BurmaNet News: December 3 2002

[editor at burmanet.org]

December 3 2002 Issue #2130

INSIDE BURMA

Narinjara: White Elephant on its trip to Rangoon
DVB: Policemen urged to test HIV
Myanmar Times: FAO allocates more funds to aid rural poor

GUNS

IMNA: Hongsarwatoi Restoration Party No. 7 Battalion Major Blain Son and
some HRP soldiers return to NMSP

DRUGS

FEER: unimpressed by Burma’s war on drugs
CSM: Diplomatic pitfalls frustrate Thailand’s antidrug fight
Retuers: Dazed and confused over Thai opium ride
TV Myanmar: Thailand to grant aid for model Burmese anti-drug village

MONEY

DVB: Gambling or rebellion
Bangkok Post: Burma Agrees to join Thailand in dam project

REGIONAL

Forum Asia: Persecuted Muslims fear deportation to military Burma
AFP: Russia may  be seeking full dialogue in ASEAN security forum

MISCELLANEOUS

The Times: Today in Parliament

INSIDE BURMA

Narinjara News December 3 2002

White Elephant on its trip to Rangoon

Another white elephant from Rakhine State in the western part of Burma is
on its way to Rangoon, the capital, according to our correspondent quoting
officials.
The elephant reached Sandway (Thandway), the coastal tourist resort of
western Burma, in the evening of the day before yesterday.  Light Infantry
Battalion 34 was in charge of transporting the elephant from Sittwe to
Thandway.  From Sandway Light Infantry Battalion 55 was taking all
necessary steps to ship her on the same evening to Rangoon.
The elephant was previously brought from Buthidaung to Sittwwe on 21
November.  A group of troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Aung Naing Tun
carried the white elephant on the tugboat, Ye-gyant to Sittwe.
The four-year old cow elephant was captured on July 18th this year at a
point between Buthidaung and Rathedaung in the Mayu Hills Range. 
Department of Forest Produces Manager, U Nyunt Way, led a team to capture
the elephant.  The team temporarily paralyzed her using an anaesthetic
shot before capturing her.
The white cow elephant stands 4ft 8in, has white hair, coconut shell
coloured skin, pearly white eyeballs, white nails, and one-and-a-half-foot
long task.
Last year two more so-called white elephants were captured in the same
region.
__________

Democratic Voice of Burma December 1 2002

Policemen urged to test HIV

The Central Police Directorate in Burma is instructing all policemen to be
tested for HIV and the results are to be given at the end of this month.
But it was not clear why the policemen have to check for HIV positive and
more importantly what would happen to those who found HIV positive.
However, according to DVB sources, the immediate concern for the policemen
is lack of financial supports for the test. The police are finding it
difficult to follow the order. The police forces throughout the nation are
co-ordinating with health authorities to follow the order but because of
lack of medical equipment in hospitals they are facing the possibilities
of paying for the tests at outside clinics.
At the outside clinic, each test is charged 300 kyats and most police are
unable to afford with their meagre salary. According to the estimate of
the WHO, there are about 500,000 people infected with HIV and the
considerable numbers of them are policemen and soldiers.
_____

Myanmar Times November 25-December 1 2002

FAO allocates more funds to aid rural poor
By Myo Lwin

Aid provided under a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
poverty alleviation program will help about 25 households raise seasonal
crops in their residential compounds at Taikkyi, about 30 miles north of
Yangon. The US$6350 allocated for the project last week follows funding of
$9400 provided last September to Too-chaung village in Ayeyarwaddy
Division which has enabled 40 families to produce fish sauce. Both
allocations were proposed by the Agricultural Planning Department of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, which also monitors the projects.
The funds were provided under the FAO’s Telefood program, which has raised
more than $9 million in donations throughout the world since being
launched by the Rome-based organisation in 1997. Many of the donations
were pledged in telephone calls to fund-raising centres. The allocations
were the first to be provided to Myanmar under the Telefood program, said
project co-ordinator Daw Mi Mi Maw, a staff officer at the Agricultural
Planning Department. Daw Mi Mi Maw said the program was aimed at helping
the poorest people in rural areas to help themselves. Funds from the FAO
were used to provide farm implements, seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and
agricultural training. She said the FAO would make more funding available
under the program if the two projects proved to be successful.
________

GUNS

Independent Mon News Agency
December 3 2002

Hongsarwatoi Restoration Party No. 7 Battalion Major Blain Son and some
HRP soldiers return to NMSP

Yesterday Hongsarwatoi Restoration Party (HRP) No.7 battalion Major Blain
Son and 21 of HRP soldiers with arms returned to New Mon State Party
(HRP)in Three Pagoda Pass.

Nai Blain Son who had long contact with NMSP returned to NMSP No.2
Operation troop Major, Major Nyan Tun and well come by NMSP vice army
chief General Aung Naing.

General Aung Naing said in the well coming celebration in Japanese Well,
Three Pagoda Pass Township "they are well coming and they will resettle
the soldier return to them to the suitable place and no punishment for
them."

Mostly of soldier return to NMSP with Major Blain Son were served in NMSP
before they separated with Colonel Pan Nyunt.

Nai Blain Son was who caught NMSP General Secretary Nai Rot Sa on June 24,
2002.
________

DRUGS

Far Eastern Economic Review December 2 2002

Unimpressed By Burma's War on Drugs

A number of United States congressmen are up in arms at recent reports
that the U.S. may soon take Burma off a list of major drug-producing
countries. The move would allow the military government in Rangoon to
receive counter-narcotics assistance from Washington. Protest letters soon
followed. Among them was one from incoming Senate Majority Whip Mitch
McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, who wrote in a November 25 letter
to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice: "News reports of more and
cheaper Burmese heroin reappearing on the streets of Australia and China
than at any time in the past two years . . . call into question the
integrity of any counter-narcotic effort" by the military junta in Burma.
A senior State Department official says no decision on whether to
recommend removing Burma from the list would be made before December. But
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said in a November 21 speech that
Rangoon's cooperation on narcotics "has continued to improve in real
terms." McConnell insisted in his letter that there is "no consensus among
experts" about the level of Burma's cooperation on controlling narcotics.
"Given Burma's aggressive amphetamine production, there is no question
that the [government] remains a clear and present danger to the people of
Burma and the entire region." House of Representatives members Ilena
Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, and Tom Lantos, a Democrat from
Florida, sent a similar letter of protest to Secretary of State Colin
Powell.
________

Christian Science Monitor December 3 2002

Diplomatic pitfalls frustrate Thailand's antidrug fight
By Simon Montlake

Thais sideline a US-trained commando force in their bid to boost ties with
Burma.
PHITSANULOK, THAILAND - A special US-trained commando force created to
block a flood of illegal drugs into Thailand has been sidelined by a
delicate diplomatic two-step between Thailand and Burma (Myanmar), its
neighbor and the source of the drugs.
Known as Taskforce 399, the unit was set up last year and trained by US
Special Forces troops. It is equipped with surveillance and combat
equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters and night-vision goggles.
US officials say Thailand quietly sought their help amid public alarm over
the rapid spread of methamphetamine pills, known to Thais as ya ba or
crazy medicine. An estimated 5 percent of Thailand's 62 million people are
addicted to the speed pills, which cost as little as $1 each and are
readily available across the country.
"When you have methamphetamine showing up in your primary schools, it's
time to sit up and take notice," says a US military official. "Nobody
wants these drugs pouring over their border."
The US is also getting a taste of this problem: In August, customs
officials in California seized 75,000 ya ba pills sent to Sacramento from
Thailand and Laos, the largest-ever bust. And heroin continues to flow out
of Burma and to the US, via smuggling routes in Thailand and China.
But initial optimism that US trainers and equipment might help turn the
tide against traffickers has given way to frustration. Thai Army sources,
diplomats, and observers in the rugged, 1250 mile-long border area say
that Taskforce 399 has pulled back in recent months as Thailand has sought
to repair diplomatic and commercial ties with Burma's military rulers.
Relations between the two countries took a nosedive in May when Thai
troops shelled Burmese troops that were battling Shan rebels along the
border. Burma promptly closed all land crossings to Thailand, slamming the
door to trade.
The border reopened in October after months of talks between the two
governments. Few details were offered publicly, but diplomats say Burma
wanted firm assurances that Thai troops wouldn't stray across the border -
even to track drug couriers.
Burma also said it objected to the presence of "foreign" troops near its
border, although US and Thai military officials say that US troops
assigned to train Taskforce 399 are advisers and don't join Thai antidrug
operations.
"[Burma] is quite nervous; they don't want the US government involved in
this kind of stuff ... Thailand is in a delicate situation. Its
relationship with Burma may be getting better, but there are still
problems on the border and they may be losing the war on drugs," says Aung
Zaw, a Burmese exile and magazine editor.
At the heart is a dilemma for countries trying to stem the outflow of
drugs from Burma: How to cooperate with a government with only nominal
control over its territory. Much of the ya ba and heroin trafficked across
the border is traced to ethnic insurgents such as the United Wa State Army
that signed cease-fires with the junta.
Drug-control experts say Burma has made strides recently in combating
opium, the raw ingredient in heroin, by promoting alternative crops for
farmers, a strategy that Thailand has used successfully to curb its opium
trade. Last year Burma's heroin production fell to 950 tons, a 14-year
low, according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
But those favoring cooperation with Burma say there's no sign of a
crackdown on ya ba labs. "Opium fields are easy to detect, but
methamphetamine factories are hidden from sight and can't be easily found,
and they're located in areas that the Burmese government doesn't control,"
says Yngve Danling, an adviser to the UN Drug Control Program.
Critics see Burma's inaction as deliberate, and accuse its generals of
profiting from the trade, a charge denied by the regime.
Whatever the reason, the drugs keep arriving. This week, the Thai Army
warned that the UWSA was developing new routes to traffic up to 1 billion
pills into Thailand over the next year.
Some Army officers bemoan their chances of success without "hot pursuit"
of traffickers who slip across the border, which is porous and poorly
demarcated. "We can cooperate with Burma with our [antidrug] intelligence
but they don't have enough troops to do the job," complains a Thai
general.
Taskforce 399 was supposed to strike back at the drug lords. Using $2
million from the US Defense Department's counternarcotics budget, it was
designed as a lethal, rapid-response unit ready to swoop in on armed
convoys that cross into Thailand at night.
In reality, the taskforce currently has only about 100 men assigned
permanently, with another 460 men seconded from Army and border police
units. Thai officers say this lack of manpower prevents them from reacting
quickly to intelligence tip-offs, since they need approval to mobilize.
Some say the handicap is intentional: Officers are under orders to avoid
firefights in sensitive areas that could upset Thai diplomacy.
Lt. Gen. Udomchai Ongkasing, commander of the 3rd Army that guards the
border, says Taskforce 399 has a "small target" for now, and that
cooperation is the way forward.
"We only use Taskforce 399 inside our border. We care that Myanmar isn't
happy about 399 operating along the border...[so] if we try to coordinate
with the Myanmar junta to help us suppress drugs, this is better," he
says.
That policy can work, say observers, only if Burma stamps out UWSA drug
labs or Thailand loses its appetite for ya ba. So far, neither looks
likely.
______

Reuters December 3 2002

Dazed and confused over Thai opium ride

First reactions to Thailand's giant new opium museum in the Golden
Triangle are confused: pleasant surprise at cool air after the intense
tropical heat, but then disorientation, shock, even fear.
Visitors enter the 40-hectare complex through a long, dark, mist-filled
tunnel, which winds into the base of a hill past bas-reliefs of distorted
human figures before emerging suddenly into bright sunlight in front of a
field of poppies.
"This is the mystery, the contradiction of opium," says Charles Mehl, head
of research for the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, which has just completed the
$10 million museum.
"Opium is one of the very best drugs we have for treating chronic pain and
bringing relief from suffering. But it can also be one of the worst,
destroying lives if it is used for recreation or exploited for commercial
gain."
Built into a hillside by the Mekong River on the northern tip of Thailand,
the museum lies at the heart of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Saen town is
about 750 km (470 miles) north of Bangkok, overlooking the junction of the
borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
The Golden Triangle is a largely lawless region that last year produced
more opium and heroin than Afghanistan and more synthetic stimulant pills
than all the rest of the laboratories in Southeast Asia put together,
drugs agencies say.
Trippers
Western backpackers and busloads of other day-trippers pour daily into the
picturesque Chiang Saen district, in Chiang Rai province, to buy souvenirs
on the Mekong's banks. Some try illicit puffs on opium pipes in nearby
villages.
The museum, which will open officially early next year, aims to exploit
this tourist business, luring the curious with the promise of
entertainment and impressive audio-visual displays in English and Thai.
But as visitors progress down the labyrinthine corridors that stretch
across three floors, the warnings against narcotic abuse gradually become
more powerful.
"People think at first they know what they will see -- a quaint
presentation about hilltribes growing opium. But that's only a small part
of the story," said Mehl.
Mae Fah Luang has fought a 15-year battle against drug-taking and
addiction in Chiang Rai province, establishing what the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says is probably the best anti-drugs
crop-substitution program in Asia.
Lessons from that program, which has succeeded in the nearby Thai
mountains of Doi Tung in part by offering farmers of opium poppies a
better income from alternative crops such as coffee and macadamia nuts,
are built into the museum.
But it also offers a thorough lesson in the history of opium, its
derivatives such as heroin and laudanum, and explains how the drugs trade
has helped change the world for hundreds of years.
Tragedy and trauma
Thought to have been used first along the coast of the Mediterranean,
archeologists say the earliest evidence of opium was found in Switzerland
dating from the neolithic period.
It was a popular sedative in ancient Egypt and Greece before spreading to
northern Europe and Asia and becoming a key commodity that was exchanged
for Chinese tea and other spices by the British and Dutch.
With 360-degree special effects, the museum traces the 19th century opium
wars between Britain and China before looking at prohibition in the 20th
century and official efforts, often spectacularly unsuccessful, to stop
the use of illegal drugs.
The museum asks visitors to themselves decide what could be the best
approach to narcotics -- prohibition, drug eradication schemes,
decriminalization or legalization -- but it pulls no punches on the
tragedy and trauma inflicted by drugs on abusers.
A final, heart-wrenching gallery recounts the powerful true stories of
victims of drug abuse around the world through intimate video testimonies
by their families.
"The feelings which develop through a visit to the museum change towards
the very end when there is evidence of the death and suffering that drug
abuse produces," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the
Vienna-based UNODC.
"The end message is very strong, namely that use of drugs should be
fought. Society has to use all its instruments, which means law
enforcement for sure, but not only law enforcement. Prevention and
treatment are equally important."
_____

TV Myanmar December 2 2002

Thailand to grant aid for model Burmese anti-drug village

Myanmar and Thai delegates discussed plans on the project for construction
of Yaungkha model village in Wa region at Special Anti-Drug Office in
Tachilek on 30 November morning at 0815 local time .

It was attended by 10-member Myanmar delegation led by Col San Pwint,
deputy head of department of the Office of the Chief of Military
Intelligence and the four-member Thai delegation headed by Mr Disnada
Diskul. The meeting discussed the programme under which Thailand will
grant 20m baht in aid to build the village. The two sides agreed to
promptly implement the project covering the construction of a school with
the capacity of 500 students and a 16-bed dispensary and discussed matters
on agricultural and development tasks of the village.
________

MONEY

Democratic Voice of Burma December 1 2002

Gambling or Rebellion?

Illegal gambling is again on the increase in Burma during this month due
to poverty and economical difficulties. The authorities are doing their
best to crackdown on all types of gambling and gamblers but they are not
arresting the main gambling centres. The problems have increased after
only gamblers and small gambling centres were arrested and prosecuted.
The problem is made worse by the insistence of the groups who signed
ceasefire deal with the SPDC on opening their gambling centres. They
threaten to re-join the rebels if their demands are not met.
During a recent religious festival in Yenanggyaung, central Burma, the
local authorities allowed gambling centres to be opened officially. And at
a religious festival in Putao, Kachin State, a SPDC sergeant open fired
after a quarrel with the gambler. According to a lottery tickets vendor,
the government sponsored 'Aungbale' lottery shops are doing slow trade
because of the illegal gambling.
_________

Bangkok Post December 3 2002

Burma Agrees to Join Thailand in Dam Project

Burma has agreed in principle to join Thailand in a US$ 5.5-billion
hydro-power dam on the Salween River, but opinions remain split over the
location of the project.

Energy Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said he had instructed Sitthiporn
Rattanopas, governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
(Egat), to study the possibility of constructing the power plant on the
Thai side.

Once a site was found, the minister said he might visit his Burmese
counterparts to further discuss the possible joint investment in the
project. Mr Sitthiporn, who discussed the proposal with a senior Burmese
official during his recent trip to the country, said Rangoon wanted the
3,000-megawatt power plant to be built in Tha Sang district in Burma.

However, Egat wanted the plant to be built on the Thai side, in Mae
Sariang district of Mae Hong Son. The authority argued it would be easier
to negotiate for loans and persuade investors if the project was on Thai
soil.

He said the final decision on the project would hinge on discussions
between the leaders of the two countries.

Mr Sitthiporn said he had also proposed the possibility of Rangoon hiring
Egat to generate power using natural gas from the Yadana and Yetagun
fields off the coast of Burma, to be delivered through PTT Plc's pipeline.

Burma would benefit from the proposal, as the country could consume power
at lower prices because fuel costs would be negligible and Rangoon did not
need to invest in a power plant.

"Although there remains a difference over the suitable location of the
hydro-power project, it should be regarded a good starting point for the
two countries to make use of natural resources by jointly generating
power."

Egat officials plan to visit China on Thursday to observe hydro-power
generation from the country's largest dam. They will gather information
from the study tour and apply it to the Salween project.

Egat expected the Salween power project, if built on the Thai side, would
enable the country to enjoy a lower price of power, at 0.80 satang per
unit, compared with a unit price of 1.60 satang for power purchased from
two hydro-power plants in Laos.
________

REGIONAL

Forum Asia December 3 2002

Persecuted Muslims Fear Deportation to Military Burma

Over 4,000 undocumented Rohingya asylum seekers camping near local
administration buildings in Teknaf, Bangladesh fear deportation to
military-ruled Burma.
The asylum seekers, members of a stateless Muslim ethnic minority group
from Burma’s Arakan State, have been living in appalling conditions since
15 November, after being evicted from the houses in Teknaf, Bangladesh,
where they were taking refuge.  The Asian Forum for Human Rights and
Development (Forum-Asia) called on the Government of Bangladesh and the
UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee agency, today to abide by international
humanitarian principles and ensure that the group is not forcibly deported
to Burma.

Forum-Asia, a regional human rights organization, is concerned for the
safety of the asylum seekers who are likely to face continued
discrimination and human rights abuses should they be returned to Burma.

The authorities in Bangladesh, who claim there are about 25,000 illegal
Rohingya immigrants in Teknaf area alone, began to evict Rohingya from the
area in November, forcing over 600 families to camp out in front of the
Teknaf district offices, without adequate food or clean water.  Local MP
Mr. Shah Jahan told reporters that the “push-back” process would start
soon.

Forum-Asia sources report that more than half the asylum seekers living in
the makeshift camp are children, many malnourished, and shelters made from
leaves and plastic sheets are being shared by two to three families.

Sources say that many of the asylum seekers are refugees who had been sent
back to Burma previously, only to flee again due to continued abuses by
the Burmese military.

Rohingya are a minority Muslim group who live under strong oppression in
Burma’s Arakan State.  The Rohingya are stateless, and are subject to
severe restrictions on their movement within Burma, often being used as
forced labour by the military.  According to a Human Rights Watch report
of July 2002, the persecution of Muslims in Burma has intensified since
September 11, 2001.
One Rohingya man in the Teknaf camp said: “I left the country [Burma] when
I could no longer bear the amount of forced labour
. The Burmese Army will
just kill us if we go back.  The Bangladesh Government repatriated many
refugees to Burma after the last refugee crisis.  Why are they coming back
again, like me?   No one can go back and stay until there is some peace in
Burma.   If they are sent back forcefully, they will come back again after
a short time.  No, I will not go back!  If they send me by force, I will
jump in the Naf River!”
________

Agence France-Presse December 3 2002

Russia may be seeking full dialogue role in ASEAN security forum

China and Russia were seeking closer ties with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a Chinese official said Tuesday, in a
possible effort to seek a full dialogue role for Moscow in the ASEAN
regional forum (ARF).

China and Russia "restated a willingness to maintain close consultations
within the ASEAN Regional Forum framework," foreign ministry spokesman Liu
Jianchao said. "China is willing to give the necessary assistance to
Russia in establishing communication with this mechanism in areas of
common concern."

Liu was responding to questions concerning a joint Sino-Russian
declaration signed Monday by presidents Vladimir Putin and Jiang Zemin
which specifically cited the ARF's importance to security in the Asian
Pacific region.

The forum is a "10 plus three" mechanism that refers to an ongoing
security dialogue between the 10 ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South
Korea.

"Russia also recognized the importance of the mechanism of the 10 plus
three," Liu said when asked if China supported Russian participation in
the grouping.

He refused to say that Russia was seeking a full role in ARF or to clarify
what kind of assistance China was prepared to offer.

"I have nothing to add on this at present," Liu said.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In Monday's declaration, Moscow and Beijing said ASEAN "has played a
constructive role in establishing a new form of state-to-state
relationship in the Asian Pacific region and believe that the ARF is an
effective mechanism for political dialogue on regional issues."
________

MISCELLANEOUS

The Times (London) December 3 2002

Today in Parliament

Lords: 2.30pm Waste and Emissions Trading Bill; Medical Act (Amendment)
Order; debate on developments in Burma.