BurmaNet News, July 20, 2005

[Editor]

July 20, 2005 Issue # 2764


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Cartoonist among 12 democracy activists arrested in Myanmar: media
groups
Mizzima: Burmese soldiers gun down 13 fishermen
Nation: UWSA prepared to assert independence more aggressively

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Chinese police invade Burma
Daily Star: Bangladesh-Burma border sealed in Bandarban area

ASEAN
AP: Myanmar won't embarrass neighbors over chairing ASEAN, says Malaysian
foreign minister
AFP: ASEAN on track to achieve zero-tariff goals, but challenges remain

REGIONAL
Nation: Supinya trial: Shin Corp adviser denies cosy relations
Bangkok Post: Fear deepened woes of Burmese migrants

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 20, Agence France Presse
Cartoonist among 12 democracy activists arrested in Myanmar: media groups

Bangkok: Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar have arrested a respected
magazine cartoonist in a round up of at least 12 democracy activists in
the past two weeks, two media rights groups said Wednesday.

Cartoonist and opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) member Chit
Swe was arrested on unspecified charges on July 12 shortly after the NLD
met at his home, Reporters without Borders and the Burma Media Association
said.

The 65-year-old cartoonist is the deputy chairman of a branch of the NLD,
whose leader is detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

"At least 12 democracy activists have been arrested over the past two
weeks," the groups said in a statement. "The detention of Chit Swe is a
serious violation of freedom of expression."

Although the NLD meeting at his home was legal, Chit Swe was arrested
under a law meant to curb "criminal activity," the media groups said.

The latest arrests showed that the military junta was continuing a
crackdown on the opposition despite its release announced in early July of
about 400 prisoners, most of whom the NLD said were political prisoners,
the statement said.

Amnesty International said more than 200 political prisoners were freed,
and about 1,100 remained jailed.

"The latest wave of releases of political prisoners -- more than 300 in
total -- should not blind us to the reality of the crackdown on opposition
figures," the statement said.

Chit Swe was being detained in Thanlyin police station near the capital,
the media groups said. He had to sleep on a concrete floor and could not
eat properly as he had tonsillitis and acute bronchitis, they said.

A respected and talented artist, Chit Swe's cartoons are published in two
Yangon financial magazines, Dana and Myanmar Dana, to show the country's
socio-economic problems, the media groups said.

He was due to face a court on July 25.

____________________________________

July 18, The Nation
UWSA prepared to assert independence more aggressively - Don Pathan

It was supposed to be a gathering of some 200 diplomats, aid workers,
journalists and anti-narcotics officials on the Sino-Burmese border to
witness the historic announcement that this opium-rich territory would
from now on be drug-free.

But the language wasn’t right.

Not that the Burmese government has anything against the fact that Chinese
is the lingua franca of the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA),
dubbed the world’s largest armed drug-trafficking army by the US, or that
the invitation cards were written in Chinese.

What irked the generals in Rangoon was that the invitation for the event,
which was supposed to coincide with June 26 World Drug Day, explicitly
stated that the host of this event was the “Government of the Wa State”.

Thai and Chinese officials said the wording on the invitation cards was
the UWSA’s way of telling the generals in Rangoon that this was their
turf.

It was important for the Wa army, who entered into a cease-fire agreement
with Rangoon in 1989, to send a strong message to the Burmese at this
point in time, because the status quo that defined their relations is
being severely challenged – again.

And this time around, these officials said, it could be bloody.

Since the ouster of former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, the very person who
orchestrated the cease-fire deal with the UWSA and other armed ethnic
groups, Burmese army commander General Maung Aye and junta chief General
Than Shwe have made a concerted effort to redefine the country’s
relationship with all of the cease-fire groups.

One of the stipulations placed upon the UWSA, said a Wa official, is that
government troops can enter any of the autonomous regions they please
without prior approval or having to be disarmed and escorted.

So far two relatively small cease-fire groups have become the junta’s
“model minority” by taking part in a staged ceremony that saw their troops
surrendering their weapons to Burmese government officials. Naturally the
events were highly publicised by Burma’s state-run press.

But the real target, observers said, were major armed groups like the Wa,
Kokang Chinese, Chin and Kachin, all of whom were permitted to control
their territory in return for a truce.

Rangoon turned up the heat last December when it dispatched 10 separate
units of up to 10 men each to the UWSA’s Special Region 2. Officially it
was supposed to be a geographical survey, but Thai military officials
monitoring the situation think they were there to map out a plan of attack
if need be. The UWSA reluctantly agreed to the request but on condition
that the Burmese officials disarm, a standard protocol between the two
sides, and that Wa officials escort them.

What concerns Thailand and China is that Rangoon’s efforts to demilitarise
the cease-fire groups could turn the clock back to the days when all armed
groups were fighting to stake their claim in these lucrative opium hills.

An all-out battle between the Burmese and the Wa, they said, could send
hundreds of thousands of villagers across the Thai and Chinese borders.

But tough talk from Rangoon is nothing new. Shortly after the Wa and the
Burmese defeated former opium warlord Khun Sa in 1996, Rangoon gave the
UWSA a direct order to retreat back to the Chinese border. The Wa refused
and instead turned their military outposts on the Thai border into towns.
Nearly 100,000 villagers in the UWSA-controlled area along the Chinese
border were forcibly relocated to them. It was supposed to be part of the
UWSA’s efforts to get their farmers to grow legitimate crops, but Thai
security agencies saw the move as strategically motivated and posing a
security threat to the country.

This time around, the Wa have been tight-lipped about how they will
respond to this new political assault from Rangoon. One tactic is to show
Rangoon that they are friends in need: thus they have launched an all-out
offensive against the rebel Shan State Army (SSA) on the Thai border.

“The idea was to increase their bargaining chips with Rangoon,” said a
senior officer from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). “The
same tactic was used with Rangoon in 1997 after they helped Burmese troops
defeat Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army.”

But Rangoon’s decision to snub the June 26 drug-burning ceremony in the Wa
capital of Panghsang was a testimony that nothing comes easy in
trouble-plagued Burma. Historically relations between the junta and the
country’s armed ethnic minorities have never been smooth. Burma-watchers
say many people tend to mistake the “cease-fire” agreement for a permanent
peace. A normal country, they say, doesn’t have a separate army operating
independently on its soil.

For the past 16 years Rangoon has opted for stability rather than make
meaningful efforts to change the status quo, in spite of the fact that
groups like the UWSA have been making efforts to strengthen themselves
strategically and formulating their own foreign policy to legitimise
themselves.

Bao Yuxiang, chairman of the UWSA, has called on the UN and other
international agencies to help with crop substitution and told The Nation
as long as four years ago that this year would mark the last opium
cultivation, or “you can have my head”. While opium-farmers in
UWSA-controlled areas may have taken Bao seriously when he said this would
be the last year for the opium harvest, the international community has
its doubts.

All kinds of speculation has surfaced about whether the Wa have actually
banned opium cultivation. China is concerned that starving opium-farmers
may seek to resettle on the Chinese side of the border, where sizeable Wa
communities are scattered. Some Thai officials believe the Wa will churn
out more methamphetamine tablets to make up for the losses from the opium
ban if it is actually enforced.

Another setback occurred when the Wa’s attempts to go legitimate were
hampered by a US federal court earlier this year charging eight UWSA
leaders with drug trafficking.

Whatever course Burma’s section of the notorious Golden Triangle takes,
the future, it seems, doesn’t look too bright for anyone.

____________________________________

July 20, Mizzima News
Burmese soldiers gun down 13 fishermen - Suu Mya Mya Soe

In a heinous act patrolling Burmese soldiers in Southern Burma shot dead
at least 13 Burmese fishermen in two Thai fishing boats They were using
dynamites and explosives to fish.

Six soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 267, while patrolling
the Jalan Island in Botepyin township of Thaninthayi Division in Southern
Burma caught the fishermen in two boats. They were exploding dynamite to
catch fish in the Burmese territorial waters. The soldiers shot dead at
least 13 Burmese fishermen.

“When Thai fishermen called us they did not show us the explosives. They
had hidden it. We confessed this to the Burmese soldiers when they started
beating and torturing us. We knew we were guilty but we never thought that
they would kill some of us in cold blood for we are Burmese nationals as
well. We thought that the soldiers would imprison us,” said a fisherman
who escaped the brutal massacre when the rope tying his hand became loose.

“As the soldiers started shooting at us, luckily the rope tying my hands
loosened. I started running for my life and never looked back,” said the
fisherman narrating his story of escape.

The Burmese soldiers told the boat workers that they would be taken to
Kauh Thaung, a Thai-Burmese border town in Thaninthayi division. However,
the soldiers took the workers to Jalan Island and tied them with a single
rope and then shot them. Jalan Island is a four-hour boat ride from the
Thai border town of Ranong.

A woodcutter who visited the massacre site the next day said he saw 13
bodies buried in a pit covered with stones.

The boats, owned by a Thai owner, had 15 Burmese fishermen. However, with
13 killed and another having escaped one Burmese is still missing.

“I do not allow my husband to do this work. But because of our debts I
allowed him. But now he is never going to come home. I could have expected
his return, had he been imprisoned. But now that he is dead I don’t know
what to do. Who will take care of me? I am pregnant. Who will pay the
school fees for my child in the village?” lamented a Mon women whose
husband and brother were killed by the soldiers in Jalan.

The fishing boats, which look like any ordinary fishing vessels with
sails, has been exploding dynamites in the water to kill fish and collect
them. Most of the fishermen killed were residents of Tavoy and Kauh Thaung
towns.

An estimated 20 Thai boats use explosives to catch fish in the territorial
waters of Burma.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 20, Shan Herald Agency for News
Chinese police invade Burma - Pegasus

The Chinese police staged surprise raids on casinos in eastern Shan State
on 6 July and rounded up more than 60 Chinese clients at the
establishments, according to sources who turned up recently at the border.

The raiders who came in three trucks swept upon the 3 main casinos in
Mongla opposite Daluo of Xixuangbanna prefecture in broad daylight. Local
and Thai players however were left untouched.

Sources believe the city's authorities led by Sai Leun, 59, were somehow
forced to cooperate with the Chinese law enforcement officials.

Mongla, once a booming city 240 km north of Thailand, barely manages to
stay alive with tourists and gamblers coming from Thailand. Another income
is from the zinc mines of Kengpin and Namyeu in Mongyang township,
northwest of Mongla. As for the coal mines in Kengkharng, southeast of
Mongla, and formerly an important source of revenue, they have been "left
idle" for sometime now," according to a local Shan officer.

Power also having been cut off from China, the city's residents are
getting electricity on a rotation basis just like the rest of Burma. A
hydropower plant is presently being constructed, they said, but it has yet
to be completed.

Mongla is the seat of the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan
State (NDAA-ESS) also known as Shan State Special Region #4, a former
Communist force that, like Wa, Kokang and others, concluded a ceasefire
pact with Rangoon in 1989.

____________________________________

July 20, The Daily Star
Bangladesh-Burma border sealed in Bandarban area

Bandarban: Security measures have been strengthened along the border area
in Bandarban while Yellow Alert has been declared sealing the 288-km
Bangladesh-Myanmar border since last Friday [15 July].

A security force source said the two gunfights between intruders and the
security forces in Thanchi and Naikkhonchhari upazilas within a week have
led the authority to take this decision.

"To stop the illegal entrance of foreign criminals and terrorists into the
country, the number of BDR [Bangladesh Rifles] jawans has been increased
in the border area from this week," said a security official.

A reliable source said planning for adopting new arrangements through the
288-km border area is about to be finalized to protect it from the foreign
criminals.

Meanwhile, the Chittagong area commander of Bangladesh army visited
Bandarban on 18 July and talked with the high officials at Bandarban
Cantonment about the safety and security of the bordering areas.

In 2003, the Bandarban district administration had sent a proposal of
increasing the number of BDR observatory posts between Naikkhonchhari and
Thanchi to protect the border from illegal intrusion of foreign criminals.

According to a statistics, the security forces have seized more than 200
sophisticated firearms, huge quantity of explosives, military blankets and
combat uniforms, and communication instruments, and destroyed several dens
of foreign intruders in continued operations since September last year.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 20, Associated Press
Myanmar won't embarrass neighbors over chairing ASEAN, says Malaysian
foreign minister

Kuala Lumpur: Myanmar has promised not to embarrass the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, Malaysia's foreign minister said Wednesday,
indicating the military-ruled country might skip its turn to chair the
trade group next year due to international pressure.

"The indication from Myanmar is that they will take into account our
views, what we have mentioned to them," Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.
"We have already discussed what will be the effects, the ramifications" if
Myanmar assumes the chairmanship.

U.S., European and Canadian officials, citing Myanmar's dismal human
rights record, have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings and the summit
scheduled to be hosted by Yangon in 2006 if the junta takes its turn as
chairman of the regional trading bloc.

The issue will be a key focus when ASEAN foreign ministers meet in Laos
later this month.

ASEAN has said it will not force Myanmar to vacate its chairmanship next
year, but many Southeast Asian diplomats feel ASEAN's reputation would be
damaged if Myanmar takes the seat. There are also fears that Western
nations could withhold funding for ASEAN development projects.

Syed Hamid said Myanmar's leaders "say they understand the position of
ASEAN."

"I am sure Myanmar, being a member of ASEAN, would not like to see ASEAN
in any way being given a negative view ... as though we're not adhering to
the norms of the day in terms of democracy, the rule of law and human
rights," the minister said.

The chairmanship is rotated each year among ASEAN's 10 members, which
normally follow a policy of noninterference in each other's domestic
affairs and resistance to foreign pressure.

Many ASEAN members have urged Myanmar's ruling junta to speed up
democratic reforms, release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from
house arrest and craft a new constitution.

Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine legislators have opposed Myanmar's
chairmanship even though their governments have taken a neutral stand.

Myanmar's current military government took power in 1988 after brutally
crushing a pro-democracy movement. In 1990, it refused to hand over power
when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in general elections. Suu Kyi
has been under house arrest for much of the past 14 years.

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

____________________________________

July 20, Agence France Presse
ASEAN on track to achieve zero-tariff goals, but challenges remain -
Martin Abbugao

Singapore: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is on track
to achieve a zero-tariff regime by 2015, a key ingredient for its
ambitious plan to create a single market and production base by 2020,
regional officials said.

Regional trade officials said the 10-member group was working its way
through the difficulties of implementing the proposed ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA).

The process has been fraught with problems due to the wide variations in
economic development of the nations, from wealthy Singapore at one end of
the spectrum to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam at the other.

Overall, AFTA aims to abolish tariffs on traded goods by 2010 for
Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand, the
most developed nations of the group collectively known as the "ASEAN 6".

Tariffs for the four poorer countries, who are known in trade circles by
the acronym of "CMLV" -- will be wiped out by 2015.

"By and large, AFTA remains on track towards achieving zero tariffs by
2010 for ASEAN-6 and 2015 for CMLV," a Singapore trade ministry spokesman
told AFP, with the sentiment backed by a trade ministry official from
another ASEAN member.

"I think all the political leaders of ASEAN have reaffirmed their
commitments to AFTA," the official, who requested anonymity, said.

While trade is not normally a frontline issue at ASEAN's annual foreign
ministers' meeting, the issue of economic integration is expected to be
touched at this year's edition in Laos later this month.

ASEAN trade officials point out the successes for the region -- a market
of 550 million people with a combined gross domestic product of one
trillion US dollars -- since the AFTA process began in 1993.

In particular, the ASEAN 6 have already trimmed tariffs on goods in their
inclusion list to not more than 5.0 percent as of 2003.

Vietnam was given until 2006 to slash tariffs to 0-5 percent, Laos has
until 2008, while Myanmar and Cambodia have until 2010.

"Undoubtedly, Thailand has greatly benefitted from AFTA," a Thai Ministry
of Commerce official told AFP.

Thai exports to the region rose to 21.25 billion US dollars in 2004 from
only 6.56 billion dollars in 1993, and ASEAN has become Thailand's largest
export market.

But analysts say the group still has many big challenges to overcome if it
is to realise its AFTA goals, particularly in removing protectionist
barriers on certain sectors deemed "sensitive" to domestic interests.

The group must also ensure that members' tariff liberalisation commitments
are honoured and prod the bloc's less developed members to include more
products in a basket headed for tariff cuts.

Moreover, ASEAN should also speed up implementation of non-tariff measures
-- another pillar in the overall goal to create a European Union-style
ASEAN Economic Community by 2020 or earlier.

"ASEAN has a window of opportunity in which it is still viewed as a major
and important trading bloc," said Ernest Bower, a US business consultant
and former president of the US-ASEAN Business Council.

"China and India are growing fast, and in the process they are drawing
attention away from an ASEAN viewed as not entirely serious about economic
integration."

Already, some ASEAN countries have sought to protect certain industries
under an AFTA provision allowing the temporary exclusion of certain
sectors from tariff reductions.

Malaysia has sought a delay in the opening up of its auto sector, sparking
a demand for compensation from Thailand, a regional manufacturing base for
the world's major car makers.

The Philippines asked to protect its nascent petrochemical industry.

Singapore's trade ministry said it had conducted bilateral talks with
Manila on the issue and this was resolved amicably.

ASEAN's biggest member, Indonesia, has also put rice and sugar on a
"highly sensitive" list of items which are to be excluded from drastic
tariff cuts, according to Indonesian trade ministry spokesman Imam
Pambagyo.

Pambagyo said Indonesia expects rice and sugar to be liberalised in 10-15
years' time.

"For Indonesia it's difficult as far as rice and sugar are concerned
because they are related to our food resilience. First, we need to make
sure our farmers have a competitive edge regionally or globally," Pambagyo
said.

Vietnam has asked for a delay in opening up the automobile accessories and
light trucks market, which again led to negotiations for compensation with
Thailand.

Some other countries may ask to protect certain sectors closer when the
deadlines to slash tariffs to 0-5 percent draws nearer, according to
regional trade officials.

Bower said ASEAN should put a stop to "backsliding and side-deals" if it
wished to be seen as a dynamic, unified market, especially as it
negotiates free-trade deals with its bigger neighbours like China, Japan
and India.

"ASEAN can be strong but it needs to follow through on its commitments to
itself," he said. "ASEAN needs to refocus the AFTA commitment."

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 21, The Nation
Supinya trial: Shin Corp adviser denies cosy relations - Pravit Rojanaphruk

Also denies Thaksin govt came to iTV's aid

The lawyer representing media-reform campaigner Supinya Klangnarong in her
defamation trial yesterday began building a case that he hopes will show
conglomerate Shin Corp has benefited from the Thaksin government being in
power.

Nakhon Chompuchart, Supinya’s pro-bono lawyer, told the Criminal Court on
day two of the trial that Shin Corp’s net profit between 2001 – the year
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power – and 2002 had jumped from
Bt5.6 billion to Bt15.3 billion.

He asked the plaintiff's witness, Suphot Vatiphan, a legal advisor to Shin
Corp, whether the conglomerate had benefited from two abrogated excise-tax
executive decrees for the telecom sector in 2003.

Suphot admitted the decrees had “made a difference” but said he did not
know by how much, adding that the decrees were not selective.

Thaksin founded Shin Corp, which is now run by his family.

The telecom-and-media conglomerate is seeking Bt400 million in damages
from Supinya and the Thai Post newspaper for comments the activist made in
an article published in the newspaper in July 2003.

Thai Post’s defence lawyer, Thienchai Larp-prasert, asked Suphot if the
Thaksin government’s Bt4-billion loan to Burma’s military junta last year
through the Export-Import Bank of Thailand would eventually benefit Shin
Corp.

“I don’t know because this is a state-to-state issue,” Suphot said.

“But the Burmese government also used part of the money to do business
with the plaintiff's [company],” he added.

A large chunk of the loan will go towards updating Burma’s antiquated
telecommunications.

A lawyer, who is a Supinya supporter, told The Nation that the activist’s
and Thai Post’s best chance of winning the criminal and libel suites was
for their lawyers to expose the alleged cosy relationship between the
government and Shin Corp.

That would prove a conflict of interest and abuse of power exists and
expose Thaksin, said the lawyer, who asked not to be named.

Supinya’s supporters view the case as a freedom-of-speech fight while Shin
Corp's lead lawyer, Somporn Pongsuwan, said yesterday that the activist
merely wanted to become famous.

In the afternoon court session yesterday, Suphot said the government did
not help iTV, which Shin Corp controls, when the TV station was
controversially allowed to rewrite its concession contract last year.

He said the state's legal arbiters handled the matter and not the
executive branch led by the prime minister.

But critics of the iTV controversy said the government allowed the station
to get an improved concession contract.

The court case is scheduled to resume on August 3, with two more Shin Corp
witnesses set to testify.

Some 50 witnesses for the defendants will then testify.

If found guilty of defamation, Supinya and Thai Post executives could be
jailed for up to two years and made to pay Shin Corp Bt400 million in
damages.

_____________________________________

July 18, Bangkok Post
Fear deepened woes of Burmese migrants - Anucha Charoenpo

Vital papers washed away with dreams during tsunami

For 30-year-old Burmese migrant Soe Naing, the tsunami that hit the coast
of Thailand on Dec 26, 2004 did not just wash away his job, it also left
him with an uncertain future.

The once healthy young man who entered Thailand illegally about a year ago
now has a disability after doctors were forced to amputate his leg from
below the knee due to an acute infection. The infection came about
following wounds he sustained when the giant waves of the Indian Ocean
tsunami struck Phangnga province. He is currently being treated at Takuapa
Hospital.

According to doctors, the amputation would not have been necessary had Soe
Naing decided to approach them earlier and receive proper medication.

''I dare not see the doctors at that time because of my illegal status. I
did not have a work permit, or a health card. That barred me from having
access to any of the government's social welfare programmes,'' he said.

Soe Naing had been working as a member of a fishing crew at the port of
Tablamu in Phangnga's Muang district.

Instead of seeking help, he decided to try and take care of himself for
several months for fear of being arrested and deported. He bought
over-the-counter medicine which was inadequate for his medical condition.
When his condition began to deteriorate, a group of his Burmese friends
approached the Tsunami Action Group (TAG), a non-governmental organisation
that provides assistance to Burmese migrant workers affected by the
tsunami, for assistance.

His medical bills, which stand at about 90,000 baht, would be covered by
Belgium-based Medicines San Frontieres.

The only hope that keeps Soe Naing going is the chance to return to his
wife and two children in the city of Tavoy in southern Burma.

''As soon as I get an artificial leg, I will go back home. I will find
menial jobs or work in the rice fields there. The doctors told me I could
leave hospital within two months, I miss my family and my home a lot,'' he
said.

Soe Naing is among hundreds of Burmese migrant workers believed to have
survived the tsunami catastrophe. Many, like Soe Naing, were injured but
refused to see doctors. Most went into hiding as the authorities conducted
a series of crackdowns and moved to deport them.

''We have tried to persuade these migrants to see doctors over the past
six months but most of them don't dare to come out as they are still
afraid of being arrested and deported. Only a few are willing to receive
medication from doctors,'' said Sutthiphong Kongkhaphol, a TAG
coordinator.

According to Mr Sutthiphong, many legal migrant workers are also facing
problems. Although they were registered workers, they had lost their
papers when the tsunami struck. Without their identification papers, they
could not apply for a work permit, which would provide protection under
labour law, had no right to the healthcare system, as well as having no
right to stay in the country.

''If they come out without an ID card, they will immediately be classified
as illegal migrants, will be arrested and then deported by police,'' he
said.

The TAG has been helping such migrant workers to re-apply for their ID
cards. So far, 330 workers in Phangnga have now received replacement
cards, and have resumed their work. They also have access to the country's
healthcare system.

The agency also provides financial assistance to families of migrant
workers who are jobless.

Moe, 34, has to take care of his wife, who suffered serious head injuries
after being hurt during the tsunami. She has been left unable to speak
after suffering brain damage. She was not able to take care of the baby
daughter she delivered just after the tsunami struck.

While her medical bills, totalling one million baht, are covered under
labour law, Moe had become penniless as he was not able to leave his wife
and go to work. The TAG provides him with a daily stipend to cover his
expenses.

'' I must thank the Thai government for paying my wife's medical bills,
which we could not afford to pay,'' he said.

He plans to take his wife back to his hometown in Tavoy once her condition
improves. Then he will return to try and find work again in Thailand, he
said.

''There are no well-paid jobs in Burma. My family will starve to death if
I stay in Burma,'' he said.