(no subject)

[editor at burmanet.org]

November 21, 2003
Issue #2374

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar hits out at US over being consigned to financial blacklist
BBC: Burma junta claims Suu Kyi talks

MONEY
Financial Times: Burma put on dirty money blacklist by US

DRUGS
Xinhua: China trains 115 drug-fighting police officers for Myanmar, Laos
SHAN: Wa spared from terrorist charge but


ON THE BORDER
Asia Times: CHINA MOVES ON MYANMAR: Part 1: PLA masses on the border

INTERNATIONAL
Kyodo News: ILO asks Myanmar to take action on forced labor
AP: Report: U.N. agency gives rice to former poppy growers in Myanmar

OPINION/OTHER
The Nation: The third Burmese empire



----INSIDE BURMA----

Agence France Presse, November 21, 2003
Myanmar hits out at US over being consigned to financial blacklist

Myanmar's military government hit out at the United States Friday after
Washington put it on a financial blacklist and said the ruling generals
had failed to crack down on money laundering.

"The US government has been criticising and condemning almost every
institution in existence in Myanmar and now is the time and the turn for
the Myanmar Financial Institution to be accused of wrongdoing, not doing
enough, failing to implement, not good enough and etc..." it said in a
statement.

The junta said the US was failing to give the support which any developing
country needed to prosper.

Some rich nations "are heavily hampering the countries of peaceful
evolution like Myanmar by their constantly negative attitude,
irresponsible actions and unrealistic expectations," it said.

The US Treasury Department said its decision announced Wednesday would
require US financial institutions to terminate correspondent accounts with
Myanmar and two offending banks -- Mayflower Bank and Asia Wealth Bank.

The action, under the USA Patriot Act, is another blow at Myanmar's
military rulers by the United States, which holds them in contempt for
their suppression of the pro-democracy movement and human rights record.

The designation of Myanmar follows the failure of the Yangon government to
remedy serious deficiencies in its money laundering system, the Treasury
said.

Washington already maintains a punishing range of economic sanctions
against Myanmar which were strengthened after the May detention of
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who is now under house arrest.

Earlier this month, the international anti-money laundering organisation
Financial Action Task Force called on its member states to impose
sanctions on Myanmar, saying it had not cooperated in the battle against
money laundering.

It said "additional countermeasures" against Myanmar should be adopted,
under which the nation's financial institutions are required to identify
their clients and report any suspicions of money-laundering.

Myanmar is one of nine nations on a list created by the FATF to single out
countries seen as slack in the fight against money recycled from the
proceeds of illicit activities.

___________________________________________

BBC, November 21, 2003
Burma junta claims Suu Kyi talks

Burma's deputy foreign minister has said the government is having regular
contacts with the detained Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a rare interview with a BBC correspondent in the capital, Rangoon, Khin
Maung Win described the contacts as being positive.
Khin Maung Win is regarded as a key figure in the Burmese military
government's roadmap to democracy.
Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest and is allowed few visitors.
Khin Maung Win said Aung San Suu Kyi's "protective custody", as the
government puts it, would not be permanent and would end at an appropriate
time.
He said the dialogue process was at a delicate juncture.
Aung San Suu Kyi was returned to her home and effective house arrest in
September after being detained following a clash in May between
pro-democracy and government supporters.
Her National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections by a landslide
but the military junta refused to hand over power.


----MONEY----

Financial Times, November 21, 2003
Burma put on dirty money blacklist by US
By William Barnes

The US Treasury Depart-ment has moved to tighten the noose on Burma by
designating it a centre for money laundering.

For the first time the Treasury has also named two individual financial
institutions as having links to drug traffickers. The banks - Asia Wealth
Bank, the country's biggest deposit-taker, and Myanmar May Flower Bank -
would be barred from doing business with US financial institutions, the
Treasury said. "The Burmese government has failed to take any regulatory
or enforcement action against these financial institutions, despite their
well known criminal links," it said.

The move will come as no surprise to many banking experts who have long
maintained that Burma's military rulers turn a blind eye to where profits
from the drug trade go. It may have little immediate effect but the move
backs up claims by the regime's critics that Burma's battered economy is
supported by tainted money.

"Until Burma implements an anti-money laundering regime that meets
international standards, Treasury will continue to take steps to ensure
that criminal proceeds emanating from Burma do not reach the US financial
system," said a Treasury statement.

The action has been taken in concert with the Financial Action Task Force,
an international anti-money laundering group based in Paris, which called
last month for member countries to restrict dealings with Burma.

The Asia Wealth Bank is estimated to hold up to half the country's bank
deposits after a bold expansion since its founding in 1994. Foreign
narcotics agents have claimed its managing director Aik Tun has close
links to drug traffickers, as well as to Gen Khin Nyunt, the new Burmese
prime minister.

Myanmar May Flower Bank's founder, Kyaw Win, has close links to several
Thai businessmen who are expert at cross-border deals, including logging
tycoon Choon Tangkakarn.

Bruce Hawke, an author on narcotics trafficking in Burma, said the effect
would be limited as long as funds continue to flow easily into foreign
accounts: "The entry to the legitimate global banking system is not Burma
but Singapore and to some extent Thailand."

The money laundering designation was established in the anti-terror
Patriot Act passed after the 9/11 attacks in the US. Only Ukraine and the
Pacific island of Nauru have been so named.

----DRUGS----
Xinhua, November 21, 2003
China trains 115 drug-fighting police officers for Myanmar, Laos

China has trained 115 drug-fighting policemen for Myanmar and Laos since
2002, sources with the Ministry of Public Security said here Friday.

In recent years, the anti-drug international cooperation in lawenforcement
and personnel training among the three countries has become closer, said
an official with the ministry's Drug-fighting Bureau.

China has signed agreements with Myanmar and Laos in anti-drug cooperation
and exchanges.
___________________________________________

SHAN, November 21, 2003
Wa spared from terrorist charge but


According to an upcoming report from Thai-based Alternative Asean-Burma
(Altsean), the United Wa State Army of Bao Youxiang has long been exempted
from charges of terrorism since two State Department officials listed it
among terrorist organizations last year.
The two, Rand Beers, Assistant Secretary of State of Drug and Law
Enforcement and Francis Taylor, Ambassador at large for Counter-terrorism,
were reported by Bangkok Post to have testified to the Senate on 13 March
2002 that the UWSA was among terrorist organizations connected to drug
trafficking.
Two days after the news broke on 18 March, Priscilla Clapp, then head of
the US Burma mission told Rangoon "Washington regrets" the affair.
However, the Americans' 'abrupt U-turn' was not able to convince either
the generals in Rangoon or the leaders in Panghsang who had, by all
accounts, taken the matter seriously.
The Altsean report meanwhile says the Drug Enforcement Agency's
Congressional testimony on 24 April 2002 had refused to list the UWSA as
an organization of terror. The DEA stated, "The UWSA exists primarily as a
separatist organization, seeking autonomy from the central government in
Burma. It funds its separatist activities by being the major international
drug trafficking organization in the region. The UWSA is characterized as
a narco-trafficking organization but is not deemed as a terrorist
organization at this time."
The report adds:
The dozens of insurgent groups that have emerged since Independence in
1948 have utilized revolutionary tactics that have largely avoided the
random targeting of civilians for the purpose of terror. While
infrastructure installations and transport nodes have been targeted,
direct attacks on soft civilian targets have been extremely rare.
Kidnapping and political assassinations of officials have also been
exceptions rather than norms.
This may appear somewhat a relief to the Wa leadership but it still faces
a number of actions and allegations:
•	On 2 June, President Bush notified Congress the group had been added to
the Drug Kingpins Act list that makes it completely illegal for any
company, either American or foreign, trading with the United States, to do
business with the UWSA. The legislation provides major fines and stiff
prison sentences against companies and executives that choose to violate
the law. The initial list, released in June 2000, included Khun Sa and Wei
Hsuehkang.
•	On 19 April, 125 kg of heroin was seized by Australian officials on a
North Korean freighter, Pong Su. They have been traced to Burma and,
inevitably, Wa.
•	Newsweek, 19 July, further reports that a General Mohammad Daud in
northern Afghanistan has been operating several laboratories with
assistance from Wa experts from Burma.
•	Of late, Burma specialist Bertil Lintner told Irrawaddy the UWSA had
replaced Cambodia as a main source of arms for rebel armies in South Asia.
The latest action taken by US Treasury Department listing the group's
Mayflower Bank, as well as U Aik Htun's Asian Wealth Bank, as money
laundering centers yesterday may be a short but not the last straw.
According to a Shan businessman in Yunnan, Bao was said to own 43% of the
bank's shares.
One Shan observer was quick to express surprise that Yoma Bank, the firm
set up by Law Hsinghan, was not included in the American list. "But it's
clear to us like the moon and the sun that it has been up to its neck in
dirty money," he said.
According to Legal Issues on Burma, December 2001, the National Bank in
Rangoon provides money laundering services openly, turning drug proceeds
into clean money for a 40% charge. "Occasionally, official arrangements in
the state controlled press promote specials at a reduced rate of 25%, no
questions asked," it reports.
Burma promulgated an anti-money laundering law on 17 June 2002. However,
the State Department's report on 27 September this year noted
"implementation of the law faltered in 2003".
Prior to the latest US announcement, Paris-based Financial Action Task
Force (FATF) had, on 3 November, called its 31 members states to impose
sanctions on Burma, saying it had not cooperated in the battle against
money laundering.

___________________________________________


Associated Press, November 20, 2003
Report: U.N. agency gives rice to former poppy growers in Myanmar

A U.N. agency has delivered an emergency shipment of rice to former opium
poppy farmers in Myanmar who have turned to growing substitute crops,
state media reported Thursday.

The United Nations' World Food Program on Saturday delivered 690 metric
tons (760 U.S. tons) of rice to the remote Kokang region of northeastern
Shan State, where people are facing a serious food shortage, the Myanma
Ahlin newspaper said.

Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan,
and recently has become a major exporter of the illicit stimulant
methamphetamine.

Several government and other independent programs seek to persuade farmers
to give up poppy farming by giving them opportunities to grow other crops
in a bid to end the opium trade. The government has pledged to achieve the
goal by 2014.

Since Kokang leaders banned poppy cultivation during the 2002-2003 growing
season, tens of thousands of farmers have turned to substitute crops. But
poor yields and low profits have led to acute food shortages.

The rice was handed over to Kokang leader Phone Kya Shin by the WFP's
Myanmar representative, Bhim Udas, at a ceremony on Saturday in the Kokang
capital of Lauk Kai, 950 kilometers (590 miles) northeast of the nation's
capital Yangon, Myanma Ahlin said.

A separate World Food Program statement said the rice is being given to
50,000 people who are ``facing extreme hardship'' in cooperation with the
Japanese government and three humanitarian groups. It did not elaborate or
give the details reported by Myanma Ahlin.

It said the shipment is part of a relief project that began in October and
is expected to last five months. Under the operation, the farmers will
undertake food-for-work projects such as building latrines, irrigation
ponds and upgrading roads, it said.

The Golden Triangle area where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos
meet has long been one of the world's major sources of opium and its
derivative, heroin.

----ON THE BORDER----

Asia Times, November 22, 2003
CHINA MOVES ON MYANMAR: Part 1: PLA masses on the border
By Xu Er

HONG KONG - On September 16, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan
told a press conference that China had early that month changed its guard
on the border with Myanmar in Yunnan province, with People's Liberation
Army (PLA) soldiers taking over the border defense responsibilities from
local armed police. He said the move was a normal adjustment and had been
completed, adding that many journalists had asked him about the issue the
day before.

In fact, Kong's statement came out of the blue - nobody was asking any
questions about the China-Myanmar border. The focus of the press
conference was China's military buildup on its North Korean border.
However, the Beijing government was evidently eager to let the world know
that it was massing its forces on the Myanmar border as well, hence Kong's
seemingly irrelevant statement.

For despite China's preference for a low profile, it likes to keep the
outside world posted on what's happening on its borders.

Intrigued by Kong's remarks, Asia Times Online sent a team to the southern
province of Yunnan, and into Myanmar itself, to investigate the nature and
scale of the border "adjustment", and to try to determine why it is taking
place. Had a US military force been secretly deployed inside Myanmar, as
one rumor had it? Or, more likely, was Beijing worried that the embattled
military dictatorship in Yangon was losing control of the country all on
its own, without interference by Americans in the shadows?

ATol found that Kong did not tell the whole truth by describing the
deployment as a routine adjustment. The deployment is large, and existing
border patrols have not been replaced, but have been reinforced by
well-equipped units of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

A restaurant owner in a night market near the southern border witnessed
the "military adjustment" one night in early September. He said the fleet
of army trucks from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, and other
places could have numbered in the hundreds, to say nothing of other
vehicles. It took about 10 minutes for these trucks to pass by his door.
They were heading toward Yunnan's border with Myanmar within the
province's Xishuangbanna autonomous prefecture.

As with the situation on the Sino-North Korean border at the end of
September, the changes on the China-Myanmar border were clearly
reinforcements, not replacements. The existing border police were not
removed; in fact, to make things more complicated and mysterious, some of
them were transformed into a "mobility brigade". For local residents, this
is one of the signs of prewar preparations.

The military buildup is most conspicuous in Jinghong, the capital of
Xishuangbanna autonomous prefecture. Originally, there was one military
branch zone and an armed-police branch stationed in the prefecture. The
former was north of Jinghong, while the latter was on Jingdexi Road beside
Jinghong Produce Market. Both of them were of division level. Military
units 7702 and 7701, both under the branch zone of Xishuangbanna, have
been stationed in Menghai and Mengla counties as well as Jinghong for a
long time.

At the same time, armed police of a regiment size have also been quartered
respectively in places mentioned above. In Daluo town of Menghai, which is
on the border, there is one checkpoint with 26 police officers. Though
small in size, its head, surnamed Zhu, is nonetheless a
lieutenant-colonel, equivalent to a battalion commander in the military. A
large number of armed police have been removed from the border because of
the "adjustment", but some 100 police officers (equivalent to a company in
size) are still kept in this tiny town.

The armed police that were stationed in Menghai and Mengla previously, one
regiment in size each, seem to have been withdrawn. Yet a new mobility
brigade with more than 300 officers has been set up along with existing
forces: a squadron of armed police guarding the prison and a border
brigade.

According to informed sources, the evacuated armed police were not sent
far, but were redeployed in the deep forests closer to the border for
tighter defense, forming a garrison model of armed police in the first
frontline and PLA troops in the second.

On September 9, the newly arrived troops took over the barracks and the
battalion headquarters from border police. Villages that were never
garrisoned before were now for the first time fortified. According to
informed sources, the reinforcements were PLA 13th Army field troops who
were beyond the command of the Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture
Military Branch Zone.

The 13th Army is nicknamed the Chuan Army (ie Army from Sichuan province)
in the locality, for it has apparently never been back to Yunnan since
1968, when the province came under the Chengdu Military Zone. Since that
time, the field army stationed in Yunnan has been the 14th Army. But now,
the Chuan Army has broken the convention and marched into the "taboo"
region, a possible indication of Beijing's desire to reinforce the border.
The 13th Army is ranked as a Level A field army, equipped with
sophisticated armored weaponry, while the 14th is an inferior Level B,
largely consisting of infantry.

The 13th Army has fielded troops in numerous towns and villages in the
area. Radar and missile forces have been deployed in a deep valley near
Mengzhi village, which has been demarcated as a forbidden zone.

At the time of Asia Times Online's investigation in the area, rumors were
rife that US paratroops had infiltrated northern Myanmar to establish an
air force base there. ATol confirmed that the rumor originated from the
PLA barracks and soon spread among the local residents. Informed sources
in Washington and Bangkok told ATol that the rumors were totally
groundless. Some Bangkok sources insisted that the Thai government would
not tolerate any such unilateral US action in neighboring Myanmar.

Other sources in Beijing told ATol that China's reinforcement is a result
of its fear that the military government in Yangon might collapse because
of domestic and international pressure. As Myanmar pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi has been put under house arrest for the third time,
opposition voices are mounting. Internationally, the clamor against the
junta has been mounting, even within the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, which is always reluctant to interfere in the internal affairs of
a member state.

Under these circumstances, even if the military government of Myanmar can
hold on to its rule, its ability to control the border could deteriorate
dramatically, leading to fighting among warlords in the region. For that
and other reasons, China has seen the need to strengthen its own defense
of the border.


----INTERNATIONAL----

Kyodo News, November 20, 2003
ILO asks Myanmar to take action on forced labor

GENEVA, Nov. 20, Kyodo - The International Labor Organization (ILO)
addressing Myanmar's forced labor problem on Thursday asked the country's
military government to take ''concrete steps'' to improve the situation by
next March.

The ILO issued a sanction on Myanmar in November 2000 following reports
that the junta uses forced laborers in public works and other projects.

The ILO has established a liaison office in Yangon and in May drew up the
''Plan of Action'' with the junta.

At its meeting Thursday, however, the ILO Governing Body expressed deep
concerns over the forced labor situation, stating that the situation in
the border area of Myanmar, where there is a large military presence,
''remains serious and has changed little.'' The body said there were some
improvements in central Myanmar.

The ILO said that efforts to carry out the action plan have been delayed
by the political instability in the end of May following the detention of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



----OPINION/OTHER----
The Nation, November 20, 2003
The third Burmese empire

The Third Burmese Empire, established by Alaungpaya (1752-1760), the
founder of the Alaungpaya or Konbaung dynasty, held fast until the British
annexed upper Burma in Mandalay and overthrew Thibaw, the last king of
Konbuang in 1886.

According to Burmese chronicles, after the decline of Hongsawady,
Aungzeya, who was believed to be inspired by the good nats (spirits),
found himself the leader of a national movement.

A village headman from the small town of Moksobomyo (present-day Shwebo),
he fended off an attack by the Shan and Mon who, at that time, ruled Ava.
Aungzeya, with support from his people, crowned himself Alaungpaya, which
means the great king or ?embryo Buddha?.

He announced the beginning of the Great Burma era and elevated Moksobomyo
(the town of the hunter chief), after renaming it Shwebo (the town of the
golden leader) to his capital. That was the first chapter in the Konbaung
dynasty.

But while Alaungpaya was establishing Konbaung, a new threat appeared on
the horizon ? Westerners. Alaungpaya successfully drove off the French and
the British. During the 1750s, his power spread over the whole of upper
Burma, including Shan State.

He also controlled the area previously under the rule of the Toungoo
dynasty. He recaptured Ava from the Mon and also secured Hongsawady and
Syrium. He drove the Mon out of Dagon (Takoeng in Thai), a small port near
Hongsawady, and celebrated his victory with a festival at the Shwedagon
Pagoda.

His grandiose plans included making Dagon the chief port of his kingdom
and he began work on the foundations of a new city, which he named Yangon
(Rangoon), which translates as ?City of Peace? or ?the End of Strife?. He
later compromised with the Mon by taking a Mon princess as his consort.

As the French and the Kingdom of Ayutthaya had allied themselves with the
Mon, Alaungpaya tried to gain British support. In 1757 he concluded a
treaty with the British East India Co, granting it generous trade
concessions. Nonetheless, the company, at war with the French in India,
was unwilling to become involved in Burma.

Alaungpaya?s last campaign was the invasion of Ayutthaya in April 1760. He
was wounded and died while his was army retreating to Shwebo at Thathon.
His eldest son and successor Naungdawgyi was usurped by his younger son
Hsinbyushin (King of the White Elephant) in 1763, after just three years
on the throne.

King Hsinbyushin (1763-1776) conquered Ayutthaya in 1767. Thought to be
from a race of cruel warriors, Hsinbyushin and his men were unsparing in
their destruction of the people and the land.

According to Thai chronicles, the King of Hongsawady (Bayinnaung) waged
war like a monarch, but the King of Ava (Hsinbyushin) did so like a
robber.

However, Burmese control of Siam was very brief since later that same
year, Sin, a brave Siamese soldier, and his followers were successful in
expelling Hsinbyushin?s armies and established a new capital of Siam in
Thonburi.

In 1782, Bodawpaya (1782-1819), a son of Alaungpaya, came to power. He
invaded Arakan, the maritime kingdom on the eastern coast on the Bay of
Bengal and deported more than 20,000 people to Burma and into slavery.

The borders of Burma and British India became contiguous, leading to
conflicts between Burma and Britain during the reign of King Bagyidaw
(1819-1838).

This grandson of Bodawpaya followed his grandfather?s policy of aggressive
expansion in northeastern India.

The border with British India extended from Arakan on the Bay of Bengal
northwards to the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. The British,
angered over Burmese border raids in pursuit of rebel forces, launched its
first war against Burma on March 5, 1824.

On February 24, 1826, Bagyidaw?s government signed the Treaty of Yandabo,
thus awarding Tenasserim, Arakan, Assam and Manipur to the British.

Although Burma?s weaknesses became more apparent, especially following the
defeat the brothers of the Konbaung family, arts and culture continued to
flourish in the royal court and no more so than during the reign of King
Mindon (1853-1878).

Mindon?s reign is considered a golden age of Burmese cultural and
religious life.

As soon as he became king, Mindon insisted on peace. To avoid further
trouble, he signed a commercial treaty in 1867 that gave the British
generous economic concessions in the unoccupied parts of his country.

In 1872 he sent his chief minister, Kinwun Mingyi U Gaung, on a diplomatic
mission to London, Paris and Rome to secure international recognition of
Burma?s status as an independent country and to appeal for restoration of
its lost territory.

In 1857 Mindon built a new capital, Mandalay, with palaces and monasteries
that are masterpieces of traditional Burma architecture. Mindon also made
Mandalay the centre of Buddhist learning. The Fifth Buddhist Council was
held there in 1871 in an effort to revise and purify the Pali scriptures.

Scholars, among them Dhida Saraya, speculate that Mindon built Mandalay as
a sanctuary for himself and his subjects, who needed understanding and
energy to face and fight against the new problems that had flown in with
the winds from the West.

Mindon promoted numerous reforms. The most important were an assessment of
land tax and fixed salaries for government officials. He standardised the
country?s weights and measures.

He built roads and a telegraph system, and was the first Burmese king to
mint coins. His reign is comparable with those of Siam?s Kings Rama IV and
V.

Mindon was succeeded by his son, Thibaw (1878-1885), the last king of
Kanboung and Burma.

On November 28, 1885, the British seized the land of four million pagodas
and placed the country under complete colonial rule.

The series is a part of “The Wonders of 3 Cultures” festival being held in
Chiang Mai from November 28 to 30, which is sponsored by Thai Airways
International and a number of other organisations including the Nation
Group.

The highlights include seminars and a spectacular celebration of art,
crafts and culture.