Date:
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(1) Log trading increasing in Three Pagoda
(2) 5 people released in Jail, Aung Nwge is still in Jail (In Burmese)
(3) Freedom of leaders proviso for Convention
(4) Natwar Singh:
(5)
(6) SPDC picks USDA members to represent
Convention
(7) CRPP General Secretary threatened by SPDC authorities
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(8) Reconvening National Convention (Article)
____________________________________________________________________
Note: For Burmese story please read in the BNI web, www.bnionline.net
Log trading increasing in Three Pagoda
======================================
Independent Mon News Agency
Log trading is increasing and more than 100 tons of logs per
day are
imported into Three Pagoda
according to a logging businessman.
"About ten 10-wheel trucks carrying logs reach Three
Pagoda every day.
Most of our trucks carry logs from the Tha
Byuud area about 80
kilometers northeast of Three
Pagoda which has good logs," said Nai Thin
Htwe, a businessman who logs there.
"We produced more logs compared to last year.
Just last month the log
trade became a business and started
to run well. It has a great price
and Thai customers need a lot of
"parkay" (short timber)," said U Maung
Hlaing, the biggest logging business owner in Three Pagoda Pass.
According to businessmen who have run the business more than
10 years,
the log price reached 8,000 baht
per ton and 19,000 baht per ton of
ready-made short timber 4 inches
wide and 1 inch thick. which was 6,000
baht per ton of logs and
16,000 baht per ton of timber in 2004.
"Most of the logs brought from the logging zone made
"parkay" timber for
sale. The customers also wanted it
very much," U Maung Hlaing explained.
According to furniture factory owners, chairs, sofas and
others
furniture is on sale. "If we
make dosanarn, a kind of chair that looks
like a cart wheel has
benefit. All of the products we make such as
chairs are accepted by all
the customers," said Nai Win, a furniture
factory owner.
The price of logs and timber in Three Pagoda has not
decreased before
because of difficulty getting logs
or because of fewer logs, according
to the logging businessmen.
The expense of logging is cheaper than the
cost of transporting logs,
according to Nai Thin Htwe.
"The cost of
carrying a ton of logs from Tha-Byuud is 3,500 baht," he said.
According to an environmental worker and resident, the loss
from logging
around Three Pagoda has left it
bare, impacting weather in the area.
"In the past year during the night time here it was
cold. But now it is
hot day and night," U
Min Aung told his friends at a teashop.
According to a Mae Htos Sa villager on the way to Tha Byuud, the village
has less water where they had
enough in the past. "In the past 10
years, we could travel by boat all
the time in the
we can't travel in the summer time
because there are less trees to
maintain water and nourish the
soil," said Nai Saryar
Januu, a local
environmental worker from Earth
Rights International.
++++++++++
Freedom of leaders proviso for Convention
S.H.A.N, Feb:12
Shan ceasefire groups meeting in
their participation on the next
round of the National Convention that
will begin on Feb. 17, according to
one of their commanders.
"All of us have agreed that with our leaders under
custody, it will be
pointless for us to be present at
the Convention," said Col. Gaifah,
deputy leader of Shan State Army
"North," which has been in a truce with
SSA "North" has since 1996 formed the Shan State
Peace Council (SSPC)
with the Shan State National Army
(SSNA), another ceasefire group. Both
groups and the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy (SNLD), the party
that won the most seats in
the Shan State Joint Action
Committee (JAC) later that year. The SSPC
president is Maj-Gen
Hso Ten, who was detained in Taunggyi
with four
others. Hkun
Htoon Oo, held in
"Sao Hso Ten had not gone to Taunggyi on his own, the way the
authorities wanted to impress
us," he continued. "He was on the SSPC
assignment to meet with members of
this group called New Generation
(
Col. Gaifah had just arrived in
Nood were "invited" by police. "I had
traveled to the capital to join
the Union Day (Feb. 12)
celebrations there and stay on to attend the
National Convention," he explained. "But news of
their detention forced
me to turn back. We decided there
was no sense in continuing my stay."
Maj-Gen Myint
Hlaing, commander of the Lashio-based
Northeastern
Region, had summoned Maj-Gen Loimao, commander of SSA "North" and
Sai Yi, commander of the SSNA, to
inform them of the actions taken by
the military authorities which he
said "need not concern" them. "That's
preposterous," exclaimed one
ceasefire source. "They're our leaders."
On the brighter side, Maj. Han Aung and Capt. Oo Hseng, who were
Detained together with Hso Ten,
were released yesterday, Col Gaifah
continued. "We have also
received messages from other ceasefire groups
telling us they are with us all the
way," he disclosed, without elaboration.
parties and armed ceasefire groups.
+++++++++
Natwar Singh:
Mungpi
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
Indian Minister for External Affairs Natwar
Singh says that
their common border.
Singh, on the release at
book called "South Asian
Union" written by senior journalist Ranjit
Kumar, told reporters that
all unwanted elements from the
border, including the drug trade.
"We have a long border with them [
them and we also have to keep in
touch with regard to the activities of
undesired people on the border. We
are working together to deal with
this menace, which also involves
the drug trade," Singh said in answer
to a question on India-Burma
relations asked by Mizzima News.
Singh also said ongoing talks on the trilateral gas pipeline
project
involving
is expected sooner. "I
am hoping that the outcome on the meeting
between
think progress can be made. I hope
we are moving forward rather faster
than people expect," he said.
The book authored by Ranjit Kumar,
a senior journalist and leading
international affairs and security
analyst, says the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed.
Citing the
example of the European Union, he
suggests cooperation among South Asian
nations to open borders for free
movement of people, trade and ideas.
Meanwhile,
meeting in
strengthen bilateral cooperation
including counter-terrorism by exchange
of information and intelligence,
capacity building, legal cooperation
and joint curbs on illegal
trafficking in drugs and psychological
substances, small arms and light
weapons.
Leading the Burmese delegation was U. Win Mra, director general of
International Organizations and the Economics Department of
the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Both delegations were comprised
of
representatives of the Ministry of
External Affairs as well as other
relevant ministries and agencies.
The next consultative group meeting will be held in
++++++++++
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
A senior officials' meeting on combating terrorism and
transnational
crime in
its kind, was attended by a
visiting Burmese delegation led by U Win
Mra, director general of the
International Organizations and Economics
Department of Burma's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the
led by Meera
Shankar, additional secretary of
External Affairs.
The participants discussed and exchanged
views on security in their
immediate neighborhood, according
to a press release issued today by
bilateral cooporation
on counter-terrorism through exchange of
information and intelligence,
capacity building and mutual legal
cooperation.
Moreover, both countries will work together to curb illegal
drug
trafficking, psychotherapic
substances, small arms and light weapons.
This meeting was the process agreed upon by Senior General Than Shwe,
head of
October and signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on
Cooperation in
the Field of Non-Traditional
Security Issues," including arms smuggling,
terrorism, money laundering, drug
trafficking, organized crime,
international economic crime and cyber
crime.
The second meeting is to be held in
insurgencies.
++++++++
SPDC picks USDA members to represent
Convention
Narinjara News
Akyab, February 11
Association (USDA) members at the upcoming SPDC-sponsored
National
Convention Feb. 17. Each of
the 17 townships in
two USDA members to the convention
as representatives of the Arakanese
people, a prominent political
leader said anonymously.
Araksn state USDA secretary U Kyaw
Yin led the 50 representatives of the
Arakanese team who have gathered
in Akyab, the Akyab state
capital, to
prepare for their trip to
He told Narinjara by phone
yesterday that all district and township
level USDA secretaries, including Akyab district secretary U Tun
Win,
Kyauk Pru
district secretary U Aung Tin Thein, and Thandwe district
secretary U Saw Myint
Oo, have been selected as Arakanese
representatives at the National
Convention.
"There are not any representatives from
the people. All were selected by
the SPDC authority," he said. The
authority will not allow
representatives from any Arakanese political
party, including the Arakan League for Democracy, a prominent people's
party in the state, to attend the
convention.
U Mra Wa,
director of the Bangladesh Branch Arakan National
Council,
said the future of
will worsen if the new constitution
gives a mandate to the Burmese Army
allowing it to be involved in the
country's politics.
He added that the people of
up by General Ne
Win's Socialist government because it was not
appropriate for that time.
"How can we accept an even worse constitution
in
U Mra Wa
urged the SPDC military government to allow all political
parties, including the NLD and
Ethnic nationality parties to attend the
National Convention later this month.
If the military government wants
future peace and prosperity in
problems at the table through
peaceful means and include all political
parties.
with its thugs and supporters, but
without any of the other major
political parties of
The USDA was formed by the ruling military junta to
implement their
policy as well as to move against
the winning party of the 1990
election, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in
1993.
++++++++
CRPP General Secretary threatened by SPDC authorities
Narinjara News
Akyab, February 11
U Aye Tha Aung, general secretary
of the Committee for the
Representatives of People Parliament (CRPP), was recently
threatened by
members of
in
Three days ago, three metropolitan policemen came to U Aye Tha Aung's
house and forcibly asked him if he
is familiar with Section Act 5/96.
Though the facts regarding U Aye Tha
Aung's run-in with authorities are
presently unclear, the unverified
information in
the officials warned him on three
specific matters.
They informed him that the CRPP is not a legal organization;
that if at
anytime CRPP policies relate to
Section Act 5/96, they will be subject
to the rule of authorities. They
also asked if he was aware he had a
debt of imprisonment.
The police restricted U Aye Tha
Aung from traveling and are closely
watching his activities. His
telephone line was cut by authorities and
he now communicates with others by
using his son's mobile phone, said an
Arakan resident currently living in
Other prominent Shan ethnic leaders, HKun
Htoon Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin
from the Shan National League for
Democracy (SNLD), were detained on
Feb. 9 along with two other leaders, by
military authorities.
According to
resume soon. All democracy parties presently oppose the convention.
U Aye Tha Aung, who is also
general secretary of the Arakan League for
Democracy (ALD), was previously arrested by the authorities
in 2000 and
sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.
He was released early, in 2002, due
to his deteriorating health in
jail.
The CRPP was formed by 12 major political parties including
the NLD,
ALD, and other ethnic nationality parties in 1988, in order
to call a
parliament in
++++++++
Reconvening National Convention
B.K. Sen
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
The SPDC has announced that the National Convention will
convene again
on Feb. 17. The last session was during
May 2004. It has taken months to
adjourn the meeting. This is not
surprising as the first announcement of
the National Convention was made in
1992 and the first session finally
took place in 1993, several months
later. These events reveal much about
the pace of the process, making one
reasonably conclude that the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is not at all serious
about the
matter.
There are seven steps in the SPDC road map to democracy, of
which
convening the National Convention
is the second. How long these steps
will take is anybody's guess. The
impression given discredits the SPDC,
implying that all it wants is to
prolong the life of its dictatorship.
When announcing the reconvening of the National Convention,
the SPDC did
not release any information
concerning the agenda. In relation to the
road map's second step, it is
expected that the 104 principles proposed
by the SPDC will be accepted with a
few changes and will be put forward
to a constitution drafting
committee. The formation of this committee is
another main task of the military
junta. Thereafter the Convention will
be adjourned until the Constitution
Drafting Committee has prepared a
draft constitution.
Implementation of the road map's remaining steps will depend
on the whim
of the SPDC. That this will be a
time-consuming process is easy to see.
The National Convention, like it or not, is now embedded in
politics. The National League for
Democracy (NLD), being a major
stake-holder, cannot remain silent
witness to this process' end. Having
received the massive mandate of the
people in the May 1990 elections, it
has the moral duty to demonstrate
its pro-active policy. It should ask
the SPDC's
permission to hold a closed-door executive committee meeting
without making conditions of
release, as the SPDC's attitude has been
"take it or leave it."
This proposed executive committee meeting should
have only one agenda item, namely
how to approach the reconvened
National Convention.
The question should be whether or not it should participate
in the
process, however limited that may
be.
The issue before the country is constitutionalism rather
than the
constitution. It is naive to think
that the SPDC has to come out first
with its response to demands
formulated earlier by the NLD. The SPDC's
strategy is to isolate and
marginalize the NLD. It is therefore
incumbent on the part of the NLD to
seize a space in the political
process and end the status quo.
This will generate a momentum, a slow
movement that will change center
stage politics. The NLD has to ask for
the resumption of talks with the
SPDC and to participate in the National
Convention. This two-track strategy
will open space for more
constructive politics. The climate
of fear with which the military
dictators have permeated the
country, even more so since Khin Nyunt's
purge and dismantling of the NIB,
will change and slowly but surely
freer discussion and debate will
ensue on the issues emanating from the
National Convention.
Unfortunately, the opposition force has been put inside a
shell and the
military dictators are moving from
strength to strength. The situation
needs rethinking, however, not in
terms of an eventual emergence of a
situation akin to 8.8.88. It is important
to keep in mind that "Politics
is the art of possibility."
Questions will rise. Will SPDC resume talks with Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi?
If not, Why participation? What can participation do in the
context that
every one will be gagged?
These questions are legitimate. But important
points to consider include whether
the current political stalemate
should continue and will political
prisoners rot in prison? The aim is
to put forward a democratic
bargain, whether dictators accept it or not.
The proposition that the National Convention per se will
only
consolidate military rule is
debatable. What it wants is military
participation in politics. Whether
their participation will result in
"domination" is
hypothetical. It will have to be engaged in two battles.
The first battle will be the referendum; the second will be
the election
after the constitution is accepted
in the referendum. The people will
become central, regardless of
whether the referendum is forcefully
obtained or the election is rigged.
We consider Senior General Than Shwe
as all powerful. We used to think
the same of Ne Win. It is not the
objective of the writer to suggest
that there should be unconditional
participation in the National
Convention. However, this is a chance to
re-think and consider that the
reconvening of the National Convention
represents a new opportunity.
But the only condition is
that things have to move fast within a
time frame so that the
people's suffering may be ended soon.
The military regime has laid down a road that will run into
minefields.
The current situation does raise fresh questions regarding
what is and
is not "necessary" for
democratization to advance. The unfortunate thing
is that unless some fresh wisdom is
allowed into the process, the
opportunity will disappear.
the longest in history. The issue
has become not "Democracy" but
"electoral democracy" and
democratization. The balance of power is
unequal. Elections may help to
correct the balance, which may result in
a peaceful way to resolving
conflicts. The theory that the inability of
the opposing sides to defeat their
enemy would compel them to negotiate
is wrong. Equally fallacious is the
theory that international pressure
can deliver. In the present
context, costs of participating in an
imperfect political process are
less than the costs of overturning the
dictatorship through non-democratic
means. The coming National
Convention will be a milestone in
+++++End++++
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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media
groups
such as Mizzima
News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,
Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press
Network,
Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information
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