BurmaNet News: January 30 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

January 30 2003 Issue #2167

INSIDE BURMA

DVB: No plan to talk to NLD and we are not afraid of USA-SPDC
DVB: Pamphlets against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Monya
SCMP: Touch of nobility dies with a Shan princess
Xinhua: 30 more anti-govt armed group members surrender in Myanmar

MONEY

AFP: Bangladesh, Myanmar start shipping service
DVB: Forced rice sales in Shan State
DVB: Inflation and companies

REGIONAL

AP: Thailand suspends relations with Cambodia

MISCELLANEOUS

Chosun Ilbo: Myanmar activist gets refugee status
Asia Times Online: Dark days for Asian journalism

INSIDE BURMA

Democratic Voice of Burma January 28 2003

No plan to talk to NLD and we are not afraid of USA – SPDC

It is reported that the SPDC’s Council member, Lt-Gen Soe Win said that
the SPDC has no plan to talk to the NLD. The comment was made at a meeting
of USDA members, local authorities and civil servants on the 21st of this
month in Prome [Pyi]. He emphasised that the SPDC not only won’t talk to
the NLD but also would never handover power to the NLD. He then urged and
directed the civil servants to do what they have to do and not to contact
the NLD.

General Soe Win was the Commander of the Northwest Command and he became a
member of the SPDC in November 1997. He was promoted to the position of
Commander of Air Defence in November 2001 and he is also an honorary
member of the USDA.

General Soe Win and group toured Pegu and Irrawaddy Divisions to rally
people during last week and on Tuesday; he arrived at Hinthada and met the
local USDA members. On Friday, he met members of the USDA at the City Hall
of Bassein. The details of the meetings are not known but he told them
that the situation in Burma has improved since the SPDC took over the
country by building roads and schools. He also guaranteed that there would
be no military intervention against Burma by the American government like
it is doing against Iraq.  The SPDC won’t accept that either. He also
added that as Burma is friendly with China, this kind of scenario could be
protected against.
_______

Democratic Voice of Burma January 29 2003

Pamphlets against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Monya

It is reported that pamphlets denouncing and demeaning Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi are being distributed in Sagaing Division. The tracts contain four
pictures of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the late husband Dr. Michael Aris and
previously published some degrading poems from ‘The New Light of Myanmar’.
According to a local person, they are being distributed in Ayadaw,
Salingyi, Bootalin and Chaung U Townships of Monywa District, Saganing
Division. The tracts are usually distributed after each NLD township
meeting. On the 10th of January, the tracts were distributed in the same
evening after the meeting of local Bootalin NLD members.

A Monya resident told the DVB that the distributors seem to want to let
the NLD know of the tracts because they are mainly distributed around the
homes of Township NLD chairmen. There has been no report of distribution
of the tract in Monywa itself and other states and divisions. When asked
who did it, the person just said ‘you can easily guess who is behind
this’.

There have been no major restrictions and obstructions on the activities
of the NLD in Sagaing Division so far. The Sagaing Divisional NLD office
was officially reopened on the 19th of January but only 3 township offices
are allowed out of 40 townships so far. The remaining offices are ready to
be opened by the NLD as soon as they are allowed to do so.

In Irrawaddy Division, the NLD is only allowed to open a divisional office
and township offices in Bassein, Ma-u Pin and Pantanaw. The rest are still
being closed. Because their offices are closed, they could not resume
their activists officially.
__________

South China Morning Post January 30 2003

Touch of nobility dies with a Shan princess The former first lady of Burma
shattered many feudal taboos
By William Barnes

The former first lady of Burma, who was cremated at the weekend, started
life as a Shan princess. Sao Hearn Hkam was sold into marriage to become
the minor wife of a local princeling.

Through tremendous force of personality she vaulted into the position of
chief wife to her older husband. Later, she was his tough, charming,
outspoken first lady when Prince Shwe Thaike was president. "I didn't come
here to be your concubine," she firmly told her prince soon after their
marriage, when she decided that she would sit beside him on his throne.
"She was the strongest and most fearless woman I have ever known, but then
she had to be," said Patricia Elliot, her biographer.

Sao Hearn Hkam, who was 87 when she died, possessed some of the old
decency that permitted some people to hope that the country, now known as
Myanmar, would somehow finesse a successful society after independence
from Britain in 1947.

Last weekend's funeral was a relatively humble affair in a distant land -
but how much better and honourable it was than coup leader Ne Win's hasty
and unmourned passing late last year.

Sao Hearn Hkam was one of a generation or two of Shan noblewomen who were
able to punch above their weight because, through marriage, they made
themselves linchpins in the often prickly relations between a myriad of
old Shan principalities.

Most of them were relatively well educated, and they seized any
opportunity open to them.

Given that they emerged from a feudal society of multiple wives, violent
family quarrels and inequality, a surprising number showed themselves to
be worldly, straightforward and sensible.

It is no coincidence that her surviving sons Tiger, Chao-tzang and Harn,
together with Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's independence
hero Aung San, have helped broker dialogue with the ruling military junta.

The coup that overthrew a chaotic civilian government in 1962 saw Sao
Hearn Hkam's husband taken into military custody, never to reappear. Her
youngest son Myee Yawnghee - executed in the first hours of the takeover -
may have been the first victim of the new military dictatorship. Sao Hearn
Hkam escaped with little more than the clothes on her back to Thailand,
where she went on to lead a Shan resistance group.

Her final years were spent cooking Myanmarese curries in a little flat in
a "senior citizens"' high-rise in Canada.

Her biographer, Elliot, said: "General Ne Win's coup interrupted a
conversation between the majority Myanmarese and the ethnic minorities .
It was not all sweetness and light when she and her contemporaries were
running the show - but at least most of them were trying to sort it all
out in a constitutional fashion."

She added: "Hope never died for her. She always wanted to go back - and
she could have - but she refused because she feared the regime would use
her return for propaganda. It was very painful for her."

Prince Shwe Thaike shared a vision, with Aung San, of participatory
democracy and respect for the aspirations of other races. But Sao Hearn
Hkam was able to say things frankly that her husband could not or would
not. For example, she did not see her first ethnic Burmese until she was
six years and firmly believed until her dying breath that the Shan needed
and deserved autonomy.

Aung San was assassinated by a rival for power six months before
independence, leaving a void that has never been satisfactorily filled.
_________

Xinhua News Agency January 30 2003

30 more anti-govt armed group members surrender in Myanmar

Thirty more members from three anti-government ethnic armed groups in
Myanmar laid down their arms to the government in December 2002, according
to a report of the Myanmar Defense Ministry available here Thursday.

These members, who "exchanged arms for peace" with the government during
the month in the southeast, coastal region, northwest and eastern command
areas respectively, are from the Kayin National Union (KNU), Chin National
Army (CNA) and Kayinni National Progressive Party (KNPP). They brought
along with them a total of 123 rounds of ammunition among others, the
report said.

The KNU is the largest anti-government ethnic armed organization operating
on the Myanmar-Thai border, while the CNA is fighting the government in
the country's northwestern Chin state and the KNPP, with its main force
numbering 7,750, had returned to the legal fold in March 1995.

Official statistics show that up to now, 17 anti-government armed groups
have reached cease-fire agreements with the government since 1989.

However, it is reported that there are still over 10 such groups in
operation in the country including the Shan United Revolutionary Army,
Arakan Liberation Party and Lahu Democratic Front.

MONEY

Agence France-Presse January 30 2003

Bangladesh, Myanmar start shipping service

A shipping service began Thursday between Bangladesh and Myanmar, marking
the first legal sea vessel between the neighbours since a 1988 coup in
Yangon.

The Singapore-flagged container ship left Bangladesh's main port at
Chittagong for a two-day journey to Yangon. "The launching of this service
would reduce cost and save time," said Nelum Attanayake of Orient Express
Lines, the ship's owners.

Earlier, most sea trade between the neighbours was routed via Singapore, a
10-day journey, said Ahsanul Huq Chowdhury, Orient Express Lines' local
representative.

The step comes a month after Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe came to
Bangladesh, becoming the first leader of the Yangon junta to visit since
the 1988 coup. The two countries agreed to boost trade.

Myanmar, then known as Burma, was one of the first countries to recognise
Bangladesh after it won independence from Pakistan in 1971.

But relations were strained in the early 1990s when around 250,000
Rohingya Muslims flooded into Bangladesh from Myanmar, claiming atrocities
by the junta.

Ties have improved since then, with the repatriation of most of the
refugees under a United Nations agreement, but more than 20,000 still live
in camps in Bangladesh.

The neighbours have a small amount of bilateral trade, with Myanmar
exporting timber, maize, rice and fish and Bangladesh selling fertiliser,
cement and medicine.
_________

Democratic Voice of Burma January 29 2003

Forced rice sales in Shan State

As the SPDC is forcing local farmers to sell their rice at the lowest
price, the farmers are resorting to bribing land officials by giving the
reduced lists of land cultivated. Farmers in Mong Yawn, Shan State have to
pay 3500-4500 kyats per acre to be able to get the certificates. Farmers
from Wandei and Wankyu villages have to pay hundreds of thousand kyats
each year to local officials U Tun Nyunt, Htay Naing and Win Saw. Members
of the Mong Yawn Township USDA found out the practice and reported it to
authorities concerned and the aforementioned people were arrested and
charged. This year, the farmers tried to bribe the new official U Saw Hla
Kyi but he refused to accept their money.
_________

Democratic Voice of Burma January 29 2003

Inflations and companies

The prices of consumer goods are rising higher and higher in Burma at the
beginning of this year after the hikes of air, train and bus fares, and
the rumour of salary hikes for civil servants. Would the salaries of the
employees of private companies will do better? A Rangoon based textile
company’s employee told the DVB as follows:

A: I work in the garment industry and my salary is not that high. Even
that I get 35,000 –40,000 kyats. At the government offices, you get around
10,000 kyats.

Q: Do you have guarantees? Salary increase? What is the condition of your
work?

A: There are two sections in our work: office and garment making. I am
from the office section. There are very few hikes in salaries. There is no
monthly or annual hike either. It depends on their fancies. For example,
if the employees show their papers that the government is hiking salaries
and they will increase by 2000 kyats. When the government increases the
salaries, they also increase our salaries a bit.

Q: Is it a Taiwanese company you are working for?

A: Yes, it is a Taiwanese company.

Q: What kinds of jobs are young people more interested in these days? The
government’s or the companies?

A: At the moment, they are all interested in the companies. The government
doesn’t recruit people. Only a few people join the civil services who have
connection to the "top". Everyone wants to join companies.

Q: Is it easy to join the companies?

A: Not very easy either. They tend to employ people close to them. You can
join through interviews. But it is rare to get jobs this way. In other
companies, things are the same; you join them through the people you know.
In companies, the people you know, the contacts are the most important
thing to work for them. If you know people there, you don’t have to be
educated.

Q: Aren’t companies employing educated and talented people?

A: Lately, things are like this. If I know someone who wants to work for
the company, that person comes to the interview and he or she will get the
job because of our contact.

REGIONAL

Associated Press January 30 2003

Thailand Suspends Relations With Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Thailand sealed its border with Cambodia,
recalled its ambassador and sent military planes to evacuate hundreds of
terrified Thais Thursday after rioters looted and torched its embassy in
the Cambodian capital.
At least one Thai man is believed to have died when a hotel was set on
fire Wednesday during the riots. The unrest was ignited by a TV star's
alleged comments that Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple should belong to
Thailand.
Seven people were injured in the anti-Thailand protests, said Thai Foreign
Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow in Bangkok.
A mob of about 1,000 people set fire to part of the Thai embassy before
Cambodian security forces dispersed them with gunfire.
Thai Ambassador Chatchawed Chartsuwan said he escaped by climbing over an
embassy wall. Nine other embassy staff also fled.
Roving gangs also set fire to or damaged three hotels, two restaurants, a
Thai Airways office and three telecommunications company offices. Thai
Airways suspended its flights to Phnom Penh.
``We have stopped all activities with Cambodia. No Cambodian will be
allowed to come to Thailand and we will bring all Thai people out from
Cambodia,'' an infuriated Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.
Thaksin said he had ordered a suspension of all government projects with
Cambodia and recalled the ambassador. Diplomatic ties were downgraded to
charge d'affaires level.
The national carrier, Thai Airways, suspended its flights to Phnom Penh
until Monday. All border crossings were closed, and 67 illegal Cambodian
workers were rounded up in a crackdown ordered by the defense ministry.
Thailand said the measures will remain in force until Cambodia gives full
explanation for its inaction against rioters, punishes the culprits and
compensates for the damage, estimated at $23 million.
Later Thursday, the Cambodian government issued a statement expressing
regret for the violence and promising to quickly compensate for the damage
to the Thai Embassy. It said a committee would be set up to find ways to
compensate the private businesses that were damaged as well.
The statement, broadcast on radio and television, added that measures were
being taken to guard the property of Thais who fled the violence.
The riots broke out after a Thai actress, Suwanan Kongying, was quoted as
saying Cambodia illegally annexed Thai territory that includes the Angkor
temple complex.
On Thursday, the actress again denied making the comment, telling
reporters in Bangkok that Wednesday was one of the worst days of her life.
A newspaper editor who first published the comments on Jan. 18
acknowledged to The Associated Press that his report was based on rumors
and probably incorrect.
The alleged slight reignited centuries-old distrust in underdeveloped
Cambodia of its larger neighbor.
To Cambodians, the Angkor temples are a cultural icon and a source of
national pride built between the 9th and 15th centuries. Angkor Wat's
silhouette adorns the Cambodian flag.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen blamed ``a small group of extremists''
and rumormongers for the violence, and said relations with Thailand have
reached ``a level of concern.''
Cambodia's chief government spokesman Khieu Kanharith apologized for the
violence.
``We did not expect this to go this far ... It was a mistake. We apologize
and regret what happened to Thailand and her people,'' he said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said more than 100
people were in detention Thursday but no charges had been filed.
On Thursday, Thai military planes made seven emergency flights from
Bangkok to evacuate 703 Thais who had huddled at the Phnom Penh airport
after fleeing the violence.
In Bangkok, scores of Thais demonstrated outside the Cambodian Embassy and
burned the Cambodian flag. They also pulled out the brass seal and
lettering on the wall, but dispersed after police officials read out an
appeal by Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Thaksin said the Thai armed forces were on full alert.
``In case something happens in Cambodia and its government cannot control
it, I will send Thai troops to protect Thai interests and people there,''
Thaksin

MISCELLANEOUS

Chosun Ilbo January 30 2003

Myanmar activist gets refugee status

It has been seven years since Le Win planted his feet on Korean soil after
being banished while fighting against the dictatorship of Myanmar. His
application for refugee was accepted on Wednesday night, just before the
Lunar New Year holiday. When he heard the news, he sat up although he was
suffering kidney disease and threw away his hat, which he had been wearing
all the time to cover his face. "This was only possible because of my
Korean friends," he said. "This is the most precious New Year's gift," he
said, sobbing.
Kim Jong-hyun, a member of the human rights group 'Me and Us' had been
helping Le Win until now and when he heard the news, he postponed his trip
to his hometown and hurried to where Le Win was staying.
Now that he is acknowledged as a refugee, Le Win has his hopes up since he
can receive a kidney transplant. "Until now, I was an illegal alien. My
partners in other countries said they would donate their kidneys but I
couldn't receive the help," he said.
Moa, who is fighting for democracy in Burma along with Le Win says
smiling, "This year, our friends decided to gather in Le Win's house to
celebrate New Year Korean style. I have hope since now I am recognized as
a refugee in Korea and can live a proper life."
Le Win came to Korea seven years ago in 1996 when he was the student union
president of Myanmar's Langun University. Escaping from the suppression of
the autocratic government, he chose Korea "with no hesitation because of
favorable feelings towards president Kim Dae-jung and the history of the
Gwangju resistance."
In July of 1999, he organized the NLD, a league for Burma's democracy in
order to recover human rights and democracy in his mother country. Even
after he became sick, he participated in exhibiting pictures of Myanmar's
current state in Myongdong, Hyehwadong and in front of the Myanmar Embassy
and led petitions for the release of Myanmar's democratic political
criminals.
"When caught by the police, we are sent by force to Myanmar for more than
20 years of sentence but thanks to my Korean friends, I was able to stand
this fear," said Le Win. "I will never forget this New Year’s for the rest
of my life."
Since Korea announced its Refugee Treaty nine years ago, 160 foreigners
have applied for refugees. However, among these, only six including Le Win
have been acknowledged.
_________________

Asian Times Online January 30 2003

Dark days for Asian journalism
By Alan Boyd

Globalization pressures and the war against terrorism have brought an
abrupt end to the new information age that accompanied the democratic
revival of 1997-98 in much of Asia.

Human rights groups have charted a steady tightening of media controls
since the Asian economic tigers emerged from their worst financial
upheaval with an enhanced commitment to individual liberties, including
free expression.

There are more reporters behind bars than ever before. Newspapers are
being closed at an accelerating rate and radio and TV stations gagged in
the name of national unity. Even the cyber jockeys are being pulled from
their seemingly unassailable pedestals.

Media watchdogs fear that the brazen manner of the latest purge could
point to a hardening of official attitudes toward information flows in
both the established democracies and their less-developed neighbors.

"The situation in many parts of Asia remains bad, with China confirming
its position as one of the biggest jailers of journalists, Bangladesh
continuing to prove extremely dangerous, Vietnam still giving no place for
press freedom, North Korea being as closed a society as one can imagine,
Nepal ranking first in the wake of the harsh crackdown on the Maoist
insurgency... Burma [Myanmar] still a highly repressive regime, and
regular attacks on press freedom in the Philippines ... ," the World
Association of Newspapers warned in its annual review of press freedom.

Only five years ago, new magazines and newspapers were hitting the streets
daily in Indonesia, as expression flowered under the patronage of interim
leader Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie following the ousting of hardline
president Suharto in May 1998.

Evergreen political weekly Tempo was allowed to reopen, with founder and
chief editor Gunawan Mohamad pledging to "develop a culture of
transparency and accountability in the government [and] become a place
that will help defend and expand our freedoms".

Malaysia's muted opposition media bloomed in the same year, as the
persecution of fallen deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim triggered a
massive backlash against state-owned newspapers and broadcasters.
Reporters took a rare political stance, resigning en masse from the
official media to set up boisterous internet sites that were able to
circumvent the government's information laws by exploiting regulatory
gaps.

Cyber networks proved equally difficult to contain in socialist China and
Vietnam, posing a bigger threat than traditional radio broadcasts from the
BBC and Voice of America, hitherto the main source of external news.

External opposition groups took full advantage of the initial indecision
over how to control the Internet. Myanmese exiles were able to reach their
repressed compatriots through alternative websites. Right-wing Laotian
emigres in France and Australia vented their displeasure with the
communists in Vientiane.

Only in South Asia, with its perpetual security overtones, did conditions
worsen. Pakistan suspended all constitutional safeguards after detonating
a nuclear bomb, while Sri Lanka imposed military censorship on reporting
of its civil war.

The liberal breeze elsewhere was not felt only at a consumer level. Lured
by International Monetary Fund (IMF) cash offers for their beleaguered
financial systems, East Asian states began to alter the entire culture of
suppressing official data.

Thailand became the first Asian country to incorporate freedom of personal
information in its constitution, establishing a public channel for
accessing government documents and dismantling state communications
monopolies.

Indonesia scrapped security laws that had been used to silence reporters
for four decades. South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, a former political
prisoner, loosened operating restrictions and installed a long-time critic
as head of the government news agency.

Taiwan legislators launched a campaign for the review of criminal libel
statutes that were hampering the island's 300 newspapers, four TV networks
and 74 radio stations from offering one of the freest information sources
in Asia.

But there were signs as early as 1999 that it wouldn't last. As the IMF
and other lending agencies shifted their gaze to new challenges in Russia
and Argentina, the reluctant hand of Asian autocratic reform stilled and
was replaced by a jarring note of political realism.

"The flow of information became a crucial variable as governments
responded to the social and political dislocations of the economic crisis;
some leaders lifted virtually all restrictions on freedom of expression,
while others tightened their hold on what was reported and how it was
presented," noted the Committee to Protect Journalists.

By 2001 the trend was definitely towards the latter, as reporters learned,
often at heavy personal cost, that pluralism and politics do not mix.

Nor could the media remain impervious to the nationalist outpouring that
followed the IMF's departure, as critics took aim at the ostensible
foreign bias of the structural reforms packages it had demanded in
exchange for financial bailouts.

Globalization became an emotive issue as multinationals bought up ailing
financial institutions in fire sales, transformed retail markets and
forced the dismantling of state cartels across East Asia.

Newspapers, the only media to gain a large measure of independence in the
reformist spring, were cowed by an insidious strategy that now viewed
commentary critical of the authorities as an attack on the national
interest. With the onset of the global terrorism alert, reporters found
their access to state information blocked on flimsy security grounds.

"Many governments stepped up and justified their repression of opposition
or independent voices using anti-terrorism as an excuse," reported
Reporters Without Borders, the French-based media watchdog. "This included
journalists accused, often without proof, of supporting Maoist
'terrorists' in Nepal ... Chechen 'terrorists' in Russia and Tibetan and
Uighur 'terrorists' in China."

Indonesia, widely viewed as the litmus test of press freedom due to its
transformation since 1998, drew heavily on the security card as
conservative Megawati Sukarnoputri brought a pro-military platform to the
presidency.

In November 2001 the Indonesian parliament established a national
broadcasting commission with the power to revoke licenses or censor
content, and stopped TV and radio stations from re-broadcasting foreign
programs.

With its provincial insurgencies in Aceh and West Papua, Indonesia had
ample scope to use these laws. Media monitors were worried that some of
the more liberal governments in the region might follow suit. "In some
countries of Southeast Asia where press freedom is usually respected,
there is a fear that restrictions might come back, like in Indonesia,"
noted the World Association of Newspapers.

"In the Philippines, journalists are especially vulnerable in the island
of Mindanao where separatist Muslim guerrilla groups are battling the
Philippine army. Three journalists have already been killed there [in
2002] and the Philippines, which has an outstanding tradition for
investigative journalism is, at the same time, a very dangerous place to
practice this discipline," the association reported.

Philippine newspapers have been at the forefront of Asia's liberal media
since they played a pivotal role in the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand
Marcos and helped block his attempted comeback in the mid-1980s.

With their Thai and Indonesian colleagues, Philippine journalists formed a
Southeast Asian Press Alliance in 1999 to maintain the reformist momentum,
and sought a similar pact within the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN). But both fell victim to the changing domestic climate of
press information. Thai reporters walked out of the ASEAN grouping in late
2000, complaining of a lack of accountability and transparency.

Thai journalists had their own problems at home, with political leaders
drawing increasingly upon legal avenues to silence critics for the first
time since the end of the military era in the late 1980s. Bank accounts of
senior staff at one newspaper were probed by graft investigators in an
apparent bid to lodge fraud charges that could be used to suppress reports
critical of the government. Journalists were sacked from a TV station
owned by the prime minister's family.

In the Philippines, president Joseph Estrada, later hounded from office by
media coverage of his alleged corruption, brought an opposition newspaper
to heel with a tax blitz, a freeze on state advertising revenues and an
interview ban on its reporters.

Elsewhere, the pattern has been depressingly similar.

Two conservative journalists were jailed and a right-wing magazine
temporarily banned in South Korea after they published separate articles
questioning the political leanings of senior government leaders.

Vietnam acknowledged in October that one man had been under house arrest
for two years and another was being investigated for criticizing the
government on the Internet. Access to overseas websites has been
restricted.

Malaysia forced the resignation of an independent newspaper editor and
suspended two of his colleagues last year for publishing an article on a
stalled plot, that was never officially refuted, to kill prime minister
Mohammad Mahathir. Police in Malaysia forced the temporary closure of
website Malaysiakini.com in January after it published a letter
questioning the special economic rights accorded to native Malays (See
Malaysia: Raid bad news for free media January 22, 2003).

Burma briefly banned two privately-owned magazines last year - in one
instance, for carrying an advertisement for a company in neighboring
Thailand, with which it has a strained relationship.

Reporters have been beaten up for writing articles critical of political
leaders in Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and India.
China has singled out reporters from ethnic minorities for harsh treatment
and Laotians are required by law to write stories favorable to
politicians.

In all, Freedom House rated only five countries, or 21 percent of all
Asian states, as having a free press in 2002, and the same number as
partly free. The remaining 13, representing 54 percent of the total, were
not free.

There were 11 killings of reporters, making Asia a dangerous news beat to
cover. As of December, another 53 reporters were being held in Asian
prisons, led by Nepal with 18 inmates, Myanmar with 16 and China with 11.
___________

Burma Campaign Austria January 30 2003

BURMA-BOYCOTT: CAMPAIGN AGAINST AUA-LAUDA AIR

With the exception of Austrian Airlines (AUA) using the brand of its
subsidiary Lauda Air no other European airline is connecting
Rangoon/Yangon directly to Europe. Since Nov. 5th AUA offers flights to
Rangoon from Vienna and some months longer from Milano in Italy to
Rangoon. Therefore the ongoing boycott-campaign against the Burmese
military dictatorship is extended now to AUA - Lauda Air.

AUA ignores resolutions of the International Labour Organization (ILO),
the International Council of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), as well as several
exiled and opposition groups like the National Democratic League of the
Nobel Peace Price winner Aung San Suu Kyi to stop new investment and to
review existing economic contacts with Burma.

The aim of the campaign is the termination of all flights of AUA - Lauda
Air to Burma.

THE SITUATION IN BURMA

Burma is ruled by a military dictatorship since decades. The last coup
d'etat occurred in 1989. The army absorbs 50% of the national budget of
one of the three poorest countries on earth. At the same time the
health system has broken down. Minister for Hotels und Tourism, Maj.Gen.
Saw Lwin, admitted in a recent statement that 12% of the earnings of
private tourist enterprises fund the army. To make things  worse the army
is partial owner of companies in the tourist sector like hotels, shops,
other services and both private airlines Air Mandalay and Yangon Airways,
too.

An unknown number of persons were displaced by force as a result of
tourist projects. Large-scale forced labour has been reported on several
projects including the Golden Palace in Mandalay, the construction of a
dam at Inle Lake, the laying of a railway line near
Pagan's temple complex and the building or upgrading of airports. The
efforts to attract tourists "is responsible for a lot of forced labour,"
Aung San Suu Kyi has observed. ILO-reports provide evidence of
forced labour on tourism development projects.

THIS CAMPAIGN IS ADDRESSED TO ...
.... the corporate executives of the AUA-group who have shown no
understanding of the situation at all. Letters to the ICFTU and the Burma
Center Nederland give evidence of the ignorance concerning the problem.
Correspondence from the Burma Campaign Austria received no  response.

The following persons, groups, companies and state bodies are encouraged
to influence the management of AUA to break off contacts to Burma and
cancel all flights.

1. The general public
Until the ending of Burma-flights all travelers should review their
decision to use AUA, Lauda Air or Tyrolean Airways and use any other
airline.
2. Shareholders of AUA
Shareholders are requested to reconsider critically their investment in a
company that ignores resolutions of international organizations und basic
humanitarian ideas. It is encouraged that shareholders issue a
statement of critique towards the management.
Shareholders are:
Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Ltd.
(www.csfb.com, Fax: +44-20-7888 1600), ÖIAG
(www.oiag.at, p.michaelis at oiag.at); Austria Tabak (www.austriatabak.at,
mediarelations at austriatabak.com), BAWAG (www.bawag.com, bawag at bawag.com),
RZB - Raiffeisen Zentralbank (www.rzb.at, michael.palzer at rzb.at), Wr.
Städtische Versicherung (www.staedtische.co.at,
presseabteilung at staedtische.co.at), LVBG Luftverkehrsbeteil.GmbH; B & C
Holding GmbH, Air France (www.airfrance.com), Wyser-Pratte Guy
P.Management Co.Int. (New York).

3. Travel agencies
Travel agencies in Austria conduct an aggressive campaign to promote
travels to Burma. We demand the cancellation of all offers and the
termination of selling AUA-tickets to Rangoon.

Some of the travel agencies as well as tour organizers
are: Taipan (www.taipan.at, office at taipan.at), ÖAMTC
(www.oeamtc.at/reisen, reisebuero at oeamtc.at), Jumbo (www.jumbo.at,
office at jumbo.at, ATI (ati at ati,at), Verkehrsbüro (www.verkehrsbeuro.at,
info at verkehrsbuero.at), TUI (www.tui.co.at, online at tui.co.at), Ruefa
(www.ruefa.at, service at ruefa.at), Reisequelle (www.reisequelle.at,
wien7 at reisequelle.at), Kuoni (www.kuoni.at, kundenservice at kuoni.at), Geo
Reisen (www.georeisen.at), Columbus (www.columbus-travel.com,
office at columbus.co.at), Raiffeisen Reisen (www.raiffeisen-reisen.at,
info at raiffeisen-reisen.at), Neckermann (wien at neckermannreisen.at).

4. Media
Some Austrian media not only promote tourism to Burma and AUA-flights in a
massive way but organize designated tours for readers as well. We urge
these media to stop this and consider human rights aspects
in their reporting. See Salzburger Nachrichten (www.salzburg.com/sn/,
redakt at salzburg.com) and the Vienna radio branch of the Austrian
broadcasting corporation ORF - Radio Wien (www.orf.at,
899953 at radiowien.at)

5. Business flights, multinational companies
Already many companies, including PepsiCo, Heineken, Carlsberg, Levi's,
Reebok, and others have pulled out of Burma or decided not to invest there
because of consumer pressure.
We contacted all companies that participate in the boycott of Burma to
stop using AUA for business connections.

Further we urge American Express (www.americanexpress.at,
info at americanexpress.at) to end discounts for Lauda Air travels, among
them those to Burma.

6. Trade unions
The International Council of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is already
conducting a campaign. It is now up to the Austrian Trade Union Federation
(www.oegb.or.at, oegb at oegb.or.at) and its branches HTV and the works
councils represented in the supervisory boards of AUA and the Austrian
shareholders (ÖIAG, RZB, etc) to present the matter  and to inform their
members about the campaign of ICFTU.
This applies to the ÖGB-HTV group of flight personnel at the HTV-federal
branch traffic (robert.hengster at htv.or.at), the works council of Lauda Air
(brb at laudaair.com) und the head office of
ÖGB (President: fritz.verzetnitsch at oegb.or.at)
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN
This is an international campaign. AUA is among the companies on the
"black list" of ICFTU. Burma Center Nederland (www.xs4all.nl/%7Ebcn/,
bcn at xs4all.nl) is campaigning in the Netherlands.
Forum Asia (info at forumasia.org), a non-governmental-organization in
Bangkok, stated according to BBC, 27 November, 2002:

"Anger at Austrian airline's Burma flights
The decision to fly to Burma - which is also known as Myanmar - ignores
the "human rights crisis" there and is "based purely on commercial
economic interests," according to Forum Asia. In particular, they have
campaigned for a boycott of Burma by foreign firms, saying trade and
investment help to support the military regime without benefiting ordinary
Burmese."
FIRST RESULTS
After a short period of the campaign in Austria the travel agency Sotour
in Vienna ended their promotion and selling of travels to Burma and will
not sell AUA-tickets to Burma.