BurmaNet News, November 21, 2006

[Editor]

November 21, 2006 Issue # 3091

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Activists’ detention extended
DVB: Irrawaddy residents jailed after corruption complaints
Irrawaddy: Junta Welcomes “Anti-American” Al Jazeera TV Team

ON THE BORDER
Thai Press: Thailand government may life law prohibiting displaced persons
from Myanmar (Burma) to work in Thailand

DRUGS
AFP: One arrested after Myanmar battle with alleged drug traffickers

ASEAN
Manila Standard: Myanmar withdrawal gives RP a headache

REGIONAL
Indianews.com: Indian air chief visiting Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Thai Press: Myanmar (Burma) UN Labor Agency considers taking Burma to
international court over forced labor

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma’s ‘seat of kings’ - Veronica Pedrosa/Naypidaw, Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 21, Irrawaddy
Activists’ Detention Extended - Aung Lwin Oo

The detention of five leading Burmese democracy activists, arrested in
late September, has been extended by at least a further two weeks, sources
in Rangoon said on Tuesday.

The five leading members of the 88 Students Generation group—Min Ko Naing,
Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeyar and Pyone Cho—were first charged in
absentia at a local court in Rangoon’s Bahan Township under section 5-j of
the Emergency Provisions Act on November 6 and ordered to be held on
remand for two weeks.

The remand order was extended by a further two weeks by the same court on
Monday, a leading member of the group, Mya Aye, told The Irrawaddy on
Tuesday. “But it remains unclear whether they will be charged under
another act or face trial once the remand ends on December 4,” he added.

Sources say the activists are being held at Aung Thapyay police holding
center in Rangoon.

The government routinely charges political activists of offences under the
1975 State Protection Act, Article 10-a and 10-b, which empowers the
government to detain prisoners for up to five years without filing
charges.

At a press briefing on November 2, Burma’s police chief, Brig-Gen Khin Yi,
said the activists had been arrested because of alleged links to illegal
organizations and terrorist groups.

The apparent delay in charging the five could indicate caution on the part
of the regime, suggested Bo Kyi, joint Secretary of the Thailand-based
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

“Now that the US has been pushing the UN Security Council to adopt
resolutions on Burma, they (authorities) may be weighing up the political
consequences of charging them,” he said.

The state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar on Monday claimed the 88
Students Generation group had received funding from exiled organizations,
including the AAPP, through British and US embassies in Rangoon in order
to finance the launch of a mass movement. The newspaper claimed the
British embassy had passed on 25 million kyat (US $17,000) while the US
embassy had cleared transfers totaling up to $30,000.

Both embassies have denied the accusations, according to the Associated
Press.

____________________________________

November 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Irrawaddy residents jailed after corruption complaints

Two men from Bogalay township in Irrawaddy division have been sentenced to
two years in prison on unknown charges after filing a corruption complaint
against local authorities.

During the past few months state-run newspapers have run advertisements
carrying details of new 'corruption hotlines' that will allow members of
the Burmese public to lodge complaints against authorities.

Today's New Light of Myanmar carries a notice inviting the public to file
claims of corruption, "delays or difficulties . . . abuse of power,
official harassment," against the Ministry of Finance and Revenue.

According to lawyer Aung Thein, Win Nyunt, a Union Solidarity and
Development Association member, and Aye Min, the headmaster of a primary
school, were arrested and imprisoned after complaining that Village Peace
and Development Council workers had siphoned money from their yearly
agriculture loans.

"[The authorities] also raised about 700,000 kyats worth of funding to
build a new VPDC office . . . so those villagers, addressing the State
Peace and Development Council, filed a case complaining," Aung Thein said.

Phyar Pon division authorities reportedly investigated the men's claims
before ordering the Bogalay Township Peace and Development Council to keep
a record of budget invoices and warning the VPDC.

In retaliation, the village authorities took action against Ko Win Nyunt
and Ko Aye Min. The military government's invitations for corruption
complaints have been widely ignored in Burma, where people fear
retribution for reporting officials' crimes.

"If you really go and complain they'll just give you back a lot of harsh
time . . . There are examples you can see, like force labour cases in the
country," Tin Win, a lawyer from Rangoon told DVB.

"You don't dare to file a report even if you want to . . . So this new
program is like a big joke to people," he said.

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
Junta Welcomes “Anti-American” Al Jazeera TV Team -  Aung Zaw

Burma’s military regime gave a rare opportunity to a foreign TV station to
enter the country, issuing its staff visas usually denied foreign
journalists The reason? Burmese officials thought the TV station, Al
Jazeera, was anti-American.

Al Jazeera, in fact, is an independent TV station based in the Middle East
and now broadcasting internationally in English. Freelancers working for
the broadcaster say it will be carrying more news on Burma in the future.

Al Jazeera presenter Veronica Pedrosa and her crew were allowed into Burma
in August after a series of requests had been made to government
authorities. Pedrosa had presented one request personally to Burmese
foreign minister Nyan Win during an Asean meeting in July in Kuala Lumpur,
where she is based.

The former CNN anchorwoman reported on her Burma visit in an article on Al
Jazeera’s website. She said she and her crew were followed everywhere and
monitored by government minders.

Pedrosa wrote: “Once we had arrived in the country, we spent three days in
the former capital, Yangon, filming as much as we could while closely
monitored by two government minders.”

But freedom to roam around the city was not permitted. “They prevented us
from filming numerous times and tried to stop us from meeting anyone on
our own.”

The trip lasted eight days and included a visit to Naypyidaw, the new
capital (again with escorts) and a meeting with Information Minister Brig
Gen Kyaw Hsan. The Al Jazeera crew were the first foreign TV journalists
allowed to enter Burma’s newly built but still unfinished “royal city.”

On their arrival, Kyaw Hsan told Pedrosa and the crew: "We fully
understand the nature of media and we do not ask to be biased for us. Yet,
we hope that your news reports on Myanmar will be balanced and fair,
reflecting the background history, actual conditions and situations"

But soon Pedrosa saw through the display of hospitality. “We believe the
Myanmar government saw letting our crew in as an opportunity,” she wrote.
“Why?  Because they think Al Jazeera is anti-American.”

“Our conversation touched on the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, the
country's opposition leader; the long-delayed road map to democracy; the
shifting of the capital; insurgencies around the country; and the effect
of sanctions and the lack of aid to Myanmar’s people.”

The crew was given permission to film (“with numerous escorts”) Naypyidaw,
but the defense ministry and a “military complex” were off-limits. Pedrosa
noted that last year, two Burmese reporters were arrested and jailed while
filming the construction sites of Naypyidaw.

One drawback of receiving regime blessing for the Al Jazeera visit was
that several Burmese critics and dissidents shunned the group and refused
to give interviews. They included the respected and outspoken journalist
Ludu Sein Win, former editor of Ludu newspaper.

Pedrosa wrote: “We also sought meetings with pro-democracy activists,
several of whom turned down requests for interviews because they were
suspicious that we had been granted permission to report by the
government.” She was shocked to see the deep-seated mistrust among
ordinary Burmese and the military regime.

However, a senior member of the opposition National League for Democracy,
the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, secretly met Pedrosa and her crew. She
wrote: “He asked us to disguise his identity for fear of government
harassment.”

Burma’s military regime rarely issues journalist visas to foreign
reporters or journalists. Several Bangkok-based journalists, including
Thai reporters and editors, are currently blacklisted.

Veronica Pedrosa’s report on her visit to Burma can be read on the Al
Jazeera website: www.english.aljazeera.net/news.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 21, Thai Press
Thailand government may life law prohibiting displaced persons from
Myanmar (Burma) to work in Thailand

The government's 20-year-old ban which outlaws Myanmar (Burmese) displaced
persons from taking up jobs could be lifted in March next year as
officials are working on guidelines for their employment, a senior
Interior Ministry official said on November 16, the Bangkok Post reports.

The ban affects 140,000 Burmese war refugees, most of them Karen living in
camps in Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces for
security reasons. The programme will be tested in Tak first.In February
the National Security Council agreed to let Burmese displaced people take
up work in the form of training in the camps.

''The government wants it to happen quickly,'' Interior deputy permanent
secretary Peerapol Traithossawit told a workshop at the border district of
Mae Sot attended by government officials, United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees officials and people from the private sector.

Public input gathered from the workshop will go into developing the
guidelines on refugee employment, which would be tabled for cabinet
approval, probably in March next year, he said.

The lifting of the ban sprung from the NSC's view that refugees should be
equipped with professional skills necessary for settlement in a third
country.

Mr Peerapol said a balance was needed between economic benefits and
national security. ''We must come up with suitable guidelines - whether to
allow the refugees to take up jobs within the confinement of their camps
or go out to work in factories, farms or houses,'' he said.

Asked whether the move would trigger a flood of illegal migrants to the
camps, he said any refugee family found providing shelter to an
unregistered migrant would be deprived of displaced person status and face
charges.

____________________________________
DRUGS

November 21, Agence France Presse
One arrested after Myanmar battle with alleged drug traffickers

Myanmar has arrested an alleged drug dealer after a gun battle between
security forces and a gang believed to be drug traffickers last weekend
near the Thai border, official media said Tuesday. Aik Myint, 34, had been
wanted by authorities since October for dealing 50,000 stimulant tablets,
the official New Light of Myanmar said.

He was arrested Sunday after police and a local militia waged a gun battle
with six alleged drug traffickers, including Aik Myint, it said.

The paper did not report any casualties, but said police seized an
automatic rifle, a grenade launcher, ammunition and 10,050 stimulant
tablets.

The shoot out happened near the town of Tachilek, on the Thai border in
eastern Shan state, while police and militia were patrolling the Mekong
River, the paper said. The five other men escaped, it added.

Such battles are rarely publicized here, but Myanmar has come under
mounting international pressure to crack down on the illegal drugs trade.

The US, a vocal critic of Myanmar, has said methamphetamine production in
Myanmar is one of the most serious problems facing Southeast Asia.

Much of it is produced in rebel-held areas along the borders with China
and Thailand, a region where drug gangs are known to operate freely.

China, one of Myanmar's main supporters, has also pressured the junta to
crack down on drugs as it blames Myanmar for soaring rates of addiction
and HIV infection in its southwestern province of Yunnan.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 21, Manila Standard
Myanmar withdrawal gives RP a headache

Myanmar is partly to blame if the Philippines faces a king-size headache
preparing for the meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in Cebu next month,
an official said yesterday. Myanmar was supposed to host this year's
summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. But it withdrew as a
result of pressure to institute democratic reforms and forced the
Philippines to step in, Ambassador to Malaysia Victorino Lecaros said.

"Consequently, we lost 12 months of our time for preparations for the
Asean summit," Lecaros told a weekly breakfast forum at the Sulo Hotel in
Quezon City.The Philippines was supposed to assume the chairmanship of the
10-member Asean and to host its next meeting in 2007, said Lecaros who is
helping the Department of Foreign Affairs prepare for the group's 12th
summit.

That meeting is set on Dec. 10 to 13 in Cebu City, but officials have
chosen a new venue--the Shangri-La hotel on Mactan Island--in case the
Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue is not completed in time.

Lecaros said the Philippines had nothing to be ashamed of despite its
hosting problems. "I think we are doing well considering that we lost one
year of preparations," he said.

"In the 11 previous summits of Asean, it is only now that the host has
been deprived of one year of preparation time.

"Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is supervising the convention center's
construction, and Lecaros said she was doing a yeoman's job trying to
speed things up.

"She is on top of things," he said. "The last time I talked with Governor
Garcia, there was no hint that it could not be done. She was 101 percent
confident.

"Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Garcia had told him that the
convention center could still be finished in time to host all 91
activities. Fel V. Maragay

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 20, Indianews.com
Indian air chief visiting Myanmar

The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, is
currently in Myanmar on what has been described as a 'goodwill visit'.

Tyagi, who left here Saturday, is expected to return over the weekend, a
defence ministry official said.

Analysts here pointed out that given the fact Tyagi would be spending five
days in a country that is largely shunned by the international community,
showed there was much more than 'goodwill' involved in the visit, given
the fact that New Delhi and Yangon have steadily been increasing their
economic and military engagement over the past few years.

The highlight of this interaction was President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's the
visit to Myanmar earlier this year.

During the three-day visit, Kalam held talks with Myanmar's military
strongman General Than Shwe. The visit to Myanmar was seen as an important
political gesture by India, reciprocating an October 2004 visit to India
by Shwe that renewed bilateral diplomatic relations.

Simultaneously, India has been a vocal supporter of Nobel Prize winning
democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest in
Yangon since the military junta's 1988 crack down on the country's
pro-democracy movement.

Even so, Myanmar is firmly on the radar of India's 'Look East' policy that
aims at strengthening ties with all the countries of Southeast Asia.

India has also transferred to the Myanmar Air Force an Islander transport
aircraft in spite of vehement opposition from Britain, which threatened to
cut off supplies for the remaining Islanders being operated by the Indian
armed forces.

There are also reports that India has transferred substantial quantities
of small arms and ammunition to Myanmar but these have not been
independently verified.

New Delhi has also been able to persuade Yangon to take action against
rebels from India's northeast who are sheltering in the dense jungles on
the Myanmarese side of the border. There is, however, no proposal to
conduct joint operations, officials said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 21, Thai Press Reports
Myanmar (Burma) UN Labor Agency considers taking Burma to international
court over forced labor

The International Labor Organization says it is prepared to take Myanmar
(Burma) to the International Court of Justice because the country's
military regime continues to use forced labor, despite promising to end
the practice. The agency's patience with Burma has run out after six years
of unproductive negotiations. The I.L.O, as the Geneva-based U.N. labor
agency is known, says Burma continues to violate the international
convention on forced labor.

The agency says negotiations with the government to end the practice have
gone nowhere, and it doubts the Burmese regime is negotiating in good
faith.

Richard Horsey, the I.L.O's liaison officer for Burma, says the agency
will submit its documentation on Burmese forced labor to the U.N. Security
Council, which has put Burma's human rights situation on its agenda for
the first time.

And, he says, the I.L.O. will approach the International Criminal Court,
where prosecutors could conclude that Burma's forced labor practices
constitute both war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The governing body decided to do this because it was very concerned at
the widespread existence of forced labor, and because of a lack of
progress in working with the government there to address the problem," he
said.

According to the I.L.O., the Burmese military regime continues to
press-gang civilians into unpaid work, mainly to aid the military and to
work on roads and other infrastructure projects. It says the worst forms
of forced labor are related to military activities in ethnic minority
areas, where the army is fighting rebels.

During its annual conference last June, the I.L.O asked Burma, where
forced labor is officially outlawed, to release all people imprisoned for
reporting labor law abuses.

The agency says the Burmese government announced a moratorium on
prosecuting such whistleblowers (people who report wrongdoing) soon
afterwards, and also released two activists who had reported violations.
But the I.L.O says there is no sign that forced labor itself has declined.

Horsey says progress in eliminating forced labor can only be made if the
Burmese government cooperates.

"And so, the government has to show its good faith and cooperation," he
noted, "and, specifically, we need agreement on a mechanism for dealing
with complaints of forced labor, complaints by victims."

Horsey says the door is still open for dialogue with the Burmese
government. But the I.L.O has made it clear that the generals who run the
country have to come up with a proposal to end forced labor if they want
to avoid further U.N. action. -VOA

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 21, Irrawaddy
Burma’s ‘seat of kings’ - Veronica Pedrosa/Naypidaw, Burma

As our small plane descended over the jungle of central Burma, we strained
to get a good view of the country's mysterious new capital, Naypidaw.

Our crew was the first foreign reporters to be taken there by Burma
officials. Until then only glimpses of Naypidaw had emerged.

Two local journalists were reportedly jailed for photographing government
buildings without permission this year.

In March Burma’s state television had shown a brief glimpse of the city
during a report on Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the country’s ruler, inspecting
troops on Armed Forces day.

Other than that, little has been seen of the city by the outside world.

Uprooted

But Naypidaw has been a mystery, not just because of the government’s
limits on media coverage.

One Friday in November last year, hundreds of civil servants were ordered
to move to homes and offices to the new city - and to be there by the
following Monday.

With just a weekend to pack up and leave, many had to leave families
behind because adequate housing, schools and hospitals had yet to be
built.

Unaware of the move, diplomats who turned up at the former ministries in
Rangoon the following week found empty offices where stray dogs roamed.

It was clear Burma’s generals were absolutely serious about moving the
machinery of government more than 400km north into the heartland of the
country.

Media reports spoke of a “jungle capital”, a refuge far removed from the
bustle of Rangoon where the ruling military could fortify itself from
attack by foreign and domestic enemies.

There was speculation that a mixture of superstition, megalomania and
paranoia was behind the decision.

Room to expand

To put it into context, Rangoon, the former capital, is a city of more
than 5 million people. Residents complain there is not enough public
transport to cope with their needs, and that there are regular power
outages during the dry season.
But the military government said it needed to expand, and wanted a
state-of-the-art base in the centre of the country.

So they moved north to a sparsely populated area near the town of
Pyinmana, a place of historic significance because hundreds of years ago
it was the imperial capital.

Out of the bush, Burma’s current military rulers carved the new city, and
it is still taking shape.

We saw identical glass-clad government ministries, housing for civil
servants, restaurants, hotels, a shopping centre and central bus station.

There is also, inevitably, a military complex too - but we were barred
from seeing it for security reasons.

Brand new apartment blocks are sprouting up to house the thousands of
government workers and their families being transplanted to the new
capital.

In the Burma military's version of city planning, order is paramount.

Apartments are allotted according to rank and marital status. In the
middle of rural Burma, the blocks look like suburban housing estates seen
across Asia.

Urban life

Our government escorts were keen to show us the hospital and several
schools - signs of normal urban life beginning to take root.

At another site we saw an almost completed replica of Rangoon’s famous
Shwedagon pagoda.

But there was something surreal about the place, built from scratch by
order of the generals.

The city has little in common with the colonial-era shophouses and
timeless religious monuments in Rangoon, or the simple rural shacks just
down the road.

It is certainly being built with grand expectations: The name Naypidaw
means "seat of kings".

The entire city covers more than 4,600 square kilometres, 78 times the
size of Manhattan.

It engulfs three already existing townships and what we found was only the
result of phase one of construction.

Minders

Some reports allege forced labor is being used to build the city.

We did not see or hear any evidence of it, but as ordinary life develops
and grows here, it was the ordinary people that we were unable to talk to.

Our visit was closely chaperoned. We were accompanied by government
minders at all times, and we were only shown the most innocuous places
Naypidaw has to offer.

We were, however, given a rare audience with Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Burma’s
information minister, at his polished new offices.

When we asked him why the government had uprooted its entire bureaucracy
hundreds of kilometres, he replied it was simply a matter of space.

The government needed to expand and there simply was not room or a good
environment in congested Rangoon.

The government, he explained, wanted a “garden evergreen city” where
everything is neat, tidy and organized.

He said that the project was not suddenly and urgently built but a
well-planned and systematic choice with construction starting back in
2002.

But critics say the move is unnecessary and expensive in one of the
world's poorest countries, isolated as it is by sanctions by the US and
EU, sharply critical of Burma’s human rights record.

The millions of dollars spent on the new buildings could have been spent
fighting endemic disease and poverty in Burma.

They argue that with the move to Naypidaw the military has retreated even
further from the people, just as the country has become isolated from the
international community.

The birth of Naypidaw has again raised questions about the military's
vision for Burma.

They have been promising democracy to the Burma people for years now but
it remains an unfinished project - maybe, at least, they will finish this
one.

The Irrawaddy reproduced this story with permission from Al Jazeera