BurmaNet News, May 1-3, 2004

[Editor]

May 1-3, 2004, Issue # 2468

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Media repression an important tool for Myanmar junta: RSF
AFP: Myanmar urges US to end sanctions, become 'partner' in democracy
AFP: Myanmar readies for constitutional convention with opposition attending

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Manipur CM Demands Burma border sealing

DRUGS
Times (London): Cut my head off if I don't ban poppies, says Burma's top
drug lord

BUSINESS
Xinhua: FAO helps Myanmar upgrade agricultural production technology
Xinhua: Myanmar enacts electronic transaction law
Kaladan: Bangladesh Chamber Leaders Urged Revision of Account Trade Deal
with Burma

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Asia the 'world's biggest prison for the press': media rights group
AFP: US hopes Myanmar junta will open talks with opposition

OPINION/OTHER
Dallas Morning News: Burma's icon still needs world's help
Independent: No Win Situation: How I Failed To Meet Aung San Suu Kyi's
Evil Twin
Nation: EU enlargement is good for Asia
Straits Times: Pressure on Yangon should be from within Asia

REPORT
RSF: 14th World Press Freedom Day / Dictatorships in Paradise


INSIDE BURMA
_____________________________________

May 3, Agence France Presse
Media repression an important tool for Myanmar junta: RSF

Bangkok: Media repression is one of the most important tools of control in
military-run Myanmar, where a journalist was sentenced to death for "high
treason" last year, Reporters Without Borders said Sunday.

Zaw Thet Htway, the editor of Myanmar's most popular sports magazine, who
is appealing his conviction, was convicted "on the trumped-up charge of
attempting to assassinate military junta leaders," it said in a report.

The press rights watchdog (Reporters Sans Frontieres - RSF) said he was
beaten and tortured after his arrest at the offices of his magazine First
Eleven last July.

"The military, who envied the newspaper's very profitable success, did not
like his articles criticising the way Burmese soccer is run," it said,
using the country's former name.

"Shortly before his arrest, Zaw Thet Htway published an article about an
international donation for the promotion of football in Burma. First
Eleven asked questions about the manner in which the money was spent."

RSF also detailed the iron grip Myanmar's military government has over the
press, which it said was one of the few countries in the world with
pre-publication censorship.

"Any criticism of the junta and any subjects that irritate the generals
(such as human rights, AIDS, drugs and corruption) are banned," it said.

At least seven magazines were temporarily closed in 2002 for publishing
articles or even words deemed "incorrect" and offenders can be published
with up to seven years in prison, RSF said.

"Censorship is a key component of the regime of terror imposed by the
junta, which is able to decree a total blackout on certain issues," it
said, noting that in February 2003 all reporting on Myanmar's disastrous
banking crisis was banned.

And in May 2003, the authorities also forced the media to stay silent
about the arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a violent
attack on her convoy during a political tour of northern Myanmar.
_____________________________________

May 3, Agence France Presse
Myanmar urges US to end sanctions, become 'partner' in democracy

Yangon: Myanmar has urged its arch critic the United States to roll back
harsh economic sanctions and become a "positive partner" in pursuing
democracy in the military-ruled state, according to a statement seen
Monday.

The junta, which has committed to launching its "road map to democracy" on
May 17 with the opening of a national convention, was facing a renewal of
damaging sanctions imposed last year after democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi's detention during a crackdown on the opposition.

"Myanmar urges United States to be a positive partner in democracy and
adopt to a policy of fairness and responsibility," said the statement sent
to foreign news offices in the capital Yangon on Sunday.

"The government of Myanmar ... urges the United States to abandon its
misguided attempts to destabilize Myanmar and encourages Washington to
join with us and our regional partners in developing a peaceful,
prosperous and democratic Myanmar," it added.

"This is far better than promoting poverty, instability, drugs and armed
conflicts as the result of imposing sanctions, invasion or occupation."

A resolution put forward in the US Senate last week was to renew sanctions
imposed last year after Aung San Suu Kyi's detention following a May 30
ambush on her National League for Democracy supporters by a junta-backed
mob.

The charismatic Nobel peace laureate remains under house arrest, and while
her party has suggested it will attend this month's convention, foreign
governments have warned the forum would be completely discredited if she
were not freed before it started.

While Aung San Suu Kyi was expected to be released mid-April, analysts
were now predicting she would be given her liberty about one week before
the convention begins.

The statement took a swipe at US Senator Mitch McConnell, one of 16
sponsors of the bill, who suggested the sanctions remain in place until
Myanmar's military rulers embarked "on an irreversible path towards
reconciliation and democracy."

"His actions are, as one veteran Myanmar politician described, championing
inhumanity," said the statement. "Sanctions delay or even derail the
proper evolution to a democracy."

It backed up its critiques by citing independent international groups
critical of the US sanctions policy.

It noted a report by Belgium-based International Crisis Group which
criticised the sanctions regime, saying "the economic sanctions have
largely missed their target."

_____________________________________

May 2, Agence France Presse
Myanmar readies for constitutional convention with opposition attending

Yangon: The stage appears set for Myanmar's junta to launch a national
constitutional convention on May 17 as scheduled, with Aung San Suu Kyi's
pro-democracy opposition taking part, analysts say.

The military regime's refusal to release the opposition leader from house
arrest, and hostile exchanges between the government and opposition,
indicated last month that the opposition's involvement was in doubt.

But the National League for Democracy (NLD) said last week it was almost
certain to attend as it expected the junta to accept its proposed changes
to the procedures under which the convention will be run.

"We have come to the conclusion that it is in the interests of the people
and the nation for us to attend the national convention," NLD secretary U
Lwin said Friday of the forum which is aimed at writing a new
constitution.

"We have been assured that they would consider our suggestions positively.
Therefore, it is more or less certain that we will be attending the
national convention."

Analysts are hopeful that Aung San Suu Kyi, who they originally expected
to be freed in mid-April, could be released just before the convention
begins.

"We are now looking at Aung San Suu Kyi to be released about one week
before the convention," said one well-informed source close to the
national reconciliation process.

Observers in Yangon pointed to a general improvement in the political mood
in the military-run state ahead of the convention, the first step in a
so-called "roadmap to democracy" supposedly leading to free elections.

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, who unveiled the roadmap last year and
is keen for as many parties and ethnic groups to attend the forum as
possible, appears to be willing to accommodate the NLD's suggestions,
analysts say.

But the final decision rests with Myanmar's leader Senior General Than
Shwe, whose antipathy towards the NLD, and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular,
is well known.

"A memorandum of understanding has already been signed, so to speak, and
only the signature of Senior General Than Shwe is needed to firm up final
agreement," one analyst told AFP.

Sources close to the regime said Than Shwe has already made preparations
for the convention to go ahead by finalising a new military leadership
line-up, and consolidating his political power base.

"I see light at the end of the tunnel," another analyst said.

Major ethnic political parties have said they were waiting to see what
decision the NLD made before announcing whether they would attend the
convention.

Aung San Suu Kyi and the rest of the NLD leadership were taken into
detention a year ago during political unrest that triggered a sweeping
crackdown on the party including the closure of all its offices.

Most of the opposition figures have now been freed, and in April the
government allowed the party's Yangon headquarters to reopen.

Observers say the reopening of the rest of the party offices nationwide
and the freeing of some of the 1,300 political prisoners in the nation's
jails are likely to be precursors to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Meanwhile the government's preparations for the convention are in full
swing with hostels, gymnasiums, hospitals, canteens and beauty salons
being constructed at the venue outside Yangon.


ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

May 2, Mizzima News
Manipur CM Demands Burma border sealing - Surajit Khound

Worried over large-scale influx of underground members of India's
northeastern militant groups through the international border, Manipur
Chief Minister, Mr. Okram Ibobi has demanded the immediate sealing of
Indo-Burma border.  Addressing a press conference on April 30 evening in
the Manipur capital, Imphal, Mr. Ibobi said that underground members are
taking advantage of the porous Indo-Burma border to sneak into the region
to instigate and carry out subversive activities.  Expressing concern at
the time taken by the Indian Home Ministry to address this issue, the
Manipur chief minister said that the Indian government seemed more
pro-active towards sealing the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders,
but it is not sincere in protecting the Indo-Burma border.  Manipur shares
a 300 km border with Burma. However, due to a lack of proper security
force personnel to monitor the border, hundreds of underground members are
sneaking into northeast India.  Criticising the Indian Home Minister, Mr.
Ibobi said that the porous border is also helping anti-social elements to
carry out drug and illegal arms business.  "Proper fencing and border
maintenance would help the Indian Home Ministry to curb the militancy
problem in the region," he said, adding that more security force personnel
should be deployed to the border to scale down the insurgency problem.

When asked about the ongoing Indian army operation at Sajatam Pak,
regarded the strong hold of three militant groups of Manipur, Mr. Ibobi
pleaded ignorance saying he was not intimidated in this regard.  "The
operation was conducted under the supervision of the Indian Home
Ministry," he responded. Responding to questions about the suffering of
the villagers living along the border, he said, "I am waiting for the
Deputy Commissioner's report of the Chandel district. The moment I get his
report, the relief operation will be taken up immediately."  The chief
minister seems to be unhappy about the handling the Indian Army's of the
operation.


DRUGS
_____________________________________

May 1, Times (London)
Cut my head off if I don't ban poppies, says Burma's top drug lord -
Oliver August

The head of a region that was the source of half the world's heroin is to
halt the poppy growing, he tells Oliver August in Pangsang

When Bao Youxiang offered to meet US diplomats in Rangoon for a chat, they
declined, telling a foreign intermediary that he would be arrested on the
spot if he entered the embassy.

The Burmese rebel leader, whose remote territory was the source of about
half the world's heroin in 2001, has a price of $ 1 million (£560,000) on
his head, the diplomat pointed out.

Bao is the leader of the hardy Wa tribe, former head hunters who openly
grow poppies on vast hillsides and legally trade opium in village markets
from where it is transported to Britain and other Western countries.

At the embassy in Rangoon, Chairman Bao, as he likes to be called, had
intended to tell US diplomats about a radical plan to shed his drug lord
image. He wants to ban all poppy cultivation by his 400,000 people by next
summer, a step that would transform the region. Short of sympathetic
listeners, he invited The Times to inspect preparations for the ban,
followed by an evening of ten-pin bowling in the King Pin's mountain
stronghold.

Pangsang is only reachable via three consecutive domestic flights and a
twelve-hour bus ride through poppy-growing areas controlled by Chairman
Bao's 30,000-strong personal army, labelled the world's "most heavily
armed narco- traffickers".

The Wa "capital" stretches along a river valley, wedged between a sleepy
Chinese border crossing and a fortified checkpoint. Along the main street
there is a 20ft golden water buffalo statue, the scene of recent
celebrations on the Wa "National Day". Chairman Bao has issued his own car
licence plates and school curriculum and his meetings with foreigners are
filmed by Wa state television.

"You can chop my head off if there are still poppies here next year," he
said in fluent Mandarin, using one of his favourite phrases. "I want to
help my people by building a modern economy." A 10 per cent tax on opium
has long been a major source of income.

Chairman Bao was seated in a banquet hall with dining tables arranged for
three dozen. He apologised for the absence of most of his lieutenants,
whom he called "Central Committee members" as if referring to China's
Communist leadership.

The 57-year-old, who had only two years of education in a Chinese primary
school, has expanded the region's road network sixfold in recent years,
thanks to good trade relations with China along the 300-mile border. But
Beijing has put pressure on him to abandon drug trafficking and to
concentrate on commerce in line with World Trade Organisation guidelines.

Public Security Bureau officials from China, fighting a domestic heroin
flood, have visited Pangsang to arrest traffickers presented to them by
Chairman Bao's United Wa State Army.

The US Government has yet to endorse his conversion from drug lord to
nation builder, but it is helping to fund a UN aid programme in Wa
territory. Jeremy Milsom, a UN official, said: "We believe that Bao is
genuine. He used to be up to his neck in it, but now he wants out."

When his brother was found to be operating drug factories close to a UN
project station this year, Chairman Bao, who shed his combat fatigues in
1996 and now wears a diamond Rolex and a sapphire ring, acted promptly.
The labs were closed and the brother's militia disbanded, although he has
not been arrested.

United Wa State Army soldiers appear to support the crackdown. Ai Sam, an
armed and uniformed 16-year-old, said: "The ban should help to stop
addiction in the army. We were told offenders will go to prison for four
years." Even senior officers, long beneficiaries of the drugs trade, at
least publicly applaud the ban.

Zhao Wenxing, a regional commander, said: "We don't want to be known as
the Wild Wa any more. We want to be friends with other countries and you
can't with opium."

Attending a family funeral, the commander stood only a few feet away from
his relatives' poppy plot. Every spring, the hill tribe villagers score
the plump bulbs with razor-like tools and scoop up the oozing opium,
rolling it into fist-sized balls.

Dressed in their Sunday best, they take their harvest to market traders
who use as weights old silver rupee coins picturing George V and Edward
VII. A kilo (2.2lb) of opium sells for about £130, an annual income for
the villagers.

The production of heroin, as well as synthetic drugs, boomed in the 1990s
after Chairman Bao negotiated a ceasefire with the Burmese Government,
ending decades of fighting. His motivation for imposing a ban now is
something of a mystery.

Possibly, the Rangoon regime is buying him off to improve Burma's
international image. The Bao family has been able to take over a
government airline. Pressure from China, long opposed to drugs, is another
factor.

The Chinese Ambassador to Rangoon has repeatedly visited Chairman Bao. The
warlord, some say, is also concerned with his legacy. He keeps referring
to "history" and "my people".

Others point to his young second wife, a progressive ethnic Chinese who
persuaded him to set up a women's union in the Wa state. When he decided
to marry her, he apparently had quite a bit of persuading to do himself:
his first wife only reluctantly accepted the younger companion into what
is now their joint household, a plush villa with a large satellite dish,
guarded by teenagers with hand grenades.

Most of his people live much more modestly. Opium is the only source of
income and medicine in much of the Wa region, and when the ban comes into
effect in July, it will cause major disruption. Kya Teh, 56, who has
smoked to fight chronic pains for the past ten years, moaned: "I don't
know what I'll do without it." The village chief in Kaw Law Su, a huddle
of four dozen huts on a ridge line, said: "The situation will be desperate
after the ban. Every household here grows opium."

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that the loss of income will
condemn many Wa to starvation and has financed an £8 million relief
effort, including building irrigation canals for new rice paddies. If the
fallout from the ban cannot be managed, the UN office says, opium
production is likely to resume on a grand scale.

That, of course, presupposes Bao is genuine in the first place. As far as
a visitor can tell, he may be. The public recognition of opium as an evil
by the Wa is a huge step.

"Drugs are bad for you. Really, bowling is much better entertainment,"
Chairman Bao said as he gestured to an assistant to book a few lanes at
his favourite ten-pin alley across the street.


BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

May 1, Xinhua News Agency
FAO helps Myanmar upgrade agricultural production technology

Yangon: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has
been helping Myanmar upgrade its agricultural production technology under
a  cooperation program of the two parties, the local Business Tank
reported in its latest issue.

The project, that was started in 2000, covers education on agricultural
seeds to the national level and control of producing durable food products
in the long run and improvement of farmers' stable income.

Under the project, good quality seeds are provided to farmers for
production with training of modern technology application.

For technology transfer, six sites have been designated to train farmers
for practical cultivation of beans and pulses, Myanmar's main agricultural
crops, which also include paddy, sugarcane and cotton.

These sites chosen for practical cultivation training cover areas in
Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago and Shan divisions and states.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has strengthened research activities in agriculture,
aimed at promoting the development of the sector. A review project,
involving foreign and local experts, has been underway to study the
present situation of the sector, its technical conditions, effectiveness
of public and private institutions, allocation of state budget,
infrastructure and social investment.

Future plans and appropriate strategies for establishing basic framework
for future investment are being worked out to maintain development pace in
the agricultural aspects.

Under the FAO guidelines, Myanmar has carried out its third agricultural
census since last October, covering 272 townships out of 324, to help plan
more agricultural projects.

Agriculture is the backbone of Myanmar's economy and 65 percent of its
labor force in the population of over 52 million is engaged in
agricultural production. The agricultural output accounts for 42 percent
of the country's gross domestic product and its export value represents
28.3 percent of the total.

_____________________________________

May 1, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar enacts electronic transaction law

Yangon: Myanmar has enacted the Electronic Transaction Law to serve as a
legal basis for the development of multi-sectors with the use of
e-transaction technologies, according to Saturday's official newspaper the
New light of Myanmar.

The eight-chapter e-transaction law, signed by Chairman of the State Peace
and Development Council Than Shwe on Friday, aims to give legal protection
in matters of internal and external transactions making use of computer
network.

The law is also to enable transmitting, receiving and storing local and
foreign information simultaneously with the application of such
technologies.

The law will enable communicating and cooperating effectively and speedily
with local and foreign government departments, regional and international
organizations, and private enterprises and persons making use of the
computer network.

The law shall apply to any kind of record and electronic data message used
in the context of commercial and non-commercial activities including
domestic and international dealings, transactions, arrangements,
agreements, contracts and exchanges and storage of information, it stated.

To strengthen administration of e-transaction, the law empowers the
government to form a central body of e-transaction with the minister of
communications, posts and telegraphs as its chairman and an e-transaction
control board comprising experts.

Computers have been widely used in Myanmar along with the development of
information and communication technology (ICT). The country has been
introducing some seven e-government projects, which include e-passport,
e-visa, e-procurement, e-certification authority and trade-data
interchange.

Being one of the signatories to the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement initiated
at the Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held
in Singapore in 2000, Myanmar has formed the e-national task force to
support the IT development.

With the aim of boosting the country's software industry, two ICT parks in
Yangon and Mandalay were established in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

_____________________________________

May 3, Kaladan News
Bangladesh Chamber Leaders Urged Revision of Account Trade Deal with Burma

Chittagong: Bangladesh Chamber leaders have urged the government to revise
the account trade agreement with Burma saying the deal is not helpful to
augment bilateral trade, according to the Daily Star of Bangladesh.

At a joint meeting held recently at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the
Chamber leaders urged the government to involve private sector in making
such a deal to ensure proper implementation and achieve the goal, the
paper further added.

Abdul Awal Mintoo, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said the limit should be enhanced to at
least $5 lakh (US$ 500 thousand) and the reconciliation time should be
brought down to two months.

Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury, the President of Chittagong Chamber of
Commerce & Industry (CCCI), proposed revision of the account trade agreeme
nt.

The CCCI president stressed the need for constructing a bridge on the
river Karnaphuli and observed that without the development of internal
communication it would be useless to develop road links with Burma.

Implementation of the agreement was slow because the private sector was
not involved in the official talks when terms of references of the
agreement were finalized, said Rashed Maksud Khan, Chairman of
Bangladesh-Burma Business Promotion Council.

Presiding over the meeting, Mr. Khan said many flaws were detected in the
deal in the implementation process. "Therefore, there should be private
sector involvement in preparing such agreements," he recommended.

He also said the limit of US$ 1 lakh (100 thousand) only and
reconciliation period of six months in case of letters of credit against
account trade would be totally unworkable. "The volume of trade would be
so low that it would not be feasible to do business profitably."

Referring to the market and population of Burma, the FBCCI chief further
said there is huge potential of setting up industries in Bangladesh based
on the raw materials available in Burma such as limestone and
agro-products.

The FBCCI would take up the issues of account trade with the government
and expedite the road link development projects, he further added.

Fazle RM Hasan, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(DCCI), said Burma entrepreneurs should be encouraged to invest in
Bangladesh preferably in the field of gas and gas-based industry, cement,
infrastructure and agro-based industries.

Towards Bangladesh’s east policy, the Roads and Highway Department (RHD)
of Bangladesh had almost finalized the decision to build a bridge over the
Karnaphuli River in Bangladesh. The decision has almost been finalized to
give work order, without floating any tender, to a consortium of the
Netherlands and Sweden for building the bridge at the cost of Taka 4390
milli on (US$ 74.14 million).

According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in March 2003,
account trade will be settled in every six months. Burma may face a big
problem for setting the accounts due to dollar crisis.


INTERNATIONAL
___________________________________

May 2, Agence France Presse
Asia the 'world's biggest prison for the press': media rights group

Paris: Asian nations detained more than 200 journalists last year, while
three were condemned to death and at least 16 murdered, Reporters Without
Borders said Sunday, accusing governments of torture and censorship.

"More than 200 journalists were detained in Asia, making it by far the
world's biggest prison for the press," said the media watchdog's annual
report, in which few Asia-Pacific nations escaped criticism.

In May 2004, 27 journalists were in jail in China, second only to Cuba's
29, the group said, and while 11 were imprisoned in Myanmar. Four
journalists were arrested in Pakistan over the year.

Nepalese security forces arrested, detained, tortured or threatened about
100 journalists in 2003, said the report by the head of the body's Asia
desk, Vincent Brossel.

Those in detention were "subjected to such torture as repeated violent
blows to the soles of the feet, forced submersion in water and electric
shock... Some were forced to spend weeks with a hood over their head and
face."

Journalists were also tortured in Pakistan and Myanmar, it said.

In Myanmar, Zaw Thet Htwe, the editor of a football magazine, was
condemned to death "on the trumped-up charge of 'attempted assassination
of military junta leaders'."

And in Afghanistan the editor of an independent weekly and one of his
journalists "were the object of a religious fatwa after calling for a
secular political system."

Of the 16 journalists killed in the region, seven were in the Philippines
who were murdered by contract killers, mainly in the troubled southern
island of Mindanao, it said.

In Cambodia the presenter of a royalist radio state was gunned down. "The
ever-obliging police made no effort to arrest the killers or identify the
instigators," the report said.

Journalists also became caught up in armed separatist struggles, including
two who were killed in India "because of their coverage of the Kashmir
conflict."

A TV cameraman and a reporter were killed in the Indonesian military's
offensive against separatists in Aceh province, while in Myanmar a
journalist linked to the opposition National League for Democracy "was
killed by the regime's thugs."

The report said at least 600 journalists were physically attacked or
threatened in 2003.

"The level of violence rose again in Bangladesh to more than 200 cases of
physical attacks or death threats against journalists by political
activists, especially from the ruling party, or criminals."

Censorship was widely imposed to silence critics and was reinforced in
some 10 countries by anti-terrorist laws passed after the September 11,
2001 attacks in the United States, the report said.

"More than 190 news media were hit by censorship," it said.

In China, journalists "who created trouble" were simply removed from their
posts. "This was how the central government banned the press from covering
the SARS epidemic in the first months of 2003."

"China continued to jam the Chinese-language service of the BBC World
Service and Radio Free Asia," while various Internet sites were blocked.

Foreign TV channels were banned in Afghanistan and Indonesia's army used
martial law to impose a news black-out on the war in Aceh province.

"One of the worst pieces of news in 2003 came from Thailand, where Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did his best to silence critical voices with
the help of the army, which owns many electronic media," the report said.

However, the situation there was better than in Laos and Myanmar "which
could be mistaken for a parody of propaganda media."

In communist North Korea, all the news media were "given over to the cult
of Kim Jong-Il's personality."

While Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei allowed the media to freely cover
international or economic issues, "sensitive domestic political issues are
banned."

The report noted that Japan maintained a press club system which excluded
foreign and freelance journalists from access to government sources, while
in the Pacific nation of Tonga the constitution was amended to ban the
only independent weekly.

Australia's conservative government also drew fire, with the report saying
it "continued to prevent journalists from covering the situation of
refugees held in camps on Australian territory or in neighbouring
countries."

Only Taiwan came in for slight praise, Reporters Without Borders saying it
"continued its steady consolidation as one of Asia's leading countries as
regards press freedom."

___________________________________

May 1, Agence France Presse
US hopes Myanmar junta will open talks with opposition

Washington: The United States hopes Myanmar's military junta, which
allowed a rare opposition leadership meeting, would itself hold talks with
the National League for Democracy, the State Department said Friday.

The junta arranged two meetings this week between the NLD's executive
committee and party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

The meeting comes ahead of a constituent assembly to frame a new
constitution.

NLD vice-chairman deputy Tin Oo, also under house arrest, was taken to the
meeting ahead of the constitutional convention on May 17, the first step
in the military regime's "roadmap to democracy."

"We welcome the report that all of the National League for Democracy
central executive committee has had a chance to discuss the national
convention," state department spokesman Kurtis Cooper told AFP.

"Now we hope that the junta will engage in substantive dialogue with the
National League for Democracy and react positively to their ideas," he
said.

NLD secretary U Lwin said Friday that the party had submitted to the junta
a set of proposals after their meeting, including procedures under which
the convention will be run and the need for "free and open discussions".

"We have been assured that they would consider our suggestions
positively," U Lwin said, adding that the NLD was more or less certain it
would attend the forum.

U Lwin had said that if the party's proposals were accepted and if the NLD
attended the convention, he expected Aung San Suu Kyi to be freed before
May 17.

Myanmar's democracy icon and the rest of her party's leadership were
detained during political unrest a year ago. Since then, most have been
freed.

Hopes were high that Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed before the
convention, but faded in recent weeks as the political atmosphere in
Yangon grew tense.

Cooper said that the United States had consistently called for the release
of Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin Oo and other political prisoners and for the
reopening of the NLD offices nationwide and a timetable for
democratization.

"We have also urged that the democratic opposition and ethnic groups be
allowed to participate in planning for the national convention, which
should allow for free expression of views," he said.

U Lwin has said that relations between the NLD and the government had
improved and that the NLD would continue to push for Aung San Suu Kyi's
release.

The convention is expected to assemble government, political party and
ethnic representatives.

An earlier convention collapsed in 1995 when the NLD walked out.

Analysts have said the revived forum would have no credibility without the
involvement of the NLD.


OPINION/OTHER
___________________________________

May 2, Dallas Morning News
Burma's icon still needs world's help - Rena Pederson

Back in 1995, Madeleine Albright went to Burma to visit Aung San Suu Kyi,
who was being held under arrest. Though jailed in her own home, the Nobel
Peace Prize winner showed her respect for the visiting secretary of state
in a touching way. She scrubbed the walls and floor of her house by hand
and washed and ironed the curtains by herself.

It is a good bet that few Nobel laureates have had to do the same.

But, then, there is no one quite like Ms. Suu Kyi, the brilliant Oxford
graduate who continues to risk her life to bring democracy to Burma.

Last week, Ms. Albright returned the favor. She joined Republican Sen.
John McCain of Arizona in calling for a renewal of American sanctions on
the Burmese junta because the murderous generals are keeping Ms. Suu Kyi
under heavy guard in her house yet again.

Fourteen Nobel literature laureates - including Gunter Grass and Toni
Morrison - recently joined Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech
Republic, in calling for the release of Ms. Suu Kyi and other imprisoned
writers in Burma.

Like Ms. Albright, Mr. Havel has been inspired by Ms. Suu Kyi's astounding
courage and has been pressing for her release for more than a decade. What
is little known is that he was considered the shoo-in for the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991 after the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia, but he
threw his support to Ms. Suu Kyi and forfeited his own chances. Hers, he
explained, was the greater example.

What we need is similar gallantry from Congress, which should waste no
time extending economic sanctions. What we need is similar courage from
the United Nations, which has stood by while the Burmese generals slyly
have made a fool of Secretary-General Kofi Annan by reneging time and
again on promises of reform.

If Mr. Annan doesn't have enough problems with corruption in the "oil for
food" scandal in Iraq (which may include payoffs to his son), his
credibility is going to be damaged even more when people start
investigating his see-no-evil attitude toward the Burmese regime.

Some of the tough questions that need to be asked include: Why did Mr.
Annan send an envoy to handle the Burma crisis who was doing business
deals with the regime? Mr. Annan's envoy, Razali Ismail, has a contract to
provide microchips for Burmese passports. Amazingly, Mr. Annan has ruled
that the sweetheart deal isn't a conflict of interest because Mr. Ismail
was only a "part-time" envoy.

That's the diplomatic equivalent of passing the canapés. Pray tell, why
doesn't Mr. Annan bring the Burmese crisis up before the Security Council?
Why has he merely purred that the junta may allow democracy in 2006?

While Mr. Annan blinks and purrs, the horrific crimes of the Burmese
dictators continue without relief. Reports of war crimes continue to seep
out of Burma:

*The rape and torture of women.

*The destruction of villages.

*Forced relocations.

*The laying of new land mines.

*The murder of Muslim minorities.

To make matters even more disturbing, the Far Eastern Economic Review has
reported that North Korea may be selling missiles or nuclear technology to
Burma. A Christian cemetery near the Rangoon Airport reportedly was
bulldozed last fall to make way for the missile base.

It isn't a good time to keep passing the canapés.

As Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison put it last week, "The brutal tactics adopted
by Burma's military rulers are reprehensible. The Free World must be
unequivocal in demanding the junta release Aung San Suu Kyi and change its
ways."

There was a slight flutter of hope last week that the Burmese generals
might be edging toward a transition because they allowed the reopening of
the headquarters of the National League for Democracy, Ms. Suu Kyi's
political party. They also released a few party leaders from prison.

But 1,300 remain in prison. And the top two leaders, Ms. Suu Kyi and Tin
Oo, remain under house arrest.

The junta's recent charm efforts couldn't mask the fact that behind the
scenes, the generals slapped life sentences on 11 league members who are
in prison. That is tantamount to a death sentence in the grim Burmese
gulag. The nine weren't allowed to speak in their own defense. Their only
crime was witnessing an attack on Ms. Suu Kyi by government thugs last May
30.

Even if Ms. Suu Kyi is released, she may be in greater danger outside her
home if the junta imposes a constitution at gunpoint that leaves it in
power. Congress must keep sanctions in place until there's certifiable
change. As Margaret Thatcher would say, this is no time to go wobbly.

___________________________________

May 2, Independent on Sunday (London)
No Win Situation: How I Failed To Meet Aung San Suu Kyi's Evil Twin;
Rangoon Stories - Jan McGirk

Try as I might, I can't get past the barricades to visit Inya Lake in
Rangoon. Burma's most formidable ladies are locked up on opposite sides of
this tropical waterhole. Both are the middle-aged daughters of powerful
Burmese generals who shaped the nation's history.

You'd have to be a recluse to be unfamiliar with the plight of Aung San
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate who has become an icon for
prisoners of conscience after a decade of intermittent detention. But Khin
Sandar Win, the daughter of the late dictator General Ne Win, is like her
evil twin and also under house arrest in her family villa.

When I asked a rickshaw driver to drive past her home, he giggled
nervously, then left me stranded on the roadside. Sandar Win has become a
great unmentionable - no one inside or outside Burma seems to be bothered
by the fact that she's been held for two years without trial for treason.
Ne Win's favourite daughter, by his third wife, is accused of plotting to
kidnap the ruling junta in order to set up a political/business dynasty
for her three sons (who are held, alongside her husband, in Insein
Prison).

Mt Olympus is the name of their elaborate lakeshore villa, where the
superstitious old tyrant, Ne Win, died at age 92 after his "yadaya" spells
could no longer cheat death. Three tiny effigies in military garb were
said to be hidden inside with other soothsayer's paraphernalia. Ne Win was
known to trample on meat and point a pistol at his mirror image to keep
assassins at bay and to use his lucky number nine as a fetish, even basing
the country's currency on his obscure numerology.

During Ne Win's 26-year rule, all appointments to see the supremo were
channelled through his astute daughter, Sandar, a military-trained
gynaecologist. She tagged along on state visits abroad and parlayed all
these connections into a lucrative conglomerate of hotels, health care and
telecoms. The ruling generals, perhaps wary of the dirt that might surface
in a trial, have not yet pursued corruption charges against her, which
involve mobile telephones and importing fleets of cars.

Few Western visitors secure appointments at the Ministry of Home Affairs,
and I had difficulty convincing a Rangoon taxi driver that this was really
my destination. Instead, he dropped me at a fruit stand around the corner,
presumably to avoid surveillance by squaddies in flip-flops.

A young soldier led me through the ministry's inner courtyard, where a
vegetable patch of cabbage and feathery carrot tops seemed to be getting
pre-steamed in the garden. It was frightfully hot, and I'd forgotten to
pack my new cap with a solar-powered fan installed on the brim. In an
authoritarian country, it's best to avoid being an object of ridicule;
while this gadget does keep me cool, I look anything but.

Once inside the police colonel's office, I was startled to see the wall
map tacked up for strategic planning. Should we be worried that Myanmar's
bureaucrats use the Daily Telegraph Map of the World (from where I was
forced to stand, I couldn't tell if it persists in calling the country
Burma)?

__________________________________

May 1, Nation
EU enlargement is good for Asia

A bigger European Union means a larger market for Asean and a
counterbalance to US power

After years of careful preparation, the European Union will admit 10 new
members today to increase its membership to 25 nations. This expansion
permanently deletes the old enemy line between Western and Eastern Europe.
Europe is now more unified and more dynamic. Despite lots of bitter
negotiations prior to their entry, new members Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
are committed to the new Europe. The admission criteria the EU imposed on
these countries were tough but all of them were able to comply. They have
prepared themselves well and will be admitted today without too much
fanfare. But that does not mean there will be no problems.

>From today, the EU will be a different kind of international organisation
because it will carry both economic and political clout. As far as
economics is concerned, Europe is doing well. The current economic growth
in the union will be able to sustain the burden of assimilating the
newcomers.

Despite disagreements within Europe over the US-led war in Iraq,
cross-Atlantic relations remain amicable. And the rift on the continent
was temporary. Europe has realised that to counter the US power after
September 11, all members have to join hands and cooperate more closely.
They must think alike on key issues related to world peace and stability
or else outsiders will be able to exploit their differences, especially on
political issues.

Europe and Asia have maintained successful exchanges of views, arts and
culture for the past seven years. The framework of the Asia-Europe Meeting
(Asem) has enabled European and Asian leaders to get together and map out
common strategies to promote ties.
It is sad that Asean has not learned from the enlargement of Europe. Every
country joining EU this time has adopted democracy and a free-trade
system. These two criteria set by the EU has ensured that all members
share the same political and economic outlook. In Asean, members continue
to wrangle over Burma seven years after it was admitted. It remains a
source of embarrassment for the grouping when efforts at Burmese national
reconciliation and political dialogue are stalled.

The EU does not have such a problem. If a prospective member is not ready,
it will not be admitted. Turkey is a good case in point: it has not been
given EU membership because its human-rights standards are not up to par
with the rest of the union. Turkey, which is a member of Nato, was not
very pleased by the decision. It is not certain when Turkey will be
invited to become a member, but Bulgaria and Romania are likely to be in
the next wave of EU membership.

The 10 new members will add about 75 million people - the size of
Vietnam's population - to the EU's current population of 400 million. This
will make it the No-1 export market for Asean. Politically, the union's
enlargement will also serve as a counterbalance to the US's overwhelming
power.

___________________________________

May 3, Straits Times
Pressure on Yangon should be from within Asia - Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

Understandably, perhaps, Iraq has pushed Myanmar out of the limelight. But
people in South and South-east Asia are keeping their fingers crossed for
the National Convention that is scheduled to meet in Yangon from May 17 to
draft a new Constitution. Troubled Myanmar needs a respite as much from
the world's censure as from its own internal conflicts. If there is to be
any outside persuasion, it should be entirely Asian. That cannot be
stressed forcibly enough after Afghanistan and Iraq.

All the evidence suggests that the military junta which has ruled Myanmar
since 1962 when General Ne Win seized power in a coup is slowly feeling
its way to a less restrictive dispensation. The foreign minister, U Win
Aung, would not otherwise have said in a television interview on April 3
that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) which spearheads the movement for the restoration of
popular rule, would be released in time to take part in the May 17
exercise. The moot question is whether anything is to be gained by trying
to hustle Myanmar's rulers from outside.

It should be noted, too, that India and Thailand, the two democracies that
are geographically closest to Myanmar and which have a major stake in its
stability and prosperity, have conspicuously refrained from adopting the
hard critical line taken by the United States and remote Western powers.
In recent years, the world has tended to equate Myanmar with Ms Suu Kyi
and to project her release from house arrest as the most important item on
that country's agenda. This identification of a country with a person is
never healthy, though it might be argued in this case that the cause she
represents is greater than her. That is true enough, but the 14 Nobel
laureates who wrote recently to General Than Shwe, head of Myanmar's
ruling military junta, demanding her release, together with the release of
17 imprisoned writers, might usefully set that objective in the wider
context of national priorities.

Realism demands that they should also bear in mind that, rightly or
wrongly, Asian governments do not take too kindly to outside criticism. Of
course, the junta's conduct has been indefensible. But the point is that
the European Union's boycott of Myanmar is so much water off the duck's
back so far as Asians are concerned, even if it salves Europe's liberal
conscience.

It deserves recognition in this case that the junta has lately
demonstrated some sensitivity to national expectations. It has released
political leaders like U Aung Shwe and U Lwin, chairman and secretary of
the NLD. It has also allowed the NLD to reopen its headquarters in Yangon.

A popular view outside Myanmar seems to be that the May 17 convention
would be meaningless without Ms Suu Kyi's participation. That presupposes
the release of other political leaders, whether under house arrest or in
Yangon's infamous Insein prison, as well as freedom for the NLD to reopen
its offices throughout the country and campaign freely.

They did have some of these freedoms in 1993 when the junta initiated a
National Convention. That exercise collapsed three years later when the
NLD withdrew, complaining that the military rulers were trying to force it
into the straitjacket of an undemocratic Constitution. That sounded
deplorable; yet the complaint itself indicated the junta remained open to
reason. It hankered for the legitimacy that only Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD,
indisputably the most popular force in the country, could - and still can
- bestow. Had the junta really been impervious to popular aspirations,
like the old communist dictatorships, it would not have bothered with a
Constitution-drafting exercise.

This is something for liberals the world over to remember. Iraq, even more
than Afghanistan, crops up because it suggests a prescriptive right to
impose what is called liberal democracy on Asian societies. Any such
attempt would mean chaos for Myanmar and anguish for its people. Even
sanctions serve no purpose. If there is at all a case for diplomatic
intervention, it should be practised with the utmost discretion and only
by Asian powers and institutions.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of South-east
Asian Studies. The views expressed here are his own.

___________________________________

REPORT

May 3, Reporters Sans Frontieres
14th World Press Freedom Day / Dictatorships in Paradise

Press freedom in "paradise" : Reporters Without Borders exposes
dictatorships in "paradise".

Powdery sand beaches, coconut palms, turquoise seas and shimmering
temples... Behind the postcard clichés, the other side of picture is quite
different. In Burma, Cuba, Maldives, Seychelles, Tunisia and Vietnam,
press freedom simply does not exist. Independent journalists are treated
as public enemies and are relentlessly harassed by the authorities.
Everything possible is done to ensure they are reduced to silence.

Reporters Without Borders urges everyone setting off for one of these
"paradise dictatorships" to practice responsible, informed tourism. To
bear in mind that these countries flout the most basic rights of
journalists and human rights activists.

The military junta in Burma has not yielded an inch and maintains complete
news censorship. Prison conditions for the 11 detained journalists
continue to deteriorate. The editor of a sports weekly was condemned to
death in 2003 for exposing corruption in Burmese football.

To read the full article please visit:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10258

To read the 2004 Annual Report please visit:
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=416