BurmaNet News: February 14 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

February 14 2003 Issue #2175

INSIDE BURMA

AP: Myanmar’s ruling junta attacks opposition
Myanmar Information Committee: [Burmese government thanks parties for
cooperation]
Reuters: Myanmar promises fair trial for arrested activists
Nation: Shan leader pours cold water on Thaksin offer
Zenit: Child soldiers: a grim reality lingers

MONEY

Irrawaddy: Bankruptcies spur financial panic
Irrawaddy: Business news a sore spot

INTERNATIONAL

UN News Centre: Concerned at arrests in Myanmar, Annan says dialogue is
key to reconciliation
AP: Court sets aside suit against Unocal in Myanmar rights violations

REGIONAL

SHAN: The Salween dam project: residents advised to move
IPS: Migrant convention not a magic solution

INSIDE BURMA

Associated Press February 14 2003

Myanmar's ruling junta attacks opposition

A high-ranking official of Myanmar's military government attacked members
of the country's pro-democracy opposition, alluding to them as
"destructive elements," a state-controlled newspaper reported Friday.

The speech published in the Myanma Ahlin daily was the first serious
attack against the opposition in more than two years - a sign of
increasing tension between the two sides. "Internal and external
destructive elements are impeding development work in the country,"
Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan was quoted as saying. "They are
discouraging foreign investment, foreign assistance and tourists to the
country and encourage economic sanctions."

"Destructive elements must be annihilated and people should cooperate with
constructive people working for the development of the people and the
country," he said.

Kyaw Hsan did not identify the "destructive elements," but he was
apparently referring to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party, which has asked the international
community to maintain political and economic sanctions against the
military regime, and avoid investment and tourism until there are signs of
reform.

Relations between the government and the opposition have recently become
strained after Suu Kyi reiterated this position. Authorities harassed Suu
Kyi and her supporters during a trip to Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine
state in December.

Attacks against Suu Kyi and her party had ceased in late 2000 after Suu
Kyi and the junta began closed-door talks to break the country's political
deadlock.

Although Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last May and some 500
political prisoners were freed, there have been few signs of reform.

The junta came to power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy protests. It
called elections in 1990 but refused to give up power when the NLD won.
__________

Myanmar Information Committee February 13 2003

[Burmese government thanks parties for cooperation]

The government of Myanmar Burma extends its appreciation to the political
figures in Myanmar for their cooperation

As Myanmar moves towards multi-party democracy, the current government is
laying a foundation of peace and stability, and is ensuring that all 10
political parties in Myanmar may act freely and without interference
within the framework of the law.

The government therefore appreciates that the 10 political parties are
helping with this transition, by working peacefully and by legal means.
The government therefore regrets very much when individual members of some
parties, acting in violation of their own party's regulations,
deliberately break national law.

Myanmar law treats all its citizens equally, and membership in a political
party does not give any citizen special status. Members of political
parties, in particular, should take special responsibility for helping
Myanmar make a peaceful transition to democracy, by respecting the rule of
law.

The government regrets that a small group of political figures were
recently arrested for violating national laws. They will, of course, be
tried fairly in a court of law, and are considered innocent until proven
guilty. But the government would also like to extend its thanks to the
vast majority of political figures in Myanmar, who are acting responsibly
and with dignity to bring multi-party democracy to our country.
___________

Reuters February 14 2003

Myanmar Promises Fair Trial for Arrested Activists

Myanmar's military government on Friday promised a fair trial for
opposition activists arrested on charges of plotting to blow up a prison
and a railway station.
The 12 arrests announced this week have been seen as a sign of growing
tension between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy opposition,
which is led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The government regrets that a small group of political figures were
recently arrested for violating national laws," a statement from the
government spokesman's office said.
"They will, of course, be tried fairly in a court of law and are
considered innocent until proven guilty."
Military intelligence said Monday seven of those arrested were low-level
members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) who were trying
to spark civil unrest.

The NLD won the country's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but has
never been allowed to govern.
Also among those arrested was Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary-general of the
Shan National League for Democracy, which was the second most successful
party in the 1990 elections.
The United States Thursday criticized Myanmar authorities for the arrest
of opposition activists and called for the release of all political
prisoners.
"While the world community looks forward to reconciliation and democracy
for the people of Burma, the regime there seems to be looking backward,"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Burma is the former name of Myanmar.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International estimates Myanmar still has
1,200-1,300 political prisoners, despite a series of releases over the
last two years.
In an apparent conciliatory gesture, Friday's statement from the junta
said it believed those arrested were acting on their own outside their own
party structures.
"The government would also like to extend its thanks to the vast majority
of political figures in Myanmar who are acting responsibly," it said.
The arrest of the 12 activists came as Amnesty International urged Myanmar
this week to scrap a raft of colonial-era laws used to lock up political
prisoners.
They also come at a time of worsening relations between the military, in
power for most of the past 40 years, and opposition.
Diplomats predicted a new era of reconciliation last May when Suu Kyi was
released from 19 months of house arrest. Her release followed a period of
intense international pressure and secretive U.N.-brokered talks between
the opposition and the junta.
But there have been few signs of progress since then and the government
and opposition have begun to criticize each other in public again after a
pause of more than a year.
_____________

The Nation February 14 2003

Shan leader pours cold water on Thaksin offer

Shan State Army leader Colonel Yawd Serk yesterday dismissed recent
reports that the Burmese military government had given a green light to
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to push for a dialogue between the junta
and rebel armies, saying the generals in Rangoon were not sincere.

"Although it was a genuine offer from the Thai prime minister, the result
wholly depends on the sincerity of the Burmese generals, which only time
will tell," Yawd Serk said in a statement.

Yawd Serk's statement was seen as an attempt to put brakes on the idea,
indirectly sending a message to the Thai premier to give up the idea of
becoming a mediator.The Burmese government has in the past accused the SSA
of being a Thai proxy, while the Thai Army has said the same about the
pro-Rangoon United Wa State Army.

The veteran combat leader, whose resistance movement controls pockets of
territory in Burma, said "surrendering weapons alone is not the way to
restore peace and tranquillity for the Shan State."

"Without fulfilling the strong desire of the Shan State people, which they
have been longing for decades, peace cannot be restored in the Shan State
or in the Union of Burma," he said.Yawd Serk added that Thailand needs to
rethink its move to give financial rewards to Burmese troops for making
drug busts, as that would amount to encouraging the Burmese soldiers to
get directly involved in the drug trade.

The Shan commander said the Burmese generals are more interested in
"annihilat[ing] their oppositions and subdu[ing] all non-Burmese ethnic
nationalities."The SSA have long accused the Burmese army of receiving
kickbacks from drug lords, some of whom operate independently with their
own armies.
__________

Zenit News Agency February 13 2003

Child Soldiers: a Grim Reality Lingers
Group Says International Treaty Hasn't Solved Problem

A year after the start of an international treaty banning child soldiers,
a group warns that the problem is far from solved.

"Child soldiers continue to be abused as foot soldiers, porters, lookouts
and sexual slaves," said Casey Kelso, coordinator of the Coalition to Stop
the Use of Child Soldiers. "The problem is not decreasing."

The coalition warned the world community against assuming that the issue
of child soldiers could be struck-off simply because their use was now
banned by international law.

The issue of child soldiers has been addressed at the U.N. Security
Council, which has taken a landmark decision to list the names of those
who are recruiting youngsters.

In December, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report to the Security
Council identified 23 groups involved in the use of child soldiers, in
Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Liberia and Somalia.

The United Nations also pointed a finger at the government forces of
Burundi, Congo and Liberia for using children as soldiers.

At the end of January, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1460
on children and armed conflicts, calling on the secretary-general to
include information about protecting youngsters in all his
country-specific reports.

"It is essential for the Security Council to make a commitment to
accountability to take appropriate action against those using or
recruiting child soldiers," Kelso said.

Although 111 countries have signed the "child soldiers' treaty," only 46
countries have actually made a binding legal commitment to enforce the
Optional Protocol.

"This first anniversary of the Optional Protocol should not be a
celebration but a time to call upon other countries to join the
international community in condemning this appalling practice," Kelso
added.

The coalition cited some countries of concern where child soldiers are
being used, including:

-- Myanmar (or Burma), where an estimated 70,000 children are in uniform
in the army. Some as young as 11 are forcibly conscripted by kidnapping or
threats of prison.

-- Colombia, where up to 14,000 child soldiers -- boys and girls as young
as 10 -- are reportedly recruited into armed paramilitary groups and
militias.

MONEY

Irrawaddy February 14 2003

Bankruptcies Spur Financial Panic
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Customers have rushed to private banks amid rising uncertainty in the
finance sector despite guarantees from the junta that the banks are safe,
sources in Rangoon said today.
"Lately the private banks have been crowded with customers anxious to
withdraw their money," a Rangoon resident told The Irrawaddy. "The private
service companies won’t be able to return money to shareholders after the
banks go bankrupt."
At Monday’s press conference, the chairman of Burma’s governing Central
Bank, Kyaw Kyaw Maung assured reporters that private banks are operating
as usual and had the full backing of the Central Bank. However, words from
the Central Bank haven’t been enough to win over customers who are worried
that banks won’t be able to return their savings.
"When I went to the bank to withdraw 16.5 million kyat (US $15,000) today,
I was postponed until the 18th of next week," a customer said. "But I am
not sure if they [the bank] will be able to return the money on that day
either."
"A lot of customers like me were told to come back next week," he added.
Rumors that Asia Wealth Bank (AWB), one of 20 private banks in Burma, lost
out on huge investments in deals with a company based in China, have
caused the greatest panic.
A business source in Rangoon said: "We hear that the AWB has been cheated
by a Chinese company for millions. That’s why the bank is about to go
bankrupt and the government is afraid."
According to a source, AWB had previously asked the Central Bank for 52
billion kyat as a security bond. And on Wednesday, the AWB asked for an
extra 30 billion kyat to meet ongoing shortfalls, but the Central Bank was
only willing to supply 12 billion kyat.
Until recently, the AWB enjoyed a solid reputation and remains one of the
biggest commercial banks based in Rangoon. The bank has close connections
to top military leaders, including Sec-1 Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt. The
vice-chairman of the AWB, Eike Tun is said to be involved in the drug
trade.
Unlike banks, private service companies operate as informal financial
institutions and are not legally registered as public companies. Several
private service companies have sold shares to customers, without
permission from the Central Bank.
After more than a dozen bankruptcies only a few private service companies
remain, including Linn Thitsar Company and the Ayeyar Mya General Service
Company. According to a businessman in Rangoon, Linn Thisar was recently
audited by the junta, but no financial improprieties were found.
Later, however, Linn Thitsar managers issued a statement saying they would
refuse customer withdrawals until 2004 but would continue to pay interest.
In September last year, the military regime warned private service
companies not to declare bankruptcy, afraid that it would lead to social
unrest.
________________________

Irrawaddy February 14 2003

Business News a Sore Spot
By Naw Seng

Business reporting inside Burma has come under tighter scrutiny by censors
this week, as tensions in the finance sector rise with several private
service companies and banks said to be on the brink of bankruptcy, sources
in Rangoon say.
Several business magazines and journals, which cover mainly business
stories, have been told to cut stories before going to print. The junta’s
draconian censorship authority, the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), is now on
alert, wary of the likely impact among investors. "The board cut out this
kind of news because authorities don’t want to alert the people," an
editor of a Rangoon-based magazine told The Irrawaddy.
"All we are doing is providing news to the public," said a journalist who
writes business features in Rangoon.
At a press conference earlier this week, Central Bank Chairman Kyaw Kyaw
Maung tried to quash rumors of instability in the finance sector. And now
with so much at stake, some magazine editors aren’t so outspoken. "We
don’t want to say anything about occasional censorship," said an editor of
another business magazine.
In June last year, Living Color, a popular business magazine, was
prohibited from publishing by the PSB after printing an advertisement from
the MK Billiard company, which had earlier infuriated the junta for not
donating tables to a state-run billiards association.
Business reporting is usually safe from the censors in Burma, especially
if coverage steers clear of political matters and reports favorably on the
business interests of junta leaders.
Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres lists Burma as
one of the world’s worst violators of press freedom and the PSB keeps a
close monitor of all newspapers, magazines and books published in Burma.

INTERNATIONAL

UN News Centre February 12 2003

Concerned at arrests in Myanmar, Annan says dialogue is key to reconciliation

Voicing concern at the arrests by the Myanmar authorities of 12 members of
opposition parties, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today
reiterated his strong belief that national reconciliation should begin
with a constructive dialogue between the Myanmar authorities and Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi

"For such a constructive dialogue to move forward, the opposition parties,
including NLD [the National League for Democracy], should be able to
engage freely in political activities in Myanmar," said a statement
released by a spokesman for Mr. Annan.

(Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on
Myanmaris given separately, at the end of this news item.)

The Secretary-General once again urged the Myanmar authorities to release
without delay all political prisoners, and to engage in substantive
political dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the spokesman said. Mr.
Annan's Special Envoy, Razali Ismail is facilitating such dialogue.

New York, 12 February 2003 - Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for
the Secretary-General on Myanmar

The Secretary-General is concerned by the arrests by the Myanmar
authorities of 12 members of opposition parties, including 7 members of
the National League for Democracy (NLD) as well as Sai Nyunt Lwin, the
Secretary-General of the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD). He
reiterates his strong belief that national reconciliation should begin
with a constructive dialogue between the Myanmar authorities and Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, which is being facilitated by his Special Envoy, Razali
Ismail. For such a constructive dialogue to move forward, the opposition
parties, including NLD, should be able to engage freely in political
activities in Myanmar. He once again urges the Myanmar authorities to
release without delay all political prisoners, and to engage in
substantive political dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The 12 people arrested include 7 members of the National League for
Democracy (NLD), as well as Sai Nyunt Lwin, the Secretary-General of the
Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), according to the statement.
__________

Associated Press February 14 2003

Court sets aside suit against Unocal in Myanmar rights violations

A federal appeals court has set aside a lawsuit on behalf of indigenous
farmers of Myanmar who allege Unocal Corp. was involved in human rights
violations carried out by the country's military.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had
reinstated the lawsuit in September. But the San Francisco-based court
announced Friday, in a two-sentence order, that it would rehear the case
with 11 judges.
Because of Friday's action, the Los Angeles federal court case remains in
legal limbo until the 9th Circuit rules again. The court did not indicate
when it would hear the case.
The allegations, which the El Segundo-based oil concern deny, accuse
Unocal of being complicit in slavery, murder and rape which the farmers
say were carried out by the Southeast Asian nation's military. The
military provided the company with security and other amenities for the
pipeline venture with the government of Myanmar, formerly called Burma.
The case involves 18 farmers who allege they were raped or enslaved by the
military. Some of the plaintiffs are relatives of those they say were
murdered while construction of the pipeline was underway in the 1990s.
In its September ruling, the appeals court overturned a federal judge who
had dismissed the lawsuit on grounds the farmers could not litigate the
case in the United States.
The three-judge panel ruled that the farmers may use American courts to
sue Unocal under a federal law granting alleged victims of international
human rights access to U.S. courts.
The case is Doe I v. Unocal Corp., 00-56603.

REGIONAL

Shan Herald Agency for News 14 February 2003

The Salween Dam Project
Residents advised to move

As excavations by foreign firms on both sides of the projected dam site
continued, some Burmese officers were counselling a preemptive departure
of local residents in the vicinity, said sources coming to the border.

One militia leader, named withheld for his security, told villagers of Wan
Sala in Mongton Township, 12 km south of Tanghseng, the Tasarng dam site,
recently that he was deeply moved by the death of at least ten villagers
who were killed in a series of discharges that had been going on since
last month. "If you continue to stay, you will be forced to work for them
with little or no pay," he said. "And in the end, after the dam is
finished, you will still be thrown out of your homes anyway. You should
therefore move while you still have time."

Sources said villagers nearby were sent for by the Burmese security forces
in the area to haul out the earth from the holes. According to a Shan
environmentalist, who visited to the site in 2000, there were 2 holes
being dug out of the cliff on each side of the river, each at least 8ft in
circumference and about 40ft deep. Sources who were there lately say the
foreigners - Thai and Chinese - were digging further into the upper holes.
It was during the diggings and blasting the death of the forced laborers
occurred, they say.

Among the dead, 1 was from Palao, and 2 from Hsophsim, both villages
further upstream, and the rest from Sala downstream.

Rangoon had already forcibly relocated 1,500 villages in the area, but
some twenty villages still remain and the largest one appear to be Wan
Sala with 57 households. In three other villages in the immediate
neighborhood of the dam site: Tanghseng, Palao and Hsophsim, there are
only about ten households each.

The Thais are also repairing the logging road leading from Sala to Palao,
they said. Thai Sawad, a Burma-based Thai company that had been contracted
to build the road confirmed the report.

Bangkok-based MDX and Burma's Ministry of Energy signed an agreement on 20
December to build the Tasarng Dam, located between Mongton and Mongpan
townships of Shan State.

The project is being opposed by Shan organizations.
________

Inter Press Service February 14 2003

Migrant Convention Not a Magic Solution
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Millions of Asia's migrant workers may have little to celebrate when a UN
convention upholding their rights comes into force this year, judging from
the poor compliance of existing international labor standards, say
regional experts.
Many welcome the 1990 convention on the rights of migrant workers and
their families as a major step, not least because it took 12 years for
it—long opposed by labor-receiving countries—to acquire the 20
ratifications it needed to come into force.
East Timor was the 20th ratifying country in December. The convention is
expected to come into force within the year, depending on the date the UN
formally receives the country's instruments of ratification.
But this new legal instrument is no magic formula for the difficulty of
getting receiving countries and even sending nations to adhere to their
commitments to protect the rights of migrant workers.
This has been demonstrated in the way a much older labor convention to
protect migrant workers—one adopted in 1947—continues to be largely
ignored, D P A Naidu of the International Labor Organization (ILO) said at
a Bangkok seminar on Asian migration Thursday.
A lack of enforcement of ILO Convention 90, according to Naidu, is as
troubling. "In many countries it is very weak. There is a lack of
sufficient labor inspectors to ensure that the labor laws are enforced."
"The most important thing here is that there is will on the part of
governments to ensure that at least certain parts of the convention are
applied," he said.
The 1990 UN convention, for its part, establishes a higher standard of
migrants' rights, this time including even undocumented migrants—unlike
the ILO conventions that covered registered or legal workers only.
"The convention is important, because it pressures governments to act and
it is a good start," said David Feingold, international coordinator of HIV
and trafficking programs for the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
"But I don't think that is going to address the problem," he said, saying
that there are many complexities of international migration that need to
be addressed in different ways.
There is also the question of enforcement, Naidoo added. Although the 1990
convention will come into force, those that did not ratify it, including
some of the largest labor receiving countries, cannot be forced to follow
it or adopt national laws after it.
Most of the countries that ratified this convention are labor-sending ones
and smaller nations.
But what should happen after ratification of an international legal
instrument is that "workers and other organizations have to pressure the
governments concerned", and push for mechanisms of inspection or
implementation, Naidoo added.
"This is not happening, have you ever seen inspectors coming into a house
to inspect the conditions of a domestic worker?" he asked.
In the case of ILO conventions and other international legal instruments,
he said the ILO cannot do much "if the government is stubborn and does not
want to respect it".
The consequence of the lack of clear, enforced standards covering migrant
workers has made women, who comprise a very large chunk of the Asian
migrant workforce, the most vulnerable ones, adds Jean D'Cunha of the
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
The personal cost of migration for women migrants is far higher than men,
D'Cunha explained. "They are victims of physical and sexual abuse, of
cultural prejudices, and have to deal with marital instability and the
adverse impact on their children."
She pointed to other legal instruments that can be used to protect
migrants' rights, including the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women - since it is the second most widely ratified
UN convention.
"The convention has its limits, but it sets rights standards," she said,
adding however that it would provide sending states a stronger weapon if
it had a monitoring body.
What also undermines hopes for those on the migration trail is the
reluctance of countries supplying the labor—and hence the most
victimized—to agree even among themselves on common standards of labor
rights and protection they would want upheld by the receiving countries.
That stems from the competition between the supplying countries to get as
many of their unskilled citizens employed abroad due to the foreign
exchange they send back home.
Naido says the difficulty of reaching international consensus on migration
can be seen in an ILO-arranged dialogue between sending and receiving
countries a few years ago that failed to produce results.
There are over 19 million Asian migration workers in Asia and over 25
million Asian migrants working across the world, according to estimates by
non-government groups.
At least half of the migrant workers are women, states Caridad Tharan of
the Ford Foundation Philippines in a background paper for the seminar.
Many are in domestic work, in the entertainment industry and also in
"irregular situations".
Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Saudi
Arabia top the list of nations that receive the bulk of Asian migrant
workers. East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea and South-east
Asian countries as Singapore and Malaysia are also a magnet for migrants.
Still, for labor rights activists, the 1990 convention is a significant
first step in securing a number of rights to protect the world's migrant
workers, which add up to some 130 million.
Among others, the convention sets standards recognizing the rights of the
migrant workers and has language identifying necessary mechanisms to
investigate violations.
The International Organization of Migration says the convention also
"promotes interstate cooperation in addressing [rights] issues in
particular to combat trafficking and smuggling in human beings".
But for Deep Ranjani Rai of the Global Alliance Against Traffic, there is
another area that needs to be addressed—the attitudes of families that
often fuel migration in the first place.
It is not enough applying pressure on governments through international
conventions, since women workers are in effect victimized by their own
families by pressuring them to earn more , she says.
"We hammer the states all the time, but families have a greater influence
over these women than other factors [government or laws]," she pointed
out. "Often, the women who go abroad have no respite, because the families
at home keep demanding money."