BurmaNet News, January 25, 2005

[Editor]

January 25, 2005, Issue # 2642


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Lawyers, relatives turned away from Myanmar trials
Irrawaddy: Heads of Military Intelligence detained and tortured
Narinjara: WFP's food aid looted by robbers in Arakan

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar hands over Chinese drug kingpin to China
AFP: Eight druglords from Myanmar charged in US
SHAN: Farmers exultant over alien poppy strain

BUSINESS
Irrawaddy: Lloyd’s, Rolls Royce join Burma trade blacklist
Xinhua: SW border province enhances cooperation with GMS countries

REGIONAL
AFP: Malaysia's plan to arm volunteers in migrant crackdown criticised

OPINION / OTHER
Oprah Magazine: Singing out – Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt on joining forces with musicians for Aung San Suu Kyi

Bangkok Post: Return of the Warriors

PRESS RELEASE
M2 Presswire: ICFTU: Burma and multinational companies: who profits and
how it works

_____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 25, Agence France Presse
Lawyers, relatives turned away from Myanmar trials

Yangon: At least two defense lawyers and a dozen crying relatives were
turned away from Myanmar's notorious Insein prison Tuesday, where special
tribunals are under way for 300 people linked to the disbanded military
intelligence services.

Some 30 prosecutors and their witnesses were allowed to enter, according
to an AFP correspondent at the scene, but no one could confirm whether the
accused were allowed defense lawyers in the secretive tribunals that
opened Monday.

"So far, I haven't heard that any legal advisers were before the court as
the defense lawyers for these cases. So we have to wait and see," one
legal expert told AFP.

Twenty-five special tribunals have been set up inside the prison, about 15
kilometers (10 miles) outside Yangon, to hear corruption charges against
people linked to the military intelligence bureau that the ruling junta
dismantled last year, legal sources said.

Prosecution witnesses said after giving their testimony and leaving the
prison that they could not tell if the people standing trial had a defense
lawyer.

"I can only say that there was no defense lawyer in the trial where I
testified," said one witness upon leaving the prison.

The witnesses said the prisoners appeared in good health.

At least two lawyers who had been hired as defense counsels were turned
away by guards who said their clients were not standing trial Tuesday.

"Although family members have not been allowed to go inside, they had
understood that they could hire defense lawyers" for their relatives, one
lawyer said.

Thirty district and divisional judges have been handling the cases, as
well as 30 prosecution lawyers. Legal sources said they expected the
tribunals to complete their work around mid-February.

Most defendants face multiple charges, including corruption and possession
of illegal foreign currency. Some of the higher-ranking officials are
likely to be charged with conspiracy, the legal expert said.

The defendants are closely connected to former military intelligence chief
and deposed premier General Khin Nyunt, who has been accused by the ruling
military junta of insubordination and abuse of power.

Most of those standing trial face up to seven years in jail on charges of
bribery and corruption, as well as illegally possessing foreign currency,
a legal expert said.

_____________________________________

January 25, The Irrawaddy
Heads of Military Intelligence detained and tortured

Several informed sources in Rangoon reported that a high ranking military
intelligence official died while detained in Insein Prison.

Brig-Gen Myint Aung Zaw, who was head of the administration department at
the Office of Chief of Military Intelligence, or OCMI, is believed to have
died while being interrogated, diplomats and journalist sources in Rangoon
said.

Dissident sources in Rangoon said the high ranking official was tortured
to death in the military’s investigation center and his body was secretly
cremated.

It was not known when he died but sources said that the news first began
to spread in Rangoon in December. It still cannot be confirmed
independently under what circumstances the officer died, but many
prisoners—including political prisoners—have died in Burmese prisons due
to maltreatment and lack of medication.

Several heads of the now-disbanded military intelligence agency,
officially known then as the Office of Chief of Military Intelligence,
were among those arrested after the military regime removed Gen Khin Nyunt
as prime minister and head of OCMI in October.

Apart from Myint Aung Zaw, Brig-Gen Hla Aung, head of training, Brig-Gen
Kyaw Han, head of science and technology, Brig-Gen Than Htun, head of
politics and counter intelligence, and Brig-Gen Myint Zaw, head of border
security and intelligence, were among the arrested.

Brig-Gen Kyaw Thein, head of ethnic nationalities and ceasefire groups,
drugs suppression and naval and air intelligence and Maj-Gen Kyaw Win,
deputy head of OCMI, were spared, and have now retired.

_____________________________________

January 25, Narinjara News
WFP's food aid looted by robbers in Arakan

Maungdaw: On January 19 the World Food Program, WFP, was robbed of a large
amount of food aid in Maung Daw Township, a western Arakan border town,
according to police sources.

The goods were looted from a boat in the middle of the night while in
route to Krean Chaung village from Maung Daw.

The boat was loaded with 1000 sacks of rice and 149 sacks of peas that
were intended for extremely poor people, under a rehabilitation program.

The robbers approached the WFP boat in their own motor boat and ordered it
to stop in the same manner as the Burmese soldiers. When the WFP boatmen
stopped the boat, the robbers tied the crew up at gunpoint.

The robbers then loaded the bags of rice and peas onto their boat and
proceeded to rob the boatmen of any currency they had on them, said one of
the boatman.

The robbers were, however, unable to take all of the food on board as
their boat was much smaller than that of the WFP.

The director of WFP's food carrier, U Maung Maung, has reported the event
to the Maungdaw police station.

A police source said that the Burmese authority is preparing a letter of
complaint to the Bangladesh Rifle (BDR) regarding the case. There is not
currently any information regarding who was involved in the event.

In Buthi Daung and Maung Daw Townships, law and order is disrupted after a
Nasaka force was dismissed from their duty by the local SPDC authority,
reported several local people.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

January 25, Agence France Presse
Myanmar hands over Chinese drug kingpin to China

Beijing: One of China's most-wanted drug barons, Ma Shunsu, has been
arrested in Myanmar and handed over to Chinese authorities, state media
reported Tuesday.

Ma, from southwestern China's Yunnan province, had been at large for the
past three years and was one of the country's five most wanted drug
trafficking suspects, said Xinhua news agency.

Ma, caught on January 8, confessed that he had smuggled 60 kilograms (132
pounds) of heroin in five separate operations between 1993 and 2001.

If convicted, Ma is likely to face a death sentence as Chinese law
dictates that those selling or producing as little as 50 grams (1.75
ounces) of heroin could face death.

During a seven-month-long nationwide campaign last year, Chinese police
smashed 2,186 syndicates involved in drug trafficking and manufacturing
and arrested 34,719 suspects, the China Daily said.

Police also confiscated 11.1 tons of drugs, including 6.66 tons of heroin
and 1.14 tons of methamphetamine, it said.

Ma's arrest was the result of intensified efforts to curb drug trafficking
from neighbouring Myanmar, which is part of Southeast Asia's notorious
heroin-producing "Golden Triangle," it said.

More than 95 percent of the heroin sold in China comes from the Golden
Triangle, the China Daily said, quoting Ministry of Public Security
statistics.

_____________________________________

January 25, Agence France Presse
Eight druglords from Myanmar charged in US

New York: Eight druglords in Myanmar were charged in absentia in a US
court Monday with operating one of the world's largest heroin producing
and trafficking groups in Southeast Asia's notorious Golden Triangle area.

The eight members of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a 16,000-strong
group which styles itself as an independence movement fighting for an
ethnic Wa state, were charged with the cultivation of opium in Eastern
Myanmar.

They were also charged with the manufacture and distribution of heroin and
methamphetamine to the United States and throughout the world.

Led by "drug kingpin" Wei Hsueh Kang, who has a two-million-dollar bounty
on his head, the gang was also accused of laundering narcotics proceeds
through seemingly legitimate businesses, according to an indictment
unsealed in Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York.

The UWSA is one of the largest heroin producing and trafficking
organizations in the world and was responsible for the production of more
than 180 tonnes of opium in 2004, the US Department of Justice said in a
statement.

Monday's indictment also seeks the forfeiture of assets of the eight,
including in Asian business network Hong Pang Group, whose companies are
located or doing businesses in Thailand, Myanmar, Hong Kong and China.

"We are committed to stopping the flow of dangerous narcotics into our
communities by going straight to the source and putting international drug
traffickers out of business," said US attorney Roslynn Mauskopf.

The charges were filed following "Operation Warlord" led by the US Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) with cooperation from Royal Thai Police
as part of a bigger effort to combat heroin trafficking in Southeast Asia.

The UWSA controls large segments of Eastern Myanmar in the heart of the
infamous Golden Triangle of heroin production straddling Myanmar, Laos and
Thailand.

Since 1985, the eight defendants had imported more than a tonne of heroin,
with a retail value of one billion dollars, into the United States alone,
and vast amounts throughout the world, DEA records showed.

More recently, they began production of methamphetamine, an illegal
stimulant, for export to the United States and elsewhere.

About 12,000 methamphetamine tablets, labeled with the UWSA logo, have
been seized by the DEA at mail facilities located within the United
States.

The indictment alleged that the defendants controlled all decision-making
on the drug trade in their territory, including taxing of narcotics
shipments and drug refineries, and the collection of "lucrative" narcotics
proceeds.

In return, they provided security for heroin and methamphetamine
laboratories, as well as for drug caravans smuggling the drugs from
Eastern Myanmar to Thailand, China, and Laos where independent brokers
smuggle shipments to global distribution groups in Asia, the United States
and Europe.

Aside from Wei Hsueh Kang, a special advisor to UWSAs Central Committee,
the others facing heroin and methamphetamine trafficking charges in the
United States were: Wei Hsueh Lung, the group's "trade and finance
minister" and several military commanders including Wei Hsueh Ying, Pao Yu
Hsiang, Pao Yu Hua, and Pao Yu Liang.

Also charged were Pao Yu Yi, a political commissar and Pao Hua Chiang, a
"trade and finance officer."

The Weis are brothers, as are the Paos, with the exception of Pao Hua Chiang.

In addition to the charges filed against him Monday, Wei Hsueh Kang also
faces charges stemming from an indictment filed in 1993 in New York for
conspiring to distribute and import heroin into the United States.

If convicted, the eight each face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in jail
and a maximum of life imprisonment, and a four-million-dollar fine.

_____________________________________

January 25, Shan Herald Agency for News
Farmers exultant over alien poppy strain - King Cobra & Hawkeye

Poppy seeds believed to be of Indian strain have been making a strong
showing, say sources from the border.

One of the farmers, a 53-year old northern Shan of Loi Khilek range,
Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai, told S.H.A.N., "Everyone here who
had bought the seeds are jubilant. Just look at my field. One part of it
was sown with the indigenous seeds, 3 milk-cans of them, and the other
with the new seeds, just 2 milk-canfuls."

The comparative results were simply astounding, he exclaimed: While the
"indigenous part" had yielded two and a half viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg)
leaving the pods shrunk and dry, the "foreign part" is giving him four and
a half viss and the pods are still producing sap.

The seeds were sold by Captain Han Sein of Infantry Battalion 65, who
retired on 4 December at 100 kyat ($ 0.10) per condensed milkcan, last
August, which the villagers say was twice as much as the price of the
indigenous strain.

Already Kokang businessmen in the area have offered to buy the season's
harvest for 20,000 baht ($ 500). Last year, it was 350,000 kyat ($350).

The price hike appears to be the trend elsewhere as well. In southern Shan
State, across the Salween, it is 390,000 - 400,000 kyat ($390-400), while
in the north, it is between 800,000 - 1,000,000 kyat ($ 800 - 1,000).

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

January 25, The Irrawaddy
Lloyd’s, Rolls Royce join Burma trade blacklist

Two prominent Western names appear on the latest hit compiled by the
Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, or ICFTU,
of international trade and commercial interests maintaining business ties
with Burma.

The list of some 440 multinational companies was issued with a 28 page
document, entitled “Doing Business with Burma”, highlighting investment in
and trade with Burma and showing how foreign business relationships with
Burma—by large and small multinational companies—generate vast profits for
the country's military dictators.

Forty new names appear on the ICFTU “Burma company database”. They include
China PetroChemical Corp (Sinopec), China Telecom, Lloyd's of London,
Rolls Royce and the State Bank of India.

Many large multinational companies have left the country over the last few
years. However, some companies, such as South Korea's Daewoo
International, Austrian Airlines, SWIFT (Belgium), Total (France), Unocal
(USA), Suzuki (Japan) and Ivanhoe Mines (Canada) still maintain their
links with Burma.

Burma is the only country in the world for which the ICFTU calls for
disinvestment. The newest ICFTU report on investment and trade with Burma
is essentially a research overview, based on facts and details complied
from over 40 different sources (news items, reports by governments,
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and individual
researchers).

The ICFTU maintains the report demonstrates conclusively that investing in
Burma is not possible without the agreement of the junta. It says the
report also shows how the regime systematically steers business
operations, especially the most profitable, towards joint ventures with
state-owned companies.

The “secretive and corrupt” business environment in Burma lacks all forms
of transparency, according to the report. Whether or not companies are
directly owned by the military makes no real difference. Where the former
are owned by the army, many of the latter are owned by high ranking
military figures, in their “private capacity”, or by their relatives and
cronies.

Over the last 15 years the military dictatorship in Burma has moved itself
into a position of virtual control over all aspects of the business
sector, the report says.

Figures quoted in the report indicate an overall reduction in investment
in Burma over the last few years. More and more people, companies and
countries are recognizing that investing in or trading with Burma makes no
sense—neither in moral nor in business terms.

Regrettably, says the ICFTU, a small number of neighboring countries, in
part because of regional power-plays, refuse to follow that trend.
Business interests from China, India, Thailand and some of the other
neighboring ASEAN countries are stepping in where others are moving out.

The report provides numerous concrete examples of what the Burmese junta
spends the income on. For example over 40 percent of its national budget
goes to military expenditure. It also recalls the army’s responsibility
for a host of human rights abuses, including the widespread and continuing
use of forced labor. The report also highlights what the government does
not do with the money, spending only 0.3 percent of GDP on health care.

Among the many different topics covered by the report, the ICFTU also
addresses issues such as corruption, transparency, drug traffic and
arbitrary taxation, as well as the junta's claims that economic sanctions
affect “18 million workers.”

_____________________________________

January 25, Xinhua News Agency
SW border province enhances cooperation with GMS countries

Kunming: Yunnan, a multi-ethnic border province in southwest China,
generated 1.05 billion US dollars in foreign trade value with the Greater
Mekong Sub-region (GMS) in 2004, representing a sustainable growth.

The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) include China's Yunnan province, as
well as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

The region has a combined land area of 2.33 million sq km with a combined
population of 230 million, many of whom are subsist on fish for food. The
sub-region's gross domestic product is expected to climb to 863 billion US
dollars in 2010 from 212 billion dollars in 1997.

In recent years, Yunnan has worked hard to enhanced economic and trade
cooperation with GMS countries and picked up projects for cooperation
listed by the GMS Program. It has achieved tangible outcome in its
cooperation effort with GMS countries in transportation, energy,
agriculture, tourism, trade, investment, environmental protection and
human resources.

To ensure the implementation of key cross-border projects, Yunnan province
will open an international navigation route on the Honghe River, a
land-and-water coordinated route between Yunnan and Myanmar and an air
route linking Kunming, the provincial capital, with capital cities and
major industrial centers of all Southeast Asian countries.

Rising in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China, the Mekong ( called
"Lancang" in China) runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and
Vietnam before entering the South China Sea. It is the only river in Asia
that flows through six nations.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 25, Agence France Presse
Malaysia's plan to arm volunteers in migrant crackdown criticised

Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian government's decision to arm some members of
volunteer security groups for a crackdown on hundreds of thousands of
illegal immigrants next week is "dangerous", a rights group warned
Tuesday.

The prominent local group, Tenaganita (Women's Force), said there was
"absolutely no justification for the use of firearms" by members of
volunteer organisations against "unarmed ordinary migrant workers."

Malaysia has announced that it will deploy more than half a million
members of the volunteer groups along with police on February 1 to track
down and detain illegal immigrants, mainly from Indonesia, Myanmar and the
Philippines.

Several rights groups have criticised the move, with Amnesty International
saying it could lead to abuses and Human Rights Watch describing it as
"ominous".

Tenaganita said the government's plan to arm more than 200 of the
volunteers "will only increase the possibility of abuse of powers and
create a form of vigilantism that brings about racism and violence."

Director Irene Fernandez said Tenaganita would set up an operations center
to monitor human rights violations and assist any migrant worker who was
unlawfully arrested, abused or forced to pay a bribe.

The government has twice extended an amnesty for an estimated 1.3 million
illegal workers to leave the country, firstly at Indonesia's request and
then again after the tsunamis hit the Indonesian province of Aceh on
December 26.

Indonesians make up the bulk of the illegal workers in Malaysia, many of
them from Aceh. Nationals from tsunami-hit India and Sri Lanka also work
illegally in Malaysia, drawn by jobs in the construction, plantation and
service industries.

Some 320,000 illegal workers are reported to have taken up the offer to
return home without penalty since the amnesty began in October.

But Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said last week that there would be
no further extension of the amnesty and a round-up of those remaining
would begin next Tuesday.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 2005, Oprah Magazine
Singing out – Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt on joining forces with 26 other major musicians (McCartney,
Sting...) for Burma's extraordinary freedom fighter

Sometimes it seems as if only bad things are happening in the world.
Lately the news has been filled with tragedy - bloodshed in the Middle
East and Sudan, the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

But every once in a while we hear about a bright light of hope, a true
modern-day hero. I learned of a woman like this a few months ago when
Jeremy Woodrum of U.S. Campaign for Burma asked me and 26 of my fellow
musicians (Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, Natalie Merchant, among others) to
donate songs for a benefit album to help raise awareness about the Burmese
activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her name is a mouthful for us Americans (it's pronounced Ong Sawn Soo
Chee), and she is more than a handful to her Southeast Asian country's
military regime. Known to the Burmese people simply as "The Lady", this
mother of two leads a non- violent struggle for freedom against a
government that had slaughtered and displaced ethnic minorities, tortured
and gunned down its detractors en masse, and squashed any tendencies
towards democracy. Under house arrest for her work in the National League
for Democracy, Suu Kyi is currently the world's only imprisoned Nobel
Peace prize recipient and has been in police custody on and off for the
last 15 years. Much as Nelson Mandela embodied the aspirations of the
South Africans, she is a symbol of courage and hope to the people of
Burma.

I agreed to sing on the album because I wanted to help. If you'd like to
help too, there are a few simple ways: Purchase the two-CD set For the
Lady - all proceeds go to the U.S. Campaign for Burma - at music stores or
at www.uscampaignforburma.org. Or write to your legislators, urging them
to speak out for democracy in Burma. Or teach your own children about the
example of this incredible woman.

_____________________________________

January 23, Bangkok Post
Return of the Warriors - Maxmilian Wechsler

Despite condemnation of their tactics by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD, the
radical Burmese pro-democracy group responsible for two hostage-taking
events on Thai soil is once again resorting to violence, writes Maxmilian
Wechsler

The Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) drew attention to themselves
again on December 23, 2004, after they distributed a media release to
various news organisations claiming responsibility for the bombing at
Zawgi Restaurant in Rangoon two days earlier. The group warned that more
blasts would follow unless the regime agreed to ``immediately release all
political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,'' and ``hand over the
state power to the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a
landslide victory in the 1990 general election.''

According to Reuters, the blast killed one employee in the restaurant,
which is popular among foreign tourists. But other media reported only an
injury. ``The perpetrators intended to harm innocent civilians and this
should be deplored,'' commented a senior opposition leader.

The party of Burma's democracy icon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, swiftly
condemned the bombing as well. ``The National League for Democracy
considers this a terrorist act. The NLD is working through peaceful means
for the emergence of democracy and human rights in this country, we cannot
accept this kind of act,'' said a statement signed by the NLD's executive
committee.

The attack against ordinary civilians contradicts the VBSW's earlier
statement disclosed by Democratic Voice of Burma on August 5, 2003. The
group then threatened to use every means including violence to hurt the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) but insisted they had no
intention to hurt the people of Burma. The statement came with an audio
file in which the VBSW leader, Ye Thiha, alias San Naing, announced: ``As
the warriors, we will be mainly targeting the generals who have been
holding on to power and controlling the country, and we will keep on
fighting them.'' Whether the VBSW has actually ``hurt'' any general since
is not known, but there were no generals at the Zawgi Restaurant on the
day of the blast.

Among the dozens of anti-SPDC political groups _ some of them armed _ the
secrecy-shrouded VBSW are considered the most radical and violent. They
teamed up with the notorious Karen God's Army in early September 1999 and
a month after seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok. This was followed by
a raid on the Ratchaburi hospital in January 2000.

The two attacks have harmed the entire democratic movement and affected
exiles in Thailand, where the authorities restrict their movements and
activities, which more or less continue until now.

While most exiles disagree with the VBSW's tactics and methods on
overthrowing the military regime, they won't condemn them openly. ``After
all, they have the same aim as us _ to dispose of the SPDC,'' reasoned a
Chiang Mai-based dissident.

Senior Warrior Min Lwin failed to persuade two other leaders of the group,
Kyaw Ni, a.k.a. Johnny, and a man known only as Pida, to stop the violence
and leave the God's Army alone during a meeting in their jungle hideout
shortly after the embassy incident, in which hot-blooded Kyaw Ni had
played a major role. The two refused and even threatened to kill Min Lwin.
But it was Pida who was killed a few weeks later at the Ratchaburi
hospital.

Warrior leader an enigma

Ye Thiha still has many admirers inside and outside Burma who treat him as
something of a folk hero. ``He is clever and brave,'' his admirers say.
But rumours persist that he has cooperated with some foreign intelligence
services, and some exiles even suspect that he works for the SPDC, because
everything his group has done causes only problems for the opposition
movement, while the regime always benefits.

There are other things that don't add up. One source claimed: ``During the
embassy siege, the VBSW not only managed to open a vault inside the
ambassador's office, but also sifted out contents from the embassy
including a number of secret SPDC documents. The beneficiary of the siege
was subject to speculation, but it was not the SPDC for sure!''

Going back in time, Ye Thiha began his ``fight for democracy'' by
hijacking _ with his accomplice, Ye Yint _ a Burmese domestic flight from
Mergui to Rangoon on October 6, 1989. They forced the Fokker F-28 to land
at U-Tapao Thai Naval Air Base. After 11 hours of negotiations, they
released unharmed all 82 passengers and four crew members. They were
arrested and sentenced to six years in jail, but were released for good
behaviour after serving three years.

Ye Thiha didn't enjoy his freedom for long. In November 1993, Din Daeng
district police in Bangkok arrested him and three Burmese friends for
possession of weapons and explosives. The group allegedly planned to enter
Burma and assassinate the government leaders during the National Day
celebrations in January 1994.

They each received sentences of 5 years and 4 months, but were released in
February 1997. Ye Thiha was deported to Burma on October 5 that year.

``The VBSW is currently financed by Ye Thiha's compatriots living in the
United States, Germany and France. Not long ago, he asked them for a large
amount of money, allegedly to produce sophisticated explosive devices _
and they sent the funds to him,'' said a source associated with the group.

The VBSW recently agreed to an interview requested by Czech Press, saying
in an e-mail on December 24, 2004: ``We are afraid that we cannot grant a
telephone interview, but we welcome your questions via email.'' Eleven
questions were forwarded to them the next day, but as yet no answers have
been returned.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 25, M2 Presswire
ICFTU: Burma and multinational companies: who profits and how it works

Brussels: ICFTU Online: The International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU) today released a new report on business with Burma. The
28-page document, entitled "Doing Business with Burma", concentrates on
investment in and trade with Burma and shows how foreign business
relationships with Burma - by large and small multinational companies -
generate vast profits for the country's military dictators.

The ICFTU simultaneously released an updated version of its Burma company
database, which now contains the names of some 440 multinational
companies, adding over 40 new names.

Burma is the only country in the world for which the international trade
union movement calls for disinvestment. The newest ICFTU report on
investment and trade with Burma is essentially a research overview, based
on facts and details complied from over 40 different sources (news items,
reports by governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organisations and individual researchers). It demonstrates conclusively
that investing in Burma is not possible without the agreement of the
junta. It also shows how the regime systematically steers business
operations, especially the most profitable, towards joint ventures with
state-owned companies.

The "secretive and corrupt" business environment in Burma lacks all forms
of transparency, according to the report. Whether or not companies are
directly owned by the military makes no real difference. Where the former
are owned by the army, many of the latter are owned by high ranking
military figures, in their "private capacity", or by their relatives and
cronies. Over the last 15 years the military dictatorship in Burma has
moved itself into a position of virtual control over all aspects of the
business sector.

Figures quoted in the report indicate an overall reduction in investment
in Burma over the last few years. More and more people, companies and
countries are recognising that investing in or trading with Burma makes no
sense - either in moral nor in business terms. Regrettably, a small number
of neighbouring countries, in part because of regional power-plays, refuse
to follow that trend. Business interests from China, India, Thailand and
some of the other neighbouring ASEAN countries are stepping in where
others are moving out.

The report provides numerous concrete examples of what the Burmese junta
spends the income on, for example over 40% of its national budget goes to
military expenditure. It also recalls the army's responsibility for a host
of human rights abuses, including the widespread and continuing use of
forced labour. The report also highlights what the government does not do
with the money, spending only 0.3% of GDP on health care.

Among the many different topics covered by the report, the ICFTU also
addresses issues such as corruption, transparency, drug traffic and
arbitrary taxation, as well as the junta's bogus claims that economic
sanctions affect "18 million workers".

The ICFTU has also updated its list of companies with business links to
Burma. This list now contains the names of around 440 multinational
enterprises. The addition of new companies is the result of continuous
research, and not an actual indicator of increased corporate interest in
Burma. Some of the better known new names are China PetroChemical Corp.
(Sinopec), China Telecom, Lloyd's of London, Rolls Royce and the State
Bank of India.

Many large multinational companies have left the country over the last few
years. However, some companies, such as South-Korea's Daewoo
International, Austrian Airlines, SWIFT (Belgium), Total (France), Unocal
(USA), Suzuki (Japan) or Ivanhoe Mines (Canada) still maintain their links
with Burma.

As a country, Burma continues to be one of the worst human and workers'
rights offenders in the world. In spite of some minor positive steps in
recent years, partly the result of international pressure, very little has
fundamentally changed in the way the Burmese dictators treat their
citizens. Claims of progress made by the military have been merely
cosmetic, and are followed by a new wave of brutal repression. This
repression includes violence against religious and ethnic minorities,
forced relocation, beatings, child labour, rape and murder. All of them
continue on a daily basis. A high number of political prisoners remain in
prison. Forced labour, one of the largest problems, is still routinely
resorted to by the military.

The database on companies linked to Burma, including specific information
for each company, as well as background information on this initiative,
can be found on the ICFTU web site at: http://www.global-unions.org/burma

The report on multinationals companies and Burma can be found at:
http://www.icftu.org/www/PDF/Burma-ICFTUReport-January.pdf

The ICFTU represents 148 million workers in 231 affiliated organisations
in 150 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions:
http://www.global-unions.org.

CONTACT: ICFTU Press Department Tel: +32 2 224 0232 Tel: +32 476 621 018