BurmaNet News, July 3-6, 2004

[Editor]

July 3-6, 2004, Issue # 2510


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burma’s NC to Take an Intermission

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan: Bangladesh Law Minister calls for logical solution of Rohingya
problem
Mizzima: Tribal Body May Oppose Burma’s Gas Pipeline

BUSINESS / MONEY
AP via Straits Times: Myanmar to be big supplier of energy

REGIONAL
AP: ASEAN should "cajole" Myanmar on democratic reforms, U.N. envoy says
AFP: AIDS spreads unchecked in parts of Asia as ignorance remains: UN
AFP: Malaysian boss of major human smuggling syndicate jailed in Singapore

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar set to keep poisoning Europe-Asia ties

OPINION / OTHER
NYT: Human Rights and the Court


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

July 5, Irrawaddy
Burma’s NC to Take an Intermission - Nandar Chann

Burma’s National Convention, tasked with drafting a new constitution, will
shut down for a month starting July 10, said a spokesman for the New Mon
State Party, or NMSP.

“I heard that the Convention will take a break for about two months and
during that time delegates will return their headquarters,” said Aung
Shein, who spoke by telephone from Sangklaburi, Kanchanaburi Province,
Thailand. “But I don't know why it should take that long.”

Burmese opposition figures contacted by The Irrawaddy speculated that the
intermission might be related to recent problems between the National
Convention Committee and ethnic ceasefire groups.

On June 9, thirteen ethnic-ceasefire groups attending the meeting
presented a joint proposal paper to the National Conventional Committee.
The paper included a recommendation that in addition to legislative
authority in the Union Parliament, that there should be legislative
authority in the state assemblies, which would entail some power-sharing
and the right to form assembly-controlled armed forces.

The National Convention Committee last Friday dismissed the groups’ demand
and urged the amendment of the proposal paper in accordance with the six
objectives and 104 tentative articles of the constitutional blueprint
tabled by the government.

The ceasefire groups agreed to leave the paper out of the plenary session
agenda of the convention. But Aung Shein said that the NMSP had not yet
received any official letter from the authorities regarding the issue.

Representatives of 17 former ethnic insurgent groups, which each signed
separate ceasefire agreements with Rangoon during the late 1980s and the
1990s, are attending the convention that began on May 17. The government
declared the meeting’s launch a success as 1076 of the 1088 invited
delegates turned up.

The main opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD, and Burma’s
second biggest party, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, or
SNLD, decided not to attend the National Convention because the government
refused to amend the objectives and tentative articles of its proposed
constitutional blueprint, which guarantees the military a major role in
any future administration.


ON THE BORDER
______________________________________

July 6, Kaladan News
Bangladesh Law Minister calls for logical solution of Rohingya problem

Chittagong: Bangladesh Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Barrister Maudud Ahmed called for a logical solution of Rohingya problem
through negotiation yesterday, according to Staff Correspondent.

He was addressing in the seminar that was jointly organized by Centers for
Development Studies, Bandhujana Lawyers Association and Human Rights Forum
to put forward recommendations based on Amnesty International report on
“Myanmar: The Rohingya Minority Fundamental Rights Denied,” as a chief
gust at the National Press Club, Dhaka.

“It is no problem to solve this great problem. UNHCR is here that to see
the refugee problems. We are hopeful that all Rohingya refugees shall be
able to repatriate. Myanmar is our neighboring country so we have to move
a head through negotiation, he said.

The constitution of Bangladesh has a lot of provisions in Article No.31
and 44 on refugees, which is rare in other countries. We are also looking
in depth that the necessity of law enforcement in Bangladesh constitution
for refugees, Minister further said.

There are about 150 people participated at the seminar. Most of them are
Bangladeshi Lawyers from Bangladesh Supreme Court and Judge Court Dhaka.

Prof. Dr. C. R. Abrar of Department of International Relation, Dhaka
University and also Executive Editor of Refugee & Migratory Movement
Research Unit (RMMRU) chaired the seminar while human rights workers and
representatives from civil society groups spoke on the occasion. They
called for a persuasive policy towards Burma to stop oppression on
Rohingyas and ensure their rights and freedom.

According to unofficial figure, tens of thousands of Rohingya have been
staying in Bangladesh. UNHCR should study their case either they fall in
criteria of refugees or not. Many of the repatriated Rohingyas again
entered Bangladesh, as the human rights situation in their homeland
remains the same as before, he further added.

The speakers blamed the big powers and the international media for playing
double standard role in raising voice against human rights violations.

Special guest ambassador M. M. Rezaul Karim advisor to Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia said, “ Mr. Abrar
and me are signatory of numbers of convention on human rights and Mr.
Abrar is associated with UNHCR. However, the Rohingya refugees are
suffering, “we can blame some people for this but can not force them
return.”

He also said that Bangladesh is not able to accommodate refugees but is
cordial to them despite so many problems.

Advocate Abdul Motin Khashru, former Minister for Law, Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs said, “We know very well about the anxiety of
refugees because of our experiences in 1971. We have feeling about
Rohingya problem on the base of national interest and that he requested to
the organizers to hold more seminars on the Rohingya issue so as to aware
the peoples of the world”.

He also underscored the need to create international opinion on refugees
across the world mentioning that when human rights are violated in East
Timor, the super powers become vocal, but none of them raises voice
against such violations taking place in Palestine and other Muslim states.

Prof. Asif Nazrul of department of Law of the Dhaka University said
although we knew about the violation of human rights across the world we
did not know properly about Rohingyas. So, we should study more and more
and take awareness campaign for Rohingya problem.

According to Advocate Kohinur of Bangladesh Supreme court, Bangladeshi
people should take an initiative for the education of Rohingya children
and youths.

Abul Hasan Chawdhury, former State Minister for Foreign Affairs said all
governments of Bangladesh took positive steps for Rohingya refugees.

“We have to protest against violation of human rights all over the world.
Without a clear diplomacy Burma’s policy could not be changed. This
Rohingya problem should put up in regional forum. So we should take an
immediate initiative to the problem,” he further added.

In addition, there are some speakers who stress grievances of Rohingya
refugees who have been forced for repatriation without a permanent
solution of the problem. So, they appealed to international community to
take necessary step for the crisis.

They also appealed to the UNHCR to enforce the UN mandate of settlement
and resettlement on humanitarian ground while the time of repatriation has
over. He also sought cooperation from the government of Bangladesh, UNHCR,
NGOs and all Bangladeshi people.
The Amnesty International published reports on Rohingya minority where
they pointed out the Rohhingya’s problem.

The report says the Rohingya's freedom of movement is severely limited.
They are also subjected to forced eviction, land confiscation and various
forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation, including restriction on
marriage. Rohingyas continue to be used as forced laborers on construction
of roads and military camps.

Adding on the reports, Mr. Iqbal, a former Upazila Chairman of
Naikongchary said, “We have eyewitness on forced labors, forced
relocation, destruction of Mosques and new settlement of Bangladeshi
Buddhists in the land of Rohingya Muslims.” Rohingyas are being used for
forced labors for the establishment of Buddhist Maghs, Marmas from
Bangladesh.

______________________________________

July 5, Mizzima News
Tribal Body May Oppose Burma’s Gas Pipeline - Nava Thakuria

Bangladesh may allow the gas pipeline from Burma to India, but a tribal
body of Mizoram province of NE India has come on the way for the ambitious
project. Alleging that the proposed gas pipeline would damage the ecology
of the region, the North East Chapter of Human Rights Network of
Indigenous-Tribal Peoples has decided to oppose the move.

A proposal has been placed to carry natural gas from the Arakan state of
western Burma to India through the Indian states Mizoram and Tripura
before continuing to Bangladesh. South Korea's Daewoo International
Company and the Gas Authority of India Ltd have been working for the
project, that enables to transfer over 1000 billion cubic meters of gas
from Arakan state. The Daewoo International Company already signed an
agreement with the military junta of Burma in 2000 for gas exploration in
the country.

In the beginning Bangladesh was skeptical about the project, but in the
recent past Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the government, has shown
interest in the project. Now the Human Rights Network of Indigenous-Tribal
Peoples and other environment-human rights conscious people of Mizoram are
opposing the project. The NE chapter chief of the rights body, R.
Thangmawia expresses concern about the project, as “it would ensure the
destruction of environment in Mizoram.”

More over, the leader cites Article 42 of the Indian Constitution that
specifically states that the government must “protect from social
injustice and all forms of exploitation” indigenous people, such as
scheduled caste and tribes.

“If the pipeline is established on a way through Mizoram (and Tripura), it
will affect about 4000 square km of land as five kilometers on both sides
of the pipeline will have to be declared protected areas. It is estimated
the pipeline will go 400 km inside Mizoram,” explained R. Thangmawia.


BUSINESS / MONEY
______________________________________

July 6, AP via Straits Times
Myanmar to be big supplier of energy

Yangon: Myanmar is poised to step in as a major energy supplier in the
region, a top official of the Energy Ministry was quoted yesterday as
saying.

'Myanmar has a lot of new potential oil and gas provinces which are yet to
be explored and exploited,' said Mr Soe Myint, head of the Energy Planning
Department.

He told The Myanmar Times that only four of its 17 sedimentary basins
suitable for oil production have been explored and exploited.

Some onshore oil fields have more production capacity than their current
output, he added.

He said onshore crude oil production would be raised to 20,000 barrels per
day from December.

Based on the latest official figures, production was about 16,000 barrels
of crude per day in 2002.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

July 6, Associated Press
ASEAN should "cajole" Myanmar on democratic reforms, U.N. envoy says -
Jasbant Singh

Kuala Lumpur: The U.N.'s special envoy on Myanmar said Tuesday he has
little confidence that detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will
be released by late November, and urged Southeast Asian countries to push
the country's military junta harder to reform.

Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian diplomat, met Myanmar Foreign Minister
Win Aung last week on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar joined in 1997.

"He said Suu Kyi would be released, but he didn't say when," Razali told
reporters. "There are no indications at all. We have to push the envelope
more and more."

Asked if he was confident that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
would be released by the time ASEAN leaders hold their annual summit in
late November in Laos, Razali said: "I am not so sure, I don't think so."

ASEAN has come under increasing pressure to do more to secure Suu Kyi's
release from house arrest after more than a year of detention, and to
speed up Myanmar's promised democratic reforms.

The European Union has threatened to scuttle a meeting of European and
Asian leaders scheduled for October if ASEAN insists that Myanmar take
part, and the standoff over Suu Kyi has drawn criticism of the 10-member
grouping from other economic partners.

ASEAN argues that its core policy of non-interference in members' internal
affairs precludes it from chastising Myanmar's junta, and that
constructive engagement is more effective than sanctions in bringing about
reform.

At their meeting last week in Indonesia, ASEAN foreign ministers issued a
relatively weak statement on Myanmar, urging a smooth transition to
democracy without referring specifically to Suu Kyi.

Razali said ASEAN should take a tougher line against Myanmar, also known
as Burma.

"ASEAN should talk more, persuade or even cajole the government," Razali
said. "ASEAN should also talk to the man in charge in Myanmar, the senior
general, in all ways possible."

Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, who took office last August, is
the sponsor of a "roadmap" that is supposed to pave the way for elections
at an unspecified date. But Senior Gen. Than Shwe is considered the
country's real powerbroker.

Razali, who has spent nearly four years trying to break the political
impasse in Myanmar, said the dispute with the EU showed that the problem
of Myanmar was affecting Southeast Asian countries' wider relations.

"You can see the continuing problems of Myanmar have begun to have more
and more impact on the business of ASEAN and the business of the EU," he
said.

Myanmar's military took power in 1988 after crushing massive pro-democracy
street demonstrations, but refused to hand power to Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party after it won 1990 general elections.

The junta is holding a national convention to draft a constitution that
would allow a return to civilian rule. But no timeline has been set, and
Suu Kyi's party is boycotting the process because of her continued
detention.

______________________________________

July 6, Agence France Presse
AIDS spreads unchecked in parts of Asia as ignorance remains: UN - Paul
Peachey

Bangkok: The AIDS epidemic is spreading unchecked throughout parts of Asia
and threatens to top Africa as the world's worst-hit region unless its
leaders act within three years, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

More people were infected with HIV in the region during 2003 than ever
before, according to a new UNAIDS report, and officials said time was
running out before the epidemic got out of control in the region.

Sharp increases in HIV infections were reported in China, Indonesia and
Vietnam with the number of Asians having the AIDS-causing virus rising to
an estimated 7.4 million, the 2004 Report on the global AIDS epidemic
said.

"Asia is facing life and death choices when it comes to the epidemic,"
Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, told reporters in
Bangkok.

"We have a real window of opportunity, particularly in Asia, if we don't
take it, it will slam shut forever.

"If we miss it we will see an epidemic the likes of which we have never
imagined despite what we have seen in Africa."

Record sums are being spent on research and educating the public but more
than 20 years since the world's first AIDS diagnosis in 1981, huge swathes
of the region's population remain ignorant about the disease and how to
protect themselves.

AIDS experts warn the fast-growing epidemic in Asia, with a record 1.1
million new HIV infections last year, has huge worldwide implications
since the continent is home to 60 percent of the world's population.

One in four new infections worldwide are recorded in Asia and epidemics
are already particularly serious in the Southeast Asian nations of
Myanmar, Thailand and in Cambodia where three percent of the population is
infected with HIV -- the highest proportion in Asia.

Experts say that after more than one percent of the population is
infected, the task of fighting back against HIV/AIDS becomes significantly
more difficult, and a number of Asian nations are hovering around that
mark.

Despite successes in some countries over reversing the upward trend of
cases, the United Nations warns that many national leaders remain in
denial about the impact of AIDS on their people.

While in many countries the response of the authorities is improving, it
falls well short of what is needed, the report said.

Prevention work is also failing for those on the margins of society who
need it most -- notably homosexuals, migrants and drug users -- who are
systematically ignored in some of Asia's most conservative societies.

Women, who account for 28 percent of all infections in the region, also
face particular difficulties in parts of Asia where seeking birth control
or treatment can result in social alienation.

"New epidemics appear to be advancing unchecked... notably Eastern Europe
and Asia -- regions that are experiencing the fastest-growing epidemics in
the world," said the report.

While sub-Saharan Africa currently remains the worst-hit place in the
world, UN experts predicted that Asia would need 28 percent of an
estimated 20 billion dollar budget required by 2007 for prevention and
care. Less than five billion dollars was spent worldwide in 2003.

China alone has an estimated 840,000 people living with HIV but the report
warns that 10 million people may be infected by 2010 unless effective
action is taken since it has spread across the country.

Intravenous drug use is fuelling the spread in some areas but in parts of
central China, a blood-selling scandal designed to supplement meagre
incomes among the farming community in the 1990s instead spread HIV and
led to infections rise to 60 percent in some places.

In India, which at 5.1 million has the largest number of people outside of
South Africa living with HIV, a study three years ago found that a quarter
of the population had never even heard of AIDS.

Although most infections were through sexual activity, injecting drug use
in the north-east of the country bordering Myanmar and close to the
notorious Golden Triangle drug-producing area saw HIV infection rates of
up to 75 percent.

Elsewhere in south Asia "behavioural information suggests that conditions
are ripe for HIV to spread," according to the report.

In Bangladesh despite currently low HIV rates, a rise in drug use in some
areas, a highly active commercial sex trade and the widespread shunning of
birth control threatens a spike in infections.

Surveys there showed fewer than 20 percent of married women and 33 percent
of married men had heard of AIDS.

There have been some notable successes, particularly in Cambodia and
Thailand where vigorous campaigns have altered the sexual behaviour of the
populations.

Infections have fallen sharply among brothel workers in both countries,
with men scared off from visiting prostitutes. But in Thailand the trend
has been accompanied by a rise in extramarital and casual sex that
threatens to push faithful and monogamous wives into a high-risk category.

One of the newest epidemics is in Vietnam, the report said. While it still
has a prevalence rate of less then one percent, drug use and unsafe sex
has seen rates soar to more than 20 percent among sex workers in major
cities.

Infections are unevenly spread in Indonesia, home to 210 million people,
where six of the 31 provinces are badly affected, driven by the use of
dirty needles among drug users.

"There is strong evidence that various sexual and injecting drug-user
networks in Indonesia overlap significantly, thus creating an ideal
environment for HIV to spread," the report said.

And in Australia, after a long-term decline, new cases of HIV have again
risen from about 650 in 1998 to 800 in 2002, mainly through male
homosexuality.

______________________________________

July 5, Agence France Presse
Malaysian boss of major human smuggling syndicate jailed in Singapore

Singapore: A Malaysian "snakehead" who controlled 80 percent of the human
smuggling trade from southern Malaysia into Singapore has been extradited
to the city-state and jailed for five years, reports said Monday.

Police told the Straits Times newspaper the May 6 arrest of the man, Tay
Boon Hua, 45, had virtually ended the problem of illegal immigrants trying
to enter Singapore illegally by sea.

He is believed to have tried to smuggle up to 1,000 people into Singapore
since 1997, often by dumping them in the waters off Singapore's northern
coastline and telling them to swim the rest of the way.

"Before this, motorised sampans hovered just off Singapore waters
practically every night, either trying to find a chance to dash into
Singapore waters or spying on us," the paper quoted the police coast
guard's chief investigating officer, Chong Choo Ha, as saying.

"But since we caught Ah Chai (Tay), there is hardly anything moving out
there."

Confirming the newspaper report, police coast guard deputy assistant
commissioner Jerry See said 85 people had been caught trying to enter
Singapore illegally by sea in the first five months of this year.

Tay's syndicate smuggled in 56 of those people, 31 of whom were from
Myanmar, 10 each from China and Nepal and five from Bangladesh, See said
in a statement released to AFP.

The Straits Times said Tay charged his "customers" 2,000 Singapore dollars
(1,200 US dollars) each. He would promise to take them by boat to
Singapore, but then dump them at sea and make them swim up to two
kilometres (1.2 miles) to shore.

The Straits Times said Tay's case was the first time a foreigner had been
extradited to Singapore and jailed without physically committing a crime
within the nation's boundaries.

Senior district judge Richard Magnus said in delivering his verdict on
June 11 that although the conspiracy was conceived in Malaysia, it was
"continued and carried to fruition" in Singapore.

The coast guard's Chong said the case was a clear warning for other people
smugglers.

"Other snakeheads now know that they are not safe from us even if they are
operating outside Singapore," the paper quoted Chong as saying.

Aside from his jail term, Tay was also sentenced to 20 strokes of the cane.


INTERNATIONAL
______________________________________

July 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar set to keep poisoning Europe-Asia ties - Pascale Trouillaud

Bangkok: Europe's diplomatic bickering with Asia over Myanmar descended to
a new acrimonious low last week but worse clashes may be looming that will
further weaken ties between the two blocs.

The row was stoked at a meeting in Jakarta when foreign ministers of
ASEAN, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, refused to
censure the military-run state over its continued detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and its slow pace of democratic reform.

Myanmar experts do not expect any goodwill gestures from the military
authorities in Yangon to defuse the crisis.

A last-minute compromise -- which needs final approval from the junta --
has been found to salvage October's Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit in Hanoi
which had been under threat, but neither side has given much quarter.

The ASEM summit was in doubt over ASEAN's determination that Myanmar
attend, which was strongly opposed by the European team.

ASEAN countered that if Myanmar could not take part, neither could the 10
nations that joined the European Union on May 1.

Yangon's fellow ASEAN members, in keeping with their principle of
solidarity, called in a final communique for Myanmar to "effect a smooth
transition to democracy," but the statement was widely seen as toothless.

It stopped well short of demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who
has been cut off from the outside world for more than a year, despite an
outcry in the United Nations and Western capitals.

The EU's two foreign policy chiefs, Javier Solana and Chris Patten,
reacted strongly to ASEAN's soft approach.

"There's nothing there... I would have preferred to have had something in
it," Solana said on the communique, while Patten stated Myanmar was a
country "where there is no sign of political or economic progress".

Yangon-based experts said they expect no softening of stances, even as
Myanmar's national convention -- the first stage of the junta's claimed
"roadmap" to democracy -- proceeds without opposition participation.

"There has been an entrenchment of positions", noted a Western diplomat in
Yangon. "Reactions have been pretty tough."

Two years from now a rotating presidency will put the junta's generals at
ASEAN's helm. "If nothing changes, it's certain there will be a very big
problem in 2006" for Myanmar's nine ASEAN partners, the diplomat added.

ASEAN is already exhausted by the routine reproaches from the West over
its regional black sheep status.

"We have seen clearly in Jakarta that the Myanmar issue had become a real
burden for all these Asian countries," said one Yangon-based expert.

"Two-thirds of the time is devoted to Myanmar. You can feel the mounting
fatigue over having to constantly return to this question, and it doesn't
leave much time for Asian countries to discuss the issues that really
interest them."

In Jakarta, Yangon faced its most strident critics, Europe and the United
States, which both tightened their economic sanctions on the junta after
the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi last year.

In Hanoi on October 8 and 9, Yangon will again find itself at the centre
of Europe-Asia unease unless the junta makes concessions prior to the
gathering, although analysts said the chances of such moves were
negligible.

"ASEAN's position will inevitably only strengthen Burma's intransigence,"
The Nation daily lamented in Bangkok after the Jakarta meetings.

Nothing indicates that any changes are in the pipeline in Yangon, said the
diplomat.

"Frankly we don't see them caving in to pressure and freeing Aung San Suu
Kyi," he said, explaining that it was more convenient for the ruling State
Peace and Development Council to go ahead with its national convention
without the participation of her party, which has boycotted the
proceedings.

Yangon has summoned about 1,000 delegates, who since mid-May have debated
the principles of a new constitution.

The generals keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up in part "because they want to
marginalize her", the diplomat said.

Paradoxically, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung's statement in Jakarta
that Aung San Suu Kyi could take part in a future election has alarmed
observers.

"Does this mean that they may not free her until the election?" the
analyst said, noting that no date had been fixed for a future vote which
the junta has described as rounding out its "roadmap to democracy".


OPINION / OTHER
______________________________________

July 3, The New York Times
Human Rights and the Court

The Supreme Court has upheld an important law that offers victims of
torture, genocide, slavery and war crimes worldwide a day in court, and a
shot at justice. The law, the arcane Alien Tort Claims Act, was originally
written to fight piracy in 1789, but it has been used by foreigners to sue
in American courts for overseas human rights violations.

Holocaust survivors used the act to pry damages from the Swiss banks that
held the assets of Nazi victims. In Myanmar, people who say they are
victims of slave labor are using it to sue an American company involved in
a gas pipeline project. Victims of the Abu Ghraib prison abuses are now
suing the prison's private contractors under the act.

Human rights advocates rely on the law to adjudicate a wide range of
crimes that might otherwise never get to court. International businesses
hate the law and consider it a license for American courts to stray from
their jurisdiction and hold them accountable for the sins of unsavory
foreign governments. The Bush administration agrees.

But in its first ruling on the act, the Supreme Court properly sided with
the cause of human rights. Justice David Souter's opinion, in a 6-to-3
decision on the fate of the act, tries to strike a balance by upholding it
but limiting its applicability to those crimes of universal jurisdiction
that nations have agreed are particularly heinous. The actual case before
the court -- a lawsuit by a Mexican doctor illegally detained for a few
hours during an investigation into the death of an federal Drug
Enforcement Administration officer -- didn't come close to meeting that
threshold, and was thrown out.

The Supreme Court also said that lower courts should be sensitive to how
cases could affect American foreign policy. Judges should treat such
claims warily. The Bush administration is too quick to argue that the
application of the act will impede the war on terror and poison relations
with friendly governments.