BurmaNet News, August 12-14, 2006

[Editor]

August 12-14, 2006 Issue # 3024

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Philippines' top diplomat fails to get Myanmar to commit to freeing
free Suu Kyi
DVB: 11 detained activists released in Rangoon
DVB: Burmese authorities arrest volunteers helping AIDS sufferers
AFP: Myanmar to build replica of Shwedagon temple: report
DVB: Attaran River in Burma’s Mon State rises to critical level

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Indo-Burmese border trade grinds to a halt

HEALTH/AIDS
DVB: Dengue fever outbreak in central Burma’s Shwebo

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar torches drugs said to be worth 436 million dollars
Xinhua: Myanmar exposes four drug cases in Shan state in two months

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Thailand and Myanmar agree to increase gas production - report

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Bloody ‘Rice Killing Day’ observed worldwide on August 13
IMNA: SAGE: Human trafficking due to under developed economy and political
impasse in Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 14, Associated Press
Philippines' top diplomat fails to get Myanmar to commit to freeing free
Suu Kyi - Jim Gomez

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Monday he failed to get
any response from Myanmar's junta leaders when he renewed regional demands
for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a rapid shift
to democracy.

Although Myanmar continues to take encouraging steps, including a decision
to invite U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his special envoy to
visit, efforts to prod the military-ruled nation to fulfill long-promised
democratic reforms should continue, Romulo said.

Romulo met with the junta's top five leaders, including Senior Gen. Than
Shwe, during a three-day visit last week to Myanmar. He was the latest in
a string of high-level envoys from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to visit the country.

In Myanmar's new administrative capital of Naypyidaw, Romulo reminded the
leaders of last month's demand by ASEAN foreign ministers for the release
of political detainees, including Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, and more
democratic reforms, Romulo said at a news conference Monday.

Romulo said his appeal was met with silence.

"We stated it, that's the important thing. You know, you cannot force
people to make a statement," he said.

According to Romulo, Myanmar's Than Shwe said "an important milestone"
would be reached before the end of the year in connection with the
country's efforts to draft a Constitution through a National Convention of
political and ethnic groups touted as a first step on its road map to
democracy.

Critics have dismissed the National Convention as a sham because Suu Kyi's
party is not attending.

"We're doing what we can to tell them to get back to the road map and, in
fact, although it's not complete, there is some light at the end of the
tunnel," he said. "It's like water lapping on a rock. In time, the rock
starts to chip away."

Romulo said he did not meet Suu Kyi because "it was not in the agenda."

Suu Kyi, 60, has spent nearly 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly
under house arrest. She was most recently taken into custody in May 2003,
after a mob supporting the junta attacked her motorcade.

Myanmar has become a source of embarrassment to ASEAN, largely because of
the country's dismal human rights record, which has been condemned by
Western and European governments.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the current crop of
generals took power in 1988. They called elections in 1990 but refused to
recognize the results, which gave a resounding victory to Suu Kyi's party.

____________________________________

August 14, Democratic Voice of Burma
11 detained activists released in Rangoon

11 politcal and social activists who were arrested early yesterday morning
while making preparations for a religious ceremony for AIDS victims at
Maggin Monastery in Rangoon Thinganggyun Township, were released at 2pm
local time today, according to their relatives.

They were taken out of the police stations where they were detained and
taken to Thinganggyun Township authority office before they were released.

They were also pressured to sign (incriminating) pledges but they refused
to do as they insisted that they didn’t commit any crime.

They are all said to be in good health.

____________________________________

August 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese authorities arrest volunteers helping AIDS sufferers

Burmese authorities raided Maggin Buddhist Monastery in Rangoon
Thingaggyun Township where AIDS suffers who were preparing to hold a robe
offering ceremony today at 8am local time, and arrested 11 leading
organisers.

The raid was carried out by a number of soldiers at around 1.30am local
time, according to some organisers of the ceremony.

The 11 people arrested are being detained separately at Thinganggyun,
Dawpon, Yankin and Pazundaung Township police stations and it is not known
how they are to be taken action against.

They are:

1. Than Naing (from Taungdwinggyi)

2. Htet Yazar (Twante)

3. Shwe Gyoe (Hlaing)

4. Aye Naing (New Dagon Town)

5. Awta (Yenanggyang)

6. Moe Naing (Bahan)

7. Kan Myint (Hlaing Thayar)

8. Myo Thant (Seikkan)

9. Soe Naing (Hlaing)

10. Than Htut (Hlaing Thayar) and

11. Than Htaik Aung (Hlaing).

One of them is a said to be an AIDS sufferer and most of them are either
National League for Democracy (NLD) members or those close to the party or
88 Generation Students.

Around 40 AIDS sufferers who are making preparations for the ceremony are
feeling dejected by the latest action of the authorities and they are in
danger of getting serious depression, according to Phyu Phyu Thin, an NLD
volunteer helping AIDS sufferers.

The latest incident came at the time when the international community is
trying to find ways to help AIDS sufferers at a conference in Toronto and
when the British government had promised to donate US$ 36m for AIDS and
other major disease sufferers in Burma.

____________________________________

August 14, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to build replica of Shwedagon temple: report

Military-ruled Myanmar plans to build a replica of Yangon's world famous
Shwedagon pagoda in the newly-built administrative capital of Nay Pyi Taw,
a local journal reported Monday.

The Weekly Eleven journal said the replica will be for locals and civil
servants, who have been moving to the compound in the central jungles
which will eventually replace Yangon as the capital.

"It is learnt that the pagoda will be a replica of Shwedagon and a foot
smaller than the original," the Weekly Eleven journal said.

The replica of Yangon's biggest tourist attraction will be called
Oakparthathani, it said.

The 98-meter (320-foot) Shwedagon pagoda is about 2,500 years old and its
distinctive gold zedi -- the bell-shaped monument -- is believed to have
been built sometime between the 6th and 10th centuries.

Official records state that the pagoda contains some 5,448 diamonds and
2,317 rubies. At the very top there is a 76 carat diamond.

Myanmar's secretive regime surprised the world last November by abruptly
announcing it was moving the government to the Nay Pyi Taw compound
outside Pyinmana, a mountainous logging town in central Myanmar.

Analysts have said the relocation of the capital could mean the regime is
further isolating itself in the face of growing calls for democracy.

Myanmar's junta has said that Nay Pyi Taw, or 'Seat of the Kings', will
become the official capital under the new constitution, which is currently
being drafted as part of a self-proclaimed "road map" to democracy.

____________________________________

August 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Attaran River in Burma’s Mon State rises to critical level

The level of Attaran River in southern Burma’s Mon State near Thailand has
risen to the critical mark at Kyaikmraw, due to unusually heavy late
monsoon rains.

The river level has been rising gradually since 2 weeks ago and reached
the critical mark today.

Shin Saw Pu Ward Nos., 1, 2 & 3 have been inundated severely and local
inhabitants have been evacuated to Nos., 1, 2 & 3 Middle Schools and High
School, according local residents.

Observers said that the unusually severe flooding was caused by reckless
destructions of virgin jungles upriver.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 14, Mizzima News
Indo-Burmese border trade grinds to a halt - Subhaschandra M

Trade between India and Burma remained suspended for the third day today
as residents of India's Moreh Town of Manipur, bordering Burma, called for
an indefinite band following the kidnapping and killing of a student
leader by suspected militants.

Sunil Agrawal, the president of the All Manipur Student Union, Chandel
District Committee, was abducted from his Moreh residence on Friday
morning by suspected Kuki militants. His body was found the following day
at around 4 a.m. near Moreh gate Number 1 on the border.

The Kuki National Front (Military Council), a faction of the Kuki
insurgents operating in Manipur, today claimed responsibility for the
abduction and the killing of the student leader.

According to a statement released today, the KNF (MC) said Sunil Agrawal
was conducting anti-party activities against the KNF (MC). Action was
taken following several warnings.

Residents demanding action against the killers and the purported reason
behind the killing imposed an indefinite bandh since Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, angry women thronged Moreh police station protesting against
the lack of precautionary measures to save the life of the student leader.

Over a dozen of passengers in Tata Sumos and buses who have been forced to
stay back since Saturday were escorted back to Imphal on Sunday. However
none of the Moreh bound passengers as well as goods laden vehicles moved
towards the town.

____________________________________
HEALTH/AIDS

August 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Dengue fever outbreak in central Burma’s Shwebo

A severe dengue fever outbreak affecting mostly children at Shwebo
Township, Sagaing Division in central Burma, is prompting the township
health department to carry out a non-stop health campaign, according to
local residents.

The outbreak started last week and as the situation has been getting
worse, school health authority members have been touring schools for
inspection, a local resident told DVB.

“School health authorities are touring (inspecting the schools). I heard
that the doctors themselves will follow them within next week,” she said.
“Dengue fever and the like occurred last year too. Even my three
grandchildren were ill. One of them had dengue fever and the other two had
normal illness (typhoid?).”

Dengue fever outbreak, caused by a kind of mosquito, is making the lives
of poor day labourers, in particular, more difficult as they are losing
valuable time to earn money for their families and most of them can’t
afford to get proper medical cares for their children, the same resident
told DVB.

____________________________________
DRUGS

August 14, Agence France Presse
Myanmar torches drugs said to be worth 436 million dollars

Myanmar, the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan,
burned drugs said to be worth 436 million dollars on Monday, an
information ministry official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that various
substances were torched in Kengtong, in eastern Shan state, in one of the
biggest such drugs burns this year.

"Today we destroyed 436 million US dollars' worth of seized drugs," he
said, adding that the narcotics had come from four separate smuggling
cases.

Some 25 lots of drugs were torched, he said, including 45 kilograms (00
pounds) of heroin, 936 kilograms of opium and an undisclosed amount of
amphetamines.

Military-ruled Myanmar is a major producer of amphetamines, which flow
easily through border regions that are largely outside government control.

The ruling junta regularly burns hauls of narcotics in an effort to
convince the world that it is cracking down on rampant drug production.

In mid-July the government announced that 47 million dollars' worth of
drugs were burned in Lecha, also in Shan state. In June, a similar
exercise was said to have destroyed 148 million dollars' worth of drugs.

But these represent a small proportion of overall production. Around 312
tonnes of opium were believed to have been produced last year, according
to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's annual survey

The United States, a vocal critic of Myanmar, has said several hundred
million amphetamine tablets are produced in Myanmar and distributed by
drug gangs that operate freely along its borders with China and Thailand.

The military-run government has vowed to eradicate production of opium
poppies by 2014.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 14, Agence France Presse
Thailand and Myanmar agree to increase gas production - report

Military-ruled Myanmar has agreed to increase gas production to supply
energy-hungry neighboring Thailand, the Myanmar Times newspaper reported
Monday.

The semi-official publication quoted an official from the Ministry of
Energy, who said that natural gas production at the Yetagun field off
Myanmar's southeast coast could be increased by a quarter.

The official said that a verbal agreement had been reached between
Myanmar's government and PTT Exploration and Production, a unit of
Thailand's largest energy firm PTT Plc.

"Although the partners have agreed to increase production, it takes time
to reach a final agreement," the ministry official said.

The Myanmar Times reported that Thailand wants to buy an additional 100
million cubic feet of gas per day on top of the 400 million cubic feet of
gas it pipes every day from the offshore reserves in the Andaman Sea.

Natural gas from Myanmar currently makes up about 20 percent of Thailand's
supply.

That gas comes mainly from the Yetagun field -- operated by Malaysia's
Petronas, Japan's Nippon Oil and Thailand's PTTEP -- and the Yadana field
run by France's Total, US firm Unocal, and PTTEP.

Myanmar is one of the world's poorest nations and is subject to US and
European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house
arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened by the eagerness of
neighboring China, India and Thailand to tap Myanmar's vast natural wealth
to fuel their own growing economies.

____________________________________

August 14, Mizzima News
Indo-Burmese border trade grinds to a halt - Subhaschandra M

Trade between India and Burma remained suspended for the third day today
as residents of India's Moreh Town of Manipur, bordering Burma, called for
an indefinite bandh following the kidnapping and killing of a student
leader by suspected militants.

Sunil Agrawal, the president of the All Manipur Student Union, Chandel
District Committee, was abducted from his Moreh residence on Friday
morning by suspected Kuki militants. His body was found the following day
at around 4 a.m. near Moreh gate Number 1 on the border.

The Kuki National Front (Military Council), a faction of the Kuki
insurgents operating in Manipur, today claimed responsibility for the
abduction and the killing of the student leader.

According to a statement released today, the KNF (MC) said Sunil Agrawal
was conducting anti-party activities against the KNF (MC). Action was
taken following several warnings.

Residents demanding action against the killers and the purported reason
behind the killing imposed an indefinite bandh since Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, angry women thronged Moreh police station protesting against
the lack of precautionary measures to save the life of the student leader.

Over a dozen of passengers in Tata Sumos and buses who have been forced to
stay back since Saturday were escorted back to Imphal on Sunday. However
none of the Moreh bound passengers as well as goods laden vehicles moved
towards the town.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 13, Narinjara News
Bloody ‘Rice Killing Day’ observed worldwide on August 13

Arakanese communities in exile observed the 39th Memorial Day anniversary
of the ‘rice killing day’ at various locations around the world including
Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Thailand, on August 13, 2006.

"We observed the ceremony today in Thailand, Bangladesh, India and
Malaysia and many Arakanese Diaspora attended," said an Arakanese living
outside Burma.

In Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the Arakanese community held the ceremony
in a Chaka Buddhist monastery at 9 a.m. with about 30 people, including
politicians, students, and women from several Arakanese organizations
joining in.

At the ceremony, participants offered food and material to the Abbot of
the monastery, and later listened to a sermon from the Abbot.

In Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, the Arakanese community held the ceremony in
a private school where about 40 people, including politicians, students,
and Bangladeshi Arakanese attended.  U Maung Aye Chan acted as chairperson
of the ceremony, with many attendees also delivering speeches about August
13.

U Maung Aye Chan, a well-known politician, announced at the ceremony that
today marks the 39th anniversary of the rice killing day that took place
on August 13, 1967.  On that day, Burmese military invaders killed over
300 Arakanese in the streets of Arakan State's capital, Akyab, when they
gathered to stage a peaceful demonstration asking the Burmese military
government for more rice.

In Malaysia, the Arakanese community held the ceremony in Kualarlumpur
where about 100 Arakanese patriots attended the ceremony. U San Ray Kyaw
presided over the ceremony.

Ko Than Pe, president of ALD (Malaysian branch) said that the incident is
39 years old, but we are unable to forget it. The day is very important in
Arakanese history because over 300 people lost their lives when they asked
for rice from the Burman government.

Arakan National Council, ANC, also held the ceremony in New Delhi and a
number of politicians from several political organizations attended. Many
of those staying in New Delhi who attended also delivered speeches about
August 13.

In 1967, during the rainy season, the Burmese military government stored a
large amount of rice after forcibly purchasing rice from Arakanese
farmers' for export to China and other countries.  The people of Arakan
were starving on those days due to the secrecy involved and hording of
rice in Arakan by the government.

However, the military government did not try to solve the problem
peacefully.  People could no longer tolerate the government's behaviour
and took to the streets of Akyab demanding rice from the government. 
Later, the Burmese Army opened fire on the demonstrators.

Over 300 Arakanese were killed in the firing and over 1,000 Arakanese went
missing.

Arakanese people honour bloody August 13 with ceremonies every year,
wherever they may be in the world.  However, the Burmese military
government has not allowed the ceremony to be held inside Arakan State or
elsewhere in Burma proper, since the incident occurred 39 years ago.

_____________________________________

August 12, Independent Mon News Agency
SAGE: Human trafficking due to under developed economy and political
impasse in Burma - Mi Kyae Goe

Human trafficking in Burma is the fall out of an under developed economy
and political impasse, according to a conference yesterday in Chaing Mai,
by Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE), Thailand.

SAGE is a nonprofit organization seeking to bring to an end commercial and
sexual exploitation of children and adults (CSEC). It also contributes to
this goal by raising awareness of CSEC issues and by providing services
and reaching out to CSEC survivors.

Norma Hotaling, a director of SAGE urged Burmese people to stop human
trafficking and use the media to this end. Every one has a duty to prevent
human trafficking.

We need to provide services locally and to advocate ending trafficking of
women and girls for sex both nationally and internationally, she said.

“The military regime has no sympathy for the residents from whom they
collect taxes every day. So they have been working in foreign countries
and neighbouring countries,” said Nai Kasauh Mon, a director of Human
Rights foundation of Monland.

About 10,000 acres of people’s land in southern Mon State were confiscated
by the regime.
At the same time, Mon people are exploited when they enter Thailand or
travel along the road by being forced to pay taxes at check gates,
according to Nai Kasauh Mon.

He said that the population is also increasing and there are not many jobs
in the country.
 Most people heading for Thailand have no knowledge and some are sold to
brothels and businessmen in Thailand before meeting their friends. Some
do meet up with their friends if the broker is honest. Some could not
work in places where they wanted to work.

Thai businessmen get workers from Burma because they are better than
Thais. They are given cheaper wages than Thai residents even though the
work load is the same.

According to Nai Kasauh Mon, people do not have a clear idea about human
trafficking.

A Mon community leader in southern Burma claimed that almost each member
of a family seeks a job in neighbouring countries. The number of people
seeking jobs is also increasing especially among women.