Rev Timm's response

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Ce message est en plusieurs parties sous format MIME.

--------------2CF23974B37
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

EURO-BURMANET is pleased to see Info-Birmanie taking a little more
seriously the issue of TOTAL and French government policy there as
regards the Yadana pipeline. We have been encouraging this for years
now. We send you a bit of correspondence from Reverend Timm, of the
Commission cited here in response to previous inquiries about the
pipeline and TOTAL's use of it as a defence, thoroughly rejected by the
ILO last July. We had preferred a more diplomatic approach to this
highly controversial issue where Rev Timm finds himself very much a
subject, but we feel compelled to respond, not on behalf of Rev Timm,
but we hope we can perhaps bring a little light on the matter, and
likewise, will continue to keep you informed. What I do find most odd is
that only now when there is a parlimentary inquiry by some mps in the
french national assembly that this Timm issue should suddenly become a
matter of interest when since the beginning, when TOTAL and UNOCAL began
to wave the report on the TOTAL website, as we have long told you, and
the report was firmly denounced by the UNOCAL protestors at the
shareholders meeting last year, should it now become a curious item of
interest for the French.Let us now hope they get something out of it to
persuade serious legislative action against TOTAL. We are  pleased to
see Info-Birmanie taking a more aggressive approach to the uniquely
French political problem of TOTAL's denial of human rights violations in
Burma in this push this year for full economic sanctions against the
regime. 

Let me say now, that on the same day, November 25 last year, when French
national assembly president, Laurent Fabius, wrote pledging support to
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and inviting her to France for the Human Rights 
Day celebrations December 10, Mr. Vallot, was off at the Senate, giving
an outstanding summary of TOTAL's strategy and accomplishments,
including the dismissal of TOTAL in a Los Angeles federal court. The
very same day, and no better example of this double-standard and

hypocritical stance of the current ruling french government in its
policy of supporting repression and financial investment in Burma, while
paying lip service to Burma's democratic opposition movement and its
leaders.

Dawn Star
-the following letter was received last month from  by Rev. Timm
excerpts



info-birmanie wrote:
> 
> --------------1611986BE74A634B1B2F4C5A
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> 
> To Reverend R. W. TIMM and Justice  K. M. SUBBHAN
> Commission for Justice & Peace
> Bangladesh
> 
> Dear Sirs.
> 
> We regret you did not answer to our first letter. Please, find hereafter
> a second one whose object is to get new pieces of information concerning
> your evaluation of the burmese pipeline.
> 
> Your names and your report concerning your 5 days trip in Burma, in
> 1998, are once more used by the burmese junta. Your  evaluation of the
> Yadana pipeline project is mentioned, indeed, in a letter written by the
> Myanmar embassy in Washington DC, dated January 22, 1999, to prove there
> was no human rights abuses committed by the burmese army in  the
> southern part of Burma.
> 
> Could you tell us what 's your feeling concerning this use of your
> report by the burmese junta ?
> 
>     In France, the Parliament created an Information Commission
> concerning oil  companies and the Total Yadana project is presently
> scrutinized. Your report is the object of  many questions in this
> Commission and your answers to the following questions could be  very
> usefull.
> 
> Concerning your report:
> 
> You wrote in a letter to Roger C. Beach, Chairman of UNOCAL Corp, dated
> january 28th 1998, that, during your inspection "There was never any
> army or government presence". How was it possible ? Specialists of Burma
> are used to write that army presence in this country is so oppressive
> that, even if arms are hidden for a moment, nobody could want to speek
> freely.
> Could  you imagine that arms were hidden just during your sejourn ?
> 
> According to your list of inspected villages, it seems that you did not
> go in the Thaïland -Burma frontier area. Could you confirm this very
> important point ?
> 
> According to several reports, in the border area, you may have seen many
> military camps. And if you had cross the border, you may have seen Thaï
> public demonstrations opposed  to the pipeline and the burmese refugees
> in Thaïland, too, having fled the peace &  development message of the
> Rangoon junta. And you may have seen burmese refugees  having fled the
> local development project of TOTAL & MOGE.
> 
> Please, note that, if there is no army presence in the pipeline area,
> one must conclude that  there is no threat from KNU nor from other
> "destroying elements".  Could you accept, presently, to defend the falsy
> called "destroying elements", as  NLD offices in the pipeline area were
> forcibly shut a few weeks ago, as many other  NLD offices in Burma  ?
> 
> Concerning the accusation of villages delocalisations :
> 
> In Migyaunglaung you saw one of these destroyed villages mentionned in
> other reports.  You wrote : " The Army took for the people (mostly

> Karen) out of East Bank in 1991 for  security reasons and they were
> given land in West Bank."
> 
> Do you ask what was the real meaning of the "security reason" argument ?
> One  knows that when the "security" word is used in Burma many questions
> must be asked.
> 
> Concerning the accusation of forced labor :
> 
> TOTAL & UNOCAL are no more denying there is massive use of forced labour
> for the construction of the Ye - Tavoy railway.
> According to several reports, indeed, hundreds of thousands peoples were
> forced to  work on this railway and ILO wrote that forced labour is
> still going on. Concerning  the connection between the pipeline and the
> railroad work sites, you wrote that  : "it is  possible... that
> outsiders confused forced labour on the railroad with forced labour on
> the  pipeline".
> Why didn't you take into account the fact that the EGAT, Electical
> generating  authority of Thaïland, wrote in a press report, dated May
> 1994, that : "the Burmese  government is, however, reported building a
> railway from Ye in Mon State to Tavoy,  which will be used to transport
> troops to guard the pipeline" ?
> 
> And what is the real interest of the local development project of  TOTAL
> & MOGE if hundred of thousands peoples have been forced  to work for
> this death railway ? What is the use of the local  development project
> if villagers, paying the "railway fees", are  racketeered by troops
> along the Ye - Tavoy railway ?
> 
>     Concerning your methodology and your conclusions :
> 
> You wrote that your interpreter was a MOGE employee, do you think that
> this was the best condition to be told the truth ?
> 
> UNOCAL sent you in the Ye - Tavoy railroad area and you asked a question
> to a  TOTAL official, as you saw no one of the hundreds of thousands
> workers giving their  "contributions" to the work site. The TOTAL
> official answer was : "there was no  involvement of TOTAL with the
> railroad". In Paris, we have been told the same thing by TOTAL
> executives for a long time, but we have not been convinced yet.
> 
> Could you recognize your report is not giving any proof that several
> accusations against the  junta and oil firms are false, as it is now
> written in the last Myanmar embassy statement  ?
> 
> Reverend TIMM, we were told by a Vatican speaker that you are a generous
> fighter of the human rights causis : we are sure that you will not stay
> silent while the Rangoon junta is using your name to hide the real
> burmese situation.
> 
> Regards.
> 
> Info Birmanie
> 
> --------------1611986BE74A634B1B2F4C5A
> Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> 
> To Reverend R. W. TIMM and Justice  K. M. SUBBHAN
> Commission for Justice & Peace
> Bangladesh
> 
> Dear Sirs.
> 
> We regret you did not answer to our first letter. Please, find hereafter a
> second one whose object is to get new pieces of information concerning your
> evaluation of the burmese pipeline.
> 
> Your names and your report concerning your 5 days trip in Burma, in 1998,
are
> once more used by the burmese junta. Your  evaluation of the Yadana pipeline
> project is mentioned, indeed, in a letter written by the Myanmar embassy in

> Washington DC, dated January 22, 1999, to prove there was no human rights
> abuses committed by the burmese army in  the southern part of Burma.
> 
> Could you tell us what 's your feeling concerning this use of your report by
> the burmese junta ?
> 
>     In France, the Parliament created an Information Commission concerning
> oil
> companies and the Total Yadana project is presently scrutinized. Your
> report is
> the object of  many questions in this Commission and your answers to the
> following questions could be  very usefull.
> 
> Concerning your report:
> 
> You wrote in a letter to Roger C. Beach, Chairman of UNOCAL Corp, dated
> january
> 28th 1998, that, during your inspection "There was never any army or
> government
> presence". How was it possible ? Specialists of Burma are used to write that
> army presence in this country is so oppressive  that, even if arms are
hidden
> for a moment, nobody could want to speek freely.
> Could  you imagine that arms were hidden just during your sejourn ?
> 
> According to your list of inspected villages, it seems that you did not
go in
> the Thaïland -Burma frontier area. Could you confirm this very important
point
> ?
> 
> According to several reports, in the border area, you may have seen many
> military camps. And if you had cross the border, you may have seen Thaï
public
> demonstrations opposed  to the pipeline and the burmese refugees in
Thaïland,
> too, having fled the peace &  development message of the Rangoon junta. And
> you
> may have seen burmese refugees  having fled the local development project of
> TOTAL & MOGE.
> 
> Please, note that, if there is no army presence in the pipeline area, one
must
> conclude that  there is no threat from KNU nor from other "destroying
> elements".  Could you accept, presently, to defend the falsy called
> "destroying
> elements", as  NLD offices in the pipeline area were forcibly shut a few
weeks
> ago, as many other  NLD offices in Burma  ?
> 
> Concerning the accusation of villages delocalisations :
> 
> In Migyaunglaung you saw one of these destroyed villages mentionned in other
> reports.  You wrote : " The Army took for the people (mostly Karen) out of
> East
> Bank in 1991 for  security reasons and they were given land in West Bank."
> 
> Do you ask what was the real meaning of the "security reason" argument ? One
> knows that when the "security" word is used in Burma many questions must be
> asked.
> 
> Concerning the accusation of forced labor :
> 
> TOTAL & UNOCAL are no more denying there is massive use of forced labour for
> the construction of the Ye - Tavoy railway.
> According to several reports, indeed, hundreds of thousands peoples were
> forced
> to  work on this railway and ILO wrote that forced labour is still going on.
> Concerning  the connection between the pipeline and the railroad work sites,
> you wrote that  : "it is  possible... that outsiders confused forced
labour on
> the railroad with forced labour on the  pipeline".
> Why didn't you take into account the fact that the EGAT, Electical
generating
> authority of Thaïland, wrote in a press report, dated May 1994, that : "the

> Burmese  government is, however, reported building a railway from Ye in Mon
> State to Tavoy,  which will be used to transport troops to guard the
pipeline"
> ?
> 
> And what is the real interest of the local development project of  TOTAL &
> MOGE
> if hundred of thousands peoples have been forced  to work for this death
> railway ? What is the use of the local  development project if villagers,
> paying the "railway fees", are  racketeered by troops along the Ye - Tavoy
> railway ?
> 
>     Concerning your methodology and your conclusions :
> 
> You wrote that your interpreter was a MOGE employee, do you think that this
> was
> the best condition to be told the truth ?
> 
> UNOCAL sent you in the Ye - Tavoy railroad area and you asked a question
to a
> TOTAL official, as you saw no one of the hundreds of thousands workers
giving
> their  "contributions" to the work site. The TOTAL official answer was :
> "there
> was no  involvement of TOTAL with the railroad". In Paris, we have been told
> the same thing by TOTAL executives for a long time, but we have not been
> convinced yet.
> 
> Could you recognize your report is not giving any proof that several
> accusations against the  junta and oil firms are false, as it is now
> written in
> the last Myanmar embassy statement  ?
> 
> Reverend TIMM, we were told by a Vatican speaker that you are a generous
> fighter of the human rights causis : we are sure that you will not stay
silent
> while the Rangoon junta is using your name to hide the real burmese
> situation.
> 
> Regards.
> 
> Info Birmanie
>   --------------1611986BE74A634B1B2F4C5A--

--------------2CF23974B37
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="timm.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="timm.txt"


   Dear Dawn Star,
  
   I just got back from 8 days in the hills of Tripura State, where the
   tribespeople are also "taking it on the chin." I understand your
   concern over the issue of forced labor in Burma (I always use the term
   Burma outside of Burma itself) because it is undoubtedly going on, as
   we are all aware. 

I first went to Burma 15 years ago and have been
   following what goes on in Burma rather faithfully over the years. But
   went I was asked by Unocal to go there ("invitation" has no other
   implication) on a human rights mission I felt that they also had
   rights. I was impressed by their Code of Conduct, published in Michael
   Novak's book Business is a Vocation. 

However, I did not expect to find
   a good result. In many countries where I have seen the tribal
   situations or evaluated projects for them I have found that they were
   being royally cheated. I fully expected to find the same in Burma,
   since I knew all the villages where the pipeline passed through were
   tribal and that they had worked on the TOTAL project.

We had unrestricted liberty as far as I could see. Unocal did nothing
   to make any comments at any point. I had no contacts with the Burmese
   govt. before or after or during. I don't know whether the report was
   read by MOGE and PTTEP and don't know anything about any response.

   As to ILO, I am always happy with their experts' reports on Bangladesh
   and have great confidence in them. I am sure they have good evidence
   of forced labor in Burma and we mentioned it in our report as well for
   the railway. I did not know of their commission of inquiry or
   contribute to its evaluation. I did not see their report but if they
   do not mention the Yadana pipeline I see no discrepancy between their
   report and ours.

   My understanding of MOGE is patterned on similar organisations in
   Bangladesh. They are called semi-autononous, getting their funding
   from govt. but being independent in the technical aspects of their
   work. As for the question about the judiciary, I am not clear how it
   relates to the TOTAL project. We have the same demand here for an
   independent judiciary but it doesn't affect any practical projects for
   development.

   TOTAL had little interest in us except to cooperate fully in rthe
   logistics of our study there. I have not heard from them directly at
   any time.

   This seems to answer all the questions you have asked.

   Sincerely,
  
   Father Timm

--------------2CF23974B37--