BurmaNet News, June 30, 2006

[Editor]

June 30, 2006 Issue # 2995

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar condemns US for raising pressure at UN
DVB: The State will not feed prisoners anymore - Burmese prison staff
DVB: Political prisoner Saw Win's condition continues to deteriorate
DVB: NLD members barred from making a living
Irrawaddy: Exiles “planning attacks,” claims state paper
Narinjara: Rate of Arakanese migration increasing
Irrawaddy: Junta blocks Google and Gmail

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Migrant Burmese face wave of robbery attacks
Irrawaddy: Burmese arrested in Mae Sot brothel raids

BUSINESS / TRADE
SHAN: Second lot of teakwood enters Mae Sai

HEALTH / AIDS
Thai Press Reports: Thailand malaria, dengue fever alert on Thai-Myanmar
border

ASEAN
AFP: Philippines FM seeks Myanmar meet with Aung San Suu Kyi

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Washington’s Iraq mistakes hamper Burma policy
Irrawaddy: Burma comes top of another blacklist

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 30, Agence France Presse
Myanmar condemns US for raising pressure at UN

Military-run Myanmar on Friday condemned the United States for using the
United Nations to increase international pressure against the nation, one
of the world's most isolated and poorest countries.

The junta accused Washington, which it refers to as "a certain Western
power", of also using "expatriates and fugitives" to oust the ruling
military government, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

"At the same time, it is using the UN Security Council and the
International Labor Organization as a means to attack the ruling
government with slanders backed by the perpetration falsely portraying
Myanmar's objective conditions," it said.

The United States, a vocal critic of Myanmar, is pursuing an unprecedented
UN Security Council resolution calling on the junta to change its
repressive policies, including the house arrest of democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi.

Myanmar in May extended her detention for another year, defying an
international outcry demanding the release of the 61-year-old Nobel peace
laureate.

The United States also imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, while the
State Department branded the military-run nation as among the world's
worst offenders for trafficking in humans. The military has ruled Myanmar
since 1962.

Meanwhile, the International Labour Organization gave Myanmar until July
31 to release anyone jailed for complaining about forced labor.

The UN labor agency has been trying for almost a decade get the military
government to crack down on forced labor. In 1998 an ILO inquiry found
that forced labour was pervasive and systematic throughout the country,
particularly with the military.

Myanmar could face sanctions if it fails to comply.

____________________________________

June 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
The State will not feed prisoners anymore - Burmese prison staff


>From the end of this year, Burma's military government, the State Peace

and Development Council (SPDC) will stop providing food to prisoners at
jails and police-controlled labour camps (gulags), an official at Rangoon
Insein Jail who doesn't want to be named told DVB.

According to the official, the State will provide only salaries and
subsidised rice to prison staff, and prison officials concerned must find
their own ways of feeding prisoners, said the Interior Ministry in a
directive sent to prison officials last month.

The ministry instructed officials to force prisoners to utilise and work
on wild and uncultivated lands allocated by the State, and use the
proceeds to feed prisoners. Officials were also instructed to dissolve the
'upper and lower' Burma prison formation and form new prison groups
according to the states and divisions.

The new orders are to be carried out by prison directors-in-chief, and
prison officials are said to be complaining about their luck. The official
added it would impossible to feed all prisoners at Insein Jail as there
are thousands of them - unless they oppress and bully the prisoners by
using all available crooked means.

____________________________________

June 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Political prisoner Saw Win's condition continues to deteriorate

The health condition of political prisoner Saw Win who has been serving a
lengthy jail-term at Kalemyo Prison, Sagaing Division in northwest Burma,
is continuing to deteriorate, according to his mother.

Saw Win has been suffering from severe back pain since early this year and
he is also starting to suffer gastric complaints, according to his mother,
Mya Yi who went to see him at the prison recently.

"I have this stabbing pain in my back, he said. It is like being prodded
with a stick...I also bought medicines for him. The doctor said it is his
back and liver. If it is liver, he should be bloated, but he is not. I
think it is the consequence of the tortures he received. It must be he was
tortured when he was arrested. they didn't go away completely. He is thin.
And he lost weight. He also lost his appetite. He said it feels gastric
disease."

As there is no prison doctor at Kalemyo, Saw Win's diseases are unlikely
to be cured completely, Mya Yi insisted. She also expressed concerns for
her son. Similarly, another long-term political prisoner at Kalemyo
Prison, Aye Aung is also suffering from gastric complaints due to the dire
quality of food served inside the prison.

____________________________________

June 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD members barred from making a living

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party members have been barred
from making a living for their family by the authorities of Burma's
military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

Vehicle control authorities of Rangoon Thonegwa Township recently
pressurised the owner of a bus company to remove NLD Organising Committee
member Yin Aye who had been making a living as a hired driver for his
company.

"His (Yin Aye's) job was working as a driver for another owner," NLD
spokesman and lawyer Nyan Win told DVB. "The 'Ma-Hta-Tha' (Vehicle contol
authority) asked him to be fired from his job as he is involved in
politics. The owner didn't. He argued that driving is his own business.
But in the end the Ma-Hta-Tha arranged the cars to be vehicles for
(ferrying) university (students). Thos who are involved in politics can't
be drivers for university students. Therefore, the owner could not employ
his cars if he appointed his man. In Burma, you can only employ your car
with the arrangement of the Ma-Hta Tha. He can't be a driver for the
university ferrying students. He had no permit to go anywhere. So he had
to quit his job."

Nyan Win added:

"It is completely unfair. You can't drive a car because you get involved
in politics! It is not a logical excuse. What they are doing is, making it
impossible for NLD members, political activists to make a living."

____________________________________

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Exiles “planning attacks,” claims state paper

Burma’s state-controlled media labeled various exile groups as “terrorist
gangs” on Friday, accusing them of plotting to launch “synchronized
attacks against the nation” from the Thai border town of Mae Sot. The
unsigned article accused the National Council of the Union of Burma, the
Federation of Trade Unions Burma, and the National League for Democracy
(Liberated Areas). A spokesman for the NCUB’s Foreign Affairs Committee,
Nyo Ohn Myint, said: “We have no military offensive [planned].”

 The article, which appeared in The New Light of Myanmar, said exiles’
activities attempted to “drive in a wedge to destroy bilateral efforts
for peace and stability”—referring to Thailand. It also blamed a “Western
power”—a tag which applies to the US—of colluding with the exiled groups
and sending its embassy staff to the NLD headquarters in Rangoon, which
“amounts to brazenly interfering,” the report said. The article comes a
day after Thailand and Burma finished talks in Chiang Mai on cross-border
issues including security and “illegal alien problems.” The official Thai
News Agency quoted Thailand’s Third Army Commander, Lt-Gen Saprang
Kalayanamitre, as saying both sides agreed to forget past disagreements
and start anew.

____________________________________

June 30, Narinjara News
Rate of Arakanese migration increasing

The rates of migration Arakan State has been increasing by the day due to
economic hardships among the Arakanese people, said an Arakanese community
leader in Akyab.

"Yes, we have recorded that there are over half a million Arakanese people
currently in Rangoon who have migrated from Arakan in recent years," said
the leader.

Arakanese are not only migrating to Rangoon, but also to other parts of
Burma and neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

He said that about 30,000 Arakanese are currently staying in Thailand
illegally, and about 20,000 are staying in Malaysia as illegal workers.

In Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, over 5000 families have moved to
Rangoon and other parts of Burma to seek out a better life over the last
ten years.

The leader said that Arakanese people could not live in Arakan peacefully
after the economic crisis hit Arakan in recent years. At the same time,
Arakanese people have been losing business opportunities as a number of
Burmese battalions stationed in Arakan State have been monopolizing
business and industries in the State.

"Currently, there are over 60 battalions, including the Navy and police,
in Arakan, and all army battalions are involved in local business. The
whole of Arakan businesses are now under the Burmese army," the leader
reported.

The Burmese army in Arakan State has been involved in a number of business
sectors including bus transport, ferry boats, restaurants and bars, bamboo
and palm, timber production, shrimp and rice mills, as well as other
agricultural sectors.

As the Burmese army is involved in all business sectors in Arakan and
monopolized the local industries, many middle class Arakanese people have
lost opportunities they once had in the state.

Because of this situation, there is an exodus of Arakanese people from
their home to Rangoon and other parts of Burma as well as neighboring
countries, looking for good jobs and business opportunities there, the
leader said.

____________________________________

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Junta blocks Google and Gmail

Burma’s military government is continuing to block free emails and
internet messenger programs, including Google Talk and Gmail, according to
internet users in Rangoon. The new blackout began in late June.

The regime has previously blocked Yahoo, Hotmail and Skype messenger
programs.

Internet users say the junta’s Myanmar Teleport Company has now blocked
their Google Talk and Gmail accounts using sophisticated methods. Myanmar
Teleport evolved from Bagan Cybertech, which was owned by Ye Naing Win, a
son of the detained former Gen Khin Nyunt.

Messenger programs like Google Talk have been popular for Internet users
in Burma to communicate with friends abroad. According to one Internet
user in Rangoon, some people have studied for overseas diplomas via the
Internet. He said most of them have to rely on Gmails. He also said those
people have now got into trouble.

Burma “implements one of the world’s most restrictive regimes of Internet
control,” said OpenNet Initiative, a US-based research group in its
Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005: A Country Study.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Migrant Burmese face wave of robbery attacks - Aung Lwin Oo and Sai Silp

Mafia-like extortion gangs have attacked and hospitalized at least 20
Burmese immigrant workers living in an area known as “Little Burma”, 30
kilometres southwest of Bangkok, social workers say.

The attacks, mostly against people employed in the fishing industry, have
occurred in recent weeks in Mahachai, in Samut Sakhon Province, home to up
to 100,000 Burmese migrants.

“Arms robberies and physical assaults by local gangsters is taking place
on a daily basis,” said Myint Wai of Thai Action Committee for Democracy
in Burma.

Samut Sakhon hospital confirmed that one Burmese migrant had serious
injuries from a knife attack and another had been brought in unconscious
after a severe beating.

Pranom Somwong of the Migrant Assistance Program said the Burmese
immigrant community in Mahachai is generally closed to outsiders and Thai
and Burmese gangsters have organized extortion rackets. She said recent
incidents showed a lack of protection for migrant workers in Thailand.

Thailand has not signed the 1990 UN International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers nor the International
Labour Organization’s conventions guaranteeing protection.

“It’s a shame that Thailand lets this situation happen to such a
vulnerable group,” said Jai Ungpakorn, a labor rights activist and
professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

____________________________________

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Burmese arrested in Mae Sot brothel raids

Four Burmese caught in raids on three Mae Sot brothels were arrested and
charged with running establishments for commercial sex purposes. Police
also charged about 20 women, four of whom were under 15, with
prostitution. A Mae Sot police officer said most of the sex workers will
be deported from Thailand, but the juveniles will be the responsibility of
Thai social workers and NGOs to protect them from future exploitation.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 30, Shan Herald Agency for News
Second lot of teakwood enters Mae Sai

More than 5 months after the first lot of teak logs was for the first
time, allowed to be exported through Tachilek-Chiangrai route, the second
lot has come through the Friendship Bridge II between Tachilek and Maesai,
report Lahu and Shan resources.

Hundreds of teak logs marked “Siva Commerce Limited Partnership” have
piled up near the Friendship Bridge II on the Thai side of the border
since Wednesday, 28 June.

The first lot of 620 logs worth $ 2.5 million came through Chiangsaen,
near Maesai in January. Arnond Markmasilp, better known as “Sia Ar”, then
told reporters he was expecting another 1,300 logs.

Eversince the Friendship Bridge II was inaugurated on 22 January, there
has been several reports of smuggling teak logs by night. “This is the
first time the logs are being hauled in broad daylight,” said a Shan
businessman.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 30, Thai Press Reports
Thailand malaria, dengue fever alert on Thai-Myanmar border

Section: General News - Refugees from continuing violence in the Myanmar
countryside adjacent to Thailand together with an earlier than normal
rainy season in the heavily-forested border region means that the
incidence and danger of contracting malaria is higher than usual.

Mae Sot Hospital director Dr. Kanoknart Pisuthikul said that early rains
meant more risk of dengue fever as well.

Thailand's public health programme has greatly reduced the annual
incidence of malaria cases, the World Health Organization reports, but
refugees, migrant workers, villagers living along the border -- and
tourists -- are still at high risk from mosquito-borne diseases unless
they take adequate precautions.

While having a steadily reducing incidence, malaria remains a major public
health problem in Thailand, with migration of cross-border laborers
suspected as a leading cause of malaria transmission. WHO reports that in
Thailand, the endemic area is in the hilly or forested area only. Most
cases are from the border of Thailand especially Thai-Myanmar,
Thai-Cambodia border and that there is no risk in major cities or major
tourist resorts such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Samui
Island.

Drug-resistant strains of malaria have led to establishment of medical
research stations such as the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical
Sciences (AFRIMS) research unit at Huaymalai in Sangkhlaburi near the
Kanchanaburi-Myanmar border.

However, because of heavy population density, Tak province accounts for 25
percent of malaria cases in Thailand, Dr Kanoknart said. The worst hit
districts along the Myanmar border: Mae Sot, Mae Ramat, Tha Song Yang,
Phop Phra and Umphang, an area of refugee camps, farms and factories
employing workers from across the Moei river.

Some 900 cases of malaria were treated in May at Mae Tao Clinic, near Mae
Sot. The clinic treats up to 80,000 Myanmar people a year for malaria,
workplace accidents, landmine injuries, malnourishment, birth
complications and respiratory infections.

Mahidol University specialists recommend that tourists and business
travellers on the Thai-Myanmar and Thai-Cambodia borders should sleep
under a bed net and use insect repellents, especially after sunset.
Repellents are available at drug stores as "Yah Tah Gahn Yoong" Preventive
antimalarial medications are not recommended in Thailand, according to
Mahidol University's Thai Travel Clinic. Malaria in Thailand is multidrug
resistant: no drugs can protect travellers against malaria. And drugs may
cause unpleasant side effects.

Malaria can be fatal, particularly with delayed treatment. But the World
Health Organization (WHO) says of 300-500 million cases reported worldwide
annually, only about one million persons die, mainly in Africa.

Travellers getting fever in malaria risk areas should seek medical care at
a hospital immediately. Symptoms of malaria include fever with or without
chill, headache, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 30, Agence France Presse
Philippines FM seeks Myanmar meet with Aung San Suu Kyi

Philippines Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo will seek a meeting with the
detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar next
week, official sources in Manila said Friday.

They said the July 5-9 trip was at the invitation of Myanmar's reclusive
military rulers last year.

The Philippines takes over in mid-July the rotating chairmanship of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that also includes Myanmar,
and Romulo said earlier this year that Manila was committed to pushing for
democracy there.

"He was invited, but he is not going there to represent the ASEAN," one
Philippine government source told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Myanmar's rulers have yet to signal whether they will entertain Romulo's
request to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the sources added.

The Nobel peace laureate, who turned 61 this year, remains under house
arrest, having spent 10 of the past 17 years in detention.

The ruling junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two
years later rejected the results of national elections won by her National
League for Democracy.

ASEAN's policy of "constructive engagement" with Myanmar has led to
friction with key trading partners the United States and the European
Union.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Washington’s Iraq mistakes hamper Burma policy

Washington continues to stand in solidarity with the oppressed Burmese
people and in calling for the regime to free political prisoners and take
political reform seriously.

Last year, US President George W Bush received at the White House Charm
Tong, a Shan activist living in exile. It was a happy meeting and gave
encouragement to Burmese at home and abroad.

Burmese dissidents and activists, dismayed by the persistent support given
to the Burmese regime by its two giant neighbors, China and India, are
always encouraged by Washington’s tough talk and sanctions policy.

The regime remains obdurate, however, turning a deaf ear to Washington’s
tough talk. We think it may well have reason for doing so, for the world
champion of democracy and human rights needs first of all to put its own
house in order.

It could start with Guantanamo, the prison camp that is the cause of so
much dissension between the US and much of the rest of the world,
including its closest allies. A US Supreme Court ruling this week that
President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military trials for a
handful of Guantanamo Bay detainees dealt a blow to the Washington
administration.

EU nations, governments around the world, London-based Amnesty
International, human rights defenders and critics of the Bush
administration have long been calling for the closure of the US prison
camp.

Guantanamo is not the only ugly side of US government policy. In 2004, the
photos of US soldiers abusing captives in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq
revealed the inhumane treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners and severely
harmed American goals in Iraq.

The press is also under pressure as the New York Times published stories
of secret anti-terrorism programs run by the Bush administration. Critics
accused the newspaper of being unpatriotic, and some even suggested it
should be indicted under the Espionage Act. Indeed, the wiretapping
program, prison abuses and stories of Guantanamo Bay detainees are
alarming.

Burmese generals are surely reading with glee reports of Washington’s
double standards, well aware that criticism of their own abuses
consequently carries less weight. The state-run press report assiduously
on American involvement in Iraq, keeping count of US casualties,
highlighting Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo abuses and ridiculing the US
failure to find those “weapons of mass destruction.” The regime is
gloating.

Opposition groups within and outside Burma favor increased pressure and
tougher sanctions against the generals. Inside Burma, many opponents of
the military regime genuinely hoped US troops would come to topple the
Burmese dictators after they finished with Saddam Hussein.

Burmese who appreciate Washington’s efforts to restore democracy to Burma
are baffled; the Burmese generals, on the other hand, are smirking smugly.

____________________________________

June 30, The Irrawaddy
Burma comes top of another blacklist - Phil Thornton

Once again the pariah government of Burma tops an international
blacklist—this time one compiled by the inter-governmental Financial
Action Task Force set up to tackle money laundering and terrorism
financing.

While the US and its allies and the UN have sent troops to combat
dictators and armed militias in Bosina, Serbia, Somalia, the Congo, Darfur
and Iraq—just to name some—they have left Burma's military dictatorship
off their intervention agenda.

In recent months, Burmese troops have looted, burnt or destroyed hundreds
of villages, killing and raping and driving and forced as up to18,000
Karen people from their homes, yet while the response from the UN and the
international community amounted to a torrent of words there has been no
action.

Burma's human rights record is appalling and should be motivation enough
for the UN Security Council to take immediate action. The World Health
Organisation ranks Burma's health care system as the world's second worst
after Sierra Leone. A third of children under five suffer severe
malnutrition. Burma has one of the lowest per capita number of pharmacists
in the world—just 127 to serve the whole country. HIV/AIDS is rife but
mainly goes unreported. Burma is the world's second biggest producer of
opium and the largest manufacturer of amphetamine-type stimulants.

Press freedom is non-existent, marginally better than in totalitarian
North Korea. Corruption in Burma is rampant at every level of
government—Transparency International rates it better only than Bangladesh
and Chad.

Economic freedom is an oxymoron—in a study by the Heritage Foundation,
Burma is just in front of Iran and North Korea. Human Rights Watch
estimates that Burma has the highest number of child soldiers of any
army—75,000—some as young as 11.

Nine out of 14 states and provinces in Burma are sown with landmines,
making large swathes of land worthless for cultivation and killing and
maiming thousands of people.

The International Labor Organization ranks Burma top of its list of Asian
countries practicing forced labor. The US State Department accuses Burma's
military government of failing to combat trafficking of people for "the
purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation." Burma is depleting its
natural resources with alarming greed and Global Witness estimates that
timber is trucked from Burma to China at the rate of 15 metric tons every
seven minutes, throughout the year.

More than a 1,000 political prisoners rot in jails. National League of
Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, celebrated her 61st birthday under
house arrest - as she did during many of the last 17 years. Her only crime
is her popularity with the Burmese people.

In 2005, two Nobel Peace Prize recipients, the former president of the
Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, and South Africa's Bishop Tutu, commissioned
an international law firm to prepare a report that delivers unambiguous
evidence to show why the UN Security Council should take action on Burma.

The question is why has it not done so?