From editor@burmanet.org Tue May 6 22:27:23 2003 From: editor@burmanet.org (editor@burmanet.org) Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 17:27:23 -0400 (EDT) Subject: BurmaNet News: May 3-5 2003 Repost Message-ID: <44063.207.10.94.131.1052256443.squirrel@webmail.pair.com> May 5 2003 Issue #2229 INSIDE BURMA Irrawaddy: Dr Salai Tun Than and Others Released AP: Free Myanmar political prisoner still calling for elections AP: A year after democracy leader Suu Kyi's release, Myanmar remains deadlocked DVB: Japanese official met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi DVB: CRPP held meeting MONEY Bangkok Post: Thailand to Unveil Hub Aim at Summit Mizzima News: Banking crisis in Burma and NE India takes toll REGIONAL Xinhua: Myanmar top leader begins visit to Laos Bangkok Post: Talks This Month on Labour Repatriation Nation: 29 alien sex workers arrested in police raid AP: Indian, US special forces complete joint jungle warfare exercises in India's remote northeast AFP: Too many East Asian states fail their children, UN report says EDITORIAL WSJ: Deadlock in Burm OBITUARY NYT: Michael Jendrzejczyk, 53, Advocate for Asians, Dies WP: A Quiet Champion (Editorial) INSIDE BURMA The Irrawaddy May 5 2003 Dr Salai Tun Than and Others Released By Kyaw Zwa Moe Burma’s military government released 18 political prisoners yesterday, two days before the one-year anniversary of opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi release from house arrest. Dr Salai Tun Than, a prominent retired professor, was among those freed. "Health and humanitarian concerns" governed the choice of who to set free, according to a statement released by the regime. "The releases are the latest in a series of efforts by the government to move Myanmar [Burma] closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation," the statement continued. The Thai-based Assistance Association Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP) expressed skepticism about the regime’s motives. In a statement released today, the group said the junta "uses the release of political prisoners as a bargaining tool for easing international pressure and delaying the national reconciliation process". Twelve of those released belong to the opposition National League for Democracy. Thet Tun and Zaya, leaders of the Democratic Party for a New Society, and Soe Moe Hlaing, from the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, were also released. The three had been detained since 1991 and were originally due to be released in 2001. Almost all released were told they were prohibited from engaging in any future political activities. As a condition of their release, they are held accountable under Section 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states they will be reincarcerated for the remainder of their sentences if found to be involved in politics. Seventy-five-year-old Dr Salai Tun Than arrived home yesterday from Rangoon’s Insein Prison after serving only 18 months of a seven year sentence. He was arrested in Nov 2001 for staging a solo protest in front of Rangoon City Hall. Dr Salai Tun Than had recently gone on a hunger strike to protest human rights and religious violations inside the prison, including his inability to procure a Bible. Dr Salai Tun Than told The Irrawaddy yesterday, "I staged a hunger strike for two days. I stopped it because the prison authorities gave into some of my demands. They promised not to investigate political prisoners who were interviewed by international organizations in prisons. They also gave me a Bible." In addition, the authorities offered to be a conduit between Dr Salai Tun Than and top government officials. "I think that my protest at City Hall would not be necessary any more, because the authorities told me that if I have something to talk to the government about, they will send it to Sr-Gen Than Shwe," said the professor. "But at the moment I don’t have anything to say." As for future plans, he added, "I am not interested in politics. I want to continue my work on the rural development project." Regarding Burma’s political future, he commented, "I would like to see an elected government—whether military or civil—but it must be elected." Before his arrest, Dr Salai Tun Than, a retired agronomist, devoted himself to rural development in the Ngaphe Township of Magwe Division. In 1993, he established the Myanmar Integrated Rural Development Association (MIRDA), an NGO, with the assistance of the Myanmar Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. The group cultivated oranges, coffee and tea for villages in the area. But the junta reportedly never allowed MIRDA to officially operate in the country and MIRDA faced continual disturbances from the junta. Dr Salai Tun Than was released two days after a candlelight vigil "Free Burma, Free Salai Tun Than" was held in San Francisco. His daughter, Mai Theingi, and the US-based Free Burma Coalition organized the event. Three political prisoners were also released last week after serving 14 years. ____________ The Associated Press May 5 2003 Free Myanmar political prisoner still calling for elections By Daniel Lovering BANGKOK: A 75-year-old U.S.-educated professor who was jailed for calling for multiparty elections in military-ruled Myanmar said Monday after his early release from prison that he still favored free polls. Salai Tun Than, an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Georgia, also thanked students at those schools for demonstrating for his release from Insein Prison on the outskirts of Yangon. Tun Than, a former rector of an agricultural college in central Myanmar, was arrested Nov. 29, 2001 for handing out pro-democracy flyers in front of City Hall in the capital Yangon. He was freed Sunday along with 17 other political prisoners. His main demand had been that Myanmar's military government hold a free multiparty election within one year. For his one-man protest, he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Tun Than, who said he believed he was freed because he is "old and harmless," was reluctant to discuss politics in a telephone interview Monday. He said that he was released early on condition that if he is convicted of another offense, he must also serve the remainder of the sentence he received for his 2001 protest. But echoing the call of the petition that led to his arrest, he said that "The best thing when there is a political impasse is to hold multiparty elections." Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta took power in 1988 and called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results, which gave victory to the opposition National League for Democracy. Tun Than said that he was aware of appeals for his freedom, such as those made by students from his old schools, U.S. lawmakers including Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold and Georgia Rep. Max Burns, and human rights groups including Amnesty International. "I'm thankful to them," he said. Last week U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell described Myanmar's military government as a "despotic regime." As many as 1,400 other political prisoners are believed to still be detained. ____________ Associated Press Worldstream May 5 2003 A year after democracy leader Suu Kyi's release, Myanmar remains deadlocked By Daniel Lovering BANGKOK: Myanmar's military government touted opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest as a "new page" in the country's history. But a year later hopes for a political dialogue have dimmed and Myanmar's economic plight is worse, Suu Kyi and analysts say. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, freed after 19 months of confinement on May 6, 2002, has been allowed to travel around the country, meeting supporters and reopening offices of her National League for Democracy party. But Suu Kyi claims she and her followers have been obstructed and intimidated, hampering efforts to revive the party, which won national elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. The military regime denies any deliberate effort "to interfere with her travels or activities," and insists it's guiding the country through a peaceful transition to democracy. A few hundred other political prisoners have been released - including some just days before Tuesday's anniversary - but more than 1,200 still languish behind bars, according to London-based rights group Amnesty International. Talks between Suu Kyi and the ruling junta, aimed at reconciliation and democratic reforms, were launched in October 2000 and brokered by a U.N. envoy. But many say they've gone virtually nowhere. "When I was released, it was agreed between the authorities and ourselves that ... we should go on to a more advanced stage of our relationship," Suu Kyi said at a recent media briefing in the capital, Yangon. "But I do not think there has been any progress. In fact, I think there has been some kind of regression. I think we have been forced to question the sincerity of the (government)." On Sunday, the government released 18 political prisoners, including 12 members of Suu Kyi's party, and said it was moving the country - under military rule for the past 41 years - toward democracy. "The releases are the latest in a series of efforts by the government to move Myanmar closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation," a government statement said. The junta has strengthened trade and diplomatic ties with neighbors including China, India and Thailand. But relations with many Western nations, critical of Myanmar's political and human rights conditions, remain tense. Myanmar's already weak economy was plunged into crisis in February, when panicked accountholders withdrew money from the country's 20 private banks after the collapse of about a dozen private financial companies. "If this was an example of a 'new page' which the military heralded last May 6, very little has been inscribed on it," said Josef Silverstein, an American political scientist who has studied Myanmar for half a century. "There was not change in the internal political environment, no real significant release of political prisoners, no restoration of any political rights," Silverstein said by e-mail. The international community has failed to effectively lobby for political change in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Silverstein added. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who condemned Myanmar's regime before the Senate last week, said it would be difficult to crack the junta's will, but that the United States would continue working with allies to encourage change. Silverstein said this policy was "hardly a new and daring approach, and in light of the past not likely to bear fruit." While Suu Kyi has maintained her longtime position of "cautious optimism," she's shown signs of dimming hopes. "The evidence points heavily to the conclusion that the (government) is not genuinely interested in national reconciliation," she said. ___________ Democratic Voice of Burma May 2 2003 Japanese official met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi It is reported that a high-ranking official from the Japanese foreign ministry who travelled with the Japanese ex-PM, Mr. Yoshiro Mori to Burma met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before leaving Rangoon. He met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at her home yesterday and it is not possible to say yet what they have discussed, said U Lwin, the spokesman for the NLD. But the Japanese government and its embassy are likely to issue statements on giving aid to Burma, he added. Mr. Mori and group met the SPDC’s chairman, Senior General Than Shwe and top military leaders and had discussions with them and they left Rangoon yesterday. The Japanese government is the biggest donor to Burma and on the other hand, it is pushing the military junta to urgently start economical reforms and democratic change. But the Japanese approaches are often criticised by Western nations and they insist that the Japanese should not give aid until there are obvious changes made by the junta. MONEY Bangkok Post May 5 2003 Thailand to Unveil Hub Aim at Summit By Chatrudee Theparat Thailand is hoping to move a step closer to realising its ambition of being the economic hub of its neighbours at a summit meeting expected to be organised in the next three months. Agendas are being prepared for the summit of leaders from Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Since Thailand has long sought to foster economic ties with its neighbours by planning to undertake several development projects, commitments from their leaders at the summit are essential. At the summit, Thailand will propose to become the hub for economic co-operation with its neighbours particularly in the areas to step up border trade, establish special economic zones and develop tourism-related networks. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB)'s deputy secretary-general Pornchai Rujiprapa said Thailand was ready to extend technical assistance and develop basic infrastructures to spur investment and trade. NESDB projected Thailand will need to invest about 6.7 billion baht in the next five years to develop the infrastructures. As Thailand has an continuing inflow of illegal Burmese workers, economic ties with Burma is a priority, with a plan to establish economic zones in Mae Sot, Tak and Mae Sai in Chiang Rai. Once the zones are set up, about 400,000 of the workers will be pushed back to work along the border. Thailand will offer Burma to grow certain crops to supply raw materials to factories to be located in the economic zones inside Thailand. Investors within the planned zones will not only be assured of raw material supplies but will also enjoy a low production cost due to close proximity to the sources of raw materials. Koh Kong and Poipet are considered ideal sites for economic zones in Cambodia with similar facilities to be established in Chiang Kong, Chiang Rai. ____________ Mizzima News May 3 2003 Banking crisis in Burma and NE India takes toll Guwahati: The ongoing bank crisis in Burma is likely to hit the Indo-Burman trade strongly in the current financial year. The bank crisis which started in February following the panicked withdrawal of funds from leading banks is still on causing great concern after the Burmese junta had closed some banks down. There is, so far, no sign of any improvement in the situation. The bank crisis has reduced the volume of trade between India and Burma as Burmese exporters have not been able to clear their dues to Indian traders.The North East of India, comprising seven states, depends on Burmese goods for day-to-day life and has been hit badly by the prevailing situation. Although several trade organizations have taken up the matter with the Indian Commerce Ministry no effort has been undertaken so far leading. Reportedly, trade organizations in the North East of India have held three rounds of discussions with the Burmese traders in a bid to restore trade. But the Burmese traders are not in position comply with the demands by the Indian traders. The situation is getting more complicated by the day as the Burmese junta has set out instructions regarding the withdrawal of funds: each person can withdraw only 10 per cent of his deposited funds. Trade organizations in both the countries have expressed concern over the prevailing crisis, having already pumped large sums of money into the export and the import market. Moreh, a focal point of trade between India and Burma after the signing of the Indo-Burma trade agreement in 1994, has seen very little trade during the last three months. According to official statistics, the volume of trade between India and Burma across the Moreh border has dropped by 25 to 30 per cent in the wake of the bank crisis in Burma . "If the situation continues, Indo-Burma trade through the Moreh point will come to a grinding halt," the president of the North East Federation on International Trade (NEFIT) SC Agarwal commented. NEFIT already submitted a proposal to the Indian Commerce Ministry. According to Agarwal, the India Commerce Ministry has not become active in this respect despite being strongly lobbied. ”In the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis, the ongoing bank problem could lower the revenue of both India and Burma as the trade has dropped by a great extent“, he added. REGIONAL Xinhua News Agency May 5 2003 Myanmar top leader begins visit to Laos YANGON: Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior-General Than Shwe left here Monday for Vientiane to begin a three-day state visit to Laos. This is a first visit to Laos by a state head of Myanmar after Myanmar joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1997. Myanmar and Laos are neighbors with good bilateral relations. There have been frequent exchange of visits at high levels between the two countries in recent years. In December 2000, Myanmar's SPDC Vice-Chairman Maung Aye visited Laos, during which a protocol on border trade pursuant to the trade agreement between the two nations was signed and the establishment of Lao-Myanmar and Myanmar-Lao Friendship Associations in respective capitals were agreed. In March and August 2001, Lao Vice-President Lieutenant-General Choummaly Sayasone and Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachith toured Yangon respectively. During the Lao prime minister's trip, the two countries agreed to expand cooperation in the sectors of economy, trade, culture and technology. Myanmar and Laos have also been cooperating in drug control, agreeing to prevent trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, and control banned chemicals With the Mekong as common border, Myanmar and Laos have started the demarcation of the boundary between the two countries since 1990 under the management of the Joint Boundary Commission and completed the drawing of the Agreement Relating to the Fixed Boundary between the two countries in the Mekong river. ____________ Bangkok Post May 4, 2003 Talks This Month on Labour Repatriation By Bhanravee Tansubhapol Thailand and Burma later this month will discuss repatriation of illegal Burmese labourers to a reception centre in Myawaddy, a Foreign Ministry senior official said yesterday. The joint task force meeting, led by Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Tej Bunnag and Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Muang Win, will take place on May 14 in Burma's Pagan town. Mr Tej accepted that the repatriation of illegal Burmese workers to the reception centre had not been smooth, due to problems with establishing their nationality. Thailand sends an advance list of illegal workers to the Burmese government, which approves the names before taking the workers back. The reception centre was opened last October after Burma's five-month closure of the three checkpoints at Chiang Rai, Tak and Ranong to protest against Thailand's alleged support of ethnic rebels resisting Rangoon's rule. The meeting will also consider the draft of a memorandum of understanding on labour, so Burmese workers will get easier passage to Thailand legally. Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai is expected to sign the MOU on May 19. _____________ The Nation (Thailand) May 4 2003 29 alien sex workers arrested in police raid Police yesterday arrested 29 Burmese and Shan women in Chiang Mai and charged them with selling sex services, just 1.5 kilometres away from the citys police station. None of the women had work permits or visas. Acting on a tip-off, Chiang Mai police raided the two-storey Roemyen Cafe karaoke restaurant in the Chang Moi area of the cityjust before midnight on Friday. Police said that they believed the women were duped into working for the restaurant but later forced to provide sex services. Some of the women broke into tears after being arrested, saying that they did not want to be sent back to Burma to a life of poverty, police said. Working in Thailand allowed them to make money which they sent back to their families. In Burma they were jobless and had no income, said Police General Suthep Detraksa. There are many sex places in Chiang Mai that hide behind restaurants and cafes. And its not just Burmese women who work at these places, there are also Karen and other hilltribe girls, he said. Activist Ben Sawasdiwat, organiser of Traf Cord, the northern non-governmental organisation working on the human trafficking issue, and who joined the police raid, said that the situation of human trafficking for sex purposes in the North was growing out of control. This was mainly due to the economic problems in neighbouring countries, he added. In this case, we will force police to file a lawsuit against the restaurants owner in order to stop the cycle of human trafficking, or at least decrease it, said Ben. Police initially charged the restaurant owner Boonpan Thong-in, with sheltering illegal workers. ____________ The Associated Press May 2 2003 Indian, US special forces complete joint jungle warfare exercises in India's remote northeast GAUHATI, India: Indian and U.S. Army special forces finished three weeks of joint military exercises in the jungles of India's remote northeast, the U.S. Embassy said Friday. The exercises, which ended on April 26, were conducted at the Indian army's jungle warfare school in Mizoram state near the Myanmar border. "The intense exercise, conducted in an extremely rugged and physically challenging environment, involved training in counterinsurgency, marksmanship, heliborne and airborne operations," an Embassy statement said. It added that U.S. special forces and Indian special forces also simulated a hostage rescue. In June, the United States will host the next joint exercises for the Indian special forces on the Pacific island of Guam. ____________ Agence France Presse May 5 2003 Too many East Asian states fail their children, UN report says JAKARTA: Too many countries in East Asia and the Pacific continue to fail their children despite dramatic economic growth in parts of the region, the United Nations children's fund UNICEF said Monday. The issue "is less one of finance than of effort and commitment," UNICEF's regional office said in a report released at the start of a conference in Bali on children. Economic growth had helped reduce poverty in the region but many millions still existed precariously, UNICEF said. The vast majority also lived free from war. But a mass movement from the land to the cities "is having a deeply disruptive effect on social structures". China had around 80 million rural migrants living unofficially in cities, including five million children -- and a total of around 150,000 street children. Traditional family- or village-based welfare systems had been disrupted. The weakening of families, due to the recent economic downturn and youth migration to cities, also exposed young people to new dangers including drug abuse and sexual exploitation. Myanmar's methamphetamine industry had created an enormous increase in use by young people. The number of malnourished children aged under five had fallen from 24 percent to 17 percent between 1990-2000 but improvements in China skewed the picture. Excluding China, an average 28 percent of children in the region were underweight -- almost as high as sub-Saharan Africa. UNHCR said poverty was only one factor and it was important to educate mothers to give children proper nutrition -- especially breastfeeding rather than bottle-feeding for the first six months. Mothers should be well-nourished and have access to basic health services. Because efforts to combat malnutrition had been limited, "millions of children throughout the region continue to die each year and millions more will never have been allowed to reach their full potential." Education had been one of the region's great successes. East Asia/Pacific had also made good progress reducing the number of children under five who die, thanks to immunisation and proper treatment of diarrhoea. But there were considerable differences within countries. The highest death rate was in Cambodia with 138 deaths per 1,000 live births -- a higher figure than in 1990. Many states had made little progress since 1990 in reducing the maternal mortality rate, partly because male officials were reluctant to make the necessary investment. "But no country should consider itself so poor that it is prepared to allow young mothers to die." UNICEF said HIV/AIDS was still spreading across the region, with between two and 3.5 million infected. But Thailand and Cambodia had shown the tide could be turned. There was widespread ignorance among the young about the disease. Young sex workers were especially in danger, often forced to serve up to 10 customers a day. The AIDS epidemic had also fuelled demand for young prostitutes who were mistakenly thought less likely to be infected. The most significant mode of HIV transmission to children under 15 was from mothers but this was preventable, UNICEF said. It said more than half a million children in the region had lost one or both parents to AIDS and the number was expected to double by 2005. The report said an estimated 300,000-400,000 children in the region were victims of trafficking, mainly for the sex industry. Thailand's "thriving sex industry," which previously recruited from the north of the country, was now using children and adults from Cambodia, Laos, China and Myanmar as Thai living standards rose. In Thailand up a quarter of sex workers were under 18 and in Indonesia one-third. Most exploitation of child sex workers was by local men. EDITORIAL Wall Street Journal Online May 5 2003 Deadlock in Burma By Larry Jagan A year after Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, the country's political process remains deadlocked. Secret talks between Burma's generals and the opposition leader, which began while she was under house arrest, have ground to a halt. So too have the efforts of the United Nations' special envoy, Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, who has not even been allowed into Burma for the past six months. And the prospect of economic and political change that was signaled by the release of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on May 6 last year has dimmed completely. Although Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to travel around the country -- the military spokesman Colonel Hla Min says the government is encouraging her to do so -- in the past few months her trips have been marred by harassment and intimidation of her entourage and the thousands of supporters that come out to greet her. In the past six months, only a handful of political prisoners have been released from prison compared to the hundreds freed during Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's 19-month-long house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi herself suggested a few weeks ago that the national reconciliation process, as the two sides call their secret contacts and talks, had regressed since her release and challenged Burma's military rulers to prove their commitment to political change. The government initially reacted by blaming the opposition party for the breakdown in the process and a full-scale war of words -- through press conferences and press releases -- seemed about to erupt. But there are signs Burma's military rulers are anxious to cool tempers. In a fax I received only a few days ago, Col. Hla Min expressed a desire to avoid such a war of words, especially in the international media. But this should not be seen as a sign the dialogue process is about to restart. The military government is keen to give the impression it is ready for a dialogue on political and economic change with Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, as well as with the international community on humanitarian and development issues like AIDS, health care and education. But their press statements to this effect appear little more than a publicity stunt. In reality, they are prepared to talk to anyone except the one person they must engage -- Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. Since her release a year ago, the country's top leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, has exercised total power over all matters related to the dialogue process and refuses to budge. Even the military intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, who was intimately involved in the dialogue when it began, has told Mr. Razali he no longer has a mandate to be involved. For Gen. Than Shwe, releasing Aung San Suu Kyi a year ago was an end in itself, not a step towards direct negotiations with the opposition leader. Military sources close to the general say he loathes her, and refuses to hear her name mentioned in his vicinity. During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' summit in Phnom Penh in November last year, Asian leaders like Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were advised not to mention Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi by name during their bilateral meetings. Even Mr. Razali was reportedly asked to minimize the number of times he used her name while meeting Gen. Than Shwe during his last visit to Rangoon last November. It appears that Gen. Than Shwe's assumption of total political and military power, and the corresponding political stalemate, has created substantial unease amongst some of the country's other top generals. Many of these military men and senior government officials saw the start of the dialogue process more than two years ago as something which could guarantee the army a long-term role in the country's political future and bring much-needed development. Now they realize the lack of political progress may endanger their long-term survival. One sign of this is Gen. Khin Nyunt's repeated messages to overseas visitors -- which include U.N. special rapporteur on human rights Paulo Pinheiro, in addition to Mr. Razali -- that he is powerless to influence the country's political future. For most people in Burma the worst aspect of the last 12 months has been the continuing economic crisis. Living standards have declined even further, with both professional salaries and workers' wages now insufficient to meet daily needs. Many are forced to find alternative sources of income, further fueling already endemic corruption. Diplomats in Rangoon estimate the country's annual inflation rate is now above 60%. Burma's growing economic crisis, and the government's inability to manage it, was further revealed earlier this year when Rangoon was hit by a major bank run. Pragmatists in the military -- who appear to be grouped around Gen. Khin Nyunt -- and their counterparts in the foreign ministry are telling their Asian counterparts and diplomats in Rangoon that Burma could face a major economic and humanitarian crisis in the coming months if there is no progress in the dialogue process soon. But that doesn't look likely as long as Gen. Than Shwe continues to call the shots. That makes it all the more crucial for the international community to step up pressure on Burma's rulers to resume a dialogue with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. One crucial element in this is Mr. Razali, whose efforts to return to Burma to restart the talks have been repeatedly rebuffed by the military rulers. Mr. Razali usually visits Burma approximately once every three months, but has been denied access to Rangoon since November. It now looks as though he'll not be allowed back until the beginning of June at the earliest. The international community needs to explore ways to increase the pressure on the generals to implement political and economic reform. The U.S. is on the verge of stepping up economic sanctions by banning all textile imports from Burma. And the European Union has already adopted tough measures against Rangoon, which will automatically come into effect at the end of October unless the generals make significant progress toward political change before then. But the major powers in the region -- China, Japan and Asean -- also need to be more proactive in encouraging the Burmese military regime to change. In private, their leaders all say they support Burma's national reconciliation process and Mr. Razali's central role in it. It's now time for them to put pressure on Rangoon to let in Mr. Razali and begin making the concessions needed to ensure dialogue can move forward again. Constructive engagement has clearly not worked -- Burma's generals remain as intransigent as ever. So it is time to give a newly coined approach -- principled engagement -- a serious chance. That means stepping up pressure on Rangoon while showing the generals it is in their interests to cooperate fully with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. That necessitates a united approach by the international community. Asean, in particular, needs to play a central role in the process rather than leaving it to the U.S. and EU to take the initiative. Without sustained international pressure Burma's generals will be happy to spin out the process out -- so that the second anniversary of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's release is marred by as little progress as tomorrow's first anniversary. Mr. Jagan is a free-lance journalist and Burma specialist based in Bangkok. He was formerly the regional editor for Asia and the Pacific at the BBC World Service for more than 10 years. OBITUARY The New York Times May 4 2003 Michael Jendrzejczyk, 53, Advocate for Asians, Dies By ELIZABETH BECKER Michael Jendrzejczyk, a human rights expert whose advocacy on behalf of victims in Asian nations made him an unlikely power broker in Washington, died on Thursday. He was 53 and lived in Tacoma Park, Md. He died after collapsing during a walk near his office in Washington, his wife, Janet, said. During more than a dozen years at the Washington office of Human Rights Watch, Mr. Jendrzejczyk (pronounced jen-DREE-zick) established himself as the Capitol's leading expert on Asian human rights, routinely testifying before Congress, writing opinion articles for newspapers and promoting his causes. He made his name after the 1989 Chinese military action in Tiananmen Square by encouraging the United States to demand that the victims be protected or, at least, accounted for. He later became prominent in Asian human rights issues like the protection of refugees from North Korea, ending financial assistance to the military government in Burma, connecting human rights to free trade and defending the religious freedom of Tibetans in China and Montagnards in Vietnam. What set him apart from many advocates was his mastery of details of subject as well as his networks of contacts with officials, academics and dissidents he helped protect. The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, said it would be "difficult to count" the contributions Mr. Jendrzejczyk made in his promotion of human rights. "We can point to famous dissidents who have been released from prison because of Mike, but there are tens of thousands of ordinary people, whose names we'll never know, whose lives were improved by his work," she said. Mr. Jendrzejczyk, who was born and reared in New Britain, Conn., was a graduate of the University of Hartford. He joined the Army reserve during the Vietnam War but was discharged as a conscientious objector. He taught at a preschool while protesting the Vietnam War and working in the civil rights movement. He became a peace advocate for the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, N.Y., and for Amnesty International in New York and London. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sister, Lynn Ashmore of Willimantic, Conn. He joked about the difficulty of pronouncing his surname, telling others not to waste their time learning to say it or spell it, but just to call him Mike J. His easy manner was partly responsible for his wide reach. Establishing himself in the relatively new field of human rights advocacy in Washington, Mr. Jendrzejczyk broke ground as a lobbyist for a cause without any obvious base of support. Susan Osnos, former associate director of Human Rights Watch, said he used information to promote his ideas. "Over the years he evolved into someone who worked well in Washington, creating two-way streets that are the bread and butter of getting things done, especially when you are advocating things that people aren't naturally interested in," she said. His constituents were the Asian dissidents who might have remained faceless without Mr. Jendrzejczyk's interventions. Tibetans, Burmese, Chinese, Indonesians and other dissidents came to rely on him as their most reliable voice in Washington. When the Chinese dissident Liu Qing was released after 11 years in prison, Mr. Jendrzejczyk took him around Washington to explain to policy makers the human consequences of their votes. Today Mr. Liu works for the New York-based Human Rights in China. During the final years of the Clinton administration, Mr. Jendrzejczyk took many dissidents to meet Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale law professor who was then an assistant secretary of state for human rights. Mr. Koh said while Mr. Jendrzejczyk pressed for countless changes in foreign policy to reflect human rights concerns he was never irritated by his demands. "You start out in a professional relationship with him and end up considering him a dear friend," Mr. Koh said. "He was one of those happy warriors who never let you forget that you are holding a job not for personal gain but for the betterment of American policy." ____________ The Washington Post May 04 2003 EDITORIAL: A Quiet Champion IN THE CULTURE of federal Washington, no doubt as in all cultures, there is a class of people who accomplish much by seeking little credit. These people bring information to reporters, suggest legislative language to Senate staffers, introduce experts from different fields to promote collaborations. Some do this work for profit, others for principle. One of the latter was Mike Jendrzejczyk, who died unexpectedly Thursday at age 53. He was far more influential than famous, and his death is a setback to the cause of freedom in Asia. For Mr. Jendrzejczyk was in that subset of Washington achievers known as human rights advocates: Specifically, he was the Washington director of the Asia division of the nonprofit organization Human Rights Watch. He was not the sort of human rights champion who sneaks into totalitarian countries and emerges with damning videotape, nor did he devote much time to rhetoric or arcane points of international law and doctrine. Mr. Jendrzejczyk believed in getting things done. His ambitions were lofty, but they never stood in the way of accomplishment. He would rather see two dissidents freed from Chinese prisons than one, but he would take one over zero -- and over the years, the number of political prisoners who owed their liberty in large part to his persistence grew to a formidable total. He would have liked to have seen democracy in China and Burma and Vietnam yesterday if not sooner, but he worked hard for intermediate steps: a loosening of political control, an improvement of conditions for workers, a visit by a United Nations human rights commissioner. Those who knew Mike were always amazed at his perpetual cheerfulness even as he sought to bring attention to the worst horrors of human cruelty, to the sufferings of North Korean refugees and Burmese child laborers. He understood that human rights would always compete with commerce and security and other national interests in the formulation of foreign policy; he just wanted the voices of the oppressed not to be drowned out altogether. He was influential in part because his passion never diminished his honesty; if you asked for the best argument on the other side, he would deliver it, probably more eloquently than its true champions could. He influenced us, and will continue to do so. From editor@burmanet.org Tue May 6 22:30:31 2003 From: editor@burmanet.org (editor@burmanet.org) Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 17:30:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: BurmaNet News: May 6 2003 Message-ID: <44745.207.10.94.131.1052256631.squirrel@webmail.pair.com> May 6 2003 Issue #2230 INSIDE BURMA AFP: Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group says AFP: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom anniversary AP: Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription MONEY Irrawaddy: Bank crisis rolls on Xinhua: Myanmar’s gas export earning hits new record high REGIONAL Thai Press Reports: ‘Monks’ being used to smuggle porn CDs across the border Korea Herald: Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home Australian: Temporary relief from a life in hell STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL U.S. Dept. of State: Release of political prisoners (excerpt) Bangkok Post: Road to reform runs into dead-end NCGUB: Burmese generals ‘making mileage out of human misery’ ABFSU: Regime continues the arrest of students INSIDE BURMA Agence France Presse May 6 2003 Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group says Eight students were arrested last month over a two-man protest outside the British embassy in Yangon, while a protestor who fled into the embassy is seeking political asylum, a Thai-based group said Tuesday. The eight student activists were members of the People Students' Oway Front, a new group formed "to mobilise the peaceful student movements for political development," a statement from the exiled All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) said. The students "were arrested because of their memberships in the student front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April," it said. Further details of the arrests were not given. "One of (the student front's) members is now seeking political asylum at the British embassy, since he had a fear of persecution because of his involvement in the demonstration," the union statement said. Myanmar's ruling junta says the man sought refuge in the embassy after authorities arrested another man with whom he was demonstrating. During the protest the pair waved flags emblazoned with fighting peacocks, a traditional symbol of resistance to military rule in Myanmar, and disturbed the peace by shouting, a statement from the junta released afterwards said. The two men were suspected of being linked to a March 27 bomb blast in downtown Yangon which killed two government workers, it added. Late last month the junta said talks were continuing with the British embassy over the protestor's presence there. The British embassy has refused to comment on the incident. "The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any terrorist activities and they will never do such an act," the ABFSU statement said. "We have concerns that these students might be tortured at military interrogation centres" because they have been accused of links to terrorist acts, ABFSU spokesperson Min Naing was quoted as saying. The government earlier said it believed the fugitive inside the embassy had been sent to Myanmar by a combined group of exiled anti-Yangon outfits to "engage in sabotage inside the country." Myanmar's military government continues to rule the Southeast Asian country despite Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) winning 1990 elections. __________ Agence France Presse May 6 2003 Myanmar's Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom anniversary Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi marked the first anniversary of her release from house arrest Tuesday by embarking on a lengthy political trip upcountry, her spokesman said. The Nobel peace laureate left the capital in the morning in a three-car convoy bound for northernmost Kachin State, her National League for Democracy (NLD) said. It will be her longest political journey since she ended 19 months confinement in her Yangon home exactly one year ago. "Her trip is expected to take about one month," NLD spokesman U Lwin told AFP. The charismatic opposition leader was accompanied by her vice chairman U Tin Oo and a retinue of 12 men from the party's youth movement who serve as her personal security detail, another NLD source said. Aung San Suu Kyi, 57, has conducted seven other key trips outside the capital over the past year, taking advantage of the junta's commitment to allow her full freedom of movement. On her travels the leader has re-connected with party supporters, re-opened NLD offices shut by the junta, and assessed conditions in the country ruled by military dictatorships for the past four decades. Her trip begins with an overnight stop in Myanmar's second city Mandalay, where she poignantly made her first trip outside of Yangon last year after her release. Mandalay was the city the ruling military regime blocked her from travelling to in September 2000, after which they confined her to her lakeside villa. After a stop in Mandalay she crosses into Kachin to meet with supporters, re-open NLD offices, and engage with ethnic minority groups there, U Lwin said. "She hasn't had much chance of meeting with the Kachins. That is what she would like to do foremost," he said. Also of particular concern were discussions with the "seven or eight ethnic groups in Kachin State", but it was not clear how many of the groups she would be able to meet with as heavy rains have already begun in the state's remote highlands, U Lwin said. The trip is also likely to be a test of whether the regime will continue to harass the leader on her travels. The NLD and Suu Kyi have complained increasingly of government harassment during her travels, particularly of the thousands of people who flock to see her. Aung San Suu Kyi's release last year stirred hopes that the regime would finally enter into a bona fide political dialogue following confidence-building talks launched in October 2000 with UN assistance. Late last month, however, she complained for the first time publicly about the lack of progress in the national reconciliation talks, a major turnaround on her usually conciliatory stance. International patience with the regime is also wearing thin. US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week branded Myanmar's rulers as "despotic" but admitted that it would be a tough task to "crack" their will. No mention of the anniversary of Suu Kyi's release has been made in Myanmar's official media, but the junta announced Sunday the release of 21 prisoners, including a prominent academic and 12 NLD members. Several hundred prisoners have been released by the junta since talks began with Aung San Suu Kyi in 2000, but human rights groups estimate 1,200 to 1,300 remain behind bars. Prisoners are habitually released to mark important events or high-level visits to Yangon. _________ Associated Press Worldstream May 4 2003 Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription By Nelson Rand ON THE MYANMAR-THAI BORDER: Nay Myo Kyaw recounts with a blank face the bewildering changes in his life during the last half year - schoolboy one day, a child soldier the next, and then a prisoner of the guerrillas he was forced to fight. Kyaw, a 9th grade student in the southeastern Myanmar town of Thongwa, was walking home from school with friends last October when a car pulled alongside him. Military men jumped out of the car and grabbed him and four of his schoolmates. Without a choice and without a chance to say goodbye to their families, Kyaw, 16, and his four friends became the newest recruits of Myanmar's national army. Human rights groups say such forced conscription is routine in military-ruled Myanmar and as many as 70,000 soldiers in the army are under the age of 18. The allegations are denied by the military government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, but independent verification of its claims is virtually impossible given the authoritarian nature of the regime. However, a rare glimpse into the army was provided by Kyaw who was interviewed by an Associated Press reporter while in captivity at a jungle camp of the ethnic Karen rebels. Kyaw said he deserted his unit on March 11 while on security duty in the Tojo mountains a few kilometers (miles) from the Thai border, opposite Thailand's Phop Phra district. Kyaw simply dropped his rifle and equipment and started to run. A few hours later he was picked up by Karen guerrillas. Kyaw said he had no skills to deal with the jungle or the war - his camp had been attacked by the guerrillas in December, leaving five comrades dead. "I knew if I stayed there I would die," he said, adding that he was given only one month of military training after being kidnapped in Thongwa. At the end of the training, he was sent to the Tojo mountains where the army has being trying for more than five decades to put down an insurgency by the Karen National Liberation Army. The Karens, who are a minority in Myanmar, are demanding autonomy for the Karen State. Kyaw said many of the soldiers he served with were under 17 years old - 20 of the 50 soldiers in his section and 70 of the 150 in his battalion, Infantry Battalion 343. The youngest was only 11. He was punished by the officer in charge of his section when he could not carry heavy loads, Kyaw said. "He beat me, slapped me, kicked me and whipped me with a stick," the youth said, speaking through a translator. Now Kyaw spends his days locked in a small bamboo hut with 15-year-old Aung Myoo Oo. They wait for their release, and a chance at a better life. Like Kyaw, Myoo Oo was forced into a car on his way home from school one afternoon a year ago outside the capital Yangon. He also received a month's military training before being sent to fight the Karen rebels. He escaped from Tojo in March with another child soldier aged 14, whose name he didn't want to reveal. In a report in October, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Myanmar army has the world's largest number of child soldiers. "Burma has a poor human rights record, but its record on child soldiers is the worst in the world," wrote Jo Becker, advocacy director of the children's rights division at Humans Rights Watch. "To be a boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked up off the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and never seeing your family again," Becker wrote. Myanmar's junta has dismissed the report, saying it is based on the testimony "of so-called deserters in Thailand," hence very questionable. The government says the military is purely voluntary and that national laws setting the enlistment age at 18 are "strictly enforced". Col. Saw Ner Dah Mya, a Karen National Liberation Army commander, said the Myanmar military has problems recruiting so it must recruit by force. He said that Kyaw and Myoo Oo would be released soon and taken across the border to Thailand where he would find them jobs as laborers - his group's standard procedure for dealing with Myanmar defectors after they have been interrogated. A half year ago, Kyaw could never have guessed the turn of events in his life that would take away the last of his childhood. "I just want to go home and see my mother and father," he said. MONEY Irrawaddy May 6 2003 Bank Crisis Rolls On By Naw Seng As Burma’s private banking crisis rolls into its fourth month, account holders have begun selling their frozen account balances at a reduced rate in hopes of recouping their savings. Private banks, meanwhile, are still trying to recall loans in an attempt to inject badly needed liquidity and try to rebuild consumer trust, according to sources in Rangoon. Traders in Rangoon said today that people were paying 60 to 80 percent of an account’s value, despite there being no end in sight to the country’s banking woes. He said that public distrust is continuing to mount and that "no one wants to deposit money" in the banks. Banks had previously been granting depositors 100,000 kyat (US $100) per week. But one disgruntled depositor said withdrawals had been ratcheted back even further. He said he had to wait 18 days for his most recent installment. Sources said the length of time on withdrawals differs from bank to bank. In February, both the central government and private banks demanded that 50 percent of outstanding loans be repaid by the end of March. The date has since been changed to the end of May, but little effort has been made to pay back loans while accounts remain frozen, according to business sources in Rangoon. The sources say that the date was unofficially pushed back to quell potential unrest. Officials at Yoma Bank said today that even if some one was to pay 50 percent of their outstanding loans, they still could not access their account or receive smaller loans. Businessmen in Rangoon say these decisions have made repaying loans unrealistic. Economic analysts are predicting that the situation will further deteriorate if the central government does not take action against their own clients who have defaulted on loans. And that as a result economic chaos could ensue. "The Central Bank of Myanmar has also been unable to tackle its outstanding loans and get reimbursed," said a businessman in Rangoon. Central Bank officials have reportedly threatened to take action against any one who does not repay loans by the end of May. Businessman in Rangoon said authorities are trying to intimidate individuals who have not paid at least 20 percent of their loans, but that to date no one has been detained. "They [government authorities] can’t arrest any one because nobody has broken any bank regulations," one businessman said. Bank transfers have also been shelved as a result of the diminished reserves. Businessman said they now carry their cash, as banks no longer have the necessary reserves to deal with large transfers. One bank official, however, said some transfers are occurring, but that banks have to confirm that the other branch has the proper amount. ____________ Xinhua News Agency May 6 2003 Myanmar's gas export earning hits new record high Myanmar earned 846 million US dollars through the export of natural gas in 2002, a 61.75-percent increase compared with 2001's 523 million, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistical Organization. The natural gas export earning accounted for 28 percent of the country's total export value of 2,982 million dollars, standing for the first time as the top export item in earning foreign exchange. Myanmar began exporting natural gas in 1998. In 2002, Myanmar yielded 9,173.8 million cubic-meters, up 4.2 percent from the previous year. Myanmar has a total of 50.956 trillion cubic-feet (1,442.05 billion cubic-meters) of natural gas reserve in the country's onshore and offshore areas, while possessing 3,154 million barrels (419 million tons) of recoverable crude oil reserve in the two areas. There is a total of 19 inland oil fields in Myanmar where at present foreign companies from Indonesia, Bahamas, Britain, Cyprus and China are operating. Myanmar offshore oil and gas fields are mainly located in Rakhine, Tanintharyi and Mottama areas. So far, only the Yadana field at the Mottama and the Yedagun at the Tanintharyi are at the production stage with gas yielded from there being exported to Thailand. Of the two oil and gas fields, the gas reserve of the Yadana is 5.7 trillion cubic-feet (161.3 billion cubic-meters) with a daily output of nearly 600 million cubic-feet (16.98 million cubic-meters), while that of the Yedagun amounts to 3.1 trillion cubic-feet (87.7 billion cubic-meters) with a daily output of nearly 300 million cubic-feet (8.49 million cubic-meters) and a daily crude oil output of 7,000 barrels (931 tons). Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in 1988, contracted investment in the oil and gas sector has reached 2,402.8 million dollars. REGIONAL Thai Press Reports May 6 2003 'MONKS' BEING USED TO SMUGGLE PORN CDS ACROSS THE BORDER Police in the border town of Mae Sae have ordered border officials to step up immigration checks on monks, after having found that monks are being used to smuggle illegal pornographic CDs from Myanmar. Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob Sanudon, superintendent of Mae Sai immigration police, said yesterday that he had received several complaints from members of the public concerning the behaviour of men who were apparently monks, who openly bought pornographic CDs from the market in the Myanmar border town of Tachilek, before smuggling them back across to Thailand in their bags. In the past immigration police have been fairly lax about inspecting monks, around 40-50 of whom cross the border into Myanmar each day. However, Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob said that after he had instructed immigration officials to inspect the belongings of monks crossing the border, over 50 CDs had been discovered in the bag of each monk. Speculating that traders in pornographic or illegal CDs were using monks as a way of smuggling their products into the country, the immigration police superintendent said that from May 1 onwards he had ordered stringent checks on all monks crossing the border, and that all monks would be required to show their privilege passes detailing which monastery they were based at. He cited the case of an obviously monk once found trying to cross the border, who on inspection was found to have over 100 amphetamine pills in his bag. The monk had now been forced to disrobe, he said. Provincial Governor Narin Panichakij went further, saying that if possible monks would be banned from crossing over into Tachilek unless on a religious business, as it was not suitable that monks were allowed to mix freely there with laypeople. ________ Korea Herald May 5 2003 Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province - Like other illegal foreign workers, they help manufacture furniture, electronics or work in rubber factories. They also suffer from low wages, poor working conditions and threats of dismissal from employers. But they have a different aim - doing all they can to bring democracy to their home country. A group of 15 Myanmar dissidents residing in Korea are promoting a campaign to put an end to the dictatorship of their military government. "We are here to promote our country's situation and its democratic uprising so that the international community can mount pressure on the Burmese military junta to end its dictatorship," said Nay Tun Naing. Naing, 34, is one of the 15 dissidents who are members of the National League for Democracy, Myanmar's opposition party that is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "We spend more than half of our salaries on party activities. But nobody complains about it, because our purpose of being here is to liberate our country, not to live comfortably," Naing said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. Like other members of the National League for Democracy Party, Naing still calls his country Burma, although it was renamed Myanmar by the military regime in 1989. At the time, the change represented military leaders' effort to improve their international image, which was tainted by a series of bloody clampdowns on anti-government riots in 1988 that killed thousands of Burmese people. Naing was a student at Rangoon University when the popular uprising occurred and he was detained for months for participating in an anti-government protest. When he returned to university months later, Naing found it harder to continue his extra-curricular activities because riot police were posted all around campuses and universities were often forced to close to prevent student assemblies. "I thought being abroad would be better than staying in prison," Naing recalled. In 1994, he fled to Korea and four years later established a Korean branch for his party called the "NLD Korean Branch," in Bucheon, a satellite city southwest of Seoul. But the Myanmar dissidents are experiencing difficulties in promoting the pro-democracy struggle effectively in Korea because of restraints attendant on their predominantly illegal status. The 15 NLD members sought refuge here but the Korean government, which has a diplomatic relationship with the military-backed Myanmar regime, has never fully recognized their activities. Until early this year, the Seoul government had refused to grant the NLD members refugee status, treating them as illegal aliens. As local rights groups consistently demanded that the Myanmar dissidents be treated as political refugees, the government granted asylum for three of them, including Naing, in January. "It seems the Korean government just doesn't want to face up to the rampant political tortures and human rights abuses by the Burmese government," Naing said. _____________ The Australian May 4 2003 Temporary relief from a life in hell By Elisabeth Wynhausen and Natalie O'Brien KAM was repeatedly raped in an army camp in Burma. Still a girl, she was passed from one group of soldiers to another. Some threatened to harm her if she did not serve them. Kam, the only name by which she is known, was held captive until trafficked across the border into Thailand to be locked up and forced into prostitution. She was then 12 or 13. The now 24-year-old Kam has been granted a temporary protection visa after the Refugee Review Tribunal discounted Immigration Department claims she was Thai. Her experiences have left her traumatised, depressed and fearful. A psychologist who interviewed her in detention described her as "timid and subdued". Yet in three years she will again have to convince authorities she is a Shan woman from Burma who needs protection. Kam's story is only too familiar to Melbourne grandmother Myint Myint Wai, 52. Imprisoned in Burma in 1999 as an opponent of the military dictatorship, Wai met many young women who had been sold into prostitution after they were sexually abused by soldiers or police. "These women have no voice at all," said Wai, who does what she can to publicise their plight. In considering Kam's case, the Refugee Review Tribunal cited a report that found the Burmese military allowed its troops to systematically use rape to terrorise the people of the Shan state. The report by the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) describes what happened to 625 Shan girls and women who were raped and brutalised by the Burmese military. More than half the attacks were gang rapes. Like Kam, many of the women were held captive on military bases and raped repeatedly. Interviewed while in immigration detention in Australia, Kam told officials that soldiers had often come to her village in the south of Burma demanding rice from the local people. "The soldiers would do whatever they wanted, particularly to the girls in the village." She was staying with her grandmother on the night the soldiers abducted her, and has not seen her family since. "I was taken to an army camp," she said through an interpreter. "I was raped at this camp numerous times. "One day I was taken with many other girls across the border to Thailand in a truck." The soldiers sold her to a trafficker, who sold her to a brothel. "I was forced to work as a prostitute. My boss ...told me I had to pay debts to the woman who took me from the army camp." She was told her boss had given the woman 30,000 baht, which Kam had to pay back, the same twisted logic imposed on women trafficked to Australia, who are forced to have sex with hundreds of men to pay off their so-called contracts. "Because I was unlawful in Thailand, I was often on the move," she said. On one occasion she was deported back to Burma, but did not know where to go or how to get home. Frightened the Burmese military would take her prisoner again, she returned to Thailand, and was trafficked to Australia not long afterwards. Eventually picked up in a raid on a brothel in Sydney's Surry Hills, Kam told officials she feared what would happen to her and her family if she were returned to Burma. Kirsty Allen, of the Melbourne-based International Women's Development Agency, said it was a common experience. "The women from Burma being trafficked here are often refugees from the military dictatorship in Burma." Noting reports of human rights abuses by the Burmese dictatorship, the Refugee Review Tribunal found Kam would not be safe "anywhere within Burma". This accords with the view expressed by US congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of a congressional committee on human rights, who has said: "Girls and women of Burma are raped, tortured, beaten and killed as part of a systematic campaign by the Burmese army to subjugate its people." STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC May 5, 2003 Excerpt: BURMA 12-13 Release of Political Prisoners QUESTION: Okay, I was just wondering. Do you have anything on the release by Burma of a dissident there? MR. BOUCHER: Eighteen people were released in Burma. QUESTION: I'm thinking of one. MR. BOUCHER: Somewhere in here, yeah. We welcome the most recent release of political prisoners in Burma, including Dr. Salai Tun Than. We had raised the case of Dr. Salai Tun Than with the regime due to his age and his nonviolent call for freedom for reform. He is an academic and an alumnus of two United States universities. We hope that this release will lead to the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners and a substantive dialogue between the regime and the National League for Democracy and national reconciliation. Thank you. ______ Bangkok Post May 6 2003 ROAD TO REFORM RUNS INTO DEAD-END By LARRY JAGAN Burma's generals still cling to power one year after Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, and there is no reason to believe they have any intention of starting serious political talks with the opposition leader. Burma has changed little over the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed. The country's fragile dialogue process remains deadlocked and in danger of collapsing. Burma's top generals insist they are committed to economic and political reform but do little to show their sincerity. The euphoria that surrounded the opposition leader's release a year ago has given way to disappointment and frustration as Burma slips deeper into crisis and despair. Ms Suu Kyi's release is seen as a signal that the military regime is prepared to move on to the next stage of the national reconciliation process: substantive talks with the opposition leader on the country's political future,'' one senior Western diplomat said shortly after Ms Suu Kyi's release. The UN envoy Razali Ismail, who convinced the generals to free Ms Suu Kyi and helped broker the talks between the two sides, was sure the military was ready for serious political negotiations and prepared to cooperate with the National League for Democracy. Twelve months later, these hopes appear to have been dashed. Instead of progress, the two sides have slipped into a war of words that is being fought through press conferences and press releases. Only a few days ago, Ms Suu Kyi went on the offensive and told journalists at a press briefing at the NLD headquarters: I have come to the conclusion that the SPDC State Peace Development Council is not interested in national reconciliation.'' Throughout the past year, the opposition leader has appealed to the generals to open concrete talks and stated that she and the NLD were prepared to cooperate with the army. She has told them repeatedly that the opposition does not see the military as the enemy. We do not want to be the enemy,'' she recently told the Bangkok Post in Rangoon. We are in opposition to each other at the moment but we should work together for the sake of the country, and we certainly bear no grudges against them. We are not out for vengeance. We want to reach the kind of settlement which will be beneficial to everybody, including the members of the military.'' But the generals have so far rebuffed all the opposition overtures. It's more than time to proceed from the confidence-building stage to full cooperation, especially in the humanitarian area.,'' Ms Suu Kyi said two weeks ago. The SPDC has shown that it is not keen to cooperate with us in matters of humanitarian aid.'' Colonel Hla Min, the military government spokesman, for his part, insists the government actively welcomes meaningful and constructive suggestions from all its citizens in all areas of national development, particularly in education, health-care and economic development''. Neither side seems able to take the initiative. The UN envoy's insistence that Burma's political reform must be a home-grown process has also waned over the past year. Neither side is able to talk directly to the other,'' a senior Western diplomat involved in Burma said. And that is the role Mr Razali can play.'' But Burma's military rulers have continually rebuffed the envoy's repeated requests over the last three months to return to Rangoon to help restart the talks. He usually visits Burma every three months or so, but he has been denied access to Rangoon for more than six months. In fact, it looks as though he will not be allowed back until early June at the earliest. The process of national reconciliation has clearly ground to a halt. Burma's military leaders seem keen to drag the process out as long as possible instead of talking to Ms Suu Kyi. Faced with increased international pressure _ the United States is in the process of extending sanctions and banning all textile imports from Burma, and the European Union has adopted tougher measures which will be implemented automatically in six months time if there is no progress in the dialogue process _ Burma's top generals are looking to their neighbours for support. Senior General Than Shwe, Burma's top leader, has been busy visiting as many countries around the region as he can. In the past six months, he has visited Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Thailand. He's currently on a state visit to Laos. Other senior ministers, including intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung, have also been active whipping up support for the regime. Earlier this year, Win Aung made an historic trip to India. Burma's leaders have long told Western government ministers and diplomats that they did not fear Western-led sanctions as they expected to get all the trade, investment and aid they needed from their neighbours. The reality, of course, is that this is not forthcoming. In the last twelve months, the only Asean investment was the Malaysian petroleum giant Petronas' buy-out of the British company Premier Oil's interests in Burma. Although Bangladesh and India have some commercial interests in Burma, the only significant regional investor in the country is China. It is time Asean governments reassessed their uncritical support for Rangoon. Privately, United Nations officers say their credibility will be on the line if they continue to put their heads in the sand. But even after meeting Mr Razali last week in Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai continued to tell local journalists that the dialogue process had not stalled and that Bangkok fully supported Burma's national reconciliation process. But Thai officials privately concede that the government is fully aware that there are no talks between the two sides and that the whole process is in deep trouble. Asean countries have tried to avoid thinking about Burma. It's too divisive,'' one senior Asean diplomat said. Countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam _ and Brunei _ will not criticise Myanmar Burma or allow pressure to be brought to bear on issues like human rights and democratic reform.'' There currently is no real incentive for the other Asean countries to take the initiative. But they must change soon. Burma will take over the presidency of Asean in 2006 _ and the annual summit will be held in Rangoon. It will highly embarrassing for Asean to be led by one of the world's remaining military dictatorships,'' said a senior UN official privately in New York. But if the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed are any indication, it is still going to be years before Burma gets the democratic reform most Burmese people crave. Asean leaders could help speed that process up if privately, at two-way and multilateral meetings, they began to put real pressure on Burma's generals to implement economic and political reform. ___________ National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma May 6 2003 Press Release: Burmese Generals 'Making Mileage Out of Human Misery' The generals in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) recently released 21 political prisoners claiming that they had made the decision after taking "health and humanitarian concerns" into consideration. This is just another glaring case of the regime making mileage out of human misery. These politicians should never have been in prison in the first case. And, any health problems that the generals are now so concerned about only emerged because these democracy activists were left neglected and exposed to harsh prison conditions. Presently, there are around 1,400 political prisoners still held by the military regime, and many of them--Min Ko Naing, U Win Tin, U Win Htein, and elected representatives Dr Zaw Myint Maung of Amarapura, U Sein Hla Oo of insein, Dr May Win Myint of Mayangon, and Dr Myint Naing of Kantbalu, to name a few--have all completed their original sentences but continued to be kept in prison. The regime's announcement that "those that will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and the unity of the nation" will be released actually means that the generals will continue to act above the law and keep activists in prison until they are deemed to be politically neutralized. Prime Minister Dr Sein Win said, "The generals are out of touch with reality and are punishing dedicated people who can work for the good of the country. The country is dangerously inching toward disaster all because of the political paranoia of these generals." The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma strongly condemns the SPDC which is courting danger by refusing to work toward national reconciliation and for continuing to keep politicians imprisoned so that they can be used as a tool in the generals' political game. ________ All Burma Federation of Student Unions May 6 2003 Press Release: Regime Continue the arrest of students By Foreign Affairs Committee, ABFSU In April, 8 student activists from various regions of the country were arrested by the Military Intelligence, after the student demonstration on 4 April 2003 at Rangoon, capital of Burma. All of them are members of student front which organized the peaceful demonstration in front of British Embassy, Rangoon on 4 April. The student front, People Students' Oway Front, had formed with students from various universities, colleges and high schools throughout the nation to mobilize the peaceful student movements for political development. One of its members is now seeking political asylum at the British Embassy, since he had a fear of persecution because of his involvement in the demonstration on 4 April. The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any terrorist activities and they will never do such an act. According to information of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), these students were arrested because of their memberships in the student front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April. Min Naing, spokesperson of Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU, said, "We are very concerning of these students who recently were arrested. Because the regime had accused the students who participated in the demonstration had linked with previous bomb attack in Rangoon. This is really wrong. In previous history of Burma, students always move in peaceful ways and have never practiced violent ways. Only the regime had used violent means to crash down student movements. Thus, we have concerned that these students might be tortured at military interrogation centers, accusing they had linked with terrorist acts." ABFSU strongly believe that the violent means to student movements and arrests of students cannot solve real existing problems in Burma. ABFSU demands military regime to release all political prisoners including students, to legalize independent student unions and other civil groups, and to hold a peaceful political talk with National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi. For more information about the student front which organized the demonstration on 4 April, the attached letters are shown. These were distributed inside Burma by People Students' Oway Front, and are translated into English Version by Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU. Media Contact: Min Naing (66-1- 740 2908) Foreign Affairs Committee All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) From editor@burmanet.org Tue May 6 22:30:31 2003 From: editor@burmanet.org (editor@burmanet.org) Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 17:30:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: BurmaNet News: May 6 2003 Message-ID: <44745.207.10.94.131.1052256631.squirrel@webmail.pair.com> May 6 2003 Issue #2230 INSIDE BURMA AFP: Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group says AFP: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom anniversary AP: Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription MONEY Irrawaddy: Bank crisis rolls on Xinhua: Myanmar’s gas export earning hits new record high REGIONAL Thai Press Reports: ‘Monks’ being used to smuggle porn CDs across the border Korea Herald: Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home Australian: Temporary relief from a life in hell STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL U.S. Dept. of State: Release of political prisoners (excerpt) Bangkok Post: Road to reform runs into dead-end NCGUB: Burmese generals ‘making mileage out of human misery’ ABFSU: Regime continues the arrest of students INSIDE BURMA Agence France Presse May 6 2003 Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group says Eight students were arrested last month over a two-man protest outside the British embassy in Yangon, while a protestor who fled into the embassy is seeking political asylum, a Thai-based group said Tuesday. The eight student activists were members of the People Students' Oway Front, a new group formed "to mobilise the peaceful student movements for political development," a statement from the exiled All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) said. The students "were arrested because of their memberships in the student front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April," it said. Further details of the arrests were not given. "One of (the student front's) members is now seeking political asylum at the British embassy, since he had a fear of persecution because of his involvement in the demonstration," the union statement said. Myanmar's ruling junta says the man sought refuge in the embassy after authorities arrested another man with whom he was demonstrating. During the protest the pair waved flags emblazoned with fighting peacocks, a traditional symbol of resistance to military rule in Myanmar, and disturbed the peace by shouting, a statement from the junta released afterwards said. The two men were suspected of being linked to a March 27 bomb blast in downtown Yangon which killed two government workers, it added. Late last month the junta said talks were continuing with the British embassy over the protestor's presence there. The British embassy has refused to comment on the incident. "The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any terrorist activities and they will never do such an act," the ABFSU statement said. "We have concerns that these students might be tortured at military interrogation centres" because they have been accused of links to terrorist acts, ABFSU spokesperson Min Naing was quoted as saying. The government earlier said it believed the fugitive inside the embassy had been sent to Myanmar by a combined group of exiled anti-Yangon outfits to "engage in sabotage inside the country." Myanmar's military government continues to rule the Southeast Asian country despite Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) winning 1990 elections. __________ Agence France Presse May 6 2003 Myanmar's Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom anniversary Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi marked the first anniversary of her release from house arrest Tuesday by embarking on a lengthy political trip upcountry, her spokesman said. The Nobel peace laureate left the capital in the morning in a three-car convoy bound for northernmost Kachin State, her National League for Democracy (NLD) said. It will be her longest political journey since she ended 19 months confinement in her Yangon home exactly one year ago. "Her trip is expected to take about one month," NLD spokesman U Lwin told AFP. The charismatic opposition leader was accompanied by her vice chairman U Tin Oo and a retinue of 12 men from the party's youth movement who serve as her personal security detail, another NLD source said. Aung San Suu Kyi, 57, has conducted seven other key trips outside the capital over the past year, taking advantage of the junta's commitment to allow her full freedom of movement. On her travels the leader has re-connected with party supporters, re-opened NLD offices shut by the junta, and assessed conditions in the country ruled by military dictatorships for the past four decades. Her trip begins with an overnight stop in Myanmar's second city Mandalay, where she poignantly made her first trip outside of Yangon last year after her release. Mandalay was the city the ruling military regime blocked her from travelling to in September 2000, after which they confined her to her lakeside villa. After a stop in Mandalay she crosses into Kachin to meet with supporters, re-open NLD offices, and engage with ethnic minority groups there, U Lwin said. "She hasn't had much chance of meeting with the Kachins. That is what she would like to do foremost," he said. Also of particular concern were discussions with the "seven or eight ethnic groups in Kachin State", but it was not clear how many of the groups she would be able to meet with as heavy rains have already begun in the state's remote highlands, U Lwin said. The trip is also likely to be a test of whether the regime will continue to harass the leader on her travels. The NLD and Suu Kyi have complained increasingly of government harassment during her travels, particularly of the thousands of people who flock to see her. Aung San Suu Kyi's release last year stirred hopes that the regime would finally enter into a bona fide political dialogue following confidence-building talks launched in October 2000 with UN assistance. Late last month, however, she complained for the first time publicly about the lack of progress in the national reconciliation talks, a major turnaround on her usually conciliatory stance. International patience with the regime is also wearing thin. US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week branded Myanmar's rulers as "despotic" but admitted that it would be a tough task to "crack" their will. No mention of the anniversary of Suu Kyi's release has been made in Myanmar's official media, but the junta announced Sunday the release of 21 prisoners, including a prominent academic and 12 NLD members. Several hundred prisoners have been released by the junta since talks began with Aung San Suu Kyi in 2000, but human rights groups estimate 1,200 to 1,300 remain behind bars. Prisoners are habitually released to mark important events or high-level visits to Yangon. _________ Associated Press Worldstream May 4 2003 Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription By Nelson Rand ON THE MYANMAR-THAI BORDER: Nay Myo Kyaw recounts with a blank face the bewildering changes in his life during the last half year - schoolboy one day, a child soldier the next, and then a prisoner of the guerrillas he was forced to fight. Kyaw, a 9th grade student in the southeastern Myanmar town of Thongwa, was walking home from school with friends last October when a car pulled alongside him. Military men jumped out of the car and grabbed him and four of his schoolmates. Without a choice and without a chance to say goodbye to their families, Kyaw, 16, and his four friends became the newest recruits of Myanmar's national army. Human rights groups say such forced conscription is routine in military-ruled Myanmar and as many as 70,000 soldiers in the army are under the age of 18. The allegations are denied by the military government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, but independent verification of its claims is virtually impossible given the authoritarian nature of the regime. However, a rare glimpse into the army was provided by Kyaw who was interviewed by an Associated Press reporter while in captivity at a jungle camp of the ethnic Karen rebels. Kyaw said he deserted his unit on March 11 while on security duty in the Tojo mountains a few kilometers (miles) from the Thai border, opposite Thailand's Phop Phra district. Kyaw simply dropped his rifle and equipment and started to run. A few hours later he was picked up by Karen guerrillas. Kyaw said he had no skills to deal with the jungle or the war - his camp had been attacked by the guerrillas in December, leaving five comrades dead. "I knew if I stayed there I would die," he said, adding that he was given only one month of military training after being kidnapped in Thongwa. At the end of the training, he was sent to the Tojo mountains where the army has being trying for more than five decades to put down an insurgency by the Karen National Liberation Army. The Karens, who are a minority in Myanmar, are demanding autonomy for the Karen State. Kyaw said many of the soldiers he served with were under 17 years old - 20 of the 50 soldiers in his section and 70 of the 150 in his battalion, Infantry Battalion 343. The youngest was only 11. He was punished by the officer in charge of his section when he could not carry heavy loads, Kyaw said. "He beat me, slapped me, kicked me and whipped me with a stick," the youth said, speaking through a translator. Now Kyaw spends his days locked in a small bamboo hut with 15-year-old Aung Myoo Oo. They wait for their release, and a chance at a better life. Like Kyaw, Myoo Oo was forced into a car on his way home from school one afternoon a year ago outside the capital Yangon. He also received a month's military training before being sent to fight the Karen rebels. He escaped from Tojo in March with another child soldier aged 14, whose name he didn't want to reveal. In a report in October, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Myanmar army has the world's largest number of child soldiers. "Burma has a poor human rights record, but its record on child soldiers is the worst in the world," wrote Jo Becker, advocacy director of the children's rights division at Humans Rights Watch. "To be a boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked up off the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and never seeing your family again," Becker wrote. Myanmar's junta has dismissed the report, saying it is based on the testimony "of so-called deserters in Thailand," hence very questionable. The government says the military is purely voluntary and that national laws setting the enlistment age at 18 are "strictly enforced". Col. Saw Ner Dah Mya, a Karen National Liberation Army commander, said the Myanmar military has problems recruiting so it must recruit by force. He said that Kyaw and Myoo Oo would be released soon and taken across the border to Thailand where he would find them jobs as laborers - his group's standard procedure for dealing with Myanmar defectors after they have been interrogated. A half year ago, Kyaw could never have guessed the turn of events in his life that would take away the last of his childhood. "I just want to go home and see my mother and father," he said. MONEY Irrawaddy May 6 2003 Bank Crisis Rolls On By Naw Seng As Burma’s private banking crisis rolls into its fourth month, account holders have begun selling their frozen account balances at a reduced rate in hopes of recouping their savings. Private banks, meanwhile, are still trying to recall loans in an attempt to inject badly needed liquidity and try to rebuild consumer trust, according to sources in Rangoon. Traders in Rangoon said today that people were paying 60 to 80 percent of an account’s value, despite there being no end in sight to the country’s banking woes. He said that public distrust is continuing to mount and that "no one wants to deposit money" in the banks. Banks had previously been granting depositors 100,000 kyat (US $100) per week. But one disgruntled depositor said withdrawals had been ratcheted back even further. He said he had to wait 18 days for his most recent installment. Sources said the length of time on withdrawals differs from bank to bank. In February, both the central government and private banks demanded that 50 percent of outstanding loans be repaid by the end of March. The date has since been changed to the end of May, but little effort has been made to pay back loans while accounts remain frozen, according to business sources in Rangoon. The sources say that the date was unofficially pushed back to quell potential unrest. Officials at Yoma Bank said today that even if some one was to pay 50 percent of their outstanding loans, they still could not access their account or receive smaller loans. Businessmen in Rangoon say these decisions have made repaying loans unrealistic. Economic analysts are predicting that the situation will further deteriorate if the central government does not take action against their own clients who have defaulted on loans. And that as a result economic chaos could ensue. "The Central Bank of Myanmar has also been unable to tackle its outstanding loans and get reimbursed," said a businessman in Rangoon. Central Bank officials have reportedly threatened to take action against any one who does not repay loans by the end of May. Businessman in Rangoon said authorities are trying to intimidate individuals who have not paid at least 20 percent of their loans, but that to date no one has been detained. "They [government authorities] can’t arrest any one because nobody has broken any bank regulations," one businessman said. Bank transfers have also been shelved as a result of the diminished reserves. Businessman said they now carry their cash, as banks no longer have the necessary reserves to deal with large transfers. One bank official, however, said some transfers are occurring, but that banks have to confirm that the other branch has the proper amount. ____________ Xinhua News Agency May 6 2003 Myanmar's gas export earning hits new record high Myanmar earned 846 million US dollars through the export of natural gas in 2002, a 61.75-percent increase compared with 2001's 523 million, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistical Organization. The natural gas export earning accounted for 28 percent of the country's total export value of 2,982 million dollars, standing for the first time as the top export item in earning foreign exchange. Myanmar began exporting natural gas in 1998. In 2002, Myanmar yielded 9,173.8 million cubic-meters, up 4.2 percent from the previous year. Myanmar has a total of 50.956 trillion cubic-feet (1,442.05 billion cubic-meters) of natural gas reserve in the country's onshore and offshore areas, while possessing 3,154 million barrels (419 million tons) of recoverable crude oil reserve in the two areas. There is a total of 19 inland oil fields in Myanmar where at present foreign companies from Indonesia, Bahamas, Britain, Cyprus and China are operating. Myanmar offshore oil and gas fields are mainly located in Rakhine, Tanintharyi and Mottama areas. So far, only the Yadana field at the Mottama and the Yedagun at the Tanintharyi are at the production stage with gas yielded from there being exported to Thailand. Of the two oil and gas fields, the gas reserve of the Yadana is 5.7 trillion cubic-feet (161.3 billion cubic-meters) with a daily output of nearly 600 million cubic-feet (16.98 million cubic-meters), while that of the Yedagun amounts to 3.1 trillion cubic-feet (87.7 billion cubic-meters) with a daily output of nearly 300 million cubic-feet (8.49 million cubic-meters) and a daily crude oil output of 7,000 barrels (931 tons). Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in 1988, contracted investment in the oil and gas sector has reached 2,402.8 million dollars. REGIONAL Thai Press Reports May 6 2003 'MONKS' BEING USED TO SMUGGLE PORN CDS ACROSS THE BORDER Police in the border town of Mae Sae have ordered border officials to step up immigration checks on monks, after having found that monks are being used to smuggle illegal pornographic CDs from Myanmar. Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob Sanudon, superintendent of Mae Sai immigration police, said yesterday that he had received several complaints from members of the public concerning the behaviour of men who were apparently monks, who openly bought pornographic CDs from the market in the Myanmar border town of Tachilek, before smuggling them back across to Thailand in their bags. In the past immigration police have been fairly lax about inspecting monks, around 40-50 of whom cross the border into Myanmar each day. However, Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob said that after he had instructed immigration officials to inspect the belongings of monks crossing the border, over 50 CDs had been discovered in the bag of each monk. Speculating that traders in pornographic or illegal CDs were using monks as a way of smuggling their products into the country, the immigration police superintendent said that from May 1 onwards he had ordered stringent checks on all monks crossing the border, and that all monks would be required to show their privilege passes detailing which monastery they were based at. He cited the case of an obviously monk once found trying to cross the border, who on inspection was found to have over 100 amphetamine pills in his bag. The monk had now been forced to disrobe, he said. Provincial Governor Narin Panichakij went further, saying that if possible monks would be banned from crossing over into Tachilek unless on a religious business, as it was not suitable that monks were allowed to mix freely there with laypeople. ________ Korea Herald May 5 2003 Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province - Like other illegal foreign workers, they help manufacture furniture, electronics or work in rubber factories. They also suffer from low wages, poor working conditions and threats of dismissal from employers. But they have a different aim - doing all they can to bring democracy to their home country. A group of 15 Myanmar dissidents residing in Korea are promoting a campaign to put an end to the dictatorship of their military government. "We are here to promote our country's situation and its democratic uprising so that the international community can mount pressure on the Burmese military junta to end its dictatorship," said Nay Tun Naing. Naing, 34, is one of the 15 dissidents who are members of the National League for Democracy, Myanmar's opposition party that is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "We spend more than half of our salaries on party activities. But nobody complains about it, because our purpose of being here is to liberate our country, not to live comfortably," Naing said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. Like other members of the National League for Democracy Party, Naing still calls his country Burma, although it was renamed Myanmar by the military regime in 1989. At the time, the change represented military leaders' effort to improve their international image, which was tainted by a series of bloody clampdowns on anti-government riots in 1988 that killed thousands of Burmese people. Naing was a student at Rangoon University when the popular uprising occurred and he was detained for months for participating in an anti-government protest. When he returned to university months later, Naing found it harder to continue his extra-curricular activities because riot police were posted all around campuses and universities were often forced to close to prevent student assemblies. "I thought being abroad would be better than staying in prison," Naing recalled. In 1994, he fled to Korea and four years later established a Korean branch for his party called the "NLD Korean Branch," in Bucheon, a satellite city southwest of Seoul. But the Myanmar dissidents are experiencing difficulties in promoting the pro-democracy struggle effectively in Korea because of restraints attendant on their predominantly illegal status. The 15 NLD members sought refuge here but the Korean government, which has a diplomatic relationship with the military-backed Myanmar regime, has never fully recognized their activities. Until early this year, the Seoul government had refused to grant the NLD members refugee status, treating them as illegal aliens. As local rights groups consistently demanded that the Myanmar dissidents be treated as political refugees, the government granted asylum for three of them, including Naing, in January. "It seems the Korean government just doesn't want to face up to the rampant political tortures and human rights abuses by the Burmese government," Naing said. _____________ The Australian May 4 2003 Temporary relief from a life in hell By Elisabeth Wynhausen and Natalie O'Brien KAM was repeatedly raped in an army camp in Burma. Still a girl, she was passed from one group of soldiers to another. Some threatened to harm her if she did not serve them. Kam, the only name by which she is known, was held captive until trafficked across the border into Thailand to be locked up and forced into prostitution. She was then 12 or 13. The now 24-year-old Kam has been granted a temporary protection visa after the Refugee Review Tribunal discounted Immigration Department claims she was Thai. Her experiences have left her traumatised, depressed and fearful. A psychologist who interviewed her in detention described her as "timid and subdued". Yet in three years she will again have to convince authorities she is a Shan woman from Burma who needs protection. Kam's story is only too familiar to Melbourne grandmother Myint Myint Wai, 52. Imprisoned in Burma in 1999 as an opponent of the military dictatorship, Wai met many young women who had been sold into prostitution after they were sexually abused by soldiers or police. "These women have no voice at all," said Wai, who does what she can to publicise their plight. In considering Kam's case, the Refugee Review Tribunal cited a report that found the Burmese military allowed its troops to systematically use rape to terrorise the people of the Shan state. The report by the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) describes what happened to 625 Shan girls and women who were raped and brutalised by the Burmese military. More than half the attacks were gang rapes. Like Kam, many of the women were held captive on military bases and raped repeatedly. Interviewed while in immigration detention in Australia, Kam told officials that soldiers had often come to her village in the south of Burma demanding rice from the local people. "The soldiers would do whatever they wanted, particularly to the girls in the village." She was staying with her grandmother on the night the soldiers abducted her, and has not seen her family since. "I was taken to an army camp," she said through an interpreter. "I was raped at this camp numerous times. "One day I was taken with many other girls across the border to Thailand in a truck." The soldiers sold her to a trafficker, who sold her to a brothel. "I was forced to work as a prostitute. My boss ...told me I had to pay debts to the woman who took me from the army camp." She was told her boss had given the woman 30,000 baht, which Kam had to pay back, the same twisted logic imposed on women trafficked to Australia, who are forced to have sex with hundreds of men to pay off their so-called contracts. "Because I was unlawful in Thailand, I was often on the move," she said. On one occasion she was deported back to Burma, but did not know where to go or how to get home. Frightened the Burmese military would take her prisoner again, she returned to Thailand, and was trafficked to Australia not long afterwards. Eventually picked up in a raid on a brothel in Sydney's Surry Hills, Kam told officials she feared what would happen to her and her family if she were returned to Burma. Kirsty Allen, of the Melbourne-based International Women's Development Agency, said it was a common experience. "The women from Burma being trafficked here are often refugees from the military dictatorship in Burma." Noting reports of human rights abuses by the Burmese dictatorship, the Refugee Review Tribunal found Kam would not be safe "anywhere within Burma". This accords with the view expressed by US congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of a congressional committee on human rights, who has said: "Girls and women of Burma are raped, tortured, beaten and killed as part of a systematic campaign by the Burmese army to subjugate its people." STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC May 5, 2003 Excerpt: BURMA 12-13 Release of Political Prisoners QUESTION: Okay, I was just wondering. Do you have anything on the release by Burma of a dissident there? MR. BOUCHER: Eighteen people were released in Burma. QUESTION: I'm thinking of one. MR. BOUCHER: Somewhere in here, yeah. We welcome the most recent release of political prisoners in Burma, including Dr. Salai Tun Than. We had raised the case of Dr. Salai Tun Than with the regime due to his age and his nonviolent call for freedom for reform. He is an academic and an alumnus of two United States universities. We hope that this release will lead to the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners and a substantive dialogue between the regime and the National League for Democracy and national reconciliation. Thank you. ______ Bangkok Post May 6 2003 ROAD TO REFORM RUNS INTO DEAD-END By LARRY JAGAN Burma's generals still cling to power one year after Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, and there is no reason to believe they have any intention of starting serious political talks with the opposition leader. Burma has changed little over the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed. The country's fragile dialogue process remains deadlocked and in danger of collapsing. Burma's top generals insist they are committed to economic and political reform but do little to show their sincerity. The euphoria that surrounded the opposition leader's release a year ago has given way to disappointment and frustration as Burma slips deeper into crisis and despair. Ms Suu Kyi's release is seen as a signal that the military regime is prepared to move on to the next stage of the national reconciliation process: substantive talks with the opposition leader on the country's political future,'' one senior Western diplomat said shortly after Ms Suu Kyi's release. The UN envoy Razali Ismail, who convinced the generals to free Ms Suu Kyi and helped broker the talks between the two sides, was sure the military was ready for serious political negotiations and prepared to cooperate with the National League for Democracy. Twelve months later, these hopes appear to have been dashed. Instead of progress, the two sides have slipped into a war of words that is being fought through press conferences and press releases. Only a few days ago, Ms Suu Kyi went on the offensive and told journalists at a press briefing at the NLD headquarters: I have come to the conclusion that the SPDC State Peace Development Council is not interested in national reconciliation.'' Throughout the past year, the opposition leader has appealed to the generals to open concrete talks and stated that she and the NLD were prepared to cooperate with the army. She has told them repeatedly that the opposition does not see the military as the enemy. We do not want to be the enemy,'' she recently told the Bangkok Post in Rangoon. We are in opposition to each other at the moment but we should work together for the sake of the country, and we certainly bear no grudges against them. We are not out for vengeance. We want to reach the kind of settlement which will be beneficial to everybody, including the members of the military.'' But the generals have so far rebuffed all the opposition overtures. It's more than time to proceed from the confidence-building stage to full cooperation, especially in the humanitarian area.,'' Ms Suu Kyi said two weeks ago. The SPDC has shown that it is not keen to cooperate with us in matters of humanitarian aid.'' Colonel Hla Min, the military government spokesman, for his part, insists the government actively welcomes meaningful and constructive suggestions from all its citizens in all areas of national development, particularly in education, health-care and economic development''. Neither side seems able to take the initiative. The UN envoy's insistence that Burma's political reform must be a home-grown process has also waned over the past year. Neither side is able to talk directly to the other,'' a senior Western diplomat involved in Burma said. And that is the role Mr Razali can play.'' But Burma's military rulers have continually rebuffed the envoy's repeated requests over the last three months to return to Rangoon to help restart the talks. He usually visits Burma every three months or so, but he has been denied access to Rangoon for more than six months. In fact, it looks as though he will not be allowed back until early June at the earliest. The process of national reconciliation has clearly ground to a halt. Burma's military leaders seem keen to drag the process out as long as possible instead of talking to Ms Suu Kyi. Faced with increased international pressure _ the United States is in the process of extending sanctions and banning all textile imports from Burma, and the European Union has adopted tougher measures which will be implemented automatically in six months time if there is no progress in the dialogue process _ Burma's top generals are looking to their neighbours for support. Senior General Than Shwe, Burma's top leader, has been busy visiting as many countries around the region as he can. In the past six months, he has visited Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Thailand. He's currently on a state visit to Laos. Other senior ministers, including intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung, have also been active whipping up support for the regime. Earlier this year, Win Aung made an historic trip to India. Burma's leaders have long told Western government ministers and diplomats that they did not fear Western-led sanctions as they expected to get all the trade, investment and aid they needed from their neighbours. The reality, of course, is that this is not forthcoming. In the last twelve months, the only Asean investment was the Malaysian petroleum giant Petronas' buy-out of the British company Premier Oil's interests in Burma. Although Bangladesh and India have some commercial interests in Burma, the only significant regional investor in the country is China. It is time Asean governments reassessed their uncritical support for Rangoon. Privately, United Nations officers say their credibility will be on the line if they continue to put their heads in the sand. But even after meeting Mr Razali last week in Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai continued to tell local journalists that the dialogue process had not stalled and that Bangkok fully supported Burma's national reconciliation process. But Thai officials privately concede that the government is fully aware that there are no talks between the two sides and that the whole process is in deep trouble. Asean countries have tried to avoid thinking about Burma. It's too divisive,'' one senior Asean diplomat said. Countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam _ and Brunei _ will not criticise Myanmar Burma or allow pressure to be brought to bear on issues like human rights and democratic reform.'' There currently is no real incentive for the other Asean countries to take the initiative. But they must change soon. Burma will take over the presidency of Asean in 2006 _ and the annual summit will be held in Rangoon. It will highly embarrassing for Asean to be led by one of the world's remaining military dictatorships,'' said a senior UN official privately in New York. But if the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed are any indication, it is still going to be years before Burma gets the democratic reform most Burmese people crave. Asean leaders could help speed that process up if privately, at two-way and multilateral meetings, they began to put real pressure on Burma's generals to implement economic and political reform. ___________ National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma May 6 2003 Press Release: Burmese Generals 'Making Mileage Out of Human Misery' The generals in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) recently released 21 political prisoners claiming that they had made the decision after taking "health and humanitarian concerns" into consideration. This is just another glaring case of the regime making mileage out of human misery. These politicians should never have been in prison in the first case. And, any health problems that the generals are now so concerned about only emerged because these democracy activists were left neglected and exposed to harsh prison conditions. Presently, there are around 1,400 political prisoners still held by the military regime, and many of them--Min Ko Naing, U Win Tin, U Win Htein, and elected representatives Dr Zaw Myint Maung of Amarapura, U Sein Hla Oo of insein, Dr May Win Myint of Mayangon, and Dr Myint Naing of Kantbalu, to name a few--have all completed their original sentences but continued to be kept in prison. The regime's announcement that "those that will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and the unity of the nation" will be released actually means that the generals will continue to act above the law and keep activists in prison until they are deemed to be politically neutralized. Prime Minister Dr Sein Win said, "The generals are out of touch with reality and are punishing dedicated people who can work for the good of the country. The country is dangerously inching toward disaster all because of the political paranoia of these generals." The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma strongly condemns the SPDC which is courting danger by refusing to work toward national reconciliation and for continuing to keep politicians imprisoned so that they can be used as a tool in the generals' political game. ________ All Burma Federation of Student Unions May 6 2003 Press Release: Regime Continue the arrest of students By Foreign Affairs Committee, ABFSU In April, 8 student activists from various regions of the country were arrested by the Military Intelligence, after the student demonstration on 4 April 2003 at Rangoon, capital of Burma. All of them are members of student front which organized the peaceful demonstration in front of British Embassy, Rangoon on 4 April. The student front, People Students' Oway Front, had formed with students from various universities, colleges and high schools throughout the nation to mobilize the peaceful student movements for political development. One of its members is now seeking political asylum at the British Embassy, since he had a fear of persecution because of his involvement in the demonstration on 4 April. The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any terrorist activities and they will never do such an act. According to information of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), these students were arrested because of their memberships in the student front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April. Min Naing, spokesperson of Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU, said, "We are very concerning of these students who recently were arrested. Because the regime had accused the students who participated in the demonstration had linked with previous bomb attack in Rangoon. This is really wrong. In previous history of Burma, students always move in peaceful ways and have never practiced violent ways. Only the regime had used violent means to crash down student movements. Thus, we have concerned that these students might be tortured at military interrogation centers, accusing they had linked with terrorist acts." ABFSU strongly believe that the violent means to student movements and arrests of students cannot solve real existing problems in Burma. ABFSU demands military regime to release all political prisoners including students, to legalize independent student unions and other civil groups, and to hold a peaceful political talk with National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi. For more information about the student front which organized the demonstration on 4 April, the attached letters are shown. These were distributed inside Burma by People Students' Oway Front, and are translated into English Version by Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU. Media Contact: Min Naing (66-1- 740 2908) Foreign Affairs Committee All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU)