BurmaNet News, January 19, 2006

[Editor]

January 19, 2006 Issue # 2882


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Security changes outside Suu Kyi’s home spark speculation
Irrawaddy: KNU discusses secret meeting with regime officials
AP: Myanmar urges country to use alternative fuel sources

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Bangladesh army seized another cache of arms from Burmese rebels

DRUGS
Mizzima: Burma's neighbours to support programs for former opium farmers

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar auctions 30 million euros worth of precious stones
Mizzima: India's troubled northeast to act as trade link with Burma, ASEAN

ASEAN
AFP: No firm date for Myanmar visit, says Malaysian FM
Sun Star (Philippines): Myanmar denies being 'ugly face' in Asean

REGIONAL
AFP: Indonesian president to make first visit to Myanmar
AP: Former U.N. envoy urges U.S., China to get serious about reforms in
Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Japan Economic Newswire: China aiding corruption in other countries: Human
Rights Watch says

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 19, Irrawaddy
Security changes outside Suu Kyi’s home spark speculation - Aung Lwin Oo

Burma’s main opposition party today rejected reports that security had
been eased around the Rangoon home of its detained leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi.

Various interpretations were attached to the relocation of two checkpoint
posts on either side of Suu Kyi’s lakeside property on University Avenue.
The checkpoints were moved from the middle of the road to the pavement,
allowing vehicles to pass in both lanes from 6 AM until 6 PM. Previously,
only one lane of the road was open to traffic.

Armed policemen, plain clothes security officials and traffic police are
still on duty on the stretch of road alongside Suu Kyi’s property.
Pedestrians are allowed to walk by on the pavement opposite.

“We understand that the change has been made to solve growing traffic
problems around University Avenue,” U Lwin, spokesman for the opposition
National League for Democracy told The Irrawaddy by phone today. “We don’t
see any sign of relaxing restrictions [on Suu Kyi], as the security
presence remains unchanged.”

However, Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst in exile, said the
change in the security set-up around Suu Kyi’s home might have another
meaning when seen against the mounting pressure against the regime, both
on the regional and international level.

“The regime has been seized with serious issues such as the UN Security
Council’s informal discussion on Burma, Asean’s plan to send a delegation
and the junta’s on-going National Convention,” he said. “I wonder if this
little move signals [something].”

Rangoon-based veteran politician, Amyotheryei Win Naing, who travels the
road every day, believes the changes were made simply to ease traffic.
“This change can not be interpreted as a sign of easing restrictions,” he
said.  Any suggestion that security is being eased outside Suu Kyi’s home
would only arouse “false hope,” he warned.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since she and her followers were
attacked by pro-regime thugs while on a tour of Sagaing Division in May
2003. Last November, the regime extended her house detention for a further
six months under terms of the State Protection Act.

The official New Light of Myanmar recently said “the multi-party democracy
system would have been translated into reality by now,” but “due to the
acts of the NLD, the political development of Myanmar [Burma] has been
delayed unnecessarily.”

____________________________________

January 19, Irrawaddy
KNU discusses secret meeting with regime officials - Khun Sam

A meeting yesterday between the Karen National Union and the Karen
National Liberation Army’s Brigade 7 agreed that any future attempts to
negotiate with the Burmese regime should be undertaken by the KNU’s
Central Committee.

The meeting was called to mend a rift following a secret meeting between
Brigade 7 leaders and regime representatives in December. According to the
KNU, a group of six officials from the organization’s armed wing, the KNLA
Brigade 7, held secret talks with Burma’s ambassador to Thailand in
Bangkok on December 7.

Brigade 7 controls Pa-an District in Burma’s Karen State. It is reported
to have sought concessions from the regime, including regular meetings
until the conclusion of a peace agreement and a contract to develop land
in Pa-an District.

The secret meeting threatened to cause a split between the KNU and the
KNLA, but the KNU’s Foreign Department chief, David Taw, told The
Irrawaddy today the two sides had agreed to leave policy decisions in
future to the KNU’s Central Committee.

David Taw said yesterday’s meeting had also discussed complaints by
Brigade 7 that the Burmese army was not honoring the terms of the
“gentlemen’s agreement” providing for a truce between the KNU and the
junta.

KNU is one of the longest surviving and biggest ethnic opposition armed
groups, and has been struggling for autonomy from the central Burmese
government for decades. Fighting between the two sides has sent tens of
thousands of Karen refugees fleeing to neighboring Thailand

David Taw said lack of clarity over the state of the “gentlemen’s
agreement” peace talks that began in October 2004 had caused confusion in
the KNU ranks and had led to the Bangkok meeting between Brigade 7 leaders
and the Burmese ambassador.

____________________________________

January 19, Associated Press
Myanmar urges country to use alternative fuel sources

Yangon: Myanmar's industry minister urged the country to start planting
jatropha crops, which can be used as an alternative source of fuel to help
solve the problems of rising global oil prices, a state-run newspaper
reported Thursday.

Industry Minister Aung Thaung told a meeting of business leaders Tuesday
that if enough jatropha crops were planted it could improve the livelihood
of farmers, fulfill the nation's fuel needs and be the "only way out of
the oil crisis," the New Light of Myanmar reported.

Vegetable oil, extracted from the seeds of the jatropha curcas plant, can
be refined into biodiesel, which can be burned in place of regular diesel.

Myanmar has had to spend millions of dollars (euros) on fuel as world
crude oil prices have increased, Aung Thaung said, adding that an acre of
jatropha crops, or roughly 1,200 plants, could produce up to 100 gallons
(380 litres) of biodiesel.

Biodiesel fuels are becoming increasing popular as fuel prices rise,
particularly in countries with poor rural farming communities.

In Malaysia, government vehicles are slated this year to starting using a
biodisel fuel that is 5 percent palm oil and 95 percent diesel oil.

The Myanmar government has raised prices dramatically for gasoline and oil
to keep pace with rising global prices. Before the price hikes, the
country already suffered from gasoline shortages due to limited domestic
oil production and tight foreign exchange reserves.

Myanmar was once one of the region's most important oil producers. In
1979, the country pumped 32,000 barrels of crude a day. But production has
gradually declined and consumption increased, with about 16,000 barrels of
crude pumped a day in 2002, or an annual total of 5.8 million, according
to official figures.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 19, Narinjara News
Bangladesh army seized another cache of arms from Burmese rebels -
Iftekhar Ahmed

Bangladesh law enforcement authority yesterday se ized a huge cache of
explosives, firearms and ammunition from a Burmese rebel group at a remote
forest den near Bangladesh-Burma border.

According to official source, they recovered 7kg TNT (trinitrotoluene used
as explosives), one M1A1 machinegun, one AK47, one 303, four M16 rifles, a
long-range rocket shell, a solar charger, three binoculars, 3,500 bullets,
25 mine fixing players, two sacks of gunpowder (100 Kg), 40 detonators, 40
sodium nitrate explosives, some uniforms and a 500-yard coil of wire used
in explosive devices.

Army seized the above arms and ammunitions yesterday during their
operation at Naikhongchari of Bandarban district, Bangladesh opposite
Maungdaw, a township of the western Burma.

Bangladesh army also seized huge arms and ammunition several times during
last two years from Bangladesh border area close to Burma.

In the last operation on 3 January 2006, the security personnel of
Bangladesh arrested three cadres of a Burmese reb el group from the same
area and recovered a British light machinegun, an AK47, five M16 rifles,
two 303 rifles, seven Pakistan-made guns, 32 magazines and 7,000 bullets.

All the Burmese rebel groups denied that the arrestees were not concerned
with their organizations.

According to some Bangladeshi newspapers, the seized arms and ammunition
of yesterday are belonge d to RSO, Rohingya Solidarity Organisation. Three
Rakhaings are also reported arrested from the area on the same day.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 19, Mizzima News
Burma's neighbours to support programs for former opium farmers - Mungpi

India, China, Laos and Thailand have agreed to support Burmese programs to
help opium farmers produce alternative crops.

The agreement was made at a three-day meeting of senior officials from the
five countries in New Delhi last week.

Rajiv Walia, deputy director general of the Indian Narcotic Control Bureau
said his country was willing to support Burma's projects as they could
help curb the flow of narcotics from the country.

"The alternative development program is a program that [Burma] is carrying
on to wean farmers off cultivating opium illicitly. [The military] gives
them assistance to cultivate cash crops and other livelihoods," Walia told
Mizzima.

"The decision was that our countries will support such measures and
[Burma] will provide market access to the products."

Part of the notorious Golden Triangle, Burma is one of the world's largest
opium producers.

In the past decade, eradication policies and opium bans have considerably
reduced opium cultivation in the country but many former opium producers
have been left without a livelihood as a result.

Since the 1990s, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime has carried
out pilot projects for alternative crop production in areas such as the Wa
special region in Burma's eastern Shan State.

At the meeting in New Delhi, delegates also discussed the need for better
information sharing among countries in the region if the flow of chemicals
used for the production of illicit drugs was to be stopped.

"We will establish a system to exchange intelligence and information and
warn each other," Walia said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar auctions 30 million euros worth of precious stones

Yangon: Myanmar will offer gems and jade worth about 30 million euros
(36.29 million dollars) at an auction Thursday, a gem merchant said.

"About 80 percent of the lots will be sold because the quality of jade is
better than previous sales, and also there are more lots available," the
Yangon-based businessman, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

Some 1,500 gems merchants have gathered since Monday for the 20th auction
of gems and jade held in the capital's Myanma Gems Mart, the official New
Light of Myanmar newspaper said Wednesday. Most merchants are from China.

The sale includes 286 lots of gems and 986 of jade, organisers said.

"I carried 18 jade lots to sell in this auction and put 2,000 euros (2,420
dollars) per lot as a ground price," Laii Khaing Wae, a company
businessman from Mandalay and regular auction merchant, told AFP.

"I'm hoping that all my jade lots will sell."

Military-ruled Myanmar is one of the poorest and most isolated countries
in Asia, but has vast natural resources, including minerals and highly
prized teak wood, that often disappear into the black market.

The junta holds gems auctions in a bid to curb the smuggling of precious
stones out of Myanmar, which deprives the government of desperately needed
foreign currency.

____________________________________

January 19, Mizzima News
India's troubled northeast to act as trade link with Burma, ASEAN - Nava
Thakuria

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said the country's northeast
region would become a vital trade link with Burma and ASEAN.

Addressing two important public meetings in Assam on Tuesday, Dr Singh
argued improvements in transport infrastructure in the area would aid
trade activities with neighboring nations such as Burma.

A railway project between Guwahati and Mandalay has already been given a
green light by authorities in New Delhi.

Dr Singh, also an acclaimed economist said, "[The look east policy] was
not merely an external economic policy, it was also a strategic shift in
India's vision of the world and India's place in the evolving global
economy."

But the political and security situation in India's northeast regions has
been less than stable in the past few years with India and Burma recently
launching joint military offensives against Indian separatists in the
area.

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 19, Agence France Presse
No firm date for Myanmar visit, says Malaysian FM

Putrajaya: Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday he
has yet to secure a date from Myanmar's military junta for his planned
visit to press for democratic reforms.

"Not yet," he told reporters when asked if he had fixed a date. He did not
elaborate.

Under pressure from the international community, the Assocation of
Southeast Asian Nations at its annual meeting in December signalled its
impatience with fellow member Myanmar.

It reached agreement with Yangon to allow Syed Hamid to visit the country
as an ASEAN envoy to check on the progress of democracy.

The visit was expected to take place in January but Myanmar said it was
too busy moving its capital to receive the Malaysian minister.

Syed Hamid said he would not be frustrated by the delay, adding: "The most
important thing is that Myanmar is part of ASEAN.

"ASEAN countries have a role to play. We need to have better understanding
and continue to hold dialogue with Myanmar," he said.

A former UN envoy to Myanmar, who quit last month after being denied entry
to the country for nearly two years, urged China and the United States to
push harder for reforms.

"Nothing is happening now. China must play a bigger role to bring changes
in Myanmar," Razali Ismail told AFP Thursday.

"The US has to do more. It must try to contact the military junta. They
should look at Myanmar as they look at North Korea," he said.

The US and China are involved in six-party talks to get North Korea to
abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

Razali said it was the responsibility of China, a close ally of Myanmar,
and the United States to do more to bring reform. "They should be more
involved," he said.

Myanmar's junta brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and
two years later rejected the result of national elections won by the party
of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In November it extended her house arrest by another six months. The Nobel
Peace prizewinner has already spent more than 10 of the last 16 years
under house arrest.

____________________________________

January 19, Sun Star (Philippines)
Myanmar denies being 'ugly face' in Asean - Ben O. Tesiorna

Minister tells critics to personally visit their country to get the real
picture

The tourism vice minister of Myanmar vehemently denied the accusation that
they are putting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in
shame because of the various human rights violations committed by their
government.

In an interview Tuesday, Brigadier General Aye Myint Kyu, vice minister
for ministry of hotels and tourism in Myanmar, said all accusations
leveled against his country by the Initiatives for International Dialogue
(IID) are all baseless.

He urged critics to personally come and visit their country to get the
real picture.

"These are all accusations. If you want to see the country come over and
see what is the real picture. Seeing is believing," he said.

Kyu also denied allegation that the reason they backed out from hosting
the Asean Tourism Forum 2006 is due to pressure from the international
community. He said they are really not prepared at the moment but said
they are more than willing to host it in the near future.

"We have the budget for promotion. We are contributing to the Asean
promotion. We are in full cooperation with the Asean vision and mission.
It's not because of international pressure," Kyu said.

The IID earlier accused the country of Myanmar (Burma) as an "ugly face"
that places the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in shame.

In a press statement, IID executive director Gus Miclat urged all the
other members of Asean to include the sorry state of democracy in Burma in
their discussion table. Burma has been under a military junta rule since
1962.

The group also demanded for the inclusion of Burma in the priority agenda
of the United Nations Security Council, which is now being chaired by
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"Burma is destabilizing the Asean region and affecting relations within
Asean and with other nations. Burma's internal crisis is spilling over the
Asean particularly in Thailand and Malaysia and is worsening the region's
security threat," the group said.

It was learned that this year's ATF was initially scheduled to take place
in Burma but the latter reportedly turned it over to the Philippines after
intense pressure from within Asean-member countries.

Miclat said the present situation in Burma is a "reality, which we as
Asean peoples need to be aware of."

"Tourism should never be used to whitewash crisis situations, nor should
people's voices be muted or misrepresented in tourism forums," Miclat
said.

The group criticized the present political situation in Burma. More than
800,000 people are reportedly subjected to force labor there while many
women are being raped as well.

Burmese refugees are also increasing in the neighboring countries of
Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

"It is Asean's responsibility to castigate and force if need be its black
sheep member to change. Failure to do so will drag the entire region to
further shame, the group said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 19, Agence France Presse
Indonesian president to make first visit to Myanmar

Jakarta: Indonesia's president will visit Myanmar in February, his
spokesman said Thursday, confirming a trip officials have said would see
him share his country's shift to democracy with the junta there.

Officials from both countries have been "actively in consultation" to set
up a firm date for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit next month
to the military-ruled nation, spokesman Dino Pati Jalal told AFP.

Earlier this month, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda urged
Myanmar to take "tangible" steps towards democracy and make good on its
promises to reform.

The minister said then that Yudhoyono or a special envoy planned to visit
Myanmar in order to recount to the junta how Indonesia underwent its
transition from authoritarianism to democracy.

Under Suharto, who resigned under pressure in 1998, Indonesia was ruled
with an iron fist for more than 30 years.

Myanmar is holding opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San
Suu Kyi under house arrest, and her National League of Democracy has been
blocked from taking office despite winning elections in 1990.

Jalal said the Myanmar visit would be part of a trip also taking in Brunei
and Cambodia, as Yudhoyono, who was elected in 2004, seeks to visit all
members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The United Nations, the European Union and the United States have all
derided a national convention proposed by Myanmar's junta to help set up a
future constitution as part of a national "road map" to democracy.

____________________________________

January 19, Associated Press
Former U.N. envoy urges U.S., China to get serious about reforms in
Myanmar - Pauline Jasudason

Kuala Lumpur: A former U.N. envoy on Thursday criticized China and the
United States for not pushing harder for democratic reforms in Myanmar,
saying they should engage the Southeast Asian nation like they do North
Korea.

Razali Ismail quit this month as the United Nations' special Myanmar
envoy, citing frustration with the ruling junta's reluctance to introduce
democracy and release political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Also known as Burma, Myanmar has been widely shunned since 1990, when its
military leaders refused to hand over power after Suu Kyi's party won
promised elections by a landslide.

Razali, a veteran Malaysian diplomat, said it was the responsibility of
global powers such as China and the United States to take the situation in
Myanmar more seriously.

"Countries like China, they should do much more," he said, adding that the
United States should "look at Myanmar the way they look at North Korea."

Meanwhile, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar also urged China,
India and the United States to be pro-active with Myanmar.

"I think it will be useful to have China and India and the U.S. ... engage
Myanmar. It will contribute to creating a better understanding and
dialogue," he said.

He said no dates have been fixed for his once-postponed visit to Myanmar
on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to monitor the
progress of democracy.

China and the United States have been engaged in a protracted effort to
get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, alternately
pressuring Pyongyang and cajoling it during six-party diplomatic talks.

But critics say they have not dealt with Myanmar effectively.

China, Myanmar's strongest ally, has steered clear of calls for
democratization there, and has not pressed for Suu Kyi's release. Also,
India, Myanmar's western neighbor, has spoken in general terms about the
virtues of democracy without directly criticizing the junta.

The United States has strongly criticized Myanmar's policies, but its
reluctance to deal with its leaders has prompting some critics to say it
is playing into their hands.

Razali, who assumed the U.N.'s Myanmar mandate in April 2000, mediated a
dialogue between Suu Kyi and the junta in October 2000. He also helped
secure Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May 2002.

However, he was kept out of the country for nearly two years and decided
not to renew his U.N. contract when it expired earlier this month.

"Possibly I'd become a pain (to the junta), I don't know," he said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 19, Japan Economic Newswire
China aiding corruption in other countries: Human Rights Watch says

Washington: Human Rights Watch says that China's economic and diplomatic
policies are aiding corruption and repression in Africa, Asia and Latin
America in its annual report released Wednesday, which covered more than
70 countries.

The New York-based international organization said in the report that
China's economic growth and quest for natural resources combined with its
stated policy of noninterference in domestic affairs led to its bolstering
of corrupt and repressive regimes in Africa, Latin America and Asia, "to
the disadvantage of the people of these regions."

Noting that China is increasingly becoming a donor, the group concluded,
"China's view that human rights conditions constitute unjustified
political interference significantly reduces the chance that its aid will
benefit those people who need it most."

"China...has played an important role in blocking the Security Council
from addressing systematic human rights abuses by Burma's military
government," the group said, noting that China is the country's "largest
investor and supplier of economic and military aid."

The group also criticized Beijing for refusing to help North Korean
refugees, saying the Chinese government "refused to cooperate with the
U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea and refused to allow the Office of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees access to border areas where most
North Korans reside."

Referring to China's growing interests in Africa, the group said, "Willing
to do business with anyone, the Chinese government threw an economic
lifeline to such highly abusive governments as those in Sudan and
Zimbabwe."

The group also said China provided financial and military support to the
Sudanese government "even as it was engaged in massive ethnic cleansing in
Darfur, while Beijing successfully watered down U.N. Security Council
resolutions threatening sanctions against Khartoum for its Darfur
atrocities."

"The most deprived people of Africa suffered further because Beijing, in
its dealing with their governments, showed such indifference to their
plight," the group said.

It also criticized the United States for putting more emphasis on economic
and security matters than human rights issues in dealing with China
although U.S. President George W. Bush called for political and religious
freedom during his visit to China last November.

"His agenda was long on economic and security concerns and short on human
rights," the group said.

The report also listed human rights abuses in many Asian countries,
including North Korea, Myanmar, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, East
Timor, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri
Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.