safety but doesn't say who poses a danger to her. It has
refused to free her despite intense international pressure including from
neighbors and allies such as Malaysia.
Many suspect that Suu Kyi's
arrest was stage managed by the junta in a bid to put an end to her travels in
the countryside, where she was becoming increasingly popular.
Wednesday's commentary said the opposition party used ``all means to
incite people, exploit the personal popularity of an individual to slander and
criticize the government ... Auntie Suu's speeches are full of innuendoes and
sly allegations.''
It said all the anti-NLD demonstrations staged by
local people during her tours were the result of her ``provocative and insulting
speeches.''
A Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said it was clear that the commentary was ``made up.'' The diplomat described it
as ``vicious and counterproductive.''
The current junta came to power in
1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but
refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Southeast Asia steps up pressure on Myanmar, after EU
warns
BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ Southeast Asian nations said Wednesday they
will send a delegation to Myanmar to push for the release of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi _ a day after the European Union warned that her
detention could hurt Europe's relations with all of Asia.
The
announcement was made on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM,
which brings together foreign ministers and senior officials from 25 Asian and
European countries.
Ministers from both continents also discussed the
standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. China's foreign minister said his
country supports any approach to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.
Terrorism also was on the agenda. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirayuda said Asian nations would ask Europe for unspecified help to boost their
security forces' ability to deal with terror threats.
The ministers were
meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, where two bombs exploded on
Oct. 12 in a nightclub district, killing 202 people, most foreign tourists. The
al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group has been blamed for the attack.
Philippines foreign minister Blas Ople said a delegation from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations will visit Yangon and ``will be nagging
the Myanmar junta for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.''
Authorities
detained the Nobel Peace Prize winner and hundreds of her followers May 30
following a clash with pro-government supporters that left an unknown number of
dissidents dead.
The European Union said in a statement Tuesday that the
situation in Myanmar, also known as Burma, could stall relations with all of
Asia.
``There is a crescendo of voices throughout the world against the
continued detention of Suu Kyi,'' Ople said Wednesday, adding that Yangon should
listen to its fellow ASEAN members before more ``drastic'' action was taken by
the international community.
Malaysian prime minister said recently that
Myanmar could be expelled from ASEAN as a last resort if it doesn't free Suu
Kyi.
``It is in their interest to allow a delegation from ASEAN,'' Ople
added. ``We shall await their response to our initiatives ... (We want) them to
speed up the political transition to a democratic government.''
Last
week, the United States moved toward imposing economic sanctions against
Myanmar. Many EU countries have also imposed tough measures against the regime.
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said Myanmar's military
rulers did not ``seem to care'' about the welfare of their ``hurting'' public.
Patten also urged North Korea to drop its suspected nuclear weapons
program.
China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said ``there is no point
for the country (North Korea) to develop nuclear weapons.'' He added that
Beijing, Pyongyang's closest ally, supports any approach to resume talks on the
issue.
``It doesn't matter if it is a three-way dialogue, a five-way
dialogue or a six-way dialogue. The important thing is that we talk,'' he said.
North Korea has demanded one-on-one discussions with the United States
but Washington says the issue is regional, and wants talks to include China,
Japan and South Korea.
The nuclear dispute flared in October, when U.S.
officials said North Korea admitted having a secret uranium-based nuclear
program in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 23, 2:48 PM
Asian, European ministers
to demand release of Myanmar's democracy icon
NUSA DUA,
Indonesia (AFP) - Asian and European
foreign ministers are expected jointly to demand the immediate release of
Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirayuda said.
Senior officials of both continents agreed after much
debate Tuesday that the detention of the Nobel Peace prizewinner by Myanmar's
military junta should be debated at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
forum.
Wirayuda acknowledged to reporters late Tuesday that Europe and
Asia were divided on Myanmar but said "I'm sure we'll be able to find acceptable
language in the final document."
He said that at the end of their talks
on Thursday, the ASEM ministers were expected to ask Myanmar "to respond to the
_expression_ of concerns by the international community, including concerns from
ASEAN, and meaning that it has to release Madam Aung San Suu Kyi from
detention."
The international community has responded angrily to Suu
Kyi's detention, with the United States and European Union beefing up sanctions.
Most Asian states says sanctions are not the best way to tackle the
problem.
Senior officials preparing the agenda for ministers agreed that
Myanmar be debated during the discussion on "new developments in Asia."
The Europeans had wanted to convene a special session on Myanmar but the
Asian side refused, with one official telling AFP: "We don't want this meeting
to deviate from the objective of building bridges between the two
continents."
Wirayuda said: "Difficult as the issue as Myanmar (is) and
the difference in positions between the two groups, I'm sure we'll be able to
find acceptable language in the final document."
He said the joint
communique on Myanmar would be quite similar to positions expressed at recent
meetings between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and
its key trading partners, including the European Union (EU), as well as the
ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia-Pacific's top security forum.
ASEM's
Asian side is made up of seven of the 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus China, Japan
and South Korea.
The 15 European Union members make up the other side of
the grouping.
ASEAN members Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are not members of
ASEM.
Wirayuda, who will chair the meeting, said discussions between the
two continents were essential to "promote the process of reconciliation and
democratization in Myanmar."
Aung San Suu Kyi was detained by the junta
following violent May 30 clashes between a pro-junta mob and her supporters. The
junta says it is holding her for her own safety.
An unknown number of
members of her opposition National League for Democracy were thrown into custody
as part of a wider crackdown, but 91 detained over the May 30 clashes have so
far been released.
ASEAN last month issued an unprecedented call last
month for Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi. And Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad warned at the weekend that Myanmar might have to be expelled
from ASEAN if its junta defies world pressure.
The UN special envoy on
Myanmar, Razali Ismail, told AFP in Kuala Lumpur late Tuesday that Mahathir's
comments showed the situation was "intolerable."
"ASEAN is very
embarrassed by one member and ASEAN has the right to demand standards of
behaviour in terms of governance," Razali said.
Aside from Myanmar, the
ASEM ministers will tackle the North Korean nuclear issue, the Middle East peace
process and the recent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, among
other topics.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 23, 8:41 PM
Four Myanmar journalists arrested over football article:
media groups
BANGKOK, July 23 (AFP) - Four Myanmar journalists were arrested over
an article on a football team and two are still being held at an undisclosed
location, press watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.
The
group (Reporters Sans Frontieres - RSF) expressed outrage at the arrests of the
journalists with weekly sports magazine First Eleven on July 17 and demanded
their release.
RSF said military intelligence raided the magazine's
office and handcuffed and detained chief editor Zaw Thet Htwe and journalists
Than Htut Aung, Zaw Myint and Soe Pa Pa Hlaing.
"The editor, a former
political prisoner who served a four-year sentence, was reportedly beaten," RSF
said in a joint statement with the Burma Media Association (BMA).
The
article dealt with a fine imposed by the organisers of the Asian Champion Club
tournament on a Myanmar football team for failing to participate, it said.
RSF said that the military government's move showed "there was no room
in Burma for any news reporting that challenged the will and the caprices of the
generals in power."
Soldiers also briefly detained the wife of Zaw Thet
Htwe who works for the privately owned magazine Living Colour. Than Htut Aung
and Zaw Myint were freed on July 19, it said.
RSF said that First
Eleven, with a circulation of more than 50,000, had earlier been warned over an
article questioning how a 4.0 million-dollar international grant for football
promotion in Myanmar had been spent.
In a statement sent to foreign
embassies in Yangon and seen by AFP Wednesday, Myanmar's junta said it had
released 91 prisoners detained over May 30 clashes between democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi's supporters and members of a military-backed organisation.
Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested after the violence that erupted during a
political tour of northern Myanmar. A wider crack-down on her opposition party
has left its entire leadership in jail or under house arrest.
RSF said
that despite announcing that the prisoners had been released, the press watchdog
and the BMA "can only confirm that additional persons are being subjected to
arbitrary arrest."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Environmental News Network
Myanmar's tigers face extinction
22 July
2003
By Jerry Harmer, Associated
Press
BANGKOK, Thailand ? In the days of British rule, tigers were
so numerous in Burma they were shot as pests ? 1,382 of them between 1928 and
1932, according to historical records.
Today, those pith-helmeted hunters
would stalk the country's forests in vain. The tiger is almost extinct in
Myanmar, as Burma is now known.
A landmark report by the New York-based
Wildlife Conservation Society has calculated there could be fewer than 150 left
in a country, although jungles still cover a third of its surface.
"We
were disappointed," said Tony Lynam, leader of the society team that produced
the report after a three-year evaluation. "The population has declined
everywhere and in some places it's gone completely. It's history."
The
culprits are depressingly familiar to naturalists everywhere: the illegal
wildlife traders and their gangs of hired poachers. Tiger parts are highly
prized in China and Thailand by makers of traditional medicines, and Myanmar
sits on the border of both countries.
The report said the poachers were
killing so many tigers that their own business would become "unsustainable," and
that the killing persisting throughout forest areas "threatens to drive the
Myanmar population to extinction."
But the 80-page report, commissioned
by the Myanmar government and presented to it earlier this month, is meant to
trumpet the resurrection of the species, not its requiem.
It lays out a
comprehensive action plan to restore the big cat to its former numbers. Stopping
the trade is one of its key recommendations.
Among other things, it urges
the organization of a wildlife investigation unit and the creation of teams of
eco-rangers to regularly patrol legally protected areas.
It suggests
coordinated anti-poaching patrols with Thai rangers along the two countries'
common border and heavy fines for anyone caught trading tigers or their
parts.
The action plan also stresses teaching officials to monitor the
situation more effectively and educating the public so people come to value the
animal more as a living presence in their forests than as a slaughtered
commodity.
The Wildlife Conservation Society believes the report, called
"A National Tiger Action Plan for the Union of Myanmar," is the first of its
kind.
Alan Rabinowitz, the director of the society's Science and
Exploration Program, said that "nothing of this magnitude has been compiled for
any country where tigers still roam."
The work was supported by the U.S.
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Exxon Mobil's "Save The Tiger
Fund."
When the wildlife society's team began its research, it was
operating in the dark. Political repression and subsequent international
boycotts have largely cut off Myanmar from the outside world for 40 years, so
there has been little or no modern exploration of its far-flung
corners.
"In my mind I had images of dense jungle, of grass 10 feet
high," said team leader Lynam. "I had great anticipation of actually seeing
tigers, that they would be all around. We had the feeling that we'd be seeing
them left, right and center."
Using techniques first developed in India,
Lynam, a 38-year-old biologist from Perth, Australia, and a trained team from
Myanmar's Forestry Department staff embarked on a survey of 17 of the most
promising jungle areas.
It was hard going. Sometimes they traveled with
armed guards, and at others the terrain was so difficult they used elephants to
carry equipment. Many nights were so bitterly cold they could not sleep and had
to huddle around the fire until the sun came up.
Despite the privations,
Lynam and his team stuck to their task. They spent 1,300 man hours methodically
searching for tiger tracks and other signs, such as droppings.
Almost
1,000 interviews were conducted with forest people to gather anecdotal evidence.
The team staked out trails with dozens of camera traps _ still cameras, strapped
to trees, which take shots when anything breaks an infrared beam they
emit.
These were collected after a month and the film was developed. In
all, 4,099 photos were taken. The results were sobering. The cameras snapped
tigers at just four of the 17 sites. At two of the sites, just a single photo of
a tiger was taken.
The report states that forest tribesmen have been so
efficient in supplying the trade in traditional medicines that dealers on the
Thai border claim they can produce a tiger within three days for a deposit of
about US$12.
It remains to be seen just how completely Myanmar adopts the
wildlife society's action plan, given the history of governments in developing
countries for ignoring experts' plans on all manner of suggested
improvements.
But in a preface to the report, the Forestry Department's
director-general, U Shwe Kyaw, says the society's recommendations would become
part of the government policy.
If so, the Action Plan concludes,
"potentially tigers are recoverable to their former abundance across their range
in Myanmar."
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Dr Mahathir shows himself a
model of accountability for his actions on Burma
Choombhon Lertrathakarn
Published on Jul 23,
2003
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, prime minister of Malaysia, the prime
mover who helped install Burma?s membership in Asean in 1997, now
uncharacteristically has called for the possibility of expelling the country
from the regional organisation if it defies the world by continuing the
safekeeping of Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD opposition leader, and if it further
embarrasses Asean in the eyes of the international community.
One has to
wonder why Prime Minister Mahathir has delivered his strongest criticism against
the neighbouring state while approaching his retirement and made a U-turn from
his usual patting-friends-on-the-back attitude toward this neighbour.
His call has definitely been an unpleasant surprise for all the other
members of Asean, and one wonders as to when Prime Minister Mahathir had been
entitled to Asean ownership with his exclusive right to select or deny
membership in the organisation.
It is quite possible that Mahathir
himself might feel guilty about the current Burmese episode as related to his
major responsibility back in 1997 and disappointed with the failure of the
national reconciliation efforts in Burma played by Razali Ismail , the UN
secretary-general?s representative, actually his former close aide.
It
should be clear that Mahathir had put much of his prestige on the line as an
important regional leader to bring Burma from isolation to join the
international community.
However, the outcome has not turned to his
expectation. Mahathir has once more shown his good statesmanship involving the
responsibility and accountability of his own actions.
--------------------------------------------------------------
People's Daily Online
Last updated at:
(Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 23, 2003
ASEAN Waiting Response from
Myanmar
The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) is "impatiently waiting response from Myanmar" in regards with
the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for the
acceleration of reconciliation and democratization process in the country,
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Wednesday.
The
ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is "impatiently
waiting response from Myanmar" in regards with the detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for the acceleration of reconciliation and
democratization process in the country, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirajuda said Wednesday.
"Among nine ASEAN (member countries), we are
impatiently waiting the response from Myanmar," Wirajuda told a media briefingon
Bali island, the venue for the fifth Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
"We'd like very much to see that Myanmar will not only come to us to
explain, but bring with it a positive response to the issue regarding the
detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and the process of reconciliation and
democratization in Myanmar," he said.
The minister said although the
Myanmar issue was not formally included in the agenda during the Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM) forumhere, it would very likely become a crucial topic in the
dialogue.
Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have since last year expressed
their will to join the ASEM grouping. Seven other ASEAN countries -- Indonesia,
Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam -- share
ASEM's Asian membership with China, Japan and South Korea.
Wirajuda said
Indonesia's view on Myanmar issue remains the same with the joint commitment
achieved during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh in June, adding that
since the issue does not worsen, there needs no "stronger words" against
Myanmar.
When asked about a recent comment by Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohammad on a possible expulsion of Myanmar from the ASEAN, Wirajuda
said "the _expression_ of Mahathir cannot be said asa collective wish of ASEAN."
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was detained on May 30
following clashes between her supporters and a pro-government mob that left a
number of people dead.
--------------------------------------------------------------
|