BurmaNet News, August 10, 2006

[Editor]

August 10, 2006 Issue # 3022


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar rebel group signs up to landmine ban
AP: Philippines foreign secretary arrives in Myanmar for talks with junta
leaders
Irrawaddy: Dismay over National Library move
Irrawaddy: Crackdown on illegal use of Chinese mobile phones
Irrawaddy: Customs officials, traders sentenced
Mizzima: Solo protestor released from mental hospital

ON THE BORDER
Xinhua: Myanmar, Laos agree to set up border check points

HEALTH / AIDS
Financial Times: UK pledges pounds 20m for Burma Aids fight

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Myanmar signs agreement for Malaysia's Petronas to do gas pipeline
feasibility study

OPINION / OTHER
New Statesman: Burma Special: Easy praise, empty words
New Statesman: Burma Special: Aung San Suu Kyi, a hero of our time
The Business Times: Refining Asean's Myanmar position

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 10, Agence France Press
Myanmar rebel group signs up to landmine ban

Geneva: An anti-landmines campaign group said Thursday that it hoped two
of Myanmar's largest armed opposition movements would give up using the
weapons, after a smaller rebel group committed itself to an international
ban.

Geneva Call, which is trying to get armed rebel or resistance groups to
follow the conditions of the 1997 Ottawa Convention outlawing
anti-personnel landmines, announced that the Chin National Front had
joined its parallel pledge on July 31.

"Geneva Call is hoping to bring other Burmese opposition groups on board
the mine ban," said Katherine Kramer, of Geneva Call.

"We have already started discussions with other groups, including the
Karen and Karenni, though it is still at the early stage," she added.

Myanmar's military regime is not among the 154 governments which have
signed up to the international treaty.

Exact casualty figures in Myanmar are unknown but campaigners estimate
that there are 1,500 victims of landmine explosions every year, many of
them civilians who have been displaced by the myriad internal conflicts.

The cheaply assembled weapons are used extensively by government and
opposition forces, according to the International Campaign to Ban
Landmines (ICBL).

They are mainly found around border areas where the bulk of the ethnic
minorities in Myanmar live, and around gem mines.

Leaders of the Chin front and its military wing said in Geneva that about
2,000 to 3,000 had been laid in the eponymous western state, next to the
border with India, during their 18-year-old struggle for ethnic rights.

The Front says it is fighting for self-determination for the Chin people
in a federal Burmese state.

"We try to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible, that policy was
implemented in 1995," explained Suikhar, a spokesman for the group.

Suikhar and Chin front chairman Thomas Thangnou explained that they did
not buy their landmines but made them themselves.

"Then we realised the impact of anti personnel landmines. Those were the
two reasons that convinced us to join this commitment," he added.

"In general 40 percent of the victims are civilians."

Survivors in the western region have few chances of getting their wounds
attended to unless they are carried across the border or taken to other
states, according to the Chin.

"There is no humanitarian activity in Chin state, particularly in health
care," explained Suikhar.

Two other groups in Myanmar have already joined the commitment against
anti-personnel landmines, but 11 more are thought to be using them.

More than 30 armed groups in Myanmar, Burundi, India, Iraq, the
Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey and Western Sahara have signed up to
Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment for "non-state actors".

The deed is underwritten by the regional government of Geneva in
Switzerland, lending it some of the authority of a treaty between states.

"The work is a slow process," said Kramer, explaining that her agency was
trying to ensure that the groups could live up to their pledge. Talks with
the Chin front had been underway since 2002.

The Chin rebels said they could turn to alternative weaponry in their
struggle, including remote-controlled bombs.

____________________________________

August 10, Associated Press
Philippines foreign secretary arrives in Myanmar for talks with junta leaders

The foreign secretary of the Philippines arrived in Myanmar Thursday,
hoping to help the ruling junta on the road to restoring democracy in
their country.

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo is scheduled to spend three days in
Myanmar, traveling to Mandalay, the ancient city of Bagan and the new
administrative capital of Naypyidaw.

He declined to answer reporters' questions after touching down in Yangon,
but said in a statement in Manila earlier that the trip would give a
chance to see "how the country's national reconciliation and
democratization process is progressing on the ground."

"The Philippines has always supported Myanmar's roadmap to democracy, and
I hope to hear from Myanmar's leaders how we can help Myanmar move forward
on this path," he said.

Romulo was scheduled to visit tourist sites in Yangon and attend a dinner
hosted by his Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win on Thursday, and meet with the
junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, on Friday.

Romulo is the latest official from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to visit the reclusive nation, one of the Philippines'
partners in the regional bloc.

He earlier told reporters in Manila he was unsure if he would be allowed
to meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but he said a
meeting with the Nobel laureate was not a condition for accepting the
invitation to visit Myanmar, also called Burma.

The Philippines took over ASEAN's rotating chairmanship from Malaysia last
month. Diplomats from the Philippines embassy said Romulo is visiting
Myanmar as a Philippine envoy and not as an ASEAN representative.

Myanmar has been under military control since 1962 with the latest junta
coming into power in 1988 after troops brutally suppressed a pro-democracy
uprising lead by Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

August 10, Irrawaddy
Dismay over National Library move - Yeni

Scholars in Burma have reacted with dismay to news that part of the
National Library is to move to the new capital, Naypyidaw. “It’s
miserable,” was the comment of the respected writer Paragu, who owns the
Paragu Shantiniketan Library in Rangoon.

Officials at the National Library confirmed a report in Wednesday’s issue
of state-run The New Light of Myanmar, which gave no details of the move.
The report said it was planned to sell the library’s eight-story building
and 10 acre site. The asking price was 10 billion kyat (US $7.3 million)
and a closing date of August 24 had been set for offers.

“We don’t know whether the new building in Naypyidaw is ready or not,” one
official, requesting anonymity, told The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday.
“Anyway that’s state policy. We have no choice.”

The official said the government decision to split the library would mean
that one section would move back to its old location, on Strand Road.

Burma’s National Library—a member of the International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions and National Libraries
Group-Southeast Asia—has a collection of about 618,000 books and
periodicals as well as 15,800 rare and valuable manuscripts.

It traces its origins back to a library founded in 1883 by the British
Commissioner of Lower Burma, Sir Charles Edward Bernard, who stocked it
with his own collection of books. After Burma regained its independence,
he handed the library to the Burmese government in 1952, and it reopened
as the National Library under the Ministry of Culture.

The National Library is one of only two standard libraries in Rangoon
catering for students, researchers, writers and scholars in Rangoon. The
other is the Rangoon University Library.  Many expressed dismay that one
source of important research material is to go to Naypyidaw.

____________________________________

August 10, Irrawaddy
Crackdown on illegal use of Chinese mobile phones - Khun Sam

Authorities in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, have launched a
harsh crackdown on the illegal importation and use of cheap Chinese mobile
phones.

Offices and homes have been raided and at least three arrests made,
according to local residents. The crackdown came days after official
warnings were issued about the legal consequences of buying and using
Chinese-made phones.

The Chinese phones, smuggled across the Kachin-China border, cost around
100,000 kyat (US $76), a fraction of the 2.5 million kyat ($1,850)
demanded for a legally obtained phone. Mobile phone use in Burma is
strictly controlled by the government, whose Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunications is the country’s only mobile phone service provider.

“Since last week, police have been interrogating in mobile phone shops and
suspected houses,” said a Myitkyina resident, who runs pay phone service
shop. He told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that at least one mobile phone
shop owner and two who run pay phone services had been arrested in the
past two days.

One Kachin woman who runs a pay phone service with two Chinese mobile
phones was reportedly arrested but released after paying a fine of 100,000
kyat ($76). One pay phone shop owner, who says he only uses government
land lines, said the office of one local NGO, the Metta Development
Foundation, was also raided by the police last weekend because it was
suspected of using illegal mobile phones.

A total of 135,664 mobile phones were in use in Burma at the end of 2005,
according to state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar. Kachin State
has the third highest number of mobile phones in use—3,999, after Rangoon
with 112,792 and Mandalay with 16,355.

Although GSM phones are permitted in Burma most owners have only been able
to obtain them through close contacts with the regime. Illegally-obtained
Chinese models are preferred not only because they are cheaper but for
their better servicing and connections. They are particularly popular with
business people.

In towns bordering Thailand, such as Myawaddy and Tachilek, users take
advantage of the mobile phone service from Thailand.

____________________________________

August 10, Irrawaddy
Customs officials, traders sentenced

About 60 officials from Burma’s Customs Department and some 200 traders
have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Rangoon and Lashio, Shan
State, on charges of corruption and illegal trading, according to local
sources.

The sentences were made weeks after about 200 customs officials, including
the head of the department, Director-General Col Khin Maung Lin, and other
high-ranking officials, were rounded up for interrogation in late June.

A Rangoon-based journalist told The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday that he
wasn’t sure yet whether the director-general had been sentenced, but about
60 officials were given prison terms up to 20 years.

Nearly 200 traders also received lengthy sentences on August 8 in Lashio
in northern Shan State on charges of illegal trading with China, according
to Aung Kyaw Zaw, who lives in the Chinese border town of Ruili.

Aung Kyaw Zaw said on Thursday that the longest sentence—42 years—was
handed out to Myint Naing, a local employee of an import-export company.
The traders’ arrests followed those of several dozen officials from the
Customs Department and the Department of Border Trade (known as Na Sa Ka)
last May. Those officials were also reportedly sentenced.

In late July, about two dozens businesspeople were arrested in Myawaddy, a
border town opposite Thailand’s Mae Sot. Among the arrested was the
president of the Myawaddy Chamber of Commerce. Local sources said that
they were charged with tax evasion and the possessing illegal goods.

The Rangoon-based journalist added that some officials from customs
headquarters had been removed from their positions. Trials were also
ongoing in Rangoon, and more people could be sentenced, he added.

____________________________________

August 10, Mizzima News
Solo protestor released from mental hospital - Mungpi

Burmese activist Tun Tun, who staged a solo protest on June 19 and made
news headlines, was released from a mental hospital near Rangoon
yesterday. Doctors have certified that he has no psychiatric problems.

Tun Tun, was arrested on July 7 by authorities and sent to the mental
hospital.
He was first arrested on June 19, the birthday of Burmese democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi, for staging a solo protest in front of the Rangoon city
hall.

He was released after a day’s detention. However, Tun Tun, was re-arrested
on the night of July 7, a historic day on which several student protestors
were gunned-down in cold blood by the military in 1962. He was sent to
Rwarthergyi mental hospital near Rangoon.

Authorities did not give any reason for Tun Tun's re-arrest but
speculation was rife that it could have been for his loud prayer made on
the day at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda for the fallen student protestors of July
7, 1962.

After 33 days in the mental hospital, doctors last night declared that Tun
Tun is in perfect mental health. He was taken to his home town, Nyaungdon,
in Irrawaddy division in lower Burma by his mother and wife.

"He just left for home. He had lunch with us and uncle [U Win Naing] has
gone to drop them," Amyotharyee U Win Naing's wife told Mizzima confirming
that Tun Tun, who visited U Win Naing and friends in Rangoon this morning,
is in sound mental health.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 10, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar, Laos agree to set up border check points

Yangon: Myanmar and Laos have agreed to set up border check points on each
side to develop cross-border tourism, the local Yangon Times reported
Thursday.

The date of opening the unnamed check points are under negotiation through
diplomatic channel, the Ministry of Immigration and Manpower was quoted as
saying.

Currently, tourism industry sector of Myanmar and Laos is not as good as
expected, tourism circle said, believing that once the check points are
inaugurated, travelers from Laos will pour in Myanmar.

At present, Myanmar has some border check points with China, namely Muse,
Kyuhkok, Chingshwehaw and Mongla, while those with Thailand are known as
Tachilek, Myawaddy, Kawthoung and Phya Tonzu, and those with India as Tamu
and Reedkhawdhar, according to the report.

Myanmar and Laos have been placing emphasis on peace and security in the
two countries' border areas. The two border authorities at central level
held a coordination meting in Myanmar's border town of Tachilek last May
and matters relating to border check points of the two sides were
discussed, according to earlier reports.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and Laos have also been cooperating in drug control,
agreeing to prevent trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, and
control banned chemicals.

Both Myanmar and Laos are members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations as well as the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 10, Financial Times
UK pledges Pounds 20m for Burma Aids fight - Amy Kazmin

Bangkok: The UK government has agreed to contribute Pounds 20m (Dollars
38m, Euros 30m) to fighting Aids, tuberculosis and malaria in Burma - the
first donation to what is expected to be a Dollars 100m, five-year health
fund for the prevention and treatment of the lethal diseases in the
military-ruled country.

The new "Three Diseases Fund", which has been developed jointly by the UK,
Australia, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, is
intended to fill the gap left by last year's abrupt withdrawal of the
Global Fund for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria from Burma.

Pro-democracy activists have questioned the ability of foreign aid donors
to provide effective humanitarian assistance to Burma's long-suffering
population, without bolstering the country's repressive military rulers.

But Gareth Thomas, the UK international development minister, said
yesterday that Burma, long treated as a pariah by the west, was
confronting a public health crisis the international community "cannot
afford to ignore . . . any longer".

"We know that working in Burma is difficult but our recent experience
makes us believe that it is possible to make a difference," he said.

Burma has one of south-east Asia's most serious HIV/Aids epidemics with
UNAids estimating that up to 610,000 people, or 2.2 per cent of the
population, are infected. It also has one of the world's highest rates of
TB, with up to 97,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths each year, while malaria
is the leading cause of death of children under five. Yet its public
health system is plagued by severe shortages of trained staff, equipment
and medical supplies.

The new fund will support condom promotion, expanded HIV testing, care and
treatment for those living with Aids, expansion of TB diagnosis and
treatment, and the use of insecticide treated mosquito nets to prevent
malaria.

Large international charities already operating in Burma, UN agencies,
community-based organisations, private sector players, and local-level
public health officials are all expected to play a role in providing
expanded health and education services.

Guy Stallworthy, country director in Burma for Population Services
International, a US-based NGO that promotes condoms and TB treatment,
called the design of the initiative a "big improvement" over the Global
Fund, saying donors would have greater flexibility to ensure money was
used effectively.

"It could make a huge impact on those three diseases," he said of the
increase in funding. "It is hard to quantify or capture in a nutshell, but
it's critical."

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 10, Associated Press
Myanmar signs agreement for Malaysia's Petronas to do gas pipeline
feasibility study

Yangon: Myanmar has signed an agreement with Malaysia's biggest energy
company to conduct a feasibility study on refining and transporting
natural gas to neighboring countries, state-run newspapers reported
Thursday.

The Energy Planning Department signed the memorandum of intent with
Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, on Tuesday in Myanmar's
new administrative capital, Naypyidaw, reported the New Light of Myanmar.

The newspaper said the study will look at commercial and technological
issues related to selling natural gas from Myanmar through pipelines to
neighboring countries, and the prospect of manufacturing liquefied natural
gas from existing and potential future deposits in Myanmar.

Myanmar possesses commercially viable natural gas reserves off its western
Arakan coast in the Bay of Bengal and has producing offshore gas fields in
the Gulf of Martaban. It has attracted investment from state oil companies
in neighboring India, China and Thailand and from South Korea's Daewoo,
Total SA of France and Unocal Corp. of the United States along with other
companies from Australia, Canada and Indonesia.

A unit of Petronas, Petronas Carigali Myanmar Inc., owns a 40.9 percent
stake in the Yetagun gas field in the Gulf of Martaban, which has been in
commercial production for several years.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 14, New Statesman
Burma Special: Easy praise, empty words - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

By this October, my courageous sister and fellow Nobel Peace laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi will have spent 11 years of her life in detention in Burma.
Eleven years that she has sacrificed and dedicated to the freedom of her
people. Like Gandhi before her, she has steadfastly rejected the use of
violence in the struggle to free Burma from the clutches of its hardmen.
And yet, even without tanks, guns or an army behind her - and from the
solitude of house arrest - she continues to pose a threat to the scared
military men of Burma.

But where are the statesmen and women, the visionaries of our time, with
regard to Aung San Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle for freedom? Governments
the world over have given my sister so much praise for standing
courageously against the generals and the military machine they command.
But praise is easy and words empty when they fail consistently to
translate into action.

Protracted hand-wringing, the counter economic interests of some
countries, and an absence of courage and vision over the years, have meant
that there has been no coherent international governmental strategy on how
to tackle Burma's intransigent rulers. The repetitive words of 15 years of
UN reports, resolutions and statements, and the laudable efforts of a
sequence of UN special envoys and rapporteurs, have failed to effect any
positive change. The regime continues to reject any assertion of
human-rights abuses, has shown no commitment to years of UN mediation
efforts and has refused to co-operate with current non-enforceable UN
efforts. In fact, at each turn, Burma's generals have opted to ignore,
snub and embarrass the entire UN system.

The time for words is done. Last year, together with President Vaclav
Havel, I commissioned the global law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary to
prepare a definitive report on the threat that the Burmese government
poses both to its own people and to regional peace and security. The
evidence and facts contained in the report made it abundantly clear that a
coherent multilateral approach must now be deployed through the auspices
of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as soon as possible. Burma's
generals have shown that they will respond to nothing less.

I make a direct call here to our friends on the UNSC, many of whom fought
hard against apartheid in South Africa, to help us now to support the
people of Burma. As happened with the apartheid regime in South Africa,
the people of Burma have unequivocally rejected their illegitimate rulers;
and the legitimate representatives of Burma's people have urged the world
to support them. I call upon my brothers and sisters on the UNSC to pass a
resolution that binds Burma's regime into an irreversible contract - one
that commits it to a transition to democratic government and ensures the
release, not only of Aung San Suu Kyi, but of all those who have endured
the darkness of a Burmese prison for the sake of freedom.

If we commit ourselves wholeheartedly to this end, Burma will one day have
a leader whose commitment to her people is unwavering, and whose integrity
and vision have already been proven by her courage, sacrifice and vision.
Just as Nelson Mandela no longer belongs only to South Africans, I believe
that in the future Aung San Suu Kyi will be a shining light for Asia and
the world.

History has shown us that neither systems, nor governments, nor dictators
are eternal, but the spirit of freedom is. Freedom then is our dangerous
message, our potent weapon. We must ensure that it rings loud in the dark
hallways of the dictators in Rangoon.

_____________________________________

August 14, New Statesman
Burma Special: Aung San Suu Kyi, a hero of our time - Glenys Kinnock

When the New Statesman asked me to submit a nomination for a poll of
"heroes of our time" a few months ago, Aung San Suu Kyi was my instant
choice. I visited her at her home in Rangoon a few years ago and she is
one of the most inspirational people I have ever had the privilege to
meet. She has enormous grace, serenity and humanity, and her determination
never to leave her country until democracy is restored has earned her the
admiration and respect of all those who believe the human spirit can
overcome evil.

Her personal suffering includes being refused the right to see her
children and callously denied the chance to see her beloved husband,
Michael, before he died of cancer. Yet she puts such personal agony second
to the needs of her country, rejecting the regime's pressure for her to
join her family in exile abroad. Suu Kyi simply says: "My life is the
cause for democracy and I am linked to everybody else in that cause. I
cannot just think of me."

But the international community has let Aung San Suu Kyi and her people
down badly. As I write, the EU is engaging outrageously with the regime
for the first time. Led by the Finnish EU presidency, the Council of
Ministers has agreed to grant a visa for one of the generals to attend an
EU-Asia summit. Meanwhile, the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(Asean) has issued a pathetically watered-down statement merely calling
for "tangible progress" on democratic reforms.

Suu Kyi's parting words to me were a plea for us to use our liberty to
ensure that the Burmese people can secure theirs. So far, her pleas go
unheeded by international leaders. But even as world attention focuses on
other global crises, we cannot let the terrible suffering of Burma be
forgotten. That is why recognition of the heroic qualities of Suu Kyi
matter so much.

Glenys Kinnock MEP is a patron of the Burma Campaign UK

_____________________________________

August 10, The Business Times (Singapore)
Refining Asean's Myanmar position

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's recent call to Asean to
reassess its policy of non-interference in each other's affairs deserves
thoughtful consideration by all its members. Mr Abdullah was speaking in
the context of Myanmar and the fact is that the 39-year-old grouping
cannot repeatedly explain away Yangon's litany of broken promises if it is
to go forward with its credibility intact.

Speaking in Kuala Lumpur at a function to commemorate Asean's anniversary,
Mr Abdullah said that the regional grouping should review its
non-interference policy as part of changes under a new Asean charter that
is expected to be drawn up next year. Of course, Mr Abdullah chose his
words diplomatically: 'Differing reactions to the political developments
in Myanmar had subjected the principle (of non-interference) to much
debate. Indeed, the principle might require refinement.'

It was former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad who was instrumental in
bringing Myanmar into Asean. Dr Mahathir had argued then that constructive
engagement with a recalcitrant neighbour was the only way forward; that
Myanmar was more likely to open up by being plugged into the world economy
than by being buffetted with sanctions.

But the policy has not worked as planned. Myanmar has been a source of
embarrassment to Asean. It has repeatedly broken its promises to restore
democracy and free its political prisoners, including Nobel Laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi, who has been detained, off and on, for 12 years now. The
military junta has cold-shouldered every Asean effort to push for change;
it snubbed Malaysian Foreign Minister Hamid Albar early this year. Perhaps
Asean should not be surprised. It was the same corps of generals who
seized power in 1988, called for elections two years later, only to
repudiate its results after Ms Suu Kyi's party won a decisive victory.

Indeed, Mr Abdullah may have been only voicing a position already decided
by the others in Asean. In Vientiane a year ago, Asean openly discussed
Myanmar's internal affairs. And previously, when the United Nations (UN)
sought to chide Myanmar, Asean usually took a common stand on the grounds
that Yangon posed no international security threat. No longer: the current
sentiment seems to be that Myanmar should be on its own where the UN is
concerned.

Myanmar is not in danger of being expelled from Asean. It's just that
while membership has its rewards, it also entails obligations - which
Myanmar continues to ignore.

So if Mr Abdullah proposes to 'refine' non-interference principles in a
new Asean charter, so be it. And if Myanmar baulks and threatens to pull
out, so be it as well. Given the gentlemen's club atmosphere of the
typical Asean meeting, there might be those fearful of hurting the
feelings of the junta. But they ought to be mindful of Ms Suu Kyi's own
words: 'Fear is not the natural state of civilised people.' And that
should go for Asean too.