BurmaNet News, September 19, 2006

[Editor]

September 19, 2006 Issue # 3048


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar thanks China, Russia for support in UN Security Council
AFP: Myanmar slams US, Japan over UN Security Council move: report
Reuters: More cows than cars in Myanmar's new capital
Mizzima: Junta to replace district heads with civilians
DVB: Ethnic nationals welcome Security Council’s decision to take on Burma

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Long-neck refugees get Thai "human zoo" treatment

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar hikes income taxes on fuel firms

REGIONAL
New York Times: Thai Prime Minister declares state of emergency

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Thailand's prime minister says he is still unsure about elections

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 19, Associated Press
Myanmar thanks China, Russia for support in UN Security Council

Yangon: Myanmar's military government thanked Russia and China for their
strong opposition to the U.N. Security Council's recent move to formally
put the Southeast Asian country on its agenda, official media reported
Tuesday.

In a five-page rebuttal to the council's decision last week, Myanmar's
military junta expressed appreciation to China and Russia for having
"stood steadfastly on the side of Myanmar," The New Light of Myanmar
newspaper reported.

The rebuttal praised China and Russia as standouts that "do not want the
U.N. Security Council being misused as a tool in the interest of a big
nation" a clear reference to the United States.

Washington had long sought to get Myanmar formally on the council's agenda
to increase scrutiny of its government and domestic policies.

The council voted 10-4 on Friday to list Myanmar, which has drawn
international condemnation for detaining hundreds of political opponents
including pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi. U.S. officials called it a "major step forward" in American efforts
to increase pressure on the country's military junta.

China led Russia, Qatar and Congo in opposing the move, saying Myanmar has
made strides in solving its problems and doesn't pose a threat to
international security the requirement for council consideration.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent nearly 11 of the last 17
years in detention, mostly under house arrest. Her party won a 1990
general election but Myanmar's military rulers refused to let her take
power.

In its statement, the junta said Suu Kyi was being detained lawfully under
house arrest because her "confrontational attitude, her defiance of
orders, her call for sanctions and reliance on external elements will lead
to harming stability and hinder (the) democratization process."

The government also denied holding political prisoners, saying that all
prisoners were "criminals, felons and terrorists" or people who had
otherwise broken the law.

____________________________________

September 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar slams US, Japan over UN Security Council move: report

Yangon: Myanmar on Tuesday accused the United States of fabricating
allegations in order to haul the military-run country before the UN
Security Council, state media said.

The ruling junta also unleashed a rare condemnation of Japan for reversing
its position on Myanmar.

Japan has previously joined with China and Russia in opposing UN Security
Council action against Myanmar, but was among 10 of the 15 council members
which voted last Friday to place the junta on the council's agenda.

"It is clear that the United States first decided to put Myanmar on the UN
Security Council agenda and sought fabrications for support of its
decision," the official New Light of Myanmar daily said.

The US has been pressing for months for Myanmar to be forced onto the
council's agenda, arguing that drug trafficking, the mounting numbers of
refugees, human rights abuses and the growth of AIDS cases in the Asian
nation represent a threat to international peace and security.

In its first response since the council's decision, the junta also lashed
out at Japan, the country's war-time occupier, saying Tokyo had abandoned
a neighbouring Asian country to curry favor with the US.

"During World War II, the Japanese occupied Myanmar and treated cruelly
(the) Myanmar people. Yet, Myanmar people with sincerity and
broad-mindedness forgave the Japanese," the junta's mouthpiece said.

"However, Japan ignores it and is biased in favor of the superpower
instead of rendering a helpful hand to an Asian country," it said.

The US, which along with the European Union maintains economic sanctions
against Myanmar, has led efforts to force Yangon to end a human rights
clampdown and to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
under house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

The United Nations has estimated there are some 1,100 political prisoners
in Myanmar, a claim rejected by the junta which has ruled the isolated
country since 1962.

"In fact, no one is detained for political reasons in Myanmar. ... Putting
those law-breakers under the name of political prisoners by the United
States is far from reality," the paper said.

____________________________________

September 19, Reuters
More cows than cars in Myanmar's new capital - Aung Hla Tun

Yangon: It is nearly a year since Myanmar's military rulers abruptly
abandoned their leafy, colonial-era capital in favour of a "command and
control" centre in jungle-clad hills along the road to Mandalay.

The generals have grandly named their new capital Nay Pyi Taw, or "Royal
City", but besides a few reception halls the former Burma's answer to
Brasilia boasts little more than dusty building sites, deserted highways
and disgruntled civil servants.

"There are more stray dogs and cows on the roads than any type of
transport," one diplomat said after a recent visit to the new town around
400 km (250 miles) north of Yangon, near the former logging centre of
Pyinmana.

"It's a bit like those photos you see of Pyongyang -- great wide roads but
no cars, no people, no life."

The junta argues the site, midway between Yangon and the second city of
Mandalay, will work better as a national capital, especially as it is
closer to the ethnic border areas where civil war has raged almost since
independence from Britain in 1948.

But exile dissident groups suggest alternative motives, ranging from
paranoia about a possible U.S. invasion or popular uprising in Yangon, to
astrological prognostications whispered into the ears of junta supremo
Than Shwe.

Other analysts have suggested the 73-year-old Senior General is merely
walking in the footsteps of Burmese kings who liked to build a new capital
every time they proclaimed a new dynasty.

Whatever the reasons, Nay Pyi Taw looks set to stay.

Google Earth satellite images reveal construction sites stretching over
more than 40 km (25 miles), including a new airport, a string of identical
government ministry buildings, barrack-style housing units and two vast
parade grounds.

Word is, the junta -- the latest face of more than four decades of
military rule -- is even planning a life-size replica of Yangon's gilded
Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's holiest Buddhist shrine that towers 98
metres (320 feet) above the city.

"It shows how serious the regime is about moving the capital," a retired
government officer said. "They want to take everything up there."

Dissidents joke that the only thing unlikely to decamp is opposition
leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the last
17 years either in prison or under house arrest at her lakeside Yangon
home.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Despite rumours of visiting foreign bigwigs being kept under lock and key
to stop them snooping around, there appear to be few restrictions -- at
least in the civilian parts of the complex -- for the simple reason there
is nothing there.

"You could walk out of your hotel for miles and miles but there's nothing
to see or do and nowhere to go," the diplomat said.

The estimated 10,000 government workers forced to leave friends and family
in Yangon tend to agree.

"Things are absolutely terrible for those with families but it's not much
better for the singles either," said Ko Khin Maung, a 24-year-old bachelor
and senior clerk who is now sharing a single room with five or six others.

"There could be so many serious consequences. How are we supposed to spend
our spare time in this wilderness? It's completely out of the question to
look for a better job from here. I wonder how long I'll have to stick it
out."

Quitting is hardly an option, as shown by the case of Khin Khin Aye, who
was ordered to repay 3.5 million kyat -- $583,000 at the official exchange
rate, or around $3,000 on the black market -- as compensation for having
had an overseas scholarship.

"It's more than I've earned in 15 years of service, but I couldn't have
moved there for the world. Both my parents are bedridden and I'm an only
daughter," she said.

While the junta has rolled out the red carpet to foreign dignitaries such
as Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Nay Pyi Taw's workers routinely
complain about a lack of fresh water and public transport.

At the other end of the move, dozens of government buildings in Yangon,
some of which were never occupied, are sitting empty -- another example,
critics say, of the incompetence that has reduced the once-prosperous
nation to an economic basket-case.

IN THE DARK

Even though officials estimate around 90 percent of the government has
moved, Myanmar's roughly 50 million people are still being kept in the
dark as to Nay Pyi Taw's precise status.

"We haven't been told anything official so we honestly don't know how to
answer when pupils ask what the capital is," geography teacher Daw Hla Tin
said.

Foreign embassies, told the day after November's shock capital move they
would have to communicate with the government by a fax number they were
not given, appear no better informed.

The United States and Thailand were both busy building new embassies in
Yangon's sedate diplomatic quarter when word came through they would have
to start construction afresh in Nay Pyi Taw next year.

____________________________________

September 19, Mizzima News
Junta to replace district heads with civilians

In an order that has taken many by surprise, the head and secretaries of
districts through out Burma will be replaced with civilians, a reliable
source said quoting an official announcement on Sunday.

The order from Naypyidaw, the new capital in central Burma distributed to
all divisions, state level authorities instructed the Home Ministry to
replace future heads and the secretaries of the District Peace and
Development Council with civilians. The current heads who have been
serving for three years have to retire, the source said.

The new incumbents will be selected from among the directors and deputy
directors who work for the General Administration Department under the
Home Ministry, the source added.

Though the announcement is not in the form of an internal memo, no
government media has reported it so far in the military ruled country.

Previously, some military personnel of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel were
transferred as chairmen of DPDC.

A Burmese observer in Rangoon remarked " It is strange
at least they are
preparing for something else to do."

Meanwhile, an official source told Mizzima that all National Planning
Ministry staff and their families have been ordered to report to the Home
Ministry before November 13 for security reasons.

____________________________________

September 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Ethnic nationals welcome Security Council’s decision to take on Burma

Burmese ethnic national groups inside, outside Burma warmly welcomed the
UN Security Council’s decision to take up Burma issue.

“We are very glad and satisfied. We especially want to thank all – the
United States, the 10 countries and the UN Security Council,” said Pu Cin
Sian Thang of Zomi National Congress (ZNC). “As for me, we are feeling
very encouraged with the thought that the fate and prospect of Burma might
improve and that there might be more hope for democracy. What is happening
here is, there are representatives elected by the people who are ready (to
serve the people). Here, those who have nothing to do (with democracy) had
taken possession (of democracy?) given by the people, and people have been
offering and suggesting (ways of getting it back) without bloodshed,
without violence. As the other side (the army) hasn’t accepted it, I
assume that the Security Council will make it happen.”

“As for me, I welcome the fact that Burma’s political affair has arrived
at the UN,” said Htaung Ko Thang, a member of the Committee Representing
People’s Parliament. “As for ethnic nationals, it is very simple as to why
it as reached the UN. It is because the domestic affair could not be
solved within the country – it is because the domestic problem could not
finish at home. ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) has been
using various means to persuade (the junta) to solve. The matter hasn’t
finished with the UN. Therefore, it reached the Security Council. That is
what I want to say first. Therefore, I hope that the discussion of Burma’s
political difficulties at the Security Council will cause the speedy
solving of the problem of Burma. For that, I want to express my thanks to
the Security Council members.”

Exiled ethnic national organisations such as United Nationalities League
for Democracy – Liberated Areas and Ethnic National Council (ENC) also
issued statements welcoming the decision of the Security Council to take
up Burma issue.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 18, Reuters
Long-neck refugees get Thai "human zoo" treatment - Noppawan Bunluesilp

Mae Hong Son: For the past two decades, hundreds of ethnic Padaung
"long-neck" people from military-ruled Myanmar have enjoyed relative peace
and security as refugees in the hills of northern Thailand.

But plans to consolidate three Padaung villages into a single refugee
settlement are intensifying concerns among human rights workers about
their exploitation as a tourist attraction.

Already, busloads of foreigners on "eco-tourism" trips pile into the
remote villages every day to pose beside the Padaung "giraffe women",
so-called for their elongated necks propped up on layers of brass coils.

Some visitors -- and some Padaung -- say the tours are more akin to trips
to a human zoo.

"I'm happy when lots of tourists come here and I have a good time with
them, but when I think harder about it, they are coming because we are
strange and that gives me mixed feelings," said 21-year-old Ma Ri, who
fled the former Burma 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, say refugee rights campaigners, Thailand's exploitation of
its hill-tribe communities is as old as the hills themselves.

"Thai people, I'm sorry to say, are insensitive to their minorities, and
the hill-tribe minorities have always been a money attraction," Senator
Kraisak Choonhavan told Reuters.

"If you look at advertisements for the north, you find countless pictures
of all these colorful peoples and yet there has been no progress" in
integrating them into Thai society, he said.

As well as citing security concerns, government officials in Mae Hong Son
province, 920 km (570 miles) north of Bangkok, say the new settlement is
vital to preserving ancient Padaung culture.

However, they also concede that ancient culture means tourist dollars.

"We will encourage each group to brainstorm how they could conserve their
traditions to attract tourists to come, see and feel it for real,"
provincial governor Direk Ghonkleeb told Reuters.

Although all the other camps housing the 140,000 Myanmar refugees in
Thailand are closed to outsiders, tourists pay between 250 and 500 baht
($13.30) each to enter Padaung villages.

However, the women themselves, who are officially barred from leaving the
villages, receive only a fraction of that -- often as little as 1,500 baht
a month -- and have to supplement their income selling trinkets and
postcards.

____________________________________
DRUGS

September 19, Irrawaddy
Burma ‘failing demonstrably’ to fight drugs, says US - Clive Parker

The US on Monday said Burma is “failing demonstrably” to enact measures to
counter the production and trafficking of drugs. In its annual letter of
determination on narcotics to Congress, the White House for the second
consecutive year said that Burma and Venezuela were the least cooperative
nations in eradicating drugs.

Both were placed on a list of 20 countries identified as major
drug-transit or illicit drug-producing nations, which also included Laos,
India, Pakistan and the only country that produces more opium than
Burma—Afghanistan.

In justifying the decision, Monday’s report—issued from the White House to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice—noted the continuing high level of
opium and methamphetamine production in Burma.

“The country has not taken decisive action against drug gangs and its
actions against methamphetamine are unsatisfactory,” said spokesperson
Christy McCampbell, deputy assistant secretary for international narcotics
and law enforcement affairs.

Shan ceasefire groups, particularly the United Wa State Army and to a
lesser extent the National Democracy Alliance Army, have long been accused
of operating methamphetamine and heroin refining factories in Burma. The
ruling State Peace and Development Council has denied that groups
considered part of the country’s “legal fold” are responsible for illegal
drugs production and has instead accused rebel armies of involvement.

Regarding opium, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime says that cultivation
and production in Burma is in decline. The group reported last year that
total cultivation dropped 26 percent—to 32,800 hectares—although Burma is
still the world’s second-largest producer.

In announcing the US report, McCampbell said that Burma is “lackluster in
the areas of demand reduction, interdiction, anti-money laundering and
combating corruption.”

The assistant secretary added that the US was not passing judgment on the
20 countries on its list of major drug producers and traffickers. “We're
actually trying to work together and figure out how we can solve these
problems,” McCampbell said.

The US issued a waiver on sanctioning Venezuela “in the interest of the
United States,” meaning that despite deteriorating relations between the
two, they will likely still cooperate in fighting drugs. No such provision
was made in Burma’s case.

On Monday, the US announced plans to release a report identifying the
world’s five largest legal exporters of methamphetamine precursor
chemicals, as well as the top five methamphetamine precursor importers
with the highest rate of diversion for illicit drug production. Burma is
expected to feature heavily given the reportedly large volume of
methamphetamines that are trafficked out of the country to neighbors such
as Thailand and India.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar hikes income taxes on fuel firms

Yangon: Myanmar has significantly raised taxes on domestic and foreign
energy firms in a bid to fill the state's coffers, local media said.

The Weekly Eleven News, a semi-official journal, said Monday that since
June the military-run government had increased the income tax rate on
domestic and foreign oil and gas companies to between 40-50 percent of
their profits.

Earlier, domestic firms had to pay out 35 percent of their profits in
income tax, with foreign energy firms being taxed at 40 percent.

The US and Europe have slapped severe economic sanctions on Myanmar, one
of the world's poorest nations, as punishment for rights abuses and the
continued detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent
most of the last 17 years under house arrest.

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.

Natural gas from Myanmar currently makes up about 20 percent of Thailand's
supply, and existing untapped gas reserves offshore in Arakan State have
sparked a fierce bidding war between India, China and Thailand.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 20, New York Times
Thai Prime Minister declares state of emergency - Seth Mydans And Thomas
Fuller

Bangkok: Military forces in Thailand have apparently taken control of the
capital in a coup against the administration of Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who is in New York. The general commanding the armed forces
announced the takeover on Thai television and declared martial law, news
agencies reported.

Rumors of a coup swept Bangkok today as the Thai military blocked the area
around Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's office with tanks.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Thaksin had announced a state of emergency and
ordered that the general be stripped of his command, as reports reached
the prime minister that troops were taking up positions around government
buildings in Bangkok, including the prime minister’s office.

About a half-hour later, the coup announcement was broadcast.

The commander, Lt. Gen. Sondhi Bunyaglarin, said late in the evening on
television that he spoke for a group called the Council for Political
Reform, which “found it necessary to seize power as of now,” and had taken
control of the government, news agencies reported.

Two armored personnel carriers, three humvees and a dozen heavily armed
soldiers were seen blocking the road to the prime minister’s office in the
pouring rain at 11 P.M. Bangkok time. There were reports of tanks deployed
in several locations in the city.
All television and radio stations in the capital carried the announcement
declaring that a new regime was being installed, with King Bhumibol
Adulyadej as its head, and saying that the army and national police had
taken control of Bangkok without opposition, according to news agencies
and Bangkok-based Internet news sites. The announcement asked the public
for cooperation and apologized for any inconvenience.

Trucks with loudspeakers were heard in Bangkok ordering civilians off the
streets.

According to Reuters, another spokesman for the coup group, Lt. Gen.
Prapart Sakuntanak, said late on Tuesday that the armed forces’ seizure of
power would be temporary and that power will be “returned to the people”
soon. He said the coup was necessary because Mr. Thaksin’s government was
corrupt and had divided the country.

Mr. Thaksin, who had been scheduled to address the United Nations General
Assembly on Wednesday, will now speak today instead, at 7 p.m. Eastern
time.

The country has been caught up in a political crisis for months, with
frequent mass street protests and numerous calls from influential groups
demanding that Mr. Thaksin resign his post.

At the height of the protests in April, he was reelected by a large
majority in an election that was boycotted by the opposition and later
annulled by a court.

A new election was scheduled for Oct. 15, but a court dismissed members of
the election commission, and a newly appointed commission has said the
vote would have to be postponed.

Mr. Thaksin enjoys the overwhelming support of Thailand’s rural voters,
and likely would have won the Oct. 15 election. But the elite has turned
against him, accusing him of subverting his democratic mandate by packing
government agencies with his supporters and by putting pressure on the
news media and on civic groups.

He and his government have been accused of widespread corruption. His sale
of a major telecommunications company owned by his family to a Singapore
company aroused widespread anger earlier this year.

The website of The Nation, a major daily newspaper here, reported that Mr.
Thaksin had ordered General Sondhi to be assigned to the prime minister’s
office, where he was to report to Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Chidchai
Wannasathit, who a major general of the national police. That assignment
would have effectively stripped General Sondhi of command.

The prime minister has clashed publicly with Gen. Sondhi in the past.On
Monday, speaking to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, Mr.
Thaksin said that he might step down as prime minister after the
elections, but that he would remain the head of his party, known as Thai
Rak Thai, according to The Associated Press.

During his talk, he joked about the difficulties he was facing, saying
that young democracies struggle like a child learning to walk. “I, for
one, haven’t seen a child learning to walk without bumping his bottom
constantly,” he said. “As adults, we must learn to live with the pain and
the pangs of democracy, lest we throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

John O’Neil contributed reporting for this article from New York.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 19, Associated Press
Thailand's prime minister says he is still unsure about elections - Tracee
Herbaugh

New York: Thailand's prime minister said that he may step down as leader
of the country after upcoming elections, but he will remain at the helm of
his party, despite calls for him to give up the post.

"I will be the chairman of the party, but I'm not sure whether I should
accept the prime ministership or not," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
said Monday, adding that he will announce his ambitions "before, probably
on the election registration day."

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party has twice won landslide election victories,
in 2001 and 2005 and is expected to win the next vote, bolstered by their
widespread support in the country's rural areas. But the prime minister
has faced calls to step down amid allegations of corruption and abuse of
power.

Thaksin, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly debate that
begins Tuesday, addressed a group of about 200 people during a luncheon at
the Council on Foreign Relations, promoting democracy in Asia and urging
stronger political support from the U.S.

"The United States has today a vital interest in supporting democracy in
Asia. It is only fitting that the United States and Asia, and specifically
the United States and Thailand as Washington's oldest treaty ally, be
partners in this noble process," he said.

Thaksin, who was generally well received by the audience and garnered a
round of applause and random bursts of laughter after a few of his
lighthearted comments, said that developing democracies struggle in the
same way as a "child learning to walk."

"I, for one, haven't seen a child learning to walk without bumping his
bottom constantly. As adults, we must learn to live with the pain and the
pangs of democracy, lest we throw out the baby with the bathwater," he
said.

In response to a question about the military junta in neighboring Myanmar,
Thaksin said he "is not happy about what is going on there" but he does
not support sanctions because it "affects the people of the country, not
the government."

He cited the U.S. relationship with communist Cuba in arguing that the
citizens, not the government, are affected by political policies.

When asked why approval ratings are dropping for some Asian democratic
leaders, including himself, com-pared with solid popularity for harsher
regimes in China and Vietnam, Thaksin said that "one size does not fit
all."

Massive rallies earlier this year forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament
and call for a snap election in April. The poll was boycotted by
opposition parties and later annulled by Thailand's top courts, leaving
the country without a working legislature.

New elections are scheduled for Oct. 15 but are likely to be postponed
until at least November.

A group of about 50 protesters were waiting outside the Council on Foreign
Relations building holding signs that said "Down with Thaksin" and
chanting "No More Thaksin" as business leaders drove away.