BurmaNet News, January 28, 2005

[Editor]

January 28, 2005, Issue # 2645


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Political tensions in Myanmar, says Thai PM
AP: Myanmar denies coup rumors but hints at Cabinet shuffle
Economist: A very special region; Myanmar

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: UWSA claims wanted drugs suspects are innocent

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Pity the Burmese tsunami survivors in Thailand
New Straits Times (Malaysia): Suhakam: We need Anti-Trafficking Act

OPINION / OTHER
South China Morning Post: The elephant versus the dragon
Irrawaddy: Tsunami fails to move regime

_____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 28, Agence France Presse
Political tensions in Myanmar, says Thai PM

Bangkok: Political "tension" has risen in military-ruled Myanmar after the
death of an aide to a senior general, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra said Friday.

Thaksin did not give details on the developments and discounted
suggestions a coup had been hatched, but said Thailand was watching the
situation closely.

"It is not clear yet as Myanmar is a closed society, but I admit that
there has been some form of tension in Myanmar," he told reporters.

"I don't think it is a coup but there are tensions and preparations to do
something," he said.

Myanmar's political upheaval is often publicised first by neighbouring
Thailand, which claims close ties with the secretive state.

Thaksin's remark came one week after the death of Lieutenant Colonel Bo
Win Tun, the personal assistant to Myanmar number two Deputy Senior
General Maung Aye.

Bo Win Tun's obituary ran in state media Sunday and he was buried with
full military honours, but it was unclear how he died.

Rumours have swirled in the capital that he may have been assassinated,
killed himself or died protecting Maung Aye, sparking talk of a power
struggle resurfacing in Yangon.

The city was also awash in speculation that Bo Win Tun's death hinted at a
more serious crisis which may have seen Maung Aye killed in a bizarre
gunbattle within the junta's inner circle.

Diplomats struggling to grasp the latest from Yangon also noted the recent
disappearance from public view of newly installed Prime Minister General
Soe Win, which has led to reports he may have been placed under house
arrest or fled the city.

"What mostly preoccupies me is the absence of the prime minister in the
official press. Usually this is a sign that something is brewing," a
Western diplomat in Yangon told AFP.

The security presence on Yangon streets was higher than normal but had
nothing to do with Bo Win Tun's death or the rumours, a source close to
the military said.

"It is because the government is always alert for people who might try to
disrupt the national convention," the source said, referring to a
gathering aimed at helping draft a new constitution which reconvenes next
month.

Bo Win Tun's death and subsequent rumours coincided with a meeting of army
regional commanders in Yangon attended by top brass including junta leader
Senior General Than Shwe, sources close to the military said.

The Irrawaddy, a magazine published by Myanmar journalists in exile in
Thailand, said on its website that analysts "believe a major military
reshuffle is looming."

Myanmar is also currently holding special tribunals for 300 people,
including 26 high-ranking officers from military intelligence services
that were disbanded late last year after Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who
headed the unit, was sacked.

Khin Nyunt -- who favored limited dialogue with detained opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi -- was replaced by junta hardliner Soe Win.

_____________________________________

January 28, Associated Press
Myanmar denies coup rumors but hints at Cabinet shuffle

Phuket: Myanmar denied Friday that a coup d'etat had taken place in the
military-ruled country, but hinted at possible changes in the Cabinet.

"No, no, no," Myanmar Foreign Minister U. Nyan Win said, responding to
questions about rumors of a leadership change that have swept the
country's capital, Yangon, in recent days.

"It's all just rumors," he said with a laugh. "Everything there is fine."

Thaung Tun, director general of the foreign ministry's political
department, also said the situation was stable.

"In every country there are changes in the Cabinet," Thaung Tun said
without elaborating. "We do things in a measured way. Everything is
normal."

The two officials were in Thailand to attend a conference on a proposed
Indian Ocean tsunami warning system.

Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said political tension had
erupted among leaders in neighboring Myanmar, but that no coup had taken
place.

"I was informed that there is political tension in Myanmar," said Thaksin,
who added that the information was confusing and still being checked.

"There is tension and conflict but not at the level of a coup d'etat."

Myanmar's former prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, was ousted last October
and replaced by Lt. Gen. Soe Win.

The rumors of political tensions were fueled by the disappearance of
reports in state media about the activities of Soe Win.

_____________________________________

January 29, The Economist
A very special region; Myanmar

Sex and drugs in the Shan state

Mongla: With its hill-tribe villages and opium warlords, the Shan state of
northern Myanmar is among the least developed regions of Asia. But as you
approach the Chinese border, the landscape is suddenly transformed. Like a
hallucination, a garish town of concrete, neon, casinos and night-clubs
appears. "Welcome to Mongla Special Region No. 4", a billboard proclaims.

Remote and once dirt-poor Mongla has been reborn as a tourist destination,
a process that started in 1989, when Myanmar's army reached a ceasefire
and autonomy deal with the Shan. The local warlord, a Shan Chinese named
Sai Leun (also known as Lin Mingxian), built Mongla with an unorthodox
mixture of opium profits and technical aid from China's neighbouring
province of Yunnan.

Around 350,000 Chinese tourists visit every year to gamble, frequent the
massage parlours, and perhaps take in a Thai transvestite show. Lin
Mingxian, as he was born, has clearly come a long way from his days as a
Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. Mongla's
authorities earned $9.6m from tourism in 2002—and it is entirely possible
that they concealed some of their income.

But is it still Myanmar? Apart from the fluttering of Myanmar's flag by
the side of government buildings, there is little to suggest any
connection with the rest of the country. Myanmar's kyat are scorned; only
Chinese yuan are acceptable. The street signs, the language, and most
government employees are Chinese, though many are ethnic Chinese born in
Shan state, as well as Yunnanese immigrants.

Opium poppies used to flourish openly in the hills around Mongla, but in
1997 Sai Leun declared his fief an "opium-free zone". Chinese advisers
were brought in to develop alternative crops, and Sai Leun promoted his
new image as an anti-drugs campaigner—he is chairman of the Mongla Action
Committee on Narcotics—by opening an opium museum to educate people about
the evils of drugs. It strangely neglects to mention that until 2000, the
name Lin Mingxian featured prominently on America's most-wanted list for
major heroin traffickers.

Mongla's carefree existence may be threatened. For one thing, China is
disappointed that despite some efforts at crop substitution in Mongla,
there has been no real impact on the flow of heroin into China, and the
growing tide of addiction in Yunnan.

And in October last year General Khin Nyunt, who as Myanmar's prime
minister and intelligence chief, brokered the 1989 ceasefire deal, and was
close to Sai Leun and other figures in the Golden Triangle drug trade, was
ousted from the troika that runs Myanmar. The Shan, as well as other
ethnic minorities, like the Wa and the Kachin, who reached similar deals
with Khin Nyunt, fear that Myanmar's re-ordered junta may now renege on
the agreements. Thousands of Wa soldiers are said to be mobilising for a
possible fight. Caught between the junta, Chinese drug warlords, and the
new casino capitalists, there seems little hope of development for the
ordinary people of Shan state.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

January 28, Irrawaddy
UWSA claims wanted drugs suspects are innocent - Nandar Chann

The United Wa State Army, or UWSA, on Friday denied that eight of its
members charged in the United States with drugs offences were involved in
the narcotics trade. A UWSA spokesman, reached by The Irrawaddy by
telephone in Lashio, northern Shan State, accused the US of trying to
intervene in Burma’s internal affairs.

The spokesman for the armed ethnic group was reacting to news from New
York that
a suspected Wa drugs kingpin and seven fugitive members of his gang had
been charged in absentia in a US court with masterminding one of the
world's largest heroin trafficking operations.

Wei Hsueh-kang and the other seven were named in an indictment in federal
court in Brooklyn. All are alleged leaders of the United Wa State Army, a
16,000-member organization that allegedly controls a heroin-producing
region in eastern Burma.

The other indicted seven were named as Wei Hsueh Lung, Wei Hsueh Ying, Pao
Yu Hsiang, Pao Yu Hua, Pao Yu Liang, Pao Yu Yi and Pao Hua Chiang.

Wei Hsueh-kang is wanted by Thai authorities for his alleged role in
flooding Thailand with amphetamine tablets.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, has also placed a US $2 million
bounty on Wei’s head. The DEA alleges that since 1985 Wei's operation has
smuggled into the US more than a ton of heroin, worth US $1 billion on the
street.

In Thailand, Thai Third Army Chief Lt-Gen Picharnment Muangmanee says
Bangkok has been asked by the US to hand over any of the wanted eight if
they are apprehended on Thai territory.

Lt-Gen Picharnment said Thailand expects Rangoon to cooperate in tracking
down the suspects.

The UWSA spokesman denied any of the eight were “involved in the drugs
business.”

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 28, Irrawaddy
Pity the Burmese tsunami survivors in Thailand - Aung Lwin Oo

Phang Nga: Burma escaped the worst ravages of the Tsunami that devastated
other countries in the Indian Ocean, but Burmese migrant workers along
Thailand’s western seaboard have fared poorly

“At first, the water level dropped,” said Kyaw Myint (not his real name),
a Burmese fisherman. “But, I heard later from a distance [others] shouting
waves coming.” He was working on a trawler based in Phang Nga Province
until December 26. Kyaw Myint said he saw other fishing boats washed away
by the tsunami. Most of the crew members on Thai-registered trawlers
working out of Ranong and Phang Nga Provinces are Burmese.

A Burmese migrant worker, aged 26, weeps as he displays his wedding
picture during a funeral for 15 Burmese tsunami victims in Ko Khoa, Phang
Nga Province. His wife was six months pregnant when she was killed by the
tsunami. Tun Kay found her body in the wreckage but was told by rescue
personnel that he would have to go to a collection center if he wanted to
claim it. None of the victims’ bodies were present at the ceremony—all the
surviving relatives of the victims’ were afraid to collect them

Although Burma escaped the worst of the tsunami, tragically many Burmese
working on Thailand’s western seaboard were swept away by the wave. Before
the disaster there were 60,000 registered Burmese workers in Thailand’s
six western seaboard provinces— Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Ranong, Trang,
and Satun—and an unknown number of illegal Burmese migrants.

According to a January 8 report by the Human Rights Education Institute of
Burma, or HREIB, between 700 and 1,000 Burmese migrants died in southern
Thailand as a result of the tsunami (other NGOs’ estimates are
higher)—many more than died in Burma itself. To date, 156 bodies of
Burmese nationals have been identified. The identification process is
complicated, the report noted, because there is “no dental data or DNA
material available on Burmese dead and missing persons to identify them.”

Kyaw Myint and his wife were in Phang Nga Hospital receiving treatment in
early January. About 40 other injured Burmese survivors were also being
treated there, the recipients of Thai hospitality and medical care. But
many other Burmese tsunami survivors in Thailand have not been so lucky
with officialdom.

Post-tsunami Burmese migrant survivors, many of whom lost all their
possessions and their identity and registration papers, now face another
crisis—Thailand’s Immigration Department has been rounding up Burmese
nationals that cannot prove they are in Thailand legally and deporting
them. (This has complicated and slowed the victim identification effort as
many Burmese have been too afraid to visit body collection centers.)

The Thai Immigration Department said that 1,500 Burmese migrant workers
were deported in the two weeks following the tsunami. The normal procedure
for the deportation of illegal aliens is to first put them before a court.
But in the wake of the disaster, Burmese deportees from southern Thailand
have been simply herded into detention centers, then loaded onto boats
without recourse to the judiciary.

Htoo Chit, coordinator of the HREIB’s relief effort in the area, said the
group is seeking assistance from the Law Society of Thailand and
sympathetic Thai politicians. The HREIB’s lobbying, however, has been
pre-empted by unsubstantiated press reports that Burmese nationals have
been looting areas hit by the tsunami.

On January 8, Khao Sod, a mass circulation Thai newspaper carried the
hysterical headline Maung Thieves (maung is a Thai pejorative term for
Burmese). The body of the article claimed that at least a thousand Burmese
looters on pickups were stripping Khao Lak, Phang Nga Province, bare. The
paper disingenuously claimed that the “Burmese” looters had tricked local
people into thinking they were southern Thais by learning to speak fluent
Southern Thai dialect (apparently in anticipation of the tsunami).

The charge is ridiculous (it’s rare for Burmese to speak any Thai dialect
fluently. Even the few that speak reasonably fluent Thai are normally
instantly identifiable by their strong Burmese accents). But that hasn’t
stopped a number of media pundits from commenting on the “Burmese looter
problem”.

In contrast to the Burmese that are being deported for being unable to
produce registration documents, there have been numerous reports of Thai
employees refusing to allow traumatized Burmese workers to return home.

The situation reached farcical proportions on January 12 when three World
Vision relief workers helping Burmese migrant workers who wanted to return
to Burma were accosted by a mob in the fishing village of Ban Thab Lamu,
Phang Nga Province (World Vision coordinator Somyos Leetrakul, a Thai
national, was beaten by the crowd and later had to be hospitalized).

The three—Somyos and two Burmese co-workers—were then driven to the nearby
Thai Muang police station and detained, but not formally arrested. The
police said they were making investigations into the activities of the
World Vision workers. No one was arrested in connection with the beating
of Somyos Leetrakul. According to Chuwong Saengkong, another World Vision
staffer, the fracas was incited by a local fishing operator concerned that
his Burmese workers would desert him. World Vision temporarily shut its
operation in Phang Nga.

While official treatment of other foreign nationals caught up in the
tsunami in southern Thailand has been laudable, the attitude towards the
poorest and most vulnerable segment of the survivor community has been
sadly lacking.

_____________________________________

January 28, New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Suhakam: We need Anti-Trafficking Act - Adrian David

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia needs an Anti-Trafficking Act to penalize those
trafficking in humans for sexual purposes.

The Government should also set up a national task force or a police
trafficking unit to identify the nationalities of the victims and help
send them home.

This call was made by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam)
chairman Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman at a Press conference to release its
report on Suhakam: Review of laws on human trafficking needed for
submission to the Government.

Abu Talib said police statistics showed that 2,340 foreign women were
arrested for involvement in prostitution between November 2003 and March
last year.

Indonesians topped the list with 795 women, followed by Chinese nationals
(787), Thais (507), Filipinos (101), Cambodians (52), Vietnamese (46),
Uzbeks (20) and other nationals (32).

Prisons Department statistics show that 1,485 women were detained in 2003,
of whom 274 were below 18 years of age, 23 tested HIV-positive and 31 were
pregnant.

Indonesians accounted for 939 of the total; Chinese nationals, 250; Thais,
137; Cambodians, 75; Vietnamese, 27; Myanmars, 22; Filipinas, 16; Uzbeks,
nine; Indian nationals, four; Nigerians, two; and one each from Colombia,
Bangladesh, Iran and South Africa.

Abu Talib said that without an Anti-Trafficking Act, the culprits often
get away owing to "piecemeal" legislation under the Penal Code,
Immigration Act and Child Act.

"There ought to be a review of these laws which are not anti-trafficking
per se and not comprehensive," he said.

"More importantly, they do not provide for the protection of victims who
are often unable or afraid to testify.

"As a result, only the victims are punished while the traffickers,
perpetrators and 'clients' escape the full punishment they deserve."

He also said it was not enough to arrest the traffickers and perpetrators.
"Prosecution and severe punishment is necessary.

"Likewise, premises owners who allow their properties to be used as
brothels or to harbour these women and children should be given stiff
sentences," he added.

He also cautioned the tourism industry to be vigilant against sex tourism,
where customers essentially fund trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Abu Talib said a police trafficking unit would essentially ensure that
traffickers do not escape arrest and prosecution and victims were quickly
identified, treated humanely and provided legal redress.

Such a unit, he said, would complement the proposed Regional Trafficking
in Persons Information Centre following the "Asean Declaration Against
Trafficking in Persons Particularly Women and Children" signed in Hanoi
last Nov 29.

Other recommendations by Suhakam included a commitment by embassies and
foreign missions to advise their citizens on genuine employment
opportunities abroad; proactive enforcement by the authorities and non-
governmental organisations; and the decriminalisation, repatriation and
reintegration of trafficked victims.

Abu Talib said that women and children trafficking was not only the worst
form of human rights violation but one of the greatest challenges today.

"Trafficking threatens the world community by allowing a safe haven for
syndicates, funding illicit activities and facilitating the spread of
sexually transmitted diseases," he said.

"Trafficking cuts across borders and preys on the most vulnerable, the
poor, helpless and illiterate children and women."

The victims were forced into prostitution or exploited after being lured
by lucrative job offers, he added.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 28, South China Morning Post
The elephant versus the dragon - Michael Richardson

The rise of China and India, and the gradual thaw in their once-frosty
relations, appears to be shaping Asia in positive ways. The world's two
most populous nations held their first "strategic dialogue" this week, in
advance of a ground-breaking visit to India in March or April by Premier
Wen Jiabao .

Significantly, the dialogue in New Delhi between senior diplomats from the
two sides reportedly included energy security as well as terrorism,
weapons of mass destruction and reform of the United Nations.

China and India fought a border war in 1962. Beijing's close ties with
Pakistan, India's long-time adversary, added to the subsequent tension, as
did India's emergence in 1998 as a self-declared nuclear weapon state with
an increasing ability to strike almost anywhere in China with its
long-range missiles.

But India's relations with Pakistan, although still tenuous, are
improving, and its trade with China is expected to be worth more than US$
12 billion this year, up from less than US$ 1 billion five years ago.

Will Sino-Indian energy needs collide and disrupt their rapprochement?
Will their energy interests bring them into conflict with the US in some
areas, such as Iran and Sudan?

For example, earlier this month, India and Iran signed a preliminary
agreement - unofficially estimated to be worth US$ 40 billion - that
commits India to import Iranian liquefied natural gas by sea tankers and
to develop two Iranian oilfields and a gas field. China has signed similar
giant energy deals with Iran. This is despite US and European concerns
about Iran's ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

India wants some Iranian gas to be piped through Pakistan. Both China and
India rely increasingly on imports of oil and gas to fuel their economic
growth. India is Asia's third-largest energy buyer after Japan and China.

The most recent Indian moves on the international energy chess board have
been made with Bangladesh and Myanmar - two neighbours that have been wary
of India in the recent past. Meeting in Yangon on January 13, officials of
the three countries agreed in principle to co-operate in exporting gas by
pipeline from Myanmar to India via Bangladesh. The gas is in offshore
fields part-owned by Indian firms.

Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh says that the Myanmar-India pipeline
and the proposed project to bring Iranian gas to India through Pakistan
have the "ability to qualitatively transform the relationships of the
countries of the region ... and set up a new paradigm in regional
co-operation and friendship".

If the 900-km-long pipeline goes ahead, India will get some of the gas it
needs, Bangladesh will get transit fees estimated to be worth US$ 125
million a year and transport for its own gas, while Myanmar will get badly
needed foreign currency.

India says that the deal is driven by its need to reduce reliance on
imported oil. But New Delhi's closer ties with Myanmar's junta may also
serve to offset China's influence in the country stemming from its
extensive economic and military links.

The fact that China and India have strong interests to work with the
regime in Myanmar underlines the increasing futility of US and European
Union policy of seeking political reform in Myanmar through sanctions and
isolation.

The Chinese and Indian approach is in line with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nation's policy of engagement. It is, however, jarringly
out of step with the policy of the Bush administration, whose Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice told her confirmation hearing in the Senate on
January 19 that the US was especially concerned about six "outposts of
tyranny" in the world, among them Myanmar and Iran.

Michael Richardson is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. This is a personal comment.

_____________________________________

January 28, Irrawaddy
Tsunami fails to move regime - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Optimists look at the tsunami’s silver lining. Maybe the tragedy will
break entrenched political stalemates and perhaps force a degree of
humility on despotic leaders. The world’s worst natural disaster in modern
times has potentially brought valuable lessons to erring humans that they
should change their selfish ways, and to enemies to bury the hatchet in
what has been a massive display of community spirit.

Such hopes have seen peace brought to civil-strife torn Aceh, Indonesia,
and Sri Lanka – if not a lasting peace, at least a temporary truce while
adversaries work side by side to deal with the devastation. This has
happened in the past, with antagonists at least thawing hardened positions
in the common cause of humanity.

But optimists would be mistaken to harbor such ideas when looking at
Burma’s leaders, despite the fact the country was also hit by the tsunami.
It seems the tidal waves claimed Burmese victims, but washed over the
generals’ iron mindset.

The military government of one of the world’s poorest countries said soon
after the tsunami lashed South and Southeast Asian countries on December
26 that it could cope by itself and didn’t need international aid. It
later clarified this, however, to mean it was turning down bilateral aid
from foreign governments, while allowing lesser relief from NGOs such as
the Red Cross and UNICEF, the UN children’s fund. More than 220,000 people
were killed in a number of countries, but Rangoon’s official death toll
was 59, and even international organizations based there put the figure
only marginally higher at 60-80.

But the NGOs added that 10,000 people had been directly affected and
several thousand homes destroyed. The generals have been quiet about this,
and it appears they are allowing only basic NGO aid in the form of such
needs as blankets and mosquito nets. Homeless and injured victims will
therefore be deprived of the major international assistance generously
pouring into other affected countries.

It highlights the junta’s xenophobia and strict isolationist policy. This
attitude is displayed particularly towards western countries, whose
criticism of the regime’s human rights record is especially harsh, and it
may explain the generals’ anxiety even now to keep them at arm’s length.

Western countries may want to help Burma post-tsunami despite any
reservations about the leadership’s grip on power. But military leaders
appear reluctant to agree lest the move threatens to be channeled into
attempts to use political influence. The military has traditionally built
fences to prevent intrusion in any way by what they perceive as “enemies.”
That applies to both international cooperation and non-cooperation.

Burma is an unusual example of two widely-different international
approaches to induce the generals to change their ways: Western countries,
particularly the United States and the EU, have tried using economic and
political sanctions to try to push the leadership towards democracy; Asian
countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean,
and China, have stuck to a policy of engagement to achieve politically
progressive steps.

Neither has worked. The stubborn military leadership hasn’t bought either
approach.

The junta has not reacted to neighbouring Asian countries softer approach
– dubbed “constructive engagement” by Asean – while it shrugs off western
sanctions.

A recent example of the former was Thailand’s international “Bangkok
Process” aimed at bringing about political reform in Burma. It sought
reconciliation among military, opposition and ethnic-minority leaders. But
it was to no avail, as the junta used it only as a means of lecturing the
international community that it did not need external help, and would
accept friendly approaches from neighbouring countries only when it needed
them..

That’s been the regime’s policy all along, and one which the international
community should understand. The military leadership’s only interest over
the decades has been to retain power, one way or another. For instance, a
recent letter to the regime by the main opposition National League for
Democracy, or NLD, calling for “forgiveness” between both sides as a way
to national reconciliation was ignored by the junta. It reflected the fact
that the military rulers have never accepted any proposal from either
opposition or ethnic groups, from transferring power to holding talks.

The opposition should realize that any possibility of talks with the
regime about national reconciliation or political change is wishful
thinking. Opposition politicians will only be welcome if they say “yes” to
anything on offer.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper recently ran an article
saying: “If they have the real wish to see the flourishing of democracy in
the nation
 all the political parties should join hands with Tatmadaw
[armed forces].” That sums up the junta’s political stance.

It’s just a shame that the regime’s hubris and isolation even after such a
natural disaster means that Burmese tsunami victims’ plight is being
hushed up, with no solid international relief on the way.