BurmaNet News, December 4, 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

Dec 4, 2003 Issue # 2380

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar frees 20 pro-democracy activists jailed since May, relatives
told
BBC: Burma frees National League for Democracy youth members
Irrawaddy: KNU to Determine Credibility of Road Map
Narinjara News: Village set ablaze by the army

DRUGS
The Bangkok Post: Millions of pills 'at border'

BUSINESS / MONEY
Accountancy Age: Burma Ties Severed
BS: Cheap Burmese imports sap Ponnur black gram mart

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand to host international forum on Myanmar's "road map" for change

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Junta’s Ethnic Overtures Sideline Opposition
HRW: India: Investigate Police Attack on Burmese Demonstrators


INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

Dec 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar frees 20 pro-democracy activists jailed since May, relatives told

Myanmar's junta has released 20 National League for Democracy (NLD)
members jailed since May unrest that also triggered the detention of their
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sources said on Thursday.

Senior NLD member Than Tun, who was himself put under house arrest along
with the rest of the party's leadership and freed in late November, said
the families of the released activists were arranging for them to return
home.

"They have been released but we do not know the number freed at this
time," he said. "They have been calling, asking their parents to make
arrangements for their return."

Family sources told AFP they had been told that 20 NLD members had been
freed from several northern jails including Kalay, in Sagaing division,
and Khamti in Kachin state.

On a visit to Yangon last month, the United Nations' rights envoy to
Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said 153 opposition figures had been taken
into detention in the wake of the May 30 unrest, adding that 27 of them
remained in jail.

The latest releases leave only a handful still behind bars, including the
NLD's vice president, Tin Oo, who was taken to Kalay after the May 30
incident in which the democracy supporters were attacked by a pro-junta
gang.

Than Tun and four other members of the NLD's decision-making Central
Executive Committee were freed from house arrest on November 24, but Aung
San Suu Kyi, the party's chairman Aung Shwe and secretary U Lwin remain
confined to their Yangon homes.

The violence which erupted during Aung San Suu Kyi's political tour of
northern Myanmar triggered a crackdown on the NLD and the closure of all
its offices nationwide.

The opposition leader was initially held in secret detention until being
admitted to hospital for major gynaecological surgery and was then shifted
to her famous lakeside villa, where she has spent two other spells under
house arrest.

After visiting the democracy icon in November, Pinheiro said she would
refuse freedom from house arrest until the ruling generals released all
her jailed colleagues.

The crackdown after May 30 unleashed an outcry from the international
community led by the United States and the European Union, which tightened
economic sanctions against the regime.
___________________________________

Dec 4, British Broadcasting Corporation
Burma frees National League for Democracy youth members

It has been learned from a reliable source that eight National League for
Democracy, NLD youth members, who were arrested along with Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi after the Tabayin attack, were released from Hkamti Jail today.

They were Ko Myo Nyunt from Ahlone Township in Rangoon; Ko Myo Thaw, alias
Ko Pauk from Kamayut Township in Rangoon; Ko Myint Kyaw from Tamwe
Township in Rangoon; Ko Thet Tun from South Okkalapa in Rangoon; Ko Kyaw
Zin Win from Dawbon Township in Irrawaddy Division; and Ko Toe Lwin and Ko
Min Lwin from Ngaputaw Township in Irrawaddy Division. all names as heard

According to reports received by the DVB Democratic Voice of Burma , they
are still in Hkamti and authorities in the town are making arrangements to
send them back to their parents on 5 December. They were arrested near
Ye-u while they were travelling in a car with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during
the Dabayin attack.

A total of 17 youths were arrested and one of them - Ko Tun Zaw Zaw,
leader of the Rangoon Division NLD Youth - was released at the beginning
of last month November.
___________________________________

Dec 4, Irrawaddy
KNU to Determine Credibility of Road Map

A delegation from the Karen National Union (KNU) which arrived in Rangoon
yesterday will meet Burmese Prime Minister, Gen Khin Nyunt, to find out
whether the junta’s proposed road map for national reconciliation is
genuine, said the KNU’s deputy chairman.

Gen Saw Bo Mya said the visit, which will last for three or four days, was
also aimed at building confidence between the KNU and the military
government. The delegation is the first to fly to Rangoon in five decades,
although representatives of the KNU and the junta met elsewhere in Burma
to discuss a possible ceasefire four times during 1995 and 1996.

The KNU is the largest armed ethnic group to hold out on signing a
ceasefire with the regime. It has fought against successive Burmese
governments for 55 years.

"This trip is to look at how real and credible their road map is," said Bo
Mya. Khin Nyunt proposed the seven-point road map for national
reconciliation in August.

Bo Mya said the delegation of five junior army officers, including liaison
officer Lt-Col Soe Soe, would visit Myaung Mya, Irrawaddy Division, today.
The area is home to many Karen people.

In the next few days they will meet Gen Khin Nyunt and other military
leaders, including government spokesman Col San Pwint, added Bo Mya. The
delegation will also meet leading figures of the Karen community inside
Burma.

Bo Mya, who in a recent interview with The Irrawaddy called Khin Nyunt "a
good liar," said the KNU is now trying to work out if it can believe him
or not.

He emphasized that the visit is designed to explore what the regime is
doing and find out if its road map agenda is genuine, but not to discuss
other political issues with the military leaders.

If National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is excluded from
the proposed National Convention—the first step in the road map—KNU
leaders would have to decide whether or not to attend, said Bo Mya.

He said that the KNU will continue their struggle even if the delegate’s
visit doesn’t yield an outcome. "We will never surrender," he said.
_____________________________________

Dec 4, Narinjara News
Village set ablaze by the army

An Arakanese Village in Buthe Daung Township, 80
miles north of Sittwe, the capital of Araka state, was destroyed by the
local troops in November.

Soldiers from the Light Infantry Battalion 263 set the village on
fire.  The Sinn Rwa village is located near the base of LID 263 and the
villagers were mostly dependent upon work provided by the LID 263.

A villager from a nearby village said he cannot confirm whether the burning
had anything to do with a captain from the Battalion being murdered a week
before the Sinn Rwa village was destroyed.

The location of LIB 263 is nearby Buthe Daung- Maung Daw motor road


DRUGS
_____________________________________

Dec 4, The Bangkok Post
Millions of pills 'at border'

Hundreds of millions of speed pills are believed to have been stashed
along the Thai-Burmese border, waiting to be smuggled into Thailand once
there is a let-up in the government's war on drugs, former deputy army
commander-in-chief Gen Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said yesterday.

As the Thaksin Shinawatra government yesterday declared its victory in the
war on drugs, methamphetamine in particular, Gen Wattanachai said he
believed the situation in cities had improved only because large
quantities of drugs had been stashed near the border.

Prime Minister Thaksin yesterday said the drug problem was now
''manageable'' and no longer posed a serious threat.

Army chief Gen Chaisit Shinawatra also insisted the drug situation was now
under control. The Criminal Court's statistics showed the number of drug
cases this year had decreased by more than half from last year, he said.

Gen Wattanachai, who once headed the Third Army region in charge of
security along the Thai-Burmese border in the North, said he understood
fewer than 50 million speed pills had been seized this year, but the
estimated production was 700-800 million pills.

''Where are the missing hundreds of millions of pills?'' he said. ''There
is a big difference between the amount of drugs seized and the production
capacity. They must have been buried after the smugglers were blocked from
entering Thailand.''

Illicit drugs had become less widespread only in big cities where
officials took serious action as ordered by the prime minister, Gen
Wattanachai said.

''In outer areas, there are buried speed pills waiting to be smuggled in.
And drug production in factories in Burma has continued. Rangoon has
failed to take serious action _ like destroying those factories.''

He said the Burmese government had not destroyed any border drug
factories. Instead, it allowed the ethnic Wa army to continue with its
production of methamphetamine.

''The supply of methamphetamine pills will never run out or decrease.
Where did large amounts of them disappear to? Some may have been smuggled
in secretly, but most of them must have been buried waiting for the right
time to return,'' he said.

Gen Wattanachai did not believe drug production bases had been moved from
the northern border to other regions since there was no evidence to prove
that had occurred.

But there were reports which confirmed that drug factories were still in
the Wa army's bases.

He warned anti-drug agencies to watch out for an influx of speed pills
across the border, despite the military's efforts to block smuggling.

''Soldiers must work harder because they must seal the border. However, it
is hard for them to cover all areas and traffickers will resort more to
violence to bring their drugs in,'' Gen Wattanachai said.

Gen Chaisit said the army would continue its fight against drugs along the
border despite the government's victory declaration.

Criminal Court chief justice Chaicharoen Dussadeeporn yesterday said court
statistics showed there were fewer drug cases this year compared to last
year.

A total of 14,206 drug cases were forwarded to the court from January to
November last year. Of the total, 12,468 cases were concluded with 86
defendants being sentenced to death and 127 others to life imprisonment.

There were only 6,919 drug cases in the same period this year, he said. Of
the total, 5,614 cases were concluded with 38 defendants being sentenced
to death and 161 others to life in prison.



BUSINESS / MONEY
__________________________

Dec 4, Accountancy Age
Burma Ties Severed

Volatile political climate leads PricewaterhouseCoopers to withdraw its
interest in Burma, writes Paul Grant.

Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has pulled out of Burma following its
inclusion on a 'dirty list' published last year by campaigners fighting
against the country's military regime, writes Paul Grant.

The firm severed its ties with Burmese firm Hla Tun Consultants, in which
it had ownership interest. In a letter to the Burma UK campaign released
last week, PwC senior partner Kieran Poynter wrote: 'We were aware that
another member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network of firms, which held
an ownership interest in an entity operating in Burma, was re-evaluating
their ownership in this entity. I am now able to confirm that we have been
informed that this ownership interest has since been divested.'

Political opposition in the country is subject to draconian controls in
Burma and the government is accused of abuses, including the widespread
use of slave labour. Aung San Suu Kyi (pictured above), leader of the
opposition National League for Democracy, has been under house arrest
since May.

Ernst & Young, which was also added to the 'dirty list' earlier this year,
is currently considering its position, but was quick to point out to
Accountancy Age that its situation is far removed from that of PwC.

'Clients who have got a business interest in Burma, can use the U Tin Win
Group,' an E&Y spokeswoman said. The Big Four firm has no financial
interests in the Burmese accountancy firm, however.
__________________________

Dec 4, Business Standard
Cheap Burmese imports sap Ponnur black gram mart

The traders of Ponnur, leaders in the black gram business in Guntur until
a couple of years ago, are this time also not enthusiastic even as the
black gram season is set to begin .

Many of them have given up trading in the commodity, while some have no
alternative but to continue their livelihood business. Black gram is a
vital ingredient in the South Indian delicacy ‘ Idli.’

There were days when the traders of Ponnur used to supply blackgram
throughout the state as well as to other states like Karnataka and
Maharastra. They ruled the market for over twenty years and the exports
would touch five lakh bags i.e., 5,000 tonne.

The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) regime paved the way for
cheap imports of Burmese pulses, including blackgram.

The Ponnur market was hit badly as a result. While local markets sell a
quintal of blackgrams at Rs 1,500, the Burmese blackgram was available in
the range of Rs 1,100-1,200.

With the growing preference of regular customers throughout Andhra Pradesh
and southern states for the Burmese blackgram, a number of importers came
up in the Ponnur belt.

Add to this were liberal bank loans on 30-day credit period for even the
amounts over Rs10 lakh. Soon, huge godowns and distribution points emerged
in Chennai, Mumbai, Tuticorin and Kolkata, thus eating into the nationwide
pulse market.

With ships laden with blackgram reachingthe Indian ports every four or
five days as against the earlier ten days, the cheap Burmese pulses
including blackgram now have a complete sway over the Indian markets.

Against this depressing scenario, new developments also led to the
collapose of traditional blackgram markets like Ponnur. The large-scale
cultivation of commercial crops including blackgram slowly spawned the
proliferation of local pulse markets.

Prominent among them are Markapur, Vinukonda, Podili, Narasaraopet,
Suryapet, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad, Kavali, Nellore and
Chilakaluripet markets. Tenali leads all these markets with the highest
number of dal mills and a major share in pulses business.

Similar was the situtation in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharastra, where
cultivation and consequently local trading of blackgram took place over
the years, all the while spelling the slow decline of the once leading
market i.e., Ponnur market turnover. However, they too are hit by the
Burmese imports.

The end result has been one of speculative trading which dearly cost the
local farmers.

A kind of complacency has set in and farmers these days pay scanty
attention to the crop which has ceased to be remunerative.

Water scarcity is also a major discouraging factor for them, besides the
flood of imports. There is not likely to be any improvement in the
situation until the raingod or the state government show mercy on the
blackgram farmers. All these hit hard the interests of Ponnur traders.


REGIONAL
____________________________

Dec 4, Agence France Presse
Thailand to host international forum on Myanmar's "road map" for change

Thailand will host a 10-nation meeting to discuss Myanmar's proposed "road
map" towards democratic reform in Bangkok this month, officials and
reports said Thursday.

The Nation newspaper said Austria, China, France, Germany, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore had been invited to send
representatives to the talks due to be held on December 15.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra confirmed Thailand was expecting up to
10 countries to attend the meeting, which will be a forum for Myanmar to
explain the road map, including "free and fair" elections and a new
constitution.

"Thailand wants all participants to engage in constructive discussion,
brainstorming on a possible solution for Myanmar and also listen to
Myanmar's ideas," he told reporters. "Myanmar is welcome and open to
suggestions."

Foreign ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said that apart from
ministers from "like-minded" countries such as Singapore, experts,
including United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, would
also be invited.

"The ministry expects to make an official announcement next week after we
receive responses from all the countries invited," he said.

China said in October that it was willing to take part in the multilateral
talks aimed at prodding military-ruled Myanmar to embark on democratic
reforms, as long as the ruling junta agreed to be involved.

The Nation said Myanmar had agreed to send a representative, possibly
Foreign Minister Win Aung, to brief the forum.

The participation of China, Myanmar's main trading partner and one of its
few international allies, would greatly increase the prospects for change
in the impoverished country which has been run by the military for four
decades.

Myanmar's road map for reform announced by Prime Minister General Khin
Nyunt in August met with scepticism from western nations because it lacked
a time frame and failed to mention opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel peace laureate is under house arrest after being detained at a
secret location in May after her supporters were attacked by a
junta-backed mob during a political tour of northern Myanmar.

But analysts say that despite the apparent political impasse, there are
indications the regime is in fact working towards introducing some sort of
democratic reforms by 2006.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Demoracy (NLD) won the 1990
election in a landslide but has never been allowed to assume power.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

Dec 4, Irawaddy
Junta’s Ethnic Overtures Sideline Opposition

The National Convention is once again the talk of the town in Burmese
political circles. When Burma’s new Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt
announced the junta’s seven-point homegrown recipe for democracy, the
first step was the resumption of National Convention that adjourned in
early 1996.

The move signaled that the junta has recovered from the May 30 nightmare
in Depayin and designing a counterattack against the pro-democracy
movement. It rings of Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

The regime has now succeeded in persuading almost all the ethnic
groups—ceasefire and non-ceasefire—to climb on the road map bandwagon.
With the legitimacy they will add to the National Convention, the junta
can undermine Aung San Suu Kyi’s election-winning National League for
Democracy (NLD) party, since the opposition also depends on an alliance
with ethnic groups.

Moreover, the regime has made an effort to sell its vision to regional
powers this time around. If it is successful, the maneuvers may sideline
Suu Kyi’s international allies, such as the US and UN.

"The military is determined to make something out of their roadmap," says
U Htain Lin, a veteran political analyst in Rangoon. "They appear to be
planning to form a quasi-civilian government by 2006."

Though many question the inclusiveness of the National Convention, the
military leaders define the forum as representative, since they have some
ethnic groups on board. Junta chairman Sr-Gen Than Shwe told Chinese
leaders during a visit to China in January that the government would
cooperate with ethnic groups, but never with Suu Kyi.

"They are desperately persuading non-ceasefire ethnic groups to enter into
ceasefire deals and sit in the National Convention, at least as
observers," says Aung Moe Zaw, the general secretary of National Council
of the Union of Burma, an exiled opposition alliance.

Key ethnic groups such as the Kachin Independence Organization have
already announced they will join the Convention, but some groups are
reluctant. "The military has been pressing us to submit a delegation list
for the Convention," says Nai Banya Mon, a spokesperson for the New Mon
State Party (NMSP), which signed a ceasefire in 1995. "We haven’t decided
to do so yet."

"To the best of my knowledge, the participation of the majority of the
ethnic groups in the Convention is not yet certain. Presenting the list of
delegates can’t be seen as the group’s final decision about
participation," he added "The NMSP only advocate an open and inclusive
Convention."

Aung Moe Zaw agreed. "No matter if ethnic groups join the Convention after
all, the regime wants to have token lists from them so that they can claim
that things are progressing, especially to the international people," he
says.

A delegation from the Karen National Union (KNU), the largest
non-ceasefire armed ethnic group, is now in Rangoon to discuss the road
map. Sources confirm that Khin Nyunt will receive the delegation. The
military is also currently approaching non-ceasefire Karenni groups about
ceasing hostilities, according to news reports.

The National Convention is the only available game being played right now
in Rangoon and ethnic groups realize that they have very limited choices.
Any group which dares to say "no" will run the risk of being left out of
the political process. Insurgent groups along the Thai-Burma border are
also receiving pressure from the Thais on a daily basis.

If the regime manages to persuade—or at least neutralize—the ethnic groups
during this battle for legitimacy it will have a devastating effect on the
NLD. The party will be left behind while the junta and its ethnic allies
follow the government’s road map.

Despite such a worse case scenario, senior NLD leaders remain confident in
their designated role in solving Burma’s political deadlock.

"Without the legitimacy the NLD adds, none of Burma’s problems can be
resolved in sustaining way," says a senior party leader from Rangoon.
"There have been some movements in [Suu Kyi’s] compound. Military liaisons
are approaching her. Things are going to be cleared by early next year."

But the junta’s maneuvering does not elicit much optimism. The generals
seem set on continuing to silence the Lady until they reach agreements
with the major ethnic groups. The regime may release some more political
prisoners now and then, but most likely not Suu Kyi and other outspoken
NLD leaders.

If the junta is successful in its efforts to sell the road map abroad, it
may be able to use the Thai-sponsored forum on Burma scheduled for Bangkok
in mid-December as a shield to fend off Western pressure. China, India,
Japan and Germany, will be there, and having them on board will allow the
junta to deflect the US’s harsh criticism and perhaps even circumvent the
current UN efforts at dialogue.

"There are increasing concerns among the policy makers in the US over this
forum. When Thailand stated that only like-minded countries would be
invited, people here were agitated and felt marginalized," says Aung Din,
the policy director of Washington-based US Campaign for Burma.

The NLD has also been targeted for marginalization. Time will tell if they
too become agitated.

____________________________

Dec 4, Human Rights Watch
India: Investigate Police Attack on Burmese Demonstrators

India should undertake a thorough and independent investigation of
possible police abuses against Burmese refugees and asylum seekers during
demonstrations on November 12-13 in New Delhi, Human Rights Watch said
today. The government should also ensure that none of the refugees,
including those who participated in the demonstrations, are forcibly
returned to Burma, where they would likely face persecution.

On November 12, riot police used water cannons, electric batons, and canes
to forcibly disperse a group of 500 Burmese nationals, many already
recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), who were staging a protest outside the UNHCR office.
Many had been protesting since October 20 the decision by UNHCR to cut its
allowance for refugees in India from 1,400 rupees (U.S. $30) a month by as
much as 60 percent in order to cut costs and promote "self reliance."

At least 25 of the demonstrators were injured. Many of the injuries were
severe, and included head and chest injuries, bruised backs and legs, and
broken bones.

"There was no need for the police to use violence to break up a
demonstration," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division
of Human Rights Watch. "It is disturbing that the world's largest
democracy would repress people who have already been victimized in their
own
country."

On November 12, police officers detained several hundred protesters at
four different police stations. Most were released that night. Twenty-four
protesters were sent to Tihal Central Jail in New Delhi and charged with
rioting and obstructing the police.

The New Delhi police commissioner declared a 30-day curfew effective
November 12 in order to prohibit any gathering within 200 meters of the
UNHCR office. On November 13, after more than 100 protesters gathered
again in front of UNHCR, police officers arrested another 20 Burmese and
sent them to Tihal Jail. In the days following the arrests, large numbers
of protesters have continued to gather near the UNHCR office.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms provides that law
enforcement officials shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means
before resorting to the use of force, and they may do so only if other
means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended
result.

Human Rights Watch urged the Indian government to investigate and
prosecute or discipline as appropriate any police officer found to have
used or authorized excessive force.  The government must also ensure that
those protestors charged with criminal offenses have access to legal
counsel; those not charged should be released.

"India can demonstrate to these refugees that in a democracy the rule of
law prevails even for the weakest," said Adams.

Of the 42 demonstrators arrested and charged so far, two have been
released on bail. According to UNHCR, 16 of the 44 are recognized by UNHCR
as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, and another 14 have cases
that are pending.

UNHCR has recognized approximately 1,000 Burmese in New Delhi as refugees.
The majority are ethnic Chin Christians from Mizoram province in
northwestern Burma, who fled to India after the unrest in Burma in the
mid-1990s. In recent years new refugee flows have been caused by arbitrary
detention, torture, forced labor and religious persecution by the Burmese
government, as well as ongoing warfare between government forces and the
Chin National Army.