BurmanetNews March 17, 2004

[Editor]

March 17, 2004 Issue # 2440


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Pinheiro Refused Entry to Rangoon
Irrawaddy: Reform Awaits Than Shwe's Approval, UN Envoy Says
AFP: Reader's Digest profile of Aung San Suu Kyi sold uncensored in Myanmar
DVB: UNA not pleased with the action of Mr. Razali Ismail

ON THE BORDER
Shan: Human trafficking a big industry

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: My father is dead, my other brother is dead, and my mother is dying
of cancer
please release my brother
Irrawaddy: The Renaissance of Burmese Art


INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

March 17, Irrawaddy
Pinheiro Refused Entry to Rangoon - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Pinheiro, a Brazilian diplomat, is due to address the Geneva-based UN
Human Rights Commission next week on the state of human rights in Burma.
In January a report written by him detailing the human rights situation in
the country was publicly released.

It is said Pinheiro wanted to visit Rangoon to update and amend the report
before the meeting.

The government of Burma denied the diplomat a visa, on the grounds that
the timing of the trip was not convenient, said a UN official in Bangkok.

A Thai-based Burmese rights group, Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners, or AAPP, said that he was scheduled to go to Rangoon early this
week.

Pinheiro, appointed in 2000, made his sixth visit to Burma in November
last year. Before his last trip, the UN envoy told the AAPP that he was
frustrated with the government because it didn't cooperate enough.

 The junta probably didn't allow Pinheiro in [this time] because it needed
time to cover up human rights violations.
—Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the AAPP

"The junta probably didn't allow Pinheiro in [this time] because it needed
time to cover up human rights violations," said joint secretary of the
AAPP Bo Kyi, who is scheduled to meet Pinheiro at the annual UN Human
Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.

Bo Kyi believes that the UN envoy’s recent Burma report probably irritated
the Rangoon, as it stated that the country's already troubled human rights
situation worsened in 2003.

In the report, Pinheiro recommended that the junta release all political
prisoners and lift restrictions on freedoms. He described the arrest of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the closure of National League for
Democracy offices as "a setback for human rights in Myanmar [sic]."

Suu Kyi and senior NLD leaders have been detained since a violent attack
on her convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Division on May 30 last year by a
government-orchestrated mob.
________________________

March 17, Irrawaddy
Reform Awaits Than Shwe's Approval, UN Envoy Says - Kyaw Zwa Moe

The UN special envoy to Burma said this afternoon that the country's top
military leader has yet to approve a solution to break Burma's political
stalemate, said a leading Burmese dissident who met with the envoy today
in Japan.

Razali Ismail, who arrived in Tokyo yesterday, met with Dr Min Nyo and the
chairman of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation to discuss political
conditions in Burma. The talks lasted for one hour, Min Nyo told The
Irrawaddy by phone, minutes after he met with Razali.

On his visit to Japan, Razali is scheduled to meet government officials
and representatives from the influential trade union, known as
Rengo—Japan's largest umbrella group for organized labor.

"I suppose that Razali came here to brief the Japanese government about
the country's latest condition," said Min Nyo, who is the director of the
Burma Office which gives legal and social assistance to Burmese living in
Japan.

The UN envoy visited Rangoon on March 1 and met military, opposition and
ethnic leaders to discuss the junta's road map for a transition to
democracy, proposed by Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt in August.

Razali said the problem would be to get permission from Sr-Gen Than Shwe,
the chairman of the military junta. —Dr Min Nyo

Razali said that he told Khin Nyunt in Rangoon that the UN and
international community would not support the road map's first
step—convening the National Convention to draft a new constitution—unless
Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders attend. Razali told Min Nyo that Khin Nyunt
understands the desire for full participation in the process.

The UN envoy also met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice
during his trip. He said that Suu Kyi also wanted to work together with
Vice Sr-Gen Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt, Min Nyo recounted Razali as saying.

However, Razali said the problem would be to get permission from Sr-Gen
Than Shwe, the chairman of the military junta, according to Min Nyo.

Min Nyo said that Razali was confident that the coming National Convention
would be different from the previous one which began in 1993, but was
halted in 1996 when the opposition National League for Democracy walked
out, saying the proceedings were not democratic.

Razali said that Khin Nyut told him that the participants would be able to
enjoy free expression and discussion at the convention. Min Nyo said
Razali wanted the opposition to attend the convention to discuss political
problems.
________________________

March 17, Agence France Presse
Reader's Digest profile of Aung San Suu Kyi sold uncensored in Myanmar

In an apparent first, an edition of a widely read Western publication
featuring a profile on Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has gone on
sale here uncensored by the ruling military junta.

The March 2004 edition of Reader's Digest, which features a lengthy and
revealing piece on the Nobel peace laureate described in the article as
"the soul of the nation," leapt off the shelves at the handful of
bookshops allowed to carry the title.

"Our copies sold out within a day," a seller at the Ava Bookstore, the
main distributing agent for the publication near Yangon University, told
AFP Wednesday.

Myanmar's ruling generals have tightly restricted the country's media as
well as imported titles for years, and material deemed offensive or
inappropriate, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyi and the democracy
movement, is routinely blacked out or cut from the publication.

But the story which made it through the censors included candid and
damning material, including reference to a brutal attack last May on Aung
San Suu Kyi supporters in which the democracy leader herself was detained.

"Scores of democracy activists, maybe more than 100, were killed or
injured on that evening last May 30," the article said.

Similar accounts of the clash cited by Western governments and human
rights groups have been dismissed by the junta, which has said four people
were killed.

Reader's Digest said that despite years of repression, "Aung San Suu Kyi
will not allow the torch of democracy to be extinguished."

"The petite 58-year-old with blossoms in her hair has become the sole
repository for the Burmese people's hopes," it added.

One observer in Yangon said the surprise move not to censor the piece
indicated that tensions have eased slightly between the junta and Aung San
Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.

"Normally it would not have been allowed to reach readers, but now the
powers that be are getting more confident in allowing such articles to
appear," he said.

The distribution follows reports that the junta was preparing to lift
restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi by mid-April's water festival, although
members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party were not joining
in any optimism about the immediate future.

"We have been trying to see Aung San Suu Kyi and we still have not been
allowed to do so, so up to now we have no grounds at all to be optimistic
about her imminent release," said NLD central executive committee member
Than Tun.

Earlier this month a United Nations envoy, Razali Ismail, met separately
with Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and Aung San Suu Kyi and said both
sides were willing to work with each other to break the political
stalemate.

Last August the junta announced a seven-point "roadmap" to democracy which
included a first step of launching a national convention aimed at drafting
a new constitution this year.
_______________________

March 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
UNA not pleased with the action of Mr. Razali Ismail

The senior leaders of National League for Democracy (NLD) including U
Nyunt Wei, Thakhin Soe Myint and U Than Tun, and leaders of United
Nationalities Alliance (UNA) led by U Khun Tun Oo had a meeting in Rangoon
on 16 March to exchange views on their meetings with UN special envoy Mr.
Razali Ismail who visited Burma recently.

U Khun Tun Oo, the spokesman of UNA and the chairman of Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy (SNLD) told DVB that the leaders are not feeling very
satisfied with action of Mr. Razali who seems to be acting like a
political agent for the military junta, State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) and not in accordance with his mandate from the UN.

He added that Mr. Razali only wanted to know the attitudes of the
opposition leaders on the ‘National Convention’ to be organised by the
junta and he seemed to want them to attend it, despite the previous UN
resolutions including the emergence of a tripartite talk between the army,
the NLD and ethnic nationalities in Burma.

The opposition groups including ethnic nationalities are against the
constitution drafting ‘National Convention’ because it is designed to
propagate and perpetuate military dictatorship in Burma.


ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

March 17, Shan
Human trafficking a big industry

Trafficking in people, especially women, from one place to another,
particularly from Burma's Shan State to Thailand, may make many repulsive,
but it is still a lucrative business to those who are enjoying double
citizenships along the border, said a businessman from Mongton, opposite
Chiangmai.

Two enterprising Shan groups in the township, namely, Moe-pyan (Sky flyer)
and Kywe-yaing (Wild Buffalo), with connections in Thailand, have been
"deep" in the business for several years now, according to him. "They send
their agents as far as Mongkerng (108 miles northeast of Taunggyi) and
sometimes even Hsenwi in (32 miles north of Lashio) in northern Shan
State, to look for likely customers" he said. "They even enlist local
Military Intelligence officers and informants to help in locating those
who are having trouble with authorities and, as a result, want to leave."

A Shan social worker in Chiangmai saw eye to eye with the businessman on
the subject and offered additional details.

Hsenwi - Nakawngmu (Mongton township) 75,000 kyat/per person
Mongkerng-Nakawngmu (Mongton township) 50,000 kyat/per person
Namzarng-Nakawngmu (Mongton township) 35,000 kyat/per person
Besides, the driver pays 500 kyat per passenger to each checkpoint that
his car passes through. As for those passengers who possess no
identification papers, he is required to pay 2,000 kyat for each.

>From Nakawngmu to Thailand, there are two options for the wayfarer, who
has to make up his or her mind whether it is Chiangmai, 160 km away, or
the Fang plantations, just across the border, that is his or her
destination.

Nakawngmu-Chiangmai 3,500 baht
Nakawngmu-Fang 2,800-3,100 baht (on foot across the mountains)
Across the border in Thailand, there are already locals who have
established connections with firms looking for cheap labor. "I won't give
names," said the businessman, "only that one is a tambon (equivalent of
Burma's tract) headman in Chiangdao district."

All in all, he reckons any Shan coming from central Shan State to Thailand
will need to spend around 14,000 baht to reach Chiangmai, "and another
4,000 baht, if he or she is heading for Bangkok."

"People who decide to leave their homes become by necessity rootless",
explained the social worker. "They have to sell everything they own to
obtain the money needed for their traveling expenses."

And, mostly, even selling one's property, meager enough, is not enough.
"Many end up owing money to those pseudo travel agencies, and have to work
to repay their debts," he said.

There are at least 230,000 Shans who had been forced to leave their
homelands, between 1996-2002, to seek their fortunes in an unknown setting
in Thailand, according to Shan Human Rights Foundation, as they are not
recognized as refugees here.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

March 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
My father is dead, my other brother is dead, and my mother is dying of
cancer
please release my brother

One of the Burmese student leaders Ko Htay Kywe who has been detained
illegally by Burma’s military junta for 16 years was recently transferred
from Insein Hospital in Rangoon to the notorious Insein Prison soon after
a major operation on his stomach.

According to his family members, the stitches are not properly healed yet
and he is suffering from the painful consequences of the lacks of medical
equipment and electricity and mistakes made during the operation at
Tharawaddy in central Burma where he was detained. When his condition
deteriorated, the prison authorities transferred him to Insein Hospital in
Rangoon.

His sister Ma Mi Mi Kywe who recently visited him at the prison told DVB
about his condition as follows:

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : On 15 March, they took away my brother from the hospital
to the prison and I was very worried. I went to see him because I wanted
to find out his condition. His health condition was not very good. They
discharged him from the hospital because the external stitches are
healing, they said. He has more stitches inside. The doctor ordered him to
be sent to prison straight away. I could not say anything to dissuade
them. He is unable to walk properly. He is unable to eat properly. He has
to eat bad rice given in the prison. We took cooked rice for him from
home. They didn’t allow us to give it to him. We only managed to give him
some snacks. We cooked soft rice for him as he has just had a major
operation on his stomach. They took it away at the entrance and I could
say nothing. They told us that he is only allowed to eat the prison rice
because he is a prisoner.

DVB : According to their (the junta’s) law, he should be released in October


Ma Mi Mi Kywe : He was supposed to be released in May 1999 but he was
detained for 5 more years with Act 10a and he should be released in May
this year. But I don’t know how they added another six months on top of
that. So, he is to be released in October


DVB : As a sister, what kinds of worries do you have for your brother?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : I am very worried. He is unable to move properly as they
have opened the main gut in his stomach during the operation. I am feeling
very sad that he is sent back into the prison when he is unable even to
eat properly.

DVB : Your mother sent a letter to the authorities?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : There is no response from them. Mother is not very well
either. She is suffering from cancer and receiving treatments in a
hospital.

DVB : You mean your mother’s deteriorating health condition is due to her
worries for your brother?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : Her condition became worse when she went to stay at
Tharawaddy for three days to see him. Now that mother is not well, I am
the only one left in the family to see him. Yesterday, when I heard that
he was to be transferred, I went to the prison and waited for him since
8am. I even didn’t have a chance to eat my meal the whole day. I was
worried that I might miss my chance to meet him while I was having my
meal.

DVB : Did you see him when they took him from Insein hospital to the
prison? How did they take him there?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : Yes, I did. I gave him some fried dry mutton in a small
box. I was not allowed to give him plates and spoons. They were plastic
plates. How could he eat there? They didn’t allow me. They came to pick
him up from the prison in an ambulance. They didn’t allow me to give him
pillows and blankets. I was riding in our own car behind the ambulance.
When we reached the prison, the ambulance was allowed to enter and they
locked the gate. Our car was not allowed to enter. They told us to come
and see him early this morning. So we went to wait for him early this
morning.

DVB : When they closed the prison door, how did you feel?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : As women, we cried. My cousins were there too. We felt
very sad. He was only able to walk with his bent body. I told him not to
carry heavy things. But I don’t know how he will be treated in prison but
I know that he will be treated like a criminal there.

DVB : His health condition is not good now and he has passed his releasing
date. What would you say to the authorities if you are allowed to talk to
them?

Ma Mi Mi Kywe : All I want to say to them is release him as soon as you
could. As mother is not well herself and her remaining son is not with
her. She wants to see him for the last time. When father died he was
unable to be there. When my other brother died, he was not there either.
We wrote to the authorities but they didn’t allow him to come to the
funerals. Now, mother is not well. He is not well himself. He should be
released immediately.
_________________________

Vol 12, No. 2. February 2004, Irrawaddy
The Renaissance of Burmese Art - Kyaw Zwa Moe

[For the complete article with pictures please visit
http://www.irrawaddy.org/culture.html - Ed]

Under the authoritarian government that lasted from 1962 to 1988, Burma’s
artists were down and out. But with Burmese paintings now fetching tens of
thousands of US dollars on international markets, Burmese art is up and
coming.

Long iron nails pierce Aye Ko’s whole body. There’s no blood, but he
suffers greatly. Around him are five television monitors displaying the
horrors of the Gulf War, while scattered on the floor are scraps of
international news and war imagery torn from various periodicals.

Such is Burmese artist Aye Ko’s installation art, titled "I’m the One in
the World," whose purpose is to convey the universality of human
suffering. His work was featured at the art exhibition at Chiang Mai
University in Thailand, titled Identity versus Globalization, which draws
together 60 artists from the ten Southeast Asian countries. Sponsored by
the Berlin-based Heinrich B๖ll Foundation, the exhibition will
appear in Bangkok in May and at Berlin’s Dahlm Museum from October to
January.

Among the dozens of works by Asian artists included in the exhibition are
three paintings by two Burmese artists, Myint Swe and Myint Myint Tin. The
pieces are titled "Development is a Lie," "New York" and "The Gap on the
Map."

Not that this is the first time Burmese have displayed art
internationally. Since the early 1990s, galleries and museums around the
world have featured the work of such artists as Min Wae Aung, Lun Gywe,
Aung Myint, Win Pe Myint, Soe Moe, and, of course, Aye Ko.

The most successful Burmese artist on the international market is
44-year-old Min Wae Aung, who has held many successful solo exhibitions in
several wealthy countries. At some of these exhibitions, Min Wae Aung’s
works sold out, and some have fetched as much as US $20,000. A close
friend of the artist reports that two years ago no less than one of the
Spice Girls bought a painting. In 1999, foreign collectors bought 19 of 25
paintings displayed at his exhibition "Moving through Landscapes," which
appeared at the Motcomb Art Gallery in London. Even the government’s
newspaper the New Light of Myanmar said that Min Wae Aung was following in
the footsteps of his ancestors, some of whom displayed their works in
London during World War II.

In the 1920s, Burmese artists were sent to study and practice Western art.
Ba Nyan and Ba Zaw, for example, studied painting at London’s Royal
College of Art. The trend continued soon after World War II. But not until
Min Wae Aung’s exhibition in 1999 would Burmese art again be showcased in
England’s capital.

The current boom in Burmese art is a result of the 1988 change in Burma’s
government, which replaced its socialist policies with market reforms.
Soon Burma became less isolated.

"However small the change is, it triggers the introduction of Burmese art
to the world," says a 40-year-old internationally recognized Burmese
artist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another Burmese artist, Chan
Aye, suggests that the year 1993 was a turning point, when he and others
exhibited their works in Singapore.

Burmese artists have also received recognition from international
organizations. Aung Myint was awarded a top prize of US $5,000 in the 2002
Asean Art Awards 2002, held at the Bali International Convention Center in
Indonesia. One of Min Wae Aung’s paintings was displayed at Asean
Masterworks, which took place in 1997 as part of a summit of regional
leaders in Kuala Lumpur. The following year, the Singapore Art Museum
added his painting "Golden Monks" to the museum’s permanent Southeast Asia
collection.

"It is undeniable that this is a new epoch in Burmese art," says the
anonymous artist mentioned above.

Artists suffered great hardship under the authoritarian government that
ruled from 1962 to 1988. During those years, says Chan Aye, artists
couldn’t get by. A quality painting might sell for a few hundred kyat or a
couple thousand at most (US $1 = 850 kyat, at today’s exchange rate). The
domestic art market was small, so most artists survived through commercial
work such as posters and signboards. And the government’s red tape
hindered artists—and everybody else—from traveling abroad and introducing
their works to an international audience.

Art critics generally agree that matters have improved, with some artists
coming to own grand Rangoon galleries. But critics add that the present
government is still suspicious. Official exhibitions must be given
official permission, and the Ministry of Culture’s censorship board has
the authority to bar unacceptable work. Fortunately, artists are under
less scrutiny than writers: asked by the government if their works are
political or subversive, it often suffices for the artists to reply that
their works are Buddhist in nature. Critics add that most government
officials are baffled by art anyway.

Today most exhibitions are held without official permission.

International demand for Burmese paintings has led to an increase in
domestic galleries, especially in Rangoon. Before 1988 there were Lokanat
and Peacock, to name two, but since then several dozens have opened,
including New Treasure, Inya, Golden Valley and Myanmar Gallery of
Contemporary Art.

The first art exhibition was held in Burma in 1932. Nowadays, says Chan
Aye, the exhibitions appear regularly. Indeed, an exhibition of his work
was scheduled to appear on February 15. Held at the Myanmar Gallery of
Contemporary Art, it was to feature more than 30 paintings and 50
sculptures, with prices up to US $3,000. Chan Aye’s art is mostly
abstract—some say "philosophical."

Chan Aye has targeted both international and local collectors, as the
Burmese adopt the unfamiliar habit of hanging paintings in their homes.
Some locals can afford work as expensive as one million kyat
(approximately US $1,200). But one Rangoon gallery owner adds that this is
the practice of only the very rich. The owner, who declined to be named,
mentioned one case in which a young tycoon and arms broker named Te Za
spent five million kyat on paintings in one sitting.

The allure of Burmese art, says Chan Aye, is its peculiar ideas and the
creative vision of each artist. Buddhism is also key, with most works
combining Buddhist philosophy with aspects of daily life. "That is the
essence of Burmese art," explains Chan Aye, "and it may be an unusual
taste for international collectors."

But Burmese artists continue to face limited resources. Most have improved
their skills by self-study, despite a scarcity of art books. Until 1993,
when the government founded the University of Culture, the country had
only two diploma schools of fine arts in Rangoon and Mandalay. But the
schools focus on traditional art, which today’s artists disparage. Most
artists believe that with freedom and sufficient resources they could
develop more quickly.

But as with artists everywhere, the daily suffering of those in Burma is
often an impetus for creativity. "My work is inspired by the Buddhist
philosophical principle ‘all life is suffering’," wrote Aye Ko of his
installation, "I’m the One in the World." It deals with his notion that
while technology and globalization is bringing people from all over the
world closer together, Aye Ko still feels isolated.

Yet, his suffering, and that of many Burmese artists like him, is now
being noticed—and purchased—by art collectors worldwide.