BurmaNet News, December 23, 2005-January 3, 2006

[Editor]

December 23 - January 3, 2006 Issue # 2871

SPECIAL DOUBLE-SIZED ISSUE

INSIDE BURMA
Washington Post: Ex-inmates describe torture in Burma; two who challenged
junta still pressing for change
Mizzima News: Six Kachin shot dead by Burmese troops
Washington Post: As scrutiny grows, Burma moves its capital country's
isolation is taken one step, and many miles, further
LA Times: So much need, so little help for the deathly ill in Myanmar
New Light of Myanmar: USDA Secretary-General receives British researcher
Robert Taylor
Xinhua: Myanmar to set up more internet centers this year
Xinhua: Myanmar has 135,000 mobile phones
DVB: Motorcycles reportedly banned from Burma's new capital

BUSINESS / TRADE
Korea Herald: Daewoo secures giant gas reserve in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Malaysiakini: Burmese nabbed for 'possession' of Suu Kyi calendar
AFP: Myanmar migrants in Thailand await return of their tsunami dead

INTERNATIONAL
Washington Post: U.S. sees Burma as 'Test Case' in Southeast Asia

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Bleak outlook for Thai diplomacy
New Strait Times: Turning the screws on Myanmar - Zaid Ibrahim

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 3, The Washington Post
Ex-inmates describe torture in Burma; two who challenged junta still
pressing for change - Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima

Rangoon: Min Ko Naing spent nearly 16 years in solitary confinement. Not
even his jailers would make eye contact with him.

Myo Myint was repeatedly stripped, shackled and beaten while spending much
of the same period in prison, also for challenging Burma's military
rulers. During one interrogation, he recalled, he was kept naked for four
days while being bludgeoned with canes. During another, he was lashed for
hours to a seesaw, head down, until he blacked out.

Each man had passed more than a third of his life in prison when both were
released in 2004. Min Ko Naing, 44, remained in Burma, under scrutiny of
the secret police. Myo Myint, 43, fled to a small town just over the
border in Thailand.

Their testimony, provided in separate interviews last month, highlights
the psychological and physical abuse endured by political prisoners in
Burma, which is ruled by a military junta. More than 1,100 people remain
in jail for seeking democratic reform, according to Amnesty International.

The two men's accounts reveal how determined they remain to press for
social change despite torture inside prison walls and only the remote
prospect for a shift in power outside them.

Myo Myint now works with a group advocating prisoner rights. Min Ko Naing
is urging the government and its opponents to set aside political
differences to ease the country's deepening poverty and treat spreading
disease.

It was not possible to independently verify the two men's accounts, but
their descriptions of conditions in the prisons were similar to those
provided by other former Burmese inmates.

Min Ko Naing organized a national student union in the 1980s to press for
democracy. But in August 1988, Burmese security forces smashed the
movement, killing thousands of students and workers demanding an end to
military rule. In 1989, when he was plucked off the street by men in a red
pickup truck, he became one of his country's most famous political
prisoners.

Though Min Ko Naing is now at constant risk of being rearrested, he agreed
to meet a foreign journalist because, he said, he wanted to emphasize his
hope for national reconciliation. "There were so many bitter experiences,"
he said during the interview behind closed doors in a private room in
central Rangoon. "My individual life and experience was bitterness."

But he refuses to dwell on the past. "We've glimpsed the light of the
Buddha's teachings," he said, referring to other former student activists.
"Forgiveness and loving kindness can conquer the hatred. Our aim for all
citizens of our country is to leave our individual sacrifice and
individual suffering for the past."

Min Ko Naing's voice is deep but soft, his dark brown eyes sober. When he
explains his views, he ticks off the points on slender fingers. When he
wants to summon a memory, he presses a thumb to his forehead.

Throughout his time in prison, Min Ko Naing said, he was kept in a cell
apart from others, watched by unseen military agents and denied even a
book or a pen. "There was no human contact," he recalled, then switching
from Burmese to English for emphasis: "Nothing."

He spent the first nine years in the infamous Insein Prison, in a dim cell
eight feet by 10 feet.

Leaning forward during the interview, he drew a tight circle in the air
with his hand to illustrate the size of his cell. Then he rose to his feet
and turned his back, extending his right arm behind him. He pretended to
flick a lighter, demonstrating how his jailers would light his cheroot
cigar without facing him.

"The guard wouldn't even look at me because military intelligence was
watching," he said. "They were so afraid of letting me have contact with
others -- not even a cat, not even a bird."

In 1991 his parents and sister were allowed to see him, but no one else
outside his family, and never for more than 15 minutes every two weeks, he
said. He was hooded when he was taken to and from the meeting point, to
prevent any other human contact. In 1998, he was transferred to Sittwe
Prison in remote Rakhaing state, 350 miles from Rangoon. Visits became
almost impossible.

Min Ko Naing was released in November 2004, unexpectedly and without
official explanation.

He said in the interview that he believed the country's military rulers
were unlikely to relinquish power any time soon. So since his release, he
and other activists have urged the government to cooperate with them on
social programs to raise incomes and help reverse what are among Asia's
worst outbreaks of AIDS and malaria.

The government has so far shunned the proposals. Some Burmese who have
been in contact with the former prisoners have themselves been jailed
recently.

The information minister, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, said his government
respects the rights of all people in Burma, which the rulers call Myanmar.

"The people of Myanmar are enjoying human rights no less than the people
of other countries," Kyaw Hsan said in an interview. "There is a high
level of human rights in our country. But all people have to abide by the
rules and regulations of the nations." People's rights can be curtailed
only if they act in a way that "affects the stability and security of the
state and the national interest," he said.

Myo Myint did not know Min Ko Naing. But he knew of him. And he knew they
shared the same goals.

A handsome, six-foot-tall son of a Burmese army captain, Myo Myint
followed his father into the service. But then a land mine blew off his
right arm and leg. He said that his long convalescence gave him time to
reflect on atrocities he had seen fellow soldiers commit and that he began
to see the bleakness of the government.

In 1989, he met Aung San Suu Kyi, the charismatic opposition leader whose
fledgling party, the National League for Democracy, was beginning to
attract legions of followers. Myo Myint became an official in the party's
youth wing.

In August 1989, Myo Myint was arrested and sent to Insein Prison. The
following year, inmates there went on a hunger strike, demanding that
political prisoners be released. The jailers broke the strike. Myo Myint
recalled that they forced him to lie facedown for more than seven hours
while they stood on his remaining arm and leg, beating him with a wooden
rod.

Other times they made him squat on his one good leg for four hours a day,
blindfolded.

The prisoners called the tiny, darkened isolation cell at Insein the
"military dog cell," Myo Myint recalled during an interview in Mae Sot, a
Thai town on the Burmese border. Once, he said, he was left in that cell
for a month. He could not see anything, only the hand of the prison guard
passing him a stale portion of fish paste.

"You didn't know if it was day or night," he said.

Another time, he recalled, he was stripped, blindfolded and forced to
perch on a four-foot-high stool, handcuffed to the seat. Then the guards
kicked it out from under him, punching him and beating him on the back and
hips with canes.

What sustained him throughout his three terms in prison over nearly 15
years, he said, was his belief that one day Burma's internal strife would
end. "Many people made sacrifices," he said. "I myself, I lost my leg.
Many people lost their parents, their children. . . . Only having
reconciliation and a democratic government, that is what I wanted."

Upon his second release, in 1997, he set out to support those who were
still inside. Using his prison contacts, he smuggled food and letters into
the jail. Within one month, he was caught and taken to a military
intelligence center. There, he said, he was starved and beaten until he
suffered rectal bleeding.

Myo Myint was released for the final time in May 2004 and again resumed
his underground efforts. But every two days, an intelligence officer would
visit his home, warning him to stop, he said. Last March, after he was
interrogated for an entire day and threatened with arrest yet again, Myo
Myint decided it was time to leave. He used his old military ID card to
slip across the border into Thailand. He now works in Mae Sot for the
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, documenting the number of
political prisoners still behind bars.

A report issued last month by the assistance association said the type of
abuse experienced by Min Ko Naing and Myo Myint is widespread. Based on
interviews with 24 former political prisoners, the report said torture is
used to "break down" political activists and instill fear in the public.

At night, Myo Myint said, he still wakes up sweating and shaking. It could
be a dog barking that jars him from sleep. It could be a memory. The
images of tortured prisoners haunt him.

"I know exactly how they feel, how they suffer," he said. "As long as they
are behind bars, I cannot ignore that. So I work for them."

Nakashima reported from Mae Sot, Thailand.

_____________________________________

January 3, Mizzima News
Six Kachin shot dead by Burmese troops - Myo Gyi

Six people including an officer from the Kachin Independence Organisation
were killed and two injured after they were shot by Burmese troops
according to a high-rank KIO officer.

Troops from the 68th Infantry Battalion launched an attack on the Kachin
people near Naung Hant village in Northen Shan State on Monday evening,
killing KIO officer Gam Phang, members Zakhung Khawng Kham, Maram Brang
Shawng, Htu Shan and Aik Nyunt, a resident from Man Kan village.

Two other people were injured during the attack and have been taken to a
Muse hospital.

"[The attack] was not done by mistake. We told [the authorities] to take
action on the culprits," said a KIO officer, who requested anonymity.

According to a witness who escaped the shooting, Aik Nyunt died instantly.

"There is a Kachin check point. The Burmese military shot accidentally. I
was driving my trawler and we were preparing to have dinner there," the
witness told Mizzima.

It is unclear why the military attacked the Kachin people but the KIO is
reportedly preparing for battle, increasing the tension between the two
sides.

The KIO signed a cease-fire agreement with the junta in 1993.

_____________________________________

December 28, Washington Post
As scrutiny grows, Burma moves its capital country's isolation is taken
one step, and many miles, further - Alan Sipress

Rangoon: Military trucks rumble up in front of Rangoon's ministries
several times a week and workers lug ancient desks, chairs and filing
cabinets to the waiting vehicles. The convoys depart at daybreak on a
12-hour journey along roads badly rutted and pocked, then return for
another load.

Burma's military rulers are rapidly transferring the country's century-old
capital from Rangoon to the desolate, rocky terrain of Pyinmana about 200
miles to the north, aiming to empty most offices by the end of next month.
Distraught civil servants, among the thousands scheduled to relocate, have
wept in front of foreign officials. Some government employees have asked
to quit, including many at the Irrigation Ministry who tried to resign en
masse, but have been told that is forbidden, according to their family
members.

"The government's crazy. Everybody hates this idea," said Soe, a
deliveryman whose cousin, a military officer, has been transferred. "This
Pyinmana, I wish I could blow the place up." Few in Rangoon can fathom the
motives for the abrupt move, which began Nov. 6. Most observers and even
some government officials say they suspect it was solely the brainchild of
Gen. Than Shwe, the secretive head of Burma's ruling military junta. Some
have speculated that government fears of a U.S. invasion are to blame for
the move, or perhaps civil unrest or even the prophesies of a soothsayer.

Whatever the reason, the impact is clear. The move further isolates the
government at a time when demands are mounting at the United Nations for
the release of the imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma's
neighbors are expressing impatience with the country's lack of democratic
reform, and the Bush administration is campaigning to bring the issue
before the U.N. Security Council.

Burma's gradual retreat from contact with the outside world began in
October 2004, when Than Shwe fired his prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt,
and ordered his arrest, ostensibly for corruption. While Khin Nyunt had
been head of military intelligence, some Asian governments regarded him as
a moderating force on the issue of democratic change. He was also the
rulers' main interlocutor with foreign governments and agencies. With his
removal, the government purged several allied cabinet ministers who had
experience working with the United Nations. Since then, Burma also has
tightened travel restrictions on foreigners and threatened to withdraw
from the International Labor Organization over its criticisms. The former
British colony has been controlled since 1988 by the military junta, which
refused to accept the results of 1990 legislative elections in which Suu
Kyi and her party won in a landslide.

Senior Burmese ministers were given just two days' notice of the
relocation from the port city of Rangoon to the heartland of the majority
Burman ethnic group. Witnesses recounted seeing the initial convoy depart
Rangoon at precisely 6:37 a.m., a time that many Burmese attribute to the
counsel of government astrologers. As the trucks pulled away from the
ministries, including several housed in red brick Victorian buildings
dating to the colonial era, army officers led a ritual chant of "We're
leaving! We're leaving!"

Only the next day did the Foreign Ministry of Burma, renamed Myanmar by
the junta, notify foreign diplomats that the capital had left town. "You
can communicate with the Myanmar government by letter. If you have an
urgent matter, you can send a letter by fax," said an Asian diplomat,
repeating the instructions he had been given by the Foreign Ministry. "Can
you believe that?" Officials said foreigners would not be allowed to visit
Pyinmana until April at the earliest. Embassies will eventually be leased
land in a diplomatic compound and are expected by the government to begin
building new missions in late 2007.

The information minister, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, said in an interview that
the shift to Pyinmana would not interfere with government operations. "The
movement to Pyinmana will be made step by step to ensure no difficulties
for service personnel and to ensure continued function of the
departments," he said. But civil servants have told their families that
few buildings are ready in the new capital, located about 20 miles west of
the existing town of Pyinmana in a region with one of the country's
highest rates of malaria. Government housing remains unfinished, with
electricity and water supplies running short. In one ministry building,
about 90 people slept on the floor. Higher-ranking officials camped out
atop desks and tables. There were few signs of the schools, hospitals,
shopping mall and luxury hotels the government has promised.

"You know there's no psychiatric hospital in Pyinmana," a government
official quipped. "They'll need one because everyone is going to go
crazy."

The move has divided extended families, and parents are to be separated
even from their children, at least until schools are built in Pyinmana.
For civil servants, who often moonlight or sell their government gasoline
allowances on the black market to supplement monthly pay of $20 or less,
it also means they may lose their main sources of income. There is no
ready market in Pyinmana.

Kyaw Hsan said shifting the capital to the center of the country was
designed to help develop Burma's outlying regions, where the government
has been trying to ensure peace after years of insurgency by minority
ethnic groups. "It's good for the future as regards management and
administration of the country," the information minister said. Some
foreign diplomats and Burmese exiles attribute the move more to the regal
presumptions of Than Shwe, 74, who has ruled for 13 years and may be
seeking to build a legacy like Burmese kings of old. They noted he had
already established a new military district to include Pyinmana and dubbed
it Naypyidaw, or Royal City.

Diplomats and exiles said the new location could also prove more
defensible, with a vast military complex being built nearby, nestled
against the mountains and, some say, housed partly in underground tunnels.
The new location could also insulate the government from potential unrest
generated by students and others suffering mounting hardships in the rest
of the country, especially Rangoon.

Two months ago, without advance notice or explanation, the government
slashed fuel subsidies, hiking gasoline prices by nine times, and then
boosted bus fares by as much as five times, forcing many day laborers to
stay home rather than look for work.

"We can't understand the reasons," said a man named Aung, who works for a
foreign company. "Who suffers? Only the ordinary people, the office
workers, government workers, gardeners. Inflation is tremendous. Our money
is worthless." The escalating fuel prices have stoked inflation, now
running as high as 40 percent annually, up from about 10 percent a year
ago, according to statistics compiled for a Western embassy. U.N. agencies
report that malnutrition, rural landlessness and school dropout rates are
all on the rise. "People are suffering. But they can't complain. Good or
bad, people have no right to say anything," said a Burmese businessman.

Yet Rangoon's markets still teem. Store shelves are heavy with cheap goods
from China and Thailand. Crowds of peddlers, hawking shoes, shortwave
radios and pirated software, make the sidewalks a maze, and the narrow
aisles of the traditional meat and vegetable markets are clotted with
shoppers.

Aware that a rice shortage could spark unrest, the government has invested
heavily in dams, reservoirs and pump stations for irrigation, directing
farmers about five years ago to raise two crops annually rather than one.
Rice exports are also regulated. As a result, the staple is widely
available and, in recent weeks, the price has dropped.

As the military rulers have isolated themselves, they have done the same
with Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy. The
military has repressed the party in waves since an initial clampdown in
1988. The 60-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was arrested for a third
time in 2003 and is now confined to her lakefront home in northern Rangoon
under heavy police guard. The government has eliminated most of her
household staff, leaving only two female companions. Her only visitor is a
doctor who comes once a month, and her communication with the outside has
grown even less frequent over the past six months, foreign officials said.
Outside Suu Kyi's home, her party's flag -- a gold peacock on a red field
-- has faded. Members of her party said no one has been able to replace
it. About 300 of their offices have been shut down by the government,
leaving only the national headquarters, a two-floor storefront operation
cluttered with creaky, old wooden furniture and stacks of musty files.
Some members are jailed and others are barred from holding meetings, party
officials reported.

"They won't let us move an inch," explained one of the party's leaders,
who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. "What
is our plan? To survive. We are still here after 17 years and this is how
we intend to stay."

But another party figure was more melancholy than defiant.

"We are not pushing anything," said the activist, who had been elected to
parliament in the 1990 vote. "We are just floating on the political
current. We are trying not to drown."

Correspondent Ellen Nakashima in Bangkok contributed to this report.

____________________________________

December 27, Los Angeles Times
So much need, so little help for the deathly ill in Myanmar - Richard C.
Paddock

The nation suffers from high numbers of AIDS, TB and malaria cases, but
gets minimal foreign assistance because of its repressive regime.

Yangon: A growing humanitarian emergency has sparked fears that thousands
could die of disease and malnutrition in Myanmar, whose repressive
military regime has drawn international condemnation and punishing U.S.
trade sanctions.

Myanmar faces one of Asia's worst AIDS epidemics and suffers 60% of all
malaria deaths on the continent, U.N. officials say, but it receives
little foreign aid.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is
financing worldwide efforts to combat the three diseases, cut off $87
million in funding for Myanmar this year, citing a lack of cooperation
from the ruling junta, which continues four decades of military control.

If other major donors don't come forward, U.N. officials say, thousands of
people will die, including as many as 5,000 AIDS patients who were
supposed to receive antiretroviral drugs under the five-year Global Fund
program.

"The Global Fund was never given a chance to function," said Charles
Petrie, the chief U.N. official in Myanmar. "Without exaggeration, people
are going to die because of this decision. People who survived the regime
are going to die because we are not able to provide the humanitarian aid
to help them survive the disease."

The looming health crisis in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has sparked
debate among aid workers here and pro-democracy advocates outside the
country over which should be the highest priority: preventing a
humanitarian disaster or bringing down the regime.

One Washington-based advocate who insisted on anonymity said that blame
for the lack of aid should be placed squarely on the regime and that the
international community's focus should be on bringing about political
change in Myanmar.
"It's not like people get up in the morning in Washington and decide they
want to make people in Burma suffer more," she said. "It needs to be
recognized who causes suffering in that country. It's not the Global Fund,
it's not the U.N., it's not the Congress. It's the regime."

But Brian Williams, the UNAIDS country coordinator for Myanmar, likened
the cutoff of medical aid to withholding food from people at a refugee
camp.
"If there were refugee camps and you stopped feeding people, you would be
accused of murder," he said. "Here, if you are able to provide aid to
people in need, then you should do so. If you need to reach people, you
have to work with the authorities who are in place."

Neither U.S. sanctions nor efforts by neighboring Asian countries to
engage the regime have succeeded in winning concessions, particularly the
release of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won 80% of
the vote in the country's last election, in 1990, but the military refused
to hand over power. She has been under house arrest or imprisoned for 10
of the last 16 years.

When Suu Kyi was last free, in 2003, pro-government thugs attacked her
motorcade, killing dozens of her followers in what U.S. officials say was
an attempt to assassinate her. In response, the Bush administration
imposed trade sanctions that prohibit U.S. companies from doing business
here. The sanctions put an estimated 20,000 people out of work, a U.N.
official said, and have contributed to the steady deterioration of the
economy.

The regime, headed by Sr. Gen. Than Shwe, 74, seems impervious to outside
political pressure and appears content to remain cut off from the West.
Apparently following the advice of astrologers, the government isolated
itself further last month by abruptly moving its capital from Yangon, also
known as Rangoon, to the remote town of Pyinmana 200 miles north.

The regime's actions have been costly. Despite its overwhelming poverty,
multiple epidemics and dearth of social services, Myanmar receives less
international humanitarian aid per capita than almost any country in the
world, including others with repressive governments.

Neighboring Laos, for example, which is ruled by a Communist regime,
receives more than 20 times as much humanitarian aid per capita as
Myanmar, according to 2003 figures compiled by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development. Vietnam receives nine times as much
aid per capita as Myanmar, the figures show. Even Cuba, which also is
subject to U.S. trade sanctions, receives more than twice as much aid per
person.

"What I deplore is the low levels of international assistance," said Guy
Stallworthy, Myanmar country director of Population Services
International, which would have received a share of the Global Fund money
to finance its AIDS prevention program. "When you put that together with
the military regime, it's a horrendous situation."

With the lack of action by the government and the shortage of aid funds to
nongovernmental organizations, all three diseases targeted by the Global
Fund have become epidemic in Myanmar and pose a threat to neighboring
countries China, India and Thailand.

HIV has spread from drug users and sex workers into the general
population, and its prevalence is estimated to be as high as 2.3%. Towns
on the border with China that are popular with truckers are among the
hardest hit.

Myanmar's tuberculosis rate is one of the highest in the world, with
97,000 new cases detected annually. Multi-drug-resistant strains of
tuberculosis are spreading within the country and across the border. About
600,000 cases of malaria are reported annually in Myanmar, with 3,000
deaths. Malaria is the leading cause of death for children under 5.

In cutting off aid, the Global Fund acknowledged that the health situation
in Myanmar was "extremely precarious" and said, "These diseases could soon
reach catastrophic proportions, affecting the entire region."

The Global Fund initially granted $98 million for healthcare programs in
Myanmar, which is almost the size of Texas. In May, however, security
officials became concerned about foreign aid workers traveling around the
country and imposed strict travel restrictions. The Global Fund concluded
that the aid could not be distributed properly and, in August, cut off $87
million in funds that had not been disbursed.

The travel restrictions were lifted soon after.

Suu Kyi, who is held incommunicado by the government, has in the past
advocated sanctions against the regime. But other leading opposition
figures in Myanmar expressed disappointment over the Global Fund's
decision to withdraw assistance.

"We need international aid to solve the health crisis," said Min Ko Naing,
a prominent student leader of 1988 democracy protests freed last year
after nearly 16 years in prison. "We need any form of donations and
cooperation on this issue. We cannot wait for a political settlement."

Some foreign aid workers here contend that the Global Fund's decision to
withdraw from Myanmar was the result of political pressure from the United
States and hard-line democracy advocates in Washington who have the ear of
key members of Congress.

Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden, however, denied that politics played any
part in the decision and said the program was terminated because Myanmar
had reneged on its commitment to let aid workers travel.

"The claim that political pressure was building on us and that we were
looking for an excuse to get out is totally unfounded," Liden said.

Congress has warned it will withhold part of its contribution to the
United Nations Development Program if the aid it administers appears to be
helping the military government.

Some aid workers here question what they contend is a strategy of
withholding assistance from Myanmar in the hope of bringing down the
regime.

"The idea of grinding them down so they will rise up is morally suspect,
even if it could work," said one foreign aid worker who asked not to be
identified. "The idea that an impoverished, downtrodden population is more
likely to rise up is not true. They spend all their working hours trying
to find their next grain of rice."

_____________________________________

January 2, New Light of Myanmar
USDA Secretary-General receives British researcher Robert Taylor

Yangon: Secretary-General of the Union Solidarity and Development
Association U Htay Oo received Prof Mr Robert H Taylor, a researcher on
Myanmar Affairs, of the Britain this afternoon at the Headquarters of USDA
here.

Also present at the call were Joint Secretary-General of USDA U Zaw Min,
Central Executive Committee Member of USDA U Aung Thein Linn and
officials.

At the meeting, Secretary-General U Htay Oo briefed on objectives, policy
and organizational set-up of USDA, participation of USDA in implementation
of development tasks of the State in cooperation with the people and
development of the State. Members of USDA also briefed on activities of
USDA for development of the State. Secretary-General U Htay Oo and
officials replied to the queries raised by Mr Robert.

_____________________________________

January 3, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to set up more internet centers this year

Yangon: Myanmar will expand internet services to four cities in the
country this year to facilitate communications especially business and
education, a local weekly reported Tuesday.

The cities cover the new capital of Pyinmana, Pyay, Taunggoo and Magway,
the Voice quoted computer industry sources as saying.

Internet centers are available in major cities such as Yangon, Mandalay,
Taunggyi, Mawlamyine and Monywa.

Yangon, which is the Myanmar Teleport (previously Bagan Cybertech), has a
private internet service provider (ISP). It had initiated the internet and
the internet-based telephone system in 2001 in cooperation with the Shin
Satellite Co. of Thailand.

According to official statistics, the number of internet users in Myanmar
has topped 70,000.

Meanwhile, a Myanmar and a Canadian information and communication
technology (ICT) companies have reached a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) to run an ISP in Myanmar as part of the country's bid to expand such
services, reports said.

A Hong Kong (HK) company, the SS8 Networks Inc., has also agreed with an
ICT company of Myanmar to run security services for ISPs in Myanmar,
according to earlier reports.

Myanmar has launched some e-government systems including e-visa,
e-passport, and e-procurement to effect management of government bodies.

Myanmar introduced e-education system in early 2001. Being a signatory to
the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement initiated at the regional summit in
Singapore in 2000, Myanmar has also formed the e-National task Force to
support the IT development.

The country has also signed a series of MoUs with companies from Malaysia,
Thailand and an ASEAN organization on ICT development.

_____________________________________

January 3, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar has 135,000 mobile phones

Yangon: Myanmar had 135,664 mobile phones at the end of 2005, the official
newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.

Of the total of phones in the country's 14 states and divisions, Yangon
had 112,792, or 83 percent, while Mandalay 16,355, or 12 percent.

Myanmar began to introduce cellular phone system in 1993, the DECT
(Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) and CDMA (Code Division
Mutiple Access) in 1997, and the GSM (Global System for Mobile) in 2002.

Yangon has 81,000 GSM lines in operation and plans to add 40, 000 more.

With the population of 5.2 million, Yangon will have one GSM phone per 43
persons in the near future, up from one GSM phone per 64 persons at
present.

Meanwhile, the number of traditional fixed phones remained at 325,280, up
258,624 from 1988. Yangon division accounted for 145, 509 or 45 percent,
while Mandalay division 12 percent, figures show.

According to the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), the
department has planned to raise its telephone density by up to 3 percent
within the next two years. The country's present telephone density stands
at 0.8 percent, or 8 phones for 1, 000 people.

The MPT remains at present the only mobile phone service provider in Myanmar.

_____________________________________

December 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Motorcycles reportedly banned from Burma's new capital

We have learned that regional authorities issued an order early this month
that once all the military regime's ministries, including the SPDC's
[State Peace and Development Council] War Office, have been relocated,
motorcycles will no longer be allowed in Pyinmana starting from 2006.
Although renewal of licences will be allowed, the motorcycles will only be
permitted to operate in Lewe, Tatkon and other places but not in Pyinmana.

There are buses in Pyinmana, but motorcycles and trishaws are used for
transport in some small lanes and streets where the buses cannot enter.
Pyinmana residents who are bound to face difficulties in commuting are
unhappy with the situation, and here is what a local resident said:

[Unidentified male resident] It will happen only after the ministries have
been relocated. Motorcycles in Pyinmana will be banned. Their licences can
be renewed but they can only be operated in places like Lewe, Tatkon, and
other areas. The order came out this month. They used megaphones to
announce the order, and I could not make out what they were saying. I
asked around and only found out about it later. The order has been out but
they did not say exactly when or whether the motorcycles have been banned.
They may make arrests if they find one on the streets. You can still go
around on one if arrests are not made. Some people choose not to but
others continue to use motorcycles. Some have sold theirs. [End of
recording]

Although the ministries are being moved to Kyat Pyae, a lot of public
service personnel have not arrived yet. Local residents say those who did
come, went home later because of scarcity or impure drinking water, high
commodity prices, and lodging inconvenience.

A local resident has this to say about the situation in Kyat Pyae.

[Unidentified male resident] Some people have come and gone. Not many
people continue to stay here. I believe things did not go well for them. I
don't see much of them around. I don't really know where the buildings for
the public service personnel are because there are no signs to indicate
where they are. The construction, however, is going on and work is
continuing. And, some people are staying there. [End of recording]

That was comments by a local resident with regard to the situation in Kyat
Pyae.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 28, The Korea Herald
Daewoo secures giant gas reserve in Myanmar - Ko Kyoung-tae

Daewoo International Corp., one of the nation's leading trading companies,
announced yesterday it secured a large-sized gas reserve in Myanmar, which
was officially certified by a U.S.-based evaluator.

The company said oil industry consultant Ryder Scott Co. evaluated the
reserve of its A-1 offshore gas field to range from 2.88 to 3.56 trillion
cubic feet, equal to around 0.6 billion barrels of crude oil.

"The figure is a conservative estimate. The reserve can exceed the
estimated figure when extracting gas in the future," said Lee Tae-yong,
Daewoo International's president.

Holding a 60 percent stake in the gas field, the gas developer has been
spearheading the project jointly with Korea Gas Corp. and two Indian oil
companies.

"We also plan to complete the test drilling and evaluation on another
adjacent developing area, so-called Shwe Phyu, by the end of 2006," Lee
said.

Securing two offshore gas discoveries on the Northwestern shore of
Myanmar, Daewoo International aims to expand its gas exploration projects
in the Southeast Asian country.

The company is poised to invest $120 million in other neighboring gas
exploration projects over the next 10 months.

"The aggregate reserve of gas fields under the company's development is
expected to top 10 trillion cubic feet at minimum, worth 3.3 trillion won
($3.2 billion) at the present price," said Chung Yon-woo, a research
fellow with Daishin Securities Co.

"I don't think the current stock price fully represents Daewoo's real
value," he added, emphasizing the potential benefits from the gas drilling
could lend more impetus to the company's soaring stock price.

Daewoo International's stock price more than tripled over this year,
reaching 32,300 won at yesterday's market close.

The company is a former trading unit of now-defunct Daewoo Group, which
collapsed under massive debt after the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis.

Korea Asset Management Corp., the state-invested rescue financing company,
currently holds the largest stake at 35.5 percent in the bailed out firm,
aiming to sell it next year.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 29, Malaysiakini
Burmese nabbed for 'possession' of Suu Kyi calendar - Beh Lih Yi

Can a person be arrested for holding a calendar depicting the photo of
Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi? This was among questions posted
by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today.

Receiving a delegation from the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR),
commissioner N Siva Subramaniam said he was "greatly concerned" with the
heavy-handed arrests of four Malaysian activists for attempting to hold a
protest close to the venue of the 11th Asean summit earlier this month.

Also rounded up on the same day were 15 Burmese nationals, including a
couple who were arrested in the Suria KLCC shopping mall - next to the
venue of Asean summit - after the police found three copies of a calendar
poster adorned with Suu Kyi's photo.

On Dec 14, a group of 30 police officers moved in even before the
protestors - who were calling for Asean to address the issues of the
recurring haze and the military dictatorship in Burma - could congregate
in the KLCC park. Two cages of 60 pigeons belonging to the protestors were
also confiscated.

Siva Subramaniam said the arrest of Burmese couple was not proper after
receiving a memorandum on the arrests from the opposition party.

"But of course, we have to get the other side of the story too," he added.

"If what was said by the PKR is true, it will be a great concern to us. If
some police officers have acted against normal conduct, action should be
taken," he added. He also suggested the opposition party to lodge a police
report on the matter.

The commissioner promised that the complaint will be brought to Suhakam's
monthly meeting on Jan 9 next year and the commission will then ascertain
whether there is a need to hold an inquiry into the complaint as proposed
by PKR.

Undermine public confidence

PKR information chief Tian Chua, who was one of the four Malaysians
arrested, said the unruly and excessive force used during the arrests had
tarnished the image of the police force and undermined public confidence
in national security.

Chua pointed out the police's action was a clear indication of their
disrespect of the rights to peaceful assembly and it was ironic for the
Malaysian police to have "shown their ignorance of fundamental norms of
the democratic world during an important international event".

"Since the Kesas highway incident where Suhakam had recommended a set of
guidelines on police conduct and peaceful assembly, the police have
continuously refuse to recognise the rights of Malaysians to assemble," he
said.

He asked Suhakam to step up pressure on the authorities to respect
fundamental rights and urged Suhakam to negotiate with the police in order
to secure the release of Burmese activists who are still being held in
police custody.

All the detainees were released on police bail on Dec 14 apart from five
Burmese refugees who did not have proper documentation. On top of the
five, PKR also called for the release of 85 other Burmese who had been
detained on separate occasions for peaceful protests.

Meanwhile, a handful of uniformed and plainclothes police officers were
also present in the Suhakam building this morning, but no untoward
incident took place.

____________________________________

December 28, Agence France Presse
Myanmar migrants in Thailand await return of their tsunami dead

Ban Nam Khem: Myanmar migrant Magway wanted to join thousands of other
mourners Monday marking the anniversary of the tsunami that killed his
wife and 19-month-old son when it crashed into Thailand's coast last year.

But her body remains in a morgue, about an hour away from the fishing
village where Magway lives, and bureaucratic foot-dragging by both
Thailand and Myanmar have denied him the paperwork to claim her corpse and
find closure.

"First, I was so angry," the 31-year-old fisherman said, sitting on a
wooden bench near his cheap concrete flat in the village, which has been
rebuilt since its destruction in the tsunami.

"Now, I'm okay, but I'm frustrated," he said, wishing he could have
cremated his 30-year-old wife Hla Hla Nwe months ago in a proper Buddhist
ceremony.

Magway learned in September his wife had been identified from among
thousands of corpses at a morgue on Thailand's southwestern coast. His
son, Myo Kyaw Kyaw, remains missing.

So far investigators using mostly fingerprints have put names to some 80
bodies of Myanmar nationals, many of them illegal migrants who sought work
in Thailand, but only two have been claimed.

In total, between 300 and 400 of the 805 unidentified corpses at the
morgue might be those of Myanmar migrants, a lawyer helping the migrants
said.

"The problem is that the relatives cannot retrieve the bodies because of a
lack of official papers to claim them," said Nassir Achwarin, who is part
of a committee from the Lawyers Council of Thailand helping match Myanmar
migrants with their dead.

"Most of them are illegal entrants, so they have no official papers from
either the Thai or Myanmar side," Nassir told AFP.

The papers include Thai identity documents and temporary work permits,
which Magway, who arrived in Thailand illegally in 1994, said he has.

But without papers from his own government identifying him as a Myanmar
national, Magway cannot retrieve his wife.

Magway said he had not approached the embassy for help because he left
illegally and did not want to cause trouble.

He is being helped by the International Organisation for Migration, or
IOM, which along with the lawyers are acting as intermediaries between the
migrants and the identification centre.

"If the (Myanmar) government could help, that'd be good," Magway said.

"There's many people out here who'd be happy.... My friends here are in a
similar position. If the embassy agreed, they'd (migrants) have finished
the funerals a long time ago."

An apparent diplomatic snag has also kept the Myanmar bodies from being
repatriated.

As is the case with corpses of other non-Thais and their home countries,
the kingdom's foreign ministry must contact the Myanmar embassy to arrange
repatriation or cremation of the bodies once they are identified by the
forensics centre.

"The families cannot come to get the body, so we approach their embassy to
act on the family's behalf," said police Colonel Ponprasert Ganjanarintr,
joint chief of staff of Thailand's tsunami forensics operation.

But the Thai foreign ministry has yet to acknowledge the dead Myanmar
workers, failing so far to contact the embassy, or even the forensics
centre despite the fact it has been identifying them for more than a
month.

Foreign affairs officials in Yangon and at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok
declined to comment despite repeated requests. Thai foreign ministry
officials could not be reached for comment.

Ponprasert said the ministry may contact the centre in early January when
it reopens in Bangkok after having shut down in December and relocated
from Phuket province.

And even then, it is unclear if Myanmar's government will acknowledge its
nationals working illegally in Thailand and give them the necessary
documentation, Magway said. Meanwhile, his wife's body remains in cold
storage in Phang Nga province.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 28, Washington Post
U.S. sees Burma as 'Test Case' in Southeast Asia - Glenn Kessler

The Bush administration has mounted a diplomatic offensive against the
military government of Burma, suggesting to nations in the region that it
is a "test case" for whether they hold the same values and standards as
the United States. The effort was jump-started in October after President
Bush spent 50 minutes meeting in the Oval Office with a persuasive 24-year
refugee named Charm Tong. Bush followed up by pressing leaders at an Asian
economic summit in November, winning a written pledge from the president
of the Philippines that she would back an effort by the United States to
bring the issue before the U.N. Security Council.

Other officials, such as Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, also
worked the phones to win the nine votes needed to call a meeting of the
15-member council. The effort resulted in the first-ever discussion of the
situation in Burma by the council earlier this month.

That meeting was held in private -- a move required to preserve a
consensus -- but U.S. officials said they will push for the Security
Council to take up a resolution on Burma, perhaps by next month. Some
nations on the council have questioned whether Burma presents an
international security problem. U.S. officials have responded by offering
a raft of reasons that the Burmese government threatens the stability of
the region, including huge refugee flows, a record of forced labor and
government-sponsored drug trafficking. A number of aid groups have pulled
out of the country in the past year because the government has imposed
increasingly tough restrictions.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs,
privately told the Security Council that Burma is an international
concern, where the people "have many of their essential rights and calls
for democratic reform denied" and there is no evidence the government is
interested in investigating abuses, according to a copy of his remarks. He
said villages have been relocated, with at least 240 destroyed; forced
labor is widespread; and there is a growing "humanitarian emergency" of
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The United States, by itself, has little leverage over Burma, which is
also known as Myanmar. The country has faced a ban on exports to the
United States since 2003 after authorities placed under house arrest Aung
San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was prevented by the Burmese
military from taking office after her party won a landslide electoral
victory in 1990. She has been in detention for 10 of the past 16 years,
and her most recent confinement began after a bloody campaign by
government-sponsored gangs against her and her supporters in May 2003.

But until recently, the administration's diplomatic efforts had little
success in Asia. Burma's neighbors -- and their umbrella group, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- were content to continue
doing business with the repressive government, in part because many feared
that a break in relations would give China greater leverage in the
resource-rich country.

India, Burma's neighbor to the west, and Thailand, on Burma's eastern
border, have also been eager to look the other way while they pursue
business deals, U.S. officials said. Japan, which maintained close links
because it ended British colonial rule during World War II, also refused
to pressure the regime. The approaches taken by ASEAN, India and Japan
"were not producing results and enabling worse behavior by the regime,"
said a senior administration official, who like other U.S. officials spoke
on the condition of anonymity in order to more freely discuss the
administration's strategy.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Burma one of six "outposts of
tyranny" in her confirmation hearings. But although the administration
routinely denounced the government, its diplomatic efforts were low-key.
That changed after Bush met on Oct. 31 with Charm Tong, one of several
dissidents he has brought to the White House in recent months, including a
North Korean defector, a Liberian refugee and the Dalai Lama, spiritual
leader of Tibet.

Charm Tong was born in Shan state, home of Burma's largest ethnic
minority, and was smuggled out of the country by her parents at age 6. She
co-wrote a report titled "License to Rape," which caught the attention of
the State Department three years ago with its accounts of attacks against
hundreds of Shan women and girls. The State Department sent an
investigator to verify the findings, which the Burmese government
adamantly disputed. During the meeting, Charm Tong stressed to the
president that Burma has 50 million people, making it the second-largest
country in Southeast Asia, as a way to emphasize the large number of
people who would be positively affected by a determined U.S. push. U.S.
officials say such sessions energize Bush and give him a human face to a
policy problem. "When the president has a personal affinity with someone,
that dictates policy," one senior official said. "That's the case here."

As a result, the president headed to the Asian economic summit scheduled a
couple of weeks later determined to make progress on the issue.
Coincidentally, the Burmese government announced on Nov. 7 that it had
moved its capital about 200 miles north to a town without running water,
adding to the disquiet in the region. Part of Bush's message was that
"Burma is very important; it is a test case for our whole agenda in the
region," the official said. For instance, the administration is trying to
build a relationship with India based on common values, and the Indians
have been told their approach to Burma is a way to prove their
seriousness. The Chinese were told that certain standards of behavior will
be key to the U.S.-Sino relationship, and one test will be how China deals
with governments with unsavory reputations.

Japan, one of the closest allies of the United States, was especially
reluctant to challenge Burma, but Tokyo has abruptly shifted position,
U.S. and Japanese diplomats said. The key, U.S. officials said, is that
Bush gave a speech in Kyoto during his trip in which he extolled their
common love of democracy -- and the Japanese were bluntly told they would
look silly if they continue to prop up Burma.

The one key ally that has proven a disappointment is Thailand, U.S.
officials said. The family of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a
telecommunications billionaire who took office in 2001, is reported to
have business interests in Burma, and the Thai government believes
stability is essential to keep the lid on drug smuggling and human
trafficking, officials said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 2, The Nation
Bleak outlook for Thai diplomacy

If the performance of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the recent
Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur can be used as a barometer of the state of
Thai diplomacy, we've got one dismal year ahead of us. A lame-duck prime
minister with many albatrosses hanging from his neck, Thaksin is suffering
because he has promoted many initiatives that have no chance of
succeeding. The price of his failed leadership will be high for all of us.

The most obvious of his glaring failures has been his policy of coddling
the Burmese dictatorship. When other Asean leaders have finally done the
responsible thing and begun lecturing Burma on good governance, Thaksin
has been dead silent. For the last five years, Bangkok's policy has been
to shore up the Rangoon regime. In a slip of the tongue, Thaksin recently
admitted that Thailand had spoken too much on behalf of Burma, but that
brief acknowledgement will do nothing to prevent the fact that Thailand's
stance on Burma will be under the world's microscope this year. Thaksin's
ignorance of just how far Thailand is out of step with the world when it
comes to Burma will have increasingly unfortunate consequences for us. He
has allowed his business interests to supersede national if not regional
interests. This has needlessly complicated many aspects of Thai diplomacy.

In early December the UN Security Council agreed to be informally briefed
on the situation in Burma. Now those who support doing something about the
suffering in Burma are pushing for the briefing to take place soon. The
chances that this will happen are very good.

This shift in international feelings on the Burma issue was on display at
the Asean summit. The grouping was quite critical of the news coming out
of Burma as well as the fact that the junta allows so little information
to get out. The government's bizarre plan to move its capital from Rangoon
to Pyinmana was targeted for particularly heavy criticism.

In light of the growing international condemnation of Burma, Asean leaders
have stepped up their calls for more openness in the country. They urged
Burma to be more frank with fellow Asean members, a demarche which Rangoon
has largely rebuffed since joining the group in 1997.

The prevailing attitude on Burma will soon hit Thailand hard and wreak
havoc on Thaksin's diplomatic initiatives. As Thaksin's popularity wanes
and he runs out of political tricks, the effectiveness of Thai
participation in initiatives such as the Asian Cooperation Dialogue will
diminish. Also affected will be Thailand's chance of winning its bid for
the post of UN secretary-general, which looks smaller than ever.

For many reasons, the blame must be squarely placed on Thaksin, who has
unwittingly been using Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's
candidacy to promote himself and Thailand. Surakiart's bid for the top job
at the UN is a long shot and has been further hurt by the bad counsel he
has received. Thailand's international reputation, which was catapulted
not long ago by Supachai Panichapakdi's stint as the chief of World Trade
Organisation, has plummeted in the past two years.

Thaksin has ended up being alienated by the world body he wanted so much
to impress. He has aggravated our weakened position by saying things he
shouldn't have. Thailand's image under Thaksin has been bruised badly.
Fortunately, Thailand had built up a good reputation in the international
arena and should be able to weather the storm, but we cannot indefinitely
withstand the battering of our image that has come during Thaksin's rule.

The situation in the southern provinces will continue to transfix the
Muslim world for the rest of the year and beyond. Thailand has to work
harder to ensure that the violence in the South can be resolved peacefully
and fairly within a domestic framework. Unfortunately, it may already be
to late: Thai authorities are beginning to reveal that many organisations
from the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia are involved in the
area in one way or another. This year will see the clear linkage between
southern Thailand and international networks, which Thai policy-makers
have adamantly denied all these years.

_____________________________________

December 28, New Strait Times (Malaysia)
Turning the screws on Myanmar - Zaid Ibrahim

Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, the Foreign Minister, will be taking along an
important checklist when he leaves for Myanmar next week. He will be
Asean’s special envoy dispatched to determine what exactly the Myanmar
authorities are doing to resolve the political and economic deterioration
that affects millions of people. It is this ongoing crisis of governance
that remains a millstone around Asean’s neck.

The weight of this responsibility is significant because Malaysia was the
loudest voice in support of Myanmar’s Asean membership eight years ago.
Asean’s efforts to protect Myanmar from international pressure merely
emboldened the Myanmar Government, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), to diversify its violations and intensify its misrule. The last
Asean Summit, however, confirmed Malaysia’s own position with regard to
reforms in Myanmar.

Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister expressed in no uncertain
terms that democracy must be realised there.

There has been much speculation over what Syed Hamid will do in Myanmar
and what he will report after his trip. While sceptics may criticise the
trip as a last-ditch venture to find "bullets" for Asean’s "guns" to
defend the regime, many Myanmar themselves hope that Malaysia will be a
catalyst for genuine reforms in their country. After all, it was Malaysian
diplomat Tan Sri Razali Ismail who brought forth the "secret talks"
between democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime in 2000, and it
was the Malaysian Parliament’s Myanmar Caucus that kick-started
unprecedented regional pressure by legislators to deny Myanmar the Asean
2006 chair.

We should be very clear that this trip is a mission that must deliver
results. It should not degenerate into a courtesy visit for the Myanmar
authorities to trot out their usual platitudes about "step-by- step"
democratisation efforts when it is patently clear that they have been
marching backwards.

Asean must not be willing to accept any more excuses and empty promises as
the SPDC dusts off its so-called roadmap for democracy, which centres on a
12-year-old constitution-drafting process that has steadily lost
legitimacy, credibility and representation.

The National Convention to draft a new constitution continues to exclude
nine political parties representing 91 per cent of parliamentary seats.
Anyone who speaks against it can be sentenced to 20 years’ jail. The
number of elected Members of Parliament at the National Convention has
been reduced to 15, or less than two per cent of the assembly.

This year alone, seven more elected MPs were detained, bringing the total
of MPs currently in jail to 13. Khun Tun Oo, MP and chairman of the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy, was arrested in February and recently
sentenced to 90 years in prison. In July, 60-year-old Muslim MP Kyaw Min
(a.k.a. Mohammad Shamsul Anwarul Hoque) was jailed for 47 years. His wife
and three children were sentenced to 17 years’ jail.

Leaders of various ethnic groups, including the Mon and Chin groups, have
been rounded up and detained, along with activists from Suu Kyi’s National
League for Democracy (NLD). Many more remain in jail despite poor health
or old age. Others continue to endure terrible conditions in prison
despite having served their sentences. It is imperative that Syed Hamid
strongly urges that these political prisoners, as well as Suu Kyi and her
senior colleagues, are released without further delay.

The Myanmar Government must be encouraged to set aside their fear of Suu
Kyi’s enduring national popularity. As someone who commands deep respect
and trust across Myanmar’s diverse society, her role as a conciliator
should be valued, not vilified.

Suu Kyi herself has said that she is willing to co-operate with the
authorities for the sake of genuine national reconciliation. Of course,
such co-operation must hinge on principles of equality and openness.

Syed Hamid also needs to have a frank discussion on how the Myanmar
authorities can transform the current roadmap, which has degenerated into
a political dead-end, into something that is genuinely inclusive and
achieves meaningful reforms. Implementation of a sham process that
tramples on human rights and the rule of law will only exacerbate the
problems that Myanmar poses to this region.

Syed Hamid, like his father, is known for his strong sense of justice and
fairness. I am sure he will add his voice to efforts to secure guarantees
that aid agencies be allowed to deliver emergency relief directly to those
who need it. He should be especially concerned about the revelation made
in August by World Food Programme director James Morris that the
authorities only allowed WFP to deliver a mere 430 tonnes of 5,500 tonnes
of rice earmarked for mostly Muslim communities in North Arakan state.

The "to-do" list is indeed a long and significant one, but our Foreign
Minister, with the support of other Asean countries, will be able to
proactively engage the Myanmar Government on key issues. The credibility
of Malaysia and Asean, as well as the destiny of the people of Myanmar, is
at stake.

We have confidence in Syed Hamid’s abilities and talents to transform what
others may consider a "mission impossible" into a possibility of peace and
democracy for the long-suffering people of Myanmar. Bon voyage.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is MP for Kota Baru and president of the Asean
Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, a multi-partisan regional network of
legislators supporting democratisation in Myanmar.