BurmaNet News, March 31, 2005

[Editor]

March 31, 2005 Issue # 2687

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar halts constitution talks, blames weather

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Tears, despair as Thais round up Myanmar refugees

ASEAN
Straits Times: Singapore PM in Burma warns Asean affected by members'
internal affairs
AP: Filipino lawmakers urge SE Asian leaders to block Myanmar's ASEAN
chairmanship next year
AFP: Cambodia tells Singapore PM it wants Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2006

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Homeless Burmese refugees stage sit-in

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US, Europe asked to boycott all ASEAN meetings over Myanmar problem
Financial Times: Brussels bends over Burma
Irrawaddy: “Burma Day” under fire
AP: EU: Myanmar regime should release Aung San Suu Kyi if it wants smooth
ASEAN chairmanship

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: A day of shame

ANNOUNCEMENT
Chiang Mai- based Burmese media organization seeks Grants Manager; details
below

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 31, Reuters
Myanmar halts constitution talks, blames weather

Yangon: Myanmar's military junta adjourned much-criticised talks to draw
up a new democratic constitution on Thursday, despite growing pressure
from the region to speed up political change.

Blaming soaring temperatures and the approaching monsoon, officials at the
closed door National Convention suggested the forum would not restart
until after the annual rainy season -- November at the earliest.

As such, it would be difficult for Yangon's military government to ratify
a new constitution much before it is scheduled to take the chair of the
10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in mid-2006,
analysts said.

"The chairman said it would resume before the end of this year," one
delegate told Reuters on his return from the out-of-town conference centre
where he has been holed up since the talks restarted in mid-February.

"The chairman said the monsoon was coming soon and some delegates, who are
farmers and growers, need to attend to their work. And because the weather
is scorching," said the delegate, who did not want to be identified.

The army, which has run the former Burma under various guises since 1962,
says the convention is key to a seven stage "roadmap to democracy" laid
out in 2003 by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was purged in
October.

Western governments, analysts and diplomats say it is nothing but a
smokescreen to preserve the generals' grip on power, especially while
opposition figures such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remain under
house arrest.

ASEAN, which has favoured "constructive engagement" rather than the
sanctions preferred by the West, appears to be losing patience, especially
as the junta's leadership would tarnish the group's image severely in
Washington and Europe.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) boycotted last year's
opening session of the convention. They were joined in February by at
least one rebel ethnic ceasefire group whose leaders were rounded up on
sedition charges.

That session ran from May to July and the conference did not reconvene
until February this year.

Almost all of the convention's 1,000-plus delegates are hand-picked by the
military government, which lost a 1990 election by a landslide but which
then refused to cede power.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 31, Reuters
Tears, despair as Thais round up Myanmar refugees - Ed Cropley

Bangkok: Her 12-day-old daughter clasped to her breast and tears rolling
down her cheeks, 30-year-old Aye Aye Win signed up at a Thai police
station on Thursday to be sent to an uncertain future in a Myanmar refugee
border camp.

Human rights groups say she and 3,000 other U.N.-registered refugees
living in Bangkok are victims of the Thai government's increasingly cosy
relationship with the military junta in charge of the former Burma.

Following small protests outside the Myanmar embassy in 2003 against the
arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Thailand told 5,000 Myanmar
refugees in Bangkok to leave the capital or face deportation back to their
homeland.

Since then, the United Nations has found permanent homes for 2,000, but a
deadline for the remainder to sign up for the border camps -- which are
said to be overcrowded and without adequate water and shelter -- expired
on Thursday.

At a special police "detention centre" on the outskirts of Bangkok, a sad
crowd assembled, carrying all their possessions in plastic bags to be
loaded on trucks and buses bound for the border.

Some do not know when they will see loved ones again.

"I'm sure it will be difficult for many of the families, particularly
those that have been split up," said Doug Disalvo of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which fears they could now struggle
to find permanent homes in third countries.

"It's unfortunate that we've had to do this, when many of the people are
on the cusp of being resettled," he said.

POOR CONDITIONS

Around 140,000 semi-permanent Myanmar refugees already live along the
Thai-Mynamar border in camps kept under heavy guard by the Thai army.

"I've heard that there is no electricity in these camps and no telephone
connection," Manoit Fore, an ethnic Mon refugee from Myanmar who now lives
in Australia, told Reuters as his wife, Devi, registered for relocation.

"I've submitted a sponsor for my wife to live with me in Australia. Now
we're just waiting for her visa, but she has to go off to the camp," he
said. "Hopefully, I will be able to see her in a week, but I don't know."

Others were gripped by fear or despair.

"My wife has not come yet. I don't know where she is," said Tony Nai, a
student activist who fled Myanmar in 1988 after hundreds of pro-democracy
demonstrators were killed in clashes with the army.

"Everybody is scared that the camps are close to the Burmese border and
the Burmese army can come in at any time. The Thais say they will protect
us, but I don't think so," he said.

Haymar Chan, a 25-year-old separated from her husband after her name
slipped onto a different registration list, burst into tears as she pulled
out a pink envelope.

"My husband is in the camp now, but we can't go past the checkpoints. No
telephone. Only letters," she said.

Say Say, 29, can be counted as one of the lucky ones -- Denmark approved
her asylum application just in time to allow her to stay for a few days in
the Bangkok detention centre.

"They told us to bring everything we owned, because afterwards we cannot
go back to where we live," Say Say said. "But I only have to be here three
days. Then I will go to Denmark."

______________________________________
ASEAN

March 31, The Straits Times (Singapore)
Singapore PM in Burma warns Asean affected by members' internal affairs -
Leslie Koh

Yangon: Singapore and Myanmar (Burmese) leaders yesterday discussed
political developments in Myanmar when they met for talks in this bustling
capital. Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong was briefed on Myanmar's
democratization process shortly after arriving. The subject came up when
he made separate calls on Prime Minister Soe Win and State Peace and
Development Council Chairman Than Shwe in the afternoon.

Mr Lee is on the second leg of introductory trips to Laos, Myanmar and
Cambodia. During yesterday's talks, he reiterated that political
developments in Myanmar were a matter for its people to decide. However,
Mr Lee also noted that "in an interdependent world, developments in one
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country could impact on
ASEAN as a whole," his press secretary told reporters yesterday.

This is the stand that Singapore has been taking amid mounting criticism
of Myanmar's crackdown on pro-democracy opposition groups. While the
republic has stressed its position of non-interference in ASEAN members'
domestic matters, it has noted that Myanmar's affairs could undermine the
image and value of ASEAN.

Myanmar is due to take over the chairmanship of the regional grouping next
year, and this has raised concerns within ASEAN and in Europe. Yesterday,
leaders of both countries agreed that this issue would be discussed
further, when ASEAN'S foreign ministers meet in Cebu, Philippines, next
month. Likewise, they agreed that the upcoming East Asian Summit should
adopt an "inclusive approach".

Member states have been divided over whether Australia, New Zealand and
India should be included or not. The leaders were also united on another
thing: That Singapore and Myanmar would continue strengthening bilateral
relations, such as in technical assistance. Singapore is one of Myanmar's
largest foreign investors, having pumped in 1.5bn US dollars (2.5bn
Singapore dollars) so far.

Singaporean companies have stakes in numerous joint ventures here, in such
industries as aviation and manufacturing. The growth potential of
Myanmar's tourism sector also came up during the talks, with leaders
agreeing to look at expanding air links between the two countries. SilkAir
now flies to Yangon 10 times a week, and Myanmar Airways International,
flys the route three times a week. A boost for air links could mean
stepping up the frequency, with direct flights to the famed historic city
of Mandalay possible. More than 10,000 Singaporeans visited Myanmar last
year, and it is hoped that extended air links would boost this number.

At lunch yesterday, Mr Lee also met Singaporean businessmen, who gave him
feedback on the prospects and problems here. While some have found
profitable niche markets such as education, others have reported
frustrations in dealing with bureaucracy. In talks after lunch, leaders of
the two countries also exchanged views on improving the business
environment in Myanmar, to attract more foreign investment. Today, PM Lee
will leave for Phnom Penh, to complete the final leg of introductory
visits to ASEAN capitals.

______________________________________

March 31, Associated Press
Filipino lawmakers urge SE Asian leaders to block Myanmar's ASEAN
chairmanship next year -Jim Gomez

Manila: Lawmakers asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other
Southeast Asian leaders Thursday to be more aggressive in bringing Myanmar
to democracy, urging them to block it from leading a regional bloc next
year unless it undertakes immediate reforms.

Although the Philippines adheres to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations' policy of engaging Myanmar rather than ostracizing it to wean it
from dictatorship, Manila has also been among Yangon's most scathing
critics.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said ASEAN's policy of "constructive
engagement" of Myanmar has failed and the region's largest economic and
trade bloc should take a more aggressive approach to prod Yangon to move
faster toward democracy.

"This policy of constructive engagement has been there for quite sometime
but it has not brought substantial reforms," Drilon said.

ASEAN, which groups Myanmar, the Philippines and eight other countries,
should ask Yangon to set a definite timetable for democratic reforms that
should prioritize the release of political detainees like Aung San Suu Kyi
and the drafting of a constitution with input from pro-democracy groups,
Drilon said.

The Philippine Senate is debating a proposed resolution approved by its
foreign relations committee which proposes to block Myanmar's assumption
of ASEAN's chairmanship next year unless it sets a roadmap for reforms.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the Philippines,
considered the region's cradle of democracy, should take the lead in
convincing other ASEAN members to oppose Myanmar's chairmanship next year.

"I think we will be true to our history of struggling for the rights of
people if we'll take that lead," Pimentel said. "We think that Myanmar has
lost all moral authority to lead ASEAN in the light of its continued
repression of the Myanmar people."

Drilon said he would propose to an international conference of
parliamentarians here next week to take up the issue of human rights in
Myanmar, which is not on the agenda. ASEAN legislators are to meet
Saturday to discuss how to further pressure Yangon into immediate reform,
he said.

Arroyo came under fire for a red-carpet welcome for Myanmar Prime Minister
Lt. Gen. Soe Win last month. But her aides said she expressed concern to
Soe Win over Suu Kyi's condition and discussed Myanmar's pledge to
democratize.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under international pressure since
it detained Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in May 2003. She
remains under house arrest.

While criticism of Myanmar has been growing in Malaysia, Singapore and the
Philippines, other ASEAN members have been reluctant to denounce rights
abuses because of a tradition of noninterference in each other's domestic
affairs.

_____________________________________

March 31, Agence France Presse
Cambodia tells Singapore PM it wants Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2006

Phnom Penh: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told his Singaporean
counterpart Lee Hsien Loong during his official visit here Thursday that
Cambodia supported Myanmar's chairing of ASEAN in 2006.

Lee's one-day visit to the kingdom, part of a swing through Southeast Asia
that has also taken in Laos and military-ruled Myanmar, comes as ASEAN
debates whether Myanmar should be allowed to take the rotating chair of
the grouping.

There has been concern about Myanmar setting ASEAN's agenda and direction
for a year while no tangible democratic reforms are being carried out and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention.

Lee was given a red-carpet welcome by Hun Sen at Phnom Penh's Pochentong
airport and then whisked along a boulevard festooned with Singaporean
flags to the Council of Ministers building for talks with his counterpart.

"I raised the position of Cambodia regarding the Myanmar problem, which is
the same as I have mentioned before: that Myanmar's internal affairs
should be for Myanmar to solve," Hun Sen told reporters after talks with
Lee.

Hun Sen said last week that he would tell Lee that Cambodia would not back
any campaign to block the country from chairing ASEAN, arguing that it
would violate the grouping's policy of non-interference.

The premier said Lee told him Myanmar and Singapore thought similarly on
the issue and "want to do whatever possible to avoid scrutinising each
other.... If there is scrutinising of each other, there might be no ASEAN
meetings".

According to media reports in Singapore Thursday, Lee told Myanmar's
military leaders Wednesday that political developments in the country
could affect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a
whole.

The Straits Times quoted Lee as telling the Myanmar leaders that political
reforms in their country were a matter for its people to decide. But he
also stressed Singapore's position that "in an interdependent world,
developments in one ASEAN country could impact on ASEAN as a whole".

The issue is set to be further discussed at a meeting of ASEAN foreign
ministers in the central Philippine island of Cebu in April.

Myanmar, whose membership in the grouping is a growing irritant in
relations between ASEAN and western countries, joined ASEAN in 1997, two
years ahead of Cambodia. Other members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Lee is later Thursday due to have a royal audience with Cambodia's King
Norodom Sihamoni, who was crowned last October.

The premier's regional trip rounds up his introductory visits to
Singapore's fellow ASEAN member states after taking office in August last
year.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 30, Mizzima News
Homeless Burmese refugees stage sit-in - Aung San Linn

New Delhi: Thirty-five Burmese refugees, including ten children, have
started an indefinite sit-in here since yesterday protesting the slash in
the UNHRC subsistence allowance which has taken off roof above them.

Seven Burmese refugee families brought all their belongings and started
camping in front of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA),
Vikaspuri, to voice their protest. The YMCA is a Christian non-government
organization, which functions in partnership with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees(UNHRC).

"After our subsistent allowance has been cut down, we are not able to pay
our house rents and we have been kicked out from there. That’s why we are
here", said Tin Cung, one of the demonstrators, to Mizzima News.

"We have no money and we can't now seek shelter anywhere. We are demanding
YMCA to provide us a durable job which can sustain our family's survival",
Tin Cung said.

YMCA Vikaspuri office has been entrusted with the task of providing
monthly subsistent allowance to the UNHCR recognized refugees in New
Delhi, including the Burmese refugees.

UNHCR had introduced the subsidence allowance last year for the Burmese
refugees under a phase-out programme. Since then the size of the amount
shrinked gradually every month eventually leaving most of the refugees
without any allowance.

The YMCA office in-charge told the demonstrators that they were allowed to
camp in front of the office but the office would not be responsible if
they were arrested by police.

The protestors are likely to be joined by other fellow refugees, who are
also facing similar difficulties.

______________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 31, Agence France Presse
US, Europe asked to boycott all ASEAN meetings over Myanmar problem

Washington: The United States and the European Union should boycott all
Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings if Myanmar is allowed to
chair the grouping in 2006 without embarking on democratic reforms, a
ranking US Senator said Wednesday.

Politicians in several member states of ASEAN, including Malaysia and the
Philippines, are trying to stop Myanmar assuming ASEAN's alphabetically
rotating chairmanship in late 2006 after Malaysia.

Another member Singapore had said ASEAN leaders were worried that its
international reputation would be tarnished unless Myanmar implemented
democratic reforms.

If Myanmar is allowed to chair ASEAN despite its dismal human rights
record, "the United States, the EU and the community of democracies should
boycott any and all ASEAN meetings and events," Republican Senator Mitch
McConnell said.

"To do anything less would betray the nonviolent struggle for freedom that
Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy and the ethnic minorities have
waged for over a decade," said the majority whip of President George W.
Bush's Republican party.

The United States has imposed trade and investment sanctions on Myanmar to
back its demands for political reforms in the state, where pro-democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest and her National League
for Democracy party's offices have been shut down.

Foreign ministers of the 10-member ASEAN traditionally hold their annual
talks in summer and invite their counterparts from the United States and
EU as well as other key trading partners for the meeting.

If Myanmar takes over the helm of ASEAN, it will host the annual meeting
of the Southeast Asian leaders in 2006 and the foreign ministers meeting
in 2007.

Washington has said it might boycott ASEAN meetings in Yangon unless
Myanmar adopted political reforms, including the unconditional release of
Aung San Suu Kyi.

"I think we've made clear that we expect Burma's leadership to take steps
to promote genuine national reconciliation and democracy, and engage in
meaningful dialogue with members of the political opposition and ethnic
groups, and release all political prisoners and respect the fundamental
rights of its citizens," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli
said.

"We've also made clear that the failure of Burma's government to do that
and the prevailing situation in Burma complicates our dealings with
ASEAN," he said, using Myanmar's previous name.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "will have to decide whether it's
appropriate to participate at senior levels in meetings in Burma based on
the situation that exists there at the time, in 2006 and 2007," Ereli
said.

McConnell also said the EU must make clear that Myanmar's chairmanship of
ASEAN in 2006 was "completely unacceptable."

He said that given the "illegitimate" military regime in Yangon and its
"abhorrent democracy and human rights record, which includes the use of
rape as a weapon of war," such chairmanship would be a "tremendous loss of
face" to ASEAN and the region.

He said he was disturbed that Thailand, a close US ally, continued to
support the military junta.

"Thailand is simply out of step with the region and with other world
democracies, McConnell said.

Continued Thai support for the junta "serves only to prolong the
suffering" of Aung San Suu Kyi and her compatriots, who remain imprisoned
for advocating liberty and justice, he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Aside from Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines,
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam.

______________________________________

March 31, Financial Times
Brussels bends over Burma

Just as Burma's neighbours start attacking it over its human rights
record, there are signs the European Union might stop.

Malaysia and other members of Asean, the regional grouping, are warning
its military junta to democratise or lose its chairmanship of Asean next
year.

Meanwhile, a European Commission-sponsored report is suggesting Brussels
drop some sanctions, engage the regime in talks and ignore protestations
from imprisoned Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy
movement, which was robbed of a landslide election victory in 1990.

"The military regime in Myanmar is part of the solution as well as part of
the problem" say report authors Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen. They
claim Brussels' hardline policy has failed and, with breathtaking timing,
that Asean will not interfere.

The two academics, who have long been in favour of "constructive dialogue"
with the generals, have also organised a day-long conference in Brussels
on April 5 stuffed with like-minded speakers that will take place behind
closed doors.

Burmese opposition groups are livid, and several wrote yesterday to the
Commission and national governments to protest.

"Either the Commission is pursuing a hidden agenda which is contrary to
the policy of EU member states, or it has allowed this meeting to be
hijacked by the small but vociferous anti-sanctions lobby," one letter
says. That lobby consists of those with investments in Burma, such as
French oil group Total and British American Tobacco, and the French
government.

Geoffrey van Orden, vice-president of the European Parliament's foreign
affairs committee, said: "Weakening our resolve can only give comfort to
the regime."

The Commission says it is sticking with the policy of offering talks but
maintaining sanctions. Observer wonders whether such a report would have
appeared under former external affairs commissioner Lord Patten, who had
experience of Asian dictatorships as governor of Hong Kong.

______________________________________

March 31, Irrawaddy
“Burma Day” under fire - Aung Lwin Oo

On the eve of a European gathering on the Burma issue in Brussels next
week, many pro-democracy activists are casting doubt on the meeting and
its main focus, an “independent” report which proposes a lifting of EU
sanctions and engagement with the military regime.

Burma Day 2005, which is scheduled to be held on April 5, was organized by
the European Commission, or EC, which handles EU’s aid program. But
critics say the meeting will not be looking at EU humanitarian aid to
Burma, as it was originally touted, but mainly discussing an
EC-commissioned report titled:  “Supporting Burma/Myanmar’s national
reconciliation process: Challenges and opportunities.”

The report, which will be tabled at the meeting, suggests that the EU’s
current approach towards Burma, which includes sanctions on travel to
Europe by Burmese leaders and a ban on arms sales, has failed. It proposes
further engagement with the generals in Rangoon. This is what upsets
pro-democracy groups, who say the report is slanted towards the regime.

“Burma’s problems are totally self-inflicted: the corrupt and incompetent
Burmese military regime has run the country’s political, economic and
social institutions into the ground,” Maureen Aung-Thwin, director of New
York-based Open Society Institute (Burma Project), told The Irrawaddy. “No
amount of railing against sanctions at invitation-only seminars, or
purportedly ‘independent’ reports that paint over the government’s fatal
flaws, will ever change the reality in Burma,” she added.

By turning down requests by non-government groups, or NGOs, critical of
the junta to participate in the session, the conference also effectively
bars alternative views on the report. The report was written by Robert
Taylor, an academic researcher on Burma, and Morten Pedersen, an analyst
from the International Crisis Group.

After several NGOs wrote a letter of complaint to the EC,  Harn Yawnghwe,
director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma office, was invited as a more
critical panelist among about a dozen participants in Burma Day 2005. One
NGO leader described this as a “token” move to appease critics.

Backing the NGOs’ complaints, Rangoon endorsed those taking part in the
meeting as “globular scholars.” The regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of
Myanmar, had already introduced the panelists in a September 27, 2004,
commentary thus: “All the decent eminent scholars of the world are against
the acts of the US and its allies of the West imposing [abhorrent]
sanctions on Myanmar [Burma].”

A possible shift in the EU’s stance on Burma was signaled at an EU-Asean
meeting in Jakarta in early March, when EU External Relations Commissioner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner indicated the European grouping might resume talks
with Rangoon. The proposal was repeated on Wednesday by her spokesperson
Emma Udwin, but she also said the EU was maintaining its demand for
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be released from house arrest.

______________________________________

March 31, Associated Press
EU: Myanmar regime should release Aung San Suu Kyi if it wants smooth
ASEAN chairmanship

Brussels: The European Union said Thursday it wanted Myanmar to release
political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, if it wanted to hold a reputable chairmanship of the 10-nation ASEAN
group next year.

EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said the "best outcome would be to see progress"
in the release of Suu Kyi and to resume a constitution-drafting national
convention.

"We hope very much that the problems we currently have with Burma-Myanmar
could be resolved before then. Then, no one would have any problems,"
Udwin said.

EU officials said, however, that if the military junta in Yangon did not
do more to release its grip on power, the 25-nation bloc could launch
fresh political actions, including reducing its participation in meetings
with Myanmar, which is set to take over the Southeastern Asian bloc's
rotating chair in late 2006.

They said, however, that a decision on possible political sanctions would
be taken only if Myanmar did not improve its human rights record and
failed to relinquish its chairmanship.

EU governments agreed to try to boost dialogue with Myanmar earlier this
year, trying to set up talks between Myanmar's foreign minister and senior
EU officials at a meeting of ASEAN ministers in Jakarta, Indonesia. The
Myanmar minister never accepted the invitation.

EU foreign ministers agreed last year to tighten sanctions against
Myanmar's military leadership to protest its failure to improve human
rights.

Measures included extending the visa ban on high-ranking generals. The
travel ban to Europe includes all those ranked brigadier general and
above.

On Wednesday, the United States said it had yet to make a decision on
whether it would block U.S. officials from attending ASEAN meetings if
Myanmar takes the chair.

Other countries, including New Zealand, also have voiced concerns over the
issue in recent days. Lawmakers in Malaysia, which will hold the ASEAN
chair later this year, said last week they were planning to introduce a
motion in Parliament urging ASEAN to deny Myanmar its chairmanship unless
Suu Kyi was released and a timetable for political reforms was set.

______________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 31, Irrawaddy
A day of shame - Bruce Kent

What on Earth is happening in Brussels? The European Commission, or EC,
has organized an annual Burma Day session there on April 5, purportedly to
discuss humanitarian aid to the sad country. Fine. But look at the
meeting’s agenda, and guess who’s coming to dinner.

Curiously, it appears the meeting will be stocked almost entirely with—to
put it politely—Rangoon military regime apologists, under a cloak of
academic distinction and alleged Burma-expert status. The phalanx of
worldwide pro-democracy non-government organizations which keep a
watchful, critical eye on the regime are all uninvited, and some
apparently are organizing protest in Brussels on the day.

As well they might, because why did the EC choose two well-known regime
sympathizers to draw up a report on Burma, scheduled to be the centerpiece
of the meeting? Why is the report short on humanitarian aid to Burma, the
EC’s responsibility, and long on a plea to the EU to drop its sanctions
and be nice to the poor, misunderstood generals who rule Burma? Why are
the two EC-sponsored stars being joined by other pro-regime – or at least,
anti-sanctions – stooges to try to press the EU to take a softer line,
while facing almost no (invited) anti-regime spokesmen?

Ye gods!

Let’s take a closer look at the main figures in the session’s panels. For
a start, authors of the report are Professor Robert Taylor and Morten
Pedersen. Taylor, currently in a semi-retired position at Singapore’s
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, has for many years been bleating his
message about the kindly generals running Burma, and the positive aspects
of their policies, driving the country’s economy into the ground and
stamping on dissent, to anyone who cares to listen. The academic was born
in the United States, but has switched to first Australian then British
citizenship, serving for a while at London’s prestigious School for
Oriental and African Studies.

Before Burma’s ill-fated general election in May 1990, Taylor confidently
predicted the junta’s party would do “extremely well.” As it turned out,
the party scraped a meager 10 of the 485 parliamentary seats, while the
opposition National League for Democracy swept through with 392 seats. 
The regime at the time naturally chose to ignore the result, saying it was
only to elect people to draw up a new constitution—a task now vested in
the sham National Convention—and not to form a new government. It was the
first time it had mentioned a new charter. And Taylor has since been
reported as saying, in so many words, that the election is no longer valid
and can be ignored.

Pederson, a Danish political scientist, now works for the International
Crisis Group. He is credited with saying that human rights in Burma were a
“luxury.” They are joined by well-known opponent of sanctions Kyaw Yin
Hlaing, from the University of Singapore, and another kindred soul Derek
Tonkin, former British ambassador to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

What happens if the EU endorses the sentiments of these distinguished
gentlemen? Maybe the EC has wanted an excuse for more involvement in
Burma. But as John Jackson, director of The Burma Campaign UK, told The
Irrawaddy: “The EU’s Burma Day seems like a meeting of the flat earth
society.”

______________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT

March 31, Chiang Mai based media organization job posting
Wanted: Grants Manager

A media training organisation in Chiang Mai seeks a manager for its grants
program to start around early May. Women and members of all ethnic
communities of Burma are encouraged to apply

The job begins with 3 months of on-the-job training with the Grants
Program Director with the goal of taking over these duties:

Management of the grants program including helping, visiting and
communicating with partner groups
Checking and analysing our partners’ expenses and receipts
Giving advice and training to partners in finance reporting and grant
reporting
Reading and recommending proposals for funding that we receive
Creating and updating forms and systems such as applications, report
guidelines, finance tables etc.
 Organising management trainers to visit partner groups
Possibility of managing an internship program, ( for the right qualified
candidate only
Possibility of serving as management trainer, (for the right qualified
candidate only)

Job Qualifications:

Must speak Burmese and English
Must have computer skills (Word, Excel, Windows)
Must have experience working in an office
Must have excellent organizational, communications and people skills and
an eye for detail
Experience with grants programs, media/journalism and/or finance is preferred
Some travel in Thailand will be required

We will provide a competitive local salary (depending on qualifications)
and health plan. To Interested applicants please contact:
adam at internewsth.com before April 17. Please include "Grants Manager" in
the subject line of your email.