BurmaNet News, June 26, 2007

[Editor]

June 26, 2007 Issue # 3234

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: UN child expert meets Burmese ministers in Nay Pyi Taw
DVB: USDA harass injured NLD member
Irrawaddy: Burma’s national convention could cost millions, suggests
internal document
KNG: Junta demolishes Kachin Christian Cross
DVB: Karenni rebels bear brunt of attack on Shan defectors
DVB: Electricity board orders donations to ‘Naypyidaw charity’

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara News: 10,000 unrecognized Burmese refugees to be moved to new camp
Irrawaddy: Illegal Chinese phones in big demand in border areas

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Over 654,000 foreign tourists visit Myanmar in 2006-07

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: Family fear for AIDS activist after reports of hunger strike

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: UN agency reports big fall in Burma opium poppy cultivation
SHAN: New report from SHAN questions drug policies in Burma

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: India to train Burma Army on its soil
Irrawaddy: Malaysian ‘volunteers’ arrest more than 200 Burmese

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Security Council calls for greater protection of civilians
in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
The Nation: Burma walks a thin line with Asean - Dr. Pavin Chachavalpongpun

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 26, Mizzima News
UN child expert meets Burmese ministers in Nay Pyi Taw

The UN special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, on a five-day visit to Burma, today met Burma's Minister for
Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, and Minister for Planning and
Economic Development.

The UN information Centre in Rangoon told Mizzima, Coomaraswamy today held
talks with Major-General Maung Maung Shwe, Minister for Social Welfare,
Relief and Resettlement, and U Soe Thar, Minister for Planning and
Economic Development, at Burma's new jungle capital in Nay Pyi Taw.

Details of the meeting and the agenda and agreements between the envoy and
the Burmese ministers, however, still remains undisclosed.

The Sri Lankan diplomat, who is in Burma to set-up a monitoring and
reporting mechanism on grave violations committed against children in line
with the UN Security Council resolution in 2005, was also reported to have
met Wa ethnic representatives yesterday in Rangoon.

"Yesterday, she met leaders of the Wa National Group, from special region
(2) in northern
Shan State," said a UN official in Rangoon.

Coomaraswamy is the first UN diplomat to have visited Burma following the
second visit of UN undersecretary general for political affairs, Ibrahim
Gambari.

Critics view the UN children expert's visit as a step in the world body's
fresh efforts to restart dialogue with the Burmese regime, which attracted
widespread criticism for not implementing political reforms.

Sources told Mizzima, the UN is all set to resend its Special Adviser to
the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, later this year.

Coomaraswamy, who arrived Burma yesterday afternoon, is also supposed to
meet Burma's acting Prime Minister Lt-Gen Thein Sein. However, sources
said there has been no information on the meeting schedule.

____________________________________

June 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
USDA harass injured NLD member

Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association allegedly
ventured into an operating theatre in a Mandalay hospital last week to
harass bashed National League for Democracy member U Than Lwin while he
underwent surgery.

U Than Lwin, a 70-year-old elected member of parliament, was hospitalised
on June 15 after he was punched in the head as he walked down a Mandalay
street by an unidentified man wearing a knuckle-duster.

His son and daughter said that Burma’s notorious special police and a
number of USDA members continued to loiter around his hospital bed this
week and that some had even entered an operating theatre last Wednesday
while U Than Lwin underwent surgery on his badly broken nose.

“Some of them were wearing their USDA uniforms . . . some of them waited
at the door of where my father was being treated and some even came inside
and stood by his bed. I asked them what they were doing and they turned
away,” U Than Lwin’s son Ko Zaw Min Lwin said.

The operation on U Than Lwin’s nose was reportedly successful but his
family said he had been left weak and unable to talk after being under
anesthetic. Mandalay USDA officials have been unable to comment on why
members appear to be staking out the hospital.

“There is no privacy near my father. As the special police are watching us
closely, we can’t talk freely,” U Than Lwin’s daughter Ma Khin Mar Lwin
said.

____________________________________

June 26, Irrawaddy
Burma’s national convention could cost millions, suggests internal
document - Htet Aung

Burma’s military government could have spent more than US $3 million to
fund the constitution-drafting National Convention since its creation in
1993, according to a confidential expense report produced by the
convention and obtained by The Irrawaddy.

The report lists expenses totaling 300 million kyat (US $240,000) for one
2-month session convened on December 5, 2005.

Nine sessions of the convention have convened since its creation in 1993,
which suggests that total costs could run into the billions of kyat
(millions of US dollars).

The confidential report covers expenses in several categories, including
travel and daily allowances for convention delegates, meeting costs for
the convention’s three committees (Convening Committee, Working Committee
and Management Committee), staff salaries and costs associated with the
maintenance and decoration of the facilities at Nyaung Hnapin camp in
Hmawbi Township, about 40 km north of Rangoon, where the convention is
currently held.

Not included are costs associated with the convention’s numerous
sub-committees, which have met more than 250 times between 1996 and 2000,
according to the confidential report.

Burma’s National Convention has convened periodically since 1993, though
often with long gaps between sessions. According to government figures,
the convention has been actively in session for 27 months in the last 14
years.

Following the boycott of the convention by the National League for
Democracy in November 1995, the body did not reconvene until May 2004,
when the ruling junta announced its seven-step roadmap to democracy.

Lt-Gen Thein Sein, the convention’s chairman, announced in early June that
the tenth and final session would convene on July 18.

____________________________________

June 26, Kachin News Group
Junta demolishes Kachin Christian Cross

In a blatant instance of religious discrimination in Burma, a concrete
Kachin Christian Cross was forcibly demolished last month in northern
Burma by the ruling military junta, local sources said.

The Roman Catholic residents of Sumpra Bum Township in northern Kachin
State were being pressurized to pull down the Cross on the "Htoi San Bum"
mountain near the township by U Soe Myint Thein, Sumpra Bum Administrator
for a long time, said a resident.

The Cross which is four feet wide and 18 feet high was forced to be
demolished after the new Cross ceremony was publicly held in the township
on May 15, according to local Catholic devotees.

The local Catholics are under pressure to sign the Cross re-destruction
agreement by the authorities of the township. However the Catholic
followers have been refusing to buckle, a resident told KNG.

The residents also clearly stated that they will not demolish the Mountain
Cross whatever the pressure, said a resident.

According to a resident, the big Christian Cross was built earlier this
year on the Htoi San Mountain with permission of the township
administrator U So Myint Thein and the total construction cost was over 4
million Kyats (over US$ 3,252).

Sumpra Bum Township is situated over 80 miles from the north of Myitkyina,
capital of Kachin State and there are over 80 Catholic families in the
township.

In Kachin State, 0ver 90 percent of Kachins are Christians and religious
discrimination has been occurring around the state after the junta's
Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint arrived in Kachin State in late 2005, local
sources said.

Currently, the authorities have not only ordered demolition of all
Christian Cross in front of villages' entrances but also banned
construction of Churches and Church-related buildings around Kachin State,
according to locals.

____________________________________

June 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
Karenni rebels bear brunt of attack on Shan defectors

Four soldiers with the Karenni National Progressive Party were reportedly
killed last Thursday when they ran into Burmese military troops while
trying to help a group of Shan rebel defectors flee through their
territory.

More than 100 members of a splinter faction from the Shan State
Nationalities Liberation Organization reportedly led by majors Thurein and
Aung Kyaw fled Shan State earlier this month and are believed to be making
their way to the Thai-Burma border through KNPP territory.

KNPP spokesperson Raymond Htoo told DVB that the soldiers were captured by
the Burmese military and killed as they tried to find a route for the Shan
soldiers across a river.

“Our troops and those from the SSNLO ran into the State Peace and
Development Council’s light infantry battalion 508 while making their way
across a river and a fight broke out,” Raymond Htoo said.

“Four of our soldiers were on a barge and were captured when a SPDC speed
boat cornered them,” he said. The Burmese military had reportedly ventured
into the area to locate the SSNLO defectors.

The SSNLO, which signed a cease-fire agreement with the military in
October 1994, is based in southern Shan State. Tensions from within the
group prompted a split late last year with a faction led by major Chit
Maung denouncing the rest of the group.

____________________________________

June 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Electricity board orders donations to ‘Naypyidaw charity’

The Pwint Phyu branch of the state-run Electric Power Corporation in Magwe
Division is reportedly charging local residents extra for the installation
of new electricity meters, saying that the money was going to a ‘Naypyidaw
charity’.

Residents told DVB that the EPC recently removed all the existing
foreign-made meter boxes from local houses and replaced them with Burmese
products that recorded much higher levels of electricity usage than
normal.

“This is happening all around town. They are removing our old meter boxes
. . . In their receipts they said it cost 1000 kyat but they asked us for
7000 kyat, saying the extra would go to a Naypyidaw fund,” one resident
said on condition of anonymity.

Another Pwint Phyu local said that the new meter boxes were recording
between three and four times the amount of electricity usage as the older
boxes.

“They have just installed a new one in my house recently. It works so well
that it showed I have used up nine units of electricity in just two days,”
the local resident said.

“Our old meter box was installed in about 1957 when electricity was first
available here. It worked fine . . . I told them not to replace it because
I couldn’t afford a new one but they were like bandits,” he said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 26, Narinjara News
10,000 unrecognized Burmese refugees to be moved to new camp

10,000 unrecognized Burmese Muslim refugees who are currently living on
the bank of the Naff River in Teknaf township opposite the Burmese town
Maungdaw, will be moved by Bangladesh authorities to a secure place in the
very near future.

The decision came out after a inter-ministerial meeting with many
high-ranking officials from several ministries in attendance on 30 May in
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

An official source said the Bangladesh Home Ministry had already sent a
letter to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner and district
administration in Cox;s Bazar requesting them to find safe and high ground
for the Burmese Muslim refugees to live.

According to a local source, the authorities from Cox's Bazar District are
looking for a suitable place for the Burmese refugees in the area of
Domdomia Kerontoli in Teknaf, but have yet to find the right location.

A report of a local newspaper published in Cox's Bazar on 23 June said the
European Union would help provide support in the form of two million euros
to construct the new refugee camp.

The Bangladesh government made the decision following repeated requests
for such action from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and
the European Commission. The refugees have been living in low-lying areas
that flood during rain or high tide, forcing residents to take shelter on
the streets, a source said.

Foreign envoys in Bangladesh recently expressed concern about the
situation of refugees including the health of the children and women, who
are living in a critical situation at the makeshift camp. The envoys urged
the Bangladesh government to move the refugees urgently to a safer place.

There are 10,000 unrecognized refugees who have been living in the
makeshift camps in poor conditions since 2004.

In Bangladesh, there have been two refugee camps since 1992, with 23,000
refugees who have been recognized as such by the UNHCR.

____________________________________

June 26, Irrawaddy
Illegal Chinese phones in big demand in border areas - Khun Sam

Cheap but illegal Chinese mobile phones are making big inroads in
northeastern border areas of Burma, where they cost a small fraction of
the price of legally-acquired Burmese models.

Attempts by the authorities to stamp out the trade in illegal mobile
phones have largely failed because they are in such common use, even by
government officials.

A legally-obtained SIM card costs 1.5 million kyat (US $1,230), and a
cheap handset is sold for around 50,000 kyat ($39). The SIM card alone
changes hands on the black market for more than 2.5 million kyat ($1,984).
For many government officials, the black market is a tempting way to raise
money from the phones they issued.

A Chinese mobile phone, including SIM card and handset, smuggled into
Burma, costs around 100,000 kyat ($ 79), according to sources on the
Burma-China border.

Chinese transceiver bases are reportedly stationed near the border, and a
phone service is available in an area extending 30 miles into Burma,
covering the Kachin State capital Myitkyina and Muse in Shan State.

One Burmese shopkeeper in Bhamo, Kachin State, said he provided his
customers with a choice between Burmese and Chinese phones. “Most of my
customers use the Chinese phones,” he said.

Mobile phone use in Burma is strictly controlled by the government, whose
Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications is the country’s solely mobile phone
service provider. Burmese government figures show that more than 140,000
mobile phones are now in use in Burma.

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

According to the Thai-Burmese border based news service Independent Mon
News Agency, more than 20 illegal Thai cordless phones have been seized by
local authorities in Mon State.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 26, Xinhua General News Service
Over 654,000 foreign tourists visit Myanmar in 2006-07

A total of 654,602 foreign tourists visited Myanmar in the fiscal year
2006-07 which ended in March, bringing about an increase of 11.4 percent
of the country's foreign exchange earning compared with the previous year,
a local news journal reported Tuesday.

The earning through tourism during the year hit 198.48 million U.S.
dollars, up from 178.17 million dollars in 2005-06, said the Weekly Eleven
News.

Of the 654,602 tourists visiting Myanmar in 2006-07, 276,613 entered
through Yangon checkpoint, 5,763 through Mandalay and Bagan checkpoints
and 372,226 through border checkpoints, the report said.

Travelers stayed in Myanmar for an average of seven days, spending about
114 dollars per day per head, according to statistics.

Of the types of tours, package tour accounted for 25 percent, while free
independent traveler 47 percent and the rest with other visas 28 percent.

The tourists visiting Myanmar mostly came from Thailand, China, South
Korea and Japan in Asia, Germany, France and Italy in West Europe and some
countries in North America.

Myanmar has over 600 hotels with 23,000 rooms as well as 700 travel and
tour companies.

Since the Myanmar Hotels and Tourism Ministry started conducting tourist
guides training courses in 1992, it has brought up more than 6,000 tourist
guides up to 2006, the ministry sources disclosed.

More figures revealed that contracted foreign investment in the sector of
hotels and tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars since
Myanmar started to open to such investment in late 1988. Of the
investment, that in hotel projects amounted to over 580 million dollars.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
Family fear for AIDS activist after reports of hunger strike

The family of detained AIDS activist and National League for Democracy
member Phyu Phyu Thin said yesterday they feared for her safety after
receiving reports that she was staging a hunger strike.

Phyu Phyu Thin’s sister, Sabai Oo, told DVB that the family had received
credible reports saying that the activist was seven days into a hunger
strike at the Kyaikkasan interrogation centre and was growing weak.

“We are worried that something might happen to her . . . We were told no
one bothered to look after her until the fifth day of her strike. Now we
have been told that she can't even sit up and we were worried that she
might die,” Sabai Oo said.

“But we don't know who we should talk to . . . We are helpless.”

High-profile activist and former political prisoner Su Su Nway said that
reports had also emerged that Phyu Phyu Thin was refusing to drink water.
She said that NLD doctor Tin Myo Win had asked the Burmese authorities for
permission to visit the detained activist but that he had been told by
officials that reports of the hunger strike were not true.

“If the news of the hunger strike is not true, then why can’t they let her
family see her? . . . We are seriously concerned for her well-being and
would like to urge the authorities to let her family visit her,” Su Su
Nway said.

Phyu Phyu Thin, who ran a small HIV/AIDS clinic, which cared for about 30
patients, was arrested on May 21.

____________________________________
DRUGS

June 26, Irrawaddy
UN agency reports big fall in Burma opium poppy cultivation - Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s poppy cultivation fell last year by 34 percent, to 21,500
hectares, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the UN Office o­n
Drugs and Crime. The report showed that the area of cultivation had
dropped dramatically by 83 percent since 1998.

“This resulted from an opium ban imposed by the local authorities in June
2005 as part of a five-year government plan to make Myanmar [Burma] opium
free by 2014,” the report said—noting, however, that “rapid opium
eradication has hit some impoverished rural communities hard.”

The area of opium cultivation in Burma in 2006 was 11 percent of the world
total, the report disclosed.

Despite the decrease, more than 6,000 acres of poppy plantation remained
in Shan state and its impact was threatening ethnic Shan people involved
in farming it, especially women and children, according to the Shan Herald
Agency for News, which issued a report of its own on Tuesday, titled Shan
Drug Watch.

The report said that opium poppies had been planted in Hsihseng, Mawkmai
and Faikhun (Pekhon) townships in southern Shan State in the years
2006-2007.

Khuensai Jaiyen, editor of Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News,
said: “All hill tribe family members work in the fields or farms,
including children. They have no time to go to school. They just go and
work on the farms. So they are familiar with the drug.”

The continuing cultivation of fields for opium was “in spite of stern
warnings by the Pa-O National Organization and Shan State Nationalities
Peoples Liberation Organization, forbidding farmers to grow poppy in
lowland areas in public view, unlike previous years when it could be grown
anywhere,” said a member of the Ethnic Youth Network Group, who is
actively collecting drug information inside Burma.

Many women had turned to the sex trade after the United Wa State Army
banned the cultivation of poppies in 2005, he said.

Khuensai charged that the military junta was secretly cooperating in poppy
cultivation with paramilitary forces and such ceasefire groups as the PNO,
SNPLO, the Kayan National Guard and Kachin Defense Army.

In state-run newspapers, Burma’s Home Minister Maj-Gen Maung Oo, who is
also chairman of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, called o­n
Tuesday for the public to co-operate with the government to fight drugs
trafficking.

He also said Burma had now successfully reached the second five-year stage
of a 15-year drug elimination plan. The number of drug users in Burma had
decreased from 63,615 in 2004 to 56,823 in 2007.

According to The Associated Press, drug enforcement officials o­n Tuesday
said that they torched 900 kilograms of opium—the main ingredient in
heroin—74 kilograms of heroin, about 4 million methamphetamine tablets,
and 2.2 metric tons of chemicals used for making drugs.

The report said that the ceremony was held in Lashio, Shan State and the
stash had a total value of US $272 million.

"We are fully confident that we will be able to achieve our goals in the
very near future. If there is international cooperation and assistance,
the realization of the objective will be much earlier," police chief
Maj-Gen Khin Yi told the gathering of government and UN officials and
foreign diplomats in Lashio.

According to the UNODC report opium poppy cultivation in Burma, Laos and
Thailand had dropped 29 percent from 2005 to 2006. Burma is still the
world’s second largest opium producer after Afghanistan, according to the
UNODC.

____________________________________

June 26, Shan Herald Agency for News
New report from SHAN questions drug policies in Burma

To mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking,
SHAN is today launching a new publication, the Shan Drug Watch newsletter,
which contains articles exposing continuing widespread poppy-growing in
Shan State in areas under Burma Army control and critiquing current drug
policies in Burma.

One of the main articles in the newsletter paints a grim picture of the
situation in the northern Wa region two years after an opium ban was
imposed by Wa authorities, describing how starving ex-poppy farmers are
being forced to migrate, causing growing social problems.

Other articles challenge the data in the UNODC's October 2006 report on
opium cultivation in Burma, showing how so-called "poppy-free" townships
are still growing poppies, and that poppy cultivation thrives in areas
under government control.

"For too long, the debate about drug policy in Burma has been governed by
the generals and UNODC officials," states SHAN in the editorial to the
newsletter. "We want the broader public, at home and abroad, to become
involved in the debate, and start raising questions about policies that
are not only failing to eradicate drugs in Burma, but are having
devastating humanitarian impacts on communities on the ground."

The newsletter can be viewed at www.shanland.org

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 26, Mizzima News
India to train Burma Army on its soil - Subhaschandra M

India seems to be going all out to woo the Burmese military junta. It has
decided to train officers of the Burmese Army on Indian soil. This comes
in the wake of India's training Burmese air farce pilots in handling
sophisticated aircraft in Kerala.

And then there is the larger objective of boosting border trade. These
moves also come in the backdrop of the proposed Trans-Asian Highways and
Trans-Asian Railways as part of India's much hyped 'Look East Policy".

Defence sources here said the training is expected to start next month.
New Delhi's decision to train the Burma Army has already been intimated to
Yangon.

India also wants start a training centre to impart military training to
the Burma Army by Indian Army officers in Mandalay.

Besides, with a view to improve bilateral ties and strengthen diplomatic
relations, India has also decided to gift a Russian made chopper (AL-72)
to Burma, another highly placed source said adding that four Indian
helicopters made by Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) have already been
given to Myanmar.

India also supplied a huge consignment of artillery last year as a one
time grant to help the Burma Army.

The arms shipments were transported through the border town of Moreh, a
Customs sources said.

The relationship between the India and the military junta has been tenuous
and only recently, the Burma Army had tacitly implied that Indian security
forces were behind the bomb blast in Nanpharlone on May 25 where one
person was killed.

Similarly, Assam Rifles troops in Moreh have been accused by many of
offering a safe haven to cadres of the Kuki National Army, the armed wing
of the Kuki National Organisation, which is banned in Myanmar.

Despite this, efforts have been taken up in the recent past to improve
bilateral ties and boost trade and commerce across the border.

Last year, an Indo-Burma car rally was held from Delhi to Yangon. Apart
from the need to strengthen diplomatic ties, the recent initiatives taken
by both countries are seen as measures to check drug trafficking and arms
smuggling.

India has already begun to train Burmese pilots at the naval base in Kochi
in Kerala.

On the other hand India has asked Burma to pull up its socks and ensure
that no unwanted incidents occur from across the border, another well
placed source said.

The step was taken following the recent outbreak of violence in Burma's
Nanpharlone border market on May 25 followed by trouble in Moreh town on
June 9 which claimed 11 lives persons leading to halt in border trade for
almost a month.

Nearly over 500 people in the border town also deserted their homes and
took refuge in Burma in the days that followed the June 9 killings.
Charges and counter charges between the Manipur based outfit United
National Liberation Front and Burmese origin Kuki National Organisation
followed the Moreh killings with each accusing the other of triggering the
spate of killings. Normalcy returned to the border town only recently.

New Delhi wants Burma not to offer shelter to any insurgent outfits active
in its northeastern states, sources added.

The Indian Army had earlier asked the Burma Army to clear the camps of the
insurgent outfits and reports had come in that efforts were on to identify
the exact location of the camps so that operations could be launched.

Major General E K Kochekkan, General Officer in Command of the 57 Mountain
Division had once said that there are over 15 major hideouts of the NE
Insurgents in Myanmar.

____________________________________

June 26, Irrawaddy
Malaysian ‘volunteers’ arrest more than 200 Burmese - Saw Yan Naing

Malaysia’s government-backed People’s Volunteer Corps, or Rela, arrested
more than 200 Burmese citizens in immigration raids early Monday morning
in Kuala Lumpur, according to Burmese sources in the country.

Members of the volunteer force raided two locations in Jalan Imbi and
Sempaing in the Malaysian capital and arrested 217 Burmese, including
asylum-seekers and UNHCR-recognized refugees, Nani Nuncinpar, the office
manager of the Malaysia-based Chin Refugee Center, told The Irrawaddy.

“This is a terrible time [for the raids],” said Nani. “Today, they [Rela]
arrested people who are waiting to resettle to a third country. They
released 11 people after the UNHCR made an appeal to them.” Nani added
that several others awaiting resettlement remain in custody.

The CRC said its coordinator was among those arrested, and that he and his
family are scheduled to resettle in the US in September.

The arrested Burmese were taken to a detention camp in Lentteng in Kuala
Lumpur in the second large-scale immigration raid since the beginning of
the year, according to a statement released on Monday by the Chin Human
Rights Organization, which assists Chin communities in Malaysia.

“It makes the situation for asylum seekers living [in Malaysia] very
difficult, particularly those who are not coming simply for economic
reasons,” said Amy Alexander, a legal consultant with the CHRO. “They are
coming because they have nowhere else to go. For them, they need security
and protection.”

The detained Burmese include pregnant women and young children, said
Alexander.

Representatives of the CRC and the UNHCR are currently negotiating with
the Malaysian government for the release of all detainees.

There are over 23,000 Chin asylum seekers and refugees currently living in
Malaysia, according to the CHRO. Few are able to find work, receive an
education, access healthcare services or find acceptable living
accommodations, according to the rights group.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 26, Mizzima News
Security Council calls for greater protection of civilians in Burma -
Christopher Smith

Following testimony and an open debate, the United Nations Security
Council appealed for the increased protection of civilian populations
threatened by continued violence, including those populations in Burma,
calling for the rule of law and judicial redress to be respected and
implemented.

"If there is one thing we need to do above all, it is to end the culture
of impunity which underlies so many abuses," stated United Nations
Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes.

Identifying rape as a weapon of war, United States Deputy Ambassador,
Jackie Sanders, told the Council that "there are widespread reports of
serious human rights abuses, including rape, by Burmese military personnel
in conflict areas and other ethnic minority areas."

She went on to infer that there comes a time when, due to the lack of
political will or capability of domestic government, the international
community should consider intervening in the affairs of member states.

United Kingdom representative, Karen Pierce, also singled out the poor
record of the Burmese government in protecting its civilian population,
specifically drawing attention to the plight of local journalists working
in the country.

However, while agreeing on the need to put an end to violence against
civilians, the Burmese representative, Maung Wai, disagreed in the
assessment of root causes put forth by the American and British
representatives.

Speaking in the open debate, Maung Wai declared that non-state actors, as
opposed to government and military personnel, are primarily to blame for
violence against Burmese civilian populations.

Maung Wai continued by stressing the need to address the root causes
through a process of national reconciliation. To this end, he told the
delegates that to date the Burmese government has successfully brought 17
of 18 insurgent groups into the legal fold.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 26, The Nation
Burma walks a thin line with Asean - Dr. Pavin Chachavalpongpun

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD)
turned 62 on June 19 while remaining under the house arrest that was
recently extended for another year by the Burmese junta.

Amid increasing international calls for Suu Kyi's freedom, the focus is
however not on her struggle against the Burmese regime for now. But July
marks the 10th anniversary of Burma becoming a member of Asean. It is time
now for Asean to seriously assess the membership of Burma, its promises
given upon admission and how things have changed both in Burma and Asean
itself.

In 1997, Thailand was a staunch supporter of Burma joining Asean. Then PM
Chavalit Yongchaiyuth did not even hide the secret that he was a fan of
the Burmese junta. In fact, Chavalit's endorsement of Burma's membership
was not the first controversy he sank himself into.

After the Burmese military's suppression of democratic forces in 1988,
Chatichai Choonhavan's buffet government, which included Chavalit as Army
chief, adopted a friendly policy toward Burma based on mutual commercial
interests with the consent of the military that was equally insatiably
hungry. Chavalit was dispatched to Rangoon to mend bilateral ties. He was
the first foreign dignitary to visit Burma after its brutal crackdown on
pro-democracy activists.

With Thai support for Burma's Asean membership, Chavalit firmly defended
the Burmese regime. He declared: "I believe the generals in the ruling
SLORC will listen to me because we are friends. The Burmese are good
people. They are more devout Buddhists than us." Chavalit also assured us
that the Burmese military had no plan to stay in power forever. Ten years
on, the junta does not seem to be willing to give up political power any
time soon. The period is certainly long enough to severely damage Burma's
democratic institutions.

In the past decade, not only has the Burmese military shown no sign of
responding to international demands for political reforms, it has
continued to challenge regional peace and security. This year alone, the
junta's erratic behaviour captured world attention on numerous occasions,
ranging from its diplomatic normalisation with North Korea and speculation
that Pyongyang might have assisted in the development of a Burmese nuclear
reactor, a deal with Russia in the building of a nuclear research centre
in Rangoon, coupled with the extension of Suu Kyi's imprisonment.

Not long before that, Burma voluntarily relinquished its Asean
chairmanship following harsh criticism from the world community. The
Burmese government has since channelled its loyalty toward China, Russia
and India, who have willingly provided it with political sanctuary.

In the Asean context, the Burma issue has always been thorny, acting as a
barrier in the organisation's relations with the outside world, particular
with Europe. Meanwhile, the US was sceptical about the way Asean handled
Burma. This led to the renewal of American sanctions on Burma in May 2007
for another year because of the lack of a genuine dialogue between all
stakeholders in Burmese politics.

When Asean opened the door for Burma in 1997, its members did not
specifically hope to act as "agents of change" in the Burmese political
stalemate. Logically speaking, Asean itself was vulnerable and plagued by
slow progress, with more "don'ts" than "do's," with its notorious
non-interference principle, and questions of legitimacy of each member
government. In piggy-backing Burma, Asean felt for the first time a sense
of a regional belonging against outside pressure.

This mentality has proved to be disastrous. With no real will to push for
political change in Burma, Asean kept turning a blind eye to the worsening
situation there. Asean members' private interests ruled over efforts to
bring transformation to Rangoon. For Burma, Asean has been a fancy dress
to put on so it could look normal. In reality, conditions in Burma have
remained abnormal, with an ongoing civil war, a power struggle between the
government and the opposition, and prolonged ethnic insurgencies.

But Asean has recently been more mature in its thinking. In the past few
years, Asean leaders have spoken out vigorously that Burma would from now
on have to defend itself before the international community. The Asean
charter, to be finalised at the end of the year, will serve as a legal
yardstick against any member who fails to abide by the rules. And there is
no exception for Burma. Thus, 1997 and 2007 differ greatly in the way
Asean has come to define the Burma issue. With Asean's tougher stance, one
can only wait and see whether the grouping can make a real impact on
Burmese political development, or if it will even drive Burma further into
the arms of China and its other allies.

Thailand, with its own political deadlock, has a significant role to play
on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Burma's membership of Asean.
With the general election at the end of the year, and possibly with the
return of the Democrat Party, Thailand's policy toward Burma may shift
once again, and hopefully in contrast to its mistake in 1997.

Applying constructive engagement, flexible engagement, or whatever
engagement one might call it, the bottom line is how Thailand can achieve
its own national interests when dealing with Burma, on the basis of good
governance and transparency. The homecoming of the Democrat Party may
lighten the dark Thai-Burmese relations that have been seen since the
Thaksin days.

Surin Pitsuwan, former foreign minister under the Chuan administration in
the aftermath of Burma's admission to Asean, said recently in Tokyo that
the Democrat Party upholds the principle of democracy and respect for
human rights when it comes to managing relations with Burma.

Burma will walk a thinner line, particularly if it fails to fulfil
national reconciliation and speed up the democratisation process. Asean's
newfound maturity and a possible shift of Thai policy toward Rangoon will
surely spoil the 10th anniversary of Burma's Asean membership, which it
hopes to enjoy.

Dr. Pavin Chachavalpongpun is the author of "A Plastic Nation: The Curse
of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations."