BurmaNet News, April 26, 2005

[Editor]

April 26, 2005 Issue # 2705


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Two dead, 16 wounded in Myanmar market blast: hospital official
Irrawaddy: Rangoon journal banned for a month
Irrawaddy: Four given life sentences for arms trafficking
DVB: Former Burma PM’s relatives given heavy sentences

ON THE BORDER
Thai Press Reports: Mae Sai scrambles to recover border trade with Burma
(Myanmar)

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Myanmar enjoys 716 million dollar trade surplus
with Thailand

ASEAN
Malaysiakini.com: Burma motion in Parliament put off
Xinhua: ASEAN economic ministers retreat meeting opens in Vietnam

REGIONAL
Reuters: Sex trafficking growing in Southeast Asia
AFP: Drug resistant malaria haunts Southeast Asia, fuels illicit trade
Mizzima: Burmese refugees urge UN Chief to pressurise military junta for
democracy

OPINION / OTHER
IHT: It's the Burmese who are asking for sanctions

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 26, Agence France Presse
Two dead, 16 wounded in Myanmar market blast: hospital official

Yangon: Two women were killed and 16 other people were wounded Tuesday
when a bomb exploded in a busy market in Myanmar's second largest city
Mandalay, a hospital official said.

"There was a bomb. Two women were killed and 16 people injured, including
14 women," a doctor in the Mandalay Hospital's emergency department told
AFP on condition of anonymity.

Police in the military-ruled state confirmed that a bomb blast ripped
through the Zay Cho market, the city's largest, just before 4:15 pm (11:45
GMT), but provided no further details.

"We are collecting information about the bomb explosion now," a police
officer stationed near the market said by telephone.

One of the women died at the scene while the second succumbed to her
injuries at hospital, the doctor said.

Police quickly sealed off the area around the blast, which occurred
outside the Hla Bettman clothing shop inside the market, a Mandalay
resident said.

"We heard the explosion when we were nearby," the resident said, adding
that victims were seen being taken to hospital.

Another resident who was in the market at the time of the blast said there
was confusion and panic afterwards.

"At first we thought it was a transformer explosion," he told AFP. "But
then we heard people saying it was a bomb so we ran out."

Mandalay is some 432 kilometres (268 miles) north of the capital Yangon,
where a handful of minor bomb attacks have been staged in recent months
but caused no fatalities.

A bomb which exploded at a Yangon hotel on March 19 causing minor damage
and no casualties was claimed by a group called the Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors (VBSW), which the junta labels as a "terrorist"
organisation.

The group said the attack was intended to halt a national convention under
way to draw up a new constitution as part of the junta's "democracy
roadmap", a process that has been described internationally as a sham.

The VBSW said in a statement in December, after another blast, that more
bombings would follow unless the junta met its demands, which include a
halt to the convention and the release of all political prisoners.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since a 1960s coup.

____________________________________

April 26, Irrawaddy
Rangoon journal banned for a month - Shah Paung

Rangoon-based weekly news journal The Voice has been pulled from the
shelves for a month, according to the editor of another journal in the
capital city.

Publication of The Voice has been suspended for the month of May following
a front page story published on March 28 (Vol.1/No. 31), which the Press
Scrutiny and Registration Board accused of using falsified sources and
being written with a “negative sense.”

The story concerned Vietnam’s withdrawal from water festival celebrations
in Mandalay and used the Mekong Sub-Region Office as its primary source of
information. Following publication, however, the Ministry of Hotels and
Tourism complained to the PSRB, denying the legitimacy of the story.

Kyaw Min Swe, editor of The Voice’s parent magazine Living Colour, said
the sources were not false, but that the controversy was the result of
people’s fear of being named in the media.

This is the second time The Voice, founded in August 2004, has been
banned. The first suspension came in February this year, when the journal
reported on the building of a new hotel in the western Burmese city of
Mindat, Chin State, a story also refuted by the Ministry of Hotels and
Tourism.

_____________________________________

April 26, Irrawaddy
Four given life sentences for arms trafficking - Nandar Chann

Four people have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a divisional court
in Rangoon after being found guilty of smuggling arms to ethnic rebel
groups on the Burma-India border, their defense lawyer reported Tuesday.

The lawyer, Nai Ngwe Ya, told The Irrawaddy that the four had been
convicted of smuggling arms from the Kayan New Land Party, an ethnic group
that signed a ceasefire agreement with the Rangoon regime in 1994.

The four were also convicted of leaving Burma illegally, under a provision
of the Immigration Act 13/1, Nai Ngwe Ya said. The arms smuggling charge
fell under the Arms Smuggling Act 2/1.

The defendants pleaded innocent to all charges, but were convicted and
sentenced last Friday, their lawyer said. Prosecution evidence was
presented by Military Intelligence witnesses. The four are to appeal
against their conviction and sentences.

____________________________________

April 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Former Burma PM’s relatives given heavy sentences

Former “Prime Minister” of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), Gen Khin Nyunt’s relatives were given hefty
sentences by secret tribunals inside Rangoon Insein Jai last week. The
youngest son of U Tin Maung Win, the youngest brother of Khin Nyunt’s wife
Dr. Khin Win Shwe, Lt. Thura who served at Mandalay military intelligence
base was given life sentence for keeping foreign currencies and misuse of
power. The son of Khin Win Shwe’s twin sister Daw Win May, U Kyaw Kyaw Moe
was given life sentence and 35 years imprisonment fro infringing with
import-export acts and keeping foreign currencies while working for his
cousin, Khin Nyunt’s son Dr Ye Naing Win’s Bagan CyberNet. The son-in-law
of Khin Win Shwe’s oldest sister Daw Saw Aye, Maj Saw Aye was given life
sentence for misappropriation of funds, according to sources close to
Rangoon Supreme Court. Khin Nyunt was ousted by fellow generals in October
2004.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 26, Thai Press Reports
Mae Sai scrambles to recover border trade with Burma (Myanmar)

Customs officers in Thailand's border district of Mae Sai in the northern
province of Chiang Rai have expanded the number of trade checkpoints in a
bid to reverse a 40 percent decline in border trade with Myanmar.

According to Mae Sai chief customs officer, Mr. Choochai Udomphot, the
first half of 2005 has seen the volume of border trade plummet as a result
of Myanmar officials placing stricter controls on the import and export of
nearly all commodities.

To help counter this, Thai customs officials have set up five border
checkpoints, and are rolling out legislation to stimulate exports.

Mr. Choochai said that failure to use the legislation in question would
deal a blow to the tourism industry and the province's export target of
Bt75 billion.

However, he pointed out that while Thai traders had borne the brunt of the
stricter Myanmar controls, Thailand retains its trade surplus over Myanmar
in the first half of 2005, recording a surplus of over Bt600 million.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

April 26, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar enjoys 716 million dollar trade surplus with Thailand

Yangon: Myanmar's (Burma's) trade surplus with Thailand amounted to 716
million dollars in 2004, when total bilateral trade reached almost 2
billion dollars, Thai officials said on Tuesday.

Last year Thailand's exports to Myanmar reached 624 million dollars, up
33.8 per cent, while imports hit 1,340 million, up 40.1 per cent, said
Opas Chantarasap, minister and deputy chief of mission to the Thai embassy
in Yangon.

Opas released the bilateral trade statistics at a press conference
announcing the launch of the 12th Thailand Exhibition in Yangon to be held
on May 4 to 7.

Opas noted that Myanmar's chief export to Thailand was natural gas, which
is piped in at a one million cubic feet per day from the country's
offshore reserves.

Myanmar's natural gas exports to Thailand, delivered via a pipeline from
the Gulf are Martaban to the Thai-Myanmar border, are expected to increase
to 1.5 million cubic feet in the near future, he said.

Thailand has recently slashed import tariffs from an average of 10 per
cent to 2.5 per cent on more than 500 Myanmar export items as part of the
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) pact covering the ten Southeast Asian
nations.

_____________________________________
ASEAN

April 26, Malaysiakini.com
Burma motion in Parliament put off - Roshan Jason

A parliamentary motion to discuss calls for reform in military-ruled
Burma, which is to be debated this Thursday, has been shelved.

Parliamentarian Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Bharu), who is the key proponent of
the resolution, told malaysiakini that the motion - originally scheduled
to be debated on the last parliamentary sitting day on April 28 - will be
"put aside" for now.

Zaid said he was recently informed by Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz that the Burma motion would have to make
way for more "important" government affairs.

The Kota Baru MP - who filed the motion last month as head of the
Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (as the country is called by the
Burmese junta) - expressed his disappointment with the move when contacted
yesterday.

"I can't say why it is not going to be debated exactly but I was told that
there were other (more) important government business that needed to be
discussed (in Parliament)," said a dejected Zaid.

"I am very disappointed as we (Malaysian parliamentarians) had gotten a
momentum going and gained support from other parliaments in Asean, namely
Singapore and the Philippines, towards our calls," he added.

Zaid is also chair of the Asean Inter-Parliamentarian Caucus on Democracy
in Burma, a regional grouping of parliamentarians set up to press for
democratic reforms in Burma.

More than one voice

The motion aims to discuss the continued detention of Burmese
pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who would have been held under house
arrest for two years come May 30.

It also seeks an endorsement from the Parliament that Burma be denied from
holding the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) until its government releases all political detainees including
Suu Kyi and moves towards restoring democracy in the country.

The 10-member Asean rotates its chair alphabetically and Burma is due to
take over from Malaysia in June 2006.

Meanwhile, fellow Burma caucus member and parliamentary opposition leader
Lim Kit Siang expressed "sheer disappointment" with the news.

"It is quite a shame. Malaysian parliamentarians had set the lead among
Asean parliamentarians in calling for the denial of (Burma's) main agenda
of chairing Asean. This was in the interest of Asean as a whole and for
member countries individually," said the veteran politician.

"Malaysian members of parliament should remain in the forefront of the
campaign to bring changes in Burma," he lamented.

Parliament independent?

The motion could possibly be resubmitted in Parliament at its next sitting
to kick off on June 20.

But Lim said this could only happen if the Parliament was allowed to
operate "free of influence from the executive (government)".

"I call on the premier to fulfill his promise, made after his election to
the leadership, that the doctrine of separation of powers will be
respected. Parliamentarians must be allowed to decide on its parliamentary
business," said Lim, quoting a speech made by Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi on Nov 3, 2003.

Lim warned that if Abdullah did not allow the motion - or any other
private motions - time for debate it would not reflect well on his
leadership, the Parliament and the country's reputation internationally.

He challenged Abdullah to allow the Burma motion to be debated - an act
which the opposition leader described as a "critical test of democratic
practice" - and to prove wrong the notion that the Parliament "toes the
executive line".

_____________________________________

April 26, Xinhua General News Service
ASEAN economic ministers retreat meeting opens in Vietnam

Ha Long City: The 11th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Retreat Meeting
kicked off here on Tuesday, bringing together economic ministers and
representatives from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations ( ASEAN) and the block's General Secretary Ong Keng Yong.

During the one-day meeting, the delegates will seek major orientations and
specific measures to gradually step up economic integration of the 10
countries toward the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
by 2020, as well as to expand and deepen economic ties with non-block
members.

To foster intra-block economic cooperation, the ministers are expected to
focus their discussions on the implementation of the ASEAN Framework
Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors signed in 2004 in Laos,
under which principal measures are identified to enable the progressive,
expeditious and systematic integration of agro-based products, air travel,
automotive, e- ASEAN, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based
products, textile and apparels, tourism, and wood-based products.

"Besides intra-cooperation, ASEAN economic ministers will touch upon
issues regarding economic cooperation with non-block members in many
fields, especially on negotiations for the establishment of free trade
areas (FTAs) or comprehensive economic partnership ( CEP)," a local
official from the Trade Ministry said before the meeting, noting that
ASEAN is negotiating FTA/CEP with six partners, namely China, Japan, South
Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

"Among other things, the ministers will examine possible impacts of FTAs
on ASEAN integration plans. ASEAN should have an effective coordination
mechanism to ensure the overall interest of all block members, especially
less economically advanced ones such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and
Myanmar," the official added.

On Wednesday, the ministers will meet with Peter Mandelson, Trade
Commissioner of the European Union (EU) in the 6th AEM-EU Consultation
also to be held in the northern city of Ha Long. During the one-day
gathering, they are expected to agree on new measures to strengthen trade
and investment ties between the two blocks.

In 2003, EU initiated the "Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative,"
under which the two sides are to initially center on information exchange,
mutual understanding enhancement and technical assistance for Southeast
Asian nations. EU has focused on trans-regional cooperation in such fields
as trade and investment facilitation, intellectual property protection,
standard harmonization, tourism and trade in wood-based products.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 26, Reuters
Sex trafficking growing in Southeast Asia – experts - Fayen Wong

Singapore: Human rights activists called on Southeast Asian governments on
Tuesday to crack down on sex tourism and child trafficking, saying the
problem was becoming more rampant.

Experts and rights workers said more women and children in Southeast Asia
were being trafficked to feed the appetite of sex tourists.

"There must be a co-ordinated and co-operative effort if we are to succeed
in eradicating human trafficking, especially child sex trafficking from
this region," said Vitit Muntarbhorn, former United Nations Special
Rapporteur on child prostitution.

"It is most timely for ASEAN countries to tackle the issue in view of its
recent declaration against trafficking," Muntarbhorn told Reuters.

ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, includes Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.

ECPAT, an international non-governmental organisation working to stop the
commercial sexual exploitation of children, said there were more than 1
million child prostitutes involved in sex tourism in Asia, of which
300,000 were in Thailand, 100,000 in the Philippines and Taiwan and 40,000
in Vietnam.

"Many of them are tricked into the trade, it is easy to do so because the
women and children are young, illiterate, vulnerable and gullible," Linda
Smith, founder of Shared Hope International, a U.S.-based non-governmental
organisation fighting against human trafficking, told Reuters.

The U.S. State Department estimates about 600,000 to 800,000 people --
mostly children and women -- are trafficked across national borders
annually.

Girls from the villages of Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and the
Philippines are lured into cities or neighbouring countries with promises
of lucrative jobs as waitresses and domestic helpers, only to end up in
massage parlours and karaoke bars.

Others are flown as far as Australia, Japan, South Africa and the United
States to be kept as slaves in brothels -- beaten, drugged, starved or
raped in the first days of their reclusion to intimidate and prepare them
for clients, the experts say.

Sex tourism is a profitable business. Data provided by the International
Labour Organisation showed that 2 to 14 percent of the gross domestic
product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand comes from
sex tourism, experts said.

"We can't just look at the supply factor. The picture would be incomplete
without recognising that the sex market involves both local and foreign
demand," Muntarbhorn said.

"We have to address sex tourism squarely to stamp out sex trafficking."

_____________________________________

April 26, Agence France Presse
Drug resistant malaria haunts Southeast Asia, fuels illicit trade - P.
Parameswaran

Washington: Southeast Asia has emerged as the global center for drug
resistant malaria and is fuelling illicit trade in counterfeit drugs used
to fight the disease killing one million people every year, officials said
Monday.

"Southeast Asia bears high burdens of the disease," the World Bank said as
it launched a "Global strategy and booster program" that could involve up
to one billion dollars to help developing nations make faster progress in
their fight against malaria.

The region, dubbed the "epicenter of drug-resistant malaria," is second
after Africa in terms of percentage of malaria deaths.

"The bank maintains an epidemiological focus on the region because of the
drug resistant problem, said Jean-Louis Sarbib, the Washington-based
bank's senior vice-president for human development.

Although most of the Southeast Asian economies do not tap the bank's
resources for malaria control," we will adjust whatever response to
tackling the drug-resistant problem with full participation" of our
partners, he said.

The region has malaria that is resistant to one or more of the usual
antimalarial drugs and so the drug may not prevcent malaria, even if taken
correctly.

"These drug resistant forms later spread elsewhere," the World Bank warned
in a report at the launching of the new program, seen as a "booster" to
the not-so-successful "Roll back malaria partnership" started in 1998.

"We have been quite candid about the fact that we need to rededicate
ourselves because some of the earlier commitments of the Bank have
unfortunately not been always followed by action," Sarbib admitted.

In large part, he said, it was because the bank was also fighting at the
same time the much dreaded HIV and AIDS problem and "our capacity and the
capacity in the countries was not enough to fight on all fronts at the
same time."

Judging from initial demand from countries for more help in fighting
malaria, the bank said the new program could require "a total commitment
of 500 million to one billion dollars" over the next five years, including
co-financing that the Bank anticipates from partners.

At least 85 percent of the one million annual deaths from malaria occur in
Africa, eight percent in Southeast asia, five percent in the eastern
Mediterranean region and one percent in the Western pacific, the bank
said.

Scientist Rick Steketee, who is involved in a malaria control project
funded by computer software tycoon Bill Gates, said while Vietnam and
Thailand had largely succeeded in taming the disease in Southeast Asia,
"Myanmar in contrast is in dire straits.

"There is continued transmission, high intensity and all of the drug
resistant malaria that's in that region is spreading," he said.

Thailand, Steketee said, faced "border malaria" -- which spread from
across its borders with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, while pockets of
disease-prone areas in Indonesia were spread out across the vast
archipelago.

The drug resistant malaria problem is also fuelling a roaring trade in
counterfeit drugs, including the new and effective Artemisinin-based
Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs.

"With all due respects, Southeast Asia's where you can make money by
making fake anti-malarials," Steketee said.

"Even the Artemisinin compounds -- touted as the solution to drug
resistance -- are being faked in Southeast Asia. The counterfeiters follow
where people are buying these drugs, counterfeit the drug and put it in
the market and all of a sudden, the rumour gets out that the drugs are not
working," he said.

Steketee said the counterfeit syndicates had skillfully changed the
packaging by reproducing the hologram and filling it with fake drugs.

"For drugs to be safe and effective, they have to be what they say they
are," he said.

_____________________________________

April 25, Mizzima News
Burmese refugees urge UN Chief to pressurise military junta for democracy
- Mungpi

New Delhi: Burmese refugees in New Delhi today held a demonstration urging
the visiting United Nations chief, Mr. Kofi Annan, to put pressure on
Burma for  early democratisation of the country.

The UN Secretary General, who has just attended a weekend Afro-Asia summit
in Jakarta, begins his official four-day trip to India today.

The demonstration, held at Jantar Mantar Park here, urged Mr.Annan to look
at the condition of the refugees, who have fled Burma to escape the gross
human rights violation by the military junta, and to make use of all
possible power to restore human rights and democracy in the country.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their motherland to the 
neighbouring countries of Thailand, India, Bangladesh and China since
Burma went into the iron grip of military rulers in 1962.

With slogans--"Military rule, Down down", " We need Human Rights", "We
need Refugee Rights" and " Kofi Annan, Help Refugees"--nearly two hundred
demonstrators held  a rally, denouncing the military junta and urging the
UN chief to rescue the Burmese refugees from their plight.

In a memorandum to the UN chief, the organisers narrated the miseries of
the Burmese refugees, living in New Delhi, because of  dissimilarity of
culture, customs and tradition with the Indian society, and sought his
intervention for a third country settlement of the problem.

The memorandum, a copy of which was also submitted to the office of the
Indian Prime Minister, urged Mr.Annan  to implore upon India and other
neighbouring countries to  build pressure on the Burmese Military junta 
to bring in the long promised democratic reforms.

Mr.Annan's trip, which will feature meetings with President APJ Kalam,
Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh and Minister of External Affairs K Natwar
Singh, will end on Thursday. During his visit, India is likely to press
for its case for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Prior to his India visit, the UN Secretary General had met Burma's
paramount military leader, Than Shwe, on the sidelines of the Afro-Asian
summit in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and  called for release of the
jailed Nobel Peace Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and implementation of 
democratic reforms.

"I did raise the question of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD and the fact
that it was vitally important that all people...be able to organize
themselves and exercise their individual rights," the Reuters quoted him
as saying.

Mr.Annan also expressed his hopes that General Than Shwe would get his
message and react positively to his suggestions.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 26, The International Herald Tribune
It's the Burmese who are asking for sanctions - Jody Williams

Fredericksburg, Virginia This month the UN Commission on Human Rights
issued its latest, now annual, condemnation of ongoing rights violations
in Myanmar, highlighting in particular the continued detention of Aung San
Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for Democracy, and her
deputy, Tin Oo, who have been held under house arrest since they were
attacked in May 2003.

I was able to meet with Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon, the capital, just
three months before that attack, while she was traveling in the north of
Myanmar to promote democracy.

During that visit, she said that although the authorities had tried to
destroy the NLD after prohibiting its candidates, and those of other
prodemocratic parties, from convening a Parliament after their decisive
electoral victory in 1990, a combination of internal and external
pressures had allowed the parties to survive.

She said that the NLD was continuing to ask for international sanctions to
isolate the military regime and help force peaceful change in the country.

Now the people of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, are again asking the
international community to stand with them as they engage in the largest
civil disobedience action the country has ever seen. The NLD, which has
never legally been banned in Myanmar, initiated a public petition late
last year calling on the authorities to release Suu Kyi.

A member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines visiting Myanmar
recently was told that by late February, almost a half a million people
had added their names to that call.

The simple act of signing a petition is illegal under the military junta's
draconian laws, and people who have previously circulated petitions
requesting political change or challenging decisions of the junta now
languish in jail. When the ICBL representative asked if people were afraid
to sign the petition, members of the NLD's Central Committee responded,
"Yes, they are afraid. But they sign."

The petition campaign continues to grow, virtually ignored or unknown
outside Myanmar. Just as the 1990 election showed massive popular support
for democratic governance, this petition shows popular condemnation of the
seizure and detention of Myanmar's Nobel Peace laureate.

For every person who risks signing the petition, there are many more who
are sympathetic but afraid to take action. Yet many Burmese people
continue to be willing to take significant risks to try to bring about
peaceful change. It is now time for external pressure to be stepped up and
consistently applied.

Some argue that sanctions against the military junta should be dropped and
replaced by "constructive engagement" with the regime. This is despite the
call of the NLD itself for sanctions, and the clear example of the
international isolation and economic sanctions against apartheid South
Africa that helped internal forces bring democracy to that nation.

For nonviolent sanctions to work, there must be a global consensus, not
just the current series of disconnected and uncoordinated national
policies. Myanmar has never lost the support of key states, which help
supply it with arms, for example, such as Singapore and Pakistan - neither
a beacon of democracy.

The military junta must not be allowed to continue to hold democracy
hostage in Myanmar. External pressure must be applied in support of
activists if we want nonviolent political change.

The international community must unite in applying effective pressure on
the Burmese dictatorship - politically and economically - until it cedes
power to those who earned it legitimately at the ballot box.

(Jody Williams is founding coordinator of the International Campaign to
Ban Landmines and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.)