BurmaNet News, March 7, 2006

[Editor]

March 7, 2006, Issue # 2913

INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: No more teak forest in Shan State
SHAN: New uprooting in eastern Shan State
IMNA: Five including woman arrested in connection with gas pipeline blast

ON THE BORDER
Knight Ridder Newspapers: Heroin and prostitution take a toll on China's
border with Myanmar
DVB: More Karen flee from their villages due to Burma army’s offensives

BUSINESS / TRADE
Knight Ridder Newspapers: China uses trade to prop Myanmar regime
DVB: Total withdrawal: Belgian Banks urged not to invest in Burma
Khonumthung: Mt. Victoria range hot spot for orchid business

HEALTH / AIDS
The Myanmar Times via BBC: Burma stages bird flu response drills
Khonumthung: Malaria, dysentery and hepatitis common in Chin State border

ASEAN
AP: Malaysia foreign minister's democracy trip to Myanmar on hold again

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Indian president’s Burma visit sends the wrong message: NCGUB

OPINION / OTHER
Thai Press: Thaksin should never have compared Thai elections to those in
Myanmar (Burma)

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 7, Shan Herald Agency for News
No more teak forest in Shan State - Phu Murng

Logging in Shan State has been carried out by many ceasefire and business
groups, it has been causing complete ruin to forests on many parts of Shan
State, says a report in mongloi.com, a Shan website.

In fact the authority had banned logging in 2000, but the timber trucks in
Shan State are still traveling to Thailand, China and Hlaingdet, north of
the new capital Pyinmana, according to a former timber-merchant.

Timber-merchants have to give tea money to the authorities every
check-point and every regional commander in three parts of Shan State are
benefiting from the trade, each getting more or less depending on which
part has more timber, he said. “Legal and illegal loggings go half and
half”.

The timber-merchant called this kind of bribe as Ka Zyzai am moong mawng
(contingency expense).

According to the source, 6 companies have obtained permit for at least
20,000 tons together for the year 2006:

1. Century Dragon (A share holder in Hong pang) 8,000 tons
2. Htun Myat Aung Co.                                           2,000 tons
3. Nayai militia group                                              3,500
tons
4. Shan State South Co. (SSS Co.) of Maha Ja     3,500 tons
5. Pa-O National Army of Aung Kham Hti gets      3,500 tons
6. Shan Arka Min Co.                                             7,500 tons

The companies logging in Kengtawng, a sub-township of Mongnai, are Asia
World Company of Law Hsing Han and Shan State South of Mahaja, a former
associate of Khun Sa. Both got 10,000 tons within 2002-3.

The teak forest in Mawkmai has already gone and now those in other
townships like in Hsipaw and Namlan in northwestern Shan State are almost
completely wiped out.

The timberland that still remains is in Kengtawng in Southern Shan State
due to the difficulty to log, but even there 50,000 tons have already been
destroyed in the north of the neighboring Tasang area.

Northern Thailand imports timber mostly from Kengtawng, Mongton and
Panghsang. Before the new bridge in Maesai opened, they smuggled from
Mongton to Wan Pung village near the Golden Triangle then transported them
through the Mekong River to Chiangsen district, Chiang Rai in Thailand. It
was an expensive exercise. But since January 2006, they have been
transporting timber across the bridge at night.

Nowadays the timber trucks stop at Pung Toon village in Tachilek. The logs
are covered with plastics sheets and driven across Sanpakhi Bridge (new
bridge which was opened on 22 January). About 7-8 trucks cross the bridge
in one night. The buyer from Thailand is said to be the Siva Company of
Arnond Markmasilp. Grade A timber would cost 40,000 Yuan (about $4,750)
per ton, while low-grade timber would cost 8,000-9,000 ($1,000) Yuan per
ton.

Besides Tachilek, there are 2-3 boats carrying timber along Salween River
from Wan Ing village in Kunhing Township to Ta Woon Nawng village west of
Panghsang, including one belong to Pi Sang, who is a native Shan in the
UWSA. One boat can carry 34 tons; 1 ton costs 3,000 Yuan ($350) for
transport.

The buyer in Panghsang has to pay tax 10,000 Yuan ($1,100)  to Wa
officers. Transporting timber from Panghsang to Chiangsen, Thailand, cost
2,500 per ton.

Panghsang the capital of the UWSA shares the border with China. Most of
the timber comes to Panghsang from many parts of Shan State such
Mongyawng, Kengtawng, Kenglom, Keng Kham, Nam Lan, Kehsi, Hsipaw, Tangyan
and Lashio. From there they are exported into China and Thailand.

____________________________________

March 7, Shan Herald Agency for News
New uprooting in eastern Shan State

The Burma Army has ordered fresh relocation of several villages in
Monghsat and Monghpyak townships, eastern Shan State, last month, said
sources.

Although details are still lacking, at least 10 villages in Mongloong
tract, Mongkok sub-township in Monghsat township, are said to have moved
out to relocated sites by the end of last month:

Wankoon and Wanlong to the subtownship seat Mongkok and Tachilek
Khopien to Wan Homong in Mongloong tract
Mong Ann and the rest to other sites

The order was issued by the Mongkhark-based Light Infantry Battalion 579
on 19 February.

Several villages in the neighboring Monghai tract, Monghpyak township were
also reported to have been relocated lately.

The object of the exercises has not been determined. Speculations so far
have focused on three factors:

The Memorandum of Understanding between Bangkok and Rangoon on 24 February
2004 to construct reservoirs in the Kok and Maesai river basins. Both
rivers originate in the Mongkok sub-township.

According to human rights groups, forced relocations in Shan State between
1996 and 2001 had displaced 426,000 people.

____________________________________

March 7, Independent Mon News Agency
Five including woman arrested in connection with gas pipeline blast

Five people, including a woman accountant were arrested in Mudon Township
by local military officers from Thanpyuzayat on March 5 evening in
connexion with the explosion in the gas pipeline.

Kwan-Hlar Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) chairman Nai Kon
Sike (U Thein), former VPDC chairman Nai Than Town, former New Mon State
Party (NMSP) medical worker Nai Tala Aie, Nai Pai and Ma Win Kyi
accountant in the VPDC office were arrested by Infantry Battalion 62
troops based in Thanpyuzyat.

“They were still in detention when we left the village. During the arrest
we saw the soldiers interrogating them but we don’t know what they were
asking,” a Kwan-Hlar villager who reached the border said. They are still
under detention another source confirmed.

The five were brought to the base of battalion 62. Local villagers and
community leaders believe the arrest was made for further investigation
into the explosion of the Kanbauk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline on February 1.

That is the second time the military arrested village level administrative
council members after the explosion. In the first arrest the troops
arrested village secretary Nai Rae-Jae, a former village militia leader,
and about 10 villagers the day after the gas pipeline exploded.

Military authorities from Southeast Region Command blamed Mon and Karen
armed groups for the explosion. But both armed groups have denied their
involvement. Before accusing the armed groups, military authorities
accused four Burmese, two Karens and two Indian Burmese men from Thailand.

Till now, the military government has been unable to fathom which group
set off the explosion on the 200 kilometre pipeline. But military
government berated villagers in Kwan-Hlar village and villages nearby and
entered their homes in order to check whether strange people or guests had
stayed with them.

Troops forced about a hundred villagers into patrolling the gas pipeline
after the explosion. The gas pipeline blew up three times in this area.
Twice it blew up by itself given the technical flaws while laying the
pipeline The pipeline also leaked twice in mid 2005.

The pipeline transmits gas from Yatana Gas Offshore in Kanbauk area to the
Myaing Kalay cement factory. The military government laid the pipeline in
an unsafe manner because parts of the pipeline appear over the ground and
some parts cross villages, towns, farms, plantations, and streams.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 6, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Heroin and prostitution take a toll on China's border with Myanmar - Tim
Johnson

Ruili: Stand along this border city's Jiegang Road, and it takes only a
few minutes to pick out the heroin peddlers making deals amid a sea of
prostitutes.

The downside to China's growing trade with neighboring Myanmar is that
heroin trafficking has grown rampantly. So have drug addictions, the sex
trade and HIV infections.

Myanmar is the world's No. 2 producer of illegal opium, after Afghanistan.
It's also the biggest supplier of methamphetamine in Asia, according to
the U.S. State Department.

Ruili is an important link between the opium-producing Golden Triangle -
in Myanmar, Laos and northern Thailand - and smuggling routes through
China and on to Southeast Asia, Australia and North America. Opium can be
processed into heroin. A vial of heroin costs 35 Chinese yuan, or barely
over $4.

"We arrested 805 drug peddlers last year," Mayor Gong Nengzheng said. "We
also confiscated 1,028 kilograms (2,262 pounds) of heroin."

It was only a drop in the bucket.

On a recent night, Chinese police cruisers patrolled the notorious road.
But within a minute of their passing, street dealing would begin again.

"The police are trying to arrest those who use drugs, but there are too
many of them," said Huo Liyu, an electronics merchant.

The next morning, a disheveled woman squatted, made a pipe from a bottle,
then smoked crushed methamphetamine tablets, known locally as "yama."

Dozens of brothels line the central road, and a trick costs less than a
cup of premium Starbucks coffee in one of China's larger cities.

Ruili's HIV infection toll is unknown, but appears to be rampant. A man
spotted injecting heroin into his arm admitted that he had AIDS.
Intravenous injection of heroin, and the re-use of needles, which
exacerbates the spread of HIV, is common. The United Nations says Ruili is
a locus of HIV infection in China.

The city has attracted a contingent of small-time Muslim drug peddlers
from Myanmar's Arakan state and from China's far west Xinjiang region.

Some traffickers have been given long prison terms. A few have been
executed. But police corruption remains a problem, and others have gotten
off the hook.

____________________________________

March 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
More Karen flee from their villages due to Burma army’s offensives

Around 1000 Karen villagers from Taungoo District in eastern Burma, have
fled their homes during previous months due to ongoing tortures and
killings committed by the soldiers of Burma’s military junta, the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

On 3 March, 33 villagers of Takwee had arrived at Mae Ra Mu refugee camp
on the Thai-Burmese border, according to a report by Network Media Group.

Due to lawless arrests and extra-judicial killings of the SPDC soldiers,
Karen villagers had been taking refuge in the jungles their villages and
they were constantly chased and attacked with artillery bombardments and
small arms fires, before they decided to come to the border region, a
refugee named Saw Dada was reported as saying.

Dada claimed his cousin Er Htoo was killed by Burmese soldiers and he lost
his wife and three children while they were on the run. The soldiers were
reported to have looted all the possessions and burnt their homes.

More than 300 Karen villagers have arrived at the refugee camp since the
beginning of 2006 due to the increasing offensives against the Karen
National Union (KNU) fighters within Taungoo and nearby Nyaunglebin
Districts. Thousands more, known as Internally Displaced people (IDP), are
still hiding in the jungles surviving on roots and fruits.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 6, Knight Ridder Newspapers
China uses trade to prop Myanmar regime - Tim Johnson

Ruili: China has tossed an economic lifeline to the military regime of
Myanmar, and the lifeline passes through this border city.

Every day, hundreds of trucks disgorge all manner of goods for trade.
Across the border, Chinese work crews build roads, fell forests and
operate gold and jade mines. A major cross-border oil and gas pipeline is
in the works.

China has a habit of coddling repressive regimes. In places such as Sudan,
Iran, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, all under some type of international sanction,
China has stepped in with diplomatic protection, usually in exchange for
market access for its goods or a stake in oil fields or other natural
resources.

As China occupies a greater place on the world stage, it faces
international pressure to help deal with global trouble spots rather than
shore up tyrannical regimes. China has responded in one area: It hosts
six-nation talks to coax North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons
programs.

Yet in remote corners such as this one, snug against the hilly frontier
with the nation once known as Burma, China is resisting global efforts to
end a decades-old military dictatorship. How China deals with Myanmar
reflects how it wields its power in the early 21st century.

In the past few months, China has signed several energy deals with
Myanmar, which now has the world's 10th largest known reserves of natural
gas.

In November, PetroChina ironed out a deal for 6.5 trillion cubic feet of
gas to be piped overland from Myanmar's offshore fields to Kunming in
China's Yunnan province.

A month later, Myanmar got a partial payback. China, which occupies one of
five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council, was instrumental in
derailing a U.S. push to investigate and punish Myanmar for widespread
repression of its citizens.

"That's why they didn't have a formal investigation. It was an informal
discussion," said Josef Silverstein, a scholar on Myanmar affairs who's
based in Princeton, N.J.

In Ruili, a city of 120,000, an economic boom is the result of a trade
bonanza with Myanmar, some of it in vast illegal logging along the
1,370-mile border.

Ruili's ebullient mayor, Gong Nengzheng, offered a visitor plate after
plate of tropical fruit as he expounded on China's unusual trading
arrangements with Myanmar.

"We build roads for them, and they give us merchandise, like seafood and
minerals," Gong said.

China also is building internal roads and railways to facilitate trade.
Chinese companies have built 190 miles of highway in Myanmar, Gong said,
and they'll soon construct a 67-mile rail link to Lashio, a final link of
a pan-Asia network. China provides all know-how, equipment and labor, he
said.

Those living in Myanmar along the border with China use water and
electricity service from China. Those who can afford them use Chinese cell
phones.

Myanmar's growing dependence on China disheartened some ethnic Burmese.

"It is the 25th province of China," U Aung Kyaw Zaw, a longtime resident
of Ruili, said of his homeland. "It is an economic colony."

During the 1970s and much of the 1980s, relations between China and
Myanmar were tense. Beijing backed an insurgency across the border.

But both nations experienced large pro-democracy protests (Burma in 1988
and China in 1989) that rattled their governments. Isolated from the West,
the two nations changed their views of each other.

China started seeing Myanmar, Asia's poorest nation, as a repository of
raw materials and a potential outlet to the Indian Ocean. Myanmar's
leaders lobbied for diplomatic support, trade and billions of dollars in
weapons sales from China.

China vowed not to meddle in Myanmar's affairs in return for investment
deals, a template for Chinese behavior elsewhere, such as in Africa and
the Middle East.

"They are finding weak countries that have dictatorial governments, with
rich material resources and no infrastructure," said Sarah "Meg" Davis, a
scholar of ethnic minorities in China. "They go in. They prop up the
dictatorial governments. And they get a big cut of the timber and energy."

After a Feb. 14-18 trip to China, Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win announced
that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told him that Beijing pledged unwavering
support and opposed "imposition of economic sanctions" at the United
Nations.

China is leery of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democracy advocate who was
denied power after her party swept 1990 elections and has been kept
largely under house arrest since. Instead, China appears to want Myanmar's
military leaders to reform the economy without loosening their grip on
power.

"They would like to see the Burmese economy develop more rapidly and more
effectively, so they could make more money," said Robert H. Taylor, a
Myanmar expert at the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore.

Chinese merchants already smell profit.

With a tour group in tow, guide Sun Dehong said he was bringing business
owners from inland China to "do research about the business situation" in
Myanmar.

"They want to export Chinese products, like motorcycles, phones, clothing
and motor pumps. They come from Fujian, Sichuan. They are all business
people," Sun said.

Bilateral trade between China and Myanmar hit $1.2 billion last year.
Myanmar's total trade volume was $5 billion.

Ruili city fathers say the border is on the cusp of greater trade. An
expressway from the provincial capital, Kunming, will be finished next
year. At the Ruili end, officials have built a 10-lane border customs
facility. Already, 12,000 people cross every day.

Emerging out of vacant fields and ponds, the tax-free Jiegao Special
Economic Zone has mushroomed, now with more than 1,000 stores and 80 jade
factories.

At the city's jade and pearl market, store owner Yang Zhanwei hailed
China's economic development.

"Burma has no industry," said Yang, a petrified wood dealer. "I think
China helps Burma's economy a lot. But if Burma would open up more, it
could develop faster."

Chinese analysts describe Beijing's policies toward Myanmar as pragmatic
and useful for both sides, similar to how Washington deals with Saudi
Arabia. They say China may be offering vital economic trade to Myanmar,
without getting much sway in return.

Many outsiders concur that the generals in power appear resistant to most
pressure, even from such a strong economic ally as China.

"We have a regime there that can survive," said Taylor, the scholar in
Singapore. "Seventeen years of the regime, and they haven't budged an
inch. ... They can stonewall anybody."

____________________________________

March 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Total withdrawal: Belgian Banks urged not to invest in Burma

Pro-democracy Burmese activists in Belgium have been carrying out a
political campaign, urging the banks there not to invest in the French oil
giant Total and other companies which are doing business with Burma’s
military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), notorious
for its atrocious human rights abuses.

The campaign is being carried out by Burmese social and political
organisations based in Belgium. The amount of money invested by the
Belgium banks in Burma with Total alone is said to be more than US$ 2bn.

The activists are to write to more than 500 municipal offices in Belgium
demanding them to stop all investments in Burma, according to an activist
Aung Maw Zin, who also has been trying to take Total to a court.

The activists also urged other Belgian cities to award Burma’s democracy
leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi with their honorary
citizenships like Brussels did.

____________________________________

March 7, Khonumthung News
Mt. Victoria range hot spot for orchid business

The roaring business of dealing in orchids has registered a significant
rise in Mt. Victoria ranges in Kanpalet Township, Chin state, Burma,
leading to massive deforestation and consequent damage to the ecology and
environment.

A dazzling variety of orchids flower in the Victoria Mountain range and it
is turning into a hot spot for business in wild orchids. Mt. Victoria
range, has become a regular haunt for local and foreign orchid hunters,
Khonumthung was told.

A Japanese team reportedly sought orchids, took photographs and carried
away samples of rare orchids last month. A Japanese flag flies on top of
Mt. Victoria as a sign of their presence yet the government has taken no
measures to preserve and protect the rare species.

Locals and foreigners are out looking for the orchid for diverse purposes
–as medicinal herbs, for studies as an endangered species, business,
preservation and for an alternate economy of the region. Local business
groups in collaboration with the Forest Department of the State Peace and
Development (SPDC) officials control the business in orchids.

Five species of orchid reportedly exist in the region – locally called
Nituh, Pazunglung, Chawngmisi, Khazuh and Titkhuah chawh. The local prices
of the various orchids are: Nituh – 8000 kyat, Pazunglung – 1500 kyat,
Chawngmisi – 28000 kyat, Khazuh – 15000Kyats and Titkhuah chauh – 2800
kyat per kilogram.

Businessmen collect the orchids from those who hunt for it. The collected
orchids are then transported to Mandalay.

Orchids grow on top of trees, which are difficult to see from below. The
forest cover is cleared and trees are axed to acquire the orchid leading
to deforestation of the region.

Meanwhile, some social workers visited the region to find an alternate
means of livelihood and preservation of orchid in the region. Mr.
Rhododendron opined that re-plantation of the rare orchid in nurseries
will preserve the species and provide an alternative means of livelihood
for the people of the region.

Mr. Rhododendron, an environmentalist, told Khonumthung, “Trees are cut to
get at the orchids and this diversely affects the environment of the
region.”

Orchid commonly grows at a height of between 3000 to 5000 feet along the
mountain slopes and the forest of this region is greatly affected. Our
sources add, that the forest cover below 6000 feet of the Mt. Victoria
range has been largely deforested due to this business.

Orchid business has been common over the past few years Hunting of orchid
has spread to the neighbouring countries, especially in the North-Eastern
states of India.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 7, The Myanmar Times via BBC
Burma stages bird flu response drills

Text of report by Thein Linn from "News" section: "Bird flu response
demonstrated"]in English by Burmese newspaper The Myanmar Times website on
20 February

The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department under the Ministry of
Livestock and Fisheries conducted avian influenza response exercises in
Yangon [Rangoon] on 5 February as a precaution against possible outbreaks
of the disease in Myanmar [Burma].

"The main aim is to be ready to respond quickly to any outbreak," said Dr
Aung Gyi, the director of the department's Animal Health and Development
Division. The exercises, which were held at the department's compound in
Insein township, included demonstrations by poultry culling, disinfecting
and surveillance teams on how to contain bird flu outbreaks.

Other steps taken by the department included reviewing and expanding
precautionary measures and education programmes about avian influenza, Dr
Aung Gyi said, adding that outbreaks were impossible to predict.

He said the precautionary exercises would also be conducted in other
states and divisions throughout the country, in particular Mon and Kayin
[Karen] states along the borders China and Thailand, two countries that
have suffered bird flu outbreaks.

Last November Myanmar signed an agreement to cooperate with other
Southeast Asian countries in combating avian influenza and other
infectious diseases at the Second Ayayawaddy [Irrawaddy]-Chao
Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACES) Summit held in Bangkok.

____________________________________

March 6, Khonumthung News
Malaria, dysentery and hepatitis common in Chin State border

Unusual as it is, malaria, dysentery and hepatitis has spread during the
cold season in Thantlang Township’s border area, Chin state, Burma.

A report says that malaria, dysentery and hepatitis spread in Thantlang
Township in February. While adults have also been infected children are
reportedly the most affected.

The common combination of diseases is malaria and hepatitis; and hepatitis
and dysentery, leaving Para-medics with fewer options while treating
patients. Supply of medicine in the region is also reportedly short.

There are no supplies of medicine in the villages and the government has
made no arrangement for medical relief for the border regions. Para-Medics
are treating the patients with medicine bought from Hakha or Thantlang
towns.

With the absence of medical supplies, some patients were reportedly
treated with herbs. The herb treatment sometimes gives positive results
but does not completely cure the disease.

A Para-medic told Khonumthung on the Indo-Burma border that “Such diseases
had spread at an alarming rate during the last cold season. Usually the
incidence of such diseases is noticeable in the month of April, May and
June. If it spreads at this rate, it may take the form of an epidemic in
spring and monsoon seasons.”

Ngalang, Lungcawite, Ngaphaite, Ngaphaipi, Lawngtlang, Khuapilu villages
of Thantlang Township are mostly affected and the diseases have also been
reported from other villages. However no report of deaths has been
received.

The Para-medic added, “There are incidence of these diseases in Hakha and
Thantlang but the patients in these towns have better medical facilities.”

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Chin Medical Mobile Team
(CMMT) covering these areas are not active these days and medical supplies
are said to be out of stock. Meanwhile, local Para-medic and villagers
treat the patients the best way they can.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) have set up medical centres
on the border tracts but without medical supplies. The government and Non
Government Organizations (NGOs) have not sent any medical aid and relief.

Malaria, dysentery and hepatitis have been in evidence in other years but
have not been common in the cold season like this year.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 7, Associated Press
Malaysia foreign minister's democracy trip to Myanmar on hold again - Sean
Yoong

Malaysia's foreign minister said Tuesday his planned trip to Myanmar to
monitor the progress of democracy has stalled again because of
stonewalling by the country's military rulers.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters that the junta has failed
to respond to his request to let him visit in the middle of this month,
further delaying a trip that was to have taken place in January.

"I have given them some dates for the middle of this month but they have
not come back to us. We take it that they will not be able to receive us
on those dates," Syed Hamid said. But he added he is hopeful of being
allowed to visit the country in April.

"We hope they will open up," he said.

The veteran diplomat was chosen by the 10-country Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to visit Myanmar to verify the junta's claims
greeted by skepticism by the West and many Asian countries that it is
making progress toward democracy.

Myanmar, a member of ASEAN, agreed in December to host Syed Hamid after
intense pressure from its neighbors. ASEAN has been chided by the West for
not pressing Myanmar's military rulers, in power since 1962, to restore
civilian rule.

Syed Hamid has also said he wants to meet with opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest. The junta refuses to let any
outsider see her.

Syed Hamid expressed hope that Myanmar will let him visit before an ASEAN
foreign ministers' retreat in Bali, Indonesia April 17-18.

"I hope to be able to call Myanmar's foreign minister to know exactly what
we should do now. I think it will be very sad if by April when we have our
meeting we still have no development," Syed Hamid said.

He sent an envoy to Myanmar two weeks ago to discuss the program and
agenda for the proposed visit. But, Syed Hamid said, the authorities have
still not said whether he can meet with opposition figures including Suu
Kyi.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has attained pariah status in the West since
1990, when its military leaders refused to hand over power after Suu Kyi's
party won elections by a landslide. Its ASEAN allies, who have advocated
engaging the junta rather than confronting it, also appear to be losing
faith.

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

Most of them are demanding the release of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate
who has spent almost 10 of the last 16 years in confinement by the
military junta.

Myanmar's rulers claim to be drafting a constitution as a first step to
free elections. The United States and Europe have dismissed the claims.

Earlier this year, U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Malaysian diplomat
Razali Ismail, quit his post, citing frustration with the junta and its
refusal to allow him into the country.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 7, Mizzima News
Indian president’s Burma visit sends the wrong message: NCGUB - Mungpi

Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam’s arrival in Burma tomorrow will send the
wrong message to the military according to the exiled National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma.
NCGUB minister Dr Tint Swe told Mizzima he thought Kalam’s three-day visit
would be unhelpful.

“Visiting Burma while there is continuous human rights violation and
political repression under the military regime will send the wrong
message,” Dr Tint Swe said.

The Indian government has said the purpose of Kalam’s visit was to promote
bilateral trade with Burma and while Dr Tint Swe agreed it could have some
effect on Burma’s economy, he said the high-level visit would not have a
positive impact on the political situation in the country.

“I don't see [Kalam's visit] will bring anything good for the Burmese
politics,” he said.
In the past few years, Indian politicians had shown a reluctance to
address the lack of democracy and human rights in Burma until last week
when Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh broke with tradition by
discussing the issue with United States president George W. Bush.

At a joint press conference for the two leaders in New Delhi on March 2,
Bush was quoted by reporters as saying, “On Burma we agreed on the
deplorable state of human rights in Burma and all nations should seek the
release of Aung San Suu Kyi”.

While the statement was seen by some analysts as a sign of a new Indian
stance on Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party the National League for
Democracy has reacted cautiously telling Mizzima it was too early to tell
if the new rhetoric meant Kalam might talk politics with the Burmese
military.

NLD spokesman in Rangoon, Nyan Win said, “It is too early to speculate or
comment on the visit.”

“We will have to wait and see whether he [Kalam] will discuss anything
regarding reformation to democracy,” he said.

The relationship between Burma and India has warmed considerably in the
past decade with trade, terrorism and military agreements dominating
negotiations.

Though Kalam is the first Indian head-of-state to visit Burma in decades,
there have been a number of high-level diplomatic exchanges between the
two countries including a visit to India by senior general Than Shwe in
October 2004.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 7, Thai Press
Thaksin should never have compared Thai elections to those in Myanmar (Burma)

By comparing elections in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), the PM has done
both a disservice.

It is preposterous for caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and
former House speaker Bhokin Bhalakula to keep comparing Thai and Burmese
elections.

Their comments show their complete ignorance of political developments in
Thailand's neighbouring countries.

When Thaksin showed up on March 2 morning at the National Stadium, the
venue for the April 2 electoral registration, he attacked the opposition
parties, which have decided to boycott the poll. He said they should learn
from the imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League
for Democracy.

Thaksin said proudly that Suu Kyi was dying to have an election in Burma.
In Thailand, the Democrats do not want to take part in an election. They
should ask Suu Kyi, he said.

It was the same point mentioned by Bhokin on Wednesday night during a talk
show, when he tried to answer questions related to the boycott. He said
the Nobel peace prize laureate had been asking for an election and wanted
to take part.

Thaksin and Bhokin are foolish in associating the two electoral processes.
One is under a military dictatorship, the other is a democratic one.
Trying to lead the Thai public to think that the electoral systems in the
two countries are similar shows a high sense of ignorance. They try to
muddle through by propagating these lies to the Thai people and TV
audiences. Indeed, both of them need to take a history lesson on Southeast
Asia.

First of all, the National League for Democracy was robbed of the 1990
election, which it won by a huge majority. That was the last time Burma
had an election. The military junta, which took power in 1998, is trying
to win international support now by drafting a new constitution and
calling for a new election in the future.

The Burmese regime, officially called the State Peace and Development
Council, happens to be a good friend of Thaksin, who has established
strong ties with the junta leaders since he came to power in 2001. Thaksin
has had telecom business interests to take care of inside Burma.

Thaksin should know better that it is his strong support of Burma that has
tarnished Thailand's reputation in the international community. While the
Asean countries have been critical of Burma's continued political
suppression, Thaksin has been silent. Increasingly, Thailand has been
isolated on the issue of Burma.

By comparing the Thai and Burmese electoral processes, Thaksin is doing
Thailand a disservice in assuming they are no different. For instance, he
should know better than any one that Thailand does not arrest opposition
leaders and put them in jail for 14 years.

Three major opposition parties in Thailand are refusing to take part in
the snap election because they want Thaksin to resign as he no longer has
the moral authority or legitimacy to govern the country. They view the
election as a way to re-legitimise Thaksin even though he has failed to
answer numerous allegations levelled against him on corruption charges.

Therefore, it is on that basis that they have called for disobedience,
which is completely different from the situation in Burma.