REPOST: BurmaNet News: October 31, 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

THE BURMANET NEWS
A listserv covering Burma
www.burmanet.org
October 31, 2003 Issue #2359

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar junta slams U.S. report as 'flawed'
DVB: MANDALAY SAID CALM FOLLOWING RELIGIOUS UNREST
New Light of Myanmar: Burma signs UN convention on tobacco control
Reuters: Myanmar Clamps Down After Religious Unrest
SHAN: Rally attendants granted license to smuggle

MONEY
AFP: US defends Myanmar sanctions despite sex trade implications

REGIONAL
AFP: Indian VP to visit Myanmar
AFP: Bangladesh tightens security on border amid reported riot in
Myanmar Financial Times: Japan set to deport Burmese pro-democracy
activist


INTERNATIONAL
AP: U.N. rights expert to visit Myanmar
The Nation: PRESSURE ON BURMA: EU persists with 'carrot and stick'

OTHER
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Daily Briefing: Sanctions Against Burma and
Effect on Garment Industry and Sex Trade (Excerpt)

----INSIDE BURMA----
Associated Press, October 31, 2003
Myanmar junta slams U.S. report as 'flawed'

Myanmar's government has slammed a U.S. State Department report on the
state of affairs in the military-ruled country, saying it is politically
motivated and lacks objectivity.

"It is most regrettable that the U.S. State Department has once again
issued a report that not only does not reflect the true situation in the
country but is also intrinsically flawed," said a Foreign Ministry
statement published in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The biannual report criticized Myanmar's junta for failing to foster
peaceful democratic change in the country, detaining pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, mismanaging the economy and trampling on human
rights.

"The report is less than objective and is nothing but a politically
motivated attempt to exert pressure on Myanmar," the Myanmar statement
said.

"The report fails to note the vast transformation taking place in the
country, particularly the strides taken by the government towards the
emergence of a democratic state," it said.

The junta, which has been in power since 1988, claims that it has drawn
up a "seven-step political program" for making a smooth transition to
democracy. But the United States and other Western nations remain
skeptical, demanding that Suu Kyi be released first.

She has remained in detention, first at an undisclosed location and now
at her home, since her arrest on May 30 following a clash between her
supporters and a pro-junta mob. The junta refuses to say when she would
be freed.

The United States imposed extra sanctions on Myanmar in August in
retaliation for Suu Kyi's detention. Both countries acknowledge that the
sanctions are taking an economic toll on common people.

"It is time for the United States to adopt a more positive approach
towards Myanmar," the Foreign Ministry statement said. "It is time that
it begins with a fair and objective assessment on the situation in
Myanmar."

The Foreign Ministry statement also took offense at the U.S. criticism
of its efforts to fight drug. Myanmar is the world's second largest
producer of opium after Afghanistan, according to the United States.


Democratic Voice of Burma, October 31, 2003
MANDALAY SAID CALM FOLLOWING RELIGIOUS UNREST

Local residents said Mandalay seemed to be calm today after the military
shot and controlled the protesting monks on Monday (27 October) night.
But the situation resembled a state where a daytime curfew has been
imposed with the presence of many security personnel. Residents also
said the Myataung and Masoeyein teaching monasteries had to be closed
down as all novice monks attending the monasteries for religious studies
were given ultimatum to return home yesterday.

Although some monks were seen going about their daily alms collecting
rounds in Mandalay, authorities have ordered the monks not to leave the
monasteries after 1200 noon. Some monks were killed when the military
opened fire on the protesting monks to control the situation and it is
not known how many monks were killed and how many were arrested.

The monk whom the authorities arrested, Ashin Wayrathu, is an abbot who
teaches Perpetuation of Buddhism subject to the novice monks. He is the
abbot who said the allegation made by the SPDC (State Peace and
Development Council), that exiled Burmese dissidents based at the
Burma-Thailand border were responsible for shipping women's sarongs
bearing a wheel-shaped Buddhist symbol, was wrong and claimed that it
was fabricated by the military clique.

Mandalay residents said, even though Maj-Gen Ye Myint (Central Military
Command Commander and Chairman of Mandalay Division Peace and
Development Council) personally came and warned the abbot over the
matter Ashin Wayrathu refused to comply, so the Military Intelligence
came and arrested him. The residents believed that the Monday night
incident could be a spillover effect of the Kyaukse religious riots.

Eleven people were killed when religious riots broke out between
Buddhist faithful and Muslim brethren in Kyaukse on 19 October.
Furthermore, similar problems occurred at Thingangyun Township in
Rangoon on 25 and 26 October. Security personnel were stationed at
mosques in Rangoon and the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a
notification prohibiting the monks from leaving their monasteries from
1900 to 0400.

In addition, it has been learned that the majority of Muslim students,
concerned for their personal safety because of the religious
instability, have refused to take the University of Distance Education
examinations currently being held in Mandalay and Monywa.


New Light of Myanmar, October 31, 2003
Burma signs UN convention on tobacco control

Yangon Rangoon , 30 October: Myanmar Burma , a member country of WHO
World Health Organization , signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control on 23 October at UN Headquarters in New York.

After four years of discussions, WHO member countries unanimously
Myanmar signs Convention on Tobacco Control adopted the convention on 26
May 2003.

Myanmar hosted the fourth coordination meeting of ASEAN Association of
Southeast Asian Nations regional countries in August 2002 and announced
the Yangon Declaration. Altogether 75 countries have so far signed the
convention.


Reuters, October 31, 2003
Myanmar Clamps Down After Religious Unrest
By  Aung Hla Tun

Myanamar tightened security around mosques and Buddhist monasteries,
fearing more religious unrest after at least nine people were killed in
rioting two weeks ago, witnesses said on Friday.
The military government has confirmed what it called disturbances
"between people of different faiths" and said there had been casualties
and property damage. It gave no details.
"The details cannot be made public yet since the investigation is still
ongoing," it said on Thursday.
Witnesses said the violence began two weeks ago when Buddhists and
Muslims clashed in Kyaukse, 30 miles south of Mandalay, the second
largest city in the predominantly Buddhist country.
They said nine people were killed on October 19 when a fire set by an
angry Buddhist mob destroyed a mosque and several houses in Kyaukse. The
cause of the riot was not known.
Authorities slapped a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Kyaukse and arrested
leading Buddhist monk Weik Seitta on October 26, witnesses said.
The next day, about 1,000 monks staged a protest in Mandalay against his
detention and four monks were wounded when police broke up the
demonstration, witnesses said.
"Monasteries and mosques in Mandalay have been kept under constant
surveillance ever since," one source in Mandalay told Reuters. The city
is home to roughly 300,000 Buddhist monks.
Heightened security has also been seen around religious buildings in
Yangon, the capital.
DISTRACT ATTENTION
"We are worried that the government might try to use this unrest to
distract attention away from national politics," one Myanmar opposition
official told Reuters.
United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro plans to visit
Myanmar on Saturday, but it is unclear whether he will be able to see
detained democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.
Pinheiro, who will spend a week in the country, was expected to push for
the release of all political detainees and the re-opening of opposition
offices, diplomats said on Friday.
"I think the government has little choice but to let him see Suu Kyi. If
they cannot meet the U.N.'s demand to release her, they have to agree to
officials meeting her," one said.
Suu Kyi, 58, was detained earlier this year at a secret location
following a May 30 clash between her followers and pro-government
supporters. She was later confined to her home following major surgery
last month, despite Western sanctions and international calls for her
immediate release.
Her last contact with the outside world was on October 2 when U.N.
special envoy Razali Ismail met the Nobel laureate for two hours, but
failed to persuade Myanmar's generals to free her.
BANGLADESH FEARS INFLUX
The religious clashes have prompted Bangladesh to deploy extra security
forces along its border with Myanmar amid fears of a fresh influx of
Muslim refugees.
Bangladesh, which shares a 320-km (200-mile) border with the former
Burma, is still home to nearly 20,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees from
Myanmar. About 250,000 refugees fled alleged military persecution in
1992, but most have returned home.
"A new influx would aggravate the situation and may cause tension
between Bangladeshis and the Rohingyas, who are frequently blamed for
rising crime and a growing job crisis," one Bangladesh official told
Reuters in Dhaka. (Additional reporting by Nurul Islam in Dhaka)


SHAN, October 27, 2003
Rally attendants granted license to smuggle
By Hawkeye

A hundred men and women who attended last week's rally in Lashio in
support of Gen Khin Nyunt's 7 point roadmap were given permits to
"carry", a Burmese corruption of the English word meaning "smuggle",
said sources from Muse (pronounced Muzay) yesterday.
"Since their return from the Lashio rally (20 October), these people are
seen transporting electric and electronic appliances from China to
Mandalay (287 miles away) day and night without fear of being caught and
punished," said a businesswoman, whose story was confirmed by other
sources.
The smuggled goods included television sets, refrigerators and computers
made in China, that are contraband to ordinary citizens.
Others who were commandeered to join the rally, however, "went home with
empty hands", they said. Those who won the 'carry permits' were, first
of all, graduates of the civil defense course. There were some 180 men
and 120 women who had completed the military-organized military training
aimed at civilian participation against possible 'American invasion'.
(According to Irrawaddy, Darryl Johnson, US ambassador to Thailand, had
already denied on 27 October Americans had plans for military
intervention in Burma.)
The rally was held 07:00-08:00 on 20 October, at the city's sports
ground. It was attended by 15,000 supporters and well-wishers, according
to http://www.Myanmar.com.
Earlier on 12 October, another rally was held in Kengtung, eastern Shan
State, that was attended by people from several townships in the area.
"Seven out of ten people could hardly understand Burmese," said a trader
from Kengtung, "and there wasn't any translator. But we're used to the
military's studied neglect by now."
Another source said 6,000 plastic chairs from Tachilek, opposite Mae
Sai, were rented on 9 October for the occasion. "Of course, the local
people had to carry the cost which was 3 baht apiece," he said.

----MONEY----

Agence France Presse, October 30, 2003
US defends Myanmar sanctions despite sex trade implications

The United States on Thursday defended its decision to impose sweeping
trade sanctions on Myanmar even as it admitted there was evidence the
penalties had driven young women into the sex trade.

The State Department said it was "unfortunate" that a loss of jobs in
the the Myanmar garment sector attributed to the sanctions had resulted
in some workers entering the sex industry but denied there was "direct"
link.

"I think it's unfortunate whenever somebody loses a job or whenever
somebody loses a job and feels they have to go in the sex trade,"
spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"Certainly, nobody has encouraged them to go into the sex industry," he
told reporters when asked whether the sanctions were inconsistant with
US President George W. Bush's speech to the United Nations in September
in which he called for a worldwide push to fight sex trafficking.

But Boucher did acknowledge -- as the department did as recently as
Monday in its biannual report on conditions in Myanmar (Burma) --
evidence that young women were entering the sex trade after losing
garment industry jobs.

"It's quite clear that the sanctions have resulted in closing of
factories, factories have resulted in the loss of jobs, many times for
young women who work there, and that we do believe that some of those
young women have gone into the sex trade," he said.

The connection is "just a little less than direct," he added.

"It's certainly regrettable when that sort of thing happens, but we do
think those sanctions against Burma were the right thing to do and the
only way that in the long run we can make life better for all Burmese."

According to Monday's report, the fallout from the sanctions haven
included the loss of 30,000 to 40,000 jobs in the garment sector
typically filled by young women, some of whom have reportedly been
forced to enter the sex trade.

Myanmar's military rulers lashed out the admission earlier Thursday,
issuing a statement that demanded a reconsideration of the sanctions
because of their effect on young female garment workers.

"Before the lives of more young women are ruined, before more families
lose their incomes, and before more instability is forced on Myanmar, we
urge the United States to reconsider this misguided and
counter-productive policy," the junta said.

"If the United States wishes to help Myanmar toward peace and democracy,
we welcome their cooperation," it said. "But if the United States does
not wish to cooperate, we ask at least that they stop forcing the people
of Myanmar into poverty and prostitution."

Bush has led a chorus of international outrage over the junta's
continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and its
crackdown on her National League for Democracy (NLD) by signing the new
sanctions.

Boucher maintained that it was Yangon's refusal to bow to earlier, less
stringent US sanctions, particularly its arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in
May, that led Washington to tighten them in August.

"As the regime, in fact, had not responded to (those) but, in fact, went
in the wrong direction in a very severe way earlier this year, we felt
it was necessary to up the ante," he said.

----REGIONAL----

Agence France Presse, October 31, 2003
Indian VP to visit Myanmar

Indian Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat will pay a five-day visit
to Myanmar aimed at enhancing bilateral relations, an official said
Friday.

The November 2-6 visit is taking place at the invitaion of Vice-Senior
General Maung Aye, foreign ministry spoeksman Navtej Sarna told
reporters here.

Talks with top Myanmar leaders would cover a wide range of subjects
including trade, economic, political and cultural issues, the spokesman
said.

An agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic staff is likely to be
signed during the visit.

India had strained relations with Myanmar after New Delhi gave sanctuary
to exile groups following the military's seizure of power in Yangon in
1988.

But the two countries have seen a number of high-level bilateral visits
in the past few years and India in 2002 resumed arms shipments to
Myanmar to counter what it saw as the growing influence in Yangon of
China.

In June, New Delhi expressed concern over the detention of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


Agence France Presse, October 31, 2003
Bangladesh tightens security on border amid reported riot in Myanmar

Bangladesh has tightened security along its frontier with Myanmar
fearing a new influx of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims in the wake of
reported communal riots across the border, local officials said Friday.

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border guards and police have been asked to be
alert along the southeastern frontier amid reports of unrest in Myanmar
border villages over the past few days, officials, quoted by BSS news
agency, said.

The agency said available reports from Myanmar indicate that
panic-stricken ethnic Rohingya Muslims from areas including Akiyab had
thronged near the Bangladesh border following the clashes.

There was no independent confirmation of the report.

BDR sources at Bangladeshi frontier town Teknaf, 320 kilometers (200
miles) southeast of capital Dhaka, said border troops there and in
nearby Nakkhyanchhari had strengthened patrols along the border on the
orders of the Home Ministry.

BSS quoted district police chief of Cox's Bazar, Towfiq Uddin Ahmed, as
confirming the riot reports but added that no Muslims from Myanmar had
entered into Bangladeshi territory so far.

Dhaka's relations with Yangon soured in the early 1990s when around
250,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees flooded across the border into
Bangladesh claiming atrocities by Myanmar's military government.

Most of them were repatriated later under a Dhaka-Yangon deal and under
the supervision of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Some 20,000 of them were, however, left in two frontier camps near
Teknaf still waiting repatriation.

In September a 12-member military delegation from Myanmar paid a six-day
goodwill visit to Bangladesh.

The rare visit, headed by Lieutenant General Aung Htwe of the Myanmar
defence ministry, followed a series of high-level exchanges between the
neighbours.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has moved cautiously to build
ties with Yangon since her election in 2001, visiting Myanmar in March,
while Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe in December made the first
visit to Bangladesh by a leader of the junta.


Financial Times, October 31, 2003
Japan set to deport Burmese pro-democracy activist
By Bayan Rahman

A Burmese pro-democracy activist may be detained today and deported from
Japan, separating him from his wife and children in a case that is
putting the spotlight on Japan's immigration and asylum policies.

Khin Maung Latt may be held today when he goes to the immigration office
to process formalities. Japan's high court this week rejected a plea
that he be allowed to stay in Japan while he appeals for his asylum
application to be reconsidered.

Mr Latt faces being sent back to Burma, despite Japan's apparent support
for the country's pro-democracy movement, while his Filipina wife Maria
and their two daughters would be sent to the Philippines, even though
the children speak only Japanese and regard Japan as their home.

The family's plight highlights Japan's inflexible interpretation of
international asylum conventions and its strict immigration procedures.
Asylum-seekers like Mr Latt often have to fight deportation procedures
at the same time as their asylum application is being processed. This
and other rules lead to the large majority of asylum applications being
rejected. Japan granted asylum to only 14 people last year, compared
with the UK's 8,100.

However, a United Nations report has estimated that Tokyo needs to allow
380,000 foreign workers into the country every year to offset the
declining birth rate. Another UN report has said Japan needs to increase
the number of immigrants by 609,000 a year to keep its working
population at the level it was in 1995.

The Latts' case also comes at a time when Japan is seeking a bigger
international role in humanitarian efforts and is trying to present
itself, in trade talks and over other international issues, as a
champion of developing countries.

Japan has 1.7m immigrants, many of them from China or Korea, who have
lived in the country for generations, in a total population of 127m.
Despite their relatively low number, immigrants are often blamed by
populist politicians and the media for crime and a deterioration of
morals.

Shogo Watanabe, Mr Latt's lawyer, said he would appeal to Japan's
Supreme Court. The justice ministry declined to comment on Mr Latt's
case.


----INTERNATIONAL----

Associated Press, October 31, 2003
U.N. rights expert to visit Myanmar

The United Nations expert on the human rights situation in Myanmar is to
travel to the country next week, eight months after he broke off his
visit when he discovered a bugging device while conducting confidential
interviews with political prisoners.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil will go to Myanmar from Nov. 3 to 8 at
the invitation of the government, the United Nations announced.

Pinheiro will "take stock" of human rights developments since his March
visit and consider issues including "the situation of political
prisoners, the exercise of basic political freedoms and civil rights,
developments in the area of administration of justice, and the
possibility for an
independent assessment of allegations of human rights violations in Shan
State," the U.N. said.

He will present his preliminary findings to the U.N. General Assembly on
Nov. 12.

In March, Pinheiro abandoned his mission after finding a wireless
microphone under the table while he was talking to prisoners in Insein
prison, outside the capital, Yangon.

In a report to the General Assembly last month, Pinheiro said that the
attack this spring by pro-government protesters on Myanmar's opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers could kill all hopes for
political reconciliation in the military-ruled Asian nation.

He said the events of May 30 "spoiled all the progress achieved in
confidence-building and have shattered people's hope for political
transition."


The Nation, October 31, 2003
PRESSURE ON BURMA: EU persists with 'carrot and stick'
By Rungrawee C Pinyorat

The European Union yesterday reiterated its 'carrot and stick' approach
to get Burma to improve its political and human rights situation, saying
humanitarian issues and politics should remain separate.

The need for humanitarian aid in Burma is huge, said Ruth Albuquerque,
head of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO)
overseeing Asia and Latin America.

'We do not agree with the state of affairs in Burma; however, we should
address humanitarian needs,' she said.

'There are lots of constraints and we still cannot cover all the needs
of these people,' Albuquerque said.

Yesterday's statement came as the Burmese military government urged the
United States to lift its 'misguided' economic sanctions, saying the
policy was forcing people into prostitution.

The sanctions - aimed at punishing the junta for detaining pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi - led to the loss of 40,000 jobs for young
women, who now feel compelled to enter the 'flourishing illegal sex and
entertainment industry', a government statement said.

'If the United States wishes to help [Burma] toward peace and democracy,
we welcome their cooperation,' the statement said. 'But if the United
States does not wish to cooperate, we ask at least that they stop
forcing the people of [Burma] into poverty and prostitution.'

The statement was in response to a biannual US State Department review
of conditions in Burma.

Washington first imposed sanctions in 1997 in an effort to pressure the
junta to introduce democratic reforms. Harsher sanctions were imposed
after Suu Kyi's detention following clashes on May 30 between supporters
of her National League for Democracy party and what many in the
opposition claimed to be government thugs.

The EU established its position on Burma in 1996. It includes an arms
embargo, visa bans for senior Burmese officials and freezing of assets.

ECHO this year provided 4.2 million euros (Bt196 million) to
international non-government organisations to support projects for basic
healthcare, malaria control and water sanitation. The NGOs work in
remote areas such as the Rakhine, Chin, Shan and Mon states, and the
Thanintharyi and Yangin Divisions.

Since 1992, ECHO has provided more than 500 million euros a year on
average in aid to more than 85 countries. Last year, it allocated 22
million euros to Southeast Asian countries.

----OTHER----

U.S. State Department, October 30, 2003
Daily Briefing: Sanctions Against Burma and Effect on Garment Industry
and Sex Trade (Excerpt)

QUESTION: Richard, twice in this month, the Department, once in an
official testimony up on the Hill and then, just on Monday, with the
release of the bi-annual report on Burma, the Department has
acknowledged that the sanctions that were put in place in August have --
that there's evidence that those sanctions have had an effect, an effect
on the garment industry there and have driven 30 to 40,000 young women
into the sex trade.

I'm wondering how that squares, or whether that's consistent with the
President's speech at the UN in which he talked about how sex
trafficking has to be -- is one of the world's greatest scourges and has
to be eliminated?

MR. BOUCHER: I'd have to look again at how exactly we put it in those
reports. Certainly, we think the sanctions against Burma were the right
thing to do. We did that knowing that it would have an effect on the
garment industry in Burma, knowing that that effect was necessary
because of the kind of pressure we needed to bring against the regime,
but that there were people who worked in those industries and who would,
if the factories closed down, would lose their jobs.

Certainly nobody has encouraged them to go into the sex industry, and
there are a whole variety of other programs to try to make that end that
kind of trade.

QUESTION: Is it unfortunate?

MR. BOUCHER: I think it's unfortunate whenever somebody loses a job or
whenever somebody loses a job and feels they have to go into the sex
trade.

QUESTION: Oh, okay. You don't see any inconsistency between the --
between your opposition to sex trafficking and the sex trade and the
fact that here is a policy that is directly contributing to that?

MR. BOUCHER: I think directly is too strong a word. I mean, --

QUESTION: Well, no -- that's what you said. That's what the Department
said on Monday and what Matt Daly testified to earlier in (inaudible).

QUESTION: In his prepared statement is quite explicit.

MR. BOUCHER: No, I know, it's quite clear that the sanctions have
resulted in closing of factories; factories have resulted in the loss of
jobs, many times for young women who work there, and that we do believe
that some of those young women have gone into the sex trade. It's just a
little less than direct.

QUESTION: Could I ask you a simple question?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: I mean, is it -- is this fact causing you to reconsider that
policy?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid not. It's certainly regrettable when that sort
of thing happens, but we do think the sanctions against Burma were the
right thing to do, and the only way that in the long run we can make
life better for all Burmese.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on that? When Secretary Powell came in to the
Office, he said that he was going to take a comprehensive review of all
sanctions and see if there are better-targeted ways of doing sanctions
on any particular country. Has there been any review of sanctions in
that way, and in Burma, in particular, to see if there are other, more
pointed sanctions you could put on a regime without hurting the people?

 MR. BOUCHER: I think if you look at the three or four years -- three or
more years this Administration's been in, the Secretary has been very
judicious and careful about the use of sanctions. With regard to Burma,
for several years, we applied very targeted sanctions on the travel or
the assets of members of the regime, and we did expand that targeting
over the course of time. But as the regime, in fact, has not responded
to that, but in fact went in the wrong  direction in a very severe way
earlier this year, we felt it was necessary to up the ante, but each of
these steps has been very carefully considered, because we are aware of
the impact on economics, we are aware of the impact on people's lives.