BurmaNet News: May 6 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

May 6 2003 Issue #2230

INSIDE BURMA

AFP: Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group
says
AFP: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom
anniversary
AP: Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription

MONEY

Irrawaddy: Bank crisis rolls on
Xinhua: Myanmar’s gas export earning hits new record high

REGIONAL

Thai Press Reports: ‘Monks’ being used to smuggle porn CDs across the border
Korea Herald: Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home
Australian: Temporary relief from a life in hell

STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL

U.S. Dept. of State: Release of political prisoners (excerpt)
Bangkok Post: Road to reform runs into dead-end
NCGUB: Burmese generals ‘making mileage out of human misery’
ABFSU: Regime continues the arrest of students

INSIDE BURMA

Agence France Presse May 6 2003

Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar, exiled group says

Eight students were arrested last month over a two-man protest outside the
British embassy in Yangon, while a protestor who fled into the embassy is
seeking political asylum, a Thai-based group said Tuesday.

The eight student activists were members of the People Students' Oway
Front, a new group formed "to mobilise the peaceful student movements for
political development," a statement from the exiled All Burma Federation
of Student Unions (ABFSU) said.

The students "were arrested because of their memberships in the student
front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April," it said.

Further details of the arrests were not given.

"One of (the student front's) members is now seeking political asylum at
the British embassy, since he had a fear of persecution because of his
involvement in the demonstration," the union statement said.

Myanmar's ruling junta says the man sought refuge in the embassy after
authorities arrested another man with whom he was demonstrating.

During the protest the pair waved flags emblazoned with fighting peacocks,
a traditional symbol of resistance to military rule in Myanmar, and
disturbed the peace by shouting, a statement from the junta released
afterwards said.

The two men were suspected of being linked to a March 27 bomb blast in
downtown Yangon which killed two government workers, it added.

Late last month the junta said talks were continuing with the British
embassy over the protestor's presence there.

The British embassy has refused to comment on the incident.

"The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any
terrorist activities and they will never do such an act," the ABFSU
statement said.

"We have concerns that these students might be tortured at military
interrogation centres" because they have been accused of links to
terrorist acts, ABFSU spokesperson Min Naing was quoted as saying.

The government earlier said it believed the fugitive inside the embassy
had been sent to Myanmar by a combined group of exiled anti-Yangon outfits
to "engage in sabotage inside the country."

Myanmar's military government continues to rule the Southeast Asian
country despite Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
winning 1990 elections.
__________

Agence France Presse May 6 2003

Myanmar's Suu Kyi begins month-long political trip on freedom anniversary

Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi marked the first anniversary
of her release from house arrest Tuesday by embarking on a lengthy
political trip upcountry, her spokesman said.

The Nobel peace laureate left the capital in the morning in a three-car
convoy bound for northernmost Kachin State, her National League for
Democracy (NLD) said.

It will be her longest political journey since she ended 19 months
confinement in her Yangon home exactly one year ago.

"Her trip is expected to take about one month," NLD spokesman U Lwin told
AFP.

The charismatic opposition leader was accompanied by her vice chairman U
Tin Oo and a retinue of 12 men from the party's youth movement who serve
as her personal security detail, another NLD source said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 57, has conducted seven other key trips outside the
capital over the past year, taking advantage of the junta's commitment to
allow her full freedom of movement.

On her travels the leader has re-connected with party supporters,
re-opened NLD offices shut by the junta, and assessed conditions in the
country ruled by military dictatorships for the past four decades.

Her trip begins with an overnight stop in Myanmar's second city Mandalay,
where she poignantly made her first trip outside of Yangon last year after
her release.

Mandalay was the city the ruling military regime blocked her from
travelling to in September 2000, after which they confined her to her
lakeside villa.

After a stop in Mandalay she crosses into Kachin to meet with supporters,
re-open NLD offices, and engage with ethnic minority groups there, U Lwin
said.

"She hasn't had much chance of meeting with the Kachins. That is what she
would like to do foremost," he said.

Also of particular concern were discussions with the "seven or eight
ethnic groups in Kachin State", but it was not clear how many of the
groups she would be able to meet with as heavy rains have already begun in
the state's remote highlands, U Lwin said.

The trip is also likely to be a test of whether the regime will continue
to harass the leader on her travels. The NLD and Suu Kyi have complained
increasingly of government harassment during her travels, particularly of
the thousands of people who flock to see her.

Aung San Suu Kyi's release last year stirred hopes that the regime would
finally enter into a bona fide political dialogue following
confidence-building talks launched in October 2000 with UN assistance.

Late last month, however, she complained for the first time publicly about
the lack of progress in the national reconciliation talks, a major
turnaround on her usually conciliatory stance.

International patience with the regime is also wearing thin. US Secretary
of State Colin Powell last week branded Myanmar's rulers as "despotic" but
admitted that it would be a tough task to "crack" their will.

No mention of the anniversary of Suu Kyi's release has been made in
Myanmar's official media, but the junta announced Sunday the release of 21
prisoners, including a prominent academic and 12 NLD members.

Several hundred prisoners have been released by the junta since talks
began with Aung San Suu Kyi in 2000, but human rights groups estimate
1,200 to 1,300 remain behind bars. Prisoners are habitually released to
mark important events or high-level visits to Yangon.
_________

Associated Press Worldstream   May 4 2003

Myanmar child soldiers face uncertain future after forced conscription
By Nelson Rand

ON THE MYANMAR-THAI BORDER: Nay Myo Kyaw recounts with a blank face the
bewildering changes in his life during the last half year - schoolboy one
day, a child soldier the next, and then a prisoner of the guerrillas he
was forced to fight.

Kyaw, a 9th grade student in the southeastern Myanmar town of Thongwa, was
walking home from school with friends last October when a car pulled
alongside him.

Military men jumped out of the car and grabbed him and four of his
schoolmates. Without a choice and without a chance to say goodbye to their
families, Kyaw, 16, and his four friends became the newest recruits of
Myanmar's national army.

Human rights groups say such forced conscription is routine in
military-ruled Myanmar and as many as 70,000 soldiers in the army are
under the age of 18.

The allegations are denied by the military government of Myanmar, also
known as Burma, but independent verification of its claims is virtually
impossible given the authoritarian nature of the regime.

However, a rare glimpse into the army was provided by Kyaw who was
interviewed by an Associated Press reporter while in captivity at a jungle
camp of the ethnic Karen rebels.

Kyaw said he deserted his unit on March 11 while on security duty in the
Tojo mountains a few kilometers (miles) from the Thai border, opposite
Thailand's Phop Phra district.

Kyaw simply dropped his rifle and equipment and started to run. A few
hours later he was picked up by Karen guerrillas.

Kyaw said he had no skills to deal with the jungle or the war - his camp
had been attacked by the guerrillas in December, leaving five comrades
dead.

"I knew if I stayed there I would die," he said, adding that he was given
only one month of military training after being kidnapped in Thongwa.

At the end of the training, he was sent to the Tojo mountains where the
army has being trying for more than five decades to put down an insurgency
by the Karen National Liberation Army.

The Karens, who are a minority in Myanmar, are demanding autonomy for the
Karen State.

Kyaw said many of the soldiers he served with were under 17 years old - 20
of the 50 soldiers in his section and 70 of the 150 in his battalion,
Infantry Battalion 343. The youngest was only 11.

He was punished by the officer in charge of his section when he could not
carry heavy loads, Kyaw said. "He beat me, slapped me, kicked me and
whipped me with a stick," the youth said, speaking through a translator.

Now Kyaw spends his days locked in a small bamboo hut with 15-year-old
Aung Myoo Oo. They wait for their release, and a chance at a better life.

Like Kyaw, Myoo Oo was forced into a car on his way home from school one
afternoon a year ago outside the capital Yangon. He also received a
month's military training before being sent to fight the Karen rebels.

He escaped from Tojo in March with another child soldier aged 14, whose
name he didn't want to reveal.

In a report in October, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the
Myanmar army has the world's largest number of child soldiers.

"Burma has a poor human rights record, but its record on child soldiers is
the worst in the world," wrote Jo Becker, advocacy director of the
children's rights division at Humans Rights Watch.

"To be a boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked
up off the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and
never seeing your family again," Becker wrote.

Myanmar's junta has dismissed the report, saying it is based on the
testimony "of so-called deserters in Thailand," hence very questionable.

The government says the military is purely voluntary and that national
laws setting the enlistment age at 18 are "strictly enforced".

Col. Saw Ner Dah Mya, a Karen National Liberation Army commander, said the
Myanmar military has problems recruiting so it must recruit by force.

He said that Kyaw and Myoo Oo would be released soon and taken across the
border to Thailand where he would find them jobs as laborers - his group's
standard procedure for dealing with Myanmar defectors after they have been
interrogated.

A half year ago, Kyaw could never have guessed the turn of events in his
life that would take away the last of his childhood.

"I just want to go home and see my mother and father," he said.

MONEY

Irrawaddy May 6 2003

Bank Crisis Rolls On
By Naw Seng

As Burma’s private banking crisis rolls into its fourth month, account
holders have begun selling their frozen account balances at a reduced rate
in hopes of recouping their savings. Private banks, meanwhile, are still
trying to recall loans in an attempt to inject badly needed liquidity and
try to rebuild consumer trust, according to sources in Rangoon.

Traders in Rangoon said today that people were paying 60 to 80 percent of
an account’s value, despite there being no end in sight to the country’s
banking woes. He said that public distrust is continuing to mount and that
"no one wants to deposit money" in the banks.
Banks had previously been granting depositors 100,000 kyat (US $100) per
week. But one disgruntled depositor said withdrawals had been ratcheted
back even further. He said he had to wait 18 days for his most recent
installment. Sources said the length of time on withdrawals differs from
bank to bank.
In February, both the central government and private banks demanded that
50 percent of outstanding loans be repaid by the end of March. The date
has since been changed to the end of May, but little effort has been made
to pay back loans while accounts remain frozen, according to business
sources in Rangoon. The sources say that the date was unofficially pushed
back to quell potential unrest.
Officials at Yoma Bank said today that even if some one was to pay 50
percent of their outstanding loans, they still could not access their
account or receive smaller loans. Businessmen in Rangoon say these
decisions have made repaying loans unrealistic.
Economic analysts are predicting that the situation will further
deteriorate if the central government does not take action against their
own clients who have defaulted on loans. And that as a result economic
chaos could ensue. "The Central Bank of Myanmar has also been unable to
tackle its outstanding loans and get reimbursed," said a businessman in
Rangoon.
Central Bank officials have reportedly threatened to take action against
any one who does not repay loans by the end of May. Businessman in Rangoon
said authorities are trying to intimidate individuals who have not paid at
least 20 percent of their loans, but that to date no one has been
detained. "They [government authorities] can’t arrest any one because
nobody has broken any bank regulations," one businessman said.
Bank transfers have also been shelved as a result of the diminished reserves.
Businessman said they now carry their cash, as banks no longer have the
necessary reserves to deal with large transfers. One bank official,
however, said some transfers are occurring, but that banks have to confirm
that the other branch has the proper amount.
____________

Xinhua News Agency May 6 2003

Myanmar's gas export earning hits new record high

Myanmar earned 846 million US dollars through the export of natural gas in
2002, a 61.75-percent increase compared with 2001's 523 million, according
to the latest figures released by the Central Statistical Organization.

The natural gas export earning accounted for 28 percent of the country's
total export value of 2,982 million dollars, standing for the first time
as the top export item in earning foreign exchange.

Myanmar began exporting natural gas in 1998. In 2002, Myanmar yielded
9,173.8 million cubic-meters, up 4.2 percent from the previous year.

Myanmar has a total of 50.956 trillion cubic-feet (1,442.05 billion
cubic-meters) of natural gas reserve in the country's onshore and offshore
areas, while possessing 3,154 million barrels (419 million tons) of
recoverable crude oil reserve in the two areas.

There is a total of 19 inland oil fields in Myanmar where at present
foreign companies from Indonesia, Bahamas, Britain, Cyprus and China are
operating.

Myanmar offshore oil and gas fields are mainly located in Rakhine,
Tanintharyi and Mottama areas. So far, only the Yadana field at the
Mottama and the Yedagun at the Tanintharyi are at the production stage
with gas yielded from there being exported to Thailand.

Of the two oil and gas fields, the gas reserve of the Yadana is 5.7
trillion cubic-feet (161.3 billion cubic-meters) with a daily output of
nearly 600 million cubic-feet (16.98 million cubic-meters), while that of
the Yedagun amounts to 3.1 trillion cubic-feet (87.7 billion cubic-meters)
with a daily output of nearly 300 million cubic-feet (8.49 million
cubic-meters) and a daily crude oil output of 7,000 barrels (931 tons).

Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in 1988, contracted investment
in the oil and gas sector has reached 2,402.8 million dollars.

REGIONAL

Thai Press Reports May 6 2003

'MONKS' BEING USED TO SMUGGLE PORN CDS ACROSS THE BORDER

Police in the border town of Mae Sae have ordered border officials to step
up immigration checks on monks, after having found that monks are being
used to smuggle illegal pornographic CDs from Myanmar.

Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob Sanudon, superintendent of Mae Sai immigration police,
said yesterday that he had received several complaints from members of the
public concerning the behaviour of men who were apparently monks, who
openly bought pornographic CDs from the market in the Myanmar border town
of Tachilek, before smuggling them back across to Thailand in their bags.
In the past immigration police have been fairly lax about inspecting
monks, around 40-50 of whom cross the border into Myanmar each day.

However, Pol Maj Gen Sa-ngob said that after he had instructed immigration
officials to inspect the belongings of monks crossing the border, over 50
CDs had been discovered in the bag of each monk.

Speculating that traders in pornographic or illegal CDs were using monks
as a way of smuggling their products into the country, the immigration
police superintendent said that from May 1 onwards he had ordered
stringent checks on all monks crossing the border, and that all monks
would be required to show their privilege passes detailing which monastery
they were based at.

He cited the case of an obviously monk once found trying to cross the
border, who on inspection was found to have over 100 amphetamine pills in
his bag. The monk had now been forced to disrobe, he said.

Provincial Governor Narin Panichakij went further, saying that if possible
monks would be banned from crossing over into Tachilek unless on a
religious business, as it was not suitable that monks were allowed to mix
freely there with laypeople.
________

Korea Herald   May 5 2003

Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at home

BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province - Like other illegal foreign workers, they help
manufacture furniture, electronics or work in rubber factories. They also
suffer from low wages, poor working conditions and threats of dismissal
from employers.
But they have a different aim - doing all they can to bring democracy to
their home country.

A group of 15 Myanmar dissidents residing in Korea are promoting a
campaign to put an end to the dictatorship of their military government.

"We are here to promote our country's situation and its democratic
uprising so that the international community can mount pressure on the
Burmese military junta to end its dictatorship," said Nay Tun Naing.

Naing, 34, is one of the 15 dissidents who are members of the National
League for Democracy, Myanmar's opposition party that is led by Aung San
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"We spend more than half of our salaries on party activities. But nobody
complains about it, because our purpose of being here is to liberate our
country, not to live comfortably," Naing said in a recent interview with
The Korea Herald.

Like other members of the National League for Democracy Party, Naing still
calls his country Burma, although it was renamed Myanmar by the military
regime in 1989.

At the time, the change represented military leaders' effort to improve
their international image, which was tainted by a series of bloody
clampdowns on anti-government riots in 1988 that killed thousands of
Burmese people.

Naing was a student at Rangoon University when the popular uprising
occurred and he was detained for months for participating in an
anti-government protest.

When he returned to university months later, Naing found it harder to
continue his extra-curricular activities because riot police were posted
all around campuses and universities were often forced to close to prevent
student assemblies.

"I thought being abroad would be better than staying in prison," Naing
recalled. In 1994, he fled to Korea and four years later established a
Korean branch for his party called the "NLD Korean Branch," in Bucheon, a
satellite city southwest of Seoul.

But the Myanmar dissidents are experiencing difficulties in promoting the
pro-democracy struggle effectively in Korea because of restraints
attendant on their predominantly illegal status.

The 15 NLD members sought refuge here but the Korean government, which has
a diplomatic relationship with the military-backed Myanmar regime, has
never fully recognized their activities.

Until early this year, the Seoul government had refused to grant the NLD
members refugee status, treating them as illegal aliens.

As local rights groups consistently demanded that the Myanmar dissidents
be treated as political refugees, the government granted asylum for three
of them, including Naing, in January.

"It seems the Korean government just doesn't want to face up to the
rampant political tortures and human rights abuses by the Burmese
government," Naing said.
_____________

The Australian   May 4 2003
Temporary relief from a life in hell

By Elisabeth Wynhausen and Natalie O'Brien

KAM was repeatedly raped in an army camp in Burma. Still a girl, she was
passed from one group of soldiers to another. Some threatened to harm her
if she did not serve them.

Kam, the only name by which she is known, was held captive until
trafficked across the border into Thailand to be locked up and forced into
prostitution. She was then 12 or 13.

The now 24-year-old Kam has been granted a temporary protection visa after
the Refugee Review Tribunal discounted Immigration Department claims she
was Thai.

Her experiences have left her traumatised, depressed and fearful. A
psychologist who interviewed her in detention described her as "timid and
subdued". Yet in three years she will again have to convince authorities
she is a Shan woman from Burma who needs protection.

Kam's story is only too familiar to Melbourne grandmother Myint Myint Wai,
52. Imprisoned in Burma in 1999 as an opponent of the military
dictatorship, Wai met many young women who had been sold into prostitution
after they were sexually abused by soldiers or police.

"These women have no voice at all," said Wai, who does what she can to
publicise their plight.

In considering Kam's case, the Refugee Review Tribunal cited a report that
found the Burmese military allowed its troops to systematically use rape
to terrorise the people of the Shan state.

The report by the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) describes what
happened to 625 Shan girls and women who were raped and brutalised by the
Burmese military.

More than half the attacks were gang rapes. Like Kam, many of the women
were held captive on military bases and raped repeatedly.

Interviewed while in immigration detention in Australia, Kam told
officials that soldiers had often come to her village in the south of
Burma demanding rice from the local people. "The soldiers would do
whatever they wanted, particularly to the girls in the village."

She was staying with her grandmother on the night the soldiers abducted
her, and has not seen her family since. "I was taken to an army camp," she
said through an interpreter. "I was raped at this camp numerous times.

"One day I was taken with many other girls across the border to Thailand
in a truck."

The soldiers sold her to a trafficker, who sold her to a brothel. "I was
forced to work as a prostitute. My boss ...told me I had to pay debts to
the woman who took me from the army camp."

She was told her boss had given the woman 30,000 baht, which Kam had to
pay back, the same twisted logic imposed on women trafficked to Australia,
who are forced to have sex with hundreds of men to pay off their so-called
contracts.

"Because I was unlawful in Thailand, I was often on the move," she said.
On one occasion she was deported back to Burma, but did not know where to
go or how to get home. Frightened the Burmese military would take her
prisoner again, she returned to Thailand, and was trafficked to Australia
not long afterwards.

Eventually picked up in a raid on a brothel in Sydney's Surry Hills, Kam
told officials she feared what would happen to her and her family if she
were returned to Burma.

Kirsty Allen, of the Melbourne-based International Women's Development
Agency, said it was a common experience. "The women from Burma being
trafficked here are often refugees from the military dictatorship in
Burma."

Noting reports of human rights abuses by the Burmese dictatorship, the
Refugee Review Tribunal found Kam would not be safe "anywhere within
Burma".

This accords with the view expressed by US congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, chair of a congressional committee on human rights, who has
said: "Girls and women of Burma are raped, tortured, beaten and killed as
part of a systematic campaign by the Burmese army to subjugate its
people."

STATEMENTS/EDITORIAL

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
May 5, 2003

Excerpt:

BURMA
  12-13        Release of Political Prisoners


QUESTION: Okay, I was just wondering. Do you have anything on the release by
  Burma of a dissident there?

  MR. BOUCHER: Eighteen people were released in Burma.

  QUESTION: I'm thinking of one.

  MR. BOUCHER: Somewhere in here, yeah.

  We welcome the most recent release of political prisoners in Burma,
including
  Dr. Salai Tun Than. We had raised the case of Dr. Salai Tun Than with the
  regime due to his age and his nonviolent call for freedom for reform. He
is an
  academic and an alumnus of two United States universities.

  We hope that this release will lead to the immediate and unconditional
release
  of all remaining political prisoners and a substantive dialogue between the
  regime and the National League for Democracy and national reconciliation.

  Thank you.
______

Bangkok Post May 6 2003

ROAD TO REFORM RUNS INTO DEAD-END
By LARRY JAGAN

Burma's generals still cling to power one year after Aung San Suu Kyi's
release from house arrest, and there is no reason to believe they have any
intention of starting serious political talks with the opposition leader.

Burma has changed little over the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed.
The country's fragile dialogue process remains deadlocked and in danger of
collapsing.

Burma's top generals insist they are committed to economic and political
reform but do little to show their sincerity. The euphoria that surrounded
the opposition leader's release a year ago has given way to disappointment
and frustration as Burma slips deeper into crisis and despair. Ms Suu
Kyi's release is seen as a signal that the military regime is prepared to
move on to the next stage of the national reconciliation process:
substantive talks with the opposition leader on the country's political
future,'' one senior Western diplomat said shortly after Ms Suu Kyi's
release. The UN envoy Razali Ismail, who convinced the generals to free Ms
Suu Kyi and helped broker the talks between the two sides, was sure the
military was ready for serious political negotiations and prepared to
cooperate with the National League for Democracy.

Twelve months later, these hopes appear to have been dashed. Instead of
progress, the two sides have slipped into a war of words that is being
fought through press conferences and press releases.

Only a few days ago, Ms Suu Kyi went on the offensive and told journalists
at a press briefing at the NLD headquarters: I have come to the conclusion
that the SPDC State Peace Development Council is not interested in
national reconciliation.''

Throughout the past year, the opposition leader has appealed to the
generals to open concrete talks and stated that she and the NLD were
prepared to cooperate with the army. She has told them repeatedly that the
opposition does not see the military as the enemy.

We do not want to be the enemy,'' she recently told the Bangkok Post in
Rangoon. We are in opposition to each other at the moment but we should
work together for the sake of the country, and we certainly bear no
grudges against them. We are not out for vengeance. We want to reach the
kind of settlement which will be beneficial to everybody, including the
members of the military.''

But the generals have so far rebuffed all the opposition overtures. It's
more than time to proceed from the confidence-building stage to full
cooperation, especially in the humanitarian area.,'' Ms Suu Kyi said two
weeks ago. The SPDC has shown that it is not keen to cooperate with us in
matters of humanitarian aid.''

Colonel Hla Min, the military government spokesman, for his part, insists
the government actively welcomes meaningful and constructive suggestions
from all its citizens in all areas of national development, particularly
in education, health-care and economic development''.

Neither side seems able to take the initiative. The UN envoy's insistence
that Burma's political reform must be a home-grown process has also waned
over the past year.

Neither side is able to talk directly to the other,'' a senior Western
diplomat involved in Burma said. And that is the role Mr Razali can
play.'' But Burma's military rulers have continually rebuffed the envoy's
repeated requests over the last three months to return to Rangoon to help
restart the talks. He usually visits Burma every three months or so, but
he has been denied access to Rangoon for more than six months. In fact, it
looks as though he will not be allowed back until early June at the
earliest.

The process of national reconciliation has clearly ground to a halt.
Burma's military leaders seem keen to drag the process out as long as
possible instead of talking to Ms Suu Kyi.

Faced with increased international pressure _ the United States is in the
process of extending sanctions and banning all textile imports from Burma,
and the European Union has adopted tougher measures which will be
implemented automatically in six months time if there is no progress in
the dialogue process _ Burma's top generals are looking to their
neighbours for support.

Senior General Than Shwe, Burma's top leader, has been busy visiting as
many countries around the region as he can. In the past six months, he has
visited Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Thailand. He's currently on a state
visit to Laos. Other senior ministers, including intelligence chief
General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung, have also been active
whipping up support for the regime. Earlier this year, Win Aung made an
historic trip to India.

Burma's leaders have long told Western government ministers and diplomats
that they did not fear Western-led sanctions as they expected to get all
the trade, investment and aid they needed from their neighbours. The
reality, of course, is that this is not forthcoming. In the last twelve
months, the only Asean investment was the Malaysian petroleum giant
Petronas' buy-out of the British company Premier Oil's interests in Burma.
Although Bangladesh and India have some commercial interests in Burma, the
only significant regional investor in the country is China.

It is time Asean governments reassessed their uncritical support for
Rangoon. Privately, United Nations officers say their credibility will be
on the line if they continue to put their heads in the sand.

But even after meeting Mr Razali last week in Bangkok, Thai Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai continued to tell local journalists that
the dialogue process had not stalled and that Bangkok fully supported
Burma's national reconciliation process. But Thai officials privately
concede that the government is fully aware that there are no talks between
the two sides and that the whole process is in deep trouble.

Asean countries have tried to avoid thinking about Burma. It's too
divisive,'' one senior Asean diplomat said. Countries like Cambodia, Laos
and Vietnam _ and Brunei _ will not criticise Myanmar Burma or allow
pressure to be brought to bear on issues like human rights and democratic
reform.''

There currently is no real incentive for the other Asean countries to take
the initiative. But they must change soon.

Burma will take over the presidency of Asean in 2006 _ and the annual
summit will be held in Rangoon. It will highly embarrassing for Asean to
be led by one of the world's remaining military dictatorships,'' said a
senior UN official privately in New York.

But if the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed are any indication, it is
still going to be years before Burma gets the democratic reform most
Burmese people crave.

Asean leaders could help speed that process up if privately, at two-way
and multilateral meetings, they began to put real pressure on Burma's
generals to implement economic and political reform.
___________

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma May 6 2003

Press Release: Burmese Generals 'Making Mileage Out of Human Misery'

The generals in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) recently
released 21 political prisoners claiming that they had made the decision
after taking "health and humanitarian concerns" into consideration.

This is just another glaring case of the regime making mileage out of
human misery.  These politicians should never have been in prison in the
first case.  And, any health problems that the generals are now so
concerned about only emerged because these democracy activists were left
neglected and exposed to harsh prison conditions.

Presently, there are around 1,400 political prisoners still held by the
military regime, and many of them--Min Ko Naing, U Win Tin, U Win Htein,
and elected representatives Dr Zaw Myint Maung of Amarapura,  U Sein Hla
Oo of insein,  Dr May Win Myint of Mayangon, and Dr Myint Naing of
Kantbalu, to name a few--have all completed their original sentences but
continued to be kept in prison.

The regime's announcement that "those that will cause no harm to the
community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and the unity of the
nation" will be released actually means that the generals will continue to
act above the law and keep activists in prison until they are deemed to be
politically neutralized.

Prime Minister Dr Sein Win said, "The generals are out of touch with
reality and are punishing dedicated people who can work for the good of
the country. The country is dangerously inching toward disaster all
because of the political paranoia of these generals."

 The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma strongly condemns
the SPDC which is courting danger by refusing to work toward national
reconciliation and for continuing to keep politicians imprisoned so that
they can be used as a tool in the generals' political game.
________

All Burma Federation of Student Unions May 6 2003

Press Release: Regime Continue the arrest of students
By Foreign Affairs Committee, ABFSU

In April, 8 student activists from various regions of the country were
arrested by the Military Intelligence, after the student demonstration on
4 April 2003 at Rangoon, capital of Burma. All of them are members of
student front which organized the peaceful demonstration in front of
British Embassy, Rangoon on 4 April. The student front, People Students'
Oway Front, had formed with students from various universities, colleges
and high schools throughout the nation to mobilize the peaceful student
movements for political development. One of its members is now seeking
political asylum at the British Embassy, since he had a fear of
persecution because of his involvement in the demonstration on 4 April.
The student front insists that they have totally no connection with any
terrorist activities and they will never do such an act.
According to information of All Burma Federation of Student Unions
(ABFSU), these students were arrested because of their memberships in the
student front and connection with the demonstration on 4 April. Min Naing,
spokesperson of Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU, said, "We are very
concerning of these students who recently were arrested. Because the
regime had accused the students who participated in the demonstration had
linked with previous bomb attack in Rangoon. This is really wrong. In
previous history of Burma, students always move in peaceful ways and have
never practiced violent ways. Only the regime had used violent means to
crash down student movements. Thus, we have concerned that these students
might be tortured at military interrogation centers, accusing they had
linked with terrorist acts."
ABFSU strongly believe that the violent means to student movements and
arrests of students cannot solve real existing problems in Burma. ABFSU
demands military regime to release all political prisoners including
students, to legalize independent student unions and other civil groups,
and to hold a peaceful political talk with National League for Democracy
led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

For more information about the student front which organized the
demonstration on 4 April, the attached letters are shown. These were
distributed inside Burma by People Students' Oway Front, and are
translated into English Version by Foreign Affairs Committee of ABFSU.

Media Contact: Min Naing (66-1- 740 2908)

Foreign Affairs Committee
All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU)