BurmaNet News: April 10 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

April 10 2003 Issue #2213

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Senior General Than Shwe, sole helmsman of Myanmar
Irrawaddy: National Center for Disease Control Says no SARS Cases in Burma
Australian: Poor drink from hope's wellspring

MONEY
Xinhua: Foreign investment in Myanmar declines in 2002
Xinhua: Industrial exhibition ends in Myanmar
Guardian: PR weaponry, City Diary

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Seized Teak Timber to be Sold
AFP: Cambodia going the way of "narco-state" Myanmar: opposition leader
Xinhua: ASEAN agrees to further eliminate non-tariff trade barriers

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Reform drive in Myanmar has "ground to a halt": US

STATEMENTS
U.S. Senator Max Burns Calls for Release of Political Prisoner


INSIDE BURMA

Agence France Presse   April 10 2003
Senior General Than Shwe, sole helmsman of Myanmar
By Pascale Trouillaud

YANGON: Behind the glacial politics and economic shambles of Myanmar is
just one man, Yangon-based diplomats and experts believe: Senior General
Than Shwe, the junta's number one.

The country is officially ruled by a triumvirate, with Than Shwe, as
chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), at the peak.

Deputy Senior General Maung Aye, vice chairman of the SPDC and vice
commander of the armed forces is number two, and General Khin Nyunt, first
secretary of the SPDC and chief of military intelligence, takes third
place.

But in the opaque world of Myanmar politics, analysts detect evidence that
Than Shwe is the man who makes the ultimate decisions.

Recent reports suggested that Than Shwe was poised to retire because of
his age -- he turns 70 this year -- and his health problems.

"Than Shwe has everything in hand," according to one analyst, who said the
junta's unwillingness to open a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi unquestionably bore his mark.

Other experts blame him for Myanmar's disastrous policy of economic
self-sufficiency, its restricted diplomatic efforts -- which only cover
its Asian neighbours, especially China -- and even the amazing whitewash
of the heritage of Ne Win, who died in December.

The dictator, to whom Than Shwe owes his rise, had been humiliated by
being kept under virtual house arrest while his son-in-law and three
grandsons stagnated in prison after being condemned for attempting a coup
against the regime.

While Khin Nyunt interacts with foreign visitors and his activities are
covered constantly by Myanmar's tightly-controlled media, the
uncharismatic Than Shwe tends to stay out of the spotlight.

Such has been his practice in his 11 years as boss. He emerges only for
official occasions such as Armed Forces Day in March, during which he
makes short, dull speeches warning of the risks of "chaos and instability"
and "interior and external enemies", reflecting his obsession with
security.

"When (US President) George Bush choked on a pretzel, the whole world
knew. With Than Shwe, people do not even know how many children he has,"
one businessman said but added that his reclusiveness should not be
misinterpreted.

"We know that Than Shwe is the only one that counts," the businessman said.

A Western diplomat said Than Shwe was "a one-man show" and "the chief of
the nation".

"He is image-moulding with his visits abroad, really consolidating his
image as supreme leader... He keeps himself inaccessible in a royal way,"
the diplomat said.

Ambassadors rarely meet Than Shwe, except to present their credentials.

Irrawaddy, a magazine of exiled Myanmar dissidents, had on the cover of
its last issue a drawing of the general installed on a throne, entitled:
"The Reign of Than Shwe".

"Over the last three years, Than Shwe has been gradually and quietly
consolidating his power, despite reports that he was ill and would soon
retire," said Irrawaddy, published from the northern Thai city of Chiang
Mai.

The general is the head of state and holds the two highest posts: prime
minister in his capacity as chairman of the SPDC and commander-in-chief of
the Tatmadaw, or military, one of the largest forces in Asia. He is also
the minister of defence.

Experts say Than Shwe is "the big obstacle" to any opening of a dialogue
with Aung San Suu Kyi, although he did release the Nobel peace laureate
from house arrest in May last year.

"Than Shwe might have understood she is more popular than him after her
release," said one high-ranking diplomat, pointing to the thousands of
people who have flocked to see the leader on her seven trips outside the
capital.

Than Shwe, people say, hates Aung San Suu Kyi.

"She is the only person who could steal power away from him," the western
diplomat said.

In economics too the general pursues unenlightened policies, exiles say.

Irrawaddy reported that he has sidelined advisors advocating the opening
of the country's economy.

"Than Shwe likes what he hears: namely false statistics and inflated,
unrealistic growth projections," the magazine wrote.

Many believe that the general dislikes hearing bad news and cannot grasp
the gravity of the current banking crisis, which has dangerously squeezed
Myanmar's money supply.

"The suspicion is that the top military leaders know very well about the
issue," says a western businessman. "But they are reluctant to pass (the
information) on to the senior general because he doesn't like to receive
bad news."
____________

The Irrawaddy   April 10 2003
National Center for Disease Control Says no SARS Cases in Burma
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

With the death toll from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) mounting
worldwide, Burmese health officials offered further assurance that there
are no cases in the country.

"To date, there are no Burmese patients suffering from SARS, and no one is
carrying SARS into our country from abroad," the Director of Burma’s
Department of Disease Control, Dr Soe Aung, told The Irrawaddy yesterday.
"To prevent the disease, we announced a national alert on March 19 and
started an anti-SARS operation, which included organizing a special
physicians unit dedicated to preventing any outbreaks."

Health department officials are still concerned that SARS cases could
surface in Burma since it is spreading in neighboring countries. Dr Soe
Aung believes SARS would have to enter Burma via the Mingaladon or
Mandalay international airports. Medical teams have been deployed in both
locations to check passengers from abroad for the virus. "We keep an
especially close eye on flights from China and Singapore," remarked the
doctor.

Dr Soe Aung also said that the Burmese language state-run newspapers have
educated the public about the medical risks by running articles about
SARS, along with notices on how to protect against the disease. Residents
in Rangoon confirmed that the newspapers included SARS-related items on a
daily basis. They added that government-run Myanmar Radio and Television
has televised roundtable discussions on SARS, featuring notable
physicians.

Although aware of the disease, the Burmese are reportedly unfazed. "They
don’t seem worried like the citizens in neighboring countries, because
they neither see nor hear of anyone suffering or dying from the disease in
Burma," said a doctor from a private clinic in Rangoon. "Though most
people wear masks to protect against the virus in neighboring countries,
Burmese people still don’t use them," he added.

People in the capital have reported seeing masks for sale at drug stores
but a Rangoon resident said that he has seen only one person wearing a
mask thus far.

Some residents of the capital are questioning the veracity of government
statements related to SARS due to word of mouth reports of Burmese cases.
"We don’t know for certain whether anybody is infected with the disease,
but I have not seen any patients with SARS as of yet," said a physician in
private practice in Rangoon. "There are rumors that some people in Rangoon
are infected, but nobody can confirm them."

Skeptics wonder if the military government would be forthcoming if any
outbreaks did occur in Burma. In the past, bad news related to health has
been covered up and some fear a lack of honesty about SARS could have
disastrous affects.

SARS has killed more than 100 people and infected nearly 2,800 worldwide
since its discovery in mid February.
____________

The Australian   April 10 2003
Poor drink from hope's wellspring
By Kimina Lyall, * Southeast Asia correspondent in Sinbyugyun, Burma

Wherever Burma got its reputation as a tropical country, it was not here.
At this time of year Sinbyugyun, just west of the country's centre, is as
hot, dry and dusty as an Australian hamlet in drought.

Last week, on an otherwise typical sweltering summer's day, hundreds of
sand-poor local farmers here left their fields and crowded Sinbyugyun's
main dirt road, sitting on their haunches holding little more than a fan
and some leaves and flowers of offering.

For their first time in their lives, they were waiting for a glimpse of
the woman they hope can quench their long desire for democracy -- Aung San
Suu Kyi.

On her seventh journey across the country since she was released from
house arrest almost a year ago, the Nobel peace laureate passed through
here, about 600km north of Rangoon, on her way to remote Chin state, in
Burma's far northwest.

I stumbled across the scene in this nondescript village ballooning with
dust and excitement, becoming the first foreign journalist to witness,
albeit unofficially, Suu Kyi's rallying cries in her native countryside.

It was hard to tell what delighted the villagers more: Suu Kyi's imminent
arrival or the presence of a foreign witness to their plight. "Please tell
your Prime Minister," said one man. Tell him what? He held open his hands.
"Tell him."

Here, the locals had little more than nothing. The sandy soil from their
seasonally dry riverbeds sustains them only in part, with crops of cotton,
nuts and sunflowers. What they sow, their Government reaps.

One man said he needed 3000 kyat ($5.85) a month to educate each of his
five children. That's one basket of his produce at local market rates. But
he is not allowed to take his beans to the market, and is instead forced
to sell to government officials, who give him 300 kyat per basket. "It is
no good," he shrugged. "If I do not sell it to them, they will take my
land."

By the time she finally arrived, the National League for Democracy leader
was almost crushed by the crowd's pressing euphoria.

The flowers of offering had browned in the sun and the few locals lucky to
be present for a short audience with her were suddenly stone-silent with
awe. They found their voices again when she took to a balcony to speak,
competing for airspace with loudspeakers set up by the local authorities
belting out songs urging the people to repel "enemies".

"If you want to be free of this kind of harassment, you have to fight for
democracy," she yelled at the cheering crowd of perhaps 1000 people, about
half the town's population.

The NLD plans these trips in secret, announcing them quietly the day she
leaves Rangoon. Locals learn about the itinerary from Radio Free Asia --
the official Burmese media never mentions Suu Kyi by name -- and word of
mouth.

We learned it their way, driving through Burma's countryside noticing
dozens of people sitting in the hot sun, proudly displaying their pale
rust-coloured NLD shirts and peacock badges. When we stopped to ask what
they were waiting for they said: "Her."

In Sinbyugyun, one woman said the crowd gathered at 7am for what turned
out to be a 20-minute midday visit. They knew to wait, she said, because
"the village chief told us not to. He said, 'you are not allowed to go out
to see Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow'."


It is quiet rebellions like this that Burma's generals cannot extinguish.
Since her release from house arrest last year, Suu Kyi has visited all but
the country's far north and far south, but there are no signs of democracy
talks promised by the junta.

Little sign either of political freedom for any of Burma's 48 million
people, or foreign visitors for that matter. In Sinbyugyun, after Suu Kyi
had left, we were grilled about our presence by a plainclothes
"immigration officer" who spoke only a little English.

"Did you talk to her?" he demanded. "What did she say?"

Actually, Suu Kyi's few words in English were one of the rare signs of
optimism in this hope-starved nation. "There will be change," she said.
"Because the people want it."


MONEY

Xinhua News Agency   April 10 2003
Foreign investment in Myanmar declines in 2002

Foreign investment in Myanmar declined by 16.5 percent in 2002, recording
49.2 million US dollars compared with 2001, said the latest data of the
Central Statistical Organization.

These contracted investments were absorbed in the sectors of oil and gas
(44 million), mining (3.38 million) and manufacturing (1.82 million), of
which the 44 million was injected by investors from Malaysia, while the
3.38 million by that from Switzerland and the 1.82 million by those from
China's Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea.

The Malaysian investment constituted the year's single investment coming
from  countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
which used to be Myanmar's largest foreign investors.

Over 2001, there were 10 countries and regions investing in the country
including four ASEAN members --Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia
--and the investment sectors cover manufacturing, construction, hotels and
tourism, and mining.

According to official statistics, since opening up to the outside world in
late 1988, Myanmar had drawn 7,447.38 million dollars of contracted
foreign investment as of the end of 2002, of which ASEAN took up 3,844
million or 51.6 percent.

Out of 26 countries and regions investing in Myanmar, major investors were
lined up as Singapore (1,507 million), the United Kingdom (1,401 million),
Thailand (1,289 million) and Malaysia ( 639.5 million), taking up 20.24
percent, 18.82 percent, 17.31 percent and 8.59 percent of the total
foreign investment respectively.

Meanwhile, since March 2002, Myanmar government has introduced a new
measure which restricted foreign investment by stopping issue of import
and export permits to Myanmar-based wholly-owned foreign trading
companies.
____________

Xinhua News Agency   April 10 2003
Industrial exhibition ends in Myanmar

YANGON: The Myanmar Industrial Exhibition 2003 ended in the second largest
city of Mandalay in northern part of the country on Wednesday with sales
of industrial products amounting to 1.54 million US dollars, according to
the exhibition sources.

In the 22-day exhibition which began on March 19, about 1,800 items of
domestic products were displayed including foodstuff, consumer goods and
industrial products.

Myanmar has been working for the systematic advancement of its industrial
sector by harmoniously developing the state, private and cooperative
sectors.

Since 1996, the country has established 18 industrial zones in nine states
and divisions for the development of the private sector where a total of
4,496 factories and plants have gone into production, producing
agricultural machinery, import-substitutes, consumer goods and foodstuff.

As its industry is under-developed, Myanmar still has to import great deal
of capital goods, intermediate goods and consumer goods annually.

To promote its industrial development and gradually transform an
agricultural country into an agro-based industrial one, Myanmar formed the
Industrial Development Central Committee in May 1999 and worked out a
30-year plan for the development from 2001 to 2031.

According to official statistics, there has been a total of more than
57,000 industrial enterprises in Myanmar, up 15,000 from 1988. Of them,
about 1,600 are state-owned, over 50,000 are private-operated and the rest
go to the cooperatives.

The Guardian   April 9, 2003
PR weaponry

The decision to invite British American Tobacco to speak at a conference
next week on corporate social responsibility suggests the ideals that
surrounded the issue are truly going up in smoke.

Why would anyone want to learn from BAT's "social accountability manager",
David O'Reilly, about the human face of the tobacco giant when it supports
one of the world's most vile military dictatorships with a factory in
Burma?

Why would anyone want a lecture on social responsibility from a company
that is regularly accused of not doing enough to stamp out smuggling and
specialises in products that kill thousands each year?

"It is like inviting the BNP to speak at an anti-racist conference because
they say they aren't racist," says John Jack son, the director of the
Burma Campaign. "Companies genuinely committed to CSR are having their
work undermined by companies like BAT which use it as a PR tool to deflect
criticism," he adds.

Its hard to disagree - but then it has become increasingly difficult to
separate the goodies from the baddies because it is the dirtiest
businesses that are putting most energy into CSR.

City diary
Richard Adams
Wednesday April 9, 2003
The Guardian

Ethical Corporation magazine - always an exciting read, especially for its
"agony aunt" column - is holding a conference on corporate social
responsibility in London tomorrow. Rather than pack the meeting with
speakers from groovy Body Shop types, the organisers invited British
American Tobacco to address it - although presumably not on "Why our
partnership with the blood-stained tyrants of Burma is highly ethical".


REGIONAL

Bangkok Post   April 10 2003
Seized Teak Timber to be Sold
By Kultida Samabuddhi

About 2,000 teak timber impounded after the 1997 illegal logging scandal
will be hauled out of Salween national park and sold to logging operators,
Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said yesterday.

He would visit the national park in Mae Sariang district, Tak province, on
Monday to inspect the confiscated logs and a storage site.

Local environmentalists, however, strongly oppose the idea, saying that it
would lead to new illegal logging activity which has subsided as a result
of a heavy suppression campaign following the Salween scandal. Mr Newin
said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra asked him on Tuesday to check the
amount of high-grade teak logs confiscated from illegal loggers in Tak
province, and consider how to make a profit from them.

The logs have been left in the forest. I will ask the Forestry Department
and Forest Industry Organisation to collect them. However, the logs will
not be sold unless we are offered a very good price,'' said Mr Newin.

The seized timbers were likely to yield a sizeable amount of revenue for
the government.

Preecha Rattanaporn, chief of the wildlife sanctuary division, said the
2,000 logs were in the custody of the Tak provincial forestry office.

However, the timber could not be sold because the police were still
investigating the case, he said.

In 1997, logging operators illegally felled trees in Salween national
park, hauled them into Burma and imported them back as Burmese logs to
conceal their origins.

The discovery and subsequent investigation led to the transfer of several
forestry officials to inactive posts. Some faced legal action for
colluding with logging operators to plunder Salween forest.

The logs are kept in several storage sites in the national park and
Salween Wildlife Sanctuaries in Tak and Mae Hong Son province.

The biggest pile of 13,000 teak timber is in Tak's Ban Tak district.

Panithi Tangpathi, chairman of Tak Chamber of Commerce, also a member a
local conservation group, said the plan to haul the timber out and sell it
would lead to serious illegal logging in Salween forest. Illegal loggers
and state officials could conspire to fell more trees in protected forest.
____________

Agence France Presse   April 10 2003
Cambodia going the way of "narco-state" Myanmar: opposition leader

WASHINGTON: Cambodia is consumed by corruption and plagued by lawlessness
and could soon duplicate Myanmar's role as a "recalcitrant narco-state,"
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy warned Wednesday.

Rainsy also told an audience at a Washington think-tank that Hun Sen's
government was guilty of serious intimidation of voters and electoral
fraud, ahead of general elections in July. "Five more years of lawlessness
under Hun Sen will make Cambodia into a prime staging ground for the
terrorists of the age," Rainsy said at the American Enterprise Institute.

"Burma also provides a preview of the direction that Cambodia is headed,"
he said, referring to Myanmar's former name which is preferred by
opposition politicians there.

"Lacking a mechanism for political change, Burma remains under the thumb
of a corrupt military junta and poses a constant threat to its own people
and to the larger world through its opium trade.

"Without change, Cambodia is not far off from ressembling this
recalcitrant narco-state."

Rainsy warned that the chances of opposition candidates in Cambodian
elections due in July were already doomed.

"By controlling the political and electoral playing field, using state
power and resources, Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party wins elections
before the final vote is cast," Rainsy said.

"A free and fair election in 2003 is not attainable at this moment in time."

The United States has raised repeated concerns about what it says is
politically motivated violence in Cambodia, and harrassment of candidates
from the Sam Rainsy Party and other groups.

Rainsy met several senior State Department policymakers during his trip to
Washington, including informal encouters with Assistant Secretary of State
for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and his counterpart in the
department's bureau of human rights, democracy and labor, Lorne Craner.
____________

Xinhua News Agency   April 10 2003
ASEAN agrees to further eliminate non-tariff trade barriers

JAKARTA: Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) have agreed to gradually eliminate non-tariff trade barriers as
part of the effort to boost regional trade, a senior official of the
Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Trade has said.

The agreement was reached during the ASEAN Economy Ministers Meeting in
Laos last week.

"All of the trade ministers have agreed to remove non-tariff barriers
before the year 2005," Pos Hutabarat, director general for industry and
international cooperation of the trade ministry, was quoted by The Jakarta
Post as saying Thursday.

"The ministers have promised to identify the non-tariff barriers in their
respective countries and register them with the ASEAN secretary," he said.

Pos said non-tariff barriers continued to hamper efforts to boost regional
trade, although the grouping began the process of implementing the ASEAN
Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1993.

The full implementation of AFTA was completed in January this year, with
import tariffs on almost all products traded in the region slashed to
between zero and 5 percent.

ASEAN members, however, still impose non-tariff barriers to protect local
producers against an influx of imported products.

These non-tariff barriers include import licensing and quota systems for
certain products.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has a combined market of
more than 500 million people.

Pos said removing non-tariff barriers was also aimed at boosting ASEAN's
competitiveness ahead of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Union in
2010.

Under the program, ASEAN countries must further slash import tariffs on
several products to zero.

ASEAN countries have established a high-level task force to help find ways
to boost competitiveness in the region.

The task force members will meet in Kuala Lumpur next month.

"Aside from the problem of non-tariff barriers, the task force will also
discuss various issues ahead of the ASEAN Summit in Bali in October," Pos
said.

One of the main items on the agenda for the ASEAN Summit is to appoint
President Megawati Soekarnoputri as ASEAN chairwoman for the period of
October 2003 to October 2004.


INTERNATIONAL

Agence France Presse   April 10 2003
Reform drive in Myanmar has "ground to a halt": US

WASHINGTON: A UN-brokered bid to promote political dialogue between
Myanmar's military rulers and Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic opposition has
"ground to a halt," the United States said in a report published Thursday.

The State Department assessment, passed to Congress every six months,
renewed US concern over Myanmar's human rights record, its treatment of
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), its anti-drugs program
and economic crisis.

Washington and the European Union are considering whether to impose
further sanctions on the regime, in the event the situation does not
improve, the report adds.

"Efforts to foster peaceful democratic change in Burma essentially ground
to a halt over the past six months," the Conditions in Burma report said.

"While there have been some positive developments, the regime has become
more confrontational in its exchanges with the NLD, led by Aung San Suu
Kyi, and has offered few signs of progress towards their stated commitment
to a political transition to democracy."

Nevertheless, the report did note that the opposition had been able to
start the task of rebuilding its network, having reopened a quarter of its
offices around the country.

It also noted that Aung San Suu Kyi, who enjoys firm US support, had been
able to visit Shan and Rakhine states to greet supporters.

But the report also bemoaned the fact that 1,300 political prisoners
remained behind bars, and that the junta's promised prisoner releases had
stopped as of late November.

The United States, Britain and other western states refer to Myanmar as
Burma, a term outlawed by the junta, but preferred by the opposition.


STATEMENTS

Burns Calls for Release of Political Prisoner   April 9, 2003
***Dr. Salai Tun Than, UGA graduate***

(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Representative Max Burns (R-GA) spoke on the
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives today calling for the immediate
release of Dr. Salai Tun Than, a graduate of the University of Georgia in
Athens, who is being held as a political prisoner by the Burmese
government.

Dr. Tun Than's imprisonment was brought to Rep. Burns' attention by
students at the University of Georgia's chapter of Amnesty International
and the Student Government Association.

Representative Burns made the following statement from the floor:

"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on a matter of great importance to my
constituents in Athens, Georgia - the unlawful imprisonment of Dr. Salai
Tun Than.  Dr. Tun Than, a graduate of the University of Georgia, is being
held as a political prisoner by the Burmese government for making a
pro-democracy speech.  He is 74 years old, in poor health, and may not
live through the ordeal of imprisonment.

"The Burmese government is a military dictatorship, and it does not
respect the individual freedoms that we as Americans hold so dear,"
Matthew Daley, the State Department chief for the Bureau of East Asia and
the Pacific, testified on Burma before the House International Relations
Committee last month.  He said, 'The military dictatorship in Burma
severely abuses the human rights of its citizens.  There is no real
freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, or travel.  Patterns of
abuse are even worse in ethnic minority areas.'

"Mr. Speaker, the situation in Burma is unacceptable.  We must work to
stop this regime from imprisoning political dissidents, and work toward a
freer nation for all Burmese citizens.  I call on the Burmese government
for the immediate release of Dr. Tun Than."

Off the House floor Burns added, "My office will continue to monitor Dr.
Tun Than's situation.  I appreciate the efforts of the students at UGA who
have worked so hard to bring attention to Dr. Tun Than's imprisonment."