BurmaNet News, January 14-17, 2006

[Editor]

January 14-17, 2006 Issue # 2880


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta blamed for decreasing Shan rice production
Mizzima: Road block to Aung San Suu Kyi's house lifted: NLD
AFP: Silt, debris clogging up Myanmar's Inle Lake: report

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Moreh-based Burmese democracy activists arrested and beaten
AFP: 21 killed in Myanmar offensive on Indian separatists: rebels
SHAN: Thailand accused of supporting Burmese rebels

HEALTH / AIDS
Washington Post: Experts fear Burma is ill-equipped to handle bird flu

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar's neighbors eye energy resources, despite political woes
Xinhua: Burma, China trade zone to open this month

ASEAN
AP: Malaysia tells U.S. that ASEAN will keep urging Myanmar to democratize
Reuters: US envoy welcomes Asian moves on Myanmar
AFP: Myanmar, Thailand ink regional treaty to fight terror and other crimes
AFP: Condoleezza Rice to attend ASEAN regional security meet

REGIONAL
Korea Times: Kim Dae-jung calls for democratization of Myanmar
Antara (Indonesia): President delays visit to Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Human rights situation declining in Burma, says report

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA


January 17, Irrawaddy
Junta blamed for decreasing Shan rice production - Khun Sam

A report released today has accused Burma’s military government of being
responsible for the dramatic decrease in rice production in southern Shan
State and the flight of thousands of Shan villagers to neighboring
countries over the past decade.

In “Deserted Fields: The Destruction of Agriculture in Mong Nai Township,
Shan State,” the Shan Relief and Development Committee claims that “a
series of [government-instigated] national policies and initiatives have
led to a decline in rice production, the abandonment of fertile fields and
the exodus of thousands of residents to neighboring Thailand.”

The 22-page report is based on two years of field research and documents
cases of land confiscation, forced relocation and labor, and restrictions
on local trading and movement. The report concentrates on cases in Mong
Nai Township in southern Shan State.

In a press conference today, researcher Sai Leng pointed out that “there
has been a 56 percent loss in rice production in the past ten years [in
Mong Nai.]” Until the mid-nineties, Mong Nai was one of the biggest
rice-producing areas in Shan State.

The government implemented a rice procurement system as part of its
general agriculture policy from 1994 to 2003. Sai Leng said that under the
system farmers were being forced to sell their rice harvests at prices far
lower than could be obtained from the open market. He added that “farmers
who suffered from poor yields had no choice but to buy from others to fill
their quota, and fall into debt.”

The report also noted that military presence has increased in the area,
with 3 battalions currently based in Mong Nai Township, which has a
population of about 25, 000.

Yan Murng, another speaker at the conference, said that although the
government‘s rice procurement system stopped in 2003, the Burmese army
continues collecting paddy from local farmers, using force if met with any
resistance. He added forced labor was still being used by the Burmese
troops.

Despite the Burmese junta’s consistent claims that its policies are
leading the country to self sufficiency and food security, Charm Tong, a
co-founder of the Shan Women’s Action Network and an ethnic Shan activist,
said the report illustrated how the regime’s agriculture policy has
failed. “[The government] has to make sure people have the freedom to
decide their own future and to grow freely on their land,” she said,
adding that farmers needed food security.

____________________________________

January 17, Mizzima News
Road block to Aung San Suu Kyi's house lifted: NLD

The road block outside Aung San Suu Kyi's house on University Avenue has
been removed according to the National League for Democracy.

"Barbed wire was removed this morning but I don't know why," an NLD
spokesperson told Mizzima.

The road block was set up by the military in 1997 with only military
vehicles and residents of the area allowed through.

The NLD said they thought the move did not signal a political change.

"It may be security perspective but I don't know exactly and no serious
distinctions are known," the spokesperson said.

Burma analyst and researcher Toe Zaw Latt said the move could be a
response to NLD calls for the formation of body, comprising with military
rulers, political parties and ethnic groups, to promote dialogue and
democratic transition.

The calls came on January 4, Burma's Independence Day, and were widely
welcomed by opposition and ethnic groups.

____________________________________

January 17, Agence France Presse
Silt, debris clogging up Myanmar's Inle Lake: report

Yangon: Silt and debris have filled some 40 percent of Inle Lake, one of
Myanmar's most popular tourist attractions, a semi-official weekly
publication said Tuesday.

Visitors have tossed some 50 tonnes of garbage into the lake over the last
decade, the Weekly Journal reported, citing unnamed environmentalists who
blamed the litter as a major cause of the lake's shrinking.

"Environmental analysts said Inle Lake is now in danger of silting over
because of a lack of discipline by visitors, decaying natural environments
and weak conservation," the journal said.

Inle Lake, located about 125 kilometers (90 miles) from the Thai border in
central Myanmar, is one of the military-ruled country's most popular
tourist attractions, along with the ancient Bagan temples.

Foreign tourists have visited Myanmar in growing numbers in recent years
despite calls for a tourism boycott by detained Nobel peace laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi.

Nearly 657,000 visited the country in 2004, up from some 600,000 the year
before, according to tourism authorities.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 17, Mizzima News
Moreh-based Burmese democracy activists arrested and beaten - Tin Zaw Moe

Two Burmese pro-democracy activists have been arrested by an unidentified
armed group in Moreh, India and taken back to Burma.

An estimated 30 armed men raided the Burma Solidarity Organisation's
office in Moreh, an Indo-Burma border town, on Saturday arresting Chit
Thein Tun, Maung Maung Oo and Naing Oo.

The three men were severely beaten by their captors before being forced
into the Burmese town of Tamu. Indian forces clashed with the group as
they crossed the border, allowing Naing Oo to escape during the confusion.

Burma Solidarity Organisation spokesperson Dr Thura told Mizzima he had
little information on Chit Thein Tun and Maung Maung Oo's whereabouts.

"What we have learned so far is that they all are in the hands of military
junta's troops but we don't know the exact location. Naing Oo is in a safe
place," Dr Thura said.

Chit Thein Tun's wife and parents, Tamu residents, were arrested by the
Burmese military yesterday.

The reasons for the men's arrest are unclear but local residents said they
thought Manipuri rebels based in Burma or Burmese troops could have been
responsible.

A Manipuri rebel group summoned Maung Oo to their headquarters two days
after the twin bomb blasts in Tamu, urging him to deny involvement in the
bombings in local English-language newspaper the Sangai Express.

Burmese activist groups based on the India-Burma border, the All Burma
Students Democratic Front and the Federation of Trade Unions (Burma) were
blamed for the blasts which killed two people on January 10.

Both organisation denied the allegations and said they thought the Union
Solidarity and Development Association was responsible.

____________________________________

January 14, Agence France Presse
21 killed in Myanmar offensive on Indian separatists: rebels

Guwahati: At least 15 Myanmar soldiers and six Indian insurgents died and
dozens were seriously wounded in heavy fighting to evict the rebels, a
separatist leader said Saturday.

"So far we have killed 15 Myanmar soldiers and lost six of our cadres,"
rebel leader Kughalo Mulatonu said by telephone from a location near the
India-Myanmar border where the offensive took place this week.

"It is no longer mere fighting but a full-scale battle with the junta
using mortars and heavy weapons on us," said Mulatonu, who heads the main
faction of the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).

The group is fighting for an independent tribal homeland in India's
northeastern state of Nagaland. It claims to have some 50 camps and 7,000
rebels in Myanmar's northern Sagaing Division, which borders Nagaland.

There was no independent confirmation of the clashes from the Myanmar or
Indian authorities.

Last month, Myanmar, also known as Burma, launched a major crackdown
backed by some 3,500 government soldiers to evict the rebels. The group
claimed they lost three rebels and two camps in the swoop.

In the latest fighting, which began last Saturday, the group said Myanmar
soldiers had destroyed 50 temporary shelters housing around 500 rebels.

Mulatonu said he feared Myanmar was planning a massive strafing operation
with helicopter gunships on their camps but added that his men were ready
with heavy machineguns.

Besides the Nagaland rebel faction, at least four other guerrilla groups
from India's northeast -- where numerous ethnic groups have taken up arms
to demand greater autonomy or independence -- have training camps in
northern Myanmar's jungles.

Myanmar has repeatedly assured New Delhi that the junta would not let
Indian rebels operate from its soil.

Myanmar, which shares a 1,640 kilometer (1,000 mile) unfenced border with
India, said in January 2005 that its troops had killed at least 20 rebels,
most of them from the Nagaland faction in the same area.

The Nagaland rebel faction has observed a ceasefire with New Delhi since
2001, although peace talks are yet to begin.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the
northeast since India's independence in 1947.

____________________________________

January 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Thailand accused of supporting Burmese rebels

Burma has again charged Thailand of aiding and abetting the All Burma
Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Karenni National Progressive
Party (KNPP), the two groups active along the border areas west of
Maehongson, reports Thai News, a Thai language paper yesterday.

Col Aye Lwin, leader of the Burmese delegation, had designated the armed
dissidents as "terrorists" and claimed that the KNPP was stockpiling its
arms at the refugee camp in Nai Soi, Tambon Pangmu, Muang district and at
another camp in Mae Surin, Khunyuam district. His counterpart, Col Suthas
Charumanee, Commander of the Naresuan Force, had reportedly dismissed the
accusation and promised to inquire into the arms allegation.


>From the Thai side, Burma was requested to be alert for dry season forest

fires along the border, to refrain from firing at Thai aircraft on their
reconnaissance missions near the border and for full cooperation during
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's visit to the north that begins this month.

The meeting took place at Mesay, Bawlake township, Kayah State, 7 miles
inside Burmese territory, opposite Tambon Saohin, Mae Sariang district.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 15, The Washington Post
Experts fear Burma is ill-equipped to handle bird flu - Alan Sipress

Rangoon: When the chickens began dying in Mon state last year, residents
feared that East Asia's lethal bird flu epidemic had finally crossed to
Burma.

The provinces over the Thai border had already been hit hard by the
disease and now hundreds of Burmese chickens were suddenly perishing
without explanation. A local veterinary official initially blamed some of
the deaths on sunstroke.

Alerted to the outbreak by reports on a Norway-based radio station run by
Burmese exiles, the United Nations contacted Tang Zhengping of the Food
and Agriculture Organization -- the chief U.N. agriculture official in
Rangoon -- who in turn called the government's top animal health expert to
inquire, according to U.N. and Burmese sources. The government official
responded that he didn't know anything about it.

Burmese officials repeated as recently as last month that they have no
confirmed cases of bird flu in either humans or poultry. A cluster of
suspected human cases two months ago was reportedly caused by a less
lethal strain of influenza, while several instances of mass bird deaths
have been attributed by officials to ailments other than avian flu.

But the Burmese government said in a regional report last year that the
country "is a frontier line between the affected and non-affected
countries," adding that "the resources needed to launch a response are not
adequate."

Global health experts outside Burma have been anxious to learn more about
the situation on the inside, repeatedly questioning whether the military
government is being candid when it claims the country remains free of the
lethal virus.

The disease has already devastated poultry flocks across East Asia,
including in China and Thailand, both of which border Burma, and has now
appeared in Turkey. It has also infected at least 162 people, killing at
least 80. International health officials have cautioned that the virus
could spark a global pandemic if it develops into a form more easily
passed from one person to another.

Burma's handling of the Mon state outbreak last year has reinforced
concerns about whether its secretive, cash-strapped government could head
off a bird flu outbreak, which international health experts warn might
then spread quickly west to India and other South Asian countries that
have so far been spared the epidemic.

In response to the telephone call from Tang, the FAO official, veterinary
officials at the country's Livestock and Fisheries Ministry investigated
the outbreak in Mon state. They reported back that it was caused by
Newcastle disease, a widespread poultry ailment of little threat to
humans.

But in an interview, a senior Burmese official admitted last month that he
did not have complete confidence in these findings. He said it had taken
so long for central authorities to learn about the outbreak that the
samples were no longer fresh.

"In some situations, the communication is not so good in our country, so
reports and information from the village level cannot reach the central
government in time," said the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

Though the government had reassured international health experts that the
poultry deaths were not due to bird flu, the official added that Burmese
livestock experts had never tested the chickens for this virus. Animal
health workers had run out of bird flu test kits while surveying live
poultry markets, he explained.

Burmese and international health experts said the country's health and
veterinary services are starved for money, and have difficulty dealing
with the disease. While foreign health experts and diplomats in Rangoon
widely praise the professionalism of Burma's health and livestock
officials, these observers questioned the willingness of authorities to
disclose outbreaks.

They said Burmese culture coupled with years of rule by the military
discourages the reporting of bad news, including natural disasters and
disease. The government, for instance, had long denied the severity of an
AIDS outbreak until the prime minister finally called attention to it in
late 2001, by which time it had already become one of the worst in Asia.
Officials also minimize the threat of cholera, though foreign medical
experts and local press reports mention continuing outbreaks.

"You'd have to assume there's been a big question mark about their data,"
said a foreign health expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear
of government reprisal. "They may not know if they have bird flu. If they
did know, the question is how quickly anyone else would know."

A paper prepared in November by the Livestock and Fisheries Ministry
acknowledged that Burma's location is "strategic," along the routes of
East Asian migratory fowl. Several types of wild birds, including a
species of geese that has already suffered casualties from the virus, fly
from China, Mongolia and the Siberian region of Russia through Burma's
east coast and on to South Asia. A second flyway runs from China, another
country with human cases of bird flu, through a vast nature reserve in
northern Burma before continuing to Thailand.

In areas where migratory birds congregate, Burmese officials have warned
farmers to take precautions to protect poultry against infection. So far,
Burmese officials and other wildlife experts have said there is no sign of
abnormal disease among migratory birds.

Posing a second threat is trade and traffic across Burma's borders,
especially from Thailand. Since bird flu erupted in Southeast Asia in
2003, most of the Thai provinces bordering Burma have recorded diseased
poultry, and one of Thailand's most recent human cases also came from a
border province.

Burmese livestock officials said they had stepped up monitoring of markets
and farms in border towns, enlisting police in the effort. "Now there's a
possibility that some outbreaks at the village level could involve avian
influenza," said a Burmese agriculture official. "It's possible we would
not know."

In the last year, there have been several suspicious poultry die-offs. One
this summer was so widespread among free-ranging chickens that it squeezed
the supply of meat in the markets, forcing prices up, according to a local
press report. Government officials have attributed poultry deaths to
either Newcastle disease or avian pox.

Burmese health officials became worried two months ago when they learned
that about 15 people in eastern Shan state had come down with a serious
influenza-like illness, said Soe Lwin Nyein, a senior government
epidemiologist. Of the 15, three children died.

But health officials sent nine samples to a laboratory in Bangkok
associated with the World Health Organization, which determined that four
of the cases were ordinary human influenza while the others tested
negative for flu altogether, Soe Lwin Nyein said.

U.N. officials welcomed the Burmese government response and are now urging
reluctant livestock officials to likewise send virus samples from poultry
to a foreign laboratory for testing. Given Burma's lack of openness, this
would enhance international confidence, said a U.N. official, adding that
the stakes of remaining secretive are tremendous.

"If they have an outbreak, I think it will spread very fast," he said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 15, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's neighbors eye energy resources, despite political woes - Griffin
Shea

Bangkok: Despite growing frustration in Southeast Asia over military-ruled
Myanmar's politics, the nation's neighbors are still eagerly eyeing its
energy resources -- and spending billions in the process.

A combination of sanctions and domestic political pressure prevent most
western companies from tapping into Myanmar's reserves.

But Asian countries have shown no such qualms, even though Myanmar's human
rights record and its failure to deliver on promised democratic reforms
have increasingly become a thorn in the side of the region.

The UN Security Council in December held an unprecedented briefing on
Myanmar to signal to its military rulers that they must stop stalling on
genuine democratic reforms.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) followed that up with
unusually tough talk at its annual summit, and said it would send an envoy
to evaluate the situation, only to have the generals postpone the trip
last week.

Nonetheless, Myanmar's neighbors -- especially Thailand -- are
increasingly turning to Myanmar to solve their energy problems at home,
and throwing the generals an economic lifeline.

"With the US sanctions, you block the US companies, but there's plenty of
others to come in the wake," said Andrew Symon, a researcher at the
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

"The South Asian, Southest Asian companies, they've got the capital,
they've got the technology" to tap Myanmar's resources on their own, he
said.

Thailand is the biggest buyer of Myanmar's exports, spending some 1.1
billion dollars in 2004, accounting for one third of the country's
exports, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Bangkok's most notable purchase is Myanmar's natural gas, which makes up
more than 20 percent of Thailand's total supply, Symon said.

"These gas exports to Thailand would be far and away (Myanmar's) largest
export earner."

That gas comes mainly from the Yetagun field -- operated by Malaysia's
Petronas, Japan's Nippon Oil and Thailand's PTTEP -- and the Yadana field
run by France's Total, US firm Unocal, and PTTEP.

But PTTEP on Tuesday announced that Myanmar would receive the bulk of the
company's overseas investments in the next five years, as it develops
three more natural gas projects in the Gulf of Mataban as part of a 5.8
billion dollar regional investment scheme.

On Myanmar's western coast on the Bay of Bengal, a consortium led by South
Korea's Daewoo has announced that the Shwe field it operates was verified
with some three trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- roughly equivalent
to the Yetagun field.

Daewoo said it would begin talks with potential gas buyers later this
year, but China and India are already exploring the possibility of
building pipelines to carry the gas to their energy-hungry economies.

Energy sources in Yangon said PetroChina and Myanmar's energy ministry
signed a deal on November 7 agreeing to consider building a pipeline that
would carry natural gas from the Shwe field directly to China.

India has been working on a separate proposal to pipe the gas across
Bangladesh, but has run into problems negotiating the deal with Dhaka.

Alternatively, the fields could be used to provide liquified natural gas
(LNG) for possible export to South Korea or other markets.

Even with the latest finds, experts doubt a sudden rush to develop the
fields, as companies try to decide how much of the gas is recoverable and
how to sell it.

"There's a terrible frustration for international oil companies that they
can't access it, but that's just the way it is," said Noel Tomnay, a vice
president at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie in Singapore.

"For those who can access it... they will still come across financing
issues of course.

____________________________________
January 16, Xinhua
Burma, China trade zone to open this month - Xinhua

Muse: A trade zone in Myanmar's border town of Muse linking China's Ruili
in Yunnan Province will open before February, a Myanmar official
responsible for border trade said Monday [16 January]. After the
inauguration of the border trade zone, also known as the Muse 105 Mile
Zone, it will contribute to the development of the trade between Myanmar
and China, U San Pyae, director-general of the Directorate of Border Trade
of the Ministry of Commerce told a press briefing here. The border trade
zone covers an area of 150 hectares, according to the department.

Beginning December 1988, Myanmar set up border trade offices in Lashio,
Muse, Namhkam and Kunlong, and started implementation of border trade
system in 1991 with China and India. As a follow-up, in 1995, Muse area
was selected and opened as a border trade point with China with one-stop
service being introduced.

Aiming to promote border trade with China, the Myanmar authorities
designated 180 land plots in Muse under four categories for sale beginning
March last year. Myanmar has opened six border trade points with China, of
which Muse stands as the one with greater trade transactions. The country
plans to open more such points to further enhance the bilateral trade with
China.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has also been working to transform border trade to
normal trade to enhance the bilateral trade between the two countries.
Bilateral economic and trade relations between Myanmar and China have
continued to develop in recent years.

According to figures from the Chinese customs department, Myanmar-China
bilateral trade, including the border trade, reached 1.082bn US dollars in
the first 11 months of 2005, up 10.1 per cent from the same period of
2004. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 827m dollars, while
its imports from Myanmar represented 255m, increasing by 4.3 per cent and
34.1 per cent respectively.

The Chinese statistics also register that bilateral trade between Yunnan
Province and Myanmar including the border trade amounted to nearly 400m
dollars in 2004, a 25 per cent increase from 2003. Yunnan's export to
Myanmar reached over 214m dollars, while its import from Myanmar
represented 160m dollars. Myanmar and China were striving for an increase
of bilateral trade volume to 1.5bn US dollars.

Myanmar's rich natural resources, including mining, agricultural and
forest products, have vast market in China, while Myanmar consumers like
Chinese goods. The two countries officially opened the border trade in
1988 and signed the border trade agreement in 1994.

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 16, Associated Press
Malaysia tells U.S. that ASEAN will keep urging Myanmar to democratize -
Sean Yoong

Putrajaya, Malaysia: Malaysia assured the United States on Monday that
Southeast Asian countries will keep encouraging military-ruled Myanmar to
move toward democracy and improve its human rights record.

However, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he told
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill during a meeting that
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations won't try to force Myanmar's
ruling junta to implement democratic changes.

"Everybody who sees us will always express their concern about democracy
in Myanmar and human rights, but (what is) most important is that in
ASEAN, we want to do it in a way that is acceptable to Myanmar," Syed
Hamid told a news conference after the meeting.

Syed Hamid said he hopes to visit Myanmar soon on behalf of ASEAN, adding
that the trip has become particularly important after the U.N. special
envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, announced earlier this month that he has
given up the job due to frustration with the junta.

"We would like to see what (role) ASEAN can play now that the U.N. special
envoy has decided to quit," he said. "We hope to cooperate with Myanmar on
this visit and get a date fixed."

Hill, who was on a two-day trip to Malaysia amid a regional tour, didn't
speak to reporters.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Kathryn Taylor said Hill voiced concerns over
Myanmar's slow pace in introducing political reforms, but he also
expressed appreciation for ASEAN's efforts to spur the military government
to democratize.

The junta, in power since 1988, agreed at ASEAN's annual summit last month
to allow Syed Hamid into the country to monitor the progress of its
self-proclaimed road map to democracy that critics have dismissed as a
sham and delaying tactic.

But the military government said recently it cannot host Syed Hamid this
month as planned because it is in the midst of moving its capital from
Yangon to Pyinmanar.

Syed Hamid said Hill also confirmed that U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice will attend a key regional security meeting that Kuala
Lumpur will host in July.

Rice last year said a scheduling conflict forced her to skip the ASEAN
Regional Forum in Laos, becoming the first secretary of state to miss the
annual meeting in more than two decades.

____________________________________

January 16, Reuters
US envoy welcomes Asian moves on Myanmar

Kuala Lumpur: U.S. envoy Christopher Hill welcomed Southeast Asian
nations' efforts to push Myanmar's military rulers toward democracy when
he met Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on Monday, U.S. embassy
officials said.

The United States has led growing international opposition to Myanmar over
the past two years, tightening sanctions against Yangon and branding it an
"outpost of tyranny" for its house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi.

Hill told Syed Hamid the United States was concerned over Myanmar's
political prisoners and the unpredictability of the generals, most
recently displayed by their decision to move the capital from Yangon, an
embassy spokeswoman said.

He also welcomed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' efforts to
prod Myanmar in the direction of reform.

"And he said that he very much appreciated ASEAN's decision to step out
and be vocal about issues surrounding problems in Myanmar, and also
Malaysia's role in leading that charge," the spokewoman added.

Growing tired of the intransigence of the generals, Myanmar's normally
diplomatic ASEAN partners last year forced them to forgo their scheduled
2006 chairmanship of the 10-member group.

At an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur last month, Myanmar's junta, which has
been in power since 1988, agreed to admit a delegation led by Syed Hamid
to monitor progress of the country's self-proclaimed roadmap to democracy.

But Myanmar appeared to backtrack when it said this month it could not
host the delegation in January as planned because it was tied up with the
move to a new administrative capital at Pyinmana, a remote area 200 miles
north of Yangon.

Malaysia, which chairs ASEAN, said the group would continue to work with
Myanmar, and hoped to set a new date for the visit.

"We hope to be able to talk to Myanmar on this visit and get the date
fixed," Syed Hamid told reporters after meeting Hill.

Asked about the talks, he said: "I was asked on what role ASEAN can play
after the U.N. special envoy had decided to quit."

Former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail gave up his post as U.N. special
envoy to Myanmar when his contract expired on January 3, expressing
frustration that the junta had refused to let him visit for 23 months.
Hill's brief one-day visit to Malaysia was his first as Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific since being appointed
last March. He left for Cambodia on Monday.

Political analyst Bruce Gale said Hill's trip aimed to woo Malaysia into
closer cooperation with the United States on Myanmar.

But the Southeast Asian nation would probably prefer to evolve a joint
ASEAN stance rather than be perceived as being too close to Washington's
position, he added.

"It would be interesting to see if the Malaysians and Americans can hammer
out a joint stand," said Gale, who is based in Singapore. "Perhaps they
may be able to come up with some sort of resolution they can all agree
on."

Hill has called for a concerted effort by the international community to
pierce Myanmar's self-imposed isolation.

"It is incumbent on all of us to make clear to the regime that the world
will not accept a sham political process, but that it would welcome and
respond positively to tangible, verifiable and irreversible steps toward a
genuine national dialogue that empowers the people of Burma ..." he wrote
in the Asian Wall Street Journal this month.

____________________________________

January 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar, Thailand ink regional treaty to fight terror and other crimes

Kuala Lumpur: Myanmar and Thailand on Tuesday signed in Malaysia a
regional treaty to cooperate in fighting transnational crime including
terrorism, the last of the 10 ASEAN members to do so.

"Today is the climax.

All 10 of us are brothers. Let's work together to stamp out cross-border
crime," Malaysia's de facto law minister Mohamad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told
reporters.

Radzi said that under the treaty, members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations could request and give assistance in collecting evidence for
criminal investigations and criminal proceedings.

"Such an arrangement would be of great value in the apprehension of
criminals who have sought refuge from the law by fleeing to neighbouring
countries," he said at the signing ceremony.

The idea of a regional treaty was initiated by Malaysia amid concerns over
rising transnational crimes such as drug trafficking and the smuggling of
migrants in the ASEAN region.

The eight other ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the
Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia -- signed the treaty in
November 2004.

Myanmar and Thailand did not sign at the time because they had not
completed their internal constitutional processes, Malaysia's
attorney-general's office said in a statement.

Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said that in the past criminals had
been able to escape punishment because there was no set procedure to
request evidence from another regional country.

"It has caused delays and it allows criminals to run around with impunity.
With the procedures in place, I can react very fast," he said.

The Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah extremist group has plotted or
carried out attacks in several Southeast Asian nations in recent years.

____________________________________

January 16, Agence France Presse
Condoleezza Rice to attend ASEAN regional security meet

Kuala Lumpur: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend a key
regional security meeting here in July, that she skipped last year,
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Monday.

Rice shunned the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) last year, instead sending her
deputy, in what was seen as an attempt to pressure the Southeast Asian
grouping to tackle democratic reform in recalcitrant Myanmar.

But in a sign of thawing relations, Syed Hamid said her attendance this
year was confirmed by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and
the Pacific Christopher Hill whom he met here Monday.

Malaysia, the current Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
chair, is hosting the ARF meeting of ministers in the capital in July.

It will bring together the 10-nation grouping that includes Myanmar and
its key partners, including the United States, China, Russia and Japan in
the only official security meeting in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under pressure from the international community, ASEAN last month
signalled at its annual meeting its impatience with Myanmar and brokered
an agreement with Yangon to allow Syed Hamid to visit the country.

The visit, initially expected in January, was an attempt to check the
progress of democracy in Myanmar, but Yangon has raised concerns and
delayed the trip.

Syed Hamid said he discussed the trip with Hill and the fact that ASEAN
was still trying to engage with the military junta.

"Of course I think everybody that sees us will always express their
concern about democracy in Myanmar, the human rights issue," said Syed
Hamid.

"But I think most important is that we in ASEAN, we want to do it in a way
that is acceptable to Myanmar," he said, adding he was working with Yangon
to fix a date for the visit.

Malaysia is the current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, which groups
more than 100 mainly developing nations, as well as the Organisation of
the Islamic Conference.

Syed Hamid said Rice had briefed him in a telephone call Sunday about US
moves to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council over the
resumption of its nuclear activities.

"We hope that Iran will continue to be engaged with all parties in order
to resolve the thing peacefully and through dialogue," he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 17, Korea Times
Kim Dae-jung calls for democratization of Myanmar - Ryu Jin

Kim Dae-jung, former South Korean president and 2000 Nobel Peace Laureate,
reiterated his call for an early democratization of Myanmar Monday,
expressing his concern for the worsening situation in the Southeast Asian
nation.

In a special statement titled, the ''Dire Situation in Myanmar Must Be
Improved,'' he urged Myanmar's government to guarantee the free political
activities of political dissidents, including Aung San Suu Kyi whose house
arrest was lengthened late last year.

He also called on the military leaders in Yangon to allow the free entry
and activities of U.N. representatives and other international NGOs and
make appropriate measures so that humanitarian assistance from abroad
could safely reach their suffering people.

''Since 1988, the dark shadow of military dictatorship has grown thicker
and thicker in Myanmar,'' the retired statesman said in the statement.
Despite the international concerns, however, the situation has ''not in
the least improved, he added.

Kim stressed that the international community should make Myanmar's
government take appropriate measures to render hope and relief for all the
people upholding human rights and democracy in the world as well as those
in the country.

''I, along with the Korean people, pledge to do my utmost so that Madame
Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic fighters are freed and the situation
in Myanmar improves, to bring a new age of hope and development in the
future of Myanmar,'' he said.

Kim's aides said that the former president has sent the statement with his
separate letters enclosed to Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in Myanmar, and Kofi Annan,
secretary-general of the United Nations.

During the five years as South Korea's president since 1998 as well as
during the time as opposition leader in the 1980s and 1990s, Kim sent
letters to the leadership of Myanmar and met with them in person to call
for democratization and ensure the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and other
democratic advocates in Myanmar.

____________________________________

January 16, Antara (Indonesia)
President delays visit to Myanmar

Jakarta: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delayed his visit to Myanmar
from the previous schedule in January to mid February.

"The (previous) plan was in late January. But due to the President's
agenda, the visit is delayed until mid February," a spokesman of Foreign
Affairs Ministry, Desra Percaya said after the installment of echelon I
officials of the ministry here, Monday.

Desra said, Myanmar has expressed readiness for President Yudhoyono's visit.

"Earlier last week, Myanmar Ambassador has met Foreign Affairs Minister
and conveyed Myanmar readiness to accept the President," he added.

On the agenda of bilateral talks, whether it would touch on issues on
human rights and democracy, Desra said, both leaders would discuss a
wide-range of bilateral issues.

Desra did not elaborate further whether President Yudhoyono is scheduled
to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

"I will not speculate whether (the President) will meet Suu Kyi or not,
but as long as I know the President would discuss bilateral issues," he
said.

Reports said, President Yudhoyono was scheduled to visit Myanmar on
January 31.

The President's visit is part of his tour to two ASEAN countries namely
Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia.

"This is part of the President visit, so far he has visited six (ASEAN)
countries, but yet to the three countries. He will first visit Brunei,
Cambodia and then Myanmar," Desra continued.

The six ASEAN countries are Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the
Philippines, Laos and Vietnam.

Since he took power in 2004, President Yudhoyono has three meetings with
his Myanmar counterpart, first was held on the sideline of the 10th ASEAN
summit in Vientiane, Laos in 2004.

The second meeting was held in 2005 on the sidelines of Asia Africa Summit
in Jakarta, and the last was in the 11th ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur last
December.

____________________________________

January 17, Irrawaddy
Human rights situation declining in Burma, says report - Clive Parker

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission today launched a damning
account of life in Burma, saying the human rights situation was
deteriorating in the country due to the military government’s failure to
provide an adequate legal system to protect its own citizens.

The report—which includes sections on ten Asian countries including
Burma—draws attention to incidents of forced labor, torture, arrests,
murder and rape by the ruling junta.

“Thuggery and coercion by local authorities and police are part of life
for people throughout Burma, whether inside prisons or out,” it says.

“With the jailing of Ma Su Su Nway this October, human rights in Burma
reached a new low-point,” it adds, referring to the first Burmese citizen
to successfully sue the authorities on forced labor charges—a move which
prompted the government to imprison her for “abusing” state officials.

The case points to “the un-rule of law” in Burma, AHRC says.

Other incidents cited in the five-page document include that of National
League for Democracy member Aung Hlaing Win, who died while in detention
in May last year and who’s body was subsequently cremated by intelligence
officers without the permission of the victim’s family. Min Tun Wai
suffered a similar fate—also in May last year—after spending just one day
at Moulmein prison. Authorities subsequently stated that his body had
disappeared.

Cases of rape by police officers and beatings inflicted on democracy
activists or those engaged in more innocuous activities usually occur
without the possibility that the victims may seek justice, the report
concludes: “Together these cases speak to the lack of possibilities for
obtaining redress for rights violations anywhere in Burma today. The
purpose of its institutions is to support the interests and authority of
the army and subsidiary state agencies.”

The final page of the report takes the form of a letter to Louise Arbour,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, requesting Burma be expelled
from the body for perpetuating a human rights situation described as
“among the worst in the world.”