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PM urged to reconsider relationship



Subject: PM urged to reconsider relationship with Burma 



Date: 15 May 1997 
The Nation 

PM urged to reconsider relationship with Burma 

Rights activist warns of links to 'brutal regime' 

BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK 

A GROUP of Thai and international human rights activists yesterday urged Prime 
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to disengage from the Burmese junta and to 
reconsider the country's bid for membership in the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations. 

They also called on the premier to reconsider the controversial Yadana natural 
gas pipeline project, saying it will destroy pristine forest and wildlife in 
both Thailand and Burma and to halt a plan to repatriate ethnic Burmese 
refugees. 

The requests were made during a meeting yesterday afternoon between the human 
rights group led by social critic Sulak Sivalaksa and the premier's 
secretary-general Boonchong Weesommai. 

The activists had requested a meeting with Chavalit before his official 
two-day visit to Burma starting tomorrow. The premier, who was engaged with 
another official duty, assigned his secretary to meet the group which included 
campaigners from Canada, Malaysia and the Philippines. 

Sulak said Chavalit, ''who rose to premiership through a legitimate electoral 
process", should not associate himself with the Burmese junta which ''is a 
brutal illegitimate regime". Instead, Chavalit should establish contact and 
engage with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, he said. 

He warned that Thai economic projects, including the US$1.2 billion (Bt31.2 
billion) Yadana project which will transport Burmese natural gas from the Gulf 
of Martaban through a pipeline for sale in Thailand, could be annulled if a 
democratic Burmese government came to power. 

Gothom Arya, adviser to the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, 
urged Chavalit, also defence minister, to halt any plans to send about 100,000 
mainly Karen refugees back to Burma. 

A hasty repatriation without the proper mechanisms in place to monitor their 
safety would be tantamount to pushing ''the weak" into the hands of ''the 
power who bears arms", he said. 

''I would like to urge the prime minister not to make any commitment [with the 
Burmese junta] on the repatriation. If we [Thailand] don't move cautiously in 
the repatriation operation, there might be serious repercussions for 
Thailand," Gothom warned. 

Former MP Suthin Noppaket said economic development could cause both positive 
and negative impacts on a country and Thailand should not engage in any 
economic activities that would thrive or be implemented at the expense of 
people suffering in other countries. 

He said Thai investment in Burma now only helps to strengthen the Burmese 
junta's ''military power" that is used to suppress the Burmese people, who are 
then forced to flee the repressive rule into Thailand. 

The activists also called on Chavalit not to agree to the Burmese junta's 
request for membership in Asean this year. Boonchong, who will accompany 
Chavalit on the Burma trip, agreed to convey the human rights group's message 
to the premier. 

*Associated Press adds: A US-based refugee advocacy group appealed to the Thai 
government yesterday not to let business links with Burma's military 
government dictate its treatment of Burmese refugees in Thailand. 

''The Thai government and people have done much to be proud of on behalf of 
refugees," said Hiram Ruiz, policy analyst for the US Committee for Refugees, 
based in Washington. ''But now economic interests threaten to tarnish 
Thailand's record." 

Ruiz recently travelled to five of the refugee camps in Thailand sheltering 
more than 100,000 people who have fled military campaigns and human rights 
abuses in Burma. 

The government of Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has been striving to 
improve relations with the Burmese regime, in part to help Thai companies win 
business deals and infrastructure contracts with its neighbour.