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BurmaNet News: December 13, 1994
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 13, 1994
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************************** BurmaNet **************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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BurmaNet News: December 13, 1994
Issue #80
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Contents:
1 IRRAWADDY: SUU KYI MEETS FELLOW PRISONERS
2 BKK POST: KNU GROUPS IN BATTLES OVER MONK
3 GEMINI/BKK POST: JUNTA, KHUN SA SLUG IT OUT
4 BURMANET: BURMA-MYANMAR DISCUSSION--LINTNER'S REPLY TO LEHMAN
5 REUTERS/BKK POST/NATION: BURMESE REBEL GROUPS FORM NEW ALLIANCE
6 IRRAWADDY: DDSI'S KATHINA RANGOON
7 IRRAWADDY: NE WIN'S DAUGHTER OPENS BAR
8 IRRAWADDY: HARD WARE FOR HARDLINERS
9 IRRAWADDY: BOMB EXPLODES IN RANGOON
10 NATION: BURMESE STUDENTS IN EXILE PLAN INDIA MEET TO FIGHT CAUSE
11 BKK POST: DELAY IN BUILDING OF BRIDGE WILL COST THAILAND
12 NATION: JOINT POLICY BOOST SUBREGIONAL TOURISM
BKK POST: THREE PAGODA PASS OPENS TO PUBLIC
NATION: REFUGEE CONCERNS
NATION: DETENTION CELLS INUNDATED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
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IRRAWADDY: SUU KYI MEETS FELLOW PRISONERS
December 1994
AUNG San Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet other detained members of her
party, the NLD. The first meeting reportedly took place on November 1 in
the army guest house in Rangoon,where Suu Kyi held extensive talks with
the still-imprisoned NLD Chairman Tin Oo and party secretary Kyi Maung.
Tin Oo was arrested along with Suu Kyi in July 1989; Kyi Maung was
arrested on 6 September 1990 after the general elections in which the NLD
won a landslide victory and sentenced to two separate terms of 10 years'
impriso nment on charges of alleged treason. Tin Oo and Kyi Maung were
founding members of the NLD.
Tin Oo and Kyi Maung were former military officers. Tin Oo was Chief of
staff and minister of defence in 1974-76. He was accused of involvement in
an abortive coup attempt in 1976 and imprisoned. He was released under
amnesty in 1980. It is not known yet whether Suu Kyi asked to meet Aung
Shwe who is presently runnin g the NLD.
A report also came out that Suu Kyi was taken by Slorc officials to tour
Rangoon to see projects and activities that have taken place under Slorc.
(FEER & B.I.G.Inside sources)
**************************************************************
BKK POST: KNU GROUPS IN BATTLES OVER MONK
December 12, 1994
The Karen National Union is at war with itself over a Buddhist monk
suspected of being a spy for the Burmese State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC). The monk was told by a group of senior KNU leaders to
leave a temple north of their Manerplaw Hea dquarters on suspicion he was
a SLORC spy, according to KNU source. About 400 followers of the monk,
including young members of the KNU led by Maj Kyaw Saing, protested
against the order, the source said yesterday. Members of the senior
faction sent three
representatives to try to persuade the younger members to drive out the
monk. But three were murdered by the group when they arrived for talks on
Wednesday, the source said. The killings sparked gunfire and heavy mortar
exchanges between the two factions . Most of the young members are used to
fight SLORC troops.
**************************************************************
GEMINI/BKK POST: JUNTA, KHUN SA SLUG IT OUT
7 December 1994
Satyanarayan Sivaraman (Gemini News) It is a battle between two unsavory
forces fighting for the reward of international respectability. The army
of the military junta of Burma and drug warlord Khun Sa are waging war for
control of the ethnic Shan States along the border with Thailand. The
outcome could dramatically influence the future of this politically
isolated country.
Victory for government troops would give leaders of the Rangoon regime
credit for wiping out one of the world's largest drug lords - propping up
Rangoon's battered reputation in the west. Their defeat would enable Khun
Sa to emerge a champion of pro-demo cracy and ethnic rebel forces.
Khun sa Maung Tai Army (MTA) is putting up much stringer resistance than
the Burmese military commanders expected. Government forces appear to have
proven no match for Khun Sa's well-fed, well-armed troops, fighting on the
hilly, forested Shan terrain.
Since fighting began last year, MTA forces - which Khun Sa claims to be
10,000-strong, equipped with sophisticated artillery, shoulder-fired
rockets and even anti-aircraft equipment_have managed to push back
government troops and claim the capture of at l east three government
bases. But with their supply lines from inside Burma cut off by the
fighting, Khun Sa's forces are also said to be feeling the squeeze.
"The MTA has no other choice but to fight till the end. If we don't defend
ourselves the Burmese forces will intrude into our territory,". Khun Sa
was recently quoted as telling reporters at his army base at Ho Mong
inside Shan territory.
The MTA are strongly motivated. Despite Khun Sa's infamy abroad, he has
build up strong support within the Shan community by a combination of
money, muscle and populism.
Khun Sa operates his drug empire from the Golden Triangle, the region at
the junction of the Lao, Thai and Burmese border, which accounts for
nearly 80 per cent of world heroin supplies.
"Khun Sa's declaration of an independent Shan state in December last year
has cleverly helped transform him from a drug warlord in hiding to the
leader of a ethnic rebel movement," says a foreign intelligence official
monitoring the region.
There is evidence that with the help of his considerable drug funds, Khun
Sa has linked up with several smaller rebel groups such as the Wa
community, whose ceasefire agreements with Rangoon are on the verge of
breakdown.
And in a bid to woo even the non-violent pro-democracy activists and in a
display of his growing public relations skills, Khun Sa recently issued a
statement demanding the release of dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who
has been under house arrest in Ra ngoon for five years. He is also said to
have written a letter to United Nations secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali urging UN recognition of the Shan state as a separate
country.
Well_entrenched rebel groups such as the ethnic Karens, the Karennis and
Mons are watching the conflict closely. With little progress made in their
ceasefire talks with Burmese authorities, the prospect of an alliance with
Khun Sa has become appealing, gi ven the Shan territory's strategic
importance to their own defence.
Another of the drug warlord's ploys in his battle against Rangoon is his
attempt to rope in Thai support by offering unhampered access to the
Salween River. Thailand has been negotiating with Burma for joint
development of dams on the river. In several we ll-publicised speeches,
Khun Sa has played the traditional ethnic "brotherhood" between the Thais
and the Shans against the Thais' historical animosity towards the Burmese.
Khun Sa makes full use-of his strong links with several Thai generals and
senior p oliticians involved in the lucrative business of helping him
smuggle drugs out of the Golden Triangle through Thailand to western
markets.
For the military generals in Rangoon, the battle against Khun Sa is
crucial because it could tilt international opinion considerably in their
favour. The United States has branded Khun Sa a wanted criminal for his
drug-running operations. Vanquishing him,
the regime believes, would put them in the West's good books.
Such an improvement of its international image, combined with hoped for
western investment, could speed up the legitimisation of the undemocratic
regime.
In a bid to counter charges of their own involvement in drug production in
recent years, the Rangoon authorities have mounted a high-profile drug
eradication campaign.
While the country's various pro-democracy groups are careful not to
publicly support Khun Sa in the current battle, their sympathies lie with
his troops.
Given their own state of disarray and the government's overwhelming
military power, any force that fights that hated regime for them is looked
on with favour.
Satyanarayan Sivaraman is an Indian freelance journalist based in Bangkok. (BP)
**************************************************************
BURMANET: BURMA-MYANMAR DISCUSSION--LINTNER'S REPLY TO LEHMAN From: Bertil
Lintner <lintner@xxxxxxxxxxxx> December 11, 1994
Reply to Mr Lehman: you are correct in many ways, and bama and myanmar are
indeed interchangable, and have been so hroughout history. However, there
is as you say a slight difference: the contracted form bama is more
colloquial than myanmar (which is exa ctly the same point as I made in my
first posting). A bit like muang thai and prather thai in Thai (the former
being more colloquial than the other). The main point, however, is that
there is no historical or linguistic evidence whatsoever to back up the
official Slorc version that myanmar encompasses the Burmans a well as the
minorities. That said, I think we should be aware of a couple of points:
a) when the thakins named their movement the dohbama I think it was more
to it than just a desire to use a more commonly acceptable contracted form
of the name of the country. As the extract from the official history of
the dohbama suggests, the thakins did really believe that there was a
difference between bama and myanma: they stated that bama meant the whole
country whereas myanma was the old, royal name of the Kingdom of Mandalay.
I disagree with this analysis, but this is what they believed.
b) when the Slorc in 1989 decided that the opposite is true, I also think
they really believed it. Slorc officials always say that "Burma" is a
colonial term invented by Western intellectuals while Myanmar is the
indigenous name of their country. Th is is, of course, also a distortion
of history.What I intended to do was to highlight that both a) and b) are
wrong. And I think this is quite important since an amazing number of
diplomats, journalists and others have taken the 1989 explanation at fac e
value. As you may know, my wife is Shan from Burma and she (like most
others from Burma's many minorities) would never accept that she is
"Burman", "Burmese" or "Myanmar". She would describe herself as "Shan from
Burma", which I think is the correc t usage. Most Burmese and others from
Burma I have spoken to feel that the term Myanmar is offensive for a
number of reasons: a) the majority Burmans (or Burmese, I see really no
difference between these two terms) associate it with a regime they
despise (like many Cambodians in the 1970s and 1980s did not like to use
the name "Kampuchea" as it was associated with the Khmer Ro uge and/or the
Hun Sen regime);
2) The minorities see it as a Burmanisation of all names (including the
name of the country: Myanmar is Burmese; the name does not exist in the
minority languages other than as a Burmese loanword), especially when it
comes to local place names in, for
instance, Shan State.I would really appreciate more comments from readers
of Burmanet I would be especially interested in learning more about the
etymology of the term Myanmar, since I have heard many different
explanations.
Further to the discussion about Myanmar-Burma: Burma's primary school
text book, used for many years in schools throughout the country to teach
the national language, was called "myanma patsa patamadan", or "myanmar
reader for the first grade". Obviou sly, this was in reference to the
language of the majority population of the country, which we in English
call Burmese. It had nothing to do with the Shans, the Kachins, the Karens
or any other minority people. The same government-issued school text book
also contains the national anthem, which begins with the familiar refrain
"kaba makye bamapyi..." Here, bamapyi clearly refers to the whole country
as opposed to myanma, which is used as the name only of the language of
the Burman majority popula tion, not including other nationalities. The
point I want to make is that until June 1989, myanma was used for the
majority population and theie language. The term has never included the
non-Burman peoples or languages of the country whereas bama has
been used (rightly or wrongly) to describe the whole country.
If anyone from the authorities in Rangoon is reading this, I would really
appreciate it if they could clarify on what historical and
linguistic grounds they in 1989 decided that the opposite was true.
Bertil Lintner,
Bangkok
**************************************************************
REUTERS/BKK POST/NATION: BURMESE REBEL GROUPS FORM NEW ALLIANCE
7 December 1994
FOUR ethnic minority groups which signed ceasefire agreements with the
Burmese government have now formed an alliance to back their demands for
swifter progress towards democracy, rebel sources said yesterday. The
Peace and Democratic Front (PDF) alliance
was formed over the week- end after weeklong talks between the groups
involved, the sources told Reuters.
Kyauk Nyi Laing, the Wa ethnic leader, was appointed chairman of the PDF
which also comprises the Lahu, Kokang and Palong ethnic minorities. The
Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of the main rebel
organisations which have signed ceasefire, did n ot participate in the
talks, which took place in northern Shan state bordering China, but sent a
letter to support the formation of the alliance, sources said.
"PDF was formed because many armed factions who reached a ceasefire with
the government felt upset over delays with the development of democracy in
the country," one of the sources said. At the first meeting the PDF agreed
to demand that the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
speed up development of a democratic system and recognise the results of
Burma's 1990 general election. It also demanded the release of political
prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democ racy
(NLD) leader who has been held under house arrest since July,1990.
SLORC, the military-backed government which took power in 1988 after the
brutal suppression of a pro-democracy movement, ignored the results of the
1990 election won convincingly by the NLD despite Suu Kyi's detention. The
rebel sources said that as well as forming an alliance on the political
front, the PDF had agreed on military cooperation in case one of its
members was attacked. The four PDF groups have more than 40,000 armed men
in rebel armies which have not been disbanded despite the ceasefire pact
s. "The forming of PDF indicates that the SLORC has failed to develop a
democratic system as it promised to the rebels. I believe it will expand
into one of the main opposition organisations against the SLORC," a Shan
rebel source who monitors Burma said.
Kyauk Nyi Laing is also a former leader of the Burmese Communist Party
(BCP), which denounced communism in the early 1980s and also signed a
ceasefire agreement.
In April, 1992, the SLORC declared a unilateral suspension of hostilities
against dozens of rebel ethnic minority groups who had been fighting for
autonomy from central government since Burma gained independence from
Britain in 1948, and offered peace neg otiations. Thirteen armed factions
have signed ceasefires with the SLORC to date. # European Parliament
envoy said yesterday that Burmese military authorities snubbed him during
his visit to Rangoon this week and refused to let him see detained
oppositi on leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Glyn Ford, a British representative
of the European Union's parliament, told Reuters he carried a letter from
parliament president Klaus Haensch inviting Suu Kyi to Europe to accept
the Sakharov prize awarded to her in 1990.
"The Burmese authorities refused to meet me at all. It was a total blank wall," said Ford, who last week attended a democracy forum in South Korea that called for improved human rights and the release of political prisoners in military-run Burma. "This c
an only be taken as a rebuff to the european Parliament. Clearly they don't want a dialogue with the European Union," he said. -- Reuters.(BP & TN)
**************************************************************
IRRAWADDY: DDSI'S KATHINA RANGOON
December 1994
It is sad but true. Burma is run today by the Directorate
Defence Service Intelligence (DDSI), Khin Nyunt's department. He has been director of DDSI since 1984.
Recently, DDSI has made a Kathina ceremony in Bahan township at Dhamayon
hall. Gen Than Shwe, madame Than Shwe and other senior military members
including FM Ohn Gyaw were present.The next day, the New Light of Myanmar,
reported the event on the front page with pictures. It have never been
mentioned on the front page previously DDSI activities.
It was noted that this was because of Khin Nyunt's influence. The DDSI has
been playing a very important role for Slorc to maintain power. Not only
for Slorc but also Ne Win's socialist regime. Many senior members did not
show up at the DDSI's Kathina. Perhaps they were busy or just against Khin
Nyunt.
Will the Slorc officials who did not attend the DDSI's Kathina be
dismissed or transfer? But analysts said, Obviously there is division,
some won't come because they belong to an anti-Khin Nyunt group.
Related report: Recently, Rangoon appointed Brig-Gen Tin Aye as the new
deputy minister of hotel and tourism. As usual, the report did not give
any details for the switch.
Tin Aye was previously inspector-general of the Defence Service. He was
the one who met Aung San Suu Kyi in the army guest house along with Lt-Gen
Khin Nyunt and Than Oo. Nevertheless, no one knows the reason why he was
suddenly transferred. Is there any argument or split regarding Suu Kyi's
release? I will not say it is promotion, but more like he was sent
somewhere where he cannot get involved with sensitive matters; just wait
and see, said a Thailand-based observer.(B.I.G. Inside sources & NLM)
**************************************************************
IRRAWADDY: NE WIN'S DAUGHTER OPENS BAR
December 1994
WHILE Gen Aung San's daughter Aung San Suu Kyi has been struggling for
genuine democracy in Burma a sources in Rangoon reported that strongman
Gen Ne Win's daughter opened a restaurant, Nawarat, on the outskirts of
Rangoon, near Insein township.
" Sanda her self wears a miniskirt and sells beer," said a source. The
staff waiters and waitress receive 30 US$ per month.
Actually, it is not a bad deal to work at Sanda's newly-opened restaurant,
says a Burmese in Rangoon, because 30 US$ means over 3,000 kyats. (one
dollar gets over 100 kyats in blackmarket). And one of the waiters said, "
Whatever you want you can get it there." (B.I.G INSIDE SOURCE)
**************************************************************
IRRAWADDY: HARD WARE FOR HARDLINERS
December 1994
LT-GEN Tin Oo, chief of staff of the Burmese army, visited China. He was
to discuss further deliveries of weapons to Rangoon. The new deal, which
comes in the wake of Chinese arms supplies worth over US$1.2 billion the
past four years, is reported to amount to US$400 million. It is said to
include a sizable quantity of Chinese-made AK47 assault rifles, 20 assault
helicopters, more than 50 artillery pieces, at least 60 tanks and armoured
personnel carriers, six Hainan-class patrol boats, a large number of
smaller gunboats and parachute equipment.
Rangoon is believed to be eager to get hold of these weapons in
preparation for a major assault on the headquarters of Golden Triangle
warlord Khun Sa, which may take place in late December or early January.
(FEER)
**************************************************************
IRRAWADDY: BOMB EXPLODES IN RANGOON
December 1994
A BOMB exploded in Rangoon's North Okkalapa police station on the
afternoon of 18 November. One woman criminal was reportedly killed and
others were injured. Offices closed all roads till night as they were
scared of political involvement. But junta's mouthpiece newspaper did not
report anything on this event. There was no immediate confirmation why it
happened and who planted the bomb.(B.I.G.inside source)
**************************************************************
NATION: BURMESE STUDENTS IN EXILE PLAN INDIA MEET TO FIGHT CAUSE December 7, 1994
Burmese students in exile will hold a meeting early next year in New Delhi
to unify different factions of the pro-democracy student movement which
have been fighting their own course against the Burmese junta from Asian
and Scandinavian countries.
The meeting is expected to bring together leading members of several
violent and non-violent student groups active in India, Thailand, Norway
and Sweden. Many of the groups have been divided during their actions
against the ruling State Law and Order Rest oration Council (Slorc) which
came to power after the coup in Sept 1988.
Ye Thu Naing, chairman of the All Burma Students' League, said in an
interview last week that non-violent student groups in Thailand will meet
soon to work out a common stand for the New Delhi meeting.
"The non-violent student groups in Thailand will hold a regional
conference in the next couple of weeks to prepare for the upcoming
international forum in New Delhi. We expect the Delhi meeting to help
create unity among the different student groups," he said.
Ye Thu Naing said the meeting's objective is a consolidation of all
student groups active in India, Thailand, Norway and Sweden. The forum
will also work out a common approach and goals to end the military
dictatorship in Rangoon and restore democracy, hu man rights and national
reconciliation through peaceful means, he said. (TN)
**************************************************************
BKK POST: DELAY IN BUILDING OF BRIDGE WILL COST THAILAND
December 12, 1994
Thailand will have to shoulder higher construction costs of a Thai-Burmese
authorities do not allow the Highways Department to being construction
soon, according to project director Boonsong Suppamasdiskul.
Mr Boonsong said yesterday he had requested Thai Ambassador to Rangoon
Poksak Nilubon to ask the Burmese to grant permission quickly.
The project on the Thai side officially began on October 21. It was not
advisable for the Burmese to delay the project un- til the next rainy
season as it would be impossible to start construction, he said.
The project is supposed to be completed in April, 1996.
Delays increase labour costs by at least 1.2 million baht a
month to be met by the department.
Thailand agreed to cover the entire construction cost.
Burmese supervisor of the project U Khin Maung Oo told the
Local Thai-Burmese Border Committee last month that Thailand
was responsible for the total cost of vacating houses and
shops and clearing land near the project site on the Burmese
side.
The bridge crossing the Moei River will serve as a major land
transport channel linking Mae Sot district and Myawaddy. (BP)
**************************************************************
NATION: JOINT POLICY BOOST SUBREGIONAL TOURISM
Escap meet in China to hear Thai proposal
December 12, 1994
Thailand will propose a joint marketing policy with six coun- tries in the
Greater Mekong Subregion in a bid to attract more visitors throughout the
area at this week's workshop in China held by the United Nations' agency.
The workshop organizer, the UN's
Economic and Social Commis- sion for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), aims
to examine the project profiles of priority subregional tourism project
for the further development and implementation. The workshop is also
expected to formulate specific recommen- dations on the course of action
to be taken by the governments concerned and international organizations
involved in tourism development.
Delegates from six countries: Thailand, China, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and
Cambodia, are all government tourism officials. Tourism Authority of
Thailand's (TAT) Planing Division Direc- tor Santichai Eauchongprasit will
represent Thailand. Other delegates are
China's National Tourism Administration Vice- Chairman, Cheng Wendong,
and Burma's Directorate of Hotel and Tourism Deputy director, General Myo
Lwin. Thailand's project profiles will feature the following: Promoting
the Subregion as a Tourist destinati on, where the joint marketing
programme is suggested to be a mechanism to promote the Greater Mekong
Subregion to be a high-yield mar- ket, this to be achieved without damage
to the environment. Setting up the Subregional Tourism Forum as a
consultancy bo dy to express needs and concerns such as the issue of
travel reg- ulations, human resource development and infrastructure devel-
opment. Also to act as an organizer of a travel mart to sell member
countries' products to buyers around the world. Training i n the basic
skills of tourism, which is the highest priority since it is the most
important pre-requisite to the tourism industry's success.
Thailand's hotel and tourism trai ning schools are willing to assist in
this. Training resource managers in conservation and tourism, aimed at
increasing the number of well-trained personnel in the field of
sustainable tourism development. Mekong river t ourism planning study.
This project is targeted at helping ensure that tourism development is
well-planned and is in the right direction. The results of these planning
studies would provide a frame- work to stimulate the flow of tourist to
this subregion and is believed will reduce and eventually eliminate the
negative impact of tourism. Statements in the opening ceremony on Dec 13
include ESCAP's director of transport, Communications and Tourism Division
- M Rahmatullah, and the Asian Development Bank's senior adviser, George
Abonyi. (TN)
**************************************************************
BKK POST::DELAY IN BUILDING OF BRIDGE WILL COST THAILAND
December 12, 1994
Thailand will have to shoulder higher construction costs of a Thai-Burmese
authorities do not allow the Highways Department to being construction
soon, according to project director Boonsong Suppamasdiskul. Mr Boonsong
said yesterday he had requested Thai
Ambassador to Rangoon Poksak Nilubon to ask the Burmese to grant
permission quickly. The project on the Thai side officially began on
October 21. It was not advisable for the Burmese to delay the project un-
til the next rainy season as it would be impos sible to start
construction, he said. The project is supposed to be completed in April,
1996. Delays increase labour costs by at least 1.2 million baht a month to
be met by the department. Thailand agreed to cover the entire construction
cost. Burmese sup ervisor of the project U Khin Maung Oo told the Local
Thai-Burmese Border Committee last month that Thailand was responsible for
the total cost of vacating houses and shops and clearing land near the
project site on the Burmese side. The bridge crossing the Moei River will
serve as a major land transport channel linking Mae Sot district and
Myawaddy. (BP)
**************************************************************
BKK POST: THREE PAGODA PASS OPENS TO PUBLIC
December 12, 1994
The three Pagoda Pass, a Thai-Burma border town in Sangkhla Buri District
here, opened to the general public yesterday. Hundred of people from
Thailand and Burma have already travelled through the pass over the past
two days which is expected to develop into a thriving trade centre.
Burmese people, mostly traders can enter Thailand as far as Sangkhla Buri
district, about 30 kilometres from the border, for shopping and to sell
their goods. They can also sell carved woods and sea products and other
handicrafts. As for Thai people and traders, they are restricted to a two
kilometres area on the Burmese side of Three Pagoda Pass.
The opening of this pass last Thursday is still only for a "trial period".
The permanent opening is expected early next year, when traders and people
will be allowed to travel deeper into both country for shopping and
sight-seeing. The Three Pagoda Pass, which is also known by its Burmese
name of Payathonzu, was formerly a strong hold of Mon rebels of the New
Mon State Party, but the base was overran by Burmese forces in 1990.
A senior Mon rebel whose base is about 40 kilometres from the Three Pagoda
Pass , said yesterday that their group has no policy to harass the Burmese
forces occupying the area or to obstruct the opening of the pass. He also
said that the peace talks betwe en the NMSP and the Burmese military had
come to a temporary halt. (BP)
**************************************************************
NATION; REFUGEE CONCERNS
December 15, 1994
We appeal to you as the editor of a newspaper. As such, you have the
ability an d duty to inform the people of what is going on. We are deeply
concerned with the asylum-seekers and refugees in Thailand, especially
people from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar [Burma], and Vietnam. These people are
fleeing their country because their lives are threatened but they are
conside red as any "illegal immigrants" by the authorities. Moreover, they
are detained in inhuman conditions - jails are overcrowded, food is not
sufficient and women have to share theirs with their children, and
ill-treatments at the Bangkok IDC and the Kanchan
aburi IDC have been reported. Finally, if they can afford the ticket,
asylum-seekers and refugees are sent back to their respective countries
where anything can happen to them.
Therefore, we would like to urge the Thai authorities to accede to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and to its 1967
Protocol to ensure the better protection of asylum-seekers and refugees
and Thailand: and to make e nquiries in the allegations of ill-treatment
in detention centres. (TN)
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NATION: DETENTION CELLS INUNDATED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
December 15, 1994
Immigration police swamped by the 550,000 illegal immigrants taking refuge
in the Kingdom face a critical shortage of detention cells, Immigration
Bureau Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Kiattisak Praphawat said yesterday.Burmese
immigrants illegally entering the country are the most numerous, at
350,000 with Chinese immigrants the second largest group. The remaining
50,000 are from various other countries.
According to Kiattisak, although police could arrest about 1,500 illegal
immigrants every two months, officials are not able to send them back home
until proper legal procedures have been completed - which takes at least
two months.
The maximum capacity of his bureau's cells is 1,500, he said. On Dec 12 he
will ask the Interior Ministry to grant the construction of more cells at
the Maneeloy Burmese Students Centre in Ratchaburi.
Kiattisak said the bureau under his command would be free of all corrupt
officials.
He added that he would work his best to prevent communists or
international terrorists from entering the Kingdom. (TN)
END OF ISSUE