BurmaNet News: December 16 2002

[editor at burmanet.org]

December 16 2002 Issue #2140

INSIDE BURMA

AFP: Opposition leader Suu Kyi begins political tour of Myanmar’s west
Xinhua: Myanmar in serious shortage of fertilizer
Irrawaddy: No press freedoms yet

DRUGS

AFP: Myanmar, Thailand draw up a joint plan to fight drugs
Myanmar Times: Poppy substitution project implemented in Kachin State

MONEY

Xinhua: Myanmar’s foreign trade drops in first eight months
Asia Pulse: ADB approves US $35 mln. For tourism in Mekong Basin

REGIONAL

AFP: Bangladesh set to welcome Myanmar leader on maiden visit
Xinhua: Myanmar-India-Thailand highway network field survey to start
Irrawaddy: Hundreds fired in Mae Sot

STATEMENTS/OTHER

Bangkok Post: Infamous triangle is still tainted
Inter Press Service: Rights: Burmese migrants impressed by Thai political
freedom


INSIDE BURMA

Agence France-Presse December 16 2002
Opposition leader Suu Kyi begins political tour of Myanmar's west

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi departed Yangon Monday for a
two-week tour of Rakhine and Chin states in the country's west bordering
Bangladesh and India, party officials said.

Only a fortnight ago the Nobel peace laureate completed an extensive tour
of Shan state in northeast Myanmar, as she exercised her newly won freedom
to travel around the country.

She was released from 19 months under house arrest in May with a guarantee
from the military government that she could make political trips to
rebuild her party, which had suffered in the years she was confined to
Yangon. On the latest trip, one of several undertaken in recent months,
she was again accompanied by National League for Democracy (NLD)
vice-chairman Tin Oo and a group of youth wing members who act as her
personal security.

The group were heading on an arduous road journey to the sea-port town of
Sitwe, the state capital of Rakhine which lies about 634 miles (1,025
kilometres) northwest of the capital.

Rakhine is effectively divided from the rest of Myanmar by a long stretch
of hills called the Arakan Yoma which are difficult to negotiate
throughout most of the year, particularly during the rainy season which
has now abated.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party was expected to arrive later Monday in Pyay, a
town 180 miles (112 kilometres) northwest of Yangon in Pago Division,
before starting out on the 17-hour journey to Sitwe across the Arakan
Yoma.

The party officials said the group is expected to first visit the southern
part of Rakhine state, where the NLD made a clean sweep during disallowed
1990 general elections, before making their way to Sitwe in the north.

Before returning to Yangon, she is also expected to cross over into Chin
state which borders India.

After November's two-week trip to Shan state, the NLD complained there had
been excessive surveillance of their leader, with security officials
constantly snapping photos of her even when she was resting.
________

Xinhua News Agency December 16 2002

Myanmar in serious shortage of fertilizer

Myanmar, as an agricultural country, is in high demand for fertilizer to
ensure increased production of agricultural crops. Due to much limited
quantity of domestic production, the country is in serious shortage of the
fertilizer. According to a report of the weekly Myanmar Times published on
Monday, Myanmar's annual demand for fertilizer amounts to one million
tons, but the country has only three fertilizer plants producing urea with
an annual production capacity of only 300,000 tons.

Due to various reasons, there exists a wide comparison between the actual
output and production capacity with the annual output being only more than
100,000 tons.

In 2000, Myanmar's total fertilizer production was 160,000 tons, while in
2001, the output dropped to 46,000 tons, accounting for only 4.6 percent
of the total demand, the report said.

To ease the serious shortage, Myanmar imports several hundred thousand
tons of various kinds of fertilizer annually. In the present fiscal year
ending March next year, Myanmar will import 100,000 tons of urea worth 14
million US dollars from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other countries.

To promote the agricultural development, the country has exempted the
import duties of agricultural machinery, pesticide, fertilizer and
agricultural implements.
___________

Irrawaddy December 16 2002

No Press Freedoms Yet
By Htet Aung Kyaw

Burma’s draconian censorship laws will remain soundly in place until
substantial political change occurs, according to a well-known Burmese
literary critic. Burmese poet and author Maung Swam Yi, while on a rare
trip outside Burma, spoke about press freedoms and censorship laws during
a conference in The Netherlands on modern literatures of Asian and African
nations who formerly came under colonial rule.
Maung Swam Yi said, outside of the government backed weekly The Myanmar
Times, there has been no change inside Burma despite the alleged
reconciliation talks that have taken place on and off for the last two
years between the military regime and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
He said Burmese now rely almost solely on foreign radio broadcasts for
their news.
Concerning censorship laws, Maung Swam Yi told the Oslo-based Democratic
Voice of Burma (DVB) while in Europe that: "There is nothing changing. You
must go three times a month to the PSB (press scrutiny board) office: once
for proof censoring, second for printing and the third for delivering. If
you are absent or delayed, your magazine will definitely be banned for
months, years or for life."
He said he personally came under heavy censorship while writing his latest
book. The PSB prohibited him from writing the names of different famous
poets, writers and journalists due to their opposition ties—including
poets Kyi Aung, Ko Lay-Ava Gyonyi, Bamaw Nyo Ngwe, Min Thu Won, imprisoned
journalist U Win Tin and exiled poet Tin Moe.
The PSB even went so far as to censor the name of U Aung Khin, a famous
painter in Mandalay, because his name shares the same spelling with Dr
Aung Khin, who works for the opposition run DVB as well as the BBC. "It's
very funny," says Maung Swam Yi, who does not know Dr Aung Khin.
The major player in the country’s state-controlled media is not the PSB,
but the country’s military intelligence (MI), which is run by Sec-1 Gen
Khin Nyunt and advises the PSB on what is permissible and what is deemed
subversive.
Since February of this year the PSB has been told to censor all references
to Thailand, whether they are advertisements or articles. "Now they
ordered us to print anti-Thai articles, which are written by MI-backed Dr
Ma Tin Win," says Maung Swam Yi.
Dr Ma Tin Win’s writings have become synonymous with the government line,
and as a result of her anti-Thai rhetoric, Thai authorities have banned
her from coming to the Kingdom. The Burmese regime, however, awarded her
the National Literature Prize this year, which is given by the Ministry of
Information.
Writers like Dr Ma Tin Win, along with The Myanmar Times, which is owned
by Australian editor Ross Dunkley, are the regime’s latest propaganda
tools, says Maung Swam Yi. "This journal is for foreign investment. They
have the chance to print big news such as the secret talks [between the
junta and opposition] and even interviews with Gen Khin Nyunt."
Despite the same press freedoms not being granted to the Burmese run
journals and magazines, Maung Swam Yi says as a whole the public is not
overly interested in The Myanmar Times. "There are two points: one, it's
very expensive at 500-kyat per copy while our journal is 50-kyat.
Secondly, all of The Myanmar Time's big news has already been broadcasted
from foreign-based radio."
He says the major gap between Burmese media and the rest of the world is
the lack of information technology found inside Burma. "When the seminar
finished, every body exchanged business cards except me. I have no card
with Internet, e-mail, fax or phone numbers."
"It's impossible," says Maung Swam Yi. "Before I came here, I tried to
send a copy of my thesis to the seminar via the government's e-mail
service. But the officials ordered me to first show permission from the
PSB before it could be e-mailed."

DRUGS
Agence France-Presse December 14 2002

Myanmar, Thailand draw up joint plan to fight drugs

Thailand and Myanmar said Saturday they had drawn up a joint plan to fight
drugs as they wrapped up a two-day meeting on anti-narcotics efforts in
this northern Thai city.

"We reviewed our joint operations and cooperation during the year. We also
exchanged views and advice on ways to improve the effort to fight against
drugs," Thailand's Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) secretary
general Kitti Limchaikit told reporters. "We exchanged data, discussed our
strategies as well as drew up a combat plan to combat drugs in the
future," he said, without elaborating on specific future cooperation
measures.

The drugs issue has plagued relations between the two neighbours in the
past, with each accusing the other support of supporting ethnic armies
accused of involvement in drugs trafficking.

In particular the border drugs trade, which Thai and US authorities say is
masterminded by the Yangon-allied United Wa State Army (UWSA), is a
perennial irritant to bilateral relations.

Thai army officials angered Myanmar recently by predicting that a record
one billion methamphetamine pills would be trafficked into Thailand next
year from dozens of drug factories along the border.

Myanmar said Saturday the allegation was untrue and called for greater
international cooperation on curbing the lucrative trade.

"The issue of one billion pills is only speculation and is groundless,"
said Police Major General Khin Yi, Myanmar's national police chief and
secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC).

"This amount of drugs could be made in an area of 10 square-feet. Our
country borders with many countries. They could be produced in border
areas in any country, not only in Myanmar," he said.

"The chemicals required to produce drugs are not in our country, they come
from outside Myanmar. We believe that we need cooperation from our
neighbouring countries to solve this problem and that's why we are here at
this meeting."

James Kelly, the US State Department's top policymaker for East Asia and
the Pacific, acknowledged last month that the junta had cooperated with
the international community on drugs suppression.

However while opium production was down, he warned that methamphetamines
production "has likely increased" -- affecting neighbouring countries such
as Thailand, where addiction has reached crisis point.
______

Myanmar Times December 11 2002

POPPY SUBSTITUTION PROJECT IMPLEMENTED IN KACHIN STATE

Chairman of Kachin State Peace and Development Council and Chairman of
Kachin State Committee for Drug Abuse Control Commander of Northern
Command Brig-Gen Maung Maung Swe, together with the New Destiny Project
Implementation Group NDPIG Deputy Ministers Brig-Gen Khin Maung, Brig-Gen
Thura Myint Maung and U Aung Thein and officials, arrived at Kanpaikti
Village, at the border, on 5 December evening.

They were welcomed there by U Layauk Zaylun of Kachin Special Region-1 and
the national races. A ceremony to present the seeds of poppy-substitute
winter crops was held at the village on 6 December morning, attended by
the commander and party and local people totalling over 150. On the
occasion, Commander Brig-Gen Maung Maung Swe explained measures being
taken for elimination of poppy cultivation and eradication of narcotic
drugs, steps being taken by the State for development of Kachin State, and
called on the local national races to make concerted efforts for
successful implementation of the project. Then, Leader of the New Destiny
Project Implementation Group Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Khin Maung gave
instructions on their trip to Kanpaikti region, a part of implementation
of the New Destiny Project and distribution of the seeds of
poppy-substitute crops and fertilizer to farmers. Next, the deputy
ministers presented 360 viss 1 viss = 1.64 kg of potatoes, 30 viss of
garlic, 500 kilos of seeds of Yazin-3 hybrid maize and 1.94m kyat and
clothes to the national races.

Then, U Layauk Zaylun of Kachin Special Region-1 and a national leader
spoke words of thanks and vowed to give up the poppy cultivation.
Likewise, a ceremony to present poppy-substitute crops was held at the
primary school in Kandawyan Village on 7 December morning, attended by
Leader of NDPIG Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Khin Maung, members deputy
ministers, Deputy Commander Brig-Gen San Tun and local people totalling
over 200. On the occasion, Brig-Gen Khin Maung explained the presentation
of the seeds of poppy-substitute crops, fertilizer and cash and kind
according to the New Destiny Project. Then, the deputy ministers presented
945 viss of potatoes, seven baskets of Sadawpe, five baskets of Santope,
200 kilos of maize and 1.48m kyat. U Hsin Wa Naw of Kachin Special
Region-2 and a national race leader spoke words of thanks and pledged to
quit the poppy cultivation in the region. Then, the deputy ministers
inspected thriving orange plantations on, either side of Myitkyina-Bhamo
motor road while other members of the group inspected Kandawyan diversion
weir and thriving crops.

MONEY

Xinhua News Agency December 15 2002

Myanmar's foreign trade drops in first eight months

Myanmar's foreign trade dropped 12. 47 percent, recording 3,427.2 million
US dollars in the first eight months of 2002 compared with the year-ago
period, said the latest data of the Central Statistical Organization.

Of the total, imports amounted to 1,414.88 million dollars, down 33.3
percent, while exports were valued at 2,012.32 million dollars, up 12.18
percent. The country stood a favorable balance of foreign trade during the
eight-month period of 2002 with 597.44 million dollars.

Meanwhile, during the period, the import value of consumer goods,
intermediate goods and capital goods respectively accounted for 42 
percent, 33.21 percent and 24.79 percent of the total imports.

During the period also, Myanmar's private sector took up 1,237. 56 million
dollars or 87.46 percent of the total import value, while it made up
1,063.77 million dollars or 52.86 percent of the total export value.

The statistics also show that Myanmar's income from customs duties
decreased by 15.41 percent over the period, earning 536.55 million dollars
compared with the same period of last year.

The import customs duties, obtained mainly through normal trade, took up
526.43 million dollars or 98.1 percent of the total with the rest fetched
through border trade.
_____

Asia Pulse December 16 2002

ADB APPROVES US$35 MLN FOR TOURISM IN MEKONG BASIN COUNTRIES

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Dec. 12 approved a loans package
totaling US$35 million for a project on tourism development in three lower
Mekong River basin countries, according to the ADB.

The three countries are Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. "Tourism is one of the
key sectors that the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries sharing
the Mekong River have pledged to promote as part of their regional
economic cooperation programme. Under the GMS Cooperation programme,
Vietnam's attractions will be promoted through subregional joint tourism
initiatives," John Samy, ADB Country Director for Vietnam said.

The GMS also includes China, Myanmar, and Thailand.

The GMS Tourism Development Project, financed by the package, comprising a
US$15.6 million loan for Cambodia, a US$10.9 million loan for Laos, and a
US $8.5 million loan for Vietnam, the ADB said.

ADB's assistance will account for 74 per cent of the total project cost of
US$47.1 million, with the balance to be borne by the three governments.

The project will improve tourism-related infrastructure, support pro-poor
community-based tourism projects in rural areas, facilitate private sector
participation in tourism marketing and promotion, and ease the movement of
tourists across borders.

It will also establish mechanisms to increase subregional cooperation.

The project aims to ensure the poor benefit from increased tourism,
current tourism activities are effectively managed, cultural traditions
and natural habitats preserved, and environmental degradation mitigated.

The loans are repayable over 32 years, including an 8-year grace period.

REGIONAL

Agence France-Presse December 15 2002

Bangladesh set to welcome Myanmar leader on maiden visit

Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe is to make his first visit to
neighbouring Bangladesh this week, officials said Sunday.

Than Shwe, Myanmar's military commander-in-chief, prime minister and
defence minister, was to arrive here Tuesday on a two-day official visit.
"The landmark visit of the chairman and other senior leaders of the State
Peace and Development Council... to Bangladesh will provide impetus to
further strengthening relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar," a foreign
ministry official said.

Than Shwe is the first Myanmar leader to visit Bangladesh since Dhaka won
independence from Pakistan in 1971. Myanmar, formerly Burma, was among the
first countries to recognise the new state.

Than Shwe is to meet Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to discuss bilateral ties,
"particularly in the areas of trade, economic cooperation and road linkage
between the two countries," the official said.

He will also meet President Iajuddin Ahmed.

Than Shwe was due to visit last year, but the trip was postponed after he
fell ill.

Relations between the neighbours were strained in the early 1990s when
around 250,000 Rohingya Muslims flooded into Bangladesh from Myanmar,
claiming atrocities by the junta against them.

Ties have improved since then, with the repatriation of most of the
refugees under a United Nations agreement, but more than 20,000 still live
in camps in Bangladesh.
_____

Xinhua News Agency December 15 2002

Myanmar-India-Thailand highway network field survey to start

A field survey of a highway network linking Myanmar, India and Thailand
will start next February, according to a decision of a trilateral meeting
here of the three countries, the Myanmar Times reported Sunday.

The meeting also agreed to add another transport link, involving a
shipping route from southern India to Myanmar's deep sea port at Dawei in
southern Tanintharyi division and a highway from Dawei to Kanchanaburi in
Thailand. At the first meeting of the three-nation highway network here in
April, foreign ministers of Myanmar, India and Thailand decided to promote
economic and trade cooperation, personnel exchange and cultural exchange
among the three countries. They planned to build a highway linking India's
Moreh and Thailand's southwestern border town of Maesot through central
Myanmar's Bagan city and southeastern border town of Myawaddy in Kayin
state.

The highway, which links the three countries, will have two lanes with
most of its sections now being one lane and the other to be added. Some
parts of the existing ones, which are narrow, will be widened to seven
meters.

The funds needed for building the highway, which is set to be completed in
two years, would be provided by the governments of India and Thailand. In
addition, the three countries will also seek loans from the Asian
Development Bank, World Bank and Japan Bank.
______

Irrawaddy December 16 2002

Hundreds Fired in Mae Sot
By Aung Su Shin/Mae Sot

Some 600 hundred Burmese garment workers in Mae Sot were fired on Saturday
after demanding that 40 employees be reinstated who had been terminated
for requesting overdue wages as well as a raise, according to the fired
workers. The workers said that they were also protesting the amount of
monthly leave granted to them by the factory’s owner, Yan How.
But Mr Yan, who is from Taiwan and owner of Rian Thong Apparel, said that
he dismissed the workers after they took more than the allotted half-day
off per month.
A half-day off each month does not give the workers sufficient time to buy
monthly rations or to remit money back to Burma, says Kyaw Zay Ya, 26, who
was released over the weekend.
"They started to pay salaries at 5.00 PM and finished at midnight," says
Kyaw Zay Ya. "The next day we got up late and the rest of the time was not
sufficient for us." He says they have no choice but to take the bullying
from the factory owners because they have no jobs to return to in Burma.
Workers complained that Mr Yan was taking 3 percent of their wages each
month for unknown reasons and that he never paid overtime or set a
piecemeal rate for knitters.
The fired workers also levied more abusive charges against Mr Yan and his
son.
"When we went to buy curry at night, the owner’s son’s dog chased us,"
says Ko Ko, 30. "The owner’s son got angry when we threatened the dog so
that it wouldn’t bite us. When we came back, he made his dog bite us and
then cut half of our salary."
On Saturday, Mr Yan’s son paid the workers a ten-day deposit as well as
back wages in front of local police, who had been called to maintain
security at the factory. But workers said they were not given their work
permits despite paying for them. Labor analysts, however, note that Thai
labor law only allows the permits to be applicable to one factory and that
new permits are no longer being granted by the Thai government.
Some workers said they would like to sue Mr Yan, but without work permits
they did not think that was possible. Others said they were going to
return to Burma and look for work despite the low wages.
"We can earn enough for food in Burma, but the income is not enough for
clothes, medicine or anything else," said one worker.

STATEMENTS/OTHER

Bangkok Post December 16 2002

INFAMOUS TRIANGLE IS STILL TAINTED

Promises to clean up the Golden Triangle litter the pages of recent
history. The region where the borders of Thailand join Burma and Laos is
one of the world's most notorious drug trafficking regions. In recent
years, especially since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra assumed office,
serious commitments to clean up the region have increased. So far they
have come to nothing.

In the past year, the opium crop has increased and methamphetamine
smuggling has flourished. Glowing United Nations estimates of diminishing
poppy fields and a heroin drought were wildly wrong. The Thai army,
closest agency to the scene, estimates the flow of speed tablets in 2003
to increase by some 20%, to a billion tablets _ 2.7 million pills per day.
In the past week, the governments of Burma, Laos and Thailand have all
promised to attack drug trafficking with more vigour and up-to-date
tactics. Promises are no longer acceptable. Concerned citizens will judge
the performance. The Burmese performance must remain the top concern. The
junta has recently talked a good game. It is committed to cutting opium
production in half within a year. It has conducted diplomats and reporters
on dog-and-pony tours of northern Burma to show off drug seizures and
burnings. Government mouthpieces have produced alleged Wa leaders to deny
publicly they would ever produce or smuggle drugs.

The generals control information inside Burma but not elsewhere, and the
facts are indisputable. A drought in northern Burma ended this year and
the opium crop is up. UN figures after the current harvest will be
telling. At the same time, Burma refuses to take any action against the
known, wanted drug smugglers in its country, including the United Wa State
Army leader Wei Hsueh-kang. Wei and his group appear to have full rein to
produce and traffic methamphetamines and heroin. This has raised
inevitable rumours that the generals acquiesce in drug trafficking _ and
perhaps directly profit by it.

More and more Burmese are victims of the drug trade. But Thailand is the
chief consumer of Burmese drugs, which more often are shipped through
Laos. The government came to office promising an effective drug policy and
failed. Now, on advice from His Majesty the King, Deputy Prime Minister
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh will try again. He promises another top-down drug
agency.

At first appearance, the promise is once again large; the likely
performance gloomy. There is no commitment to identify and neutralise the
Mr Bigs'' who control drug trafficking in Thailand. On the demand side,
Gen Chavalit and high-ranking officials pay lip service to reviving drug
efforts down to the district level. Instead of delegating power and
resources, the new command centre will work longer hours to tell local
people what to do. To avoid angering Burma, the army's drug force has been
moved to office jobs. This will help to ensure fewer drugs are seized at
our border.

The continual increase in methamphetamine trafficking is worrying. The
renewal of the heroin trade is at least as serious. The failure of the UN
Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention to predict either trend is
disappointing. One must wonder if last year's mistaken UN claim of a 2002
heroin drought actually hurt the drug effort with its optimistic tone. In
the past year, poppy growers, Wa heroin producers and Chinese smuggling
gangs have gained influence.

The region now is predicting a future of tourism, trade and general
economic prosperity in the Golden Triangle and the wider Mekong basin
region. This cannot happen as long as drugs flourish. The latest
government promises to fight drugs will be judged quickly by the country
by results.
____

Inter Press Service December 12 2002

RIGHTS: BURMESE MIGRANTS IMPRESSED BY THAI POLITICAL FREEDOM
By Zarny Win*

Many Burmese toil in less than ideal jobs in this south-western Thai
province, but take heart from the higher pay they get here compared to
back home - and the freer political atmosphere they dream of seeing there
one day.

Although many Burmese migrant workers are exploited because of their
illegal status, they appear to be able to look beyond their present
difficulties - and hold visions of freedom and prosperity for the country
they have left behind.

"Prices will go down when our country gets democracy," says a 25-year old
Burmese migrant worker in Ranong, opposite Kawthaung town in Burma. "Like
Thailand, there won't be taxes such as the porter fees we have to pay (the
military) so that we don't have to (be forced to) work for them." A
21-year-old Burmese waitress in Ranong gladly shares her vision of a free
Burma: "The economy will be booming, even for those of us at the bottom.
Now only business people make enough money. I guess that democracy can
bring a pleasant life to those who try hard enough." Optimistic remarks
like these are common among the estimated one million Burmese migrant
workers in Thailand - some say the number is bigger -- who grew up under
military rule in place there for four decades and five decades of civil
war.

These laborers' exposure to life in Thailand - while working in garment
factories, construction sites, restaurants and small shops that dot Ranong
- has allowed them to nurture hopes that a better life and economy would
flow across the border as well when Burma goes down the road to democracy.

Talks with Burmese migrant workers in Ranong, other border towns and in
the Thai capital Bangkok, show how they have seen, first hand, Thailand's
democracy and market economy work.

Here, workers also have access to news outlets and opinions that are
unavailable inside their tightly controlled state. A former student at
Rangoon University, who dropped out in order to work outside Burma in
hopes of remitting money back to his family, is upbeat about the potential
bonuses that a transition to democracy would bring.

"There will be good education and more educated people as we get more
freedom in our system," says the 25-year old salesperson.

To some Burmese migrants in fact, freedom and human rights are no longer
just buzzwords but are part of their daily struggles. Some factory workers
in Mae Sot in the western Thai province of Tak, opposite Myawaddy town in
Burma, are already standing up for their rights -- albeit often at the
expense of their jobs -- by demanding better working conditions and wage
hikes.

In some cases, factory owners have acceded to their demands, something
unheard of in Burma.

"Going on strike is our right," declares a young Burmese worker in Mae
Sot. "I hope that we will also get that right in our country when we
become a democracy."

That remains some time away. Many hoped that the release in May of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 19 months of house arrest would be
the start of the military junta's genuine dialogue with the opposition.
But there is little sign of new movement so far.

Meanwhile, Burma's military government continues on a media blitz that
attempts to portray working abroad as both dangerous and unpatriotic. Says
a pre-school teacher in Ranong: "The Burmese intelligence people I know
dislike Burmese people staying in Thailand. They think that refugees,
migrant workers and even the children in my school hurt the dignity of our
country. They get angry whenever the media mentions that these people are
staying here."

"We have heard speeches in our townships," explains a Burmese woman here,
referring to local officials' speeches condemning migration to Thailand.
"The authorities do not want us to come here, they tell us that we can get
AIDS if we work here."

But many have followed the call of economics and come to Thailand, already
a hub for Burmese here to find work, displaced because of conflict or are
political dissidents.

While Burmese workers are common in Thai border towns, most of them are
illegal and provide cheap labor, taking on the so-called '3-D' jobs --
dirty, dangerous and difficult - that locals shun. "Burmese workers are
very cheap," adds a Burmese journalist living in exile in Thailand.

He says a Burmese laborer in Bangkok is lucky to receive 100 baht ($ 2.30)
a day, but a worker near the border with Burma gets only a daily wage of
45 baht (one dollar). In contrast, a Thai laborer gets up to 170 baht
(nearly four U.S. dollars) a day.

Burmese workers often also live in uncertainty about their plight. When
the Thai government allowed foreign migrant workers to apply for work
permits last year, more than 450,000 Burmese workers registered.

But only those who registered last year can re-apply for a permit this
year. Even if they registered last year, many are unable to afford
renewal, or find themselves being asked by some unscrupulous employers to
pay fees beyond the renewal amount of 76 dollars.

Still, despite all the difficulties here, hundreds of migrant workers
cross over from Burma into this country everyday.

"I am 80 percent sure that everything will be better," a 30- year-old
worker in Mahachai, in Samut Sakhon province, south of the Thai capital,
says of Burma's future.

He has no illusions that change will come soon, but wishes he were not so
preoccupied with his own survival so he could take part in efforts to
bring about reforms at home.

Not all workers, however, are eager to go home should a political
settlement come about that would allow for their homecoming. The years of
strife have caused some to reluctantly call Thailand home.

As one worker in his twenties confesses: "I guess that Suu Kyi will ask
all of us to go back home. But I will not go back, I am going to stay in
Thailand and continue my work."