BurmaNet News: September 10, 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

September 10, 2003 Issue #2322

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Students Clash with Police
DVB: Prisoners stage hunger strikes in Bassein Prison
AP: Suu Kyi to Stay in Jail for Time Being
DVB: U Tun Aung Kyaw died from fatal wounds received at Dipeyin incident

MONEY
CBS: Ivanhoe Mines sells Myanmar copper project to China investment house
Xinhua: Myanmar-HK joint venture airline sets up head office in Yangon

DRUGS
Radio Myanmar: Burmese PM on Efforts to Eradicate Poppy Cultivation

GUNS
Xinhua: India ships in Myanmar for joint navy manoeuvres

REGIONAL
FT: Jakarta seeks release of Suu Kyi before Asean summit

STATEMENTS
EU: Joint motion for a resolution on Burma


----INSIDE BURMA----

The Irrawaddy   September 10, 2003
Students Clash with Police
By Naw Seng

Over one hundred students in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina clashed
with police on Monday. Two traffic police officers and three students were
seriously injured, said a Myitkyina University student who witnessed the
events.

Tensions began when traffic police confiscated several motorbikes from
students gathered at a trade fair in the city’s main stadium, said a
businessman in Myitkyina who spoke with eyewitnesses. The students
accompanied officers to the city’s Number One police station but were not
able to secure the return of their bikes.

The students responded by rounding up a mob and descending upon a
different station house, which is used by Myintkyina traffic police, and
began pelting it with stones. All injuries were sustained at the traffic
police station, said the businessman, who was reached by phone.

The confiscated motorbikes were imported from China and did not have
license plates, he said. Grudges between the students and police also
contributed to the violence, he added.

A police officer from the Number One police station, also reached by
phone, refused to speak about the events.

No arrests were made in connection with the clash, said the student.

In 1995, a similar student riot broke out in the Kachin State capital
after a female university student was killed by a drunk driver. Several
hundred students responded by rallying at a police station and a hospital.


Democratic Voice of Burma   September 10, 2003
Prisoners stage hunger strikes in Bassein Prison

Seven political prisoners in Bassein (Pathein) Prison are staging a week
long hunger strike for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The strike started on the 6th of this month and on last Sunday, the prison
authorities also stopped giving water to the protesters.

Their main demands are:

-the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
-the unconditional releases of all political prisoners,
-the implementation of the 1990 election and
-the improvement of the living conditions of political prisoners in all
the prisons throughout Burma.

The participants of the hunger strike are:

-Ko Aung Hlaing Win of Oaktwin (death sentence)
-Ko Myo Aung of Pegu (death sentence)
-Ko Myo Thant of Pegu (death sentence) [Brother of Ko Myo Aung]
-Ko Myo Minn Zaw of Bahan (52 year sentence)
-Ko Than Htay of Dawpone (21 year sentence)
-Ko Kyaw Zin Htway of Thinggangyun (28 year sentence)
-Ko Nay Aung of Pyinmana (8 year sentence)

According to statistics collected by DVB, political prisoners have staged
three hunger strikes in various Burmese jails including the ones in Kahmti
and Mandalay.


Associated Press   September 10, 2003
Suu Kyi to Stay in Jail for Time Being
By Jim Gomez

MANILA, Philippines: Myanmar will face protests and political instability
if pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released from detention, a
Myanmar police general said Wednesday.

Still, Brig. Gen. Khin Yi told The Associated Press that the Nobel Peace
Prize winner, arrested May 30, will not be detained for "too long."

Myanmar is under intense pressure to release Suu Kyi. Much of that comes
from fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who
want her freed before their Oct. 7 summit in Bali.

Suu Kyi's detention overshadowed the last meeting of the 10-member group
in July.

"I think the political situation is stable right now. If we release her
immediately, I think some problem will come up because of her," Khin Yi
said at a gathering of ASEAN police officials in Manila. "Now, there is no
rally, there is no protest."

Suu Kyi was arrested after pro-junta thugs clashed with her entourage as
she traveled in northern Myanmar. The United States has imposed economic
and political sanctions to exert pressure for her release.

Washington has said it has credible reports Suu Kyi is on hunger strike,
but Red Cross officials who visited her said Saturday it wasn't true. Khin
also denied it.

"She's well, well, well... not sick, not on hunger strike," he said.

Myanmar is one of ASEAN's newest members, and some ASEAN officials say it
has sullied the organization's image by detaining Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won national elections more
than a decade ago, but the junta refused to yield power. She has been
under house arrest for much of the time since then.


Democratic Voice of Burma   September 10, 2003
U Tun Aung Kyaw died from fatal wounds received at Dipeyin incident

U Tun Aung Kyaw, a famous political activist from Mandalay who was
attacked along with other NLD supporters during Dipeyin incident has died
from unhealed wounds during last week.

U Tun Aung Kyaw was arrested and detained twice in 1990 and 1996 for
taking part in political activities and he was only released from Mandalay
Prison during April this year.

He managed to escape from the assault by the SPDC sponsored thugs at
Dipeyin on May 30 and went into hiding but he was unable to receive proper
medication for the fatal blows on his head and died from the unhealed
wounds, according to political activists in Mandalay.

U Tun Aung Kyaw was a school teacher from No.11, State High School,
Mandalay as well as a tuition teacher. He is known to be kind to his
pupils and he had been actively working for the emergence of democracy in
Burma.

Fellow activists and colleagues have been expressing their deep sorrows at
the loss of U Tun Aung Kyaw who is known to be generous, tireless, active
and kind.


----MONEY----

CBS MarketWatch   September 10, 2003
Thom Calandra’s Stockwatch
Gargantuan bullion claims may herald next boom [excerpt]
By Thom Calandra, CBS.MarketWatch.com

Word is Ivanhoe Mines is close to raising as much as $150 million via the
sale of a Myanmar copper project, in which it has a 50 percent stake, to a
China-based investment house. Ivanhoe Mines also has plans to spin off to
shareholders at least two other units, one an iron-ore operation in
Australia and another a conglomeration of Korea silver interests and
related Mongolia property rights.

"Any sale of Myanmar lifts a big political cloud from over the company,"
says R. Edward Flood, a deputy director of Ivanhoe Mines.


Xinhua General News Service   September 10, 2003
Myanmar-HK joint venture airline sets up head office in Yangon

YANGON: A Myanmar-Hong Kong joint-venture airline, the United Myanmar
Airlines (UMA), has set up its head office here to begin operation this
month under an agreement on the establishment signed last July, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

The UMA, a joint venture between the state-run Myanma Airways ( MA) and a
Hong-Kong-based Sunshine Strategic Investments Company ( SSIC) and its
partners, the Fortune International and Myanmar Smooth Travels Service
Company, is also Myanmar's second international carrier.

The new airline will launch its flight services to Bangkok, Singapore,
Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Hong Kong and Mandalay, using two leased 130-seat
Boeing 737-400s, according to the airline.

With an initial investment of 15 million US dollars, the airline is
expected to increase the investment to 100 million dollars in the future.

Myanmar launched ten years ago its first international carrier, the
Myanmar Airways International (MAI), which is a joint-venture between the
Myanmar Transport Ministry and the Region Air, a Singapore-based carrier.

Foreign airlines that fly Yangon regularly include Thai Airways
International, Biman, Royal Brunei Airline, Air China, Malaysian Airline
System and Silk Air.


----DRUGS----

Radio Myanmar   September 7, 2003
Burmese PM on Efforts to Eradicate Poppy Cultivation, Drug Production

The Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) held Special Meeting
No 2/2003 at a hall of the Home Ministry at 0930 today. Prime Minister Gen
Khin Nyunt addressed the meeting.

In his address, Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt first said the successive
governments have persistently been making efforts to eradicate poppy
cultivation and drug production.

Under the present government, drug eradication tasks have systematically
been drawn up so as to strengthen earlier tasks, expedite drug eradication
projects, and to persuade the local ethnic people to take part in these
tasks.

Since the local ethnic people have participated in these tasks, peace and
tranquillity have prevailed in regions where poppy was once grown and
drugs were produced. Ethnic leaders and local people are now
enthusiastically participating in drug eradication tasks under the
government policy; thus, it is in a significant progress. Moreover, the
ethnic leaders, while cooperating with the government, are striving for
regional development, improvement of the living standard of the local
people, and at the same time making efforts to wipe out the dangerous
threats of drug - the evil legacy from the colonial period.

The government had firmly laid down the 15-year drug eradication plan, and
it has been implementing the plan since 1999. This is the last year of the
first five-year plan. The New Destiny Project was initiated as part of the
main 15-year plan in the 2002-2003 Fiscal Year to bring more improvement
in the successful implementation of drug eradication projects.

He said only drug dealers are making profit from poppy cultivation and
drug production while innocent farmers cannot make ends meet. That is why
when poppy plantations were destroyed, the government distributed poppy
substitute crop seeds and provided rice, cooking oil, and salt to poppy
growers free of charge based on humanitarian grounds and according to the
New Destiny Project and the land was also reclaimed by government
departments. (passage omitted on assistance to poppy farmers)

He said although the Myanmar (Burmese) government is striving to eradicate
poppy cultivation and drug production and to fulfil the basic needs -
food, clothes, and shelter - of poppy farmers based on self-reliance by
using state's wealth, some big nations, without extending a helping hand
or assistance, are accusing Myanmar of still growing poppy and producing
drugs. They do not help but at the same time ignore Myanmar's drug
eradication efforts.

However, in collaboration with the United States and the UNODC (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), Myanmar is conducting opium yield
surveys. Reports from these organizations showed the yearly decrease in
poppy cultivation and yield.

Since the international community has realized the success of Myanmar's
drug eradication efforts, Myanmar was selected as a member of the UN Drug
Commission for four years - from 2004 to 2007 - at a meeting of the UN
Economic and Social Council held at the UN Headquarters in April 2003.

Allowing Myanmar to work as a UN Drug Commission member will give Myanmar
an opportunity to play a leading role in carrying out drug eradication
tasks not only in Myanmar but also in other countries where the UN drug
eradication programme is being implemented.

Since progress has been made in drug eradication, cooperation between the
national ethnic leaders and the local people has also increased. Thus,
all-out efforts to achieve the goal of total drug eradication in 2005 have
been made in both Wa and Kokang regions. Moreover, the national ethnic
leaders and the local people are earnestly striving for regional
development, improvement of the living standard of the local people, and
poppy substitute crops cultivation. Opium refineries have also been
exposed and destroyed in 2003.

Myanmar is actively and successfully working with neighbouring countries
on a drug eradication drive. A successful exchange of drug information and
cooperation in the prevention of drug has been made with the People's
Republic of China. In cooperation with Thailand, a significant progress
has been made in implementing the Yaungkha Model Village in Mong Hsat
Township, southern Wa region. (passage omitted on development tasks)

He stressed that while the drug eradication drive is in progress, efforts
will continue for further progress in accord with the objectives.

(passage omitted on progress reports presented by CCDAC members)

Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt then gave closing remarks. (passage omitted)


----GUNS----

Xinhua General News Service   September 10, 2003
India ships in Myanmar for joint navy manoeuvres

NEW DELHI, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) --One day after Indian Naval Chief Admiral
Madhavendra Singh concluded his visit to Myanmar, two Indian Naval
warships Wednesday reached Yangon for joint manoeuvres in the first
maritime trip to that country in two decades.

Two Khukri class Naval corvettes berthed at Yangon and would carry out
joint manoeuvres with Myanmar Naval boats for the next four days, a Naval
spokesman here said.

India has been seeking berth and passage facilities in Myanmar Naval bases
in the Andaman Sea and this was the focus of discussion the Naval Chief
had with his Myanmarese counterpart.

Singh, who returned here Tuesday, also visited Myanmar Navy's major bases
as well as training establishments.

India has also agreed to raise the number of Naval cadets from Myanmar in
Indian training institutions.


----REGIONAL----

Financial Times (London)   September 10, 2003
Jakarta seeks release of Suu Kyi before Asean summit
By SHAWN DONNAN and AMY KAZMIN

JAKARTA and BANGKOK: Indonesia yesterday demanded that Burma's military
junta free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before a gathering of
south-east Asian leaders in Bali next month.

Indonesia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, (Asean), appears increasingly impatient to have Ms Suu Kyi
released.

Jakarta is worried that if Ms Suu Kyi is not freed before the October 7-8
Asean summit in Bali, the Nobel laureate's detention would overshadow the
group's annual meeting after already dominating discussions during a June
ministerial meeting in Cambodia.

"For the government of Indonesia, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi cannot
be postponed again," Hasan Wirayuda, foreign minister, told a
parliamentary hearing in Jakarta yesterday.

Burma has been under intense pressure since Ms Suu Kyi's convoy was
attacked on May 30 by government supporters armed with iron bars.

The attack and her subsequent detention at a secret location shattered the
facade that a UN-brokered dialogue was making progress towards ending four
d ecades of military rule in Burma.

Rangoon has been working hard to justify Ms Suu Kyi's detention, arguing
that her followers were planning to overthrow the government.

But its neighbours have grown increasingly weary of the junta's
explanations and the fact that Burma continues to be a distraction for
Asean, prompting condemnation from previously reliable friends such as
Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.

Meanwhile, Burma's junta said it has appointed four senior military
officials and a little-known judge to oversee the drafting of a new
constitution as part of its bid to persuade a sceptical world that the
country is on a path to "free and fair" elections.

Razali Ismail, the UN special envoy to Burma, said on Monday that the
junta should be given "a chance" to fulfil the promise it made last week
to establish what it calls a "disciplined democracy" in the country.

But critics say the regime's talk of democracy has little credibility as
long as Ms Suu Kyi remains locked up.


----STATEMENTS----

European Union   September 4, 2003
Burma: Joint motion for a resolution on Burma

Doc.: B5-0374/2003, B5-0378/2003, B5-0383/2003, B5-0384/2003, B5-0389/2003
Debate: 04.09.2003
Vote: 04.09.2003

Vote

The House adopted a joint resolution demanding the immediate release of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. MEPs insisted that the ruling military State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) relinquish its grip on power and that the
results of the last election held be fully respected. Furthermore,
Parliament called on the Council to introduce further tough measures
targeted against the SPDC, its members and their interests. MEPs also
called on the Council and the Commission to show their readiness, in
collaboration with the UN, to help facilitate the National Reconciliation
process in Burma.