Burma Related News From Thai Papers

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June 16, 1997
Immigrants put strain on border hospitals

Khmers coming in increasing numbers

Aphaluck Bhatiasevi 
Trat


Hospitals at border provinces are facing a number of problems in dealing 
with the influx of foreign immigrants who have language and financial 
problems, in addition to the problem of shortage of medical staffs.

Dr Chumnum Wittayanunta, director of Khlong Yai District Hospital, Trat, 
bordering Cambodia's Koh Kong said the main problem was that the 30-bed 
hospital with limited staff found it difficult to cope with the 
increasing number of patients, half of whom are Cambodians.

According to the latest report, the hospital up to May this year housed 
2,831 in-patients - among them 1,618 are Thais and 1,213 Cambodians. The 
hospital also treated 23,340 out-patients - 12,883 Thais and 10,457 
Cambodians.

Last year, there were 8,696 out-patients and 1,404 in-patients who are 
Cambodian citizens.

Dr Chumnum said due to limited hospital space and budget, there was no 
special room to keep the bodies of patients who died at the hospital.

"If a patient dies, we have to wrap the body in sheets and leave it at a 
corner or a corridor until the relatives come to collect it. In certain 
cases, the body is left at the hospital overnight, causing uneasiness 
among the medical staffs and patients," he said.

The most common health problems suffered by residents here are malaria, 
diarrhoea, flu and accidents.

Malaria patients increased from 144 cases in 1996 to 324 cases up to May 
this year, said Dr Chumnum.

Last year, 246 cases of diarrhoea were reported among in-patients in 
Khlong Yai Hospital, while this year up to May, 224 cases were admitted 
to the hospital.

Because of the problem of shortage of doctors at border areas, Dr 
Chumnum has also been appointed director of Koh Kut Sub-district 
Hospital. He takes turns in seeing patients at the two hospitals every 
alternate day, three days a week.

Dr Chumnum said apart from the shortage of hospital beds and limited 
staff, the hospital is facing financial problems in dealing with 
Cambodian patients who are unable to pay for their medication and are 
not compensated under any security scheme.

"We at the hospital have to bear the expenses. Though they are not 
covered under the lower income group scheme, we have to treat them and 
provide them with medicines, for humanitarian sake," said the doctor.

According to him, this year up to May, the hospital has already spent 
644,685 baht on treating Cambodians. Last year, the total expenditure 
for Cambodian patients was 709,690 baht.

Dr Chumnum said this year, the hospital has been allocated a 
one-million-baht budget for the provision of medical services and an 
allowance of 1.6 million baht for the lower income group, in addition to 
the hospital's maintenance budget of 328,164 baht.

"We doubt that our hospital maintenance fee will this year be more than 
last year because more and more Cambodian patients who come to us can 
not afford to pay for treatment," he said.

Dr Chumnum pointed out that uncertainty with electricity in the area 
often causes breakdown of several hospital equipment units and it was 
difficult to ask for budget to purchase new equipment again and again.

Apart from the budget problem, the officials also have to spend more 
time in trying to understand their Cambodian patients because of 
language problems, he said.

It is very difficult to follow-up on patients in this area because of 
constant mobility of the population, said Dr Chumnum, adding that 
constant movement of patients also obstructs control of communicable 
diseases like malaria.

Rangoon orders checkpoint reopened

Supamart Kasem 
Mae Sot, Tak


The Burmese checkpoint in Myawaddy opposite Mae Sot district which has 
been closed for the past four days has been ordered to reopen by the 
Rangoon authorities, a Thai customs official said yesterday.

The reopening of the checkpoint will allow the import of goods into the 
country after a four-day closure, said the official.

Since local Burmese authorities sealed the checkpoint last Thursday, 
more than 10 million baht worth of goods - fuel, construction materials, 
tyres and consumer goods - destined for Myawaddy has been stranded on 
the Thai side.

The stranded goods were checked by customs officials of the two 
countries before permission was given for the merchandise to be sent to 
Myawaddy through the checkpoint at about 9 a.m. yesterday.

A senior Burmese official, who refused to be identified, said the 
checkpoint was ordered closed by local authorities at Myawaddy without 
the knowledge of central authorities.

Thai sources, however, said Myawaddy authorities decided to close the 
checkpoint because they were still upset about a recent dispute over the 
dredging of Moei river which demarcates the border.

The Rangoon authorities recently learned the checkpoint was closed and 
have since ordered that it be reopened immediately, said the sources.

Meanwhile, Democrat MP for Tak Chaiwut Bannawat has called on the 
Foreign Ministry to urgently settle the problem caused by the poorly 
demarcated border during the Joint Border Boundary Committee meeting 
with Burmese officials in Rangoon at the end of this month.

He asked the Thai authorities to raise issues on cross-border trading 
and the abrupt closure of the checkpoint by local Burmese officials at 
the meeting.

Burma must be asked to give an explanation for the closure if it wants 
to shut the checkpoint again, said Mr Chaiwut, claiming the recent 
closure had adversely affected cross-border trade.

Postbag

------------------------------------------------------------------------


Setting Burmese history straight 

Regarding Omar Farouk's recent letters (Postbag, May 10, June 7). Mr 
Omar has been very selective in his summary of Burmese history. Gen. 
Aung San was a leading member of the Anti-Fascist Front for Burmese 
Democracy before he and several leaders were machine-gunned down by 
power-hungry fanatics in 1947. Never did he nor any of his allies 
advocate fascist dictatorships for Burma such as those imposed by Gen Ne 
Win since 1962 and by the Slorc since 1988. 

Mr Omar denies the obvious similarities between these two brutal 
regimes. He also completely ignores the many violent incidents in the 
bloody 1962 coup d'etat. Troops were ordered to open fire on a crowd of 
unarmed demonstrators, by a junior officer Kyaw Thein. Hundreds of 
students were killed.

It is too simplistic to classify Gen Ne Win as left or right-wing. Ne 
Win is eccentric and his and Slorc's position is irrational.

Obviously, Mr Omar has never read New Light of Myanmar, with its 
violent, bloody imagery of what they feel "foreign destructionists" and 
"degenerate race mixers" deserve.

Opposition leaders and activists were mostly eliminated in 25 years of 
Stalinistic purges, as were any well-educated officers. Loss of 
livelihood and property was the penalty paid by any civil servant or 
soldier suspected of disloyalty to the super-rich tycoon. 

Burma declined economically from a once dynamic, resource-rich land to a 
stagnant, impoverished country under incredible BSPP misrule. The 
Burmese military was no longer the proud defender of early independence, 
as some optimists thought in 1988. It became the product of Ne Win's 
coup after 1962. Though Ne Win was forced to resign in the violent 1988 
crisis he had ingenious contingency strategies that divided the students 
and leaders from the masses and prevented victory of the people.

According to one document, 9,000 violent criminals were to be released 
from prisons to cause even worse bloodshed for which the protesters 
would be blamed. Slorc would then seize power in a "necessary" coup 
d'etat planned by Ne Win and Lt Gen Khin Nyunt. 


The 1990 election embarrassed Slorc with 96 percent voting against the 
pro-military parties and 80 percent voting for the NLD. The annulment 
was said to have been advised by Ne Win and Khin Nyunt.

Surely, if the Slorc were as well-intentioned as Mr Omar says, they 
would never have played so dirty, felt so paranoid, or "required" such 
extreme violence over 45 years. 

Jim Edward Lucas

The Nation
House panel asks PM to clarify policy on border dispute with Burma 



THE House Committee for Foreign Affairs will request a meeting with 
Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh this week to clarify the 
government's policy on resolving a Thai-Burmese territorial dispute. 

In a press statement released yesterday, committee member Nopadol 
Pattama said that the committee was concerned about a dispute over 100 
rai of land which led to Burma closing all border crossings opposite Mae 
Sot district in Tak province last Thursday. 

Burmese troops set up dredging equipment in the Moei River opposite Bam 
Rim Moei early last month, apparently intending to restore land Rangoon 
claims it lost when the river changed course due to flooding. Mae Sot 
authorities protested at the dredging, saying it would affect the course 
of the river and the Thai bank. 

But Burmese authorities have claimed their right to dredge the causeway 
­ and reclaim about 100 rai of territory that Rangoon says was 
originally an island. 

Nopadol said the House committee was concerned because the border 
closure has resulted in tremendous losses for merchants who can no 
longer bring their goods into Burma. 

The committee, he said, wants the Foreign Ministry and other government 
agencies to quickly negotiate with the Burmese junta for the re-opening 
of the crossings and resolution of the dispute. 

''It's time Thailand tells the Burmese frankly that both countries have 
to take into consideration our mutual benefits in the long run," the 
Democrat MP said. 

He said that he is concerned with the attitude of Burma towards a 
country that had supported its membership bid for the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean): ''Burma's admission into Asean also 
depends on Thai support, so Burma should treat its friends in the same 
manner it would like its friends to reciprocate. And Burma has 
international laws and obligations it must abide by as well." 

Nopadol said the government should explain to Burma's ruling State Law 
and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) the burden Thailand has faced as a 
result of the influx of hundreds of thousands of Burmese refugees and 
about one million Burmese immigrants seeking employment. 

He said the large immigrant and refugee presence has caused social and 
health problems and threatened national security. 

''Burma must show more responsibility for the problems [its refugees and 
immigrants have caused]," Nopadol added. 

Last month, the House committee submitted a letter to the Foreign 
Ministry urging it to review the constructive engagement policy with 
Burma and to delay the country's admission into Asean. 

The letter stated that Asean members, and particularly Thailand, should 
re-consider the grouping's non-interference policy because the political 
turmoil within Burma and Slorc's suppression of the Burmese and ethnic 
populations have had a direct impact on Thailand ­ the only Asean 
country that shares a common border with Burma. 

During a seminar last week on Thai-Burmese relations in the 21st century 
organised by the House subcommittee on Thai-Burmese relations, 
opposition politicians, academics and human rights workers said that 
Burma's admission into Asean will only toughen Burma's stance against 
Thailand. 

Asean's credibility in the eyes of the world community will be weakened 
by the grouping's association with an illegitimate regime that refused 
to recognise a landslide victory by the opposition National League for 
Democracy (NLD) in the May 1990 general elections, seminar participants 
said.



"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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