BurmaNet News: May 2 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

May 2 2003 Issue #2228

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar releases three prominent political prisoners
Mizzima: China opens new trade gate with Burma
Xinhua: Myanmar's top leader to visit Laos

MONEY
Xinhua:  Myanmar sharply reduces machinery import in 2002
World Leisure News:  Kuoni pulls out of Burma

INTERNATIONAL
ABC Radio Australia: US to raise Burma concerns with ASEAN allies
Irrawaddy: Vigil for Hunger Striker Salai Tun Than
Akron Beacon Journal: UA students decide to abandon hunger strike

EDITORIALS
Mizzima: Burma needs US not the UN


INSIDE BURMA
Associated Press   May 2 2003
Myanmar releases three prominent political prisoners

BANGKOK:  Myanmar's military government said Friday it has released three
prominent political prisoners who spent 14 years in jail.

Tin Myint, 47, Htay Thein, 44, and Zaw Min, 42 were freed on Saturday and
Monday from a prison in the northern city of Mandalay, a government
spokesman said in a statement.

"They are all in good health and back together with their respective
families," the statement said.

"The government will continue to release (those) that will cause no harm
to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and the unity
of the nation," the statement said.

The government statement did not give the circumstances of their
imprisonment.

But the Irrawaddy online magazine, run by Myanmar exiles with extensive
opposition contacts,said the three were arrested in July 1989 and charged
with links to the outlawed Communist Party of Burma.

Zaw Min, a medical doctor and short story writer, was accused of playing a
leading role in a 1988 uprising, Irrawaddy said.

Htay Thein was an author and lecturer at the Burmese language department
at Rangoon University.

It did not give the background of Tin Myint, an engineer.

The magazine reported Wednesday that all three men were suffering
psychological trauma and mental illness, as their "long prison terms took
their toll on the prisoners' health."

The government denied that the men were suffering from mental illnesses.

The men were initially sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, which was
reduced to 10 years in 1993.

But the junta kept them under detention beyond 1999 under a law that
allows imprisoning individuals without trial for "security reasons,"
Irrawaddy said.

Myanmar's present junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a
pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990, which were won by the
National League for Democracy party of Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, the junta refused to hand over power and detained thousands of
Suu Kyi supporters. It began reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October
2000. More than 1,400 prisoners remain in jail.
____________

Mizzima News  May 1 2003
China opens new trade gate with Burma
By Tun Naing

Ruili, May 1 2003: While Burma’s some border trade gates are being closed
down temporarily to prevent spread of SARS virus, China has opened a new
border trade gate with Kachin State of Burma.

China's Guangdong Province is the epicenter of SARS virus and more than
300 people had died and more than 3,000 have been infected due to SARS
virus in China.

According to local people, the Chinese authorities, after a meeting of its
border management authorities yesterday opened a border trade gate
bordering Lai Ja in Moe Mauk of Kachin State. The local people say that
the Chinese authorities are also asking tax from the travelers and goods
passing through the gate.

Lai Ja region is under the control of Kachin Independence Organization,
which has entered cease-fire with the Burmese military regime since 1994.
It is a busy trading place between Burma and China, since it is connected
with Burma’s towns such as Bha Maw and Myit Kyi Na.

Mizzima has learnt that Burmese authorities also wanted to open a new
border gate on its side and had asked for permission from the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO). However, KIO has reportedly refused to
give the permission.
____________

Xinhua News Agency   May 2, 2003
Myanmar's top leader to visit Laos

YANGON: Than Shwe, chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), will pay a state visit to Laos in the near future at the
invitation of Lao President Khamtay Siphandone, an official announcement
said Friday.

But the announcement did not disclose the date of Than Shwe's trip.

Myanmar and Laos are neighbors and have good bilateral relations. There
have been frequent exchange of visits at high levels between the two
countries in recent years.

In December 2000, Myanmar SPDC Vice-Chairman Maung Aye visited Laos with
the signing of a protocol on border trade and the agreement on the
establishment of Lao-Myanmar and Myanmar-Lao Friendship Associations in
respective capitals.

Lao Vice President Lieutenant-General Choummaly Sayasone and Prime
Minister Boungnang Vorachith visited Yangon in March and August 2001
respectively. During the Lao prime minister's trip, the two countries
agreed to expand cooperation on economy, trade, culture and technology.

Besides, 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.


MONEY

Xinhua News Agency   May 2, 2003
Myanmar sharply reduces machinery import in 2002

YANGON: Myanmar imported 536.19 million US dollars worth of various
machinery equipment in 2002, a sharp reduction of 37.2 percent from 2001,
according to the latest data published by the Central Statistical
Organization.

The import of the machinery equipment, which included electrical and
non-electrical ones, accounted for 23.3 percent of the total import of
2,294 million dollars during 2002.

Myanmar, an agro-based country with very weak industrial infrastructure,
has to depend on import for the majority of its different machinery
equipment in need.

The lack of foreign exchange is a main reason of the reduction in its
machinery equipment import. Since 1999, the Myanmar government has no
longer published many important economic figures such as its foreign
exchange and gold reserve as well as inflation rate.

According to the figures last released in the 1998 Report of Myanmar's
Financial, Economic and Social Conditions, the country's foreign exchange
and gold reserve was 272 million US dollars as of the end of March 31,
1998, just enough to fill 16 percent of the country's foreign trade
deficit in 1998.

Myanmar imports a wide range of machinery equipment from China, Japan,
Germany and the Republic of Korea for use in its construction, mining,
agricultural and irrigation sectors.
____________

World Leisure News   May 2 2003
Kuoni pulls out of Burma

Travel group, Kuoni has announced that it will stop operating in Burma
from the end of the year.

Sue Biggs, Kuoni's managing director, said: "As a result of the recent
events in Asia and low public demand, we will not be offering holidays to
Burma in 2004."

She continued: "However, we very much look forward to returning to Burma
once the British public demands it back, which we expect to happen as soon
as democracy is restored in Burma."

Kuoni's move follows pressure from the Burma Campaign UK and Friends of
the Earth, both of which - in conjunction with Burma's democracy movement
- are calling for a boycott of companies doing business with what they
call "one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world".

Yvette Mahon, director of the Burma Campaign UK, welcomed Kuoni's action
and said: "Tourism is a vital source of income for the dictatorship. This
sends a strong message to other tour operators that they should get out
too."

She added that the organisation was now going to turn its attention to Sea
Containers/Orient Express, which also has operations in Burma. Details:
www.kuoni.com / www.burmacampaign.org.uk


INTERNATIONAL

ABC Radio Australia News   May 1 2003
US to raise Burma concerns with ASEAN allies

The United States has condemned Burma's government as despotic.

However, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell says it would be a
difficult task to crack the will of the military regime in Rangoon.

Mr Powell has told a Senate committee in Washington that he will work with
US allies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - ASEAN - to apply
pressure to the junta which has been locked in a bitter struggle with
opposition pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma remains a member of the ASEAN bloc.

Mr Powell says he will discuss the situation in Burma with ASEAN
counterparts at regional security meetings in the Cambodian capital Phnom
Penh Cambodia in June.

The US and European Union maintain a raft of economic and political
sanctions against Burma, but ASEAN states have preferred a policy of
constructive engagement.

Mr Powell also says he will raise Washington's concerns over political
violence and instability in Cambodia with its leaders when he visits the
country.

The US State Department has recently issued several strongly worded
statements of concern on issues ranging from the probity of Cambodia's
July elections to the government's environmental record.
____________

Irrawaddy   May 2 2003
Vigil for Hunger Striker Salai Tun Than
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

A candlelight vigil for political prisoner Dr Salai Tun Than, reportedly
on a hunger strike in prison, will be held in San Francisco tonight.

Salai Tun Than’s daughter, Mai Theingi, who lives in the US, said the
"Free Dr Salai Tun Than, Free Burma" vigil is being organized to support
her father, currently refusing food to protest basic human rights and
religious violations in Rangoon’s Insein Prison.

The US-based Free Burma Coalition (FBC) said in a recent statement that
Salai Tun Than began the protest on Sunday. It has been difficult to get
information on the progress of his strike or even confirm it is taking
place, as the junta usually puts tight restrictions on information about
prisoners.

A junta spokesperson, Col Hla Min, denied that Salai Tun Than was on a
hunger strike after the FBC issued the statement, but a person close to
the prisoner’s family confirmed today from Rangoon that he had heard two
days ago Salai Tun Than was refusing food.

The 75-year-old retired professor was sentenced to seven years
imprisonment after holding a solo protest in front of Rangoon City Hall
calling on the military regime to commit to political reform.

The professor is now striking on behalf of political prisoners who have
completed their sentences but remain incarcerated, the statement from the
FBC said. He is also reportedly objecting to prisoners who were
interrogated by authorities after interviews with the UN human rights
rapporteur and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The FBC says his protest is also aimed at the lack of medical provisions
and religious freedom for political prisoners. Mai Theingi said that
prison authorities refused to let Salai Tun Than, who is a Baptist, keep a
Bible. In recent years, the military has eased some restrictions and
allowed prisoners to read religious books and newspapers.

Mai Theingi said that several San Francisco-based Burmese organizations
would take part in the candlelight vigil. She said pamphlets and postcards
of her father, as well as a petition letter that Salai Tun Than
distributed in 2001, would be available at the ceremony.

Dr Salai Tun Than is almost blind. Since being arrested, he has had
surgery twice on his eyes. He also suffers from other diseases and was
reportedly being treated in the hospital ward at Insein Prison. Rights
groups fear that prison officials will torture and mistreat him if the
strike continues.
________

Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)  May 2 2003
UA students decide to abandon hunger strike
University administrators agree to suspend deal with company linked to
sweatshops in Far East
By Carol Biliczky

Students against sweatshops have abandoned their hunger strike and won a
small battle with University of Akron administrators.

School officials agreed Thursday to suspend their agreement with a company
that produces UA logo apparel in Myanmar, formerly Burma, in the Far East,
but stopped short of meeting other student demands.

``We think it's important that we continue to talk,'' university spokesman
Paul Herold said. ``We have a lot of ground in common.''

The group STAND -- Students Taking Action for a New Democracy -- objected
to a UA licensing agreement with Holloway Sportswear of Sidney, Ohio, to
produce apparel in Myanmar.

Eight days ago, 13 students stopped eating or ate only one small meal a
day to dramatize their plea.

They abandoned the strike after meeting with UA officials on Thursday.

``There's some hope for the future. They did give us some of what we
wanted,'' said Sara Cutlip, a theater-arts major.

While the university agreed to suspend business with Holloway, it was a
small victory. University spokesman Paul Herold said UA received just $100
in licensing fees from the company last year and the company isn't
manufacturing anything with the UA logo now anyway.

The student group also wanted UA to affiliate with the Worker Rights
Consortium in Washington, D.C., an independent organization that monitors
the manufacture of college apparel.

The university has resisted, saying it can enforce its own anti-sweatshop
standards and doesn't need to join the consortium.

The university also would have to spend $1,000 to join the consortium, an
expense Herold said it can ill afford when funding is so tight.

``We don't want to spend money to obtain a service that we don't really
need or see any benefit for us or for any cause,'' he said.

Ohio colleges that take part in the consortium are Antioch, Kent State,
Oberlin, Ohio State and the University of Dayton.

The UA students also wanted the university to strengthen the code of
conduct for licensing apparel that the board of trustees adopted one week
ago.

By e-mail, UA President Luis Proenza told Cutlip that the trustees' policy
was similar in substance to the one that STAND wants it to adopt.

``We are approaching the achievement of a `sweatshop-free environment' in
different, but parallel, methods,'' he wrote.

Cutlip said she went off her water-only fast because she had little choice
-- finals are approaching and the school year is ending.

She said she lost 13 pounds, down from 144, and was endangering her
health, but hasn't given up her campaign.

She said her group may be speaking to the board of trustees at its meeting
in June.


EDITORIALS

Mizzima  May 2 2003
Burma needs US not the UN
By Kanbawza Win

United Nations envoy, Sri Tun Razali Ismail, has made known that he wanted
to return to Burma for another try at brokering talks between the military
government and the legally elected NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Frustrated with the lack of progress on dialogue on political reform, he
was on the point of considering of giving up his post, when the Junta
seeing the fate of Saddam Hussein began to tone down and give the impetus
to Razali Ismail.

But looking back at the long history of the UN, we feel that it will not
help at all. What more prove is wanted at the treatment of Paulo Sergio
Pinherio and the number of trips that Razali Ismail had gone to Burma. The
Burmese Generals now clearly see the impotency of the UN and that it can
hoodwink the world body in playing the delaying tactics with the UN.

However, it is a fact that whenever the UN goes, it tends to stay forever
and often to perpetuate problems. It’s been in Bosnia for eight years now,
in Kosovo and East Timor four. In the Palestinian territories since 1948
while no solution for Cyprus after almost 30 years. Nevertheless the UN
has become a magic phrase, the last redoubt for pacifist. We could not see
any reason of why the poor Burmese people should be brokered and possibly
governed by these lazy and incompetent bureaucrats. It is no secret that
the UN is more tolerant and often than not have a soft sport for the
dictators. What a joke when Gadaffi’s Libya holds the presidency of the UN
Human Rights Commission. Even though we dared not label the UN as a
Gogolian monster with 65,000 employers and a budget of $2.6 billion
dollars annually, we like to witness more of their achievements.

The UNODOC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the longer the name
the more wasteful the body) is discussing of how the war against drugs is
going on should have easily smash the greatest heroin producing country,
Burma. Under the supervision of the Junta, this year it has expected a
bumper crop and the production of opium to be boost up. How can the UN
work can be compared to what Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra has done in
three months, when it not only knock out the petty drug traffickers but
forced the Burmese Generals to concede that they would not encourage the
trafficking. Being dependent on narcotic trade and production the Junta’s
Burma is now on the verge of financial collapse. Yet the UN wants to get
involved in Burma for what? Is it for prolonging the life of the Junta?

We will not accuse that the world body to be corrupt but has the UN ever
took pity on the Burmese people and let the UNHCR forced its way to the
peripherals of Burma where there are millions of refugees and displaced
persons? UNHCR which has an annual budget of $740 millions has even closed
its good offices for the Burmese refugees and is now grudgingly reopening
it again under intense pressure. Paris based UNESCO an expert on job
creation uses more than 80 percent of the budget for overhead costs, while
the officials of the UN Human Rights Commission in Bosnia were involved in
trafficking women and has to be sent home. So it is no wonder when
sympathetic and compassionate persons who want to donate to alleviate the
suffering of the people of Burma gives directly to the NGOs and not to the
grandiose UN agencies. Has the UN done anything for Burma when the UN
officers were well paid six digits, tax free salaries in dollars plus
innumerable allowance. Perhaps the only thing they can do is stay in the
luxurious hotels of Rangoon that belong to the cronies if not owned by the
Generals. The last thing the Burmese need is the UN. What Burma need is
the US.

The United States has a long history of freedom since the landing of the
Mayflower and is being doing the dirty job of cleansing the dictators of
the world. It is a fact that the whole of Europe and the world had been
saved by the USA three times in the past, from German militarism in 1917,
from Nazi occupation in 1944, and Soviet Communism in the Cold War.
American led Allied Forces not only freed Germany from Hitler but also
saved Japan and the rest of Asia including Burma from fascism in 1945. Our
perspective should rather be in the long term of the policy of the country
for Presidents may come and President may go but America will go on
forever on the side of democracy and human rights. Being the self imposed
policeman of the world or just by looking at its president one’s
perspective should not be blurred.

It is worth remembering that the American policy of toppling the Saddam
regime had begun as a strictly ideological project, only very lately in
post–September 11 pragmatism. The US fought its first ideological
pre-emptive war and overwhelmingly won it.  The Burmese Junta’s weapon of
mass destruction is narcotics. In other words, Saddam and the Burmese
military regimes are in the same boat.  The softly spoken promoter of the
US foreign policy Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary, recently
said that as the cradle of modern liberty, the US should be unashamed
about exploiting its military superiority to protect its interest and
exports its values.  Corporal Edward Chin, a Burma born Chinese American,
who unfolded the Stars and Stripes over Saddam’s statue in Baghdad, became
its most vivid proponent. If so why the Burmese nationals in Diaspora
cannot unfold our beloved old national flag of the genuine Pyidaungsu of
five stars over Rangoon?

There are no security threats in the advanced and developed world. Threats
to international stability and peace could only come from the
under-developed world.  So in dealing with these two worlds the US would
abide by the rules in dealing with advanced civilized society while
simultaneously employing military force against those who refuse to abide
by such rules. The US is already operating according to this double
standard. (Paradise and Power, by Robert Kegan, 2003, p.74) Henry
Kissinger once asked the ageing Harry Truman what he wanted to be
remembered for.  Truman answered: “We completely defeated our enemies and
made them surrender. And then we helped them to recover, to become
democratic, and to rejoin the community of nations. Only America could
have done that”. ( Kissinger’s Diplomacy, p.427.) This rule can also be
certainly applied to Burma.

Very lately US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that the Burmese
regime is "despotic" Powell told a Senate committee he would work with US
allies in ASEAN counterparts at regional security meetings in the
Cambodian capital Phnom Penh Cambodia in June. While Philippines’ foreign
Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople, says that the “US remains the most
important market for Southeast Asia and is one of the biggest investors
and a provider of key technology. Without them, there would be no
stability in Asia.” (Time, 24 March 2003)

The anti–war and anti–American people of the world realized the true
American policy when the entire people of Iraq unanimously proclaimed that
they have been liberated and it was this kind of thing that the entire
Burmese people need. The people of Europe including the French are not
ashamed when they were liberated by the Americans. So also the Cambodians
are happy when they were liberated by the Vietnamese and now the Iraqis
has proved it to the Americans. So, why on earth should be the Burmese
people be ashamed of being liberated from these cruel tyrants? In terms of
military force the Burmese opposition both inside and outside the country
are too weak. The Burmese people need a liberator to deal force with force
and to speak in the language which the Burmese Junta understands.

The people of Burma had put up their patience with the “Mudane Tatmadaw”
(rapist Burmese army) since 1962 and their patience has run thin. Now they
are making a clarion call on the Americans, knowing full well that it
takes a long time for the American wheel of justice to grind but once it
starting grinding there is not stopping. Once the Burmese dictators are
disposed by the American might, it will once and for all stop the wild
accusations that it had fought two Iraqis was for the sake of oil. The war
of liberation for the Burmese people in their impoverish county will prove
beyond doubt that America stands on the right and justice and have make
this world a far better place to live in. It will still prove that it is
still the arsenal of democracy.