Interesting News From Today Thai Pa

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Subject: Interesting News From Today Thai Papers

18 June 1997
Bangkok Post
Deputy FM to inspect disputed area in Tak

Part of preparation for talks with Burma



Deputy Foreign Minister Pitak Intrawithyanuant will today inspect a 
disputed Thai-Burmese border area in preparation for talks with his 
Burmese counterpart at the end of this month.

Mr Pitak is scheduled to visit Ban Rim Moei and cross the friendship 
bridge into Burma's border town of Myawaddy for talks with local 
officials as part of the day trip. 

Burmese ambassador to Thailand U Hla Maung, nine Thai Foreign Ministry 
officials and 10 journalists will join the trip that includes a meeting 
with the Tak Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Pitak and his Burmese counterpart, U Nyunt Swe, will also co-chair a 
Joint Boundary Committee meeting set for June 30-July 2 to discuss the 
border dispute that technical officials failed to solve last week.

The problem came to a head late in May when Burmese troops started 
dredging part of the Moei river near Ban Rim Moei in a bid to reclaim 
land Burma said it has lost as a result of heavy flooding two years ago. 
The dredging stopped after protests by Thai villagers in the area and a 
brief show of force by both Thai and Burmese border troops.

The Nation
Residents honour dead policeman 



MORE than 10,000 residents of Lang Suan district in Chumphon marched 
yesterday to honour Pol Sgt Maj Chaiyaworn Hiranwadee, whose shooting 
rampage last Wednesday at Lang Suan police station resulted in the 
deaths of six officers and ended in his suicide. 


The five-kilometre march was led by more than 600 motorcycles and 100 
other vehicles. The marchers carried the officer's body in a coffin from 
his home to Wat Laem Sai where he was cremated. 

Several marchers wore T-shirts bearing the image of Chaiyaworn's face 
and the message: ''With Respect to Chaiyaworn, the Brave". Others 
carried banners containing messages honouring the officer. 

Lighting firecrackers, they shouted angry words against Pol Col Pongchai 
Sukhahut ­ the station chief who they believed contributed to the 
pressure that drove Chaiyaworn to his shooting spree ­ urging him to 
seek voluntary transfer. 

None of the station's senior officers or senior civilian government 
officials participated in the march or the funeral. Most of the marchers 
were ordinary people, but a few of the station's junior officers and 
government officials who were close to him joined in. Many of the 
participants, who say they have had bad experiences with Lang Suan 
police, dismissed the Police Department's contention that Chaiyaworn 
suffered from a mental problem. 

The leaders of several local administrative bodies and ordinary citizens 
have said the officer was pressured to take part in the several illegal 
activities, including the amphetamine trade which is considered 
widespread in the district. 

Many locals have said Chaiyaworn's actions were justified. The shooting 
garnered nationwide attention and Chaiyaworn won the support of at least 
one notable figure, Suwaroj Palang, a Chumphon MP. 

Suwaroj called Chaiyaworn a hero on Monday, saying he should have killed 
Pongchai as well.

Men asked to take test after sex with Aids-infected girl 



PONGSAK BAI-NGERN 

The Nation 

PUBLIC health officials are asking men in Nakhon Pathom's tambon 
Huayploo who had sexual encounters with a mysterious girl named ''Manao" 
to come forward and have an Aids test, following reports that she is 
infected. 

A village headman in tambon Huayploo, Montree Laocharoenwong, said the 
teenager must have slept with at least 200 men since showing up in 
April. 

For a short while, Manao (lemon) was the ''sex bomb of the village". 
''Say hi, and she's yours", was how young men in the tambon talked about 
the stranger who used a canal-side pavilion as a shelter. 

Today, the young men who became involved with what they thought was a 
sexual windfall live in fear. 

Manao was forced by villagers and public health officials to have a 
blood test. The outcome was what they had expected ­ the teenage girl 
has the Aids virus. 

Kamnan Song On-la-iad said the men are ''devastated". 

''They don't act rowdy anymore, and there is no getting together to 
drink. There's no revving up of motorcycle engines. Some can neither eat 
nor sleep," he said. 

Montree said he is coordinating efforts among community leaders, police 
and public health officials to encourage the men to show up and have 
blood tests. 

''Our village is now living in fear. Villagers don't trust each other 
any more," he said. 

Taxi motorcyclists hanging out near the pavilion where Manao stayed saw 
the number of passengers dropping to five or six a day, following news 
reports that they were among those sexually involved with the woman. 

Manao seduced and slept with countless local men, Song said. He added 
she had also engaged in group sex, ''some of which I would rather call 
consensual gang rape". 

''They could do anything to her, but only on one condition ­ they did 
not use a condom," he said. She also allegedly taught one eight-year-old 
boy how to have sex. 

She was briefly in the custody of public welfare officials in Bangkok, 
but family members picked her up. Manao's present whereabouts are 
unknown. 

A taxi motorcyclist, Visarn Pancharoen, said that he had seen Manao 
going out with numerous men during her stay at the pavilion. 

''There were never the same faces," he said. ''On certain nights she 
went out with at least 10 men." 

Visarn said he heard that after having sex, Manao would tell the men she 
had Aids. But most treated that as a joke, he said. 

''Some men would offer to give her money but she refused. She would say, 
'You'll need that for your Aids treatment'," he said.


Chettha firm on detention centre plan 



The Nation 

THE military will continue to push for the establishment of ''temporary 
confinement centres" for illegal immigrant workers awaiting 
repatriation, Army Commmander Gen Chettha Thanajaro said yesterday. 

''It's an effective way to help us tackle the [illegal worker] problem, 
which has become more and more difficult to deal with," Chettha said. 

He said it has not been decided whether to include the proposal in the 
agenda of the next ''trekking" Cabinet meeting, tentatively set for next 
month in the North. ''But I think the meeting would be a good 
opportunity to discuss the problem." 

Chettha said that the confinement centre idea has received strong 
support from the National Security Council, which, he said, shares the 
military's view on illegal immigration's threat to national security. 

The Army commander said he expects the matter will be settled soon by 
the responsible ministries. He said he is concerned with the human 
rights aspect of the issue, adding that it will be closely monitored by 
the outside world. 

''We must proceed with the plan carefully and carry it out efficiently 
without disturbing our relationships with foreign countries or violating 
human rights principles," he said. 

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai's provincial labour control chief said that only 
300,000 migrant workers out of one million in the province are 
registered with his office. 

Kovit Thong-on said the majority of illegal migrant workers in the 
province are Burmese and from minority ethnic groups in Burma. The rest, 
he said, are Laotians and Cambodians. 

He said that the constant crossing and re-crossing of the border by 
certain ethnic groups and hill tribes from Burma into the northern 
provinces and back into Burma has made the work of police investigating 
criminal activity among the migrants extremely difficult. Kovit said 
that provincial authorities and local police have cooperated to arrest 
the migrants and temporarily register them as an initial method for 
keeping them under control.

Suu Kyi's birthday to be marked tomorrow 



The Nation 

EXILED Burmese pro-democracy activists and human rights and women's 
organisations in several countries will launch Burma Women's Day 
tomorrow ­ the birthday of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

The purpose of the move is to acknowledge the essential role of women in 
Burma in the promotion of social justice, peace, human rights and 
democracy, said a press statement from the Bangkok office of the 
Alternative Asean Network on Burma. 

It will also honour the sacrifices made by millions of women who face 
military aggression, abuse, looting, murder, imprisonment, torture, 
attacks on their person and character, as well as attacks on their 
families and colleagues, because of their commitment to peace. 

The statement said that June 19 is significant because it is the 
birthday of 1991 Nobel Prize laureate Suu Kyi, one of the most 
internationally-admired women in contemporary times. 

The occasion, it added, provides an opportunity to reflect that there 
are millions of women who not only participate directly in the movement 
for positive change in Burma but also support the involvement of family 
members in the struggle. 

Network coordinator Debbie Stothard said that Burma Women's Day 
highlighted the situation in Burma as being a matter of grave concern 
for all women. 

''The safety and equality of women, let alone their rights as human 
beings, are a casualty of the brutal oppression perpetuated" by the 
Burmese junta, she said. 

''Women, whether politically active or not, continue to bear the brunt 
of the military dictatorship in Burma. Economic hardship, denial of 
health and education services, forced relocations, forced labour, 
military abuses including rape and torture, HIV/Aids, drug abuse, 
trafficking of women and girls, and military-oriented advancement all 
conspire to suppress women in Burma," she added. 

''Gender equality is part of democracy, and women's rights are human 
rights. This must be part of the future Burma that we are working 
towards," Stothard said. 

In Thailand, members of the network and Burmese activists will hold a 
rally outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok tomorrow and later host a 
reception to mark the event and to celebrate Suu Kyi's birthday. 

In India, the Women Rights and Welfare Association of Burma is planning 
a ceremony in New Delhi and has invited all Burmese activists and some 
eminent Indian women and leaders to attend. 

In the Netherlands, Burmese activists and exiled Burmese dissidents plan 
to hold a campaign to mark the event. They also plan to launch an ''Aung 
San Suu Kyi Support Group" on the same day.



"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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