BurmaNet News, August 01, 2006

[Editor]

August 1, 2006 Issue # 3015

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Former Burmese army commander reportedly detained
DVB: Burmese heroine honoured by her MP and fellow activists

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar liberalizes border trade procedures to boost trade with China
The New Nation: Trouble at trading in Indo-Burma border

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Breastfeeding can save thousands of Burmese, says UNICEF

DRUGS
SHAN: Junta generals in cahoots with druglords, says new report
IMNA: Alarming rise in use of amphetamine among youth and students in Mon
state

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Indian student group to set up Shwe gas committee

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: ILO deadline passes on forced labor prosecutions

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma’s North Korea connection
New Straits Times: Asean seems clueless on Myanmar

PRESS RELEASE
The White House: President renews Burmese freedom and democracy act of 2003

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Former Burmese army commander reportedly detained

Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing who made a name for himself as the ruthless commander
of Northeast Command, based in Burma’s northern Shan State capital Lashio
and appointed the ‘chief commander against air threats’, is reportedly
being detained for questioning.

He was said to be arrested within the second week of July and that it
could be connected to the corruption scam at 105-Mile Trade Zone on the
Sino-Burmese border, according to sources close to border traders.
Although the report has not been confirmed independently, military sources
from the border said that the latest report shows the extent of corruption
in the area and the increasing power struggle within the army.

Myint Hlaing is said to be the close confidante of General Maung Aye, the
second most powerful man of Burma’s military junta, the State peace and
Development Council (SPDC). Myint Hlaing became notorious for dealing with
the corruption cases and his ruthless in dealing with ethnic national
groups which signed ceasefire agreements with junta. Moreover, he was able
to unearth the original 105-Mile saga in order to arrest former Prime
Minister Gen Khin Nyunt and members of the ousted Military Intelligence
Service (MIS) members.

Gen. Maung Aye wanted Myint Hlaing’s continued presence at Lashio but
Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Gen. Shwe Mann didn’t accept it and he was
summoned back to the military HQs and kicked upstairs with the current
post in May. Myint Hlaing could have been detained and interrogated since
his ‘promotion’, according to the said sources.

____________________________________

July 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese heroine honoured by her MP and fellow activists

A formal ceremony honouring human rights activist Su Su Nway, the villager
from Rangoon Kawmoo Township’s Htan Manaing, was held at the home of the
local National League for Democracy (NLD) elected representative (MP)
Myaungmya Ba Swe’s home today.

Only around 50 party members and supporters were able to attend the
ceremony as the authorities, especially the police carried out extensive
and unnecessary searches and interrogations of potential attendants. The
ceremony was originally to be held on 25 July and permission was sought
from the local authorities but it was rejected by the order of the
divisional authorities.

Su Su Nway is the first person ever in Burma to have successfully sued her
local authority members over forced labour practices. But, as an act of
revenge, she was subsequently counter-sued with trumped up charges by them
and jailed for 18 months last October 13 on charges of criminal
intimidation after complaints lodged by local officials.

She was sent to the notorious Rangoon Insein Jail and released on 6 June
due to pressure from the international community especially the
International Labour Organisation (ILO).

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 1, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar liberalizes border trade procedures to boost trade with China

Myanmar has liberalized some trade procedures dealing with border trade
being carried out in Muse trade point with China to facilitate exporters
and boost bilateral trade between the two countries, said a commerce
official Tuesday.

The newly-introduced trade procedures allow merchants to freely and
directly transport some of the items of the exporting goods from across
the country to the Myanmar-China border trade point of Muse first and
export licenses will be issued on the spot after a sale contract is
formally established with buyers from the Chinese side.

According to the official, such export licenses-on-arrival of exporting
goods are applicable only to beans and pulses, sesame, maize, onion,
rubber, marine products and forest products except teak as well.

Previously, traders had to seek export licenses first in Yangon and later
in Nay Pyi Taw, the newly-relocated administrative capital, for all items
of the exporting goods to be carried to the Muse trade point for trading.

The liberalization was made in line with the norms prescribed by the World
Trade Organization so as to reduce the hindrance of red tape and smooth
the regional flow of commodities, according to the Directorate of Trade
under the Commerce Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar government has stressed the development of the
country's border trade with five objectives to promote bilateral trade
with neighboring China. The five objectives include cementing of friendly
relationship between Myanmar and China, promotion of bilateral trade,
transformation of border trade into normal trade and full collection of
tax.

According to government statistics, daily trade volume in Muse ranges
between 500,000 U.S. dollars and 1 million dollars, with 347 million
dollars being registered in the fiscal year of 2004-05, 505 million
dollars in 2005-06 and 207 million dollars in the first quarter of
2006-07, and it is predicted that the total trade volume in 2006-07 will
be higher than the previous year.

So far, out of 163 plots reclaimed for the zone, 97 have been sold to
merchants in installment, the border trade authorities revealed.

According to Chinese official statistics, China-Myanmar bilateral trade
hit 1.209 billion dollars in 2005, up 5.6 percent from 2004. Of the total,
China's exports to Myanmar took 935 million dollars, while its imports
from Myanmar stood at 274 million dollars.

The trade volume between Yunnan province and Myanmar, including the border
trade, amounted to 630 million dollars during the year, up 14.6 percent
from the previous year. Of the total, Yunnan's exports to Myanmar
represented 400 million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar were
valued at 230 million dollars, the figures show.

____________________________________

July 31, The New Nation
Trouble at trading in Indo-Burma border - Nava Thakuria

The Moreh trade point in Indo-Burma border area (in the northeastern state
of Manipur) receives media headlines, but often for wrong reasons. One of
the important trade points with Burma (now renamed Myanmar), the Moreh
town witness recurrent disturbances due to various reasons. If the
underdevelopment of the Moreh, which is around 110 km away from the state
capital Imphal and the lack of civic facilities to traders and the local
habitants make regular news, the sudden deterioration of law and order
situation crates headlines in regional and also national and international
media.

The third week of July witnessed prolonged disturbance in the locality. It
started with the killing of a Junior Commissioned Officer belong to 24
Assam Rifles (AR), assigned for counter insurgency operation in the state
in the broad day light on July 13. The United National Liberation Front
(UNLF), one among 30 insurgent outfits of Manipur claimed responsibility
for the assassination of the personnel named Tuk Bahadur Pun. The jowan
(soldier) was on duty in the Moreh Bazar, opposite to the Namphalong
market of Tamu town in Burmese side, where the militants targeted the
security man to kill him on the spot.

The incident provoked the AR personnel and they came out in group to the
market areas. Soon they started physically assaulting the traders and also
local people in the name of interrogation. The 'men in uniform' not only
vandalized the market, but also forced the shopkeepers to shut down their
stalls. "The Assam Rifles personnel arrived in the Moreh market (gate no
2) in the morning and started questioning some traders. During
interrogation, the soldiers physically assaulted them. Even the AR men did
not spare abusing language to the onlookers," said an eyewitness to this
correspondent.

The occurrence was followed by immediate protest by a group of local women.

Demonstrating in front of the police station in Moreh town, the women
demanded appropriate actions against the security personnel involved in
the episode. The agitating women under the banner of All Moreh Apunba
Meira Paibi Lup later called for a bandh (total non-cooperation) in Moreh
Bazar. The market wore a deserted look for two consecutive days. Tamu, in
the other side, however remained unaffected with the disturbances, though
it was deprived of Indian visitors, their potential customers.

It may be mentioned that India and Burma signed an agreement on border
trade in 1994, which has been in operation since April 12, 1995. The
trading activities had been done under the laws and regulations of both
the countries, where provisions been made for the buyers (of both India
and Burma) to take delivery of the marketed goods in freely convertible
currencies. India's exports to Burma include primarily the finished
products (machinery and instruments) with drugs, pharmaceuticals and
agriculture based various products. On the other hand, Burma exports wood
products, pulses, fruits, nuts and spices. The average annual volume of
trade through Moreh is estimated at Rs. 250 milion. However, the
unofficial or illegal trade volume between the two countries lies in
around Rs 15 billion. The illegal trade flourishes in the unchecked 1640
km long border with Burma.

A wide and pitch road connecting Moreh to Kalewa town in Sagaing division
of Burma was inaugurated on February 13, 2001. The path named Indo-Myanmar
Friendship Road was built by the Border Roads Organization (of India)
spending around Rupees 1 billion. The 165-km long Tamu-Kalaymyo-Kalewa
road connects India's National Highway 39 in Northeast India that ends at
Moreh. However, the pro-democracy activists of Burma had been opposing the
trade with an argument that it would only benefit the military rulers of
the country. Burma has been under military rule for more than four
decades.

The latest form of military junta (named State Peace and Development
Council) is responsible for enormous human rights violation through out
the country and also for detention of the Nobel laureate Burmese icon Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi for the last 15 years now.

The occasional disturbance in the state had a direct and negative
implication on the trade between the two countries. Moreover, the
deteriorated situation in the locality put an uncomfortable situation to
the media persons. During the last incident, the Assam Rifles officials
virtually made the Moreh market a 'no-entry zone for media persons'.

The local reporters (mostly representatives of Manipur based newspapers
and a local cable channel) were prevented by the AR men from entering the
locality for reporting purposes. Even the reporters were subjected to
abusing languages by a section of fuming security officers.

The attitude of the Assam Rifles, who prevented media persons from
covering the incident, was strongly condemned by the All Manipur Working
Journalists' Union (AMWJU). The Moreh based news correspondents boycotted
the functions and press statement of the Assam Rifles as a token
agitation. Later the conflict was resolved after the Assam Rifles
authority expressed its regret over the incident. The Army authority as
well as the state government of Manipur had also extended assurance to the
agitating women of All Moreh Apunba Meira Paibi Lup that their sentiment
would be considered with sincere approach.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 1, Irrawaddy
Breastfeeding can save thousands of Burmese, says UNICEF

The UN Children’s Fund on Tuesday marked the beginning of World
Breastfeeding Week with a reminder that Burma could help save thousands of
babies if mothers relied on breast milk. The country has one of the
highest infant mortality rates in the region, the World Health
Organization says, and only spends about three percent of its budget on
healthcare. “If all of the world babies were fed only breast milk for the
first six months of life, 1.5 million infants’ lives would be saved every
year, including thousands of lives in Myanmar [Burma],” said UNICEF Burma
Representative Ramesh Shrestha. The organization said that 85 percent of
Burmese mothers do not feed their children exclusively on breast milk
during their first six months. If they did, childrens’ immune systems
would be stimulated to fend off illnesses including severe respiratory
diseases and diarrhea, two of the biggest killers of Burmese children,
UNICEF said. Burma’s state-run press has enthusiastically heralded the
beginning of World Breastfeeding Week. The New Light of Myanmar on Monday
and Tuesday printed articles outlining the health benefits of breast milk,
while also running a poem on the subject: “Breastfeeding’s best part,
holding baby close to mom’s heart, the time just starts, to get a special
love string knotted fast,” reads one of the verses. World Breastfeeding
Week ends on August 7.

____________________________________
DRUGS

August 1, Shan Herald News for Agency
Junta generals in cahoots with druglords, says new report

Never mind the shoddy parades of their seriousness in fighting the war
against drugs, most of Burma’s generals are indisputably colluding with
drug operators on the wanted lists of its neighbors, according to a new
report released today by S.H.A.N.

Most prominent on Hand in Glove’s 64 pages is Lt-Gen Myint Hlaing,
promoted in May to Air Defense chief, who had made his mark in the bloody
suppression of the Mongkoe Defense Army in 2000 and the sweeping crackdown
on military intelligence officers in 2004 that finally led to the downfall
of Gen Khin Nyunt. The report says, as Commander of Northeastern Region
Command (northern Shan State), he had been closely associated with
well-known drug bosses such as Sai Tun Aye ‘So-so Pyay-Pyay’, Bo Mon and
Panghsay Kyaw Myint, who also double as pro-junta militia leaders.

The report also gives profiles on 18 new faces other than those who are
already familiar to lay watchers of Burma: Law Hsing Han, Khun Sa, Lin
Mingxien and Wei Hsuehkang.

In addition, it discusses how, under Deputy Senior General Maung Aye, the
militias are being favored over the ceasefire groups, once “blue-eyed
boys” under Gen Khin Nyunt. “Militias have been formed under our
supervision,” a colonel in eastern Shan State was quoted as telling a Lahu
militia leader. “Ceasefire groups are merely enemies who have taken a
break in the fighting against us.”

The report concludes:
•       As long as the junta’s principal focus is to get rid of the
Opposition and not the welfare of the people
•       As long as pro-regime individuals and movements are granted immunity
•       As long as there is non-stop expansion of the army and the policy
of self-reliance for military units
•       As long as there is widespread corruption that begins right from
the top
“The ordinary people of Shan State should not be blamed for doubting
whether the year 2015 will indeed bring a Drug Free Asean.”

Hand in Glove can be read at http//shanland.mongloi.org The booklet; which
will be available in a week, is 100 baht ($ 2.50) including postage in
Thailand. Prices for outside Thailand:
        Price           Postage         Total
Asia    $ 2.50          $ 3.50            6
EU      $ 2.50          $ 4.50            7
US      $ 2.50          $ 5.50           8

Earlier publications Show Business: Rangoon’s War on Drugs in Shan State
(2003) and Finding Neverland: The story of Yawngkha (2005) are also
available at S.H.A.N.

____________________________________

July 31, Independent Mon News Agency
Alarming rise in use of Amphetamine among youth and students in Mon State
- Joi Htaw

Use of Amphetamine, a stimulant drug is increasing at an alarming rate
among university and school students in Mon State. Even teenagers in the
villages are becoming addicted, said a villager in Mudon Township who uses
the drug.

He claimed that approximately about 50 percent of young people are into
Amphetamine drugs and most of them are students from the University of
Mawlamyine (Moulmein) and high school students studying in ninth and tenth
grades.

The number of people using Amphetamine in Kawbein village, Karen State is
higher than most other places, said an official of the New Mon State
Party.

Not only are soldiers of the Burma Army involved in Amphetamine trade but
a surrendered Karen group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army plays a
major role in dealing in stimulant drugs, said a man who not only uses
Amphetamine but also sells the tablets.

According to him, there is a big machine in Moulmein, the capital of Mon
State, which produces Amphetamine and one tablet fetches Kyat 2,000 in the
villages in Mudon Township. However, because one tablet costs Kyat 4,000
in the university campus the students have to come to the village to buy
it at a cheaper price.

According to the user in Mudon Township, they prefer Amphetamine to
drinking alcohol because drugs give them the same high as drinking but
cause no trouble. As opposed to drinking, the users can move very fast,
can drive motorcycles well and find it more convenient when they have to
communicate with people.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 31, Mizzima News
Indian student group to set up Shwe gas committee - Mungpi

The North East Students’ Organisation announced its intention today of
forming a campaign committee to fight against the proposed Shwe gas
pipeline.

NESO’s general secretary, N Lotha, told Mizzima, “We will setup a campaign
office in Guwahati, particularly for the Shwe gas pipeline and other
related issue of democratic movement (in Burma)”.

Lotha said the pipeline, which is tipped to run through several of India’s
northeastern states, would prolong military occupation in Burma and would
not benefit local people.

India has been negotiating with the Burmese military over the
transportation of gas extracted from an offshore field on the western
coast of Arakan State but has been unable to finalise a route.

While initial plans had the pipeline passing through Bangladesh,
resistance from the Bangladeshi government caused new routes through
India’s troubled northeast to be mooted.

Lotha said all of the proposed routes would have a negative impact on the
environment and nearby communities.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 1, Irrawaddy
ILO deadline passes on forced labor prosecutions - Clive Parker

The deadline for the Burmese government to end all prosecutions against
forced labor complainants and to release all those jailed in such cases
passed on Monday with three people still facing charges.

Despite a call by the International Labour Organization for a moratorium
on all prosecutions by the end of July, three men from Aunglan Township,
Magwe Division—Thein Zan, Zaw Htay and Aung Than Htun—are scheduled to
appear in court on August 7 on charges of “giving false information.” The
three men reported the death of a local villager, Win Lwin, in December
2004, who was allegedly killed while being forced to build a road. The
authorities have never investigated the incident, claiming the man was
working of his own volition.

Zaw Htay on Tuesday confirmed that there had been no word from the
government since their latest court appearance on July 20, meaning that
the case continues. “I don’t think this case will be easy because we now
face trial
at the district level,” he said, referring to the government’s
decision to move the case from a local court in Aunglan to nearby Thayet.

The family of the deceased has been watched closely by the authorities
since July 26, he added.

Richard Horsey, the ILO’s representative in Burma, on Tuesday said the
junta needed to follow up recent prisoner releases by ending the Aunglan
case, as requested at the ILO’s annual conference in June in Geneva.
“These people are being prosecuted for complaining about forced labor,
through the ILO, and the [ILO] conference expected that this case would be
resolved by the end of July, which has not yet happened.”

The ILO has identified a number of possible courses of action should the
junta fail to oblige very specific improvements, including ending
prosecutions, the most severe of which is referral to the International
Court of Justice in The Hague—an unprecedented move.

In order to build confidence in the hope of establishing a credible
mechanism to deal with alleged forced labor cases in Burma—a process which
the ILO has called for by the end of October—the Aunglan case needed to be
“quickly resolved,” Horsey said.

A high-level Burmese Ministry of Labor official told The Irrawaddy on July
21 that there may be a “positive outcome” in the case, without specifying
further.

The junta released two other high-profile complainants on forced labor—Su
Su Nway and Aye Myint—in June and July respectively, also under pressure
from the ILO. The junta claims there are now no other people detained in
Burmese jails for similar offences, a claim backed up by the ILO, which
says it is not aware of further cases.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 1, Irrawaddy
Burma’s North Korea connection - Aung Zaw

The world needs to be wary of the warming military relations between the
Than Shwe regime and missile-wielding Pyongyang

Burma is a poor country but the military regime is rich enough to expand
its armed forces. The regime is buying army weapons and upgrading its air
force—using money raised from selling the country’s natural gas reserves
to neighboring countries while the Burmese population suffers almost daily
power blackouts.

Burmese defense analysts have told The Irrawaddy that the regime’s leaders
are quite eager to buy more arms, ammunition and jet fighters.

Dissident groups in exile, who claim to have information on the military
shopping list, accuse the regime of seeking to buy nuclear weapons from
North Korea.

In early July, a dissident source told The Irrawaddy that a North Korean
ship carrying a senior Korean nuclear technology expert, Maj Hon Kil Dong,
arrived in Rangoon with a biological and nuclear package. Western analysts
and intelligence sources quickly dismissed this claim, but conceded it is
possible that Burma would seek missile technology from Pyongyang.

Australian defense analyst Andrew Selth says Burma is seemingly pursuing
only conventional arms and technology rather than high-tech long-rang
missiles. There is little solid evidence, so far, that Burma is seeking
nuclear technology from North Korea.

Exiled groups need to come up with hard evidence to back up their claims.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, Eric John, said in February that Washington’s concerns have been
heightened by what appears to be the imminent re-establishment of
diplomatic relations between Burma and North Korea. Both countries are
labeled by the Bush administration as “outposts of tyranny.”

John said the authoritarian regimes have isolated themselves to the point
where they have been driven into each other’s arms. He added that there
are grave concerns about the potential transfer of technology to Burma
from North Korea, which claims to possess nuclear weapons. John’s concern
is not unfounded.

In April, a Burmese foreign ministry official told reporters in Rangoon
that the government had decided to renew diplomatic ties with North Korea.
The official was quoted saying: “Myanmar [Burma] has made the final
decision to restore diplomatic relations with the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.” But so far there has been no official announcement by
either side.

Burma will be careful about renewing ties with North Korea, which has
defied the international community by provocatively firing test missiles
in the direction of Japan—the latest being only last month.

Official ties between Burma and North Korea have been cut since deadly
terrorist attacks in 1983 in which North Korean agents attempted to murder
top-ranking South Korean government officials visiting Rangoon—led by the
then president, Chun Doo Hwan. He narrowly escaped the bombing but four of
his ministers were among 21 people killed and more than 40 wounded.

Three North Korean agents were subsequently tracked down. One was shot
dead, one was subsequently executed for the crime and the third is serving
a life sentence in Insein Prison.

Over the last ten years, however, Burma and North Korea have quietly
renewed ties as Burmese generals desperately sought to upgrade and
modernize their armed forces. And since 2000, there have been secret
high-ranking visits between the two countries.

Bertil Lintner, a writer on North Korea, reported recently that a North
Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Park Kil-yon visited
Rangoon in June 2001 and met Deputy Defense Minister Khin Maung Win to
discuss cooperation in the defense industry.
There is clear evidence that Burma has received between 12 and 16 M-46
field guns and as many as 20 million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from
North Korea. According to Selth, this hardware significantly increases
Burma’s long-range artillery capabilities.

In early 2000, North Korean advisors were seen with Burmese officials in
what is now the new capital of Naypyidaw. North Korean workers were also
involved in the construction of new ministry buildings in Naypyidaw and
advised junta leaders on the placement of military buildings, tunnels and
bunkers.

Sources in Rangoon report that North Korean technicians routinely spend a
month working in Naypyidaw and then fly to Rangoon for recreation.

Burmese dissidents in exile might be suggesting that junta leader Than
Shwe and his generals want to obtain North Korean nuclear weaponry in
order to draw more serious attention to Burma’s plight from the US and the
UN. Burma’s nuclear ambitions have long been an open secret. In early
2000, the regime purchased a Russian nuclear reactor and has reportedly
sent students and military officers to Russia for training in nuclear
science. Western analysts say that Russia has yet to deliver the reactor.

Documents obtained by The Irrawaddy from sources close to Burma’s military
indicate that, with help from Chinese and North Korean technicians and
engineers, Burma upgraded radar stations in southern Burma near Kawthaung
(Victoria Point) to monitor joint naval exercises held by US and Thai
forces.

It is hardly surprising that shady ties between the two outposts of
tyranny are growing closer. And this will definitely draw attention in the
West, particularly in the US.

For now, the Burmese regime, playing a shrewd political game with the
international community, may not want to be seen to be too close to
Pyongyang because they can appreciate that after the July test missile
firings into the Sea of Japan, North Korea is again an international hot
potato.

____________________________________
August 1, New Straits Times
Asean seems clueless on Myanmar - Syed Nadzri

Last week's series of Asean meetings is proof enough that Myanmar has
become an itch that simply won't go away.

Only this time the grouping does not appear to have the extra urgency to
apply any strong medicine on it.

In fact, as compared to the Asean Summit seven months ago, everyone has
gone soft. There was no reprimand at all for the military-ruled state
which has ignored just about all external attempts to make it change and
improve its atrocious human rights record.

Yes, there were comments about Myanmar and its ruling generals which came
out of the sessions, but most were answers - predictable answers, actually
- to questions posed by journalists, rather than real rundowns of what
transpired behind the closed doors of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

After the stern telling off it received from leaders at the summit last
December about releasing all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu
Kyi, and letting an official delegation led by Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
into the country to look at latest political developments, Myanmar was let
off rather easily this time.

It could be that there were hotter issues in the air such as the crises in
the Middle East and the Korean peninsula that grabbed everyone's attention
on the arrival of United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In fact, some observers pointed out that the Israeli attack on Lebanon as
well as North Korea's recent nuclear tests in the Sea of Japan appeared to
have hijacked the agenda this time around, pushing traditional
intra-regional matters such as sea piracy, the transboundary haze and even
community-building into the background.

Yes, most of the usual Asean affairs did receive mention in the joint
communique issued at the end of the annual ministerial meeting last
Tuesday. But, somehow, there was no intensity to many of them.

The subject of air pollution and transboundary haze, for instance, rated
just a passing mention in Paragraph 52 under the Environment topic. This
despite the fact that during the previous week, half of Malaysia was
blanketed by haze, which was largely due to perennial forest fires in
Sumatra.

It has become quite a joke that year after year there's haze and year
after year the communique sounds the same: "We reiterated our commitment
to further intensify and undertake co-ordinated action by our relevant
ministries and agencies at the national and regional levels, to deal
collectively with the transboundary haze pollution, guided by the Asean
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. In this regard, we noted the
on-going process of ratification by member countries which have yet to
ratify the agreement and expected this to be finalised soon in order to
ensure effective regional co-operation in this area."

It means, simply, there are some members which have not signed the
agreement and Indonesia is one of them. The meeting clearly did not push
hard enough on this.

Back to Myanmar.

It's true that there is specific paragraph on this problem state. But it
was nothing like the reprimand Yangon got in December and the year before
that in Laos.

The way the generals snubbed the official Asean delegation in March by not
allowing them to meet Suu Kyi and the pro-democracy group, but instead
allowed a United Nations delegation led by envoy Ibrahim Gambari two
months later, should be reason enough for this meeting to issue the
harshest reprimand.

But it understood that individual interests got the better of the
delegates who after debating this way and that, finally settled for a near
farcical mention which was not even a slap on the wrist for the junta,
with such terms as "we expressed concern" or "we recognised Myanmar's
need".

It was a joke, too, that Syed Hamid, in one of his Press conferences,
mentioned that the military government, after all this time, was still in
the midst of preparing a new national constitution which was one of the
conditions in the roadmap to democracy.

"They have completed two chapters already over the past one year." Talk
about foot-dragging.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

August 1, Office of the Press Secretary, The White House
President renews Burmese freedom and democracy act of 2003

President Bush has signed today a bill renewing the Burmese Freedom and
Democracy Act of 2003 and extending import restrictions against the
regime, as a sign of his serious concern about the Burmese regime's
continuing refusal to act on its professed commitment to democratization.
Instead, the country slides deeper into self-imposed isolation and
misrule, the democratic opposition and ethnic minority groups continue to
be shut out of the political process, and Aung San Suu Kyi remains under
house arrest.

The United States watches in deep dismay as a country of Burma's beauty
and potential deteriorates under the oppressive weight of the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) military junta. Burma's neighbors in the
Association of Southeast Nations have also recently condemned the regime's
lack of tangible progress in returning to the democratic path.

The President calls on the international community and the United Nations
to join the United States in support of the people of Burma.