BurmaNet News: May 14 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

May 14 2003 Issue #2236

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy: Junta blamed for education woes

REGIONAL

Bangkok Post: Govt gets blame for slow push
Gulf News: View from Delhi: Traders gear up to reap harvest

INTERNATIONAL

AFP: Myanmar approves UN envoy’s visit: diplomat

STATEMENTS

Burma Bureau Germany: Statement on Burmese Asylum Seekers in Germany

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy May 14 2003

Junta Blamed for Education Woes
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

One month before classes resume, an exiled student federation has
condemned the military government for allowing Burma’s education system to
deteriorate.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Thai-based All Burma Federation of
Student Unions (ABFSU) released its 2002 education report yesterday. The
80-page report details how the country’s education system has suffered
under military rule.

The report criticizes the regime’s education system for emphasizing
quantity over quality, pointing out that an increase in the number of
graduate students, new school buildings and institutes does not equal an
improvement of the education sector. It also attacks the regime for
abusing student rights and academic and institutional freedoms.
At a government-sponsored education seminar in Rangoon held on May 9, the
junta claimed there are over 40,000 basic education schools across the
country. Government authorities also said that the enrollment rate for
school-age children during the 2002-2003 academic year increased to just
above 93 percent.
The ABFSU report, however, mentions that many children dropped out of
school for various reasons, mainly financial hardship.
"We released this report because we want the international community to
know the real situation regarding education in Burma," says Min Naing, a
spokesperson for the ABFSU’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
Dr Thein Lwin of the Thai-based Teacher Training for Burmese Teachers
program agrees that the deteriorating quality of education is due to the
military regime’s mismanagement. "The junta’s neglect of the sector has
made the country’s education system worse than it ever was," he says.
"They never spend enough money on education."
Education reforms would prove indispensable to students across the
country, according to Dr Thein Lwin. He points out that teaching methods
and curricula need to be changed in order to promote critical thinking and
active student participation.
The ABFSU report urges student organizations, foreign governments and
human rights groups to pressure the junta to reform Burma's education
system.

REGIONAL

Bangkok Post May 14 2003

GOVT GETS BLAME FOR SLOW PUSH
By Supamart Kasem

Northern businessmen have accused the government of dragging its feet in
developing Mae Sot into an economic zone.

The slow progress in the eight-billion-baht border economic zone project
was raised at Monday's meeting of the Joint Economic Quadrangle Chambers
Committees (JEQC) in Mae Sot district. The meeting was attended by
representatives from the state and private sectors and all provincial
chambers of commerce in the North.

Chavaphan Chavacharoenphan, chairman of Tak's chamber of commerce, said
the Mae Sot border economic zone project was part of the East-West
Development Corridor Programme to link Thailand with Vietnam, Laos and
Burma.

Under the project, Mukdaharn province and Mae Sot district would serve as
a gateway to other countries in the Mekong sub-region.

However, the project has made little progress since a study by a
consultancy firm was completed and handed to the Industry Ministry, which
implements the project.

The International Consultancy Network (ICN), hired to study the project in
1999, had looked into both social and economic aspects of investment in
the area, with Mae Sot district serving as a one-stop-service centre to
facilitate the investment, said Mr Chavaphan.

A representative of the National Economic and Social Development Board
said the project has not been forwarded for cabinet consideration due to
frequent changes in the government.

Rachan Veeraphan, who chaired Monday's meeting, said the proposed
development of a border economic zone in Mae Sot was included in the
eighth national development plan.

He raised doubt over why the proposal was not included in the ninth
development plan. Only the border economic zone projects in Mae Sai and
Chiang Rai have been forwarded for cabinet consideration.

The JEQC on Monday agreed to give the Mae Sot border economic zone project
a big push.
___________

Gulf News May 14 2003

View from Delhi: Traders gear up to reap harvest
By Farhan Bokhari

India and Pakistan may be neighbours but there is very little trade
between them. There is not much other traffic either between the two,
apart from an occasional train that crosses the border once in a while.

But all this is set to change in the wake of expectations about a thaw
between the two countries, though you cannot really count on it.

Trade and shipping circles are abuzz with rumours about new business
openings in Pakistan. Sesa Goa, an Italian mining company based in Goa, is
said to have clinched an iron ore deal with Pakistan Steel Mill for the
export of around a million tonnes of iron ore a year.

Pakistan Steel Mill will now purchase less iron ore from Australia, its
current supplier, and more from India.

Goa has been a big supplier of iron and manganese ore to Japan and South
Korea for years. Other firms and traders are getting into stride with
plans to export sugar, fruits and vegetables, via Mumbai and Kandla
(Gujarat).

Pakistan has always been a big importer of such stuff from India, as
shipping freights from other countries are much higher than from Indian
ports.

Pakistan imports mangoes, watermelons and a large variety of other fruits
and vegetables, including okra, pumpkins and and gherkins, and exports wet
and dry dates, bauxite and cotton to India.

Trade with Afghanistan should also receive a boost, since the cargo could
go directly overland through Pakistan instead of via Iran, as it does now.

India has been sending foodstuff and other items to Afghanistan under the
UN-sponsored World Food Programme but the shipments have to take a
circuitous route which slows down movement and raises costs.

For years now, talks have been going on between the two neighbours on an
oil and gas pipeline between Iran and India via Pakistan.

The pipeline could also be used by Pakistan for exporting its own gas to
India of which it has a surplus. A U.S. oil company, Unocal, has been
trying to interest the two countries in such a deal. Unocal is also active
in Afghanistan.

In the meantime, the government has invited bids for several oil and gas
exploration blocks, both on land and deep water, including, for the first
time, a block in Andaman Islands, off the Burma (Myanmar) coast.

The new offer is being launched in the backdrop of recent huge deep water
gas discoveries in the Krishna-Godavari basin on the east coast.

Reliance Industries has been active in the basin for quite some time now
and announced recently that it had struck the largest gas field in the
world in the area.

The company will also be a bidder in the new round in collaboration with
foreign oil companies. This is happening at a time when two government oil
companies are up for grabs under the disinvestment programme.

Bharat Petroleum used to be Burmah-Shell and Hindustan Petroleum belonged
to Esso, before they were nationalised.

They were set up in the 1950s and taken over by the government in the
1970s. Now the government has decided to sell them off and the same old
foreign oil firms which started them in the first place are keen to
purchase them back again.

Who knows, the next government may have second thoughts and decide to
acquire them again under a new policy!

INTERNATIONAL

Agence France Presse May 14 2003

Myanmar approves UN envoy's visit: diplomat

Myanmar's junta has given permission for United Nations special envoy
Razali Ismail to make a visit to the military-ruled state in early June,
his first in over six months, diplomats and other sources said Wednesday.

Razali would journey from his native Malaysia to Yangon next month to
resume his task of helping speed up national reconciliation talks between
the country's generals and the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD).

"We have heard that the approval has been given for Razali's visit, and he
will be coming in June," a Malaysian diplomat here told AFP.

The visit would occur June 6-10, according to one source familiar with the
envoy's itinerary.

Razali, whose latest trip to Yangon was in November last year, is credited
with brokering landmark secret talks between the military and NLD leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, which began in October 2000 and were aimed at promoting
national reconciliation and political reform.

The talks have led to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize
laureate, and some political prisoners, but otherwise have ground to a
halt.

The democracy campaigner complained publicly last month of the junta's
lack of sincerity in committing to a dialogue to map out a political
transition.

Razali himself has also expressed frustration with the pace of change in
Myanmar, admitting after his ninth mission to the country, last November,
that he was disappointed at the lack of progress in reviving the dialogue.

Last week officials in Yangon said they had been too busy to arrange an
itinerary for Razali despite his requests to visit the country.

In April Razali said he would attempt to initiate tripartite meetings
between the junta, the NLD and ethnic groups, and to "consider
humanitarian assistance" for Myanmar.

Citing a lack of progress on political reform, the EU earlier this month
extended and beefed up its long-held sanctions against Myanmar.

STATEMENTS

Burma Bureau Germany May 15 2003

Statement on Burmese Asylum Seekers in Germany

Mr. Tun Kyaw, a Burmese asylum seeker, residing in D-63697 Hirzenhaim, has
applied for asylum in Germany about two years ago and his application has
been rejected by the district law-court. On 06.05.2003 while he was
reporting to the foreigners office in his town, he was arrested without
prior notice by the authority,  brought immediately to the Frankfurt
International Airport and forcefully repatriated to Rangoon/Burma on the
same day.
His fate is at present not known in military-ruled Burma, but one could at
least say that he becomes one of the ‘ 50-million political prisoners ’ in
his own country under the military dictatorship, in which respect for
basic human rights and dignity, freedom of -expression, -press, -assembly,
-movement, -belief, -thought, 
.rule of law  are taboo.
Some of the asylum seekers from Burma/Myanmar ( a list of them is attached
) have recently contacted the Burma Bureau Germany, requesting to render
assistance and service to their asylum cases. They stated that they had
fled their country because of the potential arrest due to their political
activities opposing the ruling military junta in Burma and hence they
applied for political asylum in Germany. Unfortunately, their cases had
been rejected by the German district law-courts and they have been
instructed to contact the Myanmar Embassy in Berlin and apply for travel
documents, intending to repatriate them although they urged that they
would be arrested on their arrival in Burma. If they failed to cooperate
with the German authorities concerned by refusing to follow their
instructions, their temporary stay permit would not be extended, and
without valid stay permit it is a crime according to German laws and they
have to face serious consequences.

The Burma Bureau Germany has grave concern and is much worried about these
persons, whose asylum applications had been rejected by the German
authorities. If they were repatriated, we are much aware that they would
be ended up in notorious jails in Burma serving inhuman punishment. We 
know the common tactics of the Burmese military intelligence that if the
repatriates were not arrested immediately on their return ( due to
possible international actions ), they would certainly be interrogated and
imprisoned sooner or later.
While studying the cases of these asylum seekers, we have been
particularly drawn to our attention that most of the cases were rejected
by the same judge of the same district law-court ( for example, VG-Giessen
), whereas similar cases have been granted by other district law-courts.
We are of the opinion that the Burmese asylum seekers should not be asked
by the Germany authorities to make contact with the Burmese embassy and
apply for travel documents. According to the Burma Citizenship Law,
Section 16 Special Supplement, the Burmese asylum seekers have already
lost the citizenship, since they left the country permanently and applied
for German asylum document. And they have nothing more to do with the
Burmese embassy.

Noting that in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (
Art. 14 ) and with the German Basic Law ( Art. 16 ), every person
persecuted on political grounds shall enjoy the right of asylum in any
country, and Germany -as one of the Member States of the United Nations
and particularly of the European Union- has an obligation to promote and
protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and the duty to fulfil the
obligations it has undertaken under the various international instruments
in the field.
The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights, the European Union and the European Parliament, in their
recent resolutions on Burma/Myanmar and in their previous consecutive
resolutions as well,
- expressed their grave concern at the ongoing systematic violation of
human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights of the people of Myanmar/Burma, at the extrajudicial killings,
reports of rape and other forms of sexual violence persistently carried
out by the members of the armed forces, continuing use of torture, renewed
instances of political arrests and continuing detentions, denial of
freedom of assembly, association, expression and movement, wide disrespect
for the rule of law and lack of independence of the judiciary, and
therefore
- strongly urged the Government of Myanmar/Burma to end the systematic
violations of human rights, to ensure full respect for all human rights
and fundamental freedoms, to end impunity and to investigate in bringing
justice any perpetrators of human rights violations, to release
unconditionally and immediately all political prisoners, and to respect
the right of repatriates to safe and dignified return monitored by
appropriate international agencies.

We would like to sincerely urge the German Government and the authorities
concerned to kindly and leniently reconsider the cases of the Burmese
asylum seekers in general, and the rejected cases in  particular with the
vision of worsening political and social situations in Burma. We would
like to remind time and again that the ruling military junta in Burma is
not reliable, insincere, evil-minded and despotic, whose only intention is
to hang on power and militarism in Burma.

We are looking very much forward to your immediate and kind response.

With respect and best regards,

Nwe Aung                                                                  
 CC: Chairman
Email: NweAung at aol.com
Priv. Phone: +49 2173 9073 35
Fax:     +49 2173 9073 34