BurmaNet News May 4, 2005

[Editor]

May 4, 2005 Issue # 2711


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Will Khin Nyunt be put on trial?
Xinhua: Myanmar strengthens public information work about disaster

ASEAN
AP: Myanmar may decide to pull out of ASEAN chairmanship, Thai official says
New Straits Times (Malaysia): Kit Siang wants Parliament recalled

REGIONAL
Xinhua: UN urges Thailand to protect alien domestic workers from abusive
employers

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: ASEAN-US ties at risk if Myanmar becomes chair, says top US official
Irrawaddy: EU to discuss Burma at Asem
Irrawaddy: Europe plans more engagement in Burma

PRESS RELEASE
Reporters Without Borders: European Parliament calls for release of U Win Tin
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: Two Burma Army soldiers testify to use of
chemical weapons: Please visit:
http://www.csw.org.uk/latestnews/2005/Burma_04_05_05.htm

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 4, Irrawaddy
Will Khin Nyunt be put on trial? - Nandar Chann

Although some former high-ranking military intelligence officers have been
put on trial in Rangoon, the fate of Gen Khin Nyunt, deposed prime
minister and head of military intelligence, remains uncertain.

Khin NyuntKhin Nyunt was sacked in October 2004 and remains under house
arrest. The government accused him of corruption and abuse of power.

His subordinates recently received lengthy imprisonment sentences, and
news emerging from Rangoon has indicated that the government is preparing
to put Khin Nyunt himself on trial.

However, analysts question the military government’s true intentions.
Close observers of the junta think Khin Nyunt will remain under house
arrest and will not, in fact, go on trial, much less go to prison.

“I don’t think that Khin Nyunt will be sent to prison,” said a Rangoon
lawyer on condition of anonymity. “There has been an agreement among top
leaders that the original members of the junta will not be charged with
crimes.”

Khin Nyunt is one of the remaining senior members of the State Law and
Order Restoration Council, which took power in 1988 after brutally
crushing the pro-democracy uprising. In 1997, the SLORC was renamed the
State Peace and Development Council. Although many of the SLORC’s initial
members have either retired or died, Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Deputy Snr-Gen
Maung Aye are among the originals.

Htay Aung, a researcher on military affairs living in exile, said that
Khin Nyunt cannot be put on trial without opening a “Pandora’s box” of
junta corruption. Observers believe that Khin Nyunt, who ranked third in
the junta power hierarchy, kept secret files and information on other top
military members.

Htay Aung, who is also a senior member of the Thailand-based Network for
Development and Democracy, expressed doubt about the junta’s past
assurances.

“Generals never keep their promises,” he said. “Khin Nyunt will not be
tried because they need to protect their interests.”

The Rangoon lawyer pointed out that Khin Nyunt’s former rivals Lt-Gen Tun
Kyi and Lt-Gen Kyaw Ba were sacked from their positions on charges of
corruption in 1997 but were never officially tried. Both were members of
SLORC.

But Win Min, a researcher on civil-military relations living in exile,
believes that Khin Nyunt may be given a long prison term. In 1983,
Brig-Gen Tin Oo, head of military intelligence and a powerful government
member under the Burma Socialist Program Party, was arrested on corruption
charges and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was later released.

______________________________________

May 4, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar strengthens public information work about disaster

Yangon: The Myanmar Meteorology and Hydrology Department (MHD) is
strengthening its public information work about natural disaster and
climate change by planning to produce a series of documentaries to raise
public awareness against such unpredictable mishap.

Such documentaries, that will boost public knowledge, would help the
government in disaster management, the Myanmar Times quoted an official of
the MHD as saying in its latest issue.

The MHD has produced such documentaries as on El Nino and the change in
ocean current off South Africa, the report said.

Meanwhile, Red Cross societies from Southeast Asia are seeking better
cooperation in regional disaster management, planning a meeting in Yangon
for the red cross societies from 10 member countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Timor to discuss such powerful
earthquake which shook islands off the northwest coast of Sumatra in
Indonesia on March 28, the Bangkok Office of the International Federation
of Red Cross said earlier.

The 11 SEA countries have established a regional disaster response team in
2003 to assist each other when disasters occur.

Moreover, Myanmar is also undertaking a coastal storm and tidal surge
forecast project for improved weather prediction services. The project,
being implemented with the assistance of the Honolulu- based PACON
International (the Pacific Congress on Marine Science Technology),
involves the utilization of numerical prediction method to provide advance
warning of storm and tidal surge.

Although Myanmar was not much affected by last Dec. 26 tsunami that
smashed across the Indian Ocean compared with other South and Southeast
Asian nations, it was officially reported that the country was registered
with some 64 people killed, 56 injured in coastal areas. The tidal wave
destroyed over 600 houses in 29 villages, leaving 3,460 people homeless in
some of the regions in six divisions and states -- Tanintharyi, Yangon,
Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Rakhine and Shan (South).

Other MHD reports said two low-intensity undersea earthquakes measuring
2.3 to 3.5 on the Richter scale hit Myanmar's capital of Yangon in
February without causing casualties and loss of properties.

_____________________________________
ASEAN

May 4, Associated Press
Myanmar may decide to pull out of ASEAN chairmanship, Thai official says -
Alisa Tang

Bangkok: Military-ruled Myanmar, under pressure from the United States and
other Western nations for its repression of democracy, may back away from
the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a senior
Thai official said Wednesday.

The United States and the European Community have been critical of Myanmar
for its human rights record - including the detention of dissident Aung
San Suu Kyi - and have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings if it assumes
the bloc's rotating chairmanship next year.

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said Wednesday that Myanmar
declining the chairmanship is "one of the possibilities" being considered.

"No one would like to see the chairmanship becoming an obstacle for the
functioning of ASEAN," he said at a joint news conference with the U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick.

"Both governments have some frustrations about the lack of political
change (in Myanmar)," said Zoellick after a one-hour meeting with
Kantathi.

"What we see throughout the world, even in places where people don't
expect it, like the Middle East, is a process of openness and democracy,"
Zoellick said. "There's no reason it can't happen in Burma as well."

Myanmar's upcoming role at the head of the 10-member ASEAN has also drawn
unprecedented criticism from within the bloc, but despite Kantathi's
assertion that the junta was deliberating whether to take the chair or
not, Myanmar has yet to either show signs of reform or readiness to pass
the chair to another member.

Kantathi said the Thai government was taking "substantive action" with
Myanmar and "working very hard toward the realization of democracy,
national reconciliation in Myanmar, as well as the unity of ASEAN."

Zoellick said the United States has done most of what it can do to put
pressure on Myanmar for political change.

"Now it's a real question of whether others can continue to try to press
the regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi, move towards a serious process of
democratic reconciliation," he said.

He expressed satisfaction that more "voices" in Southeast Asia had raised
concerns about Myanmar.

"When you have a regime like that that seems relatively impervious to
change, I don't want to forecast what will get them to change," he said.

Zoellick is on a 10-day, six-country tour of Asian nations to discuss
post-tsunami reconstruction efforts as well as bilateral economic and
political issues. The Thai capital, where he was also to meet with Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Thai parliamentarians Wednesday, was his
first stop.

In Indonesia, the American diplomat said he would focus on moving from
humanitarian aid after the tsunami to reconstruction assistance. He will
be visiting Aceh province, the worst-hit area among the 11 countries
battered by the giant wave on Dec. 26.

The U.S. Congress is in the process of finishing the fiscal year 2005
supplemental budget request, which includes US$950 million ([euro]738.95
million) for post-tsunami reconstruction.

In Vietnam, Zoellick said he would take part in the 10th anniversary of
the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with that country and meet
with Vietnamese officials in Hanoi to discuss economic relations and raise
human rights concerns.

Zoellick's first trip to the region since becoming deputy secretary of
state will also include stops in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

_____________________________________

May 4, New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Kit Siang wants Parliament recalled

Kuala Lumpur: Parliamentary Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang wants the
Dewan Rakyat recalled for a two-day meeting in the last week of May to
complete outstanding issues interrupted by the leaking ceiling last
Thursday.

He said a two-day meeting would allow three Bills, six Treasury motions
and a motion on Myanmar to be debated.

"It will also allow for a full debate and accounting as to why after an
RM85 million renovation of Parliament House, the Dewan Rakyat ceiling can
spring a leak and bring proceedings to an abrupt end."

He said the House Committee meeting on Friday should conduct a full
inquiry on the leak.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 4, Xinhua General News Service
UN urges Thailand to protect alien domestic workers from abusive employers

Bangkok: Thailand should better protect alien domestic workers from
abusive employers, urged International Labor Office (ILO) on Wednesday,
following the exposure of a Myanmar teenager severely injured by her Thai
employer.

"ILO ... urged authorities in Thailand to take urgent steps to better
protect all foreign migrants -- both documented and undocumented -- from
abusive employers, especially Thai employers of foreign domestic workers,"
said a statement issued Wednesday by Bangkok office of the UN agency.

The call for protection of alien workers came after the recent media
exposure of how a Myanmar teenager maid was severely injured by her Thai
employer.

The 17-year-old Myanmar girl of Karen ethnic group received severe
injuries in an alleged attack by her 32-year-old Thai employer, who denied
all charges.

The girl had remained in hospital for two months and an organization
called Coalition to Fight Against Child Exploitation (FACE) has covered
her treatment so far, which amounts to 400,000 baht (about 10,000 US
dollars).

"This shocking episode is sadly just the most recent in a series of
violent attacks on foreign domestic workers in Thailand and underlines
their vulnerability and need for protection," said Christine Evans-Klock,
director of the ILO sub-regional office for East Asia.

The ILO sub-regional office also requested that all available measures be
taken to ensure that the person or persons responsible for the recent
assault of the Myanmar girl be brought to justice, and that the full
extent of the law be brought to bear in this case.

A large number of alien workers, mostly from neighboring Myanmar, Laos and
Cambodia, have entered Thailand and taken the toughest job in the kingdom.

Though the Thai government has tried to register the alien workers so as
to better protect their rights, many of them still work without legal
documents and many of their basic rights still face threat.

Taking the Myanmar girl as example, she was taken into Thailand by an
employment broker who received 12,000 baht (300 dollars) from her parents
to find her a job.

The girl alleged she had been confined to a residence, suffered systematic
physical abuse and had not received any of her agreed monthly salary of
4,000 baht (100 dollars).

"Registered or unregistered, migrant workers need to know they have rights
and employers need to know there will be serious consequences if those are
abused," said Evans-Klock.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 4, Agence France Presse
ASEAN-US ties at risk if Myanmar becomes chair, says top US official

Bangkok: US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick welcomed Wednesday
regional efforts to get Myanmar to reform but warned of "severe
limitations" on US-ASEAN relations if the military-ruled state chaired the
grouping.

"I did express our concern about how it would hinder our dealings with
ASEAN if Burma were the chair, but I recognise that's a decision for the
ASEAN countries to make," Zoellick told reporters in Bangkok using the
former name for Myanmar when it was under British rule.

"Burma's role puts severe limitations on what the US can do, so I can't go
beyond that at this point, we'll see what ASEAN decides to do."

Zoellick is on a 10-day trip to Southeast Asia, and met Wednesdau with
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Foreign Minister Kantathi
Suphamongkhon to discuss Washington's views about the pace of reforms in
Myanmar.

Parliamentarians in several countries in the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations have urged their governments to block Myanmar from
assuming the rotating ASEAN chair in 2006 because of Yangon's lack of
democractic reforms.

Zoellick declined to say if the US would boycott ASEAN meetings were
Myanmar to become chair, but Washington in the past has said it might
boycott ASEAN meetings in Yangon unless Myanmar adopted political reforms,
including the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Now it's a real question of whether others can continue to try to press
the regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi, move towards a serious process of
democractic reconciliation," Zoellick said Wednesday.

"There are more voices from Southeast Asia now raising concerns about the
political situation in Burma than there were in the past. I think that's a
good step."

Zoellick also said he would see firsthand Indonesia's tsunami
reconstruction and redevelopment efforts ahead of a crucial US Congress
vote on 950 million dollars worth of aid.

He said he was to shortly travel to devastated Aceh province and also meet
with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono.

While in Vietnam, Zoellick said he wanted to discuss with Vietnamese
leaders religous freedom, civil and political rights, and the treatment of
Montagnard hill tribes.

His regional swing also covers Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

_____________________________________

May 4, Irrawaddy
EU to discuss Burma at Asem - Aung Lwin Oo

The European Union is set to discuss Burma-related issues during a two-day
session of ministerial talks at the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) scheduled
to open Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

“The meeting will be an opportunity to raise EU concerns about the
continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees,
deficiencies in the democratic process, and human rights,” said EU
External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in a statement.

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister, Jean Asselborn, whose country currently
holds the EU’s rotating presidency, and Ferrero-Waldner will be present at
the meeting, where they expect to meet Rangoon’s Foreign Minister Nyan
Win.

Ferrero-Waldner said the Tokyo meeting will provide opportunity to
establish “unrestricted access” for international organizations and NGOs
to operate their programs in Burma. The EU will provide up to € 35 million
(US $45 million) in humanitarian aid for the country in 2005.

Last month, the EU renewed sanctions against Burma’s military regime for a
further year. The sanctions include a visa ban on the regime’s top-ranking
officials and the freezing of their overseas assets, an arms embargo and
trade restrictions.

Asem is a forum for dialogue between the EU member states and 13 Asian
countries, comprising the 10 Asean members plus Japan, China and Korea.
The first summit was held in Bangkok in 1996 and the most recent one in
Hanoi, Vietnam, in October last year.

_____________________________________

May 3, Irrawaddy
Europe plans more engagement in Burma - Shada Islam

Sanctions will stay, but aid programs win support

Brussels: Differences between the European Union and Asian governments
over how best to deal with Burma’s military junta may soon be a distant
memory.

As Asean gets tougher with Burma’s generals, the EU is taking another look
at its long-standing policy of isolating Rangoon.

EU sanctions against the military rulers will stay in place. But the 25
nation bloc is also working on an unprecedented aid strategy for Burma,
including funding for health, education and poverty alleviation projects.

The EU’s determination to provide assistance for Burma’s long-suffering
population was highlighted at a “Burma Day” meeting organized in Brussels
by the European Commission in early April.

The aid-oriented focus of the gathering was overshadowed, however, by
controversy over a report by Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen, two
academics with close ties to Rangoon, calling for a change in the EU’s
sanctions policy.

The objectivity of the Taylor-Pedersen report, already in question, was
cast further in doubt by an EC decision to exclude human rights activists
and Burmese opposition groups from the meeting. Harn Yawnghwe, director of
the Euro-Burma office in Brussels, was only invited at the last minute—a
concession that did little to dampen speculation that a covert shift in EU
strategy towards Rangoon was taking place.

EU officials insist, however, that no softening of EU policy is on the
cards. Those invited to the “Burma Day” meeting included aid experts with
direct in-the-field experience of working in the country.

EU officials also denied charges that Taylor and Pedersen were apologists
for the Burmese military regime. But they were careful to distance
themselves from the report, saying the study did not reflect EU policy.

One diplomatic source said the report had caused “great irritation” within
the EU, and predicted there would be “repercussions.” The choice of Taylor
and Pedersen to write the report was being questioned at high levels, he
said.

The report in no way signaled a softening of EU policy on Burma, the
source said. In fact, with the Burmese generals showing no signs of
changing their ways, an upcoming six-monthly review of the EU’s so-called
“common position” on Burma will extend current sanctions.

But governments are also expected to underline Europe’s determination to
start financing poverty-alleviation projects in Burma and engage Rangoon
in discussions on development policies.

In view of the rising poverty and hardship in Burma, international donors
have no choice but to open some form of policy dialogue with the Rangoon
government, European officials told the “Burma Day” meeting.

Such a dialogue may be ambitious and controversial but was necessary if
donors wanted to change the lives of ordinary Burmese people, the
officials said. Coordination and information-sharing among donors were
also essential to ensure the aid strategy’s success.

The Commission’s emphasis on aid follows a decision by EU governments last
October to toughen sanctions against Rangoon while backing up the stricter
line with the promise of more assistance to the country’s general
population.

The EU position says that while non-humanitarian and development programs
are suspended, exceptions will be made for projects which are designed to
improve human rights and good governance, upgrade education and health
facilities and provide the “basic needs and livelihoods for the poorest
and most vulnerable” sections of the population.

The EU stand is that while such schemes will be implemented by United
Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations, the bloc can also
“engage with the government of Burma” over its development
responsibilities.

Consultations with civil society and democratic groups, including the
National League for Democracy, are also envisaged.

“We have a clear basis for engaging in a sectoral policy dialogue with
Burma,” an EU official told the “Burma Day” meeting. The key issues to be
considered when deciding EU assistance were whether the funds would
address the needs of the Burmese people, contribute to empowering people
and communities and ending their isolation and promoting the process of
gradual change, he said.

Burma-based aid experts told the gathering that the country’s people were
in urgent need of foreign assistance. “The needs are too great to ignore,”
said one specialist. “The socio-economic conditions are deteriorating.
People are gravely affected.”

Aid to the population did not legitimize the military government, said the
development experts. Instead, it would strengthen donors’ ability to
influence Burmese policy, reduce the vulnerability of the people and help
develop grass roots organizations.

Harn Yawnghwe said the EU must endeavor in its aid programs to strengthen
local Burmese organizations. Providing educational support and focusing on
serious health issues were also vital, he added.

“Politics is one thing, but if Burma is run down to the ground, it does
not help the democratic movement,” Yawnghwe said, adding that foreign aid
could help strengthen Burma’s civil society. A combination of EU
sanctions, backed up by a policy dialogue with the government, could
therefore be useful.

Interestingly, despite the EU’s focus on financial assistance, the
Taylor-Pedersen report contained only a brief recommendation that the EU
should make aid the “lead tool” in a new strategy for engaging the Burmese
regime in a process of change. The EU should encourage a normalization of
the role of international financial institutions and UN agencies operating
in Burma, the report said.

The rest of the study urged the EU to end the isolation of Burma’s junta.
“The military will remain in power into the indefinite future and any
transition, including important governance and economic reforms, will have
to be negotiated and implemented in cooperation with the officer corps,”
the two authors insisted.

“Whether we like it or not, the military regime in Myanmar is part of the
solution as well as the problem and the failure to effectively understand
and work with the government undermines the EU’s strategic and
humanitarian objectives,” their report said. It called for “a shift away
from censure and sanctions towards critical engagement at all levels of
society.”

In fact, despite the sanctions policy, EU governments have never actually
totally shunned contacts with the Burmese junta.

As EU external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner underlined, European
foreign ministers were prepared at a meeting with Asean in Jakarta
recently to hold a first-ever “troika” meeting with their Burmese
counterpart—had he turned up. The EU’s “troika formula” traditionally
involves a representative from the bloc’s rotating presidency—currently
Luxembourg—the Commission and the Council of Ministers.

EU contacts with Burmese officials have anyway taken place at other Asean
meetings and Asian forums.

One reason the EU wants to keep channels of communication open with
Rangoon is its concern about the rising influence of China and India.
Backing from both Asian giants provides the Burmese generals with a strong
“comfort zone” to resist sanctions and demands for political change, say
EU diplomats.

As it strives to be a global power rather than a merely regional player,
the EU is working hard to build up its influence in Asia. After years of
quarrelling with Asian governments over Burma, EU policymakers appear now
to have decided they will no longer allow relations with the entire region
to be held hostage by unfortunate and unhappy political developments in
one specific country.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 4, Reporters Without Borders / Burma Media Association
European Parliament calls for release of U Win Tin

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association welcomed the 28
April decision of the European Parliament to adopt the EU Report on Human
Rights in the World 2004 that includes a call for the release of renowned
Burmese journalist U Win Tin.

The European assembly, in response to repeated appeals from Reporters
Without Borders, linked the call for the release of the journalist to that
of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Both organisations also urged European bodies to step up pressure on the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for Burma to be denied the
presidency of the organisation in 2006 unless all political prisoners are
released and previous censorship abolished.

Article 57 of the report specifies that the European Parliament “calls on
the government of Burma, as a first step to establishing a state based on
the will of the people, to stop suppressing legitimate and democratic
political activities; urges the government to release immediately Aung San
Suu Kyi, a former Sakharov Prize winner, and 75-year-old journalist Win
Tin, adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Burma’s best known journalist spent his 75th birthday on12 March 2005 in
his cell at Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison. Since his arrest, Win Tin
has been deprived of his basic rights, including that of receiving
appropriate medical treatment and being able to write.

Despite recent pronouncements, the military junta has taken no steps
towards freeing this respected intellectual, who was sentenced to 20 years
in prison for making “anti-government propaganda”.