BurmaNet News, October 31, 2006

[Editor]

October 31, 2006 Issue # 3077


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Gambari urged to meet activist, ethnic groups
Mizzima: Over 2,000 attend prayer ceremony for release of political prisoners
AFP: Myanmar to start national conscription
AFP: Myanmar customs chief jailed over corruption
Irrawaddy: Popular outrage sparked by ‘wedding of the year’ video
Irrawaddy: Junta training counter-dissident force
DVB: Another political prisoner dies in Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
The Business Times (Singapore): Yoma to venture into bio-diesel in Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand's new PM tells Myanmar ties remain intact
Xinhua: Wen says China to maintain non-interference policy on relations
with Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
The Independent: Life of Burma's first lady gets star treatment

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Policy on Burma needs an overhaul

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 31, Irrawaddy
Gambari urged to meet activist, ethnic groups - Shah Paung

Opposition and ethnic groups in Burma have urged UN Under
Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari to make them a priority when he visits
the country in November.

Han Thar Myint, a spokesperson for the National League for Democracy, said
that Gambari should meet all opposition and ethnic groups, including the
88 Generation Students group and veteran Burmese politicians.

“It is not enough for him to meet only with us. He should meet all the
democracy groups,” Han Thar Myint said.

Members of the 88 Generation Students and the Zomi National Congress also
called on Gambari to include other ethnic leaders and democracy activists
in meetings during his visit.

A leader of the 88 Generation Students, known simply as Jimmy, said that
while the government considers them an opposition group, he and his
colleagues actually believe the government must be involved in any process
of national reconciliation.

“By meeting with all of the democracy groups, including ethnic leaders,
[Gambari] will have a better understanding of the situation in Burma and
can make more informed decisions about it,” Jimmy said.

Gambari is scheduled to make his second trip to Burma from November 9-12.
Details of his itinerary in the country have not been disclosed.

During a previous visit in May, Gambari met Snr-Gen Than Shwe and senior
members of the NLD—including detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who
was unexpectedly added to his itinerary.

According to Cin Sain Thang, chairman of the ZNC and a member of the
Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, Gambari was just a guest
of the regime during his first visit, and only met those people that the
government had approved.

He said specifically that Gambari should meet the United National
Alliance—comprising nine ethnic political parties that won parliamentary
seats in the 1990 election—and detained Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo,
currently in Putao Prison in Kachin State.

Cin Saing Thang added that even with democratic reform in Burma, problems
among the country’s numerous ethnic minorities will continue.

“During this visit, I want Gambari to meet ethnic groups by any method
possible. This is the most important thing,” Cin Sain Thang said.

____________________________________

October 30, Mizzima News
Over 2,000 attend prayer ceremony for release of political prisoners - Nem
Davies

Led by prominent 88 generation student leaders over 2,000 Burmese gathered
on the second day of the candle light prayer ceremony on Monday in the
midst of tight security in Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon, according to
campaigners.

The week-long prayer meeting began on Sunday morning and will continue
till November 4 in Buddhist pagodas across Burma.

Nay Tin Myint, an active 88-student leader based in Rangoon told Mizzima
that "Security personnel are every where and they tried to block every
entrance to the Pagoda".

He also said that, security personnel including Rangoon division police,
pagoda security and home security were spread out and watched every move
around the pagoda and its surrounding areas.

"We began at 9 a.m. and concluded at 9:30 a.m. but some veteran
politicians and diplomats from different embassies came and continued the
prayer meeting", Nay Tin Myint said.

"We heard that the police blocked the way and stopped people going to the
Pagoda in Mandalay, but people gathered in their homes and held the prayer
meeting," he added.

However, there is no recent report of people who took part in the prayer
meeting being arrested in Burma. The enquiries are still on though, said
Nay.

Meanwhile, people from different religious sects in Burma gathered and
prayed for peace and showed solidarity with the student movement in
mosques, temples and churches.

"We gave notice to all religious sects. Last Friday, believers in Islam
prayed in mosques and Christians in churches yesterday", said Nay Tin
Myint.

The candle light prayer meet was meant for the release of political
prisoners including Burmese democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, recently
detained student leaders including Min Ko Naing, long term ethnic
political prisoners and recent flood victims in Burma, he added.

The 88 generation students collected more than 530,000 signatures
countrywide for the release of their leaders and other political prisoners
from October 2 to October 23 in Burma.

____________________________________

October 31, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to start national conscription

Yangon: Military-ruled Myanmar will launch a national conscription service
to create militias around the country, according to a section of the new
constitution published Tuesday in state media.

The junta earlier this month reconvened its National Convention, where
1,075 handpicked delegates are working on a new basic law in secret talks
at a military base outside Yangon.

The official New Light of Myanmar said Tuesday the delegates had agreed to
the conscription, but made no mention of what age the cut-off for the
draft would be.

"Every citizen is under a duty to undergo military training in accord with
the provisions of the law and to serve in the armed forces to defend the
state," it said.

The paper also said the new constitution would establish "people's
militias" around the country, under military leadership.

Myanmar has been ruled by military since 1962. The constitution was
suspended in 1988 when the military crushed a pro-democracy uprising.

The junta bills the constitutional talks as the first of seven steps on a
"road map" toward democracy.

But the on-again, off-again talks -- now a decade old -- have been
condemned internationally for failing to include the nation's leading
opposition party, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

The NLD, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but has never been
allowed to take office, is boycotting the talks in protest at her
continued house arrest.

____________________________________

October 31, Agence France Presse
Myanmar customs chief jailed over corruption - Khin Maung Thwin

Yangon: The customs chief in military-ruled Myanmar has been sentenced to
66 years in prison as part of an anti-corruption drive that has gutted the
department, legal sources said Tuesday.

"Khin Maung Lin, director general of the Customs Department, has been
given a 66-year jail sentence while his personal assistant Aung Kyaw Oo
got seven years in connection with this particular case," a legal source
who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

"He was charged in 11 cases, including charges of bribery and corruption,"
the source said.

His assistant Aung Kyaw Oo still faces additional charges, as do hundreds
of other customs department staff being tried in secret at the notorious
Insein Jail complex north of Yangon, the source said.

The charges apparently stemmed from claims of wrongdoing in the export of
beans and pulses last year at the Yangon Port and at the Muse border post
in northeastern Shan state.

Khin Maung Lin is a former military colonel and was said to have strong
links to Myanmar's junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe.

Another five high-ranking customs officials could be charged within days,
the source said. All 500 staff in the department have been taken into
custody for questioning at some point during the last two months, the
source said.

"Half of them might be charged with bribery and corruption," he said,
adding that it was unclear whether the other half had been released.

"Property and assets of those undergoing trial have been confiscated by
the state," another legal source told AFP.

This latest official purge is the biggest since the pervasive Military
Intelligence organization headed by former prime minister Khin Nyunt was
dismantled on similar charges in late 2004.

Khin Nyunt had led the feared military intelligence for two decades, but
the military dismantled the entire network and jailed some 300 people on
corruption charges. The former premier remains under house arrest.

"We expect that all of the 500 personnel in the Customs Department will be
affected one way or the other by the purge," the second legal source said.

Meanwhile, some 60 military personnel were being trained at the Ye Mon
military base outside of Yangon to take over the top customs posts,
including that of the director general, he said.

Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win said in official media two weeks ago that
several businessmen had also been prosecuted for corruption, apparently in
connection with the same case.

He had summoned business leaders earlier this month to the military's new
administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw, in the jungles of central Myanmar, to
warn them against illegal trading.

"They need to avoid malpractices in view of gaining profits and they are
to do their business honestly," Soe Win said in the official New Light of
Myanmar on October 22.

"The state on its part is introducing reforms in the government machinery
to ensure it is an active and respectable one, free from misconduct,
irregularities and corrupt practices," he said.

Myanmar is one of the world's poorest countries, with an economy driven
into the ground by decades of mismanagement under military rule.

Illegal cross-border trading accounts for a huge portion of the country's
thriving black market, which economists believe is at least half the size
of the formal economy.

____________________________________

October 31, The Irrawaddy
Popular outrage sparked by ‘wedding of the year’ video

Burma’s wedding of the year took place last July, but it’s again the talk
of the town—following the release of video footage showing Snr-Gen Than
Shwe’s daughter to an army major in a ceremony that has angered many
because of its over-the-top opulence.

“People were shocked to see the extravagance of the wedding,” said a
reporter with a Rangoon local journal. “They’re asking themselves where
the money came from in a country that ranks as one of the world’s
poorest.”

“People are just outraged,” said the editor of a business weekly. Viewers
were offended not only by the extravagance of the event, where Thandar
Shwe and her bridegroom, Maj Zaw Phyo Win, a deputy director at the
Ministry of Commerce, were showered with expensive gifts, including luxury
cars, houses and jewelry, but also by its crass lack of good taste. The
total value of the wedding gifts was said to be a staggering US $50
million.

Rangoon journalists compared the wedding to the parties thrown by Burma’s
late dictator Gen Ne Win. His birthday parties and the annual New Year
flings for his favorite daughter were far classier, they say. But then,
they recall, the Ne Win family had enjoyed the best education, were widely
traveled and had acquired a sophistication that the Than Shwe clan
painfully lack.

Than Shwe grew up in the provincial town of Kyaukse, near Mandalay, and
his wife, Kyaing Kyaing, is a Pa-O from Mon State. They lived simply while
Than Shwe was laying the foundations of his career as a regional commander
in Irrawaddy Division.

In the comparisons now being made between the life styles of Ne Win and
Gen Than Shwe, observers recall Ne Win’s 90th birthday party in early
2001, his last. Ne Win was accompanied to the event at Rangoon’s Hotel
Sedona by his favorite daughter, Sandar Win and her husband, Aye Zaw Win.

Video footage of that event was also made public, but it was believed that
Ne Win family members had engineered the leak to demonstrate that the old
man was still going strong.

One year later, Ne Win was put under house arrest and his favorite
grandsons were charged with treason. His favorite daughter, Sandar Win is
still under house arrest.

____________________________________

October 31, Irrawaddy
Junta training counter-dissident force - Khun Sam

Burma’s ruling junta has begun training a secret force tasked with
suppressing political dissidents and preventing mass riots, according to
residents in Kachin State.

Residents in Myitkyina, the capital, said that members of
government-affiliated agencies, such as the fire brigade, municipal
workers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association,
have been recruited for the anti-riot training, called “recruiting”
training by the junta.

Participants are said to be instructed in the use of a bamboo rod two
inches in diameter and four to five feet long. A special training center
has opened near Mayan, about 32km (20 miles) outside Myitkyina.

The training is said to be conducted by Burmese troops from battalions 21,
29 and 37, stationed near Myitkyina.

After completing the training course, participants are said to have been
sent back to their home towns and instructed to gather information about
the movements of political activists. They were also given as much as
30,000 kyat (about US $23) per month.

Local residents add that the junta has ordered larger cities across the
country to train as many as 5,000 people each, while the USDA and
government ministries have been instructed to provide financial and
material assistance. The USDA was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

“They [trainees] are not soldiers, but they are being sent out to pretend
to be taxi drivers or municipal workers and to conduct their activities
while living among civilians,” said one resident, on condition of
anonymity. “Some are even pretending to be monks.”

Sources within the ethnic ceasefire group Kachin Independence Organization
say that Burmese soldiers have also received counter-dissident training,
as well as instruction on the use of tear gas.

Myitkyina currently has about 5,000 recruits, spread across the cities of
Mohnyin, Mogaung and Hpakant. Bhamo is said to have 2,000 recruits, while
Putao has another 1,000.

Local residents said the regime fears mass rioting, and the main purpose
of the training was to eliminate dissent and deal effectively with any
future uprising in the military-ruled country.

In recent days, the junta has stepped up attacks on opposition groups,
particularly the 88 Generation Students group, which organized a
successful signature campaign that collected more than half a million
names in support of freeing all of Burma’s political prisoners.

_____________________________________

October 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Another political prisoner dies in Burma

Due to poor healthcares and negligence with Burmese jails, another
political prisoner named Maung San died in Moulmein (Mawlamyine) Jail in
Mon State three days ago.

Maung San suffered from a normal stomach ache. The prison doctor didn’t
give him any treatment but put him in the care of an inexperienced medic
who gave him an injection that ended his life, according to sources close
to the prison.

“On 26 (October), he went to the prison clinic because he had a stomach
ache. He was not allowed to see the doctor. The prison clinic medic who
knew a little bit about this and that gave him the injection,” a spokesman
of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
told DVB. “Not long after the injection, Maung Tun (San?) became weak,
dizzy and his eyesight became blurred and he could not see a thing, and he
shouted for help, and collapsed among a pile of bricks and died.”

Maung San was sentenced to three years in jail for having contact with
‘illegal’ political organisations. His death marks the second death of
political prisoners within this month and 131 prisoners in all lost their
lives since 1988.

On 16 October, another well known political prisoner Thet Win Aung
suddenly died in Mandalay Jail. Moreover, political prisoners are not even
given sufficient food, drinking water, living space and healthcares. They
are not allowed to receive medical treatments at proper hospitals when
they are seriously ill. Their family members said that the conditions for
political prisoners had deteriorated after the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) staff were barred from visiting them since the end of
last year.

May Maung San rest in peace!

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 31, The Business Times Singapore
Yoma to venture into bio-diesel in Myanmar - Nande Khin

Group also plans to enter Chinese property market

Property developer Yoma Strategic Holdings - which recently became the
first Myanmar play on the Singapore Exchange via a reverse takeover of Sea
View Hotel - already has plans to go into the bio-diesel industry in
Myanmar and to enter the Chinese property market in the next few months.

'Energy is a very hot sector now and bio-fuel is a very sought-after
commodity. We believe we have the right capabilities to become a good
success in this sphere of business,' said Yoma's Myanmar-born CEO Serge
Pun, in an interview with BT.

Yoma, which is currently involved in property and construction projects,
is also considering a capital-raising exercise towards the end of next
year to fund its expansion plans.

Mr Pun said that Yoma hopes to venture into the upstream part of bio-fuel
production by developing a jatropha curcas plantation in Myanmar. Jatropha
curcas is a plant that can be processed into bio-diesel.
'A lot of investment has gone into the refinery of bio-fuel but the
upstream production of the feedstock remains a weak sector. There is never
enough supply.'

However, five to six years down the road, there is a possibility of Yoma
venturing downstream into the refinery business, said Mr Pun, who owns
about 57 per cent of Yoma.

Yoma also wants to expand its geographical presence. 'Other than in
Myanmar, we want to have a very good footing in China, because basically
we want to have not one but two emerging markets in which Yoma Strategic
can excel,' said Mr Pun.

For the China market, Yoma wants to focus on property development. It has
already identified a piece of land on which to build a 'composite
development encompassing residential, commercial and office space', said
Mr Pun.

He also said that all these plans will be rolled out within the next few
months.

And in order to fund all these expansions, Yoma is 'contemplating a
fund-raising exercise towards the end of next year'.

'We definitely will have to do one, but not now,' said Mr Pun.

Earlier this year, Sea View Hotel acquired Yoma Strategic Investments for
$102 million in a reverse takeover. The reverse takeover put Yoma in
control of Sea View as it injected its assets into the latter in exchange
for shares of the Singapore listed company.

These assets include Yoma's majority stakes in three Myanmar developments
- the housing estates FMI City and Evergreen Condominium and the Pun
Hlaing Golf Estate. Sea View was also renamed Yoma Strategic Holdings.

The deal included a profit guarantee that Yoma would maintain a
consolidated net profit before tax and after minority interest of US$10
million in total for the financial years ending March 31, 2007, and March
31, 2008. That guarantee is 'just an indication of our confidence and to
provide a level of comfort to shareholders'.

'Our intention is that our actual performance surpasses this guarantee, or
else it will not be meaningful,' said Mr Pun.

Yoma's growth for the next two years will come from both real estate and
production of feedstock for bio-fuel, he added.

Mr Pun emphasised that the properties developed by Yoma are not
'run-of-the- mill' but rather those that are designed to 'produce a 'wow'
factor'. 'We have created a niche for ourselves as a premium developer. We
have always focused on developments for niche markets where the
competition is minimal.'

In the longer term, however, Yoma wants to be a conduit for foreign
investors who want to invest in Myanmar. 'Foreign investors can all smell,
can discern the opportunities, the potential in Myanmar, but they all have
a high degree of apprehension in going into the market because of the
complexities involved.

They can now do so through Yoma,' said Mr Pun, adding that Yoma's
Singapore listing lends the company more credibility and will make
investors more comfortable about working with it.

Ultimately, Mr Pun hopes that Yoma can become a 'truly blue-chip Myanmar
company'. 'That will take time and a lot of effort, but that is the
direction we want to go. We just need to be very focused.'

Yoma's shares were actively traded after its debut at 27.5 cents on Aug
24, hitting a high of 46.5 cents on Sept 29, although investor interest
seems to have dampened in recent weeks. Yesterday, it closed unchanged at
39.5 cents on a volume of 507,000.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 31, Agence France Presse
Thailand's new PM tells Myanmar ties remain intact

Nanning: Thailand's new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont Tuesday told his
Myanmar counterpart relations between the two countries would remain
unchanged, a government spokesman said.

Surayud and Soe Win held their first bilateral meeting since the military
coup in Thailand following a China and Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) summit here.

"Thailand ... will strengthen their bilateral relations with Myanmar as
neighbouring countries as well as being members of the ASEAN countries,"
said Thai government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp, detailing the meeting.

"Any projects that have been agreed upon will be continued transparently,
accordingly," he told AFP.
"There will be continuity of the foreign policy, that includes the
developing of the diplomatic relations between the countries. That will be
carried on as it was before," he added.

Surayud has been travelling Southeast Asia to introduce himself to ASEAN
leaders since being installed by Thailand's military on October 1.

However, he has not visited Myanmar. Analysts attribute this to Surayud's
antagonistic actions towards the country when he was chief of the Thai
army, as well as the political sensitivities of a military-installed prime
minister visiting the junta next door.

In an indication of the formal atmosphere of the meeting between Surayud
and Soe Win, Yongyuth said both men agreed not to interfere in each
other's affairs, and stuck to updates on their domestic situation.

"Both sides agreed that they would not interfere in each other's internal
affairs. This is according to the principles of the ASEAN community," said
Yongyuth, referring to a long-held principle for the grouping.

"They just expressed each other's position at the present time, what's
been happening in their countries," he added.

____________________________________

October 31, Xinhua General News Service
Wen says China to maintain non-interference policy on relations with Myanmar

Nanning: China will continue to develop its friendly cooperative relations
with Myanmar based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence,
including non- interference in each other's internal affairs, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao said here on Tuesday.

China hopes Myanmar to achieve political stability, economic development
and national reconciliation, said Wen while meeting Myanmar's Prime
Minister Soe Win, who attended the commemorative summit marking the 15th
anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue partnership.

The five principles -- mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's
internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful existence --
were advocated in a joint declaration when late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai
visited Myanmar in June 1954.

The government of Myanmar is committed to political stability, national
reconciliation and economic development in the country, said Soe Win.

Since the government adopted a policy of national reconciliation in 1989,
17 anti-government armed groups in Myanmar have made peace with the
government, returning to the legal fold under respective ceasefire
agreements.

Soe Win recalled the two countries' friendly ties in history, saying that
China-Myanmar relations had kept moving forward in recent years.

He thanked China's support and assistance to Myanmar's economic
development, and welcomed Chinese enterprises to continuously participate
in Myanmar's infrastructure construction.

China has attached great importance to the cooperation with Myanmar in
fighting drug trafficking. The two sides should strengthen this
cooperation within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks, Wen said.

Soe Win said Myanmar was fully prepared to work with China to combat drug
trafficking and other cross-border crimes.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 31, The Independent
Life of Burma's first lady gets star treatment

The Lady of Burma, Old Vic

When the theatre director Richard Shannon met the actress Liana Mau Tan
Gould, he was struck by her likeness to the Burmese pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi. It set him to wondering whether anyone had written a
play about the Nobel Prize winner and, if not, whether such a play could
help the campaign to get her released from the house arrest she has
endured for years.

No one had - and the Burma Campaign UK loved the idea of using theatre to
promote its message about democracy and human rights. The resulting work,
The Lady of Burma, will be staged in a one-off fundraiser, the biggest
event the campaign has ever held.

Liana Gould will perform an edited version of Shan-non's script while
celebrity supporters including Juliet Stevenson, Sinead Cusack, Prunella
Scales, John Pilger and Richard Wilson will read speeches and perform
poems. Maureen Lip-man will host the evening.

Yvette Mahon, the Burma Campaign UK's director, says they are always
looking for ways to connect people to what is happening in this remote
country. "This is a way of telling the political story - through the
woman, the mother, the sacrifice - that humanises the issues. They are the
things Aung San Suu Kyi hates us focusing on but they capture people's
emotions."

Scales, a campaign supporter since the time of Suu Kyi's first arrest in
1989, says she is "honoured" to be taking part. "I am moved by her
courage, her passionate commitment in the face of overwhelming challenges,
the sacrifices that she has made for the people of Burma and her
determination and hope for the future," she said.

If the show sells out, it should make £30,000 for the campaign. And
Shannon is optimistic that the play will have a future life in London and
around the country. "My hope is that the heroic story of Aung San Suu Kyi
will reach a wider audience, adding to the momentum that will lead to her
release and the return of democracy to Burma."

Tickets £ 20 to £ 150 (08700 606 628), 12 November

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 31, The Nation
Policy on Burma needs an overhaul

The overthrow of the Thaksin govt has created an opportunity to correct
the flawed approach towards Rangoon

The new government under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has not yet done
anything to correct the past administration's disastrous policy towards
Burma. Worse, there have been some recommendations within the inner circle
recently that the Thai leader should call on the Burmese junta leaders in
Pyinmana as soon as possible to express solidarity with the neighbouring
country. After all, Burma is a member of ASEAN [Association of Southeast
Asian Nations]. Such a suggestion is ill advised and could jeopardize
Thailand's standing in the international community, which has been under
attack from all sides following the 19 September coup.

In the aftermath of the coup, Thailand has had to withstand condemnation
from foreign governments near and far that were critical of the power
seizure. The US has severed military and economic assistance to Thailand.
The European Union refuses to partake in diplomatic activities. Other
countries were more vocal in some ways and then made up in other ways.
These examples of hypocrisy fit very nicely with Thailand's unique
political situation. Unfortunately, when it comes to Thai policy towards
Burma, it's a different ball game.

As the international community, through the current effort within the UN
Security Council, steps up pressure on Burma to ensure there is genuine
democratic development in the country, Thailand's action or lack thereof
in this regard will be under close scrutiny.

In recent weeks, Burmese students and democracy supporters have staged
peace marches and lit candles to call for the release of all political
prisoners in their country. These are believed to number about 1,500 and
included the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. This growing domestic
pressure augurs well for efforts at the international level.

It is about time Thailand decided to review its Burmese policy seriously.
Over the past five years, Thai-Burma relations were constructed through
the prism of deposed Thaksin Shinawatra alone, and nothing else. That is
why it was a flawed policy. One important drawback of this lop-sided
policy was the compromises Thailand had to make to accommodate the former
PM's initiatives in Burma. These had many facets, but the most troublesome
has been on national security. Over the past five years, security along
the 2,400-kilometre Thai-Burmese border has been quite lax, allowing drugs
and human trafficking to prosper. When Surayud served as Army chief,
security along the porous border was strong and vigilant. Once again there
is an urgent need to review our security preparedness along the border.

At an informal brainstorming session on Burma held by senior Foreign
Ministry officials early this year, the conclusion was that Thailand's
Burma policy required some serious fine-tuning. The officials concluded,
for instance, that Thailand needed to harden its position by refusing to
shield Burma from international criticism. Burma has to defend its record
on its own at the UN. Asean has refused to do so for the past two years
after Burma was pressured to skip its turn at the rotating chairmanship of
ASEAN. Consequently, the recommendation influenced Thailand's position on
Burma. Bangkok was no longer opposing the US-led effort to put Burma's
situation on the Security Council's agenda.

However, with a new government in power, it is imperative that Thailand
sends a strong message to Burma's military junta that the
Thaksin-initiated policies are not sustainable, will be reviewed and, if
necessary, changed. It is hoped that when the government announces its
domestic and foreign policies at the National Legislative Assembly this
Friday, it will articulate a more focused approach towards neighbouring
countries. It would be a shame if the current policy towards Burma remains
unchanged merely for the sake of continuity, as this would immediately
negate the justification for the coup.

The interim government has to see to it that the previous regime's legacy
of a flawed policy on Burma is corrected as soon as possible.