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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: August 1, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
August 1, 2000
Issue # 1588
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
*Inside Burma
BANGKOK POST: ANTI-BURMA ETHNIC TRIBES GET TOGETHER
AFP: MYANMAR HOSTS ASEAN CUSTOMS MOOT
*Regional
AFP: MALAYSIA FAILS TO RESPECT RIGHTS OF MYANMAR REFUGEES: HRW
AP: THAI COURT HANDS DOWN DEATH PENALTY TO SEVEN DRUG DEALERS
THE DAILY STAR : MYANMAR'S DILLY-DALLY SLOWS ROHINGYA REPATRIATION
THE TIMES OF INDIA NEWS SERVICE: NOW, SHAKHAS IN RANGOON
XINHUA: FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN MYANMAR PICKS UP IN 1999-2000
BANGKOK POST: KAREN DENY MEETING WA IN TALKS
ALLIANCE WITH DRUG GROUPS RULED OUT
BANGKOK POST: REBELS LOSE STOLEN VEHICLE
THE STRAITS TIMES:DRUG ARMIES USING THAILAND AS BASE: YANGON
*International
AP: GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING STATIONING ARMED OFFICERS AT AIRPORT
*Opinion/Editorials
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: WORKING TOGETHER TO TRY TO BRING BURMA
IN FROM THE COLD
*Other
SAN FRANCISCO DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS: ANNOUNCMENT
CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL FOR DEMOCRACY IN BURMA
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
BANGKOK POST: ANTI-BURMA ETHNIC TRIBES GET TOGETHER
July 31, 2000
Red Wa attend talks in observer capacity
The four main groups still at war with the Burmese government invited
the Red Wa to observe their annual three-day meeting near the
northern Thai border over the weekend.
Diplomatic sources said the United Wa State Army sent a "mid-level"
liaison official to the meeting, which took place in Burma, across
from Tak province. Presumably, the top Wa leadership authorised the
trip.
Officially, the Wa are at peace with Rangoon. On the other hand, the
other four parties at the talks are still fighting for independence
from the Burmese government. They are the Shan State Army, Karen
National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party and the Arakan
Army.
The three-day meeting is supposed to end today, presumably with a
joint statement in favour of independence and against Rangoon.
"The Wa have not been pressed to sign or agree to the statement,"
said one foreign source. "They are there strictly as observers."
The so-called Red Wa also fought for independence. But they signed a
pact with Rangoon in 1989. The agreement gave them some autonomy in
their area in northern Burma.
In recent years, the UWSA has financed expansion and settlements with
one of the world's largest drug cartels. They make and smuggle heroin
and methamphetamines to, and through, neighbouring countries. Last
week, Foreign Minister Win Aung said the Burmese army could not even
enter areas controlled by the Wa, who claim to have 20,000 troops.
Some observers believe the Wa may again propose independence from
Burma.
____________________________________________________
AFP: MYANMAR HOSTS ASEAN CUSTOMS MOOT
July 31, 2000
YANGON: While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
foreign ministers were meeting in Bangkok, Myanmar was hosting an
Asean customs meeting, officials said Sunday.
Yangon has hosted the eighth Asean customs directors general meeting,
designed to improve ties between customs officials and crack down on
smuggling, Myanmar minister form finance Khin Maung Thein said.
The meeting has been attended by customs directors from all 10 ASEAN
countries as well as Japan.
"I am confident that the deliberations at this meeting will produce a
fruitful outcome for regional customs co-operation," Khin Maung Thein
said.
Yangon and Bangkok are two of Southeast Asia's major transit points
for smuggling art, artefacts, drugs and people.
Myanmar became a signatory to the Asean customs agreement in 1997,
when the military-ruled country became a full member of the Southeast
Asia group.
Asean groups Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore.
___________________________ REGIONAL ___________________________
AFP: MALAYSIA FAILS TO RESPECT RIGHTS OF MYANMAR REFUGEES: HRW
August 1, 2000
NEW YORK - The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday
accused Malaysia of mistreating thousands of refugees from Myanmar
who have sought refuge in Malaysian territory.
"Malaysia's treatment of thousand of Burmese refugees is bad and
getting worse," HRW said in a new 78-page report.
The report highlighted the plight of Rohingya refugees, members of a
Muslim minority group from the state of Arakan on the northwestern
coast of Myanmar.
"After fleeing systematic discrimination, forced labor and other
abuses in Burma (Myanmar), ethnic Rohingya in Malaysia face a whole
new set of abuses. These include beatings, extortion and arbitrary
detention," it said.
The Malaysian authorities have also refused to allow children of the
refugees to attend school or receive medical attention, according to
the report, which cites numerous first-hand accounts gathered from
Myanmar refugees in Malaysia.
"Malaysia's treatment of the Rohingya is part of a larger failure to
protect refugees, no matter where they come from," HRW
said. "Malaysia has no asylum system, and treats refugees as illegal
immigrants."
It called on donor countries to bring pressure to bear on the
Malaysian authorities to respect the rights of refugees on their
territory.
____________________________________________________
AP: THAI COURT HANDS DOWN DEATH PENALTY TO SEVEN DRUG DEALERS
August 1, 2000
BANGKOK, Thailand. A Thai criminal court has handed down the death
penalty to seven people found guilty of drug offenses, one of them a
Nigerian accused of smuggling heroin, the court registrar reported
Tuesday.
Judges ruled Monday that the seven arrested in three separate raids
in recent months deserved the punishment as their illicit activity
had posed a serious threat to Thailand, reported the registrar on
customary condition of anonymity.
Among the seven were two Thai women and two men, all related, who
were arrested May 27 in possession of 40,000 amphetamine tablets.
Another two were a Thai man and woman from a hilltribe in northern
Chiang Mai province, arrested Feb. 20 with 100,000 amphetamine
tablets smuggled from neighboring Myanmar, also known as Burma.
The seventh was a Nigerian man identified as Mohamed Seefu, 40,
arrested recently at Bangkok Airport as he tried to smuggle 7
kilograms (15.4 pounds) of heroin out of the country.
In the past two years, Thailand has cracked down on drug
traffickers, especially to suppress amphetamine-type drugs smuggled
in large quantities from Myanmar as they represent a serious social
blight in Thailand.
Thailand has executed more than 300 criminals by gunfire since the
practice was introduced in 1935. Currently, prisoners are blindfolded
and strapped to a pole and the executioner fires a mounted machine
gun. The government is currently considering a proposal to use lethal
injection instead.
____________________________________________________
THE DAILY STAR : MYANMAR'S DILLY-DALLY SLOWS ROHINGYA REPATRIATION
>From Nurul Alam
July 30, 2000
CHITTAGONG: Repatriation of Rohingya refugees has slowed down due to
delay in confirmation of their identities by the Myanmar authorities,
officials concerned said.
Only one family of seven returned to Myanmar on Wednesday though at
least 50 refugees were supposed to be repatriated in a week. This
trend is continuing for the last seven weeks, repatriation officials
said.
Despite clearance from Myanmar authorities, no refugee is repatriated
without reconfirmation. Even a broken family is not accepted by
Myanmar repatriation officials, they said.
A quarter of a million Rohingyas fled their homes due to atrocities
by the military junta in Myanmar and entered Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar
and Teknaf areas in 1991. They were sheltered in makeshift camps.
Their repatriation started after a tripartite agreement on April 28,
1992 among Bangladesh, Myanmar and UNHCR.
So far, 2,31,632 refugees have been repatriated. The rest 20,000 were
staying in two camps at Ukhia and Teknaf. Of them, only 6,000 were
given clearance, Bangladesh repatriation officials said.
They said they sought talks with Myanmar authorities to expedite the
repatriation. BDR also sought talks with Myanmar border security
forces on Rohingya repatriation and some border problems. But Myanmar
authorities are yet to respond, official sources said.
The last repatriation talks between the two countries were held in
Yangon in January this year.
____________________________________________________
THE TIMES OF INDIA NEWS SERVICE: NOW, SHAKHAS IN RANGOON
August 1, 2000
NEW DELHI: Myanmar, ruled by the military for the past decade, may
soon witness a different type of khaki: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh is about to open a shakha in Yangon, formerly Rangoon.
According to a report in the Far Eastern Economic Review, the RSS has
decided to restart its activities in Myanmar after a gap of four
decades. Apparently with the blessings of a section of the military
junta, the organisation has begun to rebuild its Yangon branch. The
organisation has apparently convinced the Burmese generals that
Hinduism and Buddhism are ``branches of the same tree''. General
Maung Aye - the Burmese army commander thought to be keen to play
India off against big brother China - is said to be one of the
patrons of the saffron brotherhood.
So is the RSS looking east as part of a plan to restore the former
glory of Akhanda Bharat? The organisation says no, although it does
believe that the ``cultural unity'' between Buddhism and Hinduism
could be an ideal defence against China.
Although New Delhi has been cultivating Maung Aye, the external
affairs ministry knows nothing about the RSS's new geostrategic
venture.
When contacted, RSS pracharak and BJP vice-president JP Mathur said
RSS activity -- sometimes under the name Bharatiya Swayamsevak Sangh
or Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh -- has been taking place regularly in many
countries in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. ``I myself attended
such camps in Britain and America,'' Mathur remarked.
So will the people of Burma be treated to the sight of spindly legs
sticking out under ballooning `knickers' and angry tracts against
Christian missionaries? Only time will tell.
____________________________________________________
XINHUA: FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN MYANMAR PICKS UP IN 1999-2000
August 1, 2000
YANGON. Foreign investment in Myanmar picked up a little in fiscal
year 1999-2000, which ended in March, with 55.61 million U.S. dollars
following a two consecutive years' fall in the investment since 1996-
97, according to the latest figures issued by the Central Statistical
Organization.
Myanmar's foreign investment fell from 2.814 billion dollars in 1996-
97 to 777.394 million in 1997-98 and then to 29.455 million in 1998-
99.
The investment in 1999-2000 came from eight countries and regions
with Thailand and Britain leading with 16.5 million dollars and 15
million dollars, followed by China's Hong Kong (5. 742 million
dollars), Cyprus (5.25 million dollars), Japan (5.095 million
dollars), Singapore (3.826 million dollars), South Korea (2.82
million dollars) and Indonesia (1.377 million dollars).
The investment covered sectors of fishery, mining, oil and gas,
manufacturing and hotels and tourism.
Of the total investment during the fiscal year, that from member
countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) took
up 21.703 million dollars or 39 percent.
In the previous two consecutive fiscal years, due mainly to the
impact of the Asian financial crisis, Myanmar's foreign investment
dropped sharply, bringing about a reduction of 70 percent of direct
investment from ASEAN member countries.
According to official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign
investment in late 1988, the country had drawn from 25 countries and
regions a total of 7.119 billion dollars of the investment as of the
end of April 2000.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: KAREN DENY MEETING WA IN TALKS
ALLIANCE WITH DRUG GROUPS RULED OUT
August 1, 2000
Supamart Kasem
Tak. Some of the 65 illegal Burmese immigrants held at the
Immigration Police headquarters after their arrest at a garment
factory in Bang Khae district. _ KOSOL NAKACHOL
The Karen National Union has denied a report that four anti-Rangoon
ethnic groups held a meeting over the weekend with the United Wa
State Army.
KNU president Saw Ba Thin said he neither attended nor heard about
any such meeting taking place near the northern Thai border.
He said the report was probably either a mistake or an attempt
by "third parties" to discredit the groups.
The drug-producing Wa were engaged in a fight for independence with
Rangoon but signed a peace agreement in 1989 which gave them some
autonomy in northern Burma.
Saw Ba Thin said the KNU had a policy of fighting against the
production, sale and smuggling of drugs, which have damaged the lives
of the Karen people.
"We refuse to form an alliance with any Burmese minorities involved
in drugs until they stop selling drugs and begin to co-operate with
us to fight for democracy and peace in Burma," he said.
He said the KNU remains in alliance with the National Council of the
Union of Burma, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma,
Democratic Alliance of Burma, National League for Democracy and the
Wa National Organisation.
The KNU and their allies still want all parties to sit down with the
State Peace and Development Council and bring about democracy and
peace in Burma.
"I don't understand how Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung could tell
Asean that the military junta was unable to crack down on the Wa drug
business even though it could suppress the National League for
Democracy, which was elected by more than 80% of the people in the
1990 general election," he added.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: REBELS LOSE STOLEN VEHICLE
August 1, 2000
Supamart Kasem
Mae Sot. Border patrol police fired a grenade to sink a bamboo raft
carrying a stolen vehicle destined for pro-Rangoon Karen rebels.
At dawn on Sunday, a patrol unit spotted the raft loaded with a
Toyota pick-up truck on the Moei river in Ban Wang Takien, tambon Tha
Sai Luad.
When police ordered the men on board the raft to surrender, they
began shooting, and a brief gunfight ensued.
The men, believed to be elements of the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army, jumped overboard and swam to the Burmese side of the river.
Police fired on the abandoned raft with a grenade launcher and sank
it.
Pol Maj Noppakhun Bamrungpong, deputy commander of the 346th company
said that several stolen vehicles had been smuggled across the river
in the past few months due to increased demand by drug gangs,
including the Red Wa.
He said it was difficult to eradicate the smuggling of stolen
vehicles because some local officials and border villagers were
involved in the illegal trade.
____________________________________________________
THE STRAITS TIMES:DRUG ARMIES USING THAILAND AS BASE: YANGON
July 31, 2000
By JAMES EAST
BANGKOK -- Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said rebel army groups,
which traffic in drugs, are using Thailand as a base.
Within minutes of the Asean meeting here closing, he charged that the
Wa National Army and the Shan State Army -- which he said together
commanded about 3,000 people -- were operating from Thai territory.
He was responding to earlier media reports that the Thai military was
considering cross-border strikes to knock out Myanmar-based drug
factories, which will send an estimated 600 million amphetamine pills
into Thailand this year.
These are very irresponsible remarks made by Thai military
officers,'' he said, adding that they did not respect the sovereignty
of Myanmar.
The Thai top brass is becoming increasingly frustrated at its
inability to halt the flow of drugs from Myanmar.
Hundreds of thousands of Thais are now hooked on amphetamines, and
the country's prison population has doubled in the past three years
because of drug-related offences.
Mr Win Aung said Myanmar was doing its best to conduct anti-narcotics
work, but said it was difficult for the country to control its ethnic
regions.
Yangon has signed ceasefire agreements with most of the country's
ethnic rebel armies, including the 20,000-strong United Wa State
Army.
But the Wa have become so powerful that Yangon fears taking the group
on.
Let us not go back to the days of the past,'' he said.
The Wa army is not integrated into our forces. They are separate.''
Mr Win Aung said Yangon was also trying to encourage poor opium
farmers to stop growing poppies with crop-substitution programmes.
In the closing address to Asean and its 10 dialogue partners, he said
the country was committed to eradicating drugs by 2015.
Of course, if there is international assistance, then we can do it
within eight or nine years,'' he said.
__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
AP: GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING STATIONING ARMED OFFICERS AT AIRPORT
August 1, 2000
HONG KONG. A senior security official said Tuesday the government
may station armed officers at all Hong Kong airport checkpoints after
a Myanmar man with an air pistol held a female airport employee
hostage for nearly three hours inside a jetliner.
Chang King-yiu, deputy secretary for the security bureau, said she
was satisfied with the quick response by police and airport security
officers to Monday night's hostage incident, which ended peacefully
when the man surrendered.
The hostage-taker, who is still being questioned, evaded security
guards at the airport cargo handling area and seized the woman, an
airport cleaner, before barging aboard a Cathay Pacific Airways
Boeing 747-400.
The plane was empty at the time expect for an aircraft maintenance
engineer, who locked himself in the cockpit.
Police commander Mak Man-poon said the man, a casual laborer since
arriving in Hong Kong last year from Myanmar, was believed to be
suffering from a mental disorder.
The 29-year-old man will appear in court Wednesday on a single count
of false imprisonment of the airport employee, a police statement
said.
The Nepalese airport worker was released unharmed within three
hours.
Chang said the authorities would consider stationing armed police
officers at each airport checkpoint. At present, security officers
only do random patrolling.
``I would not rule out any possible option which would help in this
regard,'' said Chang.
``This is one of the few airports in the world that exercise 100
percent x-ray security on each and every passenger and crew members
and those working in the restricted area,'' she added.
Airline officials said there were no passengers or crew aboard the
Cathay Pacific jet, flight CX261, because the incident happened
several hours before the plane was due to depart for Paris.
It was the first time that police had to deal with a hostage taking
at the airport, which was opened in 1998.
Last month, a traveler walked past security officials unchecked
before being arrested for allegedly trying to board a Singapore
Airlines flight to San Francisco.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: WORKING TOGETHER TO TRY TO BRING BURMA
IN FROM THE COLD
August 1, 2000
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
BANGKOK - At the ministerial meetings last week between the
Association of South East Asian Nations and its main partners in
trade and security, criticism of Burma's military rulers was muted,
in contrast to previous years. The United States and the European
Union were more willing to listen to what the ASEAN foreign ministers
had to say.
There are some new reasons why even the harshest critics of the
political repression and human rights abuses by the Burmese junta are
now willing to wait and see if the situation improves.
ASEAN and the European Union want to improve their troubled
relationship, which in the past few years has been held hostage by
European sanctions against Burma, an ASEAN member since 1997. Both
sides hope that a temporary easing of pressure will encourage Burma
to reform. A modified EU policy, as announced in Bangkok, would no
longer ban Burma from taking part in ASEAN-EU cooperation.
Existing EU sanctions on Burma will continue, but ASEAN has agreed
that the next ministerial meeting with the EU, which was to be in
Europe, can be held in Laos in December. The greater flexibility
shown by both sides will allow Burma to attend the meeting in
Vientiane. It may also increase Burma's chance of getting EU aid in
the future.
The EU mellowing is a triumph for the Burmese junta. The EU's
leniency reflects its wider agenda in Asia, where it risks losing
influence to the United States, Japan and China just as the region's
recovery takes hold and prospects for foreign investment and trade
improve. If the Burma impasse with ASEAN is not overcome, Europe's
plan to intensify cooperation on economic, politi-cal and security
matters with ASEAN would remain on hold.
But ASEAN, too, has an interest in forging closer ties with Europe.
ASEAN has been exerting some pressure on Burma, despite the group's
principle of not interfering in internal affairs. The International
Labor Organization has announced that it will apply sanctions against
Burma's use of forced labor from November on if there is no reform by
then. In response, ASEAN will send a team of labor and technical
experts to Burma to try to get it to comply with the ILO
recommendations.
This is ASEAN's first serious involvement in what is clearly a
Burmese domestic affair. ASEAN fears that if the ILO imposes
sanctions because Rangoon fails to comply, it will further damage
ASEAN's already tarnished international reputation.
Such a development would also sharpen differences within ASEAN
between those countries that are reluctant to do anything to breach
the nonintervention doctrine and those that believe it must be
modified in the interests of having a credible regional organization.
Thailand has called on Burma to intensify its declared crackdown on
narcotics production and trafficking, and work more closely with the
international community. This call has been taken up by ASEAN.
There are hopes that the activities of the United Nations special
envoy for Burma, Ismail Razali, a senior Malaysian diplomat, will
produce results. He visited Burma last month and met with regime and
opposition leaders. ASEAN and its foreign partners want to see
political reconciliation start in Burma within a year.
Goodwill toward Burma has increased since Mr. Razali's trip. He has
been told that he can visit the country at any time without prior
notice. A UN liaison office in Rangoon is being planned.
But the military government should remember that from now on Burma
can no longer count on ASEAN's automatic support. The junta is on
notice that it must prove its worth as an ASEAN member.
The writer, executive editor of The Nation in Bangkok, contributed
this comment to the International Herald Tribune.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
Candle Light Vigil for Democracy in Burma
Commemoration of 8/8/88
Bay Area Burmese democracy activists invite you to a twelve-year
commemoration of 8/8/88 democracy uprising and massacres which marked
the beginning of the democracy movement in Burma. The candle light
vigil will include refreshments and presentations by local activists
and Burmese students who took part in the demonstrations. Candles
will be provided.
Date- 8-5-2000
Time- 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Place- United Nations Plaza
8th & Market Streets (Civic Center)
San Francisco
Democracy Activists
San Francisco (Bay Area)
____________________________________________________
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