BurmaNet News March 10, 2005

[Editor]

March 10, 2005 Issue # 2672


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: National Convention will be “winner’s curse”
Irrawaddy: Security measures intensify
SHAN: 16 released, 15 still behind bars

DRUGS
Bangkok Post: Drug bust deal blow to guerrillas

BUSINESS / MONEY
Xinhua: Malaysia to promote products in Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: One in four Thai hill-tribe children unregistered: survey
New Straits Times (Malaysia): 11 more labour options

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: ASEAN, EU ministers call on Myanmar to grant access to UN envoy
AFP: Myanmar democracy campaigners take a page out of Mandela campaign

OPINION / OTHER
Jakarta Post: The Asean-EU partnership

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 10, Irrawaddy
National Convention will be “winner’s curse” - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Important matters concerning a constitution—from legislative and judicial
questions to presidential powers and functions— have been discussed in
recent days at the National Convention organized by Burma’s junta to draft
a new constitution. Some observers and dissidents view the Convention so
far as a “success.”

State-run newspapers have been reporting details of presentations,
relating to a draft constitution - made by members of the junta’s National
Convention Convening Commission.

The National Convention was initiated in 1993 to draft a constitution that
would bring reconciliation among the military, ethnic and opposition
groups. After a long suspension, the Convention was resumed in 2004.

Some political observers and dissidents claim the Convention is proceeding
on lines dictated by the junta, although the international community and
most opposition groups inside and outside Burma say this isn’t necessarily
so.

“No one can stop it,” said Amyotheryei Win Naing a leader of a
Rangoon-based National Politicians Group (Myanmar), in a phone interview
from Rangoon. “[The government] will try to finish it this year.”

The main opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD, made an attempt
to stop the Convention or change its procedures by walking out of the
assembly in 1995. The NLD complained the Convention was undemocratic and
that free discussion was not allowed. The following year, the convention
stalled.

When the junta resumed last year, the NLD and the ethnic-based Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy, or SNLD, decided not to take part,
although their leaders were individually invited.

“In a way, it’s a loss since we are politically weak,” Win Naing said. The
NLD and other opposition groups were unable to stop the Convention, and
the general public paid little attention to it, he said. “I don’t even
think about an international role in that case,” he added.

“Everything from A to Z will be laid down as they [the junta] draft it,”
said Win Naing. He charged that the regime had already drafted the
constitution before the Convention.

“No one can change it, even ceasefire groups,” he said.

Seventeen ceasefire groups attended the Convention when it resumed in
2004, saying they would try to change it within. According to the groups’
participants, they haven’t yet had much opportunity to participate
actively in discussions.

One ethnic leader, Fu Cin Sian Thang said on the phone: “We didn’t attend
because we knew this would happen.”  Fu Cin Sian Thang is a chairman of
the Zomi National Congress, based in Rangoon.

A political analyst in exile, Aung Naing Oo, agreed with Win Naing’s
conviction that the junta will win by drafting its own constitution at the
Convention. But he added: “It will be winner’s curse.”

“How long can it last?” Aung Naing Oo asked. “Because it will be a
constitution drawn up by only one side.” He named as an example the 1974
constitution drawn up by late dictator Ne Win’s Burma Socialist Programme
Party.

“In 1988, after 14 years, it was removed by the people’s uprising,” he
pointed out.

______________________________________

March 10, Irrawaddy
Security measures intensify - Shah Paung

Burmese authorities have been stepping up security ahead of Armed Forces
Day on March 27, paying particular attention to unregistered overnight
guests.

Rangoon-based commentator Amyotheryei Win Naing noted that security has
increased dramatically over the past four or five days, especially in the
area surrounding Resistance Park. The tightening up has been felt outside
the capital too, with reports of random spot checks in Magwe Division and
the capital of Karen State, Pa-an.

Htwe Myint, Vice Chairman of the Democracy Party who was released in
December after spending more than nine years in Insein Prison, has been
re-arrested and sent to jail for 15 days. He has been charged with failing
to inform the authorities that he would be spending the night away from
his registered abode. Claiming that he had simply forgotten to register,
Htwe Myint was arrested at a relative’s home on Tuesday morning at 3 am.

March 27 will mark the anniversary of Burma’s uprising against their
Japanese oppressors, led by General Aung San, Burma’s independence hero
and founder of the armed forces, or Tatmadaw. The occasion is celebrated
annually and has been renamed Armed Forces Day by Burma’s present regime.

In recent years, the Burmese army has used the lead up to Armed Forces Day
to launch offensives against ethnic resistance groups based along the
Thailand-Burma border.

______________________________________

March 10, Shan Herald Agency for News
16 released, 15 still behind bars - Chai Sayam

Out of 31 activists who were detained in connection with the Shan National
Day "meeting" in Taunggyi on 7 February, 15 are still languishing in
custody, according to Shan sources on the border:

16 including Khun Pang, Kyaw Win Inn a.k.a Hso Nawng, Sai Tawng, U Thu
Way, Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein and her daughter were discharged from their
confinement between 4-8 March, but the fate of the rest including Shan
party leader Hkun Htun Oo and Shan ceasefire leader Hso Ten remains
obscure.

Altogether 36 people had attended the 2-hour meeting, 09:00-11:00, at the
ceasefire liaison office in Taunggyi's Okhpo Quarters, organized by U
Myint Than "Math", coordinator of the New Generation-Shan State and
advisor-designate to the ceasefire group on 7 February. The main speakers
were Gen Hso Ten, Khun Pang, Shwe Ohn and Myint Than. "It couldn't really
be called a meeting," said an attendee, "because we did not discuss
anything. It was rather a social gathering where we listened to the
speeches of the Shan elders."

"Perhaps Rangoon believes destroying the Shans will lead to the collapse
of the non-Burman ethnic cohesion," commented a ceasefire officer.

______________________________________
DRUGS

March 10, Bangkok Post
Drug bust deal blow to guerrillas

The Shan State Army SSA was dealt a heavy blow on Saturday 5 March when
Tun Wiwatrungarun name as received , a close ally of SSA leader Col Yawd
Serk, was arrested in Mae Hong Son, allegedly in possession of 174 bars of
heroin weighing 82kg.

Chuffed police say this was the biggest ever heroin haul by local drug'
officers. They say undercover cops lured Mr Tun into a net by approaching
him to buy the drugs at a price of 25m baht.

The heroin is said to have been moved across the border from Burma on
Saturday night into Pang Ma Pha district in Mae Hong Son where the drug
was to be delivered.

At a celebratory press conference held in Bangkok, police drug officers
were careful not to link Col Yawd Serk to the shipment, but they are said
to suspect he was involved. Mr Tun is said to be a captain in the SSA and
was once a trusted body-guard to Col Yawd Serk.

"He was always alongside Chao Yawd Serk providing him protection," one
border watcher told Inside Politics.

Mr Tun's capture is said to have been not that much of a surprise to SSA
sup-porters along the border as there have been suspicions for some time
that the guerrilla group was dealing in drugs to support its struggle
since the 1960s for a Shan state independent from Rangoon.

Mr Tun is said to have told Thai police the SSA was not involved in the
drug trade, and Col Yawd Serk has repeatedly denied Rangoon's claims that
the SSA has links to drugs.

Sources say SSA forces have cooperated covertly with Thai border forces on
a number of occasions in recent years to stem the flow of drugs into
Thailand from Burma.

"Tun's close ties with Yawd Serk raise suspicions that the SSA leader is
aware of the drug trade," one border watcher said. The incident has really
hurt the guerrilla leader's credibility, he added.,

Col Yawd Serk himself has made no comment on his former bodyguard's arrest.

"Yawd Serk cannot remain silent forever," said one SSA supporter. "He has
to clarify this matter otherwise the SSA's credibility as a whole will be
in jeopardy."

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

March 10, Xinhua General News Service
Malaysia to promote products in Myanmar

Yangon: Malaysia is due to hold a business seminar here next week in a bid
to promote its products, services and investment in Myanmar, according to
sources with the Malaysian Embassy here Thursday.

A trade commission of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation
(MATRADE) is currently here to discuss with the Union of Myanmar
Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) on the meeting
"Malaysia-Myanmar Economic Opportunities" scheduled for next Monday, the
UMFCCI said.

The seminar, sponsored in cooperation with the UMFCCI, will be
participated by a 50-member Malaysian trade and investment promotion
delegation, led by Minister of International Trade and Industry Rafidah
Aziz, the sources said, adding that Myanmar economic entrepreneurs are
being invited to the event which involves a number of Malaysian trading
companies.

According to the MATRADE, Malaysian companies are mainly seeking
distributor agents in Myanmar for such products as melamine tableware,
general commodities, food stuff, water filter system, electrical
appliances and stainless steel houseware, and investment in the country in
the fields of saw milling, civil infrastructure projects and power
generation.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is seeking free trade with Myanmar to promote
bilateral trade cooperation via Penang Port. The Penang Port Authority
(PPA) is anticipating for an early conclusion of an agreement with Myanmar
for this move to facilitate bilateral trade and increase trade flexibility
between the two countries, according to an earlier report.

Malaysia stands as Myanmar's major importing partner in terms of palm oil
and machinery. Myanmar imported over 62,000 tons of palm oil from Malaysia
in 2003 and over 3,800 tons in the first quarter of 2004, according to the
PPA statistics. Myanmar, in return, exports sea food, beans and pulses to
Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and Malaysia agreed in February last year to set up a
Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation to promote the two countries'
bilateral cooperation including trade and economic cooperation.

Myanmar official figures show that the two countries' bilateral trade
volume stood at 219 million US dollars in 2003-04.

Malaysia also stands as Myanmar's 4th largest foreign investor after
Singapore, Britain and Thailand with 660 million dollars in 33 projects so
far since late 1988. Malaysia injected 62 million dollars in 2002-03 alone
but there was no further investment afterwards until the end of June last
year, the figures reveal.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 10, Agence France Presse
One in four Thai hill-tribe children unregistered: survey

Bangkok: Nearly a quarter of hill-tribe children in parts of northern
Thailand have no birth registration, leaving them deeply vulnerable to
exploitation by sex or slave traders, a survey released Thursday revealed.

Plan, a British-based child development organisation, surveyed districts
in northernmost Chiang Rai province and found 24.3 percent of children
under 18 had no birth certificate.

Lack of birth registration leaves children deeply disadvantaged, with
little or no access to healthcare or higher education, no permission to
travel, and in some cases no chance to marry or find employment. They are
also exposed to abuse by traffickers.

"Paper is very important," Plan's regional director Michael Diamond said
at the Thai launch of a universal birth registration campaign.

The Thai survey was carried out in late 2004 in four districts of Chiang
Rai province where the proportion of ethnic hill tribes is highest. The
province borders Myanmar and Laos.

A total of 3,417 households were covered, with 9,315 children under 18
years old surveyed. Thailand's hill-tribe population is estimated at one
million.

Families reported bureaucracy and indifference by officials as the main
reasons for lack of birth registration, according to the survey.

Alarming conditions in Thailand reflected a broader global crisis in which
48 million babies are born every year without registration certificates,
including 33 million in South and Southeast Asia, the group said.

The campaign comes in the wake of December's tsunami which left thousands
of children orphaned or separated from relatives and at risk of being
kidnapped or sold.

"Birth registration will make it much easier to trace people, to reunite
families to help make it more difficult for sex traders or slave traders
to whisk these children away," Diamond said, adding that governments
needed to take urgent action.

"We are asking the governments to live up to their responsibilities,"
Diamond said.

David Feingold of UNESCO called the situation in Thailand a "crisis" and
said leadership at the highest level was needed.

"Thailand has an obligation under several conventions... to register the
births of all children, regardless of their parents," Feingold told AFP.

Senator Tuenjai Deetes, vice chairwoman of the Senate's social development
and human security committee, said Thailand's attitude towards registering
births of hill-tribe children was improving.

But the conditions were tricky, she said, because "Thailand is surrounded
by countries with bad economies and political systems," such as Myanmar,
Laos and Cambodia.

Hundreds of thousands of their citizens migrate to Thailand for work, and
the government has long expressed concern that migrants would seek
citizenship, beginning with the process of birth registration.

_____________________________________

March 10, New Straits Times (Malaysia)
11 more labour options - Annie Freeda Cruez, Edith Lim

Putrajaya: Malaysia will open its doors soon to workers from 11 countries.

This news will be sweet music to the country's business community, which
has been severely hit by the amnesty programme for illegal workers and
Indonesia's reluctance to process the return of 300,000 workers here.

Every sector of the economy has been affected by the shorttage of workers
from multi-national companies to 24-hour Indian Muslim restaurants.

The New Straits Times understands that the decision to open the labour
market to workers from other countries was reached today. It signals a
move to reduce the country's reliance for its labour on one country.

Soon, employers will be able to hire workers from Thailand, Vietnam,
Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines, Cambodia,
Laos and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn today learnt
how badly the shortage of workers was hurting the economy.

He met representatives from the Malaysian Employers Federation, small and
medium-sized industries, and the plantation, construction and service
sectors.

"The employers are facing difficulties. Many SMIs and restaurant owners
have closed down their businesses. Manufacturers, especially in the
electronics sector, are badly hit."

Multinationals and local companies in the electronics sector were losing
foreign orders because they did not have enough workers to operate
machines.

The SMIs were suffering a shortfall of 100,000 workers while the
construction sector needed 150,000.

"Some restaurants were forced to close down."

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 10, Agence France Presse
ASEAN, EU ministers call on Myanmar to grant access to UN envoy

Jakarta: Southeast Asian and European foreign ministers renewed pressure
on Myanmar's military junta over democratic reform Thursday, urging it to
grant access to a UN envoy and release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A joint statement issued here following a one-day European Union and
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit said that progress
was being made by Yangon, but efforts should be open to wider scrutiny.

"The ministers called on Myanmar to grant access to the Special
Representative of the UN Secretary General and to continue effective
cooperation with all UN agencies," the statement said.

The statement "noted" a national convention had reconvened in February
with the aim of drafting a constitution to be voted on as part of
democratic reforms. It said there were "strong hopes for concrete
results".

The junta in Yangon hopes to complete the process by 2006, when Myanmar is
due to assume the ASEAN chairmanship. The seat is rotated annually among
the bloc's 10 members in alphabetical order

But the European Union is uneasy about Myanmar's imminent ASEAN leadership
while Washington has warned it might skip meetings held in Myanmar if the
human rights situation there did not improve.

UN chief Kofi Annan last month warned that the international community
could reject Myanmar's constitution vote if the main opposition party --
fronted by Aung San Suu Kyi -- was not included in the process.

The ministers stressed the need for constructive involvement of all
political and ethnic groups in the country, reiterating "the need for the
early lifting of all restrictions" on them.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the
rotating EU presidency, said the European Union specifically asked Myanmar
to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We asked, from the European side, for the release of all political
prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

He said the European Union believed ASEAN members could play a major role
in propelling Myanmar towards democracy

"We do our best and I think also on the Asian side, a lot of pressure is
possible. We have to help this regime to see that the only way in the
future of the 21st century is democracy," he said.

Apart from Myanmar and Indonesia, ASEAN's other members are Brunei,
Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

The EU groups Austria, Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and The Netherlands.

_____________________________________

March 10, Agence France Presse
Myanmar democracy campaigners take a page out of Mandela campaign

Washington: Activist groups called for a series of global actions to press
for the release of Myanmar's jailed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on her
60th birthday in June.

The call echoes a similar request made in 1988 around then-imprisoned
South African leader Nelson Mandela, called "Mandela at 70".

Myanmar's military junta have placed Aung San Suu Kyi in prison and under
house arrest for most of the last 15 years. She is the worlds only
incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

The offices of her National League for Democracy (NLD), which won
massively in free elections in 1990 but which the military refused to
recognize, have been shut down.

"Organizers are calling on every single individual in the world who cares
about Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese peoples hopes for democracy to take
action around her 60th birthday, which is June 19th," said the US Campaign
for Burma, a Washington-based global group fighting for democracy in
Myanmar.

Burma is the previous name of Myanmar, which has been run by the military
since a 1962 coup.

The US Campaign for Burma is calling for demonstrations and civil
disobedience campaigns in at least 50 Myanmar embassies around the world
on June 17 and government leaders to press for immediate UN Security
Council action to address the situation in Myanmar.

"This is our moment," said Aung Din, a human rights activist who served
over four years as a political prisoner in Myanmar and current policy
director at US Campaign for Burma.

He said people in the United States were being urged to send birthday
cards to Aung San Suu Kyi via the US Campaign for Burma office in
Washington.

The group plans to "deliver" at least 6,000 cards on June 17 to the
Myanmar embassy, where demonstrations were being planned on that day.

Aung Din said that US citizens would also be encouraged to "arrest"
themselves for 24 hours in their own home in solidarity with Aung San Suu
Kyi, presently under house arrest in her home in Myanmar's capital Yangon.

"Those participating in this "mass house arrest" will hold house parties
and show videos provided by our group to educate our fellow Americans
about Burma," he said.

The United States, which identified Myanmar as an "outpost of tyranny,"
slammed the Southeast Asian state in a report this month for its
"extremely poor human rights record" and accused the military of carrying
out extrajudicial killings, rape and torture.

The State Department's annual human rights report said the military junta
last year arrested at least 85 democracy supporters. Of those, 42 were
released while 43 were tried and put into prison, the report said.

Most of the 85 were from Aung San Suu Kyi's political party.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 10, The Jakarta Post
The Asean-EU partnership - Benita Ferrero-Waldner

Jakarta: Today Indonesia is hosting the 15th regular meeting of the
Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) and of the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). It takes place barely three months after
the worst natural disaster of recent history took hundreds of thousands of
lives and destroyed the livelihoods of millions in coastal areas
throughout the Indian Ocean.

Our solidarity in dealing with the aftermath of the tsunamis will be
uppermost in my mind as I begin my visit to Indonesia. Now that the
immediate emergency needs have been met and the world's media has turned
its attention elsewhere, there is a danger that the needs of the survivors
are forgotten and the generous promises of funding are ignored. But my EU
colleagues and I will not allow that to happen. Years of hard work lie
ahead, and our commitment to this region is long term.

On Friday I will travel to Aceh and see with my own eyes the devastation
this catastrophe has wreaked upon the coastal communities there. I will
listen to survivors to learn what their needs are for rebuilding their
lives.

The European Commission has already mobilized humanitarian aid worth 45
million euro for Indonesia, out of a total of 123 million euro of
emergency assistance for the entire affected region. As we enter the
reconstruction phase, I shall use my visit to consult with the Indonesian
government, and the people I meet in Aceh, to ensure that we spend our
reconstruction assistance for Indonesia - some 200 million euro - in ways
that meet their needs.

This will also be the occasion to share information with my ASEAN
colleagues on our 350 million euro reconstruction package for tsunami
affected areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. But there is
much else I want to achieve. Due to globalization, we face many of the
same challenges and must find common ways of dealing with them.

We have important work to do in keeping up the momentum in our
partnership, going beyond our traditional economic and development
cooperation to include human rights, counter-terrorism, migration, science
and technology, and trans-national crime. We have already made some
progress, such as beginning negotiations for new co-operation agreements;
setting up mechanisms for regional dialogue; and starting cooperation in
counter-terrorism. Yet there is still much unfulfilled potential in our
relationship.

The events of the last few years have put security at the top of
everyone's agenda. The EU believes that the right approach is to tackle
the root causes of the instability and new threats which face us. That has
given renewed impetus to our commitment to reduce poverty and to lessen
the gap between the richest and the poorest. We know that ASEAN shares
this commitment and we will continue to offer our support by targeting our
substantial aid programs on the poorest.

Regional stability is also key to any serious attempt to tackle the
threats posed by terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, and rogue states. The work of the ASEAN Regional Forum, the
only Asia-wide security organization, is of immense significance, both for
the region and for the wider world. Such international cooperation is
vital and we must look at how our two regions can do more together.

The EU believes that respecting democracy, human rights and the rule of
law is crucial for attaining any lasting security and prosperity. We
cannot condone those countries where these values are not respected, not
only as a matter of principle, but also because we consider such countries
to be serious security threats.

I am deeply saddened by the situation in Myanmar. There have been
encouraging strides toward deeper democracy across the region, led by the
unprecedented, peaceful and democratic elections of 2004 held in
Indonesia, but also in Cambodia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. To my
dismay the junta in Myanmar seems content to remain an exception to this
trend. I regret that this issue still casts a shadow over EU-ASEAN
relations.

It is no secret that the EU views regional integration as one of the keys
to dealing with the challenges we face. This belief stems from its own
identity as an organization created to bind together former foes, making
war between them unthinkable. We promote such integration elsewhere in the
world because we are convinced it brings enormous economic and security
benefits. Of course, every region will have its own model, but as ASEAN
prepares itself for the establishment of the ASEAN Community by 2020, we
would be delighted to offer you our experience.

The basis for our relations remains firm. EU companies are the biggest
investors in ASEAN, and the EU is ASEAN's third largest trading partner.
As I begin my visit to Indonesia and participate in the first EU-ASEAN
meeting of my mandate, I am confident that we have a bright future ahead.
No matter what disasters this globalised world throws at us, we will face
them in solidarity, and be the stronger for it.

The writer is European Commissioner for External Relations and European
Neighborhood Policy.