BurmaNet News, August 11, 2004

[Editor]

August 11, 2004, Issue # 2536


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar pro-democracy party carrying out unusual petition campaign
SHAN: Dam on the Salween definitely on
Kao Wao News: Karen villagers flee military operation

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Border calms down but back-up continues

AIDS / HEALTH
Burma Issues: Too scared to access: HIV epidemic among Karen refugees

DRUGS
Shanghai Daily: Trafficking charge laid in major drug bust

BUSINESS / MONEY
Irrawaddy: Import tax hike slows China-Burma border trade

REGIONAL
VOA: Burma seeks support to attend regional meeting with Europe

OPINION/OTHER
Burma Issues: Messages of investment: acceptance of the Burmese regime

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 11, Associated Press
Myanmar pro-democracy party carrying out unusual petition campaign - Aye
Aye Win

Yangon: Myanmar's main pro-democracy party has launched a nationwide
campaign seeking the immediate and unconditional release of its leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi, and other political detainees, the party's spokesman
said Wednesday.

The National League for Democracy began collecting signatures for its
campaign on July 19, a Myanmar holiday known as Martyrs Day, marking the
anniversary of the 1947 assassination of Myanmar independence hero Gen.
Aung San, who was Suu Kyi's father.

Getting the public involved in such a campaign may be unprecedented in
Myanmar, which has been under virtually continuous military rule since
1962. Few people are willing to publicly express criticism of the
government, and dissidents usually face official harassment or worse.

NLD spokesman and Secretary U Lwin said that so far more than 3,000
signatures have been collected in Yangon alone, though some people in the
capital's suburbs are afraid to sign their names "for fear of reprisal by
the authorities."

Hundreds of signatures have been collected in the Ayeyarwady -- also known
as Irrawaddy -- Delta and other parts of central Myanmar, including
Mandalay, the country's second largest city, he said.

The petition also calls for the release of NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo, who
like Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi is being held under house arrest in
Yangon, and for the junta to allow the reopening of party offices all over
the country.

The United Nations and many Western nations have already made similar pleas.

U Lwin said the party had not yet decided what to do with the collected
signatures.

But the campaign was meant to prove to the ruling military junta "the
extent of the willingness and interest of the people" in the release of
Suu Kyi and political prisoners, who are believed by the United Nations
and Amnesty International to number about 1,200.

The current junta took power in Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1988
after violently suppressing mass democracy protests. Suu Kyi's party won a
landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the military refused to cede
power. Suu Kyi has spent long periods of time under house arrest.

She and Tin Oo have been in detention since May 2003 after a violent clash
between her followers and a mob of government supporters in northern
Myanmar. Many NLD party offices were also closed at the time, though most
have since been allowed to reopen.

______________________________________

August 11, Shan Herald Agency for News
Dam on the Salween definitely on

Despite the lid being tightly kept on the project, the dam in Shan State's
part of the Salween is doubtlessly on the way to becoming a reality,
according to an informed source.

"If you are still in doubt, just wait until the dry season returns," he
confided. "A bypass from Mongton to Tasang Bridge shall be in
construction."

Thai Sawad, A Burma-based Thai company, headed by Somkid Ounman, better
known as Sia Ord, has been contracted for the job. The firm had already
completed a 12 km road from the bridge to the dam site at Tanghseng last
year.

The source denied there was another bypass being constructed from the Thai
border to Tasang. (Dam cover-up for strategic road, SHAN, 23 April 2003)
"It never materialized," he said.

Thailand's MDX Group signed an agreement with Rangoon on 20 December 2002
for the construction of a 3,600 megawatt hydroelectric power dam in
Tasang, between Mongpan and Mongton townships.

The plan is being actively opposed by both Burma and Thai activist groups.

______________________________________

August 10, Kao Wao News
Karen villagers flee military operation – Taramon

Sangkhlaburi: Civilians are taken as porters to walk along with the Burma
Army during military offensive against Karen rebels three days ago.

A local witness from Taung Zun said, “80 people are taken as porters in
the front line and the remaining villagers from Taung Zun, Than PaYar, Nat
Eing and Sin Pyay are forced to stay with the army as stand by porters to
carry ammunition and other supplies.”

Two Burma Army battalions have launched an offensive against Karen
National Union (KNU) along the Zami river of Kyar-in Seik-kyi, Karen
State.

No. 547 and No. 355 Battalions have jointly operated against the KNU No. 6
Brigade and also illegally established checkpoints (gates) to raise funds
from passengers.  Some passengers and traders from the 3 Pagodas Pass Thai
Burma border town have also delayed their journey.

The local source reported Karen villagers from this area have left their
villages out of fear in being rounded up for portering and of being
tortured.  The offensive is the first occurrence between the SPDC and KNU
in this area since the beginning of the cease-fire talks.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 11, Shan Herald Agency for News
Border calms down but back-up continues

Four days after three major clashes that took place between the Burma Army
and the Shan State Army "South," 6-7 August, the battlefield across
Chiangmai is deceptively quiet, while reports of Burmese reinforcements
keep coming in dispatches, according to sources, both Thai and Shan, on
the border.

More than 400 fresh troops were reported in Mongton township, opposite
Chiangmai, since 8 August following the two-day hostilities that,
according to the SSA's battle bulletin, left 4 dead and 12 wounded on the
Burma Army's side and 2 wounded on the SSA side. Meanwhile, Thai military
sources quoted a Burmese commander reporting 2 dead and 3 wounded on the
rebels' side.

"We can't confirm the casualty figures by either side," commented a Thai
colonel, "but so far no rebel soldiers have come to receive treatment on
the Thai side for their wounded."

The Thai Army officers also expressed unhappiness with what they termed as
"over-reaction" by the Burma Army that had employed heavy weapons,
including 81 mm, 82 mm and 120 mm mortars, against the rebels, 4 of which
fell inside Thai territory. No damage was reported. "Altogether, we
counted 74 shells fired by the Burmese, 54 on 6 August and 20 on 7
August," said a Thai source.

During the third clash, Shan fighters were able to seize a Chinese-made
M-23 submachine gun abandoned by the retreating Burmese troops, prompting
a debate whether or not the United Wa State Army, Rangoon's principal
ally, also took part in the attack.

Considering the arrival of new troops, Col Yawdserk, leader of the SSA,
said, "They are likely replacements, not reinforcements," which
contradicted the Third Army's Pha Muang Force Commander Maj-Gen Manas
Paorik saying he was informed in advance of the Burmese attack on the SSA
positions. (Re: SSA repulses junta's troops, Bangkok Post, 9 August)

At present, there are three Burmese battalions deployed opposite
Chiangmai's Wiang Haeng district and Maehongson's Pai district: Infantry
Battalions 226 (opposite Wiang Haeng) and 133 (opposite Pai) and Light
Infantry Battalion 314 in Monghta. Presence of units from IB 225, IB 278,
IB 43 and LIB 333 in the area are also reported.

The Burma Army also charged the SSA of starting the fight, to which the
SSA countered by saying it was at first an unexpected encounter between
patrols to which the Burma Army had reacted with overwhelming fire power
in order to create misunderstandings between the SSA and Thailand.

The SSA and its allies, Karen National Union and Karenni National Progress
Party, had on 7 March 2003, acceded to Thailand's "request" that they
would "behave ourselves and avoid starting a fight along the Thai-Burma
border," according to Col Yawdserk.

The Thai Army, according to Thai sources, is anxious to see that nothing
untoward takes place until Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's 72nd birthday, 12
August, is over.

______________________________________
AIDS / HEALTH

August 11, Burma Issues
Too scared to access: HIV epidemic among Karen refugees - Saw Ehna

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) fears a secret HIV epidemic among one
million Karen refugees along the Thai-Burma border.

Speaking to Burma Issues at the 15th International AIDS Conference in
Bangkok, Dr. Nicolas Durier, MSF’s Medical Coordinator-Thailand said, “in
Tham Hin refugee camp, there is a lot of stigma and taboo around HIV.”
Tham Hin, which is located to the west of Bangkok in Ratchaburi province,
accommodates about 9000 Karen refugees. Dr. Durier noted that in the camp
only a few people voluntarily come to be tested. The rest are too scared
because of the surrounding stigma.

A refugee leader, who did not want to be named, indicated that most people
discover they are HIV positive only when they donate blood, not through
voluntary testing. On one occasion, he furthered, 12 people donated blood
and two were found to be positive. Because no statistics are made public,
most refugees are not aware of the extent of the problem.

Dr. Durier remarked that Doctors Without Borders is currently giving
anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to five people living with HIV/AIDS in Tham
Hin. He believed that many more are affected. “If people are not well
informed about HIV and they are scared to speak about it, they will risk
getting the virus”, said Dr. Durier. “Our health workers are also a little
bit shy to speak about HIV.”

MSF is also working in Mae La refugee camp. It is the most populous camp
on the north-west border of Thailand and the stigma is not as bad as it is
in Tham Hin, because of stronger HIV activists and prevention advocacy.
According to MSF, voluntary testing in Mae La has found that 50 people are
HIV positive. Of those who tested positive 20 are currently on ARV
treatment.

Most HIV positive people work outside the refugee camps to earn extra
money in order to support themselves. In the camps there are no jobs for
extra income and people live on basic rice, yellow beans, salt and oil
provided by NGOs.

Naw Jacqueline, Secretary of Karen HIV/AIDS Education Working Group
(KEWG), which does voluntary testing and provides HIV counseling in Karen
camps, concurred that many people are still reluctant to pursue testing.
KEWG is currently working for HIV/AIDS education and has also laid the
groundwork for MSF to bring in an HIV/AIDS treatment service. According to
KEWG, initially resistance to HIV/AIDS education was strong, especially
among conservative Christian and community leaders. It even resulted in
displays of dogmatism, such as the burning of condoms and education
materials.

A female pastor, Mu Mu Wah, whose view of the matter mirrors other more
traditional concerns, stated, “some religious leaders don’t accept the
idea of educating people to use condoms, because it is not our culture. It
will not lead people, especially younger people, to the right way. I agree
with them”.

Commenting on sex education, Thera Moo Heh, a religious leader from
Umphium Mai refugee camp, asserted, “some religious leaders say that when
children learn about safe sex they know more about it and they start to
misconduct themselves. Many have to leave school”.

Even the younger generation of refugee youth share concerns about the
stigmatised environment of sex education. Nay Roh, 21, observed this
environment, noting, “we young people are shy to talk about sex, because
it is embarrassing. Dirty talk is not appropriate”. Thoolei Paw Win, 24, a
female refugee from Tham Hin said parents complain about condom education
among teenagers in the camp. But she feels it is important for both young
and married people.

“Access for All” was the theme of the 15th International AIDS Conference,
but for Karen refugees who are still too scared to discuss HIV/AIDS and
sex due to related cultural stigmas, access to information is not yet a
priority.

HIV/AIDS statistics among the Karen refugees have not been included in the
Global Report on HIV/AIDS because of their statelessness and external
displacement. A spokesperson for UNAIDS for South East Asia and Pacific,
confirmed that the report does not contain any refugee statistics for any
country in the world. Accordingly, a seemingly invisible situation could
potentially escape the awareness of those most capable of combating it:
the refugee population themselves. However, in order to confront and
address HIV/AIDS awareness, the stigmas and cultural taboos must give way
to more immediate realities.

______________________________________
DRUGS

August 11, Shanghai Daily
Trafficking charge laid in major drug bust

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Prosecutors' Office yesterday charged Zhao
Gaoming with drug trafficking, alleging he was the ringleader of a drug
ring based in Myanmar.

He allegedly asked one of his accomplices to carry seven kilograms of
heroin to the city, the biggest drug crime reported in Shanghai last year,
prosecutors said.

Zhao moved to Myanmar to open a nightclub after he was released from
prison in 1999.

After noticing the price of heroin in Myanmar was very low compared with
local prices, he decided to get into the drug business, prosecutors
allege.

He allegedly organized several transactions in 2003, but most of them
failed causing him large losses.

He then wanted to make a big deal at the end of last year with a Shanghai
resident named Zang Daoliang, who was his partner in running the
nightclub, according to prosecutors.

He asked Zang to carry seven kilograms of heroin to Shanghai and sell it
on December 8.

Zang sold 1.4 kilograms for 250,000 yuan (US$30,120) to a local drug
trafficker in a hotel near the Shanghai Railway Station, prosecutors
allege. He didn't realize that police had been following him since last
April on suspicions he was dealing drugs.

The cops grabbed Zang as he was leaving the hotel with a suitcase
allegedly packed with heroin.

Police captured Zhao in a hotel in Myanmar and escorted him back to the
city on January 3.

______________________________________
BUSINESS/MONEY

August 11, Irrawaddy
Import tax hike slows China-Burma border trade - Naw Seng

Cross-border trade between China and Burma has plunged since Burma
increased its commercial tax on all imported goods, said a Burmese trader
on the border.

On August 4, customs officials in the border town of Muse increased the
average commercial tax charge from an effective 2.5 percent to 25 percent
on all goods that enter the country, according to a Burmese trader based
in Ruili, a Chinese town opposite Muse. Traders are also required to pay a
7.5 percent customs tax and a 1.5 percent “internal” tax to customs, he
said.

He estimated that border trade has decreased 80 percent since Muse
officials started enforcing the tax hike last week, which has been in
effect since June 15 in Rangoon.

He said that the number of Chinese motorbikes entering the country daily
from Ruili, one of seven major trading points along the border, has
dropped from 500 to 50.

Previously, imported goods were taxed at an exchange rate of 180 kyat to
the US dollar. But the Ministry of Finance and Revenue changed the
exchange rate to 450 kyat on June 15. On the Chinese border, however,
goods were valued at a rate of 850 kyat per dollar until last week. The
current black market price in Rangoon is 925 kyat per dollar.

Traders on the border believe the move is aimed at boosting the country’s
finances and at stabilizing the local currency.

“The government is trying to increase its revenue,” said the trader.

On June 15, Burmese authorities imposed a staggered 10 percent, 20 percent
and 30 percent commercial tax on almost all imports, depending on which of
three schedules the good was classed in—necessities at 10 percent and
luxuries at 30 percent. The tax hike sparked a wave of panic buying, with
consumers rushing to buy goods in order to beat the price rises.

______________________________________
REGIONAL

August 10, Voice of America
Burma seeks support to attend regional meeting with Europe

Burma's prime minister has held talks with his Cambodian counterpart in
Phnom Penh, trying to shore up support for Burma's attendance at a
regional meeting with the European Union in October.

The official word is that the Burmese prime minister, General Khin Nyunt,
is visiting countries in the region to promote better relations and to
strengthen ties.

He has already held talks with leaders in Laos and Vietnam and came on a
brief visit to Phnom Penh Tuesday to meet with Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen and other officials.

The visits are seen as an attempt by Burma's military government to shore
up support among Southeast Asian nations for the upcoming Asia-Europe
Meeting, scheduled to be held in Hanoi in early October.

The European Union opposes Burma's participation in the meeting, known as
ASEM. The Europeans and the United States have imposed sanctions on Burma
for its poor human rights record and its continued house arrest of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Many of Burma's neighbors disagree with that approach. Cambodia's
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith tells VOA that despite the political
problems in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, there is support for
its participation in the October meeting.

"For us Asian people, we prefer a progressive approach - some kind of
discreet diplomacy to make change," said Mr. Kanharith. "But, not just to
make a lot of noise and bring nothing." Khieu Kanharith says Asian
countries believe that contact and dialogue will be more useful to, as he
puts it, "ease the political situation in Burma."

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations insists all three new
ASEAN members - Burma, Laos and Cambodia - be invited to the October
summit.

Asian nations are threatening to block the 10 newest EU members from the
meeting unless all ASEAN states attend.

The two sides remain at odds over how to deal with the issue even though
they are still trying to work out a compromise.

______________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

August 11, Burma Issues
Messages of investment: acceptance of the Burmese regime - Z. Brake

Burma is a very attractive investment package. Not only is it beautiful,
but rich in natural resources as well. It has vast cultivable land, long
coast line, abundant forests, complex river system, and plentiful minerals
and gems. But what Burma needs to reap the benefits of such resources is
capital and technology.

And while it may seem like an investors dream come true, there is a catch.
Whilst this country is well endowed with resources – it is also endowed
with one of the worst oppressive, military-ruled regimes in history.
Consequently some countries have taken moral objections to the SPDC (the
self-proclaimed Burmese government), and have enforced sanctions.

But while the US in particular, is trying to economically isolate Burma,
other countries are looking towards it as a beacon of bright economic
light. India and China have just signed trade deals in an effort to tap
into the undeveloped economic wealth that has lay dormant in Burma since
1962.

And they are not the only ones. Earlier this year the members of the
Bangladesh-Indian- Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand-Economic-Cooperation-Forum
(BIMST-EC), which also includes Nepal and Bhutan, signed a free-trade
agreement committed to opening their markets to each other by 20171.

A lot has changed since the junta opened Burma’s doors to the world in
1988. And Thailand has always been there since the beginning, from when it
received logging concessions to the present day. Currently Thailand
invests nearly one-fifth of Burma’s foreign investment. As of February
2004, Thai investors were involved in 49 projects within Burma, with
funding reaching US $ 1290 million. Only Singapore and the UK invest more,
with US $ 1572 million and US $ 1404 million respectively2.

But while Thailand is only the third largest investor in Burma, it has an
added advantage – proximity. The shared border makes trade and investment
between Thailand and Burma even easier, especially when border check
points can be opened and shut to aid investors. And this has happened. In
April the Thai government announced it would open four more custom check
points along the Thai-Burma border to assist Thais investing in
development projects in Burma3.

Whilst most people believe that development projects are beneficial and
offer substantial improvements to the area, the picture in Burma is
dramatically different. Development projects are solely associated with
financial gains. Exploiting natural, non-renewable resources, flooding
thousands of homes for hydro-electricity and causing irreversible
environmental damage, are classed as development projects, if they bring
in a dollar. The human-angle is rarely considered by developers, or
investors. The detrimental effects these so called development projects
have on the people in Burma is awful. Some villagers are forcibly
relocated to less prosperous land, without compensation, others are used
as forced labour. With development projects come roads, military bases and
higher observation and restrictions for citizens. So while development
projects do generate income, the not so beneficial consequences have to be
taken into consideration.

These development projects in Burma attract a larger percentage of Thai
investment dollars. But the projects do not just benefit the junta; Thai
investors also reap the rewards. Both countries have a vested interest in
the Salween Hydro-electric power project. It will provide hydro-power to
electricity-starved Burma and Thailand will not have concerned itself with
the environmental impact of generating it’s own electricty. It will also
make the investors rich.4

Indeed, the proposed Salween Dam is a joint venture between Thailand and
Burma. A joint venture is necessary because whilst Burma welcomes foreign
investment, full foreign ownership of companies operating in Burma is
forbidden. All large investments projects have to be carried out through
joint ventures with local businesses, which are predominately associated
with the military-junta.

A side effect of joint projects is that it brings a sense of international
acceptance to the people, industry and country that it is associated with.
In Burma, foreign investment offers a degree of international
respectability to the regime, especially when the junta, or its close
associates, are directly involved in joint projects with the investors.

However, the effects of foreign investment are not confined to the country
receiving the money, investing in Burma also impacts on Thailand. The most
important consequence is that foreign investment tends to become a factor
in the formation of government policy. The greater the stakes held by Thai
companies and investors, the less likely the government will take a strong
stance against the oppressive regime. This is particularly true when the
countries leader, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has investment
interests in Burma himself.7

A spokesperson for Forum Asia, a Bangkok-based human rights group, Sunai
Phasuk believes that Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin’s soft approach to
Rangoon is influenced by economics. In an interview with The Irrawaddy
newspaper last year, he said the relationship between the two bordering
nations did not follow “any common sense”5.
“So far the cooperation between Thailand has been conditional, but the
conditions have been set by the SPDC, not by Thailand.”

“The signals are clear. The Thaksin administration is so eager to
establish friendship with the SPDC at all costs. That reveals a weak
position at the negotiation table and makes Thailand vulnerable to any
pressure from the SPDC - and it is one-sided pressure.”

It begs the question, is it possible for people forming policy, whom have
vested interests, to be objective?

Unfortunately not. The desire for financial ties with Burma does
influenced the Thai government’s policy. One example is the political
events that followed the 1994 ceasefire agreement between the New Mon
State Party (NMSP) and the Burmese junta. The verbal ceasefire, which the
NMSP did agree to and is still holding today, was a politically
pressurized agreement in the name of money. An area of land controlled by
the NMSP was required to build the Yadana gas pipeline, a development
project which turned out to be extremely lucrative for its investors, the
Thai government, the junta, and gas companies UNOCAL and TOTAL.
Allegations from the NMSP that Thai authorities offered to negotiate a
ceasefire have always been refuted by the Thai National Security Council.
But following the ceasefire, Thailand altered their policy of accepting
Burmese refugees and forcibly repatriated Mon refugees back into Burma.
Consequently more than 10,000 Mon refugees were “offered” to the junta as
free labour for the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline6. The Thai
government considered how much money it could make more important than the
welfare of thousands of refugees. Economics influenced Thailand’s policy
back-flip.

But the use of forced labour to build the Yadana gas pipeline, which is
currently being tried in the United States and France as a Human Rights
violation case, is nothing new according to a London-based non-government
organisation. The Burma Campaign UK said companies that deal with the
junta are likely to use forced labour. “In developing infrastructure for
both the tourism and petroleum industries, the junta has extensively used
forced labour under extremely harsh conditions.”

It is because of such human rights violations and the lack of democratic
reforms that the United States has recently continued their sanctions
against Burma. In the recently passed “Burma Freedom and Democracy Act”
the US has frozen the assets of the junta’s senior officials, prohibited
the remittances of those people to the US and banned the import of all
products from Burma. Hence not only does Burma look at Thailand as a
foreign investor, but also as a market for imports and exports. According
to The Business Tank, a publication by a business consultancy group in
Burma, The Business Information Group, in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, Burma
exported over US $1,057,401,733 to Thailand and imported US $98,844,075.
That is approximately half of all trade that passed through Burma last
year, which a sizable portion by any measure.

Obviously the message is clear. When you invest in Burma you are saying
welcome to the international community. In Thailand, as the third largest
investor in Burma and its closest neighbour, this message is extremely
important. Through Thai investment it says that the freedom and democracy
that Thais hold dear, is a principle that is confined within a country’s
borders, not one that should be afforded to all people.

Endnotes:

1 ‘Asian nations agree to sign free trade deal, drop tariffs by 2017’,
Agence France Presse, February 8 2004
2 ‘Burma Liberalise economy to attract investment, says experts’, Asian
Labour News, 11 February 2004
3 ‘Four Border Checkpoints to Open’, The Irrawaddy, 4 April 2004
4 ‘Hydro-powering the Regime’, The Irrawaddy, June 2004
5 ‘An Interview with Sunai Phasuk: Thailand as a Mediating Force’, The
Irrawaddy, January 2003
6 ‘Negotiating Cease-fire: The Art of Disillusion in Mon State’, Burma
Issues Newsletter, December 2003
7 ‘Can’t with’em, can’t live without’em’, The Irrawaddy, June 2004