BurmaNet News: May 3-5 2003 Repost

[editor at burmanet.org]

May 5 2003 Issue #2229

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy: Dr Salai Tun Than and Others Released
AP: Free Myanmar political prisoner still calling for elections
AP: A year after democracy leader Suu Kyi's release, Myanmar remains
deadlocked
DVB: Japanese official met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
DVB: CRPP held meeting

MONEY

Bangkok Post: Thailand to Unveil Hub Aim at Summit
Mizzima News: Banking crisis in Burma and NE India takes toll

REGIONAL

Xinhua: Myanmar top leader begins visit to Laos
Bangkok Post: Talks This Month on Labour Repatriation
Nation: 29 alien sex workers arrested in police raid
AP: Indian, US special forces complete joint jungle warfare exercises in
India's remote northeast
AFP: Too many East Asian states fail their children, UN report says

EDITORIAL

WSJ: Deadlock in Burm

OBITUARY

NYT: Michael Jendrzejczyk, 53, Advocate for Asians, Dies
WP: A Quiet Champion (Editorial)


INSIDE BURMA

The Irrawaddy   May 5 2003

Dr Salai Tun Than and Others Released
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma’s military government released 18 political prisoners yesterday, two
days before the one-year anniversary of opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi
release from house arrest. Dr Salai Tun Than, a prominent retired
professor, was among those freed.

"Health and humanitarian concerns" governed the choice of who to set free,
according to a statement released by the regime. "The releases are the
latest in a series of efforts by the government to move Myanmar [Burma]
closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation," the statement
continued.

The Thai-based Assistance Association Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP)
expressed skepticism about the regime’s motives. In a statement released
today, the group said the junta "uses the release of political prisoners
as a bargaining tool for easing international pressure and delaying the
national reconciliation process".

Twelve of those released belong to the opposition National League for
Democracy. Thet Tun and Zaya, leaders of the Democratic Party for a New
Society, and Soe Moe Hlaing, from the All Burma Students’ Democratic
Front, were also released. The three had been detained since 1991 and were
originally due to be released in 2001.

Almost all released were told they were prohibited from engaging in any
future political activities. As a condition of their release, they are
held accountable under Section 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which
states they will be reincarcerated for the remainder of their sentences if
found to be involved in politics.

Seventy-five-year-old Dr Salai Tun Than arrived home yesterday from
Rangoon’s Insein Prison after serving only 18 months of a seven year
sentence. He was arrested in Nov 2001 for staging a solo protest in front
of Rangoon City Hall. Dr Salai Tun Than had recently gone on a hunger
strike to protest human rights and religious violations inside the prison,
including his inability to procure a Bible.

Dr Salai Tun Than told The Irrawaddy yesterday, "I staged a hunger strike
for two days. I stopped it because the prison authorities gave into some
of my demands. They promised not to investigate political prisoners who
were interviewed by international organizations in prisons. They also gave
me a Bible."

In addition, the authorities offered to be a conduit between Dr Salai Tun
Than and top government officials. "I think that my protest at City Hall
would not be necessary any more, because the authorities told me that if I
have something to talk to the government about, they will send it to
Sr-Gen Than Shwe," said the professor. "But at the moment I don’t have
anything to say."

As for future plans, he added, "I am not interested in politics. I want to
continue my work on the rural development project." Regarding Burma’s
political future, he commented, "I would like to see an elected
government—whether military or civil—but it must be elected."

Before his arrest, Dr Salai Tun Than, a retired agronomist, devoted
himself to rural development in the Ngaphe Township of Magwe Division. In
1993, he established the Myanmar Integrated Rural Development Association
(MIRDA), an NGO, with the assistance of the Myanmar Council of Churches
and the World Council of Churches. The group cultivated oranges, coffee
and tea for villages in the area. But the junta reportedly never allowed
MIRDA to officially operate in the country and MIRDA faced continual
disturbances from the junta.

Dr Salai Tun Than was released two days after a candlelight vigil "Free
Burma, Free Salai Tun Than" was held in San Francisco. His daughter, Mai
Theingi, and the US-based Free Burma Coalition organized the event.

Three political prisoners were also released last week after serving 14
years.
____________

The Associated Press   May 5 2003

Free Myanmar political prisoner still calling for elections
By Daniel Lovering

BANGKOK: A 75-year-old U.S.-educated professor who was jailed for calling
for multiparty elections in military-ruled Myanmar said Monday after his
early release from prison that he still favored free polls.

Salai Tun Than, an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
University of Georgia, also thanked students at those schools for
demonstrating for his release from Insein Prison on the outskirts of
Yangon.

Tun Than, a former rector of an agricultural college in central Myanmar,
was arrested Nov. 29, 2001 for handing out pro-democracy flyers in front
of City Hall in the capital Yangon. He was freed Sunday along with 17
other political prisoners.

His main demand had been that Myanmar's military government hold a free
multiparty election within one year.

For his one-man protest, he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

Tun Than, who said he believed he was freed because he is "old and
harmless," was reluctant to discuss politics in a telephone interview
Monday. He said that he was released early on condition that if he is
convicted of another offense, he must also serve the remainder of the
sentence he received for his 2001 protest.

But echoing the call of the petition that led to his arrest, he said that
"The best thing when there is a political impasse is to hold multiparty
elections."

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta took
power in 1988 and called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the
results, which gave victory to the opposition National League for
Democracy.

Tun Than said that he was aware of appeals for his freedom, such as those
made by students from his old schools, U.S. lawmakers including Wisconsin
Sen. Russell Feingold and Georgia Rep. Max Burns, and human rights groups
including Amnesty International.

"I'm thankful to them," he said.

Last week U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell described Myanmar's
military government as a "despotic regime." As many as 1,400 other
political prisoners are believed to still be detained.
____________

Associated Press Worldstream   May 5 2003
A year after democracy leader Suu Kyi's release, Myanmar remains deadlocked
By Daniel Lovering

BANGKOK: Myanmar's military government touted opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi's release from house arrest as a "new page" in the country's
history. But a year later hopes for a political dialogue have dimmed and
Myanmar's economic plight is worse, Suu Kyi and analysts say.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, freed after 19 months of confinement
on May 6, 2002, has been allowed to travel around the country, meeting
supporters and reopening offices of her National League for Democracy
party.

But Suu Kyi claims she and her followers have been obstructed and
intimidated, hampering efforts to revive the party, which won national
elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

The military regime denies any deliberate effort "to interfere with her
travels or activities," and insists it's guiding the country through a
peaceful transition to democracy.

A few hundred other political prisoners have been released - including
some just days before Tuesday's anniversary - but more than 1,200 still
languish behind bars, according to London-based rights group Amnesty
International.

Talks between Suu Kyi and the ruling junta, aimed at reconciliation and
democratic reforms, were launched in October 2000 and brokered by a U.N.
envoy. But many say they've gone virtually nowhere.

"When I was released, it was agreed between the authorities and ourselves
that ... we should go on to a more advanced stage of our relationship,"
Suu Kyi said at a recent media briefing in the capital, Yangon.

"But I do not think there has been any progress. In fact, I think there
has been some kind of regression. I think we have been forced to question
the sincerity of the (government)."

On Sunday, the government released 18 political prisoners, including 12
members of Suu Kyi's party, and said it was moving the country - under
military rule for the past 41 years - toward democracy.

"The releases are the latest in a series of efforts by the government to
move Myanmar closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation,"
a government statement said.

The junta has strengthened trade and diplomatic ties with neighbors
including China, India and Thailand. But relations with many Western
nations, critical of Myanmar's political and human rights conditions,
remain tense.

Myanmar's already weak economy was plunged into crisis in February, when
panicked accountholders withdrew money from the country's 20 private banks
after the collapse of about a dozen private financial companies.

"If this was an example of a 'new page' which the military heralded last
May 6, very little has been inscribed on it," said Josef Silverstein, an
American political scientist who has studied Myanmar for half a century.

"There was not change in the internal political environment, no real
significant release of political prisoners, no restoration of any
political rights," Silverstein said by e-mail.

The international community has failed to effectively lobby for political
change in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Silverstein added.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who condemned Myanmar's regime
before the Senate last week, said it would be difficult to crack the
junta's will, but that the United States would continue working with
allies to encourage change.

Silverstein said this policy was "hardly a new and daring approach, and in
light of the past not likely to bear fruit."

While Suu Kyi has maintained her longtime position of "cautious optimism,"
she's shown signs of dimming hopes.

"The evidence points heavily to the conclusion that the (government) is
not genuinely interested in national reconciliation," she said.
___________

Democratic Voice of Burma   May 2 2003
Japanese official met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

It is reported that a high-ranking official from the Japanese foreign
ministry who travelled with the Japanese ex-PM, Mr. Yoshiro Mori to Burma
met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before leaving Rangoon.

He met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at her home yesterday and it is not possible
to say yet what they have discussed, said U Lwin, the spokesman for the
NLD.

But the Japanese government and its embassy are likely to issue statements
on giving aid to Burma, he added.

Mr. Mori and group met the SPDC’s chairman, Senior General Than Shwe and
top military leaders and had discussions with them and they left Rangoon
yesterday.

The Japanese government is the biggest donor to Burma and on the other
hand, it is pushing the military junta to urgently start economical
reforms and democratic change.

But the Japanese approaches are often criticised by Western nations and
they insist that the Japanese should not give aid until there are obvious
changes made by the junta.


MONEY

Bangkok Post   May 5 2003
Thailand to Unveil Hub Aim at Summit
By Chatrudee Theparat

Thailand is hoping to move a step closer to realising its ambition of
being the economic hub of its neighbours at a summit meeting expected to
be organised in the next three months.

Agendas are being prepared for the summit of leaders from Burma, Cambodia,
Laos and Thailand. Since Thailand has long sought to foster economic ties
with its neighbours by planning to undertake several development projects,
commitments from their leaders at the summit are essential.

At the summit, Thailand will propose to become the hub for economic
co-operation with its neighbours particularly in the areas to step up
border trade, establish special economic zones and develop tourism-related
networks.

National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB)'s deputy
secretary-general Pornchai Rujiprapa said Thailand was ready to extend
technical assistance and develop basic infrastructures to spur investment
and trade.

NESDB projected Thailand will need to invest about 6.7 billion baht in the
next five years to develop the infrastructures.

As Thailand has an continuing inflow of illegal Burmese workers, economic
ties with Burma is a priority, with a plan to establish economic zones in
Mae Sot, Tak and Mae Sai in Chiang Rai.

Once the zones are set up, about 400,000 of the workers will be pushed
back to work along the border.

Thailand will offer Burma to grow certain crops to supply raw materials to
factories to be located in the economic zones inside Thailand.

Investors within the planned zones will not only be assured of raw
material supplies but will also enjoy a low production cost due to close
proximity to the sources of raw materials.

Koh Kong and Poipet are considered ideal sites for economic zones in
Cambodia with similar facilities to be established in Chiang Kong, Chiang
Rai.
____________

Mizzima News   May 3 2003
Banking crisis in Burma and NE India takes toll

Guwahati: The ongoing bank crisis in Burma is likely to hit the
Indo-Burman trade strongly in the current financial year. The bank crisis
which started in February following the panicked withdrawal of funds from
leading banks is still on causing great concern after the Burmese junta
had closed some banks down. There is, so far, no sign of any improvement
in the situation.

The bank crisis has reduced the volume of trade between India and Burma as
Burmese exporters have not been able to clear their dues to Indian
traders.The North East of India, comprising seven states, depends on
Burmese goods for day-to-day life and has been hit badly by the prevailing
situation.

Although several trade organizations have taken up the matter with the
Indian Commerce Ministry no effort has been undertaken so far leading.
Reportedly, trade organizations in the North East of India have held three
rounds of discussions with the Burmese traders in a bid to restore trade.
But the Burmese traders are not in position comply with the demands by 
the Indian traders. The situation is getting more complicated by the day
as the Burmese junta has set out instructions regarding the withdrawal of
funds: each person can withdraw only 10 per cent of his deposited funds.

Trade organizations in both the countries have expressed concern over the
prevailing crisis, having already pumped large sums of money into the
export and the import market. Moreh, a focal point of trade between India
and Burma after the signing of the Indo-Burma trade agreement in 1994, has
seen very little trade during the last three months. According to official
statistics, the volume of trade between India and Burma across the Moreh
border has dropped by 25 to 30 per cent in the wake of the bank crisis in
Burma .

"If the situation continues, Indo-Burma trade through the Moreh point will
come to a grinding halt," the president of the North East Federation on
International Trade (NEFIT) SC Agarwal commented. NEFIT already submitted
a proposal to the Indian Commerce Ministry.

According to Agarwal, the India Commerce Ministry has not become active in
this respect despite being strongly lobbied. ”In the wake of the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis, the ongoing bank problem could
lower the revenue of both India and Burma as the trade has dropped by a
great extent“, he added.

REGIONAL

Xinhua News Agency   May 5 2003
Myanmar top leader begins visit to Laos

YANGON: Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
Senior-General Than Shwe left here Monday for Vientiane to begin a
three-day state visit to Laos.

This is a first visit to Laos by a state head of Myanmar after Myanmar
joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1997.

Myanmar and Laos are neighbors with good bilateral relations. There have
been frequent exchange of visits at high levels between the two countries
in recent years.

In December 2000, Myanmar's SPDC Vice-Chairman Maung Aye visited Laos,
during which a protocol on border trade pursuant to the trade agreement
between the two nations was signed and the establishment of Lao-Myanmar
and Myanmar-Lao Friendship Associations in respective capitals were
agreed.

In March and August 2001, Lao Vice-President Lieutenant-General Choummaly
Sayasone and Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachith toured Yangon
respectively. During the Lao prime minister's trip, the two countries
agreed to expand cooperation in the sectors of economy, trade, culture and
technology.

Myanmar and Laos have also been cooperating in drug control, agreeing to
prevent trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, and control
banned chemicals

With the Mekong as common border, Myanmar and Laos have started the
demarcation of the boundary between the two countries since 1990 under the
management of the Joint  Boundary Commission and completed the drawing of
the Agreement Relating to the Fixed Boundary between the two countries in
the Mekong river.
____________

Bangkok Post   May 4, 2003
Talks This Month on Labour Repatriation
By Bhanravee Tansubhapol

Thailand and Burma later this month will discuss repatriation of illegal
Burmese labourers to a reception centre in Myawaddy, a Foreign Ministry
senior official said yesterday.

The joint task force meeting, led by Foreign Ministry permanent secretary
Tej Bunnag and Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Muang Win, will take
place on May 14 in Burma's Pagan town. Mr Tej accepted that the
repatriation of illegal Burmese workers to the reception centre had not
been smooth, due to problems with establishing their nationality. Thailand
sends an advance list of illegal workers to the Burmese government, which
approves the names before taking the workers back.

The reception centre was opened last October after Burma's five-month
closure of the three checkpoints at Chiang Rai, Tak and Ranong to protest
against Thailand's alleged support of ethnic rebels resisting Rangoon's
rule.

The meeting will also consider the draft of a memorandum of understanding
on labour, so Burmese workers will get easier passage to Thailand legally.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai is expected to sign the MOU on May
19.
_____________

The Nation (Thailand)   May 4 2003
29 alien sex workers arrested in police raid

Police yesterday arrested 29 Burmese and Shan women in Chiang Mai and
charged them with selling sex services, just 1.5 kilometres away from the
citys police station.

None of the women had work permits or visas.

Acting on a tip-off, Chiang Mai police raided the two-storey Roemyen Cafe
karaoke restaurant in the Chang Moi area of the cityjust before midnight
on Friday.

Police said that they believed the women were duped into working for the
restaurant but later forced to provide sex services.

Some of the women broke into tears after being arrested, saying that they
did not want to be sent back to Burma to a life of poverty, police said.

Working in Thailand allowed them to make money which they sent back to
their families. In Burma they were jobless and had no income, said Police
General Suthep Detraksa.

There are many sex places in Chiang Mai that hide behind restaurants and
cafes. And its not just Burmese women who work at these places, there are
also Karen and other hilltribe girls, he said.

Activist Ben Sawasdiwat, organiser of Traf Cord, the northern
non-governmental organisation working on the human trafficking issue, and
who joined the police raid, said that the situation of human trafficking
for sex purposes in the North was growing out of control.

This was mainly due to the economic problems in neighbouring countries, he
added.

In this case, we will force police to file a lawsuit against the
restaurants owner in order to stop the cycle of human trafficking, or at
least decrease it, said Ben.

Police initially charged the restaurant owner Boonpan Thong-in, with
sheltering illegal workers.
____________

The Associated Press   May 2 2003
Indian, US special forces complete joint jungle warfare exercises in
India's remote northeast

GAUHATI, India: Indian and U.S. Army special forces finished three weeks
of joint military exercises in the jungles of India's remote northeast,
the U.S. Embassy said Friday.

The exercises, which ended on April 26, were conducted at the Indian
army's jungle warfare school in Mizoram state near the Myanmar border.

"The intense exercise, conducted in an extremely rugged and physically
challenging environment, involved training in counterinsurgency,
marksmanship, heliborne and airborne operations," an Embassy statement
said.

It added that U.S. special forces and Indian special forces also simulated
a hostage rescue.

In June, the United States will host the next joint exercises for the
Indian special forces on the Pacific island of Guam.
____________

Agence France Presse   May 5 2003
Too many East Asian states fail their children, UN report says

JAKARTA: Too many countries in East Asia and the Pacific continue to fail
their children despite dramatic economic growth in parts of the region,
the United Nations children's fund UNICEF said Monday.

The issue "is less one of finance than of effort and commitment," UNICEF's
regional office said in a report released at the start of a conference in
Bali on children.

Economic growth had helped reduce poverty in the region but many millions
still existed precariously, UNICEF said.

The vast majority also lived free from war. But a mass movement from the
land to the cities "is having a deeply disruptive effect on social
structures".

China had around 80 million rural migrants living unofficially in cities,
including five million children -- and a total of around 150,000 street
children.

Traditional family- or village-based welfare systems had been disrupted.

The weakening of families, due to the recent economic downturn and youth
migration to cities, also exposed young people to new dangers including
drug abuse and sexual exploitation.

Myanmar's methamphetamine industry had created an enormous increase in use
by young people.

The number of malnourished children aged under five had fallen from 24
percent to 17 percent between 1990-2000 but improvements in China skewed
the picture.

Excluding China, an average 28 percent of children in the region were
underweight -- almost as high as sub-Saharan Africa.

UNHCR said poverty was only one factor and it was important to educate
mothers to give children proper nutrition -- especially breastfeeding
rather than bottle-feeding for the first six months.

Mothers should be well-nourished and have access to basic health services.

Because efforts to combat malnutrition had been limited, "millions of
children throughout the region continue to die each year and millions more
will never have been allowed to reach their full potential."

Education had been one of the region's great successes.

East Asia/Pacific had also made good progress reducing the number of
children under five who die, thanks to immunisation and proper treatment
of diarrhoea. But there were considerable differences within countries.

The highest death rate was in Cambodia with 138 deaths per 1,000 live
births -- a higher figure than in 1990.

Many states had made little progress since 1990 in reducing the maternal
mortality rate, partly because male officials were reluctant to make the
necessary investment.

"But no country should consider itself so poor that it is prepared to
allow young mothers to die."

UNICEF said HIV/AIDS was still spreading across the region, with between
two and 3.5 million infected. But Thailand and Cambodia had shown the tide
could be turned.

There was widespread ignorance among the young about the disease. Young
sex workers were especially in danger, often forced to serve up to 10
customers a day.

The AIDS epidemic had also fuelled demand for young prostitutes who were
mistakenly thought less likely to be infected.

The most significant mode of HIV transmission to children under 15 was
from mothers but this was preventable, UNICEF said.

It said more than half a million children in the region had lost one or
both parents to AIDS and the number was expected to double by 2005.

The report said an estimated 300,000-400,000 children in the region were
victims of trafficking, mainly for the sex industry.

Thailand's "thriving sex industry," which previously recruited from the
north of the country, was now using children and adults from Cambodia,
Laos, China and Myanmar as Thai living standards rose.

In Thailand up a quarter of sex workers were under 18 and in Indonesia
one-third. Most exploitation of child sex workers was by local men.

EDITORIAL

Wall Street Journal Online   May 5 2003
Deadlock in Burma
By Larry Jagan

A year after Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from
house arrest, the country's political process remains deadlocked. Secret
talks between Burma's generals and the opposition leader, which began
while she was under house arrest, have ground to a halt. So too have the
efforts of the United Nations' special envoy, Malaysian diplomat Razali
Ismail, who has not even been allowed into Burma for the past six months.
And the prospect of economic and political change that was signaled by the
release of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on May 6 last year has dimmed completely.

Although Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to travel around the country --
the military spokesman Colonel Hla Min says the government is encouraging
her to do so -- in the past few months her trips have been marred by
harassment and intimidation of her entourage and the thousands of
supporters that come out to greet her. In the past six months, only a
handful of political prisoners have been released from prison compared to
the hundreds freed during Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's 19-month-long house
arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi herself suggested a few weeks ago that the national
reconciliation process, as the two sides call their secret contacts and
talks, had regressed since her release and challenged Burma's military
rulers to prove their commitment to political change. The government
initially reacted by blaming the opposition party for the breakdown in the
process and a full-scale war of words -- through press conferences and
press releases -- seemed about to erupt. But there are signs Burma's
military rulers are anxious to cool tempers. In a fax I received only a
few days ago, Col. Hla Min expressed a desire to avoid such a war of
words, especially in the international media.

But this should not be seen as a sign the dialogue process is about to
restart. The military government is keen to give the impression it is
ready for a dialogue on political and economic change with Aung San Suu
Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, as well as with
the international community on humanitarian and development issues like
AIDS, health care and education. But their press statements to this effect
appear little more than a publicity stunt. In reality, they are prepared
to talk to anyone except the one person they must engage -- Ms. Aung San
Suu Kyi.

Since her release a year ago, the country's top leader, Senior Gen. Than
Shwe, has exercised total power over all matters related to the dialogue
process and refuses to budge. Even the military intelligence chief, Lt.
Gen. Khin Nyunt, who was intimately involved in the dialogue when it
began, has told Mr. Razali he no longer has a mandate to be involved.

For Gen. Than Shwe, releasing Aung San Suu Kyi a year ago was an end in
itself, not a step towards direct negotiations with the opposition leader.
Military sources close to the general say he loathes her, and refuses to
hear her name mentioned in his vicinity. During the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations' summit in Phnom Penh in November last year, Asian
leaders like Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were advised not to
mention Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi by name during their bilateral meetings. Even
Mr. Razali was reportedly asked to minimize the number of times he used
her name while meeting Gen. Than Shwe during his last visit to Rangoon
last November.

It appears that Gen. Than Shwe's assumption of total political and
military power, and the corresponding political stalemate, has created
substantial unease amongst some of the country's other top generals. Many
of these military men and senior government officials saw the start of the
dialogue process more than two years ago as something which could
guarantee the army a long-term role in the country's political future and
bring much-needed development. Now they realize the lack of political
progress may endanger their long-term survival. One sign of this is Gen.
Khin Nyunt's repeated messages to overseas visitors -- which include U.N.
special rapporteur on human rights Paulo Pinheiro, in addition to Mr.
Razali -- that he is powerless to influence the country's political
future.

For most people in Burma the worst aspect of the last 12 months has been
the continuing economic crisis. Living standards have declined even
further, with both professional salaries and workers' wages now
insufficient to meet daily needs. Many are forced to find alternative
sources of income, further fueling already endemic corruption. Diplomats
in Rangoon estimate the country's annual inflation rate is now above 60%.
Burma's growing economic crisis, and the government's inability to manage
it, was further revealed earlier this year when Rangoon was hit by a major
bank run.

Pragmatists in the military -- who appear to be grouped around Gen. Khin
Nyunt -- and their counterparts in the foreign ministry are telling their
Asian counterparts and diplomats in Rangoon that Burma could face a major
economic and humanitarian crisis in the coming months if there is no
progress in the dialogue process soon. But that doesn't look likely as
long as Gen. Than Shwe continues to call the shots.

That makes it all the more crucial for the international community to step
up pressure on Burma's rulers to resume a dialogue with Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi. One crucial element in this is Mr. Razali, whose efforts to return to
Burma to restart the talks have been repeatedly rebuffed by the military
rulers. Mr. Razali usually visits Burma approximately once every three
months, but has been denied access to Rangoon since November. It now looks
as though he'll not be allowed back until the beginning of June at the
earliest.

The international community needs to explore ways to increase the pressure
on the generals to implement political and economic reform. The U.S. is on
the verge of stepping up economic sanctions by banning all textile imports
from Burma. And the European Union has already adopted tough measures
against Rangoon, which will automatically come into effect at the end of
October unless the generals make significant progress toward political
change before then.

But the major powers in the region -- China, Japan and Asean -- also need
to be more proactive in encouraging the Burmese military regime to change.
In private, their leaders all say they support Burma's national
reconciliation process and Mr. Razali's central role in it. It's now time
for them to put pressure on Rangoon to let in Mr. Razali and begin making
the concessions needed to ensure dialogue can move forward again.

Constructive engagement has clearly not worked -- Burma's generals remain
as intransigent as ever. So it is time to give a newly coined approach --
principled engagement -- a serious chance. That means stepping up pressure
on Rangoon while showing the generals it is in their interests to
cooperate fully with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. That necessitates a united
approach by the international community. Asean, in particular, needs to
play a central role in the process rather than leaving it to the U.S. and
EU to take the initiative. Without sustained international pressure
Burma's generals will be happy to spin out the process out -- so that the
second anniversary of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's release is marred by as
little progress as tomorrow's first anniversary.

Mr. Jagan is a free-lance journalist and Burma specialist based in
Bangkok. He was formerly the regional editor for Asia and the Pacific at
the BBC World Service for more than 10 years.


OBITUARY

The New York Times   May 4 2003
Michael Jendrzejczyk, 53, Advocate for Asians, Dies
By ELIZABETH BECKER

Michael Jendrzejczyk, a human rights expert whose advocacy on behalf of
victims in Asian nations made him an unlikely power broker in Washington,
died on Thursday. He was 53 and lived in Tacoma Park, Md.

He died after collapsing during a walk near his office in Washington, his
wife, Janet, said.

During more than a dozen years at the Washington office of Human Rights
Watch, Mr. Jendrzejczyk (pronounced jen-DREE-zick) established himself as
the Capitol's leading expert on Asian human rights, routinely testifying
before Congress, writing opinion articles for newspapers and promoting his
causes.

He made his name after the 1989 Chinese military action in Tiananmen
Square by encouraging the United States to demand that the victims be
protected or, at least, accounted for.

He later became prominent in Asian human rights issues like the protection
of refugees from North Korea, ending financial assistance to the military
government in Burma, connecting human rights to free trade and defending
the religious freedom of Tibetans in China and Montagnards in Vietnam.

What set him apart from many advocates was his mastery of details of
subject as well as his networks of contacts with officials, academics and
dissidents he helped protect.

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, said it would be
"difficult to count" the contributions Mr. Jendrzejczyk made in his
promotion of human rights.

"We can point to famous dissidents who have been released from prison
because of Mike, but there are tens of thousands of ordinary people, whose
names we'll never know, whose lives were improved by his work," she said.

Mr. Jendrzejczyk, who was born and reared in New Britain, Conn., was a
graduate of the University of Hartford. He joined the Army reserve during
the Vietnam War but was discharged as a conscientious objector.

He taught at a preschool while protesting the Vietnam War and working in
the civil rights movement. He became a peace advocate for the Fellowship
of Reconciliation in Nyack, N.Y., and for Amnesty International in New
York and London.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sister, Lynn Ashmore of
Willimantic, Conn.

He joked about the difficulty of pronouncing his surname, telling others
not to waste their time learning to say it or spell it, but just to call
him Mike J. His easy manner was partly responsible for his wide reach.

Establishing himself in the relatively new field of human rights advocacy
in Washington, Mr. Jendrzejczyk broke ground as a lobbyist for a cause
without any obvious base of support. Susan Osnos, former associate
director of Human Rights Watch, said he used information to promote his
ideas.

"Over the years he evolved into someone who worked well in Washington,
creating two-way streets that are the bread and butter of getting things
done, especially when you are advocating things that people aren't
naturally interested in," she said.

His constituents were the Asian dissidents who might have remained
faceless without Mr. Jendrzejczyk's interventions. Tibetans, Burmese,
Chinese, Indonesians and other dissidents came to rely on him as their
most reliable voice in Washington. When the Chinese dissident Liu Qing was
released after 11 years in prison, Mr. Jendrzejczyk took him around
Washington to explain to policy makers the human consequences of their
votes. Today Mr. Liu works for the New York-based Human Rights in China.

During the final years of the Clinton administration, Mr. Jendrzejczyk
took many dissidents to meet Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale law professor who
was then an assistant secretary of state for human rights. Mr. Koh said
while Mr. Jendrzejczyk pressed for countless changes in foreign policy to
reflect human rights concerns he was never irritated by his demands.

"You start out in a professional relationship with him and end up
considering him a dear friend," Mr. Koh said. "He was one of those happy
warriors who never let you forget that you are holding a job not for
personal gain but for the betterment of American policy."
____________

The Washington Post   May 04 2003
EDITORIAL:  A Quiet Champion

IN THE CULTURE of federal Washington, no doubt as in all cultures, there
is a class of people who accomplish much by seeking little credit. These
people bring information to reporters, suggest legislative language to
Senate staffers, introduce experts from different fields to promote
collaborations. Some do this work for profit, others for principle. One of
the latter was Mike Jendrzejczyk, who died unexpectedly Thursday at age
53. He was far more influential than famous, and his death is a setback to
the cause of freedom in Asia.

For Mr. Jendrzejczyk was in that subset of Washington achievers known as
human rights advocates: Specifically, he was the Washington director of
the Asia division of the nonprofit organization Human Rights Watch. He was
not the sort of human rights champion who sneaks into totalitarian
countries and emerges with damning videotape, nor did he devote much time
to rhetoric or arcane points of international law and doctrine. Mr.
Jendrzejczyk believed in getting things done. His ambitions were lofty,
but they never stood in the way of accomplishment. He would rather see two
dissidents freed from Chinese prisons than one, but he would take one over
zero -- and over the years, the number of political prisoners who owed
their liberty in large part to his persistence grew to a formidable total.
He would have liked to have seen democracy in China and Burma and Vietnam
yesterday if not sooner, but he worked hard for intermediate steps: a
loosening of political control, an improvement of conditions for workers,
a visit by a United Nations human rights commissioner.

Those who knew Mike were always amazed at his perpetual cheerfulness even
as he sought to bring attention to the worst horrors of human cruelty, to
the sufferings of North Korean refugees and Burmese child laborers. He
understood that human rights would always compete with commerce and
security and other national interests in the formulation of foreign
policy; he just wanted the voices of the oppressed not to be drowned out
altogether. He was influential in part because his passion never
diminished his honesty; if you asked for the best argument on the other
side, he would deliver it, probably more eloquently than its true
champions could. He influenced us, and will continue to do so.